The Spirit's Eye
"Neodymium!? That's it! So this is the material for black magic? Or fuel? Anyway, something like that, right?"
"···!"
Neodymium. A substance that appeared in multiple books. It must have been mentioned in the books I left with Julia as well.
"Neodymium? Let me see it."
"Aah···."
Julia sighed with a look of despair. She hugged the book tightly and shook her head vigorously for a moment before reluctantly handing it over when I reached out my hand. Her resentful gaze turned toward Charlotte.
'So even here, neodymium is considered a key condition for black magic.'
If the substance appeared in so many books, suspicion had no choice but to turn into certainty. Once I obtained neodymium, I could finally begin experiments or whatever else was needed. The problem was that neodymium was an extremely rare mineral. Even if you gathered every bit of pure refined neodymium in the world, it would amount to no more than a fist-sized quantity. Nine-tenths of that had been forged into a single lump, which vanished into the black market decades ago and had not been seen since.
'I suppose I'll have to start by finding that lump of neodymium.'
It was merely a rare mineral, nothing particularly remarkable. It was too soft and brittle to be used as a tool, and it had neither luster nor an attractive shape, so it held no value as a gemstone. The purchase cost probably would not be too high. The real difficulty lay in how to locate it. I could not exactly post an advertisement in the newspaper saying "Buying neodymium." That would immediately brand me a black mage and get me stoned. I would have to search as quietly as possible. This seemed like quite a high difficulty task.
"Good work, Julia. You found it well."
"I was the one who found it···!"
Charlotte shot me a slightly aggrieved look, and Julia's expression hardened instantly. She must have thought her attempt to hide it would not be discovered.
"Th-that···! It's dangerous! Everyone who researched neodymium met a terrible end! ···yo!"
"A terrible end?"
"They all went insane, or fell into corruption and committed crimes before dying. ···yo."
"···."
When my gaze fell on her, Julia trailed off while breaking into a cold sweat. It seemed Julia had genuinely been worried about me.
Evil God 'Kali' is shedding tears, urging us to behold our necromancer's utmost filial piety.
I felt a little moved as well. That said, there was no need for Julia to worry. After all, I had already experienced firsthand the reason previous researchers had died.
'What else could the cause be? Obviously those meddlesome evil gods.'
Black magic research inevitably attracted evil gods. That fact had already been proven when Kali guided me down the path of black magic research. Evil gods had a very strong tendency to interfere with the humans they latched onto. Do this, do not do that—they caused an uproar at every opportunity. The previous researchers probably had not even known what the evil gods wanted, or that evil gods had attached themselves to them in the first place. They must have steadily accumulated the evil gods' dislike until their anger finally exploded and brought about their deaths.
'But that will not happen to me.'
That story did not apply to me. Thanks to my special ability, I could grasp the psychology of any evil god attached to me in real time. On top of that, I possessed the passive trait of being beloved by all evil gods. That was why, even when I repeatedly refused Kali's demands, I was always forgiven. I did not know whether more evil gods would attach themselves as I continued black magic research, but even if they did, I would be able to handle them. It was unlikely that Kali, the veteran, would allow other evil gods to approach anyway. The threat Julia feared would not apply to me.
"Thank you for worrying. But I'm fine, so you don't need to concern yourself too much."
"···!"
I placed my hand lightly on Julia's head as I spoke. I had noticed it while patting her head while she slept, but her hair was incredibly soft. The kind of hair that made you want to put it in your mouth without thinking.
"Huh? Haa!? Wh-when did I ever worry about someone like Aslan···!"
"···."
Julia hurriedly brushed my hand away and feigned ignorance. You just said it yourself. That you were worried I might meet a terrible end.
"Th-that was just something I said! I was only making excuses to stop Aslan from destroying the world with black magic!"
"Beep! Lie!"
"···!?"
Charlotte spoke while pushing up a pair of glasses she had somehow acquired. Upon closer inspection, one of her pupils had turned green. What was that about?
"The Spirit's Eye says it's a lie! Julia's words just now didn't contain any sincerity!"
"Wh-what!? What Spirit's Eye···!"
"I borrowed it from Muddy! So Julia really was worried about Mister! Lie detection successful! Ahem!"
"···!"
It was already a fact that everyone knew, yet Charlotte deliberately drove the point home by using even the Spirit's Eye. Julia's face flushed bright red.
"Uwaaaang! Charlotte, you little!!!"
"Kyaaak!?"
Unable to hold back any longer, Julia charged at Charlotte. She looked like she had not thought about what she would do once she caught her, just rushing forward blindly. Charlotte, who had been living an active lifestyle, was not someone Julia could easily catch after spending all her time indoors. As Charlotte hopped lightly over desks and climbed onto bookshelves to toy with Julia—
Kwaaaak! Give me back my eye, you damn brat!!!
Muddy's desperate scream echoed from afar. ···She said she borrowed it.
***
The small commotion that arose during the black magic research was resolved when I arrested Charlotte.
"Charlotte. Come down here. I'll let you escape."
"Really!? Hup!"
"Here. Take your eye back, Muddy."
"Mister!? I trusted you!!!"
Muddy trudged over with a thoroughly sulky expression. The moment the spirit brought its stubby arm in front of Charlotte's eye, a burst of light began to be drawn out from her eye.
[I lent it because she said she wanted to try it, but she ran off with it. What a heartless, vicious little brat.]
"Ugyagyagyag! This feels weird···!"
It was a bizarre sight—the light being absorbed back into Muddy's eye. That was the Spirit's Eye. The eye that could see through a person's emotions.
"So this is the Spirit's Eye passed down through the imperial emperors."
[It is a Spirit's Eye, but it is on a completely different level from mine. This eye can only distinguish emotions by color, but the emperor's eye can see through far more. Its owner was originally a Spirit King, after all.]
That made sense. When Muddy stared at me, I did not feel anything in particular, but when the emperor stared at me, I felt a chill as if my eyeballs might be pierced through. There were clearly differences in rank among Spirit's Eyes.
'I might as well steal Muddy's eye if the need arises.'
The emperor had a Spirit's Eye, and Irene had Laura's eye, yet I had nothing. If I ever needed one, I could just steal Muddy's eye and use it. No, "forcibly borrow" would be a more accurate expression than "steal."
Having read my gaze, Muddy hiccuped and backed away.
"We'll stop the research here for today. The study has become quite a mess."
"Ah···."
Julia and Charlotte sighed as they looked around. Thanks to their rampage, chairs were overturned and piles of books had collapsed. It was complete chaos. Of course, it was partly my fault for not organizing the books properly in the first place, so I could not entirely blame the children.
After sending the children and Muddy out, I was in the middle of tidying up the study alone when—
"What are you doing, Mister? Why are you cleaning up by yourself?"
"···."
Creak. Charlotte's mischievous face appeared through the gap in the open door.
"You said it was fine to make the maids do it."
"If the maids start touching things, I won't be able to find anything anymore. That's why I'm organizing it myself."
"You should have said that earlier. I'll help too!"
"No need. I've already finished cleaning up."
"Huuu."
Charlotte drooped her shoulders in disappointment. I had pushed the remaining unorganized piles of books behind the bookshelf to hide them and pretended to have finished. This was exactly why I had tried to clean up alone. If Charlotte started touching things, there was a high chance the room would end up even messier than before.
"Ah, right! Mister! Help me put on my armor! My armor arrived today, but I have no idea how to wear it! Hehe."
"Ask Sylvia about that."
"The knight lady seems really busy? She hasn't come out of the training ground at all. I wanted to train with her too···."
Charlotte stomped her feet in disappointment. For the time being, Charlotte and Julia were forbidden from entering the training ground. The official reason was that they might interfere with the training program and that it could be dangerous for outsiders, but the real reason was that I was afraid of them running into Yuri. I had no desire to experience Yuri's wrath after she had been thoroughly provoked by Sylvia.
"So Mister should help me change!"
"···."
Charlotte spoke with a bright smile. She meant the armor, right? If she kept phrasing it like that, people would misunderstand. ···Just like the maids whispering behind the door over there.