94 – Shadow (17)
After waiting in the lobby for about thirty minutes, the researcher came out.
He said, handing me a vial of black slime.
“You said it was for the purpose of researching alchemy.
Seeing that it is emphasized several times that it should not be eaten, it seems that it is quite toxic. It’s a liquid that feels like you shouldn’t drink it from the color.
“Don’t worry about that.”
“I hope you have good results in your plans.”
“Thank you.”
All the ingredients have now been gathered. Now, all you have to do is to absorb Doppler’s blood into Maladiroot and wait a day or two. I hope you get the right effect.
“Thank you for your help. Oh, can I go downstairs for a moment?”
“Is it because of Miss Luna? We won’t be able to talk because we don’t have enough time to remain conscious.”
“It’s okay.”
I got permission from the researcher and went down to Luna’s basement.
The figure of Luna seen through the bars was the same as she had seen before. She has a pale face. Maybe she’s breathing well, and she doesn’t move like a dead person. If you look at her, her complicated mind won’t go away.
This is because the seeds of pain thrown by the warlock have not yet been completely removed.
I don’t know why the sword of light fell on me. However, it certainly wouldn’t have been given to me for no reason. It has a use, it has a purpose.
Nowhere in the ancient books, the bible, or the encyclopedia clearly stated the reason for my sword’s existence, but little by little I felt it with my body. What target should be cut with that sword?
It wasn’t like logic and reason. It was close to a spiritual resonance.
The reason I cling to Luna’s work is because I felt that there were still things I had to cut down.
I took out a leather pouch from my waistband. I took out the maladyroot from there and dipped the root into a bottle of Doppler’s bodily fluid.
It’s okay even if Zverev’s recipe doesn’t work. No matter what happens, I will eventually find a way to annihilate the librarians and tear to shreds those who pierced Luna’s stomach and mine.
***
Trisha arrived at the front door earlier than the appointed time and entered her carriage. She prostrated herself in the carriage chair at the front door, raised her head slightly, and waited for Damian to come. And when she caught sight of him from a distance, Tricia picked up her script, covered her face, and pretended not to wait, ignoring her.
Damian entered the wagon looking a bit depressed. He then, without a word, shut the door and started the carriage.
Tricia muttered her lines to herself as she lay in her chair, holding the script. She then glanced at Damian’s face once in a while.
Locked in deep thoughts, it was the same as in the morning.
No evening greetings, no small talk.
Trisha waited for him to speak to her first, but finally she couldn’t stand it and she opened her mouth first.
“Stupid Damian.”
He turned his head slightly towards Tricia and stayed quiet.
“… Did you call me just now?”
Trisha replied curtly.
“No, I was just talking to myself.”
“… Why?”
“I don’t know…… But did you meet Cecil?”
“Yes.”
“What did you say?”
“We broke up without much discussion.”
She felt a little better when she heard that everything was fine. Could it be that the reason why her mood seemed depressed was because it didn’t work out well with Cecile?
Tricia replied, unable to hide the smile on her face.
“It didn’t go well with Cecil. Right.”
“….”
“Look, don’t you treat your opponent well? Are you saying you’re very picky with people you’re not close to, Cecil?”
When Damian remained silent, Trisha made fun of him by pretending to be her adult.
“Oh, poor Damian, it’s not easy to make friends!”
“… Why are you so excited?”
“I wasn’t excited at all?”
Trisha turned to her script again and hummed her merrily. Then, as if she had suddenly remembered something, she called Damian again.
“Right, you know what?”
“What?”
“The day after tomorrow is the first day of joint classes? Are you ready?”
“… No, now I know.”
“Oh, if it weren’t for a friend like me, who would have told me about this? Right!”
“Yes, thank you.”
Trisha slipped down the script covering her face and looked at Damian, she said.
“Anyway, so… Have you decided who you will be in the same group with?”
“… How are you?”
“I am Cecil and Alchemist Bertang. Elementalist Martha and I. I decided to make a group of four like this. So what about you?”
“No. I just have to do it with the remaining people.”
It was the nuance that I didn’t care at all about who I was with. Trisha narrowed her eyes and responded in a tone that made her uneasy.
“Ah, aren’t you being too careless because you worked for the entrance exam? Some of the guys in the Combat Division are training with their eyes open to get the top spot!”
And everything Trisha said about the combat club students was true. Outstanding competitors like Victor and Gail were desperately sharpening their swords and recruiting group members. Zion is a very natural word.
“….”
As Damian looked down at Trisha’s face, she held up her script and covered her face.
“Hmmm! Anyway, they say team play is really important for this one. Shouldn’t you be comfortable with the next group practice if you find a good team member?”
“… I’ll have to find it soon.”
Damian brushed back his hair and let out a soundless sigh. It was the impression that he had no time to pay attention to what he was clinging to, even with her joint class right in front of him.
Trisha slipped down the script again and looked at Damian.
“Speaking of which… …. You… Would you like to join our group?”
“I heard that all four of you are already full?”
“Because Cecil is sure to be the leader… to ask once. How about removing Bertan and adding you…. Our group needs a swordsman….”
“Are you not on good terms with the boy named Bertan?”
“No! But it’s very inconvenient to walk around. I know Cecil’s unnie is also having a rough relationship, so she isolates me on purpose. Anyway… will you come It won’t be comfortable because I’m with you.”
Damian put on a lukewarm expression, unable to understand her true intentions.
***
Bertan sat across from her table Martha and Cecil, members of her group. Cecile stretched herself on the back of her chair, perhaps from her exhaustion.
“There is a reason I called all of you. This is important information. In this joint class, alchemy is actually more important than spiritism.”
Cecile asked.
“Why?”
“The professors in charge of that class are all professors at the Department of Pensions. And the leader of the group must be a student of the pension department. Strictly speaking, this group organization is a way to attach students from other departments to the pension department students. The director of the Pensions Department is in charge of the group’s plans and direction of activities.”
Cecil and Marta, hearing his words, put on their faces in disbelief. Cecil was reluctant to have an unreliable person as a leader.
Cecile pressed her temples with her fingers and said.
“I don’t like this class. Where do you put these restrictions?”
Marta also helped a bit.
“Do you really need an alchemist? You can do without it.”
“Yaya, I know it’s not trustworthy, but I’m going to do my best because I have a seat. And there is one variable in group composition.”
“What is it?”
“Every time you change a group member, you become the group leader and the score of that group member is reduced.”
Cecile asked back.
“… So, doesn’t that have nothing to do with us? We don’t have to change anything.”
Bertan shook his head.
“No, since the first grouping was decided by lottery, deductions cannot be avoided.”
***
Luna slowly opened her eyes. Her bodily sensations were strangely different from before. It had been a long time since she had woken up as refreshed and without fatigue as she does now.
She was also in a good mood. She didn’t even know why. Maybe she was given a new potion while she was sleeping.
She may have had a happy and peaceful dream, and when she opened her eyes, the memory of the dream evaporated. She felt as if the reality had disappeared and only an unknown emotional lingering aftertaste remained.
At her bedside were letters from her friends. Only a few of her Luna’s family knew the situation she was in, and her friends knew nothing. Although she only has three friends to speak of. They were good people who understood the way Luna was in her.
Her friends believed that Luna was living a happy life in Eternia.
They were delighted to hear that her Luna was her chief on Eternia, and they wanted to hear her story on Eternia.
What kind of people you meet, what classes you take, what wonderful things happen, how much fun life in Eternia is.
You would never imagine that her body would be ruined by a curse, and that her limbs would be chained in an iron cage where no sunlight could come in, let alone classes.
She leaned back against the back of her bed and pulled out her parchment. And she calmly wrote a reply to her friends.
What Luna wrote like that was a dream story.
The things she has been dreaming of for a long time have been written down like real stories.
The beautiful scenery of Eternia is new every day. That’s why I sometimes go for a walk to Student Square and Mount Grace.
An eccentric student at the Faculty of Magic conducts strange experiments, so funny and absurd incidents never stop.
I’m not as good as you guys, but I’m living a strong school life by meeting bright and energetic classmates.
And while she is neither very good-looking nor talented, she wrote that she is learning little by little how to open her heart to the opposite s*x while interacting with someone who has many scars like herself.
That’s why I’m so happy right now.
It’s funny that body and soul are already muddy.
Not a few said that they fell asleep trembling with fear every day because they felt abandoned by the world.
After finishing her period, Luna wrapped her arms around her knees for a moment and buried her face. When she thought of her own situation, her body trembled.
Part of my waking hours was spent trying to erase the pain like this.
Meanwhile, Luna suddenly felt her faint magical energy flowing out of her somewhere.
She slowly turned her head.
Things that could only be seen through the white iron bars were placed there.
Did someone go to the place where she was?
Glass bottle. And I saw a plant with roots in it.
The appearance of attaching roots to an empty bottle that did not even contain water was considered unusual.
And above the mouth of the bottle, a flower with faint magical energy was sticking out its head.
A strange and beautiful flower of dark red color that I have never seen before in my life.
It was fresh and full of vitality, as if it had just blossomed.