Chapter 26

Chapter : 26

Until now, I had only barely shown my face at the Alchemy Club when Katarina forced me to attend.

And once I had left enough of an impression on Gilbert, I went straight home.

Lately, even that had become less frequent, since I had been meeting Gilbert privately over business-related items.

It was genuinely rare for me to set foot in the club room.

When I checked the clock, it was exactly seven in the evening.

The regular classes at the Academy had ended, and the students should already have left.

There, I found myself facing Bishot.

We exchanged only the briefest greetings before getting straight to the point.

“In the patent you submitted, you used Star-Starling essence as the base, but I think the problem is that it lowers sensitivity to mana. What if we diluted it instead? Then it seems as though the sensitivity might be preserved.”

“That sounds as though it might work.”

“Also, I think delaying the heating stage could be effective. Lowering the temperature by about twenty degrees seems as though it might help. What do you think?”

“That sounds as though it might work.”

It had already been nearly three months since I fell into this world.

And over the past few days, I had exchanged more words with Bishot than I had in all that long time before.

Most of those conversations had been about alchemy, and I had tried to answer her as earnestly as possible.

“Do you not think it might work if we reverse the order?”

“That sounds as though it might work.”

As earnestly as possible.

Which is to say, the best I could do was encourage her by telling her that anything sounded as though it might work.

It wasn’t as though I actually knew enough to circle something or cross it out. My knowledge of alchemy was completely empty.

“I see.”

At my repeated barrage of that sounds as though it might work, Bishot’s brows twitched downward and her face tightened.

She bit down on her lower lip for a moment and then said,

“I understand what you mean. I claimed I would work together with you, and yet I still haven’t proven a single thing. I admit it myself. Something at this level is something I ought to be able to resolve alone. I’ll confirm it directly and come back.”

“Oh. Really?”

“Yes. I’ll return soon with results.”

“All right. Good luck.”

The truth was, even if Bishot succeeded in creating a cure for Elzenic Disease, it probably would not benefit me all that much.

To an ordinary noble, it would mean a tremendous amount of money, but for me it was vague. I already had more than enough money, and there was plenty still coming in even if I did nothing.

Even if the cure for Elzenic Disease were completed, at most it would only increase a portion of the profits I was already earning through alchemy.

What mattered more than that was my relationship with Bishot.

I could never erase the wrongs Raphael had piled up in the past. But at least I had cleared up the misunderstanding that arose after entering the Academy, and we had even reached a point where we could join hands temporarily if needed. It was real progress by any standard.

Yes, this much was good enough.

When I first heard that Bishot had reached Earthroot Fleabane sooner than in the Original Work, I had wanted to give up and throw everything aside.

In fact, I had even narrowed my plan to nothing more than preventing her from ending up with the male leads.

But things had gone well enough to bring me here.

I felt inwardly rather proud of a result that was, by any fair measure, satisfying.

So what should I do now?

I would continue trying to improve the relationship.

But becoming close to Bishot would have been going too far. She stood at the center of the storm where all kinds of incidents erupted. Being on bad terms with the storm was a problem, yes, but that did not mean I wanted to become friendly with it.

To put it simply, it would be enough if she reached the point where she could overlook the mistakes Raphael had made. Trying to shorten the distance between us by acting close would have been foolish.

At this rate, it should be fine.

I would only cooperate in making the cure for Elzenic Disease.

That would be enough.

That night, lying in bed, I thought it over. What should I do from here on?

After rolling around on the soft mattress for a while, I finally settled on an answer.

The position I ought to aim for in Bishot’s life was not that of a friend, but something closer to a capable business partner.

I did not need to earn her human affection.

All I needed was to demonstrate usefulness, and that I would not betray her.

To make that clear, I decided I should show her both the help I could provide and that I was reliable.

First, I gathered various materials necessary to make the cure for Elzenic Disease.

Common or inexpensive ingredients would have been easy enough for Bishot to obtain on her own.

So what I paid attention to was the quality of the materials.

Expensive ones, or ones that were difficult to obtain.

Among them, I especially gathered anything that seemed even remotely connected to mana. Alongside those, I prepared a single contract.

The contract, drawn up with Gilbert’s advice, set out in concrete terms the business plan and division of profits in the event that we succeeded in creating the cure for Elzenic Disease.

Since I already had plenty of money anyway, I briefly considered giving Bishot a more favorable share of the profits, but then I shook my head.

Rather than doing something unnecessary and making her suspicious, it was better to keep things careful and ordinary.

The next day, I met Bishot and handed over the contract and the materials I had organized.

“That’s all right. I can obtain the materials I need for the research on my own.”

“Haha…”

I wasn’t laughing at Bishot.

It was just that hearing her say that reminded me of an earlier conversation. She had said then, too, that she wanted nothing at all from me.

“Are you serious?”

I spread out the materials from the full basket across the table. Not a single one among them was easy to procure.

“I’m not giving them to you for nothing. This is a transaction. We said we were working together to create a cure for Elzenic Disease, so if you get stuck because you can’t obtain the materials, then that’s my loss too.”

“That is true, but…”

Seeing Bishot hesitate, I started talking like a street peddler trying to force goods onto a customer.

“I’m not doing this to put you in my debt. It’s just that I have a lot of other products besides the Elzenic Disease project, so I’m busy. I don’t want to keep investing time in this forever. I just want to deal with it quickly.”

At the same time, I held out the contract I had brought.

“What is this?”

“If we make the cure, then we’ll have to sell it. And then we’ll need to divide the profits.”

Bishot let out a small laugh.

“So you’re already thinking about what comes after it’s finished. Yes, I understand well enough that you’re serious about this matter, Lord Raphael. Then I’ll regard this not as a gift, but as something I ought naturally to accept.”

Then Bishot pulled out an armful of flowers from the table.

Kiarence.

Its overall shape resembled a rose, though the petals were rather fuller and the leaves thinner. At present, it was not used much because research into it was incomplete, but if one knew how to use it, it became a useful material in many ways.

Kiarence dissolved without leaving a trace in high-temperature water, and water in which Kiarence had been dissolved prevented osmosis between liquids infused with mana.

“I’ll sign the contract. It doesn’t lean unfairly toward either side, and there are no poisonous clauses in it. I’ll also accept the materials you’ve supported me with, because they’re necessary for the research.”

Bishot pushed the bundle of Kiarence toward me.

“But this is different. I won’t go so far as to explain what this flower means.”

In the Original Work, the use for Kiarence was only revealed somewhat later.

Which meant that the reason Bishot was rejecting it now was probably because she didn’t know how to make use of it yet.

So if I told her how to use it and what it did, then perhaps she would accept it after all?

That thought did cross my mind.

But Bishot’s expression was absurdly serious.

If I mentioned the truth, it would only end up sounding like I was saying, You don’t even know this? Since that would humiliate her, I quietly placed the Kiarence into the basket.

Bishot smiled as though satisfied.

On the way back to the dormitory, I looked over the Kiarence, and it really was pretty.

Its pale violet leaves were thin enough that, beneath a lamp or in sunlight, the light passed through them transparently, and that made them strikingly beautiful. So yes, I could see why she might misunderstand.

Then again, her reaction still seemed excessive for something like that.

So, on the way back to the dormitory, I turned instead toward the library to confirm it.

Kiarence behaved exactly as it looked.

It had been given a flower meaning perfectly suited to its appearance.

True love.

I scratched roughly at my head.

That wasn’t it at all.

---

While teaching me magic, Ian said with complete certainty,

“Why can you only do it like that? That isn’t how it’s done.”

“Shouldn’t you know by now that not everyone can do things the way you do?”

“That’s disappointing. If we only consider the amount of Mana, it looks promising…”

To use magic, one needed several kinds of talent. Even putting aside Mana Capacity, there were many other qualities a mage had to possess. Unlike Ian, I hadn’t been given every one of those talents.

“Then should I just give it up cleanly?”

Ian looked puzzled.

Considering the background in which Ian had grown up, it made sense that he would find the idea strange.

Everyone around Ian in the Magic Tower had been mad about magic.

Even if, by Ian’s standards, they had been ordinary or dull, they still could not have let go of magic.

The Magic Tower was a place where people gathered because magic was their dream.

I was different.

“There isn’t only one path.”

“That’s true. The field of magic is broad. There are countless things one can do.”

“Hm?”

“You can simply choose something else.”

Hmm.

It seemed I had misunderstood Ian’s words.

He had been badgering me about why I could only manage that much after teaching me magic, so I had thought he was telling me to give it up. But that wasn’t it.

“You’re clumsy with manipulating and transforming mana, but your raw output itself isn’t bad.”

Ian said it wasn’t bad, but if I took that at face value, misunderstanding was inevitable.

Not bad was by Ian’s standards. Compared with ordinary people—or even ordinary mages—it was excellent talent.

“We’ll abandon spells that manipulate attributes, like elemental magic. Instead, we’ll focus on simple things.”

In the Original Work, Raphael had dabbled in magic too. He chose exactly the elemental magic Ian had just dismissed, struggled with it, hit a wall, and gave up.

“Simple things? Like what?”

“Shield and Mana Bullet. Later, once your skill improves, Telekinesis.”

Simple spells really were simple.

If one ignored their power, they were spells anyone could use, as long as they were capable of drawing mana out of their body.

“For now, polish Shield and Mana Bullet.”

“How?”

“You’re accepting that? Are you really all right with this?”

Ian asked again.

Why again? What exactly was he curious about?

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Are you truly fine without learning high-tier magic? Isn’t something like Hellfire every mage’s dream?”

“Not mine.”

What a bizarre romantic ideal.

“Why is Hellfire supposed to be every mage’s dream?”

“It isn’t mine, but everyone else seems to set it as their goal.”

Ian then told me an old story.

Long ago, there had been a passage to the demon realm in the North, and through that passage, a demon had appeared.

A certain great mage realized what had happened, used Hellfire, and killed the demon. That was how the happy ending went.

“Probably everyone grew up hearing that story.”

“Ah. I see.”

It had nothing to do with me.

I hadn’t grown up here, and I’d never heard stories like that.

If anything, this suited me better.

In the end, the truly efficient spells were limited anyway, and if they could support my swordsmanship, that was enough. If I could get visible results with only a little study, there was no reason to overdo it and crack my head open studying more than I needed.

If I reduced what Ian said to its essence, it came down to this:

“So I don’t have to study anymore.”

For once, Ian smiled.