Chapter 20
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: The Saint and the Seven Lakes
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“You’re being too harsh. Saying it like that hurts my feelings, you know.”
The Saint feigned a hurt expression. Seeing this, Ruina realized her mistake.
“…Ah, I apologize. I didn't mean it at all.”
“Haha, I'm just kidding.”
As if it had never happened, the Saint's drooping eyes returned to normal.
“So, what is it? I believe this is the first time you've summoned me at the academy, Hyeongnim.”
“Ruina, are you not leaving? Or have you changed your mind?”
“…I'm going. Sir Jace, I apologize again for my rudeness.”
“Not at all, it's quite alright. Haha.”
Ruina cleared her throat and walked out.
As the door closed, the smile on Jace's lips vanished.
“Honestly, I didn't believe the rumors, but it seems they're true.”
“Rumors?”
“The rumors that you've changed, Hyeongnim.”
Pernyan shrugged instead of answering.
“Let's skip the idle chit-chat and get straight to the point.”
“Indeed. Time is money.”
Pernyan explained his objective, what he wanted, his plan, and what Jace needed to do accordingly.
Naturally, the objective was now the spirit herb, not the mithril.
“That sounds interesting. Just like you, Hyeongnim. To aim for the first-years' survival training just to get a spirit herb.”
“If I had known a little sooner, this wouldn't have been necessary.”
“I understand. It's not a bad method, considering the first-years will be running all over the place and might stumble upon the spirit herb.”
“Do I need to give you time to answer?”
No, Jace shook his head.
“Seeing you go to such lengths, Hyeongnim, I'm tempted to think it must be an extraordinarily expensive herb, but I can't afford to be on bad terms with the Fallenbergs. I'll do it.”
He made a circle with his fingers.
“Just make sure to provide plenty of this.”
“There are no free donations in my book.”
“But it's a sacred donation to the God.”
“God, my ass. I'll increase the orders from the academy's branch. I'll make it look like your achievement.”
“It's blasphemous, but if you'll give me enough money, I'll be satisfied with that.”
Jace smiled a most worldly smile.
“Then do a good job.”
“Yes, Hyeongnim. You can trust me with this. Despite how I may seem, am I not the top student of the first-year Magic Department?”
Right, that's why I was honestly puzzled.
‘Why isn't Jace Baintz one of Aint's companions?’
Aint's enemies were demons. And the humans who fought most ferociously against them were the Dragon God Cult.
Because demons were a cursed race? Because they sought to destroy humanity?
Of course, those were reasons, but not the biggest one.
“Magic belongs to dragons? Nonsense! Magic is a power we created, our own!”
A thousand years ago, some demon's outrageous remark had struck a nerve with the Dragon God Cult.
So why wasn't the Saint of such a cult a companion to Aint, who fought on the front lines against demons?
‘Does he become a companion later on? Someone of Jace's caliber seems like he'd be a good companion from the start.’
He was as good as, if not better than, Valoci, the top student of the Knight Department; he was certainly not inferior.
Well, it wasn't that important.
Aint would figure it all out in the end.
“But isn't there still a week left until the training? Do we really have to aim for that specific time?”
Jace's words broke his train of thought.
“Of course, if I get it before then, this conversation will have never happened.”
“The fact that we're having this conversation despite that must mean you're not sure of its location yet. I need to get paid, so I'll pray you don't find what you're looking for until then, Hyeongnim.”
“Quite the curse you're putting on me.”
Pernyan flicked his finger lightly. A single gold coin clinked as it landed on Jace's palm.
“A down payment.”
“Hyeongnim.”
Jace's eyes grew serious as he received the gold coin.
“The Dragon God despises those who try to get by with a verbal agreement instead of a written contract. Shouldn't we discuss the specifics, like exactly how much and how the orders will be placed?”
Pernyan clicked his tongue.
This was why he preferred not to call on Jace. It was impossible to half-ass things and get away with it.
“Fine.”
He took out a piece of paper.
A fierce negotiation to minimize his losses began.
* * *
“Thank you. I will do my best to meet your expectations, Hyeongnim. Please call for me again when you have a more detailed plan. I'll be busy honing my clone magic.”
“Send the items as quickly as possible.”
“I'll send most of them right away. The artifacts won't take more than five days either.”
Jace left with a wide grin, apparently satisfied with the negotiation.
And why wouldn't he be? The items Pernyan had promised to buy were all quite valuable. But that was only seeing one side of the story.
“I came out ahead.”
Of course, the amount he had to pay wasn't small, but most of those items were necessary for this task anyway.
The Dragon God Cult was the greatest magical organization on the continent, and the magical items they sold were among the best.
“The Position Transmuter was also made by the Dragon God Cult.”
Besides that, many of the artifacts he frequently used had been purchased from the Dragon God Cult.
It wasn't that the Fallenberg family lacked skilled mages, but they couldn't compare to the fanatics who treated magic as a religion.
“The necessary items will be delivered soon….”
Pernyan unfolded a piece of paper.
It was a map of the southern forest, where the first-years' survival training was scheduled to take place.
The south, like the north, was divided into two areas: the southwest, with its beautiful forests and lakes, and the southeast, home to a humid swamp.
Since the monsters in the forest were of a lower level than those in the swamp, the location for the first-years' training would naturally be the southwestern forest.
“The Southern Wetlands.”
The Southern Wetlands was the first place he had rushed to after being struck by lightning, to check if the Prophecy Book was real.
And indeed, he had found the dungeon with Aint and stripped it of the magic lamps installed there.
An appraisal had revealed them to possess a level of magical technology and artistic value incomparable to ordinary magic lamps, and he planned to sell them off at auction for a high price soon.
All of this would serve as funding for his private organization, the Golden Pillar.
“The basic framework is set.”
He had also secured the best possible assistant, the Saint of the Dragon God Cult.
All that remained was to work out the finer details of the plan.
“Let's see, now….”
Rummaging through the documents on the table, Pernyan finally found what he was looking for.
【Imperial Year 999, Armian Imperial Academy, 1st Year 1st Semester, Unified Survival Training Proposal】
It was the proposal for the first-years' survival training, which he had already obtained.
It contained detailed information, including the deployment and plans for professors and teaching assistants, as well as safety measures.
Pernyan committed it all to memory.
‘It's a tight schedule.’
There was just over a week left until the training. And there were a total of seven lakes in the southern forest.
In one of them slumbered the spirit herb, the mithril, and the spirit beast that guarded them.
The problem was that he didn't know which of the seven it was.
The memory from the Prophecy Book showed Aint swimming to the bottom of the lake and finding an underwater cave, but it didn't specify which lake he jumped into.
This was why Pernyan had gone so far as to volunteer as a teaching assistant and recruit Jace, preparing for the very last resort.
There was still a week left, but he wasn't confident he could find it within that time while also attending his classes.
“Well, I might as well go check.”
His goal was to check as many lakes as possible within the week, along with the small hope that the first one would be his destination.
Evening, as the sunset faded.
It was a time when even students with the busiest schedules had finished all their lectures and were having dinner.
Pernyan knew that the guard shift change happened at this time.
‘All areas are managed by magic.’
The entrance to the forest was no exception.
Rather than having people check everything manually, it was managed through a system and recording devices created with magic to ensure there were no major issues.
It was the most efficient method chosen out of necessity to manage the vast grounds, but it had the blind spot of not being completely perfect.
After stopping by Verian's to give him a few instructions, he stood before an entrance to the southern forest. To be precise, it wasn't the official entrance but a side path.
‘They should be right in the middle of the shift change now.’
He presented the faculty ID he had acquired during the chaotic shift change, and the secretly deployed magic circle opened.
“Good. It works.”
He threw on an invisibility cloak and plunged into the forest.
* * *
Grrrrr-
A pack of three-meter-tall, red-furred wolves—Hell Hounds—roamed about, sniffing the air.
After lingering for a while, the Hell Hounds quickly disappeared in another direction.
A moment later, a dark figure dropped from a tree.
“This thing works like a charm.”
To think it could paralyze the Hell Hounds' sense of smell in an instant.
A product of the Dragon God Cult, as expected.
“Let's see, the lake is….”
Before long, Pernyan arrived at a huge lake. There were seven such lakes in the southern forest.
“So I have to find a secretly hidden cave here….”
[“You'd never find it unless you were specifically looking for it, would you?”
The entrance to the underwater cave was that well hidden.
- That's obvious. If it were easy to find, it would have been stolen long ago.
“Right, that's true.”
Aint squeezed his body through a small crevice visible on the floor mixed with gravel and rocks.
It felt less like a cave and more like an entrance to an underground passage.]
Recalling the fragment of the prophecy, Pernyan clutched his head and tore a scroll he had taken out.
A breathing spell, though with a time limit, enveloped his entire body, allowing him to breathe underwater.
Pernyan threw himself into the water, and the seemingly calm interior of the lake came into view.
The water was clear and clean, with fish swimming about instead of monsters. Pushing aside a freshwater crayfish crawling on the bottom, Pernyan placed his hand on the gravel-covered floor.
‘This is why I became an earth mage.’
Although the difference was slight, his highest aptitude was originally for fire, not earth. The reason he chose earth, his second-best, as his primary element was for no other reason.
To find metals, ore veins, money.
His mana delved into the earth. He meticulously and thoroughly checked below, and then deeper still.
After several hours, just as the scroll's effect was about to wear off, he had finished his check.
“This one's a bust.”
It was a shame, but that was all. There were still six lakes left.
How much longer did he search the waters?
Pernyan even cut back on sleep, performing the incredible feat of checking all seven lakes in just one week.
The resources spent in the process were quite expensive. It was also an undeniable fact that he had somewhat neglected his merchant guild duties.
And yet, after all that.
“All seven of them have nothing?”
There were no results.
Could there be another lake I don't know about?
Impossible. He had checked the map several times. There were no other lakes in the southern forest besides the seven.
After some thought, Pernyan came to a conclusion.
“It must have been magically treated.”
Some measure had clearly been taken to make it hard to find. Right, that must be why no one had found it even after a thousand years.
He had thought it was too easy. It seemed he had underestimated the first emperor.
“…I suppose I should be glad I made preparations.”
It was truly a small consolation.
Damn it. Pernyan cursed.
* * *
And the day after Pernyan's final search came up empty.
“We will now begin the joint training between the Knight Department and the Magic Department.”
“It was originally supposed to be held in the northern mountainous region, but the location has been changed due to a small issue. The site for this survival training will be the southwestern forest.”
At last, the first-years' joint survival training had begun.