Aer felt slightly uncomfortable at her oddly smiling appearance but quickly brushed it off given the situation.

Aer hid Anna, the healer from group 4, and the healer from group 3 behind a large tree. Then she checked on Louis and the other ordinary students.

Perhaps because it was their first time with a high-grade magical beast, some ordinary students looked pale.

“Aer.”

Louis approached. He drew his longsword while keeping watch on the surroundings.

When he first held the longsword, she had thought, ‘Can such a small boy even handle that?’ But now, the longsword suited him perfectly.

Just seeing the veins subtly visible under his slightly rolled-up sleeves, one could tell how much he had practiced.

Aer, who had been secretly admiring his appearance, turned her head at the sound of her name being called.

Surprisingly, Anna approached her in a friendly manner.

“Miss Aer, this place doesn’t seem very safe either, does it?”

Someone who usually spoke informally with a squeaky voice was now using polite speech.

Could the sun be rising from the west tomorrow?

Anna inwardly cursed repeatedly at Aer’s suspicious gaze. And Louis heard it all.

Aer gathered her thoughts for a moment before speaking.

“…Young Master Raymond chose this place. As he’s the team leader, how could I, a powerless ordinary person, dare to suggest we leave? As you know, I’m just a powerless commoner.”

Anna shut her mouth at Aer’s sarcastic but logically delivered words.

She wanted to burst out as usual, but she had to achieve today’s plan no matter what.

She wanted to set a proper example.

‘I can’t just stand by and watch you coveting not only Ian but Kai as well.’

While inwardly sharpening her knife, Anna replied with a bright smile on her face.

“If it’s impossible because you’re a powerless commoner, why don’t you follow my instructions? The other healers are anxious too, so I’ll represent us and suggest it to Ian. Ah, of course, a bit later. As you can see…”

Anna pointed at the Awakened ones dealing with the high-grade magical beast as she continued.

“They look busy.”

“…Is that so? Alright.”

Though inwardly uneasy, Aer had no choice. She moved the healers along with the other ordinary students.

Louis followed last, scouting the surroundings. He too felt Anna was suspicious.

He could clearly hear her inwardly cursing Aer and repeatedly mentioning sprinkling something, but he couldn’t figure out what that liquid was.

Despite this, her outward pretense of normalcy made him feel a familiar disgust.

Still anxious, Louis kept his eyes on Anna.

Every time the Awakened ones’ abilities flashed brilliantly, intense light burst through the forest that had been dark due to the large tree shadows.

The light was so intense that even those moving couldn’t help but look.

Anna didn’t miss that moment.

When everyone was distracted, she secretly sprinkled the liquid hidden in her pocket onto Aer’s boots.

And as she was about to turn her head as if nothing happened, her eyes met Louis’.

Anna’s heart nearly dropped at his contemptuous glare.

‘Did he see? Did he see it? Damn…’

The hurried idea that the flustered Anna squeezed out was to scatter the ordinary students.

She immediately said to Aer.

“This place seems safe. Why don’t the ordinary students go on a scouting mission?”

Until just now, she had been wearing a mask of kindness, but now she was back to ordering the ordinary students around like servants with her half-broken speech.

Aer looked at her with an expression that said ‘Of course, that figures,’ and then moved her feet. Scouting was necessary, as she had said.

“Aer.”

Louis attempted to follow immediately, but Anna stepped between them, blocking his path.

“Wouldn’t it be good if you looked the other way?”

“We’ll decide that ourselves. Don’t give orders recklessly.”

“…What did you say?”

“You’ll try to cover it up with 30 gold coins even if we risk our lives to protect you, so why should we feel obligated to you?”

“…You!”

“If you have nothing to say, I recommend keeping your mouth shut. And…”

Louis whispered in a low voice so only Anna could hear.

“Don’t dare sprinkle strange potions on my person.”

“…”

“I won’t let it slide this time!”

After finishing his words, Louis hurriedly moved in the direction Aer had gone. It had been just a moment, but in that time, Aer had already gone far away.

Strangely, her heart was pounding. It wasn’t a pleasant beating from excitement, but an irregular pounding stemming from anxiety.

Her fast walking had almost turned into a run when a scream echoed.

“Kyaaak! Miss Aer!”

One of the ordinary students who had disappeared together screamed as if about to faint.

“M-magical beasts! They’re coming in swarms!”

Louis quickly passed by the student who was shouting desperately while running.

That liquid Anna had sprinkled was definitely suspicious.

Louis blamed himself for his complacency, not having thought she would resort to such cowardly acts during a practical class.

“Aer!”

This area was very uneven. There were many sections that went up like hills and then dropped down.

The steepest parts had slopes where one could easily tumble down, and Aer was alone at the very edge of one such slope.

And around her, various low and mid-grade magical beasts were approaching, drooling.

The magical beasts moved towards Aer as if bewitched. Their behavior, as if she were their mate, made his skin crawl.

The emotion that followed soon after was anger. He wanted to kill all the magical beasts that dared to covet his mate.

He wanted to tear them limb from limb until no trace remained. Louis, filled with a mix of anger and possessiveness, threw off his glasses.

No matter how much he had honed his swordsmanship, it couldn’t compare to the skills of a physical Awakened.

The sure way to save her was not his swordsmanship, but his ability.

His purple eyes began to emit a strange light, and his command burrowed into the brains of the magical beasts.

【Kill yourselves!】

Since they dared to covet his mate, it was only right that they should kill themselves.

However, the magical beasts didn’t understand the word ‘kill yourselves’.

They made strange noises like “kieek” and just tilted their heads, then resumed their halted steps.

The four-legged magical beasts leaped towards Aer. It seemed to happen in slow motion, with yellow saliva dripping between their sharp teeth.

He could sense the Awakened in the distance noticing and panicking, but there was no time to pay attention to that.

Louis sprang forward and jumped. Landing with a thud, he looked into the eyes of the magical beasts from closer up.

Without taking his eyes off the one that looked strongest, he commanded again.

【Tear each other’s limbs off and eat each other!】

When he spoke in words they could easily understand, the magical beasts’ eyes flickered and shone.

Their differently shaped eyeballs rolled around, emitting a fierce light.

The magical beasts that had been aware of each other now bared their teeth and claws and charged. Louis leaped through the gap that opened up, towards Aer.

“Aer!”

Aer, isolated in the center of the magical beasts, instinctively turned her head at the voice calling her.

Her teeth chattering and limbs shaking like aspen leaves, she spotted Louis while clutching a magic tool she had just taken out from her spatial bag.

“…L-Louis.”

She barely managed to utter his name. She thought this time she was surely going to die.

She thought this world was trying to kill her because she was still alive despite manifesting as a healer, unlike in the original story.

Thinking she had become an existence that violated causality, she felt infinite gratitude towards Louis who came to find her.

‘That’s right, if he’s here, I…’

I won’t be an out-of-place existence.

‘I’m also a being who lives here!’

It was purely by chance that she recalled her past life.

Although it might have been an inevitable coincidence, it wasn’t her intention, and the truth that she was originally a person who lived here remained unchanged.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion.

The magical beasts tearing at each other around them, and Louis with his purple eyes boldly pushing through between them.

His eyes shone even more red than usual, to an eerie degree.

His anger was vividly painted in her mind. She could feel his emotions clearly. Perhaps…

‘I think I can even hear his thoughts…’

His warning not to touch his person reverberated loudly in her head.

Kai and Ian also belatedly noticed Aer in danger.

The professors and assistants who had been keeping an eye on the two groups that usually caused trouble were also hurrying over.

Not just the Awakened, but all the magical beasts in the vicinity simultaneously turned towards where Aer and Louis were.

The students who had been holding them back followed with confused faces.

The magical beasts leaped into the air as if to bury their existence by covering them with their bodies.

Aer looked up as she noticed the dark shadows falling over her head. Her pink eyes widened as if they would tear, and her small mouth opened into a circle.

She was so startled that she dropped the offensive magic tool she was holding. Wind as strong as a typhoon began to whirl around.

Before being sucked into the wind, Louis firmly grasped Aer’s wrist.

“Aer.”

He reached out his fingertips and interlocked their fingers tightly. Louis murmured with a bright smile unsuited to the situation.

“Tear yourselves apart and die.”

At his words, the magical beasts that had been attacking each other began to bite not just their opponents but their own arms and legs as well.

The command spoken aloud had a stronger influence than the thoughts transmitted mentally.