Chapter 40
Damn it! Even that commoner is looking down on me!
Viscount Oberon kicked the objects around him.
And then he gave his knight a vicious look.
He had a maid clean up the broken vase shards while watching Oberon's mood.
"Grr... I was planning to make up the losses from this deal! What happened, William!"
The losses had been caused by Viscount Oberon's reckless speculation, but that didn't matter to him.
"I apologize. However, the other party's skill was far greater than expected."
"Damn it. What was that girl, anyway?"
William thought of the dazzlingly beautiful, delicate girl.
The instant he thought about drawing his sword, she dashed in like lightning and got behind him.
Her movements were clean, restrained, and incredibly fast—far faster than anyone would imagine from that body.
"She was so fast that even my eyes couldn't follow her. If she had harbored killing intent, we couldn't have guaranteed our lives."
And then, for a brief moment, that gaze that had appeared.
The moment he met that gaze, he felt overwhelmingly outclassed.
Viscount Oberon felt the same.
That made it even more humiliating.
"Damn it, why do I have to be humiliated even in a place like this!"
Then, a coquettish voice drifted over.
"Exactly. Why should the glorious heir of Oberon have to go through something like this?"
"You... who are you...?"
"It's dangerous. Please step aside...!"
Viscount Oberon reflexively looked toward the source of the voice.
William, sensing extreme danger through an aura user's instincts, did the same.
He wrapped aura around his sword and swung it.
But he couldn't move.
Only his consciousness and vision were still alive.
Space had already been consumed long ago.
At its center stood a captivating woman with two wings.
A jet-black dress, wings like they were woven from night clouds.
And two eerie pupils.
They resembled that child's pupils, but the pressure emanating from them was different.
There was no possibility of even trying to take her on.
It had already ended the instant that thing appeared there.
"You can't use mana. All mana belongs to the dragon."
It was exactly as she said.
"I don't attack humans. I have a pact."
She idly twirled a finger.
It was a human gesture, yet somehow not human.
"Unless, of course, you people lay a hand on my kin."
Kin?
Oberon's mind spun frantically.
‘Where did this get tangled up?’
The dragon's kin!
Only then did he dimly realize what the being before him was.
The tyrannical, cruel, terrifying king of wings.
As haughty as she was noble, she was famous for never taking in followers.
‘If someone were worthy of becoming one, they'd have to be of noble blood at least above a prince...!’
But his train of thought stopped after her final words.
"Ah, though if I do too much, maybe I'll get scolded by my big sister."
* * *
Today was the day to meet the remaining noble houses at School Market.
So that was why everyone had come.
Apparently, the days when nobles other than school officials were allowed into School Market were limited.
Some time had passed since the first one, and now it was that morning.
I was clearing my backlog of assignments at the practice grounds.
"Casting, Bullet."
A thin, dazzling line burst from my wand.
It was a standard Casting Bullet, but slightly different.
The variations had finally run out, and my proficiency had gone up as far as it could.
So I did it while moving quickly.
The moment I kicked off the ground hard, my body shot forward at tremendous speed.
For this, I had asked Carnarov to lend me the entire large practice field.
But if there's one thing I overlooked...
"Gyaaaah!! Why is this so fast!!"
My speed had become so fast I couldn't even adapt to it.
I was still hitting the targets, but I couldn't rein it in.
It was only because I'd practiced to some extent that I was at this level; at first, I couldn't even hit the targets.
Damn it, that'll give me more to put in my report.
Compared to D, where even B was already the level of a fairly fast ordinary person, this was at least several dozen times faster.
The fact that my status had risen by two stages meant I'd become a monster.
Robert, who had been waiting beside me, said,
"...I had thought this before too, but you can use body enhancement as well? That speed is absurd."
"How would I know?"
"Then is it an enhancement spell?"
"I don't know."
"Haste, Physical, Enchant. Those are the standard beginner enhancement spells. Though it doesn't seem like you used any of those either."
There are spells like that?
I'd have to look them up in the library later.
And I had also heard in bits and pieces that there was a body-enhancement curriculum at knight school.
Usually, mages who harbor mana get a basic boost to physical ability.
The upgraded version of that was body enhancement.
But this was just raising my stats.
Not strengthening the body with mana, but making the body itself stronger.
‘...Isn't that just cheating?’
Then if I learned body enhancement here, I'd get even stronger.
‘Can't I somehow bring over just one knight school student from School Market?’
It would be nice if I could just learn that one skill.
Since the exchange event was held in the second semester, I'd have to aim for that time.
The moment I finished the fortieth one—the exact amount I'd been behind on—a message appeared.
[Basic Attack Magic (SR+) is preparing to evolve!!]
[You are now fully prepared to learn a higher-tier spell of Basic Attack Magic!!]
Huh, what?
So messages like this appear too?
My curiosity about the status window deepened even more.
* * *
"I-I'm truly sorry about the other day!! I failed to grasp your nobility at all! Please forgive me!!"
When I went to School Market, the one who greeted me wasn't the next client but Viscount Oberon.
He kept bowing in dogeza before me with a desperate face.
There was a mark on his neck.
‘...What is that? A brand?’
It looked familiar somehow.
"Huh?"
"Just what in the world is that supposed to be?"
Robert also asked back, seemingly dumbfounded.
Looking closely, his broad face had gone gaunt.
"I'd gone mad and failed to recognize you! This is a small token—10 gold, please take it!!"
Small, huh.
The knight who had been called William pushed a chest toward me.
I checked inside.
Five gold coins atop a pile of silver coins.
Since 100 silver equals 1 gold, the math should check out.
Though why such a huge sum had come all at once was truly a mystery.
"Please, accept it...!"
"Yep."
Score.
That way my quota was filled.
I didn't need to do anything else just to sell spices.
Still, more money is always better.
"Will you... forgive us?"
"Of course! Please come again, valued customers... no, customers! Come again next time!"
The moment I said that, both of their faces turned deathly pale.
"W-what...! So you knew everything after all...! Then even that...!"
"A monster like this in Reinhart...?"
"Don't tell anyone else about this, okay?"
It would be a problem if word got out that I'd received money like this.
But it seemed they had taken it in a slightly different sense.
"O-Of course we won't!"
"Absolutely! We can even swear a blood oath!!"
What?
They fled without even looking back the moment they received my forgiveness.
The brands on their necks had already vanished by then.
Robert asked with a dumbfounded expression.
"What the hell was that?"
"No idea."
* * *
The four nobles who had come decided to buy my spices through an auction.
Some nobles really did make a point of being aristocratic by sending proxies to auctions.
.
.
.
"15 gold."
"20 gold."
"23 gold."
"25 gold."
"30 gold."
It didn't go any higher than 30 gold.
He was a blond gentleman who suited a top hat.
"Sold for 30 gold."
Robert said that, and we went to another room to receive payment and deliver the goods.
But then.
"I've heard a lot about you."
The blond gentleman addressed me as if we knew each other.
"Would you mind talking for a bit while that side handles things?"
Robert was in the middle of handling taxes and all sorts of miscellaneous paperwork.
I glanced over that way.
"Since you're not helping anyway, you might as well go."
"You wouldn't die if you phrased things a little prettier."
I said that and followed him.
"Who are you?"
"I hear you're Aris's friend. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm the head of the Script Ducal House, Bern Q. Script. Please call me Bern."
"Ah."
So he was Aris's father.
"I was intrigued because your name appears quite often in the letters. As expected, you have considerable talent."
"How was it written?"
Now I'm curious.
"Basically, it said that you're kind, though a bit of a troublemaker, and that if someone could persuade you properly, that would probably get fixed too."
That's like Aris from ages ago.
These days she just throws my phone or whatever else out the window.
Sometimes, knowing I won't get hurt, she'll come in at dawn, throw me out, and lock the door.
"You've definitely benefited a lot from her."
"Well, she's the kind of kid who got along well with her younger siblings, so she's naturally kind. She got along well with Her Highness the Princess too."
The princess?
Come to think of it, a duke was incredibly high-ranking, wasn't he?
Aris suddenly looked impressive.
"Half of this shipment was requested by the imperial family as well. By the way, spices must be quite precious to you too, so why are you trying to sell them now?"
"I need a wand."
"Hmm. Do you have one you're using right now?"
"I do have a broken one."
"Let me see it."
I handed him the broken wooden wand.
Then his expression changed at once.
"Didn't you say you were second in your class?"
"I did."
"And you took an exam with a wand like this?"