ACADEMY'S UNDERCOVER PROFESSOR
"Pardon?! W-wait! Aren't you supposed to ask if we're okay at times like this?"
Elendil thought she had misheard Ludger's words.
The professor who saved them from the werewolf said he would give them penalty points as soon as he saw them.
It was indeed breaking the atmosphere, but from Elendil's point of view, it was quite unfair.
"Elendil. What are you yelling about?"
"I got permission from another professor…!"
"Shut up. Even if you get permission, it's something you can only do if there's no danger. Don't you know what you were about to end up like?"
"Th-that's."
"Your mouth is still able to move even though you can't even manage your body properly, I see."
"Urk."
Ludger was ruthless even though his opponent was a princess.
Elendil could not refute what Ludger said.
She was able to walk around like that in the middle of the night because of her status as a princess.
It was easy for her to send the students who were at the peak of their excitement back to their dormitory with their heads bowed down just because of her status as a princess.
Because Elendil herself, as a princess, had a sense of responsibility to keep the students from being in danger and was preoccupied with that role.
Although in the end, she had to be in danger first before she realized that she had her priorities wrong.
Realizing that, Elendil bit her lips and clenched her fist.
There was nothing wrong with what Ludger said.
"Then… at least remove the penalty points for her."
"What?"
Ludger's eyes turned to Lynne.
As Ludger recognized Lynne, whose shoulders all tensed up, he soon stared at the textbook that she was holding in her arms.
"Lynne."
"Yes, yes. Professor Ludger."
"What are you doing, not going back to your dorm?"
"Th-that's…"
"I acknowledge your enthusiasm for studying, but don't you know that if you do that in this situation, you'll be a nuisance to others?"
"…I'm sorry."
Ludger shook his head.
Whatever he said there would just exhaust him emotionally, and it wasn't a fundamental solution either.
"Elendil."
"Yes."
"You should take responsibility for Lynne and send her back to the dormitory. If you do that, the penalty points that I just gave you will be dismissed."
"Pardon? Is that for real?"
"Should I say that again?"
"…No. I understand."
Elendil replied that she would do that, but she couldn't get rid of her sudden curiosity.
'Wait. Why is there such a big difference between him talking to me and him talking to Lynne?'
He had been giving her criticism and telling her to get her senses together and such, but he was actually asking a question to Lynne in a more concerned manner.
While she was thinking about whether to argue about it or not, the werewolf who, was burned by the flames jumped up.
"Pr-professor! There!"
"I know."
Ludger stared at the werewolf while standing in a position to protect Lynne and Elendil.
Most of its wounds that were inflicted by magic had been healed, but it was still dazed because of the pain.
The werewolf, who was staring at them with boundless hostility, suddenly moved.
Not to rush them but to run away.
"Ah! It's running away!"
At the same time as Lynne shouted, Ludger chased the werewolf.
He never had the slightest intention of losing the werewolf that he had found.
Lynne and Elendil hadn't noticed yet, but the werewolf's neck was also tied with a leash.
It was fortunate that the leash was covered with its fur and could not be seen properly.
However, if someone else found it afterwards, it would be difficult for him to destroy the evidence.
Ludger stormed out from his spot with mana in his legs.
As he chased the werewolf through the dark grass and crossed the garden, he could see the werewolf crawling up the roof on the outer wall of the nearby research building.
—Its sharp nails easily dug into the outer walls of the building, and its huge body soon reached the rooftop full of spires.
'I won't lose it.'
Ludger immediately used his wire launcher to soar vertically into the air and settled on the rooftop.
Elendil and Lynne, who were still watching the scene from afar, were amazed, with their mouths wide open.
"Was that a floating magic?"
"May…be?"
—Floating magic that could be implemented by the release of mana casting.
They couldn't believe Ludger's ability to operate his mana, which he could use naturally while he was running.
The two of them, who couldn't see the wire launcher because it was dark in the night, saw Ludger's entire movement as a part of his magic.
The two silhouettes on the roof faced each other.
Although it was not clearly visible because it was far away, it was not difficult to distinguish Ludger among the two by the size and approximate appearance.
"Ah. The full moon."
The clouds in the sky were cleared, and soon a cold and tender silver lining poured down onto them like a curtain's hem.
It was a full moon night.
Ludger moved first as he was balancing himself on the rooftop of the spire-filled building.
The werewolf also rushed toward Ludger.
The two of them crossed each other, and a tight fight broke out.
"Whoa."
"Oh my Gosh."
Lynne and Elendil watched Ludger's battle, forgetting that they had to leave.
There was something about Ludger's fighting style that made it hard for them to take their eyes off of him.
Under the moonlight, Ludger moved like a dancer and avoided the werewolf's attacks.
The attacks made their skin shudder even though they were far away from the battle.
Yet none of them touched Ludger's body.
And his brilliant spells that were casted amidst the gap of the werewolf's attacks…
Fire, ice, wind. The elements of the spells were being shot like an arrow.
The spells were second-tier magic, but they exactly hit the vital parts of the werewolf.
'They said he was in the army before he came here.'
Elendil recalled what she knew about Ludger Chelysie.
She wasn't particularly interested, but the maid who was taking care of her brought her his data to read just in case, so she had read everything to kill some time.
At that time, she remembered that Ludger Chelysie had been in the army and had a military achievement while hunting for Cryptids.
The phrases that were written in his personal history…
They were actually unfolding before her eyes.
Elendil saw a wizard who fought for the first time.
No, could she see that as a wizard fight?
It was more controlled, neat, and meticulous.
Rather than a wizard, his fighting style was more like that of a soldier, or perhaps more like a hunter who aimed for his goal accurately.
Gaaah!
The werewolf rolled on the roof while producing a violent sound and slipped on the slope.
Ludger did not miss the chance.
He was a predator who never missed the gap that was created by the wounded prey.
His appearance when using magic to attack the werewolf seemed to be more similar to the wolf itself.
Whoosh!
The icy fangs that Ludger shot pierced the werewolf's chest.
Three fist-sized ice spears penetrated the werewolf's body in a row and impaled it on the rooftop.
No matter how resilient the werewolf was, it was bound to die immediately from such a wound.
The fight was over.
'Phew, I'm tired.'
Ludger realized that he had consumed a considerable amount of mana to deal with the werewolf.
'It's not good to use a lot of mana, though.'
He was glad to have been able to meet Hans and carry his medicine again. He would have been in big trouble if he hadn't done it.
Originally, he wouldn't have to use magic in order to deal with that werewolf.
There were many more certain ways than consuming mana uselessly.
His deteriorating body condition also played a role in his mana consumption.
If he had to point out a problem, it was that the place was Sören.
There were some eyes watching him from time to time.
'A magic professor is bound to use magic in front of his students.'
First of all, he was a so-called Sören professor, so if he used the tools or methods that he often used in the days when he was a hunter and not magic there, they would be suspicious of him.
'I'll have to finish it quickly before it gets more bothersome.'
There was still another werewolf hiding in Sören.
He was going to finish his duty to get rid of the werewolves that night.
Gaaah!
As Ludger slowly approached the werewolf, the stumbling werewolf suddenly raised its arm.
There was still a long way for him to go to reach the werewolf, so even if it swung its arms, it wouldn't be able to reach him. What was that werewolf going to do?
Ludger's question disappeared the moment he saw the debris of the building that was thrown by the werewolf.
'What?'
It was fortunate that he was on guard just in case.
Ludger built barricades around his body by releasing his mana right away.
The debris that flew like an arrow hit it and bounced off, but the problem was that the werewolf dragged some time for its next move.
It immediately raised its hands and hit the rooftop floor hard.
Crack!
Due to the strong muscle strength of the werewolf, a part of the rooftop collapsed, and its body fell down from there.
Debris was spread, and a foggy cloud of dust soared around it.
Ludger squinted at that sight.
'The werewolf is using its surroundings as a tool?'
No matter how artificial that non-Cryptid creature was, since it was based on a wolf, its instinct as an animal naturally preceded its action.
Even if it was able to use its brain, it was mostly about distinguishing whether it could touch its opponent or not.
But from the previous werewolf to that one in front of him…
It is somehow doubtful to call them werewolves.
Ludger also didn't expect the werewolf to run away as soon as it felt an emergency situation, but he never expected it to throw away the wreckage of the broken building in particular.
'Did I lose it?'
Ludger, who entered the building through the gaping hole, clicked his tongue when he realized that the werewolf itself had disappeared.
However, he did not entirely lose it.
There was still its subtle scent in the air that stimulated his nose.
'It's a good thing that I buried my scent in the middle of the fight, just in case.'
Ludger followed the scent left by the werewolf.
His intention to finish all of it by the end of the day remained unchanged.
—Because he wanted to live.
* * *
* * *
"Tessie! Tessie! Where are you?"
"Aidan. We couldn't find her no matter how much we walked around. Wouldn't it be better to just give up?"
Aidan and Leo were searching hard for Tessie in places where people didn't visit.
Last time, they had heard that Tessie had gone to the woods in the east, then the two continued to look for Tessie even after the sunset.
But there was no sign of Tessie's presence.
Leo spoke first as he was slowly starting to get irritated.
"I'm sure Tessie must have backed off when she realized that she couldn't do it by herself. Don't you think that's the case if we can't find her, even in a place like this?"
"But you never know. Even though it was Tessie who made the bet, it's our fault for not rejecting it properly."
Leo looked sullen as he listened to Aidan's argument.
He was obviously the one who thought that Tessie was bothersome as she kept clinging to them and had lied to her in order to kick her out.
He felt a little bit guilty.
That was also why they were walking around looking for Tessie.
"But we're also in danger if we get caught by the professors. Others will say it's only a penalty point, but it's also a big penalty for us since we also have to pay attention to our ranking."
"But we can't let her be."
"Do you really believe that Tessie is still looking for a werewolf?"
"I don't usually believe that, but it's Tessie we're talking about."
In fact, Aidan didn't know why he was so sure after saying it.
But the look in Tessie's eyes when she asked him to fight with her again and when she was just chattering on a usual occasion…
The look in her eyes always seemed extremely desperate and obsessive, just like a person who wanted to achieve something.
The thought that she might really be wandering around with her body messed up in order to catch a werewolf came to his mind.
"Phew. I get it. Let's check for just 30 more minutes, but if we don't find her by then, let's go back to the dormitory."
Leo sighed as he looked at the boy beside him, who had a strong sense of justice.
Even so, Leo couldn't stop him.
He knew that his good-natured fellow, who approached him to be his friend at first, was someone who was so stubborn at crucial moments and not willing to make any compromises.
It was the moment when the two people who had taken a little rest were about to move again…
Kyaaaa!
There was a distant cry that belonged to a girl.
The strangely familiar voice was obviously the voice of Tessie Friad, whom the two had been desperately searching for.
"Leo!"
"Yeah. I heard it. That way!"
The two ran through the grass and branches to the place where the scream came from.
At that moment, the grass on the opposite side shook, and someone popped out.
And Aidan, who was running in the lead, collided with that someone.
Aidan fell backwards as he was pinned underneath by something.
"Oh my. What's this all of a sudden?"
"Hngg."
Aidan raised his head as he felt something crushing his body when he fell backwards.
The first thing he saw was a woman with red hair who had a strong presence, even with subtle moonlight shining upon her.
"…Tessie?"
"…Aidan?"
Tessie raised her body immediately as she realized who the person she had underneath her in a cuddly position was.
"You… you! Why are you here?!"
"That's because I heard your scream…"
"What?! Wh-what do you mean a scream?! I've never done that."
Looking at Tessie, who blushed and shouted at Aidan, Leo sighed while saying, "I was worried for no reason."
Then they heard a shout of a beast.
Grrrrr.
"Oh! Aidan. Did you hear that?"
"Yeah. Is it really the werewolf of the rumor?"
The two men's wary gazes turned over to the bushes. Aidan and Leo both took out their wands.
Then Tessie stood in front of the two.
"Both of you. Hold on a second."
"Tessie. What are you doing?"
As Aidan asked her such a question, Tessie hesitated, unlike her usual self. She put her finger on her lips and motioned them to follow her.
Aidan and Leo looked at each other because they wondered what was going on and eventually decided to follow Tessie's footsteps.
The three of them, who moved quietly, soon reached the front of the basin where the ground was blown out.
"Look at that."
As they looked in the direction that Tessie pointed in a quiet voice, they saw something wriggling in the center of the basin that was full of fallen leaves.
"That's…"
Aidan, a country boy with good night vision, immediately discovered what it was.
"Werewolf?"
It was obviously a werewolf. It was full of wounds everywhere and was gasping for air all the time, but it certainly was a werewolf.
And…
"It's a pup, though?"
The little werewolf was a pup that was not all grown up yet.
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