Chapter 14: Herbology

The day after the committee meeting ──── I was in a depressed mood as I walked to school. I let out a deep sigh ‘Haa…’ as I looked away from my noisy classmates. 

I had a gloomy expression on my face as I completely ignored the stares of people in my surroundings. 

Today the committee activities start or to be more precise… after school today, but I hate it and can’t stand it. 

Yesterday, I thought to myself, “Well, it’s better to work with someone you know,” but after reviewing the pamphlet I received at the orientation, I changed my mind. Because──── the workload and work hours of the disciplinary committee are just too much! In addition to suppressing and mediating trouble, they also patrol the school grounds and provide security for school events. As for patrols, we’re on duty, but not every day, it looks like we do two hours each in the morning and after school…

“I can’t believe we’re meeting at 6:30 in the morning…”

The fact that I had to wake up so early made me upset, as I always slept until the last minute to get to school because it was too much trouble.

 I covered my face with my hands, the people around me who didn’t know what was going on were buzzing. 

Today was another noisy day in Class 1C… but when the school chime rang, we rushed to our seats. 

The teacher in charge of the first-period class appears as the wind blows in through the classroom window, flipping my textbook. 

The teacher who appeared through the open door was our homeroom teacher, Silas sensei, a professional herbologist.

“Well, well, it’s been a while since I’ve seen you all.”

He stood in front of the blackboard with a mysterious potted plant and a textbook. Then he put his stuff on his table and clapped his hands. He was wearing leather gloves, so the sound wasn’t very loud…

“First of all, I’d like to apologize for throwing the committee decisions out the window yesterday. But I knew you guys would be fine. In fact, you did a great job. I’ll continue to throw class meetings and class events your way from time to time. “

Just as I thought he was about to make a verbal apology, Silas Sensei declared with a big smile, “I’ll continue to throw everything your way.” 

Like yesterday, there was no sign of any ill will on his part. 

“Who the hell put this guy in charge of homeroom?” I’m sure everyone in the room must have thought that. 

I’ve been thinking for a while that Silas sensei is definitely not a good homeroom teacher… He’s not a bad person, but he’s not very cooperative, or too selfish… At any rate, I’d like to have a word with the people who entrusted him with homeroom teacher ────they definitely picked the wrong person! 

While the students of Class C are pondering over the free-spirited Silas sensei, ──── he is rummaging through his textbooks and pulling out notepad-sized pieces of paper. 

There was still nothing written on the blank white paper.

“Now that we’ve talked about committee decisions, let’s get down to business. First, I want you to take this paper.”

Silas sensei gives each head of the line sheets of paper according to the number of people and instructs them to pass it to the back of the line.

 The students tilted their heads at the blank, double-sided paper, but kept passing it backward. Eventually, the paper reached me, who was sitting in the last seat by the window.

“Did everyone get a piece of paper? Then ──── let’s start the quiz.”

Pushing up his glasses with a click, Silas sensei declares a pop quiz with a big smile on his face. 

Perhaps because it was said suddenly and without warning, the students stopped moving. I didn’t know how to react to the silence that made it feel as if time had stopped… 

We’ve only had one or two classes… I don’t think we’ve learned enough to do a pop quiz. What the hell is Silas sensei thinking? No, well… it’s him, so it’s possible that he’s not thinking at all.

“Hahaha! You’re all too surprised. It’s just a quiz, so don’t get too defensive. Just take it easy and It’ll be fine.”

Silas sensei smiled happily, but we, the test-takers, were not having any fun at all… He said, “it’s just a quiz” but a test is a test and it might affect your grade, so you can’t half-ass it.

“Okay, can you write the numbers one through five on that piece of paper for now? Oh, and make sure you space them out or you won’t be able to write the answers.”

Nodding to the beautiful turquoise-haired man who was in a good mood and stroking the edge of the potted plant, we ran our pens over the paper. We wrote the numbers vertically, largely spacing them out.

“I’m going to give you five problems, and you have to solve them within the time limit. All you have to do is write the answers on a piece of paper. You don’t need to write the questions but if you want to, you can. But I don’t care if you run out of time because of it. “

Then, picking up the chalk, Silas sensei turned around and faced the blackboard.

“Then let’s get started. The end time is five minutes after I finish writing the last question. Of course, you can solve it while I’m writing the questions. So ──── the quiz has started. “

After announcing the start of the quiz, the beautiful turquoise-haired man wrote “①” on the blackboard and then wrote the first question. 

The sound of chalk rang out in the quiet classroom. Let’s see, the first question is: Are Ravelin berries poison or medicine? This is something …what a minor plant he’s asked about. 

Not only have we not learned about it yet, but it’s something you wouldn’t know about unless you’re a herbologist. 

Some people probably don’t even know its name. 

My tutor’s lectures were boring, but I liked learning itself, so I often read books. I read everything from difficult books such as illustrated books and technical manuals to romance novels. So I have a lot of knowledge on my table. 

Well, even though I was a bookworm, I’ve only seen one description of the Ravelin fruit… I saw a glimpse of it in an illustrated book. 

I bowed my head so that I wouldn’t be suspected of cheating, and looked at the reactions of those around me.

 As I expected, most of my classmates stopped their hands and shook their heads.

 In the past, I would have written a random answer to fit in with the others, but …… it’s no longer necessary. I’m going to get a perfect score on this quiz and blow everyone away! 

I told myself that, and wrote in the box for Question 1, “Ravelin berries are poisonous if eaten as is, but can be used as medicine if heated.”

Previous chapter | TOC | Next chapter