Chapter 38.2

"—-So, here we have all gathered today!"

In the dining hall of the commoners' dormitory- the place where we had a drinking party at the freshman welcome party a few weeks ago- the whole class got together for the first time in a while.

As our academy lives began in full swing, it became increasingly difficult to find the time to fit each individual's schedule.

So it was the first time we've all gathered together since having entered school.

This was the Summoned beings' dinner party.

The class president, Minho, seemed to want to hold these meetings regularly.

If we united together without alienating any of our classmates and stuck together in our own organization, we could deepen our bonds and actively raise our political voice.

But the atmosphere among us was not what it used to be.

When we were first summoned, the future was uncertain, so we had no choice but to stick together.

However, now that everyone had taken their place as academy students in the Empire, we are not as desperate as we were then.

Neither was I, in fact.

As a mythical Awakener and the fiancé of the 2nd Princess, I had established a stronger standing than anyone else in the same position.

I honestly couldn't care less how these kids who i am not even remotely close to live their lives.

Group gatherings are cumbersome as far as I am concerned.

I was not about to spit out complaints though.

22 students were sat at a long table and started eating.

Usually, at a party like this, the talkative kids exchange conversations with each other and drew attention toward hot topics, while the rest of the individuals talked quietly and only to those around them.

The former were popular guys like Choi Ji-hoon and Park Min-ho, and the latter were people like me, Ji-hye, and Hye-rin.

But that was not the case today.

Right now, most of the attention was on just one person sitting in the corner.

"Jihye, are those rumors true? Those… undead rumors...?"

"They are."

Jihye nodded once at the question of the girl sitting across from her.

Then, as the agitation spread with her confirmation, the eyes looking this way became even more intense.

The incident in which a vicious criminal whom Ji-hye had executed during 'murder practice' and who was briefly resurrected as an undead quickly spread throughout the academy because it was such a rare and shocking phenomenon.

Ever since the great sage of the [Death] Attribute in the Great War era, all attempts by wizards and black magicians to artificially create the undead had failed.

The undead that appeared today were only naturally occurring monsters for unknown reasons.

"Wow, that's cool..."

Admiration could be heard in Hwang Seung-woo's- one of the representatives of our class- voice.

"······."

Seong Ah-young had a reluctant gaze, as she was of the attribute of [Life].

Some of the eyes looking at Jihye consisted of pure curiosity and amazement, while others displayed a little fear and disgust.

I could understand them though.

The words 'Murder' and 'Undead' naturally conjured up negative images.

When I witnessed the scene for the first time, I was worried that the Paladins would grab Jihye and take her away.

Fortunately, creating undead was not taboo.

There were very few wizards who can handle them properly, and so it was a strictly official and regulated field of magic.

In addition, there was no room for any moral dilemmas arising since death row inmates were treated as objects, not human beings, from the moment they were sentenced to death.

Jihye's new abilities required further investigation and research.

Specific specifications, such as the duration, cost, target range, and whether or not it was an authority, would be revealed in the Attribute Lab in the future.

Min Hye-rin, Hwang Seung-woo, Choi Ji-hoon, and many other students poured out their questions with an extraordinary interest.

Jihye was answering them one by one while constantly flirting her gaze back towards me.

"Then can you make this an undead too?"

"·······?"

Choi Ji-hoon called over his maid who had been standing by the wall.

She put down an oversized bag and started searching through it.

Unlike the other maids who were dressed in simple clothes and didn't have much with them, I had wondered why that maid had brought so many things with her.

But it appeared as though the correct answer was that he had brought over a corpse to turn into an undead.

Crazy man.

So, he brought a corpse to dinner?

That was pretty rude and disrespectful I would have imagined.

What had he brought?

A bug?

Or an animal?

Judging from the size of the bag, it probably wouldn't be odd if an actual rabbit jumped out.

But undead animals…?

Honestly, I could understand Choi Ji-hoon's desire to see it up close.

"... Huh? What?"

However, it seemed that today was not the day when his curiosity would be satisfied.

"Lord, master... I'm sure I brought it with me... I even checked what was in my bag before leaving the lab, but it's gone!!"

"What? What bullshit?!"

Choi Ji-hoon roughly took the backpack and poured everything inside onto the floor.

The contents were few, and not an amount that required a bag of that size.

There were no dead bodies of animals in there.

Before opening it, the backpack had clearly been locked.

Also, there was no damage on the bag such as torn holes anywhere.

Ah, so it must have been like that?

In the short time between Choi Ji-hoon and his maid returning to the dormitory after receiving the body from the research institute, someone had stolen it.

I don't know why they would have coveted something like that...

The inside of the academy didn't seem to be safe from pickpockets either.

***

The group dinner ended in a bad atmosphere when Choi Ji-hoon slapped the maid and Park Min-ho stopped him from continuing.

Jeon Ji-hye and Anna went back to their rooms.

"I feel sorry..."

"For who? Choi Ji-hoon's maid?"

"Yes······."

Ji-hye recalled the sight of the maid who had been beaten without even a smidgen of resistance even when her cheeks had turned red.

"He has a bad reputation for being trashy. It's good that I'm your master, isn't it?"

"Yes."

The maid responded promptly with a warm smile to her master's smirk.

"Meeting you is a blessing in my life, Jihye."

"······It's a little embarrassing to hear you say that..."

She scratched her head, turning her head away from her.

'Anna, meeting you is a blessing to me. You are the second most important person to me.'

Jihye did not have the courage to confess that to her though.

Her face became hot.

Maybe because it was night, so her mind wouldn't seem to calm down.

At times like this, she would hold on to her talisman to help her to calm down.

She opened the bag to take out the 'talisman' in her pencil case.

This was the reason why her writing utensils were precious but a bit perverted.

Jihoo's hair was contained within anything that could be disassembled and assembled again, such as the mechanical pencil, pen, and sharpener.

From two strands of hair plucked from him right before they were summoned the day before the entrance exam, to hair secretly picked up from the floor when visiting his bedroom in the past.

It was her only secret that Jihoo didn't know about.

But it was gone.

"······ Huh? Eh?"

Books and notebooks poured out when the bag was flipped over.

"······huh?"

No matter how much Jihye dug through the heap…

"..."

The brown pencil case did not show up.

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