Ludwig’s Change

Time flew by faster than expected, thanks to the sudden rush of events. Raellan, who had left for the North, hadn’t returned yet, and Eunice, along with Lamine, had departed, saying they had other investigations to pursue and would bring good news. Genie, due to academy attendance issues, went straight home with Wiz on the day of their contract.

Lastly, Ellie was nowhere to be found. I headed to the library to offer help, but there was no trace of where she’d gone. Considering that even the books she’d piled up on the table were all tidied away, it seemed she’d vacated the library entirely, not just temporarily. In the end, the day I visited the library to find Ellie turned into a day of stocking up the empty storage space with food.

I filled it with various kinds of food and bought essential tools as well (a campfire for adventures, 121 life recipes for adventurers, basic alchemy reagents… and so on).

A week passed vaguely like that, but I didn’t hear from Ellie. The investigation into the place where Paimon was sealed was still ongoing, and while training alone would make time pass quickly, I didn’t feel a great need for it since my skills were stagnating, making it feel like I was just killing time. So, thinking about what only I could do, I headed to the massive botanical garden located in the south of the capital.

I didn’t head to the botanical garden just for sightseeing. Feeling the stagnation in my growth, I took a self-critical time to reflect on the abilities I possessed. Thanks to that, I realized that what I really needed now wasn’t growth, but change.

The reason I can’t grow any further is that my potential has reached its maximum limit. I’ve reached the truth of Magic Engineering and the end of Swordsmanship, a realm that, in fact, can never be reached by someone simply called a genius. The fact that my hands are touching the extremes of both fields is an improbable event unless it’s a quantum jump.

I fully understand Magic Engineering and Swordsmanship through a quantum jump, but my current assessment of myself is that I’m not fully utilizing them. So, this time, I visited the botanical garden to find a way to maximize what I have.

Thanks to the long contemplation brought about by the free time, I came to the idea that if I used Magic Engineering and rapid growth, something pretty decent might come out. To turn that premonition into reality, I slowly toured the botanical garden, waiting for some thrilling spark to come.

“…”

Certainly, being a botanical garden in the imperial capital, it took three hours just to look around. It wasn’t a particularly slow pace, but the scale was just that large. Of course, it boasts this size in the capital where land prices are high thanks to using space expansion magic to its limit, but using space expansion magic to its limit itself cost a lot of money.

In the end, all I gained when I arrived at the exit of the botanical garden was worry about the botanical garden’s finances. The spark I had hoped for didn’t come. It seems that the luck to shout ‘Eureka’ with a simple stroll doesn’t come easily.

Still, the botanical garden is all I have to do right now. Do I have to go around one more time…? Even with a feeling close to certainty that there would be no particular gain, I was vaguely heading towards the entrance of the botanical garden like a student retaking the college entrance exam, when the whining of a chubby child holding a giant ice cream the size of their head reached my ears.

,Ugh, seriously! I told you I didn’t want to come here!

,You loved it here last time! I barely made time to come, so are you going to keep acting like that?

Even as the person who seemed to be the mother put her hands on her hips as if angry, the child didn’t stop whining with a face full of dissatisfaction.

,Botanical gardens are so last season! We have the World Tree in Ludwig, who’s going to come to a botanical garden like this! The news that the botanical garden is failing is all over the capital, I told you that several times! I’m mad because you never listen to me!

“…!”

In that moment, the spark I had been waiting for came. The World Tree created while killing the undead Roman. The power it possesses will surely be of great help to me. No wonder there were fewer visitors than when I came with Luna in my first year; as the child said, overwhelmingly more people would choose to see the World Tree in Ludwig instead of the botanical garden.

,Eu, Eureka….

It’s a bit late, but I muttered Eureka anyway. I snapped my fingers and immediately headed to the portal station. Bella, who publicly announced information about the improved portal, replaced all the portal stations in the capital with improved portals. The new portals received tremendous praise.

Not only was the stability improved, but they could also be installed in locations where installation was previously impossible, they could move more people faster than before, the motion sickness and dizziness unique to portals disappeared, and the risk of use was significantly reduced. Therefore, anyone who used the improved portal and then used the old portal would inevitably feel the ‘reverse experience,’ making it popular.

According to Ember, the Imperial Family is making huge profits using the improved portals. She also said that they are planning to greatly expand the portal stations in the capital itself, creating an innovative system within five years that would allow people to commute to the capital from all over the continent.

Thanks to Estelle, Modiste, who holds the royalties, was also able to receive a lot of money from the Imperial Family. Ember is using that money to strengthen Modiste’s intelligence capabilities to support us, so it was nothing short of a virtuous cycle.

Anyway, thanks to the improved portals, the portal station was less crowded than before. I was able to head to Ludwig using the direct portal without any waiting.

Stepping out of Ludwig’s portal station, I was momentarily mistaken, wondering if I had arrived at a different place. That’s because Ludwig was so different from what I remembered. Even excluding the giant World Tree that occupied most of my vision, no matter where I turned my head, it was full of people, and countless buildings were constantly being constructed.

Ludwig, which was originally considered a popular resort and was known as the city of pleasure, had the World Tree added to it, so the city itself had no choice but to grow forcibly to accommodate the countless people. I wonder if Roqu is doing well? I was curious, but I didn’t feel the need to meet him.

As I went down the stairs, the front of the portal station was full of touts targeting innocent travelers who had come to the city of pleasure. Still, it was legal solicitation, so the soldiers patrolling near the portal station didn’t particularly stop them.

,We’ll take you to the World Tree quickly for 30 silver!

,The best spot to view the World Tree up close! 50 silver!

,We’ll take you to the World Tree comfortably and safely in a luxurious magic carriage!

Since the World Tree was the goal anyway, I chose the comfortable option even if there was a rip-off. I handed money to a tout nearby, and I was able to get on a carriage heading to the World Tree.

,Thank you for using our service!

As I got off the carriage, the giant World Tree that didn’t end even when I raised my head came into view. But it was quite far away than I thought. Looking around, I saw something like a barrier installed around the World Tree, and soldiers were patrolling on top of the barrier. It seems that only general tourists can enter up to this point.

,Identity confirmed. Moving!

Turning my head to where the sound came from, I saw carriages lined up waiting. It seems that people with high status or those who bought entry permits for a lot of money can enter closer to the World Tree.

Scratching my eyebrow, I leaned against the barrier next to the road where the carriages were passing and approached a soldier who was dutifully watching the carriages pass. There was a door behind that soldier that people could enter.

,Unauthorized civilians are prohibited from entering. Even if you have permission, you can’t enter without a carriage.

The soldier muttered with a face full of boredom, as if he had repeated the same explanation mechanically many times. Permission… but I had a versatile item that allowed me to enter anywhere on the continent without permission. Without a word, I took out the golden identification badge from my pocket and handed it to the soldier.

,Here.

,…Unauthorized civilians are prohibited from entering. Even if you have permission, you can’t enter without a carriage.

Since he was repeating the same words like a machine and not looking at me at all, I poked his shoulder with the end of the badge, and only then did the soldier, with an annoyed face, turn to me and slowly imitate Munch’s The Scream upon seeing the golden badge.

,Co, coeoheok…!

I scratched my forehead silently at the sight of the soldier catching his breath, patting his chest as if he had a heart attack from how surprised he was, and asked as I put the badge back in my pocket.

,Can I go in?

,E, kek!… Go, go right ahead!

I nodded to the soldier who hurriedly opened the door and went inside. I wondered why a carriage was needed, but it was quite a distance to walk. The sense of distance had disappeared because the World Tree was so huge.

With no choice, I leaned against the barrier and waited for an authorized carriage to come out, then used space magic to secretly climb onto the carriage. The moment I landed safely on the carriage, I heard the sound of a window opening and a greasy voice.

,Coachman, move faster! The beautiful lady says it’s too boring to just be in the carriage!

,Yes! I understand! Iyah-!

I breathed a sigh of relief and lay down on the carriage so that the coachman whipping the horses wouldn’t notice. If I take a nap, I’ll arrive on my own.