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Chapter 77




Chapter 6: In the Name of Glory (13)
***
The next morning, the professor woke up early as usual and started his day with a refreshing feeling, looking at the sun rising through the wide-open wall of his accommodation. He greeted the wizards gathered on the lawn outside, but they seemed to shrink even more.
"Really, it’s so wide open. Whoever made it did a great job. Come to think of it, when I made a bundle with a curtain, and even when I caused a commotion and wrecked the surroundings, the end result always turned out quite nice."
Looking at the traces of the Borka's launch, which were gradually brightening in concentric circles under the rising sun, a thought suddenly came to him.
'The hole is really beautiful.'
Just by looking at the traces, it seemed as if mythological figures had thrown the Spear of Longinus, creating a magnificent and impressive hole. In reality, it was a hole made by a punch and a flight.
Thinking about it, when he embedded the dark magic crystal into the magic tower, he did it without much thought, but now, from a distance, it looked like a piece of performance art, impressively embedded. A ruined magic tower and a purple, mysterious crystal column next to it.
[Characteristic: Sparkling Gaze - You see the world a little more beautifully. You receive additional bonuses in activities related to art.]
There could be no other reason for this. The art bonus. Whatever I do, the result naturally becomes more beautiful through the characteristic bonus.
‘I don’t know what purpose it will serve yet... but it’s worth keeping an eye on. So far, the hidden effects of characteristics have never been bad.’
For now, he would stop thinking about the characteristic. There was too much to do to waste time on something like an artistic characteristic that wouldn’t help immediately.
First, he needed to assess the party members’ combat capabilities and divide them accordingly.
“Let’s see... Magician Martallin, 2nd Tier?”
“Yes, yes! 2nd Tier, I’ve attained the enlightenment of Flow and Fluidity!”
“Flow and Fluidity... that’s the standard.”
“I’m sorry!!!”
The first task was to organize the wizards’ tiers and enlightenments and record the specific spells they could use.
“...Andler, 3rd Tier. Enlightenment?”
“Flow and Change, the enlightenment of Pressure.”
“Oh! Pressure and Change mean destructive elemental spells? That’s impressive.”
“Squeak!”
The professor pretended to be surprised and praised them, but the wizards seemed even more afraid of him than they were last night. They jumped and screamed at the slightest admiration or hand movement.
‘Hey, did something happen last night?’
[Hmm? Ah, hehehe. Yes, it did. While you were sleeping, the wizards were staring at the regrowing hand. You were sleeping with one eye half-open, right? So I watched a bit. I could only see the shape of feet moving nearby, but the wizards were definitely there.]
Oh, that’s why they’re so sensitive about their hands.
[So I wrote it. What are you staring at?]
...Huh?
The professor chewed over what Hyde said to make sure he heard it right. Wrote? In front of the wizards, with his left hand?
‘Wrote?’
[Yeah. With my fingers. Hold on... Ah, here. Look at this.]
A video appeared with Hyde’s words.
Half in fear, half in curiosity, the wizards gathered to watch the regrowing right hand, and then, in front of them, the left hand crawled forward as if it were alive. In a scene reminiscent of a horror movie, the hand wrote something on the floor in front of the pale, terrified wizards.
[It’s a curse!]
[The hand, the hand is moving on its own!]
[Whiii! It’s a monster!]
[They were watching us! Pretending to sleep while observing us!]
[If we stay like this, we’ll be caught!]
[Water! Find water! We need enough water to protect our bodies!]
The wizards were as shocked as a child who found out Santa was actually their dad.
[Ah, it was fun.]
‘You might have found it fun, but what did those wizards do to deserve it?’
No wonder the wizards seemed more diligent and woke up earlier than he did. They must not have slept well.
The professor looked at the wizards with a sympathetic eye as he put a period at the end of his notes.
=========
Light Order Team Composition.
1. Professor: A tank with excellent endurance. Skilled in close combat. A commander who is not at risk of assassination.
2. Leadflow School Magicians, including Autman Baudelaire, 5 members: 1 5th Tier, 2 3rd Tiers, 2 2nd Tiers. Decent magical power. Autman is more of a research magician, but the two 3rd Tiers have a good number of useful destructive spells. Weak in physical strength. Limited in long-distance travel. Limited in supply. Garbage.
3. Borka Daloon: A werewolf. Strong vitality. Won by a narrow margin without going berserk. Lacks utility but is outstanding as a warrior. Can be used for assassination missions considering the werewolf’s unique sense of smell and night vision. Listens well after a good beating.
4. Notum: A hero unit. Must be kept alive even if the mission fails. A typical close-combat tank. As a troll, he has good endurance. His strong physical strength is his main weapon. Surprisingly intelligent for a troll. Could level up quickly with proper training.
5. Black Magician: -
=========
“The tank line is better than expected. Everyone can heal themselves, right? I can, the werewolf has his natural vitality, and the troll can make healing potions, so there’s no problem.”
Plop, plop, plop, plop.
Just as the professor finished organizing and was about to call the black magician, he heard footsteps approaching the team’s accommodation from the temple.
Small footsteps, white robes visible from a distance.
Senedis. The bishop of the Light Order in Tobrun.
Senedis entered the accommodation, glanced at the wide-open wall, and bowed slightly without any disturbance.
“Latura, Ro-haram. Did you have a peaceful night, hero and team members?”
“Ah, well. It was peaceful enough. Considering we were captured by the order, we haven’t had our fingers or nails pulled out, and our eardrums haven’t burst.”
In the uncomfortable silence, the professor responded sharply on behalf of the team. Although he had been appointed a hero by the order yesterday, showing too much friendliness to the order’s representatives would redirect all the hatred towards him. For the sake of future events, he needed to maintain a somewhat grumpy demeanor.
‘Senedis should pick up on it. She’s a perceptive woman.’
Sure enough, Senedis seemed to read the professor’s mind and responded in the same sharp tone.
“If you wish, I can move your accommodation to the basement. It’s damp and dark, a familiar place for magicians, I suppose.”
“Enough of that. Let’s hear the reason for your visit this morning. If a holy priestess like you is skipping morning prayers to come here, it must be important.”
“Yes. I bring news that even a heretic would be shocked to hear.”
Senedis took a deep breath and continued in a somber voice.
“I wanted to give you more time, but it seems we need to leave immediately. Last night, the Order of Hebrahim, the god of mercy and tolerance, declared ‘mercilessness’ until Mute is completely eradicated.”
“Hebrahim... declared mercilessness?”
The Order of Hebrahim, which worships the god of mercy and tolerance, Hebrahim, is a representative of the benevolent orders. Even during the noble wars when warlords looted the temples, they would say, ‘There must be a reason for everything~’ and let it pass. Now, they were declaring mercilessness, which means a holy war?
“No, what on earth could have happened to make those good-hearted people so angry?”
In response to the professor’s question, Senedis answered with a somewhat awkward expression.
“Well... it seems that the White Flash, Edeorna, kidnapped the priestess of Hebrahim.”
“...Damn.”
‘I thought things were quiet... is this the start of something?’
The situation was changing rapidly again. This meant that Mute, who had been gathering forces, was starting to move.
***
A few hours later, the professor’s group was leaving the order, carrying a mountain of supplies.
“H-Hero, sir?”
“Just call me Chief, Borka.”
“Cough, cough! Then, Chief. Do we really need to carry so much food? After all, we’re supposed to be the heroes of the Light Order. We could ask for food along the way from temples or even civilian homes, right?”
“They might give us food, but a place with as many dried fish as Tobrun is rare.”
The magicians following behind the professor flinched at his words.
“We’ll try to gather supplies along the way, but it’s better to bring as much as possible. It’s bulky, but not particularly heavy, right?”
“Gurgle. Crispy fish. Delicious.”
“Oh no! Notum! You can’t eat that!”
As expected, there was a rustling sound coming from behind!
The professor shouted to stop him, and Notum swallowed the dried fish he had been chewing and stuffed the handful he was holding into his bag, then looked at the