Academy (4)
Damn it. If he hadn't been a noble, I would have given him an earful… No matter how hard I glared, the bastard didn't even notice. He just ignored me completely.
At least the knight who seemed to be his escort came over and helped me back to my feet.
"My apologies."
I almost told him the person who should be apologizing was the one who'd knocked me down, but I held my tongue. I had no interest in stirring up trouble by opening my mouth.
Besides, one look at that noble's face was enough to tell he was foul-tempered and full of pride. People like that blow up the second you so much as poke them, and then everything gets messy.
"What are you doing? Stop fretting over some commoner and hurry up."
The young-looking noble spoke as if dismissing even the older knight at his side. A noble looking down on a commoner — that much I could accept.
But talking like that to his own escort knight? Just how high was this guy's status?
Getting involved was clearly a bad idea.
"I truly am sorry."
The knight reached into his pocket, pulled out some coins, and pressed them into my hand.
"A token of consolation."
He said it quietly. I looked at the money resting in my palm. A full ten gold…! That was enough to soothe my feelings, all right.
I took the money without protest.
Voices drifted over from the noble and the knight as they walked away. If I'd been knight-class like my sister or the Young Master, I might have caught every word — but fortunately, the sound never quite reached my ears.
Still, judging by that nobleman's reaction and behavior, I could guess well enough.
He'd probably snapped something about why anyone would hand over money over such a trivial thing…
"Why did you accept that money?"
Sister Mary started to raise her voice, then caught herself and spoke quietly instead.
"What's the problem? I didn't even get hurt, and he was giving it away for free."
Ten gold was a fortune to a commoner. Pride was worthless in the face of that kind of sum.
"Aren't you angry at all?"
Angry…? I replayed the whole incident in my head, then looked down at the ten gold still in my hand.
Hmm. Still not angry.
Was this what they called financial therapy? Money mattered if you wanted to live, so there was nothing I could do about it.
"Not really…?"
For some reason, Sister Mary looked furious.
"Saintess…"
The look she fixed on me seemed to shoot sparks. Well, as a believer of the Church, Sister Mary probably found it unbearable to watch the Saintess toss her dignity aside for pocket change.
"I-I won't do it again. Next time."
"Yes. Please, I beg of you. If word gets out that the Saintess did something like this, my head will roll."
Sister Mary rubbed her own neck as she spoke, her face mottled with genuine terror. I thought about it — about the Cardinal and the Archbishop, neither of whom had ever struck me as particularly gentle souls…
What would those people do if they heard I'd behaved like this?
The Archbishop, who'd gone half-mad with zeal the moment he discovered me… the Cardinal, who threw himself into frantic prayer every time I so much as moved…
Hmm……
Yeah, that could definitely explode. I really needed to be careful. Especially when other believers were around.
"I'll be careful."
Even so, looking at the free ten gold still made one corner of my heart feel pleasantly warm. Ah, what materials should I buy with this? Or maybe treating myself to something delicious wouldn't be so bad either?
"Want to go buy something tasty with this?"
Anyway, that was that, and this was this, right? I asked with a smile.
"Julian!"
Sister Mary's temper finally erupted, and I got a full sermon.
I'd already been lectured about men not long ago… and now I was getting another one……
Today I stayed in my room and researched alchemy without going out. I'd gathered the necessary materials the day before and deliberately cleared every outside errand off my plate. And that wasn't all — I'd even mixed red and yellow Attunement Agents ahead of time, referencing other recipes.
For that reason, the room was packed with every kind of material imaginable.
Sand, stone, ash, Attunement Agents, medicinal herbs, poisonous herbs, wood, sulfur, ingots, and more…
It was a four-person room, and only three of us used it, so there should have been space to spare — yet barely any gaps remained.
"Ah, this is pure happiness."
Just looking at the piled-up materials was enough to fill me up. Among them, the sulfur, iron ingot, and bronze ingot were ones I'd paid for myself.
"What are you planning to combine?"
"Who knows? With this many materials, I'll have to think hard about it."
Now that I actually had everything gathered and was ready to start combining, I found myself stuck on what to touch first.
I'd specifically set today aside as a free-combination day… and I hadn't even laid a hand on anything yet.
"Maybe I should try making more gunpowder first?"
"I'll help."
"It'll take a lot of Holy Power."
"I should be able to manage it once."
I shrugged as if to say suit yourself, and Sister Mary sat across from me, loading the same materials and combining them in parallel. Today, I was going to make a proper alchemy bomb.
That was why I'd bought the expensive ingots, and why I'd been digging so hard through my past-life memories.
"How is it? Is the Holy Power manageable?"
I asked Sister Mary once she'd finished producing the gunpowder.
"I used about forty percent, I'd say."
Whoa… I hadn't even used ten percent. Was my Holy Power somehow increasing the more I used it?
The shifts in my Holy Power happened so often that I half-wondered whether the Goddess was watching and handing out bonuses whenever she decided I'd done well.
By now, calculating the total amount of power I held was nearly impossible.
"I see."
"That was helpful, wasn't it?"
Sister Mary clearly wanted a little praise.
"Yes. Having you as my assistant puts my mind completely at ease, Mary."
At that single line, Sister Mary's face went red. Was she that happy about it?
I pulled out the paper I'd prepared earlier and checked my notes. Bomb manufacturing… I'd jotted down what I remembered from game knowledge, but I hadn't managed to gather the materials perfectly.
In the game, bombs were often built on a base of gunpowder, a neutralizing agent, and a fire-attribute ore.
I decided to work with that knowledge. For the neutralizing agent I couldn't obtain, I planned to substitute an Attunement Agent, which was similar enough.
The real problem was the fire-attribute ore.
I'd asked around at a blacksmith's, and it wasn't that fire-stones didn't exist. There were red ores called fire-stones, and volcanic stones that came from volcanoes.
But those were specialty goods, and ordinary blacksmiths rarely carried them.
I'd stood there fretting, then asked what kind of ore might have fire attributes — and got a reply asking how I was supposed to know something like that. Unfortunately, that forge wasn't affiliated with the Vulcanus Temple, so their knowledge was thin and their manners thinner.
Of course, once I pulled out some money, the blacksmith did recommend one item.
"I'll try coal first."
The ore the blacksmith had recommended was coal. Thinking about it… coal was very likely fire-attribute. It was a mineral, and it had the power to make fire burn hotter… So I decided to try making something with coal first.
"Here's the coal."
The moment I so much as mentioned a material, it was promptly prepared and set on the table.
"Young Master, you can go out and enjoy yourself if you want."
"No, it's fine."
"I really don't mind."
"I'm fine as well."
Was it camaraderie? Honestly, the Young Master had nothing to gain from helping with this experiment, so I couldn't figure out why he was working so hard.
Was he… trying to score points with Sister Mary?
I looked at Sister Mary, then at the Young Master. Something about it rubbed me the wrong way.
"Men have things that build up, you know. Why not take this chance to go blow off some steam?"
I said it playfully, flashing a crooked grin.
"W-w-what are you saying?!"
"Saintess!!!"
But the reaction I got was not the one I'd wanted. Both the Young Master and Sister Mary were staring at me with furious faces.
"I… I was just joking…"
I tried to laugh it off as a joke, but neither of them stopped.
"There are things a lady may say and things she must not!"
"Saintess! Please, maintain some dignity!"
"I…"
This wasn't how I'd meant it to go. I was a little flustered.
Anything I said now would just sound like an excuse to them. I decided to force the issue.
"Ah! Whatever! I'm combining things, so be quiet!"
I clapped my hands over my ears, shook my head wildly to shut out their voices, ducked my head, and focused on the combination.
That was enough to stop the Young Master, but Sister Mary still wanted to scold me further.
"Saintess!"
I dumped the prepared materials into the pot and lit the brazier.
"I don't care!"
This must be what they meant by the guilty party getting angry first… I was the one who'd made the joke, so what was I even doing?
Irritation welled up for no good reason. What was this… I should have just kept my mouth shut……
The combination had already begun. I had to concentrate, channeling Holy Power while stirring the contents.
The combination of gunpowder, red Attunement Agent, and coal was reacting rather well.
Could this one succeed too?
A faint sense of anticipation rose — just enough that I couldn't treat it with complete indifference.
Only……
Sister Mary's gaze boring into me from the side was far too sharp. The Young Master wasn't glaring, exactly, but I could still feel his eyes on me, and it was oppressive.
"Th-this is kind of a lot of pressure…"
"Does the Saintess have any right to say that?"
She must have been thoroughly furious — Sister Mary was speaking in a quiet, measured formal register. That only made it more oppressive, more apologetic, and more miserable.
Ugh… I was the one in the wrong, though……
In the end, my concentration hit its limit, and a mistake erupted.
A poof sounded from the pot mid-combination, gray smoke billowed up, and the contents inside collapsed into an unidentifiable heap of garbage.
"Aah… I messed up."
I slumped my shoulders in obvious disappointment, and Sister Mary's expression turned flustered.
"It's fine. I'm the one who made the mistake."
I smiled awkwardly and quietly cleaned the trash out of the pot.
For that moment, everyone was silent.
Once I'd cleared the waste and sat back down, Sister Mary suddenly bowed her head.
"I'm sorry."
"No, it was my fault."
It was true that I'd made a joke I shouldn't have, and it was also true that I'd been the one to get angry in return.
I bowed first to the Young Master.
"I'm sorry. My joke went too far."
The Young Master hesitated, then nodded.
"Yes. Please don't do that again."
Once I apologized, he forgave me. Next I bowed to Sister Mary.
"I… I'm sorry."
"No. I believe I overreacted as well."
Sister Mary looked at me with something like pity in her eyes.
"Shall we try again?"
And just like that, she seemed ready to pretend the whole thing had never happened.
"R-right…"
The atmosphere was still a little strange, but the situation had more or less settled.
I loaded the failed materials back into the pot and prepared to combine them once more.