Chapter 184
The next place they visited was the first-year classroom.
From inside, the voices of several people could be heard chatting.
"Prince Eric......"
"Yeah, let's go in. Vincent."
Prompted by Clael, Eric and Vincent took the lead and entered the classroom.
'Will, do you understand this problem?'
'Hey, hey, can you help me with this one too?'
"Ah, of course. Everyone, please line up in order."
In the center of the classroom dyed red... of course, from Clael and the others' perspective, up on the ceiling, was Will Rileis.
Will was surrounded by many students and seemed to be teaching them.
"Umm... this problem is..."
"Will, please use this reference book."
"Ah, thank you."
And... sitting in the neighboring seat was that 'girl'.
"Sorry, that helps a lot."
"It's fine. You're always helping me too."
Will and 'she' sat side by side, smiling as they taught the other students.
It looked like a scene from a youthful memory... but all the students around them were slime-like monsters wearing the academy's uniform.
"............"
Eric signaled to the other three with his eyes.
This time, they had discussed beforehand and decided not to call out, but to secure her right from the start.
"Vincent......"
"Yeah... leave it to me."
Eric lowered his stance and held out both hands in front of him.
Then... Vincent used his hands as a foothold and leapt toward the upper floor.
"Hmph...!"
Then... he lunged at the seated 'girl', trying to capture her.
"Wha...!"
However, Vincent's arms sliced through the air.
He had definitely grabbed her—but it passed through like a hologram.
Vincent's hands grasped nothing, and he fell back down from the ceiling.
'Gyaaah!'
'Gyaoo!'
Then... in the next moment, the students around Will and 'her' bared their fangs.
Revealing their true slime forms, they pounced toward Vincent, who had fallen from the ceiling.
"Hah!"
Eric slashed through the slime-like monsters with his sword.
"Leave this to us! Mr. Byrne and Reina, be extra, extra careful with the perimeter! We're counting on you!"
Perhaps he still felt something about Reina taking all the credit earlier.
Eric took the initiative and charged into battle.
Vincent quickly readied his sword and joined the fight.
"Reina... let's let them have the spotlight this time."
"If you say so, Lord Clael... then shall we do something else?"
"Something else?"
"Yes... let's investigate the identity of that girl."
Reina formed a circle with her fingers and peered through it to look at 'her'.
It looked completely silly, and there wasn't any ability like that in the game to reveal someone's identity.
"Um... can you actually find out with that?"
"Yes, kind of."
"Kind of...?"
"I usually use this to look at Lord Clael... never mind."
"............"
Why, though?
It felt like she had just said something incredibly ominous—but maybe it was just his imagination?
Reina continued staring at 'her' like that for a while... and eventually opened her mouth.
"Hmm... as I thought, she's not an evil being. She herself, at least."
"Herself...?"
"I feel like there's something behind her... and also, she's a living human. Not a ghost or anything like that."
"............"
They had gathered a bit of information... but still didn't have a clear answer about 'her' identity.
Even so, confirming that she was a living human was still a valuable discovery.
"YAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
Eric and the others defeated the slime-like monsters.
In the end, 'she' disappeared again... but even so, they gained valuable information and were able to rescue Will.