Chapter 91 - Shadow (14)

Cecil appeared before Candy with a more confident demeanor than when she left.

He was leaning against the wall reading the book Cecil had selected. He was so immersed in reading that he didn't notice her arrival.

"Ahem."

Only when Cecil cleared her throat did he turn his head.

"First, follow me. This isn't a good place to talk."

She headed toward the reading room desk she had claimed earlier.

While moving, Cecil spoke, "You're really something. Coming all the way here and still not taking off your mask."

"It feels like part of my body now, so it's comfortable. Want one?"

Though she obviously knew he wouldn't give her one, his words flowed smoothly.

"No thanks. Why cover up a pretty face with that?"

He handed something from his hand behind his back.

It was the book. This was clearly meant to tease Cecil.

She took the book and lightly hit his shoulder, not enough to hurt.

"Hey Candy, be honest. You go around campus without your mask, don't you?"

"Why do you think that?"

"I was in the library all night. If you'd come wearing a mask, I would have noticed you at least once. Which means you came in without the mask."

"I came through the window."

He delivered such an impossible statement in such a dry tone that it was strangely convincing.

"You never run out of lies. Anyway, that means you act like a normal student during the day, right?"

"Something like that."

"You must be in a club too? Which one did you join?"

"Um... Art Club?"

"As if you could get into that exclusive Art Club. They don't accept suspicious men like you."

"..."

"Since you don't like attention, you probably went somewhere less mainstream... And you probably aren't super handsome. Good-looking kids all live up to their faces, you know? Know what? Beautiful people can't stand going around with their faces covered."

"..."

It was a kind of probe. Each of his reactions could provide clues to figuring out his identity. When Candy maintained no reaction, she threw out a half-joking consolation, "It's okay, Candy. What's wrong with not being handsome? It's fine as long as you can function as a man."

Finishing the small talk, Cecil tapped the reading room table she had been studying at.

"Sit down first."

When Cecil sat in a chair, he also took a seat across from her.

She leaned slightly forward, resting her chin on both hands, and said, "So, why did you come looking for me wearing a mask after hiding away so thoroughly?"

If he hadn't worn the mask, she wouldn't have recognized him, so wearing it deliberately meant he had come specifically looking for Cecil.

He quietly looked at Cecil for a moment, then took out a note from his pocket and pushed it forward.

"Could you interpret this?"

"What is it? Let me see."

Cecil checked the note.

Short texts were written in three different languages.

"Hmm.... First is the Sankrotis language from the Eastern Empire. Next is the Burkrue language from the northern continent, and the last is the Bongbaron regional language. Want me to translate?"

He nodded.

"The human body changes according to what it eats. What I eat becomes myself. Though it seems so obvious, almost no one truly understands this.

"The development of cultivation is a disaster for alchemy. Thanks to cultivation, mainstream alchemy schools have lost the concept of regionality.

"The field of study that stands at the antipode of magic is probably alchemy."

Candy was silent for a moment.

Cecil spoke to him as if it was simple, "How about that, pretty good right?"

"Yes."

Then, Cecil stretched her hand forward.

"Give me my fee."

He took out a flower petal candy from his pocket and placed it in her hand. Without needing to say anything, he knew well what currency worked in this relationship.

But she wasn't satisfied with that.

"It was three, so multiply by three."

"..."

He hesitated but reluctantly added two more.

Cecil unwrapped one candy and put it in her mouth before continuing.

"And these are quite radical statements when looking at just the sentences. Are you studying alchemy? There must be more than just these three. What do you need?"

Seeing the alchemy-related content, a suspicion flashed through her mind that he might be preparing for the upcoming joint class.

"I need someone to assist with interpretation."

"...Why not just show me the whole text? That would be much easier."

"Can't."

"Is it because it's related to alchemy recipes? I can somewhat understand if that’s the case. But what exactly do you mean by assist?"

"You only get involved with parts I'm stuck on."

"If that's the case..."

Cecil thought for a moment. Helping wasn't a problem. With her abilities, a few paragraphs would only take about the time to drink a cup of tea.

The issue was what benefit she could gain from it.

"Okay. I'll help."

"On what conditions?"

"Hmm.... Nothing for now. Let's just keep it as a debt."

Cecil had already formed a four-person group so she couldn't recruit him for the joint class. Even if a spot opened up and she called him, she was certain he wouldn't come.

But even if she didn't need anything right now, he was worth keeping indebted.

Cecil continued, "With the frost wind bomb from the entrance exam and this time, that makes two debts. You know?"

"Yes."

The corners of Cecil's mouth rose slightly.

"Good. For now..."

As if suddenly remembering something, she took out a black wooden box from her bag. She opened the lid and turned it over, and about a dozen Stitches poured out. Each Stitch had different colors and engravings, which Candy watched with apparent interest.

After contemplating for a while, Cecil picked up a red Stitch and handed it to him.

"Here. Take this. Use it when you need to contact me privately from now on. Don't just show up suddenly."

He took the Stitch and stared at it before speaking.

"Does it have any special functions?"

"No. The functions are all the same. It's just pretty."

Then, she also handed over a palm-sized parchment with a magic circle drawn on it.

"Take this too. It's an identification magic circle. You need to have that for my Stitch to recognize you as its owner."

The magic circle had one more minor function, but she didn't mention it to him.

Cecil hid her true intentions and quietly waited for him to accept without much suspicion.

Candy quickly looked it over, immediately put it in his inner pocket, and said, "Thanks."

"Sure. Contact me often."

***

Silveryn would probably receive my letter this evening or tomorrow. I made a promise to Silveryn, who might be feeling hurt that no letters had come.

And to keep that promise, I needed to sincerely attend Art Club classes.

Unfortunately, the Art Club class was canceled due to Professor Georgia's schedule issues.

Thanks to the Alchemy Department greenhouse being opened for Art Club students, I stayed there briefly.

I prepared an easel and practiced sketching with charcoal in a corner. Several students including Zenia and Fabella had come in one by one at some point and found spots to paint.

After finishing simple sketch practice, I headed to the labyrinth.

With Professor Ella's permission, I set up in the alchemy brewing room of the Philaion Magic Research Institute. It was the only place where I could study the recipes without worrying about others' gazes.

I started working on interpreting the recipes with three language dictionaries and one each of a Bongbaron language textbook and an alchemy introduction book.

According to Cecil's advice, since the eastern Empire's Sankrotis language and the northern continent's Burkrue language had similar grammar to the common language, there wouldn't be major problems finding meanings if I just appropriately substituted words. For the Bongbaron language, I would interpret based on the textbook Cecil had provided separately, and she would help interpret the difficult parts.

When I needed to clear my head, I would go outside the labyrinth and send a Stitch to Cecil. Within less than twenty minutes, a reply would come flying back. Cecil would write all the interpretations I requested and always end with stories from her daily life.

[Did you eat? I just had Sankrotis-style apple pie and butter cookies. Jealous?]

Thanks to her help, the work progressed smoothly.

The second recipe had less focus on combination research, and mainly consisted of Zverev's travelogue searching for the unknown component “Tevris factor”.

Additionally, there were brief studies added about other tribes' alchemy traditions and understandings of their unique combination principles.

Zverev's philosophy about alchemy was melted into that essay, and as Cecil had mentioned, they were claims that could be called radical.

Though other alchemists might treat them as the deviation of someone pushed out of mainstream schools, I couldn't dismiss them lightly.

Because I knew well that these weren't forced claims meant to draw academic attention.

The Griffin Potion manufacturing process itself completely deviated from mainstream alchemy's manufacturing formulas, but I had personally experienced that its functions worked normally.

To acquire Zverev's recipes, learning his theoretical foundation and philosophy was also important.

As the interpretation progressed, Zverev traveled through the Empire's eastern Sankrotis and Bongbaron regions before heading north.

And finally, in those northern records, clues about the “Black Spirit” problem began to emerge.