Chapter 168

Chapter 168

Around the time they were sitting and chatting for a moment until the professor arrived,

“Huh?”

Demona, who was staring down the clearing, suddenly stood up from her seat.

“Wow~ it’s a snail! So cute~”

And then she dashed down the clearing.

The students watched her closely, wondering what she was up to.

Sure enough, just as she said, a snail was climbing up from below the clearing toward this place.

However,

“…Do people normally call that cute?”

“No.”

“I thought so. Phew.”

“…?”

Like Hektor’s question and Roan’s immediate reply, that snail was universally not cute at all in its appearance.

If one saw a snail shell reaching 2 meters in diameter, they would usually run away first, not rush toward it like that.

Moreover, Roan was shivering even more particularly.

‘Calling the professor cute, she’s out of her mind.’

Well, Demona was rarely in her right mind to begin with, but this time it was especially so.

“Wow~ it’s even cool?”

Meanwhile, Demona seemed to like the snail even more upon seeing it up close.

The shell, where moss, small grass, and even flowers grew in places due to the traces of time, was quite elegant.

“How many years does it have to live for plants to grow to this extent?”

Demona muttered to herself, regretting that Roan wasn’t by her side to answer.

But surprisingly, an answer came back.

“Three hundred years.”

A clear and cold tone that, although slightly slow, posed no obstacle to understanding.

“Huh? The snail lived for 300 years?”

Demona looked around, wondering in surprise who had answered.

Finding the person who had answered was quick.

“Hieeeek——!!! It’s a snail ghost!!!”

For it was that very snail.

The giant snail was not just a snail, but a snail beastman.

He was glaring fiercely at Demona from beneath his shell.

Demona raised both arms as if she had really seen a ghost and ran back to where Roan was.

“Roan! It’s a snail ghost! This time it’s really scary like a ghost! It even talks!”

“…It is not a ghost, it is the professor.”

“““?????”””

At that, not only Demona but also the surrounding friends stared at Roan with wide eyes.

A snail is a professor?

‘Come to think of it, in Korean, ‘ghost’ (gwisin) and ‘professor’ (gyosu) both shared the initials ‘G-S’.’

Roan nodded, finding an unexpected connection between the two words.

In fact, even without Roan’s words, the fact that the snail beastman was the professor was quickly confirmed.

“Professor! You have arrived!”

Because the teaching assistant, Dorin, gladly ran over to greet him.

“H-He’s a real professor…?”

Demona muttered, her pupils trembling as if an earthquake had hit them.

She was surely afraid that she would be fined.

“Do not worry. That professor does not give fines often.”

“Phew~”

Only after Roan reassured her did Demona breathe a deep sigh of relief.

‘Since he’ll just take something else instead.’

Roan did not voice the words that followed.

At any rate, the professor had certainly come within sight of the clearing, but

Slowly— slowly—

that did not mean class was about to start immediately.

The time it took from there to actually arrive in front of the students was quite long.

—…He is coming right now, right?

—I-Is that so? It doesn’t seem like it…?

The students understood with their entire bodies why it had taken a whole day to come from that building to this clearing.

Because the giant snail was advancing bit by bit at a speed where it was barely visible whether he was moving or not.

Furthermore, since the professor had just arrived, they couldn’t just play around like earlier.

Nod— nod—

Among the waiting students, there were even those who failed to overcome their drowsiness and swayed their heads.

“Yawn~ waiting is boring too.”

Ultimately, unable to endure it, Demona stood up from her seat and went toward the forest.

“Heresy, where are you going?”

“It seems like it will still take a while, so I’m going to pick some fruit.”

Since this vicinity was where the gathering class was conducted, it was an area with all kinds of fruit trees and herbs.

Of course, an ordinary student like Hektor wouldn’t understand the courage to go do something else when the professor was visible right over there.

“The professor will arrive soon!”

“Yeah~ you wait diligently~”

Demona took the Black Knight and Sparky and hopped to the edge of the clearing.

And after rummaging through the forest for a long time, she returned with an armful of fruit.

“I-It really worked?”

…Although the snail professor had almost arrived in the meantime, Demona was slightly faster.

“Here, Black Knight— Ow! Why do you hit me even when I’m giving you food!”

In the meantime, Demona shared a few fruits with the Black Knight and Sparky.

Just as she held one to eat it herself and opened her mouth wide,

Halt—

The professor finally arrived at his target position.

Chomp—

Whether he did or not, Demona tried to take a big bite of the fruit.

Crunch—

“Argh! My fruit! No, my hand!”

However, what was bitten by her teeth was not the fruit but only Demona’s finger.

Having bitten her own finger hard without even realizing it, Demona rolled around, holding her hand.

“Where did the fruit go? I was definitely holding it in my hand, oh my, it hurts!”

Among the friends who had no particular interest in Demona, Sion said in a pathetic tone,

“Demona, you probably weren’t holding the fruit in the first place.”

“Yes, heresy. It would be entirely possible for you.”

“Agreed.”

When the other friends agreed, Demona shrieked in frustration,

“Hey! Does that make sense? Do I look that stupid to you?”

“““…”””

The friends only avoided her gaze slightly, and no one answered.

“To think I call these bad bastards my friends…”

Demona sat back up, shedding a tiny tear.

Roan said, not taking his eyes off the snail professor,

“It’s not that you didn’t pick it up.”

“Right? I knew Roan is the only one who understands me~”

Demona was moved and picked up another fruit, but

“The professor gathered it.”

“““???!??!?!?!?”””

After hearing Roan’s subsequent words, she could only be just as dumbfounded as the other friends.

“R-Roan, say something that makes sense. That’s not gathering, it’s stealing.”

Demona said, stammering.

It was indeed a very reasonable point, but

‘the rules of the gathering class are a bit different.’

it was also a story that did not apply right now.

Roan said, still keeping his gaze fixed on the snail professor,

“Look at your hand.”

Demona did as Roan said, feeling half-believing and half-doubting.

Sure enough, her hand that had newly held a fruit was,

“T-There is nothing!!!!”

It was empty, like a lie.

“W-What is this! Did I really not hold it?”

It was so seamless that it made even her doubt herself!

While once was frustrating, a second time was bound to raise suspicions.

Of course, for Roan who was listening to this, it was absurd.

“I told you, it’s not that you didn’t hold it, but the professor gathered it.”

“…Dark, surely not. Even if he is the professor, it is a student’s possession, you know?”

Sion asked carefully.

Honestly, in her eyes as well, the professors of Akerandir were a bit peculiar.

But even so, they were not lawless people who ignored the laws and order of the Empire and acted as they pleased.

Moreover, this looked like stealing to anyone, so she couldn’t understand why Roan went out of his way to use the word ‘gathering.’

Roan frowned slightly and said,

“Look at Demona’s hand. There should be a very slight amount of slime on it.”

“Let me see, Demona!”

At that, Rafia quickly grabbed Demona’s hand and examined it.

“!!!!”

Surprisingly, it was true.

‘D-Did the professor really take Demona’s fruit?’

Rafia and the friends looked at the snail professor with dazed eyes.

“B-But when on earth did such a slow professor take it?”

“Indeed…”

A reaction of utter disbelief like Hektor’s was common.

Since it took a whole day to come from that building over there to here, there was no way a professor who gathered at an invisible speed would do that.

“If you find it hard to believe, test it once more.”

At Roan’s suggestion, Demona took a gold coin from her pocket and placed it on her palm.

Everyone stared at the gold coin.

Even after quite a while passed, the gold coin did not disappear.

The friends wiped the cold sweat they had broken out in due to tension and said,

“Hahaha, it seems Roan is wrong just this once.”

“Yeah~ does it make sense for a professor to steal?”

As they laughed and agreed that it couldn’t be, just when their tension loosened,

Splat—

In the ears of Roan, who was glaring at the snail professor, a very faint but distinct sound was caught.

‘Hearing it for the third time, I’m getting the hang of it.’

The reason Roan had kept his gaze fixed despite going through all that fuss,

was that the snail professor mainly targeted letting one’s guard down,

and also to learn the gathering behavior by watching him closely.

For it was a necessary process to continue taking the gathering class in the future.

And immediately after,

“T-The gold coin is goneee!!!!!”

“What?! Didn’t you put it back in?!”

“Uh, huh…? I-I don’t think so. Is it? I can’t remember how much I had…”

Demona, whose gold coin had vanished from her hand, and the friends who confirmed it, were shocked once again.

Where did it really disappear to this time?

By this point, even Sion, who had harbored a shred of expectation for the Empire and Akerandir, had no choice but to doubt.

‘Did the professor really take it?’

But the snail professor had simply been staying still in his spot ever since he arrived.

At that moment, Demona stood up abruptly and asked the snail professor,

“Professor! Did you steal my fruit and gold coin?”

The students, who didn’t know the exact circumstances yet, whispered,

—What is Wicronon talking about?

—Where did she get money? Why is she suddenly trying to pay a fine?

—Why would a professor steal…?

Naturally, the professor, suspected of being a thief, flew into a rage,

“What?! What do you take me for! You insolent brat!”

He was so angry that the snail’s eyes bulged up and down repeatedly.

It seemed Demona’s words were quite insulting.

At that, Demona changed her question.

“Professor, did you gather my fruit and gold coin?”

“I did gather them.”

The professor, who had been raging like lightning just a moment ago, answered calmly this time.

—!?!?!?!!!????

The students naturally wondered what this meant.

—He gathered Wicronon’s fruit and gold coin?

—Isn’t that stealing?

—When?

If he was going to say that, why on earth did he get angry at the first question?

But the snail professor didn’t care about the students’ reaction at all and spoke of other things,

“Nice to meet you all. I am the gathering professor, Pluvang. As you can see, I am a snail beastman, so I am very slow.”

Demona asked Roan with a dumbfounded face,

“Isn’t that professor too shameless?”

“Well, yes.”

Roan nodded readily.

‘To be called shameless by Demona, Professor Pluvang is truly done for.’