The Tournament Approaches
After the swordsmanship department class ended, it was afternoon.
I was riding a carriage that circulated inside the academy, heading toward Anna.
The only reason I had taken this rarely used circulation carriage was simple.
The swordsmanship department building and the alchemy department building were positioned at opposite ends of the academy main building.
There was one unusual characteristic about the academy here.
Each department had its own separate area set aside. Within that zone, they gathered all buildings related to the department—department buildings, dormitories, and more—into one compact cluster.
Arranged for efficiency and specialization, that was the idea.
Because of it, most students from other departments were seldom seen. That was why Lily always came directly to my training ground in the swordsmanship department zone every single time.
I had already finished training in most cases, so rather than making her hunt me down in the magic department zone during practice, I was grateful she had offered to come herself.
“Once I say I’m giving up on love, the relationship advances… Should I feel happy about this or not…?”
I sighed and touched the Trace Changer necklace around my neck.
Even if I hadn’t found that artifact, the current dilemma would have been a luxury I couldn’t afford.
The enemy I thought was dead turned out to be perfectly fine and alive?
If I faced such a shocking revelation, she might become the irreversible villain she had always been.
Therefore I had worn the Trace Changer almost constantly except when sleeping, taking every precaution to ensure the necklace never came off.
“At least the good part is that it doesn’t break from ordinary attacks….”
Artifacts were not common in this world.
The Reverse Gravity consumable artifact I had used when falling from the cliff was one example—its limited uses explained its high price.
Moreover, the Trace Changer had an almost infinite number of uses, which was why the in-story description called it “worth its weight in gold.”
Yet such an artifact, if not one-time use, could not possibly be easily destroyed.
As expected, artifacts of the Trace Changer type were highly durable—almost no scratches from any shock.
Artifacts were rare and expensive for one more reason: you could not create an identical one.
Similar abilities might be possible, but the exact same artifact could not be duplicated. So even if someone knew the existence of a particular artifact, they rarely knew what it looked like.
That was why I always answered questions like this:
“Hey Veri, you always keep that necklace on? You were the top student in the academy too… Now you can buy a better one, right?”
“It’s the only heirloom my parents left me. Of course I keep it.”
I would reply that way, and eventually I noticed that even in swordsmanship sparring, the other students avoided touching my necklace as much as possible.
It was sparring, of course, but their eyes carried fear of accidentally breaking their parents’ only precious heirloom.
The only remaining issue was the tournament, but that problem was not really a big concern either.
Even though use of potions and artifacts was restricted, as long as I didn’t get caught it didn’t matter.
Unlike potions or consumable artifacts, the Trace Changer posed zero risk of being detected as long as I didn’t remove the necklace.
Although the instructors would be on standby to monitor cheating during the tournament,
I would not suddenly become noticeably stronger, and the necklace I had worn since the entrance ceremony would attract no suspicion.
“The alchemy department zone is arriving soon!”
While lost in thought, I lifted my head to look out the window.
The building of the alchemy department caught my eye—its ornate outer wall featured intricate patterns of various flasks in the center.
Finally it was time to confirm with my own eyes the results of the lycanthrope’s accessory items I had asked Anna to process.
In the original novel, a lycanthrope had lost its important parts to Selina’s magic, so I could not know the outcome and my heart began to race.
“But if it’s Anna Freesia, she would definitely create something extraordinary.”
The carriage soon stopped with a jolt, and after tipping the coachman appropriately, I walked toward Anna’s alchemy lab.
***
Even the top student in the alchemy department had a different treatment. Unlike the other students’ labs I had passed through the corridor, Anna’s door was brightly decorated with ornate carvings.
And beside the door stood Anna’s personal maid, bowing toward me.
“Good afternoon, Master Veri.”
I had seen her before when assigning the lycanthrope’s accessories, but the fact that Anna was a noble still felt fresh and new.
“You said I didn’t need such formal treatment, right?”
She shouldn’t have treated me, a commoner, with respect.
Shaking her head while still maintaining politeness, the maid spoke to me.
“As the young miss’s companion, how could I possibly treat you casually?”
“Ah.”
Now that I thought about it, it made perfect sense from Anna’s maid’s perspective. If I spoke to Anna in familiar language, how could the maid treat me easily?
Any further consideration might have been seen as bullying, so I nodded.
“Then feel free to go ahead… Is it all right for me to enter?”
Pointing at the door with my finger, the maid lightly stepped aside and bowed her head.
“Of course. But you should be prepared to be surprised by the young miss…”
“Should I knock?”
Since I had been warned about this before, I lightly knocked twice and opened the door to Anna’s alchemy lab.
“Anna, I’m here to receive the completed item… What is this smell?”
Sniffing.
A slightly sour, vinegar-like smell filled the lab, and I frowned. It was not unpleasant, but it was certainly not a good smell either.
“Ah! Master Veri…! Hello!”
Anna greeted me with a happy face and a little hop in her step.
Even though I had been of little help to the party during the Triang Village mission, she had lost confidence. But the moment I returned to the academy and asked her to create something useful for combat with the lycanthrope’s accessories, she had shaken her head so eagerly it looked ready to fall off, overjoyed.
“Maybe she was just happy because she could do alchemy with valuable materials.”
Even though we were in the same student council party, we rarely saw each other since there were no missions, so it had been a while since we faced each other directly.
Her height looked unchanged, like a child’s. Poor thing.
“You’ve been well during this time?”
“Thank you. Ah! This is the alchemy lab, so I couldn’t offer you a seat… I’m sorry…”
“I didn’t come expecting that. Besides… What exactly is this smell? It smells a bit like vinegar.”
Anna’s restless fidgeting began as I watched her reaction, so I quickly changed the subject.
Then, hopping again, Anna ran to me and handed me a small flask.
“It’s probably this. The potion I made with the lycanthrope’s liver and heart you gave me.”
“Really?”
Yet when I took it in my hand, I didn’t smell anything, so I brought it close to my nose and sniffed.
“It only had that smell when I was processing it… Now it doesn’t smell at all!”
“Hmm… So what exactly is the effect?”
Even in the original novel, she had created potions with all kinds of strange effects, not just slightly stronger power or faster movement like ordinary potions.
I wondered what effect the potion made with the lycanthrope would have.
“From the moment of consumption, for about ten minutes, any part that touches a shadow is completely healed. The range of the wound it heals is limited to within twenty-four hours.”
“…You tested it yourself?”
“Of course. With this needle here…”
Following the direction of Anna’s pointing finger, I saw a rather long needle.
I turned back to look at Anna, my eyes wide and pupils slightly trembling.
Even though I had read mentions of her in the novel, the fact that such a tiny girl would pierce her own body with a needle to experiment was hard to believe.
Only then did Anna begin making excuses, waving her arms wildly.
“If anything happens, I was planning to ask Grace for help! I heard Grace always helps in the healing room after class!”
“U-uh….”
I pretended to understand, but the thought deepened that I must pay close attention to Anna’s details using every means, not letting her innocent appearance fool me.
After all, in the novel she had been working on a potion for Ian using a dragon’s corpse when, for some reason, the experiment failed and she turned into a chimera, only to be killed by Ian.
“Her mind was fine, but the biggest problem was her body moving on its own?”
Because her body had become a chimera, no one realized the terrifying form belonged to Anna.
In the end, she suffered and died in agony from attacking her own comrades.
Even though her body rampaged wildly, her mind remained intact, so the pain was entirely her own.
“Anna.”
“Yes?”
“No matter how much you like alchemy, stay away from dragons.”
“What? Dragons?”
Was there any reason a dragon would come up in this conversation?
Anna looked up at me with wide eyes, startled.
Unlike Grace, I couldn’t easily claim that simply sparing her would become a major inhibitor to the Demon God.
But it was impossible to just watch a party member who had shared meals rushing desperately toward dragons.
So even if I had to hunt dragons in the future, I swore I would never give her the accessories.
…I also didn’t feel like fighting a chimera.