Chapter 138
Chapter 138
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 138
Chapter Title: Fairy Professor #1
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Back when I lived in the kingdom, I often faced assassination threats.
That was why I was extremely sensitive to things like someone trying to open my window in the middle of the night, or footsteps pacing outside my door.
The same went for sensing that someone had broken into my home.
Even though I'd left the kingdom behind and was finally starting to relax a bit—
Rustle rustle.
“……”
My senses hadn't dulled to the point where I wouldn't notice someone invading my private room.
Ssssh.
I gripped the Imp tail wand coiled around my arm.
If there was one difference between the me who had endured assassinations and all sorts of threats back in the kingdom and the me now, it was that I could now fend off most intruders on my own.
Whoever it was, time to taste some 4.5 Circle magic.
“Hoo.”
After taking a small, steadying breath like that, I flung open the door.
Screeech—.
“Don't move—!”
I shouted loudly and aimed my wand, and the someone rummaging around inside my room jumped in fright, letting out a scream like they were having a fit.
“KyaAaAaAh—!”
It was a sharp, tearing shriek unique to women. But what shocked me more than the scream was the identity of the intruder in my room.
“No, you're—”
“KyaAaAaAh—!”
The woman didn't stop at screaming; she started hurling objects from the desk at me. Tissue box, thick books, candles, water glasses—everything came flying my way.
Whoosh, whoosh whoosh.
Thwack.
Her throws were impressively accurate, smacking right into my small head and face, and I could only let out a pathetic “Hieeek…!”
It hurt.
My vision flashed white for a moment, and anger surged up, but right now, the most important thing was probably calming down this hysterical woman.
“KyaAaAaAaAh—!!!”
“Wait, wait, stop for a second! You'll break something! There, those books on the shelf are in important order, so don't pull them out!”
“Get looost—!!!”
“What do you mean lost? And I said stop throwing stuff—!”
But the woman who had snuck into my dorm ignored me completely. Was she panicking?
Whoosh whoosh.
If this kept up, my room was going to turn into an unrecognizable mess, so I had no choice but to point my tail wand at her.
—Gamigin—!
Crackle.
The high-level necromancy spell that even Demon King Solomon struggled to handle shot out like pink lightning. It struck the intruder squarely.
“Ek—!”
The woman collapsed to the floor with a bizarre death rattle.
Then she started trembling all over, looking just like a frog zapped by lightning in a pond. Serves you right.
“hoo.”
Now it was finally quiet.
Or so I thought.
Bang.
—What is it? What's going on?
—So rude at this late hour. Who’s screaming like that?
—The scream sounded like someone was dying.
Doors on the fourth floor started opening here and there as sleepy people began heading toward my room.
Seeing swords and short spears in their hands, it looked like they'd heard the woman's scream and thought some incident had broken out, so they'd come to check.
Finally, a pink-haired woman stood at the entrance to my private room, gripping a club and asking me.
“What are you doing right now? And who's that woman collapsed there?”
She looked ready to club me if I gave the wrong answer.
“Ah, this is…”
How was I supposed to explain this? In this situation, I looked like the perpetrator.
Before I could explain, someone said.
—Isn't that Professor Stella?
—It really is. That's Professor Stella. Why is Professor Stella collapsed…?
It was the perfect moment for misunderstandings to arise. They might already be happening. So I had to clear things up quickly.
“It's just a personal matter. Nothing serious, so please don't worry about it, everyone.”
* * *
The gathered onlookers lost interest after my repeated explanations that it was nothing serious and returned to their rooms.
I'd broken quite a sweat, but it seemed my jobs as 'Teaching Assistant' and 'Actor' had come in handy, since I even gained some experience points.
—What, it was nothing after all.
—Let's go back to sleep.
It was 2 a.m., so the late hour probably helped too. For now, I was glad it hadn't turned into more trouble.
“Professor. You owe me a big favor now.”
“……”
Stella, sitting in the only chair in my private room, hadn't said a word since earlier. It was like she had no excuses or explanations left in her head.
When she finally opened her mouth after a long silence, what she said was, “Make me a cup of tea.”
Demanding tea from me, the owner of the room she'd broken into like a thief.
What a shameless woman.
Part of me wanted to report her as a thief or trespasser and give her a proper scolding.
The reason I hadn't was because I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, and I wanted to make her personally indebted to me.
For some reason, she looked even more confident than I did, but I boiled some hot tea to calm Professor Stella down and handed it to her.
“I put in some milk and sugar.”
Taking it, Stella remarked leisurely, “Nice aroma.”
Humming appreciatively over tea after getting caught red-handed rifling through my room.
Was this the unflappability of a 132-year-old elf?
132 years old.
Thinking about it, it was incredibly fascinating.
In a world where magic and spells existed, and heteroraces like fairies and imps were real, the existence of long-lived species still didn't quite feel real in many ways.
She looked around thirty at most from the outside. Had she really lived over a century?
Ssssh.
Taking advantage, I slowly observed Stella Belhoc's appearance.
Her short, purple bob haircut was very stylish, and her long, pointed ears poking out between the strands looked so perfectly crafted it was uncanny.
Her outfit was a white blouse paired with a tight, cylindrical blue miniskirt—ordinary attire that didn't scream “burglar sneaking into a dorm room.”
“You make good tea.”
Her amber eyes curved into thin crescent moons. Thanks to that, the beauty mark under her right eye caught my eye anew.
Overall, she was a very attractive woman.
She didn't quite fit the image of a “female teacher” or “female professor”; she gave off more of a vibe like a girl my age…
At the same time, she was a thief who'd snuck into my dorm to rummage around.
“Why on earth did you do something like that?”
“What did I do?”
“……”
Was she planning to play innocent and deny it all?
If I'd known, I should've just reported her as a thief when the crowd was here and let her face disciplinary action. It wasn't too late even now.
But I decided to give Stella a chance.
“Trespassing into someone's home without permission is wrong. But I don't think you did it with any malicious intent.”
“……”
Stella fell silent. Probably because she had nothing to say. She was avoiding my eyes, clearly scheming how to wriggle out of this, so I added a few words.
“For starters, a thief come to steal wouldn't carry a bag, and this outfit isn't exactly practical.”
Right now, Stella Belhoc was dressed in a career woman's office look with high-heeled shoes. For a burglar, shouldn't she be in something simpler and more mobile?
She hadn't come here intentionally to rob me—
At least, that's what I thought.
“It'll be best for both of us if you just tell me honestly why you did it.”
“Sample collection.”
“Pardon?”
“I was trying to collect samples.”
“What kind of samples?”
“It's your fault. A student leaving the dorm empty this late. Going out overnight and all. How much longer were you going to make me wait?”
“Pardon?”
Professor Stella, who'd been sitting there dumbstruck like she'd swallowed honey, started lecturing me sternly. Her haughty, dignified attitude made me almost mistake this for an inquiry about me.
“From what I've heard, Theo Gospel. You go out overnight way more than anyone else. Where do you wander off to?”
Trying to shake me by grabbing my weak spot.
I realized this was one of the rhetorical tactics in debates.
Shifting the topic in an unfavorable discussion and attacking the messenger instead of the message—it's always been an effective method.
The way to counter it was to not let go of the reins on the subject.
“Is that what's important right now? I'm asking why a professor was trespassing in my dorm and rummaging through my things.”
“……”
Her amber eyes narrowed along with her brows. It was as if they said, “Look at this guy.”
It wasn't like I'd survived in Angmar just by looking tough.
The key in situations like this was not to seem like an easy mark, or they'd climb all over you.
“If you're not cooperative or honest, I'll report this to the board of directors.”
“…Ughh….”
At my threat, Professor Stella let out a very small groan. It was so faint I wouldn't have heard it without my fairy ears, but it was clear she was shaken.
It was only natural. It was already infamous how precarious Professor Stella's position was in the Ark.
Her lectures were half-hearted. She didn't write papers or do research. She was the villain professor who overworked and abused her assistants.
If this incident got directly reported to the board and spread, even a Stella from the Belhoc family wouldn't get off scot-free.
Stella Belhoc finally let out a leisurely “huhu,” smiling.
“As expected of a student in my class. You've learned well from me—logical and rational. Excellent.”
How advanced was her self-delusion circuit?
Whatever.
“Are you prepared to tell the truth?”
“What truth is there to tell? I already said it. I was just collecting some samples. I'd been waiting for you all day. When you didn't come, I borrowed your room for a bit.”
“……”
I looked around. For “a bit,” my room was already an irreparable disaster. Cleaning this up would take at least half a day.
Noticing my hardening expression, Stella Belhoc said.
“You came at me calling me a thief, so I panicked and threw things. Self-defense, I suppose? It's an elven instinct. Can't be helped.”
After that, Stella explained elven sensibilities. Elves easily panic if startled, or something like that.
“I see. So what samples were you collecting, exactly?”
“Just, you know, some hair or whatever?”
“Why do you need my hair?”
“For the research in the paper I'm writing, obviously. Want to see?”
Ssshh.
Stella Belhoc handed me something. It was like a small scroll. Unrolling it revealed some writing.
「Differences in Ecology Between Nymphs and Elves: Methods to Increase Fairy Populations.」
What a productive paper title.
“The title and content are just provisional for now.”
As I tried to read more, she snatched the scroll back from my hands. I hadn't gotten far, but I got the gist of what Stella was up to.
“I asked the nymphs for help, but they're so clannish and exclusive toward elves that they wouldn't cooperate. I tried kidnapping a few, but they cried and made a huge fuss—”
“Good heavens, you kidnapped nymphs?”
I recalled what Marma had told me.
There were incidents of imps and nymphs going missing. That's why I'd been scared on my way back. And now it turned out the culprit was Professor Stella.
Stella Belhoc said defensively.
“To be precise, I borrowed them briefly. I planned to return them after using them. And I did return them just fine!”
Was that something you say after kidnapping people? Treating them like objects to return.
“That's a crime. Why on earth would you do something like that?”
Even as I said it, a chill ran down my spine. I remembered that Stella Belhoc was originally a villain character nicknamed 'Head Hunter.'
In the original story I recalled, she wasn't a professor but a human hunter roaming the forests. In other words, she had the potential to become an extremely dangerous person.
Wondering if I'd been too rude, I started minding my words.
What if angry Stella awakened as a Head Hunter and hunted me down to stuff and mount me? I didn't want to die like that.
Ssshh.
At that moment, Stella Belhoc stood up from her seat. Then she strode toward me and grabbed my arm tightly.
“We don't have time to quibble…! The shareholders' meeting is coming up soon…!”