SRS 109

“Oh my…”

Yohan let out a groan upon arriving at the nearby area where the angel professor was engaged in battle. He had suspected it when he heard the angel professor was fighting someone, and as expected, there was Professor Shinbi, riding a bird spirit with its wings spread wide, soaring through the air.

He never imagined the two professors would actually be fighting!

The angel professor never minces words. Realizing this was yet another confirmation of that fact, Yohan pressed his hand to his forehead and hesitated, unable to approach any closer.

The clash between Professor Shinbi and the angel professor was quite fierce; it wasn’t a situation he could easily intervene in with his mediocre skills.

“What? That’s Professor Shinbi!”

“Why are the two fighting?”

Students arriving late watched the professors exchange blows, one sending a blast of wind, the other parrying it with divine power, and stared in bewilderment.

“Did the two have bad blood?”

“Professor Shinbi isn’t the type to…”

Then, descending with a bird, Professor Shinbi spoke.

“Fulfill the contract, Frost Spirit!”

Her voice was three or four times colder than usual, she was furious. At the professor’s shout, the area began to freeze. However, the angel professor waved his hand once, dispelling all the cold around him.

“The ground… the ground is freezing…!”

Students near the battle zone couldn’t escape the cold.

“Everyone, deploy your shields and move upwards!”

Yohan urgently commanded as he sensed the unusual spirit energy.

The students, who had come to stop the angel professor before he caused trouble but instead got caught up in the professors’ fight, swiftly deployed their shields and fled into the air.

“Crazy! Who’d have thought Professor Shinbi would do something like this!”

“She must have known we were coming… That’s too much…”

Professors of that caliber could not have failed to notice the students approaching, yet seeing the professor use her abilities without mercy, the students were shocked. Yohan felt a pang of conscience as he watched Professor Shinbi’s reputation rapidly deteriorate among the first-years.

He couldn’t shake the guilt, suspecting the reason the two professors were fighting was somehow his fault.

“…It’s not that they don’t care about us. They are using their abilities because they believe we can survive on our own, just like we are now.”

Mikael spoke for the professors, conveying their feelings to the disheartened students.

“…Well, I guess we weren’t hurt.”

The murmuring students soon accepted Mikael’s words. They were students who had already endured considerable hardship in Fantasiademia; they weren’t the type to lose their composure by moping over something like this.

Then the angel professor unleashed a thunderbolt. Yohan and his friends used their power to create a protective barrier, enveloping everyone’s heads.

“Ugh…!”

“Urgh…!”

Several priests, unable to withstand the shock, coughed up blood. Yohan, helplessly focused only on blocking the attack, felt the stark difference in skill between the senior students trying to restrain the enraged professors and the first-years.

“Everyone okay?”

“…We’re fine!”

“We can still hold out!”

“More importantly… we should probably stop the professors… If this keeps up, we’ll all get caught up in it, miss class, and the headmaster will come!”

“Yohan! Can’t you do something about this?”

“Yohan….”

Bright, pleading eyes pierced Yohan. He flustered, his mouth opening and closing.

If everyone tried together, maybe… but how could he stop two professors alone?

Even for him, that was impossible. He was about to say it was beyond his strength, when the angel professor, his long hair tied back in a single ponytail, sighed as he looked at Professor Shinbi.

“Professor Shinbi. I think this is enough.”

“……!”

Who would have thought the angel professor would be the one to suggest stopping first!

Yohan watched the two professors, clinging to the hope that the battle might end before he even had to intervene.

“That’s impossible.”

“And why is that?”

“Because you insulted my spirits. Complaints came in from the upperclassmen. How could I not step in?”

“And that’s why you’ve been fighting for 15 hours?”

15 hours…?

The students murmured. Professor Shinbi adjusted her glasses and glared at the angel professor with intensely cold eyes.

“At first, I only returned the attack you initiated. But after that, complaints came through my spirits, so I couldn’t just let it go. And that remains true now.”

“I have never insulted your spirits.”

“So you’re saying the fourth-years are lying? They’re students who don’t even attend your lectures. They have no reason to lie.”

“…Ah, surely not.”

Yohan, who was beginning to grasp the situation, covered his mouth in shock. His head throbbed. If Suhyeok had seen this, he would have laughed heartily, clutching his stomach until he fell backward, but Yohan was not like that.

These insane upperclassmen…!

“What should we do, Mikael?”

“Why?”

“…It seems the upperclassmen gave Professor Shinbi a false report.”

Yohan whispered to Mikael, lowering his voice as much as possible, afraid Professor Shinbi might hear.

This was the situation Yohan had grasped and deduced.

The angel professor, who had offered him the teaching assistant position, had gone to confront Professor Shinbi.

Thus, the battle between the two professors began. The upperclassmen, noticing this, planted a false accusation to drive a wedge between them.

Professor Shinbi, taken in by the false accusation, took the fight seriously. The battle between the two professors became fiercer and longer than the angel professor had anticipated.

When he shared these thoughts with Mikael, Mikael pressed his hand to his forehead.

“…Well now, that’s quite the scheme befitting a senior at Fantasiademia.”

“…Mikael, it really does seem like this school is a demon training ground.”

“Yohan, that’s going too far.”

He corrected Yohan’s reasonable misunderstanding and watched the two professors locked in fierce battle once more. Yohan watched Mikael, who was devising a clever plan, and his own thought processes raced along with Mikael’s.

Revealing now that the accusation was false could harm the upperclassmen.

That would be the guilty party receiving punishment, so it wasn’t his concern. The problem was that the upperclassmen, holding a grudge over the incident, might torment the Divine Studies students.

If it were just him being tormented, it might be different, but if other children could get dragged into it, he had to reconsider his choice.

As he hesitated, unable to make a quick decision in this tangled situation, the angel professor’s gaze landed on Yohan.

“…Ah.”

Yohan inhaled without realizing it. The professor, raising one eyebrow slightly, instantly sent the spirit flying away and charged straight toward Yohan’s position.

“The, the professor is coming!”

The frightened students scattered in all directions. It was a wise choice, knowing that staying together meant death while scattering meant survival.

Yohan felt a powerful divine power emanating from the gaze fixed on him. His body stiffened, unable to move, and he found himself face-to-face with the angel professor. Staring at the professor who had landed right before him, Yohan forced an awkward smile.

“…Good day, Professor.”

“Yohan Herse.”

“Since you hadn’t arrived even after class began, I came to fetch you myself.”

“Resolve it.”

The angel professor seemed to have read everything from Yohan’s expression, demanding it as if it were the most natural thing. Yohan, who wasn’t entirely without guilt and couldn’t pretend otherwise, finally closed his eyes and accepted the situation.

“Professor. Please don’t torment Yohan.” ”

Professor Shinbi flew over a beat late, blocking Yohan’s path. Her small but sturdy back felt genuinely supportive. Feeling even more gutted, Yohan had no choice but to reveal the truth.

“…Professor Shinbi. The report you received is probably false.”

“Yohan. Being a cleric doesn’t mean you must always follow the angel’s will.”

“No, that’s not it.”

“Yohan. I understand you were threatened, but…”

“It really isn’t like that.”

“……”

When Yohan, feeling gloomy, denied it once more, Professor Shinbi’s expression grew subtle. She stepped down from the bird’s back and stood on the ground. Yohan could feel the fierce spirit’s aura softening against his skin.

“What do you mean the report was false?”

“Well…”

After hesitating, Yohan explained. Mikael took Yohan’s hand, bolstering his courage.

After hearing the entire explanation, Professor Shinbi covered her mouth with an “Oh my” and sighed.

“…If that was their intention, then they had ample justification to give a false report.”

“I told you. I did not insult your spirits.”

“I’m sorry, Professor. Even though I know angels don’t lie, I suspected you might have, since you coveted Yohan.”

The two professors didn’t seem particularly angry, even after learning the upperclassmen had set this up. Yohan tilted his head.

“Um… won’t you punish the upperclassmen?”

“They must be punished for making false accusations against me. But I won’t scold them more than necessary. Plotting to get what you want is an admirable attitude.”

“……”

Professors and upperclassmen alike are all out of their minds.

“I’m truly sorry. For this incident… I will apologize with all my sincerity.”

“I believe I know what you desire.”

“Hmm…”

Professor Shinbi let out a soft hum and looked at Yohan. The fleeting expression on her face made Yohan’s heart sink.

No way.

A strong unease stirred up a storm in his heart.

“…I have no choice. I’ll step back for this semester. I’ll concede Yohan to you.”

Professor Shinbi admitted her mistake and withdrew from the contest. Only then did the angel professor look at Yohan with a satisfied expression.

His gaze seemed to demand praise, the look of an educator who had fulfilled his duty fairly. Yohan was so stunned he couldn’t utter a word.

“Now there are no more problems. Yohan Herse. Teach the lambs.”

The angel professor commanded, having triumphantly won the battle for the teaching assistant. With the shield of the Spirit Studies professor gone and the senior students’ sabotage efforts now nullified, Yohan had no way to avoid this order…

No.

There was one thing left.

Yohan pondered the thought that had come to him, then glanced at his friends standing at a distance.

Suhyeok’s advice came to mind. The single resolve that had gripped him until he entered the lecture hall was still vivid.

Yet, despite that, Yohan, cornered, had few options left.

In the end, Yohan chose to walk the path of rumors.

“I’m sorry, Professor. Actually, the headmaster has asked me to do something, so it seems difficult for me to become a teaching assistant.”

At those words, the angel professor stared down at Yohan. Yohan felt cold sweat beading up, bowing his head lower and lower.

If asked what the request was, he could only bring up the divine beast’s story. His head was already spinning, trying to come up with excuses and cover-ups.

“…He has chosen you as his proxy. I shall step aside.”

“……?”

The angel professor uttered an unexpected statement and gave up on Yohan.

At that moment, another nickname for Yohan emerged among the studentswatching.

The Acting Headmaster.

Yohan felt like fainting at the whispers he could faintly hear. Mikael caught the staggering Yohan.

“Congratulations, Yohan. Now the professors won’t bother you anymore.”

“Mikael.”

“Hm?”

“Could you stop trying to comfort me with words….”

Yohan wished Mikael would just comfort him physically instead.