Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Simon gave an opinion.

“So the problem is that Meilyn can’t dodge the Cyclops’ attacks, right? Then I can help her with Summoning magic.”

“……How?”

“Skeletons. I’ll take out the undead to distract the Cyclops while Meilyn prepares a Dark Flare and attacks it.”

It was undisputed that Meilyn’s ‘Dark Flare’ was the most effective means of attacking in Group 7 right now.

And if protecting Meilyn was a problem, Simon could make a move in terms of Summoning. Not only could he attract attention, but he could also receive the attacks directed towards her with his undead instead.

“Ohh.”

Meilyn smiled a content smile.

“Now you’re talking. So a special admission is a special admission, huh?”

“Ngh.”

A solution to the most important problem of Meilyn’s survival seemed to be showing. There were no other good ideas, so Rick had to accept his role too.

Meilyn turned her head, face lit-up.

“What about you, Cami? Are there any binding skills in Hemomancy?”

Camibarez scratched the side of her head and smiled.

“Blood magic is a versatile study, absolutely focused on offense so… I think it would be better for me to just use curses.

Meilyn nodded, satisfied, and looked at Rick this time. Rick, who was squeezing out the idea, finally sighed profoundly and resigned,

“I’ll train exhaust for a week.”

“Mhm, mhm. That’s for the best of the team!”

Said Meilyn as she became high-spirited. Simon comforted Rick with a smile.

“We haven’t finalized the strategy yet. We still have time until our next strategy assessment class, so let’s keep thinking.”

“Y-Yeah.”

After answering with that, Rick saw Simon in a new light.

The group leader was Meilyn, but it was Simon who coordinated the differences between the members and brought up the atmosphere like a real leader. And all the while, he also took what he could.

If he could protect Meilyn, who was the core of the attack, with his undead, high evaluation in the teamwork grade was definitely guaranteed.

As they discussed the specifics, the bell rang, announcing the end of the class. Jane got up and said,

“By next class, prepare a 10-minute presentation on how to hunt the Cyclops. The role of each member and the dark magic used must be clearly stated in the document. That’s all. “

“Thank you for the class!”

Simon’s face, which was serious from the discussion, finally broke into a wide grin. The moment of a class ending was pleasant no matter how many times he enjoyed it.

“Run, Simon!”

Said Rick while reaching into his bag.

“There’s a limited hamburger steak at restaurant 3!” 

Simon smiled and stood up.

“I can’t miss that.”

* * *

After finishing the meal, Simon and Rick arrived at the lecture room for Poisonous Alchemy, where the last class of the day would be held.

To be precise, it wasn’t a lecture room, but a place called ‘Poisonous Alchemy 2nd Lab’, and large magic pots were placed under the writing desks.

When Simon and Rick were unpacking their things while sitting somewhere in the middle…

“Hey! Merchant!”

Meilyn entered the lecture room wide-eyed. Camibarez was following next to her while smiling.

“Your information was wrong! You said there’s a hamburger steak in restaurant 3, didn’t you? It wasn’t even on the menu!”

Rick giggled.

“That sold out in 5 minutes and was removed from the menu right away.”

“……Ah, so annoying.”

“That’s why you should’ve run like crazy to the shortcut like me and Simon.”

“I don’t know such a way! Would it kill you if we moved together?”

Rick waved his hand.

“What? You want to eat together with us too? That’s too much. Let’s not act like we know each other except in Beginner Dark Magic.”

“I don’t like it either.”

Meilyn said so and unpacked her things on the seat next to Simon.

“But… there’s nothing I can do until the Cyclops performance assessment. I’ll make it clear. If you guys are uncooperative and drag down my grade, I won’t just sit back.”

“Woah, how frightening. You won’t just sit back and what?”

As she stood still speechlessly, Rick came over and pricked up his ears.

“I’ll listen to you closely! So what? What are you going to do? Calm down and say it.”

While snarling, she said,

“I-I’ll curse you! I’m going to place 100 cursed dolls in your room!”

Rick laughed.

“Before that, you’ll either get caught in my information network and get arrested for breaking into the men’s dormitory, or be found dead because of an angry Kajann Edvalt.”

“Who’s Kajann Edvalt?”

“A certain someone.”

Rick grinned and supported the back of his head with his arms.

“Who are they?!”

Meilyn was shouting at Rick to tell her, and Rick was teasing her that he won’t. While they were quarreling like children, Camibarez and Simon’s eyes met.

She gave a smile with her eyes.

“Hello~”

“Hello.”

After a while, other students came in, and the lecture room became full. Then, the professor of the Poisonous Alchemy entered the classroom too.

“Eh- Who’s the class president in this class?”

The professor’s name was Lang Strauss, an old necromancer with a skinny body, a bent back, and a wrinkled appearance.

“We don’t have one yet!”

“Then you do the greeting from now on.”

“Yes sir!”

Jamie Victoria stood up.

“Everyone, stand up! Bow to the professor!”

“Hello sir!”

“Yes, yes. Welcome.”

Lang was the only professor in Kizen who made the students stand at attention and bow towards him. He slowly climbed up to the platform with his cane.

“So what’s your class… again?” 

“We’re Class A!”

“Oh, right. Was this the first class for class A?”

“Yes, you’re right!”

Lang said as he opened the textbook,

“Eh- Then everyone, please turn to page 1 of the textbook.”

Lang then began to read the textbook in a slow tone.

The impact was great. 10 minutes after class started, the eyes of the students started to droop.

The destructive power of his way of speaking and slow class tension was truly outstanding. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that he almost liked spraying sleeping gas from his mouth.

“…Eh- therefore- Poisonous Alchemy isn’t just about handling the poison. Combining and arranging various potions to…”

Dozing.

Rick’s head dropped down all of a sudden. Simon let out a wry laugh and hit Rick with his elbow to wake him up.

He got up in shock, but his head went down again in five minutes, making Simon’s efforts be in vain.

Under the guise of reading a textbook, a boring theoretical explanation continued for 40 minutes. Half of the students were resting their heads on their desks.

Lang raised his head and said, “Eh- Then we’ll try to make the low-grade poison potion written in the textbook……”

At last, a practical exercise! The students who were dozing off raised their heads one by one.

The teaching assistants, who started working for the first time ever since the class began, moved quickly and put the potion ingredients in front of the students’ desks.

“Eh- Then we’ll begin…… Let’s see. Brewing a potion requires- a thorough- measuring and……”

Quantitative regulation with a thorough measuring and putting order were the most important. Students accurately measured the materials with a gauger on one side.

The assistants filled the pot with water and sliced in “Poisonous Gurodan Mushroom” and “frog’s tongue”.

“And the next is— Cough! Cough!”

Suddenly, Lang bent his back and began to cough violently.

“Cough! Cough! Keeeeeeeugh! Kuegh! Kough!”

The students’ eyes popped out of their sockets from the surprise, and the assistant teachers rushed in to check Lang’s condition. There was something like purple blood on his hand as he coughed.

“Professor, you overstrained yourself. You should get some rest.”

Said the assistant. Lang shook his head even though he was coughing.

“No. That can’t be. The class wouldn’t run without me……”

“It’s going to be practical exercise now. We can conduct it under our control. You need to take care of your health.”

After being earnestly persuaded by the assistant teacher repeatedly, in the end, Lang went out of the classroom with the support of other assistant teachers.

The students blinked their eyes, wondering what was actually going on.

And instead of Lang, an assistant with red hair stood up on the platform. She let out a small sigh and found a male student who was still dozing off among the students.

She lightly lifted the heavy textbook with one hand and threw it at the student.

* * *

Translator – Ramen

Proofreader – Artethrax

* * *

Slam!

The textbook crashed into the male student’s desk, and he woke up in shock.

“Everyone, stand up.”

“……?”

“Stand up!”

The students recovered their senses and jumped to their feet. The red-haired assistant folded her arms and glared at the students.

“What kind of rude attitude are you showing to the professor, Class A?”

“Sleeping on the desk because the class is boring? How can a rotten bastard like you guys be students of Kizen?!”

A tremendous force.

Everyone stood up straight with a tense face. She stayed silent and put her hand on her forehead as if trying to cool herself.

“Let’s keep the common courtesy to each other. Do you understand?”

“Yes ma’am!”

“Sit down.”

The students who were all of a sudden behaving took their seats. She let out a deep sigh and tied her hair up with a hairband.

“I’m Professor Lang’s assistant, ‘Francesca Velmond’. Starting now, I’ll conduct the class on behalf of Professor Lang. The product for this exercise will be a low-grade poison potion. Please close your textbooks.”

Students closed their textbooks with bewildered faces. She took the chalk and walked to the blackboard.

“The most important factor in brewing a low-grade potion is the brewer’s flexible response, not the variable control with the thorough measure and unification of steps. The water should be boiling in the pot by now. Add salamander power and barley power from the ingredient pack on your left.”

One student raised their hand.

“How much should we put in?”

“The quantity doesn’t matter. Add as much as you want.”

Simon and the students freely put the materials in, following Francesca’s instruction. Soon, Simon’s magic pot turned green and started to smell bitter.

“Now, for the students who see blue smoke coming out from the pot, please raise your hand.”

Around half of the students raised their hands.

“These students will make a poison potion with a paralyzing effect. What about the students with green smoke from the pot?

The rest, including Simon, raised their hands.

“The students with green smoke will brew a poison potion with an acute headache and hallucinogenic effects. It’s useful against magicians or necromancers.”

The students blinked and looked at each other. Indeed, this was know-how that wasn’t found in textbooks or prior learnings.

She stepped down from the platform and moved around the students, pouring out information like a rapid-fire cannon.

“Students with green smoke, please take off your uniform jackets and hang them on your chairs. The assistants will prepare additional materials.”

“From now on, it’ll be the same steps for everyone. Use a ladle to remove the oil that’s spreading in a light layer on the surface of the liquid. Vegetable fatty acids make the poison less potent.”

“Keep stirring. You need to stir continuously until the potion develops some viscous consistency. If the heat is too strong, the potion may harden, so please be careful about controlling the fire.”

Perhaps because it was after Lang’s class that just made the students sleepy, Francesca’s class was colorful and even dynamic. She also passionately taught her students while dripping with sweat.

Perhaps influenced by her skills and efforts, the students began to follow her, their eyes twinkling.

“My potion has a yellowish color. Is this okay?”

“A job very well done, Student. The slightly yellowish color is a special product among poison potions. That would be enough to be sold at Rochester.”

A potion that could be sold! Hearing the unexpected compliment, the student’s face brightened up. Friends next to her congratulated her by tapping her with their forearms.

“I-I’m Catherine Meyer! My pot had blue smoke at first, but it turned into green smoke! 

“It’s because the ingredients on the floor rose up and the effect changed as you stirred with the ladle. I guess you’ll have to change towards the hallucinatory effect. Teacher Hesse, please prepare the ingredients for the green smoke here.”

Francesca began to look after the pots while walking around the students. Then, a female student raised her hand.

“I’m Claudia Menzies! Professor, my potion seems a bit—”

Francesca’s expression hardened up. Claudia soon realized that she had made a mistake and quickly covered her mouth.

“I’m not a professor, Claudia.”

“I-I’m sorry, Assistant Teacher!” 

“Yeah, so what’s the problem?”

Her anger didn’t last any longer than that moment. Francesca instructed Claudia with her potion, a gentle smile on her face.

When Claudia heard the explanation and added more Salamander power, Francesca even stroked her hair, saying she did well.

“Hey, hey. Simon.”

Rick leaned his head towards Simon and whispered quietly in his ear.

“I think I now know why the old geezer professor Lang survived in Kizen. The assistant is insanely capable!”

“……Right.”

Claudia even started consulting about her major as she got hooked on Poisonous Alchemy.

Simon was looking at Francesca softly answering Claudia, feeling an odd mix of emotions.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nah, it’s nothing.”

The class was now reaching its end.

Francesca gave free time to the students who successfully completed the potion and taught the students who failed by giving them another chance.

Simon, who succeeded in making the poison potion, was browsing through his textbook.

“Simon! Wanna prepare some of this for the Cyclops battle? Don’t you think the poison potion will have some effect?”

Simon laughed because he was thinking the same thing.

– “You’re going to have to push your skills to the limit this week to face the Cyclops. Instead of taking class carelessly, make it your own and use it for the performance assessment.”

He felt that all the class contents could be combined with reality.

Certainly, Jane’s skill in class was great.

“Idiot. Something like this won’t work.”

Then, Meilyn approached with her arms folded. Camibarez also stood next to Simon with a smile on her face.

“Low-grade poison won’t work starting from medium-sized monsters, let alone a cyclops.

“Is that so?”

Simon was browsing through the textbook without saying a word, but his hand stopped on a certain page.

‘The ingredient is Lehark Mushroom?’

It was the mushroom that Anna Polentia sometimes used for cooking after neutralizing the poison.

Simon kept his head down and read through the text.

“Meilyn, how about this?”

“What is it?”

Meilyn came close and looked at the part Simon was pointing at.

After being silent for a while, Meilyn lifted her head and ran to her seat.

“Simon! What page is this again?”

“254.”

Meilyn hurriedly opened her textbook and began to read the contents seriously.

“Guys! If we can actually make this, I think it’ll work!”