episode_0061

First, I smoothly withdrew from the Tea Ceremony Club and joined the Literature Club.

Since it was still the first semester of my first year, there were no particular difficulties in withdrawing from a club, and the Tea Ceremony Club had so many students that they didn’t pay much mind to one or two students leaving or joining.

And as for our Literature Club…

“Hmm, so our Ras is joining the Literature Club~ Alright. First, our club doesn’t do much. We just do a bit of activity around festival time, that’s all. Literature is meant to grow with freedom, after all.”

Professor Tiria, who was a bit annoying like a honey-seeking bee, accepted my application as if it were no big deal.

Marisa seemed incredibly happy just by the fact that I had joined the Literature Club, beaming brighter than ever before.

“Why are you so happy about it? It’s not like I did anything big.”

“Popular people like Ras-gun wouldn’t know. I am a loner, always yearning for friends. Having you and Irha makes school life enjoyable these days.”

As I thought, our perfect superhuman princess, Marisa, seemed to feel lonely in both her school and daily life.

Her happy appearance while socializing with someone strongly overlapped with how she looked before the regression, and for a moment, my heart ached a little.

Before the regression, Rodrigo was ultimately purged by Leon, and the Valencia Ducal House was annihilated, framed for treason.

Well… Rodrigo had attempted indirect infringement and violation of the inviolable imperial authority, so it was indeed real treason, and he wasn’t unfairly framed.

Anyway, instead of killing his fiancée, cousin—no, his aunt—Marisa, by linking her to the family’s treason, Leon sent her on an exile-like dispatch to the front lines against Azuldar.

We met purely by chance on the hellish battlefield, and though it wasn’t for a long time, we built quite a few memories.

I thought the feelings Marisa showed me back then were something further than love, yet closer than friendship.

I was thirsty for human connection, and with Leon as our common enemy, I felt deep sympathy and empathy for her. Soon, I secretly developed a crush on her.

“I don’t have many friends either. Besides you and Irha, do I have any other friends I hang out with in class? The rest are just people I greet properly.”

Anyway, I was a bit far from what Marisa called a ‘popular person’, so I slightly corrected her words.

“Indeed, your popularity these days is close to that of a celebrity. Thank you, by the way. For not finding me difficult.”

“Friends don’t need to be so formal. Enough with the embarrassing talk, so what exactly does the Literature Club do for the festival?”

“Ah, well, first, each club member writes a short poem or essay to be included in the school paper, and then we send it to the Newspaper Club. We can also submit short stories as individual entries. Have you ever written a novel, Ras-gun?”

After that, I returned to the classroom, responding appropriately to Marisa’s chattering.

“Anyway, the festival isn’t far off, so we’ll have to meet often after school to prepare. If you show me you’re working hard, I, Marisa, will give you a very special gift.”

“What is it?”

I asked, curious about Marisa’s special gift, but she just kept silent with her usual playful smile.

“Hehe… A special gift must naturally be a secret, mustn’t it? Anyway, it’s a gift worth looking forward to, so just follow me diligently. By the way, I’m the Literature Club president.”

For some reason, her eye-smile today felt a little mischievous.

*

“Oh dear… How did our cute Irha get so upset~?”

“Whining…! Teacher-nim, Ras…!”

A great disaster.

My minion was furious when she heard that I had chosen to join the Literature Club instead of the Cooking Club.

We had gathered to eat after a long time, but Irha was pretending not to know me!

“To choose Marisa over me, your number one minion. Ras is really mean. He’s totally messed up… This means a one-day suspension of bread errands…”

She was completely pouting, clinging tightly to Rosalie and grumbling at me about everything. Honestly, I felt a little bad.

However, it was cute how she clumsily glanced over, worried I might be offended, so I forgot my apologies and struggled to hold back my laughter.

“Eh…? Number one minion? You’re not number one, you’re number two. And since you’re number two out of two minions, you’re last place..! Hehehe… Of course, a stupid seagull like you wouldn’t be chosen by Master-nim!”

And Pisces, clinging tightly to my side, didn’t miss the opportunity to attack Irha.

Irha, whose fighting power seemed to increase against Pisces, retorted without backing down.

“If you’re with Marisa, you’ll become just like me! Marisa is much prettier and kinder than that naughty crow!”

“What?! No way. Pisces has been openly praised for her blossoming looks lately, you know? Marisa or Marimon, I’m probably better! You’ve never even been praised for being pretty. Master-nim, right?”

As I watched the endless, petty showdown between the two bird-like creatures, Professor Rosalie playfully joined in this time.

“Oh, you cuties. It’s alright, Ras said Teacher-nim is the prettiest anyway, so below that, you’re all pretty much on par. Right?”

Oops.

Actually… with Semere, who could contend with her looks, currently absent, Professor Rosalie truly was the queen.

And ‘pretty much on par’ also meant that everyone was pretty anyway…

When I, an honest person who isn’t good at lying, hesitated slightly…

Squawk…

Caw…

Both minions, who had been happily fighting, deflated.

Professor Rosalie, after seeing me avoid answering, gave a slight victorious smile and gently stroked the heads of both ‘children’.

“It’s alright. Anyway, both of you are really pretty and cute. Hehe.”

Indeed, my minions lacked too much experience to contend with Teacher-nim, a seasoned warrior who grew up on the battlefield and a saint (to-be).

“Ah, but Professor Isera isn’t here again today?”

Making her words about never meeting without her meaningless, Professor Isera was absent from the enjoyable meal today.

Rosalie comforted the two dejected kids and answered my question.

“Yes. Isera went on a short business trip to Maugendorf Forest early this morning. Professors sometimes go to check if the forest’s vegetation is well-maintained. She should be back around Sunday.”

“The forest. She must have gone there grumbling.”

Come to think of it, my only memory of that forest was collapsing after eating the deadly poison Irha made.

Though that day’s incident was now a distant memory… looking back, the forest wasn’t a place that left me with many good impressions.

Even aside from Maugendorf Forest, the countless unnamed forests I encountered when I was forcibly dragged into the war with Azuldar had presented me with numerous crossroads of life and death.

Especially in the forests bordering Azuldar, I fought demons and monsters controlled by them to the point of being sick of it.

“Pfft… I figured nothing much would happen anyway.”

This wasn’t Azuldar, nor was it a border region, so there was no way there’d be demons in the forest.

[Ras, shall we meet up just the two of us tomorrow, for the first time in a while, to celebrate the weekend? If you only pay attention to your minions, Teacher-nim will be a little sad~]

Just then, a mischievous message came through my communicator, so I couldn’t dwell on thoughts of the forest any longer.

Tomorrow, I’ll go on a date with Teacher-nim for the first time in a while.

*

“Seriously… what a struggle this is on a Friday…”

Isera Bernstein muttered incessantly, unsuited to her cool appearance, as she circled the forest.

The two assistants accompanying her fidgeted restlessly, merely observing Professor Isera’s mood, as she was slightly fuming.

“Ugh… to lose to Rosalie in the lottery. She’s so lucky… Ugh… I’m annoyed, Rosalie!”

As Isera grumbled ahead, the assistants whispered to each other.

“She must be really angry about coming on a business trip on a Friday…”

“Honestly, I’m furious too. It’d be great if they’d send us on business trips on Mondays, but why does Leone always make them overlap with the weekend?”

It was a situation anyone would be upset about, so the assistants empathized with Isera’s anger.

Of course, Professor Isera had actually been one of the professors who never expressed any regret about Friday business trips until now.

Rather, field work in Maugendorf Forest was one of her favorite pastimes.

Having wandered through the battlefields of Azuldar and Kashmir, she was quite used to camping, having spent a lot of time camping in forests and mountains.

Moreover, she could leisurely enjoy the beauty of nature that she couldn’t enjoy back then, which gave her a fresh pleasure.

So why was Isera angry now?

‘Surely… Rosalie is clinging tightly to him… Ugh…!!!’

Isera was fretting because of Ras Etgard, the cute younger man who had squeezed his way into her 32-year life for the first time.

Honestly, the feelings she held for Ras were still light affection or fondness. No… whether they were truly just light, who knew…

‘A “younger man” who shows the appearance of a proper and confident man. He’s exceptionally talented, quite handsome, not some annoying noble, and his reverence for his teacher is excellent….’

No matter how you looked at him, he was a top-tier candidate for a lover and a husband, as if heaven had prepared him just for Isera herself.

She had been wearing the combat gloves Ras gave her almost all day lately.

She had been forced into useless introductions and blind dates that only killed time, but the men were so boring that she didn’t even want to exchange a word with them.

All the “gifts” they brought were things like flowers and rings… Isera, who preferred practical items, disliked such gifts and would send them all back.

In contrast, the gloves Ras gave her were her favorite among all the gifts she had ever received in her life, and Ras had accurately captured a woman’s heart without even knowing it.

However, despite Isera being always bold and confident, with formidable competitors, she had been a little anxious lately.

There were quite a few beautiful women around Ras… but in her opinion, the most powerful competitor was her precious colleague, Rosalie.

Isera cherished and loved Rosalie deeply, but she had to admit that Rosalie was a formidable opponent.

“Being pretty isn’t everything. I’ll compete with my own charm…. Hmm???”

Isera, who had been walking while thinking about Ras, felt a strong sense of déjà vu.

“Stop. Everyone.”

The accompanying assistants also tensed up at the strange feeling and began to look around.

Maugendorf Forest was a natural monster habitat.

Although it was managed as a learning facility, humans didn’t artificially interfere with the ecosystem.

Instead, the main purpose of the management was to prevent overly powerful predators from entering, so that the vegetation could be naturally maintained.

Therefore, monsters of various levels naturally roamed the forest.

Some were cunning and confident, fearlessly targeting professors from Leone Academy, while others were weak and quietly avoided people.

However, one thing was certain: it was unthinkable for a professor, especially one with developed wild senses like Professor Isera, not to sense the presence of monsters.

But Maugendorf Forest was strange now.

“There’s nothing… It’s as if something has overturned and devoured the forest.”

“What could have happened…?”

From Professor Isera, who answered the assistant’s cautious question, there was no trace of the immature professor who had just been thinking about her cute student.

“Search thoroughly. We’ll have to pull an all-nighter… Camping is out.”

The darkness of the forest that day was exceptionally black and silent.