The Eccentric Professor's Sudden Embrace
The woman whose beauty is concealed by her sprawling white hair and round glasses is named Alwilda Weiss.
She is the professor who teaches the Understanding Natural Phenomena course and is, in fact, the head of the department.
And right now—
That loose screw of a woman is rushing at me to hug me.
"Where are you going?"
Before Alwilda's chest could touch my body, I performed an evasive maneuver with a quick and concise movement.
What?
I've trained my reflexes for nearly two years by being ambushed by the commander at any time under the pretext of improving them. There's no way a frail woman's body without any muscle could cover me.
"Eh~?"
Alwilda left only that word and whizzed to the side, then collapsed onto the floor, smacking her forehead.
Kwoong!
I slightly regretted thinking I should have caught her with a bigger sound.
'...Why is the professor so clumsy?'
At least, she should have created a cushion with magic or done a somersault in the air with a proper landing technique.
Ah, is this too much of a tsundere?
Anyway.
"Are you okay—"
Worried that her glasses might have broken, I turned my head sharply upon seeing her erect buttocks.
Crazy, she's not even wearing anything underneath.
'Is this really a crazy woman?'
This isn't just clumsiness; it's clear there's something wrong with her head.
'Is this a professor?'
I shook my head. I wanted to turn around immediately, but...
'Hah...'
I sighed inwardly and reconsidered.
This isn't a life-or-death issue.
Since the professor's mind is a bit off, it's not too late to give up on listening to the lecture.
'Yeah. There's only a thin line between being a weirdo and being a genius.'
So, I decided to hold off my judgment just a little.
"Ayaya..."
Alwilda rubbed her forehead and straightened her posture. Finally.
I squatted down and, facing her directly, checked if she was hurt anywhere.
"I'm sorry. I suddenly rushed at you..."
"No no~ It was my fault for trying to pounce on you~"
Hehe.
She apologized with a cheerful laugh. It's fortunate that she knows she did wrong.
"Anyway. Did you really come to listen to my lecture~?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Why?
To graduate from the academy safely, is this the best class?
—I can't say that.
"I have a great interest in the field of science."
"Kyaak~!"
Alwilda shook her messy white hair and rushed at me again, so I naturally dodged.
"Uwa!"
Fortunately, this time, with her palm outstretched like a cat, she ended up falling flat on her face.
"I survived..."
"...That's fortunate."
"Hehe. Your movements are quick? Did you exercise~?"
"Yeah, well..."
I've done nothing but training.
But even for an academy student, this is above average?
"Name~?"
Alwilda, having regained her senses, asked in her characteristic drawling tone.
"Jade Netherpike."
"Netherpike?"
Netherpike... Netherpike...
Alwilda kept repeating my name.
It wouldn't come to mind anyway. It's a commoner family.
I thought she'd tilt her head or look disappointed, but instead, her eyes widened in admiration.
That was unexpected.
"The Spear of the Abyss! How cool~!"
...Does Netherpike mean that?
I learned it for the first time. I never really knew English well to begin with.
Rather, I've been studying English more since coming here.
Surprisingly, in this world, foreign languages like English are treated as forgotten ancient tongues.
In other words, it means Korean is the modern common language.
Thanks to that, I could communicate without issues with people like Muriel or Alwilda who look like Westerners no matter who looks at them.
Anyway.
"I heard that to advance, I need to take a test."
"Ah, test~ There was such a thing, right, charam~"
Alwilda puckered her lips and kept mumbling as if pondering something.
Then she said.
"But do we really need such a thing~?"
It seems I don't need to take the test.
"As long as there's passion for the subject! Isn't that right~?"
"Of course. What a reasonable statement."
At the moment when our opinions aligned and we nodded repeatedly.
"Albi, I fully agree with that, but we still need to follow the rules."
Aigoo, startled.
Seeing Muriel standing behind me, she jumped. When did she come?
If I couldn't sense her approaching, it must have been teleportation.
Well, since she's the top of the academy, she probably used some trick.
Just as I was about to brush off the near-miss.
"Hmph. It also says in the rules that there are no limits to learning."
Alwilda stuck out her lips and said petulantly.
"Haha..."
Muriel was still smiling brightly, but for some reason, she looked scary.
And that wasn't just in my imagination.
"Shall I apply the rules strictly?"
"Eh?"
"Let's see, courses with fewer than twenty students will be closed..."
Ah, there was a condition for closing the class?
"Don't close it aaaaah!"
With that, the relationship between the two was instantly settled.
The scene of Alwilda crawling on all fours and clinging to the short girl's legs while sobbing was something I didn't want to see with my eyes open.
"Uuu, there's only one now, and if Jade doesn't pass the test, what will I do!"
It's Jade, not Jadi.
"That's too bad."
"You're mean!"
Alwilda finally broke into a full cry, and Muriel sighed deeply and shook her head.
"Albi, why do you think Jade definitely won't pass the test?"
...Exactly.
I decided to break the silence at that point.
"Here, test."
With a confident addition, facing the two people's gazes that were scary.
"Right now."
At that moment, Alwilda suddenly straightened her glasses—
Muriel was smiling contentedly.
*
The test topic was made up on the spot by Alwilda.
Since this was rare, I couldn't prepare in advance, so there's nothing to be done.
For that reason, the headmaster's review was needed, and Muriel showed a subtle reaction, but—
"Well, this is enough..."
She eventually approved it.
Moreover, she would even observe.
As a pretext to monitor if Alwilda was giving special treatment.
"The headmaster has nothing to do..."
Alwilda was, of course, displeased. She openly showed her dislike.
'Can the headmaster even do that?'
I found it strange.
"Here."
What Alwilda placed on the desk was three beakers of the same capacity.
Two of the beakers contained half red and half blue solution respectively, and the third was empty.
"Can you see well~? The bright red and the bright blue~?"
Yes, you don't need to emphasize it like that; it's easy to see.
I'm not sure if the emphasis was because of her peculiar speech pattern.
Meanwhile, Muriel tilted her head, feeling something strange.
Whether or not, Alwilda continued.
"Simple~ Pour the two solutions into the empty beaker here and—"
If it really ended there, it would be a simple problem that even kindergarteners could pass.
Of course, there was a condition.
"Only, they must not mix~"
What does that mean?
Think about it. If you pour the two solutions directly into the same beaker, the two colors will mix into purple solution.
Then, of course, it would be a failure.
To pass the test, the two solutions must be in the same beaker while being precisely separated into red and blue.
'But how?'
If one solution was water and the other oil, it would be very simple.
Water is polar and oil is nonpolar.
There's a reason why water and oil don't mix.
However, the two solutions were just colored water.
Adding or removing anything else isn't allowed. Otherwise, anything goes.
'Hmm...'
Time limit: 5 minutes.
It was tighter than expected, but I wasn't panicking.
I've experienced worse situations.
But no sharp idea came to mind.
My brain was fresh, but I hadn't done experiments like this. It means it's hard to overcome the lack of experience in a short time.
'Creativity is innate...'
Then, the only things to rely on were the deduction and associative thinking honed in the special forces.
Think about it.
The test couldn't be an unrelated topic.
The principle itself is simple, but it wouldn't be easy to infer, yet it fits the course's purpose.
It would be a simple problem that can be solved with just basic scientific knowledge.
The core keywords are 'nature', 'phenomenon', 'understanding'.
Naturally occurring or naturally happening.
A phenomenon visible to the naked eye.
By understanding and applying that.
'Something seems to be clicking...'
Meanwhile, as I observed what the two were doing, Muriel was smiling brightly throughout, and Alwilda's reactions were diverse, hard to tell if she was expecting or anxious.
In short, the temperature difference was stark.
'...Ah.'
At that moment, my mind lit up like turning on a light bulb.
'Could it be that?'
It probably is.
No, it must be.
Alwilda wouldn't have emphasized the colors for nothing.
"Since you said as long as I don't add or remove anything from the water, it doesn't matter what I do outside?"
Upon asking, I got an immediate response.
"...!"
"Hee~"
Muriel's eyes widened, and Alwilda smiled broadly.
The opposite reaction from before.
"Let's borrow a bit. No, I'll borrow it."
I immediately lit the alcohol lamp and heated the beaker with red solution.
And when the glass surface gradually became hot enough to have moisture.
I placed a divider in the center of the empty beaker and poured the two colored solutions on either side in order.
"Albi."
At that time, I heard Muriel's voice mixed with a sigh.
Why? Because Alwilda was twisting her legs as if she had to pee and shivering.
Just from seeing that intense reaction, the test was already passed, but...
'Still, I need to finish it.'
Thinking that, I removed the divider.
Then.
Srrruuuk.
The boundary between the two solutions slowly tilted from vertical to horizontal.
However, it never mixed. Like the Taegeuk symbol, the boundary was clearly divided.
Eventually—
The hot red solution stayed on top, and the cold blue solution sank to the bottom, perfectly forming two layers.