Chapter 84
Chapter 84
When the Granary Is Full, People Are Generous
Idnia returned to her private room in the dormitory.
Mari had finished organizing and was waiting inside the room.
“Lady Idnia. I’ve been waiting. I’ve changed the bedding.”
Mari had placed Idnia’s used bedsheets into the laundry basket and neatly laid out fresh sheets.
Idnia had been trying to save money, but in the end she couldn’t resist and, through the Black Wolf, purchased new bedsheets. She had been using them alongside the existing ones in rotation, washing them in shifts.
While extraction magic allowed quick washing of clothing, bedding could harbor fleas and mites, so extraction magic alone wasn’t sufficient.
Mari had taken care of the replacement work.
“Hmm, you didn’t have to go that far.”
“No, I’ve received too many kindnesses from Lady Idnia. If I don’t do something like this… and besides, you’re busy, Lady Idnia.”
If Izolde had said something like that, it would have sounded like a reprimand for sneaking out of the dorm every night and doing something unknown.
But Mari’s words were purely sincere.
“Alright then. Shall we look at your self-study? How’s the magic theory book?”
Idnia had assigned Mari some independent study.
It wasn’t anything special, just having her read the magic theory textbook in advance to give her a head start.
Idnia herself wasn’t an expert in magic, but she was experienced in studying, so she could move ahead of Mari and advise her when she got stuck.
Mari would read the assigned material, solve problems, mark what she didn’t understand, and ask Idnia. Idnia would then add her own interpretation and insights before explaining it back.
“Ah, thank you very much. Thanks to you, Lady Idnia, I understand magic much more deeply. I don’t know how I can ever repay such kindness.”
“Please don’t say that, Mari. For you, this is preparation, but for me it’s review. It helps me as well.”
While teaching Mari, Idnia herself learned many new things.
In particular, the parts where Mari got stuck were areas Idnia had not struggled with, so it was enlightening to see, “Ah, so this is where people can get stuck.”
‘In other words, user experience? User scenarios? Troubleshooting? Something like that.’
“So you’ve finished today’s assignment? Do you have any other classes’ homework?”
“Ah, yes. I’ve finished everything. There’s nothing else.”
“Then would you help me?”
Idnia asked Mari.
“Yes, of course. What should I help with?”
“First, let’s clear the bed….”
“Pardon?”
“Mari, you can use divine barriers, right? Please set up a barrier so that the smell doesn’t escape.”
“Smell? Huh?!”
Mari was startled when Idnia lifted the bed and revealed a large lump of dough stored beneath it.
“What is that?”
“It’s ground-up sheep biscuits. I mixed yeast into it and kneaded it again. I’m going to bake this. Please set up a barrier so the smell doesn’t leak out.”
“……”
“Lady Idnia, long live!”
“Long live!”
No one knew who shouted first, but the Eurus students began chanting in unison.
At this rate, they looked like they would follow Idnia even if she gathered an army and marched on the imperial capital.
‘Of course, that won’t actually happen… but even for Eurus students, they must all be from fairly well-off backgrounds to be here, and yet they’re celebrating something like this so enthusiastically.’
Idnia, together with Mari, took the freshly baked bread from the cart and distributed it to the Eurus students.
“Since quantities are limited, we can only distribute them to our dormitory members, but if you have friends in other dorms, I won’t stop you from sharing. In fact, I recommend it.”
Idnia encouraged them to share with other dorms.
This was to avoid directly giving to students of other dorms for free, while still allowing a gesture of goodwill that spread outward through Eurus students rather than centering credit on Idnia. At the same time, the core achievement would still be attributed to Idnia and Mari.
Of course, that meant Mari’s contributions had to be acknowledged as well.
“This was made together with Mari. Without her help, it couldn’t have been completed.”
“Ah, i-is that so?”
“As expected of a saint candidate.”
“How benevolent.”
The students happily received bread from Mari.
Mari, however, was flustered that these noble and gentry students treated her as if she were some saint over a few pieces of bread.
Reprocessed bread made by grinding stale bread and baking it again was actually cheap fare even among commoners. Idnia had improved the taste by adding fructose, but she never expected upper-class students who were used to sugar-glazed confections to react this way.
“No, most of the work was done by Lady Idnia. I only helped with minor tasks. I don’t deserve such praise.”
“Fufu. How modest. That task at the time truly required Mari’s contribution, so there’s no need to be so humble.”
Idnia praised Mari further, pleased to see the other students admiring her as if it were her own achievement.
‘Well, I’m glad Mari’s reputation is rising, but the fructose I painstakingly produced from collected hard bread has been used up.’
They had shown how the bread was made, so other dorms would likely follow suit.
Even if they didn’t carefully select and cultivate specific yeast strains like she did… hmm?
Idnia felt something was off.
In Professor Sardia’s class, Bolson, a student from Boreas who was on Idnia’s team, began to stagger.
He lost his balance in the dining area and collapsed.
“Hey, that student… what’s wrong?”
Professor Dneuve noticed Bolson and approached, then covered his nose.
“Hmm. The smell of alcohol… I see.”
“…Ah.”
The Boreas students’ expressions darkened.
Using inedible bread was not Idnia’s exclusive idea.
The Boreas students had also taken inedible bread just like Idnia.
The difference was that instead of efficiently cultivating yeast strains, they had fermented it haphazardly… turning it entirely into alcohol.
The resulting brew contained many impurities, and without proper filtering it would contain toxins that could cause severe hangovers.
‘Are the northern people supposed to be this weak?’
So they drank it without filtering, and Bolson, who was physically weaker among them, ended up suffering a hangover and collapsing.
Detoxification spell.
Professor Dneuve cast a purification spell on Bolson with his wand.
Bolson regained consciousness.
“Ugh… P-Professor?”
“Looks like you’ve been drinking illicit liquor. Seeing you take leftover bread and biscuits earlier, I suspected as much. How very varied things are.”
Professor Dneuve shook his head, comparing Idnia and Mari’s practice of baking and sharing bread with the Boreas students’ habit of turning it into alcohol.
“Mr. Gibles.”
“Yes, Professor.”
“Please inspect the Boreas dormitory.”
“Yes, understood. Heh heh heh. Go, armors!”
At his words, magical armors floated like specters and headed toward the Boreas dormitory.
“……”
Sighs spread among the Boreas students.
Some glared at Bolson as if they wanted to kill him.
Dunais Academy tacitly allows what isn’t caught. Mages are beings who defy common sense—if there are rules, how can research proceed if one doesn’t skillfully avoid getting caught?
But once caught, one must take responsibility.
“Kekeke. We found an illicit distillation facility. It seems Boreas students all operate in the same way and get caught in the same way.”
“….”
Judging by Gibles’s words, it seemed that illicit brewing in the Boreas dorm and getting caught without filtering was an annual occurrence.
“The illicit liquor has been confiscated. In addition, all ingredients used to make it—the bread—have also been confiscated.”
It seemed Gibles was well accustomed to such matters, as he completed the search of the Boreas dormitory and reported to Professor Dneuve in less than ten minutes.
“I understand. Student Bolson, you will receive 2 penalty points. And dormitory leader student Karl will also receive 2 penalty points.”
Unexpectedly, Professor Dneuve assigned a relatively small number of penalty points.