Chapter 10
Class Observation (1)
Winter Seraphist was a quiet girl. She had a delicate appearance that stirred maternal instincts, but she didn’t particularly stand out.
She always kept to herself, too shy to hold a proper conversation. That kind of personality inevitably made her uncomfortable under the gaze of others.
―What’s that?
―That’s Davide Duhein.
―That scumbag? Wasn’t he suspended? What’s he doing here?
―Don’t know. Don’t make eye contact. You might get hurt.
"……Ugh. Phew."
Faced with this many eyes, it was only natural to freeze up. Winter glanced back nervously.
Behind her stood a man with a delinquent look in his eyes, firmly planted in place. Davide stood there, lazily yawning with his mouth wide open.
"What are you."
"Here to observe the class."
"Yeah, but… why you?"
"Got bored since I’m suspended…?"
"This crazy bastard."
Winter tapped her chest and took a deep breath. Was that really a conversation between a professor and a student?
The first-year Basic Hunting professor eventually gave up on Davide. With a deep sigh, he warned him not to interfere with the class.
His attitude was unruly, yet everything he said was shockingly polite. Winter couldn’t quite get used to that contradiction and let out another deep breath.
―Did he co just to disrupt the class?
―Wow. Is he actually insane?
―Who knows. The professor’ll deal with him.
In a way, it was fascinating. The stares pouring in were filled with hostility. Every whispered word was laced with sharp thorns, ant to be heard.
And yet, despite receiving all of it head-on, Davide stood his ground. He even seed relaxed, brushing it all off as if it didn’t matter.
Winter found herself wondering how he managed to do that.
“Don’t mind it. Just focus on the class.”
"……How am I supposed to not mind it?"
A deep voice spoke from above her head. Winter instinctively pouted.
She hadn’t been well-regarded to begin with. She struggled with socializing and wasn’t good at speaking. Those repeated experiences ford a certain image of her.
All she did was not know a few things, yet Winter had ended up isolated by the other students. And once it happened, she found herself oddly used to it.
There were more important things to her than silly friendships.
"Seriously. Seriously. Why did you co?"
"Seriously. Seriously. Because I was bored."
"……."
This shaless jerk clearly had no intention of giving a proper answer. Winter massaged her temples like she was getting a headache.
The whispering got louder. It wasn’t like she was hurt, but it was still overwhelming.
"Oi. Fuck. It’s noisy as hell."
He was absurdly quick on the uptake. Sensing her discomfort, Davide raised his voice.
Surprisingly, the chaotic atmosphere died down in an instant. No one wanted to get bitten by a mad dog.
"……Should I be bowing to thank you or sothing?"
"Not at all, professor. Please carry on with the class."
"Hoo. Yeah. Damn Duheins..."
Just like the announcent last week, today was a practical session. Winter wore a gloomy expression. She usually avoided physical activity as much as possible, so these classes were always hard for her.
And if they added practical work on top of it, her body wouldn’t make it through. She really wanted to return to the dorm on her own two feet today.
"You’ll go out in pairs for the hunt. Make good use of everything you’ve learned so far."
To be honest, she felt like spitting. Everything they’d supposedly learned so far amounted to nothing more than goblin nas.
What could they possibly have learned in just two weeks of class? The anatomical structure of a goblin and the human body’s vital points?
What was even more frustrating was that she was alone. The other students had all paired up with their friends.
Normally, Bereninche would have been beside her—but not now. Her mind went completely blank, just like her view.
"Um… Professor?"
"Hm? Ah. Bereninche isn’t here, huh."
When she timidly raised her hand, the professor stroked his chin and fell into thought. Wasn’t this sothing he should’ve prepared for in advance?
Standing there awkwardly, Winter fidgeted with her hands.
"Don’t bite your nails. You’ll hurt yourself."
"……I’m holding back from tearing my hair out instead."
"Alopecia is incurable."
"……I’m actually being serious right now, you know?"
She threw the remark over her shoulder. Deep down, she wanted to step on his foot and tell him to shut up, but Winter valued her life.
The professor looked troubled as he glanced at the two bantering behind him.
"You, go join that group over there."
"Okay…"
Winter trudged toward the designated group, each step heavier than the last. A foreboding presence followed behind her. He was really going to co along.
Winter had no idea what this sharp-eyed mad dog was thinking. The two students waiting for her began to stiffen as they saw Davide following in tow.
"Uh… I’ll be in your care."
"……"
"……"
She clenched her lips shut. I’m so sorry! She could totally understand why the two students, now pale as ghosts, couldn’t even respond.
"Uh…! We’ll be in your care too!"
"Yeah! Let’s do our best this ti!"
Only after Davide gave them a steady look did the two students grit their teeth and respond.
The twin siblings with reddish-brown hair gave it their all to welco Winter. Their desperate display was so moving, it brought tears to her eyes.
"Davide!"
"Yes, professor."
"Don’t cause any trouble. Get over here."
"I’m not that kind of person."
"……Do you even know what a conscience is?"
"That’s a new word to ."
At his fearless reply, the girl with the reddish-brown bob went completely pale. Her brother patted her on the back.
The professor only distanced Davide from them after personally walking over with a huff through his nose. It was only once that ominous presence disappeared that the three of them finally sighed in relief.
"Alright! Get moving! You have three hours. This is part of your performance evaluation, so take it seriously!"
The phrase ‘can’t breathe’ wasn’t just a figure of speech. Winter could feel the suffocating pressure brought on by the chilling silence.
It took forty minutes to reach halfway up the mountain. The three students hadn’t exchanged a single word. Unable to bear the atmosphere any longer, the male student mustered the greatest courage of his life.
"Um."
"Y-Yes! I an, yeah!"
"Can I… call you Winter?"
"Please do!"
Winter nodded eagerly, overwheld with emotion. The male student, though clearly a little burdened, managed a faint smile.
"I’m not sure if you already know, but I’m Regi."
"I’m Rera."
The three of them exchanged nas. The twins treated Winter with caution. It was because Davide had shown that he valued her.
"Are you, by any chance, part of the Duhein Family?"
"Um… not exactly."
Winter shook her head. She had tried to live quietly, but the people around her were anything but ordinary.
Bereninche, the undisputed top student of the first-year Combat Departnt, had taken a liking to Winter. Despite receiving attention from several notable figures, she had chosen Winter as her partner.
And now there was Davide—the Academy’s infamous mad dog—who also seed to care about her. Otherwise, there’d be no reason for him to go out of his way to observe class and stick to her side like that.
The two of them shared the na Duhein. So the twins assud Winter must be an important guest of the Duhein Family, or perhaps a student they were supporting.
"Ah, I see. That’s how it is. Got it."
"Huh? Wait… What is it exactly that you ‘got’?"
Standing at the center of this misunderstanding, the pale girl quickly realized that her lack of communication skills left her helpless to correct it.
"Hey, hey. Look at this."
The girl with the reddish-brown bob who had taken the lead urgently called the group over. She was kneeling, cautiously examining sothing.
It was a footprint, about fifteen centiters in length. It was faint—difficult to detect without a keen eye.
"Bird, maybe?"
"A bird wouldn’t have feet this big."
Winter’s eyes widened. Judging by her appearance, the girl seed like a student from the Magic Departnt, yet her actions felt unusually natural for the field.
Winter leaned in and peeked at the footprint. The thin marks extending in three directions looked vaguely like chicken tracks.
But the size was sothing else. As far as she knew, tracks of this scale had to belong to a large bird—but such creatures wouldn’t normally co down into a forest like this, much less leave tracks on the ground.
"Um…"
"Hm?"
"Rember last week, we learned about the creatures you're supposed to run from on sight?"
"Yeah, we did. You can talk casually with us, you know?"
"Is that really the issue right now?"
The male student added to the conversation as Winter was still speaking formally. His twin sister scolded him for talking nonsense at a ti like this.
"The third one on that list was…"
"Acid Gecko. Oh, no way."
Quick-witted Rera furrowed her brows tightly. Regi also realized just how serious this might be.
A highly dangerous creature that consistently held the number one spot for fatality rates among professions related to mountains—herbalists, hunters, and the like.
It was a top-level hazard creature that had to be reported imdiately upon discovery.
"We’re not experts. It’s not like we can identify an Acid Gecko just from a footprint…"
"No. I think it really is one."
"Huh? How can you—ah, shit."
The boy, who had been trying to stay optimistic, followed his sister’s gaze—and let out a crude curse.
At the end of the three students' line of sight, an Acid Gecko was perched in a tree, drooling acid from its mouth.
It was about the size of a leopard. How it managed to cling so effortlessly to the tree with feet that looked like chicken claws was a mystery. Its bright yellow pupils glead wetly.
"What was dangerous about it again?"
"Everything. From its saliva to the mucus on its skin. If it touches you, you basically have to cut off that part of your body. The pain is just too much otherwise."
"Let’s go."
The three of them began slowly backing away. If Bereninche were here, this would be no problem. But unfortunately, the trio present now were no different from fledglings.
"Is it following us?"
"Feels like it’s sizing us up…"
"Can’t we try a ranged attack? As long as we don’t get close…"
"We’re all mages, right? With our reaction speed, there’s no way we could hit it."
Winter no longer tried to hide her tears. Without specialized protection equipnt, capturing an Acid Gecko was nearly impossible.
Being soone who valued theory, Winter had studied the Acid Gecko. It wasn’t just the speed that was the problem—it also had ranged attacks.
"It spits, too. Pretty far…"
"How far?"
"About 10 ters."
"How the hell does it spit 10 ters? This is insane!"
Rera summoned all the mana she could muster. A massive wall of earth rose up to shield the three of them.
***
"Haaam."
The first-year Basic Hunting professor stared oddly at Davide, who was sitting beside him yawning.
"Is there sothing on my face?"
"No, nothing…"
That irreverent tone was the sa as ever. But sohow, the politeness was there, too. The professor had taught Davide a year ago.
Back then, he was a slippery, unmotivated brat. A problem student with terrible manners who mocked teachers with his rude speech.
The atmosphere had changed now. The slack, indifferent deanor was gone, and Davide was, at the very least, treating him like a teacher.
"A priest’s robe really doesn’t suit you."
"Thank you."
The robe itself was part of the problem. He wore the sacred garnt with the face of a back-alley thug out for money.
Yet, when this jarring imbalance was pointed out, he accepted the remark without the usual pushback or sarcasm.
"They say people change when they’re near death."
"It’s all thanks to the goddess’s grace."
"You’re the one who nearly killed soone, weren’t you?"
"……That, too… must be thanks to the goddess’s grace?"
Only when Davide gave him a sharp look did the professor burst out in hearty laughter. He’d heard the rumors—that Davide had beco the bearer of the Holy Scripture.
Of course, he hadn’t believed it. What kind of god would choose soone that insane?
Even now, he wasn’t sure if it was true, but the change didn’t seem to be a bad one.
"So why did you co here, anyway?"
"I was bored and dropped by for fun."
"You? Yeah, right. What, is there a girl you fell for at first sight?"
"No."
Clicking his tongue at those apathetic eyes, the professor gave up. It didn’t look like Davide had any intention of opening up. Class observation was technically within a student’s rights.
Except for upper-year classes, the rules didn’t forbid attending other lessons. The professor could kick him out if he wanted, but he was curious about the reason.
Why had Davide co here, enduring the scorn of other students?
"So, what—have you finally decided to start learning sothing? Your body might be trash, but I’ve always said you weren’t lacking in talent."
"Not interested—ow!"
Just as Davide answered indifferently, a book ca crashing down onto his head with alarming force.
The impact was hard enough to make the professor flinch instinctively. Davide let out a long sigh and picked up the book.
"What’s that, the Holy Scripture?"
"……The goddess often chooses to scold this way."
Davide checked the scripture with an annoyed look in his eyes. The book was vibrating violently—unreasonably so. It had never trembled this frantically before.
This had to be sothing urgent. Naturally, thoughts of danger ca to mind.
"That thing’s not gonna explode, is it?"
"You think the scripture is a bomb?"
Davide scowled nacingly at the professor’s joke.
"Sothing must’ve happened to the students."
"What? But the assistant professors haven’t sent any signals."
Davide said no more and walked straight toward the practical training site.
The professor let out a sigh and followed behind him.
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