Moonlit Night Assault 3
“Ugh…”
Really… I feel like I’m gonna die like this. Sure, I technically died once and came back already, but whatever. This bone-shattering physical pain is a first across both my lives combined. They say when pain goes beyond a limit, endorphins kick in or something? It felt like I was floating lightly in empty air. Well, yeah—I fell from over ten meters up. Even tumbling onto soft mud couldn’t save me, not with this weak body I’ve had since I was little.
Next time I run into those creeps, I’m calling for backup first. I know Mom’s off in some distant land because of bastards like them. Getting tangled in these annoying scraps is all because she’s an archmage—and the empire’s ruler to boot.
But… something’s warm. It’s like being cradled in Mom’s arms, so I fumbled blindly, fingers twitching to clutch that heat. The cape of whoever’s holding me… I cracked my eyes open just a sliver, and there was this ridiculously cute face. Smells amazing too. No mana means my senses are shot to hell—everything’s blurry… No clue who it is. My eyelids droop shut again. I’ve got ages left to grow, so of course I need tons of sleep. Stamina’s one thing, but these mana growing pains? Brutal.
Thud, thud. Professor Oslo’s burly frame and the prim academy student Gail trudged through the forest, piggybacking the collapsed freshmen. Twigs and underbrush crunched underfoot with a rustle, the path treacherous as hell—but Gail, who’d aced Oslo’s Druid Studies class last year with an A+, navigated the thicket without much trouble.
Along the way, that bratty little squirt kept tugging at his collar, so he glanced down and…
“Hoo…”
Gail had taken a massive hit because of the girl he was carrying right now. His scholarship was gone, his future prospects dimmed, and his reputation? Tarnished as the academy’s top student—the first to lose to a kid half his age. And yet… he should hate her guts, despise even looking at her. So why the hell is she this stupidly adorable? The way she wriggles, yanking his cape with tiny fingers to snuggle closer…
“Nngh… it hurts…”
That frail whimper made his heart thud like a dropped stone. His face flushed hot—practically glowing red… No, wait—this is that same arrogant little punk he’s lugging around.
“Hrm—hold up a moment.”
“Yes, Professor.”
Oslo, leading the way, raised one arm to halt. Gail snapped back to reality from his weird daydream. Luckily, the professor couldn’t care less about whatever was going on between him and Kesera. He rarely left the woods anyway, and academy drama? Not his problem.
“This reeks of Chaos too, doesn’t it.”
Oslo, an ogre hybrid and the forest’s keeper with his odd professorial gig, lumbered along with his hefty build. He paused to sniff the stench, rubbing his distinctive snub nose.
“You’re Egail, right? Heh, I’m terrible with faces, you see.”
“Yes, that’s me, Professor.”
“Did you catch sight of these freshmen fighting? We’ll need witnesses, I reckon. Would be nice if the academy could handle the investigation in-house, but… this might draw the Imperial Magic Bureau itself.”
The Imperial Magic Bureau—the empire’s top agency for monitoring and researching all things magical. An outfit packed with the elite of the elite. Just hearing the name made Gail’s knees buckle.
“No, I didn’t see it. But… really? The Bureau’s getting involved?”
“Could be the Magic Regulatory Agency or Magic Crime Division instead, but their movements have been fishy lately. If they’ve planted one of their own among the freshmen here at the empire’s heart—the academy…”
The professor touched his forest staff to the boundary stone. With a clunk, the barrier of trees parted, revealing a straight shot to the infirmary.
“Let’s head to the infirmary first. That skilled Lia’ll take good care of ’em.”
“You mean Professor Karia…?”
“Aye, Lia.”
Professor Karia—always in her white nurse uniform, dark circles under her eyes like a raccoon. The empire’s finest at healing magic, even floated as a candidate for next archmage a few times. She worked miracles: mending breaks, conjuring the lost. Everyone at the academy knew her. And her… quirky personality? Infamous.
“Anyone around? Lia, Professor! Come on out!”
Gail had never visited the infirmary at night, but stepping into the dim building sent chills down his spine—eerie and cold.
“Professor Lia! Where are you?”
Oslo barged right in, hollering without a care. The “infirmary” was massive—echoes bounced everywhere; calling it a single room felt wrong. Nights were dead quiet, save for long-term patients from magic mishaps. Gail and Oslo found empty beds and laid the kids down.
“I’ll fetch Lia, so wait here. And for rescuing this troubled student, I’ll bump your score for it.”
“Thank you, sir.”
The academy tallied points in all sorts of ways, including bonuses for rescues like this. Gail hadn’t done it for the points, but he’d still reap the benefits of a system meant to foster selflessness among students.
But as he laid Kesera on the bed and turned to leave, something snagged his clothes. Glancing back—there she was, clutching his cape, refusing to let go. This baby-faced kid acting like this… it melted him despite himself.
“Nnh… don’t go.”
Whoa—
Gail clutched his chest on reflex. He’d run into her a few times since exams started, but this expression? It dragged up memories of his niece back home, same age. “Hoo…” With a deep sigh, he gently pried her tiny fingers off his cape, one by one.
He started pulling away again, but a creepy vibe prickled his back. Professor Karia was staring them down.
“Oh my, are you two in love at the academy?”
“N-no! What’re you talking about, ma’am?”
“Pfft, it’s total CC. Campus couple.”
Professors at the Imperial Academy were all eccentrics, and Karia was no exception. A notorious spinster, she obsessed over student romances. Dorm supervisor Professor Isolen from the White Badge girls’ dorm was a rumored spinster too—but subtle about it. Karia? Blatant.
“Too bad~ Don’t worry, Egail dear. But isn’t your girlfriend a bit… pint-sized?”
“No. I’m not interested in kids like her.”
So Gail shut it down hard—no room for weird rumors. Date that brat? Me? No way in hell. She’s nemesis territory, cousin-age vendetta. No chance she’s my type.
“Whoa, didn’t recognize with her eyes closed, but up close? Hey, it’s you two from all those news stories!”
Karia clocked the freshman and got even more intrigued. Gail sighed but tried skirting away.
“We’re not like that. Big age gap anyway.”
“Age gaps are trendy these days~ Fight and make up, huh? Got it, got it. I’ll take good care of your girlfriend. My responsibility.”
“That’s not—! Looks like she fought that other freshman.”
Only then did Karia glance sideways. The male freshman lay on the next bed. And… she picked up on his subtle aura instantly.
“Love spat between them?”
“No way! I’m telling you, it’s not!”
“Nah, kidding. I know his condition well enough.”
A glint sharpened Karia’s eyes. Her mood flipped in a heartbeat—from playful to icy. She sidled up to the boy, sniffing him.
“Smells like Chaos. And… this is an aphrodisiac scent.”
“…Huh?”
Gail remembered a faint stink, but aphrodisiac? So that’s why he’d felt weird around the brat? Good to know. He’d thought he was losing it.
“Hoo… okay. We’ve got a ranking match scheduled with that freshman. Can he recover enough for it? I’m dead serious.”
“…Recover, huh.”
Karia stopped sniffing, looked up at Gail while drawing air from a syringe on her medical tray.
“You really wanna go all-in on someone that tiny~?”
“Ma’am, no!”
“Give him a week off~ Full recovery’ll take longer. He absorbed Chaos mana.”
Gail had already blabbed about a rematch, spreading rumors. But beating a sick kid for the win? That’d tank his rep worse—bully vibes all the way.