Chapter 51 : A Dangerous Gift

“Your magic can summon a clone that copies your opponent? But how do you plan to defeat someone with a clone that’s clearly inferior to the original?”

“How? Easy. I’ll just run off and tattle to someone stronger than me.”

While the clone I created with the Inkshadow Brush stalled for time, I ran with all my might back to the Shadow Smithy.

Inside, Grimlock, who must have thought there would be no commissions for a while, was already having a beer in broad daylight. I shouted at him:

“Grimlock! Please help me! That regular customer we met earlier is trying to forcibly steal my magic tool!”

“Huh? Wh-what? Hic!”

Grimlock’s nose had already turned strawberry-red after a few beers.

Hearing my sudden cry of “Thief!” he stumbled out of the smithy, hammer in hand.

The hammer used for forging magic tools was coated in mithril to resist dark magic corruption — in a way, it was practically an anti-magic weapon itself.

Of course, if Black Agent Canaria really intended to fight seriously, the winner would inevitably be Canaria.

That was simply due to the fundamental difference between an assassin and a blacksmith.

However, from Canaria’s perspective — who operated multiple magic tools simultaneously — losing a supplier like Grimlock would be far too costly.

Thus, a fight could never actually break out.

Sure enough, after quickly taking down my clone and chasing after me, Canaria stopped in her tracks the moment she saw Grimlock’s face.

“Do you know what’s most important when dwarves do business?

Honesty!

Honesty!

Even if I give regulars a discount, I’d never rip them off — because if I did, it would hurt the reputation of all my kin.

And you?

You try to steal a magic tool from a little brat?

Aren’t you ashamed of yourself in front of your fellow draconians?”

“Seems you’re a bit mistaken. First of all, ‘draconian’ refers to any hybrid born from a dragon’s bloodline.

In other words, there’s no sense of kinship among us.

As for trying to steal the magic tool — I won’t deny it.

But if a newborn baby is holding a razor-sharp knife, isn’t it only natural to take it away?

You, Grimlock, should know better than anyone how dangerous magic tools can be.

Do you really think some junior academy student can handle it properly?”

“What do you think I am, blind as a bat? Of course I could tell!I wouldn’t have made it for the kid otherwise.If you don’t apologize right now, I’ll never take another commission from you again.”

Honestly, I was touched by Grimlock’s strong stance.

Strictly speaking, Grimlock and I were just a blacksmith and a customer — nothing more, nothing less.

If anything, Canaria, who had boosted Grimlock’s sales enough to let him operate outside Pantheon Academy grounds, had a much closer relationship with him.

And yet he was standing up for me this much.

Lieutenant Colonel Anderson was like that too — maybe dwarves really did value loyalty above all else.

“I know I’m basically your only proper customer. Are you sure about this?”

“I’d rather just quit this damn business than sell fish to a thieving cat.”

“If you’re going to be that stubborn, I guess there’s no helping it. I apologize for rashly judging you and trying to take your magic gear. Words alone probably won’t feel sincere, so I’ll give you a gift.”

The Black Agent, Canaria, pulled out a box from inside her coat and tossed it to me.

It was neatly wrapped like a Christmas present, but maybe because it came from Canaria, I couldn’t trust it at all.

“What is this? Don’t tell me there’s poison or a bomb inside?”

“What do you take me for? A gift is just that—a gift. It’s something that’ll be a huge benefit to you in your current situation. I swear on the name of the Constellation I serve that it’s absolutely not harmful to you.”

Since she invoked the name of her Constellation, there was no reason to press further.

Even Constellations with a good alignment would mete out harsh punishments if they broke a vow made in their name.

In fact, the Constellation Canaria served—the “Monster in the Bottle”—was closer to an evil-aligned entity.

There was no reason Canaria would risk taking that kind of punishment just to trick me, so the gift was definitely something valuable.

Thanks to Grimlock, I managed to tame the ferocious beast that was Canaria and send her off peacefully, so as a token of gratitude, I stayed to be his drinking buddy for a while.

However, this damn body of mine must have an F-rank alcohol tolerance because after just one mug of beer, I blacked out, making a complete fool of myself in front of Grimlock.

***

“Ugh, my head… How did I get back to the dorm?”

The morning sunlight tickled my eyelids, and the chirping sparrows tickled my ears, waking me up right on time.

As I pieced together the memories of the previous night, I remembered making a mess in front of Grimlock before crawling back toward the Academy.

Thankfully, Byakuya had kindly flown me back using a paper airplane.

Even before being possessed by the Pantheon’s Constellation, I wasn’t exactly a heavy drinker, but now my body seemed so weak that I could probably get drunk just from smelling alcohol.

Anyway, once I finally pulled myself together, I noticed Canaria’s gift sitting by my bed and carefully opened the box.

And the moment I saw the contents, the shock was so great that it sobered me up completely.

‘Wait, this is a Human Transmutation Circle Scroll. And there’s even a Philosopher’s Stone included? Is Canaria insane or what!?’

The Human Transmutation Circle Scroll was one of the Academy’s prohibited trade items because even someone completely ignorant of alchemy could easily perform human transmutation with it.

And the Philosopher’s Stone was considered as valuable a strategic resource as the magic stones from high-ranking Devil Dolls.

I couldn’t believe that both of these priceless items had just been stuffed into an ordinary paper box.

To get a better sense of Canaria’s intentions, I examined the Human Transmutation Circle Scroll more closely and realized that it was designed to combine magic gear with a human body.

If used properly, not only would it be easy to carry, but it would also allow the magic gear to grow and evolve like a developing weapon.

However, unless you had a strong physique like Canaria, who carried the bloodline of a dragon, an ordinary human attempting it would likely suffer terrible side effects.

Of course, with the Philosopher’s Stone, those side effects could be minimized, but it wasn’t a decision that could be made lightly.

‘This gift is basically a quest item to test me. Is she planning to recruit me as a Dragon Knight candidate, just like she did with Agent Green?’

Whether it was a covert mission or an assassination mission, having an actual Academy student as a collaborator would definitely be helpful.

Even though I had no intention of walking the Dragon Knight path, the way their claws kept reaching for me made my head throb.

‘For now, I’ll hide the box under the bed and focus on attending the opening ceremony for the second semester.’

As I mentioned earlier, the Human Transmutation Circle Scroll was one of the Academy’s prohibited trade items, so I asked Byakuya to set up a light barrier.

It was a vision-distortion spell that would make the space under the bed appear empty to any outsider.

With the sudden “homework assignment” thrown at me just the day before the new semester, I put that aside for now and headed toward the Academy auditorium.

Pantheon Academy was generally based on a self-directed learning model, but any event classes hosted by Principal Lyn Dragos were mandatory.

Among the scattered students — some of whom looked like they had spent their vacation sunbathing by the sea — I, true to my bottom-ranking status, took a seat all the way in the back.

“Hey, it’s been a while, you junior division rookies!

I hope you didn’t spend your entire summer vacation lazing around!

To make sure that any useless idiots get expelled as fast as possible, your dear principal has prepared a fun little class.

It’s called Dungeon Exploration Training.

You’ll be grouped into teams of three, and you’ll explore dungeons that I personally sealed off through dimensional isolation.

Of course, the dungeons are crawling with terrifying monsters, but they also hold precious treasures.

Doesn’t your heart start racing just thinking about it?

The dungeons are ranked from S-Class down to F-Class, so show off your skills to the fullest.”

Using projection magic, Principal Lyn Dragos revealed the interiors of eight different dungeons.

Naturally, I was already familiar with all of them, so I felt relatively at ease, but many of the students were clearly unsettled, thrown off by such an intense mission being handed to them on the very first day of the new semester.

“Ah, and for the record — the teams have already been assigned by the instructors based on your position and individual abilities.

So don’t complain if you end up paired with someone weak!

If you’re in the same team, it just means you’re all about the same level anyway, you pathetic little brats.

And another thing:If your team scores the lowest during the dungeon run, all three of you are getting expelled — no exceptions.

In the first semester, we coddled you, fed you, and let you coast.

But starting now in the second semester.

Consider this the beginning of hell.”