The Academy's Strongest Undercover Professor

'Do I have a girlfriend?' I thought about it when Amelia asked me this question.

Honestly, I was a bit surprised by the question as I had no idea why she would even ask such a thing. However, it wasn't like I could easily answer this question. After all, there was this whole thing with Ava…though I had no idea if we were a thing or not. All I knew was that I was interested in her for the moment.

"Ugh…it's complicated. I don't think I am, but maybe in the future when I get back to the Royal Academy."

Amelia seemed disappointed for a short moment before getting a smile back on her face.

"Oh, I see. Good for you, then."

I frowned, confused by how she was currently acting. "Why are you asking?"

She blushed instantly. "Ah, I was just wondering. That's all, no worries."

I was still confused as to why she would ask such a thing out of nowhere, but I just nodded, accepting her answer.

"So, uh, do you really think you'll be able to beat him?" Amelia asked again. "When I met, I truly felt like there was no way for me to win, and…not that I want to be mean, but when I look at you, I don't get that feeling."

"Oh, that's because I don't want you to feel it." I smiled. "We're friends, aren't we? Why would I try to scare you guys for no logical reason?"

Then, as if to prove my point, I released a bit of my power, and instantly, the look on Amelia's face completely changed. It was as if she realized that I was just as dangerous as Zero, maybe even more dangerous.

"I-I see…thank you," she replied, stuttering. "I didn't know that you were restricting your strength for us. So, thank you for that."

"Ah, it's nothing much, don't worry about it."

Then, once again, there was only silence between the two of us.

"Are you planning on sleeping? It's getting late."

I shook my head. I needed to stay awake as there was a small chance that a monster or someone would try to kill them in their sleep. After all, the closer they were getting to the Icy Lake, the more he would need to be wary of Zero and his actions.

In fact, for all I knew, he could be watching right at this very moment, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

"No, but you can sleep. I'll keep watch tonight. Who knows what might happen?"

Amelia frowned. "But you haven't slept since we left the Ice Elves Kingdom. You need to be in shape for when you fight against Zero."

While she said that, I just shrugged. I had gotten through much worse in my life, without a doubt. This much was nothing, and I could not endure such things without even realizing it.

After all, I had gone a week without sleeping in the past while I was in the war. Maybe even more than that at times, this much was honestly nothing.

"Don't worry about me. I'm totally fine," I replied with a smile.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"Sure you are…" Amelia muttered under her breath as she turned around and went toward her bed to sleep.

Then, within a few minutes, she was sound asleep, leaving me all alone to watch over the camp.

I just sat around the campfire with nothing much in mind. I looked around and spread my [Mana Sense], but there wasn't anything close to us at all. We were all alone, resting. After all, today would be the big day, the day when I would finally meet with Zero after all this time.

'Ugh…who would have thought that it would have taken so much time to even reach him?' I shook my head just thinking about it.

However, at the same time, I was actually really lucky to have spent time with the ancient tribe since it made it possible to meet Phoebe, Zale, and even Zoe, who helped me a lot while I stayed there.

Phoebe gave me crucial information about the Snowy Mountains.

Zale made it possible for me to fight against my past once more, and he made it possible for me to increase the amount of aether in my body.

Zoe pushed me to my absolute limits for the first time in quite some time.

All three of them had helped me in ways that I could have never even guessed when I had first left the academy. And honestly, thinking back on it, I realized that I was way too rushed in my decision. After all, if my students were with me right now in the Snowy Mountains, things would have been much more complicated.

This wasn't an environment that many could handle in their life, and many of them would have either gotten heavily injured or they would have slowed me down tremendously.

So, I was happy to have found the ancient tribe since they were able to keep them safe for the time being, which was much better than having them with me for when I would face Zero. After all, he would have been able to use them to distract and win against me.

This fight would be most likely the hardest that I have ever gotten with in my life, and I needed to have my entire focus on Zero. I can't have students distracting me while I fight against him.

Then, as I was thinking of all these things, I heard a shallow noise on my right. There was something there, something that even I couldn't detect with my [Mana Sense] active.

"Who's there!" I shouted as I grabbed hold of my sword.

Phoebe and Amelia didn't wake up even as I shouted because of how exhausted both of them were. However, when I stood up and walked over, the series of footsteps getting closer to me…I simply couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the person who was standing there.

It was Hank, Art's father.

I had no idea how he had found his way here or even why he did so, but I just couldn't believe it.

"H-Hank? Is that really you?" I asked as I recognized him in an instant.

After all, he was quite easy to distinguish just by the way he walked, his feet dragging against the snow because he was too lazy to even raise.

"Tsk, why are you shouting? It's already enough of a pain to be here…" Hank muttered in a voice that I simply couldn't forget.