Healing at the Academy convenience store

Chapter 19

After a hearty meal, Rudika reached out to me.

“Wolfram, I want to express my gratitude. It was a wonderful and truly satisfying meal. There’s nothing beyond this.”

Was it that spicy? Certainly, the kal-guksu made with red vinegar was spicy, but I’d say it was moderate compared to spicy chicken stir-fry noodles.

“I didn’t think it was that spicy.”

To my question, Rudika quietly shook her head.

“Spiciness wasn’t everything. The meal was about warmth and filling the heart. I deeply appreciate it.”

“I see. Is that so?”

“I also enjoyed the meal.”

“Nephti, was it not too spicy for you? Or are you good at eating spicy food?”

In response to the question, Nephti replied with a laugh, “It was spicy, but it’s ultimately a sensory experience. I could bear it better than expected by using the 【Guardian Barrier: Endure】 skill.”

“You use skills while eating?”

“Isn’t it good that skill proficiency also increases? And I made the dough less spicy separately.”

“Logical.”

I nodded at Nephti’s words.

This child may be simple-minded, but she can be smart as well.

“Wolfram, there’s something I want to ask.”

“Go ahead.”

“Do you plan to return to the position of student council president? Do you plan to steal the throne from your younger sister and do something bad?”

It was a sudden question, but the answer came out naturally.

“Eve will take care of the student council presidency. I’m not interested in that anymore.”

“Good. Rudika is satisfied.”

She speaks like a noble.

“Satisfied, Rudika wants to make a promise.”

“What do you mean?”

“Wolfram has been a benefactor to Rudika, and I want to repay the debt. If there are children bothering Wolfram in the future, Rudika will reprimand them.”

An unexpected proposal.

Her technique, 【Hot Volcanic Flow】, is in the lower middle tier of a specific stage.

The lower middle tier cannot be disregarded.

Tier 1 is a realm that only individuals with divine talent can enter after extreme training and following the correct skill tree.

All tier 1 individuals hold a secondary title.

The title is ‘Battle Maker’.

The official explanation from the developers was that the ‘Battle Maker’ should dictate the battlefield.

In other words, all colleagues under tier 2 should serve as chess pieces for the ‘Battle Maker’. That’s how great and powerful tier 1 is according to the game company’s official explanation.

Now Rudika is at tier 3, but if she’s raised well, she’ll definitely enter tier 1. In a map where an assassin is needed, a tier 1 Rudika is covert, swift, and lethal beyond anyone’s reach.

Is she going to protect me?

At least it means I won’t be assassinated in front of her.

“I’ll leave it to you then.”

“Leave it to me! To celebrate our new friendship, let’s have an all-night festival tonight!”

“I, Nephti, will join you!”

“… No, I have business.”

“Great. I will eat with the enthusiasm to buy all the goods in the grocery store! I’ll pay! Wolfram! Bring all the groceries you have!”

“… Huh. Okay. Then give it a try.”

Thank you for clearing the stock.

Thank you very much.

The next day, I was down with muscle pain.

Rudika. I won’t forgive you.

Nephti. I won’t forgive you either.

And the next day.

“Ugh…”

Eating a mix of beans that are good for fatigue recovery, I barely regained strength thanks to a full day of sleep, and I was able to attend classes.

I casually find a corner seat and listen to the lecture. It’s one of the subjects I need to take for my major, “Wizards and the Battlefield”.

“In modern battlefields, Wizards are high-ranking personnel, and the loss of a single archmage could disrupt the overall situation. Therefore, they usually have a guard force of battalion level or above.”

The lecture by the professor, which started like this, was more interesting than I thought.

There is quite a difference in perspective from when I used to play a wizard in the original D/Z.

Firstly, the absence of resurrection magic.

In the game, wizards could be revived through resurrection magic even if they died, but unfortunately, in the real world of Jephryn, there’s no resurrection magic. I’m not sure whether it doesn’t exist or has been deliberately obliterated, but it genuinely doesn’t exist.

In the game, you get your first resurrection scroll in the middle of Act 3… but if resurrection magic exists in reality, no famous noble family, or even the royal family, would have a succession problem. No one would willingly share power.

The founding emperor would have lived forever.

And another thing is that the cost of raising a single wizard is enormous. Artifacts are expensive, items containing mana are even more costly, and it’s harder to find people with high mana.

So when a decent wizard appears, the kingdom to which he belongs hits the jackpot.

Each country, even scraping the common people, pushes hard if they show a little aptitude and sends them to the academy.

After graduation, it’s now commonplace to have them work in their own country for a fixed number of years.

Magic requires calculation as an advanced academic field and is also the artillery on the battlefield. So both the military and the practical line want it. It’s an ideal candidate.

In the game, you could grow an archmage fairly easily if you pushed them a bit and followed the right skill tree, and they weren’t that rare.

On the other hand, an archmage in reality is hard to come by, and the world is thirsting for wizards.

This difference in perspective was quite fun.

Of course, as a convenience store owner, it’s not something I need to worry about.

***

After class, on my way back to the convenience store.

Behind me, I heard a sound. Turning around, I heard someone calling for Wolfram.

“Did you have a good weekend, Wolfram?”

“What’s going on…”

In a voice crawling along the ground, there was an incredibly somber tone, a voice of obsidian.

Aila Tristar came walking toward me with a troubled look in her eyes.

“No, nothing happened. The new semester has started, so I’ve been busy. I have to keep up with classes.”

“I see.”

“Yes. Especially, the gazes around me weigh heavily on my shoulders. I didn’t think I would feel pressure from such things…”

“What do you mean?”

“The orientation training. According to the professor, it has been years since someone demonstrated the skills of a third-year so overwhelmingly.”

“I see.”

From what I heard, Aila perfectly demolished Kelters.

She blocked him with a crystal wall, predicted his rush, connected another wall to seal him off, and ended it with a single strike of a obsidian spear.

However, this development is quite different from the original story. In the original, Aila couldn’t block Kelter’s charge. She hastily fired her obsidian’s ultimate single shot, but Kelters brushed it off, just grazing Aila’s waist as he passed by.

It was just a light touch, but Kelters succeeded in demonstrating the power of a first-year, and he said this.

‘Hehe… I touched you.’

Saying that, Kelters collapsed with a thud, and Aila felt humiliated and started to argue with Kelters about everything.

But such a perfect victory, maybe…

Maybe I’ll get to see Aila mature as a villain and not get defeated. Thinking that way, I feel a little strange.

“So what’s the problem?”

“I was thinking, Aila Tristar, who has proven the magic department’s first perfect victory in years, could she be riding the wave of rebellion?”

“What are you talking about?”

Sometimes, or rather often, I can’t understand what she’s saying.

“What else? Aila Tristar, who has been second in the grade for years, is finally going to be the top student this year. My obsidian wings are ready for takeoff!”

“······.”

With that, Aila triggered several small obsidian wings, arranged them like a fan to cover her mouth, and laughed elegantly.

She looks like a third-rate villain. Considering who the top student of the third year is, her dream probably won’t come true, but as long as she seems happy, that’s all that matters.

“The first battle is the upcoming pop quiz. Here, the first spark of rebellion will be lit, and from there, it will be a perfect takeoff, not stepping down from the top until the end of the year!”

That sounds cool.

“So, do you have a way to beat the top student?”

“Hmph. What do you take me for! Of course, I do!”

“I’d like to hear it.”

The top student of the third year is a monster that can be counted on one hand even in the D/Z saga. From my memory, Aila has never once beaten that top student.

“It’s studying hard! That’s the only way!”

“······.”

It’s a very plain rebellion, but it’s also a proper strategy.

“But there’s a little problem.”

“What problem?”

“This is a big secret, can you keep it?”

“I will keep it.”

“Good. I trust my betrothed, Wolfram, so I’ll tell you my big secret.”

Honestly, I’m curious. How rare is it to hear a secret setting not in the setting book from the person herself?

Aila took a deep breath, her face slightly flushed, and she muttered quietly to me alone, as if it were a huge grievance.

“I can’t stay up all night.”

“·········.”

“I fall asleep as soon as it hits ten o’clock.”

“·········.”

“Uh, um, but last year it was eight o’clock, and this year I’ve increased it by a whole two hours. This too is a rebellion!”

“·········.”

Ah, I see.

You’ve staged a great rebellion.

“Isn’t it amazing? Compared to last year, I can now be active two more hours a day! In ten years, this means I can be active twenty hours more than others!”

“···Yes. I see.”

I didn’t say anything more.

I couldn’t say anything more.

***

The start of the semester is filled with mixed emotions.

I returned to the convenience store and immediately got stuck in the office.

But calling it an office might not be entirely correct, since it’s not really a place for paperwork but more suitable to call it a bean room.

Anyway, it’s a room where I grow, duplicate, and combine beans.

The reason I’m stuck here is quite simple – it was because of my conversation with Aila before coming here.

‘I’m going to spread the wings of rebellion this time, how about you, Wolfram?’

‘What are you talking about.’

‘Aren’t you taking the same major as me, Wolfram? Then we’re going to take the mini test together, right?’

‘…What?’

I desperately feigned calmness, but my hands were shaking terribly.

I am just a regular student for now and if I do something wrong, I could be spotted by Eve and get kicked out of school.

And a knife-ending during the return to the royal family. Oh, this was really the ending I wanted to see. Thank you.

‘That’s a way to die?’

I cannot die. My determination has produced a means, and I have decided to use all the cards I can use right now.

And fortunately, I now have one surefire way to get through this ordeal.

In the Eastern Forest, two things were handed to me on the first day I harvested beans with Nephti.

One is a Talent-only Stats 1

And the other is the Energy Bean, a 7th-tier bean.

This bean, which can normally be obtained in the middle of Act 2, has the following effects in the game:

‘Falls into a state of anger.’

‘The skill “Archer’s Training: Concentration Enhancement” is activated at level 1.’

Since it was one of the very useful beans, I started growing it immediately, even if I couldn’t use it.

I’ve been growing it steadily since then, so it’s quite inflated now. As expected, the good words music box and potion cultivation method are the best.

Anyway, I was able to use the Energy Beans, which have been inflated in this way, as soon as my skill reached 10.

“…huh. Shall we try to make it?”

My skill level is 10.

The success rate of mixing a 7th-tier bean is just over 60%. I did well to prepare plenty of ingredients since I might waste a few.

After making a mixed bean by combining Energy Beans and beans that increase abnormal state resistance, I stir-fry it.

I’m not expecting much. I don’t even think that what I want will come out of this.

I just do my best.

“Is it similar? It seems similar.”

I drain the fairly well-fried beans in hot water.

Simply the most primitive… a faint memory of drip coffee.

Made with a cooking skill of level 1, it was drinkable but had a taste that was hard to call delicious.

‘But with this, I can stay awake a little longer.’

Thinking this, I made several cups of drip coffee and waited for a customer.

With the current Wolfram, this coffee is most needed by the customer.

“Wolfram. I’m here. So why did you call me?”

“I called to introduce a new product.”

Aila’s expression turned awkward.

“…I’m grateful and excited, but did you forget that I have to start my own rebellion?”

“This will help with that rebellion. Try it.”

At my words, Aila’s eyes widened.

“I see. This is that kind of drink.”

“Yeah.”

“If I drink this, will I study better? I’ve never heard of a drink that forces knowledge in! Such a beautiful and splendid rebel’s holy water. Indeed, Wolfram has the most dangerous and secretive wings.”

“No, if you drink it, you can’t sleep.”

“Oh.”

Aila nodded her head.

Aila, you can’t sell such a drink. It might contain dangerous drugs.

After taking a sip of coffee, Aila scrunched up her face.

“…It’s bitter.”

“There’s sugar.”

“Thank you.”

After adding three sugars and even mixing in Milk Beans, Aila began to smile as if it had finally become drinkable.

“So if I drink this, I can study longer today?”

“That’s how it would be.”

“Great. I’ll report the results tomorrow. Look forward to it!”