Blacksmith of the Apocalypse

Chapter 1523. Quite Open

---Perrerian, College of Magic---

“Our society is quite open, I would say,” Joannia answered emotionlessly. No point in getting upset about a teen being horny. She started sorting her materials for the class.

“Then, would you maybe meet up with me tomorrow? I would like to take you out for dinner, and afterward we could-”

“Yeah, no interest,” Joannia said with a slight smile. She always had little interest in relationships, but she had even less when it came to some 16-year-old trying to score a one-night stand. The young man looked, obviously shocked at the cold rejection.

“But arenʼt I handsome? Why would you reject? Iʼm sure we can have a lot of-” he was interrupted before he could embarrass himself any more.

“I see, you are already getting friendly with our new student, Mr. Wavencroft. However, please sit down properly for now, class is starting,” Professor Chickwid, the teacher of this lesson, had entered the room and chided him.

“Miss Taggart, as you joined us in the middle of the semester, please introduce yourself to the class before we begin,” he asked her. Joannia thought for a moment before she stood up to address the class.

“Iʼm Joannia Taggart, former Admiral of Epsilonʼs Defense Fleet and currently a lead member of Minas Marʼs Crafting Teams in charge of Research and Development in Little Gamma. Iʼm here to learn more about Titans and widen my horizons, “ she gave an honest introduction.

Questions were whispered among the other students. They didnʼt know what Epsilon or Minas Mar were, but they understood what an admiral was supposed to be. However, their image of admirals was old men, grizzled from battle, not young women who liked to learn.

“Thank you, Joannia. You can sit down again,” Chickwid said, also slightly unsettled by her introduction. The teachers knew that she and a couple of other people were delegates of a country from a foreign world, but they were not fully briefed on their exact identities.

Professor Chidwick was polite enough not to ask questions, but it wasnʼt the same for Wavenworth, who turned back to her and asked: “When you were an admiral, did you, like, fight actual battles? D-Did you kill people?”

The former fleet admiral looked at the young man for a moment, deliberating how much to tell him, if anything at all.

“Not people. We fought demons, “ she said dryly, giving him a cold look to make clear she would not say anymore.

“Enough of that, I will begin the lesson now. Miss Taggart, I believe you are up to date on our current material?” he asked her. Joannia nodded. She had already read up on the materials for this subject and was only here because she needed to appear in person for theory lessons, to get access to the practical ones

The goal of this class was to build various basic parts of a Titan and test them on a small dummy over the course of the semester. This allowed her to work and study the crafting stations used for it. The theory lesson went by without a hitch, although the young man kept trying to start a conversation with her.

“Alright, thatʼs it for the theoretical part, we will see each other in 10 minutes at the Workshop 023,” the professor announced at the end of the lesson. It was time; Joannia would finally get access to the workshop.

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The structure of the subject was that students would learn the theory in one lesson and get to use this knowledge in a practical setting, to build various basic parts of a titan. Joannia liked the idea to learn something and immediately getting to test its application in real life.

The best part was that Workshop 023 was open to students of this subject, so they were always allowed to enter and practice on their provided parts in preparation for future classes. This was the main point she was looking forward to.

She didnʼt worry about the “provided parts”. Joannia had long since managed to learn and raised it to the intermediate tier. Although she couldnʼt master it as a secondary kill, and the skill bonus was weaker, she wouldnʼt have to depend on someone else to manufacture parts for her tests. With access to the workshop and the smithy, she would be able to experiment to her heartʼs content.

Following the directions she memorized from the map of the college, her steps quickly took her down the hallway outside the classroom. She had already reached the elevator that led down to the workshops when she heard someone call out to her from behind.

“Miss Taggart, please wait!” she heard and turned around. A girl was catching up with her and stopped before her, slightly out of breath. Did she run to catch up? Had Joannia walked this fast without noticing? She had to be more careful to hide her strength.

“Ha, ha, you are really quick,” she gasped. “Iʼm sorry for holding you up. Could we, maybe, talk for a moment?” she asked, catching her breath. Joannia looked at her for a moment, recognizing that she was one of the girls from the earlier class.

“Oh, werenʼt you with that boy, Wavencroft?” she asked when she recognized her as the girl who had chided him for his earlier comments. She had a wild mane of brown hair, a pair of sharp, intelligent eyes, and a soft face that still showed some baby fat.

“Ah, yes,” she said, a little awkward. Was she going to talk about that boy? Joannia weighed the options. She could simply drive her away; on the other hand, she was curious what she wanted to say. The struggles of school life and teenage emotions could act as a lighthearted distraction while she stayed here.

“Come, we can talk during the elevator ride,” she said and invited the girl into the elevator, which had arrived moments earlier. She nodded thankfully, and they both entered the elevator down to the workshops. The ride would take a couple of minutes, enough time to talk.

“So, do you want to talk about the boy?” Joannia asked, after a couple of moments in awkward silence. Although the girl had wanted to talk, she had trouble getting out words once they were in the elevator.

“About Grow? No! Not really. Well, I hope you can forgive him. he is overconfident in his looks, and unfortunately, it works quite often... but he isnʼt the reason I wanted to talk with you,” the girl explained.

“Ah, where are my manners. Iʼm Adelaide Tid, a first semester like you,” she remembered to introduce herself belatedly.

Joannia Taggart, nice to meet you,” she answered automatically.

“The, the reason I called on you is... errm... I really admire you! You have been here for not even half a semester, and you have already caught up on the materials to join a third-semester class. Despite just joining, you seem to have already fully memorized all the topics from class.

It was really remarkable how easily you were able to answer the Professorʼs questions in such detail. Itʼs amazing to see someone understand the subject so easily. Thatʼs why... I wanted... I hoped... maybe- maybe you could be my tutor and help me learn?” It finally flowed out of her in a big surge of words.

Joannia stared at her in surprise. She had expected this to be about her crush on the boy who flirted with her. Wasnʼt that usually how this went? The responsible female childhood friend would try to clean up after her stupid male childhood friend or something?

“Miss Taggart?” she asked, as the fleet admiral had fallen silent.

“Oh, sorry. This just came as a surprise, and just call me Joannia, please,” she answered honestly once her thoughts were in order. “So you want me to be your tutor for this class? Even though I only came here two weeks ago?”

“Still, you seem to have a better grasp of the subject than most upperclassmen. Please help me! Lately, my grades have been dropping because I canʼt keep up with the subjects, and I have nobody else I can ask. I canʼt risk failing,” she implored her, tears in her eyes.

“Why am I the only one you can ask? Doesnʼt Professor Chidwick have a TA? Iʼm sure you could find other people to help you learn, no?” Joannia asked, curious.

“I-Iʼm actually a scholarship student,” she said, as if that explained anything.

“And?”