Chapter 115
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 115
Chapter Title: The Great Mage of the Basement (5)
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-You're a disgrace to the Crowell family.
Those were the words Laver na Crowell heard from her father on the day she received her acceptance letter to Elterion Academy.
On the day of her interview, Laver na was so nervous that she couldn't utter a single proper word.
In the end, the Magic Department deemed her unfit and rejected her.
She was talented enough to be selected as an outstanding student and receive a scholarship, yet she couldn't even scrape by.
And so, she was shoved into the Alchemy Department—one of the departments mockingly called a dumping ground for rejects who failed to get into the Magic Department.
For Laver na Crowell, the world inside Elterion Academy was nothing but shades of gray.
Haa...—days filled with endless sighs.
The air in the research building assigned to the Alchemy Department in the Magic Hall annex felt damp and heavy all week long.
The stench of rotten eggs, metallic tang, and dust assaulted her nose.
Just a glance sideways revealed the fresh, lively sight of the Magic Department's elites laughing and chatting in the main building.
Having the comparison right in front of her only deepened her self-loathing.
"Why do I even have to do this...?"
Laver na stared blankly down at the crucible before her.
Today's assignment was to prepare a heat-preserving solution.
Grind purified ore into powder, add a catalyst, and stir it at a constant temperature for thirty minutes.
...The epitome of inefficiency. A single basic fire spell could handle it in a snap.
Why bother wasting time making something like this?
"Boring."
Laver na slipped her hands into her sleeves and secretly drew up her mana.
No sooner had she traced a magic circle with her fingertips than the solution in the crucible began bubbling furiously.
What should have taken thirty minutes was done in just thirty seconds.
"Whoa~"
At that moment, an exclamation came from beside her.
"Perfectly done. I thought you'd cast a spell or something."
Laver na flinched and hunched her shoulders in surprise.
Turning her head, she saw a boy with bangs covering his eyes, grinning mischievously.
Noel.
One of the few students whose name Laver na knew.
Not for good reasons, though.
He was infamous as the worst troublemaker, even among the problem children of the cesspool that was the Alchemy Department, constantly causing incidents.
"...It's nothing. Just this much."
Laver na replied curtly, averting her gaze.
But Noel didn't back off—instead, he leaned in closer to peer into her crucible.
"With skills like this, you're better than most of those Magic Department bookworms, right?"
These days, sure, there were students in the Political Science and Economics Departments who could cast basic spells.
But a century ago, a freshman at Elterion Academy who could use basic magic would have been treated like a top student.
"So why didn't you go to the Magic Department? Why end up in Alchemy?"
His question hit right at her sore spot, and Laver na bit her lip.
"...I failed."
"Huh?"
"I was so nervous during the interview that I couldn't say a word."
He'll laugh, she thought.
Call her stupid, pathetic, point fingers at her.
Laver na's shoulders shrank inward.
"Pfft! What? That's it? I thought you had some heartbreaking backstory."
Of course. Just as expected, laughter burst out first.
But his next words were nothing like she'd anticipated.
"Good thing~ Talented alchemists with magic skills are super rare. You're our ace now."
"...Don't tease me. It's just the Alchemy Department, after all."
"Huh? You dissing alchemy right now?"
Noel wagged his finger and clicked his tongue disapprovingly.
"You know, magic can only mimic natural phenomena, but alchemy can create entirely new ones!"
"...?"
"Wanna see something cool?"
Noel pulled a small glass vial from his pocket.
"This is moonlight water reagent."
Silver powder settled at the bottom of the transparent liquid.
"Watch closely."
Noel dropped a single droplet from the vial into Laver na's crucible.
Plop—the moment ripples spread,
"...Huh?"
the molten metal swirled and began emitting a rainbow of lights.
"Magic lights fade quickly, but this keeps shining for years."
A single drop of color spread through Laver na's gray landscape.
"See? Alchemy is another kind of magic that turns the impossible into possible."
The first vivid hue pierced through Laver na's dead, gray world.
"You try it. With your mana mixed in, it'll shine even brighter, I bet?"
Noel grinned and handed her a fresh vial.
Laver na took it as if entranced.
With trembling hands, she drew out just a tiny bit of mana.
And dropped the liquid into the glowing mass in the crucible.
Along with her gloom, her frustration.
And a very small spark of curiosity.
In that instant, a brilliant flash erupted.
Her gray landscape was bathed in radiant aurora.
"You again, Noel! How many times have I told you not to use glowing reagents indoors?!"
"P-Professor! This time it wasn't me..."
"No excuses, you punk!"
Even as Noel fled from the professor in a chaotic chase, Laver na stared blankly at the light.
"So the Alchemy Department's color is like this..."
Light slowly filled her once-dead eyes.
The moment the door to the workshop hidden by the Witch of Greed swung open, an inexplicable memory seeped into my mind.
It was dreamlike, fading away in an instant.
The only thing that lingered was...
Perhaps just that the gray landscape had brightened up.
"Whoa...!"
I snapped out of my daze at someone's gasp of awe.
Back to reality from the dream.
And here, too, a dreamlike scene unfolded.
"What in the world is all this...?"
Above an endless gray abyss stretched thousands, tens of thousands of islands floating aimlessly.
"W-What's all that?!"
Claire trembled, clutching my arm.
A closer look revealed they weren't ordinary landmasses.
Slices of severed corridors, a garden chunk with a lone bench, cross-sections of bookshelves packed with tomes...
It was as if the real world had been carved up like a cake and put on display in the void—a bizarre spectacle.
"It's... kind of amazing."
Even Princess Celestina couldn't hide her astonishment.
"I thought it was just a warehouse for stolen goods at best..."
"Yeah. She ripped out the spaces themselves."
Not stealing objects, but entire places containing them.
Did the ultimate greedy witch even steal on a different scale?
"Shall we take a look around?"
Not long after we started walking through the space, my head began to feel fuzzy.
I absentmindedly grasped at the air, but barely any mana clung to my hand.
This place had extremely thin mana in the air.
...Who makes a space like this?
"Whoa! J-Jackpot!"
That's when Vice-President Thomas suddenly shouted and rushed toward a glowing light.
Following him, I saw a wide dish filled with a brightly shining liquid.
"Look at this! It's moonlight water!"
"Moonlight water?"
"Yeah! An alchemical ingredient ancient people used for lighting. Wow... This stuff's priceless now!"
Meanwhile, President Sylvia hopped from floating island to island like stepping stones, using wind magic.
Each time, the islands wobbled precariously.
"P-President! It's dangerous!"
"Nah, it's fine~ Worst case, I use feather fall or something~"
Claire tried to warn her worriedly, but Sylvia, fully excited, was unstoppable.
"Ooh~ Check this out. Silver candlestick! Souvenir from this adventure, maybe~?"
The moment Sylvia reached for the candlestick,
Rumble...!
the entire island she was on tilted, then slowly began rotating clockwise.
"Wh-What's happening...? Why is this...?"
Before the president could plummet into the void and become lost in the subspace, I snagged her collar with telekinesis magic.
At the same time, I righted the tilting island.
"Whew. Close call. As expected of Junior Lunaris~ Knew I could count on you!"
"Better not touch anything here."
Thomas flinched at my words too.
Good thing that senior was even more of a scaredy-cat than Claire. He'd avoid risky stuff on his own.
"These things aren't just sitting here randomly."
I adjusted Arke on my back and scanned the surroundings.
I could see the rules of this space now.
"The coordinates are locked to each island."
"What does that mean?"
"Simply put, the items' coordinates are fixed to the space so no one can steal them."
"Whoa... What a hardcore hoarder. Even in death, she won't let anyone take her stuff out."
"Exactly. Treat it like a museum—look with your eyes only. Don't touch anything weird."
I rolled my neck and took the lead.
A world with no mana, everything preserved like specimens.
Defining this place solely as 'greed' felt... somehow a bit melancholic.
How long had we walked?
Amid the floating junk, one incongruous scene caught my eye.
"Huh? That..."
It was a small garden-like space.
On soil seemingly torn from somewhere, a single bench sat alone.
In this chaotic mess of a world, only around that bench was eerily pristine.
"It's like someone cleaned it up."
As Princess Celestina said, not a speck of dust marred the bench.
As if someone had just been sitting there moments ago and left.
Drawn by an inexplicable longing, I approached the bench.
"Luna, it's dangerous."
Princess Celestina grabbed me tightly.
"I'm fine."
I slowly reached out.
My fingertips touched the backrest of the weathered bench.
The rough texture of wood met my skin.
And beyond that,
-Sit here. Best view from this spot.
a faint memory flowed into my mind.
After meeting Noel, Laver na's world changed.
Lectures that once bored her became something she looked forward to.
Days of mixing reagents together, blowing up labs, writing apologies in front of the professor, and giggling through it all.
Her timid personality naturally improved.
Her grades followed suit.
By the end of her first year at Elterion Academy, Laver na Crowell's name topped the Alchemy Department rankings.
She ranked in the top three overall among freshmen, earning her the nickname "mutant" among the professors.
But that glory turned into poison.
Her family sent someone to the academy as if they'd been waiting.
"Laver na Crowell, as of today, you are transferred to the Magic Department."
The Magic Department head's unilateral declaration.
Thus, Laver na shed her stained Alchemy Department uniform for the stifling Magic Department robe.
Even after the transfer, her feet kept wandering to odd places.
After classes, she habitually peeked around the front of the research building in the annex.
"What're you doing there?"
Familiar faces always greeted her.
Noel and her Alchemy classmates.
They weren't surprised to see her at all.
As if they'd known she'd return.
"We kept your bed."
Noel's rough hand gripped her wrist firmly.
"B-Bed...?"
"That bench in the corner. You always sat there for ideas and ended up sleeping."
"W-Who sleeps on something that hard?"
Laver na pouted and grumbled,
"Anyway, come in."
"...Yeah!"
but she didn't shake off Noel's hand pulling her along.
"...Luna, snap out of it!"
The sensation of someone pulling my arm jolted my eyes open.
The afterimage of a boy with bangs over his eyes scattered like a dream.
In its place appeared the worried face of the golden-haired princess looking at me.
"...Ah."
I blinked blankly.
The stranger's memories and my own reality oddly overlapped.
"You suddenly collapsed onto the bench and scared us. You okay?"
"..."
I slowly rose from the bench.
The warmth lingering on my back was gradually cooling.
This was a preserved space.
Everything here had frozen cold.
Yet this weathered bench still held the warmth shared by someone from a hundred years ago.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
I took a short breath.
"Just a brief dizzy spell."
I tried to play it off casually, but a nagging unease settled in my chest, like something was stuck there.
For some reason, I felt like I understood the meaning hidden in this space.