Chapter 22: Taming of the shrew (4)

The match is over.

No one could speak at the concise remark.
Not the freshmen and teaching assistants watching the fight, nor the Saintess who was about to intervene.

Not even Alber and Silvia, who had been fiercely fighting until just a moment ago.

Only one person spoke in the heavy silence.

“So, student Alber and student Silvia, please stop the duel and come down from the stage.”

The new professor of black magic defense, exuding a chilly aura, glared at them coldly.
She was the one who had settled their tense fight in a single blow.

“Otherwise, I will take immediate action to have you removed for insubordination.”

Immediate removal without a proper evaluation.
Alber and Silvia flinched at the declaration that they would be given the lowest grade unilaterally.

At the same time, the students who had finally come to their senses looked at the stage with dismay.

“Huh? What? What exactly happened?”

“They were fighting so fiercely just a moment ago. How did it stop in an instant…”

The powerful gust of wind that could have blown away even a brick house.
The confrontation that had been scattering it in all directions had stopped in the blink of an eye.

The dueling stage was so quiet and calm, as if no duel had ever taken place.

“Hey! Look at that!”

A student who had raised his arm at that moment shouted.
His finger was pointing at none other than the next Hero Alber’s halberd.
The giant axe head that had been forcefully brought down to pierce Silvia’s defensive barrier.
It was trembling in mid-air, unable to move.

“Kuh…?!”

Alber frowned, grabbing the suddenly immobile halberd.
But no matter how hard she tried, it wouldn’t budge. It didn’t move at all, even when she pulled with all her might.

As if it had been completely fixed in that one moment.

“Wh-what is this?”

Alber was not the only one who had frozen at the unexpected situation.

Silvia de Garcia, who had been secretly preparing an energy bomb until just a moment ago.
She was also at a loss for words at the sudden abnormality in her magic control.

‘Why… why is my magic keep scattering?’

No matter how much she concentrated, she couldn’t cast a spell.
It was as if her mana was being drained somewhere, and she couldn’t gather it in one place.

“Ugh!”

‘What the hell! Why is this happening all of a sudden!’

She gritted her teeth in frustration.
It was a humiliating feeling, as if she had fallen from being a genius praised by all to an ordinary person.

But it didn’t take long for the cause to be revealed.

“What are you doing, student Alber? Student Silvia?”

Professor Anastasia, who was glaring at them coldly, lowered her voice.

“I believe I warned you that you would be forcibly removed if you did not follow my instructions. Does that mean you don’t mind getting the lowest grade in the placement test?”

She snapped her fingers once and calmly threatened.

“Ugh!”

At the same time, Alber fell on her butt and dropped her halberd.
It was a mistake that a half-dragon, who prided herself on her immense strength and grip, would never make.

But the giant halberd that had slipped from Alber’s hand did not fall to the ground, but remained suspended in mid-air.

One of the students watching this shouted loudly.

“B-black magic! It’s shadow magic!”

Just a moment ago, the shadow tentacles that the warlock Anastasia had released to restrain the duel.
They were wrapped around the halberd, suspended in mid-air.

‘Shadow magic?!’

Silvia, who had also noticed the situation, flinched and looked down at her forearm.

Anastasia’s shadow tentacles that had forcibly separated her and Alber.
Mana was wriggling out of the black tendrils.

‘Mana absorption…!’

Silvia bit her lip as she confirmed the unpleasant reality of the magic.

She had heard of it, albeit only by hearsay.
That among black magic, there were despicable tricks that stole the opponent’s vitality like a straw.
What Professor Anastasia was showing now seemed to be an application of that.

She belatedly realized why her mana kept scattering.
What else could it be when the disgusting shadow tentacles were absorbing her power?

Not only Silvia’s own blue mana.

“Huh?!”

Even the energy of the energy bomb she had been preparing a few seconds ago.

‘What! Where did it go!’

Panicked, Silvia just blinked her eyelids.

The counter-spell that had been blazing like the sun in her hand had completely disappeared like a snuffed out flame.

‘Could it be?’

Terrified, Silvia quickly turned her head towards Professor Anastasia.

And the moment she discovered the shimmering sphere on the professor’s left hand.

“Ah, no!”

She cried out, her face pale, and stretched out her arm.

“It’s going to explode, Professor! It’s going to explode! It’s going to explode-!!”

“Hieek?”

“Explosion!?”

At Silvia’s scream, the other students turned pale and began to retreat.

Condensed in Anastasia’s left hand was the powerful energy that Silvia had accumulated to counter the Hero.

Since the power of the half-dragon was added to the mana of the rising star Silvia, its power was more than enough to blow away the entire Group A test site.

Since it was an energy that she, a genius, had gathered, only she could control it smoothly.
But a foolish rookie professor had stolen the spell without knowing anything!

If that were to detonate at close range, neither the professor herself nor the other students would be safe.

Knowing this, Silvia tried to snatch back the magic before it was too late.

“I-it’s too late!”

Vroom, vroom-!

The flame-colored sphere began to vibrate as if to show off.
As Silvia’s control disappeared, its stability immediately collapsed and it went berserk.

Like a star at the end of its life, it was about to greedily swallow everything around it.

At this point, Silvia had no choice but to hope for a miracle.

“Everyone, be careful! Hurry up and use defensive magic…!”

She quickly gave instructions and was about to activate her defensive barrier.

Crack-!

“Huh?”

Silvia’s purple eyes widened at the subsequent development.

Another shadow tentacle that had climbed up Anastasia’s forearm.

It wrapped around the energy bomb like a pointed cocoon.
With a dense and sturdy structure that left no room for anything to escape.

And after one second had passed.

Thud!

An explosion, which was pathetically small compared to its original power, was heard from within the cocoon.

Then, the moment Anastasia released the shadow spell, all of Group A, including Silvia, were so shocked that their jaws dropped.

“I-it’s gone? The energy bomb?”

“No! It’s not gone, it’s…”

‘She blocked it?’

Silvia froze like ice at the unbelievable result.

The ferocious counter-magic she had recklessly used without considering the risks.
She had suppressed that tremendous explosion with just basic shadow manipulation.

Even Silvia, famous for being a genius, had never seen such an unrealistic sight in her life.

“How… how on earth…?”

It was then.

Leaving the fussing students behind, Anastasia strode towards Silvia.
Of course, her attitude was not friendly, or even neutral.

“Student Silvia de Garcia.”

Anastasia, who had come right in front of Silvia, held the lollipop stick in her mouth like a cigarette butt.
At the same time, she glared at her and questioned her in a stern tone.

“What exactly were you thinking, using such a spell in a test site?”

“Pardon?”

“Since you’re the one who used the magic, you should know better.”

When she came to her senses and asked back, Anastasia narrowed her eyes and shot back.

“What if that energy sphere had exploded in the Hero’s face? And what if the Group A students had been swept away by it? What exactly would have happened, student Silvia?”

“Ah, hehe. W-well, that… I mean, actually, Professor…”

Silvia, at a loss for an excuse, stammered and racked her brain.
She tried to get away with some witty wordplay, as she had done with most teachers.

No matter what trouble she caused, she always managed to slip away with her clever tricks.

But unfortunately, today’s professor seemed to have no intention of accepting her excuses.

“The words you’re about to say. Please choose them carefully, student Silvia.”

Anastasia warned, looking down at the hesitant Silvia.
Her golden eyes were gleaming like an owl hunting a field mouse.

“If you make me any angrier, it won’t just end with a removal from the test.”

Silvia fell silent at Anastasia’s threat.
She wanted to retort, but she couldn’t. Her lips were frozen like stone, and her vocal cords were dry and stiff, unable to function.

If she uttered even a single wrong word, it felt like the silver-haired warlock would swallow her whole like a monster from a fairy tale.

“Ugh… hngh…”

Suddenly, her vision began to blur.
Feeling a tingling in her nose, Silvia’s shins trembled.

A feeling she had never felt before when dealing with a ‘teacher’.
A feeling that she had never had to feel, thanks to her brilliant genius and her status as the daughter of the academy chairman, surged.

It was none other than the instinctive fear of a higher authority.
It was an overwhelming fear that made it difficult to even resist, let alone stand up to.

From this new professor, Anastasia, Silvia was feeling a terrible fear of a superior for the first time in her life.

‘S-scary…!’

Drip. As she felt a warm tear stream down her cheek.
Anastasia slowly raised her right arm and extended it towards her.

Watching the black magician’s hand getting closer, Silvia squeezed her eyes shut.

She couldn’t even imagine what this terrifying professor would do next.

It felt like she would use her evil black magic to tear her to shreds.

“Hic…”

Mommy…!

A fear as deep as the abyss.
The moment she cried out for her mother, Forte, in that fear.

Thwack!

“Ouch!”

Silvia cried out, clutching her throbbing forehead.

“If you’ve done something wrong, you should apologize first, student Silvia.”

When she opened her eyes, she saw the warlock professor who had flicked her forehead, her brows furrowed.
Unlike before, when she was so intimidating that she looked like she would eat her, her expression had softened a little.

“Don’t cry if you haven’t done anything good. It’s a very bad habit to try to get out of a situation with tears.”

Anastasia said calmly, looking at the sobbing Silvia.
Then, she took out a white handkerchief from her pocket and handed it to her.

“Since this is the first test, I’ll let it slide with just a warning, but if the same thing happens again, I’ll immediately open a disciplinary committee. Keep that in mind.”

“Hic… sob…”

Silvia nodded, wiping her eyes with the handkerchief Anastasia had given her.
She wanted to say something, but she couldn’t open her mouth because of her constant hiccups.

Professor Anastasia sighed deeply at Silvia’s completely dejected state.

“And everyone makes mistakes, so don’t be discouraged.”

Then, she gently placed her hand on her head and patted her with a kind attitude.

“Although you caused some trouble, student Silvia’s potential was truly amazing, just as I heard. However, please try to be more careful in the future.”

“…”

After finishing her encouragement, Anastasia gently removed her hand from her head.
Then, she turned around and gave instructions to the surrounding teaching assistants.

“Hurry up and clean up the test site, and sort out the documents to be filled out. We’ll end the Group A test with this.”

“Ah, yes!”

“Understood, Professor!”

At her command, the teaching assistants scattered and began to clean up the area.

While the messy test site was being cleaned up step by step, Silvia finally managed to stop sobbing and just stared blankly at the back of the ‘Silkie’ professor.

Finally, the tears stopped, and Silvia de Garcia’s face was filled with a new light that had not been seen before.

From her mouth, for the first time with sincerity and respect.
A title that she wanted to call out for the first time came out.

“Anastasia… Professor…”

“Albeeeer!”

“Ubeee, I’m sorrryyy! It wasn’t my intention either-!!”

“Be quiet! To awaken the dragon’s blood in a school test, are you really in your right mind-!!”

And next to Silvia, a fierce battle was taking place between the furious Saintess and the next Hero whose cheeks were being pinched by her.

After pulling Alber’s cheeks to her heart’s content, Antiopea finally let go.
She put her hand on her forehead and reprimanded her in a tone that sounded like she was dead tired.

“Are you going to keep doing this even after I’ve told you repeatedly, Alber? If you keep this up, I might have to confiscate ‘Gáe Bolg’. So that you can’t cause any more trouble?”

“G-Gáe Bolg is off-limits! I was wrong! So you can’t take away my weapon!”

Gáe Bolg, the exclusive weapon of the chosen next Hero, Alber.
It was a precious piece of equipment that was a symbol of Alber Cornelian Tarrasque.

At the threat of confiscating it, Alber turned pale and was busy begging Antiopea.

“…By the way.”

Antiopea’s gaze, which had been on Alber, suddenly moved to another direction.
It was towards the halberd that Anastasia had put down on the floor while scolding Silvia.

Antiopea muttered, staring at the giant weapon that had been carelessly discarded.

“It’s really amazing. Alber, for you to be unable to move even though you’re the opponent.”

As was evident from the course of the duel, Alber was the possessor of an unparalleled, monstrous strength.
It was thanks to that that she could handle Gáe Bolg, which even three or four grown men couldn’t budge, like a straw.

But the warlock Anastasia had subdued such an Alber with just shadow manipulation.
Even when she had awakened her dragon blood and was wielding her halberd with all her might.

“Huh, that’s certainly true.”

Perhaps realizing this, Alber also blinked her emerald eyes and spoke.

“As Pea said, I couldn’t move. I tried to take back Gáe Bolg, but it didn’t work. That means…”

Gleam. Alber, her beige ponytail fluttering, looked at Anastasia.

Then, a very mischievous smile.
A flower of a smile, filled with competitiveness, curiosity, and excitement, bloomed on Alber’s lips.

“That woman is incredibly strong! Isn’t that right!”

‘Oh dear, she’s excited again.’

Antiopea let out a chuckle as she watched Alber, who had begun to burn with excitement.
Then, she glanced at Anastasia, who was moving away.

The next Hero and the unparalleled prodigy who had received a constellation. To subdue both of them in a single blow.
And to calmly focus on cleaning up afterwards, as if nothing had happened.

To be so nonchalant even after performing such incredible feats.

‘Come to think of it, didn’t she say she would entice Alber with actions, not words?’

The answer she had given when asked about her future educational policy as the Obsidian housemaster.

Anastasia had responded, thinking it was about her as the professor of black magic defense, but Antiopea had asked with a completely different intention. The conversation, where they were on different wavelengths, came to the Saintess’s mind.

‘Could this be that ‘action’, Professor?’

Alber, who was mischievously grinning at Anastasia.
And Silvia, who was standing blankly, lost in admiration and awe.

Glancing at the two who were dazed in their own ways, Antiopea couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.

‘Just what is that person thinking?’

The curiosity that continued to grow within Antiopea today.

‘What a handful of tomboys.’

Do they have to cause trouble right in front of me to be satisfied?
I chewed on the candy, annoyed.

I am currently in the position of a supervisor responsible for the safety of the Group A students.
If an accident were to occur, I would be the one to take all the blame.

And yet, they dare to use such magic under the supervisor’s watch?

‘Are they trying to get me fired?’

My blood ran cold at the thought that I almost got fired from the job I had just gotten.
It was a thought I had from the beginning, but it became more certain through this placement test.

Silvia de Garcia.

‘You should go to another dormitory too.’

When I scolded her, she suddenly started crying, so my heart softened and I gave her some words of encouragement.
It was because the image of my younger sister crying when I scolded her suddenly overlapped.

But apart from that, I had even less desire to take on that child.
The Hero candidate and the chairman’s daughter, two time bombs that could go off at any moment.

I didn’t want to live as a housemaster, embracing both of them.