Chapter 67: The Allure of Alchemy and a Brotherly Meal

“How is it? These are state-of-the-art magic engineering facilities that you can only see in the Department of Alchemy Magic, where the research funding is substantial!”

Professor Huein skipped through the lab with a light step, like an excited child.

Indeed, as she said, there were more facilities than in any lab he had seen so far.

It was true that the Department of Alchemy Magic earned a lot of money.

‘…But my eyes keep wandering elsewhere.’

The shiny, state-of-the-art facilities were dazzling.

But Sion’s gaze was directed at the tools handling the state-of-the-art facilities… no, the graduate students.

“Kill me…….”

“Are those… freshmen…?”

“I envy them…. If I could go back to the past….”

The graduate students walked around like zombies, glancing at them.

They were all wearing lab coats with the logo of the Department of Alchemy Magic…

But the sleeves were stained with various colors from being worn for so long, and the whole thing was a dingy gray.

On top of that, their faces were gray like zombies, and their hair was greasy as if they hadn’t washed it for days.

‘They’re definitely graduate students.’

You could see that men and women looked similar when they didn’t dress up.

Regardless of gender, all the graduate students looked similar.

…It was a scene that Sion was sick of.

‘Actually, the College of Engineering has this kind of atmosphere more than our department…’

The graduate school of the College of Natural Sciences that Sion attended was relatively decent.

The College of Engineering has a large number of people, and there are many students who want to become graduate students.

Of course, the reason for this is to get a master’s or doctoral degree and get a job in a higher-level company.

The problem was that ‘there are too many applicants’.

The law of supply and demand.

Demand is limited, but the supply of graduate students becomes too large.

As a result, the cut-off for ‘graduate students’ naturally rises, and their value decreases.

In other words, enslavement is in progress.

–Are you going to quit being a graduate student? Oh~ then quit. There are many people who want to do it besides you.

These were the words Sion had actually heard from his advisor.

Even professors in unpopular departments say this, so how much worse would it be in popular departments?

No matter how high the workload, no matter how poor the treatment…

Graduate students have no choice but to endure it for the sake of their master’s or doctoral degree.

“Sion, are you okay?”

“Huh, uh?”

“Your body is trembling. Are you sick?”

Serene was looking up at Sion intently.

She was still holding onto his sleeve, so she noticed Sion’s trembling.

Sion forced a smile.

“Uh-huh… I’m okay, I just remembered some bad memories.”

“…Don’t overdo it. You have to tell me right away if it’s hard?”

Squeeze.

Serene let go of his sleeve and took Sion’s hand.

Thanks to that, he felt a little less trembling.

As they arrived at the deepest part of the lab—

A magic engineering device larger than all the machines they had seen so far was waiting for them.

‘…This is almost factory equipment?’

There were magic circles here and there, and he seemed to see steam engines as well.

A huge magic engineering device that could never be understood with the senses of a modern person.

Professor Huein’s face was filled with pride as she checked the students’ expressions.

“This device is one of our department’s long-term projects! Its name is ‘The Great Magic Stone Polishing Automatic Steam Hextech Machine’!!!”

“…What is that?”

“In simple terms, it’s like this.”

Whoong!

She pressed a button and light began to emanate from the device.

She threw a magic stone into the hole in the machine.

A strange magic flowed out of the machine.

‘…There’s no reaction in the identification skill. Is magic engineering an exception?’

No matter how wide Sion opened his eyes, there was no translucent window displayed.

Was it because it was a machine, not magic?

About 1 minute later, a magic stone popped out of another hole in the machine!

The magic stone was smoothly polished, unlike when it went in.

“In simple terms, this device can automatically process the 1st circle magic ‘Polishing’.”

“…Automatically process it?”

“Alchemists are not needed. Even if there is enough magic power and magic stones, you can constantly use ‘Polishing’!”

“Ooh….”

Sion stroked his chin and looked at the machine.

It was definitely a great method.

‘If you compare polishing to cooking… it’s like a machine that automatically makes dishes.’

Even considering the fact that it was a medieval fantasy world, it was a great invention.

Commercialization would be difficult because of its large size, but what if it was delivered directly to the Empire or the Kingdom?

It was an invention that could take the place of a court alchemist.

“Of course, there are still many shortcomings. It consumes a lot of magic power, and it’s too big! Above all, it’s not very appealing to automatically process only 1st circle magic.”

“……That’s certainly true.”

“But that’s something we can fix in the future! Because it’s a long-term project of the Department of Alchemy Magic! Time is on our side!”

Chuck!

Professor Huein crossed her arms and raised her chin.

Sion couldn’t help but applaud, feeling like a puppy wanting to be praised.

…She was a professor who suited her childlike appearance well.

“Professor, I have a question.”

“Hmm, what is it?”

“As you said, Professor, if this… device develops, I think there will be a backlash from existing alchemists.”

Sion asked Professor Huein cautiously.

There was a similar incident on Earth where he lived.

It was a social movement represented by the ‘Luddite movement’.

‘As machines replaced workers, workers who lost their jobs began to destroy the machines….’

Let’s replace the word ‘workers’ with ‘alchemists’.

If the machine were to replace the work that alchemists do as she wants….

Many alchemists would be out on the streets.

It would not be strange if a second Luddite movement broke out.

“…I’ve never thought about that.”

Professor Huein touched her cheek and pondered.

She was rubbing her chubby cheeks.

But soon she smiled brightly.

“I’ll think about that when the time comes! But it was a good point. No one has ever said that after seeing this machine.”

“…I was just worried.”

“No! As expected, Sion, you have insight.”

“Ah.”

Professor Huein smiled and looked at Sion.

He was reminded of the Luddite movement and just added a word…

Rather, he only raised her favorability even more.

If he had known this would happen, he would have just kept quiet.

“Well, okay! I believe you have seen enough of the tour, so let’s get out of here. I’m sure you and I are busy!”

“Thank you for the great opportunity.”

“…Yeah, it was fun.”

Professor Huein took the students out of the lab.

“Then goodbye, everyone! If you are interested in alchemy magic, you can contact me. I hope to teach you guinea pigs in your second year.”

“…Haha, thank you for your hard work.”

“Especially Sion! You have to come. I’ll treat you kindly if you come!”

“……Thank you for your kind words.”

“I’m not kidding! Well, anyway, I’ll be on my way. Good work!”

Click!

Professor Huein sent a strong gaze to Sion and then entered the lab.

…Professor Shivrina’s class changes every week, so he won’t see her again.

He can’t choose a department that treats graduate students like that.

Of course, it would be different if he desperately needed money.

“Sion, you!”

“…?”

“Don’t be so smug! You commoner…. Just you wait!”

He was organizing his thoughts about not entering the Department of Alchemy Magic after all.

Hegen Brental suddenly pointed at Sion and ran away.

…He didn’t say a word after entering the lab, and suddenly?

Gae Bolg tilted his head, watching Hegen Brental run away.

“Hmm? What’s going on? Sion, did you have an argument or something?”

“I don’t know either.”

“Hahaha! It’s just hot-blooded friendship between men.”

“No, that’s a bit….”

Gae Bolg next to him laughed heartily.

Gae Bolg also didn’t say anything after entering the lab.

He may have been overwhelmed by the atmosphere of the lab.

‘Well, I’m used to graduate school and labs, but freshmen are bound to be intimidated.’

Sion was also very careful when he went on a tour of the professor’s lab in his first and second years.

He was worried that he might touch something and cause a problem, or that he might say something wrong and be disliked by the professor.

Of course, now he goes back and forth to the lab without any thought.

“Gae Bolg, what do you think? About the Department of Alchemy Magic.”

“Hmm, it’s a good department. It’s also one of the very promising departments.”

“…Really? But you don’t seem very interested.”

“Of course!”

Chuck!

Gae Bolg raised his index finger and said.

“There’s nothing hot that makes a man cry!”

“…Huh?”

“The Department of Alchemy Magic is static. It’s not a department that moves the body more and makes a man’s heart cry!”

Sion blinked at Gae Bolg’s words.

‘Then why did you come to the Department of Magic instead of the Department of Combat?’

He had no idea what he meant by ‘a department that makes a man cry’.

If you go under Professor Ronda Margaret, you can easily make a man cry….

Anyway, he knew that he was not interested in the Department of Alchemy Magic.

“Serene, what about you?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“Really?”

“Sion, what about you?”

“I… I’m not really interested. Like Gae Bolg.”

“…Really?”

Serene answered with sleepy eyes.

“Then I’m not really interested either.”

“…? What does that mean—”

“Ooooh! Sion, I knew you would understand my heart!”

“Ugh!”

Before he could ask what Serene meant.

Gae Bolg patted Sion on the back and rejoiced.

…No, I didn’t say that with that kind of meaning.

“Well, since we met like this, why don’t we go eat together?”

“Huh? Food is good. Serene, what about you?”

“…I like it too.”

“I’ll buy this time!”

“Ooh!”

Gae Bolg grinned.

The story changes if he says he’ll buy food.

“It’s natural to buy because I owed Sion for the group assignment this time! I’ll buy Serene together as a bonus!”

“You’re a real man.”

“Of course! Hahaha! Let’s go, I’ll treat you to the best dinner!”

“Serene, let’s go.”

“…Okay.”

Sion and Serene followed Gae Bolg, who was in a good mood.

---

“…Wait, isn’t this place too fancy?”

Sion whispered in a low voice.

Just looking at the table they were sitting at, there were several forks and knives set up.

Not to mention the luxurious interior, and the scenery of the academy shopping district and the chandelier seen through the glass windows.

On top of that, there was also a pianist performing live in the store.

“Hahaha! It’s okay. There’s no need to be shy.”

“…It looks expensive.”

“Rather, when buying food, it’s right to buy the most expensive! Because that’s the right thing to do!”

“…Gae Bolg.”

Sion made a promise in his heart.

He will serve Gae Bolg as his older brother from now on.

A person who buys food well and has a lot of money is an older brother, uh-huh.

“You worked hard on the report and presentation, Sion.”

“No, it’s nothing.”

“By the way, Estroza, who is in the same group, was absent for the whole day due to a cold.”

Sion said with an indifferent face at Gae Bolg’s words.

“She caught a cold. I went to her mansion because she said she was resting there.”

“Hoo! You went to visit her, you’re quite the romantic, aren’t you?”

Squeak!

While talking with Gae Bolg, he turned his head in surprise at the sound like scraping an iron plate.

Serene, with her usual sleepy eyes, was fiddling with a fork and knife.

…What? Did he hear wrong?

“It’s not like I’m a romantic or anything… the professor told me to deliver the class contents, so I went.”

“I see! I was wrong. So, how was the mansion?”

“The mansion was huge. I was worried if I could go in… anyway, I went in.”

Sion said with a smile as if telling an interesting story.

“The servants there mistook me for Estroza’s boyfriend.”

“Hahaha! That’s a funny mistake—”

Clang!

He turned his head at the sharp sound.

This time, Serene’s fork and knife were on the floor.

The sound was very loud because the floor was marble.

“Serene…?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

Serene nodded with her usual sleepy expression.

Fortunately, she wasn’t hurt…

Why is she suddenly like this?