Chapter 60: Chapter 60

Professor Temeric.

Although not as talented and authoritative as Professor Delphineso, the dean of the Summoning Department, he was plenty skilled.

As a summoner, he was able to summon 1st-rank summons, which was considered to be the ultimate level, and he was evaluated as unrivaled when it came to handling multiple small summons in multiple deployments.

“This… doesn’t make sense.”

He was in shock right now.

“Dane Sogres.”

Professor Temeric repeated the name of the person who had shocked him.

No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t understand it. Never mind the fact that someone without a Summon Sign was able to summon. After all, that happened every once in a while. It could happen if one’s affinity with a summons was particularly high.

The problem was that the summons in question was Gendpu, who was known for being particularly vicious among the 5th-rank summons.

What kind of summons was Gendpu?

In terms of simple combat power, it was about average among 4th-rank summons, and depending on the summoner’s ability, it could easily deal with two 4th-rank summons.

Not only did he summon such a being without a sign…

‘I certainly never expected enhancements.’

In higher years, students learned how to enhance summons. It was a summoning assistance technique.

The one Dane had used hadn’t been a regular enhancement. He even achieved «Link Enhancement», which raised the connection with the summoned creature to a level where it could never be severed.

Normal enhancement was something that could be done at a certain level, but «Link Enhancement» was something that even the most skilled summoners couldn’t do in their entire lives. It was something that was possible only if you were born with great affinity and continuously practiced increasing said affinity.

At this point, Dane had surpassed the level of a typical ‘genius’. The standard for being called a genius in summoning was to succeed in summoning around the second year.

“I ended up making a fool of myself. Ha!”

Professor Temeric remembered the promise he had made. If Dane could prove his qualifications, he would write the child a letter of recommendation for special selection. He’d made that promise in front of all the students.

Of course, there were many loopholes. By Professor Temeric’s standards, even most geniuses wouldn’t even catch his eye. At best, they could successfully summon another creature, or he figured that Dane would create a new link with a summons like he had shown when passing the entrance exam.

But then something completely unexpected happened.

“Shit.”

Even though it was a plan that came to mind spontaneously, he never thought it would go wrong like this. In this way, rather than pressuring Professor Delphineso, he ended up becoming a laughingstock—even to the point of having to write a letter of recommendation.

In the end, the prestige he thought he had was damaged.

Knock knock.

Just as he was thinking so, there was a knock on the door.

“It’s me—Delphineso.”

Professor Delphineso.

She was the dean of the department. Professor Temeric was momentarily dumbfounded.

“I’m coming in.”

And then, without even waiting for an answer, Delphineso entered the room.

“Are you busy?”

“Of course not.” Temeric forced a smile and offered her a seat.

Delphineso Einz

A woman who was once called the Witch of the Battlefield because all the summons she handled were as vicious as demons. Now, she was no different from any other middle-aged noblewoman, unable to even be connected to such an imagery.

Professor Delphineso sat on the sofa in an elegant posture.

Professor Temeric thought as he watched her, ‘What is all of this? She’s never come to visit me before.’

Professor Temeric hated this woman. No, it wasn’t just that he didn’t like her; he found her annoying. She always went against his opinions at every department meeting and never even thought about stepping down from her position as dean.

Of course, his opinions were often wrong, but whenever he saw the other professor reject him outright, he felt like his authority was being undermined.

“I wonder if I came too suddenly.”

“Haha. How could that be, Dean?”

Of course, he couldn’t openly show his dislike, now could he?

As the tea was placed between the two and steam was rising from the tea, Professor Delphineso picked up a teacup.

“I was wondering how things have been lately. Since becoming the dean, I feel like I haven’t been able to ask my fellow professors how they’re doing.”

“Thanks to you, I’m doing fine.”

“Really? ‘Thanks to you’ are such nice words to hear.”

Professor Delphineso smiled, but Professor Temeric could not. Did she notice that there were thorns hidden in those words?

“There are many talented students, and the number of undergraduate applicants is increasing, so I am a bit worried about the professors’ workload. Especially… when a student who really stands out comes in.”

Only then did Professor Temeric realize what she meant.

“For example… Are you talking about a student like Clare?”

“Clare is nothing in comparison. There’s an even stronger student coming in.”

Professor Delphineso smiled faintly and finally revealed her true intentions.

“I heard that something interesting happened in your class. Is that true?”

“…”

“I’m just curious. I don’t mean to interfere with your class, so please don’t misunderstand.”

“Haha. Of course not. But I didn’t know you would be interested in my class.”

“Of course. I am the dean of the department.”

Just once.

He had seen Professor Delphineso call on her summons to suppress the eastern rebels just once. Why did he recall that time?

“…There was an interesting student. More so than Clare.”

“Yes, that’s right. Dane Sogres. He’s the student I ‘personally’ passed.”

What were her intentions this time?

“I heard that you promised to write him a letter of recommendation. Is that true?”

“That… is true.”

“Is there something bothering you?”

Professor Temeric quickly shook his head in response to Professor Delphineso’s question. “O-of course not. I was just wondering what to say in my letter of recommendation because he is such an outstanding student.”

Professor Delphineso’s smile blossomed brightly at those words. “That’s good. Since the special selection test requires two letters of recommendation, I’m thinking of writing the other one.”

“What?”

“He is a student who deserves to be accepted, so as the dean, I can’t just sit back and do nothing.”

Ah. Now he understood.

Professor Temeric barely suppressed his boiling anger. Had he ever seen such a sly woman?

‘She’s saying she’s going to take all the credit!’

When multiple letters of recommendation were written, the one with higher authority was generally given priority. In other words, in the current situation, between the two letters of recommendation that would be used, Professor Delphineso’s would be the main recommendation rather than his own.

If that happened, Professor Delphineso would naturally be recognized as the ‘recommender’, and depending on the situation, she might even become the ‘discoverer’ of the genius Dane Sogres.

‘Ha! Yes, alright. That’s the kind of woman she is.’

Funnily enough, the person who had been reluctant to write the recommendation letter just now was Professor Temeric himself. Now, however, he was burning with anger instead.

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. That summed up the situation quite well.

“Is there something bothering you?”

Of course, there was no reason to refuse right now. That would further lower his reputation by branding him as a professor who couldn’t even recognize a genius who was overflowing with talent.

‘Just wait and see.’

Professor Temeric shook his head and said, “Of course not, Dean.”

“Good. By the way, when you’re done writing your recommendation letter, please show it to me. I think I’ll have to adjust my words a bit.”

“…Of course.”

“Alright, I’ll leave first. I enjoyed the tea. Thank you for your time.”

With that, Professor Delphineso, having gotten what she wanted, left with a satisfied look on her face.

Professor Temeric sat on the sofa and thought, ‘She’s clearly trying to draw him to her side… But… It won’t work this time.’

Professor Temeric made up his mind to get that genius boy on his side.

‘Hmm, what would he like? Artifacts? Or summoning secrets?’

If only he could take that woman down a few pegs, he would do whatever it took.

From the Magic Department to the Summoning Department. It was at that moment that the number of departments with people who wanted to bring Dane to their side increased.

“I guess I’ll have to talk to him first.”

Since he had to write a recommendation letter anyway, he had enough reason to call him over even though he was from a different department.

“Kikreuk! Kikreuk!”

Karnas ate really well. He ate so well that I regretted not buying more food from «Eus and Boden».

“Kikreuk!”

I shook my head as I watched Karnas screaming for more, saying, “No. What if your stomach bursts?”

“Kkireuuuk…”

It couldn’t be helped. I offered another piece of food to Karnas, who bowed his head sullenly.

“This is the last one, got it?”

“Kikreuk! Kikreuk!”

The little one flapped his wings excitedly and quickly took the food from my hand. Was it just me, or did it seem like his body had grown bigger in just two days?

“Kikreuk!”

Karnas moved in front of me and lay down. Was he telling me to scratch him? I scratched his stomach just in case, and he made a ‘purring’ sound. Did that mean he felt good?

“Purrr… purrrr…”

It wasn’t like he was some kind of cat.

As I was scratching Karnas, I suddenly remembered Leila and Ernest’s reactions before we went our separate ways. Naturally, they were both extremely surprised.

A Familiar’s Egg.

The egg itself was incredibly valuable, but so was the hatched familiar. Fortunately, their excitement didn’t scare Karnas or anything. Rather, should I say that he looked bewildered by the interest shown?

Their reactions were explosive, and Leila in particular even pestered me to ask if I could get her one too. Of course, if I said that I received it as a gift, she’d become very jealous and would not ask any further questions.

By the way, Ernest—as expected of someone from the Exploration Department—was excited to find another place where we might be able to find a Familiar’s Egg.

Anyway, I felt like they would keep at it all day if I stayed, and I also had to feed Karnas, so I came back to the dorm.

“Kikreuk?”

At that moment, Karnas tilted his head as he looked at me, as I had stopped scratching him while deep in thought.

“Alright, I’ll keep scratching.”

As I started to scratch his stomach again, Karnas closed his eyes and surrendered his whole body, making a similar sound as before.

It was very cute.

“But will you still be like this when you grow up?”

I wasn’t sure how big he would be, but it was baffling to think that he might grow to be the size of a wyvern. When I thought of him lying down, rubbing his huge body against me and asking me to scratch his belly…

In preparation for that time, I should ask my sister to develop something like an ‘automatic belly scratcher’.

No, actually, it was more important to think of where to keep him.

“Once you get to the size of a wyvern, you won’t be able to stay here.”

The dorm rooms were spacious enough, but that was on the basis that you were human. I doubted he could stay there comfortably once he reached Gendpu’s size. From then on, size would be a problem, but this little one will have other difficulties when it comes to living.

So, I’d need a large space. A space where he could stay normally while still being able to answer my calls at any time.

“Kikreuk?”

Upon seeing such a cute appearance, I wanted to keep him always by my side, but…

Still, a minimum amount of independence would be necessary.

“First of all, you’ll need some training.”

I would have to think about how to train him later. For now, he seemed to listen well.

It might be a good idea to seek out an authority on summons from ‘Beyond the Horizon’. The problem was that there was no such authority within the academy right now.

“The only class left today is… a liberal arts one.”

Now, the only thing left on my schedule was a history lecture titled .

I fed Karnas a good meal, and then I packed him up and left the dorm. I couldn’t stop by the dorm all the time, so next time I’d just pack some food and feed him in an appropriate place.

“Kikreuk?”

Karnas looked up at me once and then fell back into a deep sleep. I chuckled at him and checked that I had some time left.

Good. Since I had plenty of time, I should get a tart.

“Where was the place that Digron told me about?”

Just as I was making my way out…

“Dane Sogres?”

Someone spoke to me.

I turned my head and saw a woman wearing a unique beret.

“Who are you?”

“Hello. I am an Imperial Academy messenger. Professor Delphineso, the dean of the Summoning Department, has summoned you.”

Professor Delphineso, not Professor Temeric? I hadn’t seen her since the test, so what could this be about?n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“For what reason?”

“She only said it was about the recommendation letter. She asked that you come right away. Should I go?”

It was a sudden call.

I looked at the messenger and said, “I don’t think that would work.”

“What?”

“I was on my way to eat some tart.”

For a moment, the messenger’s eyes wavered.

“I heard there’s a delicious restaurant. I haven’t had a chance to go there since I entered school.”

“Whaaat?”

I think it was «Pascal Bakery»?

I asked the messenger, who seemed momentarily flustered, “Do you know where «Pascal Bakery» is?”