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Chapter 220: No School for You and Me! [Release Version]
🕑 Added 2021-09-15 00:46:52 +0000 UTCEdit: Typos and some small changes.
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“Hey, look, isn’t that the young dragonewt lady? Why is she here at the academy during our recess?”
“W-What?! She's His Majesty’s honored g-guest?! So, all the nobles who attended the ball already knew her before that singing performance?”
“Her appearance at the ball and concert really made me believe she couldn’t be the one who kidnapped the professors. But in that outfit, yeah, definitely the same person… She’s beautiful, right?”
Even in another world, school is filled with gossip, huh? Whether nobles or commoners, teenagers talk about anything and everything.
The number of times I’ve visited and walked inside the royal academy’s grounds could really only be counted as one. My first “visit,” which was “kidnapping” some professors for my magic guild initiation, was only me flying around and using warp points to teleport around. Aside from when I came for the festival, all of the other visits were just me escorting Ellaine, nothing more.
I only checked the outside last time, but now, I was able to check out the inside of the academy’s building. I was walking through the halls with Ellaine as my escort. Technically, this was Ellaine’s time off from class, so unfortunately I didn’t exactly have the time to explore to my heart’s content. As we needed to speak with Thyra Morgiana about Ellaine’s school attendance, I decided it would be best to come over when Ellaine had the longest break to speak with her, which was lunchtime.
Compared to students on Earth, nobles get far longer breaks in between classes. It’s supposed to aid in socializing, the main skill for most nobles.
Ignoring the gossiping students who had started whispering the moment I entered the academy, I took in the exterior and interior of this place. To start from the top, the academy was similar to the magic guild’s area, as both could be compared to a university setup — multiple buildings in an area to which you had to walk between.
The royal academy was divided up into four buildings — one for managerial and social skills, one for physical training and tactics, one for magical training and studies, and, lastly, a new building that was currently being constructed by earth mages; sadly, Ellaine didn’t know what disciplines the new building would be used for. The current buildings were divided this way based on the size and requirements that each of the three subjects had for their students. You required an area to train socializing and debating skills, a training ground for physical education, and a magic practice area protected by magical wards to name a few.
Thyra, as the principal of the royal academy, had her office in the managerial and social-focused building. This was also the place for the board of directors to gather, who managed and made sure the principal would do her job well. Since the education of future nobles was a very important aspect of the academy, this council was only composed of experienced and noteworthy aristocrats.
As I walked through the halls of this building, it honestly reminded me too much of an aristocrat’s mansion. I knew this was made for nobles, including royalty, to attend, but it still was surprising. If I were to compare this to the private school I attended on Earth, then I would be insulting this place. This place was absolutely gorgeous.
The same blue and white uniforms from the festival? Noble children have crests with white outlines on theirs, while commoners with prominent families only have a simple crest. Those without a notable family have no crest at all. Easy to distinguish, easy to discriminate, I guess.
After satisfying my curiosity, I turned to Ellaine. Her strained expression exposed how uncomfortable she was feeling.
“… Ellaine.”
“I understand, Lady Hestia. Less nervous, more confident,” she responded to me.
“You wanted to participate on stage with me; remember how I helped you train and warned you about stage fright. Hold your head high, some eyes shouldn’t unnerve you,” I said, while remembering very well how nervous I was when I had my first concert.
It would be too awkward if we don’t talk about something. She’ll only get more nervous.
“Since you’re from Greenveil, you should mostly have classes in this building, right?” I asked, trying to clear the awkwardness away.
“Yes, that is the case, Lady Hestia. For a Greenveil noble, being able to take care of their fief is one of the highest priorities. Even if I were to be married off, my husband would have expected me to have the knowledge and skills to make our fief flourish, so that is why I attend these classes.”
At the start of a semester, students were allowed to send in their preferences for certain classes, which the academy uses to construct the overall curriculum for that semester. It sounded overwhelming, but, as this academy was the only educational institution in this kingdom, it was a must in order to appease all the different nobles.
I nodded, but then looked at the two spell rings on her left hand. “Then what about now? I heard from your father that you would be able to change your classes at the beginning of a semester if you didn’t like your current ones. Shouldn’t you fill your schedule with more magical- and physical-oriented training?”
Much like on Earth, each class would be held in a certain time slot. In the first two weeks, students were able to change their schedules if they were unsatisfied with either the time, the lecturer, or whatever reason they could think about. Within reason, of course. You couldn’t order them to completely change when these lessons would happen, even if you were the crown prince or princess.
As I was wondering why Ellaine hadn’t changed the classes she would attend, her mouth twitched a bit and she began whispering into my ear, “The semester was already two weeks in when we arrived in Griffonpeak.”
“…” It seemed that I had forgotten about that fact. We spent about two weeks of SpringBloom in Cedaraille.
“Anyway, even if I could, I wouldn’t. Well, with father, mother, and everybody from Aurora helping me train in their own ways, why would I want to fill my academy day with less effective training? I mean, the moment I come home, I usually either train or do my homework.” That was true. If Ellaine wasn’t spending leisure time with me and the others, she would usually be busy with mastering Klea’Hatma’s powers. “Besides, I’m the one responsible for our finances and any future mercantile deals, like with the Sarlenzia company, so it would be better if I knew how to cut better deals.”
Our financial situation has pretty much stabilized with the deals we made with the Sarlenzia company and with Duke Greenveil. Mages were buying our fulinoe leaves in abundance and I had heard noble ladies and merchant wives were pre-ordering pastries and rice sweets for their tea parties.
However, between Grimnir’s projects and my concert costs, we probably would face some trouble after we leave Artorias. Saori’s merchant guild membership allowed her to withdraw the money owed to us, but only from within Artorias, since the merchant guild’s bank option only worked inside this kingdom’s vicinity.
We probably won’t have any problems if we continuously do some B rank Quests, but the money won’t come in as easily anymore. Or, we could rely on serving rich merchants and nobles through our restaurant, but we haven’t tried doing that yet. We should do it soon.
Thyra’s office was on the third floor of the building. On the way, we overheard people sharing various rumors, but there were some substantial ones among the superficial.
“Hey, I read in a book that dragons learn how to change into humans and elves whenever they come down, since, you know, they are quite big. My father and mother told me they saw a red dragon at the Cedaraille battle.”
“Huh? You aren’t meaning to say that His Majesty’s honored guest is that very dragon?! That would be absurd, shouldn’t she be a visitor from Loatryx… Wait, could that be the case? Lady Ellaine’s father was recently elevated from the rank of Count to an Arcanuess, too.”
“I’m just saying. It’s known in our duchy that House Helvas have been providing lodging for Lady Hestia for a while now, and then suddenly they introduce yeast to our Kingdom through Lady Amelia’s confectionary shop. We really shoul— Actually, our parents are too low rank for this. My sister told me the rumors said she was a greifnoble ranked guest.”
Rumors cannot be stopped, it seems.
After we made it to the front of Thyra’s office, I spoke with the secretary for an appointment. Funnily enough, she seemed to have recognized me, not needing to ask for my name before knocking on the office door and going inside. At this point, Ellaine wanted to leave since she needed to prepare for her next class. However, that wouldn’t happen.
“Huh?! Principal Morgiana wants me to come in too?!” After all, she would be coming with me.
“Lady Hestia, welcome to the royal academy once again. Please, have a seat.” Thyra, the heir of House Morgiana, stood up from the sofa, showing off a formal but fashionable dress. Her sharp ears made me remember that she and her family were all half-elves.
I greeted her with a curtsy before doing the same for the woman sitting next to her. “I apologize if I interrupted your discussion with Lady Maverina, Lady Thyra. I probably should have sent a letter instead of coming unannounced.”
Maverina von Dareinburgh, the guild master of the mage’s guild of Griffonpeak and a noble from the Folschreck Empire, reciprocated my greeting, “May the Earth Goddess, Crustacia, bless you on this fine EarthDay, Lady Hestia. Please, be at ease. Lady Thyra and I were only speaking about trivial subjects, you did not interrupt us.”
I nodded and headed over to the sofa, only to wonder why Ellaine was standing still. She expressed how she wasn’t sure why she had to join this discussion, to which Thyra explained that she also wanted to speak about her coming too late to classes yesterday and the two weeks she missed at the start of the semester.
Since that was why Ellaine was called in, I thought it would be best to skip the small talk and get straight to business. “Lady Thyra, I want to ask you if there is a way for Ellaine to skip the next few weeks of classes.”
“Declined.” It was an immediate answer! “Lady Hestia, it is common for students or professors to miss classes due to their duties to their families. However, only if they have a reasonable justification. Lady Ellaine, your parents recently informed us that your brother, Lord Jonathan, will be on an indefinite break due to his own wish to ‘better himself.’ I can’t force him to come, but this will absolutely affect his chance to graduate this year.”
Since Jonathan was now only focused on his adventurer work to become stronger, he had decided to stay away from his family as well as the noble circles. He was in a single-minded pursuit for power.
“Lady Ellaine, I can already guess that your reason will be related to Aurora. That's your party name, right?” She looked over to Maverina, who nodded, and then back to me. “There are five days of lectures each week. You may do whatever you wish on the weekends, even doing some Quests. I am an advocate for my students to hunt more in their free time, but you shouldn’t miss class for that.”
“Even if the classes aren’t teaching her much?” Thyra frowned at what I said. Maverina let out an “Oh my” while Ellaine looked a bit panicky. “I apologize if I sound a bit rude, but I remember you saying something similar at the festival. That the lessons aren’t practical enough. Maybe I don’t have the full picture in mind since I’ve never attended the academy, but Ellaine requires more than theoretical classes to better herself and her skills.”
I kinda sound like Ellaine’s sister in this case, but I’m only doing this so we can keep Aurora working together.
Thyra thought my words through as she sipped her tea. She continued speaking after turning to Ellaine. “Lady Ellaine, I think you are aware that if you miss too many classes that I cannot allow you to advance to the next year, delaying your graduation. These are Aleistunum rules; I cannot change them.”
“That is correct,” Maverina agreed. “As the representative of the Magical Capital, Aleistunum, I am a member of the board of directors and responsible for most of the rules, since Griffonpeak’s academy and university are built using Aleistunum as their role models. I will allow changes to accommodate the country, but not for an individual.”
Thyra nodded. “It is as you heard. However, I still want to ask you personally, why do you wish to miss out on classes? If the subject matter is too basic for you, you may ask the professors for additional materials. I am also attempting to introduce new classes to accommodate people with your interest.”
That was probably the goal for the new building.
“Well, my main reason is to continue working as an adventurer. Lady Hestia and the others from Aurora are planning to increase our party’s rank and do some favors for the hunter’s guild’s master. I also would like to train and test out my skills outside of practice, in the field, and since I can’t improve on them with the current lessons the academy offers,” Ellaine stated, hiding the fact that the abilities come from Klea’Hatma. “But, the thing is, I also wish to continue going to the academy. I see enough reasons to attend the managerial classes.”
Thyra began tapping a finger on her cheek, looking perturbed, before turning over to Maverina and asking for her opinion. She thought over the question before turning to me. “Lady Hestia, as a void-touched, how high is your [Space-Time Magic]? Since you can use warp point, you should be level five at the very least.”
“I am level six. I have access to [Room].”
“Oh, really? That is a shame, since you are an [Otherworldly Reincarnator] I thought you could spend skill points to level it up.”
“I can, but the cost of each upgrade of [Space-Time Magic] is so substantial that I don’t want to was— Ehhh?!” Seeing how out-of-nowhere Maverina’s comment came from, my reaction was severely delayed until my parallel minds reminded me that I had not told her my secret. “H-How do you know that?!”
Ellaine’s surprise was anticipated, but Thyra was giving Maverina an equally questioning look, making me believe the former did not tell the latter anything.
“Are you asking me how I know you are an otherworlder or why I knew you were a ‘reincarnator’ and not a ‘visitor?’”
“Both.”
“Ah, for two reasons. One — I am almost completely convinced you are the rumored red dragon who showed up at Cedaraille. Your scale color matches the reports and you participated in the rachonoid battle after the dragon disappeared. King Drangleic did call you his honored guest, meaning you have diplomatic immunity, but that doesn’t prove anything, only that you are a special dragonewt.”
That first reason was already pretty convincing for most people. Why did the dragon disappear at the Cedaraille battle? Where was its corpse if it died? Why did we not see it fly off? Those questions were reasonable, and then you realize that I was participating in the battle. Why did I start healing people so late? Why did I not shoot my spells earlier?
Maverina continued. “Second reason — I have no idea of which draconic bloodline you belong to, but I do know ‘Atsuko’ is either an unknown dragon or it’s your middle name. Strangely, it sounds pretty similar to Miss Saori’s and the names of the heroes, from my research. Atsuko, hmm, Atsuko. Lady Thyra, could you repeat the names of the heroes once again.”
The names of Saori’s students sounded pretty normal to me, since I was used to how Japanese words and names sounded. However, to Ellaine, Thyra, and Maverina, they sounded pretty out of place. The European sound of most names in Artorias and the nearby human lands would have made me stand out like Saori were it not for my first name “Hestia.”
So, Maverina figured it all out herself.
“Haaaa, yeah, I guess there’s no need to hide it anymore.” I slumped into my sofa. If she is that convinced, denying it when I don’t have a good excuse ready would just make me more suspicious.
“As I thought. My deduction was correct, hohoho! Which means that y—”
“You asked for my full name, right? It’s Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor, the youngest daughter of Emperor Eltharion and Sixth Empress Melloxtressa. I am an otherworlder who was reincarnated in Peolynca as a dragon whelp. I became one-year-old this year.”
“…” Maverina was petrified, looking at me with two lifeless eyes, as if somebody had taken her soul away and frozen her in place. When Thyra shook her shoulder, Maverina did not respond, only rebooting her mind after a few moments or so. “I APOLOGIZE!” She jumped on the ground and kowtowed.
“May Goddess Plesia has mercy on my soul for following the rules, BUT I APOLOGIZE FOR PUTTING YOU IN SUCH AN EMBARRASSING SITUATION, LADY HESTIA!” I wasn’t the sort of person who very much enjoyed people bowing before me. Sure, I loved admiration, but looking at somebody on all fours begging for forgiveness was an embarrassing feeling.
“Dammit, stand up, please!” I said with a warm face.
After calming her down, I explained how I felt about everything, which included the fine I got from mage’s guild during the day I wanted to join them. I personally wasn’t very angry at the ruling itself. Let’s be honest, rules were made to avoid past mistakes and disasters, and I could imagine how the “new custom spells must be registered and documented” rule was created.
What I was annoyed about was the huge fine we had to pay. We weren’t rich, and it was a pretty huge hit to our finances. If we hadn’t gotten that deal with the Sarlenzia company going, we probably would have had to work a lot of Quests to even get the concert up and going. Or, even worse, take out a loan!
Maverina was a stickler for rules. As such, she didn’t apologize for fining me in general, but did apologize for acting so smug when she did so. Since she had a feeling I was that red dragon in Cedaraille, she admitted to wanting to put me in a situation where I would owe the mage’s guild.
Since Aleistunum hadn’t had a chance to gain any new information about dragons in a long time, Maverina thought she could make a breakthrough if she could study the innate magical potential of a dragon more. I would be a good candidate, for example. I dunno why she didn’t just ask me upfront, but I guess that’s how nobles handled stuff. Too bad she didn’t know my actual identity and that I was under the protection of the king.
With all of that behind us, I asked a now calm Maverina why she had asked about my [Space-Time Magic] level. “That is because if you had [Space-Time Magic Lv. 10], you would have gotten the spell [Spatial Portal].”
From level six onwards, these were the spell I would receive if I leveled up [Space-Time Magic] — [Spatial Rend] for level seven, [Time Control: Acceleration] for eight, [Time Control: Deceleration] for nine, and, finally, [Spatial Portal] for level ten. There was no advanced version. All of this information came from the books left behind by Istari, from when he was still a mortal.
A portal, huh? Damn. It would be enticing, but that amount of SP…
2000 SP to upgrade my [Space-Time Magic] to level seven. It would be obscene even if I had over 10k SP to spend. The reason I wouldn’t be doing that is that I could obtain new skills from the mutation system.
[Crimson-Scaled Dreadgiver] and [Infernal Hellblade] were two Jobs I’ve gotten through my draconic racial skills that I’ve mastered. Each Job allowed me to unlock two new racial abilities called mutations which I could buy to improve my existing skills; however, each mutation cost 1500 skill points. I haven’t even bought the mutations I unlocked from [Infernal Hellblade] yet, and who knows how many unique skills I could buy in the future.
As such, I had to be conservative with my SP. If it’s a skill that I can train up by using it often enough, then it would be a waste of SP to upgrade it if the situation isn’t an emergency. It might be greedy of me, but I think I deserved to be greedier now that I wasn’t fighting alone and inside a place like the Belzac forest anymore.
“If you had [Spatial Portal], you would be able to teleport Lady Ellaine from one place to the other. You could work as adventurers one day and be back in the city on the next,” Maverina explained her thoughts.
Now that Maverina mentioned a portal, I couldn’t help but wonder if I could use the [Room] runes to do something similar? Since they were all connected to each other, I could theoretically access the same subspace as the one inside the RV with one of the runes. The unfortunate part was that we couldn’t test it out yet, since I only had one rune on me, and to open up the subspace a pair was needed.
I could use this rune and open the subspace anyways, even without a pair since I was the original caster of the spell, but I would like to test this theory out in a safer environment with a fourth rune first. Also if those three were inside the subspace when I used the rune… I don’t want to accidentally cause any potential complications.
“What if I could somehow solve this problem? Would you be able to give Ellaine permission then?” I offered. “Some portal to help Ellaine come from the fields to the academy. If I can do that, could you give Ellaine permission to potentially come late to her classes?”
“If you could do that without [Spatial Portal], you would earn awards for such a discovery, Lady Hestia. You would also be desired greatly by certain individuals due to the sheer utility of that ability. Due to how extremely rare void-touched are, little to no progress can be made studying [Space-Time Magic], you see.” However, although Maverin was excited, she still let out a sigh with a sad frown. “However… I apologize, but coming too late too often is still not a good thing, Lady Hestia. Even if you are creating a magical revolution, I can’t be that flexible, I’m sorry.”
Dammit, Maverina, come on! Why are you being so difficult!
As I was at my wit’s end, Thyra suddenly interjected with a lifeline. “Then, how about a deal?”
““A deal?”” Maverina and I looked at Thyra.
“Yes. Lady Maverina, didn't you say that the university had to let go of their master tier fire professor? Since he had to return home? Well, the academy hasn’t found any prospective fire mage professors due to our strict background checks yet. Why not have Lady Hestia become the professor of both institutions and allow Ellaine to come just a bit later to classes?”
Maverina opened her mouth, elated at the sound of that idea. “Oooh, that would be marvelous! God Kargryxmor wasn’t known as the strongest fire dragon in history for nothing. I have seen her custom spells and they were not only unique but also quite powerful! Lady Hestia, what do you say? I would be—”
“Absolutely not! I’ve said it already, I won’t dabble in Shiterno’s shit!” I shouted, and made an “X” sign with my arms, showing them the sheer disgust I felt for this idea.
“B-But why?! This would be something Lady Maverina could agree on. And, also, ‘Shiterno?!’ Lady Hestia, you shouldn’t be so foul-mouthed when speaking about an Origin God,” Thyra argued but I was vehemently against it.
“Please, let me explain. If I may, Hestia?” Growling a bit, I permitted Ellaine to tell Thyra and Maverina my history with Shiterno and why I disliked him. Sure, he gave me a bunch of new cool skills, but the fact he made me endanger Saori’s, Tasianna’s, Master Kush’s and the other saurian’s lives with my rampage was something I would never forgive him for. I didn’t care what the stigma surrounding fire mages was, I just didn’t want to help Danterno out.
“Ooooh, so that is the story behind your [Divine Inferno] title. I had thought that, since you were blessed by God Danterno, you would not only be an amazing fire mage but also someone the God of Fire respects. You were an amazing professor candidate in my mind.” Thyra looked apologetic, realizing she opened up a terrible memory.
However, Maverina still was insistent on it. “Lady Hestia, while I do understand why you do not care about God Danterno, this isn’t a church. We do not expect you to preach to them about the values of the church of Danterno. Not at all, I swear on my honor as the mage’s guild master. However, what we are asking is that you teach these students how to improve and control their fire spells.”
What Thyra and Maverina wanted out of this professor candidate was somebody sane and not zealous. Due to what happened with Keith and the general stigma surrounding fire mages, the academy and university had to tighten their requirements and background checks on potential candidates.
The university, being more prestigious as an institution of learning instead of an institution devoted to teaching nobles how to be nobles and commoners how to be upstanding citizens like the royal academy, didn’t have any problem hiring more people. With Maverina’s connections, they could hire professors from all over the empire. However, the academy had been having trouble finding people for their position.
Since fire magic was an extremely powerful war-focused element, Artorias wanted to nurture and train a certain number of fire mages, especially those within the nobility. However, those who were qualified to teach already had jobs or were busy with something else, like their fief. Without a professor, the fire mages at the academy have sent loads of complaints at Thyra for their slow learning pace as they had to self-study and practice alone.
“[Fluid Cast] is the most important meta magic for us mages, since it allows us to create custom spells and control our spells better. These students, from what I’ve heard, have been having trouble conserving mana when using [Fluid Cast] on their spells, and they seem to have hit a ‘plateau’ at leveling their [Fire Magic] up. Without proper mastery, spells will fizzle and fail,” Thyra explained. “I myself am a fire mage and I could teach them, but as I only recently became the principal, I am swamped in work. In addition, the new classes that I must organize take up too much time.”
“You say you are swamped in work, but my schedule isn’t much better, Lady Thyra.” I had my concert practice and I also wanted to go on a tour soon and perform more to gain more followers. I had my own magical practice to do, I needed to become more familiar with the spear, and I had to train my draconic abilities, and that was on top of adventurer work. I didn’t have the time to train people outside of Aurora.
“Yes, but I am not expecting you to be a permanent professor, Lady Hestia. We just need you here for some time until we can hire a new professor using Lady Maverina’s connections.”
Nodding to Thyra’s plea, Maverina also added bait on top of it. “How about this. If you accept this position, I can not only allow Ellaine the privilege of coming late to classes but I will also call my contacts to create for your whole party battle-ready catalysts. I will assure you, they will of the highest—”
“We already got some,” I answered, interrupting her.
“Huh?”
“The imperial alchemist, Sir Krymdar. Saori and I gave him the parts of two B rank monsters and he was able to create some seriously good catalysts with them. Here, for example.” I took out my catalyst from my storage and showed it off. “Besides, even if you two call me a fire mage, I seriously only have two fire spells after what Shiterno did to me. [Ignite] and my personal custom spell, [Symphonie des Feuergottes]. [White Flames] and [Corrosive Fire] wouldn’t count, I think.”
“They would, without a doubt,” Maverina assured me. “At the very least, you should have experience with fire magic, right? You could always learn more custom fire spells if you needed to. It should be a cinch, right?”
Hmm, she is right… which reminds me!
“Lady Thyra, do you have a book about the System spells associated with [Inferno Magic]?”
She went over to her bookshelf and took a book out to hand it over to me. “Yes, I do. What do you wish to do with it?”
“Something that I have wanted to do for a while now but forgot.” I flipped over to the page with the associated spell and went out to the balcony of the office. There, I began my chant. “Observe, for the sky’s light comes from the flames of life. The burning energy it spreads to our land is a gift from the gods. So in his name, I ask of you, oh pure flame, turn my enemies into ash! Scorching Sun!”
<Custom Spell gained: [Scorching Sun]>
A nostalgic feeling surged through my right arm as the mana I poured into the red magic circle began to form a small ball of fireIn less than five seconds, it grew to the size of a boulder. However, the mana I’d invested in the spell hadn’t been used up just yet, as the inferno ball grew and grew, finally towering over people like the tallest trees in the Redwood National Park in California.
Good to have you back, my old friend.
System spells, in general, were easier to cast than custom spells due to the fact that System spells were supported by the Divine System. You didn’t need to remember the chant of a System spell as the System would stream the circle and chant into your head, while for a custom spell, a mage had to do everything. The magic circle, the chant, and the ability to control it.
However, that didn’t mean you couldn’t learn certain System spells as custom spells. It was something Master Kush explained to me to brighten my mood after I lost my fire and inferno spells. Technically, I had no need for them anymore since I could recreate something similar with [Pyrokinesis], but [Scorching Sun] was one of my favorite spells to use. Not just ‘cause it had “sun” in its name, but ‘cause of how devastating it was.
To demonstrate my control over it, I had the ball of fire twirling on my finger like a basketball without setting anything on fire. Satisfied with the results, I used the magic circle to release the mana inside the fire ball. As I used [Delay Cast], the spell never really activated so I could cancel it easily without having to throw it away.
“… See, I told you so, Lady Hestia. You are a qualified fire mage.” Thyra noted, showing a wry smile at my sudden display. “However, could you not have warned me? I can hear my students and professors panicking.”
I turned around and twitched my ear, suddenly aware of the panicked voices of the people who’d seen my [Scorching Sun]. “… Sorry.”
“It’s fine.” She sighed.
As I settled down back on the sofa, I quickly apologized to Ellaine as I couldn’t help her out. I just didn’t have the time to teach people. “It’s fine, Lady Hestia. I promised my father to attend the academy, so I’ll have to sit the concert tour out, I’m sorry.”
As Ellaine and I were about to excuse ourselves, Maverina stopped us once again. She was really stubborn! “Lady Hestia, I can offer to enchant your catalyst if you accept the offer. For free.”
As I looked at her with some confusion, she elaborated on it. “Enchanting is similar to runecrafting as it grants active and passive abilities, but the difference is that enchantments can only be performed on objects with high mana conductivity, like magical ore, magical paper, or mana threads. Runecrafting, on the other hand, cannot be applied to mana threads or catalysts since they aren’t ‘earth-related.’”
“For example?” I asked what enchantments could do.
“Well, let’s take your catalyst as an example. I could imagine abilities to help you control the temperature, further increase your spell damage, help you cast more spells over your [Multi-Cast] limit, and so on. Runesmithing is the art of controlling mana to strengthen and better something while enchanting is the art of weaving mana into crazy and fantastical effects.”
“Fantastical, huh?” I contemplated the idea, since it wouldn’t be wise to reject something this amazing, if it’s for free. Which also made me remember something I completely forgot. “Ellaine, didn’t you have [Enchanting Lv. 4] in your profile?”
“… Oh, I do.”
What is that surprise supposed to mean?!
“I mean, yes, I do. I learned it from my mother, but, well, I sort of forgot about it after I joined up with Aurora and met Master Grimnir. I mean, I enjoy artificer work more than enchanting, and with Master Grimnir working me to the bone, I really haven’t had the time nor the enthusiasm to relearn enchanting.” Considering the projects Grimnir wanted to do with Ellaine, it might be better for her to concentrate on that for now. Power armors and guns are just a few of the things Grimnir is dreaming of, and, without Ellaine, he wouldn’t be able to fulfill this ambition of his.
I continued contemplating on the subject. It was really enticing but, looking at my schedule once again, I just couldn’t find the time to do it. Saori, being a school teacher, probably knew how hard it is to be a teacher with all the preparations she had to do for her classes. I didn’t have that time, I’m not a workaholic. Even if it is to help prevent more people like Macklemor, I had no time.
Sometimes it was best to decline a job offer instead of delivering a subpar show.
I relayed this to Maverina, who finally gave up on offering me the professor position. If this offer wasn’t enough to make me interested enough to find another excuse, then I couldn’t be persuaded with other means.
“However, we will still issue a request for enchantments, if possible. We will pay of course,” I requested from her. “Also, would it be possible for you to acquire some Evida Desert Cactus Water? Of the highest quality?”
The last one was for Farron’s elixir.
She showed me a wry smile but still accepted my offer. “Of course, since you are members of the mage’s guild, you have every right to use the guild’s resources for a price. Please, come to the guild with your catalysts and I will have everything sorted, Princess Hestia! And, about the cactus water; that will be harder to get, since it is extremely expensive. If you have the funds, I can acquire it for you, but please be prepared when you come to the guild.”
And with that, I left the academy, leaving Ellaine to join her class. Since our initial plan to gain permission didn’t work, it meant that I had to create that teleportation method somehow with [Room]. For that, I had to wait for Grimnir and the others to return.
For some reason, instead of arriving that same day, like I expected, they didn’t make it back until the next day. Once they were back, I gave all of Aurora a general overview of what happened at the discussion the king had with Muraina and what our future plans will be.
“That is a good plan, Hestia. Good work. If we can help Artorias form an alliance with the dwarves, elves, and dragonewts, we will at the very least have allies for our future battle with the demonkin princes. However, if possible, I would like to visit and get to know the demonkins before then,” Saori stated with a serious face.
I agree. Krymdar's words did make me curious why he mentioned how “demonkins weren’t our enemies” despite what I’d told him. He clarified that the ones who are causing trouble in Artorias and in the Empire were the problem. Aurena didn’t have a good relationship with the demonkins thanks to her followers, but that didn’t mean every single one of them needed to be our enemy.
It was worth the visit, I think. Besides, since it’s Saori’s dream to travel throughout Peolynca, we will have to visit the demonkin kingdom one way or another, but I personally wanted it to be a peaceful visit.
I also wanted to ask Grimnir about the [Room] rune sooner rather than later, but first, we had to switch our Jobs and get our Quest rewards.
C rank, here I come!
Comments
Oh yeah, that sounds better.
Mhmm, noted.
Diego Rossi
We weren’t rich, sure, but it still was a pretty huge hit to our finances. -> We aren’t poor, sure, but it still was a pretty huge hit to our finances. I think it is a better fit for what you are saying.
Diego Rossi
To me, hearing the names of Saori’s students again was pretty normal to me, - there are two "To me". I would rewrite the phrase, making it something like "To me, the names of Saori's students sound pretty normal," but I am not a good writer. Thanks for the chapter.
Heeeey, you got that reference!
Frostbutt
So if she levels up her Space-time magic one more time, she’ll learn a powerful dragon attack!
