ACADEMY'S UNDERCOVER PROFESSOR
Aidan and Leo only looked at each other.
Werewolf…
The one who turned Sören into a crucible of chaos was right in front of them.
But no matter how many times they looked at it, it was a pup; even its grumbling voice made it clear that it was hurt somewhere.
"I came across it a little while ago."
The reason why Tessie screamed… It was because she had suddenly found a werewolf while walking around without much thought.
Tessie, who blushed because she was ashamed of the fact, soon acted arrogantly.
"So? I won the bet, right?"
"You've only found it. Wasn't the bet for the one who captured it?"
Tessie immediately raged at Leo's remark.
"Is that so? Then I'll soon…!"
"Tessie, wait a second."
Aidan pulled Tessie's nape as she was about to go down into the basin.
"Urgh! What the hell are you doing?!"
"Ah, sorry. I didn't realize it."
"Aren't you being rude to a lady?"
"That's not what's important right now."
"If it's not, then what?!"
Tessie immediately sneered as she realized something.
"Hoho. Aidan, are you being impatient because I found that werewolf? You pretended that you didn't, but you actually cared about losing to me."
"Tessie. Didn't you feel anything strange?"
When a serious question was heard after her provocation, Tessie pouted her lips as if she had been disappointed.
"What?"
"That's a werewolf's pup over there. Aside from whether it's possible for a werewolf to have a pup, the pup over there doesn't look well at all. I don't think it can move properly."
"Yeah. So why?"
"But look… It's surrounded by fallen leaves. Besides these surroundings, it's a location that's far away from the public eye. I've never heard of a place like this in the forest, no matter how wide Sören is."
"Well, so what's wrong with that?"
"Do you think that little werewolf settled here and collected the fallen leaves by itself?"
Tessie realized something and shut her mouth when he said that.
In other words, Aiden was saying that the injured werewolf pup could not have gone all the way there alone.
It meant there was something else that had helped the pup.
"Who in the world?"
"I don't know who it is. Maybe… There's probably another werewolf."
Aidan kept his eyes on the werewolf while saying so.
—Just in case it noticed their presence and suddenly rushed at them.
Although it was a pup, it was bigger than a fairly large dog.
The probability of danger could not be excluded.
'Oh?'
Aidan, who was carefully examining the werewolf, found something strange.
Near the neck of a werewolf that was covered in fallen leaves and only just visible, he seemed to see something shining under the moonlight.
When he looked at it while focusing his eyes, it turned out that he wasn't mistaken.
'Isn't that something like a leash…?'
At that moment, Aidan judged that the werewolf did not just occur naturally.
"Aidan? What are you doing?"
It was the moment when Leo called him, as he felt that the look on Aidan's face was quite serious.
Aidan glided down the basin, determined to do something.
"Aidan! Hey, hey!"
Leo was confused, and so was Tessie.
The two rushed after Aidan. Aidan, who had come down to the center of the basin that was more than five meters away from his original spot, slowly approached the werewolf pup.
"Aidan! What are you doing?! It's dangerous!"
"There's something strange about it."
Aidan wanted to confirm it with his own eyes.
At that moment, the werewolf's pup, who was closing its eyes, stared at Aidan.
Aidan paused as he tried to approach it cautiously.
Their eyes were tangled in each other's gaze, and a breathtaking tension was lingering in the surroundings.
Gulp.
Aidan slowly held out his hand while swallowing his dry saliva.
"It's okay. I won't hurt you."
He said so because he had seen the werewolf's eyes.
—There was no hostility or murderous intent.
The transparent and clear eyes that were staring at him were full of innocence that seemed to belong to a country dog.
A werewolf with such eyes attacked two people and sent them to a hospital room?
Aidan didn't think so.
Leo and Tessie couldn't think of stopping Aidan any longer.
The pup, who was staring at him, immediately turned its head and closed its eyes again.
Aidan breathed a sigh of relief inwardly and drew closer to the pup.
As expected, it was docile.
It even made a purring sound as though it was in a good mood when Aidan swept its fur with his hand.
"You hurt a lot, I see."
Aidan said so and examined its wounds that were exposed outside of the fallen leaves.
'Didn't it get bitten by an animal?'
The traces on its body were not caused by an attack from other animals. Rather, it was more like a cut from something.
When he looked at its neck while sweeping its hair with his hand, he could feel a hard and cold metal.
As expected, he was not mistaken.
'I thought it was just a mere werewolf, but there's more to it.'
It was when Aidan thought that far…
From the darkness, the sound of something approaching them quickly could be heard.
Leo, who first noticed the strangeness of that sound, shouted.
"Aidan! Run!"
As soon as Aidan heard the sound, he rushed in the opposite direction from which the sound was heard.
Soon after, a huge shock hit his body.
"Argh!"
Aidan, who bounced more than three meters and rolled on the ground, shook away his dizziness and looked at the mysterious creature that had knocked him away.
'Werewolf!'
The thing that had hit him with its shoulder while running fast was an adult werewolf that was 1.5 times bigger than the werewolf pup.
It glared at Aidan as if wanting to kill him while standing there protecting its pup.
"It… it's really a werewolf."
Tessie trembled at such a sight and eventually raised her wand while charging mana with a determined look.
The werewolf also stared at Tessie while thinking that she was about to do something.
"Hey, hey! What are you doing?!"
Leo tried to stop her, but Tessie didn't listen to him.
There was a werewolf in front of her… The root of what had driven Sören into chaos.
If only they didn't exist, and she got rid of them…
She could revive her family.
—A fallen family. Her mother, who forced a smile at her while saying that 'It's okay.'
—The trashy people who used to cling around her but turned their backs right away after her family had collapsed.
She had to do it.
Only she could raise the Friad family back up.
The werewolf in front of her was a certain steppingstone for it.
Just because she hunted a werewolf did not mean it would revive her fallen family.
Tessie was fully aware of it, but even a little recognition was fine.
She could get an award point, collect a reward from the city of Leathevelk, or make her name known.
She learned magic to do that, and she had gone to Sören to aim for success.
'!….!'
The werewolf rushed at Tessie.
It was fast.
Tessie tried to cast a spell, but she made a mistake without realizing it due to the pressure of the werewolf that was rushing toward her.
'The spell!'
Her impatience had ruined her spell casting; the barely drawn mana was meaninglessly scattered.
Beyond the appearance of the spell that disappeared like a ripped, wet paper, she could see a werewolf approaching her while showing its fangs.
'Ah. Is this the end?'
As she thought so, Tessie felt someone suddenly push her to the side.
The sharp claws that were wielded by the werewolf passed right in front of her through the air.
Whirrrr.
Tessie, who rolled on the ground with someone, was stunned.
"Oh, oh?"
"Tessie! Are you okay?"
"Ai…. dan?"
It was Aidan who had saved her from the crisis—the boy whom she kept bothering and asked for a match.
If he was the slightest bit late in pushing her, Tessie would have lost her head.
"I'm glad you're safe."
"You, you. Why did you…."
"I can't just watch my friend who's in danger."
"Friend."
The word left Tessie speechless.
* * *
* * *
Aidan looked at the werewolf, not caring about Tessie's reaction.
"There's something wrong with its movement. I think it's seriously hurt somewhere. Maybe that's why we were able to avoid its attack."
As expected, there were three large holes that had yet to be healed in the werewolf's chest that was slightly exposed in the dark.
Aidan gulped and opened his mouth.
"Sorry. It wasn't on purpose. We don't intend to do any harm to your pup."
"Aidan? What are you doing?! There's no way a werewolf can communicate!"
Tessie shouted from behind, saying, "What kind of stupid thing are you doing?" but Aidan was serious.
Aidan continued, staring at the werewolf in front of him with an unshakable gaze.
"You. Can you understand us?"
"What's…"
Leo and Tessie looked puzzled.
But the werewolf's reaction was strange.
The werewolf, who was staring at them like it was going to kill them, calmed down and went back to its pup.
Leo, who was watching such a scene, couldn't close his mouth.
"…Does it really understand you?"
"It just overreacted because it was afraid that its pup might be in danger."
"But… Aidan, it already attacked two students. It's calm now because of its baby, but we don't know when it'll suddenly show its true s."
Leo's point was valid, but Aidan felt something indescribable.
It was possible for Aidan to know because it was him who had faced the werewolf's pup the most closely.
As soon as he had seen the pup's eyes, Aidan had clearly heard something.
—"Please help me."
"Leo, Tessie, I know what I'm saying is far-fetched, but believe me, just once."
Aidan said so and slowly approached the werewolf.
Grrrrrr.
The supposed mother threatened Aidan by showing her gums, but Aidan raised both of his hands and made a gesture that he was not dangerous.
"It's okay. I won't hurt you."
As he narrowed the distance little by little with such determination, the werewolf glaring at Aidan also stopped showing its hostility.
That was because the pup was in the worst condition.
"Use this."
Aidan took a small medicine bottle out of his pocket that he usually carried around.
It was a very basic recovery medicine that he had made when taking pharmacology classes in curses and dispelling.
Since his skill was still insufficient, the potion's poor performance wouldn't show any great significance in healing, but at least it would help improve the condition of the pup, who was gasping for air.
It was the moment when he tried to approach the werewolf with that thought…
A white ray of light from somewhere penetrated the mother's body.
"Oh, oh?"
Aidan, who was approaching the werewolf slowly, along with Leo and Tessie, who were watching the scene while holding their breaths from behind, were surprised and confused by the ray of light.
It was a silver, shiny metal that penetrated the body of the werewolf mother.
At first, he thought it was a sharp spear, but eventually, its shape collapsed and turned into a net that bound the mother werewolf's body.
'Is that a metal magic that uses ?'
'Who the hell does this?'
As soon as everyone was dumbfounded, a black shadow fell from the sky.
"You guys. What are you doing here?"
It was a man who they saw as a black shadow.
And the man was someone whom they knew very well.
"Professor… Ludger?"
Ludger, who overpowered the werewolf with a surprise attack, squinted his eyes, as he didn't know there would be three students there.
"You all look familiar. Aidan, Leo, and Tessie Friad. What are the students who took my class doing here at this late hour?"
The three people whose names were called shuddered.
They were doomed.
They didn't expect to get caught by a professor in that situation! Their opponent was even Ludger Chelysie, who was famous for having no blood or tears.
"I'll hold the three of you responsible for this later. Back off for now."
Tessie and Leo followed his order.
But Aidan was different.
He intervened between Ludger and the werewolf, blocking Ludger's way.
"Wait!"
"…Aidan. What the hell are you doing?"
Hearing Ludger's cold voice, Aidan trembled but did not back down.
"Professor Ludger! Pl-please wait a minute!"
"You told me to wait?"
"There's something strange with that werewolf! No, I mean, to be exact… it seemed to understand people's words! Please reconsider killing that werewolf for a moment!"
Aidan spouted out what he had found out.
Otherwise, Ludger would take the breath of that mother werewolf right away.
"It understands people, you said? What nonsense are you talking about?"
"It's not nonsense. Maybe that werewolf…"
"I told you to step back."
Despite Ludger's threat, Aidan didn't step back.
While staring at Aidan, Ludger found a baby werewolf licking its mother's face with its tongue over Aidan's shoulder.
No ferocity at all; it just showed pure concern for its own family.
The pup stood with its feet. It was the moment when the fallen leaves that covered its entire body were pushed out, and the rest of its body that was covered by the fallen leaves was shown.
It saw Ludger.
His eyebrows wriggled slightly.
"Oh?"
Aidan, who was staring at Ludger intensely, immediately noticed the subtle changes in him.
'What's wrong with Professor?'
Aidan was about to look back unconsciously.
Whoosh!
At that moment, his body flew through the air as if it had been pulled strongly by something.
Aidan's body gently landed on the ground without any injury.
—It was a buffer effect that used wind magic.
It was all done by Ludger.
"Prof… Professor?"
What he saw was Ludger's back, wearing a black frock coat.
He couldn't see the werewolves that were hidden by Ludger's back.
When Aidan was about to say something…
Ludger casted his spell.
Whrrrrrrr!
There was a flash of hot fire all of a sudden.
It swallowed the two werewolves in a flash, scattering light everywhere.
He could feel the heat even from a distance. It was obviously an attack spell that would kill the opponent.
There were no screams from the werewolves that were swallowed by the fire.
There was no time for them to scream, and they couldn't even feel the pain, as they had already disappeared into ashes.
When the magic fire completely subsided…
There was no trace left of the werewolves.
There were only black ashes.
"Go back to the dormitory."
Ludger said so without looking back.
"I will hold you responsible for your deviant behavior tomorrow."
There was no emotion in his voice.
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