42. Surprise Inspection
42. Surprise Inspection
"........"
The moment she realized I was the sponsor funding her research—and a member of the Titan family—Professor Praha's face drained of color.
"Y-yes... just a moment... please wait."
Unaware that her large glasses were sliding down her nose, she stumbled into the archive room.
The door closed, and a clattering, clanking noise came from inside.
The rustle of papers, the pull of thick books from shelves, and a series of other noises gave way at last to the faint sound of a latch sliding open.
'No way?'
It was probably the sound of a storage vault for samples being opened, not a window or some back door.
Surely an elf holding a professorship at the Academy wouldn't just bolt when someone from a prestigious family came to hear a progress report?
She looked extremely anxious, but no one in their right mind would do that.
After a few soft footsteps, the archive room fell completely silent.
"....If she were human... that is.."
The silence was so absurd that I crossed my arms, tapped my fingers against my bicep, and then grabbed the door handle to the archive room.
The door was locked.
With a little force, the door handle tore off, revealing the inside of the archive room.
"Not here?"
Professor Nico Praha was nowhere to be seen inside the archive room.
It was clear she had been rifling through things; thick books and piles of string-bound papers were scattered everywhere as if just recently disturbed.
She really had fled.
It was my fault for thinking of her as a person.
She wasn't human; she was an elf.
I clutched my throbbing head and looked around.
I had definitely heard the sound of a latch opening earlier, but there was no window or door visible inside the archive room.
'A hidden passage or room...'
I had no idea why there would be such a thing in a research lab, but I had to find it.
After all, it was my family's... no, my sister's money that was invested.
She had taken at least 100 Sal, and I never imagined an Academy professor with any real-world experience would do something like this.
The simplest way would be to just smash every wall and floor in here.
As a Master, I could do it easily even without a weapon.
But then all the research materials stacked in here would be destroyed... and I hadn't heard the results yet.
So I had no choice but to search.
A thin layer of dust was visible in the archive room, which apparently was never tidied properly.
A room that wasn't cleaned meticulously left traces like this.
Like that trace in front of the third bookshelf on the left, as if something heavy had been dragged forward.
Fortunately, it seemed Nico Praha hadn't spent her entire life meticulously planning her escape route.
If she had, she wouldn't have been this sloppy.
I pushed and pulled the bookshelf sideways and forward, and it swung open smoothly like a large door panel.
It seemed to have a mechanical device inside.
When the bookshelf opened, a thick iron door appeared behind it.
The sound of the latch opening must have come from here.
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I had considered slicing the door open with an Aura Blade if she didn't open it, but once I politely asked her if she understood what she was doing right now, she opened it immediately.
She had realized what she had done on impulse, and her face was deathly pale with fright.
"What nerve did you have to run away?"
"I got scared while looking for it... I'm truly sorry... I wasn't planning to take the money and run."
Professor Niko couldn't even meet my eyes properly.
Showing up for an unannounced inspection without prior notice was bound to startle her.
But trying to run away right in front of me because of that was just dumbfounding.
"Looking at your papers, it seems like you've been doing research... don't tell me you have absolutely no results to show?"
It wasn't an empty boast that I had done everything possible to grow taller.
Wondering if there truly was a problem with my body, I had studied enough to fully understand biological papers like this.
Professor Nico Praha's papers were not some hastily thrown-together frauds.
Since she was spending Titan's money, she had provided regular progress reports, which was why I had continued supporting her.
"N-no, I have them. I do... but... they've all produced results that are different from the intended ones...."
"Then you should show me those, at least. What are you doing?"
"Yes..."
Professor Praha went back into the lab and opened the door of a large piece of furniture that looked like a refrigerator.
It was an incredibly expensive item with an automatic preservation magic applied inside.
She didn't buy that with research funds, did she?
I wanted to believe it was something provided by the Academy.
Professor Praha, who had been rummaging inside, pulled out a single bottle containing a green liquid.
It was thick and green, giving off the feeling of vegetable juice.
"I really... really worked hard... but I've hit a wall, so it's been delayed."
Professor Praha, holding the liquid, spoke with a tearful face.
What could have turned out so trivial to make her act like that?
"The best... thing I've made is just a trivial potion that increases height by about 180..."
"Uh-huh, I see.. increases height by about 180...."
I felt like I had just heard something very strange.
A potion that increases height by about 180?
"Of course, the project goal also lists growth acceleration methods, but the ultimate core objective was to create a strong body. I'm still struggling with strengthening the skeletal structure, increasing muscle mass... and boosting immunity....
To... to only make such a worthless potion that does nothing but make you tall like a beanpole...!!
It just makes you taller without any enhancements, turning you into an empty shell... I'm sorry, I'll dispose of it!!!!"
Professor Nico Praha raised the bottle in her hand high, as if she were about to smash it down at any moment.
"Dispose of it?! Hand that over right now!!!"
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The project Professor Praha had been researching originally aimed to create a method for building a strong body.
In this world, a strong body was usually achieved through diligent training, but this project was for patients who couldn't move properly due to congenital ailments and had no choice but to sit still and grow weaker.
"Even among the elves, extremely rarely, there are elves who face such circumstances. Because elves live such long individual lives, when they encounter that situation... it's worse than death. They just live on like plants."
"When did you start this research?"
"I started it in earnest after getting my medical license... so I haven't quite reached 100 years yet."
She had been researching it for a long time.
To elves, a hundred years might seem like a fleeting moment, but it was enough time for the Emperor to change twice over.
For people suffering from congenital issues... Professor Praha's research had a fairly noble purpose.
"I understand the circumstances.. but is it certain this potion increases height?"
"Yes.. it was the very first to be completed... if you look here, a former undergraduate of mine subjected herself to the experiment."
Professor Praha pulled out a thick album and showed me pictures of her undergraduate students with stiff expressions.
She said they subjected themselves to the experiment — was it voluntary or involuntary?
The faded photos showed images of various slaves... no, undergraduate students.
I could see now why her lab was so spacious and empty.
In contrast to such inhumane stories, the before-and-after comparison photos left in the album were quite normal.
"Just looking at the photos, they grew to about 180. Is it consistent?"
"There are individual differences. However, for males, they seem to grow to at least the late 170s."
A drug that consistently made people grow to at least the late 170s... it was an incredible invention.
The thought that this potion before my eyes might finally fulfill the life goal I'd spent most of this lifetime chasing made me break out in a cold sweat.
I had never felt this way even when receiving some legendary elixir.
"Good. Does the effect appear immediately after consumption?"
"Yes.. if you take it together with this auxiliary potion, it replenishes the components necessary for rapid growth and finishes within 5 minutes."
I wanted to chug it down right then and there.
The events I had suffered through in this life flashed through my mind.
From the moment it was confirmed I'd grow no taller, the pressure from my family, every piece of trash who dismissed me for my small frame.
The days I silently honed my skills while enduring contempt and scorn, only to cut them all down, flickered past one by one.
If I drank that potion... all of that would end.
When Professor Praha saw that my eyes were fixed on the potion, she cautiously asked.
"But... are you going to take it right away? Even though it's passed clinical trials multiple times, wouldn't it be safer to perfect it a bit more...?"
"Could it be worse than dying?"
I snatched the bottles, one from each of Professor Praha's hands.
"Sponsor-nim???"
If someone were watching my actions now from a third-party perspective, I would surely look incredibly foolish.
Trusting a few photos and chugging something when you didn't even know what it was made of?
But I couldn't help it.
How could I hold back when the very thing I had wanted so desperately was right in front of me?
The sample size wasn't large, but the multiple photos were proof that human trials had already been completed.
Given that, what were the odds it would actually kill me? Without any further hesitation, I downed the two potions in order.
"Hup..!!"
I felt a reaction the moment I drank them.
A tingling sensation ran through my entire body.
Was this what it felt like to have your growth plates forcibly stimulated?
I gathered the mana flowing through my body and prepared for the rapid changes that would follow.
Several minutes passed like that.
"This is trash too!!!!!"
Once again, nothing was wrong with my body.
Nothing had changed in the slightest.
Growth, my ass. I'd been had again.