Chapter 24
Chapter 24
It looked like something that had crawled up from the depths of the abyss.
A limp, staggering movement. A syringe held in one hand, and inside it a mysterious purple substance.
Against that, the weapon on my side was a sword.
Damn it, I’m at a disadvantage.
Since ancient times, it has been common knowledge that a sword cannot defeat a syringe.
“Professor Georg, what exactly is the drug inside that syringe?”
“It’s a medicine that boosts confidence. There will be temporary memory impairment, but… well, it’s nothing serious, so there’s no need to worry.”
“I see.”
I threw away my hesitation. Professor Georg was not in his right mind right now.
And I think I can roughly guess why he’s trying to stick that drug into me.
The countless documents scattered across the floor.
“You’re planning to make me stamp my seal on the university application documents, aren’t you?”
“When you put it like that, it sounds like I’m trying to force you. Don’t worry. With this medicine, you’ll sign those documents of your own will. With clean handwriting, without the slightest tremble.”
“You’ve made a truly terrifying drug. What in the world drove you to go this far, Professor?”
“The curse known as overwork and insomnia.”
“I see.”
I adjusted my grip on the sword.
There was no need to show mercy.
Professor Georg had already gone too far to turn back.
“Professor, even if I look like this, I was a model student. I might not match the skills of the other Cradle students, but I do hold a knightly title.”
I am weak.
But that is always relative.
If the opponent is merely a researcher like Professor Georg, I can win.
“Let me show you what youth looks like.”
“Then show me. …Right here in my workshop!”
The staggering Professor Georg suddenly rushed toward me like a madman.
It wasn’t the movement of someone who had learned combat in any systematic way. His foot even slipped on the documents scattered across the floor.
He charged forward while repeatedly falling to the ground and getting back up again.
A limp, swaying movement.
But without any feints, he honestly thrust the syringe straight toward me.
Crack!
The syringe was certainly a remarkable weapon, but its durability was fatally weak.
When I swung my sword precisely toward the syringe in the professor’s hand, it shattered easily.
Even if the needle was sharp, it meant nothing as long as it didn’t pierce me.
No matter how powerful a weapon a syringe might be, it wouldn’t work against someone like me.
“Still, I’m someone who’s crossed the line of death. There’s no way I’d fall for something like this.”
Just in case, I made sure not to touch the drug that had been inside the syringe.
Even if it had been contained inside the syringe, who knew whether the drug might take effect just by touching the skin.
“…I see.”
Professor Georg looked down at the half-broken syringe in his hand and let out a sigh.
Sway. Sway. His movements still looked like someone who had left his mind somewhere else.
“You’re just tired, Professor. That’s why this is happening.”
“Yeah… maybe I really am exhausted…”
Sway.
Professor Georg began to wobble left and right again.
The miserable sight was hard to watch with open eyes.
“Huh…?”
Professor Georg staggered. He swayed weakly from side to side.
The world began to mix together like drops of paint falling into water.
“Ugh?!”
My knees buckled.
Only then did I realize it.
I had been hit by the drug.
The one who had been swaying wasn’t Professor Georg.
It was me.
Then when exactly did it start?
“Oh dear, are you dizzy? Still, you’ll get used to it soon enough. If it gets too difficult, we can have a cup of coffee later.”
“The drug was there from the start… It had already vaporized and spread throughout the entire workshop.”
Professor Georg himself must have been intoxicated by the drug as well.
In that case, the antidote…
Coffee?
“Ahahahaha! Good, very good. Keep being that perceptive in the future, Johan. Welcome to Ars Magna once again.”
“Damn… it…”
Professor Georg pulled out a new syringe from his pocket.
Inside it was the same drug I had just shattered.
“It’s time to part ways for a moment with that gloomy and lethargic version of yourself! Johan, once you gain confidence, we’ll have a cup of coffee later and start discussing your future.”
The syringe approached.
Damn it, if that thing hits me, it’s really over.
“You don’t have to worry about failing the exam. I’ll write you a letter of recommendation.”
“That certainly sounds like an attractive offer, Professor Georg. However…”
Rumble!
At that moment, a thunderous roar exploded.
A red afterimage moved through the cluttered workshop filled with desks and instruments without touching a single thing.
At the end of that lightning-like trail stood a warrior with red hair fluttering in the air.
“Johan already has a prior appointment.”
Lobelia Vicious van Miltonia.
The moment she appeared, she shattered the syringe that had been about to pierce my neck and burned its contents away.
The drug evaporated without leaving a single drop under the crimson lightning.
A foul smell spread briefly.
Crash!
All the windows in the workshop shattered at once, and fresh air swept away the thick scent of the drug.
“And it would be better to ventilate this place. I feel like my health might worsen.”
“…I greet the Child of Divine Blood.”
It seemed that even Professor Georg could not cause a scene in front of royalty, because he immediately knelt down.
“There’s no need to be that formal, Professor. This is the Cradle, isn’t it?”
“Understood.”
“Good.”
As Professor Georg bowed his head slightly and stood back up, Lobelia responded with a smile.
Since she disliked dragging things out, she seemed quite pleased that he understood her words in a single exchange.
“By the way, Your Highness. When you say prior appointment, do you perhaps mean…?”
“You’re thinking correctly. This fellow… is scheduled to become an official of the Imperial Palace after graduation.”
“Oh dear, how pitiful.”
“Hmm?”
“I said ‘how honorable.’”
“For a moment I thought Professor Georg didn’t consider becoming an official of the Imperial family an honor. It seems I must have misheard.”
“O-of course.”
Professor Georg now looked like a cowardly lackey serving a demon king.
The easygoing and impressive middle-aged scholar I once knew was nowhere to be seen.
All that remained was an ordinary man bowing his head to survive in society.
“Ah, Professor Georg, could you step out for a moment? I have something to discuss with Johan privately.”
“I will return in three hours.”
“Ten minutes will be enough.”
“Yes.”
With those words, Professor Georg backed out of the workshop.
A true model citizen of society.
Well, when someone funds you, you really have no choice.
“Now then, shall we talk?”
“…Before that, Your Highness, could you perhaps brew me a cup of coffee? It’s on the shelf over there.”
“…?”
Lobelia slowly brushed her hair back.
Her expression did not change. She simply looked speechless in disbelief.
Seeing that expression, I realized what I had just done.
“…Did you just… send me on an errand?”
“I misspoke. I didn’t mean it like that…”
“You’re quite an incredible person. That boldness is something even I did not expect. What is this? My head suddenly feels hot. Is this perhaps love?”
“No! I’m truly sorry! Your Highness! It’s all my fault! Aaah!”
Crackle! Crackle!
Overwhelming anger.
Her ability, Crimson Lightning, burst into threatening sparks as if expressing her emotions.
“I-It’s the antidote! The antidote is in the coffee beans!”
“Ha… don’t worry, I understand what you meant. Still, separately from that, I feel rather strange. Haha!”
I might actually die here today.
Later, Lobelia left.
I let out a sigh of relief and slumped over the desk.
That had been a suffocating moment.
During Lobelia’s interrogation that wasn’t quite an interrogation, I felt like my head would burst from choosing every word so carefully.
Still, I fooled her.
Or perhaps she simply let herself be fooled because she appreciated my courage.
Either way, the secret was kept.
Although it felt like the storm-like day had ended, my real work had not even begun yet.
“Oh, are you done talking?”
“…Get a hold of yourself, Professor Georg. Trying to kidnap a student? If you didn’t have real ability, I would have reported you to the chairman.”
If he didn’t have real ability, I would have shut this workshop down myself.
But since he does have ability, there’s no helping it. I need his help to create the medicine that can cure Ariel’s illness.
“Yeah, yeah. So you’re already starting to oppress researchers now that you’re going to become an Imperial official. What a jerk.”
“Enough of that. Please take a look at this. What I want to research is…”
“The Archmage Disease, right? Or do they call it Transcendence Disease these days? So you’re finally restarting that research?”
“…I’ve never researched it here before. How did you know?”
“I stole a look at the notebook you always kept so carefully in your arms.”
“That’s an invasion of privacy.”
“Then why did you leave it behind? If it was that precious, you should’ve taken it when you left the workshop.”
“….”
He had a point.
But how was I supposed to know I would restart research I had abandoned precisely to cut off my lingering attachment?
“Well, the research itself was interesting. The theory was weak, but I could feel the passion behind it. Or was it obsession?”
“You can tell something like that?”
“Yeah.”
Professor Georg pulled a chair over and sat beside me.
“There were tear stains on it.”
“Those were drool stains.”
“I analyzed the components.”
“Why would you even do that?”
“So I could tease you about it, you idiot.”
He’s completely insane.
“Anyway, I really liked this. Kids these days have no guts, but you… I don’t know if you’re fearless or just brainless. The budget alone… wow. Looking at it again, you really are crazy. Do you think you can just ask for this kind of budget and get it?”
“But the Cradle provides it.”
“That’s true.”
Just like when I researched to save my younger sibling Chris.
If you pour enough money into something, it might work.
Or it might not.
If it fails, astronomical sums of money simply vanish into thin air.
But that’s fine.
“And if researchers hesitate because of budget limits, how can they do research?”
It’s not my money anyway.