CH 24

After making it past level 25, the monsters near Stolbrussen stopped giving experience points, so I’m heading for Brandenburg, a city in a remote border region of the Weichsel Empire. …By myself. Irene said that Alexia couldn’t come because she has things to do, so I’m back to being a solitary player. If I keep on leveling up, I won’t be able to party up with Alexia and Irene anymore because of the level difference, so I decided to use my free time to travel.

In Castal, it took a week of sprinting at full speed to travel to the neighboring town (one day in total time spent logged in), so it’ll take too long with Warp Portal alone.

So, I’m using something called Dragon Transport. As the name suggests, it’s an incredibly fantasy-esque air transport service where you ride in a basket on a dragon’s back. The downside is that there aren’t many dragons that can be ridden, so there’s a limit to the number of people who can board and there aren’t many flights. You don’t instantly move from the starting point to your destination like in some games, so the flights take time, which is pretty inconvenient. It’s also expensive, which is probably why not many people use it. This is one example of how making things too realistic or being too fixated on the setting can make things inconvenient.

Still, dragons are crazy fast. I know it’s faster than a car, though I can’t tell exactly how fast it is (apparently, the in-universe explanation for why I can’t really feel any wind pressure even at this speed is because dragons use magic to fly), and since we’re at such a high altitude, looking at the scenery below is a bit scary. I don’t think I’d want to ride it too often. But travelling takes time, so I do want some sort of mount. Maybe I should buy a horse or something?

After half a day, I arrive in Brandenburg. It’s a bit small in comparison to Stolbrussen, which was my base for almost two weeks, but it’s no less lively, with merchant wagons coming and going and stalls along the road. 

It’s heavily influenced by the Allied Commune, which is past the eastern border. The Allied Commune is surrounded by two large countries, the Castal Kingdom to the east and the Weichsel Empire to the west, so it was created by three smaller countries uniting to counter military threats. Although the threat later subsided when both the kingdom and the empire signed non-aggression pacts with Commune, it remained as a single country rather than dividing.

The current Commune is a country that takes advantage of their geological position, between Castal and Weichsel and facing the sea to the south, to serve as a transit point for trade between both countries and is widely referred to as a trade nation, according to the official site.

I want to go there someday. I remember that the capital of Commune, Clermont, was listed as a starting location, so maybe I should start in Commune when the official release happens. I wish I could go to Commune with Alexia and Irene. Well, for now, I should focus on the monsters near Brandenburg. Near here, there’s an area full of monsters over level 20 a short distance away. For the ruins in particular, it’s common for there to be over 50 monsters lurking within. In this place, reaching Class Rank 2 is definitely within the realm of possibility. While I’m at it, I’ll go check out the Portals in the ruins and the surrounding area.

A mountain of papers is piled up on the desk. Alexia looks at it and sighs.

With the extracurricular training system, students can earn credits by completing a certain number of quests within half a year. Since extracurricular training takes almost the entire day, part of the training involves managing your health and adjusting your schedule, so each student needs to make adjustments so that it doesn’t affect their normal classes. However, what if a student didn’t attend classes or go to school at all for almost two weeks? Naturally, it would have an adverse effect on their normal classes. Even if Alexia wasn’t allowed to attend, if she doesn’t complete the assignments given in class, she won’t get credits for that class.

This morning, the professor suddenly called her in and gave her a mountain of homework. Although she didn’t see why it was necessary to complete assignments for classes she couldn’t attend, with her grades on the line, she had no choice but to reluctantly obey.

‘Normally, I’d be going out for extracurricular training around this time,’ she complains to herself. She wonders if Chaos is angry with her. Even though she asked Irene to give him a message, she’s suddenly forcing him to plan things at her own convenience, so that’s what she’s most worried about. But, then again, her teacher isn’t that petty of a person.

Instead of abandoning the talentless Alexia, Chaos helped her by bringing out a new talent in her. He’s a wise person who calmly took questions that even the academy professors avoided and revealed information that was entirely unheard of. He’s not just wise, but also so honest and enthusiastic about research that, if he’s asked a question that he doesn’t know the answer to, he’ll research it the next day. And he doesn’t boast about it, either.

On the other hand, he’s strict and doesn’t compromise when it comes to practical skills. In the beginning, he was probably holding back for her sake. Gradually, as both the level of magic required in fights with monsters and the number of enemies increased, it became so harsh that, on the first day Irene joined them, she passed out from exhaustion as soon as she returned to her room.

But he isn’t just strict. He also generously used the Book of Blessings, a valuable growth-accelerating magic item that she had never heard of and which he only had five of, for her sake. Deeply moved by how much he’s done for her and feeling the need to repay him, she made every effort to stick to it, and now, she’s used to fighting and has enough self-confidence to say that she’s grown considerably.

Looking back, those days were almost golden, with every day being fulfilling. Thinking about this makes her even more depressed that she can’t go and join him.

In the first place, the homework she’s doing right now doesn’t even compare to extracurricular training in terms of value. She doesn’t want to waste a minute or even a second of her time on something as trifling as this. However, if she neglects this, it’s possible she’ll have to deal with something even more inconvenient, such as supplementary lessons or being banned from extracurricular training. Ultimately, she has to do it even if she doesn’t want to.

One of the reasons why she’s so unenthusiastic about it is the contents of the homework. These assignments were made to follow the lessons, which, to be frank, greatly differ from Chaos’s teachings.

In these past two weeks, Chaos has destroyed the conventional wisdom that she believed in until now, so it’s hard for her to look at assignments that are still bound by the old wisdom. Of course, not everything deviates from what she learned from Chaos. The basics are the same, such as elemental attribute-related information on the four major elements and the non-elemental attribute. However, while it is essential to read spellbooks and understand the principles of magic, it’s possible to learn spells even without the spellbook as long as you know the spell’s name and effects, and there’s no end to her doubts as to whether the contents of the spellbooks are even correct in the first place.

However, the answers to the homework created with the current magical theory may simply be incorrect information. It’s probably unavoidable that she can’t suppress her complex emotions towards the current magical theory which considers incorrect information to be correct.

‘But is it really okay to leave it like this?’ Alexia wonders to herself. Since she was young, she’s heard of the fate of nobles who can’t use magic. That’s why she was afraid of being abandoned by her family and desperately studied magic. It didn’t pay off in the end, but she was fortunate enough that she was saved by Chaos.

But what about the other nobles who can’t use magic? If they’re “Wisdom-type” mages like Alexia, then the current magical theory won’t allow their talents to bloom. If the conventional wisdom doesn’t change, they’ll be stricken with despair just like Alexia and their lives will end in disappointment. Considering that, she can keenly feel just how blessed she is.

To save them, she needs to reconsider the current state of magical theory. She’s the only one who knows the things she learned from Chaos. So, why not try writing down all of his teachings? She’s still thought of as “talentless”, so even if she shouts as loud as she can, those around her won’t listen. However, if she conducts an examination of various spells and demonstrates her findings, that should change. Thinking this, her dreams grow larger. She’ll use the knowledge she learned from Chaos to reach out to others in the same circumstances and guide them. Just like her teacher.

Until now, she would have been satisfied if she could just use magic like the average person. Her only perspective was that, if only she could use magic, that would be the end of it. And now, for the first time, Alexia has started thinking about what she wants to do in the future.

For this reason, there’s still a lot she has to learn from Chaos. She starts working through her assignments more quickly. She has to finish her homework today and continue learning from Chaos from tomorrow onward. She wants to spread Chaos’s teachings all over the world as soon as possible.

Chaos is a foreigner. Therefore, he’ll surely leave here someday. She must inherit his knowledge while he’s still here.

‘Chaos will leave.’ When that thought passes through her head, she feels a stinging pain in her chest.

The young emperor of the Weichsel Empire, Wilhelm the Third, Wilhelm Viktor von Weichsel has an anxious expression on his face.

“What is the matter, Your Majesty?” asks Otto, the one in charge of his education.

“Old man, read this,” Viktor says, shoving a letter at Otto. It’s an informal letter sent by the Castal Kingdom.

“From the Castal Kingdom, is it…? What’s this, an alliance?!”

Written in this letter is a proposal to form an alliance with the Castal Kingdom. Currently, it’s one of their trading partners across from the Allied Commune and isn’t quite an enemy, but in the past, they had a hostile relationship where they fought for control over the Allied Commune.

“Well, I can see why they’d want an alliance. Although we both border Commune, that doesn’t mean there’s no mutual benefit. The issue is their reason and the gift they will prepare.”

“It’s a three-way alliance against the evil god. They have approached the Allied Commune as well. But, to offer the production techniques for the highest-level potions and a new medicine… It is far too extraordinary.”

Even in the Weichsel Empire, they use part of the national budget to fund the study of production techniques.

“Yes, and all we offer them in return is military strength and supplies in the event of an emergency. What is that Castal geezer thinking? Is he really so cautious of the evil god?”

It’s true that the monsters becoming more active has been a problem even within the Empire. However, since the evil god who is said to be the cause is still only an unconfirmed rumor, is it really necessary to be this cautious? The Castal Kingdom may have discovered something about the evil god, but there’s no definite proof.

And if Castal really succeeded in making those potions, he doesn’t understand why they would hand that over so easily, imagining the expenses that would be involved in producing them. He even gets the impression that they didn’t develop this technology themselves, as if they’re handing over something that they stumbled on by chance. That makes him even more suspicious that they might have some ulterior motive.

“Come to think of it, about a month ago, Castal’s royal army launched a large-scale monster subjugation. Though, they took quite a bit of damage.”

“Hm, I do remember hearing something about that. Perhaps we should send a spy to collect information. Old man, make the arrangements.”

“Understood, Your Majesty. Ah, speaking of spies, we’ve lost communication with some of the spies dispatched to Commune.”

Viktor gives him a dubious look. “So, Commune found us out? But that’s not so unusual of an occurrence, is it not?”

It’s fairly undesirable for spies to be caught during a non-aggression pact, but it’s not rare for large countries to plant spies. Even if they get caught, it shouldn’t have a particularly large effect.

“No, there are some mysterious aspects of it. We’ve lost contact with spies several times in the same region.”

“I see, so that region is so vigilant that all the spies are caught. In other words, Commune is hiding something. Is that what you’re saying?”

Otto nods.

“Alright. Dispatch spies there too. The most skilled ones we can manage.”

As Otto leaves, Viktor looks out the window. The view from high up in the towering castle is the same as usual. However, considering what has happened with Castal and Commune, some sort of strange incident is occurring. Though he doesn’t show it on his face, Viktor is driven by an inexpressible anxiety.

“Really, what is happening on this continent?”