The Forbidden Elixir

Trie possessed a talent in swordsmanship that surpassed even her father, Gawain. If she continued to devote herself, she would transcend the Imperial First Sword and reach the realm of the Sword Deity. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Though the original novel had been discontinued before she could arrive there······.

Yet Trie abandoned the sword. She gave up on becoming a knight. It was not because she despaired before her talent could bloom. She had already reached the level of a senior knight at a young age. The trigger was none other than the death—or rather, the disappearance—of her father, the Imperial First Sword.

Gawain von dem Schulzenburg. As a magic knight who was both mage and swordsman, he willingly participated in the Freyja-Trude War. One day, while carrying out an operation as the empire’s strategic weapon, he never returned. No body was found, and the Trude Kingdom never claimed to have slain him, so everyone assumed he was missing. But as the author, I knew the truth. Gawain had in fact died at the hands of the protagonist, Hurtlocker. Ironically, even Hurtlocker himself did not know he had killed Gawain. It was a laughable situation.

After that incident, Trie began to devote herself to magic. To find her father, who might still be alive somewhere in this world. And if he was dead, to commit the taboo of bringing him back to life. No one could say whether magic could accomplish what no one else had managed—locating her father. But one thing was certain: no matter how much she swung a sword, her father would never return. Magic, on the other hand, was a discipline whose limits had yet to be discovered, brimming with infinite possibility.

Thus, Trie sealed away the sword she loved so dearly and set out on a journey with no visible end. It had already been three years. Magic still showed no signs of progress, while the sword she always carried made her fingers itch to draw it. That was why I was certain she would accept my request to teach her the sword with a single word.

“I refuse.”

······An unexpected answer came back.

“Why?”

“Why? What good would it do me to teach you swordsmanship?”

“······.”

Wasn’t she the one whose hands itched to draw her sword······? I hadn’t understood my own child’s heart. It felt as though the ground had collapsed beneath me.

“Then what do you want?”

“······Magic.”

“What?”

“Can you teach me magic?”

It felt as if I had been struck hard across the head. Here I was, trying to make her quit magic, and she was asking me to teach her magic in return? She must have believed that someone who entered the Imperial Academy at the top of the class despite being a commoner possessed extraordinary skill. The truth was, I could barely manage my own affairs, let alone teach anyone else. But if this was the only way to place a sword back in Trie’s hands······.

“Very well.”

“Huh? Really? You’ll teach me magic?”

“Yes. I will teach you magic, and you will teach me swordsmanship.”

“Ah······. I learn very slowly, though. Is that still all right?”

“It is.”

Watching Trie’s expression brighten, I felt a twinge of unease in my chest. My instruction would be nothing but amateurish······. I could only hope she never noticed.

“Could we start tomorrow?”

“I’m afraid I won’t be able to teach you magic until after the midterms. I have some matters that require using magic these days.”

“I see······.”

I had successfully put off teaching her magic until after the midterms. In the meantime, I would have to skim through the major textbooks. Even if it was only surface-level knowledge, I needed to know enough to bluff my way through teaching.

“I can start tomorrow. Where should we meet?”

“There’s a building I use as a training room in the single-occupancy dorms. Come to my room and I’ll guide you.”

“Then how about nine in the morning tomorrow?”

“Agreed.”

The training room was spacious enough, and its walls were reinforced with magic, making it suitable for both swordsmanship and magic practice. With a lighter step, I parted ways with Trie. I had secured regular meetings with her. Now I only needed to figure out how to persuade her to abandon magic. The fastest way would be to tell her that Gawain was already dead and that no magic existed to revive the dead······. But she would never believe me even if I said it. In the original story, it had taken her over a year to realize that truth and give up on magic. It might be quicker to make her despair by showing her that she possessed not a shred of talent for magic.

“Hmm?”

When I returned to the mansion, I noticed a pair of shoes in the shoe rack that I had never seen before. Black shoes with almost no heel. I immediately knew whose they were.

“Welcome, Master Heinkel.”

“Pardon the intrusion, Schlus.”

“······.”

In the living room, Iris sat on the sofa drinking tea while Emilia stood beside her, looking somewhat uncomfortable.

“Um, well. She said she was your guest, so I couldn’t just turn her away at the door. When I asked if she would like to wait inside······.”

“In short, I barged in on my own. I hope you won’t scold your attendant too harshly.”

“······.”

I roughly understood what had happened. Emilia couldn’t have refused entry to Iris, who was not merely a noble but the Saintess herself. I could understand why she had let her in without telling me. I would have done the same. And there was no need for me to scold Emilia. If I angered her, she might come to my room with a knife that very night······.

“So, what brings you here?”

“Your tone is a little cold. I’m certain I told you. We are going to be together for a long time.”

Iris offered a benevolent smile. Honestly, I had no idea what she was thinking. At first, I had assumed she was being friendly because she was my ally even in the future······. But that might have been a trap. Iris was written as a mysterious character whose exterior and interior did not match. It was possible that she would stand against me in the future and was trying to deceive me now to drag me deeper into the quagmire.

“Um······. Is it all right if I listen too?”

“It’s fine. Schlus doesn’t mind either, does he?”

“I don’t. Probably.”

Emilia began glancing around nervously. She was probably worried that overhearing something she shouldn’t would cost her her head. Of course, even if I sent her away, she would try to eavesdrop using artifacts or some other means, so it hardly mattered whether I dismissed her or not.

“So why did you come?”

“To talk about our future.”

Emilia seemed to flinch just now. What was that about? Was it still too cold in here?

“You don’t need to be suspicious. I trust you. Because what you want is what I want.”

“······.”

I had to stay on guard. Everything could be a lie. Those sweet words might be meant to lower my defenses.

“I will help you with everything you wish to do. Of course, only within the scope of what I can manage. It seems difficult to borrow the power of my family.”

That made sense. The fact that Iris possessed future sight was unknown even to her own family. Telling them that Schlus would fight to protect the continent in the future and that they needed to help him now would convince no one.

“Iris.”

“Yes.”

“Could you tell me what you saw?”

What future had she witnessed? I needed to hear it first.

“It’s a secret.”

“······.”

Iris answered with a soft laugh. She could have told a convenient lie. She could have claimed she saw us fighting side by side against a hostile Ma-in, or that I saved her. She could ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠have fabricated something plausible from the future she had glimpsed. But she called it a secret······? That was practically saying, “Please suspect me.”

“You have secrets you can’t tell me either, Schlus.”

“······.”

Come to think of it, she was right. I had never once opened my mouth about how I knew of her future sight. From Iris’s perspective, I must have seemed suspicious. Knowing about a future sight she had never told anyone about······. It might have looked as though I possessed the ability to read minds or something similar. Therefore, my approach must have felt like a threat to Iris. A signal that said, “I know this much about you. I can ruin you and your family in one go, so behave yourself.”

That was why Iris had no choice but to pretend to show me goodwill even though she disliked it.

“Is that all you wanted to say?”

“Yes. If you ever need help, just call for me.”

“I will.”

We claimed to be in a cooperative relationship, but in reality we were deceiving each other. Both of us held secrets we could not reveal, and our true thoughts were different. We did not even know if our interests aligned. At least not until we revealed our secrets to each other. We had become a relationship in which we could never truly trust one another.

“It’s getting late. I’ve imposed on you long enough. I’ll be going now.”

Iris set down her teacup and rose gracefully, a faint smile on her lips. Her expression made it impossible to tell whether she was sincere. Even Emilia, a master at reading emotions, probably could not get a read on Iris.

“Take care on your way back.”

“It’s just to the dorm right in front of us.”

“The academy isn’t entirely safe. We were even attacked by terrorists.”

“Really? Then would you walk me to the dorm?”

“No.”

“How cold. If you keep acting like this, it’ll be troublesome. We’re going to be seeing each other for a long time. Can’t you be a little warmer?”

“I’ll treat you that way when the time comes. Not now.”

“Huhu. I’ll be watching to see how long you can keep that up.”

Iris gave a meaningful smile and left the mansion. The way she spoke made it sound as though we would become especially close in the future······. But I could easily see that it was a lie. It was impossible for her to feel love toward a character I had created from text. That much I could state with certainty.

“Emilia.”

“Ah, ah. Yes?!”

“······?”

Emilia had been standing there blankly and jolted in surprise when she answered. What was wrong with her? What kind of act was that?

“I’m going to the training room. If it gets late, don’t wait up. Go to bed first.”

“Ah, understood.”

Emilia was glancing at me with unusual nervousness. Why was she really acting like that? Still puzzled, I headed for the training room.

After staring at books for hours, I felt like dying. I had only managed to skim through about half of the major textbooks, and there were parts I didn’t understand that I had to reread several times.

“It should be······.”

It was about time. I closed the book and called up my ability list in my mind. Before I knew it, the light indicating activation had come on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for the ability Selection and Concentration. It had become usable after midnight.

“If my hypothesis is correct, this should open the shop.”

I decided to go over it once more, carefully and thoroughly, to be certain. The condition for opening the shop was that all stats exceed 10. However, it did not say that all stats had to exceed 10 “simultaneously.” So the idea occurred to me that it might be possible to exceed 10 one by one each day using Selection and Concentration. I had been steadily raising my stats this way, and now only one remained. Strength.

Selection and Concentration. Use on Strength.

Without further hesitation, I recited it inwardly. I could feel the ability activate, but there was no particular sensation. Since it only raised the body’s strength, there was no way to feel it unless I cut myself with a sword. I considered testing it by pricking my hand with a pocket knife, but my attention was stolen by the text that appeared right after.

“Finally!”

I let out an involuntary cheer.

Unexpected rewards had been given. Ability enhancement. I should check how they had changed.

Memory of the True Body had changed in a way closer to a remake than an enhancement. Originally, performing a specific action within a one-hour time limit would bring back the corresponding memory. Now it had become completely random. No matter how I looked at it, this seemed like a nerf. It was possible that Schlus’s memories would intrude at unwanted moments and cause interference.

“Whoa.”

The duration had increased from 3 seconds to 5 seconds. And now it could be split and used multiple times. This was a far greater gain than the nerf to Memory of the True Body. With this, I would be able to use magic even on days when I had two classes. It had come at just the right time, when skipping even one liberal arts class would make maintaining the top rank difficult.

“Now, let’s take a look at the shop.”

There were quite a lot of items. But the one that caught my eye was none other than—

I remembered setting it up as an incredibly overpowered item, but in truth, it had vanished along with Gawain the moment he went missing. If I suddenly appeared holding it one day, I would be dragged straight to the imperial police. The price was a whopping 100 coins······. There was no way I would ever buy that.

Besides that, there were both intuitive items and completely unknown ones. Recovery potions were obviously for healing wounds. But what did the Forbidden Elixir do?

Inquiry.

The ability Inquiry did not work. It seemed it could not be used on text rather than physical objects. Then there was no choice. I spent one shop coin and purchased one Forbidden Elixir.

“Oh.”

Then a small bottle appeared in midair and settled onto my palm. It was a sight that would invite a barrage of questions if performed in a crowded place. It seemed I would have to do all my shopping inside a barrier like this training room, alone.

Inquiry.

I immediately activated the ability on the bottle. As if waiting for it, text scrolled out.

“No way, that’s insane.”

The effect was truly tremendous.