Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 19

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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In any case, I abandoned the idea of studying the moment I watched the professor scribble nonlinear differential equations across the blackboard with casual strokes, muttering something about greeting each other since we were meeting for the first time and perhaps discussing the lecture a bit.
Instead, I opened my status window and invested points into poison resistance. My poison resistance reached level 2. A cheerful chime echoed in my mind.
The next class had no mention of attendance being called, so I’d planned to skip it and forage for herbs, but since it was Heinrich’s “Ethics and Etiquette” class, I decided to show my face.
The moment I stepped into the lecture hall, the sharp scent of disinfectant hit me like a wall. It was from the sanitizer that Professor Heinrich sprayed around whenever he felt bored. His fastidious expression, his entire body wrapped tightly in clothing, and white gloves squeezed so firmly onto his hands that he couldn’t bear to show even a sliver of skin.
This man, whom Reina had described as having a “kind appearance,” truly did look incapable of harming an ant. Of course, if an ant actually touched him, he’d probably panic as if contracting a fatal disease, and he’d likely lose a fight against one anyway. In any case, if I had to think about it in binary terms of good and evil, he seemed to lean toward the good side… but his personality was twisted. So twisted that he died in commemoration of the 199th episode. Ha.
Heinrich was born a noble, lived as a noble, and was the very exemplar of nobility itself. As a reaction to this, he despised commoners to the point of having fits. He couldn’t bear the thought of hands touching hands, let alone breathing the same air.
Thus, this professor never set foot outside the Academic Department, where ninety percent of the students were from noble families. However, the Academy Headmaster had pressured him, saying that since the young lady of House of Letem had enrolled in the Department of Magic, shouldn’t he teach them refined etiquette?
Heinrich wanted to toe the line perfectly. He wanted to become department chair and eventually Academy Headmaster. So, with tears in his eyes, he made the journey to the Department of Magic, which the Academy students called a den of depravity.
And tragedy began. The moment the professor had one of his commoner fits, the morally bankrupt students of the Department of Magic wouldn’t leave him alone. Through dark and subtle harassment, the professor’s mind crumbled day by day. Unable to report his incompetence to his superiors, with nowhere to lodge a complaint, he took his own life before the second semester began.
This point seemed to have considerable utility in changing the original story’s progression. So, for now, I’d investigate. I quietly picked up my writing utensils and focused on the class.
“Look at this chart. Among the following methods of catching a rabbit, which is the most correct?”
I was flabbergasted, and the undergraduate students murmured in surprise. They’d apparently only ever seen rabbits as corpses—”Isn’t that what hangs in the butcher shop?” or “I only know the neck part.” Words devoid of any humanity drifted through the air and pierced my ears.
“Me! Me, me, me! Me!”
“Reina Letem. You have permission to speak.”
In the midst of this, Reina raised her hand with tremendous enthusiasm. She pounded her chest, declaring that she knew rabbits very well, then made a grabbing motion.
“Rabbits concentrate their nerves in their ears. If you grab the ears, they can’t move at all.”
“Ooh.”
“Ah.”
Exclamations of admiration erupted from various corners of the room.
Professor Heinrich took one look at Reina, inhaled deeply, exhaled deeply, pressed his temples firmly, and then called out a random name from the attendance roster.
“Evan Laef.”
But that was me.
I was about to speak readily, but I asked the professor a clarifying question first.
“Is this rabbit for consumption? Or is it a pet?”
“It’s a pet.”
“Then, like in picture four, you’d do it like this.”
Since rabbits hurt when you grab their ears, you’d wrap your arms around their entire body and give them a warm embrace, just like the example in picture four.
When I offered this opinion, the professor nodded and addressed the students.
“The lecture I’m teaching is on ethics and etiquette. It may seem strange from your perspective, but I intend to teach you the ethical standards that are accepted in society.”
In other words, he was determined to hammer common sense into these psychopaths so they could integrate into society. Do this and people will hate you. Do that and you’ll break the law. The Academy invested a precious year of time into these walking time bombs solely to teach them this.
Could I really graduate safely? Compared to the others, Reina Letem seemed like an angel, and the thought suddenly made me sigh. When I sighed, the professor sighed too, and we exchanged glances before turning our heads away and sighing even more deeply.

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There were no more classes today. So starting now, I was going foraging.
I ate my fill at the Cafeteria and returned to my room, rummaging through my belongings. I found a large wicker basket and professionally pulled on my gloves.
“Where are you going, friend?”
Reina Letem was lounging on her bed, tearing into beef jerky while reading gossip magazines. I gave her a curt answer.
“Foraging.”
“What’s foraging?”
“Foraging is foraging.”
“What? I want to come too!”
“It’s a hassle. Don’t come.”
“Yes! Wait just a moment, friend!”
This crazy girl—why did she even ask if she was just going to follow me anyway?
I tucked the basket under my arm and headed toward the Dormitory Backhill, whether Reina Letem followed or not. Spring greens would be abundant this time of year. I’d always preferred spring and autumn to other seasons—the entire world seemed to overflow with food.
“Friend, friend! Look over there! Is that the Homeless Settlement? They call it the Village of Shining Stars!”
“Go ahead and become homeless yourself.”
“It’s pointless unless I’m going with you, friend.”
The homeless had certainly made their settlement sign look impressive—ridiculous. I calmly turned my body in the opposite direction from the sign pointing toward the Homeless Settlement and entered the mountain. The plants I was looking for were spore-bearing, so once I found one, there would be more nearby.
“Found it.”
There it was. Western ferns really did grow large. I’d prepared myself for extensive searching, but this saved me effort. I settled down and began plucking the fern sprouts one by one.
“What’s this? Is it edible?”
“It’s edible. It tastes good when seasoned.”
“Really?”
Reina Letem—she really must have been raised in a noble house—showed no hesitation as she popped the fern into her mouth and chewed vigorously. Her expression turned doubtful when it didn’t taste as good as she’d expected.
“It’s toxic before it’s cooked.”
“Blech! Ptooey!”
I watched Reina Letem’s suffering with satisfaction, then opened my status window and nibbled on a fern myself. As expected, my poison resistance experience requirement decreased. It only dropped by one, but ferns were ferns—I could just eat plenty of them. At this pace, eating two hundred ferns would raise my poison resistance to level three.
“If there’s something edible right away…”
I scanned the surroundings and spotted an aralia tree, plucking fresh shoots and handing them to Reina Letem. She cried out like she’d had a eureka moment.
“Asparagus!”
“It’s not asparagus.”
“Asparagus grows on trees?”
“It’s not asparagus.”
“Wow, how fascinating! How do you know all this stuff?”
“When you live starving, you learn everything. And this is not asparagus.”
At my mention of starving, Reina Letem fell silent for a moment, then began plucking and eating the aralia shoots I’d taught her about. I swatted her greedy hand and picked the shoots myself, placing them in the basket.
“I’m going to blanch these and eat them with dipping sauce.”
“What’s dipping sauce?”
“My Mother’s secret recipe.”
“Then I’ll have to wait.”
“I didn’t say I’d give you any.”
“Your Mother must be a good cook.”
“Yeah.”
“My mother has never even set foot in the kitchen.”
Well, that made sense. Your mother was the Countess of House Letem, after all. It would be unusual for her to venture into the kitchens. Of course—she was a countess.
“Why? I’m the daughter of a count, but I went in all the time.”
“Did you learn anything?”
“I learned that kitchen knives and boiling oil are dangerous!”
“That’s quite the valuable lesson.”
Nothing mattered more than not getting hurt. I nodded and continued plucking the fiddleheads. I would have liked to spend another couple of hours harvesting them to dry later, but Reina started whining that it was boring, so I had no choice but to head back down.
I placed an ice pillar in my Dormitory room and laid the fiddleheads on top, then gathered the seasoned soy sauce and borrowed the Cafeteria kitchen. Since there was broccoli for dinner, I sweet-talked the cooks and got a portion, which I blanched entirely. When I brought a plate with not just the fiddleheads but broccoli as well, Reina made a face of absolute horror.
“Hey, I’m not eating broccoli!”
“You just don’t know how good the seasoned soy sauce is.”
I never thought I’d say this—me, who hated adding radish kimchi broth to oxtail soup—but she genuinely didn’t know the right way to eat it. I insisted she try it if she wanted to keep being my friend, then dipped the broccoli thoroughly in the seasoned soy sauce and shoved it into her mouth. Reina had no choice but to chew it.
“….”
“You can spit it out if it tastes bad.”
“It’s actually pretty good.”
That’s right. Children’s palates tend to pick up on fishy flavors easily, so they usually dislike sashimi and broccoli, but dip it in seasoned soy sauce and suddenly everything tastes delicious.
I finished our spring vegetable feast and headed to the Dormitory shop to buy stationery and stamps, saying I’d write a letter to my mother. Reina also bought stamps, eager to brag to her mother about learning to eat broccoli.
The moment another student appeared, she shoved me away and bolted.
I’m starting to hate how used to this I’m becoming.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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