episode_0029

29.

Academy dormitory.

Riel Hayes’ room.

Riel finished her day’s work and got ready.

I put the medical magic book I was reading back on the bookshelf and changed into my pajamas.

I turned off the candles and lay down on the bed, but I couldn’t fall asleep easily.

‘Howard Youngsik, I trusted you…’

It was a shock.

From Chris, who had been stalking me, and from the rough male students who had been confessing to me and demanding answers on their own.

It was Howard who always saved her.

Could it be that Howard, in order to harm Chris, stole his gym clothes and then masturbated in a way that was so shameful that it was hard to even think about it?

Riel had been making constant efforts to overcome her fear of men.

But after being betrayed by Howard, whom she had trusted, Riel began to feel that she could no longer trust anyone.

‘I really hate it. Why are all men so violent, mean, and only hurt others? I wish all men would disappear.’

Rationally, I learned that there aren’t only bad guys.

But as men she trusted, like Howard, betray her, memories of being kidnapped as a child begin to flood back to her.

The memory of those violent, dirty, and filthy men teasing, beating, and scaring me as a child would not go away no matter what I did.

Riel was looking for an eraser that could erase his terrifying memories.

#

Howard and Bill were suspended from school for two months and transferred to another class.

There was an uproar at the Academy, but then time went on as usual.

Time passed and before we knew it, the first semester final exams were just a month away.

Academy lecture room.

Professor Berriol gave his students one last assignment before the final exam.

“You must have been bored with all the theory classes at the academy, right? I’ll give you a practical assignment that you’ll have to do outside after a long time.”

As expected, the students did not show good expressions.

Any task done outside always involved risk.

But Professor Berriol ignored the students’ complaints and explained the content of the assignment.

“This assignment is to research the characteristics and weaknesses of five different monsters in the Northmünster Snowfields and write a report. Unlike the simple hunting assignments so far, this is a high-level assignment that combines field work and desk work, so it won’t be boring.”

Professor Berriol smiled as if telling me to try harder.

“One more thing to add, if you want to catch monsters and study them, you’ll need to stay in the snowfield for at least a week. Of course, there’s a research base set up by the academy in the middle of the snowfield, so you can use that as a base camp and do your activities. It has all the basic facilities. However, the temperature in the snowfield drops below -30 degrees at night. If you don’t want to freeze to death while you sleep, make sure you prepare proper winter measures.”

#

Chris’s private room in the dorm.

Chris discussed with Ray and Lily how to prepare for the task at hand in the snow.

“Is the assignment in the snowy region this time? If it takes a week, I guess I should go too.”

After hearing Chris’s story, Lily began writing down the things she needed in her notebook.

“Chris and Ray, I need to prepare three sets of winter clothes, including mine.”

“In addition to winter clothes, I think you should also prepare things like tents and cooking utensils so you can cook in the cold.”

Since this was a task that took at least a week, rather than a one-day or at most three-day schedule like the previous tasks, tools that could be used for a small adventure were needed.

Fortunately, in Chris’s case, there wasn’t much to worry about because his excellent personal maid, Lily, prepared everything for him without him having to ask her to do so.

“The Northmünster snowfields are about 300km north of Midreddin. It seems like it would take a whole day to get there by carriage.”

Lily took out a map, spread it out on the table, and pointed towards the Northmünster snowfields.

“The Academy will provide carriages, so I’ll go tomorrow and reserve a carriage. Lily and Ray, buy the necessary items. We can load them onto the carriage in front of the dormitory and leave the day after tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

“Kyao! Just trust me. I’ll buy you a lot of dried meat that you can eat deliciously even in the cold snowy fields.”

The next day.

Chris and his party loaded a wagon they rented at the station with tents, gasoline, heaters, dried food, and winter clothing to last them a week in the snow.

“Okay, let’s go to the Northmunster snowfield!”

The carriage carrying Chris and his party moved north, making a rattling noise.

#

Howard was locked in the Academy’s punishment cell for sexually assaulting a student on campus.

The period of time he must be punished in the punishment cell is one week.

Howard sat in front of a blank wall in the punishment cell, meditating while eating only salty, tasteless chicken breast, vegetables, and tomatoes.

In the punishment cell, which had nothing to do but meditate, there were walls surrounding it on all sides.

I couldn’t even open my mouth.

I thought about singing to kill the boredom, but whenever I opened my mouth to even talk to myself, the magic sensors on the floor would detect it and send an electric current through me, tormenting me.

The academy’s punishment room was designed so that even the slightest misbehavior would cause an electric current to flow, so that students would reflect on their sins.

But Howard was in a dark, windowless, cramped punishment cell, and instead of reflecting, he was just piling up anger like tar.

‘Fuck. What did I do wrong that I’m the only one having a hard time?’

He felt so resentful of Bill, his subordinate who had forced him to commit unreasonable thefts in order to make things difficult for Chris that he wanted to tear him to pieces, and the sight of Riel Youngae’s hateful eyes came to mind, making him feel like he was in the depths of hell.

Besides, I thought I was going crazy being locked up in a dark, dark cell for a week without any light and without being able to talk to anyone.

Although I had no problem breathing through the air, I had no idea that being locked in without being able to tell if it was day or night would be so miserable.

Since I didn’t have a clock, I had no idea how many days I had been locked in or what time it was, so as I sat there blankly, a week felt like months.

The punishment cell was complete hell.

In it, Chris grew angry at himself while biting his fingernails.

‘If only that guy, if only that guy hadn’t been there… .’

Howard was a son of a noble family and was ranked third in the Academy.

I thought everything would work out fine.

By teasing Chris, a retard who stalks Riel Youngae, little by little, he makes himself stand out, and eventually breaks down Riel Youngae’s wall and starts having sex with her.

That dreamlike future seemed within reach if I just put in a little more effort.

But then Chris, who was struck by lightning and fell into a coma, suddenly changed.

He awakened to a unique profession called Summoner that no one had been able to awaken for 50 years, and he carried around a dragon-polymorphed brat as a weapon, saying that it was given to him by his family.

And things started going well.

After defeating himself in the promise duel, he went to mine rainbow ore and rescued a unicorn, receiving a medal, and even saved his fellow cadets from Thunder Tiger in the Blue Lightning Swamp.

Chris’s reputation, which had been at rock bottom, soared like the Tower of Babel.

“Why are you suddenly doing well!”

At the same time that Howard, unable to contain his anger, shouted out, the magic circle on the floor of the punishment room began to activate.

Pachijijijik!

“Kkaaah!”

A magical current, preventing him from doing anything else, enveloped Howard’s body.

Howard writhed like an earthworm for several minutes in excruciating pain.

The current Howard was an earthworm.

He wanted to become a dragon, but he couldn’t even become a snake, and was stuck in the mud like an earthworm, just wriggling around.

A tear flowed from Howard’s eye.

‘Chris this fucking kid… .’

Howard vowed to do whatever it took to get revenge on Chris for the humiliation and defeat he had inflicted on him.

#

A day passed, and the carriage carrying Chris and his party arrived in the Northmunston region.

I opened the carriage window and looked outside. Outside, there was a lot of snow piled up, and the white snowfield was reflecting the sunlight and glistening whitely.

“Your Majesty, you should not look at the snowfield for too long. The sunlight reflects off of it and is very irritating to your eyes.”

Lily handed Chris a pair of black-coated goggles.

When I looked back at Lily, I saw that Lily and Ray were already wearing goggles with black lenses.

It was definitely very bright outside.

“Thank you, Lily.”

At times like these, I realize how lucky I am to have a responsible and capable maid, Lily.

Chris put on the goggles Lily had given him and looked outside again.

“How strange. It’s definitely summer now, right? It’s already so hot in Midreddin, but how come the snow hasn’t melted in North Munster, which is only 300km away?”

“This area is 5000 meters above sea level, the highest point on the Ridelph continent. According to what I read in a book, this area is covered in snow all year round due to the influence of cold air currents.”

Chris listened to Lily’s explanation, but the snowfield was still amazing even when he saw it again.

“Come to think of it, I think this is my first time coming to the snowy region.”

Chris can’t help but admire the surrounding scenery.

“Ah, Ray. Come to think of it, aren’t there any special monsters around here that could be used as summons?”

Since it was a new area, there would definitely be monsters that could be summoned.

“Hmm… Let’s see. There must be a yeti monster in the Northmunster region. It might be a good idea to go look for it.”

“Yetira… Alright, Yeti, you’re mine!”

Summoner Chris,

He decided to take a new summoner called Yeti as his companion.