How to Survive at the Academy chapter 44

Any one professor (2)

“Oh, I’m really sorry. Sir Ed.”

The next morning, I went out to the living quarters for the weekend. We crossed the bustling southwest living wing and came close to the Maxes Bridge, one of the two bridges that connected out of Aken Island. It felt like I had been walking for almost two hours.

When I entered the Sylvania branch of the Elte Chamber of Commerce, which is the largest after passing the bridge, the staff escorted me to the drawing room as if waiting. The strangely polite thing made me even more uncomfortable.

Lortel, who had been waiting for me in a small place in the drawing room, was about to apologize for forgetting the contract he had promised and not being able to prepare it.

“You even made an appointment in advance, but I’m so busy these days.”

“…okay?”

“yes. really sorry. You should probably come back next week. As an apology, I prepared some tea and refreshments. I also have some tech supplies that were missing from the ledger, so pick them up at the counter when you return.”

Lortel had a very different impression than when I was in Gyoja-dong.

Unlike usual when she wore a robe on her academy uniform, she was wearing a long flared skirt, a pure white blouse, and a luxurious gilded bread hat.

When I got involved in the past incident, I only saw him wet in the rain or wearing an old robe on the day he was caught, so it makes a very new impression.

It felt a bit too luxurious for casual wear, so I asked if there was any schedule.

“I have a pretty important schedule today, so I made it up. how about it?”

‘ he asks with a smile on his face.

“An important event?”

“There is such a thing.”

From noblemtl.com

Maybe he didn’t want to answer, so I nodded my head in exchange for the answer with a smile.

I sat in the seat opposite the lavish parlor, and brought the subject to Lortel.

“I have something I want to discuss, do you also handle furniture products?”

“Sure.”

“I want to buy some cheap and decent furniture, but the products at the branch are all too high-end. Can’t you just prepare a desk, chair, or a cabinet that does its job well?”

“Oh, seeing you say that, you must have completed the hut?”

“It was almost done. I think we just need to finish the small things.”

“Hmm… As you know, aristocratic products are in high demand in Sylvania, so finished products that focus on practicality and price competition are not delivered well. I could arrange it myself, but it will take some time.”

Lortel put her hand on her chin and pondered for a moment, then smiled with a shudder.

“It’s a bit difficult to give out items for free. As I said, offering items for sale for free is an act that goes against the trader’s professional ethics and can be seen as downplayed by the surrounding traders.”

“There is nothing we can do about that.”

“Well, there is a more intuitive way.”

Having said that, Lortel stood up from the sofa in the parlor, strode to the work desk, and began to gather magic power in her hands.

Then, he magically broke the foot of the wooden chair, which looked expensive at first glance.

– Kwadangtang!

“…”

“Are you special in woodworking? Just connect the broken leg and use it again. It’s garbage that can’t be used anymore, so I’ll take it out tomorrow.”

It was a chair with a deer pattern engraved with engravings or a gilded frame that stood out.

“How much is that chair?”

“It’s a secret.”

Should I say that it is hot or that it is full of momentum? Anyway, she is a girl overflowing with the unique spirit of a group leader.

Lortel’s gaze moved out of the chair and moved to the decorative cabinet and glass window. I couldn’t take it all with me anyway, so I stopped the Lortel for the first time.

“Well, I’ll send the other little ‘garbage’ later.”

“…okay.”

“Anyway, from my point of view, there are some things I want to tell you.”

Lortel returned to the living room sofa and sat down, took a cup of tea and took a sip. He is trying to look elegant in his own way, but it only increases the sense of disparity with the way he casually smashes a chair.

“Do you know Assistant Professor Claire, who is a professor in charge of elemental science in the first year? Claire Elfin, assistant professor.”

“yes? know.”

“His behavior is unusual, so I’m keeping an eye on him these days. Well, he’s such an immature person, so he doesn’t feel that dangerous, but…”

Claire Elfin.

As a young woman appointed to the professorship for the first time this year, she is one of Professor Glast’s best students and has endured for nearly 10 years.

As I remember, he appeared as a phase 2 boss in the final chapter of Act 2, Glast Subjugation…

“why?”

“It’s just… He has a strangely good intuition, but this time, he was assigned to the academic department in charge of the Ophelis building occupancy. Well, I’ll take care of it myself, so you don’t have to worry about it… I just want you to know first.”

“okay. Don’t you know.”

After answering that, I also took a sip of tea, and Lortel’s eyes looking at me were strange.

When I responded with a face as if I had something to say, Lortel cleared her throat and got up again and strode towards her.

Then he sits down at the reception table and sticks his head out to me.

“How can you not have a change in your expression like this? Seniors. This side was a win in its own way.”

When I shouted with a face full of dissatisfaction, I immediately got a sense of what the story was about.

The last time we parted, we were talking about what happened before we got the torch.

“At first, Ed-senpai, don’t you even see me as a woman?”

Lortel swung her feet, then pricked her fingers against the pitiful table.

“Well, twist it round and round, what can I say? I see Ed sunbaenim as the opposite sex. It means just as you thought. It is my dark heart to ask for such a request.”

“…I know what you’re looking for, but…”

“Oh, I didn’t expect an answer. As you know, I’m not the type to fight without a win.”

Lortel took a deep breath and pressed her hand to my chest as if to purify it.

“I know very well what will come out if I ask for an answer now. It’s only when it’s clear that my victory is clear.”

“…”

“Originally, a tribe called merchants only fights to win. Now, you’re consistent with a bland attitude, but… well.”

Lortel smiled roundly and talked in a cool way.

“Am I not the only one who is restless like this?”

If you look closely, Lortel’s fingertips were trembling.

A bewitching smile is always the same, even when the odds are certain or when you are in a corner.

The unique temperament of a merchant who never reveals his secrets is that it does not come off easily from his body.

*

[ Advanced crafting skill ‘Magic Engineering’ has been acquired. One advanced crafting skill slot is consumed. ]

The mechanical engineering equipment made up of glass beads the size of my palm and a holder was simpler than I thought and could be analyzed quickly.

A strange sense of achievement tickles my heart, thinking that I have finally learned a proper advanced skill.

I thought it would be a good idea to organize the rest of the tech supplies in the cabin, so I crossed the camp with a lot of luggage.

After the sun goes down, the cool air rises slowly. It was autumn after all.

It was around early spring when I first started living in the forest. At that time, measures against the cold were pushed to the back of the table to secure immediate food, clothing, and shelter.

However, as the colors of the leaves start to become more colorful, the chill coming from the soil is now at a level that cannot be ignored.

“Hmm…”

Now comes a time when you can’t really sleep outdoors.

In addition, when winter comes and snow begins to pile up, it becomes more difficult to hunt forest animals and procure meat, and food itself begins to become a problem because the number of edible plants decreases.

From noblemtl.com

Must be prepared for winter

The cozy atmosphere of the falling snow… The warm romance that I usually think of in winter was beautiful because it was predicated on a sturdy house and a refrigerator full of food.

Still, it’s not that desperate. Because they have insurance.

“Eighteen… Nineteen… Twenty.”

I opened the leather bag Lortel gave me. Twenty neat gold coins were piled up one after another.

If you are pushed to the extreme, you can spend money. But waste is not allowed. We have set a policy to minimize the expenditure on goods for one-time consumption.

Until this semester, I can survive on the scholarship provided by the Glockt Scholarship Foundation, but I don’t know what will happen next semester. Expenses must be made efficiently to cover tuition for each semester.

It seems obvious that Lortel has a crush on me. However, relying on that favor is a very uncertain option. Even if it does, it will be after all the scenarios are finished. Until then, it is difficult.

It’s not like I’m talking about something that can only be found in a moral textbook… that you shouldn’t take advantage of people’s favors.

First of all, it is against the policy to approach the main character of the scenario too deeply, and even if that policy is struck… A person’s heart is like a reed, and you never know when it will change easily.

Self-sufficiency is the key to survival. It is too risky to give up the initiative in life to someone’s temporary favor. No matter what anyone says, I have to take responsibility for my life.

Well, I’m still willing to spend some money on things like reinforcing the hut or getting some good woodworking tools.

These are things I need to use consistently in the future, and it will help me to improve my skills in my life right now.

But you can’t spend too much money on just buying food or firewood. It might be possible to concede to one another because spices and oil will help you master your cooking skills, but I never spend money on things that can be procured from the forest.

“Fire.”

Now, the fire magic that can be used more simply than breathing was applied to the fireplace.

– Hurry up

A fire burns in a moderately well-finished fireplace, and the smoke rises well up the completed chimney in two days.

The fireplace itself is larger than expected, so it seems to occupy almost two-thirds of the wall.

The reason why it was finished larger than it was originally designed is to create a bigger fire… In other words, to increase the firepower. At this point, it’s more a fire pit than a fireplace.

Firewood itself can be supplied consistently, so I chose to focus on firepower for now.

– Tap, tap, tap.

The sound of firewood burning echoes faintly inside the hut.

It’s not even early evening yet, but it’s very dark inside the hut. Still, the warm light fills the inside, so it’s bright enough to make you feel good.

I stared blankly at the burning flames for about five minutes, then leaned against the wall of the hut and sat down.

“Eww…”

He leaned against the wall and took a deep breath as he sat down, but then he smiled again, feeling satisfied.

The idea of ‘heating the air’ while doing outdoor camp activities was close to impossible.

The warm warmth did not come naturally when I lay down, but I had to approach the fire and actively take it.

However, now there is a roof and a ceiling.

The walls and roof were finished with mud, and the floors were covered with leather carpets.

Since they are made of materials with high heat capacity, once they start to warm up, they do not get cold easily. Once the air is heated, that cozy feeling spreads throughout the house.

The problem is that the fuel efficiency is not as good as I thought… There seems to be no solution to this part except to spend more time procuring firewood. If you don’t have time, you have no choice but to cut down trees using magic. It doesn’t seem like it would be very inconvenient to start a fire itself, as you can use ignition magic.

As expected… the process of increasing the magic efficiency seems to be necessary.

I still need to save some firewood to use it, but I’m finally moving in. If you provide some furniture, you can finally have a stable living environment.

A warm breeze warms one side of your face.

What the heck was that fact, I felt so relieved that the burden on one side of my heart seemed to have been lifted.

“…Is the time already like this? I’ll have to check the trap first.”

Recently, not only lasso traps for small animals, but also traps targeting fairly large animals have been installed one by one.

I wish you a good harvest.

*

– ‘If you think so, you may.’

Assistant Professor Claire suggested that there seems to be something invisible about the occupation of the Ophelis Pavilion.

Then Professor Glast neither affirmed nor denied it. It doesn’t seem like he’s really interested in it in the first place.

– ‘Assistant Professor Claire. You have a strange sense of humor, and sometimes you come up with pretty plausible hypotheses… But there’s a part where you’re talking nonsense at important points. Please refrain from overconfidence in your judgment at the decisive moment.’

“You talk too much! Is not it? yes?”

“…”

Trix Building Student Counseling Room.

With a desk in between, Assistant Professor Claire and Ziggs Eiffelstein were facing each other.

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Listen to me, Ziggs. You’ll see because you’re in Professor Glast’s class, but why is he really like that all the time? I wonder if I am a person who has been a disciple for nearly 10 years, and I have a hard time taking on a lot of work, but a couple of words of encouragement are so difficult.

Ziggs was sweating profusely as he clashed in moderation.

Assistant Professor Claire, who became the faculty member in charge of the occupation of the Ophelis Hall, felt a strange sense of incongruity while reading the file, and decided to conduct an independent additional investigation.

He was planning to listen to the circumstances of Ed, Ziggs, and Yenika, who had not yet been listed by the Academic Inspection Department as subjects of investigation.

As the first batter, Ziggs was called the Trix Hall, but what unfolded was more like lamenting about his situation rather than listening to the situation or investigating.

At first, it was a conversation that was exchanged with dignity and respect, but at some point he stopped talking, and he was taking a deep breath as he opened up about his situation.

Assistant Anis and the other students in charge would most likely take a deep breath and shake their heads.

“Hey, this is not the time. Ziggs has a very reliable image, so I ended up complaining without even knowing it.”

“Wow, that’s a lot of praise.”

“So I feel a little weird. Right now, it’s a misunderstanding, but I can see one or two eyewitness testimonies of seeing the golden king Elte at the scene… I also feel that Alice’s motives for acting are poor. Well, since Elise admitted everything, there seems to be no room for further investigation…”

Ziggs swallowed dry saliva.

Assistant Professor Claire is seemingly ignorant and idiot. It’s like the professors want to be like this.

He clearly realizes that the amount of academic knowledge and the coolness of the person themselves are completely separate realms.

The results of her thesis and academic research are certainly great, but people themselves are so screwed up that it makes you wonder if they can be like this.

However, her strange intuition often pierces through the lungs for some reason.

“Don’t you think there might be something like an invisible darkness?”

“The… for example?”

“Um… For example… Why, Golden King Elte… There’s a daughter in the Ophelis Hall. Lortel, Lortel.”

At those words, Ziggs swallowed a sigh.

“Obviously, Taylor also testified that she had witnessed a Lortel being held by Ellis, right? After that, he ran out of the Ophelis Hall, and his whereabouts… I don’t know.”

“Well, that’s…”

“But, there is no way Lortel is such a bad kid. Well! She has good grades and has a bubbly personality! Last time, I was working overtime, so he brought me a bunch of tarts to cheer me up.”

“…”

Having said that, Assistant Professor Claire smiled brightly. Then he quietly lowered his voice and continued speaking.

“I think Ed Rothtailer is the winner. Edgie is excommunicated now.”

It is still nonsense to whisper quietly in case someone else hears it. At first, there were only Ziggs and Claire here.

The name that came out was completely out of the blue, so Ziggs’ expression hardened.

“You mean Ed-senpai?”

“okay. It may sound like a conspiracy theory, but listen. Ziggs.”

In the first place, Jigs is just a status that came out to be investigated, so why do we have to listen to such a story?

Although it was an assistant professor’s move that showed no dignity, Ziggs could not resist.

“The other people on the scene were either students of Ophelis Hall or just officials. It’s no wonder they get involved in the Ophelis scandal. But, Taylor and Ed, the two of them got involved in a business even though they had nothing to do with the Office of Ophelis. Fortunately, it is clear that Taylor was taken to Elvira, and she was the one who directly resolved the matter, so it should be excluded from the suspect. Then all that’s left is Ed. Why was Ed in the Ophelis at that time?”

“…”

“That’s because Ed is the dark side of all this! They say the criminal will reappear at the scene!”

The way I smile as if I’m good-looking after making a sound effect-like thing with my mouth after saying “Babam-” is immature.

“There must be a motive for that… action, right? Why would you do something like that, because Ed-senpai orders you to do something like that?”

“You have to figure that out now! You are interrogating Ed himself!”

“Once you identify the culprit and then dig up the motive or method… Isn’t the order reversed?”

“It is one way to investigate in the reverse order. Ziggs.”

Claire’s temperament, acting according to her intuition, doesn’t last for a day or two. Ziggs was troubled because he was afraid Ed would get involved in troublesome affairs.

“Well, Ziggs doesn’t look very suspicious, and he doesn’t seem to know the situation well, so I’ll let it go as it is.”

“Then you’re calling Ed-senpai to the Trix Hall to investigate?”

“no. If you have time to prepare an excuse, you’re going to slip away like a loach. You have to hit it from this side.”

It means that Ziggs’ plan to swear at Ed in advance has failed.

“I don’t know where he has been living since he was kicked out of the dormitory, but he said he was often seen at the edge of the northern forest. I’ll have to go in there and investigate.”

*

Once you have decided to take action, you need to move forward. It was Claire’s policy.

I was hesitant to write a research proposal in my spare time, to check next week’s class materials, or to check students’ suggestions… However, once I got the job, I couldn’t deal with it in vain.

I was going to take a quick look around the northern forest before the sun went down, but the forest was already dark because there were a lot more things to do than I thought.

‘Umm… I thought you were going to come tomorrow. Still, I don’t have much free time on weekends…’

The atmosphere in the forest, which is gradually turning dark, is still eerie. The field of view is narrow, so the search does not seem to be very effective.

In the first place, Ed doesn’t even seem to be walking through the woods in the dark. Unless you eat and sleep in this northern forest, there is another reason to go out in the forest at night.

Just come back to me when it’s bright. With that decision, Claire was about to turn her feet.

– Sasasak

At the sound of the grass swaying over the path, Claire took a breath and quickly hid behind a nearby tree.

I looked out my head to see if it was a wild animal that roamed the forest, and what came out of it was Ed, the Rumored Fallen Nobility.

On one side, a blood-drenched corpse of a fawn is worn by her armpits.

And on the opposite shoulder…. A fainted human body is draped.

‘What… what is that…!’

Whoops, whoops.

The sound of Ed’s breathing as if he’s exhausted is already that of the beast. In the dark, his eyes seemed to shine for an instant.

Claire was stunned and swallowed her breath.

Obviously, that boy is hanging over his shoulder… Lucy Meryl, a rare genius that even Professor Glast can fold.

There is no intention of resistance even if you watch him hang on the boy’s hand without hesitation. Totally surrendered.

‘Lucy… You must be Lucy’s student…!’

There is not a single person on the faculty of the bachelor who does not know his name.

The Academy Principal, Obel, is so great that he can be compared to Archmage Glockt or Great Sage Sylvania.

Even he said that he had to do his best to deal with Lucy.

Lucy Meryl is a girl who was born with such an unbelievable talent.

He suppressed such a girl with only one hand and pulled her away… I was just staring blankly at her disappearing through the woods.

Claire couldn’t even move from her seat.

I need to dig into this a bit more. Also, my intuition wasn’t wrong.

‘I… may have really been gifted with the talent of a detective…!’

Even Professor Glast may be surprised and be able to return home with disastrous news.

With the lights on in her eyes, Claire followed Ed’s.