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"If you're going to survive you need to at least be able to dodge something like this!"

Sending out a razor-sharp series of ice-covered kicks, Lizzy's smile slightly widened before she sped up her last few kicks and hit her student multiple times in the head and body, sending him flying as she reached into her pocket and took out her lighter and a fresh pack of cigarettes.

"Are you really taking this seriously? Come on, get up kiddo, stand up straight."

Expecting to take quite a while for Tom to get back on his feet, Lizzy went to light up a cigarette when she got quite an unexpected response.

"Right… Away."

(Hey hey hey, I'm pretty sure I seriously hurt you with that last kick. This kiddo's [Pain resistance] really must be something…. No, there's more at play than just a [skill].)

With an unlit cigarette still in her mouth, Lizzy's mouth curled up into her usual fox-like slime as her favourite student once more pleasantly surprised her.

"Then come on kiddo, let's start teaching you some actual magic."

Offering a hand to help Tom back on his feet, Lizzy secretly looked forward to seeing how quickly her student was going to improve.

(This kid really is wasted on a fancy-ass fake school like this.)

After 3 days of getting the shit beat out of him, it seemed like Tom's instructor had finally decided to teach him magic. Sitting down cross-legged in the middle of the training field just across from Tom, Lizzy lit the cigarette she had had in her mouth for a while before she started her lecture.

"There are a few different ways to learn magic in this world, while there isn't a clear consensus on which way is the most efficient, I believe learning magic under the stress of combat is both the fastest method and the one which shows the best results. Understandably, these rich little brats here and their rich, fat parents don't really subscribe to a method which involves such 'tough love' so I don't really do much teaching at this academy."

Taking in a puff of smoke from her cigarette, Lizzy reminisced a short few seconds before breathing out a cloud of cold smoke filled with ice crystals. Turning her attention back to Tom, her shaper than normal glare made the kiddo sit up straight as Lizzy's smile widened slightly as she started swinging around the chain which held her favourite [catalyst] at its end.

"What I am teaching you is combat magic, magic optimized for killing, not for household chores like all the other instructors here. As for why I'm teaching you something as dangerous as that, it is for your own sake, learning combat magic is your best shot at regaining your own life after your semester is over."

Flicking her wrist, Lizzy caught the purple [catalyst] in the palm of her hand as ice enveloped it, creating a large claw made out of ice. Clenching the extension of her own hand as she took another puff of smoke, Lizzy created another could of ice crystals as she held up 3 claws.

"The way I see it, there are 3 ways for you to survive this pickle you find yourself in kiddo. The first way is simultaneously the easiest and the hardest, wait until the middle of the night of a new moon and escape from this academy, after that escape out of the country and live out your days in some strange land."

Having explained the kid's first option Lizzy saw no noticeable change to his expression, Tom's blue eyes didn't change in the slightest.

(Not a fan of fleeing the country, huh? Well I can't blame him.)

Dissolving the extended claw which had represented Tom's option to flee the country, Lizzy went on to option number 2.

"This is by far the hardest option of them all, but if you can get the attention of the royal family at the upcoming student tournament there's a chance they will make you a court mage if that happened the Laplace family wouldn't be able to touch you."

"... But that means I would just become their bargaining chip, right? What's the last option?"

It seemed Lizzy's initial impression of Tom still held up, he really wasn't a kid that simply wanted to do what others said he should just because of something as vague as social status.

In that case, Lizzy was now sure he would go for the third option.

(A kid after my own heart, if he was just 10 years older I might have fallen for him at this point~)

Leaving her silly thoughts to the inside of her head, Lizzy dissolved her second extended claw, leaving just one standing.

"This option is also really hard to pull off, but as my student, you should be able to accomplish it easily."

Pausing for dramatic effect, Lizzy took a moment to take in another puff of smoke from her cigarette before her serious expression melted.

"Take that Warren kid as your wife and live happily for the rest of your life~"

With Tom's natural expression immediately turning sour, Lizzy started laughing loudly as it seemed like her joke had landed exactly how she had expected it to.

"Ahaha! You should see your face right now kiddo! Ahahaha!-"

"... I'm leaving."

"Haha- Wait, can't you take a joke kiddo? You're far too serious for your age~"

Reluctantly sitting back down, Tom impatiently waited for Lizzy to wipe the tears from her eyes before her fox-like smile disappeared and she once more turned serious.

"The real and final option is to become a monster hunter."

"... How is that going to help me exactly?"

A monster hunter or adventurer as they are commonly called does just as it says on the tin, hunt monsters for their valuable skins, organs and cores which can be refined into [catalysts]. With the suggestion of becoming an adventurer coming seemingly out of the left field without warning, Tom immediately started to question his instructor's sanity. Of course, Lizzy had already expected that her lovely student would be confused at her suggestion, so she immediately started explaining while still wearing a large smile on her face.

Although her eyes had turned razor-sharp all of a sudden.

"If you're going to escape the Laplace family I can get the headmaster to support you in an argument against them, but that argument for your freedom will only hold up if you can somehow earn the money your 'family' spend on enrolling you here before the semester ends."

The more Lizzy talked, the more Tom became aware that this instructor of his held way more influence over the academy than she ever logically should. As for why Lizzy was so important to the academy that she could drag it into an argument with the mighty Laplace family, Tom had no idea, but he nevertheless appreciated her offer to help.

"How does becoming an adventurer help me to earn that amount of coin? I can't really hunt monsters while staying here at the academy, can I?"

It was common knowledge that the instructors of the academy regularly patrolled and cleaned the land surrounding the mage academy, this was in part to make the area safe, but also to supply the academy with a steady stream of monster cores that were used in experiments and to create the [catalysts] that the students used. In other words, the local area wasn't really a place one could hunt for monsters, and even if Tom did he doubted he could make more than mere pocket change before the semester was over.

Taking a short puff from her cigarette, Lizzy seemed to have anticipated Tom's question as her smile once more widened. Breathing out another cloud of ice crystals, Lizzy pierced her cigarette with a claw tip made of ice before pointing it at herself.

"I have the privilege to leave the academy whenever I see fit, moreover I've recently gained the permission to bring my student along to 'carry my bags'. You could earn a surprising amount of pocket change that way kiddo, but it won't be easy work."

(So I could leave the academy with Lizzy to hunt monsters?... That could actually work.)

Having worked at a pub that adventurers frequented, Tom was aware of how much most of those adventurers earned, the way he saw it there was just enough time left in the semester to earn the required coin he needed.

"Then let's go with option number 3."

"Perfect!~ In that case, I just need to teach you some magic useful for killing~"

Letting her claw entirely dissolve into ice crystals, Lizzy did a 'V' sign as she showed a slightly more immature smile than her normal one.

Deciding that Tom should make sure he was in perfect shape to start learning magic, Lizzy gave him the rest of the day off. Not having had half a day for himself, Tom found himself quite bored after he had had a quick meal at the cafeteria, so he decided to head back to his dorm room and do some cleaning, namely washing the now quite dirty school uniform he had been training in the last few days without the time or energy to wash the dirt off it.

"Hey, maggot! It seems you've finally learned the great me's teachings and stopped taking classes you're not suited for, now you just need to quit this school!"

(... Not these guys again.)

As Tom reached his dormitory he ran into a group of students who had seemingly been waiting for him. Recognizing the one that called out to him as one of the one's Lizzy had beat up, Tom briefly wondered why he was trying to pick a fight with him, but that thought process only lasted a few seconds before Tom figured that it simply wasn't worth the effort to find out or even spare these students any of his attention.

Having decided to just ignore the students, Tom simply walked around them before continuing into his dorm room.

"Hey, don't just ignore the great me, you fucking maggot!"

Or that's what he tried to do at least.

(... Slow.)

Hearing the student run up behind him, Tom dodged the bullies' painfully slow punch at the very last second, making the student fall over as he had put too much of his body into the punch. A week ago Tom wouldn't have been able to avoid a punch like that, but after getting subjected to Lizzy's ruthless 'training', Tom's senses had been attuned and sharpened. In fact, Tom's senses had sharpened to a level where he was now on the verge of gaining a new [skill], but as he couldn't know that before it actually appeared on his [status] he was still unaware of that.

"Get this fucking maggot!"

As their leader had fallen to the ground by his own actions, the rest of the bullies became enraged, partly out of embarrassment but mostly because the person they had been using to boost their own self-esteem suddenly went against them instead of just submitting. But once again, while a group of students charging Tom might have been a problem for him a few weeks ago, things had changed since then. If anything, his fellow student's feeble attacks now seemed painfully slow and were so easy to avoid that Tom started guiding them to hit each other with his own spacing and footwork.

-

"Haaaaaaaaaa."

Finally reaching his dormitory room after having to tire out a group of students, Tom breathed a deep sigh. Getting out of his blazer Tom threw it on his room's unused bed before loosening the collar on his shirt.

"... If I took a bath now I would be too tired to clean my uniform... Washing first then."

Switching into casual wear, Tom took his uniform and went out to the well behind the dormitory. On his way there, Tom ran into the maid with emerald green eyes and short and curly black hair, coincidentally she was also heading to the well to wash her master's clothing. Drawing some water for both himself and the maid, Tom took one of the available washing boards and silently started cleaning his uniform. Perhaps due to the high level of his housework [skill], or perhaps because he simply enjoyed it, Tom found himself done with his clothes way before the maid. Breathing a sigh after hesitating for a few seconds, Tom took a shirt off the maid's pile of laundry before he started washing it.

"Thanks for the help."

Offering her thanks in a quiet voice, the maid spoke to Tom for the first time. Judging from the tone of her voice, she seemed rather confused at Tom's sudden and unsolicited help, but she nevertheless appreciated it.

"No problem, I like doing stuff like this."

With the two of them working on a single pile of laundry, the pile was quickly done and cleaned. Having run his own clothes through the press first, Tom was about to leave when the maid once more spoke out.

"I'm sorry about my master."

Quickly putting two and two together, Tom figured that the maid served one of the students which had been bullying him.

"Ah, thanks. But it's fine, I'm not going to let them push me around anymore."

Turning around to leave, the maid quickly got on her feet after she dropped what she was doing. Running up to Tom, she grabbed his shoulder before she drew close to his head, while Tom caught the faint smell of flowers the maid quickly whispered into his ear.

"My master is getting blackmailed into attacking you, the one that's doing it is-..."