LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 13 - A wolf jumped out the classroom.
‘Well then, let’s start our conversation.’
[Okay.]
‘First, what are you?’
[Not possible to answer.]
‘What is your purpose?’
[Not possible to answer.]
‘How do you function?’
[Checking for penalties and risk warnings.]
‘Do you know anything about the future?’
[No, I do not.]
‘Well, you’re useless.’
[That’s the nature of a penalty.]
I opened the penalty window while moving to the classroom.
One thing was clear from our brief exchange.
“You really are useless.”
It provided absolutely nothing helpful.
[But I was providing risk warnings.]
‘Were you there when I was in danger?’
[You just didn’t notice because you were focusing on other things.]
‘…Really?’
[Really. I definitely displayed warnings.]
A slight correction.
It seems it had some use after all.
‘Can you engage in normal conversation?’
[If it’s related to daily life, then yes.]
‘Then do you know the recipe for braised short ribs?’
[…Search failed. I cannot find such a recipe.]
“Tsk.”
Useless after all.
“It should be around here…”
I was heading to the classroom after leaving the infirmary.
“Found it.”
Memorizing the route paid off.
‘Why is the infirmary located at the end of the academy?’
It’s annoying to go back and forth.
-Thud
The moment I grabbed the classroom door to open it.
-Rustle
-Flinch
I heard a sound coming from inside the classroom.
‘What was that?’
Most new students at the academy either head to the dormitories or attend social gatherings among the nobles. There shouldn’t be any students coming to the classroom.
That would make sense if they’ve returned to the classroom like me to retrieve their luggage.
However, that would take too long.
If they’re not here to get their belongings, there’s only one possibility left.
‘A thief…’
Of all things, encountering a thief in my classroom when I came to get my stuff…
‘Is my luck that bad…’
Am I a magnet for misfortune?
‘Hey, I don’t have some kind of misfortune penalty, do I?’
[You don’t.]
‘In times like this, can’t you just say I do?’
[Not possible. I cannot lie.]
-Slide
Carefully raising my head to peek into the classroom,
“Hello?”
A shadow formed above my head.
“What are you doing here?”
Grayish hair
-Twitch twitch
Two cute ears on top.
-Wag wag
A fluffy-looking tail visible behind her.
“Hello?”
No matter how you look at it, it’s Sephir.
“Uh… hello?”
Why are you here?
—
“Um…”
“Heh…”
What kind of situation is this?
“Are you going to keep touching my tail?”
“No, you told me to touch it earlier…”
Why am I sitting in the classroom at this hour, stroking Sephir’s tail?
A little while ago, she backed me up against the wall and wrapped her swaying tail around my waist.
Sephir said something to me, but I was so surprised by the tail coiled around my waist that I didn’t hear her very well.
Her tail was so incredibly fluffy and soft.
Without thinking, I stroked her tail, and Sephir…
“Hyaa!”
She perked up her ears like a cat arching its back and hissing, and her body stiffened.
“Uh…”
Feeling like I did something wrong, I quickly pulled my hand away.
-Fwip
Her ears immediately drooped down.
-Stroke
When I pet her again
-Twitch
Her ears shot up wildly.
“Um… Sephir?”
What kind of situation is this?
Confused about what to say in this situation, she responded.
“Keep petting.”
No, it was more like an order.
That’s how time passed and now.
She’s finally telling me to stop.
Now I feel like I can ask her something.
“So…”
“Is there something you’re curious about?”
Of course there is.
‘Phew…’
I took a deep breath in my mind and spoke clearly.
I need to gather my courage and shout it out all at once!
“Why are you in my classr-”
Ah, I bit my tongue.
“Ughebbehbe.”
Is it because I got tense and forcibly opened my mouth?
I bit it really hard.
But she’s someone you would get that nervous around.
Empress Sephir.
A big shot in the underworld that even dukes are said to be wary of.
A villainess who stands in opposition to the Saint, yet has a strange mindset of not being good nor evil, but driven by money.
Why would such a person… monster be in my classroom?
“Hmm… Aaron.”
“Yes?”
“I think I’ll get going now?”
-Tap
Sephir rose from her seat.
“Have a safe… trip?”
Is it proper to say goodbye?
“Fufu… I guess people really don’t change.”
What is that supposed to mean?
“Well then, bye-bye ~ See you again later.”
-Rattle
She suddenly opened the window,
-Thump
And jumped out just like that.
-Woosh
I could see her falling figure outside the window.
“What was that about.”
Why did she come to this classroom, sit beside me, and do those things?
“I should just be grateful I survived.”
The scene of Sephir sitting her opponent down, chatting and teasing them, then slitting their throat at the end kept playing in my mind.
If I had made one wrong move, that could have been me.
“How brutal…”
I should just hurry and grab my things and go to my assigned dormitory.
-Whuff
“Huh?”
My luggage bag feels oddly light.
It’s not like anything big is missing, but it feels like something is gone.
-Zip
I opened the bag and took out the contents.
“Why are the clothes I wore in the forest gone?”
The shirt I put in to wash because it smelled so sweaty is missing.
What’s going on?
Did I drop it somewhere on my way to the academy?
But if that was the case, I wouldn’t have felt the weight decrease.
“Could it be Sephir…”
-Knock
I smacked myself on the head.
‘No, that’s ridiculous no matter what.’
More likely, Sephir came to this classroom to investigate the person who caused such a commotion on the first day.
“Oh.”
Now that I say it, that makes sense.
Let’s just go with that.
Too much has happened today. I’ll collapse if I think about it more.
“Let’s head to the dorm.”
I should be able to rest comfortably there at least.
—
“Huff… huff…”
Sephir was leaning against a dark wall somewhere, clutching her chest.
“If I stayed a bit longer… I might have climbed on top of Aaron like that time…”
-Slither
Something flowed out of her shadow and took the form of an old butler.
“My lady, is something troubling you?”
His voice was filled with urgency.
“No… I’m fine. It’s a feeling I wanted to experience.”
“Pardon?”
The shadow didn’t understand.
“I always just took it, so I didn’t know, but pushing someone is really hard for me…”
“What hardship could there be for the Empress?”
The shadow offered words of encouragement at her remark.
“No, there are many things I can’t do too.”
However, she flatly rejected the shadow’s sympathy.
“Sniff…”
She sniffed the shirt she was holding to her chest.
“Ahh… it’s nice…”
Sephir carefully hugged the shirt so as not to damage it.
-Swish swish
Her tail wagged enough to clearly convey her joy.
“As I thought… it’s that scent I remember…”
A scent she had been smelling for a long time.
Just a few weeks of not smelling it after regaining her memories, she was hit with withdrawal symptoms, unable to resist shoving her face into his neck.
“I… pride myself on my patience, but…”
A little while ago, if she had buried her nose in Aaron’s neck and smelled his scent just a bit more, it would have been dangerous in many ways.
She wouldn’t have been able to resist and would have devoured him.
“So, this is for your sake, Aaron.”
So that even when my mating season as a monster comes, I won’t show you that side of me.
It’s a kind of safety device.
Anyway, that’s what it is.
And the shadow watching her thought,
‘Does she love that man named Aaron?’
Having served many masters for a long time, it remembered the appearance of masters who held the emotion called love.
Although a bit extreme, its current master’s appearance was similar to that of those masters who were in love.
‘Then why not just seize him?’
She was the Empress of the underworld.
There was nothing she couldn’t have, and if she wanted it, she just had to take it.
The shadow finished its thought and spoke to her.
“My lady. Do you love that man named Aaron?”
“…Yes.”
“Then give us the order. We shall bring that man before you within minutes-”
-Rip
“Eek!”
The shadow’s right arm was severed in an instant.
-Plop
The severed arm flowed down like a liquid and was slowly absorbed into the shadow.
“You won’t betray me due to our contract, so I’ll overlook it this once since I don’t think you meant it. But there won’t be a second time.”
The wolf stared at the shadow, her wagging tail still and her pupils gradually dilating.
“What’s mine, I’ll claim myself. I don’t need underlings interfering with my hunt.”
“Under…stood.”
Although the shadow absorbed the arm, the pain seemed to remain, as a groan of suppressed agony could be heard in its voice.
“My lady, if I may ask one question then.”
“What is it?”
“Why… did you not tell him that you sent the money?”
The shadow had clearly seen her sending the money.
According to its master, she had helped him attend the academy when he couldn’t due to a lack of funds.
However, its master didn’t reveal it for some reason.
‘Is it perhaps to use him for something…’
But the answer that came back was…
“I didn’t expect him to pet my tail.”
“?”
“No… maybe because I’ve been hiding my tail too much, it’s become too sensitive…”
“Um…”
“When I coil it around… it’s usually my head, not my tail…!”
“……”
“He petted my tail, and it made my thoughts grind to a halt; what was I supposed to do?!”
‘But she speaks in the past tense as if it happened before.’
Well, it’s not like it’s the first or second time my master has done that, so they decided to accept it.
“I wanted to tell him too… But my mind just went blank…”
-Droop…
My master suddenly fell into a depressed state.
“Is there any way I can assist you?”
“No.”
“Then.”
-Bow
After bowing in salute, the butler’s shadow slowly disappeared into her shadow.
And inside her shadow…
“Oh, you’re back! What did the master say?”
“Kidnapping, assassination, modification – which does she require?”
“More overtime work today… I’m tired…”
Three other shadows greeted the butler shadow.
They were each awaiting orders from their master.
“… There’s no work for today.”
But what can you do? Their master was in this state right now.
“Huh? The master isn’t giving us any tasks?”
The tired-looking shadow, with even darker shadows under its eyes, asked in surprise.
“The master… seems confused.”
The butler’s shadow couldn’t say more than that.
“Woohoo! No overtime!”
I don’t know why a being living in darkness is complaining about overtime, but let’s leave it at that for today.
‘We’re going to be exhausted in many ways for a while.’
After meeting many masters over a long period of time.
Nothing was more tiring for subordinates than a master shaken by the emotion called love.
‘And we’re those subordinates.’
Overwork was guaranteed for the time being.