Chapter 565

Once the ice was broken, the other students seemed to relax a bit and started asking various questions about the lecture content.

Since they weren’t pointless questions like before, I answered them sincerely.

“How should we deal with multiple fairies?”

“If it’s a one-versus-many situation, retreating is recommended… but escaping from archers isn’t easy. Instead, fight defensively at close range and look for counterattack opportunities. The key is to maintain a distance where if they fire a Spirit Arrow, other fairies might get caught in the crossfire.”

Of course, that’s easier said than done. Engaging in close combat against three opponents faster than you is like carving your nerves with a knife—it’s insane.

“While they might hold back on Spirit Arrows for a while, knowing their temperament, if the battle drags on, they’ll start firing recklessly, even if it means hitting their own allies. Use that to your advantage and let them destroy themselves with friendly fire.”

It’s a dangerous gamble where one misjudgment could lead to death… but when outnumbered by fairies, it’s the only way to survive.

“Of course, the chance of dying is overwhelmingly higher than winning, so avoiding such a situation is the best option. Don’t forget, human strength lies in numbers. Next question?”

“It seems hard to close the distance against fairies who fight from afar… Is there any good method?”

Good question.

Archers are all the same—cowards who stay far away and rain down one-sided attacks. Without a way to quickly close the distance, you’ll just keep taking damage for a while.

“Hmm… There’s a way to buy about five seconds. As soon as you encounter fairies, loudly announce your name. Make sure they hear it clearly. Then, they’ll start introducing their ridiculously long names instead of attacking. It’s an Alvheim tradition, apparently.”

Once the battle starts, they don’t need to announce their names, but before it begins, they must declare their names. That’s one of their traditions.

Originally, it was a tradition to declare the Judge’s name before delivering the World Tree’s judgment to inferior races, but now that the fairies’ power has significantly declined, the meaning has faded, leaving only an irrational formality.

Anyway, humans would ignore traditions that put them at a disadvantage, but fairies are different.

Fairies, being a race that lives for a thousand years, are obsessed with traditions. Anyone who breaks them is deemed unworthy of serving the World Tree and becomes the target of cruel social lynching.

I don’t know exactly what kind of torment they endure since even Ferne didn’t tell me, but no fairy subjected to such lynching has lasted more than five years. You can imagine how brutal it is.

Fairies, who have hundreds of years left to live, choose suicide over enduring it.

“So, while they’re reciting their names, close the distance as much as possible. Got it?”

The student who asked looked skeptical, but since I only heard this from Ferne, I couldn’t offer more.

—

That day’s lecture ended there. I gave them an assignment due tomorrow and wrapped up.

“Form groups of five with your friends and come up with a strategy to deal with fairies. That’s all.”

I originally considered making it an individual assignment, but I remembered a former university professor who once told me that assignments should always be group-based, so I changed it.

Students apparently love working on assignments with friends.

“Ah.”

As soon as I finished speaking, Freide’s dumbfounded expression was quite a sight.

How many friends does Freide have among the attendees? Probably not even four, but maybe one or two.

I chuckled at Freide, put down the chalk, and left the classroom.

—

I thought my pay might be docked for breaking the chalkboard, but surprisingly, the academy didn’t complain.

The broken chalkboard and damaged podium were cleared away by staff, and a new chalkboard was installed in no time.

It was thicker than before, with iron frames around the edges, as if subtly asking me not to break it again.

“Of course. The chalkboard you broke while demonstrating an incomprehensible technique is now a commemorative exhibit for the academy. They’re probably grateful.”

“Huh? An exhibit? They didn’t just throw it away?”

“Throw it away? No way. They’ll preserve it as is and display it like a statue. A relic touched by the Empire’s Greatest Sword? That’s something you can’t buy even with a fortune.”

…I hadn’t thought of that.

According to Leonor, the chalkboard I broke would be displayed somewhere in the academy’s main building as a cultural artifact—along with the fairy drawing I made.

Good grief.

“…If I ask them to destroy it, will they?”

“Hmm… If you request it, they might reluctantly destroy it while shedding tears, but I’d probably lie and say it’s already destroyed, then hide it. Such an item would still hold value decades later. If you really want to destroy it, wait until it’s displayed and then demand its destruction in front of you.”

Would that work? It’s a bit of a hassle, but at least I could destroy it somehow.

Just as I was about to sigh in relief at avoiding my drawing becoming a cultural artifact for generations…

“Unfortunately, that won’t work. I’ve already claimed ownership of that chalkboard in the name of the Ducal House.”

Freide, lounging on the sofa, leaned her head on the armrest and smirked at me.

“…What?”

“Figured you’d throw a fit trying to destroy it, so I made the first move. That chalkboard is no longer academy property—it’s a Pailoon Ducal House artifact on loan for display. You’ll need our family’s permission to destroy it. And of course, I’m not giving it.”

Freide tilted her head back over the armrest, grinning upside down. She looked like a mischievous kid who’d found a lifelong prank target.

“Why would you…?”

“To see your face right now? Consider it payback for giving me an impossibly hard assignment and laughing about it.”

…Bragging about struggling to form a group of five isn’t exactly a flex.

Anyway, with Freide pulling this, my only options were to forcibly destroy the damn chalkboard or endure it being preserved forever.

“…Where’s that chalkboard now?”

“You think I’d tell you? Freide van Pailoon, daughter of the Pailoon Ducal House, swears that not even death will make me reveal it!”

Freide declared in a playful tone that she had no intention of telling me.

It sounded like a joke, but since she invoked her family name, she probably meant it. She’s really serious about messing with me…

If Freide’s this determined, I’m out of options. I can’t exactly dismember a friend over a chalkboard. Guess I’ll have to let it go.

“Sigh…”

I blew cigarette smoke in her face and plopped down on the edge of the sofa.

“Cough, cough! Hack…!”

Freide, choking on the smoke, coughed violently, tears welling in her eyes from the direct hit of the potent smoke.

“Hey! Don’t blow magical cigarette smoke in people’s faces!”

“Be glad I didn’t burn your forehead.”

I pushed Freide, who was squirming behind me, deep into the sofa with both hands and shook my head.

Overwhelmed by the difference in strength, Freide sank into the sofa like a diver into the deep sea, only her legs flailing pathetically from the gaps.

Serves you right.

—

After struggling amidst the cotton and fur leather, Freide finally regained her freedom by completely wrecking the sofa.

“By the way, what are you doing here instead of working on your assignment?”

I moved to the opposite sofa, finished my cigarette, and asked Freide, who was glaring at me with her hair a mess.

“Assignment?”

“Yeah. It’ll take time to find angelic people willing to team up with you and devise a strategy against fairies.”

It was a natural question, but Freide just chuckled.

“Not doing it.”

“What?”

Her brazen attitude left me speechless.

“It’s not a graded course, and even if it were, I’ve already met all graduation requirements. I could storm the administrative office right now and demand my diploma, and no one would bat an eye.”

Freide brushed the cotton off her hair and smiled confidently.

“So, what exactly can you do if I ignore this assignment? Huh? Professor Hasalleur.”

So… she’s saying she has nothing to lose by ditching the assignment, so why bother? Didn’t see that coming.

I tapped the cigarette ash into the ashtray and tossed Freide, who kept poking my shoulder and asking what I could do, to the side.

“Eek?!”

Being a master, she managed to right herself mid-air and land safely, but still.

“…What can I do? Well, let’s think about it.”

Next lecture topic: Beastmen. Look forward to it.