Chapter 43. It Feels Like I'm Getting Addicted
“Do we really have to go up in the dead of night like this?”
Armandy grumbled while using light elent magic.
“Quick, cancel the magic. There are insects that only co out at night, so there can’t be any light.”
Radel gestured urgently at Armandy. For a mont, Radel's eyes, now visible, glinted with desire in the darkness.
Armandy's expression crumpled.
This guy was worse than a secret agent from the Ability Managent Bureau.
To drag him up a mountain in the middle of the night to catch insects.
“His Highness is right. It’s better to be careful.”
Gusto agreed, swatting away a branch with his scabbard.
Seeing Gusto, who had brought a large sack, Armandy thought that guy was sothing else too.
For soone who was an apprentice holy knight of the Supre Deity Order, his actions were sowhat suspicious.
The three of them arrived at the location of the magical beast's carcass they had examined during the Cryptozoology lecture.
Having heard during the Cryptozoology lecture that more insects ca out in the evening, Radel couldn't miss this opportunity.
As they approached the carcass, just as Professor Donton had said, there were even more insects swarming than they had seen in broad daylight.
“Ugh.”
Armandy frowned the mont he saw the sight.
He knew they were alchemy ingredients, but he had always bought them for money at an ingredient shop; this was the first ti he was seeing them in their wriggling state.
“Shall we start?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Gusto and Radel didn't hesitate to put on their gloves.
Radel offered Armandy a pair of gloves as well, but he couldn't bring himself to touch the insects.
“Think of each one as 5 silver.”
“That seems like a fair price.”
Radel and Gusto moved quickly, sorting and bagging them by similar types.
However, to Armandy, who wasn't ntally prepared yet, their appearance was a shock in itself.
“What are you doing, not putting on your gloves?”
When Radel asked, Armandy glanced around and put on the gloves.
“If you're done, co over here and bag them.”
It was written all over Armandy's face that he didn't want to do it, but he couldn't allow him to be a freeloader in a group activity.
A freeloader in a team of only three?
Absolutely not.
Radel scoffed.
“Don't tell you're scared, are you?”
“……No, I’m not.”
Armandy finally gritted his teeth and joined in.
The 8th Prince's intentions were obvious, but he had no reason to refuse.
Radel and Gusto casually chatted as they caught things like blue corpse beetles and put them into their respective sacks. They didn't miss the red centipedes that ca out at night either.
It was because they were ingredients for the Hayden-style potion.
They caught not only insects and centipedes but also poison frogs and house snails as they saw them.
“Maybe because they're ingredients for the Detoxification Potion, we need a lot of poisonous insects. It was a good idea to co.”
“Indeed. We’re lucky.”
“Doesn't it feel like you're getting addicted to this?”
“I believe this is the only addiction the Supre Deity has permitted.”
Are they insane……?
It seed Armandy was the only one genuinely suffering at this mont. Armandy wanted to finish this group project as soon as possible and get away from these guys.
To do that, he had to work hard anyway.
‘Let's do it. I can do it. It's easier than a mission.’
Armandy squeezed his eyes shut and grabbed an insect.
It was a mont that made him feel pathetic for being so humiliated after eting the 8th Prince.
* * *
Crackle.
The campfire burned slowly.
Armandy, with his soul drained, was staring blankly at the campfire in front of Radel's tent.
He couldn't rember how he had finished the work and co down to the campsite. The sensation of catching the insects was still vivid.
Just then, soone tapped Armandy's shoulder.
Armandy, caught off guard, almost scread in surprise.
“What are you so surprised about?”
Radel chuckled and handed Armandy a cup.
It was warm coffee.
“How did you get this……?”
“They gave it to when I went to the kitchen.”
Gusto nodded beside him.
“It is all thanks to His Highness's character.”
He had seen him get potatoes last ti, but he got coffee too?
Armandy felt like sothing didn't make sense, but seeing the warm coffee, he didn't care anymore.
The warm coffee lted Armandy's tired body and mind.
Radel and Gusto watched the campfire and exchanged a few words about the group project.
“I never even considered magic resistance.”
“It seems the high purity of mana around the academy has strengthened the Swamp Serpent's magic resistance.”
Armandy was a little surprised by the 8th Prince's serious deanor.
He thought he was just a lunatic, but he’s actually quite……?
He even seed a little like the 9th Prince?
‘You've gone mad, Armandy!’
Armandy writhed, reprimanding himself for having such a blasphemous thought.
He couldn't forgive himself for even briefly thinking well of that 8th Prince, who couldn't even hold a candle to the 9th Prince's heel.
‘This is all a trick by that 8th Prince to make let my guard down!’
Armandy firmly resolved not to be swayed.
However, a sweet sll wafted from sowhere. It was a scent that instantly captivated Armandy’s exhausted sense of sll.
“You worked hard today.”
Radel was holding out a marshmallow, roasted on a skewer, to Armandy.
Seeing it, Armandy's expression hardened.
‘Does he not like marshmallows?’
Just as Radel, seeing Armandy’s stiff expression, was wondering if this was a bad idea.
Ding.
[The target’s Affinity has surpassed 10.]
[The target’s Affinity has beco 30.]
A familiar sound echoed in Radel's ear.
‘He must have liked it.’
Radel was relieved and gave the marshmallow to Armandy before returning to his seat.
Slap!
Armandy, who had been staring blankly, suddenly slapped his own cheek, which was strange…….
But Radel just thought he was probably trying to stay awake since it was late at night.
* * *
The morning lecture was one he had never taken before.
When Professor Thomas Arcane, the one who had turned him into a toad, entered the classroom, Edward flinched.
“It's good to see you all again. I should reintroduce myself.”
Professor Thomas wrote ‘Transformation Magic’ on the chalkboard.
“I am Thomas Arcane, the professor of Transformation Magic.”
So Transformation Magic can also turn people into amphibians. Then can it also turn stones into gems?
Radel beca interested in Transformation Magic as well.
“I’m telling you this in advance because I keep getting similar questions at the beginning of the sester.”
Professor Thomas looked around the classroom with an uninspired face and said.
“Transformation Magic changes the properties of matter, but its duration is not permanent. For example, changing a silver coin into a gold coin……”
A few of the freshn looked guilty.
“Not only does it not last long, but it is, of course, illegal. It is strictly governed by Imperial law, so please be careful. Many of your seniors have already tried it, and they have all been caught.”
Radel decided to abandon his desire to turn stones into gems.
He couldn't have a mber of the royal family beco a criminal and get caught.
“In my class, we will only be transforming this for a month.”
Professor Thomas brought a bundle of cloth and handed one to each of the freshn.
It was a thin handkerchief.
“First, you will change the color, and then the shape. Succeeding in just that today is a success.”
At that, a few freshn raised their hands.
“When will you tell us the evaluation assignnt?”
“When you can change the shape, co and find . I will tell you individually.”
“Does it count even if we only transform it for a mont?”
“It should hold for 10 seconds.”
The sound of surprised freshn could be heard.
“10 seconds? Isn't that too long?”
“Transformation Magic is already tricky as it is.”
Hearing that, Radel guessed that sustaining Transformation Magic for a long ti was difficult.
And he could also tell that Professor Thomas’s skill, who had turned a person into a toad and left them like that for half a day, was exceptionally outstanding.
The handkerchief was difficult to even change its color, let alone its shape. He tried to visualize an image like with elent magic, but whenever he chanted the spell, his magic power kept scattering.
Seeing this, Professor Thomas ca to Radel’s side and advised.
“You are failing because of your preconceptions. Why do you think the handkerchief will not change?”
At Professor Thomas’s words, Radel thought deeply.
It seed that Transformation Magic felt more difficult than magic that summoned an elent from nothing because there was a fixed object in front of him.
“The most important thing in Transformation Magic is belief. Try approaching it with the feeling of painting a white canvas.”
Even as Professor Thomas gave his advice, he didn't think Radel would succeed.
From his experience teaching, there were many freshn who couldn't grasp Transformation Magic even by the end of the adaptation period.
Attack, summoning, transformation magic, along with cryptozoology and alchemy.
The academy had chosen these five subjects to evaluate the freshn during their adaptation period.
Among them, through Transformation Magic, they primarily looked at whether they could break the greatest enemy of magicians: preconceptions.
If one could not think freely, there was a limit to their growth as a magician.
This was one of the reasons why Professor Thomas was uninspired by the freshn from noble backgrounds.
“I see. I understand, Professor.”
He understands?
Professor Thomas raised an eyebrow at Radel's words.
If one could grasp it with just a few words of advice, everyone wouldn't be struggling like this.
But Radel really did take out his staff, cast a spell, and turn the handkerchief into a butterfly.
This alone was surprising.
“Oh, I have to change the color too.”
Radel cast the spell again.
The butterfly turned yellow, as if paint was spreading.
It was a perfect success.
As Radel waited for the 10 seconds to pass, Professor Thomas asked.
“How did you do it?”
“Pardon?”
“Just a mont ago, you had no idea what you were doing.”
“Ah, it's thanks to your advice, Professor.”
Radel smiled and added.
“I realized that my thought that the handkerchief wouldn't change was wrong. Everything is bound to change, after all. Isn’t it just a matter of using magic to speed up that ti?”
At Radel's answer, Professor Thomas swallowed dryly.
This freshman probably didn't even know what he was saying right now.
If this was true, then he had grasped the core of Transformation Magic in an instant after hearing just a few words of advice.
The corner of Professor Thomas's eye twitched.
He opened his mouth without realizing it.
“……Do you, by any chance, have a major in mind?”
* * *
‘I knew it.’
After hearing the evaluation assignnt from Professor Thomas, Radel could finally be certain.
The evaluation assignnt for Transformation Magic was to turn a handkerchief into steel.
Then Cryptozoology also made sense.
The reason the assignnt was to catch a Swamp Serpent, which was obviously difficult for freshn.
It was all planned so that if you completed the evaluation assignnts for the five lectures, you could naturally catch the Swamp Serpent.
You learned elent magic in the Summoning Magic lecture, made a Detoxification Potion in Alchemy, trained in long-range magic in Attack Magic, and had to be able to turn clothes into steel to block attacks in Transformation Magic, only then could you catch the Swamp Serpent.
‘Everything we learn in the lectures was the strategy.’
Radel also realized when the ti to go catch the Swamp Serpent was.
You couldn't go too late, and you couldn't go too early. If you went too late, there would be no monsters to catch, and if you went too early, you would be jumping in without knowing the strategy.
‘We leave as soon as we complete the evaluation assignnts.’
Radel set a D-day in his mind.
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