Academy’s Undercover Professor-Chapter 347: Non-Attributed Magical Beast (2)

“Professor, Rine will be all right, won’t she?”

Following Ludger to the infirmary, Erendir asked with a worried look.

“She’ll be fine.”

“But she suddenly collapsed, the reason...”

“It’s likely because of her magical beast. You felt it too, didn’t you?”

“Yes... everyone was startled because of that strange magical beast.”

“Some newly born magical beasts are unusually sensitive. Sometimes they unconsciously drain their summoner’s mana excessively. That’s why Rine fainted.”

Erendir wanted to ask if it really was just that simple, but Ludger’s serious expression stopped her from voicing the question.

“Erendir. I understand you’re worried about your junior, but you should get going. Don’t you have other classes to attend?”

“But...”

“Leave her to me. I have time to spare, so watching over Rine for a while isn’t an issue.”

“There’s no need for you to do that, Professor...”

“This happened in my class. If I don’t take responsibility, who will?”

Erendir had no choice but to nod and leave.

Ludger stood by Rine’s bedside, watching her sleep quietly.

—Why are you showing me such guilt?

Her last words before fainting lingered in Ludger’s mind, stirring his thoughts.

‘For a brief moment, she broke through the sealing magic... and the aura of the Judgment Eye flared explosively.’

Ludger had read about this in ancient texts.

The Judgment Eye—the ability to see truth and purity.

But its power couldn’t be summarized in a single sentence.

The Judgment Eye was a mysterious gift said to be given to those destined to awaken as Saints.

Its power lay in distinguishing evil, exposing hidden darkness, and driving away the impure.

The first ability of the Judgment Eye:

The Eye that Discerns Corruption.

Rine’s ability to instinctively sense if someone was dangerous or corrupt came from this basic function.

Conversely, her ability to approach people like Erendir or Ludger without hesitation was because the Judgment Eye gave her no warning about them.

The problem was that, as the power grew stronger, new abilities manifested.

‘It reads emotions.’

No deceit or hidden malice could escape the Judgment Eye. It didn’t quite read thoughts, but it could clearly sense hostility or ill intent.

The reason Rine had asked why he was showing guilt was precisely because of this stronger authority of the Judgment Eye.

‘But why did it suddenly grow stronger? I even used sealing magic to suppress it.’

The biggest cause was undoubtedly that magical beast.

A mysterious magical beast, unrecorded in any texts.

It had unleashed some unknown power, which had caused Rine’s Judgment Eye to surge explosively for that brief moment.

‘But something doesn’t add up. Rine’s non-attributed mana and the Judgment Eye should be unrelated.’

In recorded history, there had never been a Judgment Eye wielder who also possessed non-attributed mana.

Conversely, no known wielder of non-attributed mana had ever possessed the Judgment Eye.

In a way, Rine was a once-in-an-era anomaly.

Something unprecedented—and possibly never to happen again.

‘It means I can’t rely on existing knowledge to judge her case.’

If anyone else knew about this, they would call Rine blessed.

Possessing two rare abilities that others could only dream of would be seen as a miracle.

But Ludger knew otherwise.

—An unwanted power is nothing but a curse.

Just as his own ability to hear the voices of gods was no gift.

Rine, even if she never said it, surely carried great suffering.

‘Non-attributed mana... I need to find a solution for that, at least.’

Non-attributed mana was an extremely rare and poorly understood type of mana.

Even after scouring countless books and academic papers, Ludger still hadn’t figured out exactly what it was.

But one thing was certain:

Non-attributed mana consumed the user’s life.

His fist tightened unconsciously.

The previous wielder of non-attributed mana had ultimately died, unable to withstand their own power.

The memory of that day was still painfully vivid.

‘I thought there was still time.’

Users of non-attributed mana rarely lived past twenty-five.

As their mana grew stronger with age, their body simply couldn’t endure it.

The gradually surging mana became a poison to the body.

If it wasn’t extracted or controlled, their life would inevitably end.

‘Judging by Rine’s age, I thought she had a few years left...’

But her growth was accelerating far faster than he expected.

Was it because of the book on non-attributed mana he had given her?

Or had her Judgment Eye and non-attributed mana triggered some kind of synergy?

‘And now she’s even summoned a magical beast made entirely of non-attributed mana... I’ve never seen anything like it.’

Its manifestation had even caused the Judgment Eye to strengthen.

It was turning into a complete mess.

‘I may have no choice but to contact him.’

There was one person he had avoided all this time.

Not because they couldn’t meet, but because Ludger simply didn’t want to.

Rine’s magic teacher—the one Ludger had entrusted her to after erasing her memories.

‘In terms of skill, he’s good enough to be an Owens executive.’

The reason Ludger hadn’t called him was their strained relationship.

Rine’s teacher loathed Ludger.

With a hatred akin to a sworn enemy.

And Ludger understood why.

That was why, after entrusting Rine to him, Ludger had never interfered or even contacted him again.

Not just because he lacked the right, but because the man would explode in fury at even the mention of his name.

Considering their past, it was only natural.

Still, when it came to non-attributed mana research, they were aligned in purpose. He must have made progress over the years.

‘Thinking about it now, it’s that idiot’s fault too. I told him to keep her safe, but he let her attend Seorn?’

Though irritated, Ludger couldn’t entirely blame him.

‘That soft-hearted fool. He probably acted all strict, but if Rine begged sincerely, he wouldn’t have been able to say no.’

Knowing the man’s personality, Ludger wasn’t surprised Rine had ended up at Seorn.

‘He’s unreliable, but if anyone has made progress, it’s him. His skill really is exceptional.’

In fact, Ludger had once considered giving him a codename, in case he ever joined Owens.

‘If we’d gotten along better...’

His codename would have been <Goethe>.

“Mm...”

At that moment, Rine groaned softly and opened her eyes.

* * *

Rine blinked in surprise.

The infirmary?

She didn’t even realize she had lost consciousness.

But what shocked her even more was the person sitting beside her, watching over her.

“P-professor?! Wh-why are you here?!”

“Don’t you remember? You collapsed during class, and I brought you here. Don’t you think there’s something you should say first?”

“Ah, um... thank you?”

“Good.”

“Th-that’s not what I meant, I mean, thank you, but... You didn’t need to stay here this whole time.”

“This happened during my class. As the instructor, it’s only natural I stay.”

Rine felt a pang of guilt, thinking she had burdened him.

“Rine. Are you feeling all right?”

“Eh? Ah, yes. I think I’m fine now.”

She checked her own condition as she spoke.

Then, slowly, she remembered why she had fainted.

“I... I fainted because of my magical beast, didn’t I?”

“Do you remember what you saw before you fainted?”

“Well... I summoned my magical beast, and then it emitted some strange power. And then...”

And then...

Rine murmured her words but couldn’t finish them.

“I... I don’t remember.”

“You don’t?”

“No. I think I saw something at the end, and I might’ve said something without realizing it, but... I can’t remember.”

“...”

Ludger studied Rine’s expression carefully.

Was she pretending not to remember?

But her face showed no sign of deceit.

It wasn’t the first time this had happened.

Back then, Rine had unconsciously muttered his real name.

Perhaps the seal on her memory had loosened—just slightly.

“What... what did I say? It wasn’t anything rude, was it?!”

Ludger gave her the answer he had prepared.

“You said nothing. You only fainted from the shock of summoning a magical beast for the first time.”

“Oh...”

“Summoning your first magical beast was impressive, but this time, you pushed yourself too far.”

Rine flushed with embarrassment at his calm reprimand.

“I’m sorry.”

“There’s no need to apologize. It was my fault for not warning you beforehand.”

“Huh?”

“Your magical beast is like a newborn child. It’s only natural for it to be overly sensitive when facing the world for the first time.”

“Magical beasts... do that?”

“Magical beasts don’t always follow their summoner’s orders blindly. Sometimes they resist... and in rare cases, they even try to devour their master.”

At that, Rine’s face paled.

Devour their master?

Just hearing it was terrifying.

“Of course, that’s extremely rare.”

“I... I’m not very knowledgeable about magical beasts, but... isn’t mine an unusual case?”

“Well...”

Indeed, it was.

When Ludger hesitated, Rine’s eyes ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) widened in panic.

“T-then am I going to get eaten?!”

“No, that’s not—”

“What do I do?! There’s still so much I want to do! I can’t die this early!”

“Rine.”

“Does it hurt a lot if a magical beast eats you? Maybe it’s painless? Should I... should I write a will—?”

“Calm yourself, Rine.”

Ludger’s firm voice cut through her panic instantly.

It was like a heavy anchor dropping into the stormy sea of her heart, dragging it to stillness.

“There’s no danger. A summoner only gets devoured when they recklessly overuse mana and enter a state of mana overload. And even then, it usually happens because they mistreated their magical beast.”

“R-really?”

“Yes. As long as you treat your magical beast properly, you won’t have to worry about that.”

How to properly handle a magical beast that had never been seen before... that was a problem for later.

“So you don’t want to die, I take it.”

“Does... does anyone like dying?”

“Most don’t. But there are people who do. You said you had things you still wanted to do?”

“Eh? Ah, well...”

Rine hadn’t expected Ludger to bring up her frantic outburst, and she looked flustered.

“W-well, of course I do.”

“What do you want to do?”

“What do I want to do? Hmm... there’s a lot. I want to study different kinds of magic, see more of the world, experience new things...”

“Do you have a goal for the future?”

“I want to become a magic researcher.”

“A researcher?”

“Yes!”

Her face brightened noticeably as she nodded.

“There are so many unknown types of magic in the world. Like my non-attributed mana. I want to help people who don’t understand their own mana by researching it.”

“I see.”

Choosing such a selfless reason for a future goal was unusual.

Most kids her age dreamed of fame and success through magic.

“Becoming a magic researcher won’t be easy.”

“I still want to do it. It’s my dream.”

“A researcher, especially in magic, must have profound knowledge, write countless reports and academic papers, excel in theoretical fields, and achieve exceptional magical accomplishments.”

“Uh... that much?”

Rine had thought being a researcher would be hard, but not that hard.

“A true magic researcher stands at the peak of intellect. Even Lord Clinton, the 7th-Circle Impera-ranked mage, is a magic researcher. That’s why he rarely shows himself in public.”

“I... I didn’t know that...”

Her face fell immediately.

The goal she had cherished suddenly seemed unbearably distant.

To Ludger, she looked like a sad puppy that had been told it couldn’t go for a walk.

“You don’t need to be that discouraged. If you work hard, you can become a magic researcher.”

“Really?”

Her face lit up instantly again.

A student whose emotions were so open and sincere—

That was Rine.

A girl Ludger both cherished and felt guilty toward.

A girl he needed to repay.

“You’ve been keeping up with the theory in my classes very well. If you learn to control your mana properly, you could become a researcher who leaves her mark on history. I can promise you that.”

“It’s still going to be difficult, isn’t it?”

“It will be. At times, you’ll feel so overwhelmed that you’ll want to give up.”

“Ugh, I knew it... Ah, Professor, have you ever gone through something like that?”

“Of course. So many times.”

“R-really? But you’re so smart, Professor. I thought you were perfect at everything.”

“Everyone fails and runs into walls. I’m no exception.”

Rine hesitated, then asked softly.

“Then... how did you overcome it?”

“I didn’t overcome it. I simply endured.”

Yes. He had only endured.

Even when the wounds engraved in his soul and memories had healed, the scars remained.

Some things could never be truly conquered.

“Why?”

Ludger met her pure, questioning gaze and answered.

“Because I had to.”