Late at night on the library rooftop.
Epherene leaned against the railing and looked out over the university’s nightscape.
Above, the Magic Tower shone blue all the way to its peak; below, the lit lecture halls of various buildings, the streets, and the restaurants glittered like stars.
Because it was exam season, night had vanished from the university.
“......”
Epherene took out the Wija Board she had kept tucked against her chest.
With a pitch-black frame and a pure-white surface, this thing that looked like a miniature marker board was the communication medium of the Magic Tower’s mages.
Its official name was the “All-Directional Correspondence Board Capable of Multiple Communication.”
Easily called the “Wija Board,” this magic tool contained a remote bulletin board available to the mages of the Magic Tower, and through that board, communication between mages was possible.
However, for the perfectly legitimate reason that its lifespan was only seven to eight years, there were no professors on it.
[ If I put up perfectly organized Deculein lecture notes, current week 4, for auction, how much would they go for? Slight sample of page 1 included. ]
Epherene wrote a post on the “Magic Tower Secret Board.” It was because she had already spent fifty percent of the 100,000 elne sponsorship money on writing supplies and magic books.
—500 elne.
—I’ll do 1,000.
—2,000.
—4,000.
—5,000.
—6,000. Might pay more depending on condition.
“Whoa.”
Frightened by the price skyrocketing like mad, she deleted the post.
“......Well, yeah. If I had money, I’d buy them too.”
For that reason—Deculein was truly strange.
Why had he revealed such efficient techniques and tips without hiding them?
Most professors, she had heard, either secretly gave private lessons for enormous sums, or taught only on the condition that one entered their faction, and even then under a contract forbidding any disclosure to outsiders.
She had heard that mages, no matter how wealthy they were, were always wary of the next generation and jealous of juniors who came surging up from behind.
Deculein, who had changed starting this year, was suspicious in every one of those ways.
“What does it matter?”
Shaking it all off, Epherene leaned against the railing and took a deep breath.
Suddenly, a thought occurred to her.
Perhaps someday, Dad had stood at this railing and worried just as I do. About unsolved magic, about the answers to life that were far more difficult than that, while facing the night wind here.
“......Don’t worry.”
Murmuring softly, Epherene took out the letter from within her clothes.
The letters she had exchanged with her father every week. The voice letters and video letters through which she could glimpse her father’s genius had already reached the end of their lifespan, but the handwriting and traces of those days had not yet disappeared.
My daughter. Right now, I am making a gift for you...... The very first sentence alone made her eyes burn.
“I’ll definitely complete the research Dad was doing.”
Part of her father’s research was in the letters she had kept, and the rest was somewhere in this Magic Tower. Epherene knew where that somewhere was.
“I will definitely become a mage greater than Deculein. Greater than that enemy—”
“Impossible.”
At that moment, someone cut in. Epherene, startled badly, straightened her back. Then she turned around so sharply it was almost as if she were snapping her neck.
It was Sylvia.
Epherene narrowed her brows and glared at her.
“If you came to pick a fight, it won’t work, so go away.”
Hmph. Sylvia let out a sneer with a face full of spite.
“If Deculein is your enemy, then you received private lessons from your enemy.”
“What are you even talking about now? Did you hear some strange rumor somewhere and believe that too? Is that what nobles do?”
At her composed reply, Sylvia’s cheeks puffed up. Epherene had gained a heart capable of easily letting any provocation slide past her.
“You know what?”
Sylvia, who had been moving her mouth in displeasure, soon twisted her lips with a snicker.
“Deculein hasn’t even gone to the laboratory for nearly three years. Not once since your father died.”
“Hah. Of course. Do you have any idea how much of a genius my dad was? Without my dad, that man couldn’t do anything.”
Epherene laughed instead. It was praise beyond expectation.
“But you know what?”
However, Sylvia still had more to say.
“Starting three months ago, Deculein began going to the laboratory every day. He cleaned the lab, hired an assistant professor, and brought in all sorts of new magic tools.”
At that moment—Epherene’s smile stiffened.
“What do you think that means?”
Satisfied by that reaction, Sylvia snickered and turned around in a circle.
Her ticklish voice drifted in.
“I wouldn’t know.”
Click, click—
Epherene could not stop Sylvia as she left after saying those words. She simply stood there blankly, thinking.
“......No way.”
Once, her father had said something like this.
That Deculein was monitoring his letters. That he was watching everything about him, aiming for his research.
Therefore, there was no suitable place to hide it.
“No way.”
But he had also told her not to worry. He said the research was in a place Deculein could never find. Barrier magic might disperse with the passage of time, but Deculein’s greed could never see that place.
He had told her to remember the code game they had once played, saying he had left it behind only for her......
“No way......”
That couldn’t be. That couldn’t be.
Her father was a genius. He had never said anything wrong.
Therefore, the research Deculein had resumed must have nothing at all to do with her father.
No matter how many times she repeated that to herself......
“No waaaaaay!”
Sylvia’s voice kept circling in her ears.
* * *
Three days remained until the Bercht Conference.
Finally, at last.
I completed 「Elementary Psychokinesis」 without being late.
“Fortunately......”
I somehow made it in time. Satisfied, I washed myself in the shower room of the annex—I had built it separately because going all the way to the main house was bothersome.
Knock, knock—
As soon as I came out wearing a robe, a knock sounded.
“Who is it?”
—It is Roy.
“What is it? Speak.”
—Yes, Master. Our finances are in danger.
My eyebrows furrowed on their own.
“Finances?”
—Yes. At this rate, we may hit the bottom in two months......
I nodded. Come to think of it, I had not been giving lectures lately, so there was no source of income besides my professor’s salary. Meanwhile, expenses had been endless: 150 mana stones, various magic books, ancient texts, and so on.
“Wait.”
Using psychokinesis, I floated up the safe I had hidden beneath the floor of the annex. A cute safe that reacted only to my mana.
I opened its lid.
“Let’s see......”
When I pulled out whatever my hand happened to grab, it was porcelain.
The “Eastern Vase” I had purchased at an auction house for 2.5 million elne.
Just as I was about to use 「Midas’s Hand」, I paused.
My remaining mana was 「1,635」.
If I wanted to sell it properly, using the full 3,000 would be right.
“Return in three hours.”
—Yes. Understood.
Roy withdrew, and I waited until my mana recovered.
While waiting, I checked the item with 「Great Wealthy Magnate」. Its light was still brilliant.
For reference, 「Midas’s Hand」 did not have much effect on a “treasure” whose potential had already bloomed. To use an analogy, it would merely improve an output of 30,000 to 30,300.
However, this “Eastern Vase” was clearly an unawakened item, so......
“Shall we see?”
After 150 minutes of waiting, my mana had filled.
I gathered all of it and infused the Eastern Vase with 「Midas’s Hand」.
Sssssss—
Blue smoke flowed from my fingertips and seeped into the vase. The surface of the vase glittered with a whirr.
And then.
───「Vase of the Eastern Artisan Egehan」───
◆ Information
: A vase in which the artisan’s devotion has manifested as magical talent.
: Its potential has bloomed due to 「Midas’s Hand」.
◆ Category
: Pottery ⊃ Vase
◆ Special Effects
: Flowers placed in this vase never wither.
: In addition, the vase’s flowers slowly shed and bloom into new flowers, and each petal grows into a miraculous medicine possessing at least an 「Intermediate Fatigue Recovery Effect」 to 「Upper-Intermediate Fatigue Recovery Effect」.
────────
A vase worth 2.5 million elne had become something so good I did not want to sell it.
“Hmm......”
The value of the porcelain was already more than enough from its design alone, and it even contained an effect like an inexhaustible spring.
“It would be better to sell it.”
However, in that it was “fatigue recovery,” it was wholly useless to me. I had a body that did not feel fatigue.
Not only that, but growing flowers, selling them, growing them, and selling them would not create a large lump sum.
Knock, knock—
The moment exactly three hours had passed, Roy returned and knocked. I opened the door and handed the vase to Roy.
“Have this appraised again and look for a buyer. It should easily provide five years—no, ten years—of finances.”
“Yes? Uh, Master. This is the item you purchased back then—”
Roy seemed flustered, but I was similarly flustered.
Over Roy’s shoulder, Yeriel was scurrying toward us like a debt collector.
“Excuse me~ I heard you needed money, so I came~”
She had said she would stay for a day, but before I knew it, it was already the third day.
In truth, the mansion was so vast that I had not even realized she was here.
“Anyway, I knew you’d end up like this. If you just write an IOU, I can lend you—”
I shook my head.
“There is no need. I will have this item appraised and put it up for reauction. Roy, take this to an appraiser.”
“Wha? Are you insane?”
Yeriel scowled with her entire face. After thinking for a moment, I corrected myself.
“No. I happen to have time as well, so we can go together.”
With an item like this, whom one received an appraisal from was also important.
Whether in appraisal offices or valuables shops, swindlers were bound to exist, but with my trait, I should be able to distinguish them all.
“What? No, how long has it even been since you bought this and you’re already reselling it? I’ll just lend you the money, so—”
“Be quiet, Yeriel.”
“What do you mean, be quiet! You’re about to throw away perfectly good money again! You won’t even get half price for it! How much did you pay for this?”
“2.5 million.”
“Then it’ll sell for about 1 million! You bought it as an antique investment, and what kind of idiot sells it before even letting it sit for two months?”
Not only Yeriel, but even Roy was doubting my certainty.
Well, it was an understandable concern.
“If you are that worried, follow me.”
“No! This isn’t worry, this is just bullshit! Hey!”
“‘Hey’?”
Yeriel, who had been shouting, stopped at my single word. Then she grumbled in a much quieter voice.
“......Noo, it’s not worry...... You’re trying to do something that makes no sense...... I knew this would happen! If you’re going to waste money like that—”
“It is not a waste of money. I will show you, so just follow.”
“Wow, seriously, that stubbornness......”
Yeriel’s face was filled with anger and frustration, but I smiled once and went outside.
Muttering, “Fine, let’s see this to the end—” Yeriel followed......
* * *
One hour later.
Yeriel arrived at the appraisal hall together with Deculein.
“Haa......”
These days, she thought Deculein was not in his right mind.
She thought it was because that woman, Julie, refused to see him at all, and on top of that, the Bercht Conference had overlapped with everything, making him hypersensitive.
“This is......”
In truth, whenever Deculein overheated like this from time to time, he had committed acts that were hardly human, so she had prepared herself this time as well......
“This is an extraordinary item.”
When the most famous appraiser in the capital looked into the porcelain purchased just two months ago and exclaimed with a face full of worldly admiration,
Yeriel’s mind went blank for a moment.
Deculein asked in return.
“By extraordinary, you mean?”
“Yes. Not only does it possess aesthetic value...... but there is also something I cannot verify......”
“It is not that you cannot verify it, but that you do not wish to make it known.”
“Yes? No, sir. It is merely—”
“If one grows flowers in this flower vase, they do not wither. If one eats those petals, they become a miraculous medicine for fatigue recovery.”
The appraiser, eyes wide, hurriedly bowed at the waist.
Yeriel flinched as well. A miraculous medicine for fatigue recovery?
“I-I see. So that is how it is! I did not know, but if that is true, it is a remarkable effect!”
“Yes.”
Deculein looked around the appraisal hall, then placed one of the fresh flowers used as decoration into the vase.
“There is no need to go as far as Luten. Grow this flower and prove its effect, then hold a small-scale auction in Hailechi.”
Then he handed the appraiser a Yukline fountain pen.
“If it bears the Yukline crest, it should be able to gather people. I will give you a commission.”
“Ah, yes! I will do my utmost! At minimum, ten million—if the competition grows fiercer, it should easily fetch fifteen million!”
It was the moment 2.5 million swelled into at least 10 million.
Yeriel and Roy’s eyes went wide.
“Good. I’ll leave word of mouth to you. Roy, I’ll entrust the hall rental to you.”
“Pardon? Ah, yes. Understood.”
“Then, that will be all for today.”
Deculein stepped outside first, and after hesitating for a moment, Yeriel followed him.
“……You got lucky. Congratulations…… sir.”
On the roadside, Yeriel spoke while glancing sideways at Deculein. Deculein said to the two of them,
“Yeriel. Roy. Take this vase and return to the mansion.”
“Huh? Where are you going?”
“I have business at the Mage Tower.”
“……Why have you been going to the Mage Tower so often all of a sudden lately?”
Yeriel narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
“Yeriel, you don’t need to know.”
“If you’ve found a new lover, I hope it lasts a long, long time~ And please throw away that rigid, inflexible woman.”
“Be quiet.”
Without any further explanation, Deculein got into the car alone, and vroom—immediately departed.
“Ugh. He really does whatever he wants.”
Yeriel and Roy were left stranded as pedestrians in the middle of the street.
They had no complaints. It had been a long time since they’d come to the capital, so they ought to at least take a look around the luxury district once.
“Roy? You’ve had a hard time lately, so if there’s anything you want, pick one. I’ll buy you anything.”
“Pardon? No, it’s all right. I’m fine—”
“Take it when I say I’ll give it to you. I can see how hard you’ve been working these days……”
The two walked through the luxury shops together.
That day, Yeriel bought Roy a luxury item worth 5,000 elne, and bought herself a wallet worth 300 elne.
* * *
Having come to work at the Mage Tower for the last time this week, I flipped through the exam questions.
In order to devise the midterm, I intended to refer to the exam Deculein had given three years ago.
“……Difficult.”
At a glance, it was a difficult exam.
So to speak, questions for the sake of questions. Nothing but needlessly difficult problems.
Because he had mistaken the difficulty of the exam for his own superiority, such an absurd test must have been born.
“Allen. Are you there?”
I called Allen through the crystal orb. Allen came running within thirty seconds.
“Yes. I’m here!”
Having passed the review, Allen proudly wore his assistant professor nameplate. I tapped the exam paper from three years ago.
“By any chance, do you have the originals for these questions?”
“The originals, sir?”
“Yes. This exam is likely the result of arbitrary revisions I made. Not recently—search from three to five years ago, and if any materials remain, bring them to me.”
“Ah, yes! I’ll look for them!”
Allen left like that and soon returned.
His arms were full of documents.
“Here they are!”
“Good.”
I looked at the papers with 「Understanding」.
And immediately, I knew.
……As expected.
This was the work truly worth referring to.
I, too, was someone who had studied to some extent, so I knew.
A good question was one that made you curse while solving it, but naturally marvel once you had solved it.
That sense of accomplishment was extremely natural, and sometimes it felt so good that it even made you grin foolishly.
If Deculein’s exam had merely been difficult, these questions were not.
They were immensely difficult, but rather, they aroused a remarkable interest.
“Allen. This is paper meant for a magic exam, correct?”
Of course, magic was not mathematics.
Therefore, even if it was merely an exam written on paper, there were slightly special aspects to it.
“Ah, yes! Of course!”
“Good. You may go back.”
“Yes!”
I examined the exam with 「Understanding」.
[Sample Question for ‘Understanding Pure Elemental Magic’]
I calculated the formula for question seven written on the paper, analyzed the hints in the circuit, combined them correctly, and infused mana into the magic circle I had deduced.
Then the answer to the exam question—in other words, the magic—manifested.
It was a “painting.”
A single painting appeared as though blooming in midair, realized more vividly and clearly than any nature.
It was the portrait of a woman, spreading like watercolor.
Each and every color was an element. The pure white dress was wind, the sky was water, the spreading clouds were mist, and her beautiful eyes, nose, and mouth were the very “harmony” of several elements……
Worthy of the course name, “Understanding Pure Elemental Magic.”
The most perfect question.
“……”
I naturally closed my eyes. The fine hairs all over my body stood on end. Deculein’s unique 「Aesthetic Sense」 stimulated my entire body.
This painting seemed to comfort the mages who had suffered through the exam, yet strangely, a faint anger was embedded within it. However, that anger instead became an ornament, making the painting more colorful like raisins in bread.
“……Ha.”
I could only let out a hollow laugh.
An inexplicable jealousy rose within me. It was a feeling close to desire.
The old Deculein could not have given this question as it was. He would have had no choice but to revise it.
Envying and resenting this beauty he himself had never conceived of, belittling it as too easy, he must have revised it however he pleased.
I was not like that.
This exam was more perfect than anything else, and it suited the lecture as well. Indeed, it was fitting to call it the “exam of the head professor”……
“However.”
I looked at the woman in the painting wavering in the air. No matter how I looked, she was not Epherene. Nor did she seem like someone I had seen anywhere before.
Who in the world was this woman?
Knock, knock—
Just then, another knock sounded. I dispersed the painting and opened the door.
It was Allen.
“Professor! There were a few more, so I brought them! I’ll be going now!”
“Perfect timing, Allen.”
A thought occurred to me, so I caught Allen as he was about to leave.
“Yes?”
Allen tilted his head.
I said,
“Prepare yourself.”
“Pardon? Ah, yes! What should I prepare?!”
Though Allen knew nothing, he was quick on the uptake. I always liked the way he did not ask unnecessary questions.
“I mean prepare to go to Bercht.”
“……Pardon?”
This time, however, even Allen asked again with a spotless, innocent expression. As though he had not understood a single word I had just said.
I said calmly,
“I will choose you as the assistant to accompany me to Bercht.”
Allen blinked first. Then his eyes, nose, and mouth slowly grew larger, as if in slow motion, and his mouth in particular became so enormous one could fit a fist inside it.
“Yeeeeeeeeeees—”
“Close your mouth.”
“……”
When he closed his mouth, his eyes bulged instead. They looked as if they might burst, so I added,
“Of course, you have the right to refuse. Bercht may be dangerous—”
“Ah, it’s fine, ah, no! N-not at all! I can go!”
“Is that so.”
By Bercht’s regulations, even if one did not have an escort knight, an accompanying assistant was essential, but I truly had no one to bring.
Yeriel was absolutely out of the question, and I did not want to bring that fatso Relin, or one of the professors.
Of course, Allen was an unreliable mage, but at the very least, he would not be a threat to me.
“It is Sunday, so prepare thoroughly.”
“Yes, yes! I will prepare thoroughly! Thank you! Thank you!”
Allen kept bowing repeatedly. I had thought he would simply feel burdened.
So this fellow had ambitions of his own, in his own way.
“Th-then I, I will prepare everything! The food, and magic, the magic tools, and, and……”
Watching him count off on his fingers as he prepared was simply endearing.
Just in case, I should buy him a robe coat with protective functions.