Ch.52I Don’t Want to Work (1)

“Originally, if Ruide was a mysterious figure, now he’s being completely praised, you know? Wherever I go, all I hear is talk about Ruide.”

After finishing her words, Hersy smiled with satisfaction. She felt oddly accomplished herself.

“So that’s how it turned out.”

‘Sigh.’

Ruide inwardly sighed.

Amelia had an upright personality.

With her character, he hadn’t expected her to claim credit for the Black Mage incident…

But he never thought she would give all the credit to him.

‘Sister Ame is such a fool.’

He had deliberately left some credit for her to earn plenty of bonus points.

She was a fool who didn’t know how to use opportunities. Ruide was genuinely worried about Amelia.

How would someone so gullible survive later in life?

She was definitely the type who would give away her liver and gallbladder when dating.

Later, when she gets married…

‘Marriage?’

No way, absolutely not. Just thinking about Amelia marrying some shameless man whose face she didn’t even know gave him goosebumps.

He was absolutely against marriage. From this moment until his death, Amelia could not get married.

“…But, didn’t Amelia tell you?”

“Sister Ame hates to even mention that incident.”

Hersy smiled faintly.

“You two really get along well. I’m sure she’s just worried about Ruide.”

“She’s overprotective.”

Hersy covered her mouth and chuckled at Ruide’s firm response.

“I’m really envious.”

“…Of being banned from going outside for a month?”

“It’s a sign of affection. If she didn’t care, she wouldn’t do such things. Even my father…”

Hersy pressed her lips shut.

There seemed to be some complicated circumstances.

“Ah, anyway, it’s a blessing. Having a good relationship with family is very rare among noble families. Especially in high-ranking houses like Windsor.”

Hersy laughed awkwardly. Wanting to avoid this topic, she deliberately changed the subject.

“…Is Ruide never coming back to the Academy?”

“No.”

Ruide didn’t want to place restrictions on anything.

“I’ll go if I want to, and not if I don’t.”

Because he pursued freedom.

If he wanted to sleep at Dellin’s Lake, he would sleep there. Even if the villain of the century appeared, if he found it bothersome, he wouldn’t go. He’d just grab Hersy and Amelia and run away.

‘You never know. I might even become the Academy’s headmaster someday.’

Ruide smiled at his own ridiculous thought.

**

Humans have three basic desires.

The desire to sleep, the desire to eat, and lastly, sexual desire.

However, since Ruide was still young, he needed fun instead of sexual desire.

…After being cooped up in the mansion sleeping for a week, he was bored.

That was why he came here.

“Sh-should I get you a cushion?”

In the Fencing Club captain’s office.

Amelia, the Sword Duchess, known for being elegant but fundamentally cold, was uncharacteristically pacing back and forth anxiously.

There was only one thing in the world that could make her like this.

Ruide.

‘I never thought he’d actually come…’

When Amelia had imposed the ban on Ruide’s outings, she had added one condition.

Don’t go outside without her. In other words, he could go outside anytime as long as he was with her.

It was a subtle personal desire, but she hadn’t really expected anything.

Because Ruide was the type who played well by himself at Windsor Castle, whether it was playing with inanimate objects or experiencing slime.

“I’m fine with the pillow I have.”

“Ah, what about a cushion? Or a blanket?”

“I don’t use blankets when I sleep outside.”

He was planning to make a blanket when the very cold winter came. Right now it was autumn, and the cool breeze felt quite pleasant.

‘Since it’s the treasure vault of someone like an emperor, there should be blanket materials.’

He clearly remembered getting a one-time access pass to the treasure vault because of Damon. He would put it to good use when winter came.

“Then…”

“Sister.”

Ruide looked at Amelia with drowsy eyes.

“I’m fine, so just do your work.”

“But…”

Amelia looked like she wanted to do something for Ruide.

“I said, just do your work.”

“Mmm, alright.”

Amelia sat down.

With awkward hand movements, she picked up some documents.

Before gripping her pen, she looked at Ruide once more.

“If you ever feel uncomfortable or want something…”

“Work.”

“…Okay.”

Amelia glumly looked back at her documents.

[Imperial Academy Headmaster Clifford’s Resignation.]

‘…I’ll deal with this later.’

It wasn’t a problem she could solve right away, and she wanted to hide this fact from Ruide.

Amelia didn’t want to create anything that would worry Ruide.

Rustle, rustle.

As she signed a few documents and turned the pages…

Stare…

“……”

She looked up, feeling the obvious gaze.

Ruide was staring at her.

She smiled awkwardly and looked back at the documents.

But no matter how she thought about it, this wasn’t right.

Amelia looked at the pile of documents in front of her.

‘There’s a mountain of paperwork to process.’

Would Gilbert handle it for her?

Amelia decided to take just one day off today.

“Is there something you want to see? I’ll show you around.”

“I just came to watch you work.”

Ruide thought the most fun thing in the world was playing in front of someone who was working.

It was also the only advantage of being unemployed.

“Watching me work…?”

Amelia held her chin and pondered deeply. What would interest Ruide?

‘I really don’t know.’

She couldn’t tell what Ruide was thinking behind those sleepy eyes.

All she could tell was that he looked sleepy.

So, Amelia decided to ask.

“Is there anything you’d like to see me do?”

“Hmm.”

After a brief consideration, Ruide said:

“Rolling.”

“…?”

“People rolling. You can roll, or you can make people roll.”

“…Why on earth?”

“Because it’s fun.”

Amelia blinked, looking back and forth between the documents in front of her and Ruide.

Now she understood why he kept telling her to work.

Amelia smiled brightly.

“I’m telling Mom.”

“…That’s my line.”

**

Ruide walked through the fencing hall with Amelia.

The Fencing Club was completely different from the Magic Club.

Unlike the Magic Club, which had a youthful atmosphere, everyone here looked robust. Whether it was due to their higher average age or physical training, they all looked imposing.

The men had broad shoulders, and the women were generally tall with toned bodies.

“So you’re on the smaller side, Sister.”

“I’m still much taller than you, so it’s fine.”

Flinch. Ruide’s body trembled.

“…I’ll grow taller.”

“How much?”

“Probably about 80 inches.”

* Approximately 200cm.

“Pfft.”

“Why are you laughing??”

Ruide gritted his teeth.

Height was his only complex.

If he could make a wish…

‘I’d be fine with being nerfed to the second strongest in the world if I could just be taller.’

…That’s how much it bothered him.

“No, no, it’s nothing.”

Amelia laughed warmly.

I shouldn’t have brought up height. Ruide felt belated regret.

“This is the sparring arena. As expected of a Windsor, you’re interested in swordsmanship.”

They headed here at Ruide’s request. He realized he’d never been to the fencing hall and was curious.

“There’s nobody here.”

“Because they’re in class.”

“Class? The Fencing Club has classes too?”

He had thought it was just individual training all this time.

“…Of course? This is an academy after all.”

“You too?”

“Yes. Though I don’t take many classes.”

“I see.”

Ruide expressed a simple observation.

“Why is it so shabby?”

“…Sorry.”

“I’m not criticizing you.”

“I’m… ahem, not very talented in that area.”

Amelia blushed with embarrassment.

Swordsmanship was the only thing she was good at. She was terrible at everything else, especially in areas requiring aesthetic sense.

“Besides, it’s all broken.”

The sparring arena was a square space with gray brick flooring and small fence-like boundaries marking the perimeter.

A little distance away stood a wall, which was completely broken.

Ruide had entered through the entrance, but it seemed there was no need for an entrance at all.

“…Well, all the magical facilities are broken.”

“They won’t fix it?”

Amelia nodded.

“They said why bother fixing something that’s just going to break again.”

“That’s harsh.”

“But it’s true…”

Amelia scratched her head.

“…?”

Ruide gave her an incredulous look.

“Should I fix it for you?”

“Can you?”

“It’s easy.”

He couldn’t restore collapsed bricks, but he could repair broken magic circles.

Ruide took out his staff.

Scratching his messy hair, he approached the broken wall.

He analyzed the structure of the magic circle.

Quite a complex magical formula.

‘It’s worse than I thought…’

It would require some mental energy.

If he had known, he would have just passed by with his drowsy eyes.

But it was too late now.

It would be embarrassing not to help after telling Amelia he would.

Ruide closed his eyes briefly, then opened them.

‘What idiot made this??’

Even though the Magic Club was right next to the Fencing Club, the quality was terrible.

To use a coding analogy, they were using 10 lines to express something that could be done in one.

This meant it used more magical power, which led to decreased performance.

Ruide placed his staff against the wall and reconstructed the formula.

‘…The optimization is terrible, but the idea is good.’

Usually, protective magic cast on walls creates a thin barrier around them.

However, this one increased the strength of the bricks by making them attract each other’s elements like powerful magnets.

‘No wonder they embedded magic stones throughout the bricks.’

Normally, the medium would be underground. But here, magic stones were embedded at regular intervals.

Whoever designed this had at least one good idea.

‘I’ve got an interesting thought.’

Since he was reconstructing it anyway, Ruide decided to upgrade it too. Family service.

‘Activation time: once every 5 seconds. During normal times, it will maintain its original strength.’

With this formula, something quite interesting would happen.

When attacked, the wall would easily break due to having the strength of ordinary bricks, but after 5 seconds, it would return to its original form as if time had reversed.

In simple terms, no matter how much you break it, after just 1 minute, it would magically restore itself to its original state.

In other words, a wall with incredible impact feedback would be born.

After reconstructing the formula, Ruide withdrew his staff.

“Phew.”

He pretended to wipe sweat with his sleeve.

Unfortunately, he hadn’t shed a single drop.

He was making a show of how much effort he had put in. Would this reduce his one-week ban on going outside?

Ruide turned to look at Amelia.

But then.

“Wow…”

“So that’s a magician.”

“No, he’s a Windsor. Those bookworms can’t do this.”

“What is it? What is it?? Oh, did you fix the wall?”

Students had gathered around.

It seemed class had ended.

Ruide only then realized that quite some time had passed while he was concentrating.

Amelia patted Ruide’s head.

“You worked hard. That’s impressive, Ruide.”

Amelia spoke in an adult manner, conscious of the students.

At that moment, a female student shouted:

“Please marry me!”

“Who said that just now?”

The Fencing Club members burst into laughter at Amelia’s serious expression.

“…Well, I’ll activate it now.”

With an awkward expression, Ruide tapped the wall with his staff.

He briefly worried about what would happen if it didn’t work with so many people gathered.

But that was impossible. The formula was perfect.

As expected.

Crackle—

The bricks glowed with the blue light that was Ruide’s signature, spreading endlessly left and right along complex magical circuits.

The entire wall was connected by intricate lines.

These lines, not symbolic inscriptions but pure magical circuits, looked like a work of art.

‘Will it work?’

Ruide’s gaze was fixed on the brick debris. According to theory, those bricks should return to their original form.

Rumble, rumble—

‘It worked.’

Ruide quietly smiled.

The fallen debris successfully found their places and flew back into position.

“…!”

At this strange phenomenon, the Fencing Club members stood with their mouths agape. They hadn’t expected it to be this impressive.

“…Good heavens.”

Someone muttered softly. The impossible had become reality. A long silence followed as they didn’t know how to react.

Clap, clap, clap—

The sound of gentle applause was heard.

Everyone’s gaze turned in that direction.

“As expected, my nephew is excessively talented.”

Emperor Lucius approached with a pleased expression, hands behind his back.

Lucius winked as if telling them not to reveal that he was the emperor.