Ch.110Chapter 110 – Day of the Deal

Three days later.

The morning dawned on the day when Jesse Elister was supposed to place an item on the third shelf of the supply warehouse behind the academy.

Jesse Elister woke up and rubbed her eyes, checking the date.

As she opened the student management window to check the date, a notification popped up before her eyes.

[Today is an important appointment day! You absolutely must not forget!]

This was an alarm message she had set in advance.

“Today… important appointment…”

Jesse Elister pondered what the alarm message in the student management window meant.

Then she realized that the appointment on the alarm meant she had to part with the premium-grade magic stone she was keeping.

“Magic stone… sale…”

Premium-grade magic stone.

It was an item she had received as a service after repairing her magic wand, which she had purchased with a loan from the bank as an academy student.

For Jesse Elister, who was still unfamiliar with the concept of service, disposing of the premium-grade magic stone was a difficult task.

She couldn’t understand why they would give her something more expensive than the repair cost as a bonus after she paid for the repair.

But one thing was certain.

‘This is mine.’

The premium-grade magic stone in her possession belonged to her.

Jesse rose from her bed with this conviction in her heart.

“Academy… warehouse… 9 AM… opening…”

She knew when the academy’s supply warehouse opened.

This was due to the benefits provided by the academy to students studying alchemy.

Students who chose alchemy as their major at Glesius Academy could receive supplies necessary for alchemy from the academy’s warehouse twice a month.

Of course, there were restrictions on the types and numbers of items they could take.

Jesse Elister was a student who received almost no support from her family.

Therefore, she had to make the most of the academy’s support system, and as a result, she knew exactly what items were in the academy’s warehouse, which spaces were empty, and on which dates items were restocked.

“Back… supply warehouse… third shelf…”

Jesse Elister gathered the premium-grade magic stone she was going to place in the warehouse and left the dormitory.

Since it was time for the freshmen to be in class, there was no one in the dormitory except for third and fourth-year students.

Jesse Elister carefully slipped out of the dormitory and headed for the academy’s back door.

For her, leaving the dormitory and going to the warehouse wasn’t particularly difficult.

She had been in and out so often that, with slight exaggeration, she could walk there with her eyes closed.

The distance from the dormitory to the warehouse was quite far, so Jesse Elister, who didn’t exercise regularly, was panting.

“Haa, haa…”

It was true that alchemy department students showed relatively poor physical fitness compared to students from other departments.

But Jesse Elister was among the weakest even among the alchemy students.

Since she didn’t communicate well with others, she rarely met people, which meant she had no reason to go outside.

Moreover, since she didn’t go outside, she met even fewer people, and as she only went to necessary places to meet necessary people, her relationships naturally shrank.

So she had no reason to move around to meet anyone, and since she often skipped meals, there was no foundation for her physical strength to grow.

“Stamina… insufficient… exercise… necessary…”

Jesse Elister clearly felt that her physical strength had deteriorated even more than before.

That’s why selling the premium-grade magic stone was all the more urgent for her.

She planned to sell the magic stone and use the money to create and consume a potion that would increase her physical strength.

After stopping briefly to recover her strength, she continued her slow but steady steps toward the warehouse.

“Oh, Miss Jesse Elister? What brings you to the warehouse today?”

As she approached the warehouse, the warehouse keeper, who had become familiar with her due to her frequent visits, greeted her.

“Research… material quantity… shortage… request.”

“Ah, I understand. You want to check the number of materials remaining in the warehouse to see if there are enough for your research, and then request the academy to supply what’s lacking, right?”

“That’s right…”

Was it because he had faced Jesse Elister for over two years?

Or was it due to his experience of working as a warehouse keeper for more than 20 years?

The warehouse keeper immediately understood what Jesse Elister was trying to say.

“Well then, I’ll open it for you. Go in, check the quantities, and come out. However, you need to be out by 10 o’clock at the latest.”

“I know… today… supplies coming in… important day…”

“Thank you for understanding. Others don’t seem to realize how important this is. There, it’s open.”

The warehouse keeper thanked Jesse for understanding the importance of the day when supplies were replenished and opened the warehouse door for her.

Normally, the warehouse keeper should go in, check the quantity of items, and come out.

This was to prevent theft of goods.

However, Jesse Elister had never done anything that could be considered theft or suspicious while entering and exiting the warehouse.

For this reason, the warehouse keeper was willing to open the door for Jesse Elister.

Moreover, the warehouse keeper was one of the people who knew well how Jesse Elister was treated by the students who frequented the warehouse.

‘Isn’t that senior Jesse Elister a bit gloomy?’

‘I think there’s something wrong with her personality. She doesn’t even return greetings.’

The warehouse keeper had a rough idea of why she had trouble talking to others, but being a commoner himself, he couldn’t rashly come to her defense.

The gap between the students of Glesius Academy, whose future was guaranteed upon graduation, and himself, a mere warehouse keeper, was too great.

Even among commoners, the social position held by academy students made it impossible for him to act rashly.

In the end, all he could do was provide Jesse Elister with small conveniences.

It would be a risky action if other students were around, but Jesse Elister was someone who visited the warehouse alone.

So from the warehouse keeper’s perspective, providing Jesse Elister with small conveniences wasn’t particularly difficult.

“Definitely… around… here…”

Having entered the warehouse, Jesse Elister moved to find the third shelf as requested by the person who had agreed to trade with her for the premium-grade magic stone.

There was a risk of confusing it with other shelves, but not for Jesse Elister.

She knew that on the third shelf of the warehouse, there was a box for collecting returned items due to order mistakes.

Standing in front of the box with ‘Return Collection Box’ written prominently on it, Jesse Elister opened the lid.

The sound of the lid opening was audible, but the warehouse keeper was unlikely to approach.

Jesse Elister took a deep breath and then put her hand into the collection box.

She stirred the box to create space and then placed the premium-grade magic stone inside.

After placing the magic stone, she carefully rearranged the items in the collection box.

From the outside, there were some traces of items being added and removed, but most people didn’t pay much attention to the collection box anyway.

After all, in the trading relationship, Glesius Academy was the superior party, and the merchants supplying the materials were the subordinate party.

Jesse Elister walked around the warehouse to kill time, looking for how much material she needed for her next research.

Although she would get money from selling the premium-grade magic stone, collecting free materials from the academy as much as possible would save research funds.

Moreover, the task of solving the side effects of the potion she was researching was in a situation where it was unknown how many more materials would be consumed before a proper potion could be produced.

“But… clue… visible…”

Jesse Elister, who had just begun to see a glimmer of hope, could not give up on this project.

Her wish was to solve the side effects of the potion she had taken to treat her stuttering, so she could have conversations like others.

However, there was something she hadn’t realized.

The side effect of the potion she was experiencing could be resolved at once with Pathos’s ability.

Of course, even if she knew this, Jesse Elister wouldn’t run to Pathos and ask him to fix the side effects.

The reason was simple.

She had never spoken with noble men for a long time, so she didn’t know how to make such a request.

If it weren’t for that, the side effects of the potion she was experiencing would have disappeared completely long ago…

In the end, she was going through unnecessary hardship because of the potion’s side effects.