Chapter 254
"I'm sorry, Claudia."
The class where you ingest poison was indeed difficult and painful.
But Simon had seen Professor Belya's skill back in Langerstine, and he resonated with the values she mentioned in class. He didn’t think it was worth rejecting the class just because it was painful.
"I still want to believe in Professor Belya."
"......."
Claudia, who had been waiting for Simon's answer, wore a look of deep disappointment.
"Why? What is it about that professor that makes her so trustworthy?"
"Well—"
Before Simon could respond, she burst out emotionally.
"I thought you were a thoughtful person! Are you just going to turn a blind eye to students' rights like this? If professors tell you to die, will you die? The current Keyzen system is totally messed up! If we fail now, professors will start demanding even worse things in the future…!"
"That's a stretch, Claudia."
This time, Simon interrupted her.
"I respect your thoughts. But."
He stood up, pushed his chair in, and added,
"Right now, what you're saying isn't a reasoned argument, it's just an emotional plea."
Leaving those words behind, Simon turned his back and walked away. Dick also tossed the unsigned document toward her and followed him.
"I'm sorry! I'm really sorry!"
The soft-hearted Kamibarez bowed repeatedly, clearly feeling bad, and then hurried after them.
"Hey! Wait for me!"
As Maelyn hurried to grab her things and follow the three, Claudia suddenly grabbed her arm.
"Maelyn! You're different from them, right? Right? You'll sign, won't you?"
"Are you crazy?! Let go!"
Maelyn shook off her hand.
When Claudia recoiled with a hurt expression, Maelyn sighed.
"Why are you going this far?"
"......."
"A class boycott has never happened in Keyzen's history. I think you guys are kind of overreacting. Go cool off a bit."
Claudia’s lips twisted.
"And what will change if I cool off?"
The truth was, Claudia had no other choice.
Everything was already set in motion. Even if she stopped now, the rumor that she stood up to a Keyzen professor would still follow her.
She had taken on a major professor in her field. She had bet her entire school life on this. If it failed, her academic life would spiral out of control.
"Sorry, I’m not ready to sign yet."
As Maelyn turned to leave the classroom—
"Maelyn."
Claudia called out behind her.
"Are grades really that important to you?"
Maelyn froze.
"I get it~ You want to look good to the professors, right? Kiss up to them, flatter them a little, so you get good attitude scores and grades. That’s the secret to being second in the entire school, huh..."
"Hey."
The moment Maelyn met Claudia's gaze as she turned around, Claudia felt like the whole classroom turned stark white, with frost creeping over the ceiling.
Her body froze. She couldn't do anything.
"Don't cross the line."
Overwhelmed for a moment, Claudia felt goosebumps rise on the back of her neck.
And seemingly embarrassed by that fact, her expression hardened even more.
"What, did I say anything wrong—!"
"The reason you poison-eaters are against the Toxicology class."
Maelyn brushed her hair back, which had fallen forward, and spoke.
"Should I tell you?"
"......."
"If students build poison resistance through Professor Belya's class, it'll be harder for you guys to do well on final evaluations and BMAT, right? Isn’t that so?"
Claudia felt a scorching flame rise from deep within her chest.
"Maelyn──!"
She erupted with Darkness. Her braided hair unraveled and fluttered loose, then twisted and transformed into countless venomous snakes.
"C-Claudia, calm down!"
"Using black magic in class will get you seriously punished!"
Claudia’s friends ran in, grabbed her arms, and tried to stop her.
"Come on. Let them come."
Maelyn smirked, as if she found it all ridiculous, and was about to summon frost—
Suddenly, someone grabbed her from behind and covered her mouth.
"Ahaha! Sorry, sorry!"
It was Jaime Victoria, the temporary class rep of Class A. Maelyn flailed her arms in protest.
"Mmph! Mm-mmph! Mmf-blrgh!"
"Looks like Maelyn just snapped for a moment! You all know how soft she is inside, right? We’ll be going now! Bye!"
Jaime dragged Maelyn out of the classroom, leaving a heavy silence behind.
Everyone glanced nervously at Claudia.
‘.......’
Claudia seemed to have calmed down, as the snakes on her head reverted back into strands of hair. She covered her face with both palms, and her friends gently patted her back in comfort.
"She’s gone crazy!"
Meanwhile, Jaime, having forcibly dragged Maelyn outside, was smacking her on the butt.
"Hey! Why are you hitting me?!"
Maelyn blushed and pushed Jaime away. Jaime pressed her temple with a finger and sighed.
"Claudia’s probably super sensitive already, with the boycott coming up. You both went too far. Remember, Class A agreed to cooperate during BMAT. Are you really never going to face Claudia again?"
"Never!!"
Maelyn shouted.
"And that witch Claudia started it! She accused me of sucking up to professors for good grades…!"
"There, there~ Our pretty Maelyn should just let it go."
Jaime hugged her tightly, and Maelyn flailed in disgust.
"Don’t cling! It’s hot!"
"You’re going to make up with Claudia later, okay?"
"No way!!"
* * *
Claudia’s boycott declaration caused a huge stir at Keyzen.
Even at the cafeteria, all the students were talking about it.
"Feeding students poison was a bit much."
"Still, students boycotting class? That’s a challenge to the professors' authority."
"I feel like they’re just picking on a newly appointed professor. They wouldn’t dare do that to Professor Jane or Professor Bahil."
"I'm cheering for the boycott~ I’m sick of throwing up already."
Simon had no idea how he was even managing to swallow his bread. Conversations about Belya and the class boycott were flying in from every direction.
‘Are they really going to do it? A boycott?’
Lost in complicated thoughts, lunch break flew by. The four of them left the cafeteria and headed to the Toxicology Hall for Professor Belya’s class.
"Guys! Look over there!"
Dick pointed at the entrance of the hall.
"Whoa! They’re actually doing it? The atmosphere is insane!"
Just as he said, a group of male and female students were holding picket signs and protesting in front of the Toxicology Hall’s entrance.
"Please stop the madness of making students ingest poison!"
"We want to live!"
The students who had declared the boycott were loudly condemning Professor Belya’s poison-ingesting class.
The picket signs they held read things like “Students are people too!” and “We don’t want to be poisoned.”
‘Ugh, this is intense.’
Every time students entered the Toxicology Hall for class, the students holding pickets would glare at them with eyes that looked like they could shoot lasers, raising their voices even louder.
“Professor Belya’s class is tyrannical!”
“Please stop abusing the authority of Keyzen professors!”
When the four members of Group 7 finally arrived at the building, the protesters immediately raised their voices as if they’d been waiting.
Dick kept a neutral expression, and the frightened Kamibarez lightly clutched Simon’s collar. Simon shifted to stand beside her, shielding her from the protesters’ view.
“Students are people too! We are not lab rats!”
Among the crowd was Claudia, waving her picket more passionately than anyone else and shouting at the top of her lungs.
Upon spotting her, Maelyn scoffed and walked ahead without hesitation. Claudia’s burning gaze shot into Maelyn’s back like a spear.
The moment they stepped inside the Toxicology Hall, Kamibarez and Dick both let out a sigh of relief.
“T-That was scary…”
Kamibarez hunched her shoulders like a frightened rabbit.
“Did you see how they were glaring? It was like they were ready to break our ankles and block the way in.”
Dick chimed in.
‘Hmm.’
Simon had a feeling this protest wouldn’t settle easily.
“Maelyn, are you okay?”
At that moment, Kamibarez approached Maelyn and quietly asked.
“What?”
“You fought with Claudia in the classroom.”
“…I’ve decided not to care about her anymore. Let’s just head up.”
The four of them entered the third-floor lecture room.
There were still several empty seats even though it was five minutes before class. The students already inside were all animatedly discussing the boycott issue.
Dick looked around the room and commented,
“I’ve been at Keyzen a long time, but I’ve never seen anything like this. Whew~”
“Hahaha! You sound like a third-year when you talk like that!”
Dick and Kamibarez tried to lighten the mood and glanced at Maelyn, but she remained silent, pulling out her textbook and opening her notebook with a sullen expression.
A few moments later, with just a minute left before class, Belya’s assistants entered the lecture room and lined up behind the podium.
Their gaunt faces showed how much they’d been suffering internally. Simon even felt a little sorry for them.
‘People stuck in the middle always have the hardest time.’
Belya wasn’t the type to worry about others’ opinions. She had a firm philosophy about education.
Even if students had complaints, they didn’t dare speak up in front of a professor, fearing it would hurt their grades—so they vented their frustrations on the teaching assistants instead.
Caught between Belya and the students, it was easy to see how much hardship the TAs must’ve endured.
“Fuwaaah~”
It didn’t take long for Belya herself to enter. Hands stuffed in her coat pockets, she walked into the classroom and let out a long yawn, completely relaxed.
Despite the protest happening right below the building, she didn’t show a shred of concern.
—Please stop abusing the authority of Keyzen professors!
Faintly, the sound of shouting could still be heard from outside.
Thud!
With a loud noise, Belya shut the classroom door and slumped into the professor’s seat like always, flicking her finger.
The head TA stepped forward and began calling roll.
‘Wow.’
‘She looks totally worn out…’
The head TA, likely the one who had suffered the most in all this, had a noticeably pale face.
She had repeatedly asked Belya to reduce the poison dosage or cut the number of doses during class to two or three sets—but had been rejected every time.
And now, the situation had spiraled out of control. She felt responsible.
“Colburn Aile.”
“Yes!”
“Dick Hayword.”
“Yep!”
Then, the head TA suddenly flinched. Her expression showed brief hesitation as her eyes scanned the room. Then she opened her mouth.
“Claudia Menzies.”
“……”
The classroom sank into heavy silence. Naturally, there was no reply.
Perhaps feeling awkward waiting for an answer, the class rep, Jaime, quickly raised her hand and said,
“Claudia isn’t here, TA!”
“Alright, moving on.”
From there, the routine continued—TA called a name, Jaime responded with “Not here!”
The mood in the classroom sank rapidly. When the last name received another “Not here”, the head TA tightly shut her eyes and closed the attendance sheet.
“P-Professor, roll call is complete.”
“Okay.”
Belya, expressionless, was picking her ear with a finger. She snapped her fingers, and some strange substance exploded in the air like fireworks.
“Absent? Boycotting class? What a bunch of damn nonsense. Such ridiculous crap.”
She gracefully rose and walked toward the lectern.
The head TA stepped back and stood with the other assistants. Her juniors sent her supportive glances.
“When this class ends, pass along a message to those friends outside.”
Belya opened her mouth, revealing jagged shark-like teeth.
“No matter how loud you shout or how dramatic you act, I have no intention of changing my methods.”
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters