Leave a comment

It’s been a while since I’ve been in front of students as an instructor. It’s not like teaching has ever been my passion or calling, so I’ve never been proactive to teach, but somehow seeing all these students who made it to their final year fills me with pride all the same.

We’re not in a classroom this time though, but at the entrance of the Valhen Woods, where they’ll be training out in the wild for two nights and three days. Originally a different teacher was supposed to accompany them, but they were unable to come so I was asked to stand in for them.

My group consists of six students, half girls and half boys. They were also there when I taught mana materialization in their first year, so I remember their faces, even if I never really got close to them. Also, Olivia really wanted to switch into this group when she heard I’d be in charge, but Damuel ignored her request.

Damuel checks through the lined up students, before addressing them for one last check and to officially start the field trip.

“Classroom A’s field trip will commence now then. Just let me reiterate that even as magicians, we require some knowledge of how to camp out in the wild. Only a minority of all magicians are able to make a living purely by researching and practicing magic after all.”

Ignralowe’s Magic Academy had a lot of prestige throughout the country, so graduates usually end up being hired by nobles or the state. Even when searching for work elsewhere, having studied here would be a great asset to increase their chances of getting hired.

But that would likely not be enough for them to live properly in current society. If they were employed by the army, they would have to fight in wars and know how to march into enemy territory, and training out in the field like this will definitely help. As researchers, there would be times when they would need to enter dangerous locations to conduct more specific investigations, so they would need to know how to survive in such places. There’s also students who just want to be adventurers like Olivia, and they stand to gain the most out of this field trip.

They’re all in their last year before graduating, so it’s best for them to gain this type of experience now.

The other classrooms will also go on trips after we return, but they aren’t short on teachers there, so I won’t be going with them.

“Now, while you’re out there, you can freely use staves, accessories, and magic devices, or at least the ones provided by the academy. Use everything you’ve been taught in the last three years to the best of your abilities.”

A staff might seem like the staple equipment of a magician, but students are prohibited from using them unless given explicit permission from a teacher. That was to let students develop their abilities properly without needing a staff as a crutch, and to stop accidents from happening.

Also, as a bit of an aside, I actually tried using a staff before, wondering if that could help my magic get better, but there was no change at all. That’s fine though, I have my guns.

“Also, you’ll be in charge of procuring your own food. The Academy will provide salt and other spices, but you’ll have to hunt or forage the actual ingredients. By now you should know which monsters and plants are edible from your lessons, so be careful you don’t eat anything poisonous.”

I guess they taught stuff like that before. I also learned a lot of that from Ophelia when she was alive, so I shouldn’t have much issue identifying common items, and I’ve been to the Valhen Woods before so I’m not too worried either.

“The teachers assigned to your groups won’t intervene in how you prepare your food unless necessary. You’ll have to cook on your own.”

Some of the students from the dorm were jealous of my group, but it’s not like I’ll be preparing any food for my group while knowing that rule. I’ll obviously stop them if they start using poisonous ingredients, but I won’t interfere in how they season or cook their food. Failure is also a valuable part of learning after all.

But I’m worried about Olivia the most. It’s impossible not to be worried about her birthing another eldritch horror like the stew from last time.

I can only pray there’s no casualties in her group.

Also, Ruri will be watching over Clarissa while we’re away. She might like messing around all the time, but I think she’s still responsible so it should be okay.

‘You can count on me! I’ll make sure to groom her properly so she’ll never embarrass you no matter the situation!’

…She’ll be fine, right?

Huh?

Wait, somehow I’m starting to doubt myself, but I’m too far to do anything…I’m a bit scared now.

Finally it’s time to depart.

I guide my group into the forest. I’ve been here before so I’m pretty familiar with the area, but since I also have to make sure the students are safe, I remain more watchful than usual.

The students aren’t as used to walking as me, so I have to slow down so as to not get too far ahead, and always check that they’re all doing well. I also have to remain focused on the surroundings.

I’m not the best at sensing enemies nearby, though it’s gotten better after I became aware of the flow of magic recently. For now it feels like I’m worrying too much, everything is going almost disappointingly smoothly

There were a few monsters in our path every so often, but the students quickly took care of them, and not even evolved monsters like High Orcs stood a chance. The students knew not to become complacent on their barriers when the monsters attacked, properly dodging as well, and they made sure to switch positions after launching spells.

Last year during the festival, Otis had mentioned how unskilled magicians would remain rooted on one spot and become sitting ducks, but I guess that doesn’t apply to these students. I asked them a little about that, and they told me that in classroom A, it’s common knowledge that if someone stands still, Olivia will punch them in the face. Olivia loves using physical attacks, and they’re her classmates who probably got to spar with her before, so that makes sense.

“Well, as soon as the rules allow someone to use non-spell attacks it’s instantly Olivia’s victory, except maybe for Mathias. She runs too fast to be able to get away…”

Hearing that, all the other students looked down. Oh well, I guess she defeated all of them already.

“Wait, Olivia, what are you doing?”

I’m helping with lunch preparations when suddenly Damuel stops the knife in my hand.

“Umm…isn’t it dangerous to hold a moving knife like that?”
“Yes, but you’re even more dangerous right now. Are you planning on using those to cook?”
“Yes, I thought I’d chop them up and throw them into the soup.”

Damuel is pointing at the small red fruits I collected from the trees nearby. They smell like flowers and have a slightly tart flavor, so I thought they’d go along nicely with the soup we’re making. I found some earlier and picked them for that.

“You know these are Juva fruits, right?”
“Juva fruits?!”
“Olivia, throw those away please.”

Everyone reacted as soon as Damuel said that. Are they really that bad?

“The toxins from Juva fruits are so potent they can put a grown man in bed for more than a month. Don’t cook with them.”
“Huh? But I’ve always eaten them and I’ve been fine?”
“So even Olivia’s stomach is stupid strong…”
“I’m actually worried that this somehow doesn’t surprise me.”

Last time I went home for vacation I picked them up from the forest as snacks and ate them all the time, and I never got sick. Also, why is everyone so mean?

“Olivia, are you using some nullifying magic or accessory?”

After thinking for a bit, Damuel asks me that.

Nullifying…ah!

“If a poison resistance ring counts, then I’m wearing one.”

Saying that, I pull out the ring from my chest, where it’s hanging off a small chain like a necklace.

“That would do it. I guess the Juva fruits never had any effect because you were wearing that. Considering how powerful it is, it might even be altering your sense of taste.”

According to Damuel, this ring nullifies all toxins, and even dulls the taste of poison. So as long as I’m wearing the ring, I won’t notice any of the tastes particular to poison, since I don’t have to worry about that.

And I noticed that right away. I always thought Juva fruits were just a little sour, but they actually have a sickish sweetness to them. I guess that sweetness is the poison.

This also means that while I’m wearing this I can’t properly cook for others though, unless I want to risk serving them poison. I guess it’s best if I take the ring off when I cook.

So I take the ring-necklace off and go back to cook.

Everyone helps me check all the ingredients I gathered to make sure they’re edible, so everything should be alright now. Time to cook then!

“Ew, where did this come from?!”

But soon after, I hear one of the male students say that, so I stop and listen.

“This meat looks off.” He’s pointing at some of the meat we already cut. But while it all looked like freshly cut meat, some pieces have weird purple splotches all over them.

“Huh? Is that mold?”
“I don’t think so, we just cut all of that.”
“That’s black pigeon meat and not some monster’s, right? I just cut mine and it looks normal.”
“This was cut by uhh…”

Everyone turns to look at me.

“Me?!”
“There’s no one else who could’ve done it, right?”
“What did you do this time?”
“We won’t get mad, so just be honest.”

I was just trying to cook, seriously. Why is this happening?!

“Let me see that.”

Damuel examines the meat, then my knife, cutting board, and lastly my hands.

“I see. This was certainly caused by Olivia. It seems her mana had an effect on the meat.”

Damuel explained what happened like this.

Usually there’s mana faintly flowing out of everyone, and that has no effect on the meat, but since I was focusing so hard, my mana also began to gain directionality, giving it alchemist properly and changing the meat near me. Usually alchemists are really careful when they do that, so the material gets properly arranged the way the alchemist wants, but in my case it happened by accident so it’s impossible to know what the meat turned into.

My bad control of mana ended up backfiring in the worst of times.

“You really should learn to properly manage your mana¹. You shouldn’t be relying on Instructor Natalia all the time.”
“Okay…”

In the end I got banned from participating in cooking, and I just had to watch from afar while everyone else prepared our meal.

1. Robinxen: Me to the oil companies that can’t manage their oil.