It’s time to check if the mansion I’ve painstakingly crafted is still in one piece.
Although it’s quite a distance from the dormitories, I arrived quickly since it’s situated not far from the main building where the professor used to reside.
And then I screamed.
“Whoa, what the heck is this!!!”
There was a massive pile of something stacked up in front of the mansion.
Surprisingly, it hadn’t spilled over into the garden beyond the fence, but there was a mountain of what looked like gifts piled at the front door, making it difficult to enter.
“All of these are gifts, right? Uncle must be popular.”
Casey exclaimed in awe as she took in the rolling gifts.
There were some parcels that looked like presents, but there were also letters from various places.
There was quite a lot; I wondered who all sent them.
“… Woodville?”
The gifts were all from Woodville, but several letters bore names that brought back fond memories.
There were both professors and students among them.
Let’s just take them all inside for now.
.
.
.
I was really glad that the golems were functioning normally.
It had been about two months since I last visited, but the mansion was kept in perfect condition by the cleaning golems.
This was definitely worth the money I spent.
“Oh, so this is the mansion you live in?”
“Think of it as a vacation home.”
Since the main residence is in Narni, this is just a vacation spot for now.
“You can use this room.”
I led Gemma, who was bursting with excitement, into a vacant room.
Since Casey was confirmed to be joining us, this was a guest room I had prepared just in case.
It wasn’t a particularly furnished or cozy room, but she seemed satisfied as she looked around.
“Hmmm~.”
Gemma inspected the barren guest room, though there wasn’t much to see.
“If you’re going to transfer to the academy anyway, you’ll need a lot of stuff, so let’s go shopping for your personal items tomorrow.”
“P-personal items?”
Gemma had been keeping the items she received from the enforcers in her lair, so she didn’t have anything with her at the moment.
Once she transferred to the academy, she would need writing supplies, clothes, books, artifacts; it was a great opportunity to buy everything at once.
The general store exists precisely for students like her.
“And you’ve helped me a lot in the meantime. I think of this as my thank-you gift. I’ll buy you anything you want, so look forward to it.”
“… Thank you.”
Gemma smiled brightly at the prospect of me buying her anything she wished for.
After working her to the bone, this was a small price to pay.
She transformed into a dragon when needed, so I rode her around and used her for transport, and even as a launching pad a few times during fights.
Initially, I wanted to toss her aside quickly and be done with it, but now I kind of regretted that thought.
‘I really should tell her sometime…’
Even though McKinto had said he would relay any news, I couldn’t help but feel anxious not knowing what was happening myself.
If dragons suddenly appeared and whisked her away, I wouldn’t have time to prepare myself, and I’d be sad about having to say goodbye, so I felt I needed to figure things out, even if it meant visiting Rod.
I was thinking this way, but the thought of meeting Rod directly was still intimidating, so I kept postponing it deep down.
“Uncle, are you going to leave this pile of gifts here?”
I heard Casey’s voice from the living room as I showed Gemma to her room.
Now that I think about it, I just left the pile of gifts unattended.
“For now, I’ll leave them there. I plan to sort them out once I figure out who sent each one.”
Even just a cursory glance revealed that it wasn’t just one or two people who sent gifts.
It seemed about half of them were from Woodville alone, but since I had other things to do first, I decided to put it off for later.
I needed to clearly understand their intentions before deciding how to act, so I pushed the head-scratching tasks to the back burner for now.
I’ve been keeping things quiet all this time to avoid this kind of attention, so it really is unpredictable how things can turn out in the world.
“If you both go out, make sure to lock the door well. I’ll be back in a bit. It won’t take long.”
“Where are you going, Uncle?”
Casey asked as I announced I was heading out.
“I’m going to see the professor first.”
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.
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The first place I decided to visit was Professor Praha’s laboratory.
I had taken a potion before the break but hadn’t had a chance to check what results I had obtained during this busy vacation.
I wasn’t expecting a full inspection considering it was such a sudden visit, but I had some matters to discuss, so it was my first stop.
“Looks the same as ever.”
Professor Praha’s laboratory, which I entered without hesitation, hadn’t changed much from my memory.
The only difference was a few objects that had been moved slightly within easy reach of his hand.
It was a strange mix of messy and organized, which was the defining characteristic of this laboratory.
Is that how things become when you’re working alone without anyone else around?
“Ugh… things are just not coming together here…”
“Is there something blocking you?”
“Yes… most of the components related to growing organisms have already been clarified, but for some reason, this specimen isn’t responding despite meeting all these criteria, so it’s really bothering me. I’ve thought a lot about it… Oh, by the way, who…?”
As Professor Praha rambled on, he sensed something odd and glanced up.
His eyes widened in surprise as they locked onto my face, and he tumbled backward in shock.
“Whaaa??”
With a loud crash, Professor Praha didn’t just fall; he grabbed hold of surrounding items as he went down.
An ink pot was about to fall, so I caught it.
After all, it would be a disaster if ink fell among the papers and research materials.
“Why are you so surprised?”
Professor Praha looked at me as if he had seen a ghost.
“I’m sorry… it’s just that no one really comes in here, so I was startled. But didn’t you say you were going out for the break?”
“Professor, school starts in a week.”
“Oh, my mind! Has it already been that long… Almost ended up not having a course schedule again.”
As usual, Professor Praha looked exactly the same as he did two months ago.
For those of his kind, two months would be a mere blink of an eye.
Even if he was a bit isolated, since he was a professor who taught classes, he still needed to submit a course schedule and prepare once the semester began.
“Did you find that the potion you took before the break was effective?”
“Well, as always, I don’t see any significant results.”
I hadn’t been able to measure my height in recent times due to being busy, but I figured there hadn’t been any noticeable changes.
However, since this attempt seemed to have failed, Professor Praha began scribbling something down on paper.
“… If that didn’t work, we can narrow the cause down to three possibilities. Let’s work our way through them one by one. I’ll have it ready in a week, so come back then.”
So, maybe we found a clue?
He gave me a pretty specific time frame.
“By the way… Professor Praha, how many years has it been since you left the forest?”
“Me? That’s a very sensitive topic… Don’t tell the other elves about it.”
“A sensitive topic?”
“Typically, elves leave the forest after going through their coming-of-age ceremony. Even as long-lived beings, they don’t dismiss age completely.”
Ah, I see.
Asking when someone left the forest was basically asking how old they were, which is indeed a sensitive question.
“That’s true… I was here when the second principal was appointed. I came in as a student back then…”
I nearly choked on that first line.
Just knowing that he was a student under the second principal of the academy gave me a rough idea of Professor Praha’s age.
And… it also explained why he was able to uphold the remaining faculty alone.
No one here had been at the academy longer than Professor Praha, so who would dare say anything?
Although formally a professor, even the principal would likely tread cautiously around him.
Considering he was a student during the era of the second principal, the current principal hadn’t even been born yet.
“Hmm… Then I guess you don’t know who the current Grand Warrior is.”
“You’re curious about the Grand Warrior? Hmmm… I’ve calculated that the one I knew must have passed away by now.”
There was no need to say it; I already knew that.
It had been less than ten years since the last Grand Warrior was appointed.
“I do know what the Grand Warrior is like; I’ve met them before.”
“Oh, I see… I knew you had a wide circle. Even among elves, it’s tough to have personal connections. Once chosen, they cut ties with everyone except for direct descendants.”
“It seems they become like beings up in the clouds?”
“Like beings up in the clouds… Yes, that’s a fitting description. They reside near the World Tree, just as you’ve said. If you know the Grand Warrior well, what else are you curious about?”
“I’ve heard that the Grand Warrior has to tread carefully around the elders. Is that true?”
Upon hearing that, Professor Praha seemed to have something on his mind.
“Well… as I just mentioned, it’s quite hard for ordinary elves to even meet the Grand Warrior. But it’s probably true. Just like how there are those who feel uncomfortable around me here at the academy, there are elders in the forest who are many decades my senior for whom mere status alone doesn’t allow dismissal.”
