Despite the students’ groans, Ludger did not show any leniency.
Although there were no textbooks yet, Ludger had already prepared separate teaching materials in anticipation of this.
“Assistant Sedina.”
Two people reacted to that call.
One was Sedina Roschen, who had been waiting outside the door.
The other was Julia Plumehart, sitting in her seat with a languid face.
Julia, her pupils slightly dilated, gazed at the small girl carrying a bundle of documents.
She had heard from Ludger that Sedina had gone to the Elven Forest during the break, though there had been no news until now.
So, she must have returned before the second semester began.
As Sedina handed over the materials, her eyes shifted toward Julia.
Their gazes naturally met.
Normally, Sedina would have averted her head at this moment to avoid Julia’s eyes.
But now, she did not.
Sedina gave Julia a nod.
That nod carried the meaning: Let’s meet later and talk.
Julia almost let the corners of her lips rise but barely restrained herself after noticing the stares around her.
Meanwhile, Ludger’s gaze swept over the entire classroom.
His eyes lingered noticeably long on certain students.
Aidan’s group, Rine and Erendir, Flora Lumos as well.
Most of them had not merely played during the vacation but had achieved magical progress in some form.
“Looks like you all enjoyed your vacation.”
No one denied his words.
The joy of being freed, even for a short time, from the hell of assignments and exams had been savored to the fullest.
“Of course, there must be those who didn’t just waste their time idly. How you chose to spend the given break doesn’t matter now. But the new semester has begun, and it is time for you to readjust your mindset.”
A break was a break.
Now that it was over, if they carried on halfheartedly, they would suffer for it.
“Don’t complain about having class on the first day. In fact, from now on, it will already be barely enough to regain the sense of the early semester. That’s why I’ll personally help you.”
His words sounded less like advice and more like the prelude to upcoming hardship.
The students felt discontent but could not show it.
They already had a vague feeling.
That their happy vacation was truly over. That it was time to return to lectures once again.
“Why is everyone acting like this? Isn’t class fun?”
“Shh. Aidan. Quiet.”
A clueless student made a needless remark, only to be hushed by his close friend.
It was a trivial scene, common enough to pass quickly.
* * *
With the start of the new semester, the students immediately plunged into a busy routine.
Those who had been diligently studying before adapted quickly, but those who had only played could not.
The students who had sunk into idleness now had to wrestle desperately with assignments, even when others were resting.
The price of laziness was harsh.
Even students who had prepared consistently during vacation had to push themselves harder to avoid being caught up.
The looseness of just-finished vacation disappeared without a trace, and Seorn once again burned with academic fervor.
It had regained the atmosphere of the year’s beginning.
But even in such a flow, there were students unaffected.
Julia Plumehart was one of them.
True to her status as the top freshman, she handled even a tight schedule with ease.
And in the midst of that, she made time to stroll through the park built on Seorn’s grounds.
Of course, it was not simply to relax her mood.
At the end of the path where her steps led stood her true destination.
“Sedina.”
Julia called out to the girl sitting against a large tree trunk.
The girl, who had come first and was waiting, turned her head to look at Julia.
“...Julia.”
“Hello. It’s been a while.”
“Yeah. It’s been a while.”
It was just a light exchange of greetings, but it carried deeper meanings within.
The two of them were silent for a while.
They had much to say, but now that they faced each other, they did not know where to start.
Both Julia and Sedina.
Awkwardly, they hesitated.
The one who first found courage was Julia.
“I heard about it. That you went back to your hometown?”
“Hometown? Ah, yes.”
“Are you alright?”
Her voice brimmed with concern.
If the students who usually found Julia intimidating saw this, they would have been shocked to the point of fainting.
Sedina accepted Julia’s worry naturally. Julia had always been that kind of friend.
“Yes. I’m much better now. Of course, I’m not completely fine, but with time it’ll gradually heal.”
“What happened during that time?”
“Many things. So many that I can’t explain them all at once here.”
“Is it something I shouldn’t know?”
“No. It’s just not the right moment to talk about it. But when the time comes, I’ll tell you. Everything.”
Sedina was different now. She no longer said things like it doesn’t concern you or you don’t need to know.
She had changed, and she had resolved to treat Julia differently.
Even as she explained that she could not speak of it now, her tone carried an obvious sense of guilt.
That alone was a great improvement, and Julia was satisfied as she nodded.
“Alright. I’ll look forward to that time.”
“Actually, I’m more curious about how you spent your break. How was it?”
“I just lived as usual.”
“Other than the teacher, no one knows I went to the forest. Did you also meet him during that time?”
“It was coincidence that we ran into each other. But we did talk quite a lot. We each had something to gain. Just as I was curious about him, he was curious about me.”
“Professor Ludger? I can’t really imagine that.”
“Not exactly me as a person, but our school. You know which school I belong to, don’t you?”
“The Dream School. Everyone knows it.”
“Professor Ludger seemed interested in that. So he came to us, half visiting, half inquiring.”
She °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° did not mention the depths of Dreamland.
Not only would it do no good to tell, but also because the School had ordered everyone to keep silent about the recent incidents in Dreamland.
“I see.”
For Sedina, who had wondered what Ludger had been doing in her absence, it was quite an intriguing piece of news.
Just then, a gentle breeze passed between them, playfully brushing by.
Julia tucked back the strands of hair fluttering by her cheek.
Glancing at Sedina, she saw her calmly gazing at the garden scenery with a relieved expression.
Sedina muttered as she recalled the past.
“Somehow, this feels like we’ve gone back to the old days.”
“The old days, huh...”
Julia nodded with a bitter smile.
When they were very young, the two of them often played together like this.
It was the age of childish innocence.
A time when they were far more pure than they were now.
She still remembered it vividly, without forgetting.
“Julia. I’m really sorry for everything until now.”
Julia’s eyes widened, then curved into a faint smile.
It was a gentle smile, different from the guarded wall she usually put up with others.
“There’s no need to be sorry.”
Sedina turned to Julia in surprise.
Julia, a little embarrassed, glanced away.
“Between friends, it’s natural to quarrel a little sometimes.”
Sedina’s eyes widened, then she let out a small laugh.
“Yeah! That’s true.”
Just then, another gust of wind blew.
Unlike the gentle breeze earlier, this one surged as if it wanted to scatter everything away.
What drifted in with it was an unfamiliar unease.
Julia’s face stiffened as she stared toward the direction the wind had come from.
For a moment, she felt the same kind of ripple she had once sensed in Dreamland.
But when she looked around again, there was no trace of that unease.
“Julia? What’s wrong?”
“...It’s nothing. I must have imagined it for a moment.”
Julia brushed it off like that.
But the strange uneasiness that tickled her body clung to her like sticky humidity, refusing to leave.
* * *
With the start of the new semester, time flowed swiftly.
The routine was little different from the first semester, but that was precisely why the students’ days were busy to the point of suffocation.
Perhaps it was because of the sweet rest of vacation—
sometimes, even during lecture hours, there were students who failed to show up for class.
“Isn’t Damian here today?”
“Hm. That’s unexpected. I thought Charlotte was diligent. Could she be sick?”
“Please tell Jamie’s close friend not to be late turning in the assignment.”
Empty seats began to appear one by one in the lecture hall.
Neither the teachers nor the classmates thought it strange.
They had all been through a brutal pace, and it was still the season when the aftertaste of vacation lingered.
“Don’t you think the students have grown too lax these days?”
“You’re telling me. Three students skipped my lecture today.”
While eating together, Selina and Merilda brought up what had happened in their classes.
It was the first time students had started skipping lessons, so both of them seemed troubled about how to handle it.
“Is it just because they’re still caught in vacation mode?”
“How much must they be looking down on us to dare skip class? We should use this chance to set them straight.”
“B-but they might have unavoidable circumstances.”
“Selina, you’re too soft. That’s why they end up taking you lightly. At times like this, you need to be firm. Look at Professor Ludger.”
Ludger, who had been cutting into his steak, stopped and fixed his gaze on Merilda.
Why was his name suddenly being dragged into this?
“Since we’re on the subject, may I ask? Have there been any absentees in your class, Professor Ludger?”
“...No. None of my students have missed class. Not yet, anyway.”
“See? Anyone who doesn’t want to die will obviously show up.”
Ludger cast her a mildly sour look.
Not want to die? What am I supposed to do—hunt down students and kill them if they miss my class?
“If a student were absent, my first thought would be to worry about them. You seem to think of me as some kind of drill sergeant, but isn’t that a bit much?”
“Oh—wasn’t it like that?”
Selina, sitting beside him, blurted out the question without thinking, then immediately realized her mistake and clapped both hands over her mouth.
But it was too late.
That innocent slip stung Ludger more than he would have liked to admit.
“Come to think of it, I had absentees in my lecture too.”
The worried tone belonged to Brino, and both Merilda and Selina were startled.
“Your students love your class, don’t they?”
Brino’s steam golem lecture wasn’t broadly popular, but it was praised passionately by a certain group of students.
Since it covered both golem theory and hands-on construction, anyone interested in magitech engineering had to take it.
That was why his class was famous for its exceptional attendance rate and lively atmosphere.
For absentees to appear there was unusual.
Considering how motivated his students were, it felt odd.
Ludger, meanwhile, had yet to experience absentees himself, so it did not strike him deeply.
But judging by what he was hearing, it wouldn’t be strange if one or two started skipping his lectures as well.
Is it because they’re first-years? I wonder how it is in the upper years’ classes.
Still, Ludger decided he wouldn’t make a fuss as long as there was a reasonable excuse.
After finishing the meal, he headed back to the staff office.
There, he happened to run into Chris in the corridor.
“......”
“Ludger Cherish.”
Their relationship was still complicated.
Ludger didn’t pay Chris much mind, but Chris harbored conflicted feelings toward Ludger.
A man who made him feel inferior, yet whose ability as a mage and teacher he could not deny.
And also the one who knew most about the whereabouts of his beloved Lady Bellaruna.
That made Chris hesitate over how to speak to him.
“You seem very busy.”
It was Ludger who first opened his mouth.
Chris felt a touch of gratitude for the gesture and answered.
“Lately, there have been a lot of students cutting class. How about on your side?”
“In my case...”
“Ah, I don’t even need to ask. Of course. No student would dare skip your class unless they’d lost their mind.”
“......”
Ludger seriously began to wonder how dire his reputation among the faculty had become.
“But what I really want to ask—do you think I can see Lady Bellaruna again? She hasn’t replied to any of my messages lately.”
Apparently, Chris had been in personal contact with Bellaruna.
But her absence must have unsettled him, since she had been away visiting the Forest of Life.
“She was busy returning to her hometown. Now that she’s back, it wouldn’t be bad to try contacting her again.”
“And how would you know that?”
“...You weren’t already aware?”
At Chris’s jealous glare, Ludger hastily added:
“Not just me—Professor Vierno knows as well. You can ask him.”
“...I see. Thanks for telling me.”
Chris gave a polite nod and walked past.
So love really can blind a man to that extent.
Even as he thought this, Ludger recalled Chris’s earlier remark.
He’d said students were skipping class.
Chris Bennimore is strict and touchy enough that no student would dare think of skipping... For absentees to appear in his lectures, something is odd indeed.
Back in the office, Ludger sat down.
He was about to check over some materials for his next class when he needed something from the assistant’s office and rang the bell.
Normally, Sedina would open the door immediately.
But even after the bell rang, there was no sign of her.
Did she step out for a moment?
Ludger rose from his seat and entered the assistant’s office.
Inside, as before, it resembled a greenhouse, filled with lush plants.
He examined their condition.
Ludger’s eyes narrowed.
There’s no sign they’ve been watered.