episode_0074

Episode 74. Summer Vacation and Academic Conference (4)

****

Mint was lying on a sunbed, looking out at the sea. Yunseul was lying on the blue sea.

The sun didn’t seem that bright, but the people of the empire seemed to think it was bright enough.

Mint reached out her hand towards me.

“Lemonade.”

“Lemonade… … . What do you want me to do?”

“Give me more.”

I looked down at the mint.

“I don’t like it.”

“Hing.”

Mint slowly got up from the sunbed.

I threw the empty glass next to the sunbed. The glass fell with a thud because the sand was soft. It didn’t break.

“Teacher. The sunglasses suit you well.”

“Really?”

Mint was wearing a white cardigan over her black swimsuit. She had a straw hat on her head. She gave me the parasol right away.

Last time, Mint joked about holding the parasol… … . Today, she put those words into practice. I took the parasol and tilted it so that the shadow was directed towards Mint.

Sigh, if you keep responding to things like this, you’ll end up spoiling yourself. But you still look happy.

The beach was more peaceful than I expected.

“Let’s walk a bit. I thought there would be a lot of people at the beach. But when I actually got there, there were hardly any?”

“I came to a place where there were no people.”

Well, this isn’t a modern tourist destination and there aren’t any proper transportation options, so wouldn’t it be difficult to create a bustling beach?

anyway.

It wasn’t a very windy day. The waves didn’t crash hard against the beach, but instead just dumped water on the shore that would soak your feet.

“Touching seawater for the first time.”

“That’s too bad, it’s not that far from the capital.”

“Have you ever been to the beach? You weren’t allowed to touch the seawater, right? You’re not feeling well, so what if you touch the seawater and catch a cold?”

“It doesn’t really matter now, right?”

“Right.”

Mint’s voice, as she told the story of the old days, took on a hint of melancholy for a moment. After a moment, Mint turned her head towards me.

“Give me some sunglasses. I want to try them on.”

“Yes.”

I lowered my head slightly, and Mint took the sunglasses from my face and put them on.

“Did the conference go well?”

“I turned it over and came back.”

“I guess the response was good.”

“It really turned upside down. What the heck, people were just standing up and screaming and it was chaos.”

“Originally but?”

“From what I’ve seen, it happens often.”

The reaction was explosive, wasn’t it? It was a bit tiring though, because every time I went to an academic conference, it was a mess.

“I wish the royal family would support my research more fully.”

“Talking about work.”

“That’s just it.”

“Of course the teacher would think so.”

Splash, splash. Mint kicked the seawater with her bare feet. Little by little, seawater splashed everywhere.

“How was the magic seminar?”

“Just so-so? It wasn’t any better than what the Academy usually does. Well, there’s no reason for it to be better, right?”

I don’t know until then.

“Still, it’s nice that you’re out and about… … . That’s right. Teacher, can we have dinner together later?”

“Yes.”

“There was a place I saw earlier-”

Mint continued talking about something while linking her arms with mine. Something about what she saw on the way here, that you can feed seagulls with snacks, and that she looked for a place to eat dinner.

I took the hat off Mint’s head. Mint looked up at me again.

“Don’t you want to go swimming?”

“It’s actually cold when you get into the water.”

It wasn’t sunny enough to make me want to go swimming. Rather, it felt like it might get cloudy if things went wrong. Not yet.

Besides, the sun had already passed the zenith of the sky.

“I don’t plan on swimming- Ah!”

Mint stepped on my foot. I buried my face in the sea water. Looking up at Mint’s face, it was really smiling brightly.

“No… …. Please wake me up.”

Mint smiled brightly and reached out her hand to me. I just pulled Mint into the water. A more generous person might not have done that, but I’m narrow-minded.

Mint was sitting in the shallow water. Her white cardigan was wet and hanging limply, and the princess’s hair was in a similar condition.

“Hey. I really didn’t know you’d miss it.”

“Hey, what is it? The princess started it.”

Mint couldn’t hold back her laughter.

“Sorry.”

But he didn’t look sorry at all.

On the subject of the foolish princess. I shook off the sand, stood up, and reached out to Mint again. Mint stared at my hand for a long time.

“Teacher. You can’t miss it again, right?”

“Yes.”

Mint grabbed my hand and got up. She shook out her wet and useless cardigan and put it on. Seawater dripped from the wet cardigan.

“The teacher was right.”

“What is it?”

“It’s cold. It wasn’t the weather for swimming.”

Mint put her arm around me again, and I thought about it for a moment. Was it wrong to pull me into the water…? Mint was the one who did it first.

“Let’s go back soon. What’s that in your luggage? I brought a bathrobe, so wear that.”

“Yeah.”

Mint sneezed a few times next to me. I felt bad for nothing. I walked slowly with Mint towards the sunbed we had been sitting on earlier.

anyway.

Mint joined me an hour later, having changed her clothes. She didn’t look cold. Her tension was lower than before, though.

“Oh, teacher. You’re here.”

“Isn’t it a little late to eat?”

“I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to see the stars.”

Well, it wasn’t the time to see stars while eating. It was summer. The latitude here was higher than I thought, so the sun set later.

If you eat rice for several hours straight, you won’t know.

“Just wait until you see it.”

“That’s right… … . I was worrying for nothing.”

The sun hasn’t set yet.

“Where did you put it?”

“Yeah. I was nearby… … .”

The distance was more pleasant than expected. We didn’t stay long and arrived at the place Mint had pointed out. It was just a decent restaurant.

The only special thing is that you can eat on the rooftop. We sat down in a comfortable spot. Mint looked up at the sky.

“But. Is it okay to sit here until sunset? The restaurant might not like it.”

“Oh… … .”

It was only a few weeks ago that I tipped the restaurant staff who couldn’t finish work because of Mint. You’ve grown so much in the meantime.

Or maybe it was just a simple emotional ups and downs. Either way, it was clear that things had gotten better since then.

“Please tip generously. I don’t think they’ll care if you stay until the sun goes down.”

“I guess so.”

Mint sat with her chin resting on her hand.

This time looking towards the sea.

“It’s peaceful and nice, because it’s a resort.”

“It’ll be fun to see the stars later.”

****

Meanwhile, in Professor Wolfram’s lab.

‘Oh, I’m dying.’

The professor will be back soon, so I’ll have to ask him when he gets back. Luciana closed the book she was reading.

After a few days of absence, Professor Wolfram finally came to his lab. Luciana was excited to show off the assignment she had received.

“Hello, Professor.”

“Nothing special happened while I was away, right?”

Luciana shook her head.

“There was a professor from the healing department who came to me and asked if I could extract a certain substance from this solution using alchemy.”

Professor Wolfram brushed it off as nothing serious.

“It’ll work out if you keep trying. If you’re just extracting one type of substance… … Is alchemy that easy?”

“Right.”

“What are you trying to extract?”

“I heard it’s some kind of germ-killing medicine, but I didn’t hear exactly. They said you shouldn’t boil it.”

Luciana took out the bottle in question and placed it on the professor’s desk. The professor looked at the solution in question. A dark green liquid.

“How much did you say you would give?”

“They said that if we succeed, the imperial family will give us research funds? I’ll have to ask again.”

“Research funding from the Imperial Family? Really?”

“Professor Asterix is a former royal healer. I thought that might be the case.”

Professor Wolfram, who had a gentle expression, frowned slightly when he heard who had been entrusted with the experiment. Luciana paused while explaining.

“Ah. That was him.”

“Do you know someone?”

“Isn’t that the guy who made the centrifuge? I heard he has a weird personality, but I.”

“Is that so?”

Professor Wolfram nodded.

“Sometimes there are professors like that. They have been treated well since they were young, so they have no sense of propriety, and they have never seen anyone smarter than them. Their talent is more outstanding than their experience, so they can’t teach others.”

Genius comes with a price. At least that’s what Professor Wolfram thought.

“Uh, I don’t know if it was that much.”

“I’m saying this because he’s been destroying conferences so many times. Do you have any plans?”

Luciana cleared her throat and consulted what she had written down.

“According to the plan established by Professor Asterix, he said to adjust the solution to a weakly acidic solution, then separate the layers of the solution using a centrifuge, and once the layers are separated, check which layer has more of the target ingredient, and go through this process.”

“I need something more.”

“The target substance is something that the mold secretes. If you remove the insoluble substances and mold structures by centrifugation, the remaining liquid will only contain the target drug ingredient, sugar, and other substances. If you solidify just this, it will be considered a success.”

“What… … . I guess it will work out if you try it. Just try it. Did you say you would upload the co-author of the paper?”

“Of course you should ask for that.”

“I got hit in the back of the head. Get a promise quickly.”

Luciana nodded. Why didn’t she think that she might get hit in the back of the head? It didn’t seem like it would happen, but you never know what will happen.