The counseling room was silent. Sylvia seemed to be crying but made no sound, and I just watched.
Her teacup was left untouched, and the ice inside it had melted. The angle of the sunlight streaming in from the window gradually slanted.
“I don’t like people who cry.”
“I’m not crying.”
At that moment, Sylvia raised her head. Her eyes were moist, but as she said, she didn’t cry.
“Your compliment moved me.”
“…”
“Professor Deculein is famous for not praising anyone.”
There was no change in her voice while making such excuses. I pulled out a handkerchief.
“But I was praised.”
“Wipe it.”
“….”
She grabbed the handkerchief with both her hands. Her eyes were as clear as jewels that glistened in the water.
Soon after that, our 20 minutes of consultation time was over.
“I’ll go now.”
She glanced at the clock and stood up.
She folded the handkerchief and put it in her pocket, and after greeting me politely, she left the counseling room.
Watching her small back, I said, “Take today’s advice into consideration.”
Sylvia stood tall.
She turned around, nodded her head, and left.
─Goodbye~
Allen’s voice came from outside. The office door opened and closed.
“… Is she underestimating herself?”
Sylvia was a self-luminous wizard.
She was enough of a genius to be qualified for a full-time professor position within the year, so it was clearly a waste of time for her to spend time under another professor. Be it me or any other professor in the world.
Epherene was different, however. Since she fits perfectly with the magic I studied, she could grow further under me.
“Professor!”
Just in time, Allen poked his head out of the door of the consulting room.
“Debutante Epherene will be coming in 10 minutes! Take a break for now!”
*
Epherene was always in a blue robe that symbolized her debutante rank and had on a large backpack she bought for 30 Elnes.
For her, the most important criterion in any situation was cost-effectiveness, and from a distance, she looked like she was carrying a large brick, but it was so heavy today that she wobbled with every step she walked.
A cat doll that hung under her bag tickled the robe’s back.
“Gosh, my shoulder…”
When she got to the elevator, she laid it down on the floor to rest her body for a bit.
Ding—
However, the elevator quickly reached the first floor, and what she stumbled upon while picking up her bag startled her.
Sylvia was there.
There was nothing strange since she was a debutante too, but the problem was the atmosphere.
“…”
Sylvia stared intently at her, her depressing anger piercing through her. Her narrowed gaze seemed to be screaming, ‘how dare you?’
Epherene hesitated. “What? What’s wrong with you this time?”
“…”
Although she was waiting for ‘that line’ inside.
“Nepotism.”
Sylvia grumbled as she passed by.
“… That’s bothersome. What’s with ‘nepotism’ now?”
‘If you’re going to say something, say it right. Otherwise, you’re just leaving a bad feeling for the both of us.’
Epherene’s fortune this week wasn’t great at all, but why was she acting like that?
‘Should I try a new tarot shop?’
Pressing the button to the 77th floor, Epherene looked in the mirror and said, “Arrogant Epherene,” to relieve her discomfort.
Ding—
She arrived at Deculein’s office.
“Debutante Epherene. Come on in~”
“Yeah.”
She followed Assistant Professor Allen into the counseling room.
“…?”
However, Head Professor Deculein was standing upright as if meditating with his eyes closed. Epherene just stared at him blankly.
He was too far and seemingly covered in a thorny aura for her to wake him up.
“Professor! Debutante Epherene is here.”
The assistant professor’s words made him open his eyes.
Deculein looked up at Epherene and gestured.
“Sit down.”
“Okay.”
Epherene opened her backpack as soon as she sat down, then she spoke bravely. “I know today’s career counseling, but I would like to inquire about the Solda promotion exam.”
“Solda.”
“Yes.”
She pulled out a bunch of papers from inside her bag. She, like Sylvia, made several preparations to take the Solda exam as soon as the first semester was over.
“These are the documents that prove that I have participated diligently in the departments’ classes.”
In fact, this was already her eighth attempt.
She initially went to the young professors, but their letters of recommendation were of little effect, and tenured professors like Relin despised her.
She only heard hurtful words and was kicked out.
“Here, my club also revealed the foreshadowing of the attack on the ‘Baron of the Ashes,’ along
Deculein looked at her indifferently.
Epherene was as energetic as a child in an oratory contest. Since her opponent was more difficult to deal with than any other professor, she thrilled herself up as her own way of getting rid of her anxiety and tension.
“My grades are all A+ based on the midterm exam, but if I keep it until the end of the final exam…” As she spoke, she constantly pulled out papers. The materials prepared by Epherene piled up on his desk one by one, forming a mountain.
“Also, in the tower—”
“Enough.” Deculein, who had been listening quietly, interrupted her.
Epherene sat tall in her seat.
“Take them with you.”
“…”
Epherene’s expression hardened. She bit her lower lip slightly, but she spoke again without showing it.
“I also checked all the provisions of the Solda test. If you read it—”
“I don’t need to.”
“… Ah.”
The breath that flowed from Epherene’s teeth was a bit rough.
But it wasn’t surprising. She kind of expected it.
“Yes.”
Epherene put the papers back into her backpack.
As he watched her, Deculein spoke.
“If you keep your grades this high throughout the final exams, you’ll be given the Solda qualification.”
“… What?”
Epherene’s eyes widened. Her face looked as innocent as a child’s.
“If you’re in third overall place, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t give you a professor recommendation.”
The meaning of those words was clear.
‘If you do well at the finals, I’ll be the one recommending you to take the Solda exam myself.’
“Oh, okay. Thank you. I’ll try my best.”
Epherene scratched the back of her neck.
“…If I pass the exam, I’ll apply under you.” Perhaps out of embarrassment, those words then poured out of her lips.
Deculein answered indifferently. “I won’t stop you. The suffering is yours to take.”
“Got it.” Epherene smiled inwardly.
‘You’d be getting a tiger cub. Will you be able to stay calm like that in a year or two? I will soon overtake you…’
Epherene recognized Deculein as a ‘genius of hard work’ that day on the Isle of Wizard’s Wealth, but her defiant demeanor was still there.
“Then, I’ll be going.”
As she was about to leave…
“Wait.”
Her whole body stiffened at his words, feeling the pressure brought forth by Deculein’s natural characteristics.
At times like this, she often wondered if he found out what she was thinking or if she had done something wrong.
“You haven’t used the check yet.”
“…”
Startled, she creaked her head over her shoulder and asked, “If I don’t use it, will you take it away?”
“No. It wasn’t something I gave. It was a reward I gave on behalf of the tower.”
“Oh… Actually, I don’t have something I want yet, so I want to use it when I really need it in the future. Like insurance.”
Deculein nodded silently. Meaning she was free to leave, and Epherene left the counselor’s office after her hesitant nod.
“Take care, debutante Epherene~”
“Ah yes. You too, assistant professor.” She said goodbye to Allen, exited the room, and closed the office door behind her.
After that, she leaned against the wall for a moment, letting out a deep sigh.
“Sigh… It’s really weird.”
The air in Deculein’s vicinity itself felt different.
Just by being in his presence, a unique pressure seemed to weigh down on her shoulders. One minute with him felt like 10 minutes, and the mental and physical fatigue she gained was just in an entirely different league.
Even now, her heart refused to stop beating so profusely.
“I don’t even know what he’s thinking.”
He obviously extorted her father’s achievements, and he committed suicide as a disgraced wizard with the title, ’30-year-old Solda.’
During their retreat at Hadekain, she asked the culprit about it directly, but Deculein neither confirmed nor denied anything.
It would’ve been cool if he had firmly denied it.
“Is it all up to me?”
Still, Deculein, at least in this tower, was the most indifferent professor when it came to her identity.
He was fair even to her despite declaring that she would reveal everything.
“Let’s just study…”
Epherene put the brick bag back on and walked.
* * *
… Leaders, politicians, and entrepreneurs from different countries on the continent often said that there were no dreams in the Ashes. No hope. No life. All that remained in there were ashes.
Arlos knew that was bullshit.
There was life in the Ashes. There was hope. It wasn’t a good environment to raise children, but there were kids there anyway.
But that didn’t mean she had any fondness for it.
She had huge ambitions. However, success was a story of a distant dimension for an orphan from a remote kingdom like her. That was a barrier that Arlos knew she couldn’t overcome, so she chose the next best option she had: the Ashes.
Since she was the continent’s unofficial top puppeteer, she managed to scatter her puppets all over the empire.
Her dolls were connected to her soul and acted as a living person, but none of them resembled Arlos’s actual appearance.
Modeling them after her would only bring unnecessary complications.
Her beauty would only cause insignificant flies to tangle up with her plans, after all.
“Welcome.”
However, today, Arlos visited the [Black Kline Hotel] in the flesh after so long.
The Black Kline was a recently built prime-class hotel. Its accommodation was one of the most expensive out there, but it was more than satisfying to Arlos, who had many errors in her daily life.
“I made a reservation.”
“Yes. Solette. I checked it.”
The hotel’s staff treated their guests like aristocrats, which was what Arlos was especially fond of.
Even if people flirted with her, she found it difficult for her to be treated like a noble unless she actually was one.
In that sense, Arlos was surprisingly the type that cared about pretentiousness. She just didn’t show it that much.
“This is the key to the 37th floor.”
Arlos reserved that floor under her pseudonym, ‘Solette.’ The top floor of Black Kline was the 50th floor, a penthouse, but she hadn’t yet built up enough mileage and social reputation to reach that high.
“I would like foie gras with laperine for dinner.”
“Yes.”
Arlos took the key, went into the grandiose elevator, and stared at herself wearing a suit. Except for its slim waist, it was the perfect menswear.
“….”
Arlos habitually fiddled with her necklace. She didn’t know when or how she got it, but it was a symbol of luck for her.
Soon after arriving at her room, she sat down in a chair and pulled out a tablet.
It was a device similar to the Wizard board of the University Tower. It allowed communications with the ‘Altar,’ which was currently in a cooperative relationship with them.
—Deculein interpreted the runes but destroyed the summary.
—What we want is in those runes. God’s language is now in Deculein’s head.
─Deculein’s abduction is required. The unit price is set at 30 million Elnes.
As soon as the Altar members heard the news from the Isle of Wizard’s Wealth that Deculein interpreted the runes, they released a prize of 30 million Elnes for anyone who could capture him.
“… He knew me.”
Arlos thought of him, and the time he called her Arlos.
“Up until now, he’s been an ordinary, low-key villain.”
Past Deculein and Present Deculein were markedly different. At least according to the information she obtained from the ‘office’ she established and operated.
“… It’s worth noting, considering he knows me…”
Whatever it might be, Deculein was a threatening enough figure, but he wasn’t the reason Arlos visited the empire today.
She had no intention of participating in the abduction of Deculein ‘yet.’ After all, she only participated in fights where her victory was a certainty.
Throwing the tablet away, she looked at a brochure.
[Hairich Artifact Auction]
“Homeren’s Fragmented Ring.”
She found a treasure she liked after a long time.
Now that she had earned enough money for such treasures, it was time to relax and invest in herself…
* * *
After I had finished all the consultation appointments, I looked at the [System Store] while still in my office.
──[Lv. 2 System Store]──
■ 1. Adventurer’s Wind…
•••••••
■ ５. Mana Quality Enhancement (Stage 2)
– The character’s natural mana is enhanced qualitatively.
– A slight increase in mana output and efficiency.
– 20 KRW
─────────────
“… I don’t have to wait anymore.”
Now that I had accumulated enough money through my recent efforts, the time had finally come to claim my rewards.
It was better to do it now. I had many schedules this week, so I didn’t know when I would have time again.
Making up my mind, I pressed [Mana Quality Enhancement (Stage 2)] in the air.
[Mana Quality Enhancement (Stage 2) has been applied.]
[The mana you hold has become purer.]
After reading the system messages, I waited for the pain to come.
The first stage was a moderately intense feeling, so I thought it would feel like that again.
“…!”
Not long after, I felt as if my ribs were being torn as crimson blood spilled out of my mouth. Gasping for breath, I clutched my chest.
───!
My heart pounded.
“… Ugh.”
Fortunately, the pain itself was fleeting, but the mess on my desk bothered me. I collected all the drops of blood with [Psychokinesis] and burned it at a high temperature.
Knock, knock—
——Professor. Professor Louina is…
I heard Allen’s voice.
“Come in.”
—Yes!
The door opened, and Louina entered.
“Yes, boss. I’m…?”
After taking a few steps, she stopped abruptly and began sniffing the air.
“What’s going on?”
“Sniff— sniff—”
“….”
“Sniff—”
“Did you become a dog while you were away?”
“No… No. Dog? You’re crossing the line, boss.”
Louina approached me, and she flinched again. This time, she glanced at my lips.
“…”
I grabbed a handkerchief and wiped my lips, only now noticing that a little blood came out. My brows twitched instinctively. How could I present such a dirty face?
“Say what you’re here for already.”
“H-Here, boss.”
Louina walked over and handed me the papers she carried.
“This is the research I’m going to start and my plans for it…”
She handed over what would be my first job as the Planning and Financial Coordination Office Head. I took the document.
“I’ll go now. Thank you.”
However, Louina didn’t say anything about her project to favor it and ran outside before I could say anything.
… Did she think that it’d obviously be accepted?
It wasn’t too bad that she accepted Yukline’s protection. I looked at Louina’s plan.
“Hmm.”
My [Man of Great Wealth] ability made me feel like she didn’t lack in any way, so I decided there was nothing more for me to look at.
I stamped “Authorized” on it.
Bang—!
* * *
Wednesday at 3 PM.
Deculein’s last class before the final exam.
“Alright, please stand in line!”
Assistant Professor Allen first divided the 150 debutantes into categories. Harmony class with talent was the smallest with 11 people, and support class had the most with 35 people.
“Attention!”
Today’s classroom was an open field. Professor Deculein spoke in front of them all.
“This is the last class of the semester, so there is nothing more for me to teach. Today, we will examine your series of applications and point out your shortcomings. Come forward in groups of five.”
The first squad was from the support class.
“Show the magic you’re most confident of.”
Deculein watched the magic used by the support debutantes one by one.
“… Eurozan. I see you chose [Wind Armor]. You cast it well.”
“Green Earth. That’s useful for subduing monsters within its effective area.”
Deculein knew all the magic they conjured.
It could be because he’s a professor, one would think.
“[Crystalization] is largely classified as a secondary type, but the magic circle it uses also has some harmonic characteristics. You overlooked that. That’s the reason why you keep failing.”
“Oh… okay!”
Deculein also analyzed the magic that failed to manifest and provided advice to ensure they’d be able to cast it correctly.
“Let me do it again!”
After accepting and internalizing the professor’s words, Debutante Ferit succeeded in his next attempt.
“Good. Now, the next five…”
… Deculein was able to observe other people’s magic circles through [Vision], and his head was filled with half a year’s worth of magic circles that he learned through [Understanding].
His magical knowledge was shallow at first, but it had now become as vast as the Great Sea.
Of course, that knowledge was different from what he had actually ‘memorized.’ He couldn’t use all the magic that he knew, after all.
Memorization was a kind of ‘habituation’ in which one’s body remembered magic and expressed it in a martial arts style.
Deculein implemented all other magic, except for [Psychokinesis], which was directly engraved on his body, based on “theory” alone.
Hence, his magic and knowledge were consistent with each other, leaving no room for oscillation.
That gave him a firm ‘foundation’ suitable for teaching someone…
To debutantes unaware of those facts, Deculein was a magical encyclopedia.
His eyes, which were close to divine, were simply admirable.
“Epherene.”
“Yes.”
Eherene’s turn finally came.
“Here I come.”
She prepared the most complex magic she could present. Its series mixed, twisted, and hid circuits all over its area.
‘It will not be easy even for you, Deculein, to understand the true nature of this magic just by looking at it…!’
Deculein looked at Epherene’s magic circle for 30 seconds.
“[Soprano]. It’s of no use to you, but it definitely has a high level of difficulty.”
“Huh!”
That special magic, [Soprano] mixed the pure elements ‘wind’ and ‘sound.’
Its effect was very subtle. It just changed all the sounds in the area to the high pitch, hence its name.
It was a kind of stepping stone towards [Silence]. Wizards often learned magic that belonged to the same category to get used to its structure first.
“Soprano” was unnecessarily complicated because it interfered with the sound of space. It wasn’t even famous.
The other debutantes’ reactions were mainly along the lines of, “What is a soprano? Isn’t that a vocal?”
“Are you fooling around right now, Epherene, or are you showing off? One penalty point.”
“No! Give me another chance! Please don’t give me a penalty point!”
Epherene hastily conjured appropriate magic.
Her feet trembled, and the ground she stood on transformed into a crater.
Deculein nodded.
“[Wrath of the Mountains]. It’s certainly difficult to cast, but its scale is too small.”
“Yes. In fact, that bothered me a bit too.”
“You can easily increase its scale by increasing the size of its magic circle. More details will be provided later.”
“Oh. Okay. Then… Will there be no penalty points anymore…?”
“No.”
“Aaaah!”
Deculein ignored Epherene and took a step aside.
“Next.”
Next up was Sylvia, who had been staring at Epherene for quite some time now. She belatedly corrected her posture when Deculein approached her.
“Sylvia.”
“… Yes.”
She closed her eyes and unleashed her magic.
