Ch.51Chapter 51 – The Mechanic Receives an Imperial Invitation (1)

An unexpected side effect of my ability led to the temporary suspension of the end-of-term evaluations.

Glesius Academy did everything they could to resolve this situation.

“Well, the buff granted through student Pathos’s ability seems to last for about an hour.”

Through this process, I was able to determine approximately how long the buffs lasted on items I had repaired.

“Is an hour considered… long?”

“It’s both long and short, depending on the context. For tournaments where matches are decided in relatively short periods, it’s quite long. But dungeon explorations typically take at least one to two days.”

As Professor Calibro said, the one-hour duration was long in some contexts and short in others.

This led to changes in the evaluation method.

Instead of taking the test immediately after gathering, students would now repair items under the supervision of a proctor.

Then, after one hour and twenty minutes, they would take only their weapons and move to the evaluator.

The rest of the assessment would proceed as usual.

Although this took longer than the original evaluation, it at least prevented the measurement of ridiculous power levels caused by the buffs.

I did wonder if we could just reinforce the targets instead.

“Since the targets are repaired and replaced using magic anyway, is there really a need to use my ability on them?”

Of course, Professor Calibro reminded me that there was no need for that.

Magic truly is amazing in how it eliminates the need to worry about such minor details.

Anyway, now that the end-of-term evaluations were over, the time all students dreaded most had arrived.

It was time for the announcement of grades.

At Glesius Academy, after the end-of-term evaluations, grade reports for each year are posted on bulletin boards throughout the academy.

There’s a student management window that uniformly delivers information to all students, yet Glesius Academy insisted on this inefficient method for a reason.

Posting papers on bulletin boards was how Glesius Academy used to announce grades to students before the student management window existed.

Naturally, it was the method used when the academy was first established, and even now, most regions still used bulletin boards with large papers to announce news to people.

Since many students were accustomed to this method of communication, Glesius Academy endured this inconvenient approach in the name of preserving tradition.

Coming from a world with smartphones, internet, and electronic administration, this seemed inconvenient and inefficient to me, but this world had neither smartphones nor internet.

While there were similar systems created using magic circles and magical circuits for electronic administration, these were items used exclusively at Glesius Academy.

“Ugh, I wonder if I’ll be able to get a scholarship?”

Right now, Mina, Elena, and Reina were beside me.

It’s oddly striking that I’m surrounded only by women, but what does it matter?

During my school years, I went through the all-boys middle school, all-boys high school, military, and engineering college track, so I never had the chance to interact with women.

The only women I ever spoke to were employees at restaurants or cafes.

Perhaps that’s why having female friends in this place that makes me feel like I’m back in school is one of my greatest joys.

“Scholarship? Isn’t what you earn from your repair work enough?”

“Well, even though the country covers tuition, living here involves a lot of expenses…”

“Mr. Pathos probably doesn’t know much about this since he’s on a special admission. Would it be alright if I explained instead?”

“I’d appreciate that.”

Since Reina and Mina were busy scanning the bulletin board for their grades, I could listen to Elena’s explanation without interruption.

“The Magic Department, where Mina and I belong, requires a good understanding of theoretical classes to improve actual magical skills. Because of this, we need many textbooks for theory classes and numerous materials for practical training.”

So magicians are like students in arts and physical education programs.

From what I’ve heard from people studying arts around me, a single instrument can cost anywhere from several million won to over ten million won at minimum.

Whew, it seems magicians in this world have many expenses just like people studying arts.

But if someone is skilled enough to enter Glesius Academy, they must be a good magician… doesn’t anyone provide support?

“Aren’t there noble houses that support people with exceptional magical talent whose future is guaranteed?”

“There are, but Mina is in a somewhat awkward position to receive external support.”

Hearing Elena’s words, it seems Mina does have ways to receive external support.

But curious about what “awkward position” meant, I asked Elena to explain.

“From what I can see, if someone continuously invested in Mina, she has the potential to become a magician who could enter anywhere by the time she graduates from the academy. However, the cost to reach that point would be considerable.”

“Roughly how much would be needed?”

“I estimate it would cost about ten gold coins per semester.”

Ten gold coins per semester… how much have I earned so far by repairing students’ equipment?

“Is that a lot?”

“I’m sorry. I calculated based on my family’s standards. If my family were to provide support, it would cost about ten gold coins, but if she received help from other families or powers, the cost could increase several times.”

“So how much would it be?”

“It’s calculated to be about fifty gold coins per semester.”

Fifty gold coins per semester.

With one gold coin worth roughly one million won, fifty would be about fifty million won.

If it costs fifty million won per semester, essentially Mina’s growth requires the equivalent of buying a new luxury sedan every semester.

“And this cost is calculated based on my family’s highly efficient magician training course. If she were to use inefficient methods from other families, the cost would be 3-4 times higher.”

According to Elena, the money needed to develop Mina would be about 200 million won per semester.

In the worst case, the cost of developing Mina would be equivalent to a high-end apartment.

Being a magician truly requires an enormous amount of money.

“Then, couldn’t your family provide support?”

“As Mina’s friend, I’d like her to learn magic without worrying about money. But the problem is, Mina said, ‘It would be too shameless to ask a friend for help. For now, I want to do this with my own strength.'”

“Sigh…”

Hearing about Mina’s mindset from Elena made me feel a bit melancholic.

If it were someone else’s story, I might not care as much, but wasn’t Mina my favorite heroine in Erasto Chronicle?

“What if we invest using your family’s method, but someone else covers the cost?”

“Someone else paying the development costs? Who would do that… Besides, knowing Mina’s personality, she probably wouldn’t accept it. Mina likes to accomplish things with her own strength.”

Elena shook her head and directly rejected my suggestion.

After hearing Elena’s words, I nodded, acknowledging that it wasn’t yet time to support Mina.

“Mr. Pathos, I think you mentioned you didn’t have to take exams because you’re on special admission… is that true?”

At that moment, Reina, who had returned after checking her grades, addressed me.

“Yes. Since I’m on special admission, I don’t need to take separate exams. That was the condition of my enrollment.”

“Wow… that’s really enviable. I need to either improve my grades next semester or maintain my top position to receive support from my family.”

“What? You need good grades to receive family support?”

“Well, of course I receive basic support. But using the family’s power and resources is not possible without good grades.”

“I see.”

I gave Reina a half-hearted consolation while waiting for Mina to return.

But that didn’t last long.

“Student Pathos. Could you come to the Chancellor’s office for a moment?”

Shannon, the Chancellor’s secretary, approached and addressed me.

“An important guest has arrived at the Chancellor’s office and is waiting for you.”

An important guest was waiting at the Chancellor’s office.

“Who is it?”

Curious about who it could be, I asked Shannon, who sighed once before telling me.

“An envoy sent by His Majesty the Emperor has arrived. So please follow me quickly.”

The moment I heard those words from Shannon’s lips, time seemed to stop for a moment.

W-who is looking for me? The Emperor’s envoy?

Why on earth would an envoy sent by the Emperor be looking for me?

With my head full of questions, I followed Shannon to the Chancellor’s office.