Commendation Ceremony (1)
Commendation Ceremony (1)
It seemed Sylvia's fussing hadn't been for nothing.
"Whoa."
Back in his dorm, Ian let out an involuntary murmur as he checked the Kirtos terminal.
【 Your Fortune Told. (The free prophecy event has ended.) 】
The online fortune-telling shop he'd set up before diving into the scenario. The anonymous Kirtos board where he'd parked it had practically exploded with attention.
There were the countless commissions piling up on the post itself.
— When will the Prophet return?
— Why are kids these days so easily taken in by scams?
— Speculation on the identity of the hot new prophet.
The mayhem had spilled into the general forums too. He tracked down the reason fast. That girl named Mercy who'd gotten roughed up by Rina Rosewell this time around—she turned out to be "Mercy Anniston," the one he'd given a free prophecy. She'd been name-dropping the post everywhere, and people had come flooding in.
Honestly, it tracked. He'd written out concrete details: the exact place, the precise time of the incident that day. Of course people would find it uncanny.
"Hrm."
Before wading through the backlog, Ian crossed his arms and sank into thought.
"I should probably come up with a name."
He'd succeeded in pulling aggro, which meant copycats would start popping up. After a moment's deliberation, he changed the post's title.
【 Kirtos Diviner 】
"That'll do."
The shoddier the shop name looked, the more professional it tended to seem. Ian nodded to himself and began sifting through the incoming requests. Dozens of them. For a setup that required a deposit just to ask a question, a startling number of people had left commissions.
"I set the conditions pretty tight. Still got this many."
___
1. The requester's name, residence, age, exact birth time, family relations, and close friendships must be recorded.
2. Questions must be as concrete and unambiguous as possible.
3. Inquiries about fees are politely declined. Offer whatever recompense you deem appropriate.
* We answer only those requests we can. Please ask with sincerity.
___
In short, Ian was playing the ultimate power role. The requester was the supplicant. This was always just a side gig for pocket money, within limits that wouldn't affect the story.
"Didn't expect it to blow up like this, though."
Swish, swish. Ian scrolled through the terminal.
___
Name: Maurice Mano
Question: I'm terrified of the upcoming grade evaluation. If I don't break through 3-star this time, I feel like my family will throw me out. How can I get a good grade?
Offering: 10 Silver.
___
Ten silver bought you ten bowls of traditional handmade soup at Lichten.
"Kkh."
This kind of money for a few lines of text. This was the whole point of being isekaied.
"Hrm... I can answer this one... For this one, better to talk around it a bit."
— Tap, tap.
He answered a few of the decent requests like that. Within the span of an hour, silver had piled up at a startling rate.
"Lot of rich kids here."
Just what you'd expect from the prestigious Lichten Academy. He'd covered Pongpongi's monthly interest payment and built up surplus funds besides.
The flood of customers was due to a special event, so the income would taper off. But even cherry-picking his answers had brought in this much. He might not have to worry about interest payments for a good while.
"Good, good."
His finances were starting to improve. Ian leaned back in his chair with satisfaction.
And that wasn't all.
— The investigation into the dormitory Bloodflower incident has partially acknowledged Cadet Ian's contributions. A commendation ceremony is scheduled. In the meantime, which of the following reward options would you prefer? Temporary access to the library's mid-level reading room, Appointment as Professor Violet's teaching assistant, or a monthly Dignity Maintenance Scholarship.
After the investigative committee concluded the case, Student Affairs had posed that question. Ian chose the scholarship, obviously.
— By any chance, is a lump-sum payout not possible?
— That's a bit...
Truthfully, he hadn't expected much from the academy's reward. Even if Rina Rosewell had been the final boss, the visible damage was entirely the Blood Rock cultists' doing. Ian had merely stopped the final boss—Rina Rosewell—right before she erupted.
'If she had gone off, we'd have needed all four heroines to hold her back.'
Prevention was best. Shouting that from the rooftops would only get him labeled a lunatic, so he was content with the academy's compensation.
"The real reward is separate, anyway."
His Authority had grown a stage. That wasn't all. His Mana Heart—the quantity of earth mana stored in his dantian—had increased substantially. Before, he'd possessed a sesame-seed's worth of mana. Now, the dantian held roughly a spoonful.
In absolute terms, it was still meager. But it was endlessly pure, refined mana, distilled and concentrated. Its value was incomparable to ordinary mana. A growth path chosen to maximize potential—thanks to a foundation being laid more solidly than anyone else's, he could feel the acceleration beginning to build.
"I'm at a point where I can start learning other techniques."
Extraction and Transformation. Skills designed to wring maximum efficiency from an ant's sesame-seed worth of mana. The downside was being forced into close-quarters combat, but the advantage was near-perfect optimization for wielding the earth element. Materials like lunarite were also in play. The way Ian saw it, the potential of these skills scaled with his growth—endgame-tier.
With that in mind, he planned to approach things by shoring up weaknesses.
"If I had to name a skill I need right now... mobility, as expected."
His current idea of mobility was reinforcing his body with Transformation and just running. It made him a touch faster, but...
"It's not explosive."
Which meant it was hard to generate surprise in a fight. At best, he could provoke an opponent or pull a trick. It had worked so far, but whether it would keep working was an open question. For Ian, who had to fight at close range, a lack of speed was the most critical weakness. Besides, he'd need something to show at the upcoming capability evaluation—the grade measurement.
"I need a more explosive movement technique."
Arms crossed, Ian lost himself in thought. The biggest problem was that, as common sense dictated, a rock's lack of mobility was earth magic's greatest weakness. The only time a boulder gained speed was when it fell down a mountainside.
And rolling around for real was obviously out of the question.
"Ah."
A figure flickered through his mind. A mad scientist buried in one of the academy's laboratories. Should he pay her a visit?
As he deliberated, arms still crossed, the alarm rang.
[ Commendation Ceremony ]
A hassle, but it was time to go claim his scholarship.
◆
Lichten Academy's grounds were sprawling. The main building housing the Headmaster's office and other core faculty was a fair distance from the tram stop. The building itself was also considerable in scale. Just walking the distance was enough to make a man sigh.
"The things I put up with for this scholarship. I swear."
Thus, the outdoor event venue before the main building. Ian threaded through the people bustling about with preparations and took his seat among the awardees. No cadets were present, but the arrangement—press included—suggested they were genuinely serious about this ceremony.
Which made sense. Blood Rock cultists had emerged inside the academy—inside the dorms, no less. There had been cadets drained of blood. Cadets infected by blue fungus. An incident practically engineered to bring blame crashing down on an academy that had failed to manage and prevent it. But the upper echelons were shrewd.
Manufacture a hero. Instead of letting people seethe with outrage, give them a figure to admire and look up to. That had to be the ceremony's intent.
'...Feels like I'm being used, though.'
Unexpectedly, Ian didn't find the feeling unpleasant. The reason was simple.
'Because they said they'd give me money.'
There was no reason to refuse a fifty-silver monthly scholarship. Besides, the star of this ceremony was Sharon Pierce anyway. If any face got known, it would be hers.
More to the point—
"Why isn't anyone else here?"
Just as sitting alone among three empty chairs was starting to feel awkward, a pair of perked ears came into view below the dais. A small face resolved itself as the figure climbed the steps.
"...Danya?"
Flinch.
She jolted for a moment, then looked off toward a distant mountain as she walked to the awardees' seats.
"No—what are you doing here?"
"Wha—what do you mean, why? Is there a reason I shouldn't get an award, nyang? Stop discriminating against beastfolk!"
An outburst to hide something, plain as day. She'd gotten indignant so shamelessly it was almost endearing.
In any case, Danya's presence meant she'd done something during the Median House Bloodflower incident. Ian cocked his head. That didn't add up. A barrier had encircled the area as soon as the incident began, and more than that...
"You don't even live in Median House."
"Eek!"
"What were you doing there at night?"
"Ah... That's, well—"
Danya's eyes darted in circles. She stole a glance at Ian, then flinched, a tremor running through her shoulders.
"I-It's totally not what you think, okay?"
"What isn't."
"I wasn't tailing you or anything like that, nyang! I was just out for a night walk, and I suddenly saw you and got worried, so I followed, that's all!"
"...You take walks at night?"
"Mm. I-I'm nocturnal."
Hm. Now that he thought about it, feline beastfolk were nocturnal. Still, her sidelong, wary glances looked suspicious.
Ian's eyes narrowed.
"Come to think of it. Didn't we also meet 'coincidentally' near my dorm last time?"
"Nyang!"
Danya jumped in alarm, her mouth flapping open and shut. Pink flooded her face.
"The grass there was pretty?"
"What kind of nonsense is that?"
Danya hung her head. A beastfolk instinct: when someone came to mind, staying near that person put the mind at ease. The Ketsunesia clan was like that. Danya would sooner die than admit it honestly. Especially when it involved Ian.
So she flared up in anger instead.
"F-Forget that! You're the one with the problem! What were you going to a girls' dormitory at that hour for?!"
"That's..."
Before Ian could finish, Danya's eyes flooded with horror. She'd jumped to some conclusion on her own.
"Hhk. Don't tell me you and Rina were in that kind of relationship, nyang...?"
Danya's tail and ears drooped. Ian let out a sigh at the sight.
'What kind of misunderstanding is she running with now?'
"Hey. Quit with the nonsense..."
Ian couldn't finish the sentence. A sudden chill ran down his spine.
He turned his head toward the source of the coldness.
Long, straight hair the color of a deep blue wave. Skin so pale it was almost bloodless.
Sharon Pierce.
Her voice came out in an infinitely icy register.
"Yes. I'd appreciate it if you would stop spouting nonsense."
Sharon's frigid glare bore down on Ian, her eyes brimming with killing intent.