CH 58

“Reyes, I’m tired of this…….”

“Work is tiring.”

“His demands are insane……”

“You knew that from the beginning, didn’t you? He wasn’t normal from the start, was he?”

“He was…… naive.”

“That’s what Leeya said, too.”

The saint, who replied while reading the reference, was no longer paying particular attention.

It’s something I’m used to.

For the past few days, the poor classmates who were lured by the rewards and sweet talk have been dragging their exhausted bodies to the saint’s classroom.

To be honest, I can’t help but wonder why they come here.

Well, I guess this is the easiest place to come right now.

“Ah, there you are.”

At the sound of the child’s voice, Hank’s body shuddered as he lay prostrate on the table.

Kunon had arrived.

“It’s almost the end of the break, Hank. Let’s go. It’s time to make some bacon to my satisfaction.”

To Hank, Kunon was now an employer who forced him to do hard labor.

Kunon went straight to check on the spirit plants.

He did not hesitate, as if he had been approached by a woman.

The spiritual grass Shi Shirura should be ready to harvest soon.

It’s growing really well – I’ll make sure of that. This is the sixth time today. Of course, nothing has changed since the last time.

The saint told her classmates that they could enter the classroom without permission.

The saint is no longer bothered by having to deal with people coming and going.

If they are not allowed to come in, or if she is not present, she locks the door, so this is not a problem.

“I’ve been working on the fire for the past few days. I’m still tired from the day before…….”

“You’re fine. You can use magic if you have the power, even if your body is tired.”

“….. Reyes, help me.”

“If you’ve finished your conversation, please leave the room immediately.”

It’s not only the demands of his employer, Kunon, but also the indifference of the saint.

“Your cool attitude is cute too, Miss Reyes. Can I come back for lunch?Let’s eat together.”

“As long as you bring me a sandwich.”

She is no longer paying attention to Kunon’s light-hearted comments.

It is true that the saintly Reyes does not have many emotional ups and downs compared to normal people.

I don’t know if it’s just a quick touch, but I feel that she is driven by logic and rationality, not emotion.

The more I get to know them, the more obvious it becomes.

“Good for you. It’s good to know that even if I fail, Miss Reyes will eat it and take care of it. Now let’s get back to making bacon. Or don’t you want a reward? I don’t care if you don’t want it.”

“Damn you…… for taking advantage of people’s weaknesses!”

If the bacon is completed to Kunon’s satisfaction, a success fee will be paid in addition to the daily allowance.

“If you ask me, I think Hank has more of a problem with getting paid for a job well done.”

“Hey, don’t give me that crappy argument. That’s not cute.”

“I can’t handle it if men think I’m cute.”

It’s as if he is asserting that women love him.

That’s a lot of confidence.

Kunon walked out of the classroom, taking Hank with him.

In the silence of the classroom, only the sound of papers being rolled up could be heard.

The saint muttered quietly.

“Well, I guess lunch money paid off again today.”

Thanks to Hank’s recent failures in making bacon, lunches using the failed bacon are passed around.

As far as I can tell, it’s not that different from regular bacon.

But that’s still not enough to meet Kunon’s order.

I don’t know how much Kunon really wants, but as a saint, he is very helpful.

I’m on the verge of making some money, but I haven’t gotten the reward itself yet.

The saint’s wallet is still in a tight spot.

Kunon and Hank came out of the school building again.

The sun was strong.

It was supposed to be autumn, but the vestiges of summer still lingered.

“I’ll see you later.”

“Okay, okay……”

A small smoker was set up a little farther away from the school because of the smoke.

There was already a different kind of meat set up inside.

It’s called “bacon” in a word, but the type of meat is not only pork.

There were pigs, boars, cows, horses, and chickens.

In an unusual way, they have also tried the meat of bears, lizards, snakes, demons, and magical beasts.

“Ha…….”

Letting out a sigh, Hank put the fire in the bottom bunk.

The fire itself is a rudimentary step for a firebrand sorcerer.

However, maintaining it for a long time is a different story.

Fire magic, unlike other magic, is very susceptible to sparks and accidents.

Hank has been taught to never leave the magic when using fire.

In this bacon making process, it is necessary to maintain a constant fire.

You can’t have a high heat or a low heat, so you have to be very careful.

– Hank’s unadorned impression was that the work was more difficult and tedious than he had expected.

It takes time.

It’s hard to relax.

It’s tiring.

The hours are long.

I’m even beginning to think it’s reasonable to be paid a little better.

“Hank, are you a slow learner?”

“What?”

Kunon, who usually goes away with a quick “See you later”, stayed right next to Hank today.

Hank could tell that Kunon was looking at him and aware of him, even though the eye patch was there so he could not see his eyes.

“I’m sure I’m not the best……”

Hank is eighteen years old now.

He came here to Dillashick at the age of thirteen and has been working for five years to make sure that he will definitely pass the entrance exam to the magic school.

Five years.

It’s not that I think the training was a waste of time….., but I had no idea that the entrance exam was something you could absolutely pass.

When I found out, I was so shocked that I almost fell to my knees.

I almost cried at my own stupidity.

When I think about it, I’m definitely not a smart person.

I think magic is a very useful thing.

“I agree with you.”

Magic is power.

Power is a useful thing.

Power is something that can hurt you or protect you.

It can destroy people’s lives, or it can enrich them.

There is no right or wrong in power itself.

It all depends on how the practitioner uses it.

“Well, it’s time to go one step further. I’ve been waiting for you for so long, why haven’t you tried anything? I’m sure Hank can do it.”

“……What?”

“I’m talking about using your power in a more useful way. Hank is good at manipulating and controlling magic. But I think he’s too conventional.

I think your magic should be used more freely.”

Sorcery is freedom.

It was a strange word that didn’t seem to make sense to me, but I couldn’t say I didn’t understand it.

“I think it’s okay for fire to have a smell.”

“What? Smell……?”

“I think it’s good to have fires of different colors. I think it’s okay to have a fire that burns at a constant rate or a fire that burns only something specific.

As for me, I think it’s okay to have fire that you can touch as a material.

But I don’t know much about fire magic, so I don’t know if it’s possible.”

I still feel like I don’t quite understand what Kunon is saying.

But for some reason, I think I understand.

Making bacon.

I wonder what Kunon is really looking for in this simple task.

“Could it be that I should be using an unusual fire to make bacon?”

Hank was about to say.

A girl in a blue robe peeked out of a window on the second floor of the school building and called out to Kunon, “Hey Kunon!”

“- Alright, let us talk about it later.”

As soon as she called him, he was already gone.

“Oh, hey……!”

There was no time to stop him.

I think he was just talking about something important, but even so, there was no hesitation in Kunon’s actions.

He threw away everything that he and Hank had talked about just before and turned on his heel and ran up in the air.

This is the staircase of “Water Ball A Ori”.

He creates a “water ball a ori” that looks like thin ice and uses it as a platform.

I was surprised the first time I saw it, but I’ve seen it so many times I’m used to it.

“Thank you for the invitation, Sleeping Beauty. Your Kunon is here.”

“Hahaha. You’re as funny as ever, Kunon.”

I guess they haven’t met before.

While exchanging such light words of greeting, Kunon quickly entered the school building through the window and disappeared from Hank’s sight!

That area is around the classroom that Kunon is renting.

The girl whom he called “Sleeping Beauty” must be a guest, I’m sure.

“…… magic is free, huh?”

A younger sorcerer who had said all sorts of self-serving things and then left without a care in the world.

The words that he hadn’t collected in any way swirled around in Hank’s mind.

Fire with a smell.

Fires of different colors.

Fires that burn with a certain heat.

Fires that only burn something specific.

These were ideas that Hank had never even slightly thought of.

Hank scratched his head.

I guess I’ve been an assistant for too long…

I’ve been a teacher’s assistant all my life.

I’ve always worked under the direction of someone else.

And because I was an assistant, I did a lot of chores like helping with research and writing notes.

My knowledge of magic and basic sorcery has grown.

But in terms of thinking, I am aware that I have been doing only conventional things.

That’s why I can’t think of anything that I might think of right away.

I don’t need to keep a fire burning to make bacon.

All you need to do is to smoke the meat with the heat and smoke of wood chips and herbs.

If you want, you don’t even have to follow the traditional bacon making process.

As long as the result is the bacon Kunon wants, that’s all that matters.

“Ah……, I see. So this is the experiment.”

I’m not an assistant anymore.

No one would tell him what to do if he remained passive.

From here on, Hank would have to think, learn, and experiment on his own.

I felt like I was finally at the starting point.

His thoughts, which had been bewildered by the various aspects of the special class and unable to find anything to do, were finally coming together.

If so, there was only one thing to think about.

I need to get paid for my success.

I think I’m starting to get a vague idea of what I want to do.

The younger sorcerer gave me a guiding direction.

Then I won’t have to spend any more time making this bacon.

Besides, it’s been almost a month since the start of this school year.

The factions should start moving soon.

I guess it was fortunate that I was able to get my thoughts together before then.