Ch.8787. Reversal (3)

“Sisters…”

“You all…”

Gulp. Charlotte’s tense throat bobbed visibly.

She wanted to ask about the results of their magic armor manifestation, but fearing the worst, she couldn’t bring herself to speak. Beside her, Aris was also watching anxiously, holding her breath.

But one person—Team Leader Goden—was grinning broadly.

“Looks like you succeeded?”

Having spent years on battlefields, he could roughly detect the flow of magical energy within three steps of him.

As the two team members who had undergone the test approached, he naturally sensed the change in them from before.

“Wow… we were going to surprise you.”

“Yeah, seriously. How do you always figure it out?”

Erika and Senia had arrived with deliberately gloomy faces, planning to surprise everyone, but Goden had spoiled their plan.

“Anyway, congratulations on your manifestation, Erika, Senia.”

“What’s there to congratulate? Aris already told us we still have a long way to go.”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

“Forget it. I don’t think we have time to celebrate just manifesting this one thing.”

Erika said this while urging Goden for the next direction.

As Senia had mentioned, Erika was also aware of this fact and was admittedly dissatisfied.

Her desire for faster growth was undoubtedly driven by her wish not to fall behind Junon.

“For now, it’s true that your magic armor is not yet complete. Next, you’ll need to manifest it using only your own power.”

“Only our own power?”

“What does that mean? We already manifested it with our own power.”

“Simply put, it’s like this.”

Kiing—

Magical energy swirled around Goden’s hand, instantly taking the form of magic armor.

“Wait, you just did that without a magic stone…!”

“Yes. This is the second stage you need to reach. Drawing external magical energy isn’t difficult. However, extracting your internal magic energy into a form that suits you won’t be easy.”

“This is giving me a headache… to think that’s the next stage.”

As he said, there was no medium like a magic stone in his hand to draw out magical energy.

Manifesting with only one’s own power meant doing so without even using a magic stone.

“Magic armor created by borrowing external magic rather than your own power is commonly called a ‘Mirage’ state. It disappears like an actual mirage if the magical balance is even slightly distorted. Even if you use long-range magic, once you’ve used up all the magic energy formed into armor, it vanishes just like other weapons. In other words, it has fatal flaws—it’s consumable and time-limited.”

“What… so what we manifested still can’t be used properly?”

“That’s right. In that state, you can’t yet face the high-grade magical beasts we’re hunting. You need to surpass the Mirage state, at least like mine.”

“So what do we need to do?”

“What else? We’re about to enter real combat. Go hunt Fenrils or Morel Snakes with the magic armor you’ve manifested. The point is to get familiar with the armor you’ve created. There’s no other way.”

Though his lengthy lecture seemed to restrict their freedom, that wasn’t the case.

This was advice based on Goden’s choice to help his team members achieve their individual goals while changing the society of the Grand Duchy.

There was no reason not to follow it.

But as they say, you never know what will happen—no one could have predicted that Senia and Erika would end up fighting like this.

***

“Senior, are you really sure this is okay?”

“Well… there will be other opportunities.”

“But this means you’ll fall behind. This is such an important time for gaining real combat experience.”

Renias gave me a worried look.

She was concerned because I was heading somewhere instead of participating in the practical combat with magical beasts—arguably the most important phase at the Academy.

Right now, with Renias’s help, I was heading to the Lantana family mansion in the Grand Duchy’s branch.

‘Adel must have a reason for sending that letter.’

There might be something related to what happened at the Cutelli Barony, but she could have just delivered the message through Renias.

Taking that into account, there must be a reason why she needed to tell me directly. She probably didn’t inform Renias about it.

Deciding to ask Adel for details later, I patted Renias’s head and said:

“Are you that worried about what I’m doing?”

“Of course! The timing of magic armor manifestation is important, and we’ll soon be facing real magical beasts. If you miss this good timing after coming all this way…”

“No, I’m just visiting your home right now. How can you worry about someone who’s just paying a visit?”

“…Eh?”

In truth, I was confident I could catch up on important lectures even if I missed them once, and I had simply arranged to participate in the practical combat later.

There were no other penalties, so it was just like skipping one day, but Renias seemed to be taking it too seriously.

Perhaps that’s why Renias’s face was burning red.

“I-I didn’t realize that’s what it was…! Ahahah… I see! But why is it so hot in here?!”

She jerked away from my hand that was patting her head and started fanning herself.

I suppose it makes sense since summer is approaching. My side was fine with the window open, but Renias’s side was closed.

Seeing her looking hot, I reached out to open the window for her.

“Wait, let me open that window for you…”

“No! I’ll do it myself! It’s fine…! Waaah?”

Clunk!

The carriage happened to jolt at that exact moment.

For me, I just needed to lean my waist slightly to reach, but Renias had to stand up to open the window.

Because of this, her body, suddenly stopped in the moving carriage, inevitably fell toward me.

Thump.

Due to inertia, her delicate figure landed right in my arms.

“You should be careful. Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Ah, uuuu… n-no! I’m fine!”

She separated from me with lightning speed and sat back in her place.

Well, fortunately, seeing how she moved, she didn’t seem to be hurt. Of course, I had caught her well with both arms as she fell.

Belatedly, the coachman came to apologize.

-Oh my, young lady, I’m truly sorry! This old man’s skills are lacking…

“It’s okay! I’m not hurt!”

“I’m fine too. No need to worry.”

-Really…? That’s a relief. A deer suddenly crossed our path outside…

It wasn’t really the coachman’s fault, but since the passengers were of noble status, he was understandably concerned.

Shortly after, the carriage started moving again, and Renias, for some reason, closed her eyes tightly, pretending to sleep.

And as soon as the carriage arrived at the mansion,

“I-I’ll go ahead!! Please call me when you’re done with your business!!”

Renias opened the carriage door and fled. And she was running at a speed I’d never seen before, even during our training sessions.

“Anyone would think I was going to eat you or something…”

No matter how rabbit-like she is, she’s still human—I wouldn’t eat her.

***

“From the Calcheria Trading Company too…? They also bought small amounts… very suspicious.”

Adel, who was working at the Lantana Ducal Residence in the Grand Duchy’s branch following Rwena, had developed a keen eye that allowed her to proudly call herself a merchant.

No. Perhaps this had been her true calling all along, even more than magic.

The recipient of Adel’s letter appeared before her.

“It’s been a while, Adel.”

“Junon! It’s been so long!”

“Wow, I heard you were helping with commercial matters, but you’re really doing it properly! Looking at the maps and calculations, I can’t understand any of it. I’ve always been the one teaching you, but now it seems I need to learn from you.”

I thought I could understand most calculation problems in written subjects just by looking at the solution process.

But this—I couldn’t possibly understand without an explanation of how it all works.

This must be what talent looks like.

“You’re embarrassing me… I’m just helping my mother a little…”

“Right, right. Anyway, about your letter—what did you want to talk to me about?”

“Ah, that… I’ve been recalculating, and the movement of money throughout the Grand Duchy seems strange.”

“Um… money?”

“Oh, I guess that explanation doesn’t make much sense. Just a moment.”

Adel cut several pieces of notepaper into small pieces and placed them, covered with numbers, on a map of the Grand Duchy.

‘This is…’

She wasn’t just placing them randomly. She was positioning the notes at locations where money was changing hands on the map.

“Including the information from the Cutelli Barony, it looks like this. At the very bottom are the remaining amounts—the differences. But these differences were sequentially added to sales volumes on certain days.”

“So someone bought things in sequence on those days? And from multiple locations.”

“Exactly. It would be nice if we could just ignore it, but you’re at the Academy, so you already know. That shortage of goods that happened all at once recently.”

“…The hoarding of magic stones. Everyone’s already figured out it was the nobles’ doing.”

“Yes. In the case of magic stones, they were openly purchased by organizations or factions. The amounts were huge, and the goods themselves were predictable. But… the remaining amounts from the places I’ve marked aren’t that large. However, when combined…”

With a worried expression, Adel showed me the total of all these differences.

5,000 alte. Quite a sum when added up. Considering noble silk costs about 1,000 alte, it’s not an amount to be ignored.

“At this scale, we have to assume another organization is involved. If a wealthy individual were doing this, they would inevitably lose money. While it’s not impossible for someone to coincidentally meet the conditions…”

That’s why Adel had called Junon to tell him this.

That this suspicious movement of money could be a sign of something about to happen at the Academy.

“Hmm…”

“I’m not completely certain either. So… don’t take it as something definitely going to happen.”

“But you’re telling me to be cautious. The nobles might be hiding some scheme.”

According to her words, besides hoarding magic stones to prevent commoners from manifesting magic armor, they might be planning something else.

The timing matches perfectly with a particular event.

The practical combat with magical beasts that third-year students participate in. If the nobles were to interfere with this somehow, Adel’s warning would make sense.

‘It doesn’t hurt to be cautious.’

Junon, taking Adel’s advice to heart, returned to the Academy to take the practical combat test he had postponed.

However, a different problem arose during the practical combat test where he had intended to monitor the nobles’ activities.

***

The society of the Grand Duchy is changing.

The one who receives reports on all internal affairs thinks so.

Someone who tried to change the nobility-centered society has finally succeeded in peeling away one layer of the nobles’ rotten shell with their own power.

The Grand Duke, upon confirming this precious gem born in turbulent times, couldn’t help but laugh.

“I see. So you also think that child is the Mizar type?”

“…It’s almost certain. I’ve already seen similar results in the Empire when following Muniheer. And now he’s studying abroad from the Empire and is here.”

“You mean that exchange student, Goden.”

“Precisely.”

Mizar.

Among the six types of magical energy, it’s the rarest and most uncommon type—like a comet. It’s a type that’s obvious even from the outside.

Like a raw gem. And this time, Junon was the protagonist of this gem.

However, the Grand Duke remembers that Ophelia had once taken notice of him.

Therefore, he has summoned Professor Jake, who has observed Junon the longest, to discuss this matter and learn more.

“I hear they’re conducting practical training in the southern part of Algenib Province.”

“That’s correct.”

“When that’s over, could you bring that child to me? I’d like to have a conversation.”

“Couldn’t Your Grace simply command it? Why ask me…”

To put it simply, he could directly mention that Ophelia seemed to be hiding something, but how could he? That would reveal whatever Ophelia was trying to conceal.

If Junon had a personal secret, the Grand Duke had no intention of exposing it.

“There’s no need for a formal command just to summon one student. It might be burdensome for a student.”

“Hmm… that’s true.”

“Let’s see, we need a pretext… Ah, yes. Tell him it’s a commendation for the student who rescued a friend from the Cutelli Barony.”