The Academy’s Deceased Ate It All

[You know as well as I do that it is very rare for magic itself to have a special property.]

It was as Svengali said.

Among the eight of them, only two people had magic with a special property, Ivan Hunt and Yuna.

Even then, Ivan’s case was that his property changed after awakening his blood as a spirit, and Yuna’s case was that ‘she absorbs some of the property of the person she consumes and her magic contains that property’. It was a very vague case to use in real combat.

What’s more, there was a condition that the property would naturally disappear if she did not consume regularly, so in practice, there was no case where she could use the ‘property inherent in magic’ in real combat except for Ivan Hunt.

‘But…’

What was her name, Yoon Seul-hye?

It was a power that could be very useful depending on how she used it.

She had a drug-like property in her magic, and she was a healer and buffer supporter, so she could naturally inject and touch her magic to others. It was like a fish in water, she could use her power to the fullest.

[This woman’s power itself is nothing. In cases like you, who have resistance to poison or strong resistance to magic… In other words, it won’t work on the strong. But for ordinary people or those who are uncertain, they will be addicted without knowing it.]

Now I could see why she became explosively popular as soon as she started working as an idol.

Anyone who saw her once would be addicted without knowing it and drawn to her.

[It is rare for magic itself to have a property, but it is even rarer for people to notice it.]

He made a sound as if his beak was hitting hard.

[Let’s see… Hallucinations, illusions, dizziness, a sense of floating, euphoria, slightly distorted perception, a feeling of running or falling, making them feel happy and… making them more active and enhancing their physical abilities for a moment. Most of all, it’s excellent at making them forget the pain and erase the anxiety and fear.]

He started to recite as if he were a doctor.

[The fact that her ability is uncertain is rather a benefit. If the backlash, addiction, or withdrawal symptoms were strong, she would have been caught right away. And if you look closely, it looks like she really gave them a buff because of the property, so she could move without being noticed.]

…It was as he said.

Her magic, which would not have worked at all, felt like it was seeping into my body a little bit because my body was not in good condition.

It was a very slight level, but now that I knew that her magic property was addictive, I couldn’t let her keep injecting me with her magic.

As I thought so, I tried to pull my hand back.

“Hey.”

A cold voice came from behind me.

It was not Han Soo-young or Jin Ye-seul.

The owner of the voice was none other than Yuna.

“What are you doing?”

She said that and quickly grabbed my hand and pushed Yoon Seul-hye’s hand away.

It was a rough gesture that made a clapping sound.

“Ouch!”

Yoon Seul-hye let out a startled scream.

Han Soo-young and Choi Hyun-woo were also surprised, and Jin Ye-seul looked at Yuna with round eyes.

Either way, Yuna grabbed me with one arm and pulled the wheelchair back.

“Why, why are you doing this…?”

Yoon Seul-hye held her hand and blinked her big eyes, and Yuna snapped back at her.

“I’m his caretaker, okay? I’m responsible for him until he gets better.”

Yuna growled with a more hostile attitude than when she first had a conflict with me.

“I’m a detection-type ability user. Do you want me to tell you what you just did with my mouth?”

Her attitude made Han Soo-young and Jin Ye-seul notice something strange.

Choi Hyun-woo also nodded slightly.

Come to think of it, when we were exploring the dungeon in the past, Yuna was the fastest to notice the enemy among us.

Maybe Han Soo-young and Choi Hyun-woo remembered that time like me.

“That, that’s…”

Yoon Seul-hye trembled and answered Yuna’s words.

“I, I’m so inexperienced… I’m sorry, I was just checking his body because it was so damaged, and I was going to tell you, but I was too focused…”

She looked like she was scared and shaking, and I almost said it was okay without knowing it.

It was a pitiful sight that made me feel sorry.

Of course, it was only for a moment.

[Don’t be fooled.]

‘I’m not.’

If Yuna was right, Yoon Seul-hye was planning to tear up my whole body with her magic, taking advantage of the moment when my body was weak.

It wouldn’t have happened, but if it had gone her way, I would have been addicted to her magic by now.

[She’s a fox. She’s not shaken at all in her heart.]

“I’m, I’m sorry…”

Yoon Seul-hye bowed her head to me, saying that.

Her eyes were moist and tears were forming, and she was fidgeting as if she was sorry.

She was good at acting as an idol.

As the surroundings became noisy and some of the students’ eyes were drawn to this side, it was not a good situation to question her here.

I raised my hand as if to say it was okay and said to her.

“Stop crying, it’s okay.”

“But…”

“It’s really okay.”

She nodded her head repeatedly as I told her to go away.

As the classroom door opened and the students poured out, she ran away.

“…”

Yuna looked dissatisfied with me sending Yoon Seul-hye away, but she didn’t say anything to me.

I tapped her back of the hand with my finger.

“I’m not mistrusting you, Yuna.”

Then I quickly pointed to the hallway full of students.

“Look, it’s full of kids. And she was sobbing and bowing her head. And she came here for some kind of joint activity with the association. Whether you like it or not, the problem would have gotten bigger and you would have been in trouble.”

“Ah.”

She made a surprised expression at my words.

Before she could apologize or blame herself, I quickly reached out my hand.

“I’m not blaming you, Yuna. I already knew that she was going to do something to me, as you said. But…”

I had reached out my right hand to her earlier.

And in my right hand, the branch of the World Tree was taking root.

[Well, it seems to have been planted well as you wanted. It will soon take root firmly.]

I nodded at Svengali’s words.

When Yoon Seul-hye grabbed my hand and blew her magic into it, I also moved the seed of the World Tree to her.

Possible continuation:

It wouldn’t be long before the seed woke up and he would be able to see through her schemes and tricks.

“I’ll just wait and see for now.”

…Minerva’s warning.

I still remembered it vividly.

She had clearly told me to be prepared for Milted, who could be troublesome.

And that was no different from what I knew about Milted.

I had to find out everything I could about him.

Especially since there were these mysterious ‘children of Milted’ who I knew nothing about.

And the children of Milted had a pact with the cultivation, whether they were the source of it or just Choi Jun-hyung alone, I wasn’t sure.

…In this situation, it was rather an opportunity that a member of the cultivation approached me.

If I traced back through Yoon Seul-hye, I might be able to get some information about them.

With that in mind, I glanced at where Yoon Seul-hye had disappeared.

She had been gone for a long time.

There was still a sweet smell lingering where she had vanished, but it didn’t make me feel good, it just annoyed me.

***

After lunch, the time was awkward, so we decided to meet again for dinner and spend some time on our own.

When I said I had to meet Cass Lyle, Han Soo-young and Jin Ye-seul said they would come with me, but in the end, only Eun-ah agreed to come with me because he didn’t like going with a lot of people.

“Ryle senior.”

“Oh, Ji-hyuk.”

The first thing I saw when I arrived at the promised place was Cass Lyle sitting on a bench and staring blankly at the sky.

And when he saw me, he smiled and got up from his seat, and the animals around him, like pigeons and squirrels, scattered in all directions.

“I’m sorry for calling you out of the blue.”

“No, that’s okay, but… what do you want to give me?”

“Here.”

He said that and lifted up a small box that was lying next to him and handed it to me.

As Eun-ah naturally took the box, he opened his mouth with a sheepish attitude.

“Actually, I was a bit hesitant about giving this to you, but… I thought you might need it more than me, so I brought it in a hurry.”

“What is this?”

He answered my question as if it was nothing.

“A golem creation kit.”

“…What?”

I looked at him incredulously and he calmly explained.

“Inside, you’ll find a crystal and a potion in a set. You can use it three times, and there’s a time limit, but it’s pretty powerful, so you can handle most things. Or you can use it as a shield or a distraction. It’s easy to use. Just drop the crystal into the potion bottle and throw it.”

“Why would you…”

He answered as if it was nothing, but I was shocked by the golem creation he mentioned, which I knew was a very difficult alchemy.

And to make it so easy for anyone to use, and even small enough to carry around, I couldn’t imagine how much effort it took.

“I thought you’d use it more usefully than me. Did I overstep my bounds?”

“No, it’s not that… I’m grateful for the potion you gave me last time, but I feel burdened to receive something like this.”

“Burdened.”

He was silent for a moment and nodded.

“Actually… the professor asked me to do something.”

“The professor? Professor Alice?”

“Yeah.”

He nodded obediently.

“She told me to protect you. It was supposed to be her job, but she couldn’t do it in this situation, so she begged me to help you, even a little bit. She said she was sincere.”

“…?”

Alice Blessbuck asked Cass Lyle to protect me?

I couldn’t understand it, even though I heard it from his mouth.

Was she that close to me to ask him such a favor?

No matter how I thought about it, she was only my supervisor and I met her at the alchemy department, that was all. It was hard to believe that she said that because of that.

“Actually, I was thinking of quitting the academy…”

“You’re quitting the academy?”

I was surprised by his sudden remark and he answered with a calm expression.

“Yeah. Actually, there was nothing more to learn at the academy, and I wasn’t interested in being a hero or a hunter either.”

He gave a hollow laugh.

“More than anything, I was fed up with the way they treated the professor. They didn’t defend or deal with her properly, and they just tried to sweep it under the rug. So I was going to quit right away.”

“Ah…”

I remembered how hard he had been when Alice Blessbuck was slandered for conducting human experiments and all the students cursed and criticized her.

For Cass Lyle, Alice Blessbuck had been more than a lifesaver, she had been like a prayer for a long time.

For him, the incident was like having his blind and faithful faith trampled on.

“But then, the professor told me to take care of you. And you were one of the few who believed in her until the end…”

Cass Lyle said that and smiled faintly.

“I thought it would be better to stay at the academy a little longer. Well… I don’t know if I can really help you, though.”

As I was about to thank him for his words, it happened.

Thud.

“…”

For some reason, Eun-ah turned the wheelchair and pulled me back.

Cass Lyle’s smile was cunningly hidden from view.