"Haaah."
Mikhail, with his head buried in the desk, sighed with a gloomy expression.
"Today is the seventh day."
It's already been a week since Mikhail was captured by Pavel and taken to the tower during the New Year's festival.
"I haven't seen Karina for a week."
Of course, it was just the other day that he tried to sneak away in the middle of the process, got caught, and was caught again.
"Why did I have to run into the teacher right there?"
Mikhail frowned and spoke loudly.
"..."
Max, who was next to him, looked at Mikhail with cold eyes. Two days ago, Max heard Pavel mumbling to himself that it was time for Mikhail to run away when he had been called by the owner of the tower, Pavel, and had gone to help out. At that time, he had just thought, 'No way! But he had never dreamed that Mikhail, who was really trying to run away, would be caught by Pavel half a day after hearing those words.
Pavel knew his disciple all too well. Max wanted to ask Mikhail if he had something in mind, but he held back. He knew that if he found out, Mikhail would nag him and ask why he didn't tell him in advance. Max decided to just pretend not to know and cover it up for his own peace of mind.
"Stop thinking about running away. Since you're going to be on the magic Tower anyway, wouldn't it be better to use your time more productively?"
"Productive?"
Mikhail raised his head at Max's words.
"I already made a ring with engraved firestone and sent it to Karina?"
"Catch-up work is also productive."
"Not at all. No matter how much I do, there's no end to the work I do."
Mikhail rested his chin on his hand and retorted indifferently.
"Phew."
Max looked at Mikhail and touched his forehead. It seemed like Mikhail wouldn't do anything even if he were to sit at his desk. Max thought about the things Mikhail had to do other than paperwork and asked.
"By the way, did you refill the elixir you took last time?"
The elixir was the highest-grade healing potion that Mikhail had taken away without a word the last time Karina was caught up in a hostage situation by escaped convicts.
"The Lord of the Tower told me to make more than what you brought before."
"Tch! Even the teacher is petty, I made it all because he was so petty."
Mikhail grumbled, clicking his tongue.
"You're petty! Do you know how many high-level magicians it takes to make just one bottle of that? And the ingredients are all rare and hard to find! Even if you have all the ingredients, it takes at least half a year just to mix it!"
Max, who was upset by Mikhail's reaction, spoke up. If Mikhail didn't make it, they would have to make it for him and fill it up, so it wasn't something to laugh off as someone else's problem.
"That's because they lack skill. Why do they drag it out for half a year to make a single potion that could have taken only a few days?"
Mikhail snorted, saying it made no sense for it to take that long.
"..."
Max kept his mouth shut. Mikhail was a wizard born with genius qualities. He was different from other wizards from the beginning. From their perspective, almost impossible things were easily solved by Mikhail. As a result, he could not understand at all what other wizards had difficulty with. He did not realize that the things he did as simple as he could had a huge impact on those around him.
'That kind of guy is the boss I have to serve!'
Max, who was the most swayed by Mikhail, gathered his patience and swallowed his rising anger.
"Now that we're on the topic."
Mikhail rolled his eyes for a moment as if thinking about something, then asked.
"The wishing potion, are you still making that?"
"Yes? If it's a wishing potion, then it's the fatigue recovery potion?"
Max raised one eyebrow at the unexpected question and searched his memory. The wishing potion was a potion that some wizards had secretly made in the magic tower a while ago because they lacked research funds and sold it on the market.
The name was grandiose, 'Wishing Potion', but when you actually looked into it, it was just a plain potion containing low-grade potions and stamina supplements that were commonly found in the magic tower. Despite its high price, the only effects were a feeling of excitement and joy, and a slight increase in stamina, but no other effects at all.
"I thought they wouldn't do that again after they got caught by the Lord of the Tower and got a bad beating?"
"Yes?"
What Mikhail knew wasn't much different from what Max knew.
"And the number of wishing potions in circulation at the time wasn't that many. It wasn't even enough to warrant a recall. There wouldn't be any particular problems caused by the potion, right?"
Max looked like he didn't know why Mikhail was asking this.
"Yes. I know that too..."
Mikhail's expression became serious.
"That wishing potion, is it true that it only contains the real fatigue recovery ingredients? Was there anything else in it?"
"No."
Max shook his head with a determined expression.
"The Lord of the Tower of Magic stripped those guys of their clothes and burned them all down. Unless those guys were lying to the Lord of the Tower of Magic because they were swollen, it's certain."
Mikhail's mind became more complicated at Max's assertion.
'What the heck?'
Mikhail became curious. He remembered Karina asking the Dark Statue to find information about the wishing potion. Judging by her attitude, her belief in the wishing potion seemed quite strong.
'The wishing potion, as far as I know, is just a joke with a fancy name like a love potion.'
'I heard it doesn't work at all.
Even when he told her the truth, Karina didn't seem to believe him at all.
'Wasn't that the fatigue recovery potion she drank made at the Magic Tower?'
Of course, he briefly thought that if it were something else, wouldn't that be more of a problem?
'But Karina clearly asked, 'Is there a case where a wish doesn't come true even after drinking the potion?"
If that's the case, then it would mean that she also drank the wishing potion and saw no effect. If she drinks the wishing potion but her wish doesn't come true, the normal reaction would be to think that the wishing potion was a scam and that she was tricked.
'Why on earth do you blindly believe in the wishing potion and seek information like that?'
Mikhail's doubts deepened.
"Is there a problem?"
Max asked anxiously, but Mikhail was lost in thought and responded a beat late.
"Yes? Again?"
"Okay, Max. Go to the Imperial Capital."
Max reacted with bewilderment to Mikhail's sudden order. When he said to go to the Imperial Capital, he meant to go to the Grand Duchess in the capital.
"Why this time?"
Max looked at Mikhail with a disapproving expression.
"Go and see what Karina is doing."
"Of course, she is doing well."
It was only two days ago that Max had gone to the capital to deliver a ring to Karina.
"So go and see if she's doing really well."
Mikhail looked at Max with an expression that said, "If you tell me to go, I'll go. Why are you asking me that?"
"..."
Max's mouth hung open. Max sighed and grumbled at Mikhail's stubborn gaze that insisted on sending him even if he said he wouldn't go.
"If it's going to be like this, it would be better to just leave a magic communication device next to the Grand Duke..."
As Max muttered like that, he suddenly had the thought that maybe it really would work. He patted himself on the back and said that what he had just thought of was a really good idea.
"I'll go and leave a communication port in the Grand Duchess's room. From now on, you can check it without me having to go."
Mikhail nodded after hearing that.
"That's right. If you had done that in advance, I could have seen Karina right away, and you wouldn't have had to go through the trouble of going all the way to the capital. You should have done that earlier."
"..."
Max pounded his stuffy chest as he watched Mikhail scratching at people with an indifferent expression.
"By the way, where did you sell the video communication device you took before?"
As Max snapped, Mikhail finally remembered as if he had forgotten.
"Oh, that? I used it to contact the flower shop. One is at the inn and the other one... It's probably still on the shelf in the room I stayed in at the Grand Duke's."
"What if you leave it there!"
"I didn't know I would be dragged in like this all of a sudden?"
Mikhail responded to Max's criticism by saying that he too felt wronged.
"Stop talking and let's go quickly. While we're at it, we can bring it back."
"..."
Max grumbled that his workload had increased, but he still left the room to faithfully carry out Mikhall's orders.
***
"Ah..."
Karina, who was going inside the cave, stopped shortly after with an embarrassed expression.
"Do you need this?"
David activated the magic stone on the ring he was wearing as if he knew why she had stopped. Then the magic stone began to shine brightly and illuminate the area in front of Karina. The inside of the cave, which had been pitch-black, became clearly visible.
"That's right. It was so dark that I couldn't see anything in front of me."
Karina told the truth. Since David had the ring, the two naturally switched places and went back into the cave. As they walked around the cave, they slowly looked around and found the source of the sound of water dripping. However.
"This won't work."
"That's right."
What they found were regular drips from the cave ceiling and thin streams of water trickling down through cracks in the walls. The water flowed down from the walls and flowed down through small holes that were about the size of a finger.
"Hmm... Now that we're this far inside, let's go deeper."
"Yes."
Karina nodded and followed David's suggestion. The two of them walked deeper into the cave for a while after that. At this point, it seemed like there was nothing there, so they thought they should give up.
"Your Majesty, over there...!"
Karina raised her hand and pointed somewhere. A faint light was coming from far away on the other side. As she got closer, she could see outside. It seemed to be the opposite side of where she had been before.
"There was a way out here too."
David said as he looked around. The cave entrance where they had been before was a very large and wide entrance that new monsters could enter and exit, but this one was a little less than half that size. However, grass and trees were growing here and there, and the slope of the cliff was definitely more gentle than the other side. However, it was not enough to ride down like going down a mountain.
"This is really getting tricky."
David rubbed his chin and said as if nothing had improved. But Karina said seriously in a firm voice.
"I think I'll have to climb down the outer wall here."
David looked at Karina with his brows slightly furrowed.
"Here? It's not as steep as that place before, but it's just as dangerous."
"I know that, but I have to do something."
Karina stood up with a determined expression and began to tear the hem of her robe and skirt. A surprised David stopped her.
"What are you doing now?"
Support Novellate!
Comments
Post a Comment