The next day at dawn.
I headed to the Public Training Hall for my physical training.
I had applied to rent a Private Training Hall for this semester as well, but since it was still vacation, it wasn’t available for use yet.
And there, whether I should call it bad luck or an inevitable result, I ran into the protagonist of another novel.
He had also come out for dawn training.
We trained together, and afterward, we stopped by the dormitory to shower in our respective rooms.
Then, we had to take a carriage out of the Academy together to eat breakfast before returning.
‘It really couldn’t be helped.’
Still, the fortunate thing was that Reysir Daudabina didn’t cling to me persistently.
After I mentioned that I was going to personally greet a professor who helped me last semester and then planned to finish reading the novel I borrowed yesterday, he readily agreed.
Instead, we decided to have dinner together.
‘As expected of a protagonist from a novel written by a Korean, he’s really obsessed with food!’
Recalling that sentiment, I headed toward Professor Radbisin’s lab.
Even though it was still vacation, I didn’t think there was any chance the lab would be empty.
According to Senior Blida and Senior Elska, vacation for a research student isn’t a time to rest; it’s a period where one ‘grinds their very soul into research and papers.’
Naturally, the professor who has to supervise such research students would also clock in at the lab every day.
‘Being a research student really isn’t for me!’
While reflecting on this truth, I finally arrived at Professor Radbisin’s lab.
When I opened the door, a ‘professor’ greeted me, but…
“Whoa~! Karbaldr, it’s been so long~! You’re here early before the start of the semester~??”
My readers would have noticed immediately through this unique way of dragging out the ends of her words.
The owner of that dialogue wasn’t Professor Radbisin, but Professor Skadi.
It was an unexpected encounter.
According to the content of the Original Work, she shouldn’t be here right now.
She should have received orders from the Imperial Family to ‘assassinate’ a Boss Monster to save people and should be currently performing that mission alone in the Demonic Realm.
Yet, how was Skadi now?
She was boldly occupying a desk in someone else’s lab, sitting there and snacking.
She even had a picture book with cute illustrations spread out on the desk.
“Ugh…”
“Uwooh~!”
Buried under piles of papers even during the vacation, the senior research students, who had turned into zombies, waved their hands at me in greeting.
Compared to them, Skadi’s life looked far too comfortable.
“Why… is Professor Skadi here…?”
After giving a light nod to the senior research students, I shifted my gaze back to Skadi and asked.
Even to my own ears, my voice was thick with bewilderment.
Nevertheless, Skadi didn’t mind at all and spoke with a bright smile.
“Grandpa Ravi told me I could come and play whenever I was bored, so I came to play~!”
I heard her answer, but my doubt wasn’t cleared in the slightest.
That response explained why Skadi was in this lab, not why she was here at Valhalla Academy.
Just as I was about to ask again…
“Also, I decided to be friends with Blida and Elska~! We didn’t overcome a desperate crisis together, and I’ve never saved their lives~! But they said they’d accept me as a friend anyway~!”
Suddenly, Skadi mentioned the logic I had claimed back in chapter 124—that friendship is based on a shared narrative—and presented a counter-example where she succeeded in making friends without anything of the sort.
Is she mocking me?
Or is she bragging?
“Ah, yes… congratulations.”
“Thank you~!”
“……”
“Having friends is a really good thing~! So, Karbaldr, I hope you become friends with that boy in the blindfold soon, too~!”
It seemed it was the bragging side.
Having reached a conclusion, I composed myself and spoke the question I had originally intended to ask.
“By the way, will you be staying at the Academy from now on as well…?”
“Huh~? Of course I am~!”
Skadi tilted her head with wide, clear eyes.
She seemed puzzled, as if she had no idea why I would ask such a question.
‘To think that even Skadi would end up staying at the Academy…’
Why?
Was it because there were too many vacancies created by the mass firing of combat professors?
Perhaps they couldn’t even afford to dismiss Skadi—the only one free from responsibility—at a time when filling those spots was already overwhelming.
If that were the case, there would be no issue in terms of narrative consistency.
“Aren’t there many problems lately because of the ‘Demonic Realm’? Only the Awakened can defeat Boss Monsters, but their numbers are very small, and even among those Awakened, those capable of combat are even rarer…. I thought the professor might be drafted for the mission to clear the Demonic Realm, but if not, then never mind.”
“Were you worried~?! That you might not be able to see me anymore~??”
When I gave a vague excuse for the intent of my question, Skadi misunderstood on her own, her eyes sparkling, but…
“No, I wasn’t.”
“Ah, you weren’t…”
When I corrected her, her shoulders slumped with a dejected expression.
No matter what I said, I had always been treated like a tsundere.
Seeing someone take my words so literally felt quite fresh.
“But has Professor Radbisin not arrived yet?”
“If you mean Grandpa Ravi, he’s in the private room over there~!”
Professor Radbisin usually rarely used his private room.
He preferred being with his students in the spacious lab area over being alone in a cramped space.
If he was choosing to stay in the private room, it meant he wanted to focus on his work without any distractions.
‘Should I wait for the professor to come out? Or should I just come back later…?’
As I stood there contemplating, the zombie seniors suddenly started a commotion.
“Ugh, ugh, uwoh!”
“Uwooooh, graaaah…!”
Although I call them ‘zombies,’ it wasn’t as if they had actually become zombies.
Watching these people make sounds even further removed from human language than Yor’s meowing, I couldn’t tell if this was just a bit or if they truly lacked the energy to speak.
“They’re telling you not to just stand there and to go inside~.”
“…Did you just interpret that? Or are you just guessing?”
“I interpreted it~!”
“How…?”
“Because we’re friends~, through the power of friendship~??”
“……”
Had Skadi decided to join the senior research students’ act and take on the role of a zombie language translator?
Or did she really succeed in interpreting the seniors’ groans through the power of friendship or whatever?
It was a series of incomprehensible situations, but one thing was certain: these people were strange.
Thinking that I should evacuate to a space with a sane person, I knocked on the door of the private room.
“Professor, it’s Karbaldr. I’ve come to greet you. Do you have a moment?”
“……”
There was no answer, so I pressed my ear to the door and faintly heard a sound like ‘Ugh…’
Could it be that Professor Radbisin had also undergone zombification due to being crushed by research and papers?
Thinking that made me very reluctant to enter, but considering the professor’s age, I couldn’t rule out the possibility that he was groaning because of a health problem.
Thus, I boldly threw the door open while saying, “Excuse me.”
“Ah, Karbaldr. Welcome.”
Fortunately, Professor Radbisin could still speak human language.
Unfortunately, his complexion was very poor.
Dark circles, even deeper than those of the senior research students, sat under the old professor’s eyes, and his chubby cheeks seemed to have thinned out a bit.
“You look very worn out. Did something happen during the vacation?”
“No, it’s not that.”
“Then, is it because the paper isn’t going well…?”
I knew a day like this would come.
Since he was trying to write a thesis by researching something like the ‘Aether Color and Attribute Correlation,’ the progress was bound to get stuck.
I couldn’t help but feel pity.
So, even though I knew it was rude, I unintentionally cast a sympathetic look at the old professor.
“It’s true that the progress on the paper is slow, but that’s not the reason.”
So he says the reason for his poor complexion is something else, but the paper really isn’t going well either.
Should I suggest he change the topic even now?
Regardless, it should be a priority to ask about the reason for his poor health.
I decided to put the suggestion of changing the thesis topic on hold for now.
“Then what is it?”
“Well… sigh…”
“……??”
“Karbaldr, you truly are a kind and warm student.”
“W-what are you talking about all of a sudden…?”
It was truly sudden.
Worrying about an elderly person whose complexion was so bad they seemed to have a health problem is a common human emotion.
I was bewildered that he would praise me for something so basic, but then the old professor said something even more baffling.
“Don’t you even resent me, your professor?”
“Excuse me??”
Professor Radbisin was definitely speaking human language properly.
Even so, I couldn’t understand what he was saying, and my head tilted to the side of its own accord.
“On the day of the Graduation Ceremony. When you were in danger, not a single one of the professors, including myself, stepped forward, did they? So I thought you would resent us.”
Could it be that he had been suffering all through the vacation because he felt guilty about not helping me that day?
I felt a mix of astonishment and a slight tightening in my chest.
“I was deeply disappointed in the other combat professors, excluding Professor Skadi, who couldn’t even set foot in the Grand Hall. But I have no resentment toward the academic professors, including you, Professor Radbisin.”
As Professor Radbisin was in charge of subjects related to Aether Attributes, he surely would have grown by researching his own abilities.
However, even so, he was a person who had spent his entire life researching at a desk.
He had never used his abilities for combat, let alone experienced combat itself.
‘And he’s quite old, too.’
As far as I knew, the old professor’s current age was 67.
It was at a level where it felt apologetic to even ask why he stood by while a monster lunged at me.
This wasn’t a matter that applied only to Radbisin.
Most of the academic professors were quite elderly.
In that sense, Dyuf, who was in his early 50s, could be considered quite young, if not the youngest.
“Don’t I know it myself? The reality is that even if I had stepped forward that day to do something, it wouldn’t have been of any help. But does that mean I can be proud? A young student found the courage to save his friend, yet I couldn’t step forward to save such a student. If I can’t even feel shame, can I really be called an adult and an educator?”
“……”
“And resentment is not an emotion that can be controlled through rational judgment. That is why this professor could only spend the entire vacation regretting and worrying.”
The old professor explained his feelings with a dark expression.
Through those refined sentences, I could guess how deeply he had agonized.