Chapter 55
Chapter 55
Seaweed Soup of Longing (1)
“Mm?”
Bereninche, who had entered the chapel without even knocking, was met with an unusually bustling scene.
The murky silver hair I always saw was studying diligently, and across from it, the plain brown-haired one was asleep on the sofa with his body sprawled out.
I thought I had glimpsed vividly saturated blue hair for a moment, but when I looked around, it was gone. Everyone seemed puzzled.
The brown-haired one, bundled tightly in a padded jacket, woke from sleep with startled eyes. With teal-colored pupils, he stared intently at Bereninche.
“Uh. What is it? What’s going on?”
“You came to give a reward, right?”
Davide asked indifferently to his younger sister who had suddenly barged in. Unbothered, Bereninche immediately brought up the main point. She briefly cast her gaze toward the brown-haired one who was staring intently at her.
Davide tilted his head. Had he done something worthy of a reward? He hadn’t even given the Eye of Aira yet.
“Essence of the Sea.”
“…Wasn’t that already resolved?”
“Winter is doing it because she likes it. This should be viewed differently, shouldn’t it?”
Saying that, Bereninche smiled kindly at Winter. I fell briefly into thought. Had Bereninche always had this kind of personality?
She had a filthy temper, a violent disposition, and a recklessness that came from being capable. But she treated her subordinates infinitely well.
There were many in the Duhein Family who followed Bereninche. Though she had the Duhein’s characteristic rough personality, if you were within her fence, she cherished you dearly.
With charisma, ability, and decent character—limited to her subordinates—how could they not follow her? Of course, the contrast effect with Davide, who lacked ability, also played a part.
From that perspective, it seemed Bereninche regarded Winter as half a subordinate.
“Here. Take it.”
“Eh? Me?”
“Yeah.”
“……”
Bereninche took out a small gemstone from her bosom and handed it over. It looked like a cheap gem that didn’t appear very expensive. Something was swirling inside it.
Setting aside whether it was valuable enough to be called a reward, the person Bereninche handed the gem to was not Davide.
Winter, who suddenly received it, was flustered. Davide felt the same. If she was giving a reward, shouldn’t it have been given to him?
“It contains a Water Spear with my trait applied to it. If you break the gem, it will manifest.”
With that explanation, the value of the gemstone skyrocketed in an instant. What kind of thing was Bereninche’s Water Spear?
An endlessly rotating stream of water. An astonishing weapon that had felled a Fiendbeast in four directions. Not only did it deal water-attribute damage, but its physical destructive power itself was immense.
Rather than feeling regret, I first thought it was acceptable. Winter’s position was a supporter. The core of her role was Anaye’s Silent Bell, an effective mental defense skill.
Because of that, Winter gained a one-strike finishing move.
As for me, I already had a trump card called Lightning Spike of Anaye, and even if I asked for it, Bereninche wasn’t the type to give it to me anyway.
Winter glanced sideways, gauging my reaction. Noticing it, I waved my hand, signaling that I was fine. At that, she let out a sigh of relief and carefully tucked it away.
“Ah.”
“?”
“Um… Do I absolutely have to break the gem?”
“Of course. It’s cheap, so the durability is low. You can break it just by putting strength into your fingers.”
At Winter’s question, Bereninche answered as if asking what the problem was. Hearing that, I let out a hollow sigh.
“…Um. I don’t think I can break this.”
“What?”
“I can’t even crack a walnut with my fingers….”
At the frailty beyond expectations, the entire chapel fell into silence. I looked at Worden.
“Can you crack a walnut?”
“Eh? Me?”
“I asked if you can crack a walnut.”
“Of course?”
Worden, who had been staring blankly at Bereninche, nodded his head. I felt a little complicated.
“Canis can do it too, right?”
“Wouldn’t a mage just use magic?”
“That’s true. But Winter can’t use magic either.”
There was no need to even ask Bereninche, and I was the same. Winter had suddenly become the only person who couldn’t crack a walnut, and tears began falling from her eyes.
Unaccustomed to seeing Winter cry, Worden tilted his head. Saying why was I teasing the kid, Bereninche smacked me hard on the head.
“What’s the big deal about not being able to crack a walnut. Right?”
“Sob. I can do it too. Sniff. I can! With both hands!”
“That’s my girl. Winter’s amazing.”
I patted Winter’s shoulder and comforted her.
***
Today was definitely the weekend. So why had I been called to the academic affairs office?
When I was organizing matters related to Episode 3, they called for me through the broadcast.
I arrived immediately wondering what it was about. The professor of the first-year Basic Hunting class welcomed me.
“Midterms are coming up soon. I need you to help me a bit.”
“Pardon?”
That was the first thing he said out of nowhere. Naturally, I tilted my head.
What did that class have to do with me? To begin with, I was suspended and didn’t even attend classes. The only time I had observed was once because of Winter.
If it was the midterm for Basic Hunting class, that meant a one-night, two-day camping training in the mountains. Just hearing about it made exhaustion wash over me.
“You got pretty hurt during the Acid Gecko incident, didn’t you? I wanted to give you some shop benefits or points, but there’s nothing like that in the academy regulations.”
“In that case.”
“Right. I’ll give you plenty under the pretext of helping me. Practicum points or shop points, things like that. It’s nothing special. You just need to stay up all night with them for the one night and two days.”
“On Friday, I have something related to the Order—”
“Yeah. I already put your name on the list.”
“Why?”
I had been about to refuse cleanly, but he had countered it perfectly. Why was he applying on my behalf without permission?
At this point, it might have been proper to go along with it, but no matter how I thought about it, there was no real reason for me to do it.
Shop benefits and points were nice to have, but I could live without them. Spending an entire one night and two days for that felt like a waste.
“If you refuse, both of us are going to get cursed out badly. What was it— that white one is part of your Order, right? Think of it as going to see her.”
Judging by the fact that he even mentioned Winter, the professor seemed determined.
I thought of Winter.
With Bereninche there, there was no need to worry about scores. No need to worry about safety either. Beasts had keen instincts; they didn’t touch those who carried a ferocious and overwhelming presence like Bereninche.
In fact, even if she simply lay still beside Bereninche, it was obvious she would pass. There was nothing I particularly needed to help with.
“I’m telling you, there’s nothing to lose. Just do it. I’ll even give you this—”
“Understood.”
I accepted the offer immediately.
What the professor had proposed in order to rope me in was the slime of the Acid Gecko. It seemed he had ultimately brought in a mage and processed the corpse.
Looking at the liquid sloshing inside the specially treated glass bottle, there was no way I could remain indifferent. Even the amount in that small bottle was a top-grade alchemy material worth about 20 knuckles.
The insular, self-sufficient nature of Museion Island combined with the rarity of the Acid Gecko itself had doubled that market price.
“…You bastard. No— fine, you thought well. I’ll get you a few more. The assistants will handle all the preparations anyway. You just show up at the end. You know the exam schedule, right?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Go on. Get some rest.”
We had caught two of them, so it was obvious there would be far more than this. Even if I didn’t sell it, it would be an incredible weapon on its own.
I knew its power well from experience. Of all the injuries I had suffered so far, it was the most severe. Because it was acidic rather than poisonous, resistance was inevitably halved—yet it still maintained a liquid form.
Even I, who possessed near-perfect resistance to liquids, had almost had a hole blown through my chest. I still couldn’t forget the tingling sensation that spread as if vibrating through me.
And on top of that.
The slime of the Acid Gecko could also be used as medicine. It could be used to heal the story character who stood at the center of Episode 3.
Practicum points and Acid Gecko slime in exchange for pulling an all-nighter. This was a guaranteed profit. I was still far too worldly to refuse something like this.
“Hm. I’m hungry.”
I gave a small bow and left the academic affairs office. A faint rumble vibrated from my stomach.
The steps that had been heading toward the chapel shifted to somewhere else.
I had never felt this blatantly hungry before, so I seriously considered it. Was there a place that sold Korean food?
It had been quite a while since I came here, which meant it had also been a long time since I’d eaten Korean food. There wasn’t even anything similar, so I was starting to miss it. Considering the world setting, the chances of encountering Korean cuisine were slim.
I had heard there was a place called the East, and there were even students from the East enrolled in the Academy. Museion Academy was the cradle of education. Various races from all over the world gathered here.
A few named characters from the East came to mind, but unfortunately, every single one of them had their names written in the Death Note.
“Should I just cook it myself?”
If I couldn’t find it, I had no choice but to make it myself. Spicy kimchi and ramyeon came to mind, but that was practically impossible. Since I had to spend one night and two days for the Basic Hunting class, there would be an opportunity to eat then.
As I headed to the grocery store, the menu I settled on was seaweed soup. It was something I remembered enjoying quite often. The problem was that in the West, people didn’t eat seaweed, so I worried whether the grocery store would even have it.
“Excuse me. Do you have seaweed?”
“Yes. I’m sorry? What?”
“Seaweed?”
“Pardon?”
As soon as I arrived at the store, I asked the clerk. Now that I had a clear objective, I felt restless.
Looking at the flustered clerk, I understood even if I didn’t want to. They were unnecessarily faithful to realism. It seemed the word seaweed itself didn’t exist.
“A plant that grows in the sea. That soft, slippery thing.”
“Ah. Seaweed. Um… I’m sorry, but we don’t have it.”
Though apologetic, the clerk looked fascinated. They probably never expected someone to ask for seaweed in their lifetime. I tried to think of other Korean dishes.
Bulgogi—there was no soy sauce. Gochujang bulgogi—there was no gochujang. Kimchi stew—there was no kimchi. Bibimbap—this one lacked the essential flavor.
This wasn’t the kind of Korean food I wanted. At this point, nothing beat seaweed soup. If I stretched things to the extreme, I could even make it work without soy sauce, gochujang, or sesame oil.
Stubbornness rose within me. My determination to eat it no matter what flared up.
“Garlic.”
“Yes?”
“You at least have garlic, right?”
A glint of madness gathered in my eyes. The clerk was overwhelmed and could barely speak, yet diligently brought the garlic. The cloves were much larger than I remembered.
About the size of jujubes, I took one out and put it straight into my mouth. If it didn’t taste like I remembered, it would all be pointless.
The clerk’s mouth fell open at my bizarre behavior.
“Hmm.”
It crunched crisply. Then came the characteristic cool spiciness and aroma. After the sharp pungency faded, there was even a fleeting, subtle sweetness.
It was the same one I remembered from Korea. Yes. This addictiveness. This was what I wanted.
“A-Are you okay? It’s extremely spicy!”
“Yes. I’m fine.”
Spiciness, after all, was pain. Unfortunately, my body no longer felt pain. The sharp aroma didn’t register as suffering to me.
And yet, was it because I could still faintly sense that sting that I could distinguish spiciness? In any case, I liked it.
If you put in a lot of garlic, that made it Korean food, right?
I filled a bag generously with garlic. For some reason, I felt better already.