Ch.568Third Lecture

Having her secret hobby exposed to the public, Frider covered her flushed face with one hand and let out a deep sigh.

A woman who had even temporarily commanded the Northern Army wouldn’t be embarrassed by the gazes of a mere four hundred people. She must be reacting that way because her taxidermy hobby involving werebeasts had been discovered.

Those who try to stuff others should be prepared to be stuffed themselves. It was truly karma at work.

Shortly after, Frider removed the hand covering her face and, still blushing furiously, stood up and walked to the podium.

Her expression clearly showed how much she hated being in the spotlight, but given her character—someone who took pride in her Faelrun bloodline—she couldn’t choose to remain silent or flee after being publicly called out. She had been cornered, so to speak.

I waited with a broad smile on my face, applauding lightly as Frider approached me. The students joined in with their own applause.

The sound of clapping filled the great hall, welcoming Assistant Professor Frider.

Finally, Frider arrived beside me. Her face was so red that it looked like it might burst if poked, which made me laugh.

“Didn’t you ask what I could possibly do? Well, now you know, don’t you?”

“…This humiliation. I swear on the name of Faelrun, you’ll pay for this someday. Just wait.”

Frider responded to my whisper through gritted teeth. Of course, I wasn’t intimidated at all. Trying to sound threatening with such a red face only made her look comical.

“You should have diligently completed your assignment. Assignments are a student’s duty, and if you refuse that responsibility, you have no choice but to become a teacher instead of a student, right?”

“That’s ridiculous. We both know this isn’t about the assignment.”

That’s true, actually.

Well, you shouldn’t have provoked me with that blackboard. You should have known this would happen.

—-

Though Frider was trembling with humiliation, now that she was out here, she had no other choice.

She had to share her knowledge with the students as the assistant for the special lecture on werebeasts, just as I had introduced her.

“Ahem. Ahem. Pleased to meet you all. I am Frider van Faelrun, serving as the temporary assistant for this lecture. I look forward to working with you.”

After clearing her throat and introducing herself, Frider began her lecture while trying to maintain a composed expression. Rather than teaching innovative tactics like in my lecture, she focused on orthodox countermeasures.

The physical differences between purebloods and mixed-bloods, characteristics that varied depending on the base animal, and the basic response strategies of Northern knights. When put to the task, she was explaining everything surprisingly well.

Prepare silver or accompany a priest of the Church of Menes.

A werebeast’s regenerative ability consumes stamina, so the more they bleed, the slower they become.

Rather than simply cutting or stabbing, setting them on fire or tearing them apart with saw-toothed weapons is more effective.

Due to the gap in physical abilities, close combat is disadvantageous, so try to subdue them from a distance if possible.

If close combat is unavoidable, don’t focus on defense. Fight by thoroughly avoiding their attacks.

If you manage to pull out half their intestines, they won’t be able to properly regenerate the protruding parts without tearing them off, which will definitely create an opening. And so on.

Except for one point, everything was so textbook that while it might be helpful for freshmen, it could have been boring for second-year students and above.

—-

“—That concludes my presentation. Are there any questions?”

There were no questions from the students. They were all too busy scratching away with their quill pens, taking notes on what Frider had said.

I found it somewhat disappointing. I had hoped for questions like “Why did you stuff werebeasts?” or “Is it true that your room is full of werebeast entrails?”

Perhaps the students found House Faelrun much more intimidating than me, as unlike during my lecture, not a single person attempted to ask such direct questions.

Anyway, after Frider finished her textbook-perfect lecture, I added some practical advice for the remaining time.

“Due to their bestial ferocity, mental magic or binding spells are difficult to use effectively, and attack magic can be endured through their regenerative abilities, but lightning magic tends to be relatively effective.”

While fire magic might be more damaging, lightning magic was particularly effective against creatures like werebeasts who rely on physical combat.

That’s because lightning that penetrates the body burns and tears through nerves and muscles, paralyzing them.

“If it hits, it will definitely create an opening. Though the burned nerves will regenerate in an instant, for werebeasts below Champion level, that moment should be enough to land a decisive blow.”

I was telling them to paralyze with lightning and then cut off the head with a silver blade. For Champions and above, their regeneration was too exceptional for this to be meaningful, but for lower-level werebeasts, this approach could work.

“And if you have to fight in the North, be sure to acquire werebeast hide. Their skin makes excellent armor and insulation. Whether used as armor or worn as a cloak, I guarantee satisfactory performance.”

Moreover, it could even be used to provoke enemies and disrupt their composure.

Though provoking is pointless if you lack the skill to exploit the openings of an enraged enemy.

—-

That concluded the second day’s lecture.

After making sure to erase all the drawings I had made on the blackboard, I took the eighty assignments submitted by the students and left the great hall, heading toward the Heaven’s Sword mansion, which had started to be called the Sky Mansion.

The only people left in the mansion were Perneisia, Hush, Ophelia, and Claire. Demian and Millia had gone out to hunt monsters on my orders, and Jahan was also active with them.

Unlike me, Jahan was a pure Ka’har, and since he hadn’t accomplished various achievements for the Empire like I had, he needed to work hard from now on to be accepted by the Empire.

Hunting monsters was essentially saving people, so if he continued doing that, he might eventually gain favorable views like I had.

…Though it might take a while, given how much he looks like a bandit.

Anyway, when I entered the reception room, Perneisia, who was sprawled on the sofa, raised a bottle of alcohol in greeting.

“Welcoooome… Looks like today’s lecture is over… Want a drink too?”

“I quit drinking.”

I neatly ignored Perneisia’s offer and placed the pile of assignments I had collected from the students on the table in front of the sofa where she was lying.

“What’s thaaaat?”

Perneisia tilted her head and pointed at the stack of papers on the table.

“Eighty different methods to kill fairies, devised by four hundred academy students. Also what you’ll be grading from now on.”

“Whaaaat?”

Perneisia’s eyes widened as if this was the first she’d heard of it, but I had no intention of taking back what I’d just said. I had planned to leave the grading to Perneisia from the beginning.

I’m not a fairy, and I couldn’t possibly know which of the eighty methods would be effective and which would be meaningless. For fairy-related content, the centuries-old fairy Perneisia would know much better than me.

“What do you mean ‘what’? It’s something you obviously have to do. You eat meals with my money, buy alcohol, and sleep comfortably—if you have any conscience, shouldn’t you do at least this much?”

I snatched the bottle from Perneisia’s hand, placed it far away, and tapped the stack of papers.

“Start grading once you sober up. Don’t even think about drinking until you’re done. If I catch you drinking secretly, I’ll remove every drop of alcohol from this house.”

“Nooooo…”

Perneisia lamented in a tone as mournful as a resistance fighter who had lost their country. Well, actually, she’d be more of a traitor than a resistance fighter.

Anyway, after dumping the assignment grading on Perneisia, I met with Hush and Ophelia for some casual conversation, then returned to the professor’s residence where Lena was waiting, feeling unburdened.

“Finally, you’re here!”

As soon as I opened the door, Frider jumped out as if she had been waiting and lunged at me, but…

“What are you doing?”

Unfortunately for her, the gap between a Master and a Hero wasn’t something that could be bridged with a surprise attack. In the end, Frider could only tremble, thrown onto my sofa and tightly bound with the rope she had brought herself.

The rope, seemingly made by mixing werebeast tendons with wire, couldn’t be broken once tied.

“Hey! Untie this! Untie me now!”

“Would you untie me if you were in my position? Rope, seriously—what were you planning to do with that?”

Frider closed her mouth. She must have sensed that whatever she said, I would return it in kind.

—-

The third lecture was about Dragonborn and monsters. I skimmed over the Dragonborn and focused mostly on monsters.

There weren’t really any good countermeasures against Dragonborn. They were powerful beings with excellent physical abilities, vast mana, and impenetrable defenses.

Due to their violent nature, those lacking in mental discipline were susceptible to provocations or traps, but that was meaningless if you didn’t have the attack power to pierce their scales.

In contrast, there was plenty to discuss about monsters, excluding the powerful ones that only Masters could handle.

I drew various illustrations on the blackboard while explaining the monsters that students or knights might encounter and their weaknesses.

“The bat-frog, also known as an Imp. Most are female, but occasionally there are males that spit paralyzing poison. Perhaps because males are extremely rare, if you capture one that spits paralyzing poison and use it as a hostage, the other Imps won’t attack properly. But be careful—if you kill it outright, the others will go berserk and charge at you.”

How to survive when surrounded by a group of Imps. The students were perplexed at the suggestion of taking a monster hostage, but this was actually one of the most effective methods.

“Centipede-snails have no eyes, which might be why they have a habit of swallowing anything that touches their mouths. Feed them poison or holy water to weaken them before fighting.”

There weren’t many poisons that could harm hybrid monsters, but they weren’t so rare that they couldn’t be obtained. If poison was difficult to acquire, holy water would suffice.

“Spider-birds are difficult to deal with because they fly quickly, but when they attack, they charge in a straight line. If you take advantage of that moment and block them with nets or similar tools, you can easily eliminate them. They prioritize moving targets, so you can use this to lure their attacks.”

The net would only restrict their movement for a brief moment, but that was enough time to dispatch a single monster.

“The Cursed Mother. If there’s a mage or priest in your party, it’s best to fight with their help against the curse… but even if knights must face it alone, you can easily defeat it by exploiting its habits.”

If Frider had known this, she wouldn’t have struggled so much in the Carmine Dungeon.

“True to its name, the Cursed Mother retains the instinct to care for and embrace children even after becoming a monster. Even in the midst of fierce battle, it will turn its attention toward the sound of a child crying.”

This was a fatal weakness. The moment it heard a child’s cry, it would completely stop all actions and stare blankly in that direction for several seconds.

“So, bring a child to use as a distraction, or have someone in your party imitate a child’s cry to draw its attention. It will reveal an opening big enough to kill it several times over.”

Since monsters also have learning abilities, this trick would stop working after being used three or four times, but honestly, if you couldn’t kill a Cursed Mother after using this method four times, there was nothing more I could do for you.

With that level of skill, you’re better off dead.

Anyway, that’s how the third day’s lecture was completed as well.