Ch.49Chapter 49

March passed by so quickly. It’s already the third Tuesday of the month.

As I quietly stared at the calendar, I focused my attention on the Professor’s movements. If I were another animal, I might have perked up my ears—that’s how much my attention was drawn to her.

When I turned my head toward the sound, I saw the Professor pulling her chair away from the desk and neatly arranging some papers.

“Professor, are you leaving now?”

“Yes, I should go. We got lucky though.”

The Professor stood up with a slight smile.

This was supposed to be a second-year lecture that should have been held on Monday morning.

Due to a sudden work commitment, she had no choice but to cancel the class, but fortunately, most of the students taking this lecture had Tuesday mornings free, so she could immediately make up the class the next morning.

I suppose having a lecture on Tuesday morning is better than Monday morning. Of course, after getting through Monday, Tuesday morning might feel like hell.

“But what happens if someone can’t attend the make-up lecture?”

“That’s why I provide plenty of handouts.”

The Professor showed me the thick stack of handouts in her hand as if to say it wasn’t a problem.

“Shall I carry them?”

“Ourr, could you carry this instead?”

“Yes!”

When I casually offered to help, the Professor asked for something else instead.

It was the attendance book she carried separately, containing the list of students. It looked like an approval file, very thick, and seemed to exude an intimidating presence just by existing.

There’s a terrifying legend that if you have four or more absences recorded in it, your grade immediately becomes an F. It was truly frightening. Students would come to school because of such tyranny.

Of course, the Academy students had excellent academic enthusiasm, so they would attend more lectures rather than skip them. Even when they did miss class, it was usually because the make-up lecture overlapped with another class.

Hugging the attendance book, I glanced at the Professor.

“Professor.”

“Yes?”

“Come to think of it, how many credits do students take per semester at the Academy?”

“Huh?”

I just asked out of curiosity after seeing how hard the students studied, but the Professor sounded surprised, as if she never expected such a question.

Her clicking footsteps seemed to freeze in place.

Tilting my head in confusion, wondering if I’d said something wrong, the Professor let out a dry laugh and said:

“I didn’t expect you to ask a question typical of first-year students. Did the others talk about this?”

“I just heard you mentioning it before.”

“Really? Anyway…”

This was common knowledge even for those who weren’t Academy students.

But that was only true for those familiar with the education system and other races, not for a Demon God like me who had been completely removed from such society.

That’s probably why the Professor didn’t expect me to know about this.

I felt my shoulders rise with pride at having surprised the Professor.

Hehe, I know this much… The Professor is so surprised.

I chuckled to myself at the playful thought I couldn’t say out loud. The Professor, who was about to continue speaking, saw my expression and tilted her head.

“Ourr, what’s so funny?”

“Oh, nothing. Just had a funny thought.”

When I awkwardly avoided her gaze, the Professor slightly turned her body to follow my line of sight. As I pushed my eyes to the corners trying not to make eye contact, the Professor sighed as if giving up.

“You shouldn’t hang out with strange friends.”

“…Eh.”

The only friends I have are the study group the Professor created.

Oh, of course, Lenya from the first year was also my friend. And although we hadn’t talked much yet, I was planning to become friends with Iris from the second year as well.

In fact, most of the second-year students wanted to be friends with me, so I was likely to have double-digit friends soon.

I understood the Professor’s concern to some extent, so I nodded slightly.

“You seem to be having strange thoughts again.”

“No, I’m not!”

When I denied it with a startled voice, the Professor roughly patted my messy hair.

“Oh my.”

“Eugh.”

My head bowed slightly from the gentle pressure.

Meanwhile, my unkempt hair added weight to my body.

Unlike yesterday, my hair wasn’t neatly arranged, so the unbalanced weight pulled me in different directions.

As I took a few steps to regain my balance, the Professor burst into laughter.

“Ourr, your coordination is amazing!”

“It’s the result of training.”

There was something about receiving praise that made me feel proud. It felt like my shoulders were about to rise up.

With a small smile and raised corners of my mouth, I looked at the Professor, who patted my back and hurried me along.

On our way to the lecture hall, the Professor remembered the topic I had forgotten and answered my question.

“Oh right, you asked about credits earlier.”

“Yes.”

“Since they need to take 110 credits over three years… I guess they take just under 20 credits per semester?”

The Professor seemed to be calculating in her head.

Just under 20 credits per semester.

Compared to my vague memories of university, despite having one less year, there didn’t seem to be any rush to accumulate credits.

Either the quality of lectures was different, or perhaps those in this field could gain sufficient recognition with this number of credits. It was an impressive world either way.

Or maybe the existence of magic had made the world too simple for specialized courses.

“Well, shall we go in now?”

“Yes.”

We had already arrived at the lecture hall.

At the Professor’s signal, I nodded and stepped inside with her. As usual, to avoid repeating my mistake from the third-year lecture, I held my belt with one hand and watched the floor carefully as I walked.

I climbed onto the platform, placed the Professor’s attendance book down, and scanned the seats where the students would sit.

Among the second-year students taking the Demon God lecture, those friendly toward me were all wearing name tags around their necks.

There was no need to take an unfavorable gamble by choosing students without name tags. So naturally, my eyes scanned those with name tags.

When I thought of second-year students, Iris immediately came to mind—the one who had asked if she could touch my head.

With light blue hair lighter than Sera’s and darker blue eyes. It was as if her hair and eye colors had been swapped, but the overall impression was completely different.

That’s probably just because they look different.

Sharp eyes, a slightly calm voice. As always, Iris waved her hand.

Many students were trying to get me to sit next to them, but I thought it would be nice to become friends with Iris first.

It’s not that I disliked the others, but because they all approached me equally, I didn’t have any friends I could prioritize. I couldn’t say I was particularly close with any of them.

Whatever the reason, it made me feel uncomfortable, so to resolve that feeling, I took the seat next to Iris.

Iris’s charm point was her attempt to maintain a gentle expression despite her sharp eyes.

“Hi, Iris.”

“You’re sitting next to me again today?”

“Yes. I want to become friends with you.”

When I nodded in response to Iris’s comment, she quietly smiled.

Just as I thought I would listen to the lecture quietly today, the students sitting at the desk below looked up.

“Hi Ourr. Do you remember my name?”

“Yes, hello Louise.”

Orange hair and blue eyes. Someone slightly taller than me.

It might be rude to say to her face, but Louise was the person with the smallest height difference from me, which made her easy to remember.

The blonde student with green eyes next to her waved slightly.

“Ourr, what about me?”

I couldn’t disappoint those expectant eyes.

“Rain?”

“Wow… I deliberately covered my name tag.”

Rain laughed like someone caught trying to play a mischievous prank.

People generally find it easier to match faces with names rather than memorizing names as text, so that’s how I remembered them.

Since I wasn’t particularly good at memorization, it felt easier to gradually make friends and remember them this way.

“Good thing I sat here, right?”

“I figured you’d sit next to Iris again since you did last time.”

Louise clenched her fist and bounced excitedly, happy to be sitting near me, while Rain analyzed my behavior pattern.

Though it was more of a simple choice than an actual behavior pattern.

This lecture hall was designed like a staircase, so the further back you sat, the more you could see the entire large hall at once.

It was just a lecture hall, but looking down from above gave me a feeling like being an omnipotent god.

“Ahem.”

“…?”

As I looked around observing the students, I noticed one student with his head down, hands moving busily. The boy with dull silver hair was clearly using his phone.

It might not have been obvious from the front, but from behind it was quite blatant.

I thought it was outrageous to do this during the Professor’s lecture! But then I realized it wasn’t my place to intervene—that was for the Professor to handle—so I just pursed my lips.

As I stared at the student, Iris whispered a question beside me.

“Why are you staring at him like that?”

“He seems to be constantly on his phone.”

When I whispered back, Iris gave a bitter smile.

“I heard he’s into some AltCoin thing, so he’s probably too caught up in that to pay attention to lectures. Just leave him be.”

As soon as I heard that, my indignation completely disappeared.

He just became Student #1 to feel sorry for.