Despite the students' groaning, Rudger showed no rcy.
Although there weren't any textbooks yet, Rudger had already prepared separate class materials in anticipation of this.
"Assistant Sedina."
Two people responded to that call.
One was Sedina Roschen, who was waiting outside the door.
The other was Julia Plumhart, sitting in her seat with a languid expression.
Julia, with slightly dilated pupils, stared at the small-frad girl who was bringing in a stack of docunts.
There had been no news during the break, but she heard from Rudger that she had gone to the Elven Forest.
Still, she must have returned before the second sester started.
Sedina's gaze, after delivering the materials, turned toward Julia.
Their eyes naturally t.
If it were the usual Sedina, she would have turned her head away here to avoid Julia's gaze but now was different, Sedina nodded toward Julia.
That nod implied they should et and talk later.
Julia almost curled up the corners of her mouth unconsciously but barely restrained herself, conscious of the surrounding gazes.
anwhile, Rudger's gaze swept across the entire classroom.
His gaze lingered particularly long on certain students: Aidan's group, Rene and Erendir, and Flora Lumos.
Most of them had achieved magical accomplishnts during the break, rather than just playing around.
"It seems everyone had an enjoyable break."
No one denied that statent.
They had thoroughly enjoyed being temporarily free from the hell of assignnts and exams.
"Of course, there must be so who didn't waste their ti just playing. How you spend your given break ti isn't important. But now a new sester has started, and you need to readjust your mindset."
Break is break.
Now that it's over, if anyone tries to maintain a half-hearted attitude out of habit, they won't escape misfortune.
"Don't complain too much about having class from day one. Rather, it's barely enough ti to regain your early sester sense from now on. So I'll help you directly."
Rudger's words sounded less like advice and more like a prelude to upcoming hardships.
The students harbored complaints inside but couldn't express them.
They actually vaguely knew that the enjoyable break was now over and that they had to return to those days of attending classes.
"Why is everyone acting like that? Isn't attending class fun?"
"Shh. Aidan. Be quiet."
There was a minor incident where one oblivious student made an unnecessary comnt and was cautioned by his friend but since it was a common occurrence, it was quickly overlooked.
* * *
With the start of the new sester, students imdiately plunged into their busy daily routines.
Students who had been focused on studying before adapted quickly, but those who had only played around couldn't.
Students who had fallen into laziness continued their struggle with assignnts even when others were taking proper breaks.
The price of laziness was harsh.
Even students who had consistently studied ahead had to push themselves harder to avoid being caught up to.
The relaxed atmosphere that had just settled in after the break was nowhere to be found, and Theon once again burned hot with academic fervor.
It had regained its early-year appearance once more.
But there were students who weren't affected by such flows.
Julia Plumhart was one of them.
Befitting her position as the top student in first year, she handled even the tight class schedule with ease.
anwhile, she made ti to take a walk in the park established within the Theon grounds.
Of course, this wasn't just a walk to refresh her mood.
There was a definite destination at the end of the path she was walking.
"Sedina."
Julia called out to the girl sitting leaned against a large tree trunk.
The girl who had arrived first and was waiting turned her head to stare at Julia.
"...Julia."
"Hi. It's been a while."
"Yeah. It's been a while."
Though it was just a casual greeting, many anings were implied within it.
The two were silent for a while.
They had a lot to say, but once they t face to face, they were at a loss for where to begin.
Both Julia and Sedina fumbled awkwardly in the uncomfortable atmosphere.
Julia was the first to gather courage.
"I heard. They say you went back ho?"
"Ho? Ah, yes."
"Are you okay?"
She asked in a voice full of worry.
It would have been a shocking sight for students who usually found Julia intimidating.
Sedina naturally accepted such concern from Julia because Julia had always been that kind of friend.
"Yeah. I'm much better now. Though I'm not completely fine yet, that will gradually get better with ti too."
"What happened during that ti?"
"A lot happened. Too much to explain all at once right here."
"Is it sothing I shouldn't hear about?"
"That's not it. It just doesn't suit telling right now. I'll tell you later when there's a chance. Everything."
Sedina was different from before. She didn't say things like 'it has nothing to do with you' or 'you don't need to know.'
She had changed, and now decided to treat Julia with the mindset of being different.
Even now as she explained that she couldn't tell, Sedina's apologetic expression was evident.
Julia was satisfied with this huge developnt and nodded.
"Okay. I'll look forward to that ti."
"Rather, I'm curious about how you spent your ti, how was it?"
"I just spent it as usual."
"Only the teacher knows that I went to the forest, right? Did you et with the teacher during that ti too?"
"eting was by chance. But we did talk quite a bit. We both needed sothing from each other. As much as I was curious about the teacher, the teacher was curious about too."
"Teacher Rudger? That's hard to imagine."
"More precisely, not but our school of magic. You know well which school I belong to, right?"
"The Dream School. It's famous."
"Teacher Rudger seems to be interested in that. So he ca to visit our school."
She didn't talk about the depths of Dreamland.
Not only would it not be good to ntion, but the school had ordered silence about the series of incidents that had recently occurred in Dreamland.
"I see."
It was quite interesting news for Sedina, who had been curious about what Rudger had been doing and where while she was away.
Just then, a gentle breeze blew through, passing between them as if teasing.
Julia neatly arranged her side hair that was fluttering with her fingertips.
Glancing at Sedina, she was appreciating the garden scenery with a much more relieved expression.
Sedina murmured while reminiscing about the past.
"Sohow, this feels like we've gone back to the old days."
"The old days, huh..."
Julia nodded with a bitter smile.
When they were very young, the two often played separately like this.
It was during their immature childhood, when they were much purer than now.
They still rembered it clearly and vividly.
"Julia. I'm really sorry about everything until now."
Julia opened her eyes wide and then showed a faint smile.
It was a gentle smile, different from when she put up walls against people usually.
"You don't need to be sorry."
Sedina turned to Julia in surprise but Julia slightly avoided her gaze, seeming a bit shy.
"Between friends, we can have small fights sotis."
Sedina opened her eyes round, then soon broke into a soft laugh.
"Yeah! That's true."
Then another gust of wind blew in.
It was different from the breeze that had blown earlier.
Rather than gently embracing sothing, it rushed in as if trying to roughly blow things away.
What wafted from it was an inexplicable sense of anxiety.
Julia stared in the direction the wind had co from with a hardened expression.
She thought she had just felt a similar wavelength to what she had felt in Dreamland.
Looking around again, there was no trace of the anxiety.
"Julia? What's wrong?"
"...It's nothing. I must have misunderstood sothing montarily."
Julia brushed it off like that but the anxiety that strangely tickled her body stuck to her like humid moisture and wouldn't let go.
* * *
After the new sester started, ti flew by quickly.
Though the daily routine wasn't much different from the first sester, students had to spend their ti busily without a mont to spare because of that.
But perhaps because of the sweet break ti?
Occasionally there were students who didn't co to class even during lecture hours.
"Is Demian not here today?"
"Hmm. That's unexpected. I thought Charlotte was diligent. Maybe she's sick sowhere?"
"Please tell Jamie's friend not to be late with assignnt submissions."
One by one, empty seats appeared in the classroom.
Neither teachers nor students taking the sa classes found it strange.
It had been too much of a forced march until now, and it was still a ti when they could be imrsed in the lingering feelings of the break.
"Students these days seem too relaxed."
"That's right. In my class too, there were three absences today."
Selina and rilda brought up what had happened in today's classes while sharing a al together.
Since it was the first ti students had skipped classes, they seed troubled about how to handle it.
"Did they get relaxed because of the break?"
"How much must they look down on us to dare to be absent? This is a chance to teach them a sharp lesson."
"But there could be unavoidable circumstances..."
"Selina. You're too nice. That's why the kids rather look down on you. At tis like this, you need to be strict. Look at Teacher Rudger."
Rudger, who was cutting his steak, stopped and stared at rilda.
His gaze seed to ask why his na was coming up here.
"Since it ca up, let ask. Were there any absences in Teacher Rudger's class?"
"...No. There are no students who skip my class. At least not yet."
"See? If they don't want to die, of course they'll co."
Rudger glared at rilda with a slightly disgruntled gaze.
Don't want to die? Was she saying he would grab and kill students if they didn't co to class?
"If a student is absent, I first worry about them. You seem to think of as so military instructor, but isn't that going too far?"
"Ah, wasn't that the case?"
Selina beside them unconsciously asked that and then, belatedly realizing her mistake, quickly covered her mouth with both hands but it was already too late.
Rudger was rather hurt by that pure action.
"Co to think of it, there were absences in my class too."
At Bruno's slightly worried appearance, both rilda and Selina were very surprised.
"Don't students who take your class really love it?"
Although Bruno's steam golem lectures weren't hugely popular, they received extrely passionate praise from certain students.
Because it included both researching golems and the process of making them directly, it was a must-take class for students interested in magical engineering.
Thanks to this, Bruno's class boasted an amazing attendance rate, and the lectures themselves were famous for their heated atmosphere.
To have absences in Bruno’s class was a bit strange, considering that all the students taking the class were passionate.
Of course, Rudger didn't feel it much yet since there were no students skipping his class.
Looking at the reactions, it seed it wouldn't be strange even if one or two appeared in his class.
'Is it because they're first years? I wonder how other grade levels' classes are.'
Well, for now, he didn't plan to worry much even if soone skipped class as long as there was a valid reason.
On the way back to the faculty office after finishing the al, Rudger happened to et Chris coming from across the corridor.
"..."
"Rudger Chelici."
Their relationship was still subtle.
Rudger didn't pay much attention to Chris, but Chris held complicated feelings toward Rudger.
Soone who made him feel inferior, yet at the sa ti a skilled person he had to acknowledge as both a magician and teacher, also the person who knew best about the whereabouts of his love, Lady Bellaruna.
Because of this, Chris worried about how to approach Rudger.
"You look very busy."
Rudger was the one who broke the ice first.
Chris felt slightly grateful for that action and responded to those words.
"There are many kids playing hooky from classes recently. How is it on your end?"
"On my side..."
"Ah, no need to say it. I can guess. Of course, unless students are crazy, they wouldn't dare skip your class."
"..."
Rudger seriously pondered how severe his image and reputation were among the teachers.
"More than that, I have sothing I want to ask, can I et Lady Bellaruna again? There's been no response lately even when I contact her."
It seems Chris had been maintaining separate personal contact with Bellaruna but becoming this urgent was probably because Bellaruna had been away visiting the Forest of Life.
"She was probably busy recently visiting her hotown. She should have ti now, so it wouldn't be bad to try contacting her."
"How do you know that?"
"...Weren't you asking while knowing?"
At Chris's jealous gaze, Rudger imdiately added words as if making an excuse.
"Besides , Teacher Vierano knows too, so you could ask him."
"...Is that so? Thanks for telling ."
Chris passed by Rudger with a proper bow.
Is that how a man blinded by love changes?
While holding such thoughts, Rudger recalled Chris' words.
Co to think of it, he said there were students playing hooky?
'Even Chris Benimore is equally picky and sensitive so students wouldn't dare think of skipping class. It's a bit strange that there were absences.'
Returning to the faculty office, Rudger sat down.
Rudger, who was about to check materials for the next class, rang the assistant room's call bell for sothing he needed.
Usually, Sedina would have imdiately opened the door and co out here but even though he rang the call bell, Sedina didn't show herself.
'Did she step out for a mont?'
Rudger got up from his seat and entered the assistant room.
Inside, like last ti, it was still full of plants to the point of reminding one of a garden.
Rudger examined the condition of the plants and his pupils narrowed.
'There are no traces of watering.'
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