-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They shouted so loudly that everyone in the gymnasium turned their attention to Liber.
And soon.
"Huh!"
"Wh-what?"
"What's going on?"
"Did he really use mind magic on a person? Liber did?"
"Scary... I've never seen anything like this before."
The gymnasium became noisy in an instant.
Even Professor Billian couldn't help but gape.
"Good heavens."
Dennis, the teaching assistant in front of Liber, was doing somersaults in place.
Lunchtime, student cafeteria.
The talk of Liber's success with mind magic was in full swing.
Latia asked.
"But why always somersaults? From the first lab rat to today. It doesn't seem particularly easier to do, does it?"
"Um... just. It's my signature, I guess? The signature pose of Liber Specula, the mind magic genius."
"Crazy bastard."
"Haha. Just kidding. Well, it was just a prank when I did it to the first lab rat, but as I kept changing the test subjects and making them do the same thing, I became most familiar with making them do somersaults."
Bellum patted Liber on the shoulder.
"Oh, Liber. That's great! So, you're not getting expelled now?"
"I don't know. I tried my best, so all I can do now is wait for Professor Billian's decision."
"What? So, you might not get that super pass thing?"
"That's entirely up to the professor..."
"Davian! Is he right? He succeeded in something amazing and still doesn't know if he'll be expelled?"
"Yeah, that's right. I just presented a path that had a chance of success. Whether he could do it or not was up to Liber, and now it's up to Professor Billian whether or not to bring out the super pass."
"Sigh, it's not over yet. Nothing's easy."
"This is Elton Academy. It's not an easy place."
"I guess..."
Davian looked at Luna.
"Luna, you're all ready too, right? For the healing magic exam on the last day."
"Huh? Y-yes! I've been preparing hard! Nubes really suffered. Because of me. If I hadn't been a candidate for expulsion, you guys wouldn't have had to go through so much..."
Nubes waved his hand.
"No, Luna. It's okay. I've trained my external force a lot, so I don't feel much pain. It's really okay."
That's a lie.
No matter how much you train your external force, it doesn't reduce pain.
But for Luna, who has never trained both internal and external force, it's a plausible story.
"Still... I'm so sorry."
"It's important that we all stay in the academy together."
"Thank you, Nubes."
Bonita asked.
"But how are you going to show it? You can't deliberately injure someone to take the final exam."
Liber answered.
"Ah, Bonita is in the swordsmanship department, so she doesn't know much about it. The healing magic exam isn't held here at the academy."
"Then where do you take it?"
"The battlefield."
"The battlefield?"
"Yeah. The Byzant Count and Arond Count families are at war right now. It's a territorial war that has been officially approved by the royal family, so the royal family has set up a royal temporary clinic in the middle of the battlefield. We'll go to that clinic on the last day of the final exam to take the healing magic exam."
"Is it like a medical volunteer thing?"
"Similar. We'll go there and take care of and treat the injured according to our skills, and then Medicum teachers and teaching assistants will go around finishing the treatments and evaluating the students."
Bonita nodded.
"Take care of war wounded and take the exam. Not bad. But which side's wounded do you treat?"
"Both sides. Regardless of the faction, the wounded can use the royal clinic. Inside, everyone is just a patient."
"What if someone tries to kill a key figure from the other side in there?"
"Who would dare do such a thing in the royal clinic? The guards are stationed inside and outside the clinic, so if you did that, you'd be executed on the spot."
Bonita looked around at her magic department friends.
"I see. You guys are lucky. Going to the battlefield."
"We're going to take an exam. It's not like we're going on a battlefield tour."
Bonita fiddled with the hilt of the sword that was leaning against the table.
"Anyway. A real battlefield. I want to go see it as soon as possible."
Davian looked at Bonita.
'She wants to gain practical experience as soon as possible and become the best swordsman, Bonita Portis. It's not unreasonable for her to be like that, since she lost her father that way.'
But like Liber said, it's not like they're going on a tour, so Bonita can't go to the battlefield tomorrow.
'It would be much easier to clear this quest if I took Bonita with me. There's no reason to go together, so I can't help it.'
The battlefield of the two count families that they visit for the healing magic final exam.
When you go there, the first [Step-by-Step Reward Quest] of the game 'Elton Academy' appears.
Unlike the 'Bonus Stage' that happened a while ago, or the 'Find the 12 Traces of the Archmage' event that ends only after collecting all 12 traces.
There are several mini-quests that must be cleared step-by-step within one quest, and the rewards vary depending on how many mini-quests you've cleared.
In the 2nd playthrough, I only managed to clear one mini-quest, and in the 3rd playthrough, I only cleared two.
But this time, the situation is different.
'Well, should I get some more rewards this time?'
I have to graduate from the academy by collecting all the rewards I can get.
While Davian was thinking about the quest that will be held tomorrow, Liber had already unpacked another bundle of stories.
"People are calling this war the Emily War."
"Emily War?"
"Yeah. It's the name of a young female servant in the Arond Count family. I heard she's very pretty."
"They're calling this big war by a servant's name? What, did this war start because of that pretty servant?"
"Yeah. The beginning was from that servant. At a banquet of another nobleman, a collateral relative of the Byzant Count family harassed a servant of the Arond Count family."
Nubes asked in surprise.
"That's bad, but does a war break out over something like that? Because of one servant?"
"Eventually, the nobles started using their favorite excuse. The two count families are old rivals facing each other's territories. They even built high walls on the border of their territories and snarled at each other."
"Ah, I think I've heard of it too. The story of the Byzant Count family and the Arond Count family."
"Right. A reason arose between the two families, who wouldn't be surprised if they started a war at any time."
This time Latia asked.
"Let's say the two of them didn't get along. They faced each other's territories and coveted each other's land and resources. Let's say that. Does the fact that one servant was harassed become a reason to start a war?"
"The Emily servant's affair was just the beginning. The youngest son of the Arond Count family, who learned that his servant had been harassed, went berserk and beat up the collateral relative of the Byzant Count family. This is just a rumor, but the reason why the youngest son went so berserk..."
The quick-witted Bellum chimed in.
"This, this, Emily wasn't just a servant, was she?"
"Yeah. It's just a rumor, but there's talk that the youngest son and Emily had something going on. So he went so berserk."
Latia asked again.
"Still, is that a good enough reason? Does a war break out just because they beat up a collateral relative?"
"No. With that incident, the eldest son of the Byzant Count family, who had been harboring resentment, beat up the youngest son of the Arond Count family at another banquet. Well, at first, he tried to persuade him with words, but it didn't work."
Bonita nodded.
"They're starting to touch people they shouldn't touch. That's why all those useless banquets and whatnot from the nobles should be abolished."
"So, is that all the reason?"
"No. It seemed like that incident would be resolved with the Byzant Count family paying sufficient compensation. But."
"But?"
"The youngest son of the Arond Count family died. He was wasting away."
"Suddenly? Why? Because he was beaten up by the eldest son of the Byzant Count family?"
"That's what the Arond Count family is claiming. Of course, the Byzant Count family claimed it was absurd, but anyway, it's true that he beat him up, and the youngest son of the Arond Count family died less than a month after that incident. Well... it became difficult to avoid responsibility, regardless of the truth."
"That's enough reason for a war to break out."
"That's right."
Luna asked.
"But Liber. Don't you know either? Why the youngest son of the Arond Count family was wasting away?"
"I don't know either. However, in the world..., there's a rumor that his relationship with Emily was revealed by this incident, and the family kicked Emily out and didn't let him see her again, so he was wasting away."
Luna suddenly gathered her hands in front of her.
"So, he became like that because of the sadness of not being able to meet the person he loved? It's kind of romantic..."
Bonita shook her head.
"That's nonsense. How can someone die because they can't meet their lover? Something must have gone wrong where he was beaten."
"Why? The poet Descartes said that the sorrow of losing a loved one is comparable to the destruction of a country."
"Nonsense."
Davian slowly shook his head.
Both Luna and Bonita were wrong.
The youngest son of the Arond Count family was...
"He must have been murdered."
Liber said with a solemn expression.
"That's what I think. Someone who would benefit from this war must have murdered him to make the war happen."
Davian looked at Liber with surprised eyes.
Liber was making an almost certain expression.
'Liber Specula, the more I see him, the more amazing he is?'
Liber was right.
The youngest son of the Arond Count family was murdered.
The whole story would be revealed later, but by then most of the territories of the two count families had already been burned and devastated.
Moreover, it was after the head of the Byzant Count family had been killed in this war.
Log Byzant Count.
The head of the Byzant Count family, and the chief of the royal palace's outer security.
And.
The person who played a central role in the recent search for Marino Empire spies.
'Maybe it was all the Marino Empire guys' plan from the beginning.'
Someone must have told the drunken collateral relative of the Byzant Count family that the beautiful servant was alone in the room right now.
And someone must have whispered that fact to the youngest son of the Arond Count family.
And someone must have encouraged the eldest son of the Byzant Count family from the side.
He had to punish that arrogant Arond's youngest son.
Then they poisoned the youngest son of the Arond Count family.
In order to start a war.
To retaliate against the Byzant Count family, who had ferreted out their comrades, and to kill Log Byzant Count.
'Anyway, those guys I don't like. Those organization guys.'
That organization.
It refers to the Marino Empire's intelligence organization.
Even if you ask Dilan and Sophie, who were captured, they say that this organization doesn't even have a name.
The executives do have an organization name that they call each other, but that's just a temporary name.
'I won't let them have their way this time.'
Of course, it's not to thwart what they're doing.
It just so happens that the quest on Friday is related.
Comments
Post a Comment