When I administered Jericho’s confession, an involuntary feeling of pity welled up within me, causing the primordial flower to bloom. I had used divine power.
And, as a result, of course…
“……”
I firmly pressed down on the burning pain that felt like a scorching sun radiating from my right shoulder. Through my palm, I could feel the restless twitching and jerking of my muscles.
Regrettably, the pain in my shoulder had returned several times since the last theology exam. The intervals were quite irregular, and thankfully, unlike before, the pain was not severe enough to make me faint.
‘…It hurts.’
Indeed, it was quite uncomfortable. Honestly, it was hard to endure.
I removed my hand from my shoulder. Another hand rose to take its place.
“Um… let’s take a look at the back.”
“Yes.”
“Try moving this way a little. That’s right, like this….”
“Like this?”
“No, not there. Feel it as if you’re pushing up the scapular muscle… Yes. That’s right, like that….”
September had completely passed, and before I knew it, mid-October had arrived. That meant it was the day of Professor Moritz’s regular check-up.
Following Professor Moritz’s guidance, I slowly began to move my shoulder. As I lifted my shirt to expose my bare skin, I followed his instructions as smoothly and slowly as possible…
“…Hmm.”
As expected, I felt pain. Although I managed to suppress any screams that might have slipped out while enduring the pain, the grimace on my face was something I couldn’t control.
Seeing my expression, Professor Moritz let out a small sigh and gently began to massage my shoulder.
“If I massage it like this… it should feel a bit better, right?”
“…Yes. I think it’s a little better.”
Strangely enough, as Professor Moritz massaged me gently, the pain in my shoulder, which had felt scorching just moments ago, began to slowly subside.
The reason I unconditionally trusted Professor Moritz during his examinations was precisely due to this almost magical skill.
After a moment of massaging my shoulder, Professor Moritz returned to his desk in the treatment room. I gathered my clothes, which I had rolled up.
“Indeed, you used divine power.”
“I apologize.”
“Not at all. I’m not scolding you. If it’s you, Antorelli, there must be a good reason for you to have used divine power. I understand.”
“……”
As he said, I had no choice but to use divine power twice recently due to unavoidable circumstances.
If asked whether I had to use it even at the risk of dying, the answer was, of course, no…
“Anyway, your shoulder’s condition is the same as before. It doesn’t seem like you used divine power excessively.”
“That’s right. I just performed a simple miracle…”
“Then that’s fine. Using divine power twice in a short period is certainly a bit taxing, but it’s not in a serious state. You can rest easy.”
Professor Moritz nodded and put on his glasses. His brow narrowed slightly behind the frames.
“Have you taken all the painkillers?”
“Yes. I’ve taken them all.”
“Then, I think I should prescribe new painkillers…”
For a moment, Professor Moritz scribbled a prescription before starting to look at me intently. I was puzzled.
“…What’s wrong? Is there a problem?”
“Um… it’s nothing. Could you please open your eyes wide for a moment? And take off your glasses.”
I followed Professor Moritz’s instructions. After removing my glasses and opening my eyes as wide as I could, he held my eyelids open and began to shine a weak flashlight into my eyes.
“Hmm… there’s no expansion of the blood vessels, and there’s slight congestion. Pupil reaction is normal…”
“Uh… Professor?”
“Yes. That’s enough.”
After a brief moment, the flashlight that had been illuminating my eyes moved away. I slowly massaged my aching eyelids.
“I was checking to see if all the narcotic substances you had taken previously had been expelled. The eyes are the surest indicator for such reactions.”
“…Ah.”
“I’ll need to check the detailed test results, but for now…. Yes, it seems everything has been expelled. Have you been taking the medication I prescribed consistently?”
“Yes. I took it at the scheduled times daily.”
“Well done. Then, I’ll exclude that medication from this prescription. You should only take painkillers.”
“Understood.”
“However, there is one thing I want to ask… Have you been having trouble sleeping recently?”
“……”
Indeed, I had not been able to sleep soundly lately. While I could overlook the fact that I had been having nightmares for a while, I also couldn’t ignore the sleepless nights spent administering Jericho’s confession at dawn, as well as the times I tossed and turned due to shoulder pain.
As I recounted everything except for my dealings with Jericho, Professor Moritz nodded and began to finish writing the prescription.
“Understood. Regarding the shoulder pain… just to be sure, I’ll prescribe a different painkiller this time.”
“Thank you.”
“I can’t do anything about the nightmares… I hope you understand.”
“I understand.”
Thus, the completed prescription was handed to me. I accepted the prescription Professor Moritz offered.
“You worked hard today as well. I’ll see you again in a month.”
“Yes. Thank you for your hard work, Professor.”
Just as I was about to leave the treatment room…
“Oh, by the way… Antorelli.”
“…Yes?”
Professor Moritz called out to stop me. I turned my head toward him, who was sitting at the desk.
“Are you happy lately?”
“……”
I couldn’t answer immediately. Hesitating at the treatment room door for a moment, no, for a long while…
“…I think I’m doing better than before.”
In the end, I gave a vague answer.
Despite my ambiguous response, Professor Moritz smiled warmly.
“That’s all that matters.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yes. In any case, it means that you’re taking steps forward, doesn’t it? Antorelli.”
Taking steps forward.
I didn’t know what that meant to me, but…
“…It seems so.”
What was certain was that it didn’t feel bad.
*
Teaching a class is work, but attending one is work too.
Chloe genuinely thought so. If she were to remind herself that, in just over a month’s time, the semester-end academic assessment was scheduled, it felt even more so.
“Ugh… I’m so sleepy…”
Chloe yawned widely while lying sprawled out on her desk with her eyes half-closed. The decreasing amount of sleep she had been getting lately was the cause.
If she continued this lifestyle for a while, her body would soon adapt, but… that process was the biggest issue.
“Yawn… Elin, aren’t you sleepy…?”
“Zzzz—.”
“…Ah.”
As always, Elin, sitting next to her, had already traveled far into her dreamland. Chloe stared blankly at Elin’s silly sleeping face, and soon burst into a chuckle.
“Well, she must have gone to bed later than I did yesterday…”
Thinking about Elin, who had found her own path thanks to the last grade-by-grade duel, she realized that studying spirit magic, which was known to be complex and difficult even among the magic department, would probably continue to be a struggle for her in the future as well.
“Zzzz—. Phew—. Zzzz—.”
“……”
Hearing the faint sound of Elin’s snoring, Chloe didn’t notice that her own eyes were beginning to close.
But that was only for a moment.
“…Huh!”
As Chloe’s eyes shot wide open, her upper body instinctively shot up. It was a reflex similar to setting an alarm clock.
Half-asleep, Chloe’s eyes urgently began searching for something. Where her gaze landed was…
“5:59…”
The large wall clock hung on one wall of the classroom.
Chloe hurriedly adjusted her sitting position. She tidied up her messy appearance from sleeping with her head down and quickly checked to see if her light makeup had smudged.
– Rattle—
As she placed her Bible on the desk, the front door of the classroom opened.
– Tap, tap.
Soon, the sound of footsteps echoed repeatedly in a steady rhythm akin to a metronome.
The footsteps stopped in front of the teacher’s desk at the front of the classroom. Chloe swallowed hard without realizing it.
“Hello, everyone.”
A man dressed in a long-sleeved priest’s robe for autumn instead of a short-sleeved shirt. Professor Lucio Antorelli.
“I hope you all had a nice weekend.”
His theology class was about to begin.
As Professor Antorelli offered a brief greeting in front of the desk, the students sitting in the classroom naturally nodded or responded softly. It was a sight that they had not seen before.
This was all due to the minor change of winds that Professor Antorelli had brought.
Chloe’s gaze was fixed on Professor Antorelli. After going through the grade-by-grade duel and the summer activities of the Occult Research Club, he no longer felt frightening in the same way. Because Chloe knew his true intentions.
Since that incident, Professor Antorelli had been giving light greetings to the students at the beginning of each class.
At first, many students were unfamiliar with his change, eyeing him as if to say, “Did that guy eat something strange?” But fortunately, everyone seemed accustomed to it now.
In this way, Professor Antorelli’s desire to get a little closer to the students was still steadily progressing.
Professor Antorelli quietly surveyed the classroom for a moment. The students preparing for the semester-end academic assessment, not just Chloe, had half-dead looks in their eyes.
“Before we start the class, I would like to make two announcements.”
As soon as they heard Professor Antorelli’s words, the students’ eyes began to sparkle. Chloe was no different.
“First of all… the results of the first-year theology department integrated exam taken during the mid-term assessments have been released.”
This was joyful news, but at the same time, it could also be something painful to hear for some. The expressions of the students varied widely.
“As you all may know, my grading criterion was the number of primordial flower patterns etched on the exam paper.”
As the students slowly nodded in response to Professor Sofia collecting the exam papers, they recalled the primordial flowers that bloomed as soon as she retrieved them. It was clear that the students, too, had a sense of their scores just by looking at the flowers.
“Of course, there may have been errors during the scoring process, so I have conducted a thorough review. There might be some changes in scores for some students.”
At those words, the students began to murmur. Certainly, dividing scores solely based on the number of flowers etched on the exam papers might be somewhat unfair…
“Well… if that’s the case, we have no choice but to accept it.”
“True… I never thought that Professor Antorelli would review them again…”
“So, maybe I…?”
“You can forget about that.”
After a while of commotion, Professor Antorelli’s next words quickly silenced the noise.
“The exam papers and score reports will be distributed by myself and Sub-priest Sofia in front of the classroom after class today. Please focus on the lesson.”
“Professor, I have a question…”
“Also, I won’t be providing explanations or interpretations for the problems. The exam is something you must think about on your own, and it would be challenging for me to explain it to over three hundred students, so I ask for your understanding.”
“……”
“So, you there. What’s your question?”
“…I think that has just been resolved.”
“Understood. Now, let’s move on to the next announcement.”
Professor Antorelli rummaged through the bag on his desk and soon pulled out a piece of paper.
“Under the grace of the Lord and the blessing of His Imperial Majesty, I will now refer to the support of the Empire, Caldera Imperial Academy… henceforth, we’ll simply call it the Fall Festival.”
The event, often referred to as the two major pillars alongside the grade-by-grade duel, was now just days away.
“The Fall Festival is approaching quickly. Each of you has a duty to fulfill, which is the responsibility of every student of Caldera Imperial Academy. Please make plans without any setbacks.”
This was the announcement that marked the swift approach of the Academy’s Fall Festival.
