Senior Fluffytail isn’t the most academically inclined. It’s not hard to tell. If she were born here instead of in a lower realm, she would never earn a name for herself. She knows how to read, but from the speed at which her eyes travel down the page, it’s quite obvious to anyone that she’s incredibly slow at it. Not only that, but her tail is curling and uncurling while occasionally hitting the ground. Everyone knows that’s a clear sign of frustration.

“Slayersson One! Your attention should be on me, not the assistant teacher next to you.”

Oops. It’s not like I’m the only one paying attention to Senior Fluffytail. Why am I the only one that got called out for it? “Yes, Teacher.” Of course, I’m not going to object or complain out loud. I don’t want to be beaten. Although it’s not that painful, it’s still embarrassing.

Today, we’re learning about geography. It’s one of my least favorite subjects. It doesn’t actively engage the mind, and anyone can do well in it as long as they can forcibly stuff information into their brain. Honestly, I don’t think it’s worth learning too much either; it definitely doesn’t deserve as much time as formation calculation or something practical like biological studies. After all, geography changes and warps all the time. The city we learned about last week disappeared off the face of the mainland when a beast tide wiped it out. Something like the different weaknesses of beasts won’t change—at least, not that quickly.

“Hey,” Senior Fluffytail said and sidled next to me. She pointed at the textbook she was holding. It was a bit comical to see her reading from the same textbook as the students because she retained a humanoid form, making the text even larger than her body. “How do you solve this bit over here?”

Will I get in trouble if I respond to her? If she were a fellow classmate, the teacher would definitely point me out again. However, she’s an assistant teacher. Could I be blamed for talking if she’s the one who asked me a question first? Knowing squirrels, I most definitely could, and she’d probably even toss me underneath the carriage if I tried to blame the disruption on her. The most logical way to resolve this would be to raise my hand and inform the teacher, but Senior Fluffytail knows where I live. If I embarrass her in front of the whole class by announcing to the teacher Senior Fluffytail doesn’t understand something, won’t I be inviting suffering to come upon me? I’ll take my chances with the teacher.

What’s Senior Fluffytail struggling with, anyway? It looks like a mathematical word problem. “For these kinds of questions, you can go to the index at the back of the book to look up the relevant values. I don’t know what it’s like in the realm you came from, but these are standard techniques and formations the humans and demons employ regularly. You should memorize the amplification coefficients of the Five Elemental Formation and Rapid-Fire Burning Arrow technique. Eventually, once you solve enough problems, you won’t have to look at the index anymore because you’ll know the values by heart.”

“Oh…, uh, oh…. The index. Right,” Senior Fluffytail said and nodded, bobbing her head up and down. “That’s what I was missing. Of course.” She sidled back over to her spot and flipped to the back of the book. It was painful seeing her eyes move at a snail’s pace, crawling down the thousands of words that made up the index. I wanted to point out she was on the wrong page, but it was better to let her puzzle it out to familiarize herself with the text. My attention went back onto the teacher, and although he made eye contact with me, he didn’t call me out.

Not too long after, a familiar sensation bumped against my leg. It was Senior Fluffytail again. “Alright, I checked the index, but….” She might not have finished her sentence, but her eyes were enough to convey what she wanted to say. She was even more confused than my little sister learning about the different properties of herbs.

“Now that you have the values, you just do the math. A newly ascended human immortal has, on average, one unit of spiritual energy.” Judging by Senior Fluffytail’s expression, she did not know how I came to that conclusion. “You can find the value in the index, but it’s also beginner-level information. Memorize it.”

Senior Fluffytail scratched her head, and I swear I saw strands of hair falling out, but it must’ve been my imagination. An immortal being stressed to the point of hair loss by a simple math question? I don’t believe it. Senior Fluffytail raised her head and stared at me. Why did it seem like her eyes were glittering? “Let me Soul Scour you.”

“Absolutely not.” If it weren’t for the law preventing one squirrel from horrendously maiming another, I’m sure Senior Fluffytail wouldn’t have even asked for my opinion. She would’ve just done it.

“I’ll pay you.”

“There’s no amount you can pay me that’ll change my mind.” My intellect and wit are what differentiates me from the rest of the rabble. If she Soul Scours me, even if she’s extremely good at it, there’ll be lasting trauma in my soul, damaging my mental facilities. Since I rejected her…, I wouldn’t put it past her to Soul Scour me in my sleep. “Besides, I’m just a student. My experience is limited, and I’m really not the person with the most knowledge in the class.” I might be the smartest student with the best grades, but I’m technically not lying. The teacher knows more than me. “If you want to Soul Scour someone, you should aim higher. Try to convince the teacher or principal to let you absorb their wisdom.”

Senior Fluffytail blinked at me. Then, she turned her head towards the teacher. The teacher raised an eyebrow at us before continuing his lecture. I don’t think he knows how badly I threw him under the carriage just now. It was either him or me. I don’t regret anything.