Chapter 64 Cooperation
"We cracked the Ice Crawler's magic gem, all right."
A few days later, Ricardo, with eyes ringed dark as when I'd left the military, showed up with a scowl, passing over documents as he delivered the cooling unit Lord Osric had ordered.
"What's up?"
"Three days. Haven't slept since you sent word."
He blinks, bloodshot eyes squinting, rubbing the corners.
Going 3 whole days without sleep is something even I don't do often.
"You didn't have to push yourself..."
I'd asked him to rush the analysis, but I never thought he'd take it this far──figured "eh, we'll figure it out by next summer."
"Well, Kreis had a breakthrough, and he couldn't just sit there and lose, could he?"
Lord Osric smiles coolly, basking in the chill spewing from the cooling unit's front.
"Think it'll work?"
Under the pressure of not being forgiven if it failed, I found myself confirming Ricardo's research on the spot.
"Turns out it's based on some primal ice magic, huh."
"You had a hunch? Could tell just by looking?"
"I've worked with a Salamander's magic gem before. Different element, but the magic's similar enough to trigger."
I was working on analyzing the magic gem from the volcano when my tasks piled up, leaving me with half-baked research.
But the Salamander spits fireballs, and the Ice Crawler iceballs.
A lot of beast magic is like that──simple but powerful.
And these two gems, I was sure, wouldn't be much different.
"Yeah. If we can adapt it, we could make a machine that casts a stronger ice spell than a fridge, with less mana."
"Means we might be able to make a heater the same way, huh?"
"Indeed, I'd like to have a prototype of that before winter."
Just as Lord Osric and I were getting excited, I noticed Ricardo heading for the door and called out to him.
"Thanks, man. This helped a ton. There's only so much I can do on my own."
I gave a sincere thank you, but then he furrowed his brows, crossed his arms, and shifted uneasily.
"As promised... when it's done, bring it to me first."
Lord Osric saw this and was laughing so hard he couldn't even speak.
What could be so funny about that?
After work, he would again visit the library, or join the Arcanist's practice where they taught him cooling magic, all while waiting for Yuruyana.
"Brrr, it's cold!"
"Calm down, you don't need that much power for the strengthening magic."
Even though the Arcanists were skilled in handling magic, everyone tends to overdo the cooling and almost freeze at first.
It's like having to maintain a consistent output of flame to keep a fire going, which is probably something most Arcanists have never done.
"What else? What kind of magic did you use in the military?"
"Flashy magic? Not at all. Basic stuff like body enhancement and scouting, then silence and camouflage..."
My preferences and teaching style had a big impact, so [Fourth]'s attack methods were biased towards arcane guns.
Plus, the missions we were assigned were often 'get the job done quickly, any means are fine,' so we hardly ever used flashy magic.
"If you could use silence and camouflage, you could sneak in anywhere, right?"
"But since only me and one other person could use camouflage, it was almost impossible in practice."
"Huh? There are other people who can use it too?"
"Yeah, a guy in my unit who's still the vice-captain. His name's Luka..."
If that person was alive, there would have been 3 of us who could use camouflage.
I briefly thought of the skilled team member, but the young female Arcanist's bitter murmur brought me back to reality.
"Luka... Could it be, Luka Oldrinii?"
"I guess you've heard of him. He's pretty well-known among nobles."
"Well, I know of him, or I've heard rumors, at least..."
He lowers his voice to a whisper.
"That [General] favors the illegitimate son over the legitimate one, and with his flashy love life, he's quite the standout."
"Yeah..."
His notoriety even reaches a place like this.
It's about time a victims' support group formed; wouldn't be surprising at all.
"Tsukumo, you're late."
After being scolded by the librarian for practicing unlearned magic in the library, I moved to a separate room to teach cooling magic when Yuruyana showed up.
"Nah, looks like you weren't waiting at all..."
He stares, bewildered, at me surrounded by Arcanists.
The same elderly Arcanist from the other day greeted me with a nod as he hurried past Yuruyana.
Among the many young Arcanists, he stands out, looking like the only one who's a bit older──must be a guide or something.
"You must be tired. How did it go?"
"I contacted my sister; she's setting up a chance for us to talk domestically."
"Yeah."
The trip to Norvalen seems to be off for now.
I felt a bit relieved, but I couldn't shake the feeling that Yuruyana wasn't okay with it.
"It's fine, I made the decision."
As if sensing my thoughts, he shows me his usual confident smile.
"Anyway, unrelated to this case, I still wanna visit for sightseeing sometime, Tsukumo."
"If we go, let's pick a time with nice weather."
"Mhm."
On our way back, neither Lord Osric nor Ricardo came to see us off.
The noble said he didn't want to leave the air-conditioned room, and Ricardo said he was taking a nap, staying lying down as if he were dead.
"If you sleep now, won't it be night by the time you wake up? You won't be able to go home..."
For safety reasons, you're not supposed to enter or leave the castle gates at night unless it's an emergency or you have prior permission.
Instead, the elderly Arcanist, Mr. Magnus, who came to see us off, gave a wry smile.
"We sometimes stay overnight before the thesis presentation..."
"Ugh..."
I guess it's good I didn't become a court Arcanist after all.
I'm just not cut out for battling paperwork.
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