Ch.21Chapter 21 – Mina Endras (3)

The blonde student’s face showed bewilderment after hearing Pathos’s self-introduction.

This was because the reason she had come here was that she thought Pathos was a con artist.

There was a reason why the blonde student thought Pathos was a con artist.

The name of the student who had barged into Pathos’s shop was Elena Sandrios.

She was a member of the Sandrios family, one of the most prestigious magical houses in the Gelebrio Empire.

Moreover, her father was Viscount Yelron Sandrios, the current head of the Sandrios family.

He was recognized as a “Grand Magician” by the Gelebrio Empire and possessed the qualification of an “Imperial Certified Magician,” a status admired by anyone who practiced magic within the empire.

Therefore, Elena was acknowledged as an extraordinary individual even among the nobility.

But perhaps because her background was too impressive.

When she enrolled at Glesius Academy, no one approached her or readily offered friendship.

“Why are you alone?”

“Huh?”

At that time, the person who first approached her was Mina Endras.

Mina approached Elena without hesitation and spoke to her, and that became the catalyst for their friendship.

Although Elena made many friends afterward, Mina always remained her most special friend.

After their first meeting, when Elena asked Mina why she had approached her, Mina answered like this:

“Just because. I was strangely bothered by seeing you there with no one approaching you.”

Of course, she then joked that if she had known beforehand that Elena came from such an impressive family, she wouldn’t have dared approach her.

But Elena thought Mina was an even better person precisely because she spoke so honestly about such things.

“Mina, did something bad happen?”

One day, noticing that Mina’s face looked darker than usual, Elena asked her what was wrong.

She often used formal speech even in casual settings, so she naturally spoke formally to Mina despite their difference in social status.

Mina had also tried to use formal speech with her, but Elena said it didn’t feel like they were friends that way, so Mina used casual speech with Elena.

“Ah… the crystal orb attached to the magic wand my parents gave me cracked.”

“What? Crystal orb?”

“Yeah… My parents gave it to me, but it suddenly broke during practice.”

So Elena knew that the crystal orb attached to Mina’s magic wand had been damaged.

Mina was the first friend Elena had made at Glesius Academy.

Believing that Mina’s problem was her own problem, she immediately informed her family members and began searching for a way to repair the crystal orb.

[Elena. Why are you looking for a way to repair a crystal orb?]

“She’s the first friend I made at the academy, and she said the crystal orb attached to her magic wand was damaged. Since it was a gift from her parents, she’s looking for a way to repair just the crystal orb rather than throwing it away or replacing it.”

[Hmm, I see this is about that friend Mina you mentioned before. Alright. I’ll ask around through my connections and see what I can find out.]

Elena contacted her father, Viscount Yelron Sandrios, seeking any possible way to help Mina.

The title of Imperial Certified Magician was a widely recognized and prestigious qualification in fields where magic was used.

That’s why she wanted to help Mina, even if it meant relying on her father’s assistance.

She was so grateful to Mina for approaching her without hesitation.

[I’m sorry. I’ve been told that repairing a crystal orb attached to a magic wand requires at least a Master Magical Artifact Repairer, and the friend I know who has such qualifications is too busy with other repairs to spare the time.]

“It’s alright, Father. If it can’t be done even after you’ve looked into it so thoroughly, then there’s nothing we can do.”

[My friend told me that the methods for repairing crystal orbs are kept strictly confidential, and it’s impossible unless you’ve directly learned the repair techniques from a master. So if you’d like to gift your friend a new magic wand instead of repairing it, just call me. I may not know much else, but I know several artisans who craft excellent wands and can write you a letter of introduction.]

“Thank you for your concern in many ways.”

Elena continued to worry about not being able to help repair Mina’s magic wand.

Then one weekend, Elena spotted Mina passing through the academy’s main gate heading toward the dormitory.

“Mina. Did something good happen?”

Elena, who had been concerned about Mina’s dejection over the damaged crystal orb, couldn’t ignore the change in Mina’s demeanor.

“Oh, Elena!”

Mina greeted Elena cheerfully with a bright smile that could lift anyone’s spirits.

She had been heading to the dormitory but ran over to stand in front of Elena when she saw her friend.

“My goodness? What’s that leather pouch in your hand?”

“Oh, this? It’s the crystal orb I told you about!”

“Crystal… orb?”

Elena expressed doubt when Mina said the object in the leather pouch was a crystal orb.

Did she just buy a new crystal orb? Or did someone give her a new one?

A thousand thoughts crossed her mind at the mention of a crystal orb in the leather pouch.

“Remember when you asked me why I looked down? It’s that crystal orb. The one attached to the magic wand my parents gave me.”

“What?”

Elena couldn’t hide her astonishment at Mina’s answer.

How could Mina’s mood have changed so suddenly when just the other day she had been dejected about the broken crystal orb from her parents’ gift?

Elena suddenly wondered if Mina had lost her mind from the distress of the damaged crystal orb.

“Um, are you alright?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“You’re not feeling sick or anything?”

“Ahaha, I’m fine. Really. Oh, this will make you believe me!”

As Elena expressed concern, Mina opened the leather pouch and took out the object inside to show her, as if to say there was nothing to worry about.

Elena reflexively took the object Mina had removed from the pouch and soon recognized what it was.

“It really is… a crystal orb.”

“Yes.”

“How is this possible? It was definitely cracked and split, wasn’t it?”

Elena suddenly became curious about what had happened to Mina’s crystal orb.

This was because repairing a crystal orb attached to a magic wand required at least a Master Magical Artifact Repairer.

The crystal orb now in her hand was smooth on the surface and highly transparent, like one freshly made from a renowned workshop.

If not for the natural purple hue within it, it would have looked as if she were holding nothing at all.

This only increased Elena’s suspicion.

Had some unknown Master Magical Artifact Repairer appeared in Arkenium?

When she had asked her father, she was told that only a Master Magical Artifact Repairer could fix a crystal orb.

So the repair of Mina’s crystal orb could only be explained by the appearance of an unknown Master Magical Artifact Repairer in Arkenium.

But there were very few people skilled enough in magical engineering to be recognized as Master Magical Artifact Repairers.

And the whereabouts of such talents were never revealed to the general public.

Only those like the Imperial family or Grand Magicians like Elena’s father would have some knowledge of their whereabouts.

Although Mina was Elena’s friend, she couldn’t possibly have the information network or connections to meet a Master Magical Artifact Repairer, which only amplified Elena’s suspicions.

“Haven’t you heard the rumors going around the academy recently? About a repair shop that can fix anything?”

“Ah, I’ve heard about that too. They say it’s in Arkenium. Don’t tell me you went there?”

“Yes! The person there was super kind. They fixed the crystal orb in no time!”

And from Mina’s words, Elena learned that she had visited that rumored repair shop.

“Where is it?”

“Well, it’s located at…”

◈◇◈◇◈◇◈◇◈◇◈

The moment Elena saw Mina’s crystal orb, one thought crossed her mind.

‘Most likely, that so-called repair shop switched Mina’s crystal orb with another one.’

In Elena’s view, Mina’s magical talent was quite exceptional compared to other students.

So she knew that the low-quality crystal orb, unable to handle Mina’s magical talent, had been destroyed.

But having learned magic from a Grand Magician, she couldn’t tell Mina the truth, believing that Mina needed to realize her own achievements for them to truly become her own.

However, the crystal orb Mina showed Elena that day was of too high quality to have been Mina’s original orb.

It had a purity comparable to the crystal orb attached to her own magic wand, which was crafted by a master artisan.

Therefore, seeing the exceptionally high quality of the crystal orb, she thought the person at the repair shop hadn’t actually repaired it but had switched it with a crystal orb that only looked impressive on the outside.

This was because broken crystal orbs could be finely ground and used as ingredients for alchemy, selling for as much as twenty silver coins.

But decorative crystal orbs that only looked good on the outside could be purchased for as little as one silver coin.

Moreover, Mina was so happy about the crystal orb being repaired that she had returned without even checking if it had truly been repaired.

Therefore, there couldn’t possibly be a Master Magical Artifact Repairer in Arkenium, and since broken crystal orbs could be sold for a considerable price, Elena couldn’t help but think Mina had been scammed.

So she visited the repair shop where Mina had supposedly had her crystal orb repaired, intending to get it back and gift Mina a better magic wand…

“Let me introduce myself again. I am Pathos, an ‘ability user’ with the ‘ability’ to fix anything.”

And there, Elena met an ability user with a strange power that couldn’t be explained even by magic.

“I can’t believe it…”

Pathos, an ability user with an unbelievable power.

The moment she saw him, words reflexively escaped Elena’s mouth without passing through her mental filter.

“This has to be a scam…”