After class.
Though she appeared to go at her own pace, Iona was surprisingly strict in her role as a professor in front of the students.
Naturally, without the students eyes on her after school, she would show a more relaxed deanor.
Hoping she would reveal more of her weaknesses, I pressed down on my invisible robe.
Just to be safe, I also used a scent removal potion and silence magic.
Now that I couldnt blend into a crowd or pretend to be doing sothing else, I had to be extra careful to conceal myself.
With the mindset of facing a boss mob, I kept a certain distance and slowly followed Iona.
Hehe~ Hehehe~
Despite there being no one around to see, Iona humd to herself, walking with a spring in her step.
As she cheerfully stepped through the corridors, Iona occasionally exchanged nods or brief chats with other professors she encountered.
But there was one exception.
The mont she turned a corner, she ran into Jason, the professor in charge of the Knight Departnts first year Class A.
That balding middle-aged professor, whom I briefly saw during a previous dungeon practice, quickly fled upon encountering Iona.
Hadnt he ntioned being a forr student of Ionas? Originally from the Magic Departnt, he was a rare case who realized late that his true calling was in swordsmanship and transferred departnts.
Who would have thought that such a stern and serious professor would run away from Iona like that?
How much must he have suffered as a student?
Ha! Its a baldy harvest!
S-stop! If you pluck any more, Ill really beco bald!
He was still being tornted?!
Following Iona, who was wearing a more evil smile than any nomadic invader, I hurriedly ran after them.
Its okay! Its okay! Ill give you so hair loss treatnt! So, just give five strands of hair for this experint!
Even if I apply the hair loss treatnt you give, youll just pluck it out again when the ti cos! Im now an adult with a family! I wont tolerate this barbaric behavior any longer!
Hmmm, hmmm. This is the new hair loss treatnt product made in collaboration between Ella Magic Tower and Stein Workshop. Are you sure you dont need it?
Will five strands be enough?
At the ntion of a new hair loss treatnt, he spoke with a voice as ek as a lamb.
Iona, pulling out a fancy bottle from her spatial pocket, shook it towards Jason.
Kuhuk.
Jason, as if making a nation-saving decision, plucked his own hair with a spirit that seed ready to cry tears of blood.
Why are you taking so much of my hair? Dont you know that pulling it out like this during treatnt will completely ruin it?
Well, well. Anyway, it will fall out again in about a week, even if it grows back. Is the treatnt really working?
Keuk If only I had reached the expert level before my hair started falling out
Jasons gloomy voice allowed to grasp the situation sowhat.
It was true that there was hair loss treatnt on the Eurelia Continent.
Well it wasnt sothing that ended with just one application; it required multiple applications over a long ti.
Though the price of the hair loss treatnt was astronomical, it was still sowhere one could get treatnt.
Jasons case seed difficult, though.
The salary of an academy professor should sohow cover the cost of the dicine.
The problem was that he reached the level of an aura expert only after losing his hair.
An aura expert would begin to show the characteristics of a superhuman, one of which was imnse vitality.
You know, stories like fighting for hours with a heart stabbed, or surviving with a head-sized hole in the stomach.
Such feats were impossible for ordinary people but were actually possible for expert-level knights who awakened their bodies and maximized their vitality.
After becoming an expert, aging would slow down significantly for this reason.
However, there was a big problem the body would consider its state at the mont of reaching the expert level as normal.
So, in cases like Jasons, the body considered the bald state normal.
No matter how much hair loss treatnt was applied, the body, considering hair growth as abnormal, resisted the treatnt on its own.
So, that was why he subtly refused when I offered him the hair loss treatnt I bought from the auction, asking him to teach so swordsmanship.
No wonder an average hair loss treatnt couldnt break down Jasons own resistance.
If only he had treated his baldness before becoming an expert.
Probably back then, he couldnt afford the cost of the hair loss treatnt, or he had suddenly reached the realm of experts through a sudden enlightennt.
For Jason to treat his baldness now, he would either need to use a newly developed powerful dicine, receive direct treatnt from a Grand Magician, or achieve a transformation by becoming a Sword Master himself.
The latter two were virtually impossible. The only remaining option was a more powerful hair loss treatnt.
The mont Iona pulled out the new dicine, the outco of this chase was as good as decided.
Poor thing
Sending a sympathetic glance to Professor Jason was only a brief mont.
I refocused my attention on Jasons question after collecting my emotions.
Sigh fine. But what exactly are you using my precious hair for? Ive heard you were researching tracking magic, but.
Huh? Oh? Didnt I tell you? Its not just simple tracking magic, but magic that can track using even the remnants of a body!
To be able to track with just remnants of the body Is that even possible? The mont its separated, it becos a different tissue with no connection to the original body.
Hmph! Hmph! I wont tell anything to a runaway student!
Werent you the one who said that Im more suited for swordsmanship than magic, Professor Iona?!
Jason jumped up in disbelief.
Was it Ionas suggestion that made him change his major? Whether it was magic or swordsmanship, it seed his mindset was just to defeat his social enemies.
Despite Iona grumbling at her forr student for a while, she smirked and nodded as if it were all in jest.
Im almost there. And dont feel too bad. Im using the hair of other professors as experintal material as well, not just yours!
Thats a relief No, wait, theres a difference in the amount of hair between and the other professors!
Thinking about it made Jason, who seed furious, vent his anger but soon sighed and asked with a calr voice.
Are you still looking for it?
Iona just smiled without answering, causing Jason to click his tongue softly.
Tch. I told you to moderate it.
Of course, Iona dismissed Jasons words while occasionally striking odd poses.
I dont listen to those weaker than !
Perhaps it was because his hair was plucked, but for so reason, Jason seed to have aged several years in just this short ti.
Sigh Right. Youll manage sohow. Anyway, Im heading ho. These days, my daughter and wife have been cooking dinner together, and I feel bad if Im late.
Yep, family is precious. Take care!
Jason trudged off on his way, and Iona waved her arms vigorously in farewell.
After parting with Jason, Iona encountered no one else and headed straight to her laboratory.
Following her into the laboratory would surely get caught, right?
Just when I thought todays pursuit was over, and I was about to retreat with a sense of regret
Thunk.
Oh dear
With a sound sowhere between a groan and a sigh, Iona ca out of the laboratory.
Seemingly having forgotten sothing, she hurried back the way she ca.
Naturally, as she was heading back my way, I quickly hid under the nearby stairs.
Soon, Ionas footsteps faded away.
The lab door. Was it unlocked?
Peeking out cautiously, I saw only Ionas receding figure in the distance, with no one else around.
Was this an opportunity?
I was curious about sothing Iona was preparing, as ntioned in her conversation with Jason.
In H&A, Iona was just a significant supporting character, nothing more or less.
She couldnt be controlled directly, didnt appear in battles, and wasnt deeply involved in the story.
Of course, there were plenty of dialogue scripts and illustrations since she appeared often.
And it was possible to obtain docunt items by guessing Ionas past from various places.
Yet, Iona remained one of the unattainable NPCs.
My reason for following her like this was because the information available in H&A was limited.
But now, an opportunity to sneak a peek into Ionas laboratory has arisen?
I couldnt resist this.
Any fan of H&A would want to check it out, regardless of the consequences.
After looking around one more ti and ensuring it was safe, I cautiously opened the door to the laboratory.
Creak.
The door slid open with a slightly annoying noise.
Thanks to the lights left on, I could take in the whole scene of the laboratory at a glance.
Unidentifiable experintal tools. A large desk. Piles of books on it.
And lastly, a portrait of Iona in the center of the wall, asserting its presence.
Oh my.
Who would hang such a large portrait of themselves?
It felt as if I were hearing a phantom voice announcing, Iona has arrived! from the portrait.
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