After listening to the Killer Teacher's nagging for a while, Nic was finally free and intended to return to his room.
But he saw Lingmei standing in the middle of the field, just standing still. She noticed him and looked in Nic's direction.
"Has she been standing there the whole time?" Nic thought.
Nic approached her and told her that the Killer Teacher had allowed her to go inside.
"Is that so? Okay," Lingmei said briefly and went to her class.
Nic could only stand there silently before returning to his room.
---
In his room, Nic was bored because he didn't know what to do, so he chose to walk around the school instead.
Nic saw the cafeteria and went there because he was hungry. He bought some food and wanted to leave immediately, but something made him stop.
It was the sound of gossip among some female students mentioning Lingmei's name. Nic sat near their table and pretended to eat normally.
"Want to hang out at Lingmei's house again later?"
"Yeah, sure, it'll be really nice hanging out at her huge house where we can do whatever we want. Lingmei agreed too and didn't seem to care what we did at her place."
"Okay, I'll get close to her again later by asking to play Chess, hehe."
"But I'm a bit uncomfortable with her weird behavior..."
"Don't mind it! We just need to say yes to everything, and she'll leave after doing something weird. You know that, right?"
"Did you forget the old rumors about her?"
When one of the girls mentioned the rumor about Lingmei, she was immediately silenced by the friend next to her, who told her not to discuss it here.
They left immediately, afraid someone was watching.
Nic cut his food into pieces while listening to their conversation.
"Lingmei, Rumors, Dangerous Forest, Strange Plants, Hinata dropping out of school, Teacher Shiori Han's trauma... hm, that's a lot of puzzle pieces," Nic said, looking at the food he had cut as pieces of the puzzle regarding this problem.
"Does this all connect? But the one that makes me most curious is Lingmei... okay, I know what to do." Nic ate the piece he had marked as 'Lingmei'.
Then he ate the rest all at once and left the cafeteria.
---
Nic didn't do anything until school was over. He waited for someone at the exit gate, and Zane appeared.
Nic immediately took him to a quiet place.
"Zane, what have you seen so far at Qwelin Academy?" Nic asked.
"Um, from what I've seen, Qwelin Academy is absolutely crazy because the teachers are amazing at giving lessons that we can grasp easily. Even a fighting maniac like me understood quickly," Zane said.
"Oh, so it's not just a title as the best school. By the way, you know Lingmei, right? Did you meet her?" Nic asked again.
Zane thought for a moment. "Lingmei... oh! She once challenged me to play chess! I lost, and she left immediately! Hah, so arrogant."
"Did she ever appear near you again? Or meet you?"
Zane shook his head. After that, he never met Lingmei again, only seeing her from afar by chance.
"Hm, okay, thanks. If you know anything about her, let me know," Nic said, and he left immediately.
"Roger that, Senior Nic!"
Nic returned to the inn quickly and saw Hinata in her garden.
"To ask or not to ask... I'll ask, at least I can see if it connects or not," Nic thought.
Nic approached Hinata in her garden. "Hello, Hinata."
Hinata turned and smiled. "Hello, Nic! Just got back from Qwelin Academy, huh? How was it?"
Nic nodded. "Went smoothly. By the way, can I ask you something?"
Hinata instantly became nervous and nodded quickly. "Um, ask what?"
"Do you know Lingmei?" Nic asked.
Hearing that name, Hinata fell silent. Her eyes widened slightly but then narrowed again. "I don't know her," Hinata said coldly.
Nic noticed the change in Hinata's expression, and his passive anti-lie skill activated, telling him Hinata was lying.
"Ah, I thought you knew her. Sorry! I was just curious because she's really weird, haha. I'm going home first, bye-bye! Good luck with the gardening!" Nic said, waving as he left.
Hinata just smiled faintly while waving back. "Y-yeah..."
At the inn, Nic activated God of Animal to chat with Noctis, his crow.
"So, Noc, have you flown across the entire Eastern territory?"
"Krakkh, only part of it."
"Then have you seen the dangerous forest area?"
"Isn't Master already aware of that forest? When Master Nic fainted, I accompanied you there along with its inhabitants," Noctis answered.
"What? So I was in the dangerous forest? I didn't realize," Nic thought, confused.
"Do you want me to tell you about that forest? I heard about it from the tiger there, whom Master Nic also saw back then."
Curious, Nic asked Noctis to tell the story.
Noctis told the story in detail. The forest looked normal like any other forest from morning to afternoon... but when night fell, the forest could be described as dangerous.
"The tiger said they weren't the ones making it dangerous, but some strange plants that suddenly appeared in their habitat... the smell affects the minds of the wild animals, making them crazy and ferocious. The tiger also said they never intended to hurt humans, but something suspicious seemed to force them to do it, which eventually led to this forest being labeled as dangerous, and the tigers became the primary evidence as the cause of the danger," Noctis explained.
"Something suspicious? That means someone is deliberately doing this and there's a mastermind behind it? Does the tiger know?" Nic said.
Noctis shook his head. "The tiger and other animals don't know because they never saw anyone suspicious."
"Okay, the puzzle is slowly coming together in my head... keep exploring so we get more info. I'll double your food ration, hehe," Nic said, giving Noctis his food.
"Haha, safe to say, you're the best master! In that case, I'll continue flying to other territories! KRAKHH!!" Noctis said.
Nic smiled and lay down in his room. "When will I have time for my girlfriends?"
[ Isn't Master Nic trying to save time for other girlfriends? ]
"You're funny, Zeta."
[ Is this problem more complicated than usual? ]
"Of course, but no matter how complicated it is, I can do it because I have you."
[ Is Master Nic trying to flirt with me? ]
"If I am, so what? Maybe you can make it onto the list too... haha, just kidding. Anyway, I'm tired, I want to sleep... tomorrow I'll try to meet Lily, Olivia, and Chloe."
[ Hmmm, goodnight. ]
---
Midnight at Teacher Shiori Han's house.
"Yawn... the phone ringing? Who's calling this late at night?"
Shiori picked up the phone, and to her surprise, she received news that Yao Lin and Iroha could return to school tomorrow because they had fully recovered.
Shiori immediately sat down weakly, dropping the phone.
"R-recovered... FINALLY, THEY RECOVERED!! Eh, wait... is this like before? Will it relapse again??" Shiori said, holding back tears.
Shiori looked at a photo of herself with her friend.
It turned out that her friend was the one affected by the illness due to Shiori's failed research on that strange plant. Her friend was affected and still hadn't recovered—in fact, it got worse, and she was now isolated in a mental hospital.
This frustrated her, yet gave her a little hope that the illness could be cured. But knowing her friend's severe condition, she grew more frustrated, wondering if it was really possible.
"I have to ask the two of them... what made them recover..." Shiori said, biting her lip.
To be continued...