Troubles with Nadia and Scott
My relationship with Nadia had been the most profound happiness of my two lives, yet the troubles it dragged along were no less inevitable.
The most obvious of these was Scott’s tangled fate.
Ever since I began dating Nadia, that troll had avoided me like the plague, refusing even a single word.
‘Was this only natural…?’
I had injected a bit of thought into him during the survival test, hoping he’d aid me if I forged a good bond with Nadia.
Once the test ended and I truly started dating her, his feelings of betrayal were only to be expected.
And then the new trouble that followed our rift with Scott began.
Scott, my former troll friend, had always lacked sharp instincts and had become exasperatingly dull-witted, yet in the rough sea of The Cradle he had served as the perfect breakwater, blocking the waves that threatened to overwhelm me.
“Just sit there with that stiff, silent expression of yours,” I told him on the first day of the semester. “Then no one will bother you.”
In Class 1, where the jungle’s law reigned, I watched the other male students fight and offered Scott exactly this counsel while he trembled in fear.
He took my words to heart and, as predicted, no one ever crossed him.
His immense physical presence and ferocious face kept even the hot-blooded demon youths from picking on him.
As his friend, I could walk beside him without incident, and we built a symbiotic bond—crocodiles and the birds that ate their parasites—living side by side in peace until now…
‘But the shield is gone.’
The moment Scott and I fell apart, the very guy who had been waiting for this exact moment stepped forward to pick a fight.
He was a merman named Kirol, pierced with a barbell through his lower lip—the same brat who had badgered me since the very first day of school.
I had tried to get along with every student, but Kirol had been the exception.
He was a hybrid monster, a cunning bastard who carried the slyness of the schoolyard bullies from my previous life and the cruelty of the demon races in this one.
He courted the strong while betraying the weak without mercy, building fame and influence through calculated cruelty.
Now that he had grown powerful enough to ignore consequences, he had finally turned his teeth on the prey he had missed for so long—me.
At first it was harmless: shoulder slaps in the hallway that left a faint sting, “accidental” brushes that caused minor inconvenience.
But then he crossed a line he should never have crossed.
“Thanks for helping me out, Dorn.”
“Just being friendly, that’s all.”
Returning from a light errand the vice-president Yuli had asked me to do, I walked into the lecture hall to find a sight that made my blood freeze.
“You fucking bastard…!!”
Kirol had raised his hand as if about to slap the girl already seated at her desk—Nadia.
Without a second of thought I sprinted over and seized his wrist.
“W-what are you doing?”
My voice came out far calmer than I felt.
Kirol froze for half a heartbeat, then grinned, pupils narrow with malice.
“Hah, you startled me. Where the hell did you crawl out from?”
“What are you doing?”
“…And you, you little shit…”
With a sharp flick of his eyebrow he slapped my hand away.
“Disgusting, manhandling people like that?”
“…”
Still glaring at him, Yuli stepped in.
“Kirol… what the hell are you doing now?”
“Hah, Yuli. Why are you acting like you can’t even swallow me whole?”
“It’s you who’s the idiot here. Threatening a girl when you’re a guy. Don’t you have any shame?”
The vice-president’s presence drew every pair of eyes in the lecture hall toward us.
“…Damn it, anyone looking at this will think I’m in the wrong.”
Kirol seemed to believe his influence had grown so vast that no one could touch him anymore.
The same boy who would have slunk away under a stare now laughed at Yuli.
“As the vice-president, you shouldn’t be shielding your friend like that.”
“If you’re so offended, then explain the situation.”
“Explain my ass! That bitch shoved me to the ground and still won’t apologize. Am I supposed to sit here and take it?”
While the two of them argued, I pulled Nadia—who was trembling—close to me.
“Are you all right?”
“Dorn… hic…”
I stroked her tear-streaked head and shoulders.
“Want to tell me what happened?”
She sniffled. “It was like this…”
Nadia’s account was clear.
While Yuli and I were gone, Kirol had approached her, put an arm around her shoulder, and tried to grope her chest. She had recoiled in shock, pushed him, and when he fell and cursed at her, I had appeared.
“You crazy bitch. When did I ever touch your chest? I just wanted to be friendly!”
Kirol, listening in, denied her version.
“You fucking whore, where’s the proof? Show me!”
There was indeed no proof, but I believed Nadia. Anyone who knew his usual behavior would have accepted her story too.
And what girl he had tried to grope and assault mattered little.
Without a word I lunged at him and drove my fist into his face.
Thud!
“Guh—?!”
The unprepared bastard’s chin snapped sideways and he crashed to the floor.
This was my first time ever punching someone—not in a duel, but for real.
“Woooah!”
“It’s a fight!”
A few students cheered at the rare fistfight in the lecture hall.
Kirol and I were quickly surrounded by a growing ring of onlookers.
Betting whispers spread through the crowd as Kirol staggered to his feet.
“You little shit…!!”
The punch had landed cleanly, yet he still looked fine.
‘So his body is just that strong.’
Physical limits.
Kirol was over ten centimeters taller than me and easily twenty kilograms heavier, built like a tank.
If I could use mana, I could have dropped him with a single strike. But in The Cradle the first-years’ mana was sealed except in specific situations. Between students, fights were decided by pure body and technique alone.
‘If mana were allowed I’d already be covered in corpses.’
I settled into a stance and addressed him.
“Look at you, you stinking fish. I’ll peel every disgusting scale off you.”
“…You’re really dead.”
Shooting a racial slur at the merman made his fish-like eyes burn with rage.
We were about to clash when the lecture hall door opened.
“Hello, everyone? Alchemy class is starting!”
Professor Velvet swept in with her usual bright voice, and the room’s heat vanished instantly.
“Class is about to begin, so please take your seats.”
Though gentle, she was still a professor. The students, caught in her unspoken pressure, quietly took their places.
“…Damn it…”
Kirol gritted his teeth and muttered.
As he brushed past me he added, “Stay after class.”
“Shut up.”
I gave him the middle finger.
The fish-scaled bastard apparently didn’t understand the gesture, but he caught the tone of a threat and scowled.
***
Alchemy class proceeded exactly as usual.
Yet the atmosphere around my desk was anything but pleasant.
“I’m sorry… it’s my fault…”
“Stop it. This is not your fault.”
She had been the one who had started the fight.
‘This was always going to happen.’
Of course my heart pounded harder as the period drew to a close.
I tried to appear calm for Nadia’s sake, but fighting someone with real intent made my hands shake.
It had been less nerve-wracking facing a demonic beast…
Time dragged. Finally the class bell rang.
I glanced over.
Kirol sat a short distance away. His lips moved in what looked like, “You’re dead.”
‘Fucking bastard.’
I clenched my jaw.
Fine. If it had to end this way, we’d settle it properly.
No matter who lost, I wouldn’t let him go without a mark.
Just as I steeled myself, Professor Velvet called my name right before the final bell.
“Dorn student. Could I speak with you for a moment after class?”
“Ah… yes.”
I told Yuli to take Nadia home and headed for Professor Velvet’s office.
The professor’s office was on the second floor of the building housing the first-year lecture halls. It felt more like a cozy house than an office.
“Please, make yourself comfortable, Dorn student.”
She offered me tea and a seat.
‘…What kind of tea is this?’
After one sip the tension I hadn’t realized I was carrying melted away.
“Does the tea suit you?”
“Ah, yes. It’s fragrant and wonderful.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
She explained why she had summoned me.
“I called you because the alchemy club was supposed to visit but no one had shown up.”
“Oh.”
“Karib student had already visited and joined the club. But you… I was a little disappointed.”
I remembered the promise to visit with Karib had been pushed back because of Nadia.
“I’m truly sorry…”
I vowed I would visit as soon as possible.
“Really? If you don’t come this time I might have to eat you up.”
Professor Velvet leaned toward me, long forked tongue flicking out like a snake’s.
“I will come… for sure.”
It was a teasing warning, but the sight of her yellow eyes slit vertically for an instant made my spine tingle.
Since there was nothing else, I left her office.
Downstairs, Kirol was waiting with a friendly smile.
“You came?”
“…”
I hardened my expression at the greasy grin and wave.
‘So it’s going to be a mess.’
I had been ready to take a proper beating if it meant making him bleed, but this felt impossible.
Kirol, the cowardly fish, was not alone.
Among the first-years who had adapted to The Cradle, gangs had formed.
He belonged to one such street-tough group.
‘Even the other-class delinquents are here.’
The first-year delinquent association?
Everyone had reached adulthood and they were still acting like delinquents.
I had just remembered how terrifyingly savage natural demon youths could be.
“I’m going to beat you quite a bit today. If you make noise, I won’t stop. Let’s go to a quiet place.”
Dragged off by the gang behind the auditorium, we entered the deserted courtyard after class. Perfect for a beating.
Kirol stood before me with an arrogant smirk.
“You little shit. I’ve hated you for ages…”
Crack!
“Guh—?!”
The bastard’s jaw snapped again.
I clicked my tongue softly.
“Kabib.”
Again I had failed to knock him unconscious.
“You… you…?”
Stunned by two back-to-back punches, he muttered incoherently.
“Why so surprised? I was going to slap you for the same reason you don’t like me—”
Thud!
“Ugh?!”
I was sent flying.
“You crazy bastard! Striking someone from behind like a coward?”
A gang member who had charged from the side and kicked my stomach bellowed.
“Fucking coward jumping around like that.”
“No point dragging this out. Let’s all stomp on him together.”
As the thugs rushed toward the fallen me, a voice cut through the air.
“Hey, you lot.”
