Chapter 93: The Lord is With Us (14)
Chapter 93: The Lord is With Us (14)
Celine and Seria left after a brief commotion.
I never did find out why they were so upset. Celine simply glared at me with a look of utter dissatisfaction, while Seria stood there with a frozen, icy expression, gnawing on her fingernails.
Grind, gnaw.
It was only after hearing that unsettling sound that I snapped back to my senses.
The atmosphere was heavy. Come to think of it, I might have made a slip of the tongue.
Saying they were "not needed" was an inappropriate way to speak to people. It was something I would never normally say, which made me even more flustered.
I must have been influenced by my conversation with Senior Delphine.
That attitude of speaking as if humans had a specific "use," that binary worldview of dividing everything into the useful and the useless—that was Delphine’s perspective.
It was far from my true feelings. I hurriedly tried to smooth things over.
"I think I might have misspoken for a moment..."
"...You're going with that bitch?"
However, it seemed Celine and Seria were fixated on an entirely different point. When I gave them a questioning look, Celine furrowed her brow slightly and asked again.
"You said you're going with Delphine, that bitch."
Ah. Only then did I understand Celine's point and nodded.
There was no point in denying it; it was the truth. I had just finished settling terms with her right before meeting them. My voice came out flat and steady.
"Yeah, that's the plan."
"...I'm against it!"
Celine's reaction was more negative than I had imagined. She shouted with a firm tone, then fixed me with an intense, fervent gaze.
It was a look of desperation. Biting her lip, she began trying to persuade me.
"D-Don't you remember that woman attacked you, Ian?! It's a good thing you broke her then, otherwise she would've stabbed you in the back and you never would've won the Hunting Festival!"
"Oh, come on. Why would someone so obsessed with victory go out of her way to mess with an ally?"
"B-But still..."
Unable to find a counterargument to my dry logic, Celine’s amber eyes darted back and forth. Her lost gaze eventually landed on Seria.
She seemed to be asking for help. But Seria was already staring at the ground, her pupils dull and lifeless as she continued to bite her nails.
Only an incomprehensible murmur escaped her lips.
"I won't let her take him, I won't let her take him, I won't let her take him..."
Celine, seemingly frustrated by the sight, thumped her chest. It wasn't a loud sound, but the gesture emphasized her soft, ample curves. She spoke once more.
"R-Right! Now that I think about it, you even saw that bitch naked, Ian! And you're going to spend two whole weeks with her?"
I fell silent at that. It was true that I had seen Senior Delphine naked. I had even gifted her the honorable title of "Pink-Haired Young Lady" because of it.
But that wasn't a reason why I couldn't work with her.
It would be one thing if Senior Delphine had a fit every time she saw me because she'd exposed herself. But the reason she was currently trembling in my presence was due to an entirely different set of emotions.
My head tilted instinctively. A bewildered voice slipped through my lips.
"...What does that have to do with anything?"
"Agh!"
Celine couldn't contain her frustration again. Her hand repeatedly thumped her own chest. Not that it made much of a sound against her soft flesh.
It seemed she had decided she needed to bring in reinforcements. Having finished her strategic calculations, Celine’s amber eyes turned toward Seria once more.
She grabbed Seria’s collar and shook her. Celine’s eyes were nothing short of pathetic.
"Hey! Hey, you loner! Say something! Ian’s about to go fool around with your sister!"
Only then did Seria seem to snap out of it.
Her gaze slowly lifted. Her aquamarine eyes, which usually sparkled with the clarity of a lake, had turned a murky, dark shade resembling the deep sea.
Then, she stomped toward me. Immediately after, she grabbed me by the lapels.
My eyes widened in sudden bewilderment. The look Seria gave me as she peered up was so chilling that I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut.
"Senior Ian..."
Her voice was frigid. Just the sound of it reaching my ears made me feel as if my body temperature had dropped several degrees. A chill seeped into my very bones.
The light was still missing from Seria's eyes. The girl's damp, heavy voice clung to my eardrums.
"...I will never, ever let anyone take you. Because you're the only thing I have."
That was her final word.
Just as abruptly as she had grabbed me, Seria released her grip. She turned around and began to walk away without a backward glance.
Celine was the one caught off guard by this decisive action. Her eyes went round with shock as she looked back and forth between me and Seria.
But the mood had long since passed. Celine stamped her feet in frustration and hurried after Seria.
"Hey! Seria, where are you going?! Agh, seriously!"
She glared at me until the very moment she disappeared. At that resentful look, I could only shrug my shoulders. I was trying to convey: What's the problem?
Celine responded with a huff and a snort. It was a clear sign that this wasn't over.
In the end, my encounter with the two women concluded without me ever figuring out why they were so angry.
After standing there blankly for a moment, I let out a deep sigh and started walking again.
Being hounded by women lately was becoming exhausting. But what could I do? Relationships at the Academy were inherently complicated.
If things got really bad, I could just have another sincere conversation with them. That was how I had reconciled with Celine before, after all.
Subconsciously fiddling with the hand axe at my waist, I headed toward the Alchemy Department's lecture hall.
That was where Emma was staying.
Room 506 of the Alchemy Department—a place I had visited once before.
It was Emma's laboratory. Once students reached their third year and were classified as "upperclassmen," those in departments requiring workshops, like Magic or Alchemy, were assigned their own private labs.
Reto had one, and Emma was no different.
As if to prove it, a nameplate with "Emma" written in elegant script hung on the door of Room 506. It was likely a sign installed by the Office of Academic Affairs.
It had already been a week since Emma was discharged from the infirmary. I didn't know what she had been up to during that time, but I figured she had been busy organizing the workshop she'd left neglected for so long.
Just as most mages had their eccentricities, alchemists all shared a certain degree of obsession.
Specifically, a fixation on cleanliness. Since their work required such precise calibration, even a tiny speck of dust falling into a reagent could lead to a catastrophe.
Emma was no exception. According to my memory, she also had a streak of perfectionism.
It wasn't severe; it mostly manifested regarding her lab benches or reagent cabinets. But even so, I could easily imagine how she had reacted upon entering her workshop.
She probably turned pale and started cleaning immediately. She must have been preoccupied for days, dusting off a month's worth of grime.
Still, a week had passed. She should be finishing up her cleaning by now and focusing on her backlogged research.
Taking a moment of her time shouldn't be too difficult. With that lighthearted thought, I knocked on the door of Emma's workshop.
Knock, knock.
A clear response came almost immediately.
"Yes, just a moment~"
Her voice sounded a bit sluggish, perhaps from overworking herself. I heard movement behind the door, and soon it opened slightly, revealing the lovely face of a girl peeking out.
She looked disheveled, as if she had pulled an all-night session. Her movements betrayed an inescapable fatigue as she covered her mouth to yawn.
Emma's eyes, which had been closed during the yawn, fluttered open. At that moment, our eyes met.
And then, she froze.
Emma's eyes bulged. Her stiffness was so sudden it felt like she might shatter if touched. Not knowing the reason, I raised a hand with an awkward smile.
"...Hi, Emma."
Slam!
The door shut in my face.
A series of crashes and thuds echoed from inside. Just from the noise, I could tell how flustered she was. A tiny female voice leaked through the door.
"Oh no, what do I do, what do I do, what do I do...!"
I decided to wait patiently until she calmed down. After a few minutes of waiting with my arms crossed, the workshop door finally opened again.
The Emma who reappeared was a completely different person from a moment ago.
Her reddish hair was now glossy and smooth, and a light layer of makeup had been applied to her face. Even her clothes were perfectly neat.
It was as if the Emma I had seen just seconds ago was an optical illusion. As I stood there dazed, Emma offered a bright smile first.
"Oh my, it's Ian... Welcome. What brings you here?"
I was silent for a moment. I didn't know what to say.
So, I decided to start with an apology.
"Uh, sorry for startling you earlier..."
"...What are you talking about?"
But I couldn't even finish my sentence. Emma, still wearing that same smile, cut me off.
"This is the first time I've seen you today, isn't it, Ian?"
"But just a second ago, you clearly—"
"No, it wasn't."
I tried to protest, thinking it was strange, but Emma's stance was incredibly firm. The smile vanished from her face.
She repeated herself.
"I said no."
"...R-Right."
Seeing no need to continue arguing against her, I sheepishly lowered the hand I had raised in protest. Only then did a satisfied smile return to Emma's face.
"Anyway, it's good to see you, Ian! I've missed you so much... First, would you like to come in?"
With that, Emma swung the workshop door wide to welcome me. Her workshop was neatly organized, as always. It was a room befitting her meticulous nature.
Of course, the blanket left on the sofa testified that this place had been her quarters last night, but I deliberately ignored it.
It was an intuition. A thought flashed through my mind that mentioning it wouldn't help. I didn't know why, but as a swordsman, I tended to trust my gut.
Regardless, Emma seemed genuinely happy to see me. She soon approached the potion display shelf and pulled one out.
She held it out to me. Her intention was obvious.
"Here, Ian! I heard you're going on an internship dispatch soon. I prepared this just in case."
A gray liquid sloshed inside the elongated bottle.
It was a familiar potion. It was the same one she had gifted me during my first visit to her workshop, and one I had relied on before.
A Scent-Concealing Potion. It had the drawback of making one's movements slightly sluggish, but it was more than effective in the chaos of battle.
I decided to accept it gratefully. A bitter smile touched my lips.
"Thanks, I'll put it to good use."
Receiving my thanks, Emma's face filled with pride. She turned back to the potion shelf.
She began pulling out potions one after another.
"And this one improves natural healing, and this one creates a flash if you throw it! This one smells like something beasts hate, and this one is the opposite—it smells like something they love! And also, also..."
At first, I watched Emma with a smile, but as time passed, my expression gradually stiffened. It couldn't be helped.
The potions, which were only a few at first, soon numbered in the dozens.
I couldn't even keep track of the count anymore. There was simply a small mountain of various potions piling up.
Holding an armful of potions, Emma looked at me with a beaming smile.
"It's a bit lacking, but it should be enough for immediate use!"
I could only break into a cold sweat internally.
No, seriously, this is way too many.
I hadn't realized it before, but Emma seemed to have a very... devoted personality.