Chapter 121
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 121
“Lady Elena, the results are in.”
Seintea.
In Elena’s office, brilliant light fractured through the stained-glass windows, casting vibrant patterns across the floor.
At her aide’s report, Elena, who had been praying with her hands clasped in the prayer room, slowly opened her eyes. She rose from her knees, accepting the report card from her aide, Adler.
The result recorded on the card was a perfect score.
It was only to be expected, so Elena paid it little mind. She handed the report card back and asked, “Thank you. And how were your grades, Miss Adler?”
Adler scratched the back of her head, her voice a low mumble.
“...Not much different from any other year. Just enough to avoid last place.”
Adler possessed top-tier divine aptitude and swordsmanship, but when it came to written exams, it was faster to look for her name starting from the bottom of the list. Her situation was quite similar to Kiriel's.
“Oh my. While it is good to train your body and your blade, please pay a little more attention to theology. Knowledge of the divine is indispensable when fighting demons.”
“Understood. And here is the other information you requested.”
Adler produced another document and handed it to Elena. Elena examined it carefully, a faint smile gracing her lips.
“I heard he often dozes off in class, but his grades are quite good. Perhaps our special training sessions were effective? Hehe.”
Elena smiled as she scanned the report cards of the Demon Purification Club members, her eyes lingering on Roen’s in particular. After observing Elena's reaction for a moment, Adler asked cautiously.
“But, Lady Elena, why are you so concerned with Roen?”
“Are you curious?”
“Yes, well… You don't usually show this much interest in other students, do you?”
Adler shrugged. While Elena was kind to everyone, it was rare for her to show personal interest in anyone. She simply hid her complex emotions beneath a radiant, practiced smile. That was how Adler, who had served by Elena's side since childhood, saw it.
Elena replied simply, “No reason. He’s interesting, isn’t he?”
Elena closed Roen's report card and set it down on the table. She closed her eyes, recalling the contents of a letter she had received from her home country a few days ago—an opinion asserted by some of the hard-line cardinals of the Holy Kingdom of Celestia.
‘Only a being related to the demonic can know the weakness of a Blood Demon.’
Normally, it was the kind of radical assertion she would ignore, but Elena had found a small, nagging hint within it. She recalled the conversation she'd had with Roen over a meal regarding the incident during the practical exam.
He had concluded that the incident was related to a ley line anomaly. However...
‘No matter how you look at it, that incident was the work of Gilean, one of the Twelve Honored Ones.’
Roen, as if he already knew this, had been reluctant to mention it, trying his best to change the subject. He'd even gone so far as to ramble on about ley line anomalies to distract her. Outwardly, she had agreed with his opinion, but his behavior was suspicious enough to warrant a second thought.
‘And...’
Elena's gaze fell upon her own pale fingers. She thought of the nameless black ring Roen always wore.
She hadn't noticed it at first, but after spending more time in close proximity to him, she felt a strange, unidentifiable sensation emanating from that ring. It wasn't the detection of divine power, nor was it the sensing of mana. It was simply a gut feeling—the intuition of a saint candidate, said to be closest to the divinity of God.
No, perhaps it could simply be called a woman's intuition.
The thought occurred to her that perhaps there was an artifact in this world capable of withstanding her divine power, even for a moment.
‘Of course… that doesn't necessarily mean Roen is connected to the demons.’
Elena organized her thoughts and slowly opened her eyes. To doubt Roen's lineage was to doubt the entire Devalis family, who stood at the forefront of demon extermination. A rash judgment was out of the question.
This was all just circumstantial—a personal suspicion with no physical evidence. Having already paid a heavy price for suspecting someone once before, she couldn't afford to act hastily again. For now, the best course of action was to stay close to Roen and continue to observe him.
As Elena silently contemplated her hands, Adler's voice broke the silence again.
“‘Interesting,’ you say. Was the note you drew last time something along those lines, Lady Elena? ‘The most interesting person’?”
Adler was referring to the time Elena had chosen Roen for the three-legged race during the sports festival. Elena choosing Roen as her partner had been such a hot topic that the Union Daily even ran an article on it; most students were dying to know the contents of that note.
The only other person who knew what the note said, the sports festival's MC, Lambda, had apparently been horrified and repeatedly refused interviews with the newspaper club. Whether it was simply because of the rule to maintain secrecy or because someone had silenced him was anyone's guess.
Elena smiled brightly and said, “...Well, let's just say it was something similar for now.”
The note Elena had drawn at the time had actually read: [The person you're most concerned about right now.]
Whatever that meant exactly, the only person Elena could have chosen was Roen.
*
Drip.
Drip.
Vaporized ingredients traveled up the glass tube of the distiller. They soon met the condenser and fell, drop by drop, to the bottom of the flask.
Wearing safety goggles, I stared blankly at the process. Though extracted from a blue liquid, the distilled ingredients each held a different hue—a spectrum of colors, like a rainbow. I wasn't sure if such colors could exist in reality, but considering the ingredients, I supposed it was possible.
I'd thrown in bizarre materials like troll oil and lightning fireflies; it would be stranger if the result was an ordinary color. At first, I was worried the mixed ingredients might separate strangely during distillation, but thankfully, that didn't seem to be the case.
I watched the distilled ingredients for a moment, and when the timer went off, I removed the flask containing the first distillate—the red one.
Glug, glug, glug.
I transferred the contents of the flask into a small glass test tube, placed it in a magic device, and set it spinning. It was a magic device similar to a centrifuge, which separates mixtures by density.
Whirrrr—
While the device spun, I took out the vermilion flask and placed it in a flash freezer. This one needed to be cooled and solidified quickly. Next was the yellow ingredient.
The color of this one was a bit... off. It looked like the result of taking far too many vitamins the day before.
And so, I processed each of the colorful distilled ingredients according to the recipe. The advice from Pastel, the apothecary I'd met before, proved quite useful for this task. He had taught me a few practical tricks of the trade.
“Phew.”
Finishing the work, I let out a sigh and stretched my back. The reprocessing of the distilled ingredients had to be done for exactly 24 hours. Since I'd boiled them in the cauldron for 48 hours, the timing perfectly aligned with the 72 hours needed for the artifact crafting.
It seemed the artifact and the potion would be completed simultaneously, just as I'd originally intended.
“Let's see.”
I first tidied up the workbench and began preparing the other materials needed for the artifact—the various assembly parts used to create [Tubal-Cain's Star].
Since it was a simple artifact, the required materials weren't picky, so there was no problem using off-the-shelf parts available on the market. Of course, even if they were off-the-shelf, they were extremely expensive, high-quality goods, so their quality was guaranteed.
To increase the item's grade, I had procured parts made not from a standard alloy, but from adamantium. I chose it because of its high mana conductivity and because I liked adamantium's characteristic blue sheen.
I sorted each material into its proper section, much like preparing to assemble a plastic model kit. Then, to be ready for assembly as soon as the magic circuit finished absorbing the blood, I smoothed out the rough parts of the materials, applied an anti-corrosion coating, and let them air-dry. This should keep them safe even if they were dropped in water.
With the prep work done, I arranged the components in their correct positions and order. So far, so good.
All that remained was to connect the power source that would supply mana to the magic circuit board and to process the 'mana crystals' that would be mounted on the board, which contained various concepts.
Fortunately, I'd asked Alfredo to procure already-processed mana crystals, so that was fine, but the task of connecting the magic circuit to the power source had to be done by hand.
Wearing a monocle over one eye, I began the task of twisting fine mithril wires together with tweezers. In terms of electronics, it was similar to connecting copper wires. However, connecting a magic circuit was far more complex. It was difficult enough that I felt the strain even after learning a few tricks from the triplet dwarves.
Having never done anything like this in my life, it felt a bit awkward. With trembling hands, I carefully twisted each strand of wire. It was delicate work, like threading a needle. Part of me wondered what the hell I was doing, but on the other hand...
‘This is... fun.’
A faint smile touched my lips. There are many difficulties in creating something yourself, but when you focus and tackle them one by one, it can be genuinely enjoyable. It was a rewarding task, like filling in the blank pages of a game codex.
‘And tomorrow is the weekend.’
Even if I have to give up my entire weekend, I will absolutely succeed. This was a wall I had to overcome entirely on my own, without the help of the system or anyone else. My rival was never another competitor or player; it was always myself.
‘...I can't lose.’
*
Ciel Eurafia placed a homemade lunchbox on the table and glanced toward the laboratory.
‘It's already been 60 hours since Lord Roen shut himself in the lab.’
It was impossible to know if he'd slept at all in that time. The only proof that he was still among the living was the empty meal box left outside the lab door after every meal. Should she be relieved that he was at least eating the lunchboxes she diligently prepared?
Sighing deeply, Ciel sat on the sofa and took out the book she had brought. She decided to wait here until evening, just in case something happened.
After reading for a while, Ciel went outside and checked the mailbox, which was stuffed with letters. Managing the mail for the Student Council office was part of her duties. As she sifted through the mail, she spotted a high-quality envelope among the blue letters that signified challenges.
It was a letter stamped with the seal of the Devalis family—a golden lion. It was written by Aslan, the head of the Devalis family herself.
“...”
Ciel glanced around the hallway to make sure no one was watching, then took the letter and went back inside. Sitting back on the sofa, she swallowed hard and dabbed her blood onto the letter's seal.
Sssss—
The seal absorbed the blood and melted away like snow. Seeing this, Ciel immediately opened the envelope and took out the letter. When she unfolded it, a script that looked like Aslan's own scrawl came into view.
[Hey, you damn brat. You doing okay? If you're alive, you could at least contact your big sister. Do I really have to hear about how you're doing through Ciel? Don't tell me you're sulking just because I cut off your allowance...]
The letter, which began with a rather rough greeting, didn't contain anything particularly special. Ciel had been a little nervous, wondering if it contained some kind of order, but thankfully, it was mostly just a customary inquiry into Roen's well-being and an update on Aslan's own life.
She mentioned which of her knights had gotten married, who had a child, and who had died in the last battle. She also mentioned that the prisons were full of convicts sent from all over the continent and that the elders were constantly nagging her about marriage.
One thing to note in particular was her insistence that he visit the family during the upcoming summer vacation. There was even a threat that if he didn't, she would come to the Union herself to drag him home.
[Ah, and Ciel, thank you for all your hard work. You're about the only one who can look after that brat. I'm sorry, and I'm counting on you. I put a little extra in your pay this month. And I know your birthday is coming up soon; if there's anything you want as a gift, send me a list. That's all for now.]
The postscript thanked her for her hard work and asked her to continue looking after Roen. Duchess Aslan had a rough side, having lived and fought alongside her knights on the front lines against the demons, but the warmth in her letter was clearly felt.
Ciel was folding the letter with a faint smile when it happened.
R-r-rumble—
A vibration shook the room, and then flashes of light began to leak from the crack under the laboratory door. At the same time, a joyous laugh echoed from within the lab.