Chapter 263


    Simon walked over to the slumped over udia and asked,


    "Are you okay?"


    "…"


    Instead of answering, she gave a small nod.


    She tried to stand up, but the paralytic still hadn’tpletely worn off, so as soon as she got up onto a knee, she copsed once more.


    "I''ll walk you to the waiting room."


    She shook her head.


    "…Leave me alone."


    But Simon didn''t listen.He pulled her around his shoulder and pulled her up slowly so her heart would keep up. It was an amazing feat of strength, practically dragging another person behind him as he moved while still half-paralyzed himself.


    "…"


    udia looked behind them with tired eyes.


    The arena was a chaotic mess of rapid movement. The servants had to clear out the poison fog and mop the entire floor, so they were too busy to even think of assisting the two of them.


    Trudging on regardless, the two left the arena and entered the hallway to the student waiting room.


    udia looked up at Simon. She felt a little frustrated with how fine Simon was despite being exposed to her treasured paralyzing drug for minutes on end.


    The reason why Simon was about to even lift his head was…


    "…Professor Belya''s Poisonous Alchemy sses."


    Blurted out udia.


    "I''d bet that those sses are what’s letting you move right now?"


    Simon hesitated to answer, then nodded slowly.


    "I guess it''s not unrted."


    "Hah…"


    A weakugh escaped her lips.


    "Of course. Nefthis was the one who brought her in. There''s no way that it would be a useless ss."


    udia lowered her head again before muttering so quietly Simon almost missed it,


    "You know, it chilled me to the bone."


    "It?"


    "You know, what you said two days ago? You asked… if I could turn back time…"


    Her voice was getting hoarse, having given speeches every day without rest and now fighting to even speak as her entire body seized up.


    "You asked if I''d want to do this again, didn''t you?"


    "Have you changed your—?"


    "That doesn’t matter anymore."


    udia shook her head.


    "This isn’t just me standing up for myself anymore. I''m the voice of a majority. I started the boycott, and if I give up now, I''d be betraying the students who have trusted me thus far."


    They arrived at the door to the waiting room. Simon opened the door with his free hand and helped her to the sofa.


    "Rest well."


    "…"


    Just as Simon turned to leave…


    "Simon."


    udia called for Simon to stop.


    "Do you know the real reason why I''m leading the boycott?"


    Simon turned and looked her in the eye. It was something he''d been very curious about as well.


    "What is it?"


    "Because Professor Belya…"


    Her voice wavered.


    "She won''t take care of us!!"


    "Huh?"


    "Isn''t that right? You’ve seen how much the rest of the professors care about their aspirants…! They give them special training, they give them hints about the test, and they fight to not lose the people who will be representing them as teachers. Professor Bahil, Professor Walter, Professor Hong Feng, all of them do it. So why…?!"


    "Why won''t Professor Belya take care of us?!!"


    "…"


    "She treats <em>everyone</em> as equals. She gives no private lessons, and teaches the entire cohort the same lessons for building antibodies. We Poisonous Alchemy aspirants will be ruined by the end of the semester once all the students are immune to us. Why?! Why does the professor make it harder for us instead of looking out for us?!!"


    She put her hands to her forehead, barely holding back tears inside.


    "Yeah, I know! I know I''m a selfish bitch! But Kizen is all aboutpetition! Is it really so bad if I—no—if we expect a little bit of favoritism from the professor of our major?"


    Simon remained silent.


    Atst, her voice cracked and the floodgates began to open.


    "In the second BDMAT, all the Poisonous Alchemy students plummeted in the rankings! Meilyn, that bitch, was freaking out when she dropped from 9th to 220th. I dropped from 35th to 700th! For the first time since I came to Kizen, I thought I might be expelled! But, but, Professor Belya…!"


    udia began to choke on her own words as the ground beneath her was stained with tears.


    "She! Just! Keeps! Feeding us poison!!


    "…"


    "Isn''t that enough to justify feeling upset? I didn''t want to fight the professor either!"


    She finally buried her face in her palms and sobbed.


    Simon couldn''t offer herfort, advice, or any soothing words. She was too much of a mess to take sce in anything that left her apathetic opponent’s mouth.


    "I don''t want you to be too stressed about it. I believe that Professor Belya…"


    Simon rolled the words around in his mouth before finallying up with something.


    "I believe that she must have other ns, as well."


    udia continued to sob, but slowly forced her hand up and wiped the tears off her face. Already more wereing to rece them.


    "…I''m sorry for rambling on about something that doesn''t really matter to you."


    "It''s fine."


    "I don''t think I''m making any sense right now. Could you please just leave me alone?"


    "Sure. Rest well."


    <em>Click.</em>


    Simon left the waiting room and closed the door behind him.


    He stared up at the ceiling, silent with thought.


    * * *


    * * *


    That evening.


    Simon went to Belya''sb.


    "Professor, it''s Simon."


    "Yeah,e in."


    Opening the door, Simon was stunned by the sight before him.


    ''Wow, does a human live here? It feels more like a junkyard.''


    It was an amazing sight in more ways than one.


    All sorts of trash and garbage was scattered around, and the walls and furniture were rusted with the venom that constantly dripped from her body.


    In the center of the mess was a woman lying on her back.


    "You visited me earlier than I thought you would."


    Belya vigorously waved and smiled. Simon quickly bowed his head.


    "H-Hello, Professor."


    "Come, have a seat."


    "Thank y— Huh?"


    He couldn''t move his left foot. When he looked down, he noticed he had stepped on something sticky on the floor.


    No matter how hard he tried, he couldn''t lift his foot.


    "Bwahahahahaha!"


    Seeing Simon squirm, Belya clutched her stomach with uproariousughter.


    Simon blushed in embarrassment.


    "St-Stopughing and help me, Professor!"


    "Try this."


    She shoved her pinky into her ear before pulling it out and flicking an unidentifiable blue square-shaped substance.


    ''Ew.''


    Simon hesitantly caught the blue square and slid it onto his right foot—the one that wasn’t stuck to the floor. Following Belya’s eyes, Simon then tentatively put his foot down onto the sticky substance, hoping beyond hope that he wouldn’t just get stuck there with both feet.


    Thankfully, when the blue substance and the sticky residue met, both melted away like magic and Simon could move again.


    "…I don''t think I''m in any position to tell you this, but could you please clean up after yourself? Professor Hong Feng would start a riot if she saw this."


    "Whatever I do with my room is up to me!"


    Soon, the two sat down on the sofa facing each other. Belya smiled, resting her chin on her hand.


    "Your face tells me that you have some problem. Maybe you got stuck on something while getting ready for the BDMAT? Tell me anything. I''ll help you no matter what, just for once."


    "Oh, truth is…"


    Simon shook his head.


    "The uing BDMAT? I think I kind of figured it out on my own."


    "Oh, really? That''s something to celebrate. Then why did youe to see me?"


    "There''s something I wanted to ask you, Professor."


    Said Simon with a grave seriousness.


    "What do you n to teach after you finish your sses on feeding the poison?"


    She let out a sillyugh at that.


    "Why do you want to know?"


    "I met udia at the Duel Evaluation today."


    Simon exined the whole thing with udia. Of course, excluding the reasons for the boycott—those were up to udia to share— he tried to give udia''s side of the story as much strength as he could.


    Belya listened on with a face full of apathy.


    "Did she ask you toe to me?"


    "No."


    Simon smirked.


    "This was purely my decision."


    "…"


    Belya closed her eyes and took a deep breath.


    A long silence passed between them as Simon waited patiently for her to speak.


    "Okay, fine."


    She finally cracked.


    "I was nning on teaching my self-made poisonous alchemy skills. Adapting to poison is just a preliminary step to that."


    Simon''s eyes widened. Belya had a n, after all.


    "Wouldn''t it have gone smoother if you told the students that beforehand?"


    Her face alone spoke volumes about her disapproval.


    "Look. Let''s say there''s an apple on an apple tree."


    "Ah, yes."


    "And hungry animals are waiting for the apple to fall. My question is, does the apple announce, ''Hi, I''m going to fall off the tree at this specific time, this minute, and this second. So stand by and grab it right then,'' before it falls?"


    "N-No."


    Belya kicked her legs up onto a nearby table in annoyance.


    "Yeah. They fucking don''t! These nobles are so high up their asses, they''re demanding an exnation from me, you know? Do I, the professor, have to bend down and exin to them what I''m going to teach them? Do I have to ask every student if their fragile little hearts approve??"


    Apparently, she had some pent-up emotions, too.


    "D-Did something happen, perhaps?"


    Asked Simon out of concern.


    She again fell silent for a moment before recounting,


    "When I first entered Roke ind, the Elders called for me."


    She gritted her teeth.


    "Talking to those uppity bastards taught me something. No matter how many times you exin things to them, they''ll nitpick you and find fault, and they''re going to keep bringing issues up. The elders and those ss rejects just don''t like me to begin with!"


    ''…Hmm.''


    Simon spoke out, realizing there was a worse misunderstanding than he thought,


    "There may be some people like that, but, Professor, as I said before, there''s also the example of udia. She, along with a lot of the students, are unhappy because they don''t understand your ideas and educational views. I think this can be solved by talking to them."


    "Ugh, forget it!"


    She eximed.


    "I''ve made my choices, they''ve made theirs, and we all have to pay the price for what we choose. They don''t teach you how to survive in the grasnds!"


    "Still,"


    Refuted Simon.


    "this isn''t the grasnds."


    Apanied by a low growl, Belya hissed,


    "What are you trying to say?"


    "In Kizen, it''s natural for professors to appeal to the students. They got used to being in Kizen, and I believe they might misunderstand it if their professor doesn''t do things for them that other professors do. They''re still kids!"


    Said Simon, still a 17-year-old himself, before continuing,


    "So, could you please just talk to them for once?"


    "You mean to say I should bow down to their ridiculous ss boycott?"


    "No."


    Simon smiled.


    "You''ll be holding your head up high as a professor giving them a final chance."


    * * *


    After Simon left, Belya remained in theb, lost in thought.


    <em>"So, could you please just talk to them for once?"</em>


    His voice rang in her ears.


    "Fucking shitheads. It''s all because I made unnecessary promises."


    <em>Knock knock knock.</em>


    A knock came from the door, breaking her out of her thoughts.


    "Professor! It''s the chief assistant."


    "Yeah,e in."


    A pale-faced woman opened the door with trembling hands.


    "Chief!"


    "Yes, Professor!!"


    "I want you to mobilize the assistant teachers and have them gather up all the boycotters right now. Those who don''t want toe, you can just leave them alone."


    The chief assistant teacher''s face lit up as she realized what the professor was going to do.


    "P-Professorrr!!"


    "Shit, what are you yelling for?"


    "Ah, I''m sorry! I’m just so happy… But what should we tell them if they ask why we’re gathering them up?"


    Belya smirked like a scheming knave.


    "Just tell them I have something to announce."


    ——