Chapter 136
Chapter 136
The classes after the Comprehensive Exam were more concise than usual.
Perhaps because the cadets felt liberated after the exams, a relaxed atmosphere continued.
Even the professors took that into consideration, so some classes were shortened.
……Of course, I still had to attend Professor Hilda’s Scholar class.
“Now, Villed. Focus! You’re doing great! You can do it……!”
Hilda’s passionate encouragement barely reached my ears as I focused on the small amount of mana I had.
It took me nearly an hour to light ten candlesticks with magic.
Humans were creatures that learned. Naturally, there were some results from the class.
‘Well, I guess I did grow in a way…… but does this really mean anything?’
Simply put, if going from level 1 to level 2 counted as growth, then it was technically growth.
However, since other cadets had already reached level 10, there wasn’t much meaning for me in continuing the Scholar classes.
Villed had no talent whatsoever in magic. Even if he kept attending the Scholar classes, he could never hope for explosive growth like Ren’s.
‘Still, I can’t skip the class, so I’ll just have to keep doing it.’
As soon as I lit the last candlestick, fatigue spread throughout my body.
“You’ve done well. Sit down and take a good rest.”
I was guided by Hilda and sat down on the sofa.
She immediately brought out a cup of chamomile tea along with a saucer.
Golden ripples shimmered softly in the cup, and a gentle fragrance spread through the air.
As I took a sip, the sweetness and floral scent slid down my throat. The fatigue seemed to melt away bit by bit.
Hilda sat beside me and spoke.
“Do you think you did well on the exam?”
“I think it went fairly well. I did my best.”
“Hehe, I think so too. It must be the highest score you could’ve gotten. You did great.”
Hilda smiled softly and patted my head.
“You’ve decided on the Common Magic Department, right?”
“Yes, as I mentioned before.”
“Hmm…… alright. If you keep working hard there too, good days will come. You’ll still be my Scholar even as a second-year student.”
After saying that, Hilda took a sip of her tea and looked at me quietly.
It seemed she was hesitating about saying something, but eventually, she spoke.
“But, Villed.”
At that moment, time seemed to stop for a brief instant.
“Whatever your intentions are, don’t ever step forward and do anything dangerous again.”
Her eyes were sharp, as if she were studying every detail of my behavior, even down to my fingertips and facial expressions.
I didn’t avoid her gaze and slowly nodded.
“Understood.”
“You shouldn’t answer that easily.”
Hilda murmured softly to herself, slightly biting her lip as her eyes narrowed.
“Don’t take my words as simple advice. Believe it or not, I’m actually scolding you right now.”
After taking a short breath, Hilda smiled brightly and leaned closer to me.
“It was so dangerous back then—I was really scared. Next time, promise me you won’t do anything reckless again, okay? It’s a promise.”
Though her tone had a hint of playfulness, I could still feel the warning beneath it.
Without hesitation, Hilda took my hand and hooked her pinky finger with mine.
After Hilda’s Scholar class ended in the afternoon, I went straight to the livestock shed.
Before starting my chores, I lay on the hammock and checked the ✿Animal✿Farm✿ system.
It was to inspect the golden egg inside the ‘Goddess’s Incubator.’
Golden Sun Parrot’s Egg
Hatching Progress: 45%
The egg hasn’t moved at all yet~! Let’s be patient and wait a little longer!
Even though it had been over two months since I bought the egg at the Auction House, the progress hadn’t even reached half.
‘Was Pau, who hatched early, a special case?’
I remembered it hatched rather quickly thanks to the quest reward.
Unless there was another special event, the parrot would probably hatch around the end of winter break.
‘……Well, it’s not like I’m in a hurry anyway.’
I just hoped it would hatch safely by then.
I occasionally checked what new items appeared in the Animal Farm shop.
Among them, one new product caught my eye.
//slw_blue Data Scanner — 5,000P
It can restore forgotten memories!
It’s compatible with documents, videos, and drawings!
‘Restore forgotten memories, huh…….’
I reread the phrase carefully.
‘Could it possibly restore the memories from my previous world as well?’
If that was the case, there was only one thing I wanted to recall right now.
‘I want to know the identity of the Goddess.’
I had a fairly good grasp of the world and settings of the game <Yggdrasil Academy>, but I didn’t know much about the web game <✿Animal✿Farm✿>.
‘Especially since I played <✿Animal✿Farm✿> when I was really young, I never paid attention to its lore or background.’
I did remember that a ‘Goddess’ existed in ✿Animal✿Farm✿.
But that was all.
I couldn’t recall anything about the underlying history or lore.
‘……No point overthinking it. I should just try it.’
I immediately purchased the scanner.
5,000 points were quite a fortune, but I had accumulated plenty of points from managing the farm.
I could afford to spend that much once.
If I could gain information about the Goddess, it would give me a clue about both my abilities and this world.
As I stared at the scanner icon I bought from the shop, it soon materialized in my hand.
At a glance, it looked no different from the barcode scanners I often saw at convenience stores.
‘So I just do it like this……?’
I placed the scanner on my head and repeated in my mind that I wanted to recall memories about the ‘Goddess’ from ✿Animal✿Farm✿.
……However.
Not enough hints to process!
You need to find more specific hints!
‘……Didn’t work.’
I sighed and stored the scanner back into the farm system.
Was I just wasting 5,000 points?
‘No, I’ll probably be able to use it someday…….’
If I could use it based on something I remembered from documentaries or movies, that would be enough.
I got up from the hammock and headed to the storage room.
In the corner stood a piano and a painting—expensive purchases I had made at the auction, tempted by the system’s sweet talk.
‘Come to think of it, I still haven’t used these.’
Once I bought them, my interest faded, and I left them untouched.
‘Well, my schedule’s been quite packed until now anyway.’
Right after the student council incident, I repaired the livestock shed and then took the first-year Comprehensive Exam.
Now that the exams were over, I finally had some leisure time.
I wiped the dust off the painting and admired it slowly.
It depicted a black-haired girl standing alone on a blue field, staring into the distance.
‘I don’t know what the painting’s about, but since it supposedly has a good effect on animals, I might as well hang it up.’
I nailed it to the wall and hung it in place.
‘It’s an expensive painting, but it does look nice.’
After staring at it for a while, I turned my gaze toward the piano.
‘I spent quite a bit of money on this too.’
From what I’d heard, the system said it was an ancient instrument with a long history.
I placed my hands on the keys.
‘A piano, huh……,’
Maybe because I had played it when I was little, I felt a strange sense of nostalgia.
……Though, of course, I had completely forgotten how to play now.
‘I haven’t touched one since elementary school.’
I remembered I used to be pretty good for my age back then, but at some point, I just stopped playing.
‘I could play pieces like Chopin or Sonatina back then, but now I can’t recall a thing.’
I felt a faint sense of regret.
Then, suddenly, something flashed in my mind.
‘……Scanner!’
I opened the Farm System and materialized the scanner.
Placing it against my head, I hummed Chopin’s Nocturne No. 2.
/s_win blue
Enough hints have been gathered!
Memory scan successful!
//e_win
‘It worked?’
The scanner in my hand immediately vanished.
It seemed to disappear after a single use.
……Then, as if fitting together pieces of a puzzle, the sheet music of Nocturne No. 2 flooded into my mind.
‘Wait, this actually works?’
As if possessed, I stood before the piano.
I closed my eyes and pressed the keys according to the sheet music in my head.
I thought I might make mistakes since it had been so long, but…… gentle notes of Nocturne No. 2 flowed through my ears.
My fingers didn’t stop. The melody didn’t skip or falter.
It felt as if the sensations from my childhood, when I used to play the piano, had returned stronger than ever.
‘Yeah, I remember now. This is how it went.’
To think I could play and listen to Nocturne in this world……
Before I knew it, the corners of my lips had lifted.
After finishing the piece with satisfaction, I slowly opened my eyes.
……I turned toward where I felt a presence.
At some point, Laphin was standing beside me, holding the Sea Otter in her arms.
“Clap, clap, clap.”
Holding the Sea Otter’s little hand, Laphin made it clap along.
– Beep! –
The Sea Otter also made a delighted sound, its eyes gleaming.
Laphin looked between the piano and me and spoke.
“I didn’t know Villed could play an instrument.”
“I used to play when I was little. It’s been a while.”
“……I see. Too bad I only heard a little.”
“Want me to play it again?”
“Yeah.”
Following Laphin’s request, I pressed the keys once more.
When the piece ended, she spoke again right away.
“Villed, again.”
Encore.
“Play it again.”
Double.
“Just one more time.”
Triple.
“One last time, please.”
“Hey…… don’t you get tired of listening to the same song?”
By now, I had already played it four times for her. How long did she plan to listen to this?
“No, when I hear this song…… it feels like my heart becomes a calm lake.”
Laphin’s face was almost expressionless, but her eyes sparkled with excessive brightness.
– Beep, beep, beep! –
Seeing her still clapping the Sea Otter’s hands together made me laugh inwardly.
‘Well, Nocturne is a beautiful piece, but does she really like it that much?’
Come to think of it, this piano was said to have an effect that was beneficial to animals.
That must be why Laphin and the Sea Otter were gazing at me with such moved expressions.
……Still, I couldn’t keep fulfilling her endless requests.
“I’ve got work to do now, so let’s stop here for today.”
“Hmm……”
– Beeep…… –
Ignoring the dejected Laphin and Sea Otter, I took out cooking utensils and ingredients.
‘Besides, I have to prepare dinner.’
After glancing at the sky tinged with sunset, I spoke to Laphin.
“We’ve got a guest coming today, so you’re helping too.”
“Ugh……”
Though she pouted in clear protest, Laphin reluctantly tied on an apron.
Meanwhile, inside Professor Ruber’s laboratory.
Lahan and Ruber were organizing documents.
Ruber spoke first.
“You may leave for the day.”
“……You’re letting me go early today. Then, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Lahan bowed politely, then closed the door behind him.
Silence filled the room.
……Now, only Ruber remained.
He quietly rose from his seat.
Tap.
A single step.
Tap.
And as he took another step forward—
The professor’s office, once filled with bookshelves, instantly transformed into a gloomy underground chamber wrapped in chilling air.
Cold stone walls, suffocating stillness, and a single scarecrow bound against the wall.
Ruber approached it with a blank expression and reached out his hand.
In an instant, the scarecrow’s shape distorted and transformed into the figure of a man.
The man’s arms and legs were tightly bound by iron shackles, and his eyes remained closed, unmoving.
Ruber took out a syringe filled with green liquid from his pocket and injected it into the man’s neck.
……When he withdrew the syringe, the man’s eyes opened moments later.
“Ghhhhaaaahhh……!”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The man’s eyes widened as he thrashed violently.
The iron shackles clanged against each other with deafening force.
Without blinking, Ruber took out a bottle of water.
It was water infused with Spirit Grass.
He opened the lid and poured some into his palm.
Drip, drip, drip, drip……
……Then, with his wet hand, he touched the man’s neck.
Once.
Twice.
Up to ten times.
……However.
“Grrraaaahhhh—!”
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The man was still in a frenzy. His eyes were bloodshot, and his muscles twitched abnormally.
Even so, Ruber’s expression didn’t change as he lightly snapped his fingers.
In an instant, the man reverted to a scarecrow.
Silence returned once more.
“……”
Ruber’s eyes glimmered faintly as he stared at the empty bottle.