The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

Many of them had played with a ball in their childhood, and the Spirit Sphere in Evelyn's hand looked just like a glass ball. Even compared to the regular ones they had been playing with, it appeared even worse as a weapon!     

When they had passed it by, many thought that whoever picked the stupid thing would be laughed at by the others for being a kid.     

But of course, none of them dared to laugh now in front of the stern-looking professor.     

It didn't take Evelyn long to discover how to use the weapon.     

Apparently, the spirit sphere was used somewhat like a cannonball in this world, though the requirement of actually using a cannon was negated through the use of spirit power.     

This, however, also meant that the user not only had to focus on controlling the explosive force that would propel the 'ball', but also carefully control its direction.     

The advantage of this technique was that the shot-out projectile didn't necessarily need to follow a straight path, making it harder to dodge.     

And the disadvantage was that it would still follow a 'set' path when shot out, so any predictions on the enemy's movements had to be made before releasing the 'spirit sphere' from her grasp.     

Evelyn thought that the weapon was quite good, though nowhere as versatile as a bow and arrow. It could be fun to use, and highly destructive if used right.     

The only thing she thought was an actual disadvantage was the fact that the weapon left the user vulnerable after it was shot out, leaving them open to attacks. But as a secondary weapon, it was good enough.     

After the professor moved on to another corner of the hall to watch over the students there, the students quickly huddled closer to Evelyn, bombarding her with questions.     

The pink-haired girl sighed as she answered some of them before shooing them away by making the excuse of being eager to try out her new weapon, and all but one girl left.     

"I'm Amber Hydrangea, from Aquavahn! I-I want to play ball with you!"     

Evelyn's lips twitched, wondering if this was the girl's clumsy attempt at making a friend.     

Well, considering that she was only eight years old, perhaps this was already quite commendable. Plus, the name reminded her of a certain someone from the carriage ride. Although this girl had reddish-brown hair and orange eyes, not at all similar to those of Eula.     

"Are you related to Eula Hydrangea, by any chance?"     

Amber blinked. "C-Chief's daughter? N-No, well, kind of. We're from the same family?"     

Evelyn nodded. "Ah, that's fine, never mind that. How do you want to play?"     

"Um, you throw the ball, I catch, and I'll throw it back?"     

Evelyn thought that this was a good opportunity to start learning the spirit sphere with a willing test subject, so she agreed to the girl's proposal.      

Lifting the sphere up with spirit power wasn't difficult, nor was propelling it in the desired direction. However, setting a curved path proved to be quite a challenge, and Evelyn could barely make it wobble in the air for a moment even after numerous tries.     

When the professor finally returned towards the front of the hall, he stared blankly at the two girls playing 'catch catch' for a while before turning back and returning to the back of the hall.     

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━      

Amber seemed to think of Evelyn's acceptance of her game as something else entirely, and stuck to her like glue as they headed to the third and last class of the day.     

She wasn't as annoying as the pink-haired girl expected, however, so Evelyn decided to let her be, especially since the girl filled her in on what happened in the class that she had missed.     

"Madam Augury was very angry that someone dared to miss her class! I think you should go talk to her separately to say sorry, um, or maybe figure something out with that fairy teacher you came with!"     

The auburn-haired girl suddenly turned excited as she leaned in to whisper in Evelyn's ear. "I-I'm not suggesting anything, but if you could get her to disappear, it would be amazing!"     

Evelyn chuckled. "Don't worry, I had a reason for missing the class. I'm sure she won't be too unreasonable."     

Of course, although she said so, after the fiasco with Professor Dane, Evelyn wouldn't be surprised at all no matter what happened. Thankfully, though, she had Aurora on her side.     

Maybe she really should talk to her before her next class with this 'Madam Augury'.     

For her to leave a bad impression on Amber, it couldn't be without reason, right?     

"What did you do in her class, anyway?"     

Amber pouted. "W-We had our affinities tested, and then she just scolded us all the time until the class was over. I-I felt like my head was about to explode!"     

Evelyn blinked. "Don't you mean she gave you a lecture? Maybe on elemental mastery?"     

The auburn-haired girl gave her a teary-eyed look. "She told me I was a good for nothing piece of trash. I-I'm not! M-My fire affinity is over fifty!"     

The pink-haired girl realized that the rest of her affinities must be even lower. Considering the 'standards' she had heard of during her ceremony… no wonder this 'Madam Augury' called her trash.     

But even if she could understand the underlying reason, she would never agree to a teacher treating their student like that, especially one so young. What exactly was the point of shattering their hopes and dreams like that? Wasn't it much better to motivate them to work harder instead?     

Even though it wasn't her responsibility, Evelyn patted the girl's head in consolation. "It's Madam Augury who is trash. If she needs a student to already be excellent when they enter their class, she has no real ability as a teacher. Un, I have a friend who is also good with fire. When she grows up, I'm sure you two can get along and grow together. So, work hard until then."     

Amber's eyes couldn't help but get wet. "R-Really?"     

Evelyn nodded, and as they finally reached the 'Maker's Mansion', where their next class was to be held, Amber shyly tugged at her skirt. "A-Actually, I have a confession to make."     

The pink-haired girl almost sighed, but managed to nod calmly. "What is it?"     

"I-I actually asked you to play because you look like my doll. I just felt so sad after being scolded so much, I just wanted to hug you… I'm sorry!"     

Evelyn's lips twitched. "Well, that's fine. I'm glad you're honest, at least."     

Amber smiled hesitantly. "C-Can I, then?"     

The pink-haired girl tilted her head. "Can you what?"     

Amber fluttered her eyelashes. "Hug you?"     

Evelyn sighed. "No. Look, everyone's already left. Do you want to get scolded for being late?"     

The auburn-haired girl could only meekly follow her inside.     

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━      

The professors in the Maker's Mansion really were quite dedicated to their craft like Cecilia had told her, and even as the students entered the 'workshop', the buff-looking man continued hammering what looked like a solid cube of metal on an anvil.     

If not for a lack of fire in the place, Evelyn would almost believe he was doing some blacksmithing.     

The tanned man wiped the sweat from his forehead with his hand as he finally turned to stare at the students. "Finally everyone is here, huh? No more latecomers from the next class! Understand? If you're late, come next time. No need to disturb everyone else in between. Got it?"     

And just as the students were about to respond, he slammed the heavy hammer down on the cube once again, silencing them with a bang. "No need to answer any of my questions, either. I never ask questions to a group! Only when we're talking one on one do you respond. Understand?"     

The students looked at each other in confusion, wondering if they should say yes or just keep quiet.     

Their silence satisfied the buff professor, and he nodded. "Good. Smarter than last time. Or even dumber. Who knows? Anyway, although this class will be about artifact formation, I always teach my students some basics about forging first. I don't care if you think it's dumb. If you do, get out."     

Of course, no one dared to respond.     

Evelyn thought that the man's method of teaching was actually quite fast-paced and fun, as he directly took out a whole bunch of soft iron blocks and hammers, and handed them to students for a 'group activity'.     

"Two students per group, you can hammer the cubes into any shape. It's not hard. In the end, I'll slam the final products against each other until one breaks. The last one that remains will get a reward. Any questions? Of course not. Get to it then."     

He didn't even let them pick their partners, and directly formed the pairs based on whoever was closest to each other. And Evelyn naturally ended up with Amber, who was sticking to her like glue.     

"Leave this to me, Evelyn! I'm gorilla strong! I'll hammer it to a pulp!"     

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━