Chapter 55: Chapter 55

I felt Professor Temeric’s gaze on me throughout the lecture, but I didn’t pay him any particular mind to it. Rather, I found it quite interesting to watch Professor Temeric floundering about.

“E-excuse me, Professor. I’m sorry, but this is the fifth time you’ve explained the same thing.”

“Hmm, ahem. Well, for emphasis…”

It was probably because of me. I’d heard that he was quite prickly, so if I told my second sister about it, she might be quite happy.

Anyway, with this, I was promised a letter of recommendation from Professor Temeric.

Would Professor Delphineso be willing to write the other one?

Well, I’d take my time considering it.

“A-alright, then. I’ll end the lecture here.”

Professor Temeric almost ran out of the classroom.

After that, I received a lot of attention from a lot of people after the lecture. Freshmen from the Summoning Department approached me and talked to me, and some even showed their interest in me outright. One of them was the president of the Summoning Department.

“I’ve heard of the fame of House Sogres, but this is truly amazing. Another genius has been born. I heard you’re also talented in both spearmanship and magic. So, if you’re thinking of specializing in the Summoning Department in the future…”

Of course, I expressed my refusal politely and left. If it were any other department, I would have rejected it outright and just pretended not to know, but I couldn’t do that because I wanted to save face for my second sister.

“Kkireuk…”

In the midst of this, Karnas opened his eyes in my arms.

Such a little baby. He fell asleep shortly after the class started and was only just waking up now. Well, babies did spend most of the day sleeping.

“Kireuk, Kikreuk.”

He looked hungry.

I was about to take out some of the meat I had put in my subspace but then changed my mind. I heard from my second sister that there was a shop in the central square that sold summoning supplies.

Among the supplies, they also sold food to increase affinity with summons, so I should go have a look.

I wondered what he would eat. Judging from the fact that he had chewed and swallowed meat right after he hatched, he didn’t seem to be an ordinary summons. Should I have asked Clare about food for summons?

By the way, what was this about?

“Karnas, can you go inside for a moment?”

I briefly took Karnas into my arms because of the presence of a stalker who I had noticed for a while now. Then I turned around again and went back the way I came, stopping in front of a large trash can.

“Who are you?”

There was no answer. There was no reason for him to. If he was someone who would answer right away, he wouldn’t have followed me from the lecture hall to here and then hid when I noticed.

Eventually, I gave an ultimatum.

“If you don’t come out, I’ll blow this up.”

An urgent voice rang out.

“I-I’ll come out!”

The person who appeared was…

“Who are you?”

He looked strangely familiar. Where had I seen him before? But I didn’t remember very well.

“D-don’t you recognize me?”

“Not really.”

I tilted my head.

Then he cried out in frustration, “It’s me! Digron Tyren!”

It was only then that I realized who he was.

“You’re that one from back then.”

“How could you forget me?”

I looked at the teary-eyed boy in disbelief.

“I mean, it’s possible to not remember very well.”

“How could you…?”

By the way, was this what he looked like? He originally looked very sharp and grumpy. He looked very pitiful now.

Had he had a hard time since then? I didn’t hear any news about him, and I didn’t even bother to ask my father.

I had completely forgotten about it since that day, but I remembered it again when I summoned Gendpu.

“…You finally got into the academy.”

I looked at him for a moment and asked, “What do you want?”

Digron was shaking quite a bit.

“Why did you follow me? I may have forgotten, but you and I aren’t on good terms. Is it for revenge?”

That was the only reason I could think of.

Even if I forgot, it must have been a bad situation for him, and if that was the case, the only motive for stalking me that came to mind was revenge. But a completely unexpected answer came from Digron.

“R-revenge?! No! Of course, I had a hard time and suffered a lot since then, and my father resented me a lot… But I’m not stupid enough to mess with the children of Count Sogres again!”

He’d become more intelligent since then. Well, if he had known back then, he wouldn’t have picked a fight with me and yelled about killing me.

“Then what is it?”

But questions still remained: Why did he follow me?

“I… I was going to apologize…”

“I already received an apology back then. I forgot.”

Of course, if he bothered me again, I would consider that incident and pay him back properly.

“S-so, can I still attend the academy like this?”

Huh?

I just stared at the boy who asked me a question I couldn’t understand. Maybe it was because I didn’t answer, but his response became even more withered.

“Please… I have reflected on that time and I truly regret it. I will not cause any issues, I will never affect you, and I will quietly go on my way…”

It was quite sad to see his trembling hands, but I still didn’t answer. I was just wondering if he was being sincere.

Hold on.

He was in the Summoning Department, right?

“You’ve really reflected on your actions?”

“Yes! Really!”

“Then let’s go to the Summoning Shop together. I’m going to buy some things I need. You’ll probably know the place well since you’re in the Summoning Department, right?”

“Of course!” He nodded and suddenly took the lead. “This way! I’ll guide you!”

I chuckled at the sight of his passionate expression. I didn’t know how long it would last, but did that mean there was someone who would do whatever I asked unconditionally?

Obviously, I still didn’t trust him. Regardless of whether he was sincere or not, he was someone who had ordered my death once. Of course, I wouldn’t believe him just because he apologized a few times.

Was he trying to get Gendpu back? Well, that would never happen.

“But you’re really amazing. One talent is amazing, but you have two more, so you entered the academy as an Autonomous student…”

Digron talked to me all the way there. I didn’t know if he was trying to avoid awkwardness or if he was trying to suck up to me, but my answers were either yes or no.

However, he didn’t give in and continued talking.

“Oh, the store we’re going to now is called «Eus and Boden». You’ll have to go there often when you take a class, so it’s a good idea to become familiar with it. It’s a place that was co-founded by two graduates, Eus and Boden, and it’s been around for over thirty years…”

Thanks to this, I felt like I’d gained a little bit of knowledge.

Meanwhile, Digron and I arrived in front of the store.

Inside, there were a few students, and the shopkeeper was sitting with his arms crossed, looking indifferent.

“We’re here!”

“Oh, this seems right.”

“Do you need anything? I can help you! No, instead, if you tell me which Summoning class you’re taking, I’ll tell you what to prepare accordingly!”

I was on the verge of tears as I looked at the boy beating on his chest as if telling me to trust him.

“Food.”

“Huh?”

“Food for a summons.”

Digron was a little taken aback by my unexpected answer, but soon told me not to worry.

“I’m quite familiar with that! I was in charge of the freshman affinity training when I was a sophomore. I know a lot about summons food!”

That was good.

“What summons are you trying to build up affinity with?”

“Wyvern.”

“Right. If it’s a wyvern, then I… Huh? W-wyvern?!”

Wyvern.

It was a 3rd-rank summons, so it was understandable for him to react like that. Of course, I didn’t know because I hadn’t tried summoning one yet.

It was just that Karnas resembled a wyvern. There was no way I’d reveal my true intentions to anyone unless I was crazy. I roughly made up a reason because I thought Karnas would have similar tastes to a wyvern since they looked similar.

“M-my goodness. You already know how to handle a wyvern…”

“It’s a secret.”

“O-of course! You can trust me!”

By the way, I was only going to tell him that lie. That way, if it leaked out, it meant he was the one who spread it.

“But it is a wyvern, and it’s a baby wyvern.”

“Huuuuh?”

“So, do you know what kind of food a baby wyvern would eat?”

“Since it’s a baby wyvern… Hmm. Then it would be better to feed it mostly liquid food. As far as I know, wyverns have a good appetite even when they’re babies, and I know they’ll start eating meat after just a week.”

Indeed. Even more strange, Karnas ate meat from the day he was born.

“Well, then, I think liquid food and dry food with condensed nutrients would be good. After all, you need to eat a lot when you’re young.”

“Then I’ll get that.”

“Alright! Then let’s go inside. I’ll show you and explain it to you!”

He was full of passion.

As I entered, attention turned to me. Some people recognized me and started whispering among themselves. I just focused on the food that Digron was pointing at.

“Here, condensed feed made with seventeen ingredients! This is liquid food, so you can grind this feed into small pieces, mix it with milk, and feed it to your summons. Buy both and feed them liquid food first…”

I picked up the item right after he finished explaining.

“Anything else you need?”

“Th-that’s all for now. Is Theory 1 all you’re taking? Well, then, you won’t need anything besides the textbook…”

I looked around the store and saw that there were quite a lot of items. There were so many things that even I, who had a sister who was a Summoner, had a hard time identifying them all.

Among them, there was one that appeared to be a staff.

Staves were the weapons of mages and Summoners. I heard that the tip of the staff had an elaborately crafted magic crystal embedded in it, which had the effect of storing magic power in case of an emergency, increasing magic power concentration, and increasing the efficiency of spell casting.

However—

“That’s not something a freshman can use.”

The shop owner’s voice stopped me.

Would he be Eus or Boden?

“Freshmen are always like that. They show interest in weapons even though they can’t even summon properly.”

He waved his hand as if he were annoyed.

“Don’t touch it and get your magic sucked out. Back off. If something goes wrong, you’ll be unable to do anything for the whole day.”

There was already a warning message written on the front of the staff.

[Warning: do not touch out of curiosity. Especially freshmen. The store is not responsible for any accidents that may occur as a result of touching.

-Eus and Borden]

It seems like there were many cases where things got out of hand after someone accidentally touched the staff.

Digron also stopped me.

“Dane. You usually have to be a fourth-year undergraduate to use a staff. Just touching it sucks all your magic out of you!”

What was the big deal?

Was it that dangerous?

However, I became more curious since they were telling me not to touch it.

“Shouldn’t we call the Academy ambulance?”

“Look. Isn’t that him? He’s really famous.”

I could hear murmurs from my surroundings.

“Hey, freshman. Put that down and look at something else meant for freshmen. The toys for you are over here.”

The owner looked at me and snickered, but—

“…Dane!”

I reached for the staff without hesitation.

Whoong.

I raised the staff, feeling it sucking away at my magic power slightly.

“Not bad.”

The magic crystal at the end of the staff glowed blue. That meant that the magic power had been sufficiently absorbed and stabilized.

I felt like I instinctively knew why a staff was used. Magic power was gathered and swirling in the crystal, which made it much easier to use magic power.

However, my case seemed to be a little different.

In most cases, people didn’t have enough magic power to fill the crystal, and even if there was, it was often difficult to control.

In my case—

“I have a lot left, though?”

I had a lot of magical power left, and it was easy to control.

This didn’t seem to be due to Ancient Magic.

As my eldest sister had repeatedly emphasized, it must be my talent for magic.

“D-Dane?”

Digron’s surprised voice came from beside me. I could also see the shopkeeper’s blank expression.

I showed him the staff.

“It works.”