Chapter 72
Chapter 72
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 72
Chapter Title: A Calculated Kindness
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The place he arrived at was one of the academy’s outdoor gardens.
Near a spot designed for tea time, blooming flowers flaunted their individual charms. Behind their splendor surely lay the hidden toil of a gardener who worked hard every day.
Elijah was there.
In the center of the garden.
Even though the hot midday sun was beating down, the surrounding atmosphere was frigid.
‘He didn’t bring anyone else.’
There was no one else in the garden besides him.
Elijah said nothing.
Even when he sensed Allen entering the garden, he didn’t so much as turn his head.
This continued until Allen drew near, and the moment he sat down opposite him, Elijah quietly opened his closed eyes.
“Thank you for accepting my invitation, Your Highness.”
“These days, does the host arrive later than the guest?”
Elijah’s eyes were sunken and dark.
He seemed to be in a very foul mood.
“I had something to prepare.”
It wasn’t surprising.
Considering his attitude, he and Benjamin must have been close enough for him to take Benjamin back to the Empire even after graduating from the academy.
“I suppose the customs of the Libre Kingdom permit such things.”
“Depending on the gravity of the matter, yes.”
“Shouldn’t you have prepared for something like that in advance?”
“Doesn’t that just mean the preparations were that important?”
“Hah, well, aren’t you something.”
As Allen lightly brushed off his sarcasm, Elijah laughed as if dumbfounded.
‘He’s emotional.’
Even considering the incident with Benjamin, his attitude was a bit more emotional than expected. Sensing something was off, Allen carefully opened his mouth.
“…But what is it about me that has so disturbed Your Highness?”
To Allen’s question, Elijah answered with a cold and firm tone.
“You’re late.”
“I believe I arrived exactly at the appointed time.”
“Shouldn’t you have been here at least thirty minutes early? Is that all this meeting was worth to you?”
“It was because I considered it important that I was so precise… ah.”
Allen realized that the anger, whose source he couldn’t fathom, stemmed from a difference in customs.
In the Libre Kingdom, the more important the meeting, the more punctually one arrived. It was a sign of sincerity, showing that one had spent as much time as possible preparing for the meeting. The Aldonian Empire was different. Preparation was for the incompetent.
They showed off their magninimity by arriving as early as possible. The more important the meeting, the more thoroughly they would finish all preparations to reveal their earnestness.
From Prince Elijah’s perspective, he could mistakenly believe that Allen did not consider this meeting important.
Allen was the first to back down.
“I sincerely apologize. It is my fault for not being aware of the difference in customs with the Empire. If this has displeased you, you are free to leave. However…”
Elijah, too, realized that their perceptions had been different.
“I would be grateful if you would at least hear me out, even if you are displeased.”
Elijah subconsciously tapped his thigh with his fingers, lost in thought.
After a silence that felt like minutes, his mouth opened.
“…Fine, I’ll hear you out. Allen Reinhardt, for what reason did you wish to see me?”
His voice had lost some of its edge.
“I have something to discuss regarding Benjamin.”
“What?”
His eyebrows twitched as if he had much to say, but he recalled his previous words and closed his mouth.
“I understand that Benjamin suffered a severe injury because of my younger brother.”
“…That’s right.”
“The item used to treat such an injury must be hard to come by.”
“So.”
Whether it was public merit or money, as a prince, he would lack for neither.
Even if he did, he could simply request support from the Empire, so Benjamin’s recovery was a given.
But.
“Wouldn’t it be difficult for him to recover fully the longer it takes?”
Allen subconsciously drew back his chin.
The body could regenerate.
The problem was the mana circuit.
“A week has passed now… To fully restore the mana circuit, you’ll need to take action within four days at least…”
“……”
At his calm, steady tone, Elijah clenched his fists tightly.
“Have you found a way to heal him?”
Allen’s eyes pierced straight through him.
Elijah’s face hardened terrifyingly.
“What are you trying to say? That you have a way to heal him?”
His tone was calm, but Allen could feel the boiling rage he was suppressing.
“Did you arrange this meeting just to mock me? I see the level of the Reinhardt Family now.”
Elijah twisted his lips into a sneer.
“I shouldn’t have come. Had I known, it would have been better not to.”
Allen watched him vent his anger, then, just as he was about to stand, spoke in an unchanging tone.
“I won’t forget this…”
“I do.”
As if he understood the meaning of the words a beat too late, his eyes widened.
“…What?”
Emotions are ambiguous things.
Building goodwill takes time.
But if even a negative emotion is given just a small opening…
‘It can be transformed into a different emotion in an instant.’
He had fanned the flames of his anger for this very purpose.
“Shouldn’t the older brother take responsibility for the younger brother’s mistakes?”
Allen smiled leisurely and took a dimensional pocket from his coat.
“A Low-Grade Elixir. That should be enough, wouldn’t you say?”
Allen smiled.
It was a flawless, pure smile, full of goodwill.
***
Elijah couldn’t move right away. Allen had held him back for a moment.
“…An elixir that hasn’t been made public yet?”
“Yes, although it is scheduled to be released in a few months after verification by the School of Alchemy.”
The recipe for a Low-Grade Elixir.
This was a recipe Allen himself had discovered in a ruin before his regression.
He was the only one who knew where the ruin that held this recipe was buried, and he knew its effects well.
‘It’s a waste to reveal the recipe…’
But in exchange, he could supplement his lacking funds.
In return for providing the recipe for the Low-Grade Elixir to the School of Alchemy, Allen received an enormous reward and, from the moment the recipe was made public, would receive a certain amount in royalties every month.
From now on, he wouldn’t have to worry about lacking funds when trying to acquire items at auction houses.
It had taken a week to handle all those matters before his meeting with Elijah.
It was hard to imagine Elijah accepting a suspicious, unverified item.
“If you have doubts about the elixir’s origin, you can have it checked separately.”
“…No, there’s no reason for you to lie at this point.”
Elijah was astonished that he would give him a Low-Grade Elixir that had not yet been released to the public.
‘…He could have easily hidden it.’
Anyone who knew its value would be inclined to hide it. Yet, he revealed the elixir with the intention of taking responsibility for his brother’s actions…
“Is there something you want?”
“I hope that this will bring peace to your heart, Your Highness.”
“I am not the one who was injured.”
“Of course, I plan to meet with Benjamin separately as well.”
At Allen’s evasive answer, Elijah fell silent.
Right now, even if his actions were suspicious, he had to accept any help he could get.
“I don’t know what you truly want.”
At first, he had thought of him as just another talented individual. The Empire was full of such people. He had only considered him a slightly more seasoned person after observing his actions.
‘But to go this far…’
What was he thinking, to go to such lengths? He was curious. If he didn’t have to deliver the elixir to Benjamin, he would have tried to talk a little longer.
‘Is he trying to covet the Empire’s power? Or is he plotting something at the academy? I don’t know if it’s truly a simple act of goodwill, but…’
Elijah dismissed his overflowing thoughts.
Thinking of Benjamin, who was still groaning in pain, he had no time to waste.
“However… if this elixir truly succeeds in healing Benjamin completely…”
Elijah expressed his gratitude to Allen with serious eyes.
“I will reward you. I promise.”
Allen waved his hand with a humble smile.
“It was my brother’s doing, so it’s only right for me to take responsibility. And…”
Allen hesitated for a moment, his face showing that he had something difficult to say, before shaking his head.
“No, it’s nothing.”
“…Is that so?”
Elijah stared at Allen blankly as if recalling something, then replied.
“I will remember this.”
Allen nodded with a slightly weary face.
“Thank you.”
“Well then, I shall take my leave.”
As soon as Allen replied, Elijah took the dimensional pocket he had received and left.
He would be busy for a few days, having to verify the elixir’s authenticity through personal connections and trying to grasp the movements of the Alchemy Tower.
‘With this, the preparations are complete.’
Given his personality, he wouldn’t simply overlook Allen’s hesitation.
With his goodwill, his final hesitation, and his gentle nature, he would likely extend a hand even for a somewhat difficult task.
Allen watched his retreating back before lifting his head.
The sunlight, so bright it was blinding, stung the corners of his eyes.
‘I’ve made a connection in the Magic Tower City through the elixir…’
Grandell, the one who destroyed his brother’s Circle, he had a debt to repay to that bastard too.
The Master of the Wind Magic Tower, one of the seven great Magic Towers.
One of the existing monsters, estimated to be of the 8th Circle.
‘Besides that, there are the dark mages, the faction helping Julius, the mastermind who targeted the city during the Harvest Festival, the one who granted me the book’s power, the former Demon Lord Haizel, the secrets hidden in my family…’
Why was the world’s blessing helping both Julius and him?
What was the system, and who was Kim Woojin?
There were countless things to do, and unknowns were scattered everywhere.
He had no time to be idle like this.
He looked up again.
The damn sky, contrary to his troubled heart, was clear without a single cloud.
***
A week had passed since Allen’s meeting with Prince Elijah.
It had been two weeks since the duel between Julius and Benjamin.
Though only a few days had passed, the outcome of the duel was already being forgotten.
This was because so many things had happened in that short period.
There were far more interesting events to capture the students’ attention than something that was already in the past.
“Did you see Haizel break the top record?”
“…Seriously, even if it’s an intermediate ruin, a freshman breaking the all-time record is insane…”
“He broke the record of the Empire’s Strongest, Pierre, didn’t he? Wow.”
The first was Haizel breaking the record.
The academy, situated in the Great Desert where ruins abound, had an artificial ruin in its basement for students to use.
Lowest-Grade, Low-Grade, Intermediate-Grade, High-Grade, Highest-Grade.
The ruins, divided into five grades, were filled with realistic traps and monsters, and the time was measured each time a ruin was successfully completed.
It was enough for secret bets to be placed on it.
Normally, the lower rankings of the ruins were updated frequently, so it wasn’t much of a topic, but when Haizel broke the record for the intermediate ruin, the story changed.
The previous owner of the all-time record was Pierre Bernap, one of the current Eight Strongest.
Because of this, looking at Haizel was, in a sense, similar to looking at a future member of the Eight Strongest.
The second was the hatching of the divine beast.
This didn’t become as much of a topic as the first incident.
However, when it was revealed that the owner of the hatched divine beast was Julius, who had gained fame for defeating a senior a few days prior, and that the creature that hatched from the egg was an extremely rare divine beast, things changed.
Students from other years frequently came to see the divine beast, and it became an opportunity for his name to spread even further.
Due to these events, the news that a senior had been discharged from the infirmary wasn't even worth talking about.
Considering that the senior’s reputation wasn’t very good to begin with, it might have been natural.
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
But Benjamin was satisfied.
“I was able to heal because of you. Really… I really don’t know what to say.”
He might have had to live as a cripple for the rest of his life.
No matter how much he had acted for the academy’s sake, it was not a welcome outcome.
‘And…’
For the sake of his parents, who had worked so hard to send him here from a small southern city.
Thus, he felt an immense debt of gratitude to Allen for preventing the terrible future that could have occurred.
“It was my younger brother’s fault, so it’s only right that I resolve it. I only did what was natural.”
Benjamin had come to see Allen with Elijah.
Elijah, who had stopped by for a chat, had come by carving out time from his busy schedule, so he had left quickly. Thus, only he and Allen were here.
“…What do you mean, natural?”
At Allen’s calm demeanor, Benjamin rubbed the bridge of his nose, as if the emotions of that time were welling up.
“That was by no means a natural thing to do. I heard from His Highness. He said what you used on me was a Low-Grade Elixir, right? You gave me something that precious without a moment’s hesitation. What do you mean it was nothing?”
“No, that’s…”
Allen’s attempt to make an excuse was cut short.
I used you to draw in the prince.
He couldn’t say such an excuse, could he?
Therefore, Allen could only offer a conventional reply.
“…In the end, it was something my family did, wasn’t it?”
“You…”
Thinking that he was just being humble, he spoke with a serious look and bowed his head.
“Honestly, I don’t know how much help I can be to you, a noble. But…”
He gripped Allen’s hand tightly and, as if vowing to himself, enunciated each word with force.
“If there is ever anything I can do to help, I will. No matter what it is.”
All Allen could do was wear a troubled expression and send him away quickly.
“Call me anytime! You hear? Just call!”
“…Yes, I understand. So please, just go now, senior.”
“Hahaha, right!”
No matter how thick-skinned Allen was, it was difficult to remain shameless in that situation.
After sending him off, Allen looked at the horizon that had swallowed half the sun and left the dormitory.
This routine had continued for several weeks, to the point where it had solidified into a habit.
Maria Caritas.
The time for his meeting with her had come.