episode_0024

One side of a medieval castle-like space.

A loud noise was coming from the wall of a luxurious space like a hotel suite, also known as the principal’s office at Elm Talent Development Academy.

An unpleasant metallic sound, like cutting iron. When you walk down the street, you hear the kind of unpleasant, nerve-wracking noise you hear from inside a store being renovated.

The sound was emanating from a room decorated with antique furniture and Gothic style.

“Hmm. Is this okay?”

And the person making that unpleasant sound was me.

Because I was working on something in front of a shelf in the corner.

shelf. This is not a furniture shelf on which items are placed, but an industrial equipment shelf on which materials are cut. That shelf is pronounced as Ray or Lettl depending on the pronunciation.

Scattered pieces of scrap metal, like scouring pads, fly around and stain the luxurious carpet on the floor.

I carelessly threw away the protective apron I was wearing and lifted up the shaved rod-shaped part.

A fairly smooth and well-cut joint.

If you can make it like this after only 3 trials and errors, it’s a pretty good result.

I took the part and headed to my office desk. There was a clumsy piece of equipment that had already been made to some extent on the desk.

I sat down on the chair and looked down at the machine.

The appearance of the machine was very crude. It looked similar to my first work, which was made with a science box teaching tool that was popular in the past.

The machine had a handle on the side that could be turned, and it looked similar to an early cotton seed removal device.

As I was inserting the freshly made rod into the machine, the man standing in front of the desk had an interesting expression on his face.

“Is this the device?”

“Yes.”

That’s fascinating. Lee Deok-jae makes a slightly exaggerated look in his eyes.

As a test, I turned the handle and the gears connected to the handle turned and a pole similar to a press machine came down.

The part that was coming down little by little eventually hit the iron plate and I stopped turning my hand.

“First of all, it works well.”

I said, brushing away the metal chips from my suit.

“Then let’s try the first operation.”

He picked up the small magic stones that were lying on the desk and placed them on a metal plate, and placed the dull colored magic stone on the plate on the other side.

After finishing setting up, I was turning the handle when Deokjae Lee started talking to me.

“This is the magic power transfer device you mentioned. Will the magic power of the small magic stone go into the large magic stone on the other side?”

“Yes. Although it is still a prototype.”

As the press came down with the sound of the handle clicking, breaking the magic stones on the metal plate,

Some of the blue light that escapes from the magic stone travels through the brass tube and is absorbed into the cloudy magic stone on the other side.

After completing a series of tasks, the empty and dull magic stone begins to shine a little.

“Oh! This is the crystal. As expected from Northmund!”

“The properties of magical power changed by this method are different from the original. Let’s throw it far away.”

“Yes? You mean here and now? But this… .”

Deokjae Lee hesitated, looking at me with a slightly frightened expression at my silent affirmation.

I fiddle with the magic stone in my hand for no reason.

I burst into laughter at the sight of him looking like a puppy scared of something trivial.

The nature of magical power that exists in nature is very safe. However, the horsepower that passes through this horsepower transfer device has a huge amount of heat, like propane gas.

This was the fundamental raw material for magic engineering used by future mankind, and it was the number one contributor to achieving rapid social development after the period of struggle.

The method of making it was also very simple. This science box-type device I made is a dead copy version of the one that Jang Su-ri made during work time in the original novel.

Changing the nature of magical power is basically a basic task that can be done if you know how to handle magical power, so it will be something that everyone will deal with in the future.

Therefore, as the first inventor of this magic conversion technique, I created this product in hopes of filing a patent.

“Are you going to stay like that all night? I’m a bit tired because I haven’t been able to sleep since I went to Australia yesterday.”

“Oh no. that… then… .”

Lee Deok-jae, who had been hesitant, seemed to have made up his mind, got into his pitching form, and threw the magic stone.

I was clenching my fists without realizing it. Actually, I was a little anxious too.

Of course, it won’t be at the level of children’s bean bullets sold at local stationery stores. There will be some degree of visual explosion… .

Still, if it was the equivalent of three lowest grade magic stones, it wouldn’t be that powerful. In addition, most of it was simply lost and only a small portion of the magic power was transferred to the magic stone.

I think it would have roughly the same power as a large helium balloon bursting.

If that’s the case, it’s okay…

─Quaaa!

My hair stood on end and I heard something tearing.

Along with a huge explosion, a huge fire erupted from one side of the principal’s office.

The wind pressure caused by the explosion blew away many of the high-quality decorations and picture frames in the principal’s office, and all the windows were broken into pieces.

The blown decorations fell to the floor, making a shattering sound, and the torn curtain flew near me in the wind.

“… .”

“Hmm… Ahhh.”

When I looked at the floor, I saw Deokjae Lee lying face down, covering his head, crouching in a falling posture in response to the explosion.

Still, seeing as he immediately takes on this protective stance, I can see that he is a trained agent.

Feeling a little embarrassed, I scratched my head, and a sound like scraping metal was heard.

I was startled and looked at my arm, and before I knew it, it had returned to its Yongin form. The sound of something tearing earlier seemed to be the sound of the suit he was wearing being torn.

“Hmm… .”

“… .”

Crack, thump, thump.

There is a sound as if someone is running quickly, and the half-broken door creaks open.

Helen hurriedly runs into the room, followed by personnel wearing Elada security uniforms running into the room.

“Te… Is it terrorism?”

“Are you okay, Northmund? Where were you injured?”

“What kind of fearless guy would do this to Elada… .”

“Um… ”

As I was scratching my chin, feeling a little embarrassed, Deokjae Lee, who had been lying down, slowly got up and clapped at the front of his suit.

Seeing his face turn red, I thought he was very embarrassed. The way he glanced at me seemed to contain a hint of resentment.

The principal’s office, where one wall had been blown away by a large explosion, was desolate and filled with an inexplicable eerieness.

Part of the wall of the principal’s office, which was over a meter thick, was blown off, as if a demolition truck loaded with explosives had hit it, and the entire outside view was visible.

The students who were training on the playground seemed surprised, stopped what they were doing and just looked in this direction.

When I saw the instructors who were teaching them running across the playground to the Ellada main building with urgent looks on their faces, I turned my gaze forward again.

“Ha… .”

Helen, who was standing among the security guards who were looking around as if they had no idea, sighed.

Did she realize this causal relationship? She was a person who had been close to me for some time and had a good understanding of me as a person.

After looking around at the scurrying guards, she ordered a banquet.

“Everyone go out first. I will take charge of this place and take care of it.”

“Mr. Burns. Still, this is a terrorist scene targeting Mr. Northmund. We need to quickly notify the organization and ask for help… .”

“… I will do it, so I would like you to leave first.”

Under Helen’s sharp, piercing gaze, the sturdy man who appeared to be the head of the guard made a slightly displeased expression and said, “I understand.” He leaves the words and disappears out of the principal’s office.

As they left and closed the door, the remaining hinges of the half-destroyed door broke and fell, creating a deep thud in the principal’s office.

“Let me ask you a question first. Are you okay?”

“It’s okay.”

“Not the Dean, but Deokjae Lee.”

Helen glared at me and helped Deokjae Lee up. He refused to help me, saying he was fine, but it seemed like there was something wrong.

It seems like he’s having trouble maintaining his balance as he keeps frowning and shaking.

“Are you okay, Deokjae? What should I do? It seems like there is a problem with my eardrums. I can’t do this. Let’s go to the hospital first!”

“No, I just felt dizzy for a moment. It will get better if I rest for a while. Sorry, Northmund, I will return to security after a short break.”

“What is the return? Come quickly! Oh, there is also a medical room in Ellada. Let’s go there.”

“Hey. for a moment… .”

Helen supports Deokjae Lee and disappears. She never forgets to glare at me until the end.

My hands waved in the air as I tried to call her.

No, if you say you will handle it and leave… .

Feeling sad for a moment as I was left alone in the empty principal’s office, I walked over to my desk and sat down in the luxurious executive chair.

As I sat down and looked out through the empty window with all the glass blown out, I saw students who had resumed training again.

Deokjae Lee… . It’ll be okay, right? I’m so sorry.

It was a tragedy that resulted from a combination of information known only from the original work and a lack of information in reality. This happened because I knew how to make it, but I didn’t know how powerful it was.

I thought that this transformation magic would have some power because it is a new energy source that humanity in the original novel abandoned, replacing fossil fuels such as oil, but I never thought it would be this much… .

The principal’s office was very large and Deokjae Lee threw it far away, so it didn’t seem to be life-threatening.

As I was watching this, the security guards who had left earlier came back in and started cleaning up the inside.

It seemed like Helen had invited them in as she was leaving with Deokjae Lee.

“Are you okay without on-site preservation?”

“It’s okay. It’s not worth it.”

I looked out the window again and saw the students resuming training.

The content of the training was nothing special, just running around the playground like crazy. I can see some children who have collapsed from exhaustion, and some who are still running on the playground.

The sight of them running in groups around the playground wearing gray one-piece gym uniforms looked like a herd of buffalo on the savannah.

Even if they had awakened their supernatural abilities, they were close to ordinary people until not long ago.

Physical strength is national strength. This is because for the difficult training and skill development that will take place in the future, basic physical strength must first be strengthened.

As a rough estimate, it seemed like it had been running for over 40 minutes, but quite a few students were still on the playground. Is this because most of the abilities, except for a few special ones, are body strengthening abilities?

The body strengthening ability is the most basic ability. If you wake up from sleep or when you are not thinking about anything, you will most likely have this ability.

But just because it’s common doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. In fact, it is much better than the more advanced special abilities.

Due to the nature of people with special abilities who have to use their bodies to fight, having a strong body is just a help and not a penalty at all.

In fact, most of the guys who couldn’t hold out any longer and retired seemed to have special abilities.

I see some of the guys I had been targeting collapsed and breathing heavily.

Just now, a male student collapses from exhaustion, and the instructors waiting nearby quickly catch him and move him under a nearby tarpaulin tent.

‘You’re doing well.’

Some may say that this is a very ignorant training method, but this training method is what I ordered.

This is in preparation for tomorrow’s skill development lecture.

This is because it will be helpful for the lecture I am giving if I have to work hard on my body the day before and make it properly limp.

As I watched the group of them gradually decreasing in number with a cigarette in their mouths, I felt someone approaching.

An unknown person who had entered the bathroom was seen coming out empty-handed.

“Are you back?”

“Everything is broken and broken. That car is very expensive. It’s a rare car that costs close to $2,500 for 5g.”

It was stocked in the bathroom, but I didn’t know much about it because I don’t like tea.

No, is it a drug or something better than that? What price… .

“It was such a waste that I swept it up with my hands and put it in an empty bottle… .”

“Throw it away. Are you planning to eat what has fallen? It lowers a person’s value.”

“No matter how dean you are, if you keep throwing money into the air like this… .”

“Is this what you want when you drink $2,500 tea every time you come?”

“… You know that’s sophistry, right?”

The chair she always sat on was broken, so she grabbed the only good chair she could find and sat down in front of my desk.

Suddenly I felt something cold. Small negative emotions were pouring out of me from her.

I had a vague idea of what she was trying to say and deliberately avoided her gaze.

“Mr. Deokjae Lee. They say it’s a ruptured eardrum. It is said that there is some damage to the semicircular canal due to pressure.”

“I see.”

“So, I had emergency surgery to place a patch on my eardrum. It is said that there will be no aftereffects as it was moved quickly after the rupture.”

“Thank goodness.”

Is that the end? I intentionally avoided her gaze as she questioned me.

Because of the body of a lizard, I forced myself to smoke a cigarette, which was difficult to properly bite due to my sharp teeth. The filter already had holes and was tattered.

Strangely, when I talk to her, I can’t shake the feeling that I’m being pushed out.

Is it the CIA’s unique intelligence affinity? Or did I just let go because of affection? Probably both.

I was worried that I would continue to be questioned, so I opened my mouth first.

“I have something to talk about with GDO after Wednesday. I’d like you to give me a seat.”

“Is it because of this strange device? Is this what you just caused that explosion?”

she said, looking at the device carefully. Her insight is sometimes surprising.

It would be hard to think of an explosion made by a crude machine placed on the corner of an ordinary desk. Since there are objects I’ve never seen before, I may have just overlooked them.

“Looking at your expression, I guess it’s true. Phew… . Dean… . If you’re going to conduct an experiment like this, wouldn’t it be better to do it somewhere else?”

“This is how a wizard’s attack and defense work. Non-mage.”

“… Since when did the principal’s office become a workshop?”

Helen looks at him with a helpless smile, as if she is dumbfounded. It was as if he didn’t know what expression to make and just smiled.

“It’s a shame. If I had awakened my Mana, I would have given the Dean a light slap.”

“Awakening usually occurs between the ages of 16 and 24. According to the records, no one awakened after that period.”

“Are you going to keep talking about my age?”

She laughed softly and looked out the window where I was looking. The number of gray salamanders visible through the broken window had greatly decreased.

Did he run at full speed for about an hour? The number had been reduced to a level where the remaining ones could be properly identified.

But the remaining guys don’t look very good either. Everyone is just running as fast as they can, but their expressions are rotting.

I’m already past the point where I can endure things like runner’s high. Everyone was staggering forward with drool dripping from their faces.

Eventually, a girl stumbles and falls. The long-haired female student was shaking and trying to get up after falling.

At the sight of her tenacity, the instructors quickly lifted her up and transported her under the tent.

“That’s amazing, that female student. It’s her, right? The kid who took the dean’s tie.”

“… I see.”

He injects something into her thigh, pulls up the gym clothes on her arm, and puts on a suspicious IV that glows blue.

The spasms in my arms, which had been foaming and shaking, gradually subsided and eventually became quiet. I feel like I’ve lost my mind.

“I think what happened yesterday was of great help. I hope it doesn’t take three days.”

“Yes.”

I answered briefly and turned the handle of the machine.

The unpleasant friction sound made by the turning of the handle resonates, creating a gloomy atmosphere with the principal’s office in disarray.

Although it is not open to the public, governments in each country are accelerating research on magic stones generated from monsters.

Ever since it became known that I was using magic, a significant amount of magic stones had been flowing into the governments of each country.

Basically, an enormous amount of magical power is used to maintain the teleportation magic circle, so most of it was being sent to Ellada, but a significant amount was also flowing elsewhere.

I had already realized that the amount of monsters I dealt with and the amount of magic stones coming into Ellada were not always proportional.

In fact, it was an open secret relationship. Because they knew that I knew and I didn’t say anything about it.

‘But little by little I have to move too.’

Converting horsepower is very simple, so it was better to move now.

Since magic stones have only recently appeared on Earth, people are not yet familiar with this unknown substance, but some countries may already have grasped the basic clues to operating magic stones.

I heard that not only governments but also companies have started collecting magic stones.

It is said that Taesung Group, to which Jang A-hyeon belongs, also purchased and hoarded Maseok on a huge scale.

“It looks like you can extract the magic power of the magic stone with that. Looking at the seemingly simple structure, mana extraction doesn’t seem like a very difficult task?”

“You─”

I looked down at my progress and momentarily closed my mouth. If you get agitated here, it’s like admitting that it is.

Looking at her expression, she was smiling, but unfortunately it seemed to be already too late.

How on earth does this guy know so well? Do you use mind reading?

“It’s obvious. There is a broken magic stone on a metal plate, and there is a pipe attached to it, and the pipe connects to the other plate, right? It seems like even a middle school student can make an inference.”

“… .”

“Still, it seems like it’s a device that only the Dean can make at the moment. It’s a simple-looking structure, but there’s no talk of any country creating something similar yet.

I guess it’s a device that only mana users can make.”

“… .”

So, are you planning to disclose it at GDO and patent it? Helen speaks with her eyes.

Having already been exposed to the bottom, I had no choice but to look at her with an ambiguous expression.

She was the one who started the conversation, and in order not to be swayed, she continued with only the bluntest and shortest answers possible.

When I came to my senses, I realized that it was always me who ended the conversation and that it was Helen who led the conversation.

“Then… .”

If it has been exposed to this extent, there is no point in hiding it.

This is because after the opening of Elada, I felt that GDO was gradually trying to tighten my leash with funds.

There was a big backlash and it was possible to turn it back, but it is not yet at the level where one can sink one’s teeth into it. It’s a bit difficult for me to get angry over something as trivial as this.

So, I decided to find a way to raise money as legally as possible.

I’m not living a life where money is tight, and even though I blew down one floor of this huge elada, I’m not short of funds. But as everyone knows, public funds and private funds are different.

“Leave that to Lee Min-ha.”

Before I even spoke to her, she said the answer first.

“That young lady was surprisingly loyal. I checked around the dean and she was very clean. He doesn’t tell anyone about the Dean’s information and seems to be quite loyal.”

“She?”

“He was especially good at accounting and law. Even during my time at the National Intelligence Service, I was usually in charge of that type of work. I think it would be enough to just change the affiliation from GDO to under the dean.”

After hearing her words, I was lost in thought for a moment. The day I first came to this world, she was the one who took me to the National Intelligence Service.

Although his tone has become a bit more rounded now—in fact, he hasn’t become that gentle—in the beginning, he wasn’t familiar with the concept, so he used a hard and rude tone.

Although she spat out harsh words that were almost insulting, she took it all in a detached manner.

As an agent, this could be seen as a given, but she was the person who was the best at managing her emotions out of all the people I had ever met in the National Intelligence Service.

Except for that earplug incident, of course.

“Yes. Let’s think about that problem later. Then, Professor Burns, please keep in touch with the GDO after Wednesday.”

“… Instead, there is a condition.”

“Conditions?”

I frowned blatantly. I know that if you frown your face like a dragon, you look quite ugly.

She was proudly accepting that gaze.

Are you gradually crossing the line?

In fact, her actions sometimes made my heart flutter. Of all the people who treated me with awe and called Northmund, she was the only one who came close to me.

Although he did occasionally engage in mischievous pranks, it was entirely within the acceptable range of behavior.

Until now, she has never crossed that line. But that action just now clearly crossed the line.

I don’t need a confidant who gradually puts conditions on top of my head and tries to take advantage of me.

“… what. I will listen and judge.”

“… In the future, when Deokjae Lee recovers completely and returns to work, please at least say sorry to him.”

“Um… .”

She continued, clasping her hands and crossing her legs wrapped in captivating purple pearlescent stockings.

“Mr. Northmund sometimes treats people around him so harshly that it hurts them. Of course, I know there is no malicious intent, but sometimes that kind of thing hurts the people around you.”

“… .”

Her words stuck in my heart.

It was a fairly fragmentary statement, but what it meant was not fragmentary at all.

This was something I thought about often too.

The day I fell into this world, I decided on my concept. Now, many years have passed since then.

Now I’m so used to this that I can’t tell if it’s a concept or if it was me in the first place and to what extent it’s the real me.

Getting used to it is a scary thing.

I have become so accustomed to being called a hero, being worshiped by others, and being manipulated by subordinates.

Due to my background as an aristocrat, I was often rude to others and took it for granted that my people suffered harm.

I’m sorry about what happened to Deokjae Lee, but wasn’t he just trying to end it by feeling sorry?

But this is not Grandis, and this daily life is not 『Grandis Saga』. so… .

“Listen carefully. Thank you for the advice.”

“No, you are fully capable of that. I’m sorry for being off topic.”

Helen stands up and gives a polite greeting.

“Then, after contacting the organization, I will send the scheduled schedule to the principal’s office… . No, can I send it here? Should I send it somewhere else?”

“… I will be staying in the professor’s office for a while. Send it there.”

“I understand. Well then… .”

The sound of heels clicking gradually becomes distant at regular intervals. That sound pulls me out of my thoughts and brings me back to reality.

When I looked out the window, there was no one left in the playground. Some instructors were clearing their tracks.

After looking at that for a while, I got up and headed to the bedroom connected to the principal’s office.

I took another suit out of the closet and started putting it on.

After some time passed, I looked at the mirror.

Seeing the same image as usual in the full-length mirror, I let out a small smile and walked out the door.