Crazy Scholar Rotten

After all the classes were over, I immediately met Modest and checked the information I had purchased.

Currently, the only person conducting research on the Stone Skin Disease was a magic scholar named Rotten.

He was known by the nickname “Crazy Scholar Rotten,” and I learned that he was once hailed as a genius of the Green Magic Tower and currently resided in a town called Turning, a 30-minute carriage ride from the capital.

Fortunately, thanks to wearing the Transcendence Academy uniform, I was lucky enough to get a free ride on a carriage passing through Turning Town.

Arriving in the town, I randomly grabbed a passing villager and asked if they knew where Rotten lived.

,Excuse me. Do you happen to know where the magic scholar Rotten lives?

,Crazy Scholar Rotten? If you go to the outskirts of the village, you’ll recognize it at a glance.

Puzzled by that answer, I went to the outskirts of the village. I immediately understood why they said that.

A house covered in huge plants, looking like an abandoned building, was too noticeable even from afar.

I cautiously approached the house and knocked on what seemed to be the door, but there was no answer, as if no one was there.

After knocking for a while, an ajumma-nim came out from the house across the street, seemingly annoyed by the noise.

,What is it?

At the slightly irritated question, I bowed and asked politely.

,Ah, I came to meet the owner of the house, but where did they go?

,At this time, they’re never home. They’re always in the mountains at this hour.

I nodded my head, thanking the ajumma-nim for the answer, and she turned around and went back into her house as if telling me not to make any more noise.

Since I had taken a leave of absence from the academy, considering the time to return, I only had about an hour left.

Since I came all the way here, I decided to find Rotten within an hour and headed straight up the mountain. The sun began to set even before I started climbing, so I took out a lantern that I had stored in my dimensional storage and wandered around the mountain.

I wandered around the mountain for a while, but it was difficult to even see other people in the mountain that had become dark as the sun went down.

Just as I was about to sigh and go down the mountain, I saw magic erupting in the distance, shining with a green light. Thinking it might be the Rotten I was looking for, I rushed towards it.

I ran there with the lantern and found statues of all shapes and sizes, left unattended for a long time, placed haphazardly.

Passing through the statues buried in vines, fallen leaves, and dirt, the appearance of the statues gradually became cleaner as I went further inside.

After walking along the path created by the statues for a while, the statues around me now looked so elaborate that they seemed like they would come to life at any moment.

As I passed a monster statue with large, one-eyed eyes whose name I couldn’t remember from biology class, I heard a sound from the end of the path and ran towards it.

Fluorescent green butterflies were hovering around the path and statues, illuminating the darkness as if they were being used as lighting, so I put the lantern into my dimensional storage.

Among the chaotically placed statues, I saw an old man with disheveled clothes and ashen hair, and a boar in front of him that was slowly turning into a statue.

,Kkueeeek-!

Although all four of its legs had already turned to stone and it couldn’t move, the boar desperately wanted to live, shaking its head frantically with a mournful cry.

But soon, the petrification spread from its legs that had turned to stone as if soaked in water, and in an instant, the living boar turned into an elaborately designed statue.

Seeing that, I thought he was experimenting on the Stone Skin Disease, and I realized that I had come to the right place and took a step closer.

,Excuse me….

As I opened my mouth with anticipation, the old man turned around. Suddenly, vines began to grow from under the ground, larger than a person.

,Wait, just a moment!

Despite my cry, the grown vines reached out towards my legs, as if trying to grab me.

Inevitably, I took out the Spear of Destruction from my dimensional storage and cut down the rapidly approaching vines. Soon after, vines that had grown from all around me reached out towards me with a fierce momentum.

Thinking that I couldn’t avoid the vines coming from all directions, I hurriedly created a dimensional entrance behind me and escaped through the dimensional exit created in front of the old man. Then, I heard an unpleasant voice that sounded like it was full of phlegm.

,Hoo? What kind of magic is that?

The old man, with eyes as if he had discovered something interesting, was about to swing his staff, so I hurriedly waved my hands and shouted.

,Wait, just a moment!!! I didn’t come here to fight. I came to find the magic scholar Rotten-ssi!

At those words, the old man stopped the staff he was about to swing and looked at me, asking.

,Yes, I am Rotten. Why did you come to find me?

Rotten, who was watching me with suspicious eyes, prepared to swing his staff at any moment, made me swallow hard and answer.

,I’m interested in the Stone Skin Disease.

,Is that so? You’re interested in my research….

At Rotten’s interested gaze, I nodded and said.

,I’m Ross, a student at Transcendence Academy. While investigating the Stone Skin Disease, I heard that the magic scholar Rotten-nim was researching the Stone Skin Disease, so I came to find you like this.

,Is that so? If you’re from Transcendence Academy, then you’re my junior.

Fortunately, it seemed like I had persuaded him. I let out a sigh of relief at Rotten’s smiling face as he lowered his staff, and I quietly lowered the spear I had been holding.

Rotten, who had been watching me, raised one corner of his mouth and gave a sneering smile.

,So that’s why…. You’re still a little brat.

As the green flash from the end of the lowered staff shot towards the ground, vines grew in an instant and bound my body.

Before I could resist, the vines strongly constricted my entire body, making it difficult to even breathe.

,You have good magic, but if the user is a brat, it’s no different from pearls on a pig’s neck.

As Rotten said that, he tapped my cheek with his staff, and I got angry and shouted.

,What are you doing! I just wanted to talk…!

,Why should I talk to you?

Rotten looked at me as if he thought I was strange, and I thought he was crazy, just like his nickname.

,It’s a unique magic that I’ve never seen before. It’s like creating a small portal, what’s the identity of that magic?

I shouted at Rotten, who was threatening and interrogating me with his staff as if to poke my eyes out.

,It’s magic notarized by Headmaster Nelson!

At those words, Rotten removed the staff from my face and let out a sound, “Ha!”

,You got notarization from Vice Principal Nelson? And you’re just an academy student? Do you think I’m an idiot!

,It’s true! Why would I lie?

,Then show me the proof!

,Th, that’s….

The proof that I was notarized was with Bella, so there was no way for me to prove that I was notarized by Nelson.

,Look, you can’t say it. You were a liar after all. You stole the Transcendence Academy uniform and approached me to get research data, didn’t you?

,No!

At my cry, Rotten strode towards me and shouted, pointing his staff at my forehead.

,Prove it!

I desperately racked my brain at Rotten’s momentum, which seemed like he would blow my head off at any moment, and said to Rotten.

,I’m the head of the club that Headmaster Nelson is the faculty advisor for.

,Ha, kid, your excuse is too stupid. Anyone who knows Nelson would know that he’s not the kind of person who would do such troublesome things.

I desperately explained to Rotten, who was scoffing.

,He just put his name on as the faculty advisor! I can prove it! ,How!

Looking at Rotten’s gray eyes, who was shouting as if to question me, I answered in a low voice.

,Check the badge on my chest on my uniform.

A moment of silence flowed.

Rotten, who was looking at me, swung his staff, and a part of the vines that were constricting my chest opened up.

Rotten touched the Messiah club badge on my uniform with the end of his staff, and after confirming it, he looked at me with an indifferent expression.

,Yes, it’s definitely engraved with the vice principal’s magic.

Rotten stroked his chin and said as if grumbling.

,But your charges haven’t been completely cleared yet.

,I proved it!

At my questioning answer, Rotten gave a sly smile.

,Yes, you proved that you’re a Transcendence student. But you haven’t proved that you’re someone I should tell about the Stone Skin Disease.

Rotten, who had put his staff to my neck, growled and said.

,Prove that you’re a useful guy.

Rotten swung his staff, the roots of the vines were cut off, and I rolled on the ground while still bound by the vines.

,Get up!

Rotten put his staff on my back so I couldn’t resist, so I had no choice but to follow his orders.

,Walk as I say.

Following Rotten’s words, I struggled to move my legs with my upper body bound by vines, and headed deep into the mountain as Rotten said.

Fluorescent green butterflies flew around us, making it look bright green even in the deep mountains.

,We’ve arrived.

The place we arrived at according to Rotten’s instructions was a cliff with no bottom in sight.

,With the magic you showed me, you should be able to easily bring back a flower, right?

Saying that, Rotten pointed somewhere on the cliff with his staff, and a green butterfly flew down the cliff and emitted light.

At the place where the butterfly arrived, there was a flower that absorbed the green light and emitted a blue light.

,That’s the Platinang flower. It’s one of the plants that is considered a major cause of the Stone Skin Disease.

Rotten, who took out something like a small trowel from his pocket, threw it in front of me with a thud.

,You know what will happen if you get pricked by the thorns, right? If you bring it to me without damaging a single root, I’ll answer you faithfully.

At Rotten’s condescending words, I made an absurd expression, and Rotten swung his staff and released the vines that were binding me.

,If you don’t like it, you can fall and die?

Rotten pushed my chest with his staff and made a nonchalant expression, so I sighed and picked up the trowel.

It wasn’t a difficult request for me. I could just use my ability to move my hand and dig up the flower.

,You’re going to keep your promise?

,A man doesn’t go back on his word.

I sighed at Rotten’s annoying appearance of tapping his mouth with his staff, and immediately recognized the spatial coordinates of the Platinang flower blooming on the cliff.

I couldn’t teleport something that was standing still, so I immediately created a dimensional exit in a position where the flower could reach.

I carefully grabbed the flower so as not to get pricked by the thorns and dug around it with the trowel.

Thanks to Nelson’s improvement, the duration had become longer, but I had used my existing space magic to avoid the vines, which consumed mana, so the duration was short and I had to hurry.

I lifted the soil with the trowel to a size where the roots would be, and took the Platinang flower out of the dimensional entrance along with the soil.

I almost dropped the flower by mistake at the cheers that suddenly burst out from behind.

,Hwou! It’s crazy magic. Nelson is crazy after all. To notarize this kind of magic for just a student.

I carefully put down the flower and asked what I had been curious about.

,Why do you keep calling Headmaster Nelson the vice principal?

,Well, when I was attending the academy, Nelson was the vice principal.

At Rotten’s words, the question was finally resolved. Come to think of it, Rotten is an old man, so if he attended the academy, it would have been decades ago.

,More than that, are you like Nelson’s disciple?

I rubbed my hands together and felt Rotten’s burdensome gaze as he looked at me with strange, greedy eyes, and answered immediately.

,No, I’m not.

Nelson’s disciple is the future great mage Ellie, not me, who is struggling because I have no magic power. At my answer, Rotten raised one eyebrow and pointed at me as if scolding me.

,Then…you’re the top of the Magic Department! Or the Magic Engineering Department? You look depressed, so you have a bit of an Alchemy Department vibe too.

,…I’m in the Combat Department?

,What?

I kindly answered Rotten, who was making an expression that he didn’t understand what he had just heard, once again.

,I’m in the Combat Department.

,You crazy bastard! Why are you going to a trashy place like the Combat Department when you have such amazing magic! And why did Nelson, that crazy vice principal, just let you be!!!

The reason was simple. Even though it was a special admission, I, who had below-average magic power, couldn’t keep up with the classes in the Magic Department, Alchemy Department, or Magic Engineering Department, so I was assigned to the Combat Department.

But seeing Rotten getting angry by himself, I thought there was no need to say such things and kept my mouth shut. After a long time of cursing Headmaster Nelson, Rotten suddenly stopped his tantrum and slowly turned his body to look at me.

,Wait, so…you don’t have a magic teacher?

Saying that, Rotten made an ominous smile that I had only seen on Nelson, and I instinctively felt fear and answered.

,Th…that’s right…?

I couldn’t help but swallow hard, feeling even more nervous at Rotten’s beaming smile.