Chapter 34: The Weekend Is Like The Eye Of The Storm
Klais’ weekend didn’t go so smoothly.
She was somehow maintaining her relationship with Professor Heerlein and researching Hybrid Magic, but that by itself wasn’t yielding any significant results.
Having to clash with the Prince was hard enough but since Flare’s progress was also delayed, Klais was frustrated beyond all measure.
And cleaning up the beasts that had appeared at the ceremony on top of all that.... There’s too many things to take care of.
In the group of Drakes that had shown up at the ceremony, there included some entities that had been categorized as high-level.
Unlike the mid-levels, the high-levels were ones that even the newly-graduated beginner mages had trouble with. It was only possible to handle them after they enlisted in the army and received proper combat training.
Before the ceremony had started, the investigation members of the board including Klais had gone to the mountain whenever they could and searched for the cause of the flooding beasts.
The unusual things of note were bodies of lower-level beasts found deep in the mountains.
And the construction circle’s core that manifested at the central square’s fountain.
Did they use sacrifices to summon stronger entities?
Such magic did exist. Rather, there were so many of them that it was hard to make heads or tails of it.
Take the Ultimate Earth Magic ‘Mecharomancia’, for example, a magic that transforms a dead beast into a golem. Something like that existed even in Element Magic, so it wouldn’t be impossible for there to be an Innate Magic that summoned new beasts using dead ones.
Her mind was overwhelmed. With so many things to think about, she naturally gained a headache.
Klais brought a pipe to her mouth and stepped outside for a change of pace
Mana wasn’t the only effect of the mana grass.
Spicy yet sweet. The mana grass, which had a calming substance that also helped temporarily with anxiety, was a popular stimulant even to those who didn’t lack mana.
With a couple taps, Klais knocked off the ashes and started to walk. She was heading towards a science institution.
The Imperial Science Institution was an affiliate of the Academy. As a place established by the Emperor and run by the Academy’s chairman, this was essentially the cradle of all magic knowledge in the Empire.
Klais was also a member here. There were many who recognized her so she could freely enter and leave without any conditions.
“Welcome, Professor Hasfeldt.”
Klais’ main responsibilities were teaching and research. But she also had the task of reviewing papers submitted by other members of the society. The one difference between this and her regular work is probably the extra pay.
The money that she made from peer-reviewing was rather decent. And the less reviewers there were, the higher the amount. She could receive most of the commission fee paid by the member requesting the review.
Today, Klais had only one paper to review. It was in the theory category.
An excellent combat mage also doubled as a theorist, because they were the ones who developed theories about using potent magic in combat, how to volley even stronger spells, etc.
Thus, it wasn’t strange for Klais to review a paper in the magic theory category.
Klais looked over the paper she was to review. It was a short one that was six pages in length, but it had an intriguing title.
[Title : Are Magic Elements and Magical Energy Interchangeable?][Abstract : Yes they are.]
Who writes an abstract like this?
An abstract was where one summarized the main point of their research. The template would normally be filling the space with 200 to 300 words. In comparison, the abstract for this paper was almost non-existent.
It isn’t bad that it’s concise.
It was a novel format for Klais, at least. Without thinking too much on it, Klais moved onto the main content.
And then.
[From this discussion, it has been shown that the operator measuring Fire elements, the Casimir operator with associated angular momentum, and finally the four-vector operator which measures energy over time are all interchangeable. End of proof.]
[The same argument can be made with the introduction of operators applicable to the other properties (i.e. Water Realm, Air Realm, Earth Realm).]
What is this that I’m seeing?
Klais was able to tell how astronomically valuable the paper that she read was.
The hypothesis that magic elements, which took up half the world, could be exchanged with energy was one that had been asserted within the academic community since long ago. However, no one had been able to prove this hypothesis until now.
Klais, too, had only known this empirically through the usage of magic, how when magic was used, energy was released in the form of mana waves.
It was truly revolutionary that the exact amount could be clearly explained based on this new theory.
With this, I’d be able to do it.
The next stage of Flare.
This could complete the pinnacle of Fire Magic. She could build a more accurate circuit than now based on this theory and proceed with calculations on stabilizing the scroll.
There wasn’t much to revise. After catching a few misprints at most, Klais stamped the paper with the Tilette’s seal to mark that there were no issues.
I’d like to know who the author is.
In order to prevent the reviewer and the reviewee from conspiring together, they didn’t reveal the blank for the author. Although Klais had known this, she thought it unfortunate.
... It’s research to such a degree. They must be a great scholar, surely. I would love to meet them.
And with that thought, Klais rose from her seat. It was to go and smoke away this yearning.
**
Klion spent the whole weekend holed away inside the palace.
It wasn’t that he was a hermit. Rather, he would’ve been roaming the marketplace in disguise to search for a decent-looking commoner girl if he had been his usual self.
“Why did it fail?”
Currently, he was in a state of restlessness because he wasn’t able to have Aether in his hands.
5000 pieces.
It wasn’t silver or bronze but as much as 5000 pieces of gold. Until now, there hadn’t been any commoner girl who didn’t flirt with him after receiving such an amount.
The Empire’s gold was only for the Imperial court. Furthermore, the inequality of wealth had grown from the increase in taxes due to the drawn-out war. As such, most commoners lived a life that devoid of any abundance.
It was rather entertaining making those clowns/schmucks/lowborns/ bow down for a gold piece or two....‘
Aether hadn’t. If anything, she remained stiff-necked and protested against him instead of bowing her head.
She was surely lacking funds. Yet she refused his offer as if she only needed to live through the day.
“Should I have taken it in increments of ten thousand?”
Knock knock.
─ Are you there, Your Highness?
“Come in.”
There weren’t many who could burst in through the bedroom doors of the Second Prince.
Everyone in the court knew the Prince’s personality as it was common for him to get angry at the slightest inconvenience. Even servants who came to inform him of urgent matters usually entered with caution by slowly opening the doors.
However, the current Klion didn’t get upset despite the doors to his bedroom being opened noisily. When the Prince saw who came in through the doors, his mouth turned upwards in a smile.
“Duke Blanton! You’ve come just in time!”
“Of course I would come running at your call, Your Highness.”
Jack Blanton.
As the Grand Duke in charge of Water, he was the leader of the Second Prince’s faction supporting the Klion.
“Jack, listen to me. I carried out the plan that you told me but that insolent bitch turned me down!”
“You mean that the Golden-Eyed girl didn’t take Your Highness’ money?”
“Yes! She resolutely refused saying that she didn’t need it.”
Klion couldn’t give up on Aether no matter what. Every woman to be included in his big dream of ‘creating a harem of 1000’ needed to be beautiful and at the same time, special. In that aspect, the Golden-Eyed girl was the perfect fit for Klion’s collection.
“I really want that bitch in my bed....”
In order to do that, he needed to stop her from attending the Academy, whether she voluntarily dropped out or got expelled.
Of course, with her being a Golden-Eyed, he somewhat expected that she’d receive an academic probation for receiving an F in the practical courses. If that happened once or twice, then she shouldn’t be able to keep attending.
“There’s no need to be so worried. A Golden-Eyed will fail the graduation exam no matter how much she tries. When that time comes, she’ll realize her own foolishness. It won’t be long before she comes crying and clings to you, Your Highness.”
“I’m sure she would. But I don’t have the time to be waiting!”
Blanton knew very well how impatient Klion was. Hence, immediately presented another solution.
“Then what about luring in another student first?”
“Another student? Do you mean the daughter of Viscount Eliyev?”
“Indeed. The one who you were intending to have before.”
This content is taken from freёwebnovel.com.
At that, Klion let out an involuntary groan.
“Wouldn’t that bitch be tougher to handle than the Golden-Eyed?”
Iluka Eliyev. A girl with characteristic aquamarine hair and savage eyes.
Although she appeared aggressive, her beauty encompassed that. If she hadn’t been beautiful, then Klion wouldn’t have taken interest in the first place.
Except there was one problem. Iluka was a girl whose attitude matched her appearance.
Her temper was comparable to Klion’s. Perhaps it was worse than that, even.
But despite Klion’s worries, Blanton had a scheme.
“That’s fine. The Eliyev family are just lowly nobles who cannot defy Imperial orders. It won’t be a problem if you pressure the family directly.”
“Wasn’t that method used the last time? And that’s why the bitch escaped into the Academy.”
“Her status as the Viscount’s daughter may have been nullified but family relations remain the same. No child will fail to listen if their parents get involved.”
“Oho.”
“If that child is made to leave the school that way, then wouldn’t the Golden-Eyed also feel unsafe?”
Though it had its flaws, it wasn’t a bad idea.
“Will it... be okay? It’ll be fine, right?”
“I’m sure. If it succeeds, you will be able to harvest both fruits at the same time.”
“I see. Yes, you’re right, Jack. What was I worried about?”
The Prince nodded his head. The only thing left to do was draw the sword of authority.
“Ehehe.... You always have my gratitude, Duke Blanton. I’ll have to visit Viscount Eliyev sometime this week at the latest!”
The plan was to be executed on Monday. Klion’s mouth stretched into a crooked grin.
**
The weekend passed by and became Monday morning.
Klion was found at the central square, stabbed.