Chapter 135
The most dangerous performance assessment yet in Deathland had come to a close without incident.
The students of Class A, one and all, washed up and shut themselves away in the dormitory. Everyone was physically and mentally drained.
Simon and Dick were no exception, lying flat on their beds, not even twitching a finger.
"......."
Simon raised his arm with a vacant stare.
Above the familiar ceiling, his fingers came into view. Darkness was flowing over his hand.
‘It keeps coming back to me.’
Feer had clearly said he used Corpse Explosion, but there was no memory of it. When he came to, he was already in the Prince’s mansion, with only the lingering sensations in his body remaining.
But the moment he saw Aron’s Corpse Explosion, a shiver had surged through him.
His whole body trembled and reacted. As if it longed to recreate that black magic.
‘But there aren’t any zombies nearby. I want to practice, but I can’t.’
Thinking he’d need to visit Rochest over the weekend, Simon let his arm fall limply.
"Dick. You asleep?"
"Yaaawn, not yet."
Dick’s sleepy voice came from the bed next to his.
"Do you remember what class we have tomorrow?"
"......Ah, I forgot. Wait a sec, now I’m curious too."
Dick grabbed a notebook that had fallen beside his bed.
"Ah, we’re screwed."
"Huh?"
"We have Magical Combat in the afternoon! And it’s a joint class with Class C."
Dick dropped his notebook and scratched his head furiously.
"We’re so dead. I’m in the worst shape ever. This time, I’m definitely falling off the hippo."
"......."
Simon blinked at the ceiling.
“Joint class? Who do I know in Class C again?”
* * *
‘Joint classes’, where two or more classes take a lesson together, were fairly common at Keyzen.
It was thanks to Keyzen’s flexible timetable.
In this case, Aron had taken an entire day from each class’ schedule for the Summonology performance assessment.
Because Aron handled all Summonology lessons, every class he taught had been pushed back. To make up for the delay, joint classes were being held.
One might think the other professors would be upset by this, but in reality, it was quite common for them to use half a day or a full day for assessments and other matters as well.
Since everyone understood each other’s circumstances, cooperation in these matters was standard.
Today, the students of Class C, who had gone to Deathland first, and Class A, who had gone yesterday, were scheduled for a joint Magical Combat class.
"Uurrrghhh…"
Dick, sprawled out in the grass, was groaning like a Deathland zombie.
Other students were sitting around catching their breath as well, but unlike Dick’s worries, no one actually fell off the hippo. When pushed to the edge, people somehow found the strength to keep going.
"You guys went yesterday, right?"
"We looked just like that too."
Class C students chuckled as they watched the slumped Class A students. It was the confidence of those who’d already been through it.
"But hey, Simon."
Maelyn, sitting across from him, wiped her forehead with a handkerchief and spoke up.
"Did you really never see that guy, Feon?"
Simon flinched internally, but replied casually.
"I told you I didn’t. When I opened my eyes, I was already in the mansion basement."
"That’s a shame."
Maelyn tilted her head back in genuine disappointment. Kamibarez, sitting next to her, covered her mouth and chuckled.
"Yesterday, Maelyn spent all day talking to me in the dorm lounge about Feon~"
"Agh, come on! It was so romantic!"
Maelyn flushed red and shouted.
"Honestly, I never understood my roommates squealing over hot professors, but now I kind of get how they feel."
"Is he really that handsome?"
"Of course!"
Simon, quietly sipping his drink, nearly spit it out.
Feer had half his face covered with a skull, for crying out loud.
"I was kidnapped and in danger, right? Then suddenly, this guy burst through the roof of the carriage! He beat that perverted old man who kidnapped me to a bloody pulp, kicked him back into the carriage, gently scooped me up like a princess, and jumped out with me! And just a second later, the carriage fell off a cliff!"
"Whoa! That sounds like a fairytale!"
"......."
It had only happened yesterday, so why was her memory so wildly distorted?
Simon was so embarrassed he couldn’t keep listening.
"Honestly, Feon’s not really my type."
Maelyn folded her arms and continued.
"I hate stupid, violent behavior, you know? But how do I put it? Maybe it’s that bad-boy thing?"
"A dangerous charm, huh?"
"No, more like… that violent guy is only kind to me? I think that’s the dream. And well, to be honest, his face is so good-looking it makes up for a lot."
"......."
Maelyn, passionately describing Feon, glanced over at Simon.
"Hey, why’s your face turning red?"
"......It’s hot."
Simon quickly turned his head just as the assistants’ voices rang out.
"Alright, class will begin in 10 minutes!"
At that, the students lounging around began standing and lightly stretching.
Simon also got ready for class, until it happened.
"Hello there~"
A refined voice came from behind him.
‘Ugh.’
Simon flinched and turned around.
A girl in a white coat over her Keyzen uniform, with ivory-colored hair cascading down her shoulders, approached with her hands behind her back.
Simon did know someone from Class C.
Serne Eindark, Special Admission No. 2 and heir to the Ivory Tower. Her uniquely suffocating presence was still intact.
"Long time no see~ Simon."
Like a queen of the social world, she lightly lifted her skirt hem with her fingertips in an elegant greeting.
But the moment she spotted Maelyn next to him, her expression flipped.
"Maelynn!"
With a lisping squeal, she clung to Maelyn’s arm.
Maelyn’s brow furrowed instantly.
"I missed you so much!"
"Ugh! Get off me, you creep!!"
Maelyn shoved Serne’s face away in genuine disgust. Her delicate face was forced back by Maelyn’s merciless hand, but Serne didn’t give up and kept rubbing her cheek against Maelyn’s arm.
"Are you okay? When I heard you were going to that dangerous Deathland, Seri couldn’t sleep a wink!"
"Seri, my ass! I told you not to do this, it gives me goosebumps!"
Maelyn pushed her away with all her might, and Serne collapsed in an exaggerated motion.
Sitting in the grass like a drenched rat, she hung her head low pitifully.
"......Seri just wants to be close with Maelyn."
"Scram."
Maelyn’s voice boiled with anger.
"You toy with people’s feelings and then talk like that? It’s just fake and manipulative. Got it?"
"......."
"Let’s go, Kami."
Maelyn walked off with Kamibarez in tow.
A brief awkward silence followed. Serne tucked her hair behind her ear with a graceful motion, then blinked her eyes as she looked at Simon.
"A lady’s fallen over. You’re not going to help her up?"
"......."
The pitiful expression had vanished. A sly smile played on her lips.
Reluctantly, Simon took her hand and helped her up.
"It’s been a while since Island Survival~"
"Yeah, it has. Do your best in class today. I’ve got friends waiting, so I’ll be off."
Dealing with Serne drained his mental energy, so Simon wanted to avoid her as much as possible.
As he turned and walked away, she caught up to him with graceful steps.
"You haven’t forgotten that you owe me, right?"
Then she whispered softly, "Commander."
Simon sighed deeply and stopped to turn and face her.
"If I hang out with you today, will you cancel the debt?"
"Nope~ I’ll use it when I really need it."
Clap clap!
Just then, with clapping sounds, Hongpeng’s distinct, awkward Continental accent rang out.
"Okay! Group up, pleashe!"
"The professor says to group up!"
"Everyone, gather up!"
Students from both Class A and Class C gathered around Hongpeng.
"Today we’ll learn a special skill! Space out with plenty of room, and we’ll proceed in pairs!"
The assistants walked around, pairing students up.
Since it was a joint class, they deliberately mixed Class A and Class C students. Most pairings were same-gender, but some were mixed. It seemed like it was entirely up to the assistants’ whims.
"You two, go together. And here, you two. Now then…"
One assistant stopped in front of Simon. Hoping to avoid Serne, Simon had quietly stepped away and stood alone.
The assistant was about to pair Simon with a random male Class C student when, suddenly, a transparent feather fluttered over and struck the assistant on the back of the neck.
At that, the assistant’s arm rotated a full 180 degrees and pointed straight at Serne, who was standing far away.
"With that student."
"......."
Serne gave a fox-like smile and waved her hand. The feather soon fell from the assistant’s neck, but he didn’t seem to notice anything and simply moved on to other students.
"Can’t be helped~ Since the assistant chose for us."
Serne walked over to Simon with a feather-light step, almost floating in the air. White feathers gently fluttered to the ground with each of her steps.
Sigh.
Simon silently pressed his fingers to his forehead. He was starting to understand why Maelyn avoided her.
Clap! Clap!
"Alright, everyone has a partner, right? Then let’s start with some light warm-ups!"
The assistant pairs stepped forward and demonstrated the warm-up stretches. The students simply had to copy the movements.
Simon and Serne stood facing each other, stretching their arms out.
She smiled brightly as she spoke.
"Are Feer and Erzebet doing well?"
Simon flinched and shifted his gaze.
There was a fair amount of distance from the other students, but he still couldn’t help but worry.
"Don’t worry~ I’ve made sure the sound doesn’t leak."
A feather was stuck in the grass nearby. Simon let out a quiet sigh and replied.
"I’d rather not talk about them."
"Then what would you like to talk about?"
Simon spoke as he continued his side stretches.
"Your relationship with Maelyn?"
Serne always seemed to keep a certain distance from others, but when it came to Maelyn, she acted like they were close friends. Though Maelyn, for her part, always responded with clear disgust.
"I just don’t get why you cling to Maelyn. If it’s just an act, like she says, you should stop. To Maelyn, you’re nothing more than a rival, someone to surpass. Nothing more, nothing less."
She smiled sweetly.
"I genuinely want to be close to Maelyn, you know?"
"........"
"I mean, isn’t it obvious? Out here in foreign territory, it’s only natural to want to rely on fellow Ivory Tower people."
Simon furrowed his brow.
"Maelyn wouldn’t agree with that."
"Maybe not. But I’m sincere."
Serne was an adopted daughter with not a drop of blood relation to the Ivory Tower noble families.
When the Tower Lord first brought her in, she had apparently faced immense criticism and scorn.
"Back then, the one who reached out to me was Maelyn."
Serne said with a smile.
"Maelyn was someone so far above me that I couldn’t even look at her directly when I first came in as a mere guest. But she looked after me, played with me, said we were the same age. Even though she knew I was brought in as her rival."
Serne’s expression, as she said this, held a trace of wistful emotion, so unlike her usual pretense.
"It’s still a warm memory for me~ But over time…"
"The roles reversed, huh?"
"Yes."
Serne’s talent was nothing short of monstrous, even beyond the greatest ever seen.
In the end, the people of the Ivory Tower were so captivated by her abilities that they even rewrote their laws to name her heir.
The situation reversed.
Serne received endless praise, while Maelyn, now the standard of comparison, was left in the cold. Everyone who once cherished her turned their backs. Maelyn was isolated and her spirit slowly worn down.
That’s why, even after entering Keyzen, she was still trying desperately to catch up to Serne.
"Maelyn truly believes I toyed with her feelings."
Serne shrugged.
"It can’t be helped. That’s just how my abilities are. People tend to misunderstand me a lot."
"Don’t you want to clear up those misunderstandings?"
"She’s already showing extreme hostility toward me. You think a conversation would go well? Oh, and even if I got the chance, I’m not sure I’d clear it up~"
"Why not?"
"Watching Maelyn struggle so hard to catch up to me."
As she stretched, a feather fell. She caught it and lightly licked it with her tongue.
"It’s kind of adorable, honestly."
‘...Yep. She’s twisted. This girl.’
Simon felt a bit embarrassed that he’d even felt a moment of sympathy for her.
"Alright, next sequence!"
As expected from a joint class, the assistants moved on to a partnered stretch.
It started simple. The two students would stand back-to-back, hook arms, and one would bend forward to lift the other off the ground.
"Let’s begin?"
"Ah? Uh, okay."
The two of them stood back-to-back. When Serne boldly hooked her arms around his, Simon reflexively flinched.
"I’ll go first!"
She took a deep breath and bent forward with all her might.
"......."
But it was hopeless.
Simon’s feet lifted and dropped, lifted and dropped. She kept grunting and straining, but all she managed was to get his feet off the ground for two seconds.
‘Ivory Tower kids really don’t have athletic ability, huh.’
"Alright, back to the original position!"
At the assistant’s call, Serne gave up and returned to the original stance, having barely lifted Simon. The two stood back-to-back again.
"Simon."
Serne’s fluttery voice came.
"Now it’s my turn to choose the topic, right?"
"...Do whatever you want."
"Our future together."
"You mean, like future dreams? Never really thought about it."
From behind him, she giggled.
"After graduation in third year, have you thought about where you’ll be working?"
‘Ah, that.’
It was obvious where this conversation was heading.
Recruitment. Simon sighed inwardly.
Just then, the assistant shouted, "Now switch!"
Simon took a deep breath and bent forward, and her body rose into the air so lightly.
‘She’s no use for training either.’
Just as Simon was letting his guard down, she suddenly tilted her head all the way back.
The top of her head touched his neck, and Simon’s face turned red.
"What are you—!"
"Or—how about this for your future dream?"
Her voice rang out like a melody.
And the next thing she said made Simon doubt his ears.
"The next Lord of the Ivory Tower."
Superb.