The Retired Supporting Character Wants to Live Quietly

Chapter 107 - Ismera’s Great Forest (6)

"Ah, it\'s Sir Dian. Please, come in."

The servant recognized my face and opened the door.

"What is this? What on earth is going on, Head Professor?! Are you talking about Sir Linus?!"

"Quiet down. And stop shaking my collar."

I pushed away Orendi\'s hands as he grabbed my collar and shook me back and forth, then entered inside.

"This is unbelievable. The home of Sir Linus. I can\'t believe I\'m at the home of Sir Linus. This is absolutely incredible."

As we crossed the neat garden, Orendi muttered like a madman.

"Dian! What brings you here at this hour?"

Celine, leaning on a cane and limping, came out from the grand entrance of the marble mansion.

"Oh, Celine. Why are you coming out instead of Linus? Especially when you\'re not feeling well."

"Linus is giving Lumien a bath right now."

He could have easily had a servant do it without lifting a finger, but he’s washing the child himself.

What a remarkable guy.

Well, it\'s no wonder he turned down the Second Princess\'s offers to take parental leave.

He’s so devoted and exemplary that it\'s hard to believe we\'re the same species.

Linus is happy taking care of the baby, Celine is happy to have Linus at home, and Lumien is happy to be with both parents.

I’m glad I came to the academy in Linus’s place after all.

If a little inconvenience on my part can make Linus and Celine happy, then it’s worth it.

And when I think about it, Lumien already has the strength to crack walnuts with bare hands.

Especially since newborns can’t even control their limbs properly, no ordinary nanny would be able to manage.

It’s only right that Linus stays home.

"Ugh, ugh…."

I heard a strange noise next to me and turned to see Orendi choking as if something had gotten stuck in his throat.

"What\'s wrong with you?"

"If it’s Celine… c-could it be… Lady Celine…?"

"That’s right."

"Eek?!"

Orendi grabbed my collar again and shook me.

"What in the world is going on?!"

"Let go! You\'re going to rip off my buttons!"

Celine, amused by our little skit, laughed and led us inside the house.

"Wow?!"

Orendi’s eyes widened as he looked around the lavish interior of the mansion.

"What is this, Head Professor? What is this place?"

Orendi looked around wildly, like a squirrel about to dart out of its burrow, turning his head frantically and firing off questions.

Celine led us to the drawing room and called over a servant.

"Miss, could you please fetch Linus?"

"Yes, ma’am."

Celine instructed another maid to bring us some tea.

As I sat down on the sofa, I introduced Orendi to Celine.

"This is Orendi, our Combat Department\'s Professor of Magic Response. He\'s a mage. Orendi, this is Celine. The Celine you know."

"Hello, Professor."

"Uh, hello…."

Orendi gave a bewildered nod in response to Celine’s greeting.

Then he grabbed my collar again.

"First, you bring me to the Chief Administrator Lormane, then it was the mage Kaiden, and now it’s Celine and Linus…! You owe me an explanation!"

"Let go, let go! You already ripped a button off!"

As I bent down to pick up the button that had fallen to the floor, a servant brought out some drinks. It was cool mint lemon tea.

After searching the forest for Ismera, I was parched, so I drank it down in big gulps.

"Please have some as well, Professor Orendi."

"Ah, yes, yes."

Orendi nervously took the cup with both hands and turned aside, sipping it politely.

"It’s delicious. But, really… um, that is…."

"Dian? Aren\'t you supposed to be at work?"

At that moment, Linus appeared.

His sleeves were rolled up, and his pants were pulled up to his knees.

He looked like he had just finished washing Lumien.

"Huh?! It’s really Linus?!"

Recognizing Linus’s face immediately, Orendi screamed.

There wasn\'t a person in the Empire who didn’t know Linus’s face.

His statues, portraits, and effigies were everywhere, from public squares to government buildings and all sorts of places.

When Linus gave him a questioning look, Orendi introduced himself.

"Greetings, Sir Linus! My name is Orendi, Professor of Magic Response in the Combat Department under Head Professor Dian! As you can see, I am a mage!"

"Nice to meet you, Professor Orendi."

Linus shook hands with Orendi and then sat on the sofa, taking a sip of his drink.

"You look like you did the bathing yourself."

Noticing his wet hair sticking to his forehead, I asked, and Linus smiled.

"As if washing Lumien would be that difficult. So, what brings you here? It doesn\'t look like you’re off-duty and just visiting."

Linus looked at Orendi, who flinched and bowed his head so low that his forehead nearly touched his knees.

"Remember when you and I talked about going to the Tiraellen Forest together?"

"I remember. But that was supposed to be this weekend."

"It’s urgent, and I need to go right now. Do you know the exact location of the Great Forest? I want to get there directly through a dimensional portal."

"I do. But what\'s going on?"

I explained everything to Linus about Ismera.

I told him that there was an elf who had been the Head Theoretical Professor and had practically been running the academy before I arrived. She saw me as an obstacle and was extremely hostile and aggressive from the start.

I mentioned that the work I did for the academy’s development inadvertently made it seem like I was outpacing her, which stressed her out and made her dislike me even more.

I admitted that I didn’t particularly have a good impression of Ismera either, but during the preparation period for the competition, I saw unexpected positive sides to her, and my feelings changed.

I wanted to let her know that I wasn’t her rival blocking her path, to ease her burden a little, but in that brief moment, she left like this.

"Dian."

After hearing my entire story, Linus let out a soft sigh.

"Sometimes, you need to be the first to extend your hand."

"I\'m not as generous as you are. Why should I take the first step towards someone who hates me?"

Linus smiled and leaned back on the sofa, as if he had given up on trying to persuade me.

"But if you had been the first to say something nice to that elf professor, she might not have hated you anymore. So, since you think she went to the Tiraellen Forest, you’re going to bring her back?"

"Yeah. The Imperial Palace accepted my proposal to promote Professor Ismera to Vice-Headmaster. I think she should at least hear that before making any decisions."

Linus fell silent for a moment.

"And Kaiden is coming in as the new Head Theoretical Professor."

"You know what that means, right?"

"I do."

"We’ll talk about that later."

Linus held back, aware of Orendi sitting next to me.

"Alright. Let’s go right away."

Linus got up from his seat.

"Professor, you’re a mage, correct? Please open a dimensional portal to the coordinates I provide."

"Ah, yes, of course!"

Startled, Orendi jumped up and prepared to open the portal immediately.

"Not here, outside."

"S-sorry!"

In the garden, Orendi opened a dimensional portal using the coordinates Linus provided.

"Head back to the academy."

I stopped Orendi as he tried to follow us.

"Elves are very wary of strangers entering their territory."

"Oh, I see…."

"Go back and let everyone know. Reassure them that I’ll bring Professor Ismera back."

"Understood."

Leaving Orendi behind, Linus and I crossed through the portal alone.

Orendi’s portal led us to Tiraellen.

But we ended up a bit too high.

As soon as we exited the portal, we fell onto the trees.

"Seems like we were way off."

"It’s a long way from my house to here. Unless you’re at Kaiden’s level, it’s hard to get the coordinates exactly right."

"At least we didn’t end up in the North Sea. But where exactly are we?"

After surveying the terrain from the treetops and gauging the sun\'s position, Linus and I figured out our approximate location.

"Could it be that way?"

"That seems right. Let’s move."

As we descended from the tree and started moving, I suddenly stopped, grabbing Linus’s shoulder.

"Isn’t that an ogre?"

Between the trees, a massive creature, about four meters tall, with bulging muscles, was visible.

It grumbled in some unintelligible language, clearly in a foul mood as if it hadn’t eaten all day.

"Let’s just pass by quietly. No need to waste time."

Following Linus\'s suggestion, we quietly circled around the ogre, but suddenly it let out a roar and turned toward us.

"It noticed us. Must be really on edge from hunger."

"Then we have no choice."

As the ogre smashed through trees, stomping toward us, Linus deftly sidestepped and kicked the ogre’s leg.

The blow caused the lower part of its knee to completely detach, making the ogre lose its balance and topple forward.

As it fell, I delivered a solid soccer kick to its head, causing it to explode with a loud pop.

"Ugh, disgusting."

"Brings back memories."

As I wiped the brain matter off my shoe, Linus chuckled.