Upon arrival in the classroom, as expected, the students’ attention was fixated on the crow.
It felt like a mix of curiosity and wariness.
“Did you tame it?”
Aten approached and asked. She stroked the crow with a familiar touch.
“Yeah, well, something like that.”
That was all I could say here.
“Will you have to let it out when class starts? Will that be alright?”
“Yeah. It’ll leave on its own when it’s time.”
“It’ll leave on its own?”
It’s not going anywhere on its own.
However, Aten inspected the crow incredulously. Hmm, Gregory was continuing his excellent performance.
“Could you show us, if it’s okay with you?”
“Huh?”
“I’m curious about it leaving on its own…”
Hmm.
I looked at the crow. Our eyes met. I nodded.
It was a signal for it to do as it pleased.
The crow nodded as if it understood. Aten’s eyes were already wide by then.
Caw!
The crow cawed once then lightly took flight.
It circled around my head, sat on my left shoulder then hopped to the right one. When I lifted my arm, it walked along it and sat on my fingertip.
As I moved modestly, the crow adjusted accordingly, making it seem as though I was controlling it with mere gestures and eye movements.
“Wow.”
Aten’s admiration was small, but her eyes sparkled. It was my first time seeing Aten’s face so openly pleased.
Thinking I had shown enough, I placed the crow back on my shoulder.
“Well, it’s something like this.”
“That’s amazing. I’ve never seen such perfect taming before. You’re not ‘speaking’ or using mana, but just with gestures and eye contact you can control an animal.”
Well, it’s not taming, after all.
Hearing what Aten said made me think I might have overdone it a bit.
Not hearing herself, it seems all of this was a bit excessive. So what I was doing now was nothing less than stabbing myself.
The students in the classroom were also glancing at me. Since students who apply taming are rare, it’s even rarer to see them with this level of training.
At that moment, the end of class bell rang and the crow flew out the window.
“It really knows how to leave on its own.”
Aten said with a more sparkling glint in her eyes.
* * *
Frondier went around asking questions whenever he had time, like during breaks and lunch.
This was to find the student who was spreading the other rumor Gregory had told him about. Of course, Gregory also flew around in the form of a crow to collect information.
In the meantime.
In Constel’s conference room, a heavy atmosphere hung in the air. To the point of being murderous was more accurate.
“……”
“……”
“……”
All the teachers in the conference room had their lips tightly shut with stern expressions. Their eyes, suppressing their anger, were evident.
They had gathered under the pretense of an emergency meeting, but they all knew why it was called.
They didn’t do anything during this incident.
Even if it was because of the ‘business card’s’ influence, or even if they resisted the will to attack Frondier, something like that was of no consolation.
“…Phew.”
But the meeting wouldn’t proceed if they all just kept their mouths shut.
Teacher Binkis looked around the room and exhaled as if to let out all the air in her lungs. Then, taking a light breath,
“This is shameful. For all of us.”
She coldly spat out the words that everyone was thinking.
The teachers frowned as if they’d been nailed. Though it was a sentiment they had been feeling deep down, they wanted to hide themselves after hearing it directly.
“When a student’s life was in danger, we stood still inside the building without budging an inch. Heh, this is Constel, the so-called best training ground for fighters on the Central Continent. Turns out it was a congregation of cowards.”
No one could retort after Binkis’s words. As a Constel teacher herself, Binkis had also been affected by the business card, and staying still was the best option for controlling her movements.
Those words were essentially stabbing herself at this point.
“Enough, Miss Binkis.”
“…Principal.”
Principal Osprey spoke up.
Among the teachers, only Osprey had completely resisted the card’s effects and managed to cast magic.
Worried about the other teachers going berserk, he too couldn’t leave the building, but he had certainly overcome the card’s effects.
“It was a powerful force. Had I been closer to the Frondier student, I don’t know what would have happened to me,” Osprey said. He was the only one among those present who had fully succeeded in resisting.
Teacher Jane pressed her temples. The effort to resist the card’s power had caused her muscles to ache all over. The other teachers felt the same.
“According to the incident report, someone else stole the card and fled. They called themselves ‘Kraken.’ They’re not the culprit of this incident, but it means another disaster involving the ‘card’ is coming. Almost no one can completely resist its power. It would have to be someone of ‘Zodiac’ level,” Jane said, darkening the teachers’ expressions further.
Malia, who had a plaster on her forehead, said, “Frondier mentioned that Kraken introduced themselves as ‘not a member of Indus.'”
“Wordplay…”
Another teacher clenched their teeth in frustration.
Considering the circumstances surrounding the culprit, Kraken, the one who stole the card is undoubtedly a member of ‘Indus.’