Dummy
While preparing to sell the Party Bears, I came to a realization.
Getting toy golems recognized as commercial products was no easy feat.
They were meant for children, after all.
Materials, magic circles—everything had to pass a battery of inspections from specialized agencies. Physical, chemical, electromagnetic, and mana-based tests were only the beginning. Real-world usage trials came after that.
And even that wasn't the end of it.
Final product certification required regulatory compliance and official approval, and the requirements varied by region and country. One wrong move and the sales permit could be restricted to the Academy alone, so you had to be thoroughly versed in every relevant regulation and local circumstance.
It was beyond me.
Both my body and my mind were a long way from this world's common sense. I had some residual knowledge of robotics from my previous life, but here even robots required magic circles as a mandatory component.
There were standardized magic circles and spells specifically for robots, along with matching parts and manufacturing methods. Deviate from any of that and you were breaking the law.
Everything I knew from my past life had become completely useless.
"So what you're saying is, from now on every product should be certified under my name?"
"Yes."
But with a collaborator, the story changed entirely.
I was lucky, relatively speaking—the "doll" type didn't face nearly as stringent approval conditions. They weren't made of hard plastic or metal that could hurt a child; they were soft cotton stuffing. Pass a toxicity test and the rest was mostly formality. And if an industry expert signed off on the certification, everything sailed through.
Professor Griebe watched the Party Bear fidgeting on his desk, then asked with a newly serious expression,
"So you're saying there are toy golems besides this one?"
"Yes. But those are considerably higher-end models. I won't be able to mass-produce them the way I can with these."
"Can I get a look at them ahead of time? I can hardly believe something like this exists in more than one form."
"I'm sorry, but they're still in development. I'll bring them once the prototypes are finished."
"Those are dolls too?"
"No. Those use mana wood."
"Mana wood? My word… the material costs must be considerable."
Professor Griebe marveled, studying my face carefully.
Playing it cool, are we.
This wasn't him acknowledging my talent. He found it suspicious. An orphan picked up by a hunter, developing golems with material costs in the hundreds of thousands—not ten or twenty thousand won, but hundreds of thousands? Only a fool would just nod along and accept that at face value.
"…Pecia, where exactly did you learn to make these things? There's a limit to what self-study can achieve."
As expected—between the Party Bears' quality and everything else, he wasn't going to let this slide. I pulled out the answer I'd prepared in advance.
"I learned it back home. The details are a secret."
"And where is home?"
"I told you, it's a secret."
"Can't you give me even a rough idea? We're practically family now."
"If you knew, you could get hurt. I'm not joking. I mean it."
"……"
Professor Griebe smacked his lips in disappointment, but soon nodded in acceptance. What mattered to him was research and development—not digging into underworld secrets and getting himself killed.
He fiddled with the Party Bear's paw and asked,
"So what is it you want from me? If you're willing to have personal products like these certified under my name, there must be something."
From now on, the world would believe the Party Bears had been created under Professor Griebe's guidance. After all, I would be joining his research lab.
For a man who lived and died by his pride, it must have seemed a suspiciously good deal.
But the truth was, I was basically selling him free water.
Aggro tanking.
If word got out that someone my age had independently developed these things, it would draw an enormous amount of attention. It could become a sensation not just domestically but overseas. And if that happened, my Academy life would inevitably turn into a circus.
Kang Jiye and Yena might even get dragged into the hassle.
If that was the alternative, better to quietly enter a research lab and use it as a shield.
I grinned and replied,
"I don't want anything."
"Hm?"
"Oh—and come to think of it, I've already delivered results in advance, haven't I? So I won't be hearing any nonsense about overtime or weekend shifts."
"What do you mean, 'nonsense,' talking to your supervising professor like that. Fine, fine. You're exempt from extra hours."
"Thank you."
Things were falling into place faster than expected.
He looked ruthless on the surface, but this seemed to be Professor Griebe's style. He had no interest in the incompetent or the lazy from the start—endure if you can, leave if you can't. Since I'd already mastered one field, he was treating me as a collaborator.
After that, I received a formal course of study from Professor Griebe and officially became a research student.
He signed and accepted the application form in one second flat, the corner of his mouth twitching. He mentioned "Professor Kim" in a rather sly tone, so I asked out of curiosity,
"By the way, who's Professor Kim?"
Professor Griebe's face went stern.
"He exists. A man who lucks into first place among research students every single year. If that man ever calls for you, you are not to acknowledge him."
"Got it. I'm your golden goose, after all."
"Hahaha! You little rascal!"
Apparently Professor Griebe intended to keep me—his trump card—tightly under wraps.
I was genuinely grateful.
With this, I can sell Party Bears without being suspected of being a magical beast, and keep my own presence reasonably hidden.
We laughed for entirely different reasons and celebrated our partnership.
"Right then—now for the 'joint development.' Care to tell me how you made this doll? The one I had ran off on me."
"……"
Ah. Right. There was that problem.
I said to Professor Griebe,
"Professor."
"Yes?"
"I'm not an engineer. I'm an artist."
"What do you mean by that?"
"I'll help with development, but I'd prefer you didn't tear apart or damage a finished work of art."
"Ah."
A look of understanding crossed Professor Griebe's face.
"So that's why it had a built-in auto-evasion function. Remarkable—it registered even approaching with a knife as a threat. How on earth did you construct the magic circle?"
"It's not a magic circle. It's a magic stone."
In my previous life, Pecia had once impersonated a puppeteer to conceal her true identity. What she'd used back then was a magical beast's magic stone.
A magic stone was the orb that dropped when you killed a magical beast the right way. Apply one to a golem and you got a golem-beast that inherited the original creature's temperament wholesale.
In short, it was a way of resurrecting a magical beast in whatever form you wanted.
Professor Griebe's eyes went round.
"A magic stone?"
"Of course I didn't use it as-is. I broke down the magic stone, converted it into a magic circle, and then applied it. I stripped out the aggressive elements in the process, too."
"…That's certainly not illegal that way. But how did you remove the aggression?"
"I got lucky and found the magic stone's aggression circuit."
In other words, I'd found the gene responsible for aggression in the human genome—except for magic stones.
"……"
Professor Griebe stared at me for a long moment, then suddenly opened a desk drawer. He pulled out a fist-sized orb carefully wrapped in mana cloth.
The "Handle with Care" sticker told me it was a magical beast's magic stone. The murky, dirty color of it was thoroughly unpleasant.
"Think you could try it? The magic circle conversion. Frankly, I can't believe a student as young as you can perform high-level magic like that."
"I understand, but… what kind of magic stone is this?"
"I don't know either. Someone just gave it to me as a gift."
A gift? Something this big? Unlikely.
Still, I put my hand on it for now.
Ding—
This is the magic stone of [Terragon, Giant of the Earth — Lv.89].
It possesses power ranging from B-class to A-class.
Can it be converted into a magic circle?
◈ Converting into a magic circle requires a [Blank Advanced Magic Scroll] and [Advanced Magic Ink].
◈ Converting without materials will only destroy the magic stone.
I took my hand off the magic stone and said,
"…It's from an earth-type magical beast. But let's do it next time. As you know, conversion requires a magic scroll and ink."
Professor Griebe asked, curious,
"How did you know it was earth-type?"
"I just touched it, didn't I?"
"……?"
Not that staring at it would have told me anything either. That was knowledge Pecia already had.
"With talent like this, you'd excel at pure magic too, not just manufacturing… Haah. How am I supposed to keep the other professors off her?"
Professor Griebe muttered, stroking his chin. For some reason, his face had crumpled into a scowl.
The Party Bears received their sales permit.
Professor Griebe arranged for distribution not just on campus but throughout all of South Korea. It had been a mere two days since I'd joined the lab. For reference, the process normally took two weeks or more.
"Heh heh—teachers have quite the connections, you know!"
Elaine hummed proudly when she heard the news. Apparently the influence of Ispellen had been at work, whether she'd meant it to show or not.
I'd worried something shady might have been involved, but she assured me that as long as it didn't involve rigging school grades, this level of power was fine to use freely.
Just what is her connection to Professor Griebe, anyway?
It niggled at me a little, but in the end I was too lazy to keep thinking about it.
"Here, look at the map. Pecia!"
"……"
"Wow, already dozing off again? Hey! Wake up!"
"Huh? Yeah?"
"Where are we going right now."
"To eat?"
"We're going to the shopping district! Get it together! If you ask me to take you again next time, you're really getting it."
"Why are you mad… Fine, fine. I got it."
Elaine and I rode a long, golf-cart-like vehicle toward the shopping district. It wasn't a taxi—it was an automated transit system that ran fixed routes.
Once we arrived, Elaine spoke without getting out of the vehicle.
"You can handle it on your own, right? I've got somewhere to be."
"Yeah. Thanks for bringing me."
The words please handle the store registration for me too rose all the way to my throat, but at this rate I was genuinely going to become an idiot, so I decided to do it myself.
Elaine pinched my left cheek.
"Our little directionally-challenged koala. Look at you, all scared. Can you really manage?"
I glared at her.
"I'm not an idiot. Just go already."
"Hehe, sorry. It would be a bit sad if you couldn't even handle this. See you later!"
.
.
.
The store registration process wasn't difficult.
The campus administration office assigned me a two-story building of about seven hundred square feet. I arranged the Party Bears on display and submitted them for inspection by the staff member in charge.
The rent was about two million won a month—not a large sum relative to the expected revenue.
See? I could do things when I put my mind to it.
"Hello? Elaine!"
"Koala, what's up?"
"I got the lease, heh."
"Congrats~ I'll come hang out this evening."
"Not this evening—can you come now?"
"……Why?"
"I don't know how to get back."
"I knew it. Stay right there. Don't go wandering around like last time!"