Celin and Seria left after a brief commotion.
Until the very end, I couldn’t understand the reason. All I know is that Celin glared at me with a dissatisfied look, while Seria merely bit her nails with a cold expression.
Creak, crack.
It was only after hearing that chilling sound that I snapped back to reality.
The atmosphere felt off. In hindsight, I started to think that I might have made a slip of the tongue.
Saying “not needed” felt like an inappropriate expression to use towards a person. It was something I would never have said under normal circumstances, which made my embarrassment even greater.
It seemed that I was influenced by my conversation with Senior Delphine.
Her attitude of treating it as if there was utility in humans, the dichotomy that separates the useful from the useless, was a perspective peculiar to Senior Delphine.
My remark was far from my true intentions. So, I desperately tried to rectify the situation.
“I think I made a slip of the tongue just now…”
“……Are you saying you’re going with that girl?”
However, it seemed that Celin and Seria were stuck on entirely different points. When I sent a puzzled look their way, Celin narrowed her eyes slightly and asked again.
“You’re going with Delphine, right?”
Ah, it was then that I realized Celin’s intent and nodded.
There was no denying it; it was the truth. Just before meeting Celin and Seria, I had just made a deal. A calm voice flowed from my lips.
“Yes, that is the plan.”
“……I’m against it!”
Celin’s reaction was more negative than I had imagined. She shouted in a firm tone and then shot me an intense stare.
It was a desperate look. While gnawing at her lip, she began to persuade me.
“Don’t you remember that girl attacked Ian oppa?! It’s only because you managed to twist her that you didn’t end up getting backstabbed and losing at the Hunting Festival!”
“Come on, why would someone so obsessed with victory touch their own allies?”
“Y-Yeah, but…”
Seemingly at a loss for words to counter my calm rebuttal, Celin’s amber eyes flitted around. Her gaze lost, it turned towards Seria.
It looked like she was seeking help. However, Seria merely stared down at the ground, biting her nails with a vacant expression in her eyes.
Only indistinguishable mutterings trickled from her lips.
“I won’t lose, I won’t lose, I won’t lose…”
Celin, feeling frustrated by the scene, pounded her chest. Although the sound wasn’t loud, the gesture had a soft, cushiony essence to it. She opened her mouth once again.
“Y-Yeah! Speaking of which, Ian oppa has seen her naked! And now you’re saying you’re going to spend two weeks with her?”
At those words, I fell silent. I had indeed seen Senior Delphine naked at one point. After all, I had even given her the honorable title of ‘Pink Lady.’
However, that wasn’t a reason to avoid being with Senior Delphine.
If seeing her naked meant she would have a fit every time she saw me, I wouldn’t know. But the trembling she exhibited when she looked at me now stemmed from a different kind of feeling.
I instinctively tilted my head. Soon, a perplexed voice slipped out from my parted lips.
“……Why is that?”
“Ah!”
Celin couldn’t contain her frustration any longer. Her hands repeatedly hammered against her chest. However, due to her soft flesh, the sound didn’t resonate well.
It seemed she had decided she needed to enlist allies. Celin’s determined amber eyes turned once more towards Seria.
Her hands grasped Seria’s collar and shook her. Celin’s gaze was intensely pleading.
“Hey! Geek! Say something too! Right now, Ian oppa is trying to mess around with your sister!”
Seria seemed to awaken a bit at that moment.
Her gaze gradually surfaced. The aquamarine eyes that always sparkled like a serene lake now bore a dark shade reminiscent of the deep sea.
And then she slowly approached me, right after which Seria grabbed me by the collar.
My eyes widened with shock. Seria’s gaze as she looked up at me was so chilling that I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut.
“Ian Senior…”
Her voice felt icy. Just hearing it felt like my body temperature had dropped several degrees. A chill that pierced through my bones.
Seria’s eyes still lacked any luster. The maiden’s heavy voice clung to my eardrums.
“……I absolutely will not lose. It’s my only thing.”
That was the last thing she said.
Just like when she had grabbed me by the collar, Seria suddenly relaxed her grip. Then, she turned her back and began to walk away.
It was Celin who was flustered by her unhesitating action. Her eyes widened in shock as she darted her gaze back and forth between Seria and me.
However, the atmosphere had already shifted far from that point. Celin, seeming at a loss, stomped her feet and followed after Seria.
“Hey! Seria, where are you going! Ah, seriously!”
She shot me a glare even in the moment of her departure. In the gaze that was filled with resentment, I could only shrug my shoulders in response, as if to ask what the problem was.
Celin scoffed in retort. It was a gesture meant to denote “we’ll see about this later.”
In the end, I still didn’t understand why Celin and Seria were angry at me, and my encounter with the two women came to an end.
I stood there for a moment, then sighed deeply and started walking again.
Having been harassed by women recently, I was thoroughly exhausted. But what could I do? Relationships at the academy were inherently complicated.
If it became too much, I could always have another sincere conversation, as I had done with Celin in the past.
Thus, unconsciously fiddling with the hand axe at my waist, I headed toward the lecture building of the Alchemy Department.
Emma was waiting there.
Room 506 of the Alchemy Department lecture building was a place I had visited before.
It was Emma’s laboratory. In the academy, when students in departments like the Magic Department or Alchemy Department reach their third year and are classified as ‘upperclassmen,’ they are each assigned their own research room.
Reto was assigned one, and so was Emma.
A sign stating ‘Emma’ in elegant lettering was affixed to the door of Room 506. It must have been placed there by the administrative office.
It had already been a week since Emma had been discharged. I didn’t know what had happened in the meantime, but I suspected she had thrown herself into organizing the workshop that had been neglected for a long time.
Just as most mages possess some eccentric traits, alchemists tend to have a bit of an obsessive-compulsive nature.
Due to the nature of their work, which requires meticulous calibration, even a speck of dust could lead to a disaster if it got into their reagents.
Emma was no exception to this. As I recalled, she also had tendencies of cleanliness.
It wasn’t severe, mostly displaying itself in her laboratory or reagent storage. But it was enough for me to envision her immediate reaction upon entering her workshop.
Her face would probably go pale, and she would dive straight into cleaning. For several days, she would have been focused on dusting off a month’s worth of collected dust.
But a week had passed. By now, she should be finishing up the cleaning and immersing herself in her backlogged research.
Taking a moment to spare should not be difficult. With that light sentiment, I knocked on the door to Emma’s workshop.
As soon as I knocked, a clear voice responded.
“Just a moment, please~”
Perhaps because she had been through quite a bit, her voice sounded a bit languid. After a moment, I heard movement from the other side of the door, and the door opened slightly to reveal the lovely face of a girl.
She looked a bit disheveled, as if she hadn’t slept the night before. The act of yawning while covering her mouth exposed the fatigue she couldn’t hide.
Emma’s eyes slightly opened, which had been closed while yawning. At that moment, our eyes met.
And just like that, it was frozen.
Emma’s eyes widened in surprise. The abruptness of her stiffened state felt as if she would shatter with a mere touch. Unable to guess the reason, I offered an awkward smile and raised my hand.
“……Hello, Emma.”
Bang! The door slammed shut.
The sound of chaos echoed. Just from that noise, I could tell how flustered Emma was. A tiny voice drifted through the door.
“W-What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?!”
I decided to wait patiently until she calmed down. Folding my arms, I waited for several minutes, and finally, the door to the workshop opened once more.
Emma’s reappearance was entirely different from before.
Her hair, now with a hint of red, glistened, and her face had been adorned with subtle makeup. Even her attire was neat.
It was as if the Emma I had seen moments ago was merely a mirage. As I stared blankly, Emma smiled first at me.
“Oh my, it’s Ian… Come in, what brings you here?”
I fell silent for a moment, unsure of what to say.
So, I decided to convey my apologies first.
“Um, I’m sorry for surprising you earlier…”
“……What do you mean?”
However, I could barely finish my sentence. Before I could, Emma had silenced me with her smiling demeanor.
“This is the first time I’m seeing Ian today.”
“But you were just….”
“No way.”
I tried to respond with confusion, but Emma’s attitude was adamant. The smile had vanished from her face.
Then came another firm remark.
“No way.”
“……O-Okay.”
Having found no purpose in contradicting Emma’s opinion further, I lowered the hand I had raised in agreement. Only then did a satisfied smile return to Emma’s face.
“Anyway, I’m glad to see you, Ian! I’ve missed you…. So, do you want to come in?”
With that, Emma opened the door of the workshop wide and welcomed me. Her workshop was as neatly organized as ever. It reflected her meticulous nature.
Of course, a blanket left on the sofa testified that her lodging had been here last night, but I deliberately chose to ignore that.
It was intuition. A thought flashed that mentioning it wouldn’t help. For some reason, I trusted my instincts as a swordsman.
Whether she noticed or not, Emma seemed genuinely delighted to see me. She had approached the potion display in her workshop and pulled out one potion.
Her hand extended toward me, holding the vial. The intention was clear.
“Here, Ian! You’re going on a practical assignment soon, right? So, just in case, I prepared this.”
A gray liquid sloshed in the elongated vial.
It was a familiar potion. It was the same potion Emma had gifted me when I first visited her workshop, and one I had relied on once.
It was a potion for hiding one’s presence. Despite the drawback of dulling movement slightly, it was particularly effective in chaotic situations.
I decided to accept it gratefully. A wry smile formed on my face.
“Thank you, I’ll put it to good use.”
Upon receiving my thanks, Emma’s face glowed with pride. She returned to the potion display once more.
Her hands began to retrieve potions one after another.
“And this one enhances natural healing abilities, and this one creates a flash when thrown! This one smells repellent to beasts, and this one smells appealing to them! And then, and then….”
I initially watched Emma with a smile, but as time passed, my expression slowly turned grim. It was unavoidable.
What began as a handful of potions rapidly escalated to dozens.
Now, I couldn’t even ascertain the exact number. All I could see were a variety of potions stacking up like shallow hills.
Holding an armful of potions, Emma smiled broadly at me and said,
“Though it’s a bit lacking, it should be enough for immediate use!”
All I could do was break out in a cold sweat inside.
No, that’s way too much, isn’t it?
I hadn’t noticed until now, but Emma seemed to have quite a devoted personality.
