The Academy Regressor is Obsessed

Once Ena’s appearance was confirmed, there was no time to hesitate.

Asel immediately told the woman he would go with her, and she started moving after overcoming her shock. Isabella followed the two with an expression that suggested this looked interesting.

The Academy’s main building was located in the center of the city. Although not many students remained inside as it was still vacation, some students living in dormitories were still present. Female students sitting on benches and whispering to each other tilted their heads as they saw Plum running urgently.

“Assistant Professor Plum? Where are you going in such a hurry? By the way, do you know what that lightning just now was?”
“I’ll tell you later!”

Plum brushed off their questions and ran into the Academy building. Assistant professors and student assistants preparing for the semester greeted her, but instead of answering, she made it clear she was busy as she went up to the upper floors of the building. As a result, their expressions became awkward.

Plum had no choice. She hadn’t met Ena directly, but she had often heard rumors about her temperament.

A monster who frequently went on devil subjugation missions and labyrinth explorations, greatly increasing her magical power at the cost of morality and humanity. A cold-blooded person who doesn’t hesitate to kill and doesn’t give affection to anyone. A superhuman who prioritizes violence over dialogue.

The Chancellor always spoke of Ena like that, and naturally, Plum’s perception of Ena also became negative.

“No…!”

Such a person is in the same place as the Chancellor. Although Fride is also a powerful magician, she’s not at a level that can compete with Ena. She would be roasted and rolling on the floor before she could do anything. That had to be prevented at all costs.

“Chancellor!”

Having reached the top floor, Plum didn’t hesitate and immediately flung open the door of the Chancellor’s office and rushed in.

“Quick, run away! For now, I’ll…huh?”

Plum started shouting like that, but trailed off as she saw the scene inside the Chancellor’s office.

“…?”

There was an intruder as expected. A girl in a pure white shirt and black skirt, whom she had never seen before, was sipping tea while glancing at Plum. Judging from her snow-white hair and blue eyes, she must be Ena. She was beautiful like a doll, but also had a cold impression like a doll.

Opposite her, the Chancellor was sitting in a docile posture, sweating profusely. She didn’t seem to be injured, but signs of discomfort were breaking through her smiling face.

In the corner, Fernan was prostrated with his head buried in the floor.

No matter how you looked at it, it was a scene of bullying. It wasn’t a very positive situation, but compared to the murder scene Plum had expected, it was a much better sight. However, it took some time to accurately grasp the situation and think of a way to resolve it.

“Who are you?”

Ena asked Plum, who was lost in thought. Plum’s contemplation was forcibly interrupted. She answered with a startled expression.

“Yes! I-I’m Plum! I’m an assistant professor in the Magical Studies department and assist the Chancellor!”
“Is that so?”

Ena responded indifferently and placed the teacup she was holding on the table. Then she spoke in a cold voice towards Fernan, who was trembling.

“If you tremble one more time, I’ll shove lightning directly into your head.”

At that, Fernan’s trembling stopped as if by magic. He remained motionless in his prostrated position, then spotted Asel’s face as he entered behind Plum and his lips quivered. Although no voice was heard, Asel could clearly read his lip movements.

[Save me.]

Asel’s face wrinkled.

“Asel.”

Following Fernan, Ena opened her mouth while looking at Asel. Asel turned his head towards her.

“Master.”
“Mm. Have you been well?”
“I’ve been fine. More importantly, why are you here, Master…?”

He asked out of courtesy, even though he knew. Fortunately, Ena answered without any particular suspicion as she stood up from her seat.

“I heard you fainted? I came because I was worried.”
“Worried? You were acting like you were going to execute me and Fernan just now?”

Ena lightly ignored Fride’s words and approached Asel.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Ah, I’m fine. There are no aftereffects either.”
“Magical exhaustion isn’t a symptom you can laugh off so easily.”

Ena disregarded Asel’s lighthearted response and began slowly feeling his body.

She kneaded his arms while flowing magical power into his body, and ran her fingers over his entire upper body once. It was a procedure to check if there was any strain on his magical core or body. Physical contact was essential to check the condition of another magician.

“……”

Although Asel knew this, he couldn’t help but feel somewhat embarrassed by her touch. It might be understandable if they were alone, but doing this in a place with so many eyes watching was a bit awkward. Fride was looking this way with eyes as if she had seen a ghost, and Isabella was also narrowing her eyes and fiddling with her lips.

“Um, Master?”
“Mm? What is it?”
“…Nothing. Please let me know when you’re done checking.”

Asel was about to say it might be better to stop for now, but seeing Ena’s innocent eyes, he smiled bitterly and gave up.

‘She’s checking with good intentions, if I tell her to stop, Master will feel embarrassed too.’

In the end, the body check only ended after about 10 more minutes. Ena nodded with satisfaction and removed her hands from Asel’s body. With a slightly reddened face, she said:

“You seem to be fine. Everything’s intact.”
“That’s a relief.”
“Yeah. By the way, who’s that over there? Royalty?”

Ena asked, pointing at Isabella standing behind Asel. Isabella stepped forward and slightly bowed her head as if she had been waiting for this question.

“Pleased to meet you, Ena. I’m Isabella von Servenheim.”
“So you are royalty. That hair color and the unique magical power flowing in your blood. It’s gotten fainter than before, but it’s similar to the first emperor.”
“You know him?”

Isabella asked with wide eyes. Ena answered as she sat Asel down beside her.

“Briefly, in the past. He came to our country once for the purpose of an alliance.”
“If it’s a country that formed an alliance with the empire, are you talking about the Liperum Magic Nation?”
“……”
“But didn’t the Magic Nation fall 300 years ag—”
“That’s enough.”

Ena cut off Isabella’s words. Isabella immediately bowed her head upon seeing Ena’s coldly sunken expression.

“I apologize. I spoke too much.”
“There aren’t many people who have mentioned the Magic Nation in front of me and survived. Remember that.”

The conversation between the two ended there. Isabella chewed her lips, thinking she might have gotten off on the wrong foot from the start. It was a pitiful sight, but Ena paid her no attention at all. Instead, she picked up a cookie to eat and looked at Fride.

“Since Asel seems to be fine, I’ll withdraw for today. But remember one thing. If something like this happens again at the Academy level in the future, it won’t end just like this.”
“…Aren’t you being too overprotective?”
“What?”
“I said I understand.”

Fride said with a grin. Ena clicked her tongue and stood up from her seat.

“You get up too.”
“Yes, ma’am.”

Fernan sprang to his feet. Judging from the clear red mark on his forehead, he must have been prostrated for quite a long time. Asel looked at him with pitying eyes, then stood up as Ena tapped his shoulder.

“Let’s go.”
“Where are we going?”
“Home.”

There was no time to answer. Ena and Asel instantly became a streak of lightning and disappeared from the Chancellor’s office. The interior of the office shook greatly from the recoil of their movement, but regardless, Fride leaned back in her chair with a sigh of relief.

“I survived another day…”
“You speak as if you’ve been to war.”

Fernan muttered quietly as he dusted off his clothes. Fride spoke towards him:

“Shut up. If you had acted moderately in the first place, this wouldn’t have happened. What kind of professor uses Mind Image Release on an exam participant? Didn’t I clearly tell you to do just enough to rank the exam results? You’ve gone completely mad. You’re getting a pay cut.”
“What? Where’s the law for that! I only did as I was told! And if you’re going to do something, give me a suspension instead! At least let me rest!”
“There’s still too much to do for that. Let’s work at a cheap price for half a year.”
“Old elves don’t understand human hearts!”
“I’m still young.”
“Is 700 years old young? Then all those young and firm elves must have been newborns!”
“Waaah.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake.”

Plum shook her head as she listened to the banter of the two people whose combined age exceeded 740 years.

Isabella stroked her lips with her index finger and looked at the spot where Asel had been standing.

“…My 5 gold coins.”

She had been completely robbed of the money she had scraped together from her meager savings to try and gain some favor.

Her lips protruded in a pout.

Asel couldn’t yet use magic to transform his body into lightning. But with Ena’s assistance, it was a different story. If she formed the spell formula on Asel’s behalf and Asel projected magical power, it was possible to manifest the magic, albeit at about half power. This was a common proxy incantation among master-disciple magicians who used the same branch of magic.

Thanks to this, the journey from the Academy to Wiheim was very comfortable. There was no need to ride a carriage or sleep outdoors. Instead, because the speed was slower than when Ena moved alone, they needed to stop at inns in villages along the way to spend the night.

Today was the second day. The second night since leaving the Academy. Asel rested his chin on the window of the lodging and looked outside.

Shupen, a village too small to be called a city, but continuing cheap tourism business based on a large lake.

Perhaps because of its reputation as a tourist destination, many people were walking around in a short distance. Sentries wearing chain mail armor could be seen here and there, and merchants were continuing their solicitation with stalls set up.

Perhaps because it was a room secured at an expensive price, the entire village could be clearly seen from inside the room. Asel gazed quietly at the night sky reflected in the lake with a faint smile. He quite liked environments where he could quietly immerse himself in appreciation like this.

“I’m done bathing.”

As he was doing this, Ena came out of the bathroom, shaking her hair. She put on the shirt and pants she had roughly folded earlier and removed all the moisture from her body with magic. Then she approached Asel’s side and poked her head out the window.

“What were you looking at?”
“I was looking at the constellations reflected in the lake.”
“Do you like constellations?”
“Yes. I quite like them. I sometimes look at them alone.”
“Hmm… Is that so?”

Ena mumbled as she chewed her lips, then sat right next to Asel.

“Then will you teach me too? About the constellations.”
“Would that be alright?”
“Yeah. If my disciple likes it, I should take an interest too.”

Asel laughed out loud at Ena’s words and pointed to the sky with his finger. He wasn’t an expert on constellations either, so he didn’t know much, but he could explain simply to some extent. What the name of the brightest star was, and which constellation shone brightest at this time of year. Asel smiled as he told Ena in a low voice from beside her.

As the explanation was coming to an end, Ena carefully opened her mouth.

“Hey… Asel.”
“Yes?”
“Since it’s come to this, shall we go look together outside?”
“Uh… Isn’t it a bit late for that? We should go to sleep soon if we want to arrive early tomorrow.”

The current time was 11 PM. To arrive in Wiheim before tomorrow evening, they needed to go to bed at least before midnight. Ena wouldn’t be unaware of this fact. Asel thought to himself why she had made such a suggestion.

“…Is that so?”

A slightly disappointed look mixed into Ena’s expression. Asel found the answer in that expression.

The New Year’s festival they had looked around together in Wiheim. It seemed that memory had remained as a good recollection. So when they could move around without any worries like now, she wanted to act together.

It was what Asel wanted too. Getting to Wiheim quickly was good of course, but memories with Ena were more important than that. Unless she had urgent business in Wiheim, there was no need to hurry. Thinking this, Asel grabbed Ena’s hand as she was about to get up from her seat.

“Asel?”

She turned her head and looked at Asel’s face. Asel grinned and held her hand as he stood up.

“But personally, I’d like to walk with you today even if we’re a little late. If it’s alright with you, I’d like to look around the lake together, is that okay?”
“…You noticed.”
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know.”

Ena smiled bitterly and snapped her fingers with the hand not holding Asel’s. Two robes hanging on the coat rack landed precisely on her and Asel’s shoulders. At the same time, Ena opened the already open window wider and threw herself towards where the lake was.

Crackle!!

Ena’s body became a streak of lightning cutting through the night sky. As they were holding hands, Asel moved with her. The two smiled at each other as they instantly reached the front of the lake.

The lake at night is off-limits to outsiders. Thanks to this, only the two of them were at the lake.

The lake surface full of moonlight and starlight became a painting in itself. The cloudless night sky illuminated the ground, and creatures in the lake wriggled, creating ripples on the water’s surface. Asel and Ena slowly admired the scene as they walked on the lake. It wasn’t difficult to walk on water by placing a simple barrier under their feet to give it physical force.

The lake became brighter towards the center. As if standing under stage lighting, the moonlight brightly illuminated the very center of the lake. The two stood at that center and gazed at the sky reflected on the water’s surface.

“It’s beautiful.”

Ena murmured. Asel smiled and turned to look at her.

“Master, do you remember what you said last time?”
“…? Which one?”
“When I asked if there were any pretty lightning magic, didn’t you say there weren’t any so I should make one myself?”
“Ah, that. I remember. Why?”

Ena asked, tilting her head. Instead of answering, Asel brought his palm to the water’s surface and drew up magical power.

[Lightning Flower Resonance]

Crackle!!

Lightning blooming from Asel’s hand quickly raced in all directions. Instead of going down into the water, the lightning advanced right on the water’s surface and condensed in various places. Soon they transformed into shapes like small flowers. Ena’s eyes widened as she saw this.

“This is…”
“It’s still not practical, and at most it’s just magic that creates flowers of lightning that electrocute when touched. It takes a long time to cast, and it’s lacking in many ways for use in combat. But still…”

Asel trailed off and looked around.

The bloomed flowers continuously scatter electric currents while rotating. When they meet other flowers, they shine brighter and disappear. Like flower petals scattering, electric currents race through the air, dyeing the entire lake in a bright blue light. Asel stood at the center of it all, looked at Ena, and grinned.

“Isn’t it nice to look at?”
“…It is.”

Ena murmured and picked up one of the rotating flowers right below. Perhaps because she was a lightning mage too, far from electrocuting her, Ena continued speaking as she watched the slowly blooming flower.

“It’s beautiful. Incredibly so.”

Ena said with a grin. Asel smiled back and looked at the lightning flowers floating on the water.

Time passed like that, and when the two returned to their lodging, it was already after sunrise.