Chapter 80
Chapter 80
Forbidden Process, Forbidden Love
The aftermath of Idnia battling the fog wraiths and striking the ground with her ultimate technique, Meteorite, was so immense that Sendia Aspinal, who had been sleeping in the dormitory, was literally bounced off her bed.
“Kyah!? W-what is this school?! It’s been noisy outside for a while now!”
“A-Aspinal… just go to sleep. It’s probably monsters running wild.”
“You’re telling me to sleep peacefully when monsters are swarming outside the window?!”
“Do we have any better option? At least here, the professors will protect us.”
“I guess that’s true… ugh. Once I graduate from here, I’m never looking back.”
Grumbling, Sendia buried her face into her pillow out of habit.
But unlike the goose feather pillow she used at home, the dorm pillow had no cushioning at all—it failed to envelop her face and ears.
“Ugh, I miss my goose feather pillow! What is this thing? There are wood chips inside?!”
“Ah, it’s hinoki wood. It’s kind of nice and crunchy. Good for your health, they say.”
“Ugh!”
With a face on the verge of tears, Sendia forced herself to try and sleep.
Lorenzo and his retainers were moving through the fog-filled academy at night.
Lorenzo led the way using his compass, while his retainers guarded him, dealing with monsters and nocturnal beasts that approached.
Fiona was by his side.
“Yesterday, we came this way and buried sugar and supplies here. I heard it was the same today, but now it’s different. That fountain with the child statue over there was our meeting point.”
“It seems the structure of the academy changes slightly each day according to some principle. According to my compass, this place is completely different from yesterday.”
Lorenzo’s compass was a magical item unaffected by any interference—the True North Compass, which pointed only toward the North Star.
Using it, they mapped the academy at night and retrieved supplies hidden nearby during the day.
But suddenly, Lorenzo stopped.
“This…? Everyone, be careful! Something big just moved!”
Moments later, the shockwave and storm caused by Idnia’s Meteorite slammed into them.
“Ghk!”
Lorenzo’s four retainers—Rex, Brege, Patek, and Felipe—quickly moved to protect him.
Startled beasts roaming the night were driven into them by the violent winds.
“Huh?”
“A wolf pack…”
“Damn it, good thing we spotted them early.”
“What the hell was that gust just now?!”
The Notos students grumbled as they prepared for battle.
The clearing where Meteorite had struck glowed red-hot.
It looked like a small meteor had fallen, and at the center stood Idnia.
“Phew… even this is a bit tiring for me.”
The stones she had laid out had melted into lava under the heat, then cooled into a broad, glass-like basin.
“A lava-glass cauldron is complete. Nice.”
Excited, Idnia dumped the sacks of bread into the newly formed vessel.
“Hmm, that was pretty loud outside… but it should be fine. The thick fog probably dampens sound, and this academy seems divided by strange dimensional boundaries and barriers, so sound likely doesn’t carry fully.”
If Sendia had heard that, she would have exploded.
Even the Notos students would’ve been furious.
Though the sound was dampened as Idnia predicted, it was still enough to disturb everyone’s sleep.
But since nights had always been noisy at the academy, people simply endured it.
“Ah, I need water… but going to the fountain or well is too far. Then…”
Gripping her wand, Idnia pointed into the fog.
“Extract!”
Water was pulled directly from the fog and poured into her makeshift pot.
From afar, someone was watching her.
“……”
Principal Ludwig stood holding an umbrella, catching debris raining down from the sky after the Meteorite impact.
“Students sneaking out at night isn’t uncommon, so I came out worried… but it seems unnecessary.”
“If anything, we should be worried about the other students. That noise is insane. Shouldn’t we say something?”
Behind him, the succubus queen Sadia shook dust out of her hair, having failed to avoid the fallout.
“The academy nights are always strange. Students will get used to it. And it looks like one strike was enough.”
“For goodness’ sake… all this just to make a pot? Should I just secretly leave one here instead? Like, ‘I bought a new one and discarded the old one’?”
“That would be too obvious. No need to go that far. A warning should suffice. But what is she even doing? Making pudding? Or… moonshine?”
Even Ludwig, the academy’s principal, was curious.
In the monster-infested fog forest, Idnia hummed as she grabbed a nearby tree.
With a firm squeeze—
The wood compressed and heated in her grip.
Like a heated press shaping a bat, the tree transformed into a massive wooden ladle.
Using it, she poured water and bread into the pot, lit a fire, and began stirring.
“First, I’ll hydrolyze the starch in the bread into glucose…”
She lifted her wand.
“Adding amylase would make it easier… but I can’t exactly add my saliva. And even if I did, alpha-amylase alone wouldn’t be enough.”
Fortunately, some bread had mold.
She extracted koji mold, rich in enzymes and yeast used for fermentation.
Adding the moldy bread, she lowered the heat and cast a spell.
“I’ll apply the ‘potency enhancement’ spell to the enzymes.”
Then she stirred manually.
Despite knowing rotation magic, the bread was too hard—she needed brute force.
Her powerful muscles crushed it into paste almost instantly.
“Hmm… the spell works on enzymes too. Even a small amount is enough. But efficiency would improve if I had another pot…”
She turned her head—
And there stood Sadia, holding a pot.
“Professor Sadia?”
“Oh… I got a new one, so this old pot is useless. I’ll just dump it here. What, student? You’re not going to accuse a professor of littering, are you?”
“……”
Discarding a metal pot like that made no sense.
“Don’t look at me like that. It’s too loud. If you’re going to melt rocks for pots, do it quietly with magic. Or what? As a noble, you don’t care if others lose sleep? Want a taste of revolution?”
“But I don’t know how to melt rocks with magic.”
“Then just take this!”
She flung the pot with telekinesis.
Idnia caught it easily.
“Th-thank you.”
“It’s not a gift. It’s a loan. And I’ll collect this debt dearly… in revolutionary blood!”
With that, Sadia vanished.
“…She disappeared? I guess the professors really do see everything in this academy.”
“Well done. Giving a student material assets.”
Ludwig scolded.
“I was preventing more noise. And it’s a loan, not a gift. Teachers can lend things, right? I’m completely justified.”
“That’s not confidence—that’s just lack of shame.”
“Test me with a spirit oath if you want.”
“I’m sure you would pass.”
Still, Ludwig thought it was the right call.
“Paewang Yurik could melt stone with his bare hands. She’s only at compressing wood for now.”
“At her age, that’s incredible.”
“It’s beyond incredible. What’s more surprising is what she’s doing…”
“What is it?”
“She’s brewing moonshine.”
“…What?”
Sadia froze—then blushed deeply.
“This… this is amazing! A freshman brewing illicit alcohol right after enrolling?! That’s revolutionary spirit!”
“….”
Even Ludwig, the oppressor in question, had nothing to say.
“Even if she’s aristocracy… revolution burns in all hearts!”
“You really like this type, don’t you?”
“What type?!”
“The kind that enjoys manual labor.”
“…Oh.”
She realized.
Labor.
The essence of survival. The fire of revolution.
“Damn it… an aristocrat who works this hard? That’s… undeniably sexy. If she were a man, I’d fall for her. Though… does love even care about gender?”
She was far gone.
Ludwig silently worried about the future.