Ch.120120. Magical Beasts Are Dangerous Beings

Monsters are dangerous beings.

Even weaker monsters can easily take the lives of ordinary people.

They’re dangerous even to students who haven’t been at the Academy long, which was only natural.

‘Even the students I’m teaching now… this place would still be difficult for them.’

It’s unfortunate for the hardworking students, but… that’s just how monsters are.

They’re absurd beings that appear suddenly out of nowhere and instantly negate all the effort you’ve put in until now.

To such creatures, how much effort you’ve made or how much you’ve trained doesn’t matter at all.

Of course, I acknowledge the superior talents of the advanced class students.

They’ll probably grow admirably during their Academy life and… eventually stand shoulder to shoulder with those at the top.

But that’s in the future.

As they are now, having not yet bloomed, they can probably only safely handle low to mid-grade monsters… but the average level of monsters appearing in this area is high-grade.

I acknowledge their effort and talent, but… what’s impossible is impossible.

‘That’s why we’re stepping in like this.’

Monsters should be handled by those who can handle them. That’s what I was taught, and what I’ve always done.

I became a teacher because I got tired of that… I never thought I’d be volunteering to participate directly like this.

Thanks to a student who doesn’t seem like a student at all. The things I end up doing.

I glance sideways at those who have followed me.

One carefree man, and three women watching him.

How did we end up coming in such a large group…

Monster extermination carried out under the Trier name.

This isn’t a simple subjugation. It’s an extermination that annihilates everything that appears before us.

That means you need to be skilled enough to easily handle the high-grade monsters that typically appear here.

So. Honestly, I was a bit worried about this group situation.

Initially, I had planned to bring only Ludion, but somehow three women ended up tagging along with him.

Celia, Alkine, and Lilith. I was surprised that they were all famous figures at the Academy.

‘It would be hard to deliberately select a better group.’

When I observe carefully, he doesn’t seem to be deliberately chasing after them. Should I say he has good luck with women?

Anyway, I had no worries about Ludion and Alkine.

Those two aren’t the ones who need worrying about—rather, I’m the one who should be worried about them.

Celia… I’m sure she’ll be fine, but I can’t help worrying about her.

‘Maybe because she’s like a little sister.’

I believe she’ll do well, but I keep feeling this subtle worry, like leaving a child by the water.

But even that was fine. It was within a range that could be covered.

What really worried me was Lilith.

She has outstanding combat ability among the current advanced class students, but as I mentioned earlier, the current advanced class students are still inexperienced.

No matter how excellent a Saint is in major monster battles, coming here seems like skipping too many steps.

If something were to happen to her here… it was clear that I, and my family, the Triers, would be caught up in troublesome matters.

What if… we get accused of deliberately bringing the Saint here to harm her?

Of course, nothing will happen to her as long as I’m here.

I’m just saying I’m worried.

I hope she doesn’t develop some kind of trauma.

“Since it would be difficult to suddenly coordinate, let’s move together. Be careful not to leave my sight.”

What can I do now that we’ve come this far?

I decided to focus on the immediate task at hand.

After 30 minutes of monster extermination…

The monster extermination was proceeding frighteningly smoothly.

“This is working better than expected! As expected of a Saint.”

“I’ve been training hard on my own. But I’m still far from good enough.”

“Come on, if it weren’t for someone of Lilith’s caliber, we wouldn’t even be able to compete with monsters of this level.”

“You’re the last person I want to hear that from.”

Lilith. If we were to judge solely by her level, she should have struggled just to take care of herself, let alone contribute.

Setting aside all the complexities, even her combat sense, which should be her strength, was still just average.

But she was a Saint, and the divine power she wielded was literally poison to monsters.

“—!”

The sight of monsters melting under the holy light, unable even to scream properly, truly made one think… so this is what it means to be a Saint.

Already there were people getting distracted by the sight, and occasional scolding could be heard telling them to pay attention.

After graduating from the Academy, she’ll surely become a figure with countless followers.

I felt foolish for having worried about her just moments ago.

However. The truly eye-catching figures in this place weren’t her.

There were two others who stood out even more than the Saint who was easily melting monsters.

“Celia, I don’t think it’s efficient for us to stick together, so let’s split up from here.”

“Should we? Professor Reina, Alkine says she’s going to move independently too. Is that okay?”

Celia and Alkine.

Those two were showing results that clearly outclassed not just Lilith, but everyone participating in this monster extermination.

It had reached the point where having them together was excessive firepower, leading to this situation where they were being permitted to act independently.

“Ah, you know you can’t sneak off to flirt with Ludion, right?”

“As if I would do that!”

“Really?”

“…I won’t go. Happy now?”

The light atmosphere inappropriate for the setting was just a bonus.

But what surprised me even more was that Celia was showing far more absurd capabilities than I had expected.

“Lilith. Two coming from the front. How do you want to handle them?”

“What do you mean how? You’re just telling me to take them all out again.”

“Now you’re speaking my language. If you had made me repeat myself again, I would have been disappointed.”

“This is seriously ridiculous.”

First of all, Celia’s magical monster-slaying was no longer surprising.

That’s because her magic had already reached a level of mastery.

I’ve seen her mother in action a few times during her prime, and Celia’s resemblance to that was telling enough.

But. Celia wasn’t using her magic solely to attack monsters.

If she had simply shown herself slicing through monsters, I would have thought “like mother, like daughter” and left it at that, but she was focused on blocking enemy movements and protecting allies, as if practicing and testing something.

In fact, this was the main reason Lilith could operate safely.

Because Celia’s support was so solid. Lilith could pour her divine power toward the monsters without any risk.

‘What is this?’

Alkine, roaming alone and cutting down monsters everywhere.

Celia, annihilating troublesome monsters with magic while supporting Lilith.

Lilith, making full use of Celia’s support to melt monsters.

It was unbelievable.

The personnel selected by the Trier family are all skilled individuals comparable to the Imperial Knights.

And yet…

‘They’re on a completely different level.’

Their performance was so outstanding that it wasn’t just my imagination.

Cutting down high-grade monsters with ease. These talents who would be respected anywhere were looking like a ragtag bunch today.

…Well, I knew the student council president Alkine was strong, but what about Celia? What is she?

I had guessed she would be effective here.

She had shown something in the midterm practical exam.

But finding out that even that was just a fraction of her ability left me dumbfounded.

Ah, this feeling of a student slipping beyond my grasp.

I never thought I’d feel this with a first-year.

Well, I suppose.

She is Serena’s daughter after all.

It might be a bit early, but I guess it’s not strange.

What’s really strange is…

“Who is that person?”

“I don’t know either! Hey! It’s dangerous to approach that closely!”

That man over there doing something bizarre by himself.

“…What just happened?”

“How would I know! For now, their movements have stopped, so everyone attack!”

“Yes!!”

The world is vast, with countless people in it, they say.

There was a man who made even Celia, whom I just praised highly, seem ordinary.

My direct assistant who had long since left our group to move independently.

Ludion.

“Huh, what kind of student is that?”

Celia and Alkine. They had clearly become much stronger than me.

But there were still plenty of things I could teach them, and they had a certain cuteness that came from those gaps.

But not Ludion.

There were just many aspects of him I didn’t want to understand.

That gap between seeming to know everything yet knowing nothing.

That’s what made it impossible to find any openings.

The mystery created by this initially approached as curiosity, but now remained as a simple question.

Maybe it’s because I recently saw him talking with demons. I’m even having unnecessary suspicions.

‘What exactly is he?’

I don’t even know what he wants to do. It just gives me a headache.

Look at him now, after facing off with monsters once or twice at the beginning, he’s running around helping like that, and his method is unusual.

He approaches closely, dodges a few attacks, then seals the monster’s movements and moves on to another location.

I have no idea how he’s able to do something like that.

He’s repeated that until he’s gone too far to see now, but he’s probably still doing the same thing. He’s not the type of man to tire from just this level of work.

But… Celia too. Why do they enjoy helping others so much instead of focusing on themselves?

More importantly, was he always the type to show off in front of others? I don’t think he was.

I really don’t understand why he’s acting like this.

But thanks to him.

“This is convenient.”

I’m glad there are fewer people needing treatment.

I have many questions about him, and I keep getting looks asking where I found someone like that… but bringing him on as my direct assistant seems to have been a good choice.