The person before her was indeed beautiful, but a faint, dangerous aura seemed to emanate from her. It was as if her voluptuous figure was merely a poisonous bottle, enticing others to approach.
No need for “as if.” This woman was indeed poisonous from head to toe.
The person who knew this fact was probably only Erika herself in this entire school.
Hoping she wouldn’t be poisoned to silence her, the young woman sat down in the chair opposite her. “I seem to have overexerted myself with magic these past few days. I’m feeling dizzy and lightheaded, and I just had a nosebleed.”
“That is a classic symptom of mana depletion. Please sit here. I’ll give you an injection and you’ll be fine.”
The female doctor rolled up the young woman’s sleeve and gently wiped the snow-white, jade-like arm with an alcohol swab.
An injection… that’s going to hurt, isn’t it?
This body seemed abnormally sensitive to pain, so she really disliked things like injections.
Is this a Half-Elf trait? Afraid of injections? What kind of nonsense is this!
[Calmly assessing the situation! Gained experience through the talent ‘Calm Thinking.’ All Job Experience Points +5]
Erika was learning more and more about the Half-Elf race these days, and always from strange angles…
What a detestable race that hasn’t evolved a single trait suitable for survival!
“Swish, ah swish.”
To stop herself from dwelling on her bloodline, the young woman spoke to the doctor who was applying the alcohol.
“Miss Carola, I didn’t expect you to really get a job here.”
“Wasn’t this your request, Miss Erika? To infiltrate the Ark safely and without error.”
“That’s true, but I never imagined you’d get a position in the central building, with such an impressive office all to yourself.”
Erika raised an eyebrow, surprised by the infiltration skills of Carola, the daughter of the fallen Baron Suger’s family. She had originally thought she was just an assassin skilled in poison, but she had a talent for espionage too?
For various reasons, Erika had chosen to hire her—or rather, cooperate with her—and had inserted her into the Ark organization as a precaution.
But the fact that it went so smoothly was actually surprising. The young woman even thought of the ‘Entrustment Deity’ from her past life—the kind of person who, once they accepted a request, could even solve the Riemann hypothesis if the client asked.
Couldn’t that be called a conceptual god? Though Carola wasn’t that exaggerated yet.
Sss— Liquid squirted from the tip of the syringe in Carola’s hand. “There was originally someone troublesome in the way, but he suddenly fell ill and needed to rest for a while.”
“Was that your doing?”
“Who knows?”
A truly frightening answer.
“Is the job going well?”
“I’m quite satisfied with this job. Although many of the faculty have been making eyes at me, I’m used to that sort of thing by now.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“And I was quite surprised. I didn’t expect you to have planted other people as staff besides me. Like that Ogre. Miss Erika, you are truly far-sighted.”
“The more trump cards, the better.”
“Besides that Ogre and me, how many of your people are in this Ark?”
Asking that was pointless. Now, only the poor, foolish secretary, Xierxier Xiernuoyi, remained.
Gorigo had already been exposed to the public eye. It was only a matter of time for Xierxier. In the end, only the secretly planted Carola would remain useful as a spy.
But it was better to keep such information appropriately vague.
“If it weren’t for that Troll brother, Miss Carola might have had to make an appearance as my knight and clash with that barbarian.”
“That would have been wonderful. I would have been delighted to protect Princess Erika.” She giggled and suddenly inserted the needle into a small vein in the arm.
“Mmph!”
For a moment, Erika suspected Carola might be trying to poison her. But she had no proof.
“How is your younger brother doing?”
“Hmm, thanks to you. He said he suddenly received a large sum of money and was quite startled by it… He even enrolled in the Academy this year.”
“Really? What is he specializing in?”
“I’m not sure about that. Because you advised minimizing contact, just like between you and me.”
“I see… Well, then, for the next while, please do your best in your role as the health teacher. If any important information comes from over there, please inform me immediately.”
“Important information meaning?”
“As always, rumors about the Crossbow Hero, or the greatsword-wielding barbarian female warrior, or the warhammer-wielding Priest, and such.”
These characteristics corresponded to the members of the original novel’s protagonist party. As the original novel’s “Demoness,” she naturally had to remain constantly vigilant about their information. Because those guys were like giant magnets specifically attracted to FLAGs—super, super dangerous!
“Understood. But your reaction is surprisingly calm?”
“Probably because death is like the wind, always by my side. I’ve gotten somewhat used to it.”
“No, I mean you seem different from the rumors. It’s said that Mistress Erika is of peerless beauty but also fond of beauty, especially female beauty. I consider myself not lacking in charm.”
It was only then that Erika noticed Carola’s “safety airbags” were rubbing against her shoulder. She had thought she was just getting close for the injection, but now it seemed intentional.
Slander! Pure slander!
Who on earth was spreading rumors that she liked girls?
Though it was true she liked beautiful girls…
“If Mistress Erika prefers to be the passive one, then I suppose this attempt of mine was a failure?”
Clearly, Carola was sexually harassing her. This woman.
“If you encounter any difficulties, feel free to come find me anytime. After all, I’m the health teacher now.” Carola’s hand holding the syringe moved up and down slightly. It was hard to tell whether there was more seductiveness or aggression in her eyes. “I definitely know more than Mistress Erika about how to make a girl feel comfortable. If it’s you, Erika, I can even play the role of the Prince~”
Erika clearly recognized this was a big sister who could masterfully adapt to any demeanor! From her heavily applied red lips flowed gentle, coquettish, teasing words.
Erika was still a bit unable to handle being teased by girls, so she had no idea how to react.
Is gender unimportant as long as they’re cute? Why are all the girls around me so terrifying?!
If it were the original, unashamedly charming, crowd-enchanting Jin Erika, she would probably be very adept at handling others’ teasing, right? But this current Erika only felt that saying the wrong thing would make the atmosphere incredibly awkward.
“Your ears have turned red. Ear congestion is a characteristic of the Elf race. Half-Elves are probably similar.”
“Mmph… Anyway, I’ll be back again… I hope you’ll continue to fulfill your duties properly by then.”
Erika rose from the chair with great discomfort. She had the distinct feeling her skirt had gotten shorter after standing up, so she subtly tugged the hem down a bit more before hastily leaving the place.
With girls her own age like Emil and Vivian, Erika could probably manage. But with an experienced older woman like Miss Carola, she couldn’t find any topics. The Saintess Gahlia was the same.
Oh? Come to think of it, Professor Kotifen Polbeck also counts as an older woman.
Sighing about how scary older women were, Erika walked into the building’s corridor, only to see a crowd gathered, noisily discussing something.
“My poor parrot has been caught! Someone help!”
“Is that a Blue Falcon? They’re famously fierce and vicious birds…”
Pushing through the crowd of worried-looking people, Erika saw a Blue Falcon tightly gripping a tree trunk with one claw, while its other claw pinned something down on a branch. Many feathers were scattered around.
Its body was about the size of a seven or eight-year-old child’s torso. The imposing spread of its wings looked like it could easily carry off a fox. In terms of features, its beak was shorter than a vulture’s, closer to that of an eagle.
This electrolyte-drink-blue big eagle… wasn’t it Professor Polbeck’s pet? Its name was something like Witty.
“Someone save my parrot! That eagle definitely wants to eat it!”
Now the young woman noticed what the blue-green raptor had pinned down was a parrot.
“Bad bird! Bad bird! Witty! Not a good bird! Gurk!”
Right now, it looked exactly like Professor Kotifen was letting her bird commit violence. Eh, so where is Kotifen herself?
She vaguely remembered Polbeck asking Xierxier something about whether she had fed the pet on time and where it was… Perhaps Witty, starved by the foolish Succubus caretaker, had decided to take matters into its own claws for a bountiful harvest.
Full responsibility lies with Xierxier! But why wasn’t she surprised at all?
Suddenly, the young woman grew curious. How much effect would the magic she possessed, ‘Halcyon Roost,’ have on birds other than pigeons? For example, could she control this exceptionally fierce-looking Blue Falcon before her?
Perhaps she could use this side quest to establish a closer connection with Professor Polbeck…
The young woman with flowing black-purple hair slowly extended a slender, jade-white finger, pointing at the blue raptor. From her rosy lips, she softly chanted the incantation.
“Halcyon Roost—”
Hiss.
In that instant, the crowd, who had already fallen silent upon clearly seeing her face, was shocked once more. The young woman’s body seemed enveloped in emerald green specks of light. Her long hair drifted as if with the breath of life itself. Those gorgeous crimson eyes shimmered with an affinity.
But Erika, who appeared like a goddess in others’ eyes, was not faring well. The moment the incantation took effect in the unseen, she felt a powerful surge of mana rush out and drain from her body. The energy she had just recovered through the injection was once again depleted.
The scent of blood returned to her nostrils. Her vision began to double and spin…
[Seeking that primordial mystery! Second Stage Achieved!]
[Job: Mage level increased. Mage Lv.3 -> Lv.4]
[You are now closer to the world’s primordial mysteries and laws.]
Witty’s claw released the parrot’s neck it had been tightly pinning, as if in disgust. Then, flapping its huge wings, it landed on the small forearm the young woman had extended.
“Kweee-ee-ee! Kweee-ee-ee!”
Is that how eagles sound? How strange.