episode_0026

There were several places on the Luminous grounds where carriages gathered. All were managed by massive merchant guilds, and they had a reputation for traveling anywhere on the continent if you paid them. But when asked about Weiheim, the answers were all the same.

“We don’t handle carriages going to Weiheim.”

“……”

“Just getting there takes ages, the road is rough. And the customers are all rude, so we don’t want to go no matter how much money you offer.”

“……Are you saying that to my face?”

“……Were you a mage?”

That being the case, there was no way to return to Weiheim immediately. He had no choice but to stay here for a night and find transportation somehow the next day. It was bothersome, but there was no other way.

Fortunately, he had some money to spare. Thanks to Ena who packed him quite a bit. He was going to refuse since he didn’t think he’d need money, but he almost made a big mistake. He had enough experience sleeping rough when he was young, so he’d pass on it now.

‘Should I find a room first and then look around?’

Acel thought that as he surveyed the street.

Everywhere he looked, people were swarming. From nobles with their attendants to merchants, commoners, alchemists, magic engineers, and people waiting for the test participants. People of all sorts filled the streets. Just standing still, he felt like he would suffocate buried in the crowd.

This phenomenon occurred because the academy’s vacation season and the entrance exam season overlapped. With the transient population flooding into an already densely populated area, there were people everywhere like bugs. Every shop he saw was packed with people.

He didn’t expect inns to be any different. He probably had to pay a premium or scour through absolute dumps to find a decent room. Normal rooms would have been gone long ago. Since today was the last day of the entrance exams, rooms might open up tomorrow, but he still had to get through today.

“This is troublesome.”

Acel muttered, buying and eating a street food item.

Finding a place to stay with a room in a city he didn’t know the geography of. Asking a local would be easier, but finding a local in this city now was like finding a needle in a desert. It wouldn’t matter if there was a building related to the Witch Coven, but unfortunately, the Witch Coven was a closed group and didn’t have other branches.

In the end, he had to search himself. Acel let out a deep sigh and moved his feet.

The abundance of things to see on the street was at least a comfort. Perhaps because it catered to academy students, the street food was decent and cheap, and there were many interesting items sold at artifact shops and scroll shops. Among them, the scroll shop strongly piqued his interest.

But finding lodging came first, so Acel passed by the shops and entered a moderately sized inn. As soon as the staff sitting at the counter saw his face, they immediately shouted.

“Only one room left. Two gold coins for a night’s stay.”

“You crazy.”

Profanity instinctively burst out at the insane price. Two gold coins for a night’s stay. There’s a limit to how crazy things can get. Acel left the inn without looking back.

But when he went around to other inns, they were all similar or more expensive. Even places operating like hotels were charging 5 gold coins per night. It seemed they had sold their conscience to a passing dog. No matter how much money he had, Acel had no intention of spending most of it on just lodging.

So, eventually, he came down to the city outskirts. It wasn’t as bad as the slum he used to live in, but still, a back alley with stuffy air. Acel took a deep breath and let out a sigh.

Just because it’s a city with an academy doesn’t mean there are no slums. In fact, with a large transient population, beggars flock from all over. It was the same principle as tourist cities or countries having many beggars. There might be few criminals, but it was still a wretched place.

It was a familiar place for Acel. He didn’t expect to end up in a place like this, but he just needed to find a place where he could roughly sleep. Acel quickly assessed his surroundings and entered the building that seemed to be in the best condition.

The inside of the building was relatively clean, similar to the outside. He also noticed a few young ladies who seemed like lower nobles. Their expressions weren’t good, but it seemed they had come here out of necessity given the situation.

Well, sleeping here is better than sleeping rough.

Acel ignored the sidelong glance from the young lady and approached the staff. A skinny staff member opened his mouth upon seeing him.

“Are you a noble?”

“I am a mage.”

“Just as esteemed, then.”

He wore a pleasant smile and, in one go, put the fruit he was holding into his mouth and chewed.

“There aren’t many rooms left, but would you like the best one among them?”

“How much for one night’s stay?”

“One silver coin.”

It was expensive for a slum area, but considering the city’s prices, it was definitely cheap. Acel nodded and took a silver coin from his pocket and handed it over.

“Thank you. The room is at the very end on the 2nd floor.”

The staff member said, giving him the key. Acel bowed slightly to him, took the key, and walked towards the assigned room.

Cheok.

He inserted the key into the lock and turned it, and the door opened. Acel took off the robe he was wearing while surveying the room.

It wasn’t bad, better than expected. There were no bugs, and no particular smell. There was only a bed and a desk, but since he only needed to sleep here for one night, he didn’t care much. This was acceptable. Acel roughly threw the robe he took off onto the bed and opened the window with the curtains closed.

The slum of Luminous, despite being a slum, got decent sunlight. Do slums in successful cities have better conditions? Acel chuckled dryly, packed his backpack and money, and left the room.

‘Found a place to sleep, should I go out and look around a bit?’

There was still plenty of time before nightfall. It seemed alright to look around the city and search for any possible means of transportation to Weiheim. He also wanted to stop by the scroll shop he saw a little while ago.

‘Scrolls are single-use, but if I extract the magic formula inside, it will help with researching other magic.’

For him, who still had a lot of research to do, scrolls were quite a good option. Buying parchment needed to make scrolls and adjusting the formulas himself also seemed like a decent path to take.

Just as he left the building with that thought, he felt a peculiar scent spreading from the alley.

A sweet yet addictive scent. Acel recognized its identity and scowled heavily.

“……It’s drugs.”

He had never bought or used drugs, but ironically, Acel was far more knowledgeable about drugs than most addicts. Thanks to that, he could immediately recall what kind of drug the scent came from.

Originally a medicinal herb, but processed differently, it becomes a drug called Quirgalcy that enhances all sorts of mana-related abilities as well as physical abilities. It’s very hard to obtain, a type of drug Acel has only delivered a few times. Its price is also quite high, comparable to a mansion.

‘Why is something like that here?’

Drugs in a city with an academy. Did it turn out not to be the crime-free zone he expected?

He tsked his tongue and walked in the opposite direction of the scent. At that moment, someone grabbed his shoulder.

“Where are you going?”

It was a large man. Judging by the sword at his waist, he seemed to be a swordsman, and the heavy scent of drugs on his body suggested he was with the people smoking drugs over there. Acel frowned heavily and pushed his hand away.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Nah, didn’t you just look over there? You look like you know what’s going on over there.”

“So what?”

“Whoa, whoa. Why so aggressive?”

The man grinned lewdly and reached for the sword at his waist.

“Makes me want to kill you.”

“……Haa.”

A sigh came out automatically. He didn’t expect to run into guys like this as soon as he came to the back alley. It made him feel like he was going to die of joy from remembering the old days.

“Why are you sighing gggggggk—!”

Deciding not to listen further, Acel drew out lightning-attribute magic and zapped the man starting from his chin. That alone made his body collapse forward. Fluids spurted wildly from his mouth and eyes, and his muscles contracted and convulsed repeatedly before stopping.

As Acel looked down at the man, now cold and still, with cold eyes, a commotion arose from the alley where the drug smell had come from.

“What? What’s that noise?”

“That’s Lyle’s voice. Did something happen?”

The men who had been talking peeked their heads out from beyond the alleyway. The gaze of the two men shifted from Lyle lying on the ground to Acel, and they drew their weapons, making fierce expressions.

“You son of a bitch. What did you do?”

“Incidents like this always happen.”

Acel paid no mind to the man’s growl. Instead, he sighed as if accustomed to it. This reaction made the men’s faces twist even more.

It didn’t matter. Acel lightly ignored the noisy shouting of the two men and leisurely prepared his magic formula.

*

The battle ended anticlimactically.

He thought they might have some combat ability since they had taken mana-related drugs. However, they were all taken down by just one spell, unable to do anything. They had fainted, unable to bear the searing pain of their lower bodies burning. Acel brushed off sparks stuck to his clothes and searched the pockets of the unconscious men.

It had been quite a while since he left the slum, but he hadn’t forgotten the survival methods from that time. He took useful items from the men and left the slum. He had erased all traces of magic, so he didn’t need to worry about any potential repercussions.

“Hmm.”

Acel sat in a suitable empty space and examined the items he had brought out, one by one. He figured he could sell the self-defense dagger at a blacksmith, and the accessories would fetch a price if he just handed them to a suitable merchant group. He would just keep the silver coins.

Then, a black gemstone remained. Acel held the gemstone in his hand and slowly began to channel mana into it.

‘Oh.’

As the amount of mana flowing in increased, the brightness of the gemstone grew stronger. This meant it was a mineral with high mana conductivity. They seemed to have it just because it looked expensive, without knowing anything, but a gemstone with such high mana conductivity could be usefully employed in gemstone formulas or enchantments. Its value was also considerable.

It was a decent haul. Acel grinned, gathered the mana within the gemstone, and put it in his pocket.

‘I was already very interested in enchantments, and this saves me money on buying gemstones.’

Thanks to that, his mood improved slightly. Acel walked along the academy grounds, flipping a silver coin with his finger. He stopped by a blacksmith midway and sold the dagger for 2 silver coins, and also handed the accessories to a suitable merchant group for 5 silver coins. Now he had quite a bit of money.

He didn’t need to go anywhere else now.

Acel smiled at his bulging pockets and headed towards the scroll shop.