After a weekend’s buffer, the uproar caused by the ‘divine incident’ gradually subsided, and the academy returned to its normal routine.
Yulia, who had originally planned a two-week leave with Stanley, ended up cutting it short by a week due to the incident.
Similarly, Euphyllia’s secluded research period also concluded ahead of schedule.
Finally, Ochre no longer needed to substitute her classes.
When he saw Euphyllia step out of her research lab as usual, his excitement was beyond words.
Substitute teaching was pure agony!
He was only half-competent in this field. How was he supposed to lecture on it?
The purely theoretical classes were manageable at least. He could follow the lesson plans Euphyllia had prepared, that is, the “Magic Theory Even a Three-Year-Old Can Understand” booklet.
But the semi-practical outdoor classes were an absolute misery.
Left with no other choice, Ochre had to… enlist the help of a professor from the Department of Martial Arts, effectively turning the sessions into gym class.
Now that Euphyllia had resumed teaching, her lectures were packed to the brim.
Aside from her usual two weekly classes, she was occasionally invited by other professors to offer sharp critiques on their research.
Their favorite phrase to hear was: “I think your XX isn’t XX enough.”
Because that meant the great Professor Euphyllia had new insights!
Meanwhile, Yulia’s life was far more colorful.
Eat → Class → Eat → Class → Eat → …
…Well, and plenty of club activities.
Although Wales had announced in St. Ferris Daily that Lia had joined the Forbidden Secrets Book Club, and that other clubs shouldn’t bother her, the other clubs had their own arguments.
“We’re not forcing her to join, just inviting her over to take a look and hang out.”
“This is just friendship between classmates—there’s nothing to do with clubs. It just so happens we’re playing in our club’s area.”
If something sounded interesting, Yulia would go.
It wasn’t that she disliked activities. She just didn’t like organizing them. If everything was prepared for her to enjoy, she was more than happy to participate.
Initially, most clubs invited her out of gratitude for past favors, wanting to show her their new developments as a way to repay her.
But once she took a look, the clubs were left utterly humbled.
Yulia would watch for a bit, then shake her head: “It’s quite interesting, but not enough. I think it could use some tweaks.”
And then she’d casually refine it.
For example, changing ‘Gale Wings’ to ‘Steel Wings’, ‘Thunderboom’ to ‘Divine Thunder’, or ‘Flame Bracers’ to ‘Blazing Armor’.
Isn’t this way more impressive than before?
The club leaders would gape, then smack their foreheads in realization.
No wonder Wales made that announcement—he’s trying to monopolize this treasure!
And so, everyone started exploiting loopholes. Officially, Yulia was only a member of the Forbidden Secrets Book Club, with no ties to other clubs. But in reality, whenever any club had something new, she was the first to be invited, sometimes even before their own club presidents knew about it.
Oh, and there was also that universally despised club, the Flying Petals Press. She had secretly joined it and even became its hidden second-in-command.
Whether openly or behind the scenes, the title ‘Lady Lia’ echoed through nearly every club.
Regarding this, the infamous five-star critic and Flying Petals Press’s Club President remarked:
“What is a genius? A true genius is someone like Lady Lia! With just the slightest flick of her fingers, she leaves countless of us in awe.”
Unfortunately, this review never made it to print.
Because—
Editor-in-Chief: Rejected!
That day, a professor from the Department of Magic approached Euphyllia.
Euphyllia glanced at her—her name was Belene. They were acquainted, but not particularly close.
“Dean, there’s something I’d like to ask your opinion on, and I’d also like to request your help.”
“Go ahead.”
Euphyllia let her explain first before giving a response.
“I’m responsible for maintaining the Great Barrier over St. Ferris Academy.”
Belene pointed upwards.
Euphyllia thought for a moment, then nodded. “I see.”
The Great Barrier had always been there, so ingrained in daily life that people barely noticed it. Recently, it had been especially quiet, making it easy to overlook.
“The barrier has been functioning normally, protecting the academy’s order. But lately, there seems to be an issue.”
“What kind of issue?”
“The barrier keeps triggering alarms, but when we investigate, there’s nothing there.”
“Isn’t that normal? Whoever triggered it could’ve just left by the time you arrived.”
Belene nodded in agreement. “It would be normal, but… the frequency is too high. It’s been happening multiple times a day for nearly a month now.”
Euphyllia frowned slightly.
A month… she had only been here for a month.
In other words, this had been happening since her arrival.
“Has this ever happened before?”
“No. It’s common for alarms to spike at the start of a new semester. Freshmen unfamiliar with the rules occasionally trigger them. But it’s never happened for this long.”
This was baffling.
Just thinking about such a troublesome matter gave Euphyllia a headache.
“Have you reported this to Mythina?”
“You mean the Headmaster? Yes. In fact, she was the one who told me to seek you out, saying that you’d likely have a solution.”
Euphyllia fell silent.
That woman is dumping her work on me again!
“Why isn’t she handling it herself?”
“Uh…” Belene hesitated. “Maybe… she’s busy?”
Busy? If that counts as busy, then look at how busy I am!
But after a moment’s thought, Euphyllia decided to accept, giving Mitina some face in front of others.
“What do you need me to do?”
Belene looked at her gratefully. “Please help me determine whether the barrier itself is malfunctioning or if someone is deliberately causing trouble.”
“I’ve inspected the barrier multiple times but found no issues. As for sabotage, I’ve had the guard team stake out the areas a few times, but they’ve found nothing. Their response time is also a factor.”
“Some members mentioned seeing you near the scene before, even giving them directions.”
Euphyllia thought back and recalled running into security while picking up little Lia.
It seems that they’d been dealing with this even back then and still had no results.
Resting her chin on her hand, she pondered for a moment before saying:
“Give me all the current findings and the barrier’s documentation. I’ll take a look.”
From her preliminary assessment, the barrier itself was unlikely to be the problem. This was probably someone’s doing.
Author Note
I had a writer’s block today…