episode_0050

“I heard about the Magic Eye.”

Irina said. She exhaled cigarette smoke out the window, then took a small case from her pocket and threw it at Asel. Asel’s head was directly hit by the flying case and snapped back.

“Ack!”

“Die.”

Ena, who was sitting next to him, reacted immediately. She instantly conjured electricity in her hands and glared at Irina. Irina shook her head with a look of exasperation.

When would that excessive protection and obsession of his finally improve? It’s said that getting into something late is scary; here he was, acting like he would give away his liver and guts for a disciple he took in when he was already old. It even felt like it was getting worse day by day.

‘I’m never going to be like that if I take in a disciple.’

Irina vowed inwardly as she placed her pipe on the table and approached Asel. Ena glared at her as if to kill her, but Irina sat down next to Asel, who was rubbing his philtrum, without batting an eye.

“Open it.”

“What is this?”

“You can’t open your eyes properly right now. It’s something to help with that.”

Asel let out a hum and opened the case at Irina’s words.

With a clicking sound, the case opened to reveal a pair of glasses of suitable size inside. The shape, with lenses and frames that weren’t too thick, was impressive. It didn’t have vision correction function, but it was a tool designed to block mana from passing through to the left and right sides based on the lenses.

“Wear that for the time being. Then you’ll have no problem walking around with both eyes open.”

“Oh…”

She was right. Asel put on the glasses and exclaimed in admiration, feeling a much clearer field of vision than before. Seeing that there was no separate formula inscribed on the glasses, it seemed the material itself was a mineral with a high mana shielding rate.

Just as minerals with high mana conductivity were expensive, materials with high shielding rates were also quite costly. These glasses would likely be worth several tens of gold coins in terms of price.

Asel expressed his sincere gratitude to Irina for gifting him such a precious item.

“Thank you. I’ll use it well.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Irina replied thus, then got up from her seat and placed the pipe between her fingers. And looking down at Asel, she asked in a serious voice.

“So. What exactly happened?”

“……”

“It hasn’t even been many days since you enrolled in the academy. But why did you suddenly come back covered in bruises? I don’t think academy seniors could bully you. Considering it’s the period for the first task, is it perhaps related to that?”

“……How do you know the academy schedule?”

“I briefly worked as a professor there before. Not anymore, though.”

Anyway.

Irina said that and tapped tobacco leaves into the end of her pipe.

“It was the first task, right? What happened there?”

Asel first checked Ena’s face before answering. The Necromancer’s words calling her his sister lingered in his mind. He wondered if talking about it would only add another burden to her.

But Ena had a look that seemed itching to know right away. In the end, Asel hesitated for a moment, then recounted everything that had happened that day.

After hearing the story, the two remained silent for a while. Neither of their expressions was very good.

After a long pause. Irina sighed deeply and was the first to speak.

“It’s probably the Virshia Clysen who is publicly known. Of course, it’s a pseudonym, and they also created an organization called Virshia, named after this. It’s a trashy group that gathers all sorts of criminal mages and lets them do whatever crazy things they want. It’s been a long time since they were put on the continental wanted list.”

“……”

“That woman… I didn’t know she was hiding in a mountain valley and researching synthesis formulas. Moreover, she forcibly gained a second talent by sacrificing lives? To do that, you would need at least tens of thousands of lives.”

“……That number is quite accurate. It seems something like this happened before.”

“It was common.”

Irina continued in an exasperated voice.

“Sacrificing lives to awaken talent. As soon as that fact became known, the continent was engulfed in a bloodbath. It was commonplace for a country to be wiped out or disappear from the map almost every other day.”

Immediately after the birth of the Demon of Possibility, there was no place on the continent that wasn’t stained red. Most of the dungeons and labyrinths that remain today were created to more efficiently process the rituals that took place back then. Or they were means to seal Transcendent beings who had abandoned their humanity.

Either way, their creation required countless sacrifices.

A world more hellish than hell itself. Irina, who was born during that time, still remembered the mountains of corpses and seas of blood that were visible everywhere.

“Now such acts are strictly controlled, so they don’t happen often, but it’s a different story in the Lawless Zone. Perhaps Virshia forced the ritual there.”

The Lawless Zone refers to the vacant lands where no states have been established. Places that have become uninhabitable due to swarming monsters, all sorts of natural disasters, and strange creatures. A land of the survival of the fittest, ruled not by laws written in books but by the swords and spears held in hand. Therefore, it is a place where criminals and demon worshipers often hide.

Things that happened there were never known to the outside world. So, people living outside the Lawless Zone had no way of knowing how many people living there died, or how.

Virshia’s ritual was the same.

“With Necromancy combined with Synthesis Formula… it won’t be easy to deal with. I’ll have to report this to the Alliance separately.”

“……”

“And anyone who messes with a mage of the Witches’ Association has to pay the price.”

Irina bit her pipe and said in a low voice.

“From today onwards, Virshia Clysen will be designated a public enemy not only by the Alliance but also by the Witches’ Association, and I promise to spare no effort, both materially and spiritually, to support her subjugation as a top ‘priority’ target. Is that alright? Ena?”

At Irina’s question, Ena immediately nodded.

“It was a bad fate I was supposed to handle from the start. If I had killed her then, none of this would have happened, but I let her get away…”

“Don’t blame yourself. You know as well as I do what the situation was like back then. You didn’t have the luxury to hunt down even Virshia.”

“……Still, I don’t like it. That past ill fate is still affecting things now.”

“Alright. Let’s stop with the heavy talk here.”

Irina said that, exhaled smoke, and chuckled.

“More importantly, you’re quite something. You used a movement formula there? And a movement formula that used the medium at that spot as power? There’s probably no one else who clashed with Virshia and escaped like that, is there?”

“I guess I am.”

Asel replied with a small smile. Irina’s lips twitched at his reaction.

“Oh, look at him? He got arrogant while I wasn’t looking? Ena, how are you educating your disciple?”

“Shut up. Don’t insult Asel.”

“No, it’s a joke…”

Irina said that in an embarrassed voice, but Ena completely ignored her and sat between Irina and Asel, leaning her back against his body. Then, she forcibly pulled Asel’s hand and placed it on her head.

Asel quickly understood what she wanted and gently stroked her hair.

“Harder.”

“Yes, yes.”

He stroked her hair with a little more strength, as Ena requested. Only then did she seem satisfied, purring like a cat and enjoying Asel’s touch.

Irina, watching the scene, said in a dumbfounded voice.

“What is this situation right now? Surely, surely, you didn’t decide to continue a forbidden relationship despite your age?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Ena! Think about our age! It’s right for Asel to go to a woman younger and firmer than you!”

“Shut up.”

Crackle!

Electricity sparked from Ena’s fingertips.

At the same time, the locked door clicked open, and a purple cat dashed in from beyond, landing on Asel’s face.

“Ack!”

“Kid! They said you almost died!”

The cat spoke. Asel mumbled, realizing the owner of the voice.

“Lady Bell.”

“Who did it! Who bullied our kid! Those damn motherfucking sons of bitches who aren’t satisfying even if you chew them up and swallow them. Just say the word! I’ll kill them all!”

“Before that, let me breathe…”

“Nyaaaaaang!!!”

Bell roared. Asel spit out the fur getting into his mouth and glanced at Ena, asking for help. Ena chuckled, grabbed Bell by the scruff of her neck, and pulled her off Asel’s face.

“Calm down, Bell. It’s good that you came to visit, but Asel is still a patient.”

The news of Asel’s critical condition had already been spread within the Witches’ Association. Irina had urgently sent the news to prepare for any contingency.

Fortunately, the situation she feared did not occur. Asel regained consciousness and had no significant aftereffects. However, there were several people who wanted to visit him, so only they were specifically told the location of the cathedral where Asel was staying.

Bell was one of them. Held in Ena’s hand, her body hung loosely.

“It feels like shit. I hate it most in the world when someone touches my people.”

“I was your person, Lady Bell?”

“Of course! We’re close!”

“That’s the first I’ve heard of that. Were we that close?”

“This brat?”

Bell’s brows twitched, and she threw a punch at Asel’s face.

“Nya-Nya Punch!”

Asel laughed, taking her paw-like punch.

***

“It feels gooood.”

Elena muttered, standing on the deck and letting the sea air wash over her. One of her team members, watching her from a distance, said in a low voice.

“Cute.”

“Dream on. She’s not someone a tomboy like you can dare to covet.”

The alchemist, Kaitlyn, replied, rummaging through the organs of a sea monster.

The magnificent sea stretching out behind the Duchy. The sea monsters living in the depths below are quite good catalysts for alchemy. The giant three-headed shark they hunted, spearheaded by Elena and the archer Dabi from the combat department, was no exception.

Sea monsters inherently possess the cool and clean energy unique to the sea in their hearts. Refining this can produce various antidotes, as well as potions that provide effects like breathing underwater or withstanding water pressure.

The type of potion Kaitlyn intended to brew was also of this kind. A potion that completely eliminates resistance in water. As the ingredients were demanding, simply making it would guarantee a high score.

Kaitlyn crawled out of the shark’s split belly and said.

“If you want to date Elena, you’ll have to break through the defenses of everyone from the Duke who governs the Duchy to all sorts of vampires. Can you handle that?”

“…Why are you saying all that? I just said she’s cute.”

“Stop smiling like that first. That’s enough, come here and carry the heart.”

She threw a dagger at Duke. Duke caught the dagger with a startled look.

“You crazy woman! Why are you throwing this dangerously!”

“It’s not dangerous, just come here. Anyway, you’re just riding along on this task. If you don’t want to be remembered by Elena as a worthless bug who couldn’t do anything, help with the butchering.”

Elena’s team was quite balanced, consisting of two from non-combat departments and two from combat departments. However, Kaitlyn and Duke, both from non-combat departments, were in the Alchemy and Magic Engineering departments, respectively, forcing them to choose one. So, Kaitlyn’s Alchemy department was chosen. Duke, from the Magic Engineering department, hadn’t done anything for this task.

All he did was frustratingly research sea monsters. Even that was nothing compared to Elena, who had much experience sailing the sea. Therefore, his right to speak was weaker than Kaitlyn’s.

“…Why must I, a noble, do such a thing?”

“Am I a slave or something? Shut up and cut the veins.”

“Since I cannot cut your veins, I shall obey your command.”

“Oh, please.”

Kaitlyn smacked Duke on the back. Duke screamed and scurried into the monster’s belly.

Even though she spoke like that, Kaitlyn quite liked Duke. Despite being a noble, he seemed uncomfortable with being treated specially, and his occasional jokes made him hard to outright dislike.

And in terms of status, Elena, the highest in the team, was also similar to Duke.

A Duchess with a countryside maiden-like personality, who didn’t order others around using her status, nor was she authoritarian or condescending.

Elena was like a heroine who would only appear in books, now in reality. It was impossible not to feel favorably towards her, regardless of gender.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, Kaitlyn.”

Elena looked at Kaitlyn, who had approached her side, and smiled brightly. Then she leaned on the railing and looked down at the vast sea.

“Just looking around. It’s pretty, the sea.”

“They say vampires die if they enter flowing water, don’t they?”

“That’s a lie! We swim and play when it’s hot too! We also eat garlic, are fine looking at crosses, and the closer you are to pureblood, the less you are affected by the sun! It’s all nonsense!”

Who on earth spread such rumors, she added, then slumped against the railing. Kaitlyn looked at the academy grounds’ harbor, which was beginning to appear in the distance, and let out a small laugh.

“It’s the end now, the team task. It was a pretty good team.”

“Yeah… I was worried because Asel seemed to really dislike team tasks, but it turned out to be a good experience.”

“Asel, you mean the top student of the Magic Engineering department, right? You two seem really close?”

“Yup! Ellen and Asel and I are the closest! We took the entrance exam together and eat together too!”

“Is thaat right?”

Kaitlyn said, giggling.

“Then who do you like better out of the two?”

“Uh… Um… I like both…”

“But if you had to pick just one person? If both fell into the water and you could only save one, who would you save?”

“I’d save Ellen because Ellen can’t swim, I guess? Asel seems like he’d float out on his own.”

Lady Hargelin can’t swim, huh. Kaitlyn imagined the cold-looking girl floundering in the water and burst into laughter.

“So that means you like Ellen more?”

“That’s not it. I like both of them!”

Elena said that and bared her fangs, threatening Kaitlyn.

“But stop asking questions like that now! It’s not fun!”

“Alright. Then another question. Do you have someone you like?”

“No?”

Elena replied with a calm expression. Kaitlyn realized her words weren’t a lie and nodded. She had been worrying about what she would do if a bad guy’s name popped out of her mouth. It seemed she didn’t need to worry.

“How about me?”

Duke suddenly popped out of the shark’s mouth and shouted. Elena immediately shook her head.

“No! Dad said all men are wolves!”

“Asel is a man too!”

“Asel is a good wolf! A handsome wolf!”

“Damn world. It’s about face again.”

Duke grumbled that and went back inside the monster.

Meanwhile, the ship continued to move forward. The water gradually became shallower, and now the harbor was visible more clearly than the sea.

Screech!!

Soon after, the ship docked. As it was a sailing ship operated by the Duchy, the sailors politely moved the monster to the harbor.

After that, only the parts that were resources for alchemy, including the monster’s heart, were separately removed and sent to the monster dismantling facility. In exchange, they received 1 gold coin. Elena and her team had a commemorative meal at a nearby restaurant with the money they received and returned to the academy.

However, for some reason, the academy seemed more chaotic than usual.

“Please identify the number of personnel who haven’t returned yet. The team tasks must end now.”

“The four survivors, including student Saya, are currently receiving treatment at the academy’s medical department. We’ve received a promise that the clergy will send someone within tomorrow.”

“Students Saya, Quil, and Warren have severe mental stress as well as physical injuries. It seems they are suffering greatly because the student who saved them is missing. Not to mention student Gorsel, whose entire team except himself died. He is having periodic crying fits.”

Just from the faint conversations between professors running down the hallway, it was clear something serious had happened. The moment Elena, who had just returned, tilted her head at the bustling atmosphere, one of the Magic Engineering department professors spotted her and quickly rushed over.

“You’re Elena, right? You returned safely. Your other team members… are all safe too. That’s a relief.”

“Yes… By the way, is something wrong? Everyone seems very busy…”

“Ah… Well, that is.”

Just as the professor was about to answer Elena’s question, someone’s shouting was heard from the end of the hallway.

“So, you’re saying Asel is missing? And he was fighting an 8th-tier Necromancer? Can you even call that missing?! He’s dead! You’re using the word ‘missing’ to put the best possible spin on it!”

“…I understood that the academy checked the request thoroughly. The fact that something like this happened despite that is the academy’s problem, isn’t it? At the very least, if you want to use the word ‘missing,’ shouldn’t you take responsibility and make an effort to find Asel? But why is everyone just running around here? Asel is someone I considered a close friend. If such a person is missing due to the academy’s mistake, and the academy doesn’t even try to find him… the Hargelin family will be greatly disappointed in the academy.”

It was Celine and Ellen’s voices, respectively. Celine, speaking in a high tone as if to tear into them, and Ellen, arguing in a suppressed voice, had different tones, but the anger contained within them was the same for both.

However, Elena’s ears couldn’t process the content of their arguments.

Only the cause they were arguing about pierced her ears.

“…Asel is missing? Dead?”