Episode 33: The Popular Seed? (3)
“Hurk, huu…”
On the bed.
Blue mana rose and fell around his body, seated in proper posture.
The mana rippling like waves repeatedly surged high and subsided.
It was his usual training to increase the applicability of his Magic Sword.
Soon, having finished his brief training, Seed sat on the edge of the bed.
“Whew. Miss, what’s my remaining mana?”
[Details] Deposit
[Amount Withdrawn]
[Amount Deposited] *376
[Balance] *31,773(Eirena Academy)
[You currently have 31,773 coins accumulated. Daily interest of 3,177 coins will be paid shortly.]
“It’s piling up so much that I couldn’t spend it all even if I went wild. If nothing major happens, it’ll just keep sitting there.”
Seed smiled brightly as he looked at the mana accumulating in his account.
Most practical exercises during Academy classes didn’t require mana.
Therefore, most of the mana he gathered throughout the day went into his account, and with interest accumulating on top of that, he was able to amass such a large number.
The amount was roughly around the 3rd Circle, and Seed’s chest swelled with pride.
If there were no incidents where he’d have to explosively consume mana like the previous crystal sphere incident, it would continue to pile up in the future.
“But Miss. So you really won’t store spring mana or potion mana anymore?”
[Of course. Our service center has judged that issue to be a fatal loophole. If we store external mana indefinitely, it would cause losses on our side and could even hinder the customer’s growth. Therefore, it is absolutely impossible from now on.]
“Hmm, that’s a shame.”
Seed smiled awkwardly and headed toward the window.
The account had become a bit stricter since the loan incident.
But if such expedients continued to be allowed, he would grow lax with loans and mana usage as well, so this was for the best.
Besides, he couldn’t figure out what the account meant by “losses on our side.”
These “system” matters were always hard to understand.
“Haa.”
His whole body was heated from the strength training and practice he had consistently done since his days as a priest.
When he opened the dormitory window, the refreshingly cool night air of early summer entered.
The thought that autumn would soon arrive made the boy’s heart flutter.
His days at the monastery.
The Academy he had vaguely imagined had now become his daily life.
Knock, knock.
“Hmm?”
His gaze turned toward the sound of someone knocking on the dormitory door just then.
Wiping his sweat-drenched body and putting on a shirt, an unfamiliar note slid through the door crack.
Soon, the boy’s face contorted at the large letters written on the note.
‘We have Reiya. If you want to save her, come to the lake alone. If you tell anyone else, Reiya dies.’
Clack!
Having read the vicious note, Seed flung the door wide open.
But in the wide corridor, there was no sign of the person who had delivered the note—not a soul in sight—only silence.
‘Where did they go?’
If they had slipped the note through the front door, they shouldn’t have been able to run far.
Between the firmly shut window and the corridor.
There was no sign of where they could have disappeared to.
Besides, they said to come alone without telling anyone if he wanted to save Reiya.
What kind of third-rate novel situation was this…
Still, Reiya’s life was on the line, so it was a moment he couldn’t ignore.
Something strange caught his eye in the empty hallway.
‘Hmm?’
[1,397,893]
A mana number roughly around the 4th Circle.
The number floating in the empty hallway headed toward the lobby.
At the phenomenon he had never seen before, Seed narrowed his eyes.
The number crept toward the lobby, and when Seed casually shot a Lightning Bolt at it, a short sound leaked out from beneath it.
“Ow, that stings!”
“Aha! Found you!”
Seed extended his finger and pointed at the number.
The number seemed flustered at being pinpointed so accurately.
Seed sprinted down the corridor and immediately gave chase.
As the boy ran, the “1.39 million” number began to flee frantically as well.
Soon, a chase began between the “fleeing number” and him.
‘Damn it! How did he see through my magic?’
By now, it should be obvious, but the owner of this number was Hammond, who had used invisibility magic.
Of course, Seed hadn’t seen through Hammond’s magic but had merely checked the “number,” but Hammond ran out of the dormitory with his flabby belly shaking.
Whoosh!
Even transparent wind swirled beneath his feet.
Though the fifteen-year-old fit Seed had the advantage in age and stamina, catching Hammond—who was fleeing using “Haste” magic—was a difficult task.
Rather, Seed—who was keeping pace with his bare body against Haste magic—was the scarier one.
“Stop right there! Reveal yourself!”
‘Haaah, at this rate I’ll wake everyone in the Academy!’
Seed chased Hammond across the garden.
The boy leaping over low walls and benches shone beneath the starlight.
Hammond glanced around and wiped his sweat.
He had planned to mimic a secretive villain while delivering the note, but the plan had collapsed.
‘Haa, haa… what should I do? Should I stick to the original plan?’
If he got caught before reaching where Reiya was, it would all be for nothing.
He had thought mentioning Reiya’s life would make Seed act cautiously; he hadn’t expected him to charge after him immediately.
“Wind Slide!”
Upon reaching the Academy’s high wall, Hammond cast a wind spell.
Fierce winds gusted, and he threw his body forward.
Just as he climbed atop the wall to catch his breath, Seed came running from a short distance away.
Thud!
But instead of hesitating at the high wall as expected, the boy was climbing the wall with his bare hands.
His stride as he rapidly scaled it reminded one of a starving ghoul.
As the distance closed in an instant, Hammond’s face went pale.
‘Gasp!’
Holding his breath, Hammond rode the wind magic and leaped down.
He tried to shake off the boy relying on his skilled magic, but he was experiencing firsthand the monstrous physical prowess of a fifteen-year-old.
‘That crazy bastard! What kind of mage overcomes everything with physical strength!’
Hammond headed toward the promised lakeside.
Reiya had been captured after classes ended.
Iris was waiting with her, pretending to be a fellow captive.
Moreover, he had agreed to take the fall alone if the plan went awry, so he was impatient.
He absolutely couldn’t get caught by any means.
Step!
“Stop there!”
Seed crossed the wall with his solid arm strength.
Beneath the bright starlight, he saw the number fluttering through the air.
Even in the dark night, that number caught his eyes like a signboard.
It was Hammond’s mistake for thinking of Seed as an ordinary student.
Soon, flowing flashes of light above both hands signaled Seed’s magic.
“Thunder Strike!”
Kwa-boom!
“Gwaack!”
Seed’s Thunder Strike landed on the frantically fleeing Hammond.
Seed rubbed his eyes.
In the flash of light, he thought he saw a pig shining for a moment…
Anyway, caught by the unexpected magic, Hammond’s entire body blazed.
Though his body was hidden by invisibility magic, his few remaining hairs were singed into curls.
‘I can’t stop like this! Haaah, I’m going crazy!’
Still, the man didn’t stop.
It was a comical situation, but he seemed desperate in his own way.
Watching the number flee even after taking a direct Thunder Strike, Seed scratched his head.
“Tch, what the heck is that. A trickster or a fairy? Miss, do you know what it is?”
[Unable to identify.]
“Haa. I guess I have to chase it for now.”
Seed jumped down from the high wall and chased the number.
Seed, who had imagined a cute creature like a “trickster” or “fairy” in his head, would probably be shocked to learn its true identity was a “pot-bellied bald man.”
Tatatata!
The chase between the two men continued beneath the starlight.
Hammond fleeing with Haste and wind magic.
Seed chasing with pure physicality.
If Seed had studied Haste magic, Hammond would have been caught long ago—this was certain.
‘Haaugh! That tenacious bastard! I’m going crazy!’
As the distance narrowed moment by moment, Hammond grew breathless.
He had initially imagined the image of “a vengeful spirit expelled from the Academy.”
But now his state was unsightly, with his armpits and back completely soaked in sweat.
“Lightning…”
‘Eep!’
At the crackling magic, Hammond’s expression hardened.
Though he had been hit just moments ago, even as a 4th Circle mage and “former Academy teacher,” it wasn’t a magic he could easily endure taking head-on.
The moment the promised lake drew near as he ran through the deep forest.
Hammond raised the lamp he carried at his side.
It was the lamp he had shown Iris in the afternoon.
“Ch-change my appearance! Into a handsome villain while you’re at it! And hide how out of breath I am!”
Flash!
“There!”
Chasing the flickering light, Seed plunged toward the lake.
It was clearly the place written on the note from the start.
When he burst through the leaves blocking his sight, he saw Reiya and Iris tightly bound before him.
And a strange man stood there.
“Seed! You came to save me!”
“Huu… mph!”
Unlike the gagged Reiya, Iris had called out to Seed in a loud voice.
Whatever she was thinking, she was clearly acting as a hostage.
Seed hadn’t expected Iris to be there as well, and he narrowed his eyes.
And his gaze fell upon the man before him.
“Is it you? The one who called me?”
“Hehehe… that’s right. Nice to meet you, boy.”
Deep eyes and thick eyebrows.
A thick beard and a tall, slender frame that the black tuxedo suited very well.
He looked like he would remind one of a handsome royal from the Middle East, but it was actually Hammond in disguise.
Having become the cool villain he had imagined, Hammond opened his mouth leisurely.
“To think you chased after my underling. Truly impressive.”
“Underling? Are you talking about that mana from earlier?”
Seed frowned and stared at the man.
He thought it couldn’t be a coincidence that the mana of the “underling” and this man were the same.
Anyway, Hammond—having finished the unsightly chase—acted out the cool villain.
Perhaps he had admired such a villain from the start; his acting was truly natural.
“I am Alibaba, a magic artifact collector from a foreign land. I have collected special magic artifacts for a long time and discovered your item. Hand over what you are hiding. Then I shall release the two.”
‘Magic artifact?’
Seed’s heart thumped at the words mentioning the account.
How did a man from a foreign land know about the account’s existence?
Could it be that the account’s existence had been leaked to the outside?
Of course, this was merely the result of Hammond observing Seed—knowing the habits of an “Ego Weapon owner”—and Iris’s effort to confirm it with her own eyes.
Unaware of such facts, Seed approached the lake.
The lake reflected the Academy with the night sky at its back and the clusters of stars.
The calm lake water swayed along the night breeze.
“How did you know about the item I possess? Do you know what it is?”
Seed assessed the two hostages.
Reiya wouldn’t know since she had never seen the account, so the suspect was Iris.
“As I said earlier, I am a magic artifact collector. All the information and magic in this world are within my hands.”
Iris’s gaze turned into a stare at the cringeworthy introduction.
Regardless of whether his employer shot him a look, Hammond immersed himself in his acting.
‘Hmm.’
However, a few doubts sprouted in Seed’s head.
The Academy was protected by special defensive magic that blocked unauthorized entities.
If not pre-approved, one could not pass through that magic, and even if one forced their way through, a loud alarm was bound to wake everyone.
But they had penetrated such magic?
Then wouldn’t they be someone who had been “approved” to enter from the beginning?
Like an Academy teacher, or someone who used to be a teacher.
[1,391,271]
[1,391,093]
…
Moreover, the man’s mana was decreasing in real time.
The number 1.4 million was one he had seen a few times at the Academy.
And for good reason—the homeroom teacher for the first years had “coincidentally” possessed 1.4 million.
Since other teachers usually had over 2 million, that number had been all the easier to remember.
A man with the number 1.4 million who could come and go from the Academy.
At the voice thrown out on a hunch, Hammond unintentionally spat out the truth.
“Could you be… Teacher Hammond?”
“No, how did you know?!”
‘Haaah…’
Iris let out a sigh at this comedic situation.
For the plan to already be faltering.
A villain needed to be smart, after all.
- To be continued in Episode 34 -