Chapter 144
【 Preparation for the Competition Match 】
Jason said he would personally handle all investigations himself, so he told
to focus on the competition match.
And honestly, that was the efficient route.
Just as he said, information gathering was best left to a professional information gatherer.
‘If it’s Jason, he’ll collect much higher-quality information than I ever could.’
So, as Jason said, it might have been better for
to focus solely on the competition match.
But I had no intention of doing that.
The truth was, uncovering my family’s secrets held a higher priority than the competition match.
‘I should try investigating in my own way, too.’
Of course, I couldn’t personally conduct professional information gathering the way Jason did.
I simply didn’t have the skills or the ti.
Last sester maybe, but this sester I had to participate as the overall representative for the competition.
These days I was even getting private lessons from Luke, so I probably wouldn’t have any spare ti until the match ended.
So instead of investigating myself, I planned to ask soone else.
Soone who was an expert in the underworld.
“Serma. Did you enjoy your vacation?”
“Why did you co find
again?”
The short-haired commoner girl gave
a hollow laugh as she saw
greeting her cheerfully.
I grinned shalessly at her reaction.
“Can’t I visit just to see a friend’s face after a while?”
“…I have so many objections but first, since when were we friends? And Gideon-nim isn’t soone who cos to
just to look at my face.”
“You know
very well.”
“We’ve t more than once or twice.”
Serma gave a small smirk as she looked at .
Despite her words, she didn’t seem to dislike
all that much.
“So, why did you co to see
today? What are you asking of
this ti?”
“I ca because I want to contact your father, Clergy.”
“…Gideon-nim. I’m not a ssenger pigeon for sending letters.”
“But what can I do?”
I kept my shaless smile as I spoke.
“It was Serma’s father, Mr. Clergy, who said, ‘If you need to contact , do it through Serma.’”
“I know that. It’s just… you’re using
like it’s nothing…….”
“Oh, were you perhaps short on money?”
I pulled out a gold coin from my pocket and handed it to Serma.
And just like that, as if she had never grumbled, her face brightened instantly.
But after receiving the gold coin, she hesitated slightly, giving
a curious look.
“…I’ve felt this for a while, but Gideon-nim seems to have more money than I expected?”
“Well, it’s not a small amount… but why ask all of a sudden?”
“I’m just curious how a fallen noble—specifically a fallen baron—managed to accumulate so much wealth.”
“That’s… it’s simply because my family saved up money over a long ti, and hardly spent any of it.”
This too was sothing I had confird from the other races during last vacation.
For ages, the other races produced various specialties and offered them to my ancestor’s family.
My ancestor sold those specialties and amassed considerable wealth, and he also spent much of it for the sake of the other races.
‘But after a certain incident, the family collapsed… and the family na changed to Kyrgram.’
From what I heard, the Kyrgram Family inherited that enormous wealth, but they probably couldn’t use it.
The reason was unknown, since the other races couldn’t speak, but judging by the situation, after the family na changed to Kyrgram—
Problems arose, making it impossible for the family to access that fortune.
So the wealth simply remained deposited in the Imperial Bank for a very long ti.
‘Well, thanks to that leftover wealth, I’ve been able to act comfortably.’
In fact, several things up to now had only been possible thanks to the power of money.
Like today, for example.
“Anyway, since you got the money, please contact Mr. Clergy.”
“All right. If I got paid, I should work accordingly. That’s what a rchant does.”
“Hm, co to think of it, a gold coin is a bit pricey for just sending a ssage. Next ti I’ll bring silver coins.”
“…Tch.”
Serma openly made a disappointed face but didn’t add any unnecessary remarks.
“Well, fine. A gold coin is a bit much for just a ssage. But what business do you have with my father?”
“Please deliver this box.”
I handed Serma the wooden box I brought.
After carefully checking the contents, she looked a bit surprised.
“Elixir, ten bottles?”
“Tell him it’s an advance paynt. And please tell him to be sure to read the letter inside the box.”
“What are you planning to ask of my father that you prepared ten bottles?”
To her question, I gave a small smile.
“It’s just a simple information-gathering request.”
“Can you tell
what information you’re looking for? I’m a bit curious.”
“It’s nothing big.”
I smirked lightly, pretending it wasn’t important.
“Just whether a group that worships a certain old god still remains in the Empire—or on the continent. I’m asking for an investigation on that.”
“Hm, that’s simpler than I expected? But if you’re sending ten bottles of Elixir for such a simple request… I guess it’s simple but not easy?”
“Right. I think it’ll require significant effort. Like you said, I’m not giving ten bottles as an advance for no reason.”
Well, from my perspective, asking Tazera to investigate that evil god and evil dragon was practically free.
After all, thanks to the bug, I could make potions cheaply and easily.
Ten bottles of Elixir ant nothing to .
“Anyway, please deliver it well. And this ti, I’d like it a bit faster. If possible, I want Mr. Clergy’s reply before the Academy Competition Match.”
“Understood. But… speaking of the competition, I heard you beca the overall representative this ti.”
“There were no other applicants.”
“Still, the overall representative is still the overall representative. How does it feel to represent all of Lysquare Academy?”
“It’s burdenso. Burdenso and… honestly, annoying in various ways.”
Yeah, there were surprisingly many tasks, so it was more annoying than I expected.
“I have to morize all of this?”
“Yeah. Since you’re the overall representative, you have to recite the student oath of our Academy.”
A few days after eting Serma.
I let out a sigh as I held the student oath paper Luke gave .
“This… has more content than I expected.”
“You still have to morize it. What can you do? All academies do this.”
“…There’s no way I can avoid it, right?”
“You’re practically the face of our Academy. Even if you hate it, you have to do it.”
“…I’ll have to morize it when I get the ti.”
I gave a hollow laugh and skimd through the oath once more.
It was the oath recited by the overall representatives of each academy during the opening ceremony.
Formally, each academy’s representative was to read their prepared oath one by one and make their pledge.
“By the way, Gideon. Aren’t you going to be in the water all day today?”
“I think this way works best for .”
In the forest near the Academy.
Within that forest lay a lake.
The sa lake where I took lessons from Kara.
Right now, I stood in that lake with only my upper body slightly above the surface.
“To defeat Eisen-nim, I need to handle the Rune of Water more skillfully. For that… I first have to beco closer to water.”
“I understand that, but… it’s Saturday today. Don’t you think it’s good to rest a bit on the weekend?”
“It’s fine, Instructor. This much is no problem.”
Saying so, I handed the oath paper I had just received from Luke back to him.
“Could you leave this under that tree? I’ll check it later.”
“Sure. Anyway, don’t overdo it. And don’t stay in the water too long either. You’ll catch a cold.”
“Understood. But I probably won’t catch a cold. When I’m in the water… my body actually becos healthier.”
The power contained within my Rune—Blessing of Water.
When water touched a wound, it granted the ability to heal.
In the ga, I had thought that was all it did—but it wasn’t.
Even when I stayed in the water without a single wound, my body sohow felt a little stronger, healthier.
‘If my mory is right, users of the Rune of Water can increase their affinity with water this way. Then, they said you could even beco stronger when fighting in water rather than on land.’
And if my affinity with water rose, I would be able to handle the power engraved in my body’s Rune more freely.
Just like now.
“Huuuuu.”
I slowly closed my eyes and focused.
To be exact, I concentrated on the Rune of Water within my body.
Then, the stream of water that had been flowing above my head grew a little stronger.
“I can see the amount of water you can control has increased. But at this level……”
“It’s not enough to face Eisen-nim.”
“There’s still plenty of ti left, so take it slow. And don’t focus only on Eisen. You’ll be facing representatives from other academies too—each with different styles.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
As Luke said, there were many students I’d have to face in the Academy Competition Match.
Thinking about preparing for all of them made it feel troubleso in many ways.
“Woof woof! Woof woof woof!”
“You’re always so full of energy, aren’t you?”
After spending the entire day subrged in the lake—
By the ti I ca out, it was already late evening.
The moon had risen, and one by one, the stars began to appear.
I sat down beneath a tree and took a short rest.
While resting, I let Siri out from my shadow for a while……
“Woof woof!”
“Ugh! Hey, stop licking my hair! It’s still wet! If you’re thirsty, go drink from the lake!”
“Woof!”
“Ugh?! Hey! I told you to be careful when you breathe fire! If you rush at
like before, I’ll get burned this ti.”
At so point, Siri had grown larger than a big dog—about the size of a small wolf.
Apparently, she hadn’t just grown in size. She could now breathe fire from her mouth.
“Woof woof! Woof!”
“Anyway, I really need to do sothing about you next vacation. I can’t keep you in the shadow all the ti. You must feel so frustrated, right?”
“Woof?”
“There’s this thing called the Monster Registration System. If I can just prove that you’re properly contracted with … after that, you won’t have to hide in my shadow anymore. You can live freely.”
Originally, I had planned to do that several years later.
That’s because the registration process was complicated, expensive, ti-consuming, and required quite a few connections.
So I intended to handle it only after I had established myself properly in this world…
‘But if I borrow Lisa’s help, I might be able to finish it within the winter vacation.’
The Monster Registration System was managed by an institution under House Balmuth.
If I asked Lisa—or rather, if I asked Kafka, the current Head of House Balmuth and my future mother-in-law (?), it might actually be processed surprisingly quickly.
“Woof!”
“Stay still, will you? Phew, it’s a sha I can’t take your energy into the competition. You’d be really useful against Eisen.”
“Woof?”
“No, never mind. Don’t worry about it.”
After patting Siri’s head and playing with her for a bit, I drew Mistcatcher from my shadow.
“Hmm, it does seem like my overall stats have gone up.”
The white aura surrounding my body.
The white mist forming around .
The stream of water coating Mistcatcher’s blade.
The faint wind that began to blow near .
And then……
Whoosh―
After canceling the power of the Rune of Water, I invoked Fire Magic and summoned flas onto the blade.
I inspected the burning sword and nodded.
“Now I can handle all of them sohow.”
Aura, Mistcatcher’s weapon skill, the Rune of Water, the Power of Peregrie, and even Fire Magic.
Once again, I realized how much strength I had gained since coming to this world.
‘Still, there’s a lot I lack. Especially handling wind. For that… I should ask Jason for so advice. He definitely understands the wind better than I do.’
I began planning the things I would do tomorrow in my mind.
I would et Jason… spend so ti with Lisa, whom I hadn’t been able to see much lately, and maybe have a spar with Sara as well.
‘First, I should et Jason.’
Not only to ask about handling wind—
It had been quite so ti, and Jason might have already discovered sothing about that Evil God.
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