CHAPTER 108
CHAPTER 108
Sugar Tracker
Those weren’t the footprints of monsters or magical beasts, but the shoe prints of civilized people—shoes whose soles could be replaced by hammering in nails. Unlike the wooden clogs worn by poor farmers, these replaceable soles had carved grooves for drainage, so the prints didn’t look much different from modern shoe prints.
‘These footprints were left not long ago.
I should track them. Now then…’
Idnia began modifying an extraction spell, constructing a new spell on the spot.
‘First, an extraction spell reacts with the desired molecules from a target.
That means the first part of the code must contain logic to detect and react to the specific molecules I want—in this case, the fructose or flavoring molecules from the carbonated drink.
I don’t know how the source code for this extraction spell was originally written, but copying and pasting is possible, so I’ll just copy the part that detects the desired molecules.
But extraction magic doesn’t just detect—it also pulls out only those molecules. That consumes most of the mana, and I don’t need that part. I’ll remove it and instead write code to call a light-emission spell when the target substance exceeds a certain concentration.
Good. That creates a composition-detection spell.
Well, it’s just a patchwork of someone else’s magic source code, but…
For a first-year, this isn’t bad, right?’
Just like that, Idnia improvised a tracking spell that caused footprints to glow when a certain concentration of fructose molecules was present.
When she cast it, sure enough, the footprints on the ground revealed a single direction.
‘There are quite a lot of them. And most seem to be men’s shoe prints. What’s going on?’
Idnia suspected that others besides Isolde had entered. But among the footprints, there were also those of a woman.
‘That might be Miss Isolde’s… Hmm. I’d better stay hidden.’
Idnia withdrew her Tyrant Art, lowered her body, and began following the trail.
The specialized substance-tracking spell she created by modifying extraction magic worked well.
It wasn’t optimized for mana efficiency since she had just made it, but it still consumed far less mana than the original extraction spell, so occasionally casting it to track the soda-stepped footprints posed no problem.
However…
As she pursued the footprints, Idnia carefully strained her ears.
Voices could be heard in the distance.
“What are you doing, Isolde?
With that level of skill, can you really call yourself the daughter of that Aura?”
A group of six young men and women surrounded Isolde.
Among them, a young man who appeared to be their leader was berating her.
Isolde groaned as she stood among them.
“That is…”
“Use the power of the void. Now.”
As if they had come for surveying, they were planting flagpoles into the dungeon floor.
They placed Isolde at the center and forced her to use magic.
Hesitating, Isolde began to chant.
‘Huh? What are they doing? Those people are clearly…’
Idnia realized the ones surrounding Isolde looked strangely familiar.
At that moment, mana spread out from Isolde.
Astonishingly, the spell she cast absorbed surrounding mana and created a vacuum zone of magic.
The chaotic space stabilized, and the intense sense of distortion and mana within the dungeon temporarily vanished.
“Good! See, you can do it, Isolde!”
The others took that opportunity to plant their flagpoles and cast spells.
The poles sank into the ground—or rather, into space itself.
‘Embedding targets into the earth… some kind of beacon. In a chaos-type dungeon like this, beacons would gradually dissolve into the environment and disappear over time… So they’re having Miss Isolde use void mana to prevent that. But…’
Meanwhile, a massive spatial distortion was forming above Isolde’s head.
Stabilizing the ruins dungeon of Dunaise Academy with void mana was like blocking a raging torrent with a dam.
It could hold temporarily, but the longer it did, the greater the difference in water levels upstream and downstream. The moment the dam opened—or collapsed—the torrent would sweep everything away.
The distortion at the boundary was growing larger, yet the others remained focused on installing the beacons.
“Good! It’s complete! Release it!”
“I said I understand, so stop yelling! I’ll handle it— Kyaaak!”
The moment Isolde’s void magic ended, the accumulated distortion of space and mana burst forth.
It was like a dam opening and unleashing a flood.
The young men and women quickly retreated, but Isolde, standing at the center of stability, couldn’t escape and was swept up in the storm.
“No!?”
Watching, Idnia was startled by the dangerous scene.
But Isolde’s student ID—the brooch of Dunaise Academy—flashed, forming a barrier around her body and protecting her.
“As expected of a Dunaise Academy brooch.
A powerful protective spell is placed on it to protect students.
Makes things easier.”
They remained calm even as Isolde was caught in the torrent.
“Good. You’ve done a great job, Isolde. Just a few more and we’re done.”
“A few more of these?”
Isolde trembled.
“Why? Are you hurt anywhere?”
“No, I’m not hurt. But the professors of Dunaise will surely notice. What do you plan to do when we’re discovered?”
Though Isolde protested, they paid her no mind.
“Is your mana still fine? I’d like to install one more.”
“Ah…”
At that moment, one of the women approached their leader and whispered in his ear.
“Hmm. Really?”
“…Yes. What should we do?”
“We catch them.”
At that instant, Idnia felt something flying toward her from behind.
A large ice spirit and small winged demons had appeared and attacked her.
Just as Idnia had summoned spirits, they too had summoned spirits and familiars, sending them roaming around as scouts in case of pursuers.
Idnia had been caught by their reconnaissance.
“Ugh!”
She immediately cast a shield spell, deflecting the barrage of ice spears and magical arrows as she rolled forward.
Now all of them could see her, where she had been hiding behind debris.
“Duke’s daughter Idnia?!”
Isolde was shocked as Idnia revealed herself.
“Ah, an academy student.
I thought there wouldn’t be anyone around since it’s first-year season. What’s going on?”
“Wait, that’s the duke’s daughter? If it’s Idnia, then she’s…”
“The Empress Dowager’s…”
Their eyes wavered.
But the ice spirit raised its massive fist and advanced, while the summoned demons launched magic projectiles.
Idnia’s fire spirit fired rapid bursts of flame, but the ice spirit was far larger and didn’t slow its charge.
“W-wait!”
At that moment, Isolde cast a spell.
“Chain Lightning!”
A bolt of lightning struck the small demons in succession, knocking them down.
“What are you doing, Isolde?”
“Are you planning to kill Duke’s daughter Idnia?!”
“Of course. She’s seen us—what else should we do?”
“But…”
“She may be the Empress Dowager’s daughter, but the one we serve is Prince Caesar.
Unfortunately, she’ll have to die here in an ‘accident’…”
Before he even finished speaking, the spirits and demons resumed their assault.
“Ah…”
Isolde turned her head away from the dreadful sight.
She didn’t like Idnia, but she didn’t want to see a fellow academy student killed.
Having lived as a noble lady, how could she watch someone die before her eyes?
‘Why did she even come this far… Huh?’
Then—
The ice spirit suddenly lifted into the air.
Ice is heavy.
Even though it expands slightly when frozen and becomes lighter than water, one cubic meter still weighs about a ton.
The high-ranking ice spirit they summoned must weigh at least seven tons.
Yet that massive being, which overturned paving stones with every step, was now floating.
No—not just that.
A gigantic figure was holding the ice spirit in one hand, raised above its head.
“Huh?”
Isolde, who had always prided herself on her intellect, could only curse her ignorance at this moment.
She couldn’t comprehend what was happening.
Who was that giant? Idnia’s bodyguard?
But the hair color was the same as Idnia’s, the hairstyle similar, the eye color identical.
The clothes too—her usual riding outfit…
It made no sense, but the absurd thought crossed her mind that it was Idnia transformed.
“Looks like you’re a faction serving the Empress Dowager of Garmhau.”
And the voice…
“Huh? Duke’s daughter Idnia?”
“…What?!”
The demon youths were equally shocked.
Their leader grasped the situation.
“The Tyrant Yurik’s technique?! Impossible. A first-year academy student has reached that level?”
They all began casting spells to attack.
But Idnia hurled the ice spirit she was holding at them.
The multi-ton mass flew toward them, effortlessly blocking their spells.
“And I had no intention of interfering in the affairs of Garmhau’s people!”
Gripping her black iron staff, Idnia cast a spell.
“Beginner Magic Bullet!”
A simple, basic attack spell.
It was practically like throwing a stone—sometimes lethal, but usually just injurious.
But what if it were cast with Idnia’s monstrous strength?
Instead of merely firing it, she threw it.
Swinging her staff like a thrown weapon with her massive martial body, the magic bullet became not a projectile but a streak of light.
“Shield of Eder!”
“Blessing of Kalzak!”
The demon officers cast protective spells, but—
Boom!
Idnia’s magic bullet pierced through their defenses and aimed straight for the leader’s head.
The leader tilted his head just in time to avoid it—
But an explosion erupted behind him.
“Impressive. To produce this level of power with something like a beginner magic bullet. It’s not the spell itself—it’s the power of the Tyrant Art.”
Blood trickled down the leader’s cheek.
Just a graze had done that much damage.
“Igon?!”
“Stay calm. Everyone, cease your attacks.”
The leader, called Igon, stopped his subordinates.
It was the perfect chance to attack, but Idnia was not a bloodthirsty monster. As they halted, she did as well.
“Idnia Katche Betelgeuse. Are you aware that your mother is alive?”
“Yes. Well, more or less…”
“Then don’t you want to meet her?”
“Not really.”
“……”
“Oh, that might be misleading. I actively don’t want to.”
Igon was taken aback by her unexpected response and cleared his throat awkwardly.
At that moment… blood suddenly gushed from his nose.
The impact from the grazing magic bullet had finally caught up with him.
“Ah—w-wait!”
Igon covered his face and looked at Idnia.
‘Since she’s the Empress Dowager’s daughter, I thought I could persuade her and resolve things smoothly… but what is this…
She’s still just a young girl, yet she shows not the slightest emotional stir at the thought of her long-separated mother?’
Igon looked at Idnia, who bore the form of a tyrant—hardly something one could call a “young girl”—and gathered his thoughts.
At that moment, Idnia spoke first.