Chapter 87

Chapter : 87

Agares agreed to grant my request, and before even a day had passed, he returned and spoke.

“It is all over. Everything will unfold the way you want.”

Considering his temperament, it was obvious he would not drag the matter out, and that he would avoid any method that took a long time.

But I had not known it would be this fast.

“What exactly did you do?”

My bewilderment seemed to put him subtly in a good mood. Unlike usual, Agares grinned.

“Did I not tell you? Not all nobles are like you. Usually, when I speak nicely, everyone listens.”

“So what exactly did you do?”

“I simply went to him and told him. Correct the rumor and apologize.”

Even the same words changed greatly depending on who said them. If Agares had threatened and intimidated him, anyone would have nodded.

Even I, now that I had become somewhat comfortable with Agares, had found him unsettling when I first met him. If he had threatened me, I would likely have accepted it too.

“Thank you for helping.”

“This is not empty courtesy, but sincerity. It was nothing much.”

As Agares said that, he took out the bottle of liquor he had brought. Until now, the alcohol he had brought when drinking with me had come in large, crude bottles, but today, it was in a thinly crafted glass bottle.

“Then let us eat.”

At his order to fry chicken as promised, I took him to the kitchen. I quickly took out a dressed chicken and coated it in powder.

“This semester is my last. I will graduate soon. I will not be here starting next year, so what will you do when you grow lonely?”

“I have friends even excluding Your Grace.”

“That mage bastard?”

“Yes.”

“I am not exactly in a position to say this, but I say it for your sake, so listen carefully. A person must know how to choose their friends. Sometimes having no one around is better than keeping one useless bastard beside you.”

I let Agares’s words pass by as I prepared to fry the chicken.

I could roughly guess why he cursed Ian like this. He had been struck by Ian every time, and yet he himself had never managed to counterattack even once.

How much would being struck by lightning hurt?

I had never been hit by it, so I did not know in detail, but it looked quite painful. It was not ordinary lightning either, but lightning strengthened with Magical Power, so it would probably hurt especially more.

Ah, right. Ian had been worrying about that. What would he do after graduating from the Academy? Agares, who would graduate at the end of this semester, would probably have a plan, so I spoke.

“Does Your Grace have any particular plans after graduating from the Academy?”

Agares tilted his head as though wondering why I was asking such a thing.

“No. After all, am I not a Lord? I will have to focus on managing my territory.”

I fried the chicken while having various small conversations with Agares. Until now, I had fried chicken without using any other seasoning. In modern terms, it was Fried Chicken. But after continuing to eat only Fried Chicken, I began to think of seasoned chicken.

I tried to think carefully of whether there was any seasoning here that would suit it, and Mayonnaise seemed like it might be good.

Eating it with only Mayonnaise might be awkward, so if I minced Chili Peppers and made a sauce, it would probably suit it. On top of that, since Agares lived in the North, he would be accustomed to sour flavors, so it seemed worth trying if I ate it with him.

Not today, but next time.

Thanks to how often I ate Tteokbokki, I had Chili Peppers, but not Mayonnaise. I had never eaten Mayonnaise since coming here, but it probably existed in this place too. Even if it did not, it was not a difficult sauce to make, so I should be able to do it.

After frying the chicken, I served it to Agares and spoke.

“There should be a sauce that suits this separately. Next time, let us eat it together with that. It is hard to get the sauce right now.”

“Good. Let us do that.”

Because I knew the taste of Fried Chicken, my attention went first to the liquor Agares had brought rather than the chicken. While Agares picked up the Fried Chicken first, I tasted the alcohol he had brought. The lemon scent was strong, and it was sweet, so the smell of alcohol was hardly noticeable.

“I brought something easy for you to drink as well. More importantly, the food tastes rather good. You seem to have talent in this direction.”

“No, not at all.”

I had merely made food that would taste good no matter who made it. Hearing praise for something like this made me feel needlessly awkward.

“Then what will you do after graduating from the Academy?”

The question I had asked him earlier returned as it was. Graduate from the Academy? Did I have to do that?

The reason I had entered the Academy was purely because of Bishot. The two goals I had when entering were to make up with her or prevent her from ending up with the other male leads.

If I accomplished even one of those, there was no longer any reason for me to remain enrolled at the Academy. Then should I withdraw from the Academy? Even if I withdrew, my life would probably not differ much from after graduating.

“I will probably be similar to Your Grace. I will likely be in my territory.”

“Then there are not many days left when we can see each other’s faces this often. Our territories are quite far apart, are they not?”

“Yes, I suppose so.”

“If that happens, come to my territory at least once. You need to teach my Head Chef how to make this.”

“Understood. I will do that.”

Agares’s final semester.

When I thought of that, I realized that nearly a year had passed in an instant. Even in the original, this was the latter part. From now on, I did not know what might happen.

It was all right. My situation was proceeding as smoothly as it possibly could. It would be stranger for some problem to arise. I only had to keep doing what I had been doing.

---

At night after the sun set, Bishot remained alone in the laboratory. After Jefrin left, the time she spent in the laboratory had increased even more. Except for the time she spent sleeping, attending classes, and eating, she lived almost all day in the laboratory.

Recently, she had been absorbed in something new.

She had succeeded in making the treatment for Elzenic Disease, but she did not consider that purely her own ability. The conception of the idea needed to make the treatment had been Raphael’s achievement.

To confirm whether she could accomplish something with her own power alone, without anyone else’s help, she had stepped into a new task.

It was so vast and so dark that, if anything, her motivation rose even more.

She immediately moved toward the Alchemy Research Lab. There were countless books she had gathered to read today, and it was full of experiments she had decided to perform. Even staying up all night would not be enough.

And though she had not told anyone yet, she was writing a book. It could not compare to magic, but alchemy was still a discipline that required great expense.

It was a book meant to increase the accessibility of alchemy even a little for those who could not study or experiment as much as they wished. Though she had accomplished one plausible thing this time, considering her career and years of experience, she felt inwardly embarrassed to already be publishing a book.

“Are you inside?”

While she was thinking that, Morris knocked on the laboratory door. He had not sent someone else; he had come in person. Though inwardly surprised, Bishot felt a headache begin at her temple. It seemed something troublesome had happened.

The instant Morris’s eyes met Bishot’s, he lowered his gaze.

“I did not know you were someone who would share a future with that person, my lady. I apologize. I will correct all the rumors quickly. I wish to compensate you for the harm you have suffered. Is there anything you desire?”

It was fast. Far too fast. Not even a few days had passed since Raphael had promised to help, yet the matter had been resolved cleanly.

What on earth had Raphael said? What had he said to make Morris appear so humbly and apologize like this?

Bishot had many questions, but being in the same space as Morris was uncomfortable, so she closed her mouth.

“I understand what you mean. I need no compensation, so please finish the matter.”

“Thank you for accepting my apology. I am sorry.”

Morris withdrew while keeping his gaze lowered before Bishot. Watching him, Bishot thought. Share a future with that person? Since Raphael had stepped forward for her, one might think that way. But even if Morris had misunderstood, Raphael was not of a status that should make Morris this wary.

‘No. Let us not concern myself with it.’

Judging by Raphael’s actions after entering the Academy, whatever the case, it would not be something he had intended. Merely pouring energy into the work she was currently absorbed in was already overwhelming.

---

After parting from Agares and cleanly resolving the matter with Bishot, I wondered what I should do next.

I was approaching that future more and more. Before long, it would become reality.

At first, I had vaguely imagined I would just play and eat, but when it came time to actually think about what I would do while playing and eating, that was the question. What should I do? I grabbed people one by one and exchanged opinions with them, and as it happened, Ian was in a similar situation to me.

He was also trying to finish the work Katein had labored over before his death, but he himself had almost nothing he enjoyed. We took this seriously. If there was nothing to enjoy, what meaning was there in life being peaceful?

So whenever we had time, we often went around here and there. We tasted new foods we had never eaten before and watched performances and the like.

Today was like that too. Because it was food I had never eaten before, we ate at an unfamiliar restaurant, and then visited a type of performance hall I had never seen before.

Because the purpose was simply to watch a performance, the content did not really enter my eyes. Inwardly, I had different thoughts.

It was almost over.

My relationship with Bishot could be considered smooth, and it was difficult to imagine her ending up with any of the male leads. If I had to name someone with a possibility, it would be Jefrin, but considering the promise I had made with him and the fact that I had granted his request, there should be no issue.

Should I set a date and tell him sometime?

If he ended up with Bishot, whose credit would that be? It would all be thanks to me. Because I had removed the other competitors, would Jefrin not succeed? If Jefrin attacked me or something after ending up with Bishot, he would be a truly, truly bad bastard.

Most things were now entering their conclusion. I had drawn close to the goal I had set when I first fell into this place. There was nothing more to wish for.

The end was not far away.

While I felt inward satisfaction, the performance ended. I returned to the dormitory and opened a book.

Because I had spent the Midterm Exams in the worst possible way, I had to pay attention to the Final Exams at least in order to avoid failing marks. Since this was a school for nobles, no matter what grades one received, one would not be held back or anything, but still, there was such a thing as the basics.

I should at least reach the middle.