"Kir!!! Wake up, please!!!"

Urgency was evident in Pola's gestures as she shook Skir's body.

"Uh... huh?"

But there was something she had overlooked. That Skir was now covered in the red leaves of Runelon.

As she touched his body without a second thought, red hives and rashes began to appear all over her body as well.

"Uh... ugh! Aaaah!"

Pola, in unbearable itchiness, forgot about waking Skir and began to scratch her whole body.

"Aah! My eyes! My eyes!!!"

She ended up scratching not only her whole body but also her face. The consequences were truly enormous.

Her eyes swelled up in an instant, and her vision began to blur.

"Kyaaak! Help me!!! Help me!!!"

Pola's urgent voice echoed loudly.

"Gaaah! Save me! Someone please save me!!!"

-Bang!

Just as her throat began to swell up. The sound of a door bursting open was heard.

"What in the world...!"

A familiar voice. It was none other than Lucas.

"Gaaah! Help me!!!"

Lucas was at a loss for words at the spectacle before his eyes.

A fallen ladder, and in front of it, Skir, whose appearance was a mess with hives all over his body, was lying down, and next to him, Pola, who was covered in tears and snot and in a similar state, was wailing.

It was a serious situation at a glance.

"Khuk! That's...!"

The red leaves of Runelon caught Lucas's eye. The culprit of this incident.

Lucas, who had quickly grasped the situation, began to scan the shelves quickly.

'Where in the world is it!'

But perhaps because of his haste, what he was looking for was nowhere to be seen.

"Kaek... kaek...!"

Pola, who was gasping as if she was about to pass out, and Skir, who was lying next to her. If this continued, he would have to send those two to the afterlife first.

"Damn it!!! Where in the world is it!"

Lucas felt like he was going crazy with urgency. He couldn't let them die like this.

Besides, if he turned this place upside down to find the antidote, something bigger would happen.

"Found it!"

Lucas, who had finally found the bottle on the highest shelf, quickly brought it down with magic.

-Click! Clang!

Lucas, who was in such a hurry that he opened the glass bottle and threw it away, wrapped his hand in protective magic and took out the contents of the bottle.

Lucas, who quickly stuffed the contents in his hand into the children's mouths.

"Please...!"

His desperate wish burst from his mouth.

"Huk! Kaek!"

Skir's breath, which had stopped, burst out.

"Guk! Huk!"

Pola's breath, which had been wheezing as if she was about to pass out, also began to clear up quickly.

"What in the world have you done!?"

What was in Lucas's hand was none other than the blue leaf of Runelon.

When poisoned by the red leaf of Runelon, the blue leaf acted as an antidote. Conversely, when poisoned by the blue leaf, the red leaf acted as an antidote.

If he hadn't known this fact, they might have been high-fiving the angels of the underworld by now.

"Damn it!"

But this was only first aid. Since they were covered in the red leaves, they had to be properly treated with a medicine made from the blue leaves and other medicinal herbs.

"Kaek... huek... haek..."

Seeing the children breathing, Lucas, who seemed to have regained his senses a little, began to look for a way to solve the situation.

"Ah... Aman!"

There was only one person, no, one dragon, who could help in this situation.

-Flash!

Lucas, who quickly teleported to his room, looked for him.

"Aman!"

Aman was not there. But Lucas just paced anxiously instead of leaving the room.

-Flash!

"Lucas-nim!?"

As expected. It was as he had expected.

Aman, who had felt the alarm magic cast in his office, teleported to his room in the middle of a class.

"Quickly!"

As Lucas, who urgently grabbed Aman's hand, teleported, the ingredient warehouse appeared.

"What in the world is this! Pola-yang! Skir-gun!"

Aman also shouted in surprise as soon as he saw the children lying on the floor.

"What in the world! Phew!"

Aman, who had found the red leaves of Runelon, let out a sigh as if he was pathetic.

-Saaa

A bright light burst from Aman's hand and began to envelop the children.

"Kaek... hee... haa... haa..."

The children's gasping breaths, which had been choking, began to calm down.

"Weren't you... in class? I'll take care of this, so go on now."

Aman carefully cut off the formal speech that had come out naturally.

"...I understand. Then I'll leave it to you."

Lucas, who was about to turn around, checked the children's complexions once more.

'It should be okay to go.'

Then Aman nodded his head slightly, as if he had read his mind.

As if to say everything was fine.

***

"Are you okay?"

What he saw as soon as he opened his eyes was Hadin Barad, who was in charge of the potion class.

Hadin was in charge of the students' health as well as the potion class.

"I... how..."

The place he was lying in was, obviously, the infirmary located in the academy.

"What in the world were you thinking?"

Skir felt his head, which he couldn't even lower because he was lying down, automatically droop.

"You did a very dangerous thing, Skir-gun."

"W-well..."

"No, that's enough. I don't want to hear any excuses."

Hadin, who raised one hand to stop Skir's words, let out a small sigh.

"You were very lucky. If Professor Aman hadn't helped you at that time... you might not be in this world right now, student."

"..."

He had nothing to say. He already knew that he had done a foolish thing, but to think that others had found out about it... Skir felt like he wanted to go and hide in a mouse hole right now.

"I'm sorry."

"That's enough. When you're fully recovered, you'll have to explain why you were there and what you did there."

"Yes."

Skir felt his vision go dark. And for good reason, this test was not a midterm or a final exam.

It was just one of the many weekly tests, and although the small tests were reflected in the final grade, it was of course not as much as the big tests.

But to think he had caused such a mess over a test like that...

'I must have been possessed by something...'

Skir, who was lying in bed and just blinking his eyes, couldn't help but sigh at all sorts of thoughts.

"Kir! Are you okay?"

The person who popped out from the suddenly drawn curtain was Pola.

"Pola? W-what is this!"

He was momentarily surprised by Pola's sudden appearance. Skir jumped in surprise when he saw Pola's face.

The red spots that were still spread all over her body, and the medicinal herbs stuck here and there. Pola's appearance was truly that of a seriously ill patient.

"Hey! Who's worrying about whom? You look much worse than me!"

"B-but...!"

What Pola said was not wrong. There were about twice as many clumps of medicinal herbs stuck to Skir's body as on her body, and although he hadn't looked in a mirror, his face and other parts would be much more serious than Pola's.

"You fool! What in the world were you thinking!?"

"I-I'm sorry..."

Skir's head drooped with his apology.

"I don't understand! What on earth possessed you to do that?!"

"I-I...!"

He wanted to say it. But he couldn't.

'Skir? I heard you got an F on the last potion test. A failure? Son. Your brother has never once...'

His mother's voice flashed through his mind. He knew it too. That his brilliant brother had never once received a failure.

Skir's brother, Sten O'Neil. He was fulfilling his role as the eldest son of the high-ranking O'Neil Duchy perfectly.

He had graduated from the magic academy with excellent grades and was now a researcher working at the Mage Tower.

People praised him in unison, calling him a 'true intellectual' for working at the Mage Tower, leaving behind the immense wealth of his family.

'You bad bastard...'

But his personality was not as outstanding as people saw it. Outside, he seemed to have all the virtues that the eldest son of a high-ranking duchy should have, but he was really...

'If I were you, I would have gone out and learned blacksmithing right now. You're so shameless. You don't even know how to be ashamed!'

Sten, who had heard the news that he had failed the potion test, had criticized him in all sorts of ways.

He didn't like that he had entered the beginner class from the beginning, and his already unfavorable gaze towards him had become even more blatant.

That's why he had chosen to live in the dormitory even though the academy was close to his home.

"Are you okay?"

Pola finally opened her mouth when Skir's mouth, which had been moving for a long time, couldn't say anything.

"Uh-huh... I'm fine... I'm really sorry... to have made you look like this..."

"Hey, forget about me and worry about yourself. Is it okay for the young master of a high-ranking duchy to look like this?"

"W-what does that have to do with anything!"

Skir, who seemed to be teasing him for no reason, snapped.

"Ah, why~ why does it have nothing to do with it~ you always said that, right? I'm~ a high and mighty~"

But the small snap became an even bigger source of teasing.

"S-stop it!"

"Pfft! You fool. Hey, more importantly, if it weren't for our Rookie, we would have really been goners. You know?"

"Ru... Rookie?"

"That's right! I don't know how he knew and came, but Lucas saved us! He brought Professor Aman."

"...I see."

Skir felt a strange feeling towards Lucas, who was four years younger than him. He was definitely four years younger, but it was as if...

"He's like a grandfather."

"What? What are you talking about all of a sudden?"

"Huh? Ah, nothing!"

Skir had blurted out his thoughts without realizing it.

'That strange feeling was this!'

Lucas was too mature for his appearance. No, mature was not enough to describe it.

So what came to mind was 'grandfather'.

When he talked to Lucas, someone would sometimes come to mind. An old man called a sage whom he had met once.

"So where is Lucas now?"

"I don't know. He's probably still in class."

"I have to thank him..."

"Hey, of course you have to thank him! Ah... but this won't leave a scar, will it?"

Pola was looking at her face in the hand mirror in her hand from this way and that. The red, swollen wound was full of scratches, as if she had scratched it with her fingernails.

"It'll be fine."

"Hey, you don't care what happens to you because you're just born that way, but I'm not, you know? Do you know how hard it is to be born with a face like this!?"

What Pola said was not right, but it was not wrong either. Unlike what Pola said, Skir was a handsome man with silver-white hair and gray eyes, and Pola was a pretty girl with light brown hair and bright eyes close to golden.

"Where do I look like I was just born that way! Hmph! And if you're worried that a scar on your face might block your marriage prospects! I'll marry you, so don't worry... ugh!"

As Pola's fist hit his head, a star flashed before Skir's eyes.

"What is this crazy bastard talking about? Hey, why would I marry you!? Huh!? And do you think you can just say anything! Do you think that just because I'm a commoner, if you say you'll marry me, I'll just say oh~ thank you! and accept it!? Huh?!"

"T-that's not..."

"You foolish thing! Hey! Your mouth is the problem, your mouth!!!"

She was so furious that Skir couldn't even make an excuse.

"T-that's not it..."

At the back of Pola, who had already thrown the curtain open and was leaving, shouting, Skir could only rub his aching head.

"What in the world is going on again?"

It was Lucas. He asked with a deep frown, as if he had just run into Pola who had just left.

"I... I think I made a mistake... more importantly, thank you..."

"Haa... what a tiring bunch of humans."

Lucas's mouth was annoyed, but his expression was not bad.

'They all seem to be safe... so is this enough.'

(End of Chapter)