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The next day, afternoon.
'Dazzling...'
Davian slowly lifted his eyelids.
A familiar sight.
It was the infirmary.
"You're awake? Davian."
The infirmary assistant teacher approached.
A blue light appeared in the assistant teacher's palm.
Healing magic.
After scanning Davian's body once with the blue light extending from her palm.
"That's a relief. You're completely healed."
"Where's Medium teacher?"
"Oh, don't even mention it. You really, really need to thank Medium teacher."
For giving me such terrible pain?
"She stayed by your side all night, casting healing magic. Even until this morning. She went to attend the faculty meeting only after seeing that you were completely fine. What on earth happened? How did you end up like that?"
Medium and Davian are the only ones who know about taking the recovery skill buff potion.
"I don't really know either."
"Well, I guess so. Anyway, Medium teacher said you'll be fine now, so go on. You've been lying in the infirmary for a whole day."
"Yes."
Davian struggled to get up.
The terrible pain from yesterday was still vivid.
But.
'Huh?'
After experiencing that pain and lying down all day.
I was trying to get up with difficulty, but.
'Light.'
My body felt too light.
Davian, who got up lightly, bounced up and down in place.
'Is this also the effect of the potion?'
It wasn't just that I felt good.
It was hard to express exactly, but I definitely felt that my body condition had changed drastically.
At that time.
The infirmary door opened.
"Davian! You're awake? Are you okay?"
It was Medium Frill.
"Yes, teacher. My body feels very refreshed."
"Really? That's a relief... I was very worried."
"You said the side effects would only be temporary."
"Still, I didn't expect you to be in so much pain that you'd faint."
I guess.
I didn't know either.
Anyway, this one-day side effect is over.
I checked that the Blessing of Hydra skill level went up before I fainted.
It was terrible, but...
'8 more times.'
8 more times in terms of count. 8 months in terms of period.
By the time the first semester of sophomore year ends, I'll be able to evolve the Blessing of Hydra skill into an advanced skill.
It's terribly painful, but.
I can endure this much.
If I can just graduate.
"Then I'll be going. Teacher."
"Okay. Come find me right away if you feel anything strange."
"Yes, thank you."
As I went out, I looked at the clock and it was a little past 12 PM.
Davian headed to the cafeteria where his friends would be gathered.
The student cafeteria.
Luna, who found Davian, jumped up.
"Davian!"
"Davian? Davian's here?"
"Oh, Davian!"
The friends turned their heads and checked on Davian in their own ways.
Davian took a moderate amount of food and sat at the same table as his friends.
Bonita asked.
"Are you okay now? I heard you were passed out for a whole day."
"Yeah, I'm fine. I feel even more refreshed after resting well."
"You sound fine."
Bonita focused on her meal again.
Luna, who was still restless, eventually got up and came next to me.
"Are you okay? Really okay, Davian? Is there anything wrong? Should I heal you?"
"No, I'm okay. I'm perfectly fine."
"That's a relief..."
This time, Latia asked.
"But what happened? I heard you fainted while getting treatment at the infirmary. What treatment in the first place? Are you sick somewhere?"
"No, I'm okay."
"So, what treatment."
"Just... health care."
"That's suspicious..."
This time, Liber approached Davian's side.
"Davian, can I have your ear for a moment?"
Liber brought his face close to Davian's ear and whispered.
"I don't know if I should tell you this or not..."
"What is it?"
"But I thought you should know. There's actually a weird rumor going around among the male students."
"What rumor?"
"That you and Medium, the infirmary teacher, are... like that..."
"You crazy bastards."
Liber, embarrassed by Davian's cold reaction, scratched the back of his head and returned to his seat.
"Right? Crazy bastards. Don't worry about it, Davian. It's just a false rumor, a false rumor."
Bellum asked.
"Why? What is it? What rumor?"
"It's nothing. You don't need to know, Bellum."
There was something Liber didn't know.
There's no way a rumor that Liber knows about wouldn't have reached the ears of Bellum, whose human affinity is maxed out.
"You're talking about that rumor, right? That Medium teacher and Davian are..."
A flustered Liber raised both hands and strongly waved them.
"Ah, no. Haha."
Luna, with wide eyes, asked.
"Bellum! What does that mean? What about Medium teacher and Davian?"
"You don't need to know, Luna."
"What is it? What are you hiding even from me, your roommate?"
Davian opened his mouth.
"Everyone, stop with the useless talk and focus on the last exploration this weekend. You all know we're leaving at dawn on Saturday, right?"
As if it was a good opportunity, Liber quickly joined in on changing the subject.
"We know! The Gray Bear Expedition's last adventure! The last, twelfth trace of the Great Mage!"
Bellum clapped his hands and diverted attention.
"That's right! It's this weekend! We're finally finding all twelve traces of the Great Mage that we've been anticipating! The Gray Bear Expedition is the first on the Pax Continent to do so!"
Bonita sharply pointed out.
"Bellum, why are you talking like that?"
"Wha, what about me?"
Bellum quickly looked at Liber and asked with his lips.
'Is it obvious?'
'Yeah.'
"Ah, anyway! Now that the end of our great undertaking is just around the corner, let's focus on that!"
"Let's go! Gray Bear Expedition!"
With the desperate efforts of Liber and Bellum, the topic turned to the Great Mage's last trace.
"By the way. Are we going to insert all eleven traces into one place?"
"We might have to pass through all eleven stages one by one to find the last trace."
"Wow, that would be too difficult."
Nubes asked.
"By the way, where did we say we were going?"
"The Batian Lake District."
"The Batian Lake District... That's a name I've heard a lot."
Bellum looked at Nubes with a dumbfounded expression.
"Hey, big guy. Did you forget already? You, me, and Davian went there for a personal exploration assignment. Group C. Don't you remember?"
"Ah..."
The Great Mage's 12th trace is in the Batian Lake District.
The largest lake in the center of the lake district.
The small island in the middle of that lake.
The Great Mage's last trace is hidden there.
Davian opened his mouth.
"Everyone needs to be on high alert."
Liber asked.
"Because it's the last one?"
That's also true, but.
For some reason, the name Batian Lake District made Davian feel uneasy.
The place where the first 'bonus stage' opened.
The bonus stage led straight to the Demon Realm.
In the 2nd playthrough, I died and came back to life in the first stage as soon as I entered the Demon Realm.
In the 3rd playthrough, I barely cleared the third stage.
Even in the 4th playthrough, I only cleared one more stage.
'If it weren't for Glacier, I would have died that day to the legion commander Jedicus.'
In a few years, the demons will start to come to the human realm in earnest.
The Batian Lake District is also where the largest passage opens at that time.
In many ways, it's a region associated with the Demon Realm and demons.
I later learned that the Batian Lake District is one of the places where the boundary with the Demon Realm is the thinnest.
Similar to how the 'forest behind Medio Garden,' where I first met Glacier, is closest to the Spirit Realm.
'Somehow, the fact that the last trace is in the center of the Batian Lake District feels unsettling.'
I couldn't shake the feeling that the last trace was somehow related to the Demon Realm.
But worrying about it while sitting in the student cafeteria won't change anything.
'I guess I'll have to go and see.'
Weekend.
The Gray Bear Expedition moved to the Batian Lake District early in the morning.
Of course, Karin Obelia was also with them.
Getting to the Batian Lake District wasn't difficult.
Because it was an official schedule for the Gray Bear Expedition, they could use the academy warp room.
They had to bring a small cart to carry all eleven traces.
"This is it. Central Lake."
"The Central Lake is huge."
"Is that the island over there?"
"I think so. The island in the center of the Central Lake."
"How do we get there?"
Davian answered.
"I had Mons reserve a fishing boat... I think that's it."
They could see a fishing boat parked in the place Davian was pointing at.
The Gray Bear Expedition approached the place where the fishing boat was docked.
"Are you the ones who made the reservation?"
An old man with white hair and a white beard asked.
His face was wrinkled, but his posture was upright.
"Yes. To the central island of the lake."
"I heard there were 7 of you, but 8 of you came."
"I'll pay the extra fee."
The old man laughed heartily.
"It's alright, it's alright. Whether 8 or 9 people ride, the boat floats the same."
Following the old man's guidance, everyone boarded the boat.
Nubes lifted the cart and loaded it onto the boat.
The old man, who was admiring Nubes' muscles, sat at the back and began to row leisurely.
"Batian Lake is famous for its calm surface. No matter how strong the wind blows, the lake surface never ruffles."
The fishing boat glided smoothly.
"You didn't reserve a return trip? When are you planning to return? There's nothing on that island."
"We won't be taking a boat back."
"Oh, you must have brought a magic scroll. Wizards are lucky. They can use such convenient things as they please."
Bellum, whose human affinity was maxed out, wouldn't leave the old man, who kept talking to them, alone.
"Oh, grandpa. As they please? Magic scrolls are very expensive. Wizards can't just use them as they please."
"Is that so? A rural fisherman like me can't know the market price for scrolls and such. I only know that the fish from this lake may be ugly, but they taste good and sell for a high price."
"Ugly but expensive?"
"Because they're big and taste good."
"Then you must have made a lot of money, grandpa?"
"Even if they're expensive, they're still fish. How much money can a fisherman make?"
"Is that so?"
"But you know. Recently, new fish have been caught here and there in the lake district. That's why many young fishermen are flocking to this Batian Lake District."
While they were talking, the boat arrived at the island.
"Then have a good trip, young people."
"Goodbye, grandpa!"
Bellum, who had become friendly with him, raised both arms high and waved goodbye.
Meanwhile.
Davian felt something strange in the conversation between the old man and Bellum.
'New fish have appeared in the lake... It's not like it's a river or sea where the water temperature has changed, how could that happen?'
Liber shouted.
"Let's go to the center of the island! According to my research, the key to finding the twelfth trace is there!"
Nubes, who was pulling the cart next to him, raised his thick arms high and shouted.
"Let's go! To find the last trace!"
Bellum jumped in between them.
"Yeah, let's go! Chatterbox! Big guy!"
Davian also nodded.
'For now, let's focus on finding the last trace. I can have Mons investigate the fish later.'
Finding a five-star item is the priority right now.
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