Ch.47D-70…?

After ten days, my condition finally recovered enough to fight again.

My armor was repaired faster than my body healed.

I couldn’t rely on the Priests of Healing at the academy.

They would know that I couldn’t possibly have sustained such injuries from mere practice.

Calling a healing priest would itself become evidence that I had done something wrong.

I had Nigel take my armor to an outside blacksmith rather than the academy for repairs.

…That made the repair costs quite expensive.

I’ll have to ask Asha about the purification device she offered to make later.

Right now, weapons and armor were more urgent than equipment to block smells.

I had originally planned to ask Lacy, the holy maiden candidate, for healing, but I heard she still hadn’t returned from the church’s relief center.

Between Lacy and that man Evian, I couldn’t see either of them around the Special Dormitory anymore.

I spent my time in my room, planning for the next battle that would come in just over two months.

The large-scale raid that would happen during the midterm exams in the third month of the semester.

—-

“Are you alright, Haschal? I was worried since you haven’t been attending lectures or coming out of your room.”

While I was recuperating in my room, Asha came to visit once.

“Just needed some rest. Nothing unusual happened with you?”

“Well, nothing except being disappointed that I missed watching the fight between you and Knut.”

Asha gave me a slight eye-smile.

So she had figured it out.

Well, Asha already knew that Knut was hostile toward me, and that I was quite wary of him too.

In that situation, with Knut dead and me holed up in my room sitting on my bed, she could probably guess what had happened.

Special Dormitory students skipping lectures wasn’t unusual, but Asha had been attending with me.

She knew I tried to attend at least some lectures when possible.

Probably other perceptive students had guessed as well.

They just wouldn’t press the issue without evidence. The Empire wouldn’t either.

They wouldn’t want friction with a key Ka’har figure they might need later, just because of a mere Dane freshman who wasn’t even a pure imperial.

From the Empire’s perspective, Knut was quite suspicious too.

Someone who had only shown Demian-level abilities at the entrance ceremony, but could fight at that level against me—it meant he had been hiding most of his strength from the Empire.

“Just don’t mention that to other people for now.”

“Of course! I don’t really have anyone I’m close enough with to gossip about that anyway.”

True, she’s also too busy with her research to attend classes diligently.

And her first impression of the sparring class was quite intense.

Is having few friends a characteristic of special admission students?

“That’s good. By the way, have you already made that purification device?”

“No? I’ve only designed it so far. Should I start making it now?”

That’s a relief. It would have been troublesome if she’d already made it.

If it’s just at the design stage, we can postpone that.

“No, I’d like to request something else instead. Like a sword, or something like that. Would that be possible?”

“A sword? I don’t mind… but don’t you already have a good one? The one that smells strongly of Jin silver.”

Asha pointed slightly at Imela’s sword.

So this was made of Jin silver too. No wonder its performance was so extraordinary.

That’s fortunate. Jin silver would be effective against mages and undead monsters.

Since Jin silver is a metal that cuts off mana.

“This is indeed a good sword, but it’s so precious that it’s awkward to use casually. But using a regular steel sword means it breaks after just ten swings.”

“Hmm… if breaking under force is the problem, I could make one with black iron alloy. The edge dulls easily, but it won’t break easily.”

Black iron, huh. Those black weapons Knut used were probably black iron too.

“Then could you make that, and also gauntlets like these?”

I explained the design of Frosting.

The real Frosting is practically a suicide weapon, so I absolutely can’t use it.

I’ll have to find a way to solve the curse later.

Maybe I could ask the holy maiden candidate once we become friends.

“Yes. One black iron longsword and combat gauntlets. I’ll do it for 20 gold.”

“20 gold… Alright, I’m counting on you.”

I handed over the gold coins with a trembling hand.

All those gold coins I had are nearly gone now.

It’s definitely a heavily discounted price, but still expensive…

Well, I shouldn’t have any major expenses for a while.

“Got the 20 gold! I’ll have them ready in two days!”

Asha returned to her room, delighted.

The equipment I received two days later was indeed worth the 20 gold.

—-

After recovering sufficiently, I attended a lecture for the first time in a while.

It was a theology lecture I would normally have skipped, but I wanted to see my group members and Demian.

The atmosphere in the lecture hall had changed somewhat.

The previous excited murmuring had faded, and everyone seemed somewhat depressed.

Several seats in the lecture hall were empty.

Well, 14 people disappearing means one in ten had died.

…There was no way I could have helped them.

It would have been impossible to search that vast forest alone, and those who would die here wouldn’t survive the next battle anyway.

If they wanted to live, they too needed to become stronger on their own.

I had thought that since people moved in groups of four, there would only be two or three casualties even if some died.

I didn’t expect thirteen deaths, not counting Knut.

“Ah, Lord Haschal! Hello!”

“Hello. Looks like you’ve been well.”

Lena greeted me with a slight smile after spotting me.

At least she doesn’t seem too depressed. That’s good.

Hans just nodded slightly toward me from his seat.

I responded with just a shrug of my shoulders before heading toward Demian and Millia.

“Ten days. Seems you had a harder time than expected?”

Ophelia whispered quietly as I passed by her.

So she noticed too.

“Perhaps.”

I answered briefly and moved on.

Getting deeply involved with Ophelia at this point wouldn’t be good.

She’s like a widow spider, full of venom inside.

The closer I get to her, the more likely I am to be used.

I’m already entangled from accepting her previous offer… but that should be within acceptable limits. For now.

I could hear Ophelia quietly laughing behind my back as I turned away.

I sat down next to Millia.

“Welcome, Haschal. It’s been ten days.”

She too now calmly accepted me sitting beside her without surprise and greeted me.

Either knowing I was reluctant to reveal my injury or not, she didn’t ask about my injury or well-being.

Come to think of it, Lena was the same. Everyone’s quite perceptive.

“Yeah. It’s been a while. Millia, and Demian.”

“You must have been busy? Anyway, I’m glad you and Millia seem to have become good friends during the practical.”

Demian nodded with a refreshing smile.

We did become quite close.

…That’s right, didn’t we?

“Yes. As Demian suggested, we talked. We spent time together too.”

Millia smiled with a slight bow of her head.

I don’t think I showed her anything particularly good.

On the first day, I was negligent, threatening, killed someone, and I think I cried.

After that, I was just carried around like baggage for three days.

Still, seeing that smile gave me a ticklish feeling for some reason.

I decided to change the subject.

“By the way, Demian, I heard your group killed three trolls. Were they manageable opponents?”

“Yeah. Their regeneration was a bit troublesome, but it was a good experience.”

…Troublesome isn’t good. That’s probably just modesty?

With his entrance ceremony level skills, he probably cut off their heads immediately.

“Anyway, Haschal, this is the first time you’ve come to a theology lecture. Have you developed some curiosity about the religion here?”

“A little.”

I have become somewhat interested.

In the game, it was just background setting to distinguish priest characteristics, but here it seems to be much more than that.

At least, Volberg and Saulite have shown interest in me.

It might be worth listening about the other gods too, just in case.

The theology instructor was a middle-aged man wearing Elpinel Church priest robes.

The lecture was terribly boring.

“…And so, the 11 surviving churches gathered and united as what is now the Eleven Major Gods religion. Other races still worship their traditional racial gods…”

In this world, numerous gods exist.

The eleven major gods worshipped by humans.

The four racial gods worshipped by other races.

The four great evil gods known through records.

And the ancient gods forgotten even in records.

Today’s lecture was about the 11 major gods and the history of each church.

I let most of it flow past me, remembering only the parts I didn’t know before.

I guess they’ll explain about the evil gods and ancient gods later.

—-

I spent the afternoon training with Nigel.

I might have gotten rusty after resting for over ten days.

Fortunately, that wasn’t the case.

My skills had actually improved.

I could now perfectly counter Nigel’s sword.

Though I still couldn’t grasp how to utilize Karma.

“How to utilize Karma? That’s… difficult to explain in words…”

When I asked Nigel, he seemed perplexed.

“It’s like a crawling child suddenly walking. As you accumulate it, at some point, you suddenly realize how to use it—that kind of sensation.”

So I have to figure it out myself. That’s difficult.

Will I eventually understand it through fighting?

“Rather, it’s strange that you, Lord Haschal, with so much accumulated Karma, cannot properly use it.”

Well, that’s because these weren’t accumulated by me, but by Hersella.

It’s natural that I don’t know how to use them.

Though I can’t reveal that fact.

In the end, I decided to postpone learning how to use Karma.

Someday I’ll get it. Someday.

While I was at it, I also asked about how to deal with Werebeasts.

The next enemies I needed to face were Werebeasts hiding in the Empire.

“Werebeasts…? They’re not seen in the East. They are formidable opponents, however…”

“Don’t you know any weaknesses or things to watch out for?”

“I’ve never fought them directly… if you’re looking for specific weaknesses, wouldn’t it be better to ask an expert?”

An expert?

Ah, there was one. Upstairs.

That friendless girl.

…Maybe I should go see her.

I went to find Frider and knocked on her door.

After a moment, the door opened and silver hair poked out.

“Who is it…”

Frider’s face wrinkled like a troll’s when she saw me.

“Get lost.”

The door slammed shut with a bang.

She closed it so forcefully that the corridor vibrated.

What is wrong with this woman, seriously.