Chapter 11
Class Observation (2)
I had co here on a whim, just in case. The thought of Bereninche being absent kept nagging at .
That’s why I had gone through the rare trouble of observing Winter’s class.
Thankfully, the world had decided to reward my effort. I expressed my gratitude by spitting at the trouble it had gone out of its way to create for .
“Hey, is your head okay?”
“Yes.”
The Holy Scripture that had suddenly dropped on my head was vibrating ominously. It wasn’t even inscribed with any writing, yet I was left thinking hard. The conclusion I reached was that sothing had happened.
Sitting next to the professor and basking in the sunlight, I felt at peace. Even if an assassin were to show up, the title of an Academy professor was not sothing to be taken lightly.
Which naturally ant I was more concerned about Winter. I brushed off her panicked teasing half-heartedly.
“There shouldn’t be any dangerous guys around right now.”
“I hope it’s just a needless worry on my part as well.”
I was here just in case — not out of certainty. If things passed quietly, all the better.
“Ah, this is…”
It felt off. Sothing passed from my frontal lobe to my occipital lobe. It was what people call intuition. Once again, it didn’t seem like today would end peacefully.
In the ga, nothing significant happened during this period. It was right after the [Tutorial] had ended. So what exactly was putting Winter in danger?
While thinking that, I glanced at the professor following behind . I had expected him to brush it off and tell not to talk nonsense, but he believed when I said there might be a problem.
The anomaly appeared after we had wandered around the mountain for close to thirty minutes.
“What the... What is that?”
The professor, who had been lighthearted until now, suddenly wore a serious expression.
His gaze was fixed on a bizarre creature clawing at a do made of dirt.
“A lizard is digging a grave.”
“Does that look like a grave to you?”
“What is that thing?”
“You learned about it last year.”
“First ti seeing it.”
“Great, you damn brat.”
It looked like a leopard but was a lizard with scales. Strange scales that changed color depending on how the sunlight hit them.
I pointed at the dirt do that the lizard was scratching at.
“That didn’t form naturally, did it?”
“Of course not. Looks like soone’s inside. First off, that guy’s pretty dangerous. Everything that cos out of its body is acidic. I’ll take it down in one strike, so stay back.”
With that, the professor drew his sword. And that’s when I realized what that thing was.
ntioning acid brought to mind a well-known monster. The one called the Acid Gecko. Its attack power wasn’t much, but it was fast, making it hard to catch.
And despite that, it constantly secreted acidic sli, which had lted through so much armor that just thinking about it made grit my teeth.
―Kki-rek?
It happened in an instant. The professor's figure vanished the mont he picked up a small stone nearby and hurled it.
The very mont the Acid Gecko turned its head at the sudden sound, the professor’s sword had already reached its neck.
Startled, the Acid Gecko leapt back, but the professor was one step faster. He showed that being an Academy professor was no easy feat.
With a smooth motion, the sword sliced clean through the Acid Gecko’s neck. It was shockingly skilled and graceful.
“Hey, it’s over.”
The professor clicked his tongue as he looked at his lted, severed sword. Just that brief contact had been enough to corrode the blade.
I tapped on the dirt do as I began to speak. Only then did the hardened wall collapse. Inside, I saw the reddish-brown-haired twins and a familiar head of white hair.
“Senior?”
“You really attract trouble.”
“...That’s not true, okay?”
Winter pouted her lips. I chuckled for once. Though this fragile girl kept her timid posture, she never held back her words.
The professor standing beside her wore a sullen face.
“I’m the one who saved you, you know? Even gave up my sword.”
“Ah! Thank you very much!”
“Yeah, yeah. Even I didn’t expect the Acid Gecko to show up. Damn. I might get chewed out for this. Let’s head back.”
The professor looked wistfully at the Acid Gecko’s corpse. It was a fairly expensive material for alchemy.
However, because its blood and sli lted through everything, it couldn’t be transported without a specialized container or magic. There was a student from the magic faculty, but asking them for that would be a bit shaless.
“Why the hell did this thing pop out now?”
“Is it not supposed to show up?”
“Exactly. These guys don’t usually move around in cold weather. By now, they should’ve dug a hole and gone into hibernation.”
Changes in the habits of wild creatures happened from ti to ti. Still, even if it was an unforeseen variable, if a student had been hurt, it would’ve been a serious problem.
“Professor.”
“Yeah?”
“Do these guys usually move alone?”
“Hey. Do you seriously not rember a single thing from last year?”
The professor was dumbfounded. At the very least, he should’ve drilled it into our ears to stay far, far away from this monster.
If soone was this clueless, it was almost hurtful for the one who had taught them. That expression of his, like he had no idea what the problem was, only made it more infuriating.
“They don’t move in packs. There aren’t many of them to begin with. A male and female pair at most... wait, crap!”
***
To be honest, Winter was utterly confused. What she saw was a dirt-covered ground tangled with small twigs.
An attack she hadn’t even registered. A body flung to the side. The stinging stench that pricked at her nose.
A bad feeling wrapped around her entire body. Lying where she had fallen, Winter slowly raised her head.
“Huh?”
What Winter barely registered was the broad back shielding her. A considerable build. Lean, perhaps, but only Davide had a height like this.
White smoke was rising from his body, casting a shadow over her.
“Holy sh*t! Hey! Are you okay?!”
“Yes. I'm fine.”
“Fine, my ass!”
Only then did Winter notice that Davide’s shirt had been shredded to rags. The professor tossed aside his sword, now reduced to just the hilt.
He rushed over to check Davide’s condition. Judging by his calm expression, it was enough to make soone go weak in the knees — but everyone there knew it was far from a good situation.
“Hey! Anyone here know water magic?!”
“Yes, yes!”
“Co here and clean him off!”
Thanks to that, Davide ended up soaked. The male twin ca rushing over. As mana surged, moisture began to gather in the air.
The hastily conjured spray of water didn’t last long. But it was enough to effectively wash off the sli. Once the acidic sli was gone, the sll of blood grew strong.
Davide’s front quickly beca drenched in blood. The priest robes he wore had lost all function as clothing. Worried that the wounds would worsen, Davide tore off his top.
“Ack! What the—?!”
As soone trained in healing arts as a priest, Winter assessed the situation and ran over to Davide.
Another Acid Gecko corpse had appeared. It was slightly smaller than the first one killed. The hidden female must have attacked.
Davide must have realized it and pushed her out of the way, taking the hit himself. Winter suddenly felt a surge of fear.
“U-um… does it hurt?”
Davide, standing firm, looked as if he didn’t even know what pain was. She checked the wound. The sli seed to have hit the right side of his torso, and the injury was deep.
The path of the wound looked like an insect had crawled wherever it wanted. It resembled a gash made slowly with a saw by soone with a twisted personality.
It had cut into the flesh deeply, spilling blood. Winter hurriedly rummaged through her backpack and pulled out an ergency kit.
“Oh my god…”
Looking at the wound up close, it was quite severe. If there had been just a little more of that sli, it might’ve burned a hole through his body, exposing bone or internal organs.
All Winter could do was literal ergency treatnt. She first injected a standard-grade antidote. Acid Gecko sli also carried toxins.
Next, she sprayed a coagulant. Having been taught how painful this was, Winter flinched as if she were the one hurt.
“P-please hold on. Please don’t pass out!”
“I’m totally fine.”
Seeing Winter’s trembling hands, Davide kept a blank expression.
He was the one injured, yet she was the one panicking. He felt no pain, and thanks to his skill, his recovery rate was exceptional — this wound would heal soon enough.
Watching him speak so calmly again made Winter feel as if her blood was boiling in reverse.
“C-calm down, Winter! It's just a minor wound!”
“Are you talking to yourself or to the patient?”
Even in a situation like this, a dry laugh escaped her. This fragile girl was babbling nervously and trembling all over, yet she continued treating him steadily.
Her hands shook, so it should’ve taken longer, but she applied the dicine and wrapped the bandage quickly and without error. She was quite skilled.
“Huh. Religion really is sothing else.”
“It’s not religion that’s amazing, it’s our Goddess.”
“…Could you keep your mouth shut for a second?”
By now, the professor was beyond being surprised. Davide, that human trash, throwing himself to protect soone?
Even if a stray dog passed by playing chess, it’d be less surprising than this.
He never imagined Davide could change like this. And the thing that made it possible—was probably religion.
Seeing him crack jokes so casually, the professor almost felt like he was the fool for worrying.
“…This sucks.”
Winter, without realizing it, felt a pang of frustration. She hadn’t known Davide Duhein for long.
Still, she owed him a lot for allowing her to join the Order. That sense of debt had driven her to work hard.
She had definitely noticed his subtle consideration toward others. Even so, Winter couldn't bring herself to call Davide a good person.
What she’d seen and heard of his past deeds weren’t things to take lightly. She could sense his temperant and character, whether she wanted to or not.
Because of all that, she never imagined he would step forward to save the group himself.
“Hnn…”
“She’s really crying now.”
So she cried. Gratitude and guilt coexisted. Those mixed emotions ca together and stirred up sothing strange inside her.
“Hey. Treatnt’s done. Take care of her.”
The professor supported Davide and left Winter in the care of the reddish-brown-haired twins. Even they looked bewildered.
“We’ll take care of her.”
“Alright. I’ll inform the assistant professor, so head back to the base. Class is over.”
And with that, the two n departed. The twins looked after Winter with complicated expressions. But with her tears falling freely, there wasn’t much they could do for her.
She simply stood firm on her two feet and began tidying up the area.
“Sniff… I’ll head out first.”
Watching Winter walk away, they stood dazed for a mont before starting to move. The older brother lightly nudged his sister.
“That was Davide, right?”
“Seems like it.”
“Not what I expected at all.”
The sister shrugged. They strongly felt like they were just extras in the situation.
It felt like they were saved incidentally while Winter was the true target. Still, being saved remained unchanged.
Throwing oneself in harm’s way for soone else was never easy. If it had been out of a simple sense of justice, it would have been easier to understand.
But it wasn’t that. Nor was it out of romantic feelings. Then again, would soone go that far just for a fellow student sponsored by their family?
“So rumors really can’t be trusted, huh?”
“He did stab a classmate though.”
“There must’ve been a reason, don’t you think?”
“Maybe.”
This act had been so unexpected, it was enough to inspire dangerous levels of speculation.
“He’s an interesting guy.”
“Well, the world’s full of strange people.”
“Guess we owe him.”
“We’ll probably get a chance to repay it.”
The short-haired sister frowned.
“He’s intense.”
“Seems like it.”
She pointed that out. Being drenched in acidic sli was not sothing one could take lightly. That stuff relentlessly burned through organic matter — it was torture, plain and simple.
He must’ve felt like his raw flesh was burning. And yet his expression hadn’t even changed. That was impressive.
It couldn’t be explained with sothing shallow like "he's tough." It ant he had serious ntal fortitude.
“Bereninche too… Are all the Duheins like that?”
“Seems that way.”
Naturally, the conversation turned to Bereninche. They couldn't help but wonder what she would’ve done.
Then they realized such speculation was aningless. If even Davide was this unpredictable, how much more would that apply to Bereninche?
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