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CHAPTER 20: TO THE WATER QUALITY INVESTIGATION!
“Wooow, it’s huge!”
“…The other end is so far away…”
A lake large enough that I’d believe you if you told me it was an ocean extended before Laura and me.
The next day, we arrived in front of Lake Bjarnu.
The lake was located in an area a little far from the capital.
In this world, there exist teleportation circles—a transportation device that links two physical locations together. We teleported to the circle closest to the lake from the capital and walked the rest of the way.
Even the kingdom boasts it as one of the largest lakes in their country.
It’s extolled for its transparent surface, with beauty akin to that of a pool of melted jewels. However—
“It doesn’t look all too clean.”
“…You have… a point…”
The lake was glazed over as if it was polluted with a large quantity of black ink.
“Alriiight, everyoooone!”
Flin, who was in charge of leading the students, raised her voice.
“This is Lake Bjarnuuuuu! It was actually a veery pretty lake, but in these past six months, it progressively became polluted and ended up like this~”
“Teach, why is it getting polluted?”
A male student asked a question.
“That’s a great question! The answer is… I don’t know! We don’t know, so we’ve come here to investigate!”
“Then, are we going to be investigating?”
“That would be the job of those people!”
Flin pointed at a group of people located further away.
“The actual investigation party from the academy will be doing that for us. We’ll have a few students assist them later on.”
…I see. Those were the elite among the already chosen.
After hearing what Flin said, the look in the students’ eyes changed.
“I’ll have everyone here practice Purification!”
Purification—It’s a spell you use to purify water.
“…This is bad.”
Laura, who was next to me, tilted her head when she heard my muttering.
“What’s bad?”
“I can’t use Purification.”
Flin continued speaking.
“We have all the polluted water we need! Purify to your heart’s content! Please use this chance to practice lots!”
After we unfolded the tent we brought along, we began our water purification practice at the lake. I set my hand to the lake and spoke the words that acted as the trigger.
“Purification.”
The lake continued to stagnate as if nothing ever happened.
…Well, I knew this would happen.
Laura activated the same spell next to me.
“Purification.”
I wondered what would happen.
The water located a few meters in front of Laura’s hand quickly changed into a clear, beautiful color.
Oooh.
…Naturally, it was engulfed by the polluted water soon after and went back to a filthy color.
Even when I thought back to my classmates from ten years ago, the number of students who could purify this much water in an instant were few in number. Just as I thought, Laura had remarkable talent.
“You’re not half bad yourself.”
“No, no… There’s always someone better than you, after all—”
Laura looked elsewhere.
A male student laid in her sights. He had silky, blue hair, and his face was well-proportioned.
He set his hand to the lake and opened his mouth.
“Purification.”
Immediately after—
A large span of lake water over ten meters in radius was transformed into freshwater.
Voices full of astonishment spilled from the surrounding students who were watching.
“He’s pretty amazing…”
“Yes. That person served as the student representative for us first-years during the entrance ceremony—the genius magician Blain Milhis. He’s a capable person expected to be the next Carlyle in our academy.”
“Impressive…”
He was the student representative for first-years during the entrance ceremony—in other words, the top scorer in the entrance examination.
If he was able to boast that much mana as a first-year student, then those grades of his were definitely no fluke.
However, I was more worried about something else Laura said.
“…Milhis?”
“Yes. He’s the son of a marquis from the Milhis household.
“Ah—”
It was no wonder I heard that name from somewhere.
…I was also originally nobility, after all.
“I hear that he’s acquired 80 spells at that age.”
People are deemed as fully-fledged magicians at 100 spells—One Hundred. Normally, only those who have devoted themselves to study since adulthood for years can arrive at that plane.
In other words, knowing 80 spells while being that young is considerably impressive.
“I can still only use twenty… I gotta try harder…!”
…I could only use one, though…
Well, there’s no point in rushing things. I’ve decided this time—that I would follow my own path. Everybody is different.
“Ah, Ms. Flin is—”
Just as Laura said, Flin approached Blain.
I couldn’t tell what they were talking about, but the surrounding students were all gushing with excitement.
Once Blain nodded, Flin brought him over to the “Real Investigation Party”.
He was probably chosen—as one of the elite among the elite.
“As expected of Blain.”
Laura nodded in agreement.
Just like before, Flin brought a few more noticeable students over to the investigation party.
The remaining students noisily kicked up a fuss at those who were chosen—at the fact that they weren’t chosen.
It didn’t have to do anything with me, nor was I interested.
All I should be thinking about is if I can purify water with Magic Arrow.
Was it really possible?
If we assumed it was—how would I go about it?
There was nothing but Magic Arrow inside my head.
It was at that time.
“Aah, dammit! You seriously must be blind! To think you left me—Misnia, from the prestigious household Fadal, experts in these waters—out of the inspection party! Young instructors are no good!”
I heard a woman’s shrill voice.
My concentration was disturbed, so when I shifted my attention to the voice, I saw a young female student. She was an unassuming woman with blonde hair, and her most striking feature was her slanted eyes, which displayed her strong will.
“Like seriously—”
“It’s ridiculous that Miss Misnia hasn’t been chosen!”
Her group of female followers was complaining about this and that. She was Misnia Fadal, the daughter of a count.
I knew this woman.
…Though, I didn’t have the best memories of her.
Misnia rattled on and on with a shrill voice as if she was deliberately making sure everyone else could hear.
“This investigation or whatever is so pointless! All we have to do is ask the Water Spirit that lives here!”
“You’d need to actually summon the Water Spirit to do that, though…?”
“Then I just need to summon it, right? I can like, do it, you know~?”
Laura spoke with overflowing conceit.
Spirit Summoning—
That was no simple spell. It was probably above intermediate difficulty. It was not a spell that a student could use readily use.
Misnia spoke in a loud voice.
“Watch me! I’ll show you all how it’s done! The great Lord Misnia will show you all Spirit Summoning!”