Afterwards, my supervisor scolded me, saying it was a good thing she stopped me, otherwise I would have been inseparable from that unlucky guy who was married.
That's absolutely terrifying.
But if that's the case, Miss Aisha could also be included in the "Complete Guide to Mage's Self-Destructive Acts," even if her obsession was transformed into her paintbrush.
We've gone off on a tangent.
Standing in the viewing area at the top of the sunken field, I glanced at the many figures busy treating the wounded and remedying experimental records, and finally found my target next to the now unrecognizable golden stone artifact.
"Yale!"
I walked toward the figure who was talking to his companion, calling out to him loudly.
Among the group, Yare, with his milky gray hair and dark gold eyes, was the least noticeable. Not to mention, he always wore a monocle and liked to squint. Apart from me, he was only on good terms with the group of crazy people in the research institute who liked to experiment with all kinds of weapons.
It had been quite a while since we'd last met. When Arie saw me still staring blankly for a second, he reached out and adjusted his glasses. "Yumi? What brings you here today? Is the witch summoning you again?"
The very first sentence hit me right in the heart...
I felt my face twitch, and the smile I had prepared beforehand no longer looked natural.
If I didn't know he was naturally outspoken, I would almost have thought he was just picking a fight.
I sighed and said, "Don't even mention it. If I could, I wouldn't even want to go out."
"This is a happy problem for you. Anyone else would be overjoyed. They'd be willing to sleep right under the witch's bed," Ale said earnestly.
A classmate who looked somewhat familiar glanced at us, probably realizing this wasn't a topic he could chime in on, and left under the pretext of checking on the data recovery.
"Stop talking about me. Before things get too far, I'm planning to have a long-awaited chat with my friends." I felt a light tap on the back of my head again, but I ignored it and looked up at the strangely shaped things in front of me. "What are you guys doing? You're not working on your graduation project, are you?"
“Of course not.” Yare shrugged, looking rather helpless. “The little princess of the research institute has gone mad for some reason. She’s holding a blueprint that she supposedly found and is forcing everyone to help her complete that project. She even said that if it succeeds, it could be included in textbooks, becoming a groundbreaking invention that would break through the vacuum that even archmages cannot enter, and going to another world on the other side of the starry sea would no longer be a dream.”
"...And this is the invention that's supposedly groundbreaking?"
"This is it. And because all the material costs came from the little princess's own pocket, the best materials were used."
"..." I looked up again to confirm the round metal casing, and after a long while I was speechless. "What a disaster!"
Using the best materials—what a precious expense that must be! Even someone like me, who spends all day holed up in my shell and only moves when poked a few times, can't help but feel my heart bleeding.
You could do so many things with this money! If all else fails, you could just give it to me directly! I wouldn't refuse!
You can just make me bark three times like a dog and then spin around three times, that would be fine too!
What a terrible thing!
I smacked my lips, forcibly banishing the image of the spendthrift little princess from my mind, and chatted with Ale about other things.
“You know my interests: raising magical pets and researching how to improve the ecological relationship between humans and monsters. So I suggested to my mentor that this be my research topic.” Yare pushed up his glasses, a flash of white light disappearing in an instant. “Although it’s a difficult thing, at least I’m not completely clueless. I’ve gotten close to my goal.”
"As for Hiro, I don't know if you've heard, but his mission is basically complete."
"That one-track-minded idiot who only thinks about fighting has actually finished the project?" I was genuinely surprised.
I was thinking that although I mostly slack off, I at least had the miniature garden design as a backup for my project, so I was probably the one with the fastest progress among the three of us. So when I came to ask, I didn't mean to brag. But in the blink of an eye, the one I initially thought was the slowest, the idiot, is almost finished?
"I wouldn't say it's finished, since there's still a summary report to come."
Although Ale and I aren't exactly argumentative, we seemed to care a bit: "It can only be said that combat-type characters still have some advantages in this area. Since he was able to defeat his mentor, even if it was just a narrow victory by one move, that's still a win. The rest is up to fate."
I was speechless for a moment.
After a moment of disappointment, I shrugged and told the other person that this was not my forte and I couldn't envy it.
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