Chapter 92
“Why?”
“What you did, Sis, is different from human physical enhancement. It’s something at a much higher level—a technique used by more advanced beings.”
Adrian let out a deep sigh.
As she did, she concentrated her dark-blue mana throughout her body.
Then black electricity crackled and leaped.
In that state, Adrian snapped her fingers and struck the air.
That alone left a fan-shaped mark in the dirt.
Even though she had used very little force.
“Whoa.”
“Actually, it’s only possible for someone at least half-dragon or higher, so I hadn’t taught you…”
“But it worked?”
Liar.
“I didn’t know your talent was that great, Sis.”
Adrian said proudly.
She even seemed a little proud.
Well, it wasn’t Adrian’s fault.
“Even so, that’s amazing! As expected of you, Sis.”
“Hehe, right?”
Though it honestly seemed like mere lip service.
Still, I felt good for some reason.
“Anyway, don’t do anything dangerous, okay? You’ll end up doing everything eventually anyway, right?”
Adrian said soothingly.
But this brat.
Hadn’t she casually taken something strange for granted?
As though I were going to stop being human later….
Well, it probably didn’t matter.
* * *
“Damn it! Karnarof, what the hell did you do!?”
A room provided exclusively for distinguished guests.
There, Robin was furious.
Even among the first-year students of Lunaris’s Knight School, Richard possessed combat ability—
No, even across the entire Knight School, he was in no way inferior to his seniors.
Robin had no doubt he would reach Rank 5 within a few years of graduating.
And that belief remained unchanged even now.
In other words, the problem wasn’t on this side.
“How did you bring that monster here?”
“Is that what you’re curious about?”
“Gasp!”
Robin inhaled sharply.
Then he placed a hand on his sword and turned around.
Karnarof was there, as always.
“We have known each other for quite some time, yet you have consistently disliked me.”
“You illegitimate bastard, a heretic of the noble faction—how dare you claim the name Karnarof?”
“Then try to deal with me right now.”
He couldn’t.
If the noble faction gathered all its strength to oppose him, it might be possible to eliminate a lone mage.
However, the very fact that they would have to gather all their strength made that absurd.
Besides, the noble faction was already rotting from within.
If they clashed head-on, they could never come away unscathed.
And…
“What the hell are you hiding, Karnarof?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Are you going to pretend you don’t know? That thing at the end was unquestionably the mana of a supreme species!”
Karnarof remained silent.
Not only was there no reason for him to answer,
‘I can’t answer something I don’t know either.’
Yumia’s origins, her background, and why she possessed dragon parts.
Even those things were unclear.
But one thing was certain.
“Let me make one thing clear.”
“What is it?”
“At the very least, that student may change the Empire’s balance of power in the future.”
“What does that…!”
“If you’re tired of being a pawn, I hope you’ll make a wise decision.”
Robin turned toward Karnarof, but
Karnarof was nowhere to be seen.
* * *
And so, the tumultuous first-year tournament came to an end.
We spent our time watching the upperclassmen’s tournament.
It looked like a Knight School student had won that one.
Usually, second- and third-year students competed for entry slots, but apparently even first-years could enter if they somehow secured a spot.
I wanted to enter too, but I gave up because I thought I really might die if I did.
I’ll enter when I’m a second-year.
We headed toward the dormitory while listening to the students chatter.
“They say Lunaris won on the upperclassmen’s side.”
“But we beat all the top-ranking first-years, didn’t we?”
“Maybe next year will be our era!”
Actually, it had little to do with us.
We had beaten them all.
So even though the upperclassmen had lost, the students’ expressions weren’t all that bad.
I was feeling fine too.
If anything, the proportion of dragon mana had increased.
‘But I don’t know whether I should be happy about this or not.’
At least wings would probably be convenient.
Could I breathe fire too?
That would be pretty cool.
I gave Aris, who was curious about my condition, a vague explanation for why I’d been so listless.
Of course, telling her outright that I had gone to the western forest would have been insane.
It would amount to telling her I had gone to see a dragon in this state.
I changed it to say that I had gone to the infirmary at night.
“So that’s what it was. You did look listless, but I never imagined that was why.”
“They told me to rest and recuperate.”
I had also been instructed not to use dragon mana for the time being.
The problem was that I had no idea what exactly I had used or what side effects had occurred.
“I couldn’t even see the last one.”
“Wasn’t it a mana rampage?”
“It was a little different from that… You know how children sometimes can’t control their own mana and suffer internal injuries?”
“Hmm… I suppose it was similar.”
I couldn’t get a feel for it at all.
“Oh, right. This is a letter from my father.”
“Hmm?”
“Apparently, he wrote a review of the calculator—the one you sent by parcel last time?”
Ah.
I’d bought a calculator last time, but hadn’t had time to deliver it myself, so I’d simply sent it by parcel.
It seemed he had written about the payment and a review in a letter.
[to. Yumia.]
The reason I am writing you this letter is as follows.
First, here is my review of this calculator and the ballpoint pen you sent as a free gift…
This is truly amazing!!!!!
What a beautiful machine!!
With this, we can work an extra hour while we’re awake!!!
Thank you so much!!
If we enter our own numbers in place of the ones written on it, we can use it properly!
I have enclosed payment as well! I’ve included enough that you won’t feel slighted, so please continue doing business with Dreamwell!!!
A letter scribbled almost manically, unable to contain his excitement.
…Hadn’t that man been quite a refined person?
And he was using the time freed up like this to do even more work.
They were nothing short of insane workaholics.
“My father seemed to really like it.”
That was more than just liking it.
Then I opened the envelope underneath.
Several dozen gold coins clinked inside.
No wonder the envelope had been absurdly heavy.
“But aren’t you going to the dormitory?”
It suddenly occurred to me.
Linia had stayed here the whole time even though summer was already over.
“Hmm? I’m comfortable here… I have people to talk to. Rooms are boring.”
“Besides, it’s not exactly cramped.”
We let it slide for the moment.
* * *
I went to classes as usual.
I had nothing to learn in Basic Magic class.
So I slacked off until Karnarof caught me, then came away with extra homework.
‘Damn it.’
[The Principles and Understanding of Encryption]
Sigh.
It was useful homework, anyway.
I was going to have to do it eventually.
So, as usual, I was mashing herbs in a pot.
I was making a mid-grade mana potion, a fairly delicate process,
And just when I was finally putting my skills to use for the first time in a while, even activating Dragon Eyes to observe mana more finely,
“Yumia.”
Aris spoke to me.
“Eek!”
That startled me!
—Crackle!!
“What are you doing!? I almost got blown up!”
Not me—the ingredients!
Even the ordinary ingredients for mid-grade potions cost several dozen silver each!
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
Aris blushed, looking a little apologetic.
Still, perhaps because the stabilization process had gone well, the quality hadn’t suffered.
“So what is it?”
When I asked, Aris questioned me in a serious voice.
“Could you not make that in our room?”
“Hmm?”
“The smell of herbs gets into the room, you know? Do you know I’m barely able to get it out with my unique magic because even Linia’s magic can’t remove it?”
The herbal smell was definitely strong.
Hmm…
Then where should I do it?
Potion-making absolutely had to be done indoors.
But transporting the ingredients to a workshop in the faculty building was quite a hassle.
Inventory meant transport wasn’t an issue, but setting up the equipment took an incredibly long time too.
There was also the option of doing it in Isabel’s laboratory.
‘But if I got into the habit of going there, I feel like I’d end up commuting there even after graduating.’
That future frightened me quite a bit, so I wasn’t eager to choose it.
‘Can’t I find another place to stay?’
The thought had occurred to me.
So I said I understood and moved on for the time being, but…
A few days later, the subject came up again.
“Um… Are you thinking of moving to a different place?”
Senior Chloe made the suggestion while checking the generator, as usual.
“Pardon?”
“Generators like this usually aren’t suitable for use in a place like this. If the mana density in one place gets too high, strange phenomena can occur.”
“Hmm…”
“Dormitory Building A would work, but if you have the means, junior, you might want to consider another place.”
The dormitory could no longer handle the scale of my activities.
Chloe added,
“I’m not comfortable around people either, so I’ve been paying to have a room to myself since my second year…”
“Huh, really?”
“There are vacant rooms, you know? Reinhart rents out places to students and staff as long as they pay the rent.”
Certainly, this wasn’t a good place for doing work so freely.
And Linia slept on the floor every day.
Linia had practically become one of our roommates.
She used magic from the Dream Library to make our lives more comfortable.
She was far too useful to keep making her sleep on the floor.
We did need a place.
“Then I’d like a place that’s as spacious as possible and close to the western forest.”
“Huh? Why the western forest?”
“The mana density is high there.”
The fact that it was close to Adrian was honestly a big part of it.
“But, junior, do you have money?”
“A place like that would cost dozens of gold a month, you know?”
“Why?”
“Because it isn’t lodging for students.”
With wealth like Karnarof’s, it would be easy to pay.
But I was just a student.
“Hmm… Should I ask my father to support me?”
Aris thought it over, then made a suggestion.
“Would that really be okay?”
“The Script family is one of the Empire’s highest-ranking families. We’re the kind of people who can move the national budget, so that much is pocket change.”
“It’s not exactly pocket change…”
Aris averted her eyes.
Ah.
That was the reaction of someone truly rich.
I was insanely jealous.
But at least for now, I could hold my head high in front of the rich too.
“There’s no need for that.”
I pulled out a sack.
It was visibly heavy.
“Oof, this is really heavy. Are they silver coins?”
“Pour it out.”
More than a hundred gold coins began spilling onto the floor with metallic clinks.
“W-what is all this!???”
“It’s enough to secure a home.”