(EP-139.1) Professor #2
139 – Fairy Professor #2
Whenever I thought of an ‘Elf’, I would imagine a slender and graceful forest-dwelling fairy.
The media I’d consumed portrayed Elves as nature lovers and protectors– solidified into such a stereotype.
However, the Elves of this world were nomads who lived in vast meadows, grazing their livestock.
They started driving carriages and conducting trade, selling the wool and cheese they produced.
As a result, the southern meadows expanded with the emergence of Elven caravans, forming a bustling trade network.
And it was the Belhawk Family that gathered and united these traders into one huge organization. Stella had this Belhawk blood thickly flowing within her veins.
Stella Von Belhawk.
She was naturally lazy and liked to play tricks, so her position within the family was like a candle in the wind.
She was enjoying quite a life of luxury, so much so that she created her own glamorous hunting ground, where she would hunt and squander her wealth time and time again.
In other words, she was a prodigal daughter.
A wastrel.
In the end, Stella Belhawk was expelled from her family – that was the extent of the information I could independently gather.
That would truly be the end of it. She was so lazy and indulgent that there was nothing of significant value beyond that.
The Belhawk Family probably concealed all records of Stella and destroyed them, as she was a disgrace to the family.
Then near Act 2, Stella suddenly appeared as the murderer, Head Hunter. The reason for this was not explained in the original novel.
In the crumbling kingdom of Angmar, after the Queen’s execution, anyone was prone to corruption and ruin. Stella Bellhawk probably followed such a path after the execution – but that was just my speculation.
And currently, Stella Belhawk was yelling at me.
“The general meeting will be held soon…! If I don’t get any results by then, I’ll get kicked out…! The support from my family will also get cut off…!”
Stella was losing her mind.
Kkwaaaaak.
She grabbed my arm and started shaking me back and forth. Her grip was so strong that tears were about to well up in my eyes.
“Let me go and calm down!”
“How can I calm down? If my family’s support is cut off, I will be driven out of Arc! Then I will die of hunger! I will starve to death!”
She was too agitated.
In this situation, I had no choice but to use magic again to subdue her.
With that in mind, I started reaching out to my wand. Fortunately, Stella released her grip on my shoulder before everything went downhill. She soon crouched down on the floor and burst into tears.
“What did I do so wrong? I was born rich. I was just spending some money. It’s our family’s money in the first place!”
Living in a completely different environment, my way of thinking was different from hers. I didn’t know what to say.
“If they cut off support… I would have to find a job. I’ll be working like a commoner, a short-lived servant. I’ll definitely starve to death…!”
Having just witnessed hungry, impoverished Imps who were rummaging through trash cans, and then seeing a squandering, privileged Elf complaining about being kicked out pissed me off a bit…
But thinking about it again, this was a good opportunity for me to have Stella Belhawk panicking like this.
I couldn’t approach her because she was nowhere to be found. But now, she showed up right in front of me in such a vulnerable state.
It felt as though the Angmar blood flowing inside me was raring to push and torment the woman standing at the front.
‘You arrogant bourgeoisie. What was the big deal about working? If you don’t want to work, then starve!’
However, without showing any of those sentiments, I reached out to Stella’s shoulder to comfort her.
Seuk-. As I got closer, a strong smell of alcohol wafted through the air, almost making me dizzy, but I pretended to be unaffected and said.
“Facing the crisis of being driven out by your family, that’s truly unfortunate. Your position as a professor is probably also due to the Belhawk family. If you get kicked out of the family-.”
It was clear that Arc would also expel Stella, deeming her useless. By then, Stella Bellhawk, who had enjoyed an elegant and noble high-class life, would really go crazy.
Could that be the reason she became the Head Hunter?
It was not an entirely implausible story…
After all, she was kidnapping Nymphs and Imps to write her research or thesis….
If I let her get kicked out of her family like this, she might spiral down into becoming a villain.
「You have calmly judged the situation!
You have gained experience points through the talent 《Calm Thinking》.
All job experience +5」
… It didn’t seem like an impossible story.
If Stella were to fall into villainy, it could disrupt my plan for the revival of the Angmar family. That was why it’d be necessary for me to somehow calm her down before she turned into a malignant variable.
“So, you were trying to collect samples for your research, right?”
“I don’t have much time left! The general meeting is a month away. I need to get meaningful results. Significant-.”
Seeing her wildly biting her white-painted nails, it felt like she was really driven in a corner.
From her point of view, being kicked out of the family would be the same as losing everything. I could understand this.
There were many people around me who felt anxious as they grew older and left the orphanage. I myself also had moments of fear, wondering if I could live well.
“First of all, it’s already late. We can talk about it tomorrow.”
We’d talk when she was sober and clear-headed. There was nothing as foolish as having important conversations with someone under the influence of alcohol.
Seureuk-.
Professor Belhawk then sat down on the bed.
“Then can I sleep here? There’re collectors waiting in my lab and room.”
“Did you borrow a lot of money?”
“Not really, just about 500,000,000 coins-?”
‘That’s 500 million won…’
[T/N: 382,596.70 USD]
Such a dizzying amount of money.
So that was why she remained nowhere to be found, she’d been hiding.
“Get some sleep for now.”
“Is this a microfiber blanket? I can’t sleep without a microfiber blanket.”
“Just sleep…”
Seureuk-.
Professor Stella immediately laid on the bed without even taking off her clothes and snoozed off.
I wondered if I should change her into a sleeping attire, but I decided to leave her be, thinking that it might cause unnecessary disputes.
Unfortunately, the blanket and bed would now smell of alcohol.
