Chapter 81 : Chapter 81

Chapter 81

Two days later, on a night nearing the academy’s lights-out time.

The presence of a single person moved quickly along the outer wall of the first-year dormitory building.

Soon, a dormitory window opened and closed without a sound, and the owner of the presence entered the room.

“Hoo……”

Dispelling his invisibility magic, Eddie slowly caught his breath.

As expected, Marcel was not in the room.

It was still a time when the library would be open.

Since returning from the ruins, Marcel had been spending more and more time at the library.

Reading books wouldn't solve the current problem.

Eddie let out an inaudible sigh and walked to his desk.

With every step he took, he felt a throbbing pain in his left side.

He had adamantly refused painkillers, thinking he needed to get used to the pain to better absorb the Rakan’s power… but now he regretted not just taking the medicine.

Climbing down from the windowsill, his joints ached and his muscles felt like they were on fire.

But as he clenched his teeth and endured, it was fortunately not enough to make him pass out, though a cold sweat did break out.

‘For the time being, I should avoid any strenuous physical activity more intense than moving my wand.’

Wiping away his cold sweat, Eddie opened his desk drawer.

Inside was the body of the homunculus, which he had shrunk and sent back with summoning magic.

After picking it up and putting it in his inner pocket, Eddie climbed back onto the windowsill and cast his invisibility magic.

If he had his way, he would have immediately used Blink to get to the meeting place.

But right now, he had to conserve his strength.

In his current state, with his mana circle oversensitive, teleportation, which consumed more power than invisibility or levitation, was out of the question.

In the end, Eddie gritted his teeth and launched himself out the window again.

* * *

The place Eddie headed to was the Ninth Magic Training Hall, the meeting spot with Joy.

Woong- Paat-!

Woooong- Paat-!

When he arrived, he saw Joy practicing creating a Mana Barrier while she waited.

It was homework Eddie had given her, and also a practice she was conducting out of her own perceived need to learn.

Eddie maintained his invisibility magic for a moment and observed her practice.

‘She said she succeeded in Forwarding, and her learning speed is certainly exceptional.’

After smiling slightly at the quite satisfactory sight, Eddie dispelled his invisibility magic and entered the training hall.

And as soon as he dropped his invisibility, Joy immediately noticed his presence and turned her head.

“Hey, you…!”

The moment she saw Eddie, her expression became agitated.

A mix of relief, reassurance, and a little resentment was on her face.

“Uh, long time no see……”

“Do you have any idea how worried I was?! You woke up, and yet without a single word, where have you been and what have you been……!”

“Hey, hey, hey- talk from there. And lower your voice.”

Eddie hastily waved his hands as he saw Joy approaching.

Her striding figure looked like she was about to land a heavy punch.

Eddie took a few steps back and tried to calm her down.

If he got punched now, he really might pass out.

Of course, Joy wasn't someone to be calmed down that easily, so she continued to press him for a good while.

“Where have you been and what were you doing all this time? Judging by the note you sent, you must have woken up a while ago. I thought something really bad had happened to you! You know that?”

“I know. I'm sorry. I'll explain everything, so first, cast the Silent Shell you've been practicing.”

Eddie said to Joy, breaking out in a cold sweat.

Joy, who had been glaring at him while fuming, soon brandished her wand.

Then, five Mana Barriers with silencing magic cast on them were created.

Although their edges were blurry and they weren't perfect, the barriers definitely contained the silencing effect.

A perfect zone of silence was created around them, above and below.

Considering Joy's agitated state, it was an even more encouraging achievement.

Eddie smiled in satisfaction and gathered his mana.

Then, he swung his wand towards Joy's barriers surrounding them.

Bwoong-

In an instant, Invisibility was Piled onto the five Mana Barriers like spreading leather.

Finally, their forms and voices were completely concealed from the outside.

Watching the sight of the flawed parts being filled in, Joy's red eyes sparkled brightly.

What made her eyes sparkle was her desire to learn and her ambition to improve.

Joy was gradually cultivating the true attitude of a mage.

Eddie was proud of her, but he snorted as if to say she still had a long way to go.

“This isn't something you can do just because you succeeded at Forwarding once. Wait a little longer.”

“But I learned Forwarding from you just three times and succeeded in a real battle.”

“That was a stroke of luck brought on by an extreme situation. When you can use it freely in normal circumstances, I'll teach you then.”

Of course, a thirst for magic was important, but patience was just as important.

At Eddie's firm words, Joy was disappointed but still understood.

Still feeling grumpy, she needlessly picked a fight about something else.

“By the way, what's with the paper bird? A paper bird. You act like an old man, but you're also surprisingly childish.”

“The headmaster sent that.”

“…Who?”

“Headmaster Leodimir Duke Devens himself folded and sent that note at my request.”

“I take back what I said about it being childish.”

Of course, she was still a million years away from being able to tease Eddie.

Eddie ended up letting out a chuckle.

It was a pointless exchange of jokes, but thanks to it, the tension eased a little.

Eddie clutched his side, where the pain had lessened, and slowly sat down on the floor.

Come to think of it, when was the last time he had laughed comfortably?

‘Yesterday, it was because of the reply from the Wester family, and today, it was because of the pain. I've been on edge all day.’

Eddie let out a deep sigh and rubbed his dry face.

As the pain faded, the realization of his fatigue washed over him.

Joy, who had been staring down at him, sat down facing him.

“While you were out of touch, you seem to have recovered but not rested.”

“……”

“The reason you called me today must be because there's a part for me to play in alleviating even a little of your fatigue. Go on. I'll listen to as much as you're willing to tell me.”

Joy spoke in a rather dependable voice.

And at her attitude, Eddie's feeling of apology grew a little larger.

“…First, I guess I have to confess something to you.”

Eddie revealed the lie he had told Joy during the operation and the reason for it.

He had told Joy that ‘no real mana beast will appear,’ but in truth, it was a device to confirm whether her willingness to help was certain.

He had intended to summon a real mana beast from the very beginning.

Speaking calmly, Eddie sincerely apologized, saying, ‘I understand if you're disappointed and angry at my distrust.’

He didn't bother mentioning that it was Brenda's idea to check her willingness to help, nor the stories about commoners who change after they succeed.

Because those were facts she would naturally come to know later anyway.

Therefore, it was enough for him alone to be the target of Joy's resentment and anger for now.

After a moment of silence, Joy opened her mouth to speak softly.

“So, are you confident in my willingness to help now?”

“You showed yourself stepping forward without hesitation twice, even in front of a central entity mana beast. I'd say that's more than enough grounds for trust now.”

“And you won't be testing me like this again in the future?”

“Of course.”

“Then we're good.”

Joy accepted Eddie's apology without another word.

Eddie looked at her, a little surprised.

He had thought she wouldn't fly into a rage, but he hadn't expected her to make up her mind so quickly.

“I thought you'd be angry.”

“Of course, I don't feel good about it. But I'm not offended either. Because I was also racking my brain about this cooperative relationship.”

Confession followed confession.

Joy, for her part, confessed what had been bothering her conscience.

It was an unintentional moment of truth.

“Ah. Don't tell me, was it when you turned around in front of the portal?”

“Yes. After seeing that your mana far surpassed that of the two professors, I started to trust you.”

To be precise, it was trust in your power.

Joy added awkwardly.

Hearing the truth, Eddie also let out a sigh with a bitter smile.

“Ha… so that's how it was.”

“Justice or whatever, I figured I at least wouldn't die if I was with you. So I stayed until the end to see just how far you could go.”

“You've got some nerve. You made a gamble like that in front of a Rakan tribe central entity?”

“When the shield broke and you were being dragged away, I did think, ‘oops’. But thankfully, it wasn't long before I heard that even that was something you had planned. After that, I never once thought you would die.”

“Excellent.”

Eddie let out a hollow laugh.

He felt like he'd been hit on the back of the head.

But the compliment was sincere, and in that regard, Joy deserved to be highly praised.

The survival instinct is natural for a human before being a mage.

Moreover, the fact that she honestly spoke of a desire that could have been a weakness was, on the contrary, reassuring.

It meant she trusted him enough to reveal her inner thoughts that could have been a disgrace.

The test results were more than satisfactory.

“Good. Since it's come to this, things will move quickly.

Eddie took out his wand and drew a picture on the training hall floor with a small Launching of mana.

It was time to keep his promise.

“I'll start with the stories you've missed. This is information you need to know while working with me, so listen carefully.”

Drawing pictures to aid her understanding, Eddie explained the events of the past few days.

First, he revealed the information he had obtained at the ruins and the fact of his alliance with the Mana Beast King.

Next, he added the truth about Hendricks' identity, which he learned in the process.

On top of that, he told her about his current physical condition and the offer made by the head of the Wester family.

Once he had decided to trust her, Eddie's open mouth was dangerously unrestrained.

“Woooow……”

Throughout the explanation, Joy couldn't close her gaping mouth.

She was even aghast when Eddie showed her the homunculus body he had brought.

It was far more enormous and perilous than she had imagined.

Joy found this situation both surprising and frightening.

But her two eyes were sparkling more and more.

Because it was a story fascinating enough to satisfy her curiosity, and held enough potential to stimulate her ambition.

Finally, the explanation reached its end.

“The last thing I'll tell you is the reason the Kirhausens took me in as a tail.”

Eddie drew a ‘well’ and a ‘deer’ on the training hall floor.

And then he told her the most dangerous story: about the Kirhausens' ulterior motive to use him as a mana supply for Marcel.

Joy was once again astonished at the dark side of a prestigious family.

“Then there's no way they'd let you go even if you said you wanted to leave the family.”

“That's right. They'll try to brainwash me through Sylvia, and if that doesn't work, they'll set out to destroy me.”

“So it's ‘if I can't have you, I'd rather break you’.”

“Exactly. And in the process of me stopping them, Marcel will find out what his father has done.”

“If this goes well, you might even be able to destroy the Kirhausens from within.”

“……”

At Joy's words, Eddie's wand faltered for a moment.

The wand happened to be pointing at the word ‘Marcel’.

Eddie thought for a moment, then nodded his head.

‘Right. If he's a vessel that would break over something like this, then he should break.’

He decided to set aside the strange and complicated feelings he had for Marcel for now.

After all, the choice and enduring its consequences were Marcel's own responsibility.

After he finished the story about the well and the deer, Joy now knew almost everything except for the fact of Eddie's reincarnation.

And the more she learned, the more she wanted to ask Eddie.

For instance, why he had called the two professors, Fred and Brenda, by their first names when the mana beast attacked.

Why the headmaster was helping Eddie, and so on.

There was a mountain of questions that would be solved if she just knew Eddie's identity.

But in the end, Joy never asked Eddie, “So what's your identity?”

Just as she had said, she only listened to ‘as much as he was willing to tell her’.

Eddie was very satisfied with Joy's patient attitude.

She had definitely passed.

Eddie took out his wand and cleaned the floor with magic.

Then, with a low-powered Launching, he drew a new picture.

Swish- sk- sk-

Pictures that stretched out coolly with several circles and straight lines

It was a diagram explaining the plan for the future.

Once the structure was complete, words were written inside the empty circles.

The word written in the circle connected to the most lines was ‘Kirhausen’.

Joy quietly followed with her eyes the amount Eddie was writing down.

Tak-

Having completed the diagram, Eddie finally began his explanation.

“The plan for the time being is ‘preparation’ and ‘inducement’.”

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