In an instant, Angelina realized as though struck by lightning.

Ah, the person she’s looking at right now isn’t me.

Angelina herself was a being haunted by the ghosts of the past, so she dared to guess.

That person was looking at someone already lost. Someone who, like Angelina, was young, who struggled enough to clutch herbal tobacco, and who met a tragic end.

No matter how powerful one might be, the past cannot be undone. And so those left behind can only regret, and regret again. And when a similar situation arises, they inevitably recall that time.

Angelina swallowed a sigh. She felt as though she had caught a small glimpse of the person named Chris.

‘So you were ‘human’ too, just like me.’

Not simply an obnoxious genius.

“Managing pain in such a manner is mere bravado.”

Chris’s tone was no different from when she had told her to get out of the classroom.

But this time, Angelina didn’t want to rebel. She simply clenched her fist and answered quietly.

“I’m sorry.”

For dredging up your unpleasant memories. For putting on bravado when I didn’t even have the ability to back it up.

In truth, the one truly wasting time was me.

Chris said nothing more. When Angelina raised her head, she had already turned her back.

“Ah…”

She wanted to say something more. Her hand reached out instinctively to grab her.

But then, the hem of a worn garment fluttered lightly, and Angelina could see something swaying at Chris’s waist.

A small monkey figurine.

Not the kind of thing Chris would like. Which meant it was either a gift from someone, or perhaps… a memento.

Angelina suddenly thought of a child.

A small figure with similarly black hair, amidst smoke.

In the end, she couldn’t imagine the child’s face.

Because she couldn’t tell what expression Chris wore as she quietly walked away.

“…Strange person.”

After that, Angelina never received punishment for herbal tobacco again.

* * *

“How do I report smoking on campus? Do I have to tell the Principal directly? Ugh, isn’t this system way too outdated?! After all that cool posing, snitching would completely ruin the act!”

* * *

X-Class’s headcount had increased.

‘Why?’

Arms crossed, I met the gaze of Princess, who was looking my way.

“…D-don’t get the wrong idea. I simply didn’t submit a transfer request because I heard that Bell Freesia of X-Class is skilled in healing magic, that’s all!”

Uh, sure. Quitting smoking was a good thing, but why is your face turning red?

I withdrew my gaze from Princess, who turned his head away haughtily.

Was rhyming words ending in the ‘kki’ sound while channeling a rapper really that impressive last time?

‘I thought my head was going to explode.’

After finally becoming a transmigrator, the most brain-intensive thing I did was something like that. Where did my fantasies and romance go? A sigh nearly escaped me involuntarily.

‘Well, what’s good is good, I suppose.’

Princess was going to join the protagonist’s party eventually, anyway.

If anything, I was relieved to have haphazardly prevented him from becoming an addict.

Herbal tobacco in this world was more potent and had stronger side effects than its Earth counterpart, and in the original story, Princess gradually became addicted to it and only managed to recover after receiving the protagonist’s help.

‘Suffering under magic that forcibly suppresses secondary sex characteristics, it’s understandable that he’d be in pain.’

But becoming an addict is not acceptable, Princess. One wrong step and it’s a one-way ticket to rock bottom. Don’t smoke anymore, okay?

“Then X-Class is me! Nika Tot-! And Michael, Dolce, Bell, and Angelina, making five members in total! This is quite like an elite small unit, it’s wonderful!”

The Model Student exclaimed, his eyes shining.

Right. The rest had all submitted transfer requests and left.

“Hehe, I’m disappointed the audience shrank~ Those idiots should’ve stayed to see our exploits and be amazed. Right, Michael?”

“Uh, y-yeah…”

Twin-braid clinging to the Protagonist with a cute smile. Truly fitting of a little-devil-type heroine candidate. Though the Protagonist looked at me with an awkward face as if asking for help.

Why, what. I couldn’t care less whether you two kiss or do whatever. I’ll respect your privacy.

And above all, the reason Twin-braid was acting like that was simply because she was offended by the Model Student’s words. In reality, she would consider it as at least six members anyway.

“Dolce. Michael is uncomfortable. The professor will give us the lesson details soon, so let’s all face forward.”

As expected of the Healer. She had yielded the class president position to the Model Student, who always showed excessive enthusiasm, but in truth, she was the most dependable one. I dared to guess she might be the talent to lead this mess of an X-Class in my stead.

With the students’ gazes now turned toward me, I yawned as if I’d been waiting for this, then opened my mouth.

It was the moment to make it painfully obvious I had no desire to do this, and honestly, that came easily. I genuinely didn’t want to.

“…Field training.”

As Bedallua Academy cultivated the finest talents, field training was mandatory.

In my heart, I wanted to brush it off by saying something like, ‘Are you unprepared brats planning to go get yourselves killed?’ but…

[Main Quest: Request of the Earth God 1-3]

[Heart-pounding first field training! Let’s lead the X-Class students to the Vinits Plain to subdue monsters. Let’s get everything done and come back within the time limit.

Success Reward: Bedallua Academy Map (3/4), Worn-out Sword

Failure Condition: You probably don’t need me to spell it out anymore, right?

Monsters Subdued: 0/50

Time Remaining: 24:00:00]

With a quest like this popping up right in front of me, what could I do? At least the timer hadn’t started counting down immediately, so maybe that was a relief?

…Anyway, what’s with that failure condition text? Is it really okay to get this lazy starting from only the third quest? Isn’t that dereliction of duty?

My body trembled with rage involuntarily, but after exercising superhuman restraint, I continued speaking.

“The location is Vinits Plain. Even weaklings like you won’t get yourselves killed by rabbits, I assume.”

“Of course. I used to go hunting there frequently even before entering the Academy.”

“As expected of Angelina! Impressive! I can’t fall behind either! This body also comes from a prestigious knight family’s—”

“It’s only been a week since enrollment and the professor hasn’t taught us a single thing, though? A basic skills test? Well, I’ll do my best~”

“Now, now, everyone, please make not getting hurt your top priority…”

Even as a small elite group, with everyone chiming in, it got noisy in no time.

‘Of course, there was one who stayed quiet through all of this.’

I glanced at the Protagonist, who had his mouth shut tight with a pale face.

“Urgh…”

He seemed particularly nervous. But he wouldn’t give up or run away, so it was fine. He’d said as much to me yesterday, too.

‘Above all, even though he hasn’t Awakened yet, he’s still more useful than me…’

He can swing a sword, after all. I’d secretly tried practicing in my quarters, but I was so frail that I could barely even get into a proper stance.

For now, there was a more pressing issue to address first.

“Professor! Then shall we travel to the plain using group Spatial Magic? Our numbers are small enough that a single professor’s magic should suffice!”

Can’t do that.

“You’re not planning to walk, are you? It’s farther than you think~”

It’d be good exercise, wouldn’t it?

“If it comes to it, I could lend you my horse. Well, someone like you probably wouldn’t do that, but… I was just saying, so don’t mind me.”

So she brought her own horse to school. Please, lend it to me.

“Um, if it’s difficult for you, Professor, perhaps we could hire a carriage near the plain for the return trip? Spatial Magic consumes a great deal of mana, after all.”

Not for the way there, please…

‘Can’t be helped. The quest takes priority even if I have to drop the act a little.’

“First, we’re heading to the weapon storage. I’ll assign each of you a suitable weapon. After that—”

That was as far as I got.

Whoosh!

A sudden gust of wind blasted against my face.

What, did someone leave a window open? Thinking nothing of it, I reflexively blinked once.

“……?”

The plain stretched out before my eyes.

Huh?

“Oh my! This is… the Vinits Plain?”

“W-whoa! Professor! You already cast the spell?! I haven’t even received my weapon yet!”

No, I didn’t. Spatial Magic was a high-tier spell that required professor-level proficiency, so none of the students could have cast it either.

Then who on earth…

“What’s going on? The atmosphere I’m sensing around us right now isn’t just a pack of horned rabbits!”

“Wait, what’s drawn beneath our feet?!”

All eyes turned downward. Blades of grass lay flattened in a pattern, like some kind of crop circle.

This is…

‘A summoning magic circle.’

We’d been ‘summoned.’ By a third party!