Noblesse Oblige
Suhyun's magic had left a scene of utter devastation. Monsters pierced by shards of ice thorns lay scattered as unrecognizable meat paste, and atop them sprawled trolls that had burned alive, their faces frozen in horrific agony.
No matter how accustomed one grew to the battlefield or fearless in combat, clearing such corpses was a gruesome task. That was why the reformed convicts had been mobilized for cleanup.
"Urk!"
"Ah, damn it, this is filthy!"
A resident of Nautilus, supervising the reformed convicts from a safe distance, snapped irritably. "Don't puke!"
Of course, no one puked because they wanted to, but Suhyun's magic offered no mercy for such excuses. It inflicted hellish agony on the convicts who ignored the Nautilus resident's orders.
Watching them writhe in their own vomit, the Nautilus resident commanded them to stand and work without a shred of pity.
The residents knew the reformed convicts had aided the black mage as accomplices, but that was the extent of their feelings. Yet for those who had been captured as test subjects and witnessed their fellow prisoners dying in agony one by one, the grudge ran far deeper.
It was so profound that they had volunteered for this frigid, nightmarish postwar cleanup instead of the cozy warmth inside Nautilus.
"Clean up your own puke quick! Didn't you hear Suhyun-nim? The fresher, the better!"
Driven by loyalty to Suhyun and hatred for the convicts, they worked the laborers relentlessly without respite. The piled monster corpses were fed into the smelter Suhyun had created.
The subject of Suhyun's thesis and the alchemy used to craft Nautilus's materials—Bio-Metal Transmutation—transformed parts of living bodies into metal. It was a groundbreaking alchemy that preserved the creature's vitality and mana in metallic form, but with abysmal efficiency: 100 units of material yielded barely 1 unit of metal. The source creature's traits mattered greatly, making it suboptimal by raw metrics.
Still, it was perfect for recycling the monsters reduced to mush by explosions.
Monster corpses went into the bio-metal transmutation smelter, where Suhyun infused mana to forge metal. Filling it with the meaty remains of two trolls yielded just one metal ingot.
The poor quality and mix of monsters made the output random, but Suhyun preferred it that way.
"Tch, 1-star, huh?"
Reminiscent of his gacha days on Earth, Suhyun graded the ingots like pulls in a game, enjoying the pseudo-gacha thrill. This one was lightweight with minor regeneration—likely from goblin and troll flesh. He scribbled its traits on the ingot and tossed it aside.
The 1-star pile towered high, while 2-stars numbered only three—from early burns of trolls. Once those were processed, only 1-stars emerged.
As he stacked the forty-seventh 1-star, Daiyen approached.
"Lady Eira is bathing in Nautilus's women's bath right now. Her face was flushed the whole time—did you do something to her?"
Daiyen, emerging in thick wool-padded clothing, asked.
"Hmm... something you absolutely shouldn't do to someone who's given their last words?"
"What's that?"
"Let them live."
"Ah."
Daiyen's face lit with understanding as she eyed the tossed ingots.
"This faint blue one's pretty. What's it for?"
Handling a 1-star ingot with its subtle azure sheen, Daiyen admired it, imagining it as jewelry material—light and lovely colored.
"Probably 80% goblin, 18% wolf, 2% troll metal?"
Daiyen grimaced at Suhyun's words but smiled at the hue.
"Contains weak cold-attribute mana, slightly lightweight."
Reading Suhyun's note, she pondered before asking, "Any use for this?"
"Nah? With all these monster corpses, I'm making 'em to stockpile. Bound to come in handy someday."
"Then, could you make some jewelry from it?"
Suhyun's expression soured at Daiyen's request. She wondered if she'd been rude, but nodded at his response.
"I can make it, but it won't be pretty."
During grad school, Daiyen had sold Suhyun's magic tools for living expenses, always nagging for prettier designs. His tools boasted top performance but were too simplistic or bizarre-looking.
Even the hairpin she always wore—a snake coiling around hair strands—was hyper-realistic, like a taxidermied real serpent gold-plated. One might swear it twitched.
Her self-defense bracelet resembled crude handcuffs—blocky and rough.
Same specs, but design dictated sales: nobles for premium prices, mercenaries for bulk. Daiyen had lamented this while selling.
Recalling the magic tools and artifacts Suhyun gifted her, Daiyen fiddled with the ingot. "Easy to work?"
"No."
That was bio-metal's issue. True metals were few—iron, copper, silver, gold—and even alloys yielded to practice. Bio-metals varied wildly by creature part: tough hide made resilient metal, sturdy shells made hard. Aged, mana-rich sources produced entirely different results. Some rejected heat or hammering outright.
Processing required at least Metal Deformation skill levels—rarity among smiths.
"Then, just make chain links for a necklace?"
"Sure."
Suhyun pinched and pulled the ingot, drawing out thin chain that scattered iridescent blue light. Daiyen cooed in admiration but didn't press for full jewelry. Suhyun pouted at her restraint.
As Daiyen returned to Nautilus and the sun dipped behind snow-capped peaks, inspiration struck Suhyun.
Design hitherto ignored, he now focused on aesthetics for the first time. From 2-star metals, he selected snowy white for a ring base, painting dawn landscapes with varied hues.
Black iron and copper for tree trunks, white metals for snow atop. Ruby shard like Daiyen's hair at center, gold thread for sunrise—meticulously rendering a pristine snowfield at dawn.
Sparing on gems, the metalwork painting on the bent ring band shone breathtakingly.
A ring depicting a beautiful dawn snowfield using bio-metals and metals. Crafted by a powerful mage, it naturally imbues mana.
- Mana recovery speed +20%
- Cold resistance +10
- Holy power +2
Not a whit of magical schematics in mind, yet a fine artifact emerged—Suhyun was stunned. Such required long prep and pricey materials; prettiness alone birthing it made him vow to mind design henceforth.
─────
Eira basked in ecstasy under the shower's warm cascade.
Damnable north was so cold that hot baths demanded vast firewood; she'd always used icy water there. Childhood cold baths built tolerance, but not immunity to chill.
A noble lady kept minimal hygiene with frequent washes, yet she loathed cold ones. Borrowing Nautilus's shower with its gushing hot flow made her adore the whale instantly.
Washing blood and sweat from her hair, she deemed it lavish yet surrendered to the bliss, standing motionless as tension melted.
Relaxed, the earlier embarrassment resurfaced. Face heating to rosy pink under warm water, now beet-red, Eira wished to die of shame.
"Uwaaaah!"
Her embarrassed cry echoed louder than expected, startling her. When a Nautilus Trading Company maid rushed in, she stammered she'd be out soon and fled.
In fresh cotton undergarments—not rough northern wool—and perfumed clothes replacing the reeking unwashed ones, Eira awaited Daiyen in the parlor.
"Battlefield cleanup is nearly done, and all wounded have received emergency care."
"We express gratitude for Nautilus Trading Company's aid. Yet shamefully, we lack means to repay such favor."
"No, the timber you permitted suffices."
A tad pricier than hoped, yet cheaper than market. Northern lumber's cost was mostly transport; Nautilus obviated that, so Daiyen was content with the slight discount over city prices.
"But what now? Defending further seems untenable. If desired, we can escort you to the city."
Eira pondered gravely at Daiyen's words.
Her path was simple: seek patronage from her friend the princess. She'd been invited to the knight order already, and disgust for her abandoning family fueled it.
Yet territory folk lingered in her mind. Her biological father the lord slashed military funds yearly for personal luxuries or central bribes.
No incidents justified cuts; to Eira, monsters merely amassed strength. Leaks now hinted at the buildup, yet the house remained blind.
Her warnings would be ignored by the fool. Staying changed naught.
As if struck by thought, Eira ventured cautiously, "Might I meet Suhyun-nim?"
"Planning to ask his aid?"
"Indeed."
"You offer him nothing."
Daiyen's words cut cold, but Eira closed her eyes. All she'd eaten, worn, slept on stemmed from territorial taxes—paid trusting protection in crisis.
Fed by those taxes, she owed them defense, even selling herself.
"No, I possess something. Suhyun-nim holds no title yet—a mage unbound. Offer myself as retainer. Ties to princess and many noble ladies make me valuable, no? If desired, even nights."
Daiyen's face hardened.
From trading vantage, a must-grab: titled noble eased noble dealings; friendships opened direct trades. Princess link alone justified.
Body offered soured it. Principle demanded relaying to Suhyun with urging acceptance, yet throat stuck like thorns.
Past profit ignored humiliations from piggish nobles without hesitation; now instinct balked.
After brief hesitation, principle won. "I'll tell Suhyun-nim."
Viscerally loathed, yet beneficial to company and Suhyun—must do, however hateful.