## Chapter 1148 – #272_The Last Daily Life (4)
#1142
1.
The faculty of the Hessed Academy were all renowned witches.
Among them, the deans in charge of each department had truly unrealistic specs.
Starting with Shin Siwoo herself, who was the academy president and dean of the Basic Studies Department, she was estimated to be at the 23rd level. Tiferet, who was in charge of the Magical Combat Department, was also at the 23rd level, and Merrygold, who had not taken a teaching position due to personal reasons but would join next year, was also at the 23rd level.
However, among them, there was one dean who particularly caught attention.
It was none other than the descendant of the ancient witch, the Witch of the Deep Sea, R’lyeh Nukelavi, the dean of the Wave Department.
“She’s at the 23rd level, right? And she even had a close battle with the Witch of Gold.”
“That’s right! I heard somewhere that if it weren’t for the Witch of the Deep Sea, Shin Siwoo might not have been able to defeat the Gold Witch?”
“I saw her during the Flood incident, and she was like a very dignified queen.”
“Is she truly a descendant of an ancient witch? She’s extraordinary in many ways, isn’t she?”
There were various reasons for this attention, but it could be said that the main reason was curiosity.
For a witch to have lived for over a thousand years did not simply mean ‘longevity’.
It meant that they possessed that much talent and had survived with their skills alone since before the era of Gehenna.
They were an object of awe even for the witches of Gehenna.
Even Duke Erelim, who recently reached the 25th level, was mysterious, but R’lyeh Nukelavi had continued to live in the present world until recently, so there were many who were curious about her true appearance.
“I want to see her soon.”
“Are there any other rumors? Like stories about her personal life.”
“What kind of witch is she? I think I heard that her way of speaking is a bit unique.”
R’lyeh, who had not appeared even though it was 10 minutes past the start of the lecture, was peeking around the hallway with a serious expression, spying on the inside of the lecture building.
“This is a big problem.”
“Why?”
“Again?”
Next to her, Odile and Odette tilted their heads in unison.
Originally, Odile and Odette should have been in class, but there was a reason why they were loitering around the Hessed Academy hallway at this time.
Today was their best friend R’lyeh’s first lecture debut.
It was common sense that when a friend made their debut as a professor, you had to help them with various things.
It was absolutely not because they wanted to skip class that they made excuses.
“She’s already super pretty, right?”
“Her makeup turned out great, and the clothes we picked out for her are so pretty!”
They had taken her to the dressing room and made her try on about thirty outfits, and her personal maid, Vera, had done her makeup herself.
Until then, R’lyeh had been very arrogant.
She had preached about how great she was, how many witches had gathered to listen to her lecture, and as always, she ended with, ‘Therefore, you little ones should be duly grateful that I remain your friend.’
“That’s not the problem…”
The problem was that R’lyeh had turned into a squirming octopus right before the lecture.
She was very intimidated and, uncharacteristically, had lost her confidence.
The fact that she had arrived in front of the lecture hall 15 minutes ago but still couldn’t go in was proof of that.
No matter how much the twins pushed her, R’lyeh couldn’t even grab the doorknob of the lecture hall.
“Why are you acting so unlike yourself?”
“Is there some villain in there?”
“Shhh! Lower your voice! Don’t let them find out I’m here!”
The twins were very puzzled by R’lyeh’s attitude.
R’lyeh was the one who would shout at even the scary great master, ‘Hey! Great Master!’ in a voice that sounded like she had swallowed a train whistle.
They didn’t know how much their spines had tingled every time.
For the self-centered, arrogant R’lyeh to turn into a squirming octopus over a mere lecture.
“Is the lecture not good enough?”
“How could that be? I prepared it myself.”
“Do you have social anxiety or stage fright?”
“What is that?”
“Are you nervous when you stand in front of many people?”
“Not at all.”
“Then why are you doing this?”
“Ugh…”
R’lyeh frowned as if she were eating broccoli, and then sighed and confessed.
“If this were just my problem, it wouldn’t matter at all. But depending on what I do, it will affect the national scholar’s academy, won’t it?”
“…Right?”
“As a queen, everything is permissible for me… but this is the first time this has happened!”
“Shhh, you told us to be quiet.”
“Oh no…!!!”
That’s right.
R’lyeh was definitely an uninhibited queen.
Even if others were to criticize her, she would have snorted and ignored them, saying, ‘I am the ocean, so why would I care about the petty gossip of commoners like seashells?’
But now, R’lyeh had something to be responsible for.
Living together in Gehenna society and going through very, very basic socialization, she had come to realize that if her lecture flopped, while R’lyeh herself would be fine, Siwoo would be in trouble.
The obsession with having to succeed perfectly.
For R’lyeh, who had never felt any pressure before, this kind of pressure led to a level of tension she had never experienced before.
“Actually, I couldn’t sleep last night… No. I haven’t been able to sleep properly for three days… I’ve been looking at this the whole time…”
As she said that, R’lyeh rummaged around and took out something.
It was a lecture script that was clearly worn out from being read over and over again.
“Oh my…”
“Oh dear…”
The twins, who were always busy teasing R’lyeh, were not so mean-spirited as to dismiss their friend’s mental anguish as nothing.
“How about just doing it normally?”
“Yeah. I think it would be best to just show your true self? After all, the important thing is the quality of the lecture.”
“That’s…”
Just as R’lyeh was about to speak.
-Slam!
The door to the lecture hall opened.
Beyond the door, the eyes of countless students sitting at the tiered tables were fixed on R’lyeh like piranhas who had found their prey.
“Ah…”
R’lyeh felt her head turn as white as a mackerel that had been pulled up on a line.
She couldn’t just skip the lecture now that she had come this far, so she was stuck in a situation where she couldn’t go back or forth.
“Thank you for answering my question. I understood it thanks to you.”
“We made you late for class. Goodbye.”
The twins, using their wit, gave a reason for R’lyeh’s lateness.
As they left, they didn’t forget to mouth ‘Good luck!’ and ‘Fighting!’ to cheer her on.
“……”
R’lyeh trudged towards the podium.
The noise that had been sprouting like weeds in parts of the lecture hall disappeared as if weed killer had been sprayed.
Mind control, mind control.
It wasn’t difficult.
Compared to the total amount of knowledge R’lyeh possessed, the difficulty of today’s lecture was ‘very easy’.
First, it was time for self-introduction.
She unfolded the lecture script that she had written with great care on the lectern.
And she immediately had to face an unexpected predicament.
Even though she had clearly written it in neat handwriting, the letters were slipping on her eyes.
Her head and eyes were spinning at the same time, and she couldn’t do anything.
She just repeatedly opened and closed her lips.
She suddenly wanted to become an oyster.
If she were an oyster, she could just stick to a rock and no one would think it was strange.
“……”
No student complained about R’lyeh being 10 minutes late for her first class.
Compared to the curiosity and anticipation for an extraordinary lecture by an extraordinary person, keeping time was trivial.
“…What is it?”
“What’s going on?”
However, as R’lyeh’s silence, which had frozen like a statue, grew longer, more and more students began to tilt their heads.
“That’s innovative? Is it like a silent performance?”
“Maybe…”
The song 4’33”.
It was a quite famous song composed by John Cage.
No, actually, it wasn’t even a song.
It was all about the performer sitting at the piano on stage and doing nothing for 4 minutes and 33 seconds.
So, the students accepted R’lyeh’s silence as intentional and as a kind of performance.
“…Is it not?”
“What is it really?”
However, as 5 minutes passed and then 10 minutes passed without a word, the students began to panic.
It was only then that R’lyeh finally moved.
Her hand, which was reaching out stiffly like an old robot to pick up the chalk, made a small mistake due to her tension.
-Crash!
The chalks that had been piled up in a corner of the blackboard fell and shattered.
R’lyeh wanted to become a sea urchin.
If she were a sea urchin, she could just roll around in the sea and no one would say anything.
No.
Come to think of it, sea urchins are too noticeable.
A tardigrade would be perfect.
At the moment when R’lyeh, who was in a panic, was about to write ‘Self-study’ on the blackboard and quickly run away, one person caught her eye in her tunnel-like narrowed vision.
It was Siwoo, who was standing at the back of the lecture hall with her arms crossed.
As soon as R’lyeh made eye contact, he mouthed something.
‘As usual.’
‘It’s okay.’
And then he smiled lightly and nodded.
It was just that.
R’lyeh felt a surge of confidence bubbling up in her chest like a moray eel.
Yeah.
What was there to be afraid of?
The twins had said so too. Just be comfortable and do what you usually do.
“I am the ancient witch who has been feared since ancient times, the legitimate successor of Shalit Nukelavi, who was worshiped as the mother of the sea. I am R’lyeh Nukelavi, the queen of the great Nukelavi dynasty, who rules over the deep sea, watches over all people, and sinks those who oppose her without exception.”
R’lyeh’s trademark, long self-introduction, echoed through the lecture hall in a booming voice.
Everyone’s eyes widened as they focused on R’lyeh.
Arrogance and shining nobility that looked down on everyone with no hint of intimidation.
“Now then, I ask. What is a wave? A wave is the way energy moves through space and time, and it is one of the fundamental settings of the world. Sound and light are clear examples of waves, but what wave magic deals with is much more abstract and complex.”
“I assert that, at least in magic, a wave is not simply the movement of energy, but a fundamental link that connects existence and non-existence. Through my lecture, you will explore the essence of waves and understand how they form and change reality.”
“You commoners who have been personally granted my lecture should know that this is an honor for generations to come.”
Once her mouth was open, R’lyeh began to unleash a feast of delicious knowledge like a spawning salmon without stopping…
R’lyeh’s first lecture ended in great success.
