"...Grand Fae…!"
The strict-faced teacher turned pale, and he muttered to himself while backing off.
"Teacher Invarossta, would you please go and notify the headmaster about this situation?"
"..."
He quickly came back to his senses and addressed his rash female colleague, who couldn't take her eyes away from the student's body.
"Teacher Invarossta."
"?!?!"
The strict-faced teacher nudged the woman, causing her to flinch and look at him with fearful eyes.
"Could you please notify the headmaster about the situation?"
"O-of course…!"
The strict-faced teacher repeated himself, and the female teacher nodded before talking one last glance at the face of the boy encased in ice and hurriedly left the room.
"Could you take care of your colleague? I'll excavate the body.'
"...of… of course…"
He then spoke to the stunned butler, making the man open his mouth only to close it and answer only after gulping down his saliva.
"..."
As the strict-faced teacher began using fire spells to thaw the ice, the other female teacher looked away and started to wander around the room just to keep the scene out of her sight.
In the first place, she became a teacher because she didn't want to get involved in anything dangerous, but now, being faced with the death of a student made her start to doubt her life choices.
Death always creeped her out and…
"?!?!"
All of a sudden, the rash teacher stopped in place, and every cell of her body shivered as if the cold hand of death grasped her very soul.
The sensation was so terrifying that for a second the woman was convinced she was dying, but since she remained conscious, she began to look around in search of the possible origin of that feeling in an erratic manner.
"..."
"..."
Only to make eye contact with the student trapped within the ice.
"!!!"
It took the rash teacher's brain a moment to realize what was happening, but once it happened, her body involuntarily jolted back so much that she crashed into the ice pillar in the middle of the room and caused it to crumble down, getting the attention of everyone else in the room.
"What in the world are you doing?"
Her strict-faced colleague stared her down in disapproval as she was sprawled amongst the chunks of ice with the blackish substance on their edges in a rather unrefined manner.
"H-he…!"
"Corpses might scare you, but have some respect for the dead…"
The female teacher mumbled, pointing her finger at the student within the ice, but her strict-faced colleague rolled his eyes and shook his head before scolding her with a harsh voice.
"N-no…! He…! He's alive…!"
"...!?"
The female teacher shook her head hastily and cried out, making her colleague turn right around to examine the supposedly dead student…
"...?"
"!!!"
Only to have the glare of the piercing, beastly yellow eyes of Rotsard Vallhall focus on him, almost giving the man a heart attack.
"He's WHAT!?"
"Y-young master is… is alive…?"
The butler attempting to calm-down the maid in the corner, flinched and turned at the revelation, raising his voice to a shout while the maid sniffled and mumbled in disbelief.
*CRACK*
The next moment, the ice covering the boy's body became covered with a cobweb of cracks and turned opaque, and within the next heartbeat it all fell off.
As it cascaded down in a waterfall of sparkling shards, it revealed the horribly skinny and ghastly-pale, bleached-blond-haired, barely clothed boy.
"Was I late?"
"S-student Vallhall…!?"
Breaking the stunned silence that befell the room, Rotsard asked in a hoarse voice, but it seemed that the meaning of his words didn't immediately register for, well, anyone else.
"Since you all showed up to pick me up… Am I correct to assume I missed the first day of the end-of-term evaluation and therefore got myself in more trouble…?"
The boy slowly got himself up and dusted off the fine ice shards of his shoulders before being more specific with his question.
…
But the shock of what the people in the room believed to be Rotsard's resurrection left them all speechless, leaving it unanswered…
"Y-young Maaaasteeeer…!"
"..."
The first one to shake it off was the maid who spent the most time around him, Nan. She cried out in a particularly heartfelt way and threw herself at the boy…
"Down."
"!"
But never made it to him, as Rotsard reached out his hand and pointed to the floor while commanding in a stern voice, causing the maid to involuntarily drop on one knee in a sign of respect and loyalty.
"..."
"..."
Before anyone else said anything, Rotsard glared towards the butler who remained standing…
"...My Lord…"
…until he too got the clue and kneeled, lowering his head towards his young master, albeit reluctantly…
A few minutes later, Rotsard's misunderstanding got resolved, and the situation was explained to him while he waited for one of his servants to bring him a fresh set of clothes.
His finishing dressing up aligned perfectly with the arrival of the grim-faced headmaster.
"...!"
And the face that the headmaster, expecting to see a corpse of a student, made as he faced said student alive and relatively well was highly amusing for that very student.
"Hmhm~"
Enough to make him chuckle as he witnessed it.
"Sorry to disappoint all of you, but as you can see, I did not depart this world, and I'm still willing to do my part. Now, if you excuse me, I must prepare for the evaluation."
Rotsard composed himself and spoke while nodding his head benevolently.
"Stop. This requires explanation. Why was I informed about your death, Student Vallhall?"
But as the boy was about to pass by the headmaster and leave, the man reached his hand to the side and blocked his way.
"The incompetence of the faculty members you hire, headmaster, is a matter entirely between you and them. I was under a self-imposed house arrest, nothing more, nothing less. They should be the ones getting questioned. Have a nice day."
Rotsard shrugged his shoulders and explained before ducking under the headmaster's arm and leaving nonetheless.