<165 - My Kid Doesn't Bite People>
The return path to the dormitory.
Professor Sadako, sitting across from me, was lovingly patting the head of the unconscious Dorothy.
While she thinks she’s doing this for her student, I’ve seen Dorothy wake up twice only to faint again at the sight of Professor Sadako.
Maybe we should separate them.
While I was thinking that, the professor broke the silence first, possibly bored of just combing her hair.
“How did you feel when you saw Poppy?”
“Who’s Poppy?”
“The tree.”
Oh, that was its name.
I wish she wouldn’t name it like a pet dog at home when it’s a chapter boss.
“Well, if the name is too weak, won’t people get confused? It’s fine to get close.”
“Our Poppy doesn’t bite people!”
…Yeah, it does!
That thing kills people like nobody’s business!
I wanted to argue, but I kept my mouth shut, worried that she might take me to the tree if it truly doesn’t bite.
What if the professor makes me put my hand into the knot hole of the tree, and Poppy bites it out of anger for the broken branch?
One of my precious hands would get chomped, and I’d be crying rivers while Professor Sadako just pulls out a healing potion and says,
“Muné?”
Even if the professor is wrong, it takes a lot of courage and sacrifice to point it out!
At times like this, a refined approach is needed instead of blatantly saying, “You’re wrong!”
“Poppy eats cursed disposal, right?”
“…Yeah.”
“What if the professor can’t tend to the forest then?”
“She would probably wander around looking for food.”
“Then wouldn’t other people be in danger?”
While you’re not wrong, realize that a hungry Poppy could cause an accident!
At least put a leash on the thing!
Maybe my desperate cries were heard, for Professor Sadako finally realized what I was worried about.
“I won’t let her go hungry for that long. As long as I’m not disturbed.”
“If you’re disturbed, that dangerous… monstrosity Poppy might harm people, who would dare disturb you?”
“Other professors.”
Phew.
It sounds like “creepy plant Poppy” is the safe word.
Thank goodness she didn’t call it a monster!
“Huh? Other professors disturb you?”
“Empire professors dislike professors from the border region.”
Wait… could it be…?
After hearing this, I began to piece things together.
Professor Sadako is supposed to retire after the first semester of the second year if there’s no special interference.
And sometimes even before the second semester starts!
Once she’s gone, the one who fed Poppy is gone, and Poppy will be frantically hunting for food.
She’ll be searching for living creatures to fill her belly in exchange for the cursed disposal, torturing anything she catches enough to scream!
That sounds like a terrible gore scene waiting to happen, wreaking havoc on either animals or people.
In other words, Professor Sadako’s retirement is the cue for the chapter boss of Chapter 4 to emerge.
“So if you retire from the academy, what will happen to Poppy?”
Just to make sure I wasn’t mistaken, I asked.
Professor Sadako fell into serious thought.
“…Poppy is my pet cursed tree that comforts my loneliness.”
“I guess you’re taking her with you then?”
“It’s against school rules. I can’t take the academy’s things when I leave the academy…”
That means…?
“…I’ll have to say goodbye. To grow strong.”
That’s why!!
To get back at the professor, I’ve been trying hard to level up, and by the summer vacation of the second year, the deaths would begin with attacks from the death field!!
The truth of the chapter boss that even veteran players didn’t know was unfolding.
Professor Sadako must never retire!
If I don’t take her classes seriously and care for her to prevent her retirement, her adorable pet will eventually become an uncontrollable monster forest!
“I’m going to take your classes in the second semester too.”
“…Good idea.”
“And in the first and second semesters of the second year as well!”
Professor Sadako seemed to be feeling a bit better.
“So… what did you collect in that bag?”
“Secret!! It’s a secret!!!”
“…Really?”
Professor Sadako turned her head away.
That nice mood faded quickly.
I hope she doesn’t decide to quit the academy over this.
…She wouldn’t do that, right?!
[You safely boarded Professor Sadako’s skull carriage and disembarked alive.]
[Bravery Experience +10]
[Willpower Experience +5]
[Social Skills Experience +5]
After a long time of trembling in anxiety, we finally arrived at the dormitory.
“Goo.”
Just recently, the mandragora, which had been floating around in the freshly changed nutrient solution, waved one of its little roots at me.
“No way. This will be the ring. Gigi, gigi.”
“…”
I dumped the contents of the bag all over the floor—dangerous cursed branches and cursed items.
I placed them on the magic circle and created a dark room with the blackout curtains I stole from the drama club.
“Goo?”
Peeking around.
Although I saw the little mandragora’s branches shaking in the light from beyond the tent, it wasn’t the time to play with a child.
As promised with Sing, I needed to keep the ghost in the ring from recklessly roaming around like Poppy and harming people.
“Oh no, I totally forgot this.”
As I was diligently drawing the magic circle, I remembered the material I had neglected.
The magic circle functions to summon a magical effect beyond the capability of the caster, utilizing effects and output aids from the truth. The medium for drawing the magic circle is also important.
There are different supplementary effects for magic circles drawn with chalk, animal blood, or metal powder.
Chalk is low-cost and stable.
So, it’s convenient for instant magic circles.
Animal blood is commonly used for sacrificial alchemy magic circles.
Metal powder is favored for material transmutation magic circles.
There are also materials specialized for curses, with branches being the materials offered to the magic circle, but the material to make the magic circle is something else.
It’s black ink.
‘Black is the symbol of curses!’
A magic circle made with deep black ink like Jiang’s hair will take curses very well.
Confinement and range restrictions, and even the binding of the ghost ring all fall under these curses.
Although the store sells stationery, it’s only low-grade ink meant for students.
The place with a lot of high-quality ink is the professor’s research lab.
But raiding the professor’s research lab is pretty scary.
So, I have to compromise with medium-grade ink, which is neither low-grade nor high-grade.
Thus, after negotiating with reality, I decided to raid the ink pot of the calligraphy club.
Sneak, sneak.
Clank, clank.
As I stealthily rummaged through the calligraphy club’s cupboard, suddenly, I heard a clatter.
“!!”
I need to hide!
I dove into the cupboard I was rummaging through, and as the lights turned on, footsteps were heard.
“Oh dear. Takeshi, what are you doing in the club room? The president will be upset.”
“What does it matter? The dorm has a no opposite sex rule. The only place I can relax is the club. The president is a proper lady, so she definitely won’t come at this hour.”
“Hehe. What are you touching? Takeshi, you naughty boy♡”
Out of nowhere, the couple was suddenly in a lovey-dovey moment, making a commotion with smooching sounds.
At this rate, I will end up stuck in the cupboard, listening to the couple enjoy their happy time.
What a bummer.
Jealous little brats!
Why is Takeshi the only one getting cozy with a girl?
As I trembled with ugly jealousy, I felt a gaze from within the cupboard.
“Are you a fake ghost?”
The fake ghosts, borrowing Lin’s face, sat beside me in the dark of the cupboard and tilted their heads as if asking what I was doing.
“I can’t go out because of those people. Can you scold them on my behalf?”
As I whispered quietly, the fake Lin just stared at me blankly with a face devoid of the ghostly emotions.
As I took a sigh, wondering what I was doing with a ghost, I noticed that the fake Lin had disappeared silently into the darkness beside me.
“Takeshi, I told you that you can’t go there yet.”
“Huh? I haven’t touched anything yet?”
“Liar. You touched me just now.”
“Look, I’m holding onto this chair.”
“Then who touched me just now?!”
The couple suddenly turned serious.
“Let’s get out.”
“Y-Yeah.”
The couple hurriedly made their exit from the club room.
As I crawled out of the cupboard, fake Lin was playing with her fingers like a kid with clay, stretching and contracting the white liquid that stuck to her finger.
“Where did you touch?”
“…”
As fake Lin’s gaze fell on her skirt, a wave of shame washed over me suddenly.
“You perverted ghost! N-No touching here!”
The fake Lin wiped the liquid off on the chair and vanished smoothly into the ring.
[You released the ghost and drove away the couple.]
[Hiding Experience +1]
[Scaring Experience +1]
“…”
That fake ghost mimicking Sing’s younger sister.
I’m grateful for the help, but it’s somehow scary.
‘Should I hide it somewhere other than my ring?’
What if the ghost comes out and does something weird while I’m sleeping!
