40 – Euphy goes to class, crushes on her TA

TW:

Spoiler

Blood, Classism, Knife violence

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A dull gray sky rained down upon the transparent wards protecting the gymnasium’s open roof, creating the illusion that the students beneath it were standing underwater. Euphrosyne, who was lurking towards the back of this group, stared up at this distracting display with a grumpy expression. 

As long as she kept watching the rain she would not have to look at Professor Iphis, whom she was currently very upset with.

Iphis, apparently unaware he’d fallen from grace, stood on the other side of the crowd and clapped his hands together as he cheerfully called out, “Hello, everyone! Let me be the first to officially welcome you to the Intermediate Combat Magic class. You’ve all worked very hard to get here, and I’m excited to see how you’ll progress as the semester continues.”

Even at a distance it was easy to see why he was such a popular professor. Everything from his smile to his tone to his posture made it feel like this wasn’t so much a lesson as it was a party he’d invited them all too, and he was genuinely delighted they’d all shown up.

Somehow this only made her unhappier.

To be fair to Iphis, the original source of today’s terrible mood was Endymion, who’d only listened to her Hero pitch halfway before he made an excuse to leave their dorm room and never came back. Since then she’d been unable to find him, and she was certain this was because he was avoiding her intentionally.

Did that mean her offer was rejected, or did that mean he was still thinking about it? And would it have killed him to at least let her know which of the two it was? Then again, maybe this was her fault. Maybe she’d offended him somehow. But how was she supposed to apologize when she couldn’t even find him to ask what went wrong? This stupid situation alone had her feeling so pissy and anxious that she wanted to scream.

Now, what was Professor Iphis’ fault was that after a week of undergoing all sorts of random tests to figure out which of his classes she’d qualify for, she’d gotten notice that she’d been placed into the intermediate one. On the assessment she’d received the reason for this had been scrawled in two simple, unhelpful words right above his signature:

‘Lacks confidence.’

She was aware that she occasionally struggled with perfectionism, but she also felt that she had not spent years working her ass off getting kicked around by crazy monks and monsters only to place in the fucking middle. Also, considering that she’d soon have to worry about fighting actual bad guys, the fact that she’d suddenly found herself judged average was as frightening as it was infuriating.

‘Lacks confidence’ in what, exactly? And why had her only decent cleric betrayed her like this?

“I’m sure you’re all eager to start beating each other up, but before we get to that I’d like to introduce myself again: I’m Professor Iphis, I’ll be leading this course, and beside me are my lovely teaching assistants.” 

Gesturing to the woman on his left, Iphis said, “This is Asphodelus. She completed her undergraduate in the College of Healing, and is the med-healer assigned to this class. Should any of you fall apart, she’ll be the one putting your pieces back together, so I suggest you treat her respectfully.”

Euphy turned her eyes towards the assistants, since even if Iphis was on her shit list his TAs had done nothing wrong.

The assistant in question was a pallid, round-faced young woman with dark bags under her eyes and a gloomy expression. She was wearing a simple uniform emblazoned on the chest with a full moon in a cupped palm, which was the logo of Kastri Hospital, and had a silver med-healer medallion hanging from her neck.

Between her white hair and clothing, and her bright reddish-pink eyes, Euphrosyne immediately thought, She looks just like a white rabbit.

All she needed was a pair of pointy ears. Ooh, and maybe a pocket watch.

“Are these really the TAs we’ve got to deal with? Even if I was bleeding to death, I wouldn’t let a cursed creature like that touch me,” whispered a woman to Euphy’s left.

“Really, who knows what that deceitful thing might do to you if you let her in? Just the thought is disgusting," the man who stood to Euphy’s right whispered back over her head.

Letting a hiss of air out from between her clenched teeth, Euphrosyne turned her baleful glare on each of them in turn and thought, Haven’t you guys gotten the hint yet?

These two were the third reason for her awful mood.

The green-haired girl was named Canace, and the amber-haired man was named Taurion. 

They were the idiots she’d overheard talking about tricking her into marriage at the mixer, and it was just her luck that she’d not only wind up in the same class as them, but that they’d immediately realize who she was and rush to introduce themselves the moment they saw her.

“Oh, not that you’d do anything like that,” Canace backtracked, twirling a lock of her grass-green hair around her finger as she noticed Euphy’s dark expression. “I’m sure someone chosen by the Lady Herself would never stoop so low.”

That isn’t how intent works! That’s never been how it works! Euphy raged to herself silently, unwilling to start an argument while a professor was speaking. The only way she could do that would be if harming you was necessary to help you, like she had to perform surgery or something, you fucking nitwits!

It’s not like any of this was secret knowledge, so why did so many people insist on buying into such ridiculous myths? Was it fun somehow? Did they enjoy being ignorant? Also, why were these two already acting like they were her friends when she’d barely said so much as a word to them, and why was she always running into assholes like this? Did she just naturally attract jerks, or—

Right, no. It was because someone had leaked her description as the new divine mage on campus.

If she ever found out who was behind that, she was going to knock their teeth out.

“Please keep it down while the Professor is talking,” she whispered back to them, moving a few steps away.

Iphis continued with his introductions, gesturing to the teaching assistant on his right as he said, “This is Alecto. She did her undergraduate in the College of Warfare, and while she’s decided to do her graduate studies in Artificing she’s nevertheless agreed to lend her talents to our class. For those of you relying on weapons or artifacts she’ll be an incredibly valuable resource.”

The second teaching assistant was just as pale as the first, but taller and healthier-looking in comparison. She wore her long, dark purple hair in a thick braid that had been woven throughout with hundreds of tiny, pearlescent, low-grade mana stones. Her black eyes, half-hidden by the light reflecting off her silver glasses, looked down with open disdain upon the students before her. 

She seemed like the sort of person who had no patience for nonsense, and normally Euphy would automatically feel wary of someone like that, but she was too busy admiring the woman’s tattoos.

A collection of thin black lines snaked down her neck, vanishing into the collar of her sleeveless tunic only to reappear across the corded muscles of her arms before twining their way down to her fingertips like dark branches. 

Ahhh, she looks so badass! Damn it, I really want some tattoos. I wonder where she got them…

Something about their vein-like pattern and the way they ended by completely blackening her fingertips struck Euphy as familiar, but she couldn’t recall why.

“How is that monster even here? I thought she had to drop out,” came Canace’s low voice as two unpleasant auras collided with Euphy’s, making her shiver.

Humans usually preferred to keep their active mana held close to their bodies, otherwise they risked the awkward feeling of brushing up against someone else without actually touching them. That said, intentionally extending one’s aura into the environment was the best way to guard against unexpected magical attacks. Thanks to Abbess Alke’s fondness for ambushes, Euphrosyne had started doing this out of habit the moment she stepped into class, and that meant every time these two invaded her personal space it was extra uncomfortable. 

Euphy moved away from them again as Taurion replied, “I don’t know, but I for one refuse to stand for it. I’m going to demand an explanation from the Professor the moment I get a chance.”

“Now that introductions are out of the way, let’s talk about what’s next! For those of you who’ve taken my beginner’s course, you’ll be used to fighting under restrictive legal dueling guidelines. This was because I’m contractually obligated to teach that level in that manner, regardless of my own significantly more valuable opinion as an expert.” Smiling and spreading his arms wide like his students were all about to receive some wonderful blessing, the Professor declared, “However, I’m happy to say we get to do away with all of that! You can now do anything you want to win as long as you’ve disclosed your techniques and weapons to me beforehand. In light of this—and some of you in the back may want to pay closer attention, because this will be your first graded assignment—”

Iphis paused, his eyes sweeping across Euphy and her shadows in subtle warning.

He knows! she thought, pressing her finger to her lips as made desperate eye contact with each of the suckerfish sticking to her. Please shut up! If you shut up now, I swear I’ll forgive you!

“We’re going to focus on ways to identify different kinds of magical attacks before they’re fully formed. Any real opponent you face won’t be considerate enough to slowly draw a circle for you to read, so you’ll probably only have a few seconds or less to guess if you’re lucky, but having some idea is always better than being completely surprised. Now, can anyone suggest a good way to figure out what’s coming at you before it’s too late?”

The teacher’s pet in Euphy made her arm twitch with the desire to shoot up, but she grabbed it just in time and held it down. She already stood out enough as a divine mage, the last thing she needed was to draw any more attention to herself.

Also, she was still mad at Iphis.

Someone closer to the front raised their hand, and when Iphis pointed at them they said, “The color of their spell would be one way.”

“That’s true!” Iphis confirmed brightly. Then, gathering blue mana between his hands, he conjured up a small ball of water. “Any magic that calls upon a god’s assistance will manifest in a shade of Their sacred color, which can narrow things down considerably. However—”

He dispersed the water, then summoned a more teal shade of light, which then became an identical ball of water.

“All sacred domains have some overlap with one another, which can make things confusing. Furthermore—”

In another flash of light, the water was replaced with a strand of crackling blueish electricity. As he pulled his hands apart, increasing its length and size, it abruptly changed to a golden color that matched the faint light in his eyes.

“A mage advanced enough to have cultivated their own domain may not need to call on any gods at all. In that case, the spell’s color is utterly meaningless.”

Oooh, Euphy thought, her eyes widening with envy.

Given enough time and experience humans could develop a domain much in the way spirits could. It was said that doing so made the spells you specialized in more powerful and flexible, but the downside was that they were harder to create and control without divine support.

Euphy had never pulled it off but she really wanted to, firstly because she thought the color of her mana was pretty and secondly because it would make her look super cool.

“Regardless, it’s a good clue,” Iphis warmly said to the student who’d first spoken up. “Here, catch.”

He tossed something tiny to that student as he asked the rest, “Does anyone else have any other ideas?”

The discussion continued as various students kept offering more suggestions, pointing out everything from the shapes the mana took, to its pattern of motion, to its smell. Some of their ideas were things Euphrosyne hadn’t thought of herself, and she quickly became invested in listening, but it wasn’t long before Taurion interrupted things once again.

“You know, my House has been looking for a new holy mage to sponsor, have you ever considered such a thing?” 

“Excuse me, I am trying to listen to the lecture,” she gritted back, just about at the end of her wits with these two.

“You really should consider it, though,” Canace added, giving Euphy a somewhat pitying look from the side. “High society isn’t easy to break into, and there’s nothing more valuable than having the right connections. A sponsor could help you get everything else you need as well—etiquette lessons, stylists, better clothing—yes, definitely better clothing…”

My clothes are just fine! Euphy thought, scowling.

Her dad got them for her just this weekend, completely unasked for. While she was used to him buying her clothes in their old life, this was the first time he’d ever bought her women’s clothing, so she’d been very touched by the gesture. He’d done a surprisingly good job picking out things she liked, and she really had been in desperate need of a better wardrobe, so she had zero fucking interest in hearing Canace’s opinion on it.

Now, admittedly she was wearing the cheapest option of the bunch, but wasn’t this essentially a gym class? What kind of lunatic dressed up for a gym class?

“It’s especially important if you’re considering having a debut,” Canace continued. “Even if you’re divinely blessed—”

“What part of ‘I am trying to listen to the lecture’ are you two not—!?”

Through her extended aura she sensed something alarmingly snakelike dart through the ambient mana in the ground, rushing her way as if burdened with some sinister purpose. On instinct she threw a shield of the Lady up around herself and her shitty entourage, encasing all three of them in golden light.

Normally she’d have been overcome with embarrassment at doing something like that in the middle of a class without thinking, but not a second later she felt two small bursts of energy hit her shield below ground, causing it to flash as it absorbed them.

“Oh? Someone’s got good reflexes,” Professor Iphis called out from across the room, quieting down the flurry of surprised whispers that had broken out among the students.

Ah, Euphy thought, her heart beating wildly. Did he just attack me…?

She knew she shouldn’t be surprised. Fighting instructors were rarely known for their gentleness, and Euphy was used to putting up with all kinds of underhanded bullshit from her time spent with Abbess Alke.

However, a pathetic little part of her had been hoping Professor Iphis might be different. That even if he was stepping into Alke’s role, the kindness he’d shown her wasn’t fake, that he planned to treat her more like a student than a punching bag.

Dropping the shield, she once again separated herself from the idiots and stared down at the floor in disappointed resignation.

She should have known better than to get her hopes up.

“Taurion, Canace, it’s against the rules to recruit on campus for any employment opportunities that haven’t been pre-approved, and… I feel like I shouldn’t have to say it, but it’s especially against the rules to do that while I’m teaching. I’m afraid I’m going to have to give you each two demerits,” Iphis called out, his voice clear despite the distance between them. “That said, you really ought to thank Euphrosyne—if not for her, you both would have gotten a nasty little shock as well.”

Huh?

Now that he mentioned it, the path of that energy had hit the right and left sides of her barrier, not the center where she stood. 

So he hadn’t been aiming for her after all?

And she’d accidentally helped those assholes?

Gods damn it. If she’d known, she would have let them get zapped.

When neither of the jerks replied, Euphrosyne, feeling crushed under the weight of the class’s attention, straightened up and said, “I-I’m sorry, I apologize for the distraction.”

“Why are you apologizing? You weren’t the one soliciting,” Professor Iphis replied with a shrug. Then, as though this humiliating interlude had been a planned part of his lecture all along, he looked back to Taurion and Canace and asked them, “Can either of you tell us how Euphrosyne was able to block me?” 

Rather than reply, the flustered Canace took a step back and looked down. In contrast, Taurion confidently stated in a shameless tone, “Well, I suppose she noticed you casting it.”

How dare you act so calm, this is all your fault! Euphy thought, her hands twitching with the urge to strangle him. That’s it, we’re enemies now! Enemies for fucking life! The moment I get you into a dueling ring I’m breaking every bone in your—

“Was that the case, Euphrosyne?” Iphis asked.

Startled out of her violent fantasies, she shook her head. 

Iphis asked the rest of the class, “Actually, did anyone see me cast anything?”

There were few murmurs of confusion and denial until one girl raised her hand and said, “I think I saw you do something with your left foot?”

“Oh, bravo!” Iphis replied, once again tossing something tiny to the student. “That’s right, I channeled a little something through one of my heels straight into the ground. I’m impressed you noticed a spell that small, especially while I was doing my best to distract you. You must be very observant.”

“O-oh… thanks…” the girl replied, shrinking and blushing under the compliment.

“Well, now that you all know how I did my little trick—Euphrosyne, could you explain how you managed to block it for us?”

Euphy, who’d been very much hoping he was about to move on, stiffened up again and blurted out, “Ah! I, um—I mean, your spell was an electric current, right? I noticed the mana in the ground change, so I think I probably sensed the path you were making for the current to follow?”

“That’s right, you caught me,” he replied cheerfully, sounding genuinely impressed. “Here, you get two, one for your quick shield and one for the question.”

She’d seen him do it before, so she was prepared when he pitched something at her and caught them easily. Opening her palms, she looked down and saw…

Hold on. Had this man just given her two gold stars?

Not even stickers, actual star-shaped little metal charms?

“Electricity is, as I’m sure some of you know, a force that is as fast as it is difficult to control. If I’d chosen the easy option and simply electrocuted all of you, it’s unlikely any of you would have been able to block it. However, since I had to spend time and effort creating a path for it to follow first, Euphrosyne had the opportunity to sense that and block me before I could fire anything off. Paying attention to the environmental mana around you is a very good, if somewhat mentally exhausting, way to realize something’s coming and protect yourself from it.”

Clapping his hands together, Iphis concluded, “Anyway, what I’ve been trying to get at is that there is no single easy way to deduce an opponent's move, and that you must utilize every sense you possess to come up with an even somewhat reliable answer. For the next week I want you to pay very close attention to the spells of your classmates, taking note of anything that might help you identify something similar in the future, and write at least twenty such examples down. Rest assured we don’t use a lot of paper in this class, so please forgive me just this once. As for the rest of today, consider it time to practice on your own. Asphodelus will keep you alive while Alecto calls you to me one by one so we can discuss the extent of your current deadly repertoires, as well as establish some goals for the upcoming semester.”

Freed from the lecture, Euphrosyne turned to finally confront her idiot shadows, only for Taurion to confidently look her in the eye and ask,

“So, have you given our offer any thought?”

Have I… given it any thought?!

I think I’m going to fucking tear you apart!

Cracking her knuckles, she snarled, “Listen here, you rude-ass son of a bit—!”

However, the tirade she was about to unleash was undercut by a cold voice interrupting from behind her.

“You’re Euphrosyne, correct?”

She whirled on the newcomer, ready to yell at three people at once if she had to, only to falter when she recognized the TA.

Alecto’s forbidding expression, muscular build, and profusion of tattoos made her intimidating enough from afar, but up close the effect was so strong that, like a sudden cold gust of wind, just looking her in the eye momentarily stole Euphy’s breath away.

Needless to say, she was in love.

“You have a lot of nerve showing your face around here after how you tried to kill Leda,” Taurion spat, stepping between Euphrosyne and Alecto as though bravely protecting one from the other. “Do you really think I’m just going to stand by and let someone as mad as you do as you please?”

What are you doing? I want to be friends with her, not you!

No, not even friends—a fan! She’d settle for being her biggest fan! She just wanted an excuse to idolize a scary and handsome tattooed woman, was that really so much to ask?

Alecto frowned at Taurion, her brows furrowing as she asked, “Do I know you?”

This response shocked Taurion into momentary silence, but before the now red-faced man could open his mouth Alecto was already holding up a hand and saying,

“Nevermind, shut up, I don’t care. Euphrosyne, come with me, the professor—”

“You’re a murderer!” Taurion shouted, loud enough to make other students nearby to fall quiet. “You can’t expect me to just—”

This time Taurion paused not because he’d been interrupted, but because in one fluid movement Alecto stepped forward and put a blade in his open mouth.

She’d done it so quickly and so casually that all Euphy and Canace could do was gawk. Taurion was just as surprised, but when he tried to take a step back Alecto reached out and used her other hand to grab him by the scruff of his neck, stopping him.

“Student, let’s get something straight. Either you don’t really think I’m a threat, which is why you’re willing to call me out so confidently, even though doing so hurts your claim that I’m dangerous, or—”

She leaned closer, tilting the blade so that the tip pointed up upwards.

“You do believe I’m some kind of violent maniac, and you want everyone listening to know that you’re stupid, short-sighted, and selfish enough to publicly confront me without any regard for the safety of yourself or your fellow classmates.”

Euphy, who was still struggling a bit to process the ‘knife in a guy’s mouth’ development before her, nevertheless thought, Actually, she’s got a point. 

Taurion choked, unable to reply. If Alecto wanted to slice through his cheeks, or jam that blade up into his brain, there wasn’t anything the mage armor he was wearing could do to stop her.

“Last I checked my dear Leda was still alive. So if you call me a ‘murderer’ again, I’ll assume you’ve grown tired of having a tongue and cut it out for you. Is that clear?”

Without waiting for a reply Alecto withdrew the knife, hit Taurion in the throat with a jab, and stepped back like everything she’d just done was perfectly normal.

Canace finally worked up the courage to run to her friend, who’d doubled over, clutching his throat and gasping. Glaring up at Alecto, she said, “You can’t do this! His father, the Count, will—!”

”Withdraw his son from this class if he can't handle this much,” Alecto finished for her, brushing her dark braid back over her shoulder as she made eye contact with each of the onlookers. “All I did was demonstrate why it’s wise to keep one’s mouth shut in front of a stronger, faster opponent. Isn’t that right, everyone?”

Crooking her finger at Euphrosyne, the TA turned her back on the rest and strode off as she ordered, “Come along.”

Dazed, Euphy hurried to catch up with her, mentally replaying everything she’d just witnessed.

Wow. That had been pretty scary.

Placing her hand over her pounding heart, Euphy decided that ‘scared’ was definitely what she was feeling. That emotion, and nothing else.

”Are those two your friends?” Alecto asked.

”Huh? Of course not!”

“Good. Whether divinely blessed or not, the circumstances of your birth means they’ll never accept you,” Alecto said, gesturing to the blue pins they both wore indicating their status as commoners. “At best they’ll keep you like a pet for their profit and amusement.”

Holy shit, she’s a commoner? Euphy realized, her eyes widening. And she’s willing to act like that around nobles? 

While Euphy’s rational side understood that she probably shouldn’t idolize someone who’d violently threaten a student like that, she nevertheless wished Alecto had an Instagram so she could go back and like every single photo this woman had ever taken.

“Yeah, I get it, I’ll stay far away from them,” Euphy promised. “Uh, you’re not going to get in trouble for what you did back there, are you? If you want, I can try to explain things to the Professor...”

“No need. The waivers you all signed mean that, short of killing you, the instructor and I can hurt you any way we like so long as it’s in the name of ‘education’. Furthermore, this professor is heavily biased in favor of commoners, so if this happens again just trap anyone like that in a barrier and say they were using their status to bully you.”

“O-ohh okay, thanks for the advice,” Euphy nodded, absently fanning herself with a hand.

Wow, this side of college was great. If she’d known she was going to meet so many amazing women here, she would have tried for early admission.

Alecto led her over to the far side of the gym where Professor Iphis was having a discussion with another student behind a sound barrier. The TA politely turned her back on this and stood as though to wait, and not knowing what else to do Euphy copied her.

There were so many questions she wanted to ask, but she got the strong impression that Alecto wasn’t interested in small talk. With this in mind she kept quiet and tried not to stare too much, but she must have failed because eventually Alecto looked over at her and demanded, “Is there something you want to say to me?”

Despite her chilly tone, Euphy wasn’t deterred. Considering the accusations Taurion had been throwing around, she assumed Alecto was probably just confusing her starry-eyed look of hero worship for a judgmental glare and so quickly clarified, “I think you’re the coolest person I’ve ever met and I love your tattoos.”

Taken aback, Alecto’s expression cycled between disdain, surprise, and finally landed on confusion. 

“… What?” 

“I mean it, you’re so fucking awesome,” Euphy gushed, distantly aware that if she let her fangirlish enthusiasm slow down even a little bit the awkwardness she usually felt around strangers would immediately trip her up. “The Professor said you specialize in weapons, didn’t he? What kind of weapons are you best with? Which one’s your favorite? Why did you decide to do your graduate in artificing? Do you have any artifacts on you now? Where and why did you get your tattoos? How old are you—?”

Alecto suddenly let out an amused puff of air, then covered her mouth with a shocked expression as though surprised she’d done that.

Then she glowered down at Euphy as though to imply this slip-up was entirely her fault.

All I did was almost make you laugh, and that made you this grumpy? Euphy thought, beaming back up at Alecto. So cute.

“You talk too much,” Alecto muttered unhappily, turning her face away to better ignore the adoration Euphy was radiating at her.

Oh, come on, you can be meaner to me than that! Haha, please be meaner.

“Alecto, there you are!” a tired voice called out. The other TA, her once-pristine white uniform now splattered with blood, rushed over to join them. “Were those students giving you a hard time? I was going to step in, but some fool nearly sliced his hand off—”

”I don’t need you to protect me,” Alecto replied, frowning at the way Asphodelus was still trying to catch her breath. “And you really ought to start exercising more, you can’t even make it across a gym.”

“Sister, how many times do I have to say it? If you want to cause trouble, let me do it for you. You can’t keep acting like things are the way they used to be—”

“Asphodelus, introduce yourself to the student, you’re being rude.”

“Oh?” Asphodelus exclaimed, acting as though she’d just now noticed Euphy even though they’d definitely made brief eye contact earlier. “My apologies. You must be the new divine mage everyone is talking about.”

The Med-Healer’s slightly drooping eyes, and the thick lashes that framed them, stood in stark contrast to the vibrant reddish-pink of her irises. Her soft hair, which had been pulled up into a neat bun, and the roundness of her features lent her a gentle air despite her somewhat chilly smile, as though she was only a full night’s sleep away from becoming a much more approachable person.

Unfortunately, she was a graduate student in the College of Healing, so that probably wouldn’t be happening anytime soon.

Elegantly extending a gloved hand, the Med-healer continued, “You can call me Asphodelus. How nice, to run into another healer here. Most of us try to avoid violence, but I suppose you’re different?”

Ooohh, catty, Euphy thought to herself as she took the girl’s hand and shook it. “Yeah, wanton bloodshed’s my favorite. You two are sisters?”

Euphy didn’t really see a physical resemblance between the two, but their bearing, accents, and dispositions were similar. If the dark-haired sister was like a big jagged iceberg, then the light-haired sister was more like a snowfield, serene yet inhospitable.

“We aren’t,” Alecto insisted, grimacing.

“Of course we are,” Asphodelus disagreed, her rose-pink eyes curving with amusement. Yet despite her words, the pin she was wearing indicated she was a noble, whereas Alecto wasn’t.

There’s definitely a story here, Euphy thought, sensing a great deal of gossip under this seemingly innocent exchange.

“No one thinks you’re funny,” Alecto rejoined.

“What are you talking about? Hyacinthus thinks I’m hilarious, and I bet our new divine mage thinks so as well, don’t you, Euphrosyne?”

“Yepp, you’re a hoot,” Euphy readily agreed. 

While she didn’t understand where the Med-Healer’s hostility towards her was coming from, her desire to fawn over Alecto was much stronger than any annoyance she felt, so she decided to just roll with it. Euphy didn’t need dignity, she needed to find a way to become Alecto’s friend or, failing that, her lackey.

“Enough with the both of you,” Alecto cut in, pinching her forehead like they were giving her a headache. “Euphrosyne, the Professor is available to speak with you now. Get moving.”

The tall TA stormed off without another word and the shorter girl followed, giving Euphy a slightly off-putting little grin in farewell.

It wasn’t until Euphy saw Professor Iphis waving for her to come closer that she remembered she was still upset with him. 

Ugh, and he looked so happy to see her, too. Then again, he probably looked that happy to see everybody, the outgoing bastard.

“Hello, Euphrosyne,” Professor Iphis called out as she approached, activating an artifact to put up a sound barrier around them. “How are you doing?”

“I’m… fine,” she mumbled, trying and failing to hide her annoyance.

Seeing his expression become concerned, she pre-empted him by pulling out the stars he’d thrown her and demanding, “Professor, what are these?”

“Ah! I give those out to encourage participation. Don’t worry, they’re not real gold, but make sure you keep track of them because later on you’ll be able to trade them in for little privileges and prizes,” he beamed, clearly very proud of his incentive program.

“Okay, but where’d you get the idea from?” 

“My grandmother, of course! She used to give them to me as a reward for good behavior, but the ones she made were so flimsy, it always broke my heart that they didn’t last very long. That’s why I made a version that's much harder to destroy for my students.”

… Damn it, Euphy thought, scowling as she pocketed the little stars again. That’s adorable. Stop it. You’re making me feel like a jerk for being angry at you.

“Euphy, are you sure you’re alright? I probably startled you earlier with that spell, didn’t I? I wanted to apologize for that. I was hoping those two would stop on their own, but things were getting a bit out of hand… It's almost like they don’t realize I’m one of the few teachers at this school who’s encouraged to beat them.”

“I understand, it’s fine.”

“Are you sure? I could always take care of them for you, if you want.”

“‘Take care of them’ how?” Euphy asked, immediately defensive.

“Um… by bumping them down to the beginner’s course?” the Professor replied, a little confused by her open suspicion. “Even if their skills are alright, their manners and maturity seem to be lacking.”

“Oh,” she murmured, calming down somewhat.

Right. Even if he had betrayed her by putting her in this class, that didn’t mean Iphis was crazy enough to suggest killing students the way his partner was.

“Euphrosyne, are you sure you’re ‘fine’? You keep saying that, but you definitely seem a bit… on edge today.”

“Well, I guess there is something I wanted to talk to you about.” Taking a deep breath, she pulled the crumpled assessment from her pocket, brandished it before him, and asked, “‘Lacks confidence?’ In what? What specifically, or is it in everything!?”

“What?” Professor Iphis asked, taking the paper from her. He squinted down at it, his eyebrows lifting in surprise as though reading it for the very first time. 

Trying to squash the awful, squirming insecurity twisting in her gut, she asked in a small, pathetic voice, “Do you… really think I’m not good enough?”

“Oh, no. Shit.”

“Excuse me?”

Iphis closed his eyes and thwacked the paper against his forehead, cringing as he muttered, “I, uh… wasn’t feeling very well towards the end of last week. I meant to find time to talk to you about this, but I was in such a hurry to finish those damn assessments that I completely forgot about it the moment it left my hands, and then so many things happened over the weekend…”

Euphrosyne, who’d been readying to defend herself in case this turned into an argument, found herself faltering the moment she realized how flustered he was.

Actually, now that she looked at him closer, he did look a lot more exhausted than his energetic lecture style implied. He hadn’t been present during the final assessment day last week, but at the time she’d assumed that was because it was the written portion, not because he was under the weather.

“Professor, you were out sick?”

“Something like that,” he admitted with a sheepish smile. “I thought I was still managing things alright, but now I can’t help but wonder just how many vague assessments I sent out... Regardless, you have my apologies, I should have chosen my words more carefully, and also remembered to do the things I said I was going to do.”

Now it was her turn to feel flustered for getting so upset over an unintentional slight made by a sick man. A lot of people defaulted to healing away bacterial and viral infections quickly for the sake of convenience, but doing that too often would weaken one’s immune system, so as a healer she very much approved of his willingness to suffer through it.

“O-ohh, no, don’t worry about it,” Euphy backpedaled, waving her hands. “It’s always better to get through that sort of thing without magic if you can, I completely understand.”

“Anyway… Now that I’m sober, let me explain what I was trying to say,” the Professor said, clearing his throat. “During your sparring assessment, I couldn’t help but notice you had quite a few opportunities someone of your skill level ought to have been able to exploit, but you didn’t. I’m not sure if that was because you were holding back because you were afraid of hurting your opponent, or if you were just second-guessing yourself, but either way it’s something we definitely ought to work on.”

“What? That’s—that’s not what I’m usually like! I was just under a lot of pressure, and I was fighting people I’ve never fought before, so I was trying to be careful…”

“Really? Because as an observer, it seemed to me like you approached every fight as though you were half-expecting to lose, and you stayed that way despite winning pretty often.”

“Well, that’s… that’s…”

That was because she was used to fighting Abbess Alke. She never won against Alke, she only endured, and any time she was foolish enough to think she might have finally gotten the upper hand it was just a trick to knock her back down a peg. It wasn’t like she never won against other people in the monastery, but she didn’t fight them as much, and at some point after losing so often and for so long the idea that she could ever possibly win became something not to aim for, but to guard against.

Going in with no expectation of success to begin with gave her, if nothing else, the illusion that failure wouldn’t hurt so much.

“Euphrosyne, did you by chance read the course description for each of the class levels?”

“Ah, course description?”

She vaguely recalled seeing something like that when she’d been signing up for the assessment, but the course titles seemed so clear that she hadn’t thought she needed to look into things further.

Though the corners of his lips twitched, the Professor was kind enough not to call her out on this oversight. Instead, he explained,

“Euphrosyne, the intermediate class is not for people who are mediocre, it is for people who already know what they’re doing but could still benefit from personalized guidance. The biggest difference between this level and the advanced is that they get less help in exchange for more independence, and that is primarily because both those students and myself need to confirm they can continue to thrive in the future without my guidance. By virtue of your defensive capabilities alone you could probably survive that class, but… is that really the kind of experience you want?”

She opened her mouth to argue with him, to tell him that was exactly how she’d always been taught, that she’d done just fine up until now and could handle the challenge.

However, when she actually stopped to think about what he described, the suffocating fatigue she sank into every time she thought of her time in Kos came back.

Whether or not she could handle it, she realized she didn’t want to. In fact, now that he’d laid things out for her the overwhelming aversion she felt at the idea was so strong that when she tried to reply the only thing she could think to say was that she’d rather just quit the class altogether, that she didn’t want to do any of it no matter what level it was.

It was strange. She’d always liked physical classes in the past, she used to treat them like a little break for her brain, so where had all that enjoyment gone?

These dreary thoughts were interrupted by a heavy hand patting her head as Professor Iphis, having received no reply, messed up her hair as he declared, “Well, why don’t you at least give this class a try? Think of it as a favor to me, and if it’s too easy for you I can always bump you to the advanced class later. Anyway, the Princess would probably be pretty sad if you transferred out now.”

Surprised, Euphy swatted his hand away and said, “Wait, Chione’s in this class? But… she wasn’t at any of the assessments?”

“Royalty only takes tests if they want to,” Iphis replied with a shrug. 

“Yes, but is that really a… um…”

“A good idea? Probably not, but it isn’t up to me. Regardless, I plan to do my best to keep an eye on her, and you’ll have a friend to hang out with, so doesn’t it work out well?”

“Alright, I guess,” Euphy murmured, unable to shake a lingering sense of confusion and dismay.

Despite his words, she had a feeling she probably didn’t actually qualify, did she? He was just being nice to her. Either way, she felt mortified she’d given him such a hard time over nothing.

“By the way, her brother will be in this class too. I heard you don’t have the best opinion of him?”

“What? Who let him in here!?”

“I’m afraid our Euphrosyne is just too popular,” the Professor replied with a laugh. “After you ran into them, both sides of the royal family tried to completely rearrange their children’s schedules around yours. You’re lucky your father’s in charge or you might have ended up having them in all your classes. He figured sticking them in here would be a good compromise, since I’ll be around if they give you any trouble.”

“That… kind of makes sense, actually,” she grumbled, nevertheless feeling a bit annoyed that her dad hadn’t warned her. Then again, she hadn’t told him about her beef with Laertes, so he might not have realized it would be an issue… damn it.

“Don’t worry. He and Alecto have similar issues, so he’ll probably be spending most of his time with her.”

Issues? Euphy thought, but before she could ask Iphis kept talking.

“Now that we’ve cleared things up, do you have any development goals in mind for this semester? Moros mentioned you wanted to learn divine lightning—”

“I’m not interested in that spell anymore,” she snapped automatically, surprising herself as much as him.

An awkward pause followed, but rather than get offended or ask why he nodded and asked, “In that case, is there something else you’d like to explore?”

“I… I don’t know, I hadn’t thought about it. There’s not much offensive magic I can actually use,” she said unhappily, blushing in shame.

What the heck was wrong with her today? It was as though the kinder he was to her, the more she wanted to jump down his throat, and even though she knew that was unfair she couldn’t seem to control herself at all. 

She didn’t know why she resented him, but it was becoming clear that just being in this class, being near him at all, made her feel unbearably acrimonious and the harder she tried to fight that feeling the more irritated she became.

“Oh, I know! Euphy, you’ve got to travel a bit for your cohort assignment, don’t you? Why don’t you take Moros as your guard the next time you go? His fighting style is somewhat similar to yours, he’ll probably have some good suggestions for you.”

No! No, I do not want to hang out with him! she thought, but seeing Professor Iphis’ hopeful expression made her feel too guilty to refuse.

Whatever. It wasn’t like she could keep avoiding Moros forever.

“Yeah, sure, that sounds good.” 

“Alright! In that case, before we start running through your spells and techniques, I just wanted to let you know I was finally able to get in touch with Senior Monk Rhea, which was… surprisingly difficult, to say the least. She claims that she and her group did escort you down here in person, so I’m wondering if you might know why she’s lying to me.”

Euphrosyne, whose heart sank the moment Rhea’s name came up, was bracing herself for a new round of unpleasantness only to find herself thrown off by the end of his question.

“You… think she’s lying to you?” she asked, a little confused. “Not me?”

“Well, you don’t really strike me as the sort. More importantly, it seems to me like there’s something going on between you two, and as your guardian I can’t help but be concerned.”

“Oh. Oh, I guess it’s…”

She trailed off, unsure what to say.

For years she’d been begging for someone to listen to her, to believe it when she said what Alke was putting her through wasn’t okay, to step in and help her when she couldn’t help herself.

And yet, now that she finally found herself in front of someone who seemed like he wanted to do all of that, the suffocating mixture of exhaustion and shame and despair she felt at the mere thought of trying to put it all into words again, especially when she’d tried and failed to do that with so many other people, just didn’t feel worth it.

Maybe she would have felt differently if she was still in Kos, but now that she’s gotten out, was it wrong to want to put all of that behind her?

Things were so much better now. What if, by opening her mouth, she ruined that?

“We’ve never gotten along, so maybe it was just her idea of a prank,” Euphy finally said. “I’m sure it’s not anything serious, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“I see,” Professor Iphis replied, his eyes narrowing slightly.

She stared back at him, every muscle in her body tensed as she prayed he’d just buy it and let things go.

“That… seems like an awfully cruel prank, but I trust your judgement. That said, have you discussed it with anyone else? Your friends, maybe, or your father?”

“What? No! I mean, it’s really not that big a deal, and I’ve been super busy since I’ve gotten here, so,” she trailed off, rubbing her arm nervously. “Uhh, Professor, you’re not going to tell my dad about this, are you? I’d really rather talk to him myself.”

She wasn’t looking at him, so she failed to notice the dark look that flickered through the Professor’s eyes, or the way he briefly clenched his jaw. 

“I won’t tell him without your consent. Still, as a teacher to a student, I’d like to suggest you at least consider talking to your friends. After all, if the Princess or Psyche were dealing with something similar, you wouldn’t want them to keep it to themselves, would you? And, you know, sharing your troubles is a good way to encourage them to share their troubles with you,” the Professor said, his voice as calm and soothing as ever. “Now that we’ve cleared things up, let’s start going through your techniques, shall we?”

“S-sure,” she said, letting out the breath she’d been holding in relief.

Actually, she felt the Professor had a good point. She didn’t want to unnecessarily upset her father, but Chione and Psyche were students as well, so they’d probably do a better job handling this sort of thing. She resolved to tell them at some point, but… not right now.

Really, she’d rather not think of it at all, ever again.