Chapter 114
Chapter 114
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 114
Chapter Title: How to Deal with a Mage
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“But mock battles? How long are they going to keep that up?”
“No idea? The professor just wants to loosen up, I guess….”
Seros muttered while crossing his arms and rocking back and forth in his chair.
The mock battle between Delphine and Professor Alberto playing out right in front of us had already been going on for nearly twenty minutes.
Whether the two of them were deeply immersed in the fight, or if it was to prepare for any potential accidents.
There was no clear reason.
“But Adel, what are you writing down so intently?”
“?”
At Klaus’s question, everyone’s eyes turned to my notebook all at once.
I silently flipped to the next page and held it up for them to see.
“‘Prepare the loaches and boil them…’ What’s this?”
“A loach soup recipe?”
“You eat stuff like that, Top Student?”
“Guess his body wasn’t feeling great.”
Reactions poured in instantly.
Seros in particular blinked in astonishment, alternating between my face and the notebook as if he’d witnessed something bizarre.
[Tonic Dish]
“…Tonic dish?”
“Ugh… I prefer porridge.”
“Just eat it already.”
“Third Place. I’m scared of fish, you know.”
“Yeah?”
Laphia nodded with a somewhat peculiar expression.
Seeing that, Seros looked like he felt some kind of pressure… his face growing even more stiff.
“Loaches have a lot of mucus among freshwater fish… they’re packed with protein, calcium, iron, vitamins A and B.”
“R-really? You sound super knowledgeable.”
As if used to this sort of thing.
Klaus rattled off the knowledge he knew without missing a beat.
“Especially in the summer when your energy’s low, people eat them a lot for recovery. But… they’re really fishy, so prep is key.”
[What if the loach starts thrashing around?]
“Just toss it straight into boiling water.”
[Really?]
“Leave the lid slightly ajar, and the fishiness goes away.”
[Thanks]
“No problem.”
…Somehow, I had a feeling someone, somewhere, was cursing Klaus right now.
For example…
Loach Levi.
Or Leviathan.
Or that horned girl who bought nothing but chicken skewers with a single gold coin in front of the dorm.
“Oh? Looks like it’s finally starting.”
“Yeah? Seems so.”
In the screen, Professor Alberto shook his head and stepped out of the sub-space.
Right after…
The chaotic sub-space instantly returned to its original state.
“Oh… So that’s how it works.”
And immediately after that.
A male student strode confidently into the sub-space.
“Starting right away?”
“Looks like it?”
Without any wait…
Delphine’s duel with the male student began at once.
- Boom!
Delphine unfurled a magic circle without hesitation and attacked the male student.
The male student hastily raised a shield to block it.
“Ugh… Brutal.”
“But she’s going easy on him, right?”
“Yeah? If it were me, I’d end it in one hit.”
I glanced at Seros and Laphia, who had said that.
You guys are from S Class, so sure…
But that student couldn’t, so Delphine was holding back.
-Ugh….
-Giving up?
-No way….
He had definitely blocked the magic.
But the male student couldn’t lift his head.
He struggled to move his body, but already at his feet…
It was frozen solid in ice.
“It’s over.”
“When did the ice…?”
Exclamations leaked out.
No one seemed to know when the ice had even formed.
‘….’
I quietly leaned back in my chair, resting my head and bringing my pen to the notebook.
Scritch scritch…
The pen glided smoothly over the white paper.
‘Hide magic within magic….’
Was it thanks to 【Laplace’s Eye】?
It was clear to my eyes.
The magic Delphine first cast…
Another magic circle quietly hidden inside it.
I drew a star in the notebook.
A mark for important information.
And…
‘Hmm….’
I paused the pen and pondered for a moment.
I had no memory of a character named Delphine in ‘Akareang’.
She was an insignificant background figure I wasn’t even sure existed.
But now…
In this reality, Delphine was breathing… and strong.
‘…….’
I couldn’t predict it at all.
I even sensed she was still hiding more of that strength.
An ominous certainty that Delphine’s true power hadn’t been revealed yet…
I narrowed my eyes at her… and flipped to another page.
***
Clunk.
Entering the dorm room, I…
Carefully cradled the black bag and headed to the kitchen.
Inside the bag, there was a squirming… subtle wriggling sensation.
…Plop.
I cautiously set the bag of loaches down in the kitchen.
Then…
“…!”
A flinch from beyond the wall.
Followed immediately by the sound of frantic scrambling away.
“…….”
I turned my head.
Flipping through my notebook to the page with Klaus’s recipe and stopping there.
It looked scribbled hastily, but he’d bragged that the results were guaranteed.
[STEP 1]
[Put the loaches in a container and sprinkle sea salt to make them spit out impurities! (Absolutely!! Must!!)]
[Otherwise, it’s fishy hell for real]
I grabbed any container and transferred about a dozen loaches into it.
“…….”
…So lively.
Extremely, incredibly alive.
I filled the container with water… and scooped up a handful of sea salt.
Splash splash.
The loaches swam energetically around the container, and I sprinkled the salt over them without hesitation.
Then…
The water began to churn.
Like a storm, the loaches went berserk.
The container turned into a tiny battlefield in an instant.
‘First, boil some water.’
I pulled out a pot.
Rinsed it lightly with water, then filled it to the brim.
And… I looked around.
‘Where is it?’
The next… final ingredient needed.
The one piece essential for completion.
…One single loach.
Step step…
I slowly moved toward the room.
Whoosh!
I flung open the wardrobe and scanned inside.
From top to bottom, even between the clothes, checking meticulously.
But… no matter how much I looked, not even a trace of Loach Levi.
“…….”
Next, the bed.
I lifted the blanket… and even checked under the pillow.
Still nothing.
I even looked under the bed… but no.
‘Then…….’
Only one place left.
Loach Levi’s fish tank.
Step, step.
…Flinch, flinch.
Every step I took brought flinches from somewhere.
But the tank itself was empty.
Just purple water and the seashell I’d put in last time.
No traces of any living creature otherwise.
…Guess she’s given up on the fish concept now; she hasn’t gone in the tank lately.
‘…….’
Then my eyes caught something next to it.
The makeshift bed where Loach Levi usually made a blanket out of tissues to sleep on.
Atop it, instead of a blanket…
A single plate had been carefully placed.
‘?’
Warm steam rising from the plate.
A glistening, iridescent sheen.
…Chicken skewers.
Clack.
I picked up the chicken skewer and…
Lowered my gaze to the floor.
【…….】
“…….”
Behind Bahamut’s nest.
From between the branches, a slippery tail poked out just a bit.
…She was hiding there.
Hiding very diligently… without even realizing she’d been spotted.
‘…….’
Was it really hiding?
If not for that tail, I might not have noticed…
But that tail made her presence stand out even more.
‘Tsk….’
I took a bite of the chicken skewer.
The sweet and salty sauce spread through my mouth.
‘….’
Still, Leviathan had left me one chicken skewer.
…Guess she’s finally growing up.
Step.
I quietly turned around.
Decided not to tease her for once.
It was forgivable this time.
***
“Nyaak!”
Neru leaped at me like a cat, brandishing a dagger.
I calmly regulated my mana, drawing it out thin as thread and wrapping it around my body.
Then…
“Huh?”
My figure vanished in an instant… and Neru’s eyes went wide.
Her dagger, swung with full momentum, sliced through empty air…
And embedded straight into the floor.
“Nyah!”
Neru, struggling to pull out the dagger, toppled backward from the recoil.
I quietly approached her and pulled out the whiteboard.
[You okay?]
“…….”
Neru, lying on the floor, stared straight through me.
That look… somehow sulky and bubbling with frustration.
I knew that look well.
Very well.
[?]
“…….”
Silence lingered for a while…
Plop.
Neru boldly extended her hand to me.
It took me less than a second to understand the gesture.
[Churu?]
As Neru the Churu expert, I was certain.
This was definitely… a hand demanding churu.
‘Hmm….’
I took out a churu from my inventory.
And swayed it gently.
Neru’s eyes followed left and right with the motion.
Her hand sneakily reached out…
Whoosh.
“…!”
I pulled my hand back, retrieving the churu.
Neru’s eyes went round.
A betrayed look.
I didn’t ignore it and held up the whiteboard.
[How does Neru deal with mages?]
“…Mage?”
[Tell me how to deal with mages]
Her ears perked up as if she understood the question.
Seeing her reaction, I was convinced.
The churu bait was perfect; now it was time to get the info I wanted.
‘Neru’s an assassin….’
And she fought in a style most similar to the weapon I was about to complete.
This question meant a lot.
“Aren’t you a mage too, Adel?”
[Right?]
Technically, yes, a mage.
I used a sword, would use daggers… commanded spirits too.
But my main force was magic.
“But you’re asking me?”
[Because it’s you, I trust you]
“Oh….”
Neru’s eyes sparkled.
As if nothing happened, she sprang up, puffed out her chest, and shouted.
“How to deal with a mage!”
[Whoa~]
Neru pointed her index finger and jabbed at the air.
And soon…
“The most important thing there is!”
[What’s the most important?]
And the next moment…
Whoosh!
“…?”
Neru vanished from my sight.
I shook my head left and right… up and down, but no Neru.
She’d been right in front of me just now…
‘Where’d she—’
Thud!
'Guh.'
In that instant.
Something slammed into me.
The churu in my hand vanished in a flash.
“Nyum~”
Neru sprawled belly-down on top of me.
Wagging her legs, she chomped away at the churu contentedly, tail swishing happily.
“Nyum… Not getting caught in their sight.”
[Neru?]
“Nyum….”
[Neru? Ne-ru?]