Hours passed by and the inscription restoration process was halfway finished. After Alternis finished his current work on a worn-out rune on the wall, he sat down and leaned back. He looked at his status and was elated to learn that his [Concentration], [Decode], [Meditation], [Mana Sense], [Mana Control], [Multitasking], and [Writing] skills leveled up ten times. His [Inscription] leveled up 15 times. With all of these gains, it’s no wonder he still feels energetic; every time he completes his restoration on a magic circle or a set of rune, he feels like his comprehension and efficiency increases by a substantial amount.
He heard footsteps coming towards him from the back and a voice accompanying it, “Nice work, Alternis. You did especially well in delegating duties to my helpers. What gave you the idea to split them into three groups with different duties?”
“I needed at least two groups working on the worn-out inscriptions to complete the tasks in rapid pace. Since enchanting is work that requires attention to detail, so mistakes are bound to happen. This is why I gave the third group the task of double checking the other groups’ work.”
“Fascinating, kid. Although, it’s getting pretty late into the night. Why don’t we turn in for the night?”
He turned his eyes toward the assistants and agreed with with Adelle; the people were working more slowly, rubbing their eyes, and even yawning at times. He looked back at the Sage and concurred, “Then let’s have them turn in for the night. Exhaustion will only create more work in the process. I’ll continue working on my end.” He turned back to his next set of worn-out runes and raise his inscription wand.
“…I see. Spoken like a true military student.”
He stopped moving his inscription wand for a few seconds and continued the mending process.
“Alright, everyone! Your patron has decided to start going to bed!”
“Finally! My back was aching from crawling all over the room!”
“You sound like an old man! You should exercise more!”
“Dealing with these brats is giving me more exercise than I care to get.”
“…No way, you mean that you exercised that much and yet your back is still that feeble?”
“…You little cretins!”
As the rowdy bunch left the room, Adelle and Alternis were alone, still repairing the inscriptions.
“…Mind if I ask you something?”
“What is it, my dear student?”
“Why did you burn the piggy out there?”
“…Are you saying that I shouldn’t have burnt that filth to the ground?”
“Not at all. I only regret not being able to do it myself. I’ll have to search the library for some Tier 1 spells, since I learned that the spells from both the users’s current tier and the tier above are made available to them.”
“Pft! Ahahahahahahahaha! You are amusing as always! Then what’s the problem?”
“The problem is that you tortured the idiot in public, when you could’ve easily lured that piece of trash to a more remote spot. That way, you’d be able to REALLY teach him about the gravity of his actions as long as you want. Because of that, the locals and even your assistants are afraid of you.”
When twenty people work together to fully repair a room, there’d be some noisy conversations happening. However, not even a whisper was uttered in her presence. What really confirmed Alternis’s suspicions of people’s fear towards her was when the assistants mended the runes and magic circles everywhere but in her surroundings. Whatever the situation, gaining unwanted attention is bound to be inconvenient for her.
”…Did you know? The people who entered our world were the opposite of the ones we get today.”
He had a sneaking suspicious that this was the case based on bits and pieces of this truth being leaked out into his conversations with the head librarian.
“Those days were enjoyable. Her Grace made a peaceful deal with us in exchange for our services in guiding the people who come here. It felt like were helping the world become a better place. …That was until a century ago, when your kingdom’s citizens started treated us more harshly. As time went by, the treatment became worse. Even though Her Grace allowed us to establish guard platoons and defend ourselves when attacked, it’s exhausting to deal with such a poisonous environment.
We still managed to keep going with our lives. But one day, a particularly sadistic military student came to my facility and started punching and kicking him.”
“…”
“The poor kid wasn’t used to being in a fight, so he couldn’t form a single spell as they cut off his limbs and started burning them. …Did you know? As my assistant was screaming and begging them to stop, they just continued to laugh at him and all of us locals. ……By the time the guards came by and arrested those vermin, he was already traumatized. The very sight of you people is enough to send him screaming into unconsciousness.
That’s when I knew that something else had to be done. Kill them in self-defense? Sure, it may deter some of them from committing as horrendous as… that, again. However, the others would just continue on to take these actions as if they hadn’t revived recently. This is why I needed a method to REALLY teach them a lesson.”
“…And that’s when you started to resort to torture.”
“Correct! Full marks for you, my lovely student! But there’s only so many of us who have experience in battles. No matter how much we dedicate our free time to scourge the riffraff, their numbers only continued to increase as time went by. You can fill in the blanks, right?”
…In order to scare away their malicious abusers, Adelle went ahead and conducted a public execution by burning on a certain fat pig. It wasn’t just a hobby of hers, but a deadly message to those with ill-thoughts: ‘If you dare try to mess with us any longer, this will happen to you.’
In response to the realization, he began to sweat as an ominous feeling ran through his back. As soon as that happened, he screamed in fear and started running away from Mystic Forces-
“…As I thought, I’m glad you became my teacher.”
”…”
“But why would you divulge this much to a stranger you met today? The letter may have guaranteed my work ethic and character, but this is not enough for you to trust me with this personal story. This is meant as a veiled threat against me in case I start taking radical actions in the future.”
“…!”
This time, it’s the Sage’s turn to be surprised. She thought that he’d be too scared to work any further or keep his head down for the rest of the tasks. However, this kid was looking straight at herself and even uttered a compliment.
“You may be suspicious of me right now, but as we work together over time, I’ll prove my integrity to you.”
“…In respect to Edgar, I’ll wait and observe you… for now.”
”Fantastic! Shall we continue with the repairs?”
As Alternis went back to re-inscribing a magic circle, she thought to herself, ‘Edgar may be right; maybe he IS a good kid. Although his affinity for schadenfreude and willingness to torture his enemies for personal enjoyment makes him… unique.’
After forming this thought, she joined him in the mending tasks.
