Professors Who Are Not Human
Professor Hong Peng's weekend-eve endurance training was pure hell.
It opened with calisthenics so agonizing they seemed purpose-built for human torture, and from there it only escalated — a sprint to the mountain summit, scaling rock obstacles, crawling on all fours under the weight of stacked Exhaust curses, then hauling a partner on your back all the way back down.
"P-please, jusht kill meee……"
Meilin, who happened to be carrying her partner Simon at that very moment, let out a wail. Her legs were trembling so badly she looked ready to collapse at any second, and Simon couldn't help feeling sorry for her. Using Cloud, he lifted his own body slightly off her shoulders, lightening her burden.
Just then, a teaching assistant's shout rang out across the field.
"The one being carried doesn't get to rest either! Figure out for yourselves how to take some of the weight off your partner!"
By that standard, Simon was an excellent partner. Thanks to him, even Meilin with her lacking stamina managed to grunt and groan her way to the finish line with him still on her back.
"Students who've reached the finish line, swap partners! Then head straight back to the starting point!"
Simon's eyes flashed. Before Meilin could even get her feet under her, he snatched her up onto his shoulder like a bolt of lightning.
"Kyaaaaaa!"
Whump! The world flipped upside down without warning, and she shrieked in alarm.
"Hey!! What do you think you're doing!"
Simon broke into a run without hesitation. Far ahead, Hector was already sprinting, and he intended to catch up immediately.
"Put me down! Heyyy! Easy! Be gentle!"
The back of Meilin's neck had gone scarlet as she squirmed and kicked her legs. Dick, jogging in toward the starting point, asked abruptly, "Gentle with what, exactly?"
"Go die!!"
By the tail end of the class, every student was utterly spent, sprawled across the ground — some were even carted off on stretchers into the teleportation circle.
"I win."
Simon, gasping for breath, glanced over at Hector, who was grinding his teeth in obvious frustration.
"You idiot!"
Meilin smacked him on the back of the head, then whipped her face away with a huff.
……Boys never change, honestly.
They were second-years now, but in moments like this they hadn't matured one bit. She wondered when, exactly, they'd ever grow up.
Just then she spotted Camibarez lumbering along with Dick on her back, whimpering with every step.
"Hang in there, Cami!"
She looked like an ant hauling prey several times its own body weight. And even in the middle of all that, Dick had schemed his way into an advantage — he'd strapped on one of his inventions, a balloon-like contraption that kept his body buoyant.
"Success! Dick, Camibarez!"
The teaching assistant checked off both their names.
One by one, the students trickled back to the starting point, and Hong Peng greeted them with a sunny smile and a round of high-fives.
"Great work, everyone-sh! Tomorrow'sh the weekend, right? Do shome shtretching sho you don't pull anything, and get plenty of re-sht!"
When the hellish training was over and the weekend arrived, even Simon was suffering from muscle soreness.
Exhaustion made him want to do nothing but sleep all day, but a Kizen student had no time to laze about. Once the weekend ended, the parade of major courses resumed — and Summoning Materials, with its monstrous workload, had even announced a practical evaluation.
Simon spent the morning on homework and his research into the rotating Skeleton Knight, then visited the cottage of Farahan, the Divine Defense professor, to see Hayang and Kkamang in the afternoon. In the evening he stopped by Pier's ruins to spend time with the Ancient Undead and take his lessons as Legion Commander.
CLANG—!
A ringing crash of steel echoed through the ruins as Simon and Pier's greatswords collided.
Simon, his right hand sheathed in Pier's bone, gripped the Sword of Ruin, while Pier held an ordinary greatsword in his left hand alone.
"How's the 'sword' that came in this time? Any progress?"
Simon asked. In the same instant, Pier kicked off the ground and lunged.
[Nothing I'd call a breakthrough — but I found the cause!]
Clang! Clang!
The two greatswords met again and again, spraying sparks.
[Only half of Karl's body remains! The other half is still in the hands of those 'men,' no doubt!]
"By 'men,' you mean—"
[That pack of lunatics who seized him and ran their experiments.]
Crunch!
Power surged through Pier's grip, and Simon's legs were driven backward, skidding across the stone floor.
[We must hunt those madmen down and reclaim the other half of Karl's body!]
"If we do that — can you bring Karl back?"
[Of course, boy!]
Pier grinned and batted Simon's greatsword aside.
[The Legion will have secured its sixth commander-class Ancient Undead! If Karl serves his role properly, our fighting strength will rise far beyond what it is now! His power of disease is something we absolutely need!]
The sixth Ancient Undead.
Simon felt his heart lift. For the coming decisive battle against Magnus and the 5th Legion — whenever it arrived — he wanted that power in his grasp more than anything.
Clang!
Clang!
The two of them raced side by side through the ruins, trading blows as they went.
"I asked Erzebeth to infiltrate the Dresden Royal Library and dig up whatever she could find!"
Ducking low to evade an attack, Simon planted his left foot into the ground hard enough to crack the stone like paper and thrust his greatsword forward.
"Here's hoping she turns something up!"
Swhip—
It was a vicious thrust, but Pier simply tilted the greatsword in his one hand and let Simon's blade slide harmlessly past.
[Good! For now, focus on your life at Kizen! Your chance to leave Roc Island — when the next Mission Assessment falls is what matters most!]
"I'll swing by the Student Council Room and ask Dick. It should be coming up soon."
BOOOOM!
The two greatswords crashed head-on, kicking up a cloud of dust.
The corner of Simon's mouth curled upward.
"I swear it — I'll bring Karl back to life with these two hands!"
The sweet weekend fled by like light itself, and a new week began.
By luck, the morning was free of classes, so Simon indulged in a long-overdue sleep-in. And in the afternoon, the class he'd been waiting for was on the schedule.
The last of the three remaining major courses: Summoning Funerary Studies.
"Toto! Come on, hurry up!"
Simon was egging Toto on with a childishly gleeful grin.
"O-okay! I'm coming, let me just grab my stuff!"
They ate lunch at the small dining hall inside the dormitory, then rode their Golem Boards over to the Second-Year Campus. They'd just arrived at the Summoning Department building.
Simon was pleased with their pace, but Toto clutched his stomach — his stomachache had come back, apparently — and bolted for the restroom.
Click.
Straight into the lecture hall, then. There weren't many students yet, since they'd arrived early.
A window seat's open.
It was a prime spot, with a cool breeze drifting in, so Simon snatched it up at once and pulled out his textbook.
"Hello there?"
A pleasant voice reached him, gentle as a stirring spring breeze. It was Lorraine, her eyes brimming with quiet warmth.
"H-hi! Lorraine."
"Good morning, Simon."
There was no longer any need for stilted questions like Mind if I sit here? Lorraine simply took the seat beside him, and Simon felt a small glow of satisfaction at how much closer they'd grown.
"Though it's not really morning anymore, is it? We've got afternoon classes now."
Feeling bold, he tossed in a joke.
"Mm, true. Good afternoon, then."
Thankfully, Lorraine played along, rewarding him with a small smile.
"I got up a while ago, so my sense of time is completely shot."
Simon briefly conjured a mental image of the future Headmistress of Kizen oversleeping in a bedroom wallpapered wall-to-wall in pink, dressed in character-print pajamas — then hastily banished it.
As he and Lorraine exchanged small talk, the lecture hall steadily filled with students. The buzz of chatter was relentless, a constant hum in his ears.
Toto returned from the restroom and took the seat in front of Simon.
"First Summoning Funerary Studies class. I can't wait."
Simon murmured it as he wrote his name in a brand-new textbook, crisp and uncreased, for the first time.
"Did you read the course outline?"
Toto asked, inscribing his own name as well.
"The professor's supposed to be Professor Rin and Professor Run. Never heard of either of them!"
"Rin and Run? Is that a first name and a last name?"
"The Summoning Funerary Studies course has two professors."
Lorraine said. Simon and Toto's heads turned toward her in unison.
Lorraine raised an index finger to her lips and hummed in thought.
"How should I put it — they're more like twins, I suppose?"
Simon's eyes went wide.
"You know these professors?"
"Of course."
Lorraine closed her eyes.
"I've known them since I was very small. They say they even changed my diapers when I was a baby."
Someone connected to Lady Nephthys?
Simon's curiosity about the professors Rin and Run grew by the minute. If they'd known Lorraine back in her infancy, he figured they had to be somewhere in their mid-forties to fifties by now.
Murmur murmur!
Just then, the volume of the students' voices rose near the entrance. Class wasn't scheduled to start yet — which meant only one thing.
"She's here."
Lorraine murmured quietly, slipping into alert mode.
A girl strode into the lecture hall, radiant ash-blonde hair streaming behind her, seeming to cast a great halo of light with every step.
The heir to the Ivory Tower — Serne Aindark.
She swept past her retinue of admirers accepting their greetings, then — as though it were the most natural thing in the world — made her way straight toward Simon.
"Hmm—"
But the seats around Simon were nearly all taken. He'd claimed the window seat; Lorraine sat beside him, Toto in front of him, and an unfamiliar boy in the seat behind. Only the diagonal seat was still empty.
Yet Serne kept walking, heels clicking, straight up to the boy who'd taken the seat behind Simon. Completely oblivious, the boy was staring out the window, daydreaming.
……
Lorraine was glaring at Serne, unblinking. The ferocious will in her eyes said everything: she'd seize any chance to catch her using those feathers. And she would never tolerate a seat being stolen through intimidation, either.
"Excuse me."
Serne spoke up. The boy belatedly noticed that the infamous Serne was standing in front of him, and his face went white with alarm.
"Ah — yes! Is something…… the matter?"
His voice was trembling.
Simon braced himself, half expecting Serne to grind the boy's face into the floor with a Are you blind? Get lost. —
"I'm so sorry to bother you—"
Nothing of the sort.
Her cheeks flushed pink, and she blinked with eyes gone dewy and soft.
"It's just that I'd really like to sit in that seat~ Would it be too much trouble for you to give it up?"
She smiled bashfully, as though embarrassed by her own request, and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. The boy's face went red in the most transparent way imaginable.
"O-of course! I-I mean, sit anywhere you like! I'm fine taking another seat!"
"Oh my~ How very kind of you."
The corners of her eyes curved ever so slightly.
"Thank you?"
It was a knockout blow. The boy staggered away, and Serne settled herself into the seat behind Simon as if it were her birthright.
"There we go."
She crossed her legs with a light, airy motion and glanced over at Lorraine, who was scowling, eyes sharp with fury.
"With vulgar little monkeys, one hardly needs to bother with feathers~ My natural authority and charm are quite enough on their own."
……You were begging that desperately a second ago, and now we're 'vulgar monkeys'?
Simon gave an awkward laugh. Whatever else could be said about this girl, her mental fortitude was anything but ordinary.
"The professors are coming in!"
At last, today's main event had arrived.
The students scrambled back to their seats, and the teaching assistants appeared at the front of the hall.
Something's odd here.
The assistants for Summoning Funerary Studies were oddly senior — in their forties and fifties, a far cry from the fresh-faced twenty-somethings staffing every other class.
"Quiet, all of you!"
They were gruff and intimidating, too. The one who appeared to be the Head TA bellowed the students into silence, then announced:
"Professor Rin and Professor Run will now enter."
Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.
A ripple of murmuring spread through the hall.
Two girls, identical in every visible detail — same textbook held in one hand, same suspender trousers, same hats — marched in with their arms swinging crisply.
"……They're young?"
At most, they looked two or three years younger than the second-year students, most of whom were eighteen.
Sharp eyes, decisive gazes, high nose bridges, and shoulders brimming with confidence.
The two of them stopped at the front and looked out over the students.
Toto tilted his head just barely toward Lorraine — is this who you meant? — but Lorraine only smiled serenely, entirely at ease.
And while the other students were reeling from the professors' appearance, Simon was frozen in shock over something else entirely.
"Those two—"
His voice shook.
"They're not human."
"Wha—?"
Toto whipped around to face him.
"How remarkably unorthodox of you, Kizen."
Serne, apparently catching on as well, rested her chin on her hand.
"You'd let the undead teach humans?"
A fresh wave of chatter broke out among the students. But Simon's trembling wouldn't subside.
And they're no ordinary undead, either.
As a Legion Commander, Simon could feel it in his bones.
Those two professors.
They were Ancient Undead.