Chapter 42: A Professor’s Secret and the Party’s Missing Member

“The Infirmary Nurse’s Unexpected Secret”

“…So you’re saying all of those rumors were completely false~?”

“Not all of them… but rumors tend to get exaggerated.”

About ten minutes later—

After Sion’s long-winded explanation, Maguniria finally nodded in understanding.

The rumors about Sion on Byzanity—especially the ones related to women—were mostly false.

‘I never imagined there were such ridiculous rumors about me on Byzanity.’

Byzanity, the academy’s online community, functioned similarly to Everytime from his past life.

Sion wasn’t particularly active on it, either in this life or the previous one.

The only times he had used it were to check his schedule or syllabus.

So he had no idea his name had been circulating with such absurd exaggerations.

Was someone deliberately editing the truth to spread misinformation?

“My apologies for misunderstanding~. But… if you’re really that talented in magic~ then maybe the rumors about your… relationships… are also true~?”

“I told you, they’re NOT!”

“Haha, I was just teasing~.”

Maguniria giggled, clearly entertained.

Sion sighed internally.

His muscle pain had been healed with magic, but now his head throbbed instead.

“I showed you something embarrassing earlier~. So please… don’t tell the other students about it~?”

“Something embarrassing? Could you be more specific…?”

There were too many possibilities.

At Sion’s pointed question, Maguniria avoided his gaze.

Then, as if trying to hide, she grabbed a pillow from one of the infirmary beds and buried her face in it.

“I really went too far~!!! Making a lady say such indecent things out loud!!”

“…Professor?? Please stop that!”

“Ahh!! Your hand touched my shoulder! I’m being defiled! I’m being defiled—ahhh~!!”

Whoosh.

Sion yanked the pillow away from her.

She blinked, staring at him with wide eyes.

A moment ago, she had been shouting all sorts of obscene nonsense—now, her lips were tightly sealed.

…Was there something special about that pillow?

“…What exactly are you doing?”

“Uuu… I-I’ll explain~. The thing is~.”

Fidgeting with her fingers, Maguniria hesitantly continued.

“I’m actually a half-demon~. My mother is a s-succubus, and my father is human~.”

“…A succubus?”

“Yes, so that makes me a succubus half-blood~. Ah! But don’t get the wrong idea~! I’m not a pervert or anything~!”

“……”

There was absolutely no credibility in that statement.

Sion stared at her, unconvinced.

“I-I mean it~! The reason I suddenly blurt out inappropriate things… It’s because of the ‘succubus soul’ inside me~.”

“…Succubus soul?”

“My succubus instincts keep whispering in my head. Even now, they’re telling me things~.”

With a distant look in her eyes, she muttered—

“If you tell him you’re a succubus, he might pounce on you. Student-professor relationships are even more thrilling. He’s young and full of energy, so of course, he’ll be into it. That’s why—”

“Okay, I get the idea.”

Sion promptly covered her mouth.

To sum it up—

Professor Maguniria Mamyas was a half-human, half-succubus hybrid.

She didn’t inherit the seductive abilities of a full succubus, but she constantly heard lewd thoughts whispering in her head.

…And they weren’t just normal whispers. They were completely inappropriate.

“So that ‘outburst’ earlier… was because of that?”

“It wasn’t an outburst~! Or… well, I guess you could call it that~. Usually, I hold it in, and when I’m alone, I mumble things quietly… But I was so shocked that I slipped up~.”

“…Professor, I’d appreciate it if you stopped looking at me like that.”

Sion met her gaze with cold, tired eyes.

At this point, he was starting to wonder—

Were there any normal professors at this academy?

‘Now that I think about it… isn’t Professor Mehden Demurniza the most normal one?’

Professor Mehden, who taught Magic Combat Training.

He was strict and had a scary demeanor, but at least he reminded Sion of the professors from his past life.

Compared to all the chaos he had encountered so far… Mehden seemed like a saint.

“…Why did you suddenly go quiet~? Are you thinking of using my succubus heritage to control me? A-Are you scheming to make me yours~?”

“No, I am not.”

“Uuuu…~”

Sion forced himself to remain calm.

Before him was a woman who was technically a professor.

But in reality, she had the maturity of a teenage boy obsessed with dirty jokes.

He needed to avoid getting dragged into her pace.

If he let his guard down, there was no telling what could happen.

If he got tangled up with her and something actually happened—

If undeniable evidence surfaced—

When his name was already being dragged through the mud on Byzanity—

“Professor, I have a request.”

“Oh! It’s happening!!!”

She gasped, covering her face with her hands.

But between her fingers, she peeked at him expectantly.

Sion sighed, forcing himself to ignore her reactions.

“…I’d like to learn some healing magic.”

“…You want to see my body—I mean, you want to learn healing magic~?”

“Yes. Healing magic.”

The healing attribute.

It was essential for treating wounds, curing poison, and removing status effects.

In this medieval fantasy world, where death could come at any moment, learning healing magic was crucial.

‘I don’t know when I’ll have another chance to learn healing magic. …She might not be ideal, but I should take this opportunity.’

The first-year curriculum didn’t cover healing spells.

If he wanted to learn, his best option was to ask Maguniria.

She studied him closely, her eyes narrowing slightly.

“You really want to learn healing magic~?”

“Yes. And if it’s difficult to teach, just demonstrating is fine.”

“…Are you, by chance, into men?”

“…If you’re not going to show me, I’ll leave.”

“No, no, wait!”

Clap!

She grabbed his hand.

When he looked down at her grip, she gasped and quickly let go.

Then, she muttered to herself—

“…With his talent, he’s bound to become a great figure someday. It wouldn’t hurt to earn his favor now…”

“…What was that?”

“N-Nothing~! I’ll show you another healing spell now~.”

That sounded highly suspicious.

But Sion decided to pretend he didn’t hear it.

Maguniria, eager to change the topic, quickly began chanting.

“O divine one, save this poisoned lamb from suffering… Cure.”

Fwooosh!

A green light enveloped Sion’s body, wrapping around him.

It felt similar to Healing, yet slightly different.

“Adventurer Guild and the Absent Teammate”

Healing circulated throughout the body, thoroughly covering every part.

But Cure felt different—it swept through in an instant before vanishing.

Sion’s Magic Archive updated with a new 1st Circle Healing Spell: Cure.

“This spell removes poison and status ailments~.”

“…So this is Cure.”

“And I’ll show you a few more spells~.”

Maguniria carefully demonstrated several healing spells.

Sion learned Healing, Cure, Cleanse, Holy, and Buff, all 1st Circle Healing Spells.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t show any 2nd Circle spells.

“If I overuse 2nd Circle magic, I might not have enough mana to treat real patients~.”

“I understand. This was a great experience. Thank you.”

“Ara~ I just took Sion’s first time away~. Hehe.”

“…Weren’t you supposed to whisper things like that into a pillow?”

“I do that when other people are around~. But you don’t really seem to mind, do you?”

She smiled mischievously.

Her expression was undeniably beautiful—perhaps due to her succubus heritage.

…If only her inner thoughts weren’t on the level of a teenage boy.

“You’re really saying no other students have caught you saying those things before?”

“How rude~! Of course not~! I only lost control earlier because I panicked when I realized how famous you are on Byzanity~.”

“You say that so confidently, but I’m not convinced…”

“Oh, right~!”

Clap!

Maguniria smacked her hands together, as if she just remembered something.

She pulled out her professor’s ID from her pocket.

“There’s a camera function on our IDs, you know~? Would you mind taking a picture with me~? If I upload a photo of you, it’ll definitely hit the top of Byzanity’s trending page~!”

“…I’ll be going now.”

“Aah~! So cruel! You made my heart race and then just left me hanging—”

Creak.

Ignoring her, Sion shut the infirmary door behind him.

Even though they were only 1st Circle, learning Healing Spells had been a good opportunity.

…But if he had stayed any longer, he felt like his sanity would have suffered irreparable damage.

‘Might as well head to the training grounds.’

Even on weekends, Byzantium Academy’s training facilities remained open.

Sion decided to go practice.

He needed time to integrate the magic and combat skills he had learned so far.

The Next Day

“Your muscle pain’s gone?”

“Yeah, after getting healed at the infirmary, I was fine.”

“Man, I’m jealous~. Professor Maguniria is super pretty, right? She’s so nice too—people call her the Angel of the Infirmary on Byzanity~.”

“……”

Sion barely stopped himself from saying, ‘That woman’s head is filled with nothing but dirty jokes.’

…Angel of the Infirmary?

Hearing Patrick say that, Sion decided it wasn’t even worth responding to.

“Anyway, you’ve recovered, so what’s on today’s agenda?”

“I need to visit the Adventurer’s Guild.”

“The Adventurer’s Guild?”

“You forgot about Professor Varius’ assignment, didn’t you?”

“Oh…”

At Sion’s words, Patrick’s face twisted in frustration.

Professor Varius, who taught How to Survive in a Dungeon, had given them an assignment.

The task was simple but tedious:

1. Register as an F-rank adventurer at the Adventurer’s Guild.
2. Take an E-rank dungeon request. (F-rank adventurers must form a party of four to accept E-rank dungeon requests.)
3. Gather information about the dungeon and submit a report. (Write it on paper, take a picture, and upload it to the assignment board.)

“…Wait a minute.”

Sion opened Byzanity’s class board and reread Professor Varius’ announcement.

At the time, he had been too shocked by the assignment to think critically about it.

But now, something stood out.

“To take an E-rank dungeon request, we need four F-rank adventurers…?”

“…Wait, that means I have to go too.”

“Yeah. That’s why we were put into four-person teams.”

“Oh… that makes sense.”

When registering as an adventurer, everyone started at F-rank.

And in order to take an E-rank dungeon request, a party of four F-rank adventurers was required.

That meant their class groups had been prearranged to form four-person teams for this task.

Theoretically, they just had to go to the Adventurer’s Guild together and accept a request.

But there was one problem—

“…What do we do about Estroza Farawell?”

“…No clue. She has to come, or she won’t be able to complete the assignment.”

“No, she straight-up said she wasn’t coming.”

“…What? When did she say that?”

Patrick smirked and held up his student ID.

“We have a group chat, you know?”

“…There’s a chat function?”

“Yeah. Check your student ID.”

“…Oh.”

It seemed like Byzanity had group chats, similar to KakaoTalk from his past life.

And without realizing it, Sion had already been added to multiple group chats.

There were chats for Magic Department students, First-Year Magic Students, and…

Apparently, Gae Bolg had already made a chat for their team.

[Gae Bolg, the Pride of Rodenburg: Hahaha! I made a group chat!]
[Gae Bolg, the Pride of Rodenburg: Everyone should be grateful to me!]
[Gae Bolg, the Pride of Rodenburg: We need to go to the Adventurer’s Guild for our assignment, so let’s decide on a time!]
[Patrick Matrick: Yeah, let’s pick a time. Everyone, reply when you see this.]

The chat had been created three days ago.

But after those initial messages—

The conversation completely stopped.

“…There’s still an unread message?”

“Gae Bolg and I already read and replied. You just saw it now. So who hasn’t read it yet?”

“…Oh.”

The only one who hadn’t read the messages—

Estroza Farawell.

She hadn’t even opened the group chat.

It was a clear statement of intent.

She had no intention of participating.

…A blatant freeloading attempt.