Great Teacher in a Defense Game

#9 Solitary Enoch

Faint morning sunlight kissed the window pane.

-Chirp chirp

The blackbird’s cry announced the day’s awakening.

“Umm…”

The place was the second floor of the Crooked Fish Pub.

Lacrimosa, looking disheveled, rose from the bed.

‘Where is… Ah, that’s right. I left the orphanage.’

She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, groping for the memory.

Yesterday, she had accepted the offer of a man named Enoch and come here.

It had been a mere day since then, and yet.

Perhaps it was due to the sheer volume of events.

Yesterday felt impossibly distant.

‘I need to get ready soon…’

Lacrimosa quickly finished her shower.

Then, she changed into the everyday clothes Enoch had bought her.

Truthfully, she didn’t feel completely at ease while changing.

It wasn’t the awkwardness of their relationship that bothered her.

It was simply that the kindness Enoch had shown her was too much.

Frighteningly so.

‘Several hundred million per set… Can I even repay this…’

Lacrimosa trembled, examining her reflection in the mirror.

She somehow didn’t like what she saw.

It felt as if the eye was drawn more to the clothes than the person wearing them.

Lacrimosa had never once felt that she was ugly.

And yet, what was this feeling now?

Did it mean that cheap things are only fitting for a common person?

For no reason, the spiced apple wine incident from the night before surfaced in her mind.

Lacrimosa still didn’t know what besides apples went into spiced apple wine.

That ignorance, it seemed, had led to her present wretchedness.

An unwelcome wave of inferiority washed over her.

Lakrina felt a prickling unease.

‘…Enough. Let’s stop.’

There was no point in dwelling on it, only to feel worse.

Lakrina ceased her self-deprecation and smoothed her hair with a brush.

The fine-toothed comb ran, *sssk sssk*, across the threadbare reality before her.

Lakrina dabbed on perfume and descended to the ground floor.

At the counter bar in the main hall, the master was vigorously polishing glasses and dishes.

“Oh, you’re awake?”

“Good morning… Where is Teacher, by the way?”

“Teacher? Ah, you mean Enoch? That lad’s still asleep, most likely. He’s a heavy sleeper, never wakes before eleven.”

The master chuckled as he spoke.

Lakrina glanced back up the staircase she’d just descended.

It seemed her teacher, Enoch, was indeed still slumbering, a habitual sleepyhead.

Then again, thinking about yesterday’s events, it wasn’t exactly surprising he was tired.

He’d wielded… things… whether snake or dragon, she couldn’t say, by the handful.

Perhaps he was fatigued from the aftereffects of the magic.

Despite their still-awkward relationship, Lakrina felt a stirring of concern.

“What is it? You seem curious. Why don’t you go and check on him?”

“Me? You want *me* to?”

“Aye. Unlike a man like me, a cute pupil like you could at least get him to pretend to listen.”

The master said, sliding a glass towards her.

It was filled with a liquid the color of sunset.

She brought it to her nose, and the scent of orange and herbs rose to meet her.

“Solis Blossom, made with Hiba berries. The refreshing fragrance and bubbles will chase away the morning sleep.”

“Th-thank you. I will enjoy it.”

“Good. Now, drink that, and go wake him up. And while you’re at it, bring him the newspaper.”

The newspaper, as always, had been left tucked under the door by the newsboy.

The Master added that much, then lit a cigarette and stepped out of the building.

Left alone, Lacrimosa drained the Solis Blossom in her glass in a single gulp.

The refreshing scent of fruit and herbs, the sharp tingle of carbonation, instantly jolted her weary mind awake.

‘Glass stays here… He told me to take the newspaper.’

Clutching the newsprint, she ascended the stairs again.

The Teacher’s room was at the far end of the corridor, on the left.

As she walked, Enoch’s face surfaced in Lacrimosa’s thoughts.

‘Enoch… Teacher… I wonder what he truly wants from me.’

She recalled her first encounter with Enoch.

He, a complete stranger, had abruptly claimed to see in her the makings of a hero.

Frankly, at the time Lacrimosa had considered those words half lies, or at best, an exaggeration.

Wasn’t it so?

They were meeting for the very first time that day, yet what grounds did he have to speak of heroic potential?

Even so, she had followed Enoch, because his words held a strange power.

‘Will you come with me?’

Enoch’s presence back then had been truly remarkable.

Without breaking eye contact, he’d spoken those words precisely, with unwavering conviction.

That very bearing had persuaded Lacrimosa.

Whether the person before her spoke truth or falsehood, she couldn’t yet discern.

But at least he didn’t seem like a man of wicked deeds.

At the very least, he wasn’t the sort to deceive others for personal gain.

Lacrimosa placed her faith in that, and followed Enoch.

The problem was what came next.

More precisely, what transpired at the Magnus Icepeak Magic Tower branch.

Before a Boundary-class Mage, a figure emblematic of this era, Enoch had declared Lacrimosa a future Archmage, with unwavering confidence.

Even now, the memory could still steal her breath.

And she realized anew, starkly.

That of all the things her Teacher had said, not one of them was a lie.

‘I’m still confused. Does he really rate me that highly?’

Lacrimosa stood before the door, lost in thought for a moment.

Beyond this door, her teacher sleeps.

First, there was bewilderment, second, confusion, and finally, a strange faith etched into her heart.

Perhaps this is the sort of person one would call a benefactor or a mentor.

If so, how should she treat him now?

To treat him simply as a teacher felt… insufficient.

Honestly, she had received so much.

Then, was it right to treat him as a benefactor?

That felt a little too stiff.

Drawing such a firm line felt too impersonal, didn’t it?

“Hmm…”

Even after careful thought, no answer came.

From the start, it wasn’t a problem that could be solved by deliberation.

Rachrina pondered the question that had arisen and stepped inside.

“…Teacher?”

@

Enoch considered his life as a transmigrator to be quite satisfactory.

This was not a lie, but a plain and unvarnished truth.

A confident life where he could spend money as he wished, extend kindness to others, and flaunt his good deeds.

Even his martial prowess was not inferior to others.

No, surpassing that level, he was stronger.

Enoch was already more than ready to make his name and reputation known anywhere in the world.

But even Enoch, on occasion, would be captured by a strange emotion.

The cause was the subtle sense of disconnect from reality.

‘Music. It’s been a while since I’ve heard it…’

Enoch recalled the music he had loved in his dream.

Familiar beats and cheerful melodies.

Songs he had added to his playlist over a decade ago.

Back when he was in the real world, Enoch would always play these songs and drive to work.

Filling the car with his favorite music.

Grabbing a cup of coffee from a drive-thru.

Sipping his drink to the accompaniment of music, he let his gaze drift over the countless faces beyond the glass.

That was the reality Enoch remembered.

A routine stretching back over twenty years.

A memory that didn’t easily fade, even after arriving in this other world.

And so, at first, Enoch repeated the same routine here.

Driving his car, drinking his coffee, humming his favorite songs.

But beyond the windshield lay unfamiliar, alien vistas.

The faces of the residents, more Western than Eastern.

The occasional murmur of incomprehensible proverbs and dialects.

The steel jungle was gone, replaced by scenery akin to a Europe he’d never visited, filling his vision.

In that moment, Enoch felt a subtle emotion he couldn’t quite articulate.

Was this how it felt to travel abroad, to listen to a song of memory alone on a bus full of foreigners?

A familiar song, a familiar mode of transport.

But the scenery surrounding him, unlike anything in his memory.

That subtle sense of disconnect.

It was most similar to that feeling.

‘Am I getting lonely?’

He couldn’t define it precisely, but Enoch supposed it was solitude.

‘Solitude… solitude, eh… sometimes, it’s a bit lonely. I just want someone to hold me tight, without saying a word.’

Enoch’s consciousness floated in the darkness.

Then slowly sank downwards.

A dream within a dream.

He was dreaming a deeper dream within his dream.

Enoch was slowly succumbing to a deep sleep.

At that moment, an unfamiliar voice reached his ear.

-Teacher.

‘Who is it?’

-Teacher!

‘Is that… Lacrina?’

Enoch’s consciousness floated back towards reality.

The dreams, layered upon layered, vanished in an instant.

A mere blink of an eye, that was all it took.

Enoch slowly opened his eyes, shifting his gaze towards the direction of the sound.

“Teacher.”

“…”

“Rise and shine. The Master wishes for your presence downstairs.”

As expected, it was Lacrimna beside him.

She knelt beside the bed, leaning down to peer at the man’s face from close range.

“…”

“…?”

Enoch stared at her silently, quietly.

Lacrimna, sensing his gaze, flinched as if wondering what was wrong.

“…Why are you looking at me like that all of a sudden?”

“Lacrimna.”

‘Just a moment. If you’re angry at me for waking you up early, that’s the Master’s fault, not mine—’

“You drank the Solis Blossom.”

Lacrimna blinked.

“Ah… yes. And?”

“Where’s mine?”

“Pardon?”

“Fetch it quickly. And leave the newspaper. “

Enoch said this, rubbing at his eyes.

His attitude suggested he had nothing further to add.

Lacrimna stood there, momentarily stunned, before stalking out with a disgruntled air.

From the corridor, a faint sound of quiet grumbling could occasionally be heard.

“Solis Blossom… Solis Blossom.”

Enoch lay back on the bed, smoothing the skin around his eyes.

At the same moment, he savored the lingering scent.

Golden apple and lemon-glove herb, and the zesty Hiba fruit.

And lastly, that subtle, unknown fragrance he had detected for the first time.

“Liola? No, Alaria, was it?”

Aside from the Solis Blossom, the last scent that evoked the Alaria flower was likely Lacrina’s own.

“…Guess I won’t be sleeping in anymore.”

Enoch sighed, recalling the fragrance of the perfume.

His attempts to lose himself in sleep and forget the dissonance of reality were now over.

With her, a student, now present, the life of Enoch, the teacher, would undoubtedly become much busier.

And more than anything, it was now clear that Lacrina would be coming to wake him up every morning.

The Alaria-scented girl, holding a Solis Blossom, coming to wake him.

It was like something out of a fairy tale.

The kind of cruel fairy tale with a wicked witch who keeps children from sleeping.

‘…Another routine to add, I suppose.’

Enoch chuckled, picturing Lacrina’s huffing and puffing.

Well, at least it’s better than being woken up by the bald Master.

Harboring such a sentiment, he rose from the bed.

The faint longing he had felt in his dreams had vanished somewhere in the interim.

It was immediately after that the system window activated.

– *Ding*

[Notification: Lacrina’s information has been updated.]

[Lacrina has joined you as your Hero.]

[Notification: First Hero Registration Reward!]

[Content: Use the Random Talent Coupon!]