Chapter 105
[LifeWon'tBeRuined : I hate going to school, I hate it, just kill me, eek-yahk
I got completely drained in just one day. I'll probably come down with something tomorrow]
-Anon : Ugh, you little elementary-school brat, lol
ㄴ LifeWon'tBeRuined : Did you just insult elementary school kids?;?;?
ㄴ Anon : Heh.
ㄴ LifeWon'tBeRuined : @Anon I'm gonna beat the crap out of you.
-Ellel : Tsk, tsk. You don't know how nice it is to just turn your brain off and go to school.
ㄴ LifeWon'tBeRuined : Hey; school is hard too, what do you know?
ㄴ Ellel : I'm talking as an adult here. How dare you talk back?
ㄴ LifeWon'tBeRuined : ㅡㅡ
“Hwaaah....”
Isn't it so nice to get home and just mess around on my phone? Lying on my bed, I already miss those days. Though those days were just yesterday.
Just sitting in front of the computer every day, playing games, snacking, taking naps when I got sleepy, then waking up to eat....
It's kind of like how, in your jobless days, you cry that you want a job, then once you get one you cry that you want to quit? When I was living the life of a kid who just lazed around, I used to wonder whether it was okay to live such a trash life, whether I was actually useless.
But when I actually went to school, I started missing my trash life. Honestly, I don't even feel like I spent a productive day just because I went to school.
It just felt like the good vibes I had were getting sucked dry by the elementary kids and the upperclassmen. Of course, the upperclassmen didn't really do anything. Was it just the kids causing the problem?
Starting tomorrow, they're kids I won't be seeing anymore once third period starts, but still, it feels weird. Like during homeroom and stuff, just seeing them and all.
-Daramong : Little friend
ㄴ Daramong : You should go to school properly.
“Ah..! This person..!”
He was super cool and gentlemanly, always acting like he had a suit tailored and wax in his hair. But in reality, he looked like the kind of guy who'd chug straight soju and wolf down kimchi with his bare hands. I felt totally betrayed.
-Daramong : Little friend
ㄴ Daramong : You should go to school properly.
ㄴ LifeWon'tBeRuined : @Daramong Why do the seniors keep making us do punishment stances?
ㄴ LifeWon'tBeRuined : @Daramong Bad person.
ㄴ Daramong : Do you think an Awakened would have a hard time with something like that? lol
ㄴ LifeWon'tBeRuined : Yeah, true;?
Come to think of it, Awakened people can probably hold their hands up or stay in the push-up position for 100 or 200 hours, right? Senior Gyeongwon and Senior Byeongho were doing that from the start of class to the end, and they didn't look tired at all.
They even messed around whenever the teacher wasn't looking....
I'm not like that because I'm basically just an ordinary person, but other Awakened people, no matter what ability or rank they awakened to, have strength that can't even be compared to normal people.
Why am I the only one who's weird.
“Tsk....”
ㅡbeep?
“Daengdaeng, you don't want to go to school either, right?”
ㅡbeep-beep!! Beep-beep-beep-beep!!!
“What..?”
Daengdaeng seems to want to go to school because it's popular with the kids. You little traitor!
ㅡKNOCK! KNOCK!
“Princess?”
“Ah, Ophelia?”
“Do you perhaps have a moment?”
“A moment? Yes! What's the matter?”
I was rolling around on my bed when Ophelia knocked and came in. I wondered if she was calling me because it was almost dinner time, but the mood didn't really feel like mealtime.
“Sir Galahad just contacted us to say he has finished preparing the materials for Suri's upgrade.”
“O-oh..! Suri! Finally!”
Come to think of it, it was finally time for Suri's upgrade. The metal used for Minyumi was an improved version of the metal Ophelia refined, with a few more improvements added by Grandfather Galahad, so it could be made right away, but Suri has to fly, so they had to lighten it, which took a little longer.
There was some incredibly light rare metal, but it was expensive and apparently hard to import.
“Then shall we go right now!?”
“Yes, I'll get ready.”
Things really seem to go smoothly when Grandfather Galahad is around. I feel a little bad, like I'm making him do all the work, but Grandfather Galahad says he likes the forge.
“Hehe. Suri's going to look so cool.”
* * * * *
We left around 2:30 p.m. and arrived at the forge at 4:00. The trip was faster than last time because we bought a decent piece of Nova-owned land around our forge and laid out a shortcut.
It used to take about two hours, but now we can get there in about an hour and a half.
“Whoa.... But do you really use this much?”
ㅡkiit..?
“No, no, that's not what I meant.... I don't mean the metal going into you is a waste.”
There was an enormous amount of metal piled up. Since it was lightweight metal, judging it by weight didn't really make sense, and the ingots were stacked in a square pile reaching almost up to my shoulders. There were also quite a few high-grade mana stones.
Ophelia told me that to handle mana stones at the company, they have to go through some kind of verification process, but with Nova's help, they got that done easily too.
“Suri, you were an expensive one.”
ㅡkiit....
“Kwahaha! That's because Suri's true form isn't this shape!”
“Really? Suri isn't originally an eagle?”
Suri really suits an eagle form, though. Then what is it? Some kind of dragon?
The Suri we have now is a golem made after Ophelia was built, when she tore off some of her own metal to make it. By now it's a completely separate entity, so there's not really any connection anymore.
“Let's just try it once! Princess! Please upgrade it!”
“Yep!!”
Suri, wearing an utterly grave expression—which looked no different from usual—flapped its wings furiously and climbed onto the ingots. This Suri had been made using the rare metal Dohee unnie gave me, a slightly inferior metal compared to what we use these days.
We made it really early on, so I'm a little sorry we hadn't been able to upgrade it until now.
“Suri! Thanks for everything until now! I won't forget you!”
ㅡkiit....
“You're not leaving? Got it.”
I still hadn't forgotten that it had turned my clothes into children's clothes without asking, but it had also saved me when that gate exploded right in front of me. Honestly, if Suri hadn't been there, I might've ended up as those radioactive wolves' lunch.
“Phew..!”
ㅡclack!
“Hm? You're telling me not to be nervous? Hehe, thanks.”
Minyumi beside me even gave me a thumbs-up, and Ophelia, Grandfather Galahad, and Daengdaeng were all watching from the side.
“Suri, receive the princess's bestowed blessing and return to your original form.”
ㅡwoooong..!
Mana was sucked away in an instant. It felt like the aftershock from Grandfather Galahad's forging, which seemed to have finally settled, was starting up again. The gooey, melting metal moved as if wrapping Suri like an egg, and before long the round lump of mana bubbled, then split in two with a blinding flash.
And, standing once more where Suri had been, was.
“Y-you....”
“So cool!!!!!”
“Kwahahaha! This turned out really well—!!”
ㅡclack!! Creak..!
ㅡbeep-beep-beep!!!!
“Excellent, Princess.”
It was so outrageously cool that even Minyumi was bouncing around and squeaking. What do you even call that again..?
“Th-the griffin!! It's a griffin!!”
ㅡkiit....
Suri wasn't actually a master of gobbling up parrot snacks—it was a griffin, one of the fantasy beasts!! Its body had gotten huge, and with two more legs added, it had turned into a four-legged creature.
But it's funny that its face still shows a little of the old one. Still, I like that it feels like the Suri I knew.
“Huh? Wait a second, wasn't a griffin supposed to have lion hind legs.”
But looking closely, it didn't have lion hind legs; it had horse-like hooves. Is that different from a griffin?
“It's a hippogriff.”
“O-oh.... What's that?”
According to Ophelia's explanation, a hippogriff seems to be the child born between a griffin and a horse. So then is it a fusion of an eagle and a horse? On land, a horse seems like it'd be faster than a lion, too..?
Either way, it's still cool!
“Waaah..!! At this rate, I could ride it and fly!!”
“Actually, that was the main purpose too. Since we needed a way for the princess to move quickly.”
“T-then... that means I'll be riding Suri around..?!”
“That's correct.”
“Oooooooooh!!!!”
Literally the ultimate super-hyper-mega-cool setup. I'd be riding the Super Great Ultra Mega Cyclone Suri the Hippogriff ver. to school.
“Hehe.”
“However, Princess, there is one thing you need before that.”
“Yep! What is it?!”
“The princess needs to study.”
“Waaah.”
Why do I suddenly have to study here? What on earth does that even mean.
“Under the Republic of Korea's Hunter Special Act and Aviation Act, to ride a familiar or summon that can fly at least 40 meters above the ground, you need an Emergency Summoned Beast Riding License.”
“Hoeeeeeeek!!!!!”
“Because maneuverability and flying speed differ depending on the mount, the practical exam is conducted by riding the actual mount you own and taking the test that way.”
“T-then! All Suri has to do is fly well, right!”
“That's right. You could say the practical exam depends on Suri's ability. The problem is the written exam. Only then are you eligible to take the practical exam afterward.”
“Oh my god....”
ㅡkiit....
I can't believe there's a law like that. Our Suri is just amazing at flying, so we don't need anything like that.
“Ugh.... What do I do..?”
“There's no other way. You have no choice but to study enough to secure a passing score.”
“Kwahaha! The princess is the kingdom's smartest, isn't she! Of course you'll be fine!”
“Waaah.”
Who says I'm smart? Even when I was a student, I didn't study and got scolded by my teachers.
“For your information, I've already taken the written exam. I think it's pretty easy, since a lot of the difficulty and question format are the same as a driver's license test.”
“Sniff sniff, that's because you're smart, Ophelia....”
I don't even have a driver's license. How can you do this to me.
ㅡkiit.
“You're telling me to hang in there? Thanks....”
* * * * *
No matter what I say, I still have to study. In the end, if you live in Rome, you have to follow Rome's laws. Actually, even in other countries, getting certified to ride a flying summon is mandatory. Unless I'm going to ride one out somewhere like the Pacific, I have to study.
The good thing is that Korea's licensing agency is pretty legit, so if you get a license issued in Korea, you can apparently ride in other countries too.
That said, crossing a border on Suri is of course illegal, and you'd have to renew the license and all that in the other country.
“Aigoo....”
“Eve, what's wrong? Why are you sighing first thing in the morning?”
“Ah, Minseo....”
Minseo, who could be considered the number two of the Yuchoa Cartel, came over and spoke to me. Seeing me sigh, she came up beside me and put a mirror down on my desk first.
“I have to get a license, so apparently I need to study....”
“What? You're a Hunter, aren't you? Since you're a golem mage, are you getting an electrician's license or something?”
“Uh, no...? Not that....”
Do kids these days know even this stuff? They're really fast.
“I've got something to ride that flies in the sky, and apparently you need a license to ride it. Like a driver's license.”
“Hee, I see. I'm studying for LSA during vacation too, and it's easier than I thought.”
“What's LSA..?”
“A light aircraft pilot's license? I can't take it yet because I'm not old enough, but I ride them a lot with Grandpa, so I plan to get the license later.”
“Whoa.”
So this is what the ordinary students at Seoul Aegis are like.