CHAPTER 106
CHAPTER 106
> Dungeon Crawl
The students of the Wizard Ball club come out during the morning free preparation time to tend the vegetable garden, receive their Wizard Ball morning training, and then attend regular classes.
Compared to ordinary students, it is a far more exhausting and grueling schedule, so wanting to skip is only natural.
But if one person does not do it, someone else has to.
If Isolde were absent, her friends could be excused, but it would inconvenience the crown prince Rudolf, and given Isolde’s personality, she did not seem like someone who would burden Rudolf with such trouble.
Yet that very Isolde had disappeared after breakfast.
“Did you search for her?”
Rudolf asked Isolde’s friends.
“Yes, she was definitely with us….”
“There aren’t that many places students can go to, so how could she just disappear….”
“…….”
At that moment, Vuremhaide descended from the sky and landed.
-KUUNG!
Despite his small stature, the moment he landed the ground trembled and shockwaves spread in all directions, clearly an intentionally exaggerated landing.
“Morning practice time, everyone. Since we had a gathering yesterday, today I hope I won’t regret this… ah, let’s just check how well you’ve mastered the rebound magic I taught yesterday. Hmm? Is something the matter?”
“Professor, Isolde is not here.”
“Ah, already?”
“Pardon?”
“No, I just had something in mind. From her perspective as the ace, seeing your lack of progress she might have thought this team will never make it even if the world ends, that you would probably lose to moles one out of three times… and gave up.”
“…….”
“Ah, that’s just what I think she might have done. Of course I trust all of you. Of course I do… otherwise why would I have formed a team just to watch you get beaten by moles?”
However, judging from how much Vuremhaide loved Wizard Ball, if possible he would have formed a team even with moles just to participate in the league.
“Shall we take a look, then.”
A formless force radiated outward from Vuremhaide with a thump. The moment it struck them, everyone felt their hearts pound rapidly.
“This is….”
“He’s searching using resonance waves. Impressive.”
Idnia realized and was astonished as she observed Vuremhaide emitting this formless force like a destroyer searching for a submarine, perceiving his surroundings through the echo.
He was using magical waves to accomplish what would be difficult to implement with sound or radio waves due to too many obstacles.
“This is something that cannot be explained by science. I really must learn magic diligently.”
While Idnia was thinking this, Vuremhaide clicked his tongue.
“…Isolde is safe. It seems she is simply skipping class. Hmm.”
“Skipping? That Isolde?”
Everyone was shocked.
Isolde was sincere about magic, thoroughly reviewing lessons and even conducting independent research to hone her skills.
She also enjoyed the Wizard Ball club not for the game itself, but because it allowed her to study additional magic under Vuremhaide.
And yet she would skip class? It was incomprehensible.
“There is nothing we can do. Wizard Ball is just an extracurricular club, so it is not mandatory.
No penalty points can be given. Now then, let’s proceed with practice, leaving the absent one aside.”
Vuremhaide enchanted a bat and began tossing slow balls to everyone to test the rebound magic that dramatically increases distance once the ball is struck.
However, many students still struggled to even hit the ball, making it difficult to verify the magic.
“If you can’t even hit this ball, then what are you… ah, no, never mind.”
Just as Vuremhaide was about to lose his temper and scold the students, he suppressed his personality and controlled his expression.
In contrast, Idnia…
TAAK!
When Idnia applied the rebound spell and swung her bat, the ball flew off with tremendous force and vanished into the distance.
“As expected of the club leader. Ah, club leader, one moment… this way.”
Vuremhaide called Idnia aside.
“Yes? What is it?”
“About Isolde. She is inside a restricted zone. She has entered a relic dungeon.”
“Pardon?”
“I have already contacted the gatekeeper, Gibles. As the club leader, you should know as well.
I understand you also wander about at night quite often, but she seems to be roaming in a different sense from you.
To think she entered a relic dungeon without prior investigation.”
Vuremhaide spoke with a meaningful tone.
“Alone in a relic dungeon… will she be alright?”
“For now it’s only the upper floors, so there should be no major problem. However, if she goes deeper, it will become dangerous. Still, I respect the student’s choice. What will you do?”
Idnia could not discern the intent behind Vuremhaide’s question.
What exactly did he want?
“How does one enter the dungeon?”
“When you reach second year, you will receive an entry pass.
Entry method and pass….”
“Could you teach me the entry method?”
“I cannot do that. That is not the kind of transaction I engage in.
Nor am I Magram.”
From the way things looked, it did not seem as though he was asking Idnia to go rescue Isolde…
After morning Wizard Ball practice ended, morning classes began.
The morning class was Naily’s alchemy class again.
This time, Naily astonishingly brought silverwood.
The same raw material used by Parinelli for the discounted Scarlet Pimpernel masks.
“We will practice making mirrors using silverwood sap.
If the surface of the sap is polished smoothly, it can shine like a mirror, replacing the expensive mirrors once made using silver nitrate solution.
However, with ordinary extraction magic, the sap’s solute remains bound, so today we will use a magic that separates the synthesized components.
Before that, let’s start with extraction. As always, continue until you reach mana burn.
Show your growth during this time. First, Rudolf student! Isolde student!”
Naily called Rudolf, Isolde, and the Zephyros students.
Rudolf stepped forward with the other students, looking troubled.
“Hmm, Rudolf student? What happened? Where is Isolde?”
“She is currently absent.”
“As dormitory leader, did you search for her?”
“Yes, we did search, but….”
“Understood. I will assign Isolde a penalty of 2 points.
Proceed.”
“Yes.”
At the first extraction lesson of the semester, Rudolf used the extraction magic about seven times before reaching mana burn.
However, now his mind was preoccupied with Isolde, and although he was distracted, he managed about eleven uses. He stopped not so much from mana burn, but because his focus on Isolde grew into a distracting mental strain.
The other students had also improved compared to their first class.
“Now then… next is….”
At that moment, Idnia noticed the corridor brightening.
Something burning was walking down the hall.
It was Magram.
Idnia immediately raised her hand.
“Naily teacher!”
“Yes, Idnia student. Hoo, I have high expectations. I’ve brought plenty of silverwood, so this time….”
“Ah, Teacher Naily, may I go to the restroom?”
“Pardon?”
Not only her, but everyone was startled.
What had Idnia just said?
“To the restroom. The restroom.”
“…….”
Sandia was taken aback upon hearing this.
“Wait, what is the duchess’s daughter saying so openly?
Normally one would say she is going to pick flowers… ah, perhaps saying she is going to pick flowers for a dryad might sound like an insult?”
Not only her, but all the students were shocked by the unprecedented behavior of the duchess’s daughter.
But Idnia remained composed. Regardless of what others thought, her demeanor was so confident that those who found it strange seemed like the foolish ones.
Naily, the dryad instructor, nodded.
“Ah, understood. I am aware that expelling organic fertilizer is very important for humans.
I understand the timing cannot be controlled.”
“…….”
Everyone was rendered speechless by Naily’s nearly outrageous remark.
Organic fertilizer…
“Please go. I will delay the turn for Eurus dormitory students as much as possible.”
“Thank you.”
Idnia immediately ran out of the classroom.
She sprinted down the corridor and chased after Magram, the lamp demon who was walking along the hall.
“Professor Magram!”
“Oh, for a moment I thought a tiger was about to pounce from behind. What is it, Idnia? Do you desire something so strongly?”
Magram smiled playfully at Idnia.
“I would like to enter the relic dungeon.”
“Ah, the dungeon, is it? Hmm. Already as a first-year?
That is a slightly different kind of desire than I expected. Unfortunately, that level can be resolved with money.”
Magram seemed disappointed, as though he had hoped Idnia’s desire would be something money could not solve.
“For 500 Aka Coins, I will provide the entry method and one entry pass.”
An absurd amount.
The current exchange rate of Aka Coin is 1 Aka Coin to 4 shillings.
500 amounts to 2000 shillings.
An amount difficult even for Rudolf or Lorenzo of the Medici family to afford as students.
Yet Idnia immediately took out the bundle of exchange certificates left by her father and presented the equivalent of 500 Aka Coins.
“Will this do?”
“Ah… I had intended to refuse appropriately, yet you presented it without even bargaining.
You leave me without anything to say.
Very well. I will also teach you the dungeon entry spell.”
“Entry spell?”
“Yes. It is a password-type magic that allows you, after entering the entrance once, to open a teleport gate to the dungeon entrance from anywhere within the academy.
You only need to know the activation phrase.
The activation phrase is
‘Dungeon_front_UI Hochuulhara!’
However, since you must visualize the dungeon entrance while chanting it, you must visit at least once….”
“Call.”
Magram warned her, but Idnia successfully opened the teleport gate to the dungeon entrance.
“…How?”
‘Because I’ve seen dungeon entrances countless times in games.’
She knew exactly what the dungeon entrance looked like.
Rather than explaining why, Idnia simply threw herself into the portal.
The entrance leading to the ancient ruins beneath Dunaise Academy was the core of the academy.
The entrance bore the relief of the magic god Trismegistus’s symbol, depicting a magic wand and a shining North Star at its tip.
By placing the entry pass into the altar below, one could enter the dungeon.
These entry passes were like in the game, one per day unless more were purchased with paid passes.
“Hoo. So I’ve ended up here after all. A dungeon entrance as a first-year…”
Looking at the dungeon entrance, Idnia clicked her tongue at the strange sense of déjà vu.
Seeing in person what she had only viewed on a phone or computer screen made the reality feel overwhelming.
It was the moment she realized she was being toyed with by some vast fate.