Kaizen walked past the impressive and regal Elental Towers that pierced the sky like monunts to magical superiority, letting out a sad sigh that ca from the depths of his soul as he turned onto the dirt road that led toward the old Japanese style house.
Honestly the building was kind of impressive in its own rustic way if you ignored all the surrounding context.
The old house stood quietly, wooden panels slightly worn, roof tiles aged, sliding doors creaking with history. It looked less like a departnt of magic and more like the retirent ho of forgotten theories.
But well, the Elental Towers had everything ticulously recorded about their respective streams of magic stored in massive libraries with actual organization systems.
So by that depressing logic, did that an all the accumulated knowledge anyone had about Axiomancy was sohow contained in this single Japanese building that looked like it was built during the feudal era?
Kaizen just sighed deeply again and entered the house through the open sliding door.
He imdiately saw Mr. Finch and his drunkard professor sitting cross-legged on the ground around a low table, both of them staring intently at an old keypad phone like it was the most fascinating thing in existence.
"Well, well, well! If it isn't my one and only prodigal student, the future SSR ranked mage, the wise, the courageous Mr. Kaizen! This humble professor is absolutely thrilled to teach such an exceptional prodigy!"
Professor Ezekiel clasped his hands together dramatically while welcoming Kaizen exactly like a greedy banker who had just spotted a wealthy client walking through the door.
The guy was still wearing a traditional yukata at this hour like he had just rolled out of bed.
'Don't professors have to attend faculty etings? Is this kind of completely informal dress code actually allowed in a professional academy setting?'
Kaizen could only sigh and resign himself to his remorseful fate as he stepped further into the house. Seeing this, Mr. Finch nodded his head and said with what seed like genuine relief in his voice.
"I am genuinely glad you decided to co back here. I honestly thought you would run away after yesterday and never return."
"Ha ha ha! I told you, my dear assistant, that this prodigal son is not afraid of anything in this world! I knew deep in my heart he would ultimately choose this stream because he is clearly destined for greatness!"
The Professor gave Kaizen an enthusiastic thumbs up and an exaggerated wink while saying this proudly with his arms crossed like so kind of wise sage who had predicted the future.
Mr. Finch didn't say anything in response and just calmly raised his hand toward the Professor with his palm open expectantly.
"Professor, he ca back. That ans I won our bet fair and square. Now give my five thousand crowns."
Hearing this absolutely devastating revelation, Kaizen's lips twitched upward involuntarily. He just looked completely deadpan at the Professor who imdiately looked away while whistling innocently like a guilty child caught stealing cookies.
'This guy! This stupid guy bet actual money that I wouldn't co back and now he's standing here boldly saying he knew I would co back?! This absolute fraud!'
Kaizen's eye twitched violently and he took a deep breath to calm himself down before sitting on the opposite side of the low table.
The Professor cleared his throat and reached into his yukata with exaggerated movents, pulling out both his pockets to show they were completely empty except for so lint and what looked like a half-eaten cracker.
"You see, my dear assistant, I would absolutely love to pay you right now, but as you can clearly see, I am currently experiencing a temporary cash flow problem."
Mr. Finch's eye twitched.
"You're an S-Rank mage! You get paid two million crowns a month!"
"Yes, yes, but you see, I invested it all in research and developnt."
"You spent it all on alcohol!"
"Alcohol IS research! I'm studying the effects of ferntation on mana conductivity!"
Kaizen watched this exchange with growing horror.
The Professor suddenly turned to Kaizen with a brilliant smile.
"Kaizen, my wonderful student! How about you lend your dear professor five thousand crowns? I will definitely pay you back! With interest! Maybe! Possibly!"
Kaizen's eye twitched so violently he thought it might fall out.
"I'm F rank! I'm broke! I have zero crowns!"
"Ah, but you have potential! Potential is basically money!"
"That's not how money works!"
Mr. Finch slamd his hand on the table.
"Professor! You can't scam our only student on his first day!"
"I'm not scamming! I'm teaching him valuable life lessons about financial planning!"
"By being in debt?!"
"Exactly! Learn from my mistakes!"
Kaizen buried his face in his hands.
Mr. Finch sighed heavily and just waved his hand dismissively.
"Fine, fine. Professor, I will collect the money from you later when you inevitably forget about this conversation, but first things first. Here Kaizen, take a look at this picture on the phone."
Mr. Finch handed Kaizen the ancient keypad phone as Kaizen settled onto the ground properly, still reeling from whatever that financial disaster was.
Kaizen had initially thought it was going to be about so magic diagram or ancient rune or sothing actually educational, but what he saw on the tiny phone screen was just a picture of a fat man.
At first glance, it seed harmless.
But then he looked closer.
His stomach dropped.
And seeing that specific picture, all the hair on the back of his neck stood up straight with goosebumps spreading across his entire body like a wave of ice water.
The lighting was dim, the quality grainy, but the wrongness of it was unmistakable.
Kaizen felt his throat tighten.
"This! How could soone do this to another person?!"
The Professor leaned over to look at the phone.
"Ah yes, that's Thomas Miller. Found dead this morning with a rose on his chest. Terrible tragedy."
He took a sip from his flask.
"Anyway, that'll be five thousand crowns for the information."
Kaizen's eye twitched again.
This was going to be a very long day.
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