The Academy’s Ankle Reaper – Chapter 162

Professor Drain, who was on duty, had a peculiar experience while patrolling in the dead of night.

“Was there such a place here?”

It was a two-story house. A bit larger than a typical mansion for a family of four, it had an eerie atmosphere at first glance, but I quickly realized it was just the nighttime ambiance.

Upon closer inspection, it was just a skeleton of a building, and construction materials were strewn about, possibly indicating that it was still under renovation.

I pondered why there was such a thing on the Academy grounds. Given the number of incidents lately, perhaps they were rebuilding the collapsed faculty dormitory.

“There were a few professors whose dorms collapsed…”

I had a strange feeling that someone was inside.

“…Nah, that can’t be.”

At that moment, someone suddenly appeared before Professor Drain.

“You saw it.”

“Ahhhhh?!!!”

A scream echoed under the moonlight.

————————

The construction site was almost caught in the act that night, even though it wasn’t completed yet. Once it was finished, it wouldn’t matter, but right now, it was quite the predicament.

The professor, upon discovering the site while on patrol, was jolted into thinking he must have dreamt it all.

He felt like he’d just aged ten years.

Thanks to the holy relic, he had fully recovered, and as a celebration of that, he decided to execute the plan he had mentioned before.

It was the first study group since he brought it up. Since the villa was still under construction, everyone gathered in my hospital room for now.

There weren’t any suitable desks for studying, but since it was a VIP Room, they quickly arranged for some.

The reception sofas and low tables were cleared away, making space for a proper-sized chair and desk.

Everyone was dressed appropriately, while I was the only one in the comfortable patient’s gown, dragging my bare feet in slippers.

The participants were me, River, Amy, and Lucia—the four who had gathered since I first mentioned it. I wished Casey were here too, but I think she mentioned studying wasn’t part of her duties or something like that.

But I wasn’t in a position to criticize others.

“I want to take a nap.”

“Already?!”

Screw studying; I just wanted to sleep.

The core subjects taught at the Academy were things I had already learned long ago. The gifted education from the Titan family was brutal—like training to catch rats in the afternoon—to the point that you ended up creating a monstrous person.

Most nobles, including the five pillars, probably felt that they were just reviewing what they had already learned.

After all, the real learning at this Academy only began after you got past being a new student.

“Alright, let’s open the books and start with the history of the continent.”

Generally, about eight lectures could be taken in a semester. While the count varied slightly from person to person, most attended that many.

The final skill test is divided into two major types: the first involves submitting work from the semester or reports, which I find personally the most convenient.

The second type is a skills test. Some professors stick to classic paper-based tests, while others have students battle, and there are also practical tests demonstrating learned techniques.

If the schedule is reasonable, it usually breaks down to about four submissions and four tests.

And this study group will be a gathering where we each do what we want, whether for tests or reports and help each other out.

The history of the continent we were tackling this time had an upcoming test.

“Besides this, our common test is with Instructor Andy, right?”

“That’s about it.”

We were working through the previous exam questions given by the professor, asking each other what we didn’t know—a perfectly healthy and sane study group.

“Atlas… do you happen to know what this question is about?”

Lucia often asked me that. It seemed she struggled a bit with memorization, as her face was a mix of concentration and despair while working on the history questions.

“This question refers to the Bright Incident, which was the onset of a significant national conflict between Elves and Dwarves. It’s about the insults exchanged between the two races.”

“At that time, the disrespect each race showed to the other escalated to a national level… The Elves burned the beards of the Dwarven ambassadors, and the Dwarves injured the ears of the Elves. After this incident, they severed diplomatic ties for a thousand years, so it’s good to remember this question well. Many events stem from this point.”

“You seem to know a lot despite rarely studying—it’s amazing.”

Whenever someone asked me a question, I would respond just enough to share what I knew, and that often surprised everyone.

It seemed it was astonishing that I could casually read another book while not solving any problems.

But… I wondered why Amy, having hunted demons since childhood, probably didn’t have time to study, while River, who was knowledgeable, was still hitting the books.

After all, they would have had intense gifted education as children.

“Isn’t this usually taught in families? Or is it just me? Russell must have learned about this stuff in his childhood! Please say yes!”

“…Neither Lemnos nor I had much time for academics because we were busy learning Vision Swordsmanship. I assume Perda and Albion probably learned all that.”

So they hadn’t given emphasis to studies since they focused on learning swordsmanship…

Suddenly, I felt a pang in my stomach.

I could see why that guy put me through such hell.

Growing up, my routine had revolved around three things: physical training, sword training, and academics.

I was short by nature, so I struggled to master the Titan’s Vision Swordsmanship, which required a tall stature, facing heaps of challenges. I eventually learned the theory and movements of the technique, only to be met with beatings disguised as training from my father.

On the surface, it was tough to learn initially, but he believed if I kept watching how swordsmanship truly worked, I would get it eventually.

He also recognized that I had decent achievements in regular swordsmanship outside of Vision Swordsmanship.

Most families would double down on Vision Swordsmanship if they felt progress; however, that bastard had thought I learned nothing from the morning’s sword training, so he piled on the studies in the afternoon.

The anger bubbled up again as I thought back on it.

I really should have killed him when I left home.

“But still, let’s cheer up since we’re slowly seeing results, Lucia.”

“Yeah…”

While memorization techniques can be fleeting, with proper accumulation, they eventually build real knowledge.

Lucia, at least, was showing promising results in a short time.

How things would progress by the next day remained to be seen.

—Scratch, scratch, scratch.

Lucia had opened her book and was revising her previously organized notes. River and Amy were working on past exam questions for the same subject, and the sound of pens grazing paper was quite pleasant.

While everyone was prepping for their skill tests, I was oddly reading books I wanted to enjoy.

What I’m reading now is also a history book.

It’s a dissertation about the various tribes of the Beastman Alliance.

Though I had read it a bit earlier, I was revisiting it lately due to Hulan.

It wasn’t really a book made for enjoyment, but as I treated it like a setting guide, I found it worked well.

For this is my second life, and comparing it with the previous lore I knew was enjoyable, as it helped fill in the gaps of information that were vaguely noted before.

It’s a habit I developed since childhood.

“Until then, the Beastmen had been engaging in tribal life thoroughly due to the accumulated ill feelings between the tribes, but they began to unite due to the cannibals taking them as less evolved beings… this aligns perfectly with the official lore.”

As I flipped through pages, my gaze drifted to the side.

I saw River’s profile intensely focused on studying.

She was propping her chin with her left hand, scribbling away, and since she bowed her head, her hair fell to the side, tempting me.

‘…A little mischief wouldn’t hurt, right?’

Doing it with my hand would be too obvious, so I decided to use my foot instead.

I slipped off my slipper and stretched my bare foot toward River’s leg.

The desk was pretty large, so I had to be cautious about my posture.

Being short meant I almost had to stretch way out to reach someone sitting in front of me, making it look odd.

My big toe brushed against River’s calf, and it felt pleasantly soft.

I wanted to rub my face against her instead of using my foot.

Since there was no immediate reaction, I decided to escalate things.

I gently swept my foot up River’s calf from below.

“?!”

The effect was incredible.

As soon as my foot made contact, River’s body jolted in surprise.

“Are you okay??”

“Uh… oh! It’s nothing, just a bug on my neck!”

Flustered, she babbled and shot me a glare as if doubting me.

Her reaction was so cute that I couldn’t help but smile.

River shot me a side glance, glaring while mouthing silently at me.

—… Don’t do it.

The moment she told me not to do it, my desire to continue grew even more.