Chapter 99

Happy New Year!

Last year was a tough one worldwide, but I hope everyone has a good year ahead! First and foremost, I hope you all stay healthy!

Good morning.

The weather today is cloudy.

It's the final day of the exams.

The faces of the students not in Class S seem a bit brighter, though some look utterly exhausted and soulless!

In the prominent seat at the center of the cafeteria, Cavendish, who has been treated rudely lately, is sitting next to the former Goddess of Destruction, eating breakfast.

Her face looks very pleased.

The former president is also sitting in the seat directly in front of the former Goddess of Destruction.

Glancing at them, I sit at a corner seat, eat breakfast, and head to the classroom.

While everyone is taking the exams, I will unhex the magical tools I bought yesterday.

They are not much different from the magical tools I bought in bulk before; out of four, one is for storage, and the remaining three are for attack.

The storage magical tool is shaped like a student bag but can only hold fresh ingredients. Its capacity is about the size of two classrooms.

The attack magical tools are: one that can rain fire over a wide area once, one that can trap the opponent in a wall of earth and suffocate them five to six times, and one that can shoot water spears as many times as you want as long as your magic power doesn't run out.

All of these magical tools are destined for the knights.

The mental manipulation magical tools that the former Goddess of Destruction mentioned yesterday are not among them.

I don't know what will come out, but should I prepare for it?

I have never made defensive magical tools, but I guess I just need to draw a circle inside a circle. As long as I don't make a mistake in the order of writing, it should be fine even if the number of characters is large.

I rummage through my magic bag.

I don't know when the opponent will attack, so it has to be something I can always carry!

But if it's too small, it's a hassle to write the magic array.

So, I decided to add another plate to the dog tag, which is the adventurer's identity proof.

Arslhein and the others always wear it around their necks except during official events.

Since I might need many plates in the future, I will first make a stamp.

For defensive magical tools, the order of writing the characters inside the circle from top to bottom and left to right doesn't change, but if the characters are not evenly spaced, the balance will be off.

I draw a circle inside a circle.

Inside the circle, I write "Mental Attack Nullification" and add a square inside to illuminate the perpetrator.

This way, if someone uses a mental attack on the person holding this magical tool, the perpetrator will be illuminated.

I transfer this to a dragon's magic stone and engrave it with magic.

It's a delicate job, so it took most of the morning.

I cut and shaped the leftover material from making the board, placed the magic stone, and burned it in place.

It glows and is complete!

I made a few and the morning ended.

I changed clothes and went to town.

While eating at the restaurant Degrey recommended, I explained the magical tools and distributed them to everyone, and they were very grateful!

I plan to give the stamp to Chief Tailsmya later.

Shell told me that recently, a part-time job for burning things has become popular in the castle!

And somehow, the fragments of dragon magic stones in my magic bag have increased!

Shell, ever since she realized that anyone can put things in my magic bag but only I can take them out, has been putting too many things in! I don't know when, but the contents have increased!

While moving by board as part of my training, the people in town got excited, but since I'm flying on the roof, I'm not in the way.

I was stopped by a guard, but when I said I was a student at the academy, I was easily let go, which surprised me.

When I asked if it was okay, I was told that academy students sometimes cause trouble in town, so as long as it's not a dangerous act, it's overlooked.

The people in town are used to it, so it's fine.

Is that really okay?

I arrived at the old magical tool shop.

After observing the store to make sure the former Goddess of Destruction wasn't there, I entered.

I chatted lightly with the shop owner, who I know, and asked about cursed magical tools.

"You haven't had any new ones since you sold them to us, right? Is it a trend to collect cursed magical tools at the academy these days? I heard a cute girl came to buy one the other day?"

"It's not a trend, I guess. Mine is purely a hobby, and what did that girl say she was going to use it for?"

"She said it was for training to become a saint and to improve her ability to unhex things."

"Wait, saints come from a different world, right?"

"I heard that, so I thought she was a strange girl and didn't sell it to her! She didn't seem to have any money either!"

The shop owner grinned, and Degrey grinned back.

"That's the right decision! The church doesn't even have training for saints!"

"How do you know that?"

"One of my friends at the academy is the son of a high-ranking church official!"

"Wow, so that girl was lying? She seems to have gone to other old magical tool shops, and it's become a rumor. Should I pass on the information?"

"Hmm, if she pays properly, it's fine to sell to her, but according to the old magical tool shop she went to yesterday, she haggles a lot."

"That's why they don't sell, I guess."

The shop owner and Degrey grinned.

In the end, I couldn't buy any cursed magical tools at that shop, but I got information about the former Goddess of Destruction, so I moved on to the next one.

I visited about three old magical tool shops and could only buy two cursed magical tools.

I finished with the nearby magical tool shops for today.

One of the two magical tools I bought can make you invisible for about an hour, and the other can create a cool breeze for about three hours.

Tomorrow, I have to travel by carriage to visit twelve shops that are quite far away, so I ate dinner early and went to bed early.

Today, on my day off, I went out early in the morning to visit old magical tool shops.

Riding on the board, the city, which is the largest in the country, is full of people.

The view from the board is different from that of a carriage, and everyone observed the scenery with interest while flying on the board.

The academy is on the outskirts of the capital, in a relatively safe area, so as we moved, the scenery became more diverse, and although it was lively, the safety deteriorated.

There were pickpockets in the next street where the guards were patrolling, and groups of bad people fighting in the alleys, and sometimes pickpockets looking for prey.

Perhaps because I was seen flying in the city yesterday, I was waved at by the guards several times.

Just pointing to the next street seemed to convey something, and they quickly came to help.

Since we were flying in a straight line, which is much faster than the carriage route, we arrived at our destination in no time.

The old magical tool shops in this area are either too nice to make a profit or have failed in various ways and lost credibility.

There are many shops that require caution, so in most cases, only Degrey does the talking.

The others pretend to be there just to accompany him, looking at other magical tools or sometimes not even entering the shop and eating skewers nearby.

The next shop we are going to is one of the shops that require caution.

Degrey, Shell, and I entered the shop, which has a dirty glass door.

Shell is accompanying us to make Degrey look like a wealthy young man.

I am set up as Degrey's younger brother.

I'm the only one who can appraise, and I won't buy dangerous items disguised as magical tools!

The shop owner is a fat, bald man. He seems like a good person at first glance, but when you look closely, his eyes are carefully appraising Degrey.

He's wearing plain but expensive fabric clothes!

The shop owner seemed to remember the customer who bought cursed magical tools before and suddenly became friendly.

"Oh, welcome! You've been here before, haven't you?"

"Ah, yeah. Hey, have you gotten any new cursed magical tools? I want to buy them if you have any."

"Yes, yes, we do! I kept them for you because you said you would come back!"

I was unimpressed by his exaggerated claim that he hadn't sold them to other customers.

"Wow, show me, show me! I'll buy them if they're interesting!"

"Master, you shouldn't waste your money on such trivial things!"

"Aw, come on, it's my only hobby! I won't buy dangerous things like before!"

Degrey looked curiously at the box the shop owner brought from the back.

The box contained several magical tools, some of which had wiggly things growing on them.

I secretly signaled to Degrey and, pretending to be an innocent child, touched the cursed magical tools.

"Whoa, Master, you shouldn't touch that! It's too early for you!"

The baby talk annoyed me, but Degrey quickly passed me to Shell and peered into the box of cursed magical tools.

"Hmm, there are quite a few. What does this one do?"

"Oh, this one... ..."

After listening to the explanation, I chose three of the magical tools I touched and paid for them.

The shop owner tried to sell us non-cursed magical tools, but when Degrey made a face, he backed off, and since the price was within our expectations, we paid the amount and were sent off with a bow.

Since these small items don't require much attention, we made quick progress.

We visited ten shops in the morning and bought cursed magical tools.

Since we moved quickly, we finished much earlier than planned and stopped for lunch at a restaurant with two shops left.

The remaining two shops are very suspicious, so we took a break to restore Degrey's energy.

The restaurant is in a residential area called the Lower Town, but it is part of Degrey's company, so we could eat lunch with peace of mind.

The meat was still tough, so we had a potato stew. Everyone ordered hearty meals, but the tough meat made them look unsatisfied.

After lunch, we rode the board to the old magical tool shop.

We entered a shop that looked suspicious.

The group consisted of Degrey, Arslhein, Shell, and Jyuu.

Arslhein and Jyuu acted as guards, Shell as a servant.

Yugram and I waited outside.

Arslhein and Jyuu can now distinguish between cursed and non-cursed magical tools with their Evil-Repelling Eyes.

While waiting with Yugram in a corner of the alley, the bad atmosphere of the area attracted the attention of some large, suspicious men.

Looking closely, I could see that more suspicious men were gradually approaching from other alleys.

We should have hidden before things got complicated. So,

"Ah!"

I pointed up loudly, and as soon as the men's gaze shifted upward, I put up a recognition barrier and moved to the front of the shop.

Surprised by our sudden disappearance, some of the men ran to where we had been, but finding no one there, the surrounding men gathered, and a few of the underlings were punched and kicked.

After waiting for a while, the three who came out of the shop looked very tired, but we had one more to go.

This time, we also entered the shop, which looked suspicious, with the recognition barrier still up.

We left all the negotiations to Degrey, and Yugram and I stayed in the corner of the shop, silent and unnoticed.

The shop owner was a mysterious figure, with a deep hood, whose age and gender were unknown.

We managed to complete the transaction safely and headed to a private room in a café as soon as we were in a safe area. The tension on everyone's faces eased, and they let out deep sighs.

"Ah, if we don't get a hit this time, I don't want to go to those two shops again!"

"Even though he couldn't see, he put a lot of pressure on us, and there were several bodyguards outside the shop. I'd rather not go there either."

"He had a presence that wasn't to be underestimated."

As they placed the magical tools they had bought one by one on the table, the three of them grumbled.

Dealing with a person whose only known quality is suspiciousness was quite tiring.

We bought a total of 18 cursed magical tools from the twelve shops we visited today.

Of these, six were for storage, three for attack, eight for defense, and the rest were junk.

The storage magical tools all had limitations, the defense magical tools only provided physical protection, and the junk was truly junk. What is a ball that just keeps rolling for? And then, among the remaining attack magical tools, we found a hit.

"Ah, bingo! Mental manipulation magical tool discovered!"

"Wow! So it's that kind!"

"Mental manipulation, the ability to control others according to your will."

"Hmm, but this magical tool, if completely unhexed, loses its mental manipulation ability."

"Huh? What do you mean? It's a mental manipulation magical tool, right?"

"If it's only partially unhexed, it remains a mental manipulation magical tool, but if it's completely unhexed, it becomes a magical tool that confuses the opponent."

"Partially unhexed, it's a mental manipulation magical tool, but completely unhexed, it confuses the opponent... So that girl, despite being so confident, was planning to use a magical tool that she couldn't completely unhex?"

"For her, the partially unhexed version might be more convenient."

"Ugh, I can imagine what happens next, and it doesn't feel good at all."

"Yes, it's a big relief to have obtained this magical tool here to prevent that from happening!"

"Ah, it was worth the effort!"

"Yes, I'm relieved. We can't let her do as she pleases any longer!"

With the worry resolved, we returned to the academy with peace of mind.

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