Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: The Mage's Heart (1)
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With Cynthia gone, we were back to our four-person household: me, Tiona, and the two maids.
The house felt strangely empty without someone who'd been living with us for a few weeks.
Not that it mattered much—Cynthia's current place probably wasn't far away anyway.
'What should I make for breakfast today?'
I pondered as I checked the contents of the kitchen pantry.
Warm bread with cold cuts and cheese? I kind of wanted to add some vegetables too...
'Yesterday we had fancy waffles since her friends came over, so maybe something healthier today?'
Should I invent granola in this world?
But then I'd have to give it a different name, right?
I was lost in such trivial thoughts when...
Thud.
Someone knocked weakly on the front door.
For some reason, I felt like I should answer it myself, so I opened the door to find Diana standing there.
She reeked of deep despair.
"...Diana. What happened?"
"Arthur..."
Diana's golden eyes were pooled with tears.
"Help me..."
Then she collapsed against me, bursting into sobs.
I brought her inside, made her some hot tea, and heard her out.
But after explaining everything, Diana took a deep breath and apologized.
"...Sorry. I barged in and said something weird. It's my problem, so I should handle it myself..."
Diana wiped her tears and stood up.
"Sorry for asking for help. At least I feel a bit better now."
"Diana."
I gestured to the chair.
"Sit down."
"...But."
"Sit."
Diana sat.
"Wait here a moment."
I went into the kitchen and pulled out ingredients, mixing them together.
I used a bit of magic to handle the parts that would've normally taken hands-on work, finishing what should've been a twenty-minute task in just three minutes.
I put the resulting batter in the oven, then returned to Diana and refilled her tea.
"Chiffon cake will be ready in thirty minutes."
I turned over a thirty-minute hourglass in front of her.
"We'll eat it together when it's done."
"I—"
"I'll step out for a bit until the cake's ready. If Tiona wakes up while I'm gone, just keep her company."
"Arthur—"
"Diana."
I placed my hand on her head as she tried to stand.
From this angle, it looked like I was petting the top of her head.
Since we were already there, I actually stroked around her crown a few times.
"Eut..."
"Wait here. I'll get your research notebook back for you."
I pulled my hand away and headed out.
Toward District B-6, Elixir Street, where the alchemists gathered.
Actually, ever since running into her that day, I'd been looking into Shakla with the intent to eliminate her entirely.
The results of my investigation were shocking.
She forced her workshop apprentices to rack up tuition debts, then used those debts as leverage to steal the results of their research or work them like slaves.
But considering her past, I'd half-expected it.
With so many people involved, I'd been approaching it cautiously, but since Diana had come to me for help, I decided to move up the execution date a bit.
One shitty thing about 'reality' is that wiping out the villains doesn't guarantee some fairy-tale 'and they all lived happily ever after' ending.
Sure, you drive out the exploiter, but months or years later, you come back to find the structure's the same—just with a new boss at the top.
Or you stamp out a bad custom, only for some idiots who've never suffered from it to revive it years later.
I've seen it happen countless times.
But that didn't turn me into some edgelord thinking humanity was hopeless.
Sometimes taking out one villain was enough to improve life in a town.
Sometimes just giving someone a nudge was all it took for them to seize their happiness.
I just got more careful before striking.
Factoring in the scale of the evil, planning for chain reactions after taking the guy out, and moving only after mapping out the action plan.
I arrived at Shakla's workshop and paused for a moment.
The building was three stories tall.
Even excluding the master alchemist Shakla herself, it was a massive operation with over twenty alchemists and apprentices attached.
I opened the door, and a young alchemist who'd been passed out on a lab desk jolted awake.
"Ugh...? A-a visitor...?"
His dark circles were intense. He looked like he hadn't slept in days.
"Mr. Sven, is Shakla inside?"
"Yes... Huh? How do you know my name...?"
No time for answers. I headed straight to Shakla's office on the second floor.
The other alchemists I passed in the hall looked the same: exhausted, drained, carrying that unique despair of people who couldn't escape.
My steps toward the office grew firmer.
I opened the door.
"What? You finally brought what I—"
Shakla paled.
"Arthur!? W-what are you doing here!?"
She hurriedly hid a stack of documents. That had to be Diana's stolen stuff.
"Ott Shakla."
Calling her by her real name made her flinch.
This woman had originally been a lackey for a loan shark. A real nasty one.
What made that shark especially vile was using alchemy to forge contracts outright.
Loan sharks are bastards ninety-nine percent of the time not just because of high interest, but because they pull every dirty trick to keep you from paying off the principal.
You borrow to start a business, succeed, try to pay back—they sabotage your shop.
Or you bring the money, and they claim they're not in the office, so no dice, interest keeps piling up.
But even those scum don't usually forge the contracts themselves.
Unlike Shakla's old boss.
When I took down that loan shark, Shakla claimed she was just an alchemist forced into it by her own debts.
I was suspicious but let her go to watch her moves.
She fled.
Then she changed her name and pivoted: instead of using alchemy for loan sharking like her boss, she used loan sharking for alchemy—and succeeded in rebuilding.
That was Shakla.
"...Arthur."
Shakla bared her teeth.
"You think I'll go down easy!?"
There's a saying in this world: even the king doesn't pick fights inside an alchemist's workshop.
A workshop is an alchemist's strongest turf. Everything they need to unleash their power is right there.
Shakla's palm hit the desk, and the transmutation circle began spinning as it drew in mana.
The desk morphed.
Absorbing nearby materials, it formed a golem towering so high its head brushed the ceiling.
A massive body of iron and stone. Fists as big as a grown man's torso.
This wasn't some custom prep for me—it was standard defensive setup.
This is exactly why storming an alchemist's workshop is dangerous.
"I'm glad you came at me like this."
"Don't talk nonsense!!"
Shakla shouted.
"Glad? Ha! You mean you're happy I attacked first, so now you don't have to worry about legal bullshit!?"
She mocked me from behind the golem.
"Well—"
"Golem No. 1, kill him!"
I tried to reply, but she commanded it outright.
The golem, mindless, swung its fist down at me.
Thud.
I caught it with my palm and finished my sentence.
"Well, yeah. One alchemist's less scary than state power..."
Obviously.
This wasn't some medieval era where anyone with a bit of muscle could call themselves a baron or count.
Though this world did have rare alchemists who were exceptions... Shakla wasn't one.
I twisted the golem's arm.
Crack.
"Hngh."
I slammed it to the floor.
A heavy boom echoed through the entire workshop.
I could've calmly disabled the core with magic, but this felt better.
More effective, too.
As the golem whirred and sparked from excessive damage, Shakla sat dazed in her chair, staring up at me now that the desk was gone.
"Uh...?"
I snatched Diana's documents from her hand and kicked Shakla with my foot.
"Kwegh!"
I planted my foot on her solar plexus as she toppled backward with an ugly squeal.
"Guhk...!"
"I'll give you a choice."
Her attacking first made things much smoother all around.
"One: cooperate fully to fix as much damage as you've caused. Two: don't."
I pressed a little harder on her solar plexus.
To emphasize the weight of the decision.
"Kweek...!!"
"Which will it be?"
**
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ In the kitchen after Arthur left, Diana sat blankly in her chair.
—Diana. Just stay put.
His tone when he'd said that.
The feel of his hand stroking her head.
"Arthur..."
Diana thought again.
Ahh.
How reassuring would it be if that man stayed by her side forever?
How happy?
Heat rose from her crown where his touch lingered, flowing downward—as if his hand were still petting her. Diana closed her eyes blankly.
Closing her eyes made it feel even clearer.
A man's hand stroked from her crown down her nape.
"Eut..."
Down to her collarbone, shoulder. Brushing the back of her armpit, then along her ribs.
"Hngh..."
Her side.
Her thigh.
But instead of going lower, it slid back up, the heat gathering toward her core—
"Diana? What're you doing here?"
"Hgyak!?"
Tiona, the friend she'd parted with yesterday, tilted her head curiously after unexpectedly bumping into her here.