novelraw Chapter 118 : Side Effects (2)
Chapter 118 : Side Effects (2)
Chapter 118: Side Effects (2)
“Hey, Vise.”
“Yes, Archis.”
“I heard from Lord Etar that you’re disguising yourself as a commoner and operating in the Underworld?”
“Yes. I have a tavern in the Underworld. It’s right on the boundary between the Mage’s District and the Swordsman’s District. If you ever find the time, please stop by. But why do you ask all of a sudden?”
“When I was in 1st Class, there was a time I went down to the Underworld because of a special class cancellation. But mages can’t enter the Swordsman’s District, right?”
“That’s correct.”
“You’re disguised as a commoner, so you can enter the Swordsman’s District, right?”
“Yes, I can. And my tavern is on the boundary between the Mage’s District and the Swordsman’s District anyway. Whether mage or swordsman, anyone can come. Because of that, surveillance is the loosest there, strangely enough.”
Oh?
That was a welcome thing to hear.
I hadn’t known Vise’s tavern was on the boundary between the two districts, and the timing seemed to line up perfectly.
Feeling pleased, I asked,
“Really? Then don’t you have any swordsmen you’ve gotten close to while running the tavern?”
“Is this about methods of physical training, by any chance?”
“Yeah. Even if I’m a former Archmage, do you think I’d know how to train the body?”
I needed the way swordsmen trained.
Making this frail body able to withstand Vision Power was the top priority.
If I couldn’t do that, I wouldn’t be able to go to the main school.
No matter that I was Flewd, I might not be able to suppress a Tyrant who had amplified his mana for 300 years using pure-mana-based Flewd magic.
Flewd 9th Circle magic, Orbification.
In theory, if Flewd Orbification was floating, no elemental magic could be manifested, but if it was the current Tyrant, he might even break that theory.
“Unfortunately, there isn’t a single customer at my tavern. Perhaps because it’s the only boundary, neither mages nor swordsmen have wanted to set foot there.”
“……”
But my hope was crushed all too easily.
It wasn’t hard to understand why such a phenomenon occurred.
Since ancient times, swordsmen and mages hadn’t gotten along, and in this era Tyrant was stepping in to intensify the conflict—so even if there was a place where they could meet, wouldn’t they have no desire to do so?
“Still, commoners can enter the Swordsman’s District, right? Isn’t that so?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Then wouldn’t it be possible for you, disguised as a commoner, to slip in and befriend an appropriate swordsman…… or would that be difficult?”
“Hmm…….”
Vise fell into thought.
It was my order, but it was obvious he was calculating whether he could really pull it off alone.
“Wouldn’t it be better if you disguised yourself as a commoner and tried it directly, Archis?”
But his suggestion was something I hadn’t anticipated either.
“……Me?”
“Yes. I think it would be much easier for you than for me.”
“On what basis do you think that?”
“It’s simple. Among mages, you’re the only one who’s ever directly conversed with swordsmen, aren’t you? Excluding Tyrant.”
“……?”
“The top of the main school. But there’s a top at the swordsman school too, isn’t there? Through Sealing Stones, Grand Swordsmen and Archmages can contact each other there. Didn’t you spend quite a long time at that top?”
Only then did I understand Vise’s intention.
I was someone who had directly spoken with swordsmen.
In other words, since I was the mage who best knew what kind of disposition swordsmen had and what topics made it easier to approach them, he was suggesting I try it myself.
Certainly, Vise had lived long in Magical Society, but since he’d never faced swordsmen directly, he probably wouldn’t even know what topics to talk about.
“Besides, since you look like a young student now, if you disguise yourself well as a commoner, wouldn’t you be able to talk with swordsmen?”
An anecdote from when I went to the Underworld during 1st Class came to mind.
The two swordsmen who had blocked us when we tried to enter the Swordsman’s District to stay at an orphanage.
One had pointed his sword at us even though we were young students, just because we were mages, but the other had at least a trace of warmth.
In other words, if I approached that kind of swordsman, it meant I could obtain what I wanted relatively easily.
“You definitely have a point, but…….”
I looked at Former.
“Yes, what is it?”
“If I wanted to, could I go to the Underworld at any time?”
This school was the Ed Branch School.
Since it wasn’t a place I managed or created, I didn’t know the structure of the Waypoints.
If I knew that structure, I could use them freely, but right now, passage was only possible if the Waypoint administrator personally opened the gate.
“Haha, aren’t you being too serious asking something so obvious? As it happens, Lord Etar told me to deliver this to you when you woke up.”
Former pulled out a red potion from inside his clothes.
“What is this?”
“Waypoint management authority. For security reasons, it was made in potion form. You said you heard that the Royal Guard came to this school before, right?”
“That’s right.”
“The reason they couldn’t freely move between classes even though they came here is because they didn’t have this management authority. Who would’ve imagined it? That someone would turn management authority into a potion.”
The world had really changed in strange ways.
To make something like this into a potion.
Normally, Waypoint management authority allowed you to open and close portals when you possessed an item called a Charm.
There were all kinds of Charms.
Rings, bracelets, necklaces, and so on.
Mages of the past often chose such accessories.
But a potion…….
This was something I had never expected at all.
“Especially this one—it’s A-rank management authority. It’s authority only the Headmaster and Vice Headmaster can use.”
“So that means?”
“You can use every class, all passages between the Underworld and this school. Whenever you want.”
“How do I use it? Do I drink it?”
“No! That would be disastrous!”
Former panicked and stopped me as I tried to drink the potion, then explained the proper method of use.
“Activate the Mob and pour it over the Mob. The potion will seep into the Mob. Then the registration is complete. Simple, right?”
“So in the end, the Charm isn’t this potion, but the Mob?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
As Former instructed, I activated the Mob and poured the potion.
Strangely, instead of dripping down, the potion immediately soaked into the Mob.
There was no visible change right away.
“Registration seems to have gone through normally. Would you like to try it once? Since it’s you, Archis, you should know how to use teleportation.”
“Easy.”
I imagined the Waypoint in the Underworld.
While imagining wanting to go there, I cast teleportation.
Then, a red portal opened beside my bed.
“Yes, that’s how you use it.”
“Thanks.”
“Then is that your decision?”
Vise asked.
“That I disguise myself as a commoner and make contact with swordsmen?”
“Yes.”
“Yeah. I’ll try once my body recovers. You said it would take two weeks, right, until full recovery?”
Vise nodded.
Former added an explanation.
“If you need it, you can go down anytime, even during the semester rather than only during vacation. Would we dare to control something like that? You, Archis.”
“Thanks for saying that, at least.”
“I mean it sincerely…….”
“Recovery comes first for now.”
By the time he had finished all the treatment, Vise placed quite a lot of potions beside my bed.
Counting with my eyes, there were no fewer than fourteen bottles.
They were all the same color.
“There are no serious injuries left, so I’ll leave these here. I won’t be able to come often, after all. One bottle per day—just spray it over your body. It’s a wound potion, so you must not drink it.”
As expected of a master of pharmacology, the explanation was detailed.
“Then I’ll take my leave now, Archis.”
“Already?”
It had been such a long time since I’d seen him, so when he tried to leave in such a hurry, a sense of regret came first.
“Yes. I’d like to stay longer too, but there are other students, aren’t there? And I also have things to do in the Underworld.”
“Alright. I’ll stop by once when I go down next time.”
“Yes, I’ll be waiting. Former, open the portal.”
“Yes, sir.”
Former opened a portal on the spot.
It looked exactly like the one I had manifested for practice.
Vise pushed one foot into the portal, then turned back to me and bowed his head deeply.
“It was an honor, Archis.”
“Yeah, get back safely. Thanks for the treatment.”
Showing a smiling face at the end, he disappeared.
Watching the portal close, I turned to Former.
“Former, there’s something I want to ask you.”
“Yes, please speak, Archis.”
“You said there’s no assigned teacher for 6th Class right now. Because there isn’t a single student.”
“That’s right.”
“But when the semester starts, how were you planning to run the classes?”
“Hmm…… that part is troublesome. I only just came up two weeks ago myself.”
Former paused for a moment.
It also meant nothing had been firmly decided yet.
“Before that, there’s one thing I’d like to ask.”
“Ask.”
“By chance, Hei is a fire-and-darkness Double Caster. And Kiena summons Sylarid’s monsters as well, right? She doesn’t know it herself, but still. Anyway, it’s your inference, Archis, that it’s connected to Sylarid.”
“That’s right. Especially Kiena—she seems enough like Sylarid’s daughter that I think she might be.”
At my words, Former neither looked surprised nor asked back.
Since I was the only mage still alive who had directly seen and dealt with Sylarid, he considered my intuition absolutely correct.
“If that’s the case, then could Kiena also become a Double Caster like Sylarid—an Elementalist and a Summoner? If that really happens, it would all but confirm she’s Sylarid’s daughter. Things like that are usually hereditary, aren’t they? I want to test that. Of course, how Sylarid’s daughter ended up drifting into that orphanage is something to look into later.”
I agreed with the experiment Former wanted to conduct as well.
The talent of being a Double Caster.
This had the highest probability of being inherited.
If the hide color of the relic Kiena summoned hadn’t been black, I wouldn’t have had such suspicions.
But since even I had said the Lycan she summoned was dangerous, there was plenty of evidence.
“So what are you planning to do?”
“I’m thinking of personally conducting darkness-element classes with Hei and Kiena. There isn’t even a single Summoner teacher suitable for 6th Class, and as for the fire element…… there isn’t a mage I can bring in right now. Ah! By the time vacation ends, there should be one. I’ll leave the fire element in that guy’s charge.”
“Who is it? A mage from the Ed Family?”
“Yes. Her name is Sparkle.”
“……Is she the only option? Isn’t there some other sharp kid?”
Before I realized it, those words slipped out of my mouth first.
“You know Sparkle? She used to be a 2nd Class professor—how do you know her? You’ve never even met her. No, more importantly, ‘somewhat lacking’? You already know that Sparkle is a bit unimpressive?”
“…….”
Only then did I confess that in 5th Class I’d gone to 2nd Class through the secret room, and there I’d watched Banshi and Sparkle’s interviews from the side.
Throughout the explanation, Former’s face twisted strangely as he struggled to suppress his laughter.