Clop clop clop.
A height of 144cm.
A shabby outfit in a child-like dress.
Pink twin tails that only a tiny child or an eternally youthful person could pull off.
The appearance of Professor Pinkberry, with all these odd features combined, made Professor Plato unable to hide his disappointment.
“I really thought we cornered Oknodie, but it looks like the summons chased the wrong person. Why does that professor have to look so needlessly childish and confuse everyone?”
“Right? Why didn’t they just cooperate with us? Professor Plato.”
“Shut up. While I owe a great favor to the Principal, that doesn’t give me reason to ally with the forest’s rat.”
Next to Professor Plato, with a muscular statue-like physique, was the forest ranger, Professor Minerva, hanging from the claws of a large hawk.
Unlike the pro-Oknodie professors, she was one of the representatives of the anti-Oknodie faction who had been monitoring and warning about Oknodie under the Principal’s orders for a long time.
“Why are you all so wary of Oknodie? If you have even a shred of human compassion, isn’t this going too far?”
“Compassion? That’s ridiculous. Ninety percent of the continent’s Mana Disasters were caused by Dark Mana holders. A powerful child like Oknodie gathers even more Dark Mana, and if this child goes rampaging, it’ll create a disaster of the likes we haven’t seen in thirty years, potentially a continent-wide catastrophe.”
Professor Minerva glared coldly at the ground near where Oknodie had vanished.
“We can’t allow that child to engage in any more activities outside the Academy.”
“The fall of the Revolutionary and Seonhwang, and the extermination of the Demon King’s Four Kings—wasn’t that a contribution to world peace?”
“There are no good Dark Mana holders in this world. If you learned from the results created by the ‘First Demon King,’ who poisoned the whole northern hemisphere of the continent, you wouldn’t entertain such illusions.”
Professor Plato had no retort to Minerva’s remarks.
The great disaster in the North.
The birth of the Demon Realm.
These were real events.
The possibility of Oknodie being able to cause such a disaster undeniably existed.
“Therefore, as educators, shouldn’t we guide Oknodie to not stray from the right path? If you’re determined to eliminate that child, labeling them as a deviation, don’t you think that plays into the Director of the Foundation’s hands?”
“I don’t think so. The Principal thinks the exact opposite.”
“The opposite…?”
“Oknodie is a [Disaster Bomb] that can turn the Gift Academy into the second Demon Realm. The more we nurture that child, the greater the damage to the Academy will be. That’s what the Principal currently thinks.”
“I had no idea you were so trusted by Principal Dragon. Did you hear it directly?”
“Of course not! Naturally, I overheard it. It’s the ranger’s secret, the pinnacle of [Eavesdropping].”
Minerva held confidence in her ability, believing the Principal’s thoughts were correct.
Professor Plato was fearful of that confidence.
There must not be thoughts that Minerva couldn’t overhear.
The Principal must have thought such things too.
But what are the traits of dragons?
To observe lowly creatures.
To indulge in play.
To savor the human world.
Those are their pastimes.
Could it be that the Principal’s ‘eavesdropping’ is not even as good as Minerva’s?
Had the Principal established a ‘defense mechanism’ to protect the secrets of playful living, that was so inadequate it couldn’t detect Minerva’s eavesdropping?
Duh-Duh-Duh…
All of it was permitted by the Principal.
It wasn’t overheard in secret.
It was shown.
To plant the desired thoughts within.
To create the illusion of free will.
Unbeknownst to her that it was all intentional thought and action.
“…”
What could the Principal have meant by showing Minerva such thoughts?
If the idea that Oknodie is dangerous is intentional, what actual thoughts lie beneath?
How would that change the life of a child?
Worry, worry…
Someone had to guide that child’s future onto the right path.
Of course, there were decent professors beside Oknodie.
Prominently, Professor Destroyer.
He was a man with a body worthy of a formidable warrior, despite being a thief.
Next up was Professor Bronze de Estrada.
Known as the justice thief, she was a woman with impressive abs, quads, and core muscles stemming from her prowess in leaping across the Institution’s skyscrapers.
The worst was Professor Sadako.
Like the Undead, it was unclear when she last trained, with joints and muscles that creaked and squeaked, producing horrifying eek and creak sounds.
Unfortunately, the professor who primarily was guarding Oknodie now was Professor Sadako.
“If we leave Oknodie to such a useless professor, who knows what kind of trouble Minerva or the other professors, seduced by the Principal, might cause?”
Help was needed.
The assistance of another professor to look after Oknodie.
As Plato’s eyes, lost in thought, observed the bustling campus, he spotted Professor Pinkberry, gathering frogs, nurturing them with a pitch-black potion to make them jump into the upper levels of the Academy, and launching frogs at the mana barrier to activate it and reverse-engineer the activated spell.
Hmmm…
Her skills were not bad.
The level of understanding of biological muscles needed to make a frog grow massive instantaneously was beyond good; it was excellent.
Curious about her plans, he followed her, witnessing her greedily stuffing herself with doping items from a table filled with special nutrition for fourth years!
This was excellent.
To see a small person striving to grow is truly one of the most dazzling and beautiful sights in the pursuit of a life devoted to muscle development.
“Professor Pinkberry!”
“Wha—?!”
“Don’t worry. I will keep your aspirations for growth as a professor a secret!”
“Wait, really…?!”
“Instead, it would be great if Professor Pinkberry could grant me one request.”
Plato’s polite request made Professor Pinkberry’s expression shrink in caution.
“What do you want? Just to be clear, I can’t fulfill any demands like turning you into a statue with the Gigantamax spell or crafting metal using the blueprint of Plato’s Iron Legion that’s lying around in my personal warehouse.”
“Don’t worry. It’s a small favor, far less than a grand plan for the royal family of the Kingdom of Florence. I ask you to protect Oknodie.”
“Eh? Me? Protect Oknodie…?”
“Yes.”
“Why on earth?”
“Oknodie is a student with exceptional potential for the strength training methods I’ve been keeping my eye on. Even if that child is borrowing the power of the Dark Mana, I can’t just sit back and let them be maligned as a terrorist by the other professors.”
Professor Pinkberry made a rather peculiar expression.
“Why that face?”
“Well… it’s not exactly wrong, I suppose.”
“Exactly! I knew someone skilled like you in Disguise Techniques would understand. Since you’ve taken the Disguise Lecture, you must be aware of Oknodie’s full body muscle structure! How enviable it is to think about how beautiful the bulk and compressed tendons hidden in that small frame can be!”
“You’re a bit of a creep, which annoys me. I’ll protect Oknodie myself, so just leave me alone!”
“Uhh. Why are you acting so hastily just from a verbal request? If you wish to protect the child, shouldn’t we have some strategies in place?”
“Protect me? What strategies?”
“For instance, let’s say someone is trying to forcibly trigger Oknodie’s Dark Mana to create a Mana Disaster. If I were to emit waves that destabilize mana from close range, wouldn’t that allow me to assess what kind of crisis the child is facing while keeping distance?”
“Got it. Then I can just stay close by.”
“Not so fast! If you’re close by while criminals from outside plant the Dark Mana rampaging trigger at the exam site that Oknodie is heading to, how can being nearby help protect the child?”
“Dude, that’s just ridiculous. What then?”
“Use Disguise Techniques to ensure that it’s impossible to tell whether you’re near Oknodie or far away, and sometimes stay close, other times farther away to protect her. If you disguise yourself as a guard in uniform, it would be even more inconspicuous!”
Professor Plato’s suggestion seemed to pique Pinkberry’s interest as she pondered seriously.
“Not bad. If I imbue automatic functions with varying capabilities to create a Bio-type Golem… I could borrow rare metals from Jonnas’s workshop.”
“Oooh, you’re really laying out the specifics! You are indeed a true professor. As a token of my appreciation, I will help you build muscle!”
“Not needed?! Go away!”
Fortunately, he successfully found a new professor to take care of Oknodie.
Professor Plato returned with a satisfied heart, listening to Professor Pinkberry’s insults.
He unknowingly created a bizarre build: Oknodie protecting Oknodie!
