Chapter 390

390 A hint of teacher Maria’s past

Nick heard Vincent’s voice. He moved his gaze and heard him asking if Nick wanted to attend the magic class with him or if he wanted to take the rest of the day off.

Nick shook his head, slowly pulled his academy card, and said, “Vincent, you can go to the magic class without me. I can’t move because of my sore muscles.”

“Go Residence. ” Nick uttered the teleportation command.

Similarly, the other classmates used the command and teleported back to their island residence. After the light show ended, Vincent was the only student left of Class A.

[I don’t have a physical body, but I felt sore looking at them. I wonder how much in pain they are.]

-By a lot, it seems.-

Vincent shook his head to stop thinking about muscle soreness. He turned around and went to wait for Lilith and Clair. He hoped Jun Ye Rim would be with them.

However, Jun Ye Rim appeared alone forty-five minutes earlier while Vincent was still on the way. He missed her by a few minutes.

Later, Lilith and Clair appeared thirty minutes earlier than they expected. The sight of the Arrival Hall surprised them, but both soon saw Vincent waiting for them.

.....

After greeting the two of them, Vincent explained about the time difference teacher Maria didn’t thoroughly explain.

“We were shocked when we saw Nikolai on the ground not too long ago. So he teleported in fifteen minutes’ time because of this missing information. No wonder our classmates grumbled about how unlucky we are.” Lilith said.

Vincent didn’t want to imagine how everyone reacted when Nick suddenly appeared much earlier than expected and looked as if he was almost beaten to death.

Vincent signaled with his hand and asked the girls to follow him. With Kazumi’s help, he could never get lost.

Later, they arrived at their classroom, and as expected, only the classmates who had a team member in the morning physical class could know about the actual teleportation time. Those who decided to teleport together were going to be late.

Vincent saw Jun Ye Rim sitting at the back of the classroom corner. She was looking at the window, and it gave the impression she was in a world of her own.

Vincent decided to sit in the back row. Furthermore, it would be the best choice since their team was blacklisted by many.

It had the infamous Nick, Clair with a cook class, the loner Jun Ye Rim, and the Lionheart couple who the husband made a stand that he wasn’t going to let his wife be mocked when he was around.

One hour of waiting passed and Maria still didn’t appear. She was already late by twenty minutes after counting the early arrival. Similarly, about half the students with the Mage class were in the classroom.

Vincent closed his eyes and fell asleep while waiting for the teacher, who didn’t appear. Lilith looked at Vincent and smiled. She also managed to engage in a small conversation with Clair about books.

About half an hour later, Maria finally arrived.

[Wake up, Maria has entered the class.]

Vincent opened his eyes. He stood straight and looked at Lilith. She was smiling at him.

“I heard you lightly snore, hehe.” She whispered.

*Cough* Vincent lightly blushed.

Maria went to sit on her chair. She looked at the students and noticed Vincent. She chuckled and said, “Look’s like only one without a mage or support class is attending today. I didn’t expect to have extra students today.”

Vincent frowned, but he didn’t want to respond. It felt like a provocation yet like a praise at the same time. It felt weird.

“Well, it is not like many students are attending the obligatory class anyway.” The frowning Maria looked more disappointed than before.

“Teacher Maria. We were late or early because we weren’t told how long it would take to come here. Only a few of us had learned from our physical class teammates. However, a few of us are a mage-only team.” A student complained. He was angry, and Maria’s behavior was like pouring fuel into a fire.

“That is why I arrived late.” *Sigh* “But if you are going to complain and your classmate’s frown is about to connect together like a bridge, then all fifty students of Class A will be marked as attended.” Maria decided on her own to mark all of Class A as present.

Maria took out an ink bottle, a quill, and an attendance form. She marked all the students as present in under a minute and stored the three items like a speedrunner. It appeared this wasn’t her first.

“Well, now that everyone is present, follow me to the outdoor magic class.” Maira stood up and left the classroom.

“What? Isn’t the teacher going to wait for the others?”

“Didn’t you hear how we are all present?”

“So... doesn’t it mean the late classmates will not know where we will be?”

“...”

Everyone in the classroom became confused. Even Vincent didn’t think Maria would mark all students as present and immediately act as if everyone was really present.

Everyone followed Maria to a different garden closed by a tall bush wall. The classroom was only closed by nature walls and was large enough to accommodate two hundred people.

The vast area was empty. Only a well-kept grass and two corners with a pile of cushions could be seen. There was no chair, and definitely, nothing interesting to see.

However, at every corner was an assortment of flowers. It was a pleasant and relaxing sight to see.

“Stop frowning before your brows connect together.” *Sigh* “This is the meditation classroom. As the name implies, first years will only learn about meditation. Maybe some of you might achieve Mana Tempered Body if lucky.” Maria said while casually walking to the pile of cushions.

“Come here to grab one of these and sit somewhere. ” Maria instructed.

The students were too disappointed to continue grunting and complaining. They followed her instructions and found a place to sit.

Vincent grabbed a couple of cushions and went over to Lilith and Clair. “Here, let’s share these.” He said with eight cushions around his arms.

Clair blushed from the attention Vincent gathered and only took one.

Lilith noticed a few classmates looking at them. She blushed and took two cushions. Her heart raced when she took the second cushion as it implied she was fat and needed two cushions to feel comfortable.

“Well, it’s your loss, hehe.” Vincent placed the remaining five cushions on the ground and sat like a comfortable king. He winked at Lilith and whispered, “Do you want to join me now?”

Lilith nervously shook her head. She didn’t want to attract attention and feel the gazes of her classmate. However, she didn’t feel as anxious about sitting on two cushions as before.

“Looks like everyone is comfortable now.” Maira placed a couple of cushions on each other and sat on them as if it was cushion stool. “As you all saw from my status window yesterday, I am Maira, and I specialize in ice magic. First-year students will only have meditation in the magic class. Spell chanting improvement will be in the second year.”

[Wait, doesn’t this mean that we will end up not learning anything about magic in the one academic year we decided to attend?]

-It is possible...-

Both Vincent and Kazumi considered Marquis Darwin Griffionheart’s book gifts as godsent.

At least, Ester and Lilith can improve in their respective class since this magic class didn’t have anything incredible to teach. Furthermore, Vincent and Kazumi didn’t know how Sakura also received an exciting gift from Darwin. It was going to be a surprise finding out.

“Teacher Maria. Did you perhaps freeze a fountain in the city more than a decade ago?” A brave classmate suddenly asked a strange question.

Maria frowned and replied with a glare filled with bloodlust. The classmate shivered and didn’t utter a word for the rest of the class.

[Freeze a fountain in the city?... one moment.]

[Ahh! Yes! Tula mentioned a short story of an ice fairy and sometimes an ice princess. She mentioned how there was a heatwave when Tula was ten years old or younger, and a person froze the South District fountain to cool the temperature.]

-Because of Maira’s expression... it can’t be her? Can it?-

[Well, she consistently looks pissed. It could be understandable if the soldiers arrested her as a terror attack or an excuse like that.]

[Maybe a noble tried to take advantage of her situation. Thus, she now hates nobles, yet she is somehow a teacher of nobles.]

[... my guess doesn’t make sense...]

However, Kazumi wasn’t too far off.

A young beautiful ice mage had frozen the city fountain one day. The beauty was a commoner that was fortunately born with a mana body. She was none other than Maria.

Maria awakened early, and when she was seventeen years old, her family agreed to allow her to join the Adventurers Guild.

On her way to the registration, she saw many people suffering from dehydration. Unfortunately, that day had the hottest heatwave in the last decades.

The price of the water sored through the roof, and such a sight made Maria want to help.

Maria thought using her ice spells could hit two birds with one stone. She thought her action could help the suffering people while promoting herself as a strong and kindhearted mage.

However, she didn’t know how there would always be someone who tries to make a profit with every money-making occasion, and they will do anything to keep others from interfering.