Chapter 1501: They’re Even After My Egg
Well... I did my best to follow the requirements by listening to the lesson through my Shadow Guard which didn’t really take much effort from me since I’ve done this plenty of times.
The other students were clearly struggling as their Shadow Summons would dematerialise the moment they lost focus or ran out of mana.
Even Katsuki couldn’t keep her Shadow Summon up the entire time and had to resummon it one more time after she took a moment to recover.
As for me... Well... I obviously didn’t have a problem keeping my Shadow Guard up throughout the entire lesson while listening to the lesson through her.
I actually think that out of all the lessons I’ve been to so far... This class might actually be the hardest for a normal student to learn in.
I mean... Even in the Electromancy class, if you were lucky enough and no lightning struck you, you wouldn’t even need to worry that much.
But here, you have to keep your Shadow Summon up all the time or else you won’t be able to listen to class.
I didn’t get to experience it since I managed to keep my ’Shadow Summon’ materialised the entire time but Katsuki told me later that there was an effect in the class where you could only hear what the teacher was saying through the Shadow Summons.
Without the Shadow Summons, you wouldn’t be able to hear her words at all.
That was kind of interesting... I didn’t even know you could do such a thing.
Does that mean I could have private conversations with Katsuki through my Shadow Guards and her Shadow Summon?
Guess that’s something to think about next time.
When class ended, Professor Evangeline came up to me with a sweet smile on her face, "Aster~ This is really impressive! Do you mind if I share this with the Director Vesper? She’s the Chair of Umbramancy."
I hesitated, wondering if it would be a good idea for more people to know about this.
She seemed to recognise my hesitation and quickly added, "Of course, if you are uncomfortable with it, I won’t do that. But if I am not wrong, you are the special case student this year, right?"
I blinked at her, "Special case student? Do you mean Special Class student?"
"No, no. I heard that we had a student this year that many of the Head of Departments wanted to personally mentor and is currently apprenticing under our Grand Chancellor. That is you, right?"
I nodded, ignoring the stares coming from the other students wondering why the Professor seemed to have a vested interest in me.
The professor’s smile widened, "Ah~ Then in that case... If you don’t mind, I actually think it would be better if you were to study under Director Vesper instead. She is way more experienced than I am in Umbramancy and I believe you can learn better under her than under me. After all... You didn’t even struggle to maintain your Shadow Summon, did you?"
I’m not even surprised she figured that out since I really wasn’t struggling at all.
It’s kind of hard for me to pretend I was struggling since I was really interested in the lesson the entire time and was just absorbed in what Professor Evangeline was teaching us.
I gave her a wry smile, "I guess I wasn’t... But... Would that be alright?"
"Of course. Though the choice still rests with you. If you would like to remain in this class, you may. But as a teacher, I highly recommend that you go with my suggestion instead because I believe you could learn much more with Director Vesper."
Hmm... I guess if I were to think about it another way... If I continue to use my Shadow Guard in class, my classmates would probably figure things out eventually so... It would probably be better if it’s just one person figuring out that I could summon Shadow Guards instead of my entire class.
I nodded at her, "I will consider it."
She clasped her hands together while giving me a giggle, "Fufufu~ That’s great, Aster! Once again, no need to feel pressured! You can just do whatever you feel is more comfortable for you! Do you want another cookie?"
"Yes," I answered her immediately.
She giggled again and pulled out the same bag that I saw earlier before reaching in to pull out a cookie, handing it to me.
I immediately inhaled it, enjoying the chocolaty taste of the cookie that melted in my mouth.
Professor Evangeline shot me a warm smile at the sight of me finishing the cookie before straightening herself, "Now. I suppose you two should be going for your next lesson~ It wouldn’t do well for you to be late~"
She then left the classroom, leaving me and Katsuki alone in the class as the other students had already left.
Katsuki looked up at me, "Will you be studying under the other teacher, Mistress?"
I nodded, "I think it would be a good idea. At least if my Shadow Guard thing was exposed... It would be exposed to a member of the faculty that I could control through Chancellor Vastraea instead of a student who might spread it around to other students."
She bowed her head, "There is no need to worry, Mistress. Should the latter happen, I will make sure that the information does not spread and the person in question is silenced."
That sounds pretty scary but... I’m not going to comment on that.
My next class was Kalomancy which was a skill I decided to pick up since I was expecting my egg to hatch while I was in the Academy.
Thus, I thought it would be a good idea to at least get a level in proficiency for this skill in case whatever is inside my egg hatches and I can at least bond with it to control it.
I think it would be terribly embarrassing if the creature in the egg hatches and I couldn’t even control it despite carrying it around for so long.
It’s even more important now since that would totally destroy my villain image and I wasn’t going to let that happen either.
I separated from Katsuki and went to the next classroom where my class was supposed to be held.
But just as I found the classroom for Introductory Kalomancy, a trio of girls suddenly cut in front of me, their crimson robes marking them as fourth year students.
The one in the middle titled her chin at me with her arms crossed, "So... You’re the one they call Aster?"
I was going to ask what she wanted when I felt another presence loom behind me, prompting me to turn and find myself face to face with what I could only describe to be a giant lion.
The lion was staring at me and growling softly, as though testing what my reaction to its presence would be.
The first girl’s voice came from behind me, "You’re here to learn Kalomancy, aren’t you? Because of that egg in your hands?"
I turned back to her, choosing to ignore the giant lion as I realised that this creature was probably a tamed creature belonging to one of those three girls that were currently blocking my way. Most likely instructed to try and intimidate me for some reason.
The reason became clear when the leader of those three girls continued, "Is that really supposed to be a dragon egg or are you just lying to everyone just to get attention?"
I narrowed my eyes at her, "Why does it matter to you? It’s none of your business, isn’t it?"
The two girls flanking their leader furrowed their brows at me, clearly unhappy that I was talking that way to their leader.
The lead girl tilted her chin even higher at me, "If it’s really a dragon egg, do you really think you are worthy enough to have it?"
"Yes," I answered her without hesitation.
Now it was her turn to narrow her eyes at me, the girl most likely not expecting me to give her that answer.
She then gestured to the lion behind me, "Are you really sure about that? You don’t even know how to care for a dragon, do you? The fact that you are in the Introductory Kalomancy class shows that you have no experience in dealing with creatures. Why don’t you just hand over the egg to me instead?"
Wow... She’s really just trying to take the egg from me like that huh? And here I thought that I might be a little shameless in walking around acting like I owned the place... I didn’t know that I was just a newbie when compared to people like her...
Which means I can actually be a bit more shameless too~
I scoffed at her, "You can keep dreaming then. The egg stays with me. It’s mine. Now can you three peasants get out of my way? You’re an eyesore."
There was a collective gasp coming from the students that had been close enough to hear it.
What? Are you guys going to tell me that these three are also noble heirs or something as well? Tough luck then.
Because I don’t care~