Chapter 41 – The assassin performs a surgery
Today, we had a written comprehension test.
As soon as I had solved all the problems, I immersed myself in my own thoughts.
A few days ago, I assassinated an assassin.
I was reluctant to kill someone from the same business as me, but my decision to go through with it prevailed over the rest.
I wasn’t worried about Epona getting killed.
What I was worried about was that if that assassination failed, it would make Epona cautious of any future attempt at her life.
『I didn’t get much intel out of him. 』(Lugh)
As a result of my torture session, I learned that the mastermind of the moment was someone from the noble faction.
I was relieved that it wasn’t someone from the royal faction.
There was no way Tuatha Dé could go against the royal faction and their relatives, after all.
…Although, if you saw the country as one whole unit, then the conflict between the royal faction and the noble faction was pretty much a feud between relatives.
Also, I found out the reason why Epona was being targeted.
In some way, you could say it was an extremely valuable reason.
『Nevertheless, the time has finally come, huh.』(Lugh)
I would perform Talt’s surgery in the evening. I’d done enough practice and we had the next day off.
If like me, you had【Hyper Regeneration】, you would’ve been allowed to remove your bandages immediately, but in Talt’s case, it would take two days even if she used her magic power to enhance her eyes’ self-recovery.
Proceeding to the operation the night before the holiday was appropriate.
[The test is over. I will now recover your papers.] (Teacher)
Our exam copies were collected.
After a while, I heard the bell ring to announce the end of class.
As usual, Talt and Dia rushed to my side, but lately, there’d been one more person.
[I did pretty well in the exam this time! It’s all thanks to your study sessions.] (Epona)
It was Epona.
When it came to the pursuit of knowledge, she was dangerously behind the rest of the class too, so I took numerous opportunities to tutor her.
Otherwise, Epona would’ve been unable to keep up with the lessons.
As I kept teaching her again and again, deciding on a schedule for every single time became so laborious I decided we would hold study sessions on a periodic basis.
And for some reason, even Neusch and Finn were partaking in them.
[I guess you’ve got a firm grasp of the basics now. If you keep up this pace for the next six months, you should be able to manage without our help.] (Lugh)
Epona was already smart as she was.
Additionally, she possessed a hero skill that granted her perfect memory, allowing her to instantly remember everything that entered her field of vision.
When I inquired her about it, it appeared that it wasn’t merely related to memory.
It was a skill that allowed her to memorize the enemy’s movements, calculate and analyze them, and devise countermeasures. Those were the perks of a perfect memory.
To sum it up, any move she had seen once became extremely difficult to use successfully from this point forward.
Moreover, it seemed that she never forgot anything she remembered.
Thanks to that, I was in a sour mood every time I had a mock battle with her.
[Why do you treat me so well? It’s because I’m the hero, isn’t it…?] (Epona)
Epona asked while casting down her eyes.
She was not good at gauging the distance between herself and other people. Even though she was relying on me, she had no self-confidence, so she kept thinking『Someone like me…』until she became distrustful of others.
She wasn’t a bad girl, but she was kind of a pain.
[I would be lying if I denied that. But that’s not the only reason. I’m doing this because I enjoy being with you. And I’m terrible at lying. When I’m with someone I don’t like, I’m in a foul mood.] (Lugh)
[I see, that’s good to hear. I was worried that you were begrudgingly putting up with me because I’m the hero… Someday, I’ll return the favor for treating me so nicely!] (Epona)
Even I used to tell this kind of lie a lot, I think.
But it was a necessary lie. This was so I could search for her weaknesses and create the best situation where I wouldn’t need to kill the hero.
Talt started to look restless, worrying about the time.
[Lugh-sama, if we don’t go to the library soon, we’ll lose the seats we reserved.] (Talt)
[Ah! That won’t do. The library isn’t flexible at all. If we’re even one second late, our seats will be taken by others.] (Dia)
[Well, if we can’t go there, we can always study in our room. The dorm rooms are large, after all.] (Lugh)
[[Our room is off-limits!]] (Dia & Talt)
Talt and Dia both agreed to disagree.
Why, though?
Talt always cleaned the room nicely, so there was nothing to hide in there.
Because of my line of work, there were a few things I didn’t want anyone else to see, but I already hid them so nobody could find them.
…Because I assumed that some trespasser could break into our room while we were away, that is.
[Hahaha, I can see who’s wearing the pants in your relationships. Having both Dia and Talt on your back must take its toll on you, no? How about giving up either one to me?] (Neusch)
Neusch teasingly asked.
[Not interested. Because the two of them are my precious partners.] (Lugh)
When I declared that, Talt and Dia’s faces turned red, and Epona muttered ‘It looks so nice’ with the face of a child who wanted toys.
[For now, let’s hurry. Or else we’ll be too late.] (Lugh)
I packed up my stuff and stood up.
_______________________________________________________________
It was the night of our day off.
I headed to Talt’s room.
The other day, I safely completed the implant surgery to give her Tuatha Dé’s eye, and today, I could finally see the results.
[I feel so nervous. I hope Talt can still see clearly with her eyes.] (Dia)
[Her feedback was positive, but the worst can still happen. I feel worried too.] (Lugh)
I made good use of that assassin and practiced repeatedly, so what I mean to say is that I made doubly sure that Talt’s surgery would succeed.
[Ah, Lugh-sama, Dia-sama. So the time has finally come.] (Talt)
Talt had an eyepatch over her right eye.
I followed Dia’s advice and didn’t perform the surgery on both eyes, but only on the right one for starters.
So in the unlikely event that the operation failed, only one eye would be blind.
[I’m going to remove your eyepatch now. But I’ll tell you this beforehand. Don’t worry about me, no matter what. If I don’t tell you this in advance, even if the operation failed, you would be capable of telling that I feel dejected just by watching me.] (Lugh)
[…Ugh, I can’t deny that.] (Talt)
That was the kind of girl Talt was.
[That’s the one thing I don’t want you to do. I’m not saying I want to take responsibility or anything of the sort. Even if it doesn’t work or there’s a flaw, as long as it’s in the early stage, I’ll fix it. However, if we leave it unattended for too long, it’ll be irreversible. No matter if it’s just a minor glitch, a malfunction or whatever, anything goes. But swear to me that you will tell me when that happens.] (Lugh)
[Yes, I will!] (Talt)
Talt and I stared at each other.
She was following me with her bright left eye.
I slowly removed the eyepatch on her right eye.
Due to the surgery, this one had turned slightly dark.
Performing this surgery on the people form the Tuatha Dé family turned their eyes gray, but in Talt’s case, it only looked like its color saturation had dropped.
She’d been wearing an eyepatch all this time, so her eyesight was out of focus.
[Lugh-sama, my vision feels pretty blurry.] (Talt)
[That’s because it’s been covered by an eyepatch for a while. Look at this light.] (Lugh)
I created some light with magic and told her to stare at it.
She was regaining her focus.
[Ah! I can see properly now!] (Talt)
[Okay, next. Come over here.] (Lugh)
I pulled Talt by the hand and moved her to the window.
I opened it and pointed at a far-away mountain.
[First, look at that mountain with only your left eye, the one I didn’t modify.] (Lugh)
[I can see it clearly.] (Talt)
[Then, tell me how many branches there are on the trunk of that large tree at the top of the mountain. After that, tell me what kind of creatures there are on each of those branches.] (Lugh)
[I cannot see them. I cannot even see the tree in question, much less its branches.] (Talt)
I figured as much. Even with binoculars, this wasn’t a distance you could see it from.
[In that case, try with your right eye next.] (Lugh)
Talt put her hand on her left eye, and she observed with the right eye I had just operated on.
[Amazing, there really is a large tree! And I can even tell how many branches it has! It’s only faintly, but I can’t believe I can see so well! There are sixteen of them! But… the small animals resting on them look too blurry for me to see.] (Talt)
[Try to pour magic power into your eyes the same way you do when strengthening your body. Do it slowly and steadily.] (Lugh)
[Ah! I’m starting to see better! There are squirrels, then three birds I’ve never seen before, and, um… even a praying mantis!]
She could even see the insects perched on a large a few kilometers away.
Such was the power of Tuatha Dé’s eyes.
[That’ll be enough. Do you see anything else?] (Lugh)
[After enhancing them with magic, it looks to me like Lugh-sama, Dia-sama and I as well are wrapped in glittering particles of light.] (Talt)
[What you’re seeing is our magic power. Try to pour a little more of it into your eyes. If you do, then you’ll be able to see even the mana that fills this world.] (Lugh)
[Oh, it’s so pretty. So this is the mana in the atmosphere. The power of the world. Whoa…! This is so, so marvelous! To think this world was so beautiful! This is the world as Lugh-sama sees it!] (Talt)
With an ecstatic look on her face, Talt was spinning in circle while flipping her skirt.
She looked so cute I found myself captivated by her.
[There was no problem with your farsightedness and magical vision. The next test is my favorite. We’ll check your dynamic visual acuity. Talt, move back to the edge of the wall.] (Lugh)
[Like this?] (Talt)
[Yes. Starting now, I’ll throw balls at you, and you’ll have to catch them. Pour even more of your magic power into your eyes. This’ll make them considerably more effective.] (Lugh)
I took out one of my assassination tools.
At first glance, it looked like a fist-sized white ball.
But surprisingly enough, it could be used in many ways, so I kept some in the【Crane Bag】, my magic storage bag.
I tampered a little with the ball and brandished it.
When she saw me strengthening my body with magic, Talt did the same and added even more power to her eyes.
Tuatha Dé’s eyes were showing their true value.
After I confirmed that, I brandished my ball and threw it.
By pitching it with my enhanced physical abilities, the ball reached a speed around the latter half of 200 km/h.
And Talt managed to catch that.
The fact that she could catch a ball thrown at such a speed was amazing, but Talt could’ve done that even without Tuatha Dé’s eyes.
What I wanted to confirm was something else.
[Whoa…! Is this a congratulatory gift!? I’m so happy!] (Talt)
[Alright, you pass. What I wanted to grant you above all was an eye that can spot details even when they move at super speed.] (Lugh)
[Eh? Lugh, Talt, what do you mean by a congratulatory gift? You guys never said anything about that, did you!?] (Dia)
Dia looked bewildered.
[I wrote a message on the ball.] (Lugh)
[Yes, even though it was written on the ball, I could read it just fine.] (Talt)
[Wow, Tuatha Dé’s eyes are really incredible. I couldn’t read anything at all.] (Dia)
The fact that Dia couldn’t read it was understandable.
The ball wasn’t just flying at a speed around the latter half of 200 km/h, it was also spinning at more than 100 revolutions per second.
It was impossible to read a message written on such a super-fast-flying and super-fast-spinning ball with ordinary eyes.
It would’ve been a different story if she had a special skill, though.
[Now, let’s go eat in the royal capital at once. It’ll be expensive, but once in a while doesn’t hurt.] (Lugh)
[You’re right. And it’ll be to celebrate the success of Talt’s operation. We’ve got to make it count.] (Dia)
[I can’t wait to see how many more meals I’ll learn to cook.] (Talt)
At times like this, she could just candidly enjoy them, though.
Still, that’s what I like about Talt.
[Since this operation was a success, does this mean that you will now move on to my left eye?] (Talt)
[No, I’ll try to wait a few days before that, just in case. Either way, we’ll have school starting tomorrow. If we’re going to do it, it’ll be on the evening before the next day off. Until then, you’ll keep this on.] (Talt)
[What is this small and transparent thing?] (Talt)
[It’s a tool called a contact lens. If you wear it, the colors of your left and right eyes will match. If your surroundings noticed the sudden color change, they’d be shocked, no?] (Lugh)
[Ah, you’re right. I will use it diligently.] (Talt)
Talt immediately wore the lens.
At first glance, she looked the same as before.
[Training is going to be difficult for you starting tomorrow, but give it your all. Once you’ve mastered your eye, you may achieve a whole new level of strength.] (Lugh)
[If I do, then I’ll be able to assist you more effectively than ever before, Lugh-sama!] (Talt)
[I bet you’ll also be able to make better use of the wind magic I created for you. …I’d better come up with my own trump card too. If I lag behind any further, I might not earn enough points.]
I went easy on her today because she was recovering, but starting tomorrow, I’ll have her grow accustomed to Tuatha Dé’s eyes during hands-on training.
Overusing those eyes put a strain on the brain. It would probably take her some time to get used to them.
[No need to hesitate at all today. I’ll spend my special budget on everything you two want.] (Lugh)
[Ho-hoh, then let’s mercilessly ask for stuff like expensive alcohol and the likes!] (Dia)
[In that case, I’d like to try the meat of cattle raised specifically for eating. I heard rumors about it and wanted to eat once in my life. I heard that it was so tender and delicious it’s incomparable with the meat of working cattle.] (Talt)
The girls knew that holding back at a moment like this would be rude.
This was going to be a fun party.
However, we’d better be careful not to be followed on our way. If word spread that I, who am merely the son of a baron, went to have fun in a high-class restaurant in the capital, it would bring about some questionable rumors.
And as for the restaurant, the best choice was one that would have private rooms to protect their customers’ privacy.
[Let’s meet after we’ve changed clothes. We’ll be going to a nice restaurant, so all the more reason.] (Lugh)
[I’ll be as fashionable as I can be!] (Talt)
[I should have some dresses that will charm Lugh.] (Dia)
I was looking forward to seeing their dresses.
Now, let’s hurry up and get changed so we can go to the city.
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