Book 1 Chapter 236
The three people invited to lunch by Mel headed to the first-year magic building.
Mel asked them to stay in the first-year magic building for a while while she prepared for their meal in her lab.
“Wow. The first-year magic building. So many memories.”
“We were taking classes here just a few months ago, weren’t we?”
“Such fresh freshmen! We were like that once too.”
“Anyone would think you were graduates.”
As Karl theatrically exclaimed upon arriving at the first-year magic building, Chloe clutched her head, and Leo burst into laughter.
Meanwhile, on the cafe terrace in front of the magic building, first-year students struggling with their textbooks suddenly spotted the three and their eyes widened.
“Wait. Those three people… aren’t they Senior Leo, Senior Chloe, and Senior Karl?”
“Where? Where?”
“It’s true!”
The first-year students looked utterly surprised.
The magic department students flocked towards them.
Watching them, Karl muttered,
“Oh wow. As expected, the top two students in the magic department and the student council president are popular with their juniors…”
“Senior Karl! Hello!”
“Senior, nice to see you~”
“What brings you here?”
The first-year students swarmed around Karl.
Karl’s eyes widened.
Taking a step back, Chloe tilted her head.
“You’re really popular with your juniors.”
“Karl was the one who approached the first-year students most friendly during the welcome party.”
“Wasn’t that just to promote his own merchandise?”
“Still, from the juniors’ perspective, Karl is easier to approach. And he’s funny too.”
“I can’t deny he’s funny, but…”
Chloe trailed off, watching Karl chat amicably with the juniors.
Leo chuckled at the sight.
“What? Jealous?”
“J-Jealous! Of course not!”
Leo chuckled at Chloe, whose face had turned slightly red, and pointed to one side.
“It looks like there are some people over there who want to get to know you too?”
Chloe looked where Leo pointed.
“Oh, Senior Chloe…!”
“This is my first time seeing you in person.”
“I’ve read all the magic papers Senior Chloe wrote when she was a freshman! I want your autograph!”
The first-year students gazed at Chloe with sparkling eyes.
Leo nudged Chloe’s shoulder.
Chloe cleared her throat and approached the juniors.
“Why are you all looking at me like that?”
“Gasp! S-Senior?”
“If you have something to say, just say it. I’ll listen.”
Chloe, as always, adjusted her grimoire and stood up straight with her back perfectly aligned.
She tried to act with the dignity of a senior, but it was perceived differently by the juniors.
“Ah, no!”
“Sorry for staring!”
“We’ll never make eye contact again!”
“Ah, no… you don’t have to go that far…”
“S-Excuse us!”
The first-year students screamed and scattered.
Chloe’s hands, which had wanted to reach out to the juniors, flailed in the air futilely.
Leo approached.
“What on earth… what did I do to make them fear me so much?”
Seeing Chloe with a dejected expression, Leo said,
“Didn’t you freeze all the examinees during the entrance exam? Isn’t that why?”
“But Professor Halind told me to do my best!”
“In any case, thanks to that, you’ve gained a reputation as a scary senior.”
“Ugh!”
Chloe’s shoulders slumped.
Meanwhile, Karl, who had become popular with the juniors, wore a smug expression.
“By the way, don’t you have anything you want to ask me?”
At his words, the first-year students’ eyes sparkled.
“Yes!”
“Hmph? What is it?”
“How did you become a second-year?”
“…What do you mean?”
“Senior Karl, you said it yourself. You became a second-year even though you’re less skilled than other students.”
“You also said your intelligence isn’t that good compared to others! So, surely you have some study tips, right?”
“The classes are too difficult! How did you understand this course material, Senior Karl?”
The first-year students treated Karl as someone who had luckily become a second-year.
Students who had encountered Karl during the entrance exam would have found it difficult to say such things, but the students present had not met Karl during the entrance exam.
The first-year students believed that there must have been a secret trick to Karl becoming a second-year without being advised to drop out.
“Is it because you’re close with the student council president?”
“As expected, you need to befriend those in power…”
As he watched the juniors earnestly discussing, veins bulged on Karl’s forehead.
“You impudent brats!”
Being too casual during the first-year welcome party had been the cause.
Especially among the Lumern students, many were nobles.
Because he had been lenient, they were climbing all over him.
‘Chloe is too scary, which causes problems, and Karl is taken too lightly, which also causes problems.’
Leo shook his head, then stopped.
‘Hmm.’
He scanned the entire first-year magic building.
‘That unsettling gaze.’
He could feel someone watching him.
As someone who was always the center of attention wherever he went, he was used to being watched.
But…
‘I don’t like being watched as if someone is lurking and observing.’
Leo’s lips curled upwards.
***
“Hmm. Is that the famous Leo Flob?”
Fifth floor of the first-year magic building.
From a vantage point overlooking the entire magic building entrance, a first-year female student, holding a telescope, opened her mouth wide and took a bite of bread.
“From the outside, he just looks like an ordinary handsome young man, doesn’t he?”
A male student standing with a proper posture in a corner of the room replied to the girl’s muttering.
“Don’t judge by appearances. He’s the one who became student council president in his first year.”
The male student said calmly.
“He is the most likely candidate to carry the next generation, following in the footsteps of the Sword Saint. He might be someone we have to lay down our lives for in the future, so get to know him well.”
The girl sneered at the male student.
“Perhaps for you Lumerns, he might be someone you have to lay down your lives for. But it has nothing to do with me.”
“So, the Shadow of Shan moves only for Shan? A dog that obeys its master’s commands without any sense of justice or conviction.”
“Hmph. I’d rather be a dog that obeys its master’s commands. What you call justice and conviction, I see as madness?”
The two glared at each other with a chilling intensity.
It wasn’t the aura that a hero candidate would possess.
A sticky, cruel killing intent that ensnared people.
Just as the two simultaneously lowered their stances.
“Fighting among students gets you disciplinary action, you know.”
Startled by the voice from the side, the male and female students simultaneously swung their arms.
Thwack! Thwack!
Leo grabbed both students’ arms with his hands.
“Ho.”
Leo exclaimed in admiration and looked at the two students.
The male student relaxed his strength and became compliant.
However, the female student did not.
Whoosh!
With her arm caught, she lifted her leg to stomp on Leo’s arm.
Thwack!
Leo used his other hand to grab the ankle of the girl who was trying to stomp on him.
Then, he stomped on the girl’s instep with his foot.
“Ouch!”
The girl clutched her instep and rolled on the floor.
Seeing Leo, who had easily subdued her, the girl, with tears welling up, gritted her teeth and muttered,
“H-How did you get in here?”
“Through the door.”
Leo said indifferently and crouched in front of the girl.
“Fighting on the first day? So full of youthful vigor.”
“Y-You were fighting too!”
Leo chuckled as he looked down at the girl struggling while clutching her ankle.
“I wasn’t fighting, I was just disciplining my juniors.”
Saying so, Leo looked at the male student.
The tall, thin male student adjusted his glasses and bowed respectfully to Leo.
“I am Fritz Edgon from the first-year magic department, Leo Flob-nim.”
Leo scratched his cheek as he watched Fritz bow elegantly like a butler.
“Leo-nim? Just call me Senior.”
“This is more comfortable for me.”
Saying so, Leo looked at the girl.
“You’re not from the magic department, are you?”
“I’m from the knight department.”
The girl, who stood up limping, said.
“I’m El Jane.”
With black hair and black eyes, she was unmistakably from the East.
“Right. Why were you watching me?”
“Watching? I was just looking at the face of the respected Senior Leo from afar~”
Leo chuckled as he looked at Jane, who clasped her hands and spoke in a sweet, syrupy voice as if acting cute.
“Oh, really? Then let me ask you one thing. Why isn’t Chen Xia not returning?”
“What? Why are you asking me about her?”
“I’m asking because you’ve mastered the same aura cultivation method as Chen Xia.”
At his words, Jane froze.
She slowly released her hands, narrowed her eyes, and looked at Leo.
Leo then looked at Fritz and said,
“You two don’t seem to be from the same affiliation. Why have shadows from different affiliations enrolled as students?”
Fritz looked surprised.
“How did you know that…”
“I can tell by looking.”
Among the current students, there were no students with the same aura as these two first-years, besides them.
‘Except for Chen Xia, of course.’
Recalling his friend, Leo narrowed his eyes.
Even when he led the first-years, he had already noticed several students who gave off an unusual aura besides them.
And he knew they were ‘shadows.’
“Well, it’s because you’re inexperienced that you were found out so easily.”
“It’s overwhelming that the great hero candidate points out my inexperience.”
Jane said sullenly.
“You don’t like shadows enrolling in this school, do you? Ask the principal for the reason. And regarding Chen Xia…”
Jane glared at Leo and said.
“I have no obligation to tell you!”
Saying so, Jane abruptly left the room.
Watching her go, Leo looked at Fritz.
Fritz bowed respectfully.
“I also cannot explain the reason for that without the principal’s orders.”
“Right. I understand. I’ll ask him myself later.”
Leo got up from his seat.
‘It doesn’t matter, I can just ask Mel.’
***
Bubble, bubble-
The stew was boiling in the pot.
Lumern professors usually decorated their offices to suit themselves.
Typically, in the offices of magic department professors, one side had items necessary for magic research.
However, in Mel’s office, a full kitchen was set up.
“It’s a hobby.”
Mel explained with a benevolent smile to Chloe and Karl, who looked surprised.
As Chloe and Karl sat down, Mel used magic to bring the dishes to the table.
The two widened their eyes at the feast spread before them.
“Isn’t this… too much?”
Karl asked, sweating nervously, and Mel’s eyes widened.
“You’re still growing teenagers. You need to eat a lot to grow well.”
Saying so, Mel personally served them food.
Looking at the piles of food on their plates, Karl muttered,
“She’s just like my grandmother.”
“Me too.”
“Professor Mel! How old are you, by any chance?”
“It’s rude to ask a lady her age. Hehehe.”
Karl scratched his cheek as he watched Mel cover her mouth and smile gently.
Chloe, who put a meatball into her mouth with her fork, widened her eyes.
“It’s delicious! It’s incredibly delicious!”
“Really? Let me see…”
Karl was also surprised when he tasted the food.
“Wow! This is even tastier than the food at the restaurants in our school!”
The two, excited by the delicious food, happily began to eat.
Mel chuckled as she watched them.
“Hoo… I think I’m going to explode.”
“Me too… I need to go on a diet… Karl, can you make a diet pill? It would sell like hotcakes.”
“The girls in my dorm said the same thing to me yesterday.”
“What did you tell them?”
“I told them that if you eat diet pills like snacks, you’ll get fat.”
Karl looked at Chloe with lukewarm eyes.
“I’ll tell you the same thing.”
“Didn’t you get hit by the girls in your dorm after saying that?”
“Yeah.”
“Then why don’t you think you’ll get hit by me too?”
With veins bulging on his forehead, Chloe repeatedly hit Karl with her book.
Karl defended himself from Chloe’s attacks with his arms and asked,
“By the way, Professor Mel, why did you invite us for a meal?”
“Oh? There’s no special reason. I was just lonely eating alone.”
Watching Mel smile wryly while resting her chin on her hand, Karl thought.
‘She really feels like a grandmother!’
“By the way, student Karl is very interested in potions, and student Chloe is very interested in grimoires, right?”
“Yes.”
“That’s right.”
Mel smiled and approached the bookshelf in her office.
And she pulled out a book.
Creak-!
Then, the bookshelf opened like a sliding door, revealing a vast space inside.
There was a secret room within.
Mel brought out a potion bottle and a grimoire from it.
Thump-
Placing the two items on the desk, Mel smiled.
“This is a grimoire written in dragon blood and dragon language magic.”
“Gasp!”
Karl’s jaw dropped.
Chloe’s eyes also widened.
“You can’t take it out, but you can look at it in my lab anytime.”
“Ooooh!”
“Thank you!”
With bright expressions, the two took the potion bottle and grimoire from Mel.
While their attention was focused there, Mel handed Leo a note.
“Leo-nim. This is the information you requested about student Sia.”
Receiving it, Leo unfolded the note in a place where the two people’s gazes couldn’t reach.
And as he checked the contents, his eyes twitched.
“Is this true?”
“Yes.”
Mel sighed bitterly.
“Due to family circumstances, student Sia will be withdrawing from the hero candidate program.”