Chapter 232: At the Academy (2)

Monday morning, the start of the week.

On Sunday, Baek A-yeong finished saying her goodbyes to the people at Iron Blood Hospital.

And for the first time in a while, she went to work at the infirmary.

After being in a noisy place like a hospital, returning to a quiet workplace definitely felt strange.

Still, just being in the same space as her honey made Baek A-yeong hum a tune.

Helping people at Iron Blood Hospital was good too, but of course, Lee Ho-yeon was more important.

"Hehe. Ah, should I go to the medical team?"

To let the medical team know she had returned and to say hello.

And she also had something to ask them.

After unpacking her belongings, Baek A-yeong immediately went to the medical team.

It was the building right next door, so she could walk there in no time.

And when she went inside, Baek A-yeong found the medical team working with hollow, zombie-like eyes.

"...What are you all doing?"

It was only Monday morning, but seeing them with such hollow eyes meant they must have stayed up all night working.

The moment Baek A-yeong was wondering about it.

One of the medical team members closest to the entrance slowly turned their head toward Baek A-yeong.

Then, their eyes widened as they muttered.

"H-Holy Maiden. Finally..."

"What? Holy Maiden?"

Hearing that sound, the medical team leader inside suddenly jumped up.

Seeing the team leader's bloodshot eyes, Baek A-yeong flinched slightly.

He strode over and bowed to Baek A-yeong.

"Thank you. Thank you so much for returning. Holy Maiden, no, school nurse...!"

"...Pardon?"

Just what was wrong with this person.

As Baek A-yeong stood bewildered, the team leader continued speaking.

"That damn Chairman of the Board... I mean, upper management drastically increased our workload since Ms. Baek A-yeong joined the medical team, but they didn't reduce it even when Ms. Baek A-yeong went on a business trip... Sob."

"..."

Whether it was the association or the academy, the medical team always suffered a lot.

Still, since they were keeping their promise not to use her image, Baek A-yeong was satisfied with the academy in her own way.

Because she could also be close to Lee Ho-yeon.

"It's fine. Team leader. I'm here now."

Still, it was a little pitiful seeing these people being overworked.

I should work hard starting today to help them out.

"Thank you. Thank you..."

Baek A-yeong smiled slightly as she looked at the grateful team leader, then asked the question she wanted to ask.

"The first-year student mages have a practical class right now, right? Has the medical team gone out for support?"

She already knew Lee Ho-yeon's schedule inside and out.

Baek A-yeong was planning to go to the site under the pretext of taking over for the exhausted medical team.

Because it had been a while since she saw her honey wearing his cadet uniform.

"Pardon? Ah, no. There wasn't a request today."

"...There's no way a request didn't come. Isn't medical team support mandatory for a practical class?"

According to Baek A-yeong's research, every practical class had the support of the medical team.

That was why she had been looking forward to it today...

"Well, strictly speaking, it's not mandatory. Of course, it's like a custom, so there are no professors who don't request it... but strangely, one didn't come in today. If an accident were to happen like this, they would have to take full responsibility."

"The supervising professor for that class is Professor Im Sol, right?"

"Let me just check... Ah, yes. That is correct. Since it's Professor Im Sol, it probably isn't a mistake. She must be confident that an accident won't happen. Or maybe she just doesn't want to reveal the contents of her class."

There was no way that was true.

Im Sol's class was a very simple one where a cadet would just shoot magic and Im Sol would give an evaluation.

It was a wholesome class that wouldn't cause any problems even if it was leaked anywhere.

"...I understand. Well, I have to go to work for now."

"Yes, yes. We leave it to you."

Baek A-yeong left the medical team.

She heard someone shout 'We're finally free-!' from inside, but she ignored it and returned to the infirmary.

Sitting at the work desk in the quiet infirmary, Baek A-yeong tilted her head.

'Sol-i did? That girl who finds everything annoying except magic was planning to handle an accident herself if one happened?'

That was absurd.

There must be another reason.

The most likely reason was a mistake, but... Baek A-yeong had another thought.

'Could she have known I was returning today and did it as harassment?'

Because Im Sol was a highly likely competitor candidate.

"Nah, surely not?"

Baek A-yeong slapped her cheeks, Smack, smack, and shook her head.

Working hard in the field for the first time in a while must have made her mind a bit on edge.

There was no way her friend Im Sol would do that.

She was at the academy anyway, so there would be plenty of opportunities to see her honey.

"He'll probably come by later. If he doesn't, I can just contact him."

Pushing aside her regret, Baek A-yeong began to tackle the pile of work in the infirmary.

To lessen the burden on the exhausted medical team.

*

Watching Lucy shoot magic from afar, Boom, boom, Im Sol looked at me and spoke.

"Even for a student like you, I have to teach a class. Try using some magic."

Im Sol crossed her arms and looked at me with an intrigued expression.

"Hmm..."

She'll be quite surprised.

The last time I properly showed my magic in front of others was during my duel with the Vice Chairman.

'But I've improved a lot since then.'

I drew out magic power from my fingertips.

The shape was the most basic ice spear.

It was a type of magic that was easy to stick into the target paper.

However, the more basic the magic, the more one's proficiency is revealed.

As the magic circle neared completion, Im Sol narrowed her eyes.

Even if it was the same magic circle, it differed depending on who used it.

First was the speed of its formation.

No words were needed. I was confident I could cast magic faster than Im Sol.

And the quality of magic power.

With [Magic Power Resonance], I could draw out only pure magic power.

Blue, clear magic power without a single impurity drew out the magic circle.

The completeness of the magic circle was naturally perfect, and the final part was the core formula.

It was a field that only Im Sol knew about right now... but since Im Sol was right here, she would recognize its true value.

"Hm...?"

As expected, Im Sol realized something was strange.

The magic power filling up the core formula.

It sharpened the tip of the spear and provided reinforcement to the chill.

It sped up its flight and increased its penetration power.

Seeing a magic circle where countless formulas overlapped, Im Sol let out a chuckle of disbelief.

"...My student. You've grown a lot."

"Thank you, Professor."

Seeing Im Sol's reaction seemed to give me strength.

Crack- Crackle-

The solidly frozen ice spear in front of my outstretched hand was fired toward the target paper.

CRASH!

Seeing the target smashed with a tremendous sound, I felt a sense of satisfaction.

It was pretty well made, if I do say so myself.

- Wow, Lee Ho-yeon is crazy.

- I know, right. But isn't it pretty ordinary for a genius mage?

The cadets in the back, who had been focusing on this side, poured out their admiration.

Im Sol quickly turned her head toward where the second voice came from.

It was the cadet who said it was ordinary for a genius mage.

Im Sol's furrowed brow was like an expression of her displeasure.

- H-Hiiik. I-I should practice. I should practice.

"What kind of bull..."

"Professor. Please hold it in. An ordinary cadet might not know any better if they saw it."

I covered Im Sol's mouth as she was about to spit out harsh words.

There was no way a mage who could fully grasp the subtle principle embedded in this magic would be here.

Fortunately, Im Sol caught the meaning behind my words and met my eyes.

"...Did you use doping or something?"

"You know I didn't, so why ask?"

"That's true. Haa... It's really amazing."

Im Sol formed a competitive smile, as if her competitive spirit had been roused.

"I'll have to try harder. I admit it. You're definitely stronger than I was at 20."

"Thank you. But your skills have improved significantly over those eight years too, Professor."

"...That's true. My style was more suited to doing research alone. And don't bring up my age."

Im Sol seemed satisfied with the fact that my magic power's state had advanced.

She must be happy that her student had grown stronger. It was probably something like that.

"There are no areas... worth pointing out. If I had to nitpick, it would be that you used an excessive amount of magic power to show off to me? You only needed to smash the target paper, after all."

"Hehe, that's true."

Honestly, I did use a lot of magic power because I wanted to look good.

However, my magic power had increased a lot lately, so this amount didn't even make a dent in it.

Because unlike in the past, the amount of magic power accumulating in my body had also increased.

"You did well. Ah, come to think of it, what do you want to do about the Magic Expo this week? I can adjust it to the schedule you want."

"The Magic Expo? I'm fine with whenever."

"Then how about today? We can just go right after class."

"Uh..."

Today doesn't work for me.

Lucy and Rumi told me to make sure I came over.

"Today is a bit... What about tomorrow?"

"Why, are you planning to go see A-yeong-i?"

"No. I have other plans."

I was planning to meet Baek A-yeong for lunch.

It was the day the school nurse returned to the academy, so I couldn't miss it.

"Hmm, then should we do tomorrow."

"Yes, yes. Anytime after classes tomorrow is fine."

I don't have any schedules tomorrow, so it's fine to make plans.

"No. I have research to do after classes."

Im Sol firmly shook her head.

"...But you're the one who suggested tomorrow, Professor. Then what should we do?"

"We can just go quickly in the morning."

"Pardon? I have academy classes in the morning."

"Skip your morning class."

"Is that something a professor should say?"

No matter how I thought about it, this person wasn't fit to be a professor.

Having a cadet do the grading didn't make any sense in the first place.

No, and if she had nothing to do during the morning class time, she could just do her research then.

Couldn't we just go to the Magic Expo after the academy was over?

"You've already maxed out your attendance score anyway. And if it really bothers you, I can just use my professor's authority. We'll pass it off as a field trip or something."

"...I like the sound of that?"

As expected, capable women were the best.

It was annoying when someone else abused their power, but it was great when that someone was on my side.

*

After eating lunch with the LucyRumi twins, I brought up that I had somewhere to go.

"Eh? Where are you going?"

Lucy grabbed my arm and shook it back and forth.

It's a relief she seems more energetic than this morning.

"To see the school nurse. I need to get some medicine."

"Ah... So there was a reason you visited the infirmary so often, Mr. Ho-yeon."

"Yeah. There's something I'm getting treated for."

I looked at Lucy and Rumi with an apologetic expression.

"Well, if that's the case, it can't be helped. Go ahead."

"See you later during the afternoon class, Mr. Ho-yeon."

"Yeah, yeah. See you later."

Lucy and Rumi returned to the lecture hall, and I stepped outside for a moment.

'Somehow it's turned into me getting medical treatment.'

Since no cadet visited the infirmary as often as I did after Baek A-yeong was appointed as the school nurse, there were quite a few cadets who misunderstood it that way.

That was also the reason why Alice misunderstood that I had a congenital mana deficiency.

Well, this is the easiest excuse to get away with. It should be fine as long as Baek A-yeong kept it a secret.

There was a lunchtime sign hanging on the infirmary door, but I ignored it and opened the door.

As I entered the lobby, the staff members resting on the sofa spotted me, and a man who looked like the rookie ran over.

"I'm sorry. Lunchtime is break time, so..."

"Hey! Hey!"

"Y-Yes?"

At the same time, a staff member sitting behind him called out to the male employee who had approached me.

"Just let him in. He's a patient directly managed by the school nurse. It takes a long time, so he usually comes during break times."

"A-Ah... I'm sorry!"

The rookie employee bowed his head in apology, and I smiled awkwardly.

"It's fine. Please rest comfortably."

'Baek A-yeong told the people here that too, huh.'

I suppose that would be the most convenient.

- Then when does the school nurse rest?

- I have no idea. That's why she's such an amazing person.

Hearing the staff praise Baek A-yeong, it seemed her reputation was also excellent.

My honey is simply the best.

I headed to the office where Baek A-yeong would be and knocked on the door.

Knock, knock-

"Who is it?"

"Teacher. It's me. Lee Ho-yeon."

"Ah, yeah. Come in."

When I opened the door and walked in, I could see Baek A-yeong taking a rest while wearing her familiar work uniform.

A white blouse and a black miniskirt. Even black stockings.

This was Baek A-yeong's work outfit.

With her looking like that, how could the men receiving treatment not go crazy?

Click-

I closed the door tightly and made sure to lock it.

"It feels like it's been a really long time since I saw you at the academy."

"Honey... I missed you..."

Only after the door was locked did Baek A-yeong get up from her seat and approach me.

It was the exact opposite of her maturely sitting figure from earlier.

Hug-

Watching Baek A-yeong fall into my arms and rub her face against my chest, I smiled and stroked her hair.

"I missed you too. I love you. Honey."

"Eung... Me too."

Even though my conscience stung a little bit about becoming a baby daddy while having a honey.