Instructor Shasta? Hadn’t she gone on a business trip? Why had she suddenly messaged her to come over?
Ximo blinked her eyes. Although she was very puzzled, she was still in class right now. This matter could at least wait until after class, right? What was Instructor Shasta thinking, messaging her during class?
Ximo put down the Student Terminal and focused on the lesson, planning to go find Shasta after class.
“…At present, all countries have basically given up on deciphering Gandalf’s Diary. Combined with its age, the surviving copies of Gandalf’s Diary are mostly incomplete fragments, which makes research even more difficult.”
“But on a side note, our academy’s library has some of Gandalf’s Diary in its collection. This is because the Imperial Capital Magic Academy was originally founded by Gandalf. Everyone should know that, right?”
Teacher Shirley lectured very seriously, and most of the students listened attentively as well. Ximo wanted to listen seriously too… but the Student Terminal in her pocket kept vibrating nonstop, like a vibrator switch that was broken, buzzing every half minute.
Ximo finally couldn’t take it anymore and opened the terminal to check—it was all messages from Shasta. Just from the continuously increasing number of messages, it was clear that Shasta was very anxious.
Damn it, if you’re really that urgent, why not come teach the class yourself! Why have another teacher substitute and call me over during class time!
“Student Ximo—I know the Student Terminal is a novel thing for you first-years, but can you please shift your attention away from it during class?”
Ximo immediately sat up straight and deftly turned off the Student Terminal.
Damn! Why did she get called out by the teacher every time in this class? At this rate, she’d form a bad student impression in the teacher’s mind, right?
Evidently, it wasn’t just the teacher. Her classmates seemed to have already formed this stereotype about Ximo first. The looks from those around her all said, “No wonder.”
On a side note, although Melrose had helped, Ximo’s situation in the class hadn’t improved—in fact, it was largely thanks to someone who couldn’t eat the grapes and claimed they were sour.
Jackson had been spreading around the class that Melrose must have just been kind-hearted, helping Ximo clear the rumors. This baseless speculation had actually convinced quite a few people in the class.
First, everyone already had a preconceived “bad student” impression of Ximo. Second, Melrose had done a good deed that backfired that day—her intimacy with Ximo had been too much.
No one had ever seen the noble princess Melrose being so close to anyone. Her intimate behavior with Ximo was naturally interpreted by everyone as deliberate… No one considered the possibility that Melrose was deliberately taking advantage of Ximo.
After turning off the Student Terminal, Ximo straightened her back and listened attentively. She finally made it to the end of class. Although there were only fifteen minutes of break, Ximo quickly stood up and ran out of the classroom, planning to go see Shasta.
In her classmates’ eyes, this action naturally carried another meaning… She couldn’t even stay in the classroom for one more second. How much did this Ximo hate studying?
While running, Ximo turned on the Student Terminal. As soon as it booted up, a bunch of message pop-ups appeared. Clearly, Shasta’s messages hadn’t stopped while it was off.
It was just like a girlfriend checking up on her who couldn’t get a reply and kept bombarding her with messages. And Instructor Shasta was being way too “enthusiastic,” wasn’t she? Ximo still remembered how that petite Blood Clan member was always aloof whenever she saw her.
She finally arrived at Shasta’s Basement. Ximo steadied her breathing and politely knocked on the door. “Instructor Shasta, it’s me…”
Then she heard a clattering sound from inside the door. In less than three seconds, the basement door was yanked open. Shasta, her eyes bloodshot, looked delighted and hugged the Ximo outside.
“Ximo! You finally came! Hurry inside, hurry!”
Shasta’s petite figure could only wrap around Ximo’s lower half. Her attitude was like a thirsty wife finally waiting for her husband to return from a business trip… enthusiastic.
“T-Instructor Shasta? Didn’t you go on a business trip?”
“That was just a random excuse… Never mind that. Come in first and close the door properly!”
Shasta seemed inexplicably excited. Ximo then realized there was no business trip at all—Shasta just didn’t want to go to class!
Good grief. She’d seen students make excuses to skip class, but this was her first time seeing a teacher do it.
Ximo walked into the basement and got another scare. Although Shasta’s basement hadn’t been neat before, it had only been somewhat cluttered with stuff piled up haphazardly. Now… books were scattered all over the floor, making the room look like it had been robbed.
Not to mention Shasta’s excited expression, her dark circles that seemed to glow from staying up three or four nights in a row, and the red bloodshot eyes… Come to think of it, did Blood Clans get mentally exhausted from staying up late too?
“Where did you get this thing from?”
Now Ximo knew why Shasta had called her over—the stuff on the table had all been messily pushed to the corners, leaving only the crystal ball placed squarely in the center.
“Eh? Didn’t I tell you last time? I picked it up…”
“No, no. I mean the more detailed address. When and where exactly did you buy it?”
“It was… at an auction house in Cantelot…”
Ximo recalled and gave the detailed address to Shasta. Shasta grabbed a piece of paper and jotted it down seriously. It looked like she planned to go there in person.
“I originally thought this thing was just a defective product with an incomplete Magic Circuit. But then I noticed the runes engraved inside were very special—this arrangement isn’t the current common magic rune system. I suspect it’s from a very ancient era.”
“Ah? What?”
Ximo didn’t keep up with Shasta’s leaping explanation at first. She blanked for a moment before realizing Shasta was explaining the crystal ball to her.
“If it were just that, it wouldn’t be surprising. It’d just be an antique—a defective Magitool antique. But after careful study, I found the incompleteness of the rune circuit didn’t seem like a mistake. It was more like it was deliberate.”
“In other words, as long as you complete the Magic Circuit with a specific method, you can activate this Magitool. Then I carefully examined the interface where the Magic Circuit was broken… Anyway, are you afraid of pain?”
