“Then let’s hurry and go. ……Allen?”

“Huh? Huh?!”

Allen turned his head in surprise.

“What’s wrong all of a sudden? What, did you see an illusion or something?”

Oliver would often release illusions all over the academy when he was bored. The types ranged from cute animals to humans.

The most impressive among them was the illusion of Cledian that had drifted into the political science department.

“Ah, no, it’s nothing.”

Allen replied with a trembling voice that clearly indicated something was up. Nigel was suspicious but didn’t bother to ask in detail.

“If you ever see an illusion, tell me. I’ll go give that senior a good punch.”

Instead, she made a clear promise of action while clenching her fist.

“It’s really nothing! Senior Oliver has nothing to do with it!”

“……Is that so? Then never mind.”

Only then did Nigel relax her fist.

“Ah…… Haha. Let’s go now. We’ll really be late for class at this rate.”

“Ah, wait a moment. Let me grab my books.”

Nigel took out a teleport stone from her bosom and tossed it to Allen. Allen flailed about before barely catching the teleport stone.

Nigel turned around with a smirk.

“……”

Behind her was Noah, standing awkwardly while holding Nigel’s books.

Noah, still with a cold expression, walked over quickly with wide strides and silently held out the books to Nigel.

“Thanks.”

As Nigel took the books, she deliberately brushed against the tips of Noah’s light pink fingers.

And at the same time, Noah’s eyes widened.

She had been so good at dodging that not once today had Nigel been able to infuse mana, which had been bothering her. So, it was only right to infuse a lot of mana now.

Having rationalized it, Nigel slightly raised the corners of her mouth and turned around.

“……What are you doing, not coming?”

Noah, who had been standing blankly in place, moved his firm legs at Nigel’s call and approached.

Noah’s large hand hesitated before overlapping Nigel’s small hand. And not long after, a blue light flashed and the three people disappeared in an instant.

The hideout of the cursed magician or the mad vagabond had perfectly transformed into the classroom for the Understanding Magical Beasts course.

Unlike a few days ago when everything was a mess, now everything felt neatly arranged in its proper place.

The students were happily chattering with excitement and curiosity as they looked at the cages covered with black cloth containing magical beasts all around the classroom.

The only people who couldn’t laugh comfortably here were Nigel and three others.

“……Surely it’s not Bokshil, right?”

Allen, who was frowning at the cages, said cautiously.

“I wonder if I could avoid failing by giving Bokshil one finger?”

At Nigel’s quiet murmur, Noah, who was standing next to her, flinched greatly. But when Nigel suddenly turned her head, he acted as if nothing had happened.

‘What are you trying to do, really?’

Nigel’s brow twitched with dissatisfaction.

Dong. Dong.

At that moment, a very faint bell sound was heard from far away.

The students started murmuring about the professor who didn’t show up even though the bell had rung.

That’s when it happened.

“Uh, uwaah!”

The resounding scream of a female student was heard.

At the source of the sound that everyone chased, vines that were all too familiar to the eyes of the four students had suddenly sprung out from between the trees.

The female student wearing a school uniform with a lion emblem didn’t hesitate to draw her sword from its scabbard.

Just as the sharp sword that looked like it could cut with the slightest touch was about to move, a gentle breeze blew in the middle of the classroom and blocked the female student’s path.

The identity of that wind was none other than Noah Beselion.

“Noah?”

Noah didn’t give any answer to the female student and just shook his head once left and right while staring directly at her gaze as she tightly gripped the sword.

At that resolute gaze, the female student’s hand lost strength and the tip of the sword wavered.

Noah, letting out a sigh of relief, opened his mouth.

“Miss Hena, I understand both your great surprise and your desire to protect the students. However, this is not a magical beast but our professor.”

“What……?”

The female student called Hena lowered her sword weakly and examined the vines.

Upon closer observation, as Noah said, it had an appearance that was too different to be called a magical beast.

The moment Hena tried to touch the vines.

Snap!

Something rough and hard snatched Hena’s hand.

“Uh, uwaahh!”

Startled, Hena closed her eyes and swung her fist.

Thud, thud. The crisp sound of skin hitting skin was heard.

“Miss Hena.”

At that moment, a gentle voice that naturally inspired trust was heard.

Hena carefully opened her eyes. And she belatedly realized that what she was beating was not a magical beast covered in hard vinyl on the outside, but a person.

“Oh dear, oh dear. I’m sorry for startling you.”

Then a voice that was both high and low, sweet and androgynous, was heard.

The owner of the voice, Nubilus, was wearing a gown that was dirty all over except for a few clean spots like the right elbow and left waist.

Nubilus quickly tied up his hair. Then the face of the neat-looking man seen on the podium at the opening ceremony appeared.

And on the pale face, large red marks were conspicuously visible here and there.

A male student, after observing the situation, quietly handed Nubilus’s glasses, which had flown far away from Hena’s punch, to Nubilus.

Nubilus, after receiving and putting on the glasses, grinned at the male student in gratitude.

However, every time Nubilus smiled broadly and moved, the wounds from Hena’s punches kept stinging.

“Pro, Professor! I’m truly sorry!”

Whoosh!

Hena threw her sheathed sword to the ground and bowed to Nubilus.

To a knight, a sword was like life itself, so throwing both the sword and scabbard on the ground like Hena did was an act of elevating the other person.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. I tend to be lenient towards the actions of immature beings, be they magical beasts or humans.”

“Th, Thank… you.”

As Nubilus smiled brightly while saying something that deviated from common sense so casually, Hena smiled reluctantly.

“Well then, shall we start the first lesson of Understanding Magical Beasts?!”

Professor Nubilus said energetically while stretching the corners of his mouth left and right.

However, unfortunately, unlike the lively voice, the traces of impact that had swollen red and raised his cheekbones stood out.

At that moment when everyone was keeping silent, Allen opened his mouth just loud enough for Nigel and Noah to hear.

“……Still, since we only badmouthed and didn’t directly assault him, we shouldn’t have to worry about our grades, right?”

Neither Nigel nor Noah opened their mouths. However, both of their faces brightened.

“For the first lesson, we’re going to~ try to spark human children’s interest by having time to get friendly with a magical beast friend.”

Swish.

Nubilus gently placed a small cage covered with black cloth in the middle of the gathered students.

It was a completely opposite action to his insensitive appearance of being suspected as a vagabond by students in his first week of appointment, and even getting hit directly.

The cage rattled as it sensed the movement.

Groans escaped from the mouths of some students who felt fear.

“Why do we feel fear? It’s ignorance. I think it’s because we don’t know anything about the situation and can’t predict it. Even if something happens here, the reason I’m not afraid is because our children have acted within a predictable range.”

Nubilus smiled kindly as he looked at Nigel’s group, Sid, and Hena.

Rattle, rattle!

At that moment, the cage shook even more violently.

“Shall we try to remove the fear of the magical beast friend in this small cage together? Now, this magical beast friend’s behavior is noisy like an ill-tempered horse, but its attacking power is weaker than a Chihuahua’s.”

The students burst into light laughter at Nubilus’s words.

“And this magical beast’s intelligence is far below that of a Chihuahua. However, there is one thing it excels at compared to humans.”

“……Instinct.”

Nigel blurted out before she knew it.

Nubilus immediately spotted Nigel and gave a warm smile.

“Yes, the child has said the right thing. Instinct, this magical beast has excellent instincts. What does that instinct mean here?”

“The instinct to chase mana.”

At that moment, Ashton, standing opposite Nigel, raised his hand and said.

“That’s correct! Human children are very smart. Excellent. Because magical beasts live on mana, they have a very strong instinct to pursue mana. And, the preferred method of obtaining mana differs for each.”

Nubilus grinned and then gently grasped the hand of a nearby female student. And he raised it above his head so the hand was clearly visible.

“The preferred method of mana acquisition for this magical beast is none other than metal. Because its habitat is abandoned mines, it especially likes the mana in metals. To explain this in an easy-to-understand example, our little magical beast friend can gulp down the precious metal items you possess. Now you know what you need to do, right?”

Snap!

A crisp sound of fingers snapping was heard.

And small dark-colored pouches appeared in the air, piling up beside the cage with a thud, thud.

“These are pouches that block mana detection. Each of you take one and make sure to put all your valuables in it without missing anything.”