Chapter 79

Chapter : 79

“I heard you are getting married.”

“Haha, is that what Katarina told you? Yes. That is right. This winter.”

“I have received a lot from both of you, so I want to give you something as a gift. More precisely, I have received a lot from Lady Katarina. But if I tell Master about this, it is obvious she will say she does not want it....”

“If Katarina says it is fine, then would it not be fine?”

“Yes, well, that is true. But still... no.”

“Enough. She knows you are rich too. She says it is fine even knowing that.”

“I was thinking of giving you a detached villa at a resort.”

At my words, Gilbert blinked. After blinking, he inhaled.

“May I go discuss this with Katarina for a moment?”

I laughed faintly and nodded. Gilbert left his laboratory as he was. I performed Mana Circulation Training where I sat and waited for Gilbert. Around the time I had circulated mana once through my body, Gilbert scratched his head and brought Katarina with him.

“Katarina says she likes it too....”

I thought she would refuse if it was a half-hearted gift, so I went big. That worked well. Katarina smiled awkwardly and said,

“Thank you.”

“Yes, well.”

I spread out the map I had brought, and the three of us discussed the location and scale of the villa. It would cost a staggering amount of money, but if it was to win Katarina’s favor, this much was not a waste. In truth, even apart from that, I wanted to do at least this for her.

She had poured all her sincerity into teaching me. I was grateful for that.

When Katarina heard the amount, she looked at me as though asking whether this was really all right, and I smiled back at her. We joked a few more times, and the three of us ate a meal together. After congratulating them three or four more times, I parted from them.

---

Then I went to find Agares. I was curious whether he had met a priest and had his physical condition properly checked. When I knocked on the door of his dormitory room, the door opened after a short while. Agares received me with beads of sweat gathered on his forehead.

“How is your body?”

“It seems that mage bastard did not intend to injure me deliberately. He said marks would remain on my body, but other than that, I am fine. I was lucky. I am satisfied with that.”

“That is a relief.”

“Yes, thank you for worrying.”

“What do you intend to do now? Since you have lost your power, will it not be difficult to defend your territory?”

“Hmm.... That is the problem. My one remaining worry. Until now, defending the territory depended on my martial power, but that will be difficult now, will it not? I will have to recruit more soldiers and educate officers to command them. It will cost some money.”

After hearing Agares’s words, I realized that alone would not be enough.

Among the monsters of the North, there were some that became infinitely strong against soldiers who had not reached a certain level. For example, ones whose hide was so thick that ordinary arrows and blades did not work on them. In the past, Agares would have dealt with such creatures personally, but now that was impossible.

He needed something to handle those bastards.

When I tilted my head, Agares understood my curiosity and added more.

“As for the rest, I intend to rely on firearms. If there is one fortunate thing, it is that I am wealthy. I will likely use bombs made with magical engineering.”

“Ah....”

Once my mana was full, I could fire dozens of Flame Bullets. And the Magic Tower sold weapons with power similar to a single one of my Flame Bullets at an extremely high price. The efficiency was close to the worst. Hearing that Agares would use those made tears gather in my eyes, even though it was not my money.

“Yes, I understand.”

“Ah, right. Do you remember that promise? I said that if you fell into danger, I would help you with all my strength... but given my state, I do not think I can keep that promise. Is there anything else you want?”

“That promise is enough. Your Grace has many things besides strength, after all.”

“I am grateful that you say that....”

“Then do you intend to postpone returning to your territory?”

“No. It is not that. Since things have turned out this way, I have to go down once and inspect the territory.”

After checking on Agares’s situation, I met Navier.

She came to find me with a gloomy expression. I must have been watching this kid for a long time. Her expression itself drooped, but the area around her eyes was clean, and she was still full of vitality.

Contrary to her expression, it did not seem to be anything serious. After listening to her story, that was exactly the case.

Navier never missed an opportunity once she had bitten into it. Like summer catching spring’s embers and blazing up, she pushed forward with great momentum.

She met Kartea every day and did various things with him. Even so, there was one thing she was disappointed about, and that was the marriage matter.

“I want to at least receive a promise of engagement for now, but he rarely speaks in that direction.”

“Why not bring it up first?”

“That is not as easy as it sounds.”

Listening to her story, I felt I knew what the problem was. She wanted Kartea to mention marriage or engagement first, but he lacked tact.

“How about saying your family is hinting at it?”

Countless young ladies entered the Academy to find marriage partners. Even if Navier had not had that intention, it would not be strange to say that her family was pressuring her.

“That would be too obvious.”

“What is wrong with being a little obvious?”

“Is that so.... In truth, it is not a lie. My parents always bring up that topic whenever we meet. All right. I will try that.”

She said that, and returned a few days later.

“Yes. We decided to get engaged.”

“That was fast.”

“If I had known it would be this easy, I suppose I should have said it earlier. His Highness the Crown Prince said he had been putting it off because saying this was burdensome for him too. Haha....”

“That is good. So did you set the day? When is it?”

“Not yet. But I think there will be news soon. His Highness the Crown Prince returned to the Imperial Court immediately after our conversation ended yesterday.”

“That is good. Congratulations.”

“Yes, I can hardly believe lately that things have gone this well.”

After the Agares incident ended, I passed my days without incident like that. Then, a letter arrived.

It was a letter from the Alchemy Society. To summarize, it said they would give Bishot and me the Komi Award.

The Komi Award.

It was an award given to the person who contributed most greatly to the advancement of alchemy that year.

Seeing that not only my name but Bishot’s was there as well, it was thanks to creating the treatment for Elzenic Disease. Considering the various things I had presented, I would have received the award even if it had not been for the treatment for Elzenic Disease, but in any case, the pretext was Elzenic Disease.

Because the transmission route of Elzenic Disease was unclear, people contracted it regardless of status.

That was a serious problem, and since it was difficult to find a proper treatment method, it had troubled many people.

In such a situation, the one who solved it was Bishot.

I took the letter and went to find Bishot. She had also received the letter and seemed quite surprised.

“What should we do?”

“I know. This is a difficult decision. I wonder whether I may accept this.”

“You are the one who accomplished it.”

“All I did was formulation. What I did in the development of the medicine was something anyone could have done, in truth. With anything, the important part is the idea. I merely assisted.”

Uh....

It seemed this kid’s thoughts were different from mine again. I evaluated Bishot as having handled everything in the development of the treatment, but Bishot thought the complete opposite.

“Then shall we not accept it?”

“Pardon? You are different from me. You are more than qualified.”

“I do not think I particularly did anything either.”

“No. You accomplished everything! What I did was odd work....”

“If it had not been for you, I would never have done it. From my point of view, you did everything.”

Bishot took a deep breath and lowered her head.

“When I learned the name of the Komi Award as a child, I dreamed of receiving it, but I gave up because it seemed difficult with my aptitude. But now that I have gained the opportunity to receive the award like this, I feel unsettled.”

To be honest, whether I received this award or not did not matter to me at all. Even if the alchemy world acknowledged my ability, I would no longer work in that field, and even if I gained fame from this, it would be a useless title.

But that was not something I could say in front of Bishot, who placed great meaning on the award. I kept my mouth shut and watched her reaction.

“You feel burdened about receiving the award, right? Because you think your contribution to making the medicine this time was small. If that is the reason, there is no need to worry. This medicine would not have come into the world if not for you.”

“Yes. Thank you for saying that....”

“Then let us accept the award.”

“Understood.”

The recipients had been chosen, but there was still quite some time left before the award ceremony. When I checked the letter again, it said this winter. Hmm. Very good. Since we had to maintain our relationship reasonably well at least until winter, Bishot would not suddenly expose Raphael’s crimes.

I talked with Bishot about a few more trivial things. I asked how the clinical trial subject, whose condition had become the reason she changed the medicine’s mechanism of action, was doing, and I checked whether Jefrin had been injured by Agares. Bishot answered that everyone was fine. Then we left for our respective dormitories.

After returning to my dormitory, I thought. Things were going well. They could not be better.

---

While I was swinging my sword, Katarina spoke.

“Your expression has been bright lately.”

“Do you remember what I told you before? That I might have to fight Jefrin after he becomes a Sword Master. It seems that may not happen.”

“Why?”

“Hmm.... We made up a little. That is why.”

“Then do you not need to train this hard anymore? After doing this, you look like you are trying to die.”

“One never knows what may happen.”

Bishot’s sudden behavior at the ball had been like that.

It was something Bishot from the original would never have done. Because of that, I had not prepared for it and had nearly paid a harsh price. This time, things had gone extremely well, and half of my worries seemed to have been resolved.

But just in case.