Home/The Peaceful Academy Life of a Magic Potion Professor/ch20

Chapter 20

Media hated the day everyone else looked forward to—the monthly "Going-Out Day." A day with few restrictions, when students could freely visit home or go out to the capital's bustling streets. To Media, it felt like a day of punishment.

Home was not a sanctuary for her. It was fear and dread... a suffocating darkness. She would study at the Academy like a normal student, only to return home and be confronted with the harsh reality of her situation.

"No. Don't think that way."

She walked toward home as slowly as she could. Since the Academy provided meals and housing, her family—struggling financially—welcomed her attendance. For Media, too, it was a good opportunity to study what she loved and eventually support her family. Wishing for more would be greedy, she told herself. She tried to steel her heart before stepping inside.

"Sister!"

"Big sis is here!"

As she opened the door, her adorable younger siblings threw themselves into her arms. Media's twin siblings, now twelve, adored their big sister.

"Have you been well? Nothing happened? Let me see."

"Yeah! Nothing happened."

It had become a routine she followed every time she came home. Media lifted her siblings' clothes and examined them closely. Her face quickly twisted. Despite saying nothing had happened, Mary and Matthew's bodies were neglected, filthy, and reeking—and covered in bruises.

"Nothing happened, you say? How can this be..."

Media couldn't finish the sentence. She pulled her siblings onto chairs and took out medicine from her bag, forcing back tears. Whether they knew or not, the twins watched with curious eyes.

"Huh? Sis, what's that?"

"It's different from the ointment you always use!"

It was a potion Peter had given her, saying he had a little left over from Professor Lamiya and that it might help.

"...Ah, it's from Peter. Come here."

She'd been using ordinary ointments before. Magical potions were more expensive than regular medicine, and after buying food and necessities, her allowance from the Academy was barely enough. She'd considered making her own potions, but ingredients were hard to come by and her skills were lacking. Media dipped just a tiny amount of the potion onto a cotton swab and applied it to the bruises.

"...Wow..."

"Whoa! Big sis, did you see that?"

The wounds were healing before their eyes. Peter had called it a bruise-healing potion, and the injuries were disappearing rapidly. Even the scars were fading considerably.

"How is this even possible..."

Media had used magical potions before, but never anything like this. Especially since older scars were particularly difficult to treat.

"Professor Lamiya..."

From the very first day of class, when she'd effortlessly purified the filth with a potion, Media had thought there was something unusual about her. They said she'd been hired against fierce competition... It seemed that even in potion-making, a professor's level was in a different league. As her siblings' bodies became clean, some of the gloom in Media's heart seemed to lift as well.

"You've been eating properly, right?"

Mary and Matthew just smiled silently. Realizing they hadn't been eating well, the brief respite of relief vanished, and her gloom returned in full force.

Their mother had passed away when Media was seven. Even until her final moments, she had done her best for her children. She always told them to dream, to remember they were precious. But their father was different. Media had heard the neighbors whispering that her mother had married him out of family necessity. Media believed those whispers were true—there was no way her mother could have loved such a man.

"Bring me alcohol!"

The door burst open. The person she hated most in the world—her father. People said their mother's health had declined from giving birth to the twins, Mary and Matthew, but Media didn't believe that. Her mother had suffered from their father's terrible violence, barely able to stand many days. She'd had to work without proper rest after bearing Mary and Matthew. To Media, her father was both a burden and the one who had stolen away someone precious.

"Huh? What, Media's here?"

The pot-bellied middle-aged man, disheveled and reeking of alcohol, entered with a red-faced, ravenous laugh. When had that disgusting laugh become even more revolting?

"Welcome home."

Media stood and greeted him. She desperately wanted to escape this house, but her siblings had done nothing wrong. She hadn't graduated yet, and she couldn't support them. Since she hadn't lost or been abandoned by her parents, leaving them in an orphanage was impossible.

"Yeah, studying going well? A place like Mariposa Academy—after you graduate, you'll be able to spoil me, right? Heh heh. You were born smart because this daddy made you right. You take after your mother—would it have been possible otherwise?"

He'd never once bothered to feed them properly, yet he said this constantly.

"Don't... hit Mary and Matthew."

Her father staggered toward her and grabbed her shoulders with both hands.

"That depends on you. Anyway... our daughter. You've grown up well, haven't you?"

Media squeezed her eyes shut and tried to steady her trembling body. Ever since she'd entered the Academy, her father had often talked about the future—what he'd do with her money, gambling, expensive liquor. Lost in his fantasies. When she'd failed to get into the magic department, he'd beaten her mercilessly, saying she'd inherited her mother's lack of talent, that she was an embarrassment, that he had no luck with children. For days, she could barely get out of bed.

The violence continued every Going-Out Day. She was exhausted. As graduation approached, her father changed again. His eyes were no longer those of a parent—they'd become something else. He saw her as a slave who would provide for his old age. Especially in the past two months, his intentions had become so blatant Media couldn't ignore them. The beatings had stopped since then. It was repulsive.

"Better graduate soon and find a job quickly... right?"

His unpleasant hand traced her neck and lingered on her collarbone. Media froze at the horrific sensation. She had to endure. If she left, her innocent siblings—especially Mary—would inevitably suffer the same fate. Just two more years.

But old habits died hard. When Media didn't give the answer he wanted, his grip on her shoulders tightened. His strength was immense, and Media cried out in pain.

"Don't bully Sister!"

Matthew pushed their father with all his might. He'd instinctively sensed that his father meant to harm his sister.

Crash!

The drunken man lost his balance and fell hard.

"How dare you push your own father?"

Staggering to his feet, Matthew stepped in front of Media, shielding her. Media hurriedly tried to stop him.

"Matthew, apologize to Father! Father, please calm down! Matthew is still—Aah!"

The man kicked his own son, Matthew, with full force. Matthew and Media, who had been trying to hold him back, tumbled backward. Mary ran to them, crying. Media quickly recovered and stood before her approaching father.

"Father, please calm down. He didn't know what he was doing. So—"

Slap!

The blow, delivered with tremendous force, sent Media sprawling to the side. Then a kick came at her.

Thud!

"Taking your brother's side, are you! I feed you, I house you, and this is the thanks I get... Do I look that easy to push around?"

Thud. Thud, thud.

"Sister!"

This time Mary tried to shield Media. But it only fueled his rage.

"Fine. Today I'll give you a proper lesson. Especially you...! I was starting to treat you like a human being. Ha! Fine. I'll teach you your place. You need to be put in your place from the start."

His eyes, as if the leash of reason had snapped, were filled with madness. Media's eyes were consumed with terror.

"Stay... away!"

She scrambled backward, still on the ground. But her injuries made movement difficult. The hand adorned with cheap jeweled rings caught her eye. She knew instinctively—she might have to miss next week's Academy. How could such a person be her father!

"Fair enough, in order of age, right? Oldest first. Heh, heh."

He grabbed Media's arm and tried to pull her up. She recoiled from the horrific touch, shaking him off.

"I told you to stay away!"

She struggled to break free.

Slap!

"Talking back to your father! Want to see your siblings dead?"

Tears of fury fell from Media's eyes. She knew all too well that he wouldn't spare her even if she obeyed. She'd endured it all just to keep her siblings from suffering—to hope they'd hurt a little less while she was gone.

Thud!

Once the violence began, the rest was easy. He pursued her as she fled, and grabbed the wooden club he always left in the corner. She barely dodged as furniture shattered loudly, and her siblings screamed in terror.

"Sob... Sister!"

"Kyaaa... Sister!"

Media struggled desperately, screaming with all her might. The taste of blood filled her mouth. In that moment, she thought she might die here.

"Kyaaaaa!"

It was all she could do. Against her father, even both siblings together stood no match in size or strength. She should have listened to Peter. Please, someone... please... save me...

Crash!

Then—when she'd thought no one would come—the door opened. And standing there was someone she'd never imagined seeing in this house.

"Professor... Lamiya...?"

The professor in charge of the magical potions class looked at the scene and spoke in the exact same tone and expression as always.

"I believe I told you to go home, not to a zoo."

"What the hell is this!"

Media's father, thoroughly drunk, didn't care that the woman who'd interrupted him was a professor. His only thought was to punish her. He lunged at Lamiya, raising his hand. Surely he could easily overpower this frail female professor. But—

Blocked.

His arm was stopped effortlessly.

"I came for a home visit with Miss Media... but I don't see the parents anywhere."

She pushed the man hard in the chest with her foot.

"Urgh!"

He was sent flying backward, crashing into the table.

"...Who the hell are you, barging into someone's home!"

Lamiya kicked the man, who was struggling to rise, sending him down again. Then she planted her knee firmly on his chest.

Slap!

She struck his cheek hard enough to turn his head. Her flat, toneless voice asked,

"I'm this young lady's professor. Now, where are her parents?"

"Can't you see? I'm her—"

Slap!

"Where's the guardian?"

"I'm her father—"

Slap!

"What was that?"

Slap!

"..."

"So the capital... isn't so different after all, if it has trash like this."

Lamiya rose from the unconscious man and surveyed the room. Broken furniture, two terrified little ones, and her student with her shoulder exposed, face and legs covered in blood.

"You must hate coming home more than going to school."

Lamiya murmured softly. Yes—the world wasn't all cute pranks like at the Academy. Judging by the situation, she needed to get these children somewhere else. The place was unsanitary, and she couldn't leave them with the man who claimed to be their father.

"Are you alright? Can you move?"

Media, whose eyes had been wide with shock since Lamiya appeared, finally managed a single word.

"How... how..."

She'd screamed so much, suffered such shock, that she could barely speak. But despite it all, she had to ask—had Peter told her?

Lamiya answered calmly.

"I heard your voice."

"...Pardon?"

"Because it was your voice."

Media's eyes widened further. She'd never spoken to Professor Lamiya except during roll call and that one time she'd warned her about Akira Sorin. But...

Just from that...

To Lamiya, it seemed perfectly obvious. That very attitude somehow broke something in Media.

"Professor... sob... sob..."

"...Huh?"

She clung to Lamiya and sobbed. Lamiya was flustered by the sudden tears, but awkwardly held Media in her arms and patted her back.

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