Chapter 27: The witch’s wish will come true (1)

‘She must still find me disagreeable, mustn’t she?’

Silvia clutched the hem of her skirt, conscious of Anastasia’s persistent coolness despite her friendly approach.

The incident at the Group A test still lingered in her mind.
She had rudely called her professor a ‘Silkie’ and nearly wrecked the test site.

‘But it’s okay!’

The thought made her a little sullen, but she had no intention of being discouraged.
She was confident she could improve their relationship from now on.

‘Professor Anastasia is the first.’

The first teacher she wanted to learn from.
The first teacher she wanted to submit to.
And the first teacher she wanted to respect.

Her fashion sense was a bit eccentric, but aside from that, she was an adult she wanted to model herself after in every way.

‘So I want to be first in her heart.’

Silvia took a slow, deep breath, reminding herself of this.

She had always lived in the center of attention.
Naturally, she had never felt the desire for someone’s attention.
For Silvia de Garcia, the attention of others was as natural as the flow of water.

But Professor Anastasia was different.
She had never craved anyone’s attention before, but she desperately wanted hers.

She wanted to be praised by Anastasia, to be acknowledged for her hard work.
She wanted to see her smile as she stroked her hair.

‘I’d do anything for that!’

Her confidence was a bit shaky due to nervousness, but her friendliness was Silvia de Garcia’s greatest weapon.
She just needed to take her time and slowly close the emotional distance.

With that resolve, Silvia cautiously opened her mouth.

“Um, excuse me… Professor?”

She was about to make a suggestion in a voice as soft as a mosquito’s buzz, out of embarrassment.

“If it’s alright with you… after you retire, would you consider becoming a tutor for the Garcia family…”

“Oh my!”

Someone’s exclamation suddenly interrupted the conversation.

Then, the person revealed herself and spoke.
And in a welcoming tone, as if she knew Anastasia well.

“Have you been well? It’s been a really long time, Professor Anastasia.”

‘What’s this?’

Silvia frowned at the female student who had suddenly appeared.

Judging by her clothes, she was a freshman like herself. And she was even from the same Obsidian dormitory.
But she couldn’t understand why that girl was being so familiar with Professor Anastasia.

The professor was a black mage from the remote wastelands of the Northeast.
There was no way she could know any of this year’s freshmen.

But the next moment, something happened that made Silvia doubt her own ears.

“Eve… Investigator Vellam?”

“Hehe, you remember me? I never dreamed I’d see you here, Professor.”

The female student emphasized the word ‘Professor’ with a playful lilt.
And Professor Anastasia had actually responded to her familiarity!

And not only that…

“I never dreamed I’d see you here either, Eve.”

Although faint, she was even smiling, a smile she had never shown Silvia!

‘Wh-what is this?’

What is this situation?

Silvia stood there dumbfounded, unable to do anything in the face of this incomprehensible development.
She couldn’t even hear the chattering of Anastasia and Eve.

She was just shocked by the fact that the professor’s smile, which she had yet to earn, had been snatched away from her so blatantly.

“Silvia?”

“Huh? Y-yes! Professor?”

Suddenly, her name was called.
Startled, Silvia looked at her with a strange sense of anticipation.
But it was extinguished without a trace when she was met with a stoic expression.

“You can go on ahead. I have something to discuss with Miss Eve for a moment.”

“Y-yes?”

She’s kicking me out to talk to that woman?
Silvia bit her lip, unable to accept the unfair treatment.

Wasn’t she the one who was here first? That woman should be the one to leave, not Silvia. It didn’t make sense.

But Anastasia’s attitude was very firm.

“We’re acquaintances, so I want to catch up. We can continue our walk later.”

“…Yes, Professor.”

With trembling arms, Silvia helplessly retreated.
She was furious, but there was nothing she could do. In this situation, she was just a third wheel who had intruded.

If she insisted on staying, she would only incur the professor’s dislike again.

‘I’d rather die than that.’

“It will be class time soon. Hurry so you won’t be late, Silvia. I’ll see you in my class later.”

With that, Anastasia took the ‘Eve Vellam’ in question and walked away.
Leaving Silvia de Garcia behind, seething with anger.

“So annoying…!”

She puffed out her cheeks, glaring at the tall female student with the updo.

That should be my place!
That smile should be mine!
If I hadn’t made a mistake during the placement test, it would have been mine!

‘I will never give up, Professor Anastasia!’

The back of the black mage, who was still so cool despite her resentment and regret.
Staring at it intently, Silvia made a firm resolve in her heart.

‘Before graduation, I will definitely invite the professor to be a tutor for the Garcia family!’

To stay only by her side, and to teach only one student, Silvia de Garcia!

Unaware that she already had a rival in Princess Krimhild, a fire of struggle and obsession was burning brightly in Silvia’s heart.

‘What’s with her all of a sudden?’

Silvia had become visibly sulky at my request for her to leave.
I frowned, glancing at her retreating figure.

‘Is she pouting because she couldn’t find fault with me?’

What a persistent one.
To hold a grudge over a simple flick on the forehead.

I didn’t feel the need to apologize, but it seemed I’d have to soothe her feelings for a smoother future.
Should I buy her a slice of cake later? She’s a girl in her prime, she’d probably like it.

“Hehe, you’re still wearing that outfit?”

Eve’s words cut through my train of thought.
She said, looking at the crow feathers fluttering in the wind.

“I suppose all the warlocks in the Northeast dress like that? It certainly seems different from the fashion here.”

…It’s not northeastern fashion. I’m just wearing it because it’s my taste.

It was disheartening to see even the angelic Eve making a fuss about my clothes.
The shop owner had praised it so much, saying clothes make the man.

I swallowed a bitter smile and strolled through the campus with Eve.

Now that the semester had just begun, the academy was bustling with preparations for the upcoming festival.

The so-called Pre-Summer Festival, a grand festival to bid farewell to the end of spring.
It was also an annual event that instilled in the freshmen a sense of solidarity and rivalry between the dormitories for the first time.

“The other housemasters are sharpening their knives for Obsidian. It seems they were greatly offended by the humiliation at the celebration banquet.”

Eve said, looking at the students decorating the banners.
It reminded me of the professors of Carnelian and Topaz, who were burning with a competitive spirit.

Although they had lost the top 3 spots, they had at least taken all the remaining golden generation students.
Hadn’t they threatened to crush Obsidian and restore their pride whenever the opportunity arose?

‘What a mess, inside and out.’

Inside the dormitory, there were troublesome brats who bothered me.
Outside the dormitory, there were self-proclaimed rivals who were always watching me.
It was the beginning of a semester that was flowing in the complete opposite direction of my original plan.

“By the way, Miss Eve. That emblem on your uniform…”

The obsidian icon attached to her chest. It was a symbol of her affiliation with Obsidian.
Eve Vellam must have also entered Obsidian as a student.

“It’s a fun coincidence, isn’t it? I chose the dormitory without much thought, and to think the housemaster would be you, Professor.”

“You chose it?”

“Yes? Didn’t you know?”

Eve’s eyes widened as I asked in bewilderment.

“I ranked 7th in the placement test. So I got the right to choose my dormitory. I thought you would have been notified separately.”

Ah, right. Come to think of it, I think Professor Bishop did mention something similar.
But my hangover was so bad that I could barely hear the detailed explanation.

All I heard was that another student from the top 10 had also gone to Obsidian.

And one more thing.

“A gunslinger?”

“Hehe, is it unexpected?”

I remained silent, looking at Eve’s usual bright smile.

Gunslinger. A unique class of the Ankraz, a minority ethnic group in the Vǫlsunga Empire.
They are people who defeat enemies using special firearms made with magic engineering.

I heard that the Ankraz were also subject to considerable discrimination and exclusion within the empire.
And to think that Eve, who worked proudly as an investigator, was of Ankraz descent?

“It’s all thanks to Her Highness the Princess. We have a very long-standing relationship.”

As if reading my mind, Eve chuckled and opened her mouth.

“To put it simply, I’m one of Her Highness’s few friends of the same age. So I’ve received a lot of her grace. When I became an imperial investigator, and when I applied to the academy this year.”

A long-standing relationship. So that’s why a person who was working as an investigator suddenly became a student?
I didn’t think she would be of school age, since she had a decent job.

‘No, more than that, friends of the same age?’

That means, in other words.

“Miss Eve, you look surprisingly old for your age…”

“What did you say, Professor?”

“…You’re surprisingly mature for your age.”

Eve Vellam smiled sweetly and drove the point home.
Perhaps because she was a girl, she was quite sensitive to expressions related to age.

In fact, the description ‘mature’ suited her better than ‘old-looking’.

Her slender height, her pure yet mature appearance, and her unique adult-like atmosphere.
Who would imagine that she was the same age as the princess or Silvia?

“Hmm, speaking of which.”

It was then. Eve, with a somewhat meaningful expression, cautiously asked.

“How is Crowley these days? Is he doing well?”

Thump!
I heard something collapse in my chest.

Only then did I realize that I had been talking without the awareness that I was not ‘Crowley’, but the warlock ‘Anastasia’.

To me, Eve Vellam was a very welcome and grateful connection.

But to her, I was just a black mage from the Northeast who knew Crowley.
The ‘me’ who had worked with her, cooperated with her, and built a friendship was not here.

“Of course. He’s doing very well, Miss Eve.”

I replied, trying to hide my bitterness.
In fact, Crowley Altra was doing very well.

It was just that the number of troublesome burdens had increased.

“That’s good. Please give my regards to Crowley. I was just thinking of him after hearing the dean’s speech.”

“…”

I silently gripped the lollipop stick, looking at her gentle smile.

I always felt this way, but there was no one who had shown me such pure kindness as Eve.
A disgusting necromancer. Or a useful cause-of-death investigator.
Crowley Altra was always treated as one of the two.

I was a little happy that Investigator Vellam had come to my dormitory.

“Hehe, what are you doing? What kind of cigarette are you smoking?”

Eve burst into laughter, seeing my hand gesture.

“You look alike because you’re friends. Crowley always smoked with a similar posture.”

“Is that so?”

“Of course. He used to smoke so many of them a day. Honestly, I was worried that he was trying to smoke himself to death.”

It seems she even remembered my habit. What a considerate woman.
And she had accurately pierced through my underlying psychology.
I was smoking to the point where my lungs would rot because I had no hope in life.

Come to think of it, he was a gloomy man who always acted like a chain-smoker whenever they met, and yet she had offered to go to a cafe with such a guy.

‘She’s really an angelic young lady.’

Then, Eve, who had been contemplating something, said something unexpected.

“Hmm. Speaking of Crowley, the timing is quite coincidental.”

“Timing?”

“Yes. The time mentioned in the prophecy is getting closer, isn’t it?”

Nod. Eve nodded at my question.
Then, she started to tell a completely unexpected story that I had never heard before.

“The ancient witch Altra. The time of disaster when her long-cherished wish will be fulfilled.”

“…Pardon?”

I narrowed my eyes, doubting my hearing for a moment.
It was a revelation I, her descendant, had never heard of.

“Hmm? You didn’t know? It’s a pretty famous rumor within the academy.”

“I’m a mage from the Northeast, Miss Eve. I’m not very knowledgeable about the news here.”

At my makeshift excuse, Eve replied with a look of disbelief.

“No, but didn’t you stay at the academy while preparing for your lectures? I also gathered this information while preparing for admission.”

“…It’s only been a few days since I was appointed. I was busy with my own work.”

I had only been going back and forth between Professor Bishop’s office, the dining hall, and the faculty dormitory for the handover.
And since I was a gloomy black mage, no one tried to befriend me, so I went around alone.

Above all, unlike the sociable and bright Eve, I was the type who didn’t form human relationships well.

“Heh, you’re like Crowley in that aspect too. Being strangely indifferent to the goings-on around you. He was smart but had a dorky side because of that.”

Eve teased me, poking at a sore spot.
Then, as if remembering something, she led the way and said.

“Then you probably haven’t seen that yet, right? It’s quite famous as an academy landmark.”

“That?”

“The mysterious characters on the wall of the Coral Hall corridor.”

As I asked with a wry smile, Eve told me with a slightly serious expression.

“The ancient record that the witch Altra personally wrote on the wall, which no one can decipher.”