How to Survive at the Academy Chapter 191

After a long night (1)

“Kuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-!”

It was a bizarre feeling to call it a stretching sound.

As Assistant Professor Claire opened the glass door of the main entrance of the Trix Building while gazing at the rising morning sun, she was so happy with the morning air that tears welled up in her eyes.

A long and long time on duty with Professor Kalade, who did not even pretend to serve one person, was over.

Her blonde hair, which had become frizzy from staying up all night, had twigs sticking out here and there. The sunken eyes are completely brittle, and the eyes of the smoked fish dish seem more lively.

I can’t even find a trace of dignity in the ugliness of stretching like a man.

Certainly, until a few years ago, assistant professor Claire was also an honor student at the bachelor’s school, and she had an atmosphere that was hard to touch.

After a few years, the so-called sage time came up with the appearance of being soaked in the water of society, and not wearing pretty makeup, but putting up bundly hair in a ponytail.

Was the choice to teach teaching too reckless?

To be honest, I didn’t feel all that good despite the fresh morning air that cooled my lungs with tears running down my face.

“Do you have a record of the dispatch of medical personnel at dawn?”

“Ah, yes… A student was injured near the North Forest.”

“Ugh. The student is hurt?”

“Yes. I’ve made a list of the report, so you can check it. It’s already been reported to the vice-principal line, so you don’t need to take any new action.”

The next worker, who was going through the handover process, checked the list that was densely packed and stuck out his tongue.

“What happened last night…”

“There were a lot of accidents. The building of Elte Co. collapsed in the life building. It happened outside the professor building, but you have to be aware of it.”

“Eh, the building of Elte Corporation? What happened? Is the investigation over?”

After the braid was hanging down, the worker pushed up his glasses and spoke embarrassedly.

Assistant Professor Claire closed all the doors left open for ventilation, then entered the duty room and talked.

“They say it was an explosion accident due to poor risk inventory management.”

It was a pretty cool answer.

“A risk assessment?”

“It looks like the magic items imprinted with the explosives caused a chain explosion in the warehouse of the Elte Company.”

While checking the list, the shift attendant speaks in a puzzled manner.

“Even Elte, which said they have distributed quite a few items, makes a mistake like that.”

“Well, they say there were no serious injuries or casualties… but the financial damage will be significant.”

Assistant Professor Claire said that without batting an eye.

The reason the Elte store building was half-destroyed was an accident that occurred while distributing goods.

“Is the handover over? Are you off work now?”

Sitting on a chair at the end of the office with his feet stretched out, a man with a book covering his face stood up.

He frees his screaming joints and staggers up, like a corpse waking up from the dead.

“Uha, it was long, it was long.”

After spending the night almost sitting in my seat, the tiredness is most evident.

In the first place, Professor Kalade always looks tired.

“Ahhh, I should go back to my room and rest. I wonder if there are still beers left in the general store in the living room.”

“Ah, yes… Welcome back, Professor Kaleid.”

“Claire, are you not going in?”

Are you saying this is confirmed? I must have seen it and uploaded the documents.

Claire spoke through her tears.

“The school opening ceremony is scheduled for tomorrow. In the morning, I have to give the order to clean up the auditorium of the student hall, check if the staff have finished preparations for the opening ceremony, and then go back.”

“That…”

After working all night, work piled up until morning. It could be said that it was a situation where tears covered the front.

Professor Kalade grabbed Assistant Professor Claire by one shoulder and clenched his other fist.

“Fighting! Claire! They said that even when you’re young, you can go through hardships!”

After saying that, Professor Kaleid’s back figure staggered toward the front door.

Watching the back of a drunkard staggering with his hands in the pockets of his white coat makes me want to punch him just for one night.

“By the way, where are the injured students?

At that time, the next worker asked assistant professor Claire.

“Ah… Student Ed Rosteiler? I think he’s lying on a bed in the infirmary at the Tricks Hall right now. They say all urgent measures are over, so maybe…”

“He’s not there right now.”

“…yes?”

Professor Kalade, who took out a cigarette in front of the open front door, spoke.

“Claire, the last time you went out to check the safety hazard area, you and Lucy Meiril left the Trix building. I sat in the duty room and saw it for sure.”

“Oh, no… You left? What if you just send it to me! I looked at you and saw that you were seriously hurt!”

“Don’t worry.”

As the smoke rose, Professor Kalade suddenly looked up at the eastern sky.

There was still a lot of dark red aura in the sky, but the sun was pushing its head out little by little, pushing away the darkness.

“Vice-principal Rachel Sun has given permission. Don’t touch her, let her do as she pleases.”

*I can’t help but feel dumbfounded when I see the half-destroyed Elte Company building.

In the first place, a broken building is always a scene that penetrates the blind spot of an accident.

It is a scene of a structure that seemed to stand firmly on the spot for days and days, and collapsed helplessly. It’s natural to feel like your daily life has collapsed or that the world has completely changed.

All the workers who came to fix the store building seemed to have the same thoughts, and now they were all looking at the building with only half of its shape remaining.

It is the last day of summer vacation.

As soon as they returned to school, all the students who encountered such a major accident were shocked, but their daily life itself did not collapse.

“Unlike you, I made a splendid plan.”

“No, I didn’t expect it to grow to this extent…”

No one seemed to be paying attention to me, who was looking inside from the outside of the iron cage of Elte Firm, and to Lucy, who was standing clinging to me with her arms wrapped around her.

In the first place, the collapse of the Elte Corporation building itself was disguised as some kind of explosion.

It doesn’t seem like a simple misunderstanding, and I feel strongly that the breath of a superior person has touched me.

Even the appearance of the workers who started the restoration work as naturally as flowing water was dotted with a sense of incongruity.

“This is enough. Let’s go to camp.”

“huh.”

I walked side by side with Lucy, holding onto my unsteady steps.

The distance from the living building to the northern forest camp is not short. If you sprint, you can get there quickly, but you’re not in good shape.

Lucy looked at me worryingly as I wandered around, but she didn’t bother to stop me. She seems to be telling you to do whatever you like.

Lucy followed me into the forest with my collar tightly gripped, and every time a vine or leaf draped over me appeared, she quickly manifested her magic and cut it down.

As I thanked her, I pressed my hand over the witch’s hat and stroked it, and Lucy rubbed her head on my forearm as if she was in a good mood.

Even then, there was a realization that it was a very embarrassing thing, and it was very difficult to deal with it by occasionally groaning and correcting your posture.

So we made our way through the forest at dawn for a while.

When I passed this road with Lortel last night, it was so dark that I couldn’t even see an inch ahead.

But now, as the light of the rising morning sun seeped through the forest, the subtle fog shed mysteriously.

As we cross between them, Lucy’s soft white hair shines mysteriously as well.

Lucy’s hair seems to absorb light like a sponge. It turns red at sunset and glows softly at sunrise.

“You know. I like this forest.”

No matter what time it is, Lucy’s words feel out of place.

It’s because it’s suddenly taken out without a warning.

“I like the smell of grass when I’m walking at dawn like this.”

It feels like Lucy’s voice is subtly seeping into the sound of grass insects in the forest resounding from early morning.

“So, I hope it doesn’t disappear.”

“Will the forest disappear so easily?”

“Not the forest, but the grassy smell.”

“When there is a forest, the grass smells too.”

At my conclusion, Lucy buried her head in her forearm and sniffed.

Then he closed his eyes and spoke softly.

“Not necessarily.”

It is not easy to read Lucy’s mood from subtle changes in her expression.

Even for me, who has lived with her for a long time in camp, it is difficult to gauge her mood with her expressionless face always in its default state.

It’s often difficult to tell people apart just by facial expressions, so in the end, you have no choice but to analyze them through the tone of your words or your actions.

Eye contact does not always mean direct communication.

Like dogs wagging their tails and cats wagging their tails. What people do when they are in a good mood is also different from person to person.

However, it is not very difficult to interpret the series of actions of burying his head in my arm, sniffing, exhaling deeply, and rubbing his face.

A look of immense satisfaction. It takes more time and understanding to analyze the reason, but I felt relieved after seeing her satisfied appearance anyway.

“Hello, Miss Lucy.”

The satisfied face turned to darkness in an instant.

Upon arriving at the camp, what you see… It was Bell Maia, the maid sitting next to the campfire that had been lit first.

The chief maid of Ophelis Hall.

He was the nemesis of Archmage Lucy Meiril.

The satisfied face that seemed to have everything in the world that I had seen just before is gone, and she started to break out in a cold sweat with eyes that were horizontally barking like a cat.

… It was a pretty precious sight.

*

“I asked you to check the room assignments within today because the school opening ceremony is scheduled from tomorrow.”

“Ha, I was going to do it. Oh, I’m going to do it today.”

“It’s fortunate. I was worried that you didn’t show up at the opening ceremony this year, and that you were taking a nap somewhere.”

“I-I didn’t think so.”

It looks like the campfire has already been lit, and the messy camp has been basically cleaned up here and there.

I must have returned to the Ophelis Hall late yesterday morning, but I arrived at the camp at sunrise and finished the basic arrangements.

It was hard to believe even with my eyes open, so I couldn’t help but stick out my tongue.

“Are you really sleeping, Bell?”

“I take a nap in the middle of the day, and sometimes I take a long nap on days when I don’t have a schedule.”

“However, that’s the case… People are not machines…”

Bell raised her body in a calm posture and sent a greeting with a nod of her head.

“Did you have a good night last night. Master Ed. It doesn’t look like that…”

“He’s seriously injured.”

“I got a rough idea of ​​this and that situation after arriving at the camp. But it’s good that your life doesn’t seem to be in danger.”

It literally feels like a few hours.

In the meantime, Belle went back to Ophelis Hall, took a quick rest, washed herself, quickly changed into new clothes, and came back perfectly dressed.

Then, he organized various tools lying around the camp and erased traces of chaos.

“You just go back and rest. Now it’s time to get busy with the students returning to school.”

“Yes. Most of the students from the Ophelis Hall have returned home, so I think I won’t be able to afford it.”

“In the first place, it makes no sense to take care of Nam’s camp while managing Ophelis Hall. You don’t have two bodies.”

“That’s why, for the time being, I can’t spend a lot of time on the camp. Well, I came to see and tell you those things, I wanted to make sure you were all right, and I also had something to tell you.”

Belle was boiling water in an iron pot on a rack over the campfire. In the meantime, he intends to prepare a simple breakfast.

I shook my hand and instructed her to return to Ophelis Hall.

Bell, who was staring at me with a dissatisfied face, nodded in agreement.

“What do you mean?”

“Miss Tanya is returning home today.”

Tanya Ross Taylor.

He was the person who stood at the center of the catastrophe that occurred in the Ross Taylor family.

He said that he sent me back to Sylvania first, and then stayed on site to gather forces or take care of the cleanup.

In fact, he is stepping on his steps as the next family head.

It is a position that is politically very delicate, but it has succeeded in rallying its forces even in such adverse conditions.

According to rumors, even the head of the Bloom River family and the head of the Calamore family sided with Tanya…

I wondered what kind of skill he had used.

“I’d like to meet you sometime.”

“Of course. Tell them that we are going to the Ophelis Hall.”

After saying that, Bell turned her gaze to Lucy.

Lucy, who was holding my forearm, flinched as if she had been stabbed by a sharp object.

“Then, Miss Lucy. To prepare for the school opening ceremony tomorrow, please check the requests from now on, prepare to dress up, and tell me what you need to know.”

“No, I can do it myself.”

“No. I will help you.”

“No! I can do it myself!”

Lucy, who had said the same line twice, tried to back away, but before she knew it, Bell put her hands in Lucy’s armpits and grabbed her.

The dangling Lucy was caught by Bell as it was. There was not even a sign of resistance, whether it was tears welling up.

“I’m really busy right now, so let’s go back to the Ophelis Hall.”

“Didn’t you actually come to catch Lucy?”

“No way. How could I expect that Lady Lucy would show up in a place like this. Just…”

Bell spoke without changing a single expression.

“It’s just luck and timing.”

“…”

So Bell bowed her head and said hello. There were still a lot of questions I wanted to ask, but I didn’t have to listen to Belle.

Above all, it is the school year. Now, the maids in Ophelis Hall are going back to their normal jobs.

It would be better to think of taking care of the camp as a side job during vacation.

It’s really comfortable for Bell to take care of the camp, but when I get used to it, I get tired too.

If you want to continue the wild life, you must not lose your sense of sharpness.

“By the way, what about Lortel?”

I asked one last time on Bell’s back as he was about to leave.

Last night’s recapture battle with Elte Co., if only the most important question was brought up, in the end Lortel’s whereabouts was the problem.

“You wouldn’t know it if you saw that I went to camp early in the morning.”

Bell spoke in a friendly tone.

“She’s my employer. She was, and still is. End the story, please.”

Saying that, Bell snatched Lucy and disappeared into the forest.

Seeing Lucy not even trying to struggle, I felt faint.

If there is someone who can properly control Lucy in this school, then is Bell the only one?

* Even if the dark night is long, the sun rises.

As if proving that fact, the morning sun sticking out its head greets me.

As the light of dawn slowly rising illuminates the camp, neither the gloomy darkness nor the gloomy raindrops appear.

Occasionally, the light reflected from the remaining water puddle tickled my eyes, but not to the point of being annoying.

Looking at the panoramic view of the camp like that, you even get the illusion that you are back in your daily life.

However, I know that there are many things that have yet to be concluded.

Too many forces intertwined last night, too many things happened… In the end, there are only two things that are most important to check.

What happened to Taylor in the end?

What happened to Lortel in the end?

The answer to those two questions will eventually come down to whether or not my efforts, which I suffered during this uproar the night before, were successful.

I raise my head for a moment and look over the campfire.

In the rain, it seems that the figure of Taily, who gritting his teeth and raising his body to the end, overlaps.

For now, let’s check the basement of Lortel’s villa.

With that thought in mind, I headed toward Lortel’s villa with my body still in pain.

When I pulled the door open, it was not locked. That would be the case. The bell just came and went.

The scenery you see when you open the door… It was as expected.

“Oh, you’re here early, senior.”

“…”

“You must have been hurt a lot, but why don’t you rest more?”

Traces of many people shutting up and searching the inside.

Furniture was toppled over, and odds and ends like books and inkwells were rolling on the floor.

The entrance to the wine cellar, which I had worked so hard to block, was also neatly drilled. At the end of the space leading to the basement, there must have been a pile of gold and silver treasures, clearly showing the circumstances of Lortel’s embezzlement.

The imperial convoy came and searched them all. And it seemed that he had found all of that mountain of gold coins.

However, Lortel Kecheln was not escorted.

She was sitting at the work desk in the center of the villa, smiling softly like a fox.

I set up a chair nearby and sat down. Because it was too difficult to stand still.

“I have a lot to ask.”

“What happened last night?”

“of course.”

“Should I tell you slowly, starting with the background, or should I start with the conclusion?”

The pain rose up in my body, but I didn’t show it for nothing. She didn’t want to worry Lortel.

“From the conclusion.”

“There are three conclusions.”

Lortel held up three fingers. The middle finger was the ring finger.

“Taylor was taken back by Ayla. Ayla’s expression looked flustered, but she’d have to explain the situation on the other side. Maybe we need to meet again and talk about it properly… but she seemed a bit complicated.”

I’m catching exactly what I’m curious about. First of all, it is the part Lucy told me.

Lortel may not even know the truth about Valveroke, but it’s an amazing intuition.

So Lortel folded her ring finger.

“The embezzlement case at Elte Company was completely covered by Dune. This is something I am a bit puzzled about, but I still haven’t figured out how the situation came to be like this. It’s a situation where I should be the first to be suspected. I’ll have to check it out.”

That’s part of what I expected to some extent. It probably went as expected.

So Lortel put a stop to it.

Then, with a softly extended index finger, he quickly came down from the folding table, approached me, who was sitting still in the chair, and pricked my lips.

Satisfaction blooms in a bewitching smile.

“….What.”

“The last thing is that I became that person. In a way, that’s the most important conclusion.”

Saying that, in an instant, wrapped my head in a hug.

Even I was taken aback by the feeling of their lips overlapping.

Anyway, she’s a girl who’s good at taking advantage of people’s carelessness and taking advantage of surprise attacks.

Without giving me a chance to pull my hair back, Lortel kissed me for a long time.

Kissing unexpectedly. It’s not the first time you’ve experienced it, but this time it’s been a long time.

After hugging her head tightly and kissing her lips for a while, Lortel removed her head.

The sinister smile on her face is like the Lortel I’ve finally known.

The glazed figure that had been glazed over the night is nowhere to be seen. On the contrary, I feel reassured in that way.

Eventually, the lines that would come out of Lortel’s mouth were somehow unexpected.

“Is that the second one?”

“…”

With a ladylike smile, I answered too.

Since I was in the midst of a lot of hardships, I couldn’t help but feel a subtle grumpy feeling coming up.

“It’s not the second time.”

“…yes?”

The bewitching face that seemed like an impregnable squirrel collapsed in an instant, and Lortel opened her eyes wide.

“…”

“…”

“… Then who is the second?”

I was thinking about how to respond to that, but I quietly rubbed Lortel’s shoulder.

“Anyway, it’s good to see you’re safe.”

Lortel gently cupped my hand on her shoulder and… She closed her eyes gently and felt the warmth for a moment.

A cottage in an uninhabited camp. There was a gentle warmth in the early morning forest.

They exchanged the warmth of their hands and stayed still for a while. A strange sense of satisfaction surged up between them.

Eventually, Lortel opened her eyes gently and asked again.

“So… who is the second…??”

She was a surprisingly obsessive girl.