Ch.565Do You Know of the Blackboard That Has Become a Taxidermy Specimen?

Once the ice was broken, other students also seemed to relax a bit and began asking various questions about the lecture content.

Since these weren’t pointless questions like before, I answered them sincerely and thoroughly.

“How should we deal with multiple fairies?”

“In a many-against-one situation, I’d recommend retreating… though escaping from archers isn’t easy. Instead, try to get close to them and fight defensively while looking for counterattack opportunities. The key is maintaining a distance where other fairies might get caught in their spirit arrows.”

Of course, that’s not easy either. Engaging in close combat against three opponents faster than yourself is insane—like scraping your nerves with a knife.

“They’ll likely avoid using spirit arrows for a while, but given their temperament, if the battle drags on, someone will eventually lose patience and fire regardless of whether their comrades get caught in the crossfire. Use this to your advantage and let them destroy each other with friendly fire.”

It’s a dangerous acrobatic act where one misjudgment could lead to death… but when outnumbered by fairies, there’s no other way to survive.

“Of course, the probability of dying far outweighs the chance of winning, so avoiding such situations altogether is best. Remember, human strength lies in numbers. Next question?”

“It seems difficult to close the distance with fairies fighting from afar… any good methods?”

That was a good question.

Archers are uniformly despicable creatures who maintain distance while unleashing one-sided attacks. Without a means to quickly close that gap, you’d just keep taking damage.

“Well… there is a method that will definitely buy you about five seconds. As soon as you encounter fairies, loudly announce your name. Make sure they hear it clearly. Then the fairies will start introducing their ridiculously long names instead of attacking. It’s an Alvheim tradition, apparently.”

Once combat begins, there’s no need to announce your name, but before battle commences, one must declare their identity. That’s one of the fairy traditions.

Originally, it was a tradition of declaring the judge’s name before passing the World Tree’s judgment on inferior, lower species. But now that fairy power has greatly declined from its heyday, the meaning has faded, leaving only irrational formality.

Anyway, humans would ignore traditions that put them at a disadvantage, but fairies are different.

Perhaps because they live for a thousand years, fairies are unusually attached to traditions compared to other species. Anyone who breaks them is deemed unworthy of serving the World Tree and becomes the target of damp and cruel social lynching, accompanied by contempt.

Even Perneisia wouldn’t tell me exactly what kind of torment they inflict, but apparently no fairy who became a target of lynching has survived for five years. That gives you an idea of its cruelty.

Imagine fairies with hundreds of years left to live choosing suicide instead.

“So, while they’re reciting their names, approach as close as possible. Understand?”

The student who asked looked doubtful whether this would actually work, but since I was only repeating what Perneisia had told me, I couldn’t offer anything more.

—-

That concluded the day’s lecture. I ended by assigning them homework due tomorrow.

“Form groups of five with friends and submit one strategy each for dealing with fairies. That’s all.”

I originally planned to make it an individual assignment, but I remembered a superior of mine, a former university professor, who once mentioned in casual conversation that assignments should always be given this way.

Apparently students really enjoy working on assignments with friends.

“Ah.”

The look on Frider’s face as she gaped blankly right after I finished speaking was quite a sight.

I wondered how many friends Frider had among the lecture attendees. Certainly not four, but maybe at least one?

I gave Frider a smirk, put down the chalk, and left the classroom.

—-

I thought my pay would be docked for breaking the blackboard, but surprisingly, the academy made no complaints about it.

The staff cleared away the broken blackboard and damaged podium, and quickly installed a new blackboard.

The new one was thicker and reinforced with metal around the edges—a subtle hint not to break it again.

“Of course they wouldn’t complain. You broke that blackboard while demonstrating a technique no one else could understand. From the academy’s perspective, they’ve gained a commemorative exhibit piece to be treasured for generations.”

“Huh…? Exhibit piece? Didn’t they just throw it away?”

“No way they’d throw it away. They’ll probably preserve it intact and display it like a sculpture. It’s a trace left by the Empire’s First Sword herself. Such things are hard to obtain even for a fortune.”

…I hadn’t thought of that.

According to Leonore, the blackboard I broke was destined to become a cultural artifact permanently displayed somewhere in the academy’s main building. Along with my fairy drawing, no less.

Good heavens.

“…If I ask them to destroy it, would they?”

“Well… if you request it, they might destroy it while shedding tears of regret, but if it were me, I’d claim it was destroyed while secretly preserving it. Such items retain their value even decades later. If you’re determined to destroy it, wait until it’s displayed and then request to break it in person.”

That might work. It would be troublesome, but at least I could destroy it somehow.

Just as I was about to sigh with relief that my drawing wouldn’t become a cultural heritage for generations…

“Unfortunately, that won’t be possible. I’ve already acquired ownership of that blackboard in the name of the Duchy.”

Frider, sprawled on the sofa, rested her head on the armrest and grinned at me.

“…What?”

“It was obvious you’d make a fuss about destroying it, so I made a preemptive move. That blackboard is no longer academy property, but rather property of the Faelrun Duchy on loan to the academy for display. In other words, you’d need our family’s permission to destroy it. And of course, I have no intention of granting it.”

Frider grinned mischievously with her head tilted back over the armrest, her face upside down. She had the expression of a prankster who wouldn’t pass up the chance to tease me for generations.

“But why would you…”

“To see the look on your face right now? Consider it payback for giving me that impossibly difficult assignment and smirking about it.”

…Finding it difficult to form a group of five isn’t something to be proud of. That’s like spitting on your own face.

Anyway, with Frider taking this stance, my only options were to forcibly destroy that damned blackboard or endure its eternal preservation.

“…Where did they put that blackboard?”

“Do you think I’d tell you? I, Frider van Faelrun, daughter of Faelrun, swear that not even death shall open my lips!”

Frider declared with a playful tone that she absolutely wouldn’t tell me.

Though it sounded like a joke, the fact that she invoked her family name meant she truly wouldn’t tell me no matter what I did.

She was that committed to teasing me…

With Frider being like this, I had no recourse. I couldn’t exactly tear my friend’s limbs off over a blackboard. Reluctantly, I had to give up.

“Haaa…”

I blew cigarette smoke into her face and slumped down at the edge of the sofa.

“Kack, kehuck! *cough*…!”

Frider choked violently as if the smoke had caught in her throat, thrashing about. Having taken the harsh smoke head-on, tears even formed in the corners of her eyes.

“Hey! Don’t blow mana herb smoke in people’s faces!”

“Consider yourself lucky I didn’t burn your forehead.”

I pushed down on Frider, who was squirming behind my lower back, pressing her deep into the sofa while shaking my head.

Overwhelmed by the difference in strength, Frider couldn’t even resist as she sank into the sofa like a diver descending into the deep sea. Only her two legs stuck out, flailing pitifully.

Serves her right.

—-

Frider, struggling while buried in cotton and fur, finally regained her freedom only after completely destroying one sofa.

“By the way, what are you going to do about the assignment, hanging around here like this?”

I moved to the opposite sofa to finish my cigarette and addressed Frider, who was glaring at me with her hair in complete disarray.

“Assignment?”

“Yes. Finding angelic people willing to form a group with you and devising methods to deal with fairies will take quite some time.”

What seemed like a reasonable concern to me only made Frider smirk.

“I’m not doing it.”

“What?”

Her brazen attitude left me at a loss for words.

“It’s not a graded lecture, and even if it were, I’ve already fulfilled all graduation requirements. I could storm into the administration office right now and demand my diploma without any issues.”

Frider confidently smiled while brushing cotton from her hair.

“So what exactly can you do if I ignore this assignment? Hmm? Honorary Professor Haschal.”

So… she’s saying she has nothing to lose by ditching the assignment. I never expected this response.

I tapped my cigarette ash into the ashtray, then grabbed Frider, who kept poking my shoulder asking what I could possibly do, and tossed her aside.

“Eek?!”

Being a master herself, she managed to right herself in mid-air and land safely despite her cry.

“…What can I do, you ask? Well, let me think about it.”

I think I’ll make Werebeasts the topic of my next lecture. Look forward to it.