Chapter 263
Simon approached the collapsed Claudia and asked,
“Are you alright?”
“……”
She gave a small nod.
She tried to get up, but perhaps the paralysis hadn’t fully worn off yet, her hips gave out the moment she tried to lift them, and she plopped down pitifully.
“I’ll help you to the waiting room.”
She shook her head.
“……Leave me.”
But Simon didn’t leave her alone.
He slung her arm over his shoulder and slowly lifted her up, careful not to startle her. He was so strong that, as Simon moved, Claudia was practically forced to take a step forward.
“……”
Claudia looked to the side with hollow eyes.
The arena was in chaos, venting out the poison gas and scrubbing the floor. Everyone was so busy that none of the other assistants had time to tend to the two of them.
And so, the two left the arena and entered the corridor leading to the student waiting room.
Claudia looked at Simon. She had used a rather precious paralytic, yet he was walking perfectly fine, she found it strangely annoying.
The reason Simon was so unaffected was probably…
“……Professor Belya’s poison-eating class.”
Claudia said aloud.
“The reason you can move like that despite the paralysis, it must be thanks to that class, right?”
Simon hesitated to respond, then slowly nodded.
“I suppose it’s not unrelated.”
“……Haha.”
A powerless laugh slipped from her lips.
“Right. She was brought in by Lady Neftis, after all, so of course there’s a reason. It couldn’t have been a pointless class.”
Claudia mumbled to herself and lowered her head again.
“You know… it cuts to the bone.”
“What does?”
“What you said two days ago. You asked, if I could turn back time… ‘You don’t really want to be doing this, do you?’”
“Have you changed your mind now?”
“I can’t answer that.”
Claudia shook her head.
“I’m no longer acting as an individual. I’m in a position where I represent the many. I led the boycott. If I give up now, I’d be betraying everyone who trusted and followed me.”
They reached the waiting room door. Simon opened it with one hand, then helped her to the sofa.
“Get some rest.”
“……”
As Simon turned to leave,
“Simon.”
Claudia called out to him.
“Do you know the real reason I’m leading the boycott?”
Simon turned back to face her directly. It was something he’d been quite curious about himself.
“What is it?”
“Professor Belya…”
Her voice trembled.
“She doesn’t look at us…”
“Huh?”
“She doesn’t, does she? Have you ever seen how much the other professors care for the students who chose their subject? They give them special training, offer little hints here and there. They don’t want the talents linked to their name to fail. Professor Bahil, Professor Walter, even Professor Hongpeng, they’re all like that. But why…”
Her voice was soaked in grief.
“Why doesn’t Professor Belya care about us?”
“……”
“She treats everyone equally. Gives the same antibody-building classes to everyone. But when the competitors build up antibodies, it puts us in Toxicology at a disadvantage. Our chances of surviving until second year drop even lower. So why? Why does the professor not favor us—not even a little—but instead make things harder for us?”
She placed both hands on her forehead.
“Yeah, I know! I know I’m selfish and a terrible bitch! But Keyzen is a cutthroat competition system! Is it really so wrong, so shameful, for us to hope for just a little favoritism from our major professor?”
Simon stayed silent.
Eventually, her voice cracked.
“In the second BMAT, all the Toxicology students plummeted in the rankings! That brat Maelyn? She dropped from 9th to 220th and caused a scene! I dropped from 35th to somewhere in the 700s! For the first time since I came to Keyzen, I started to think I might actually get expelled! And yet, the next day, Professor Belya…!”
Tears were now mixed with her voice.
“She just! Fed us more poison!!”
“……”
“Don’t I have the right to feel upset at this point? I didn’t want to fight the professor!”
At last, she buried her face in her palms and sobbed with bitter sorrow.
Simon couldn’t offer words of comfort, scold her, or try to console her. Her emotional state was far too intense for that.
“I just hope it doesn’t break you down too much. I’m sure Professor Belya…”
Simon rolled several thoughts around in his mouth, then eventually trailed off.
“…has her own reasons.”
She sniffled and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. But tears spilled again over the spots she had just dried.
“…Sorry. I just unloaded all this weird stuff on someone who has nothing to do with it.”
“It’s okay.”
“I’m being pathetic. I want to be alone for a bit.”
“Alright. Get some rest.”
Click.
Simon stepped out of the waiting room and closed the door behind him.
Then, he looked up at the ceiling and quietly fell into thought.
* * *
That evening.
Simon visited Belya’s laboratory.
“Professor, it’s Simon.”
“Yeah, come on in.”
When he opened the door, Simon was utterly shocked by the sight before him.
‘Wait, is this a person’s room? Or a dump site?’
It was astonishing in many ways.
Trash and miscellaneous junk were strewn everywhere, and the walls and furniture were corroded from the poison leaking from her body.
At the center of that mess, a woman was sprawled out.
“You came earlier than I expected.”
Belya waved her hand and smiled. Simon quickly bowed his head.
“Ah, good evening, Professor.”
“Take a seat.”
“Thank y—… Huh?”
His foot wouldn’t budge. He looked down and saw that he had stepped on something sticky stuck to the floor.
No matter how hard he tried, it wouldn’t come off.
“Puhahahahaha!”
Seeing Simon struggle, Belya clutched her stomach and laughed heartily.
Simon blushed with embarrassment.
“P-please don’t just laugh—help me, Professor!”
“Try this.”
She scratched her ear with her pinky, then flicked some mysterious blue square-shaped substance at him.
‘Ugh.’
Simon nudged the square with his unstuck foot. As soon as the blue mass met the sticky gunk, it dissolved like magic.
“…I know I’m in no position to say this, but couldn’t you at least tidy up a little? If Professor Hongpeng saw this, she’d have a meltdown.”
“I can do whatever I want with my room!”
Soon, the two were seated on the sofa, facing each other. Belya rested her chin on her hand and smiled.
"You look troubled. Something blocking your prep for BMAT? Whatever it is, just say the word. I’ll help you at least once, no matter what."
"Ah, actually,"
Simon shook his head.
"I’ve more or less found my own solution for the third BMAT."
"Oh, really? That’s something to celebrate. Then why’d you come see me?"
"I have something I’d like to ask you, Professor."
Simon continued with a serious expression.
"After the poison-eating class ends, what kind of class are you planning to teach?"
Upon hearing that, she let out a baffled laugh.
"Why are you curious about that?"
"I met Claudia in the evaluation duel today."
Simon explained the events with Claudia. Of course, he left out her personal reasons behind the boycott and did his best to represent her position fairly.
Belya listened with a bored expression.
"Did they ask you to talk to me?"
"No."
Simon smiled gently.
"It’s purely my decision."
"……"
Belya closed her eyes without a word.
A long silence followed.
Simon waited patiently for her to speak.
"Alright, fine."
She finally opened her mouth.
"I was planning to teach my original Toxicology techniques. Getting them used to poison was just the preparation phase."
Simon’s eyes widened. So Belya did have a plan all along.
"Wouldn’t it have been better if you had told the students that in advance?"
She looked as though she completely disagreed.
"There’s an apple on an apple tree."
"Ah, yes."
"Hungry animals are waiting for it to fall. Does the apple go, 'Hello, I’ll be dropping from the tree at exactly such and such time, so please be ready to catch me and eat me up'?"
"Ah, no."
With irritation, Belya threw both legs up onto the table with a bang! bang!
"Exactly. No, goddammit! These damn noble brats around here are so stuck up, they expect me to brief them. Do I, as the teacher, have to bow my head and explain what I’ll be teaching them? Do I have to be graded and approved by students?"
It seemed Belya also had some emotions she’d been holding in.
"Uh, did something happen?"
Simon asked with a worried look. She kept silent for a moment, then spoke.
"When I first entered Roke Island, the Elders summoned me."
She gritted her teeth.
"Talking to those stuck-up bastards taught me one thing. No matter how much you explain, they’ll just find some other fault. They’ll keep raising complaints. The Elders, or those bratty students refusing to attend class, they just hated me from the beginning!"
'……Hmm.'
Simon thought the emotional divide was deeper than expected, and spoke.
"Sure, there may be people like that. But Professor, like I said earlier, there’s also Claudia’s case. The students simply don’t understand your philosophy or approach to education, which leads to their complaints. I think this is something that can be resolved through conversation."
"Ugh, enough already!"
She snapped.
"I made my choice, and they made theirs. And we all pay the price for our choices. No one teaches you how to survive on the grasslands!"
"Even so,"
Simon said earnestly,
"This isn’t the plains, is it?"
Belya growled.
"What are you trying to say?"
"At Keyzen, it’s normal for professors to appeal to their students. The students have grown accustomed to that culture. They might wonder why their professor isn’t doing what the others are doing. It’s a misunderstanding, I think. They’re still kids, after all."
Said seventeen-year-old Simon, calmly.
"So couldn’t you talk to the students, just once?"
"So what, I’m supposed to grovel to that ridiculous boycott movement?"
"No."
Simon smiled.
"You’d be giving the students an opportunity, Professor."
* * *
After Simon left, Belya remained in her lab, lost in thought.
— What we need right now is dialogue. Just simply telling them what kind of original techniques you plan to teach after poison-eating class. Even that much would be enough, don’t you think?
His voice lingered in her ears.
“Geez, I’m making promises that are so unlike me.”
Knock knock knock.
Just then, a knock came at the door.
"Professor. It's the head assistant."
"Yeah, come in."
The top assistant for Toxicology, with sunken eyes and a nervous face, cautiously opened the door and stepped in.
"Head assistant."
"Y-yes, Professor!"
"Mobilize the assistants and gather all the kids who were boycotting. If any of the little bastards don’t show up, just scrap ’em."
The assistant, who’d been trembling in fear over what bizarre thing she might ask next, suddenly lit up.
“P-Professor!!”
“Ugh, what the hell? Why’re you shouting all of a sudden?”
“Ah, I’m sorry! I was just so happy… But, uh, what should I tell them it’s about?”
With a sly grin, like a scheming villain, Belya replied,
“Just tell them I’ve got something to say.”
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters
Very good story and translation but half the chapter aren't for free and it is wayyyy too expensive will it stat like tjis foreve or will it get free after some time