Curious, curious

"Wh-what would he like…? I'm not q-quite sure m-myself… I-is a home-cooked m-meal a good idea o-or…?"

The black-haired girl gulped down her saliva and asked while fidgeting.

"Oh, dear. It's a good thing that you asked me beforehand."

"Eh…?"

The instant response from a deathly-serious Melinda made Catherine go wide-eyed as she let out a confused voice.

"Actually, it was the very first thing that Ross explained to me after he learned to talk. Listen…"

"...?"

Melinda scoffed with a serious expression before leaning into the curious but slightly worried Catherine.

"Pigkin orcs are a solitary species. They have only two reasons for coming in contact with one another. To fight for territory, or mate."

"...!"

The gold-haired girl whispered, and her timid friend flinched, her ears turning red from embarrassment.

"You catch my drift, don't you? Their whole courtship can be boiled down to giving each other food. Ross was intelligent enough to understand that humans were different, so he did his best to learn specific words to explain it and asked just to let him hunt and forage food for himself as fast as possible. Let me tell you, after Adi heard it from him, she was too ashamed to show her face for a week straight - and she was the one teaching him our language."

"!!!"

Melinda explained hushedly, and when she leaned back, she could clearly see how crimson Catherine's face, ears, and even neck had become.

"Yeah. Consider yourself warned."

The gold-haired girl added dismissively, shrugging her shoulders and giving her embarrassed friend some time to calm down.

"Th-then… wh-what else…? M-maybe an a-accessory…?"

When the black-haired girl managed to compose herself, she breathed out and asked as her face was still slightly flushed.

"Control collar."

"...wh-wha…?"

And once again, Melinda's response to her question was so fast that it startled Catheriene a little bit.

"If he has a control collar on, he will be able to come into the city and other human settlements without causing a panic and putting himself in danger."

Melinda doubled down on her answer and added some context to her recommendation.

"B-but, Melinda… The c-control collar d-doesn't work o-on creatures w-with high intelligence… R-Ross can s-speak and u-use m-magic…"

"That's right. It will not work on him, but the collar will make others think that it works - as long as he will not speak or use magic, of course."

Catherine gasped with a fearful expression, but Melinda merely shook her head and pointed out with a cheeky smirk.

"N-no, Melinda, you don't u-understand! D-doing that i-is i-illegal! Y-you might get i-in so m-much trouble if a-anyone would find o-out…!"

The black-haired girl gasped, turning pale from exasperation for a change.

"And the only reason anyone would find out is if Ross would act like an idiot or started to rampage within the city. And you, of all people, should understand that's not how he is."

"...ah…"

Melinda snickered and winked at Catherine, amused by the cute voice of realization that she had let out.

"I wanted to get him one since, you know, he proved himself to go out of his way to help humans instead of attacking them, but for some reason, it appears that they are out of stock. In the whole Emeraldios Empire. Imagine that!"

The gold-haired girl continued to smirk for only a while longer because the annoyance at the inconvenience took over her as she complained with a frigid frown.

"I mean, that's probably not true, but it sure seems to be the case, according to the local magic item shop owner!"

She added with a grumpy grumble.

"I… I m-might consider it…"

"Ross likes the idea of checking out the city, so he will definitively be happy about it~ Wait… ugh… we better go, or we might be late for the announcement…"

Catherine fidgeted for a bit before timidly speaking up, which made Melinda perk up—but then the gold-haired girl groaned as she realized that the two of them were the only ones lagging behind.

"...~"

The moment the two of them turned the corner, Melinda's eyes wandered in search of the white-haired young man taller than anyone else. She smiled as she found him looking back at her.

"...tsk…"

Still, her good mood was soured the next moment when she spotted the person who was clearly going to make the announcement.

The black-haired headmaster, Castor Vendro'in.

This time he even had a standing wooden podium from behind which he was observing the gathered students and teachers.

Melinda would only be in a worse mood if he was in the company of the man who took Zane under the patronage of the church—cardinal Kelas Hi'via.

Luckily, only the former was present, but honestly, that didn't help Melinda's mood.

As the two girls and a straggler or three coming from the other side of the Academy's main building joined up to their classes, the headmaster straightened his back and loosened his shoulders before clearing his throat.

"Dear students of the illustrious Jade Academy! I welcome all of you back after the winter break."

Castor spoke up, appearing to be barely able to hold back his pride and excitement.

"As you all remember, at the beginning of the last semester, we gathered here because of the damage to the front of the Academy's building and its courtyard."

He pointed out casually as if it wasn't his office that was trashed by the disoriented four-winged monster.

"Albeit troublesome, that occurrence has revealed a glaring flaw in our Academy's security!"

"...!"

The black-haired man declared, raising his index finger towards the sky, as the students began to murmur to each other in unease.

"Yes, although its walls are thick and strong, the Jade Academy lacks a proper magic barrier! It simply was never needed, considering our location! But in those dangerous times, that is no longer the case!"

"!!!"

Castor declared, and the unease of the students increased.

"Fear not! With the most generous support of Her Majesty, Empress Regnant, and my humble support, the magic construct of the grand magic barrier has been completed while you all were enjoying the time off!"

"!!!"

The headmaster declared, and the atmosphere changed completely. The worried students let out relieved or excited cheers.