<Life in the Dormitory (2)>
“Neerhaaaaa!”
“Lord Baeker!”
Shoving Baston aside with brute force, Baeker charged straight at Neerha, mana gathering violently in his hand.
“Stop! Baeker!”
A startled Zecron rushed forward in panic, trying to stop him.
A verbal argument or even a fistfight might have been overlooked, but the moment mana entered the equation, Baeker had crossed the line.
And if Neerha were injured here, there was a good chance Baeker’s punishment would go far beyond a few demerits.
But before Zecron could do anything, Baeker had already reached Neerha.
“Good. If you want to prove yourself with strength, that works too.”
Though admittedly, this had gone far beyond the acceptable limit.
Clench!
The instant Baeker thrust out his hand to unleash his mana explosion, Neerha used the Golden Binding Hand Technique and seized Baeker’s wrist.
“Ghk!”
“Baeker, you seriously need to learn what calmness is.”
Before Baeker could detonate the mana gathered in his palm, Neerha raised two fingers and rapidly struck several pressure points.
Tap tap tap tap!
“...Ah.”
The moment the acupoint strikes were complete, Baeker’s expression visibly dulled.
Then, just as a strange knocking sound echoed from inside his torso, Baeker’s body pitched forward.
Thud!
“W-What the hell?”
“What just happened?”
“Did he faint?”
“He’s not dead, is he?!”
As Baeker suddenly collapsed in the middle of charging at Neerha, the surrounding freshmen stared at one another in utter confusion.
The situation unfolding before them was simply too absurd and bizarre.
And then—
“What is the meaning of this commotion?!”
An icy roar thundered from outside the dormitory entrance.
The freshmen barely knew each other’s names yet, but there was no mistaking the owner of that voice.
“It’s the dorm supervisor!”
“Run!”
Only then did the freshmen realize how serious the situation was and hurriedly try to flee—
“Stop! Anyone who runs will be expelled from the dormitory immediately!”
At that single sentence from the supervisor, everyone froze in place.
Expelled from the dormitory?
This dorm sat in the middle of the snow-covered Palarest Mountains. If they were kicked out, where exactly were they supposed to go?
That was practically the same as being expelled from Libra itself.
Edval—the supervisor of Dormitory One and a mage who had already stepped into the sixth level—looked coldly over the awkwardly frozen freshmen.
“What a complete mess on the very first day. What is all this noise about?”
“It was merely a minor disagreement, Supervisor.”
The one who answered was none other than Neerha.
“...A minor disagreement?”
“Yes. The disagreement has already been resolved, and everyone here had just accepted the outcome and was preparing to disperse.”
“You were preparing to disperse?”
At Neerha’s excuse—if it could even be called that—Edval let out a dry laugh and pointed a finger.
“Then what about that boy collapsed in front of me?”
The laugh quickly turned into anger.
Edval frowned deeply and glared at Neerha.
“I distinctly remember saying that acts of violence inside the dormitory would be specially monitored. Are you trying to get expelled from Libra on your first day, Neerha Radeus?”
Edval had already concluded that Neerha was responsible for taking Baeker down.
Even after being identified as the culprit—though technically he was guilty—Neerha didn’t change expression in the slightest. Instead, he smiled lightly and asked back,
“Violence? Whatever do you mean?”
“Oh? So you’re going to deny it?”
“That accusation doesn’t make sense. I never used violence.”
“Ah, really?”
“Yes. Just as we were about to disperse after resolving matters, Baeker suddenly fainted. The lounge only became noisy because of that.”
Edval shifted his gaze away from Neerha and looked at the surrounding freshmen.
But strangely enough, the students who ought to have been avoiding his eyes were instead tilting their heads in confusion.
‘Hm? What is this?’
If someone had a guilty conscience, they wouldn’t be able to maintain eye contact. And even if they tried, it usually became obvious quickly.
If Neerha Radeus had truly assaulted Baeker, then the other freshmen—intimidated by his authority—should have quietly avoided looking at the supervisor.
Yet every single one of them was staring back with genuine bewilderment.
‘What the... is he actually telling the truth?’
There were certainly people bold enough to lie calmly even before a dorm supervisor, but not everyone could do that.
Half doubtful, Edval stepped closer and examined Baeker’s unconscious body.
‘There are definitely no signs of physical impact.’
No reddened skin. No bruises.
And it didn’t look like he had been knocked unconscious by a blow to the groin either—Baeker appeared almost peaceful, as though merely asleep.
‘Did he really just faint on his own?’
Only after carefully inspecting Baeker for quite some time did Edval notice the strange flow of mana inside his body.
Flinch!
‘W-What in the world?!’
Several pathways through which mana flowed had been artificially blocked.
And done so with incredible subtlety—so carefully hidden that no one would notice unless they directly injected mana to investigate internally.
Edval stared at Neerha in shock.
‘What exactly is this monster?’
The technique of injecting mana into another person’s body and subduing them this way was not something ordinary people could use.
One needed master-level mana control to even learn it. Even within the Radeus family, it was said that only a handful of veteran operatives specializing in infiltration and espionage had mastered such methods.
Meeting Edval’s gaze, Neerha asked with a faintly knowing smile,
“So? What are your findings after examining him?”
“U-Uhm!”
Strictly speaking, this could not be classified as violence.
At least outwardly, there was absolutely nothing wrong.
Still, this was the first time since becoming dorm supervisor that Edval had encountered someone slipping through the rules in such a manner.
“There doesn’t appear to be... any major problem.”
But he also couldn’t falsely claim there was evidence when there wasn’t.
“I see. Then may we disperse? Though Baeker should probably be taken to the infirmary.”
“Y-Yes. Go ahead.”
Still bewildered, Edval accepted Neerha’s request.
And just like that, the uproar finally settled down.
‘Neerha Radeus was supposed to be a famous failure even within House Radeus. He definitely was supposed to be...’
Watching Neerha walk back toward his room on the second floor, Edval frowned deeply.
‘Then where the hell did that monster come from?’
Several days passed after the incident in the lounge.
Alpheon and Copen, who had clashed during the first day’s standoff, surprisingly caused no further trouble and kept quiet afterward.
But one thing had changed.
“Hahaha! Lord Neerha, are you heading to eat?”
“...Yeah.”
“Hahaha! Meals are best enjoyed among people of equal standing! Allow me to accompany you!”
“......”
Ever since Neerha had taken his side a few days earlier, Alpheon had started acting overly friendly toward him.
No—not merely acting.
He genuinely looked like he wanted to become close friends, which made it strangely difficult to push him away.
The moment theory class ended and Neerha headed outside for a meal, Alpheon hurried after him and stuck to his side.
“That confidence and strength you displayed, Lord Neerha! Power independent of your family’s prestige! Watching you made me realize just how foolish I’ve been all this time!”
“......”
“I realized that I too have relied solely on the name of House Librecht until now. Of course! I do take pride in having cultivated strength worthy of my family’s name—but even so, I now understand I was nowhere near your level!”
“S-Stop that...”
Neerha felt his sanity slipping from the nonstop barrage of praise.
For some reason, Alpheon had completely transformed into his devoted admirer, but Neerha himself still couldn’t adapt to this dramatic one-hundred-eighty-degree personality shift.
“So anyway, I’ve heard rumors that the academy will soon assign group projects.”
On top of that, Alpheon occasionally brought surprisingly useful information, which was why Neerha had half-given up and allowed him to remain nearby.
“Group projects?”
“Yes! It’s a little embarrassing to keep mentioning my family, but... this information came from professors and instructors connected to House Librecht, so it should be reliable.”
Anyone tied to House Librecht was unlikely to hold a low position, meaning the information Alpheon brought was probably almost completely trustworthy.
“A group project, huh...”
“Yes. It’s also said to be the pinnacle of unfairness!”
“...?”
Neerha tilted his head, unable to understand what Alpheon meant.
Back in his days as a martial artist in the Murim world, Neerha had never done “group projects,” but he had completed countless “group missions.”
From those experiences, he knew that if members failed to unite, a group couldn’t properly display its full strength.
Still, he didn’t think the situation warranted being called the pinnacle of unfairness.
“Group projects at Libra are a bit special. Once teams are assigned, they remain fixed until the end of the year.”
“Really?”
“Yes. And since the assignments are completely random, you won’t know your teammates until the very day they’re announced. If someone severely incompetent ends up on your team, things become a nightmare.”
“Hm...”
That certainly sounded burdensome. If one teammate lagged behind badly, the pressure on everyone else would naturally increase.
“Well, I suppose you only truly understand after experiencing it yourself.”
“Haha, exactly!”
‘If they lack ability, then I’ll train them. If they lack motivation, I’ll beat it into them. No one would dare slack off in front of me anyway.’
Crack.
Without even realizing it, Neerha had already solved the greatest problem of group projects in the most natural way possible.
And then, only a few days later—
Just as Alpheon had predicted, Libra officially began assigning group projects to the freshmen.
‘Teams of four, huh...’
With a total of 120 students, that meant thirty teams would be formed.
And the theme of the project was—
‘Searching for ingredients to create magical reagents?’
It certainly sounded fitting for a school of mages, but it also felt strangely vague.
The possible range of materials was simply too broad.
‘Surely they don’t expect us to search the entirety of the Palarest Mountains for ingredients?’
The academy claimed the purpose was to evaluate the students’ sensitivity to mana, observation skills, and searching ability, but Neerha suspected there was another hidden objective they weren’t revealing.
He checked the notice listing his teammates.
[Team 14 — Neerha Radeus, Jereon Pamel, Sonia Iznen, Rudel Agrahon]
‘All unfamiliar names.’
Well, not entirely unfamiliar.
He recognized their faces and names at least.
They simply hadn’t exchanged proper introductions yet.
‘And the people I actually know... have all been separated.’
Baeker, Zecron, Baston, Lucia, Alpheon...
Everyone he had at least some acquaintance with had been assigned to different teams.
Still, regardless of who had been assigned together, becoming teammates meant they would spend the next year working side by side.
Just as Neerha was wondering how he should greet them—
“It’s been a while, Young Master Neerha.”
“Lucia?”
The blonde girl with her carelessly tied hair appeared before him once more.
“It has been a while. Has it already been nearly two weeks since we last spoke properly?”
“Yes. We’ve both been busy with our schedules.”
“So what brings you here?”
Lucia wouldn’t come looking for him without reason.
Meeting Neerha’s intrigued gaze, she revealed why she had sought him out.
“How about the two of us form an alliance?”
