Episode 154. Outdoor Class (4)
After the ceremony.
The cadets continued to talk about outdoor classes for a long time, even delaying returning to the dormitory.
Outdoor classes are next week. And even though I’d heard the announcement that magic would be restricted, I couldn’t help but feel excited.
“Is this something to be so excited about? I don’t understand.”
Dahlia shook her head as if she was disappointed. Rubin and other crew members were gathered around her.
Then Rubin opened his mouth.
“That makes sense. There hasn’t been anything like this since I entered school.”
“There was no incident? But there was a Jang Education Committee test.”
“Dahlia. Have you forgotten that the Jang Gyo-Yok-Seong-Gyo exam is just a blurry memory to other kids?”
“Oh, that’s right.”
In fact, most cadets only vaguely remember having taken the Jang Education Committee’s exam. The detailed process of the exam was all forgotten by the magic of forgetfulness.
Only the final three, Rubin, Dahlia, and Eric, were free from oblivion.
“Come to think of it, there are two people in our group who remember all the tests taken by the Education Committee. How can that be?”
Oscar even applauded. Dahlia glared at him.
“Oscar. You were eliminated early anyway. You wouldn’t even remember.”
“Oh, I see. Why does it seem like I got to the final stage? You, Dahlia… Are you not remembering things properly right now?”
“… Pathetic.”
Dahlia Jo’s group members were mostly calm despite the backlash from the outdoor class. Only two of them seemed excited, and naturally, one of them was Oscar.
“Well, whatever. You’re looking forward to next week, right? I’m going to find some really expensive magic herbs. That’s why I’m going to sell them to Professor Kaizen for a really high price. Hehe… Hey, Dahlia! I wish you wouldn’t look at me with such pitiful eyes!”
And the other one is Chloe, who is always cheerful.
“Or, Chloe. How about I buy it for you from your family? The legendary magic herb I found. I could give you a special discount.”
“If it’s something really unique, I’ll buy it for you! How much?”
“Oh my… How about Lilk?”
“A million Relk? Hmm, I’m shocked now, Oscar.”
“Did I sing too high?”
“Huh? What? I mean, I never thought I could buy the legendary magic core grass with 10 million lilks. If it was that much, I could give it to you right now! Can I make you a deposit so that no one else can buy it?”
When Chloe opened the subspace pocket, Oscar jumped up like a cat and waved his hands vigorously.
“T-True, I was joking. Who would buy a magic bullet for ten million reels? But Chloe, ten million reels is a lot of money. You know that, right? Don’t tell me you don’t know. I think you’d be scared… … .”
“Pfft, Oscar. I was actually joking!”
As the semester went on, Chloe and Oscar seemed to hit it off really well.
Even if they were to accept her as a friend, it was true that few people would be able to throw a joke at Witherspoon’s youngest daughter. Well, rare would be the right word.
But Oscar was exactly that rare personality.
“Oscar! Please shut your mouth.”
Dahlia, who couldn’t stand to watch, glared at Oscar and said.
“You in particular, once you enter the cave, don’t escape anywhere.”
“Yes, captain!”
Oscar, who had been about to keep his mouth shut as the leader had said, couldn’t hold it in for a moment and opened his mouth.
“But what are you worried about? Even if he can’t use magic, we still have Luden in our group. Don’t you think so?”
“Are you saying you only believe in the magician?”
At that moment, an embarrassed look appeared on Rubin’s face.
“I’m sorry, but I have to go separately, Oscar.”
“Huh? Why do you have to do that?”
“I’m supposed to go with the professor. He called me earlier and told me about it.”
“Why! Why!”
“Well, he’s a teaching assistant.”
Rubin shrugged.
Kaizen’s intentions were obvious. The fact that he was a teaching assistant was just an excuse, and he was trying to keep Rubin out.
Of course, it was fortunate for Rubin. With fewer distractions like Oscar and Chloe, he could concentrate on his fight with Rosenthaler.
“Oh, I’m screwed. I’m screwed! Okay, let’s go back to the dorm. I need to eat dinner.”
Oscar led his friends to the dormitory, grumbling.
* * *
A few days later. The evening before Class C’s outdoor class.
Rubin was in the bookstore, taking out various books and looking at them, waiting for Kuze to return.
“Rubin. Where did you send Kuze?”
Tina, who was transformed into Kuze, asked.
“Just in case, use formal language, Tina. And ask about it when you get here.”
“… Yes, my lord. I will do that, I will do that!”
“Polite speech.”
“I will do that!”
Tina, her mouth sticking out, muttered as she paced around the bookstore.
“Hmm, where did Kuze say he was going yesterday? He said he was going to a cave. Or was it grave robbery?”
It was a separate instruction from Rubin to Kuze. There was something Kuze had to do in advance at the outdoor class location where they were leaving tomorrow.
“Oh, Kuze is here!”
Tina, who noticed Kuze’s return, quickly transformed into another creature. This time, it was Kuze’s favorite canary. It was a small bird.
Fooddeuk.
Tina climbed onto Rubin’s shoulder and asked him as soon as Kuze entered the bookstore.
“Hey, where have you been?”
——————
faqwiki.us
Join our Discord for new chapter updates!
https://discord.com/invite/xr7SxG5T6V
——————
“I’m back, Young Master!”
“I asked you!”
“Oh, Tina, you’re here too. I’m on my way back from the outdoor class.”
“Why there?”
“Yesterday and today, there were classes for Class A and Class B. The Master told me to make separate arrangements for those two classes when they have outdoor classes.”
The measure was to artificially create a dust cloud that would cause mild hives near the cave entrance.
There were no major abnormalities in the body, so it was not serious enough to cancel the outdoor class itself.
He enlisted Enzo’s help to create this dust, and Kuze said it was successful.
“I heard Kaizen say that we should prepare for the C class class. He said that he will make the cadets wear masks to protect their respiratory organs.”
Rubin nodded.
“Even if we hadn’t taken such measures, Kaizen would have done something. It would be good for Rosenthaler, since he can naturally hide his face when he sneaks into the cave tomorrow.”
However, since Kaizen was not good enough, Rubin created a clear situation first.
But Rubin had another real purpose.
“Rosenthaler can’t recognize your face, Master. It’s because of the mask.”
“That’s right. You’ll know it’s the real Perrin.”
If Rosenthaler finds out that the child that Kaizen pointed out as Per was actually Rubin, he won’t attack him. Instead, he’ll kill Kaizen for making the mistake.
But what if all the kids were wearing masks? As Rubin said, they wouldn’t recognize you and would rush to kill you right away.
“Hey, Rubin, are you sure you’re okay? I told you, that guy’s a real threat.”
Tina asked worriedly. She was the only one who had personally witnessed Rosenthaler’s realm.
But Rubin showed no sign of fear. He looked at Kuze and asked again.
“Kuze, how is your research on the dark arts with Enzo going?”
One thing to check before fighting Rosenthaler: the progress of the new research on the dark arts.
‘Enzo said it was about 70%’
Enzo, who is hiding in the Rhapsody Hall, and Kuze, who is guarding the bookstore. These two people are maintaining close communication through the magic stone.
All Rubin did was deliver a vial of his blood every few days, but the two had full authority over the female genital research.
“The completion rate is about 80%.”
There are some differences from Enzo’s analysis, but in any case, at this rate, the fact remains that it will be completed in the near future.
“What you’re talking about now is the ‘shadow curtain’, right? Rubin’s new technology.”
‘Shadow Curtain’. It was Kuze who first suggested the name, and Rubin thought it was not bad either. It couldn’t be a more appropriate name.
“You’re saying you’re going to make a box in the wall and hide there, right?”
“… The concept is correct. To be exact, it’s not just walls, but almost any object. And it’s not a box, it’s a mana cube.”
“That or that.”
Tina’s recent role is to take Kuze’s place while he is busy with his research and take over the bookstore by transforming into him.
I thought he didn’t know, but it seems he was quite interested in the research.
“But there’s something I’m curious about.”
“… … ?”
“If you’re going to create a hiding space inside a cube or something, wouldn’t it be better to have a space that only contains air instead of water? Why are you trying to hide while submerged?”
It was a reasonable point. Mana Cube temporarily turns solids into liquids with its ‘Transformation of Nature’ magic. That meant Rubin would have to hold his breath while in hiding.
Then Kuze intervened.
“There are several reasons for this.”
“What is it?”
“Because of efficiency.”
Kuze’s subsequent explanation was clear at a glance.
Due to the nature of the magic of changing properties, it was explained that ‘dissolving’ from a solid to a liquid saves much more mana than ‘sublimating’ from a solid to a gas.
Of course, if you use a 1st grade magic stone, you won’t need to save like this.
“…Is there another reason besides that?”
“In fact, this is the decisive reason. The young master must also prepare for an attack by the Assassin Swordsman.”
“ah.”
Tina easily accepted those words. She also had dark feelings and was once a target of the assassination squad, so she knew what those words meant.
If Rubin’s reason for hiding was limited to only the unmanned or magicians with auras, then he could have just emptied the space in the Mana Cube like Tina said.
But Rubin wanted a secret that would also allow him to hide from assassins.
As long as they have the Darkness, the assassins can sense each other. Even if they don’t know who the owner of the Darkness is, they can definitely feel that there is an assassin near them.
Also, the higher the level of darkness, the more clearly one could discern assassins of lower levels than oneself.
‘Only Killian can hide his dark side perfectly.’
Killian was an exception. This old drunken assassin had developed a unique trait that made him undetectable to other assassins when he reached the 6th level of Darkness. He called it ‘the Darkness of the Cold’.
Besides that, the assassins were the ones who could sense each other’s darkness without exception. Rubin was no exception.
But what if it’s a ‘shadow curtain’?
It might confuse the assassins a bit. It was similar to the way light bounces off an uneven surface.
Because of the liquid filling the Mana Cube, the assassin’s shadow smoke will be refracted and transmitted here and there. The shadow smoke will be felt, but it will confuse you so that you cannot tell its exact location.
“Will it be effective? Anyway, you can sense the darkness, right? If you search the surroundings roughly, you can find it right away.”
“That’s not that easy. Darkness is a very sensitive and delicate force to deal with. Even a slight twist can create an error range of several kilometers.”
“Oh, that’s right. I think it’s something I learned during my training when I was young. It’s said that if you hide in the water, it’s harder to track you. Right?”
“It’s a similar principle.”
“Okay, I understand!”
At that moment, Rubin closed the book he was reading. Before he knew it, there was only an hour left until the dormitory roll call. It was time to head back to school.
Tina, who was fluttering around the bookstore in a frenzy, asked as if talking to herself.
“What would that Rosenthaler be doing now?”
“I think he might be talking to the head of the Imperial Department right now. About the operation for tomorrow.”
“Hmph. If the kid I thought was Per and ran towards me was actually Rubin, how ridiculous would that be? Didn’t Kaizen just pick the most innocent one out of all those kids?”
“Professor Kaizen is not an idiot. That’s because he made you believe that. Your Highness.”
Kuze looked at Rubin as he replied. He didn’t reply, perhaps lost in thought.
“Anyway, it’s hilarious to think that you guys are seriously planning a strategy. You idiots.”
