Chapter 38
Chapter 38
Escapes Are a Daily Occurrence
Due to an unintended brawl between the northern Boreas dormitory and the southern Notos dormitory, the lunch rations were reduced.
However, dinner was distributed normally.
The problem was that, in the meantime, the shop had opened and food had been supplied, so many students had already filled their stomachs with what they bought there.
After finally tasting something sweet and satisfying, there was no way this bland school meal could appeal to them.
This time, quite a lot of food was left over.
“Anyone who wants more may take it! However, do not leave any food, and finish it all within a day! If you leave food in your dorm room and it grows mold or attracts rats or pests, you will be penalized!”
Gibles issued a stern warning to the students through the moving armor.
Idnia gathered up the rock-hard bread that other students had left behind.
Exhausted from the day’s chaos, or suffering from mana sickness after repeatedly casting spirit summoning and shield magic, the other students barely washed and went straight to bed as soon as dinner ended.
However, Idnia, who far surpassed them in physical endurance, felt no fatigue and naturally could not fall asleep at this hour.
“Hmm. What should I do? Should I go again today? Or skip it for tonight?”
Feeling uneasy, Idnia fiddled with a small vial.
Inside it was an extract she had obtained earlier in the alchemy practice room using an extraction wand.
“I want to extract more. I’ll go. The headmaster said that getting caught by him doesn’t count anyway.”
Idnia kicked off her bed and stood up.
“W-Where are you going?? Lady Idnia?”
Marie asked in surprise.
“Just a night walk.”
“At this hour?”
Though Marie was flustered, Idnia swiftly slipped out of the dormitory.
Moving through the night, shrouded in darkness and fog, Idnia once again infiltrated the alchemy practice classroom and looked around.
After finding the extraction wand, she gathered the willow pieces used in the previous class—discarded fragments from which the aspirin components had already been extracted.
“Alright. Let’s tear these apart.”
In her Overlord Technique form, Idnia grabbed the willow pieces with both hands and tore them apart as if shredding cooked chicken.
The wood had already been weakened by the extraction magic, its internal structure destroyed to the point it could no longer be used as lumber… but even so, it was still wood, yet it tore apart easily.
After shredding it completely, Idnia cast extraction magic.
“Emerge!”
Using the specialized wand, she activated the spell on the willow pieces.
Her mana was naturally drained, and dizziness briefly overcame her… but thanks to her excellent pronunciation of the incantation, she minimized the consumption.
Moreover, she already had a deep understanding of the substance she intended to extract—its atomic structure, composition, where its elements resided, how to isolate them, and how to alter its molecular formula.
The deeper the understanding of a material’s properties, the more efficient the extraction magic becomes.
Soon, a rich vanilla scent began to spread.
“Perfect.”
Idnia took out a vial and carefully collected the extracted liquid.
“What a pleasant fragrance. Excellent. Hehe… ah, ugh. Mana sickness….”
Even as she held her head, she smiled.
What she had extracted was vanillin, the primary component of vanilla fragrance.
By modifying the lignin within the wood’s cell walls, she had successfully extracted it.
Although vanillin is the main component of vanilla flavoring, it alone is not enough to create taste.
‘It needs a base oil and sugar alcohol to have value as a flavoring. In commercial vanilla flavoring, vanillin makes up less than five percent. The rest is mostly the base. If the scent is too strong, it actually ruins the taste.’
Fortunately, she had bread left over from dinner that she had collected earlier.
She could ferment it to extract sugar alcohol…
Or, if she pushed herself, she could extract glucose, fructose, and sucrose directly from the bread.
However, unlike extracting pure substances, slightly altering an existing chemical formula consumed an enormous amount of mana… so she would have to be satisfied with just this amount of vanillin.
After all the magic she had used during the day’s classes, even producing this much had nearly drained her completely.
“Should I mash the bread and ferment it to extract sugar alcohol? Huh, this feels like making illicit alcohol in a prison… hmm?”
-Knock, knock….
At that moment, a knocking sound echoed from somewhere. In the middle of the night? Startled, Idnia looked up and saw someone knocking on the window from outside.
A moment later, the window opened, and Headmaster Ludwig entered.
“…Ha. Your boldness is truly remarkable. I hinted at it, yet you came back the very same day to extract again. Normally, people would think it over, hold back—at least on the first day.”
“…Ah, Headmaster?”
Idnia was flustered at the sudden appearance of Ludwig Blackblad.
From his perspective, he had given a subtle warning, and never imagined she would return that very day to cause trouble again.
“W-Will I be penalized? Or sent to the punishment chamber?”
“No, penalizing you for this would be excessive. If I’m the one who caught you, it doesn’t count. However….”
Ludwig placed a finger against his temple and spoke.
“Gibles! Have each dormitory head conduct a headcount of their residents.”
“…….”
If the dorm heads conducted a headcount, it would reveal that Idnia had left her dorm at night.
This was Ludwig’s way of indirectly informing Gibles of her absence.
“That’s unfair.”
“Well, I didn’t lie. I am, after all, an educator. While I encourage flexible thinking in mages, there must be a counterbalance. Without constraints, it becomes negligence rather than flexibility.”
“…Sigh.”
“By the way, what are you extracting? It doesn’t seem like you’re making psychoactive substances like some of the upperclassmen. Ah, that scent… vanilla.”
Ludwig smiled as he sensed the aroma lingering in the air.
“Impressive. Extracting fragrance from wood that has already had its medicinal components removed. Did you know this method beforehand? How did you learn it?”
“I’ve just grown accustomed to handling scents.”
Idnia gave a vague answer.
In the current market, most fragrances were traded at prices equal to or higher than silver of the same weight.
Among nobles, not burning incense in a study or banquet hall was considered uncultured.
Studying such fragrances revealed that wood contained countless hidden scents.
“The Betelgeuse Duchy shouldn’t have the finances to burn incense.”
“…Pardon?”
“No, more precisely, you could afford incense. But considering Draken Kache Betelgeuse’s character, he doesn’t seem like the type to indulge in luxury while his people go hungry.”
“You seem to know my father well.”
“Of course. Though he withdrew from the academy due to an unfortunate incident, he was still my student.”
“An unfortunate incident? What exactly…?”
“Do you wish to hear it?”
“Ah, no. Not particularly. It’s probably related to Professor Rakias anyway. In any case… I should return. If I don’t hurry back and make excuses, I’ll rack up too many penalty points and end up in the punishment chamber. Besides, I’ve already used up my mana for today.”
Idnia turned to leave, intending to respond to the summons Ludwig had issued through Gibles.
But at that moment, a bell began to ring.
An alarm bell.
And chaos erupted outside.
“This is bad! The cultivated magical lifeform has escaped!”
“Ahh! It’s heading toward the freshman dormitories!”
The assistants’ screams echoed.
When a sudden headcount was announced in the middle of the night, the dormitory students were furious.
After such an exhausting day, they had just fallen asleep, only to be woken up.
On top of that, the dorm heads were ordered to check and report every student.
The dorm heads, who had taken on this responsibility for a mere two shop points, were especially displeased.
Then…
The alarm bell suddenly rang.
“Ah! Ah! Can you hear me?
Students! Stay inside your dorm rooms and do not move! An experimental lifeform has escaped, but do not worry. It’s just something like a large rat.”
Gibles tried to reassure them.
Hearing the announcement, the students nodded in relief.
“Ah, so that’s why they woke us up.”
“There was an incident at the academy. Haha, what a relief. I was worried they woke us up for no reason, but it turns out there was a perfectly reasonable explanation!”
“Exactly. At least they have some basic sense.”
The students, awakened for the headcount, felt reassured knowing there was a logical reason behind it.
“But wait, if it’s an experimental lifeform, wouldn’t that be some kind of magical creature or something equally dangerous? And it escaped? Shouldn’t we be worried instead of relieved?”
Perhaps because so many incidents had already occurred, the students were oddly calm, and only a few began to question the situation.
“…That’s true.”
“Now that you mention it…”
“…I want to quit this school.”
They had not even been enrolled for a week, yet such words were already being spoken.
At that moment, Gibles’s voice echoed again through the moving armor.
“Ah, don’t worry. Our academy’s treasures, the moving armors, can each handle about ten soldiers and can subdue most magical creatures!
By the way, why are the dorm heads taking so long with the headcount? Don’t tell me these brats are already sneaking out at night?!
Already meeting in secret with the opposite sex?
Unacceptable!”
Gibles fumed.
At that moment, a voice came from the northern Boreas dormitory.
“Our dorm head is currently in the punishment chamber. What should we do?”
“What? Ah… I see.”
“There are too many rooms, so we’re checking them one by one.”
“We just woke up and are changing clothes. We can’t exactly walk around naked, can we?”
Voices rose from the western Zephyrus and southern Notos dormitories as well.
The eastern Euros dormitory remained silent…
But since complaints had already come from the others, Gibles never imagined that the dorm head of Euros had already slipped out and gone elsewhere.