Alice's first-ever disciple, Greg Sass, was born into the kingdom's famous House of Sass. In the academy, he was once synonymous with being a student with connections and an underachiever.
Despite his prominent background as a duke's son, Alice could guarantee from her painful experiences over the past year that this guy was an absolute disaster when it came to studying and researching magic theory.
For those course research reports that required a solid theoretical foundation and patient study, Greg would always find all kinds of excuses and methods to dump them on her, his nominal mentor, to finish.
To make matters worse, his aristocratic, taking-it-for-granted attitude left Alice—who was naturally terrible at arguing with others, especially students of his high status—unable to speak up. Most of the time, she could only swallow her anger, force herself to accept the work, and then sacrifice her own rest to stay up late and clean up his messes.
During that time, as she stared at the schoolwork that Greg was supposed to have completed in the dead of night, she would often have a bizarre illusion:
Who exactly was the mentor, and who was the disciple?
She, the mentor, had practically become Greg Sass's personal academic drudge!
Fortunately, those dark, miserable days did not last too long.
Shortly after Greg advanced to his second year, he went missing for quite a long time.
During that period, Alice felt like even the air she breathed was much fresher, and she even secretly prayed that he would never show his face again.
Although Greg eventually returned to the academy and started attending classes normally again, Alice immediately adopted the most direct and effective strategy—avoidance.
She adjusted her schedule as much as possible to avoid any situation where their paths might cross, and she never actively pried into what he had done during his disappearance or how he had changed since his return.
She simply wanted nothing more to do with this troublemaker.
The last time Greg had suddenly shown up at the door of the old laboratory she frequented, she had been scared out of her wits. In her panic, she had opened a nearby cabinet used for storing magical beast specimens, crawled inside, and huddled there without daring to make a sound. She had stayed squeezed in there for over half an hour, only venturing out after confirming that there was absolutely no noise outside.
She would literally rather hang out with weird specimens soaking in preservative fluid than face Greg again.
Granted, a rumor had recently been circulating among the mentors, claiming that “Greg Sass has already been pre-selected as one of the second-year student representatives for the upcoming Hundred Academy Exchange.”
But when Alice heard it, her first reaction was to scoff, followed by a surge of humiliated annoyance.
She firmly believed that this was a malicious rumor made up by the other professors who disliked her, designed specifically to provoke and humiliate her!
No matter how she looked at it, Greg Sass could not be further from the title of “a genius elite fighting for the academy's glory”!
It was absolutely impossible!
“Sigh...”
Thinking of this, the coldness of reality and the distance of her ideals enveloped her once more. Alice couldn't help but sigh softly again, her shoulders slumping slightly. Even her already oversized professor robes seemed to grow a bit heavier at this moment, nearly swallowing her petite frame entirely.
“Alice-chan, why are you sighing like that?”
A voice tinged with a hint of amusement sounded almost right against her ear, the warm breath even stirring a few strands of purple hair near her temple.
“Because—”
Almost subconsciously following the tone of the question, Alice was about to blurt out her troubles.
But just as the words reached her lips, she suddenly shuddered as if pricked by a freezing needle, instantly snapping out of her self-pity!
This voice... this tone...
Like a startled little animal, she spun around abruptly. Because she moved too fast, her oversized sleeves whipped up a gust of wind.
Her light purple eyes widened slightly in horror, clearly reflecting the tall figure who had silently stood beside her at some point, now leaning down slightly to look at her.
“G-Greg!?”
Her voice cracked from extreme tension and surprise, carrying a faint tremor.
Her fingers unconsciously gripped the edges of her oversized sleeves, her knuckles turning slightly white.
“W-Why are you here!?”
This was clearly the venue for the first-year freshmen exam and the mentor-student meeting!
What was a second-year student like him doing here?
Could he have come all this way specifically to cause trouble for her?
Because she had been deliberately avoiding him lately?
Greg seemed completely oblivious to the panic and resistance radiating from her entire body. The smile on his face even widened a fraction:
“Of course it's because I have some wonderful news to tell you in person, my dear Alice-chan.”
The honorific “-chan” made Alice feel a bit creeped out.
“Wonderful news?”
Alice grew even more alert, her body instinctively leaning back slightly in an attempt to create a distance that felt safe.
To her, Greg Sass's appearance almost always meant endless trouble and one bad news after another.
Wonderful news?
The credibility of any “wonderful news” coming from his mouth was about equal to the sun rising from the west, or Demons suddenly becoming peace-loving.
“That's right.”
Greg nodded:
“Actually, the academy has already pre-selected me as one of the second-year representatives for the Hundred Academy Exchange. So, as my mentor, you will naturally get the precious qualification to accompany me. Well? Aren't you surprised? Shocked?”
Alice was completely stunned for several seconds, her brain seemingly grinding to a halt under the impact of this incredibly abrupt and absurd piece of information.
Soon, her delicate brows furrowed tightly, and a hint of anger at being teased appeared on her face. Her voice rose unconsciously, though it still carried a trace of timidity:
“That's impossible! D-Don't try to trick me again! This kind of joke isn't funny at all!”
She didn't believe him for a second. This had to be a new prank Greg had cooked up just to see her make a fool of herself in shock and confusion.
“Why would I lie to you?”
Greg spread his hands, putting on an innocent expression:
“If you don't believe me, you can go to the dean's office right now and confirm it with the Headmistress in person. Do you think someone of the Headmistress's stature would tell an easily debunked lie just to play along with a minor character like me?”
Alice choked on her words.
That was true... The Headmistress was of noble status and possessed unfathomable strength. It was indeed impossible and unnecessary for her to cooperate with a student like Greg Sass to tell a lie.
But she still found it unbelievable. Her ice-purple eyes were filled with suspicion as she looked Greg up and down. Suddenly, an even more terrifying thought popped into her head. She lowered her voice, her tone turning strange:
“C-Could it be... that y-you've already... offered your body to the Headmistress? And used... such an improper method to exchange... for this qualification?”
The more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Otherwise, there was simply no other explanation!
Rate on N.U.
