Chapter 26
Simon offered a suggestion.
"The problem is that Maelyn can't dodge the Cyclops's attacks, right? Then I can help Maelyn with summoning magic."
"...How?"
"Skeletons. I’ll summon undead to distract the Cyclops’s attention. While it’s distracted, Maelyn can prepare Dark Flare and go in for the attack."
There was no debate that the most effective offensive tool for Group 7 right now was Maelyn’s Dark Flare.
And if the issue was protecting Maelyn, then Simon could take action from the standpoint of Summonology.
Not only could he draw attention away, but he could also have the undead take the attacks aimed at her.
“Oooh.”
Maelyn smiled in satisfaction.
“You actually make sense, huh. Still, a special admit is a special admit.”
“Ugh.”
Now that there was a potential solution to the all-important problem of Maelyn’s survival, Dick had no choice but to accept his own role, since they had no better option.
Maelyn, now visibly brightened, turned her head.
“How about Kami? You know any binding spells from Haematology?”
Kamibarez scratched the side of her head and smiled.
“Haemomagic is a wildly aggressive and ever-changing school... I think just using curses might be better.”
Maelyn nodded in satisfaction and now looked to Dick. After racking his brain for ideas, Dick finally sighed deeply and spoke with resignation.
“Exhaust. I’ll practice it for the next week.”
“Yep, yep! That’s the spirit, for the team!”
Maelyn declared triumphantly. Simon smiled and tried to console Dick.
“We haven’t finalized the strategy yet, right? There’s still time before the next strategy evaluation class, so let’s keep thinking.”
“Y-yeah.”
Answering like that, Dick found himself looking at Simon once again.
The official leader was Maelyn, but the one actually coordinating the group’s opinions and steering the atmosphere like a real leader was Simon. And he still managed to secure his own interests.
As long as he protected Maelyn, the team’s core attacker, with his undead, they’d be guaranteed a high team synergy score.
As they continued discussing the specifics, the bell rang to signal the end of class. Jane stood and spoke.
“By next class, prepare a 10-minute presentation on how your team will strategize against the Cyclops. Be sure to clearly outline each team member’s role and the black magic spells they’ll be using. That is all.”
“Thank you, Professor!”
Simon’s serious expression finally relaxed. No matter how many times it happened, the end of class always felt great.
“Run, Simon!”
Dick said as he packed his bag.
“Today’s the limited hamburger steak special at Cafeteria 3!”
Simon stood up with a grin.
“Can’t miss a limited item.”
* * *
After finishing their meal, Simon and Dick arrived at the final class of the day: Toxicology.
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a classroom, but the Toxicology Practice Room 2, where beneath each desk—equipped for note-taking—was a large cauldron for magic.
As Simon and Dick settled in the middle seats and unpacked their things...
“Hey! Merchant!”
Maelyn stormed into the room with raised eyebrows. Behind her followed Kamibarez with a smiling face.
“Your intel was wrong! You said there was a hamburger steak special at Cafeteria 3! It wasn’t even on the menu!”
Dick snickered.
“It sold out in five minutes, so they just took it off the board.”
“...Ugh, so annoying.”
“See? You should’ve sprinted like mad through the shortcut with me and Simon.”
“I didn’t know that path! Couldn’t you at least have brought me with you?”
Dick waved his wrist dismissively.
“Pfft, trying to eat with us? No way. Let’s not even talk outside of Elementary Black Magic.”
“I don’t want to either.”
Saying that, Maelyn unpacked her things next to Simon.
“But until the Cyclops evaluation is over, it can’t be helped. Let me make one thing clear, if your lack of cooperation pulls down my grade, I won’t let it slide.”
“Ooh, scary. And what’ll you do if we don’t cooperate?”
When she fell silent, seemingly at a loss for words, Dick leaned in and pretended to listen closely.
“I’ll listen carefully! What’ll you do? What, huh? Tell me slo~wly.”
She growled back.
“I’ll, I’ll curse you! I’ll throw a hundred curse dolls into your rooms!”
Dick burst out laughing.
“More likely you’ll get caught by my intel network and arrested for breaking into the boys’ dorm, or end up a corpse after Kajan Edvalt gets pissed.”
“Who’s Kajan Edvalt?”
“He’s a thing.”
Dick smirked, resting his arms behind his head.
“I said, who is he?!”
As Maelyn shouted and Dick refused to explain, teasing her immaturely, Kamibarez and Simon made eye contact.
Smile. Her eyes curved gently.
“Hello~”
“Hey.”
A short while later, other students entered, filling the room. Soon after, the Toxicology professor entered as well.
“Ehem—who’s the class rep here?”
The professor’s name was Lang Strauss. He looked like an elderly necromancer with a hunched back, sunken frame, and deep wrinkles.
“There’s no class rep!”
“Then you’ll be in charge of greetings from now on.”
“Yessir!”
Jaime Victoria shot up.
“Everyone, attention! Salute to the professor!”
“Hello, Professor!”
“Yes, yes. Come on in.”
Lang was the only professor at Keyzen who made students perform formal greetings. Leaning on his staff, he slowly climbed onto the podium.
“Ehem—what class are you again...?”
“Class A!”
“Oh, right. This must be your first class, huh?”
“Yes, Professor!”
Lang opened his textbook and said,
“Ehem—then everyone, turn to page one.”
And so began his droning, slow-paced reading of the textbook.
The effect was immediate. Within ten minutes of starting class, students’ eyes began to droop.
His sluggish, monotonous tone was lethally dull, almost as if he were exhaling sleeping gas from his mouth.
“Ehem—so, Toxicology isn’t merely about poisons. It’s about various compounds—combining them, arranging them—”
Nod, nod.
Dick’s head sharply dropped forward. Simon chuckled bitterly and nudged him with his elbow to wake him up.
Dick jolted awake with a start, but five minutes later, his head drooped again—no point in waking him.
The theoretical explanation disguised as textbook reading dragged on for 40 minutes. By then, half the students had their heads buried in their desks.
Lang finally looked up and said,
“Ehem—now then, let’s move on to brewing the Low-Grade Poisoning Potions from the textbook...”
Finally, the practical portion! Students who had been dozing began lifting their heads one by one.
Teaching assistants, now with something to do for the first time in class, moved swiftly to place potion ingredients on the students’ desks.
“Ehem—then let’s begin... Let’s see. When brewing potions, precise weighing is critical...”
Precise weighing and proper sequence were more important than anything else. Students used the scales at the side to measure exact ingredient weights.
The assistants filled their cauldrons with water, and according to Lang’s instructions, they first chopped and added black pill toadstool and frog tongues.
“And next is... cough! cough!”
Suddenly, Lang doubled over and began coughing violently.
"Cough! Cough! Keh-hehhek! Gehuk! Gkk!"
His symptoms looked quite severe.
The students stared wide-eyed in shock, while the teaching assistants rushed over to check on Lang’s condition. In his hands, where he’d been coughing, was something like purplish blood.
“Professor, you’ve overexerted yourself. You should get some rest.”
One of the assistants said. Lang shook his head as he continued coughing.
“Ah, no, that won’t do. Without me, the class—”
“But it’s just the practical now. We can supervise the lab. You must think about your health.”
After repeated, earnest persuasion from the assistant, Lang was eventually helped out of the lecture hall by several TAs.
The students blinked, confused at the sudden turn of events.
Then, in Lang’s place, a red-haired teaching assistant stepped up to the podium. She sighed lightly, then spotted a male student still nodding off.
She casually lifted a heavy textbook with one hand, and threw it straight at the student.
Thud!
The book slammed onto the desk and toppled over, startling the student awake.
“Everyone, rise.”
“...?”
“Rise!”
Students, now alert, shot to their feet. The red-haired assistant crossed her arms and glared at them sternly.
“How dare you show such disrespect to the professor, Class A.”
“......”
“You get sleepy and bury your heads in your desks? What kind of rotten bottom-feeders are you to call yourselves students of Keyzen?!”
Her presence was overwhelming.
Everyone stiffened up straight, eyes wide with tension. She raised a hand to her forehead as if calming herself, and was silent for a moment.
“Let’s at least maintain the bare minimum of respect, shall we? Understood?”
“Yes, understood!”
“Take your seats.”
The students, now properly disciplined, sat down. She let out a long sigh and tied her hair tightly with a cord.
“I am Francesca Belmond, teaching assistant to Professor Lang. I will be conducting this session in his place. Today’s task is to brew a Low-Grade Poisoning Potion. Close your textbooks.”
The students, still a bit dazed, shut their books. Francesca picked up a piece of chalk and walked to the board.
“The key to basic potion brewing is not controlling variables through fixed quantities and order, but rather the brewer’s ability to adapt. At this point, your cauldrons should be boiling. From the materials packet on your left, add salamander powder and barley dust.”
A student raised a hand.
“How much should we add?”
“The amount doesn’t matter. Add however much feels right to you.”
Following Francesca’s instructions, Simon and the other students freely added the ingredients. Soon, Simon’s cauldron turned green and emitted a bitter smell.
“Now, if your cauldron is emitting blue smoke, please raise your hand.”
About half the students raised their hands.
“Those students will proceed with brewing a nerve-numbing poison potion. Next, those with green smoke?”
Simon and the others raised their hands.
“Those with green smoke will proceed with a hallucinogenic and acute headache-inducing potion. These are useful against mages or necromancers.”
The students blinked and looked at one another. This kind of information wasn’t in the textbooks or preparatory materials.
Francesca stepped down from the podium and moved through the rows of students, firing off information like a machine gun.
“Students with green smoke, take off your uniform jackets and hang them on your chairs. The assistants will bring additional ingredients.”
“We’re entering the shared process now. Use a ladle to skim off the thin layer of oil forming on the surface. Plant-based fatty acids reduce the efficacy of poison.”
“Keep stirring. You must stir continuously until the potion takes on a sticky consistency. Be careful with the heat, too strong and it could harden the mixture, so control the flame properly.”
Maybe it was because Lang’s earlier lecture had been so drowsy, but Francesca’s class felt dazzling, almost exhilarating. Despite dripping sweat, she passionately guided the students.
Moved by her skill and effort, the students soon began to follow her with gleaming eyes.
“There’s a yellow tint forming in my potion, is that okay?”
“Very good. A slight yellow tint means you’ve made a premium poison potion. You might even be able to sell that in Rochest.”
A potion worth selling?!
The unexpectedly high praise made the student beam, while nearby friends congratulated him with pats on the arm.
“I-I’m Katherine Meyer! It started with blue smoke, but now it turned green again!”
“That’s because the ingredients settled at the bottom rose when you stirred, altering the effect. Focus on the hallucinogenic direction now. Assistant Hesse, please prepare materials for the green smoke group here.”
Francesca began checking cauldrons among the students. Then, one female student suddenly raised her hand.
“Claudia Menzies! Professor, something’s a bit off with my—”
Francesca’s expression hardened. Claudia, realizing her slip, quickly covered her mouth.
“I’m not a professor, Claudia.”
“S-sorry, assistant!”
“Alright. What’s the issue?”
That was the extent of her scolding. With a gentle smile, Francesca helped guide Claudia through the correction.
After hearing the explanation, Claudia added more salamander powder, and Francesca even patted her head in praise.
“Hey, hey, Simon.”
Dick leaned over and whispered.
“I think I get why old man Lang still has a job at Keyzen. His TA is crazy competent!”
“...Right.”
Completely immersed in Toxicology now, Claudia had even started discussing her major with Francesca.
Watching her kindly respond, Simon gazed at Francesca with a complicated expression.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nah, it’s nothing.”
As class neared its end, Francesca gave free time to those who had successfully brewed their potions. For those who failed, she offered a second chance while continuing to teach.
Having succeeded in making his own poison potion, Simon flipped through the textbook.
“Simon! Should we bring this to the Cyclops battle? Think it might work?”
Simon grinned, it was exactly what he’d been thinking.
—If you want to face the Cyclops, you’ll need to push your skills to the limit this week. Don’t let any class pass by lightly. Make everything your own and use it in the practical evaluation.
He was realizing just how much each class could be directly applied in real combat.
Jane’s instructional strategy really was remarkable.
“Idiot. That’s not gonna work.”
Maelyn approached with her arms crossed. Kamibarez also stood beside Simon with her usual warm smile.
“Low-grade poison potions don’t work on medium-sized monsters or larger. A Cyclops? Definitely won’t be affected.”
“Really?”
Simon silently flipped through his textbook. His hand stopped on a certain page.
‘Ingredient: Lehark Mushroom?’
It was the same mushroom that Anna Follentia sometimes used in cooking to neutralize poisons.
Simon bowed his head and read the content thoroughly.
“Maelyn. How about this?”
“What is it?”
Maelyn approached and looked at the section Simon pointed to.
“......”
After a moment of silence, Maelyn jerked her head up and ran back to her seat.
“Simon! What page is this?”
“254.”
Maelyn frantically opened her textbook and started reading the section intently.
“Guys! If we can make this, it might actually work!”
Superb.