CHAPTER 125: MISCHIEVOUS LUMINE

Just as I finished wishing Edmund well, the classroom door slid open.

Footsteps echoed softly across the room, and when Lisa and I lifted our heads to see who had entered, we both froze.

"Louis... isn’t that person from before?" Lisa whispered.

"Yes," I murmured back. "But why is she here...?"

The girl who had stopped me on the academy walkway not long ago—the one who had asked for directions while I was guiding Lisa—was now stepping confidently into our classroom.

With a bright smile, she walked straight to the front and turned to face the students.

"Nice to meet you all," she said with a cheerful wave. "I’m Lumine, and I’ll be in charge of your practical training from today onward."

The class stirred at the words special teacher, but my reaction was far stronger.

My eyes widened before I could stop myself.

Lumine...? That Lumine?

My mind immediately jumped back to the comic—those scenes etched clearly into my memory.

"I look forward to working with you all," she continued lightly, her expression radiating warmth. "If you have any questions, feel free to ask anytime."

But I barely heard half of what she said.

The name Lumine kept repeating in my head like a distant echo.

Lumine.

Mischievous Lumine.

A friendly troublemaker on the surface...

But behind that bright smile hid her true nature.

A legendary creature capable of wiping a kingdom off the map if she wished.

A dragon.

I swallowed hard.

A real dragon was standing in our classroom, casually introducing herself as our practical instructor.

And worse—

She had spoken to me before.

Nothing about today was going to be normal.

But.

’Lumine in the comic didn’t look like this...?’

I blinked several times, trying to process what I was seeing.

This Lumine was... tiny.

Youthful.

Almost childlike.

But in the comic?

She was a mature beauty with sharp eyes, a refined air, and a figure that would make half the academy stare.

This wasn’t just "different."

It was wrong.

’What’s going on?’

Her appearance wasn’t the only inconsistency.

Even the class she was supposed to oversee wasn’t ours.

In the story, Lumine was the instructor for Class E, Edmund’s class—not ours.

Confusion and unease twisted inside my chest.

"But before that..." she said.

A familiar line.

A line I remembered too clearly from the original story.

The moment I heard it, everything clicked into place—

and every muscle in my body tightened.

"...Damn it."

No way.

Lumine appearing here—

in this class—

looking younger, earlier, and completely off-script...

There was only one explanation.

That incident.

The one that blindsides the students.

The one no one is prepared for.

The one that nearly kills half the class in the original story.

My stomach dropped.

Without thinking, I reached over and grabbed Elena’s arm.

"...Louis?"

She blinked up at me, startled.

"Hold onto me. Tightly."

My voice was low, urgent.

She hesitated for a split second, confused by my serious expression, but obeyed—linking her arm with mine.

I didn’t take my eyes off Lumine.

And then—

"Shall we test your skills a bit?"

The moment she finished speaking—

BZZZTT—!!!

Light exploded beneath our seats.

Magic circles—complex, blinding, unmistakably powerful—bloomed across the floor like flowers of pure light.

Students screamed.

"W-what is this?!"

"Something strange—something’s appearing on the floor!"

But I knew exactly what it was.

The sensation that rushed through my body—

the pull, the pressure, the sinking lift—

I had felt it not long ago, inside the Chimera Research Institute.

Teleportation.

The exact same sensation.

Lumine smiled faintly, eyes glimmering with childlike mischief that was anything but innocent.

"Let’s see how well you all struggle."

Her final words echoed in my ears—

And then the light swallowed us whole.

In an instant—

The classroom vanished.

We were gone.

----

A thick canopy of leaves swayed above my head, blotting out most of the sky.

Bird calls I’d never heard before echoed between towering trunks, and the air smelled fresher—denser—than anything in the Empire.

I slowly opened my eyes, pushing myself up as I scanned the surroundings with caution.

This place...

It wasn’t anywhere in the Empire.

The plants, the air, the structure of the forest—everything felt foreign.

Gigantic trees stretched upward like pillars holding up the heavens.

Their roots twisted across the ground like ancient serpents, and strange flowers bloomed in clusters of colors I’d never seen before.

Yet for all its unfamiliarity, the place didn’t feel entirely new to me.

If anything, it felt... déjà vu.

Because I’d seen this forest before.

Not in real life—but in the webtoon.

"W-Where are we...?"

Elena’s voice trembled as she looked around in confusion. Her eyes darted from tree to tree, searching for anything recognizable.

Instead of answering, I lifted my arm and silently pointed toward the hill that rose above the forest.

She followed my gaze—

—and froze.

"Th-That’s... impossible..."

Her voice cracked.

Because standing beyond the hill, towering into the sky like a living pillar of light and life, was a massive tree of overwhelming grandeur.

Its leaves shimmered in hues of gold and jade.

Its trunk was wider than a fortress wall.

Its branches stretched so far they blended into the clouds.

"The World Tree," Elena whispered, breathless.

The sacred tree said to support the balance of the continent.

A place where ordinary people could only dream of setting foot—because even finding it was considered a miracle.

But we weren’t just near it.

We were in its forest.

The World Tree’s domain.

A location straight out of the webtoon—a place only high-ranking elves, spirits, and ancient beings ever tread upon.

"Then... could this be the Lunaria Forest?"

Elena’s voice trembled with a mix of awe and confusion as she stared up at the colossal tree towering above us.

Given what she’d seen in textbooks, her assumption made perfect sense.

The World Tree—the World Tree—was said to exist only in Lunaria, homeland of the elves.

Anyone would think the same.

But she was wrong.

I shook my head.

"No, this isn’t Lunaria. Look over there."

Elena turned to where I pointed—and froze.

"That’s... a Senril tree? Wait—what? Then this isn’t the eastern region...?"

The pale bark, the rippling grain-like patterns—distinctive and unmistakable.

Dozens of Senril trees stood quietly among the forest greenery, swaying lightly in the breeze.

Senril trees only grow in the western continent.

They’re as symbolic to the west as cherry blossoms are to spring.

And Lunaria?

Lunaria sits far to the east, warm and humid—completely unsuitable for Senril trees.