Chapter 254

Chapter 254

"I'm sorry, Claudia."

The poison consuming in the classes themselves was hard and painful.

But Simon had seen Belya's skills at Langerstine and sympathized with the values she spoke of in class. He didn't think it was necessary to reject the class just because it was painful.

"I want to keep believing in Professor Belya."

"..."

Claudia's expression showed deep disappointment after she had waited for Simon's answer.

"Why?! What part of that horrible professor can you trust so much?!!"

"That's—"

Before Simon could respond, Claudia boiled over with frustration.

"I thought you were one of the good ones... Will you really turn your back on the students' rights like this? Are you such a fool that you would die if a professor told you to die? The current Kizen system is solidly! Wrong!! If we fail, the professors' demands will only get worse in the future...!"

"You're jumping to conclusions, Claudia."

This time, it was Simon who interrupted her.

"I respect what you think, but..."

Rising to his feet, he added,

"What you're saying is an emotional spiel, not a reasoned argument."

Leaving those words, Simon turned and left. Rick followed, tossing a blank, unsigned document in her direction.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

The weak-hearted Camibarez bowed her head in apology and followed them.

"Hey! Don't leave me!"

Meilyn, the last to pack, started to follow the three, but Claudia grabbed her arm.

"Meilyn! You're not like them, are you? You'll sign, right?"

"Are you crazy? Get off me!"

Meilyn shook her hand free.

When Claudia pulled back, pain and shock clear on her face, Meilyn sighed.

"Why are you going this far?"

"..."

"Refusing a class is unprecedented in the history of Kizen, and I think you guys are going a little overboard. Maybe cool your heads a bit."

Claudia's lips curled inward in frustration.

"What difference does it make if I cool my head now?"

In truth, Claudia had no choice but to keep her rebellion going.

The movement had already begun, and even if she stopped now, rumors would spread that she protested against a Kizen professor.

She had already burnt bridges with the professor in her majoring subject. If she failed, her necromancer life was bound to go downhill fast.

"Sorry, I'm not signing yet."

Meilyn turned to leave the classroom.

"Meilyn..."

Whispered Claudia, spite worming its way into her tongue.

"Are your grades that important?"

Meilyn stopped immediately.

"I get it~ Gotta look good for the professors, right? You kiss their asses and act cute so you get good attitude points and grades. That's the secret to being forever second place in the—"

"Hey."

That was when Meilyn turned around.

The moment Claudia met the ice queen's gaze, her voice—so full of courage—faltered. Claudia could feel the entire classroom chilling as frost formed on the ceiling.

She felt frozen, unable to do anything.

"Don't. Cross the line."

Momentarily overwhelmed, Claudia felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end.

But perhaps her pride had been wounded by such intense fear. She redoubled her fury and lashed out,

"Did I say something wrong!!"

"Shall I spill the reason why..."

Spat out Meilyn, curling her fingers inward until her nails dug into her palms.

"...you poison pathetics are against the current Poisonous Alchemy classes?"

"..."

"If Professor Belya makes the students poison-resistant, you guys will have a hard time in the future, whether it's in a Duel Evaluation or the BDMAT. Isn't that right?"

Hearing such an accusation, Claudia felt her exasperation welling up deep in her chest.

"Meilynnnn!!!"

Jet-black flowed out from her whole body. Her braided hair came undone and whipped around like tendrils, and then coalesced into a myriad of venomous snakes.

"C-Calm down, Claudia!"

Rick stammered,

"Did, did you see the way they were glaring at us? It was like they were willing to send me to the hospital if it meant I didn't step inside."

'Mmm.'

Simon had a feeling this protest wouldn't die down anytime soon.

"Meilyn, are you okay?"

Fretted Camibarez, approaching Meilyn.

"What?"

"You had a fight with Claudia back in the classroom."

"...I've decided I don't care about her anymore. Let's go upstairs."

The four of them entered the lecture room on the third floor.

It was only five minutes before class, but the room was still quite sparse. The few students already in the room were chatting animatedly about the issue.

Rick looked around at the empty seats and said,

"I've been a Kizen for a long time, but I ain't never seen nothing like this... Hah~"

"Hahaha, you sound like a third-year!"

Rick and Camibarez checked on Meilyn's expression as they tried to lighten the mood, but she still remained as stone-faced as when she walked in the building. She silently pulled out her textbook and opened her notes.

Moments later, a minute before class began, Belya's teaching assistants entered the room and stood against the wall behind where the professor would teach.

The grim faces on the assistant teachers spoke volumes about how much they had been struggling. Simon even felt a little sorry for them.

'It's always the people caught in the middle who suffer the hardest.'

Belya wasn't the kind of teacher who cared about what others thought of her, and she carried her own firm views on education.

Students were not allowed to speak up in front of the professor for fear of being penalized for complaining, so they took out their frustrations and resentment on the relatively harmless assistant teachers.

Having to manage both Belya and the students, it was clear how much the assistant teachers must've suffered.

It wasn't long before...

Yaaaaaaawwwwwnnnnnn.

Belya entered the lecture room, her hands shoved into her coat pockets as she walked with her usual confident gait.

She didn't seem to care that a protest was happening just down the hall.

"Kizen professors shouldn't abuse their authority!"

The protestors could still be vaguely heard outside.

Slamming the classroom door behind her, Belya sat sprawled out in her usual chair and snapped her fingers.

The chief assistant teacher stepped forward and began calling for attendance.

'Oh, wow. I've never seen the chief assistant teacher's face so pale.'

The chief assistant teacher was probably more distressed than anyone else in the room.

She had repeatedly asked Belya to reduce the amount of poison in each dose or to cut down to two sets of poison in a class, but she refused every time.

Eventually, the situation reached this point. She felt responsible for not being able to do more.

"Coleburn Isle."

"Here!"

"Rick Hayward."

"Here!"

The chief assistant teacher who was taking attendance frowned. She hesitated, her eyes darting to the outside window before calling out,

"Claudia Menzies..."

"..."

A heavy silence fell over the room, and of course, there was no answer.

Feeling sorry for the chief assistant teacher as she awkwardly waited for a response, Jamie, the class president, raised her hand.

"Claudia's not here, assistant teacher!"

"Okay, then next."

And so it went, with the assistant teacher calling out names and Jamie shouting, "Not here!" over and over.

The mood in the class quickly sank. After hearing "Not here!" for the final name on the list, the chief assistant teacher screwed her eyes shut momentarily and closed the attendance book.

"P-Professor, I've finished checking the attendance."

"Yeah, got it."

Belya, who was scratching her ears without a care in the world, flicked her fingers. An unidentifiable substance exploded in the air like a firecracker.

"Absent? Protesting classes? What a bunch of bullshit. You've gotta be kidding me."

She casually flipped up to her feet and strode to the front.

The chief assistant teacher stepped back and stood beside the other assistants, the ones next to her giving a supportive glance.

"After today's class, tell your friends out there..."

Belya declared, flashing her jagged shark-like teeth,

"I don't care how much of a shitshow you want to put on. I'm not going to let you change my ways."

——