Chapter 96
Chapter 96
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 96
Chapter Title: It Seems I've Gotten Involved with the Wrong Person (1)
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The exam dragged on for three days and nights. The students camped in tents set up along the forest outskirts. At dawn, just as the morning sun began to rise, they challenged the forest once more.
The heart of the forest held no mysteries for them.
They simply caught a glimpse of Belnoa and Rak being carried out on stretchers after passing...
And assumed it wouldn't be a walk in the park.
'Catch the boss in the forest clearing.'
That was the condition for passing the exam. The students gritted their teeth and pushed through the forest's illusions. On the first day, they were too busy fleeing from monsters, but by the second, quite a few had ventured deep into the woods.
It was an absurdly difficult test.
Still, with enough repeated attempts, things somehow worked out. The students challenged it relentlessly, wandering the forest and dashing about in search of a path.
On the third day, when the sun hung high in the midday sky...
Three students arrived at the central clearing. It had been an exhausting ordeal. Now, they just had to hunt the boss, and it would all be over.
'No idea what the boss is...'
But with three of them together, it should be manageable.
"Oh."
What greeted them, brimming with anticipation, wasn't a grotesque monster. An utterly unexpected figure stood there.
"You finally made it."
Lania van Trias.
The professor known as Aphria's nightmare.
She rose from her seat with a bright smile, her skull-gourd hat tilted jauntily. Her smile bloomed like a flower, but the students' faces drained of color.
The reason Belnoa's fingers had been shattered.
The bloodstains on Rak's nose.
Now they knew. No one was unaware of Professor Lania's infamous reputation.
Gulp.
But what could they do?
They had chosen the Battle Magic department themselves. All they could do was grit their teeth and endure.
"U-Uwaaaah!"
Letting out a scream—or perhaps a battle cry—they charged. At Aphria's nightmare. And in that moment, they learned it firsthand.
Lania van Trias.
Why she was called Aphria's nightmare.
Before the ruthless professor who delivered not just mental agony but physical torment as well, the students collapsed. They knelt, tears streaming down their faces.
"Kuh..."
It evoked the image of knights kneeling before a calamity.
"Guh, kuh..."
"Ugh, eeeek..."
Screams leaked from here and there.
As the cries echoed through the forest, the sun of the third day set. The three-day exam came to an end.
"...L-Lania, Professor?"
"Yes?"
"I have much to say to you... so very much..."
When the three-day practical exam finally concluded...
"For now... good work."
Lania's infamy soared to new heights. At least among the Battle Magic students, her name took on a slightly different meaning.
Lania van Trias.
Aphria's deep and terrifying nightmare.
2.
The day after the practical exam wrapped up.
I was half-reclined on the sofa in the office, flipping through problem sheets for review. Even Master, who usually had a comment or two, stayed silent today.
'No classes to jump into right away.'
There wasn't much to do even if I came to work. It was the same routine every day: piling on homework for review and preview.
'Vacation's over, but conditions still make full classes tough.'
After the skull-gourd hat raid, Aphria had declared a short vacation for campus disinfection and repairs. The disinfection seemed mostly done during the break, but...
'They're making a new protective barrier, I think?'
It looked like they'd finally committed to major construction.
Two monster invasions in just one semester. This was the chance to bring in outside help and completely overhaul the barrier.
'Saw a few Mage Tower Lord-level mages too.'
The scale was bigger than I'd imagined.
I spotted the Black Mage Tower Lord, Yetoal, wandering the campus several times. A project of that magnitude required a long time for barrier maintenance.
The academy had reopened, but classes remained difficult.
That was the current state of Aphria Academy.
'Battle Magic with its practicals is one thing.'
Unlike the hands-on Battle Magic department, theory-heavy classes requiring classrooms and labs were in poor shape. With barrier work underway, outsiders swarmed the rooms. No proper setup for lessons.
And that included my 'Mana Trading Basics' course.
'Just hand out assignments and dismiss.'
That was the routine lately.
"Is this amount okay?"
I showed the reviewed homework to Master. He flipped through the pages with a rustle, then spoke.
"We should stick to self-study through this week. That's one week's worth—give them more."
"...More on top of this?"
"No matter how eager the students are, the frequent breaks have made them lax. Tightening discipline is part of an educator's duty."
I tilted my head.
'Last time I gave this much, they were screaming.'
I glanced at the towering stack of papers by Master. They all looked like assignments, and the volume was no joke.
'Definitely lighter compared to Master's.'
Then more it was.
Come to think of it, the complaints about the last batch being too much were during exam season. Now that exams were over, as Master said, a bit more homework shouldn't hurt.
Rustle.
I pulled out two or three more blank sheets and started drawing new circuits. Doing this repeatedly had sped up my workflow noticeably.
"Lania."
"Yes?"
As I worked, Master suddenly called my name. I turned to find him propping his chin, gazing at me.
"You seem in an unusually good mood today."
"Do I?"
"You've looked cheerful ever since the practical exam supervision. Something good happen?"
Have I?
"Maybe because I finally got to stretch my legs after so long—it feels nice. Watching the kids run around was fun too."
"...Stretch your legs? Doing what?"
Master blinked. His expression darkened. Just as he opened his mouth to say something...
Ding-a-ling.
The alarm circuit etched into the desk chimed. I glanced at the clock—it was pointing to 2 o'clock.
'2 PM.'
The time when sunlight poured in warmly.
Time for my daily cafe visit. I stood, tuning out Master's voice.
"What kind of stretching..."
"Master, I'm heading to the cafe."
Master looked reluctant but sighed and nodded.
"...Fine, go ahead."
His voice carried a deep sigh.
He sounded exhausted—probably buried in work.
'Maybe grab him a coffee on the way back.'
With that thought, I stepped out.
Walking the sunlit corridor of peaceful Aphria.
Until recently, seeing that wench Sara prowling around had felt like glimpsing a demon realm... but that's all in the past now.
'She's been gone a while, right?'
By now, Sara, Kyle, Remia—they'd all returned to the front lines. No chance of running into them in the capital again.
'A hero has no business hanging around the capital anyway.'
They ought to be leaping into another battlefront. Lost in those thoughts, I arrived at the cafe before I knew it.
Jingle.
Opening the door released a rich coffee aroma. The owner, Allen, shot me a glare.
"Hi, Allen."
"W-Welcome, Professor Lania."
His greeting trembled oddly.
I gave a wry smile and waved it off.
'Still like this.'
Ever since I dumped coffee on Sara's nape, Allen had been like this. Was it that shocking?
'If he heard what that wench usually says, he'd faint.'
Eyeing Allen as he wiped a cup, I teased.
"Boss, taking orders or what?"
"...What'll it be?"
Not much of an order, really.
I tapped the table.
"The usual."
"You're the only one who orders like that here..."
"Come on, you get it."
He grumbled but started brewing. True to his first-class alchemist roots, Allen's measurements were flawless. Not a hint of error—like watching a high-grade potion being refined.
'Cardi couldn't even brew tea worth a damn.'
In my eyes, this young barista outshone some ancient alchemist.
"Here you go."
Allen handed over the coffee with my usual morning bread. The aroma teased my nose. The precise brewing yielded a flavor market coffee couldn't touch.
'This is why I can't quit coming here.'
A faint smile crossed my lips as I carried the cup to my window seat. I set it down and let out a short breath.
"Hoo..."
This daily tea time ritual wasn't purely for relaxation today.
"So."
I turned to the guest already seated next to me. Our eyes met, and he flinched, shoulders trembling as he bowed his head.
"What'd you want to see me about, Rak?"
Rak van Grace.
A Battle Magic student—and one of the ones I'd been keeping an eye on. At my summons, Rak slowly turned his head.
"Um, well..."
He hesitated before speaking.
"I'd like some advice, Professor Lania."
"Sure, shoot."
I nodded.
"What's on your mind?"
3.
Only two students passed the practical early.
Rak, one of them, had grown unusually pensive lately. He wasn't the type to overthink. Action always came before thought.
But recently, something felt off.
Whether sprinting across the training field or swinging his axe in drills, his mind kept wandering. He couldn't focus.
'What's the reason.'
Truth be told, Rak knew. It stemmed from that peculiar sensation during the practical exam. It kept replaying in his head.
Heating—body reinforcement through superheating.
A technique he'd been able to use since age fifteen. Yet in three years, he'd never once clung to reason in that state.
'It makes you pure instinct. Tunnel vision kicks in.'
Reason went numb.
He'd just swing the axe and charge as his battle instincts dictated. It wasn't anything to be ashamed of.
'Not just me.'
Even the proud northern special forces veterans of decades couldn't hold onto reason in Heating.
At his young age, Rak earned their envy just for wielding it.
So he'd never questioned it. Numbed reason seemed par for the course. Until that "normal" shattered.
In the last practical, Rak experienced something anomalous.
'I seized reason amid instinct.'
An utterly bizarre sensation.
His body burned hot. Breath came ragged. Yet his mind felt cool, like a blizzard raging inside. Vision widened, and a spine-tingling sense of unity washed over him.
That bizarre sensation.
That uncanny unity.
Rak craved it again. If he could fully claim it, he could even beat Belnoa.
'But I can't.'
Impossible alone.
No grasp on how.
'The only one who might know...'
Probably just the professor who'd matched him then.
"...It's weird."
After explaining, Rak glanced at the professor beside him. She slowly set down her coffee cup. Her blue eyes sank calmly between slender lashes.
She looked lost in thought.
After a long silence, she spoke slowly.
"Once you've grasped the feel once, embodying it isn't that hard."
She touched her chin.
"Real combat's ideal for that sort of thing, honestly."
"Real combat, you say?"
"Yeah, story from someone I know... they had this bald brute hanging around?"
...Bald brute?
"Dumb kid only knew how to charge. After one scrap, his body'd be wrecked—he'd be bedridden all day."
"Uh, um."
Didn't sound like someone else's tale.
Rak sat still, listening intently.
"Even that guy eventually got the hang of it rolling on the battlefield. Survival instinct's more impressive than you'd think."
"Then..."
"But I can't toss you into a warzone right now. You could probably pull your weight, but it's risky."
Where to find a suitable spot?
"Back in the day, I'd snag some backwater border spot, roll around for three or four days, and call it good. Tsk..."
She smacked her lips regretfully.
For some reason, Rak felt a chill.
"Th-Then maybe I could try again once..."
"Ah, right."
Just as Rak tried to bolt.
She snapped her fingers like she'd remembered something and pulled out a sheet of paper from somewhere.
'Letter paper?'
It resembled stationery. Mana flowed through it—like a magic tool.
Scribble.
She infused it with mana and wrote. Rak sneaked a peek at the letter. Mana-laden letters danced and melted into the page.
Swish.
They vanished as they completed, making it hard to read fully... but glimpses flashed by.
'Lu, Lü...'
A repeated word.
Someone's name, probably. Rak narrowed his eyes and checked again.
'...El?'
And it completed.
Rak mouthed it silently.
'Lüel.'
The name rang familiar.
"...Huh?"
Rak blinked.
For a casual note, it bore a decidedly heavy name.
'...Her Highness Princess Lüel?'
Even Rak, clueless about worldly affairs, was still a noble's son. He'd heard the rumors about Princess Lüel.
The royal family's mad dog, Princess Lüel.
Why was that figure's name on the letter? Rak looked up at Lania.
"Wh-who are you writing to...?"
"Oh, just an acquaintance."
"An acquaintance...?"
"Met her recently. She's pretty high up."
High up.
"I owe her a favor or two. Figure she'll say yes if I ask."
"I-is that so?"
Rak slowly lowered his head.
His instincts screamed a warning. Tear up that letter and run now.
"Um, hmm..."
Rak fidgeted, clenching and unclenching his hands. Tension parched his throat. He gripped his coffee cup—ordered but untouched.
Bitter black brew.
Not a drop of syrup, yet today it tasted sweet.