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Chapter 170: Each One’s Dawn (4)
It had been a week since training with Veronica began.
She was quickly getting the hang of it.
“…How is it?”
Her voice was fairly confident, but her expression was still tense.
Oscar's gaze deepened as he observed the Wind Cutter she had just demonstrated.
‘Not bad.’
She definitely had talent.
Her learning speed was fast, too.
Normally, perfectly translating an image in one’s head into reality was no easy feat.
Yet she had managed to clear that hurdle in just a week.
Impressive.
Ting!
Oscar flicked the Wind Cutter with his finger before responding.
“Pass. You made it well.”
“Right?!”
Veronica clenched both fists in excitement.
But soon, she composed herself, and the tips of her ears turned red again.
“Hmph. It’s not like I’m super happy or anything.”
“You seem super happy.”
“…I’m not.”
She quietly denied it and quickly changed the subject.
“Anyway, what do I do next?”
“That.”
Oscar pointed at the Wind Cutter, which was still spinning in the air after his flick.
“How long do you think it took you to make that?”
“…One minute?”
“Exactly 1 minute and 27 seconds. If this were a real battle, you’d be dead already.”
Your heart would be pierced, your throat slashed by the enemy’s attacks.
Imagining such a scene darkened Veronica’s expression.
It seemed she now understood what she had to do.
“I need to shorten my casting time. How fast do I need to be?”
“Remember when I demonstrated my magic? Back then, I was crafting spell fragments every five seconds.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. How the hell am I supposed to keep up with that…?”
She started complaining instinctively but quickly stopped herself.
The guy in front of her was annoying, sure, but he wasn’t one to spout nonsense.
‘Wait… now that I think about it, how did this guy do it so fast?’
Oscar didn’t have the gift of rapid chanting.
Of course, his base magic intelligence was high, so he was naturally fast,
but he shouldn’t have been able to match those born as spell shooters.
‘Yet if someone like him managed to make one every five seconds…’
Then there was no reason she couldn’t do it.
Oscar smirked as he saw the realization dawn on her.
“You promised you wouldn’t quit just because it’s tough, right?”
“…Who said anything about it being tough?”
Veronica replied curtly, then turned away.
“Don’t come looking for me. I’ll come find you when I’m ready.”
“Alright.”
Oscar nodded.
Now that she had succeeded once, the rest was her battle alone.
A lonely journey of refining her success rate and cutting down her casting time.
“I’ll be waiting.”
That was all Oscar could say to her now.
* * *
Returning to the Special Task Force Office after a week, Oscar was greeted by Fran.
“What brings you here? I heard you were training with Veronica.”
“Training is still ongoing. But I still have work to do.”
Oscar naturally took his seat and started sorting through the stack of documents that had piled up in just a day.
“You’re making progress with your training, right?”
“Me?”
Fran’s overly cheerful voice suggested things were going well.
Sure enough, his eyes sparkled as he asked,
“Wanna see?”
“…See what?”
“Just wait.”
Without waiting for a response, Fran stood up, closed his eyes, and focused.
Soon, his entire body turned into wind.
“Oh…”
A living human transforming into wind in an instant.
Even Oscar had never seen such a phenomenon before.
His curiosity as a mage flared up, and he approached Fran.
“Can I touch it?”
“Haha, you idiot. How are you supposed to touch wind—HIIIK?!”
As Oscar reached for Fran’s arm, he grasped a handful of wind.
Naturally, it felt no different from touching a regular gust of air.
“W-What? Why didn’t your hand pass through? How did you grab me?”
“There’s a trick to it.”
Oscar’s artifact gloves, Gentle Breeze, allowed him to hold onto wind-based entities.
Without them, he would have needed to inject magic into his hands.
“Honestly, it’s not that special. It’s just wind.”
“Well… yeah, because I am wind.”
Fran responded dejectedly as his body returned to normal.
He immediately collapsed into his chair, exhausted.
“Haaah, I’m beat. I can use Full Body Wind Transformation pretty freely now, but maintaining it is the problem.”
“What’s your max duration?”
“At best, a little over three minutes.”
“Three minutes?”
Oscar muttered in shock.
“That’s way too short to be useful.”
“…Dude, I’m right here. Can you not?”
“Oh, my bad.”
But three minutes was seriously awkward.
Especially for combat.
“That’s three minutes without doing anything, right?”
“Yeah. If I use abilities like turning my whole body into Wind Cutters, it drains even faster.”
“…Is it a mana issue?”
“I don’t think so.”
Whoooosh!
Fran summoned a whirlwind in his palm.
“See? I’ve still got plenty of mana left.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“I’ve got a theory.”
Fran lowered his voice and whispered.
“I think it’s because of the spirit implanted in me.”
“The spirit?”
A low-ranking wind spirit had been implanted into Fran’s body.
Its purpose was to assist with his weak mana control.
Oscar let out a quiet sigh.
“C’mon, blaming the spirit because you suck at it seems a bit much.”
“No, it’s not like that! Every time I end Full Body Wind Transformation, my mana control takes a huge nosedive!”
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“…Your mana control drops?”
“Yeah! I think the low-rank spirit is struggling to keep the transformation stable.”
Oscar had expected it to be an excuse, but it actually made sense.
After testing Fran’s mana control, he nodded.
“It really does drop significantly.”
“See? I told you! It comes back after I rest, though.”
“Hmmm.”
If Fran was right, then this wasn’t something he could fix just by training more.
‘Unless he upgrades his spirit’s rank, that is.’
Fran must’ve reached the same conclusion because he hesitantly asked,
“Uh… do you think we could ask that Wind Giant for a mid-rank spirit…?”
“Not happening.”
Oscar shook his head.
Even with his intervention, the Wind Giant, Silestin, had only granted a low-rank spirit.
And he had acted like that was an incredible act of generosity.
“But a mid-rank spirit, huh…”
Oscar stroked his chin in thought.
According to legend, spirits were said to grow alongside their contractors.
‘In other words, if he can’t receive a mid-rank spirit, he just needs to raise the low-rank one.’
Fran gasped in admiration.
“Ohh, that actually makes a lot of sense. So…?”
“So what?”
“…No, I mean, how do you raise a spirit?”
“That, I have no idea.”
Having never raised a spirit in his life, how was he supposed to know?
If anything, someone who had a spirit implanted in their body should know better.
“Ugh, alright. I’ll just spend some money to find out.”
“…This is why rich people have it easy.”
Must be nice to live so comfortably.
Oscar returned to his seat and resumed looking through documents and news bulletins.
“Hmm?”
At that moment, Oscar furrowed his brows, sensing something unusual.
A particular name kept catching his eye over and over again.
Gathering all the news articles that mentioned it, he took a closer look.
[Magical Detective Charlotte Lockhart Announces Her Return After a Long Hiatus.]
[A Genius with the Greatest Mana Detection Ability in History Returns to the Stage.]
[Charlotte Lockhart, Flooded with Offers Upon Her Return—Successfully Completes Every Case.]
[This Year’s Rising Stars—Can Anyone Stand Alongside Charlotte Lockhart?]
Charlotte Lockhart.
Her name appeared everywhere, across all types of media.
Oscar studied the articles and asked Fran.
“Do you know someone named Charlotte Lockhart?”
“Oh, the magical detective? Of course.”
Without being prompted, Fran continued.
“She’s a genius. Especially when it comes to mana detection. Now that I think about it, aren’t you two acquainted?”
“I know this person?”
“Oh, you don’t even remember? You two used to meet quite often as kids. Both of you were considered prodigies. I think you even did a few interviews together.”
“Hm.”
Another so-called prodigy.
Yet, this was the first time he’d heard that name.
“So, why did she take a hiatus? Did something happen?”
“No idea. Maybe she just wanted to take a break after making tons of money.”
From what Fran was saying, it didn’t seem like she was someone who should be attracting this much attention.
And yet, her name was being subtly plastered everywhere, across every form of media.
“Hmm.”
Oscar narrowed his eyes.
There was no consistency in the news about her.
It almost seemed as though someone was deliberately trying to imprint her name and presence into people’s minds.
And as far as he knew, this kind of tactic was usually employed by the imperial family.
‘It’s called stealth marketing.’
A way to implant a specific person or event into people’s consciousness without them realizing it.
But why?
The question arose briefly before he lost interest.
‘The imperial family must be up to something again.’
Best to avoid getting involved with them.
Clearing away the news articles about Charlotte, Oscar came across a sealed letter.
“This is…”
It was an official-looking request, sealed with an elegant insignia.
Opening it, he found an invitation to give a lecture on alchemy.
The payment?
A staggering 5 million bel.
“Crazy.”
Clicking his tongue at the absurd amount, Oscar checked the sender.
—From the President of the National Alchemy Revival Association.
“Fran, have you ever heard of the National Alchemy Revival Association?”
“Never in my life.”
“…Right? They’re offering 5 million bel just for a single lecture.”
“What!? Then you should definitely go!”
Even Fran, who was well-versed in social circles, had never heard of this association.
How could they possibly have that kind of money?
Something felt off.
Oscar shook his head.
“No. I have a bad feeling about this. Best to stay away.”
“Really? But 5 million bel is such a waste…”
“5 million bel isn’t just some kid’s name—it could easily be a scam.”
“Yeah, you’re right. Especially considering that cult you got mixed up with not long ago.”
Nodding at Fran’s words, Oscar crumpled the letter and tossed it into the trash.
* * *
“Did you hear back from him?”
At the man’s question, Kaya Lockwood nodded.
“Yes, I sent him a formal request.”
“Do you think he’ll accept? He’s apparently really popular right now.”
“…He should, right? The money we’re offering is huge.”
“How much did you offer?”
“Five million bel.”
“Oh, my God.”
The man rubbed his forehead.
“And what sender name did you use? You didn’t make up some suspicious association again, did you?”
“The National Alchemy Revival Association.”
“…Why?”
“He’s supposed to be a genius in alchemy, right? So he’d have an interest in that field.”
“Oh, dear Lord. You should’ve just left this to me. Seriously, you really are from the forest tribes…”
“Say one more word.”
Faced with Kaya’s cold glare, the man averted his gaze.
“Ahem, well, why don’t we just move on to the other option? I looked into it, and apparently, she’s a genius at mana detection.”
“You mean that Charlotte kid?”
“Yes. She was grouped with Oscar as a prodigy from a young age. And unlike him, she’s already been thoroughly vetted. Plus, she’s actively looking for work right now. Doesn’t this sound like a perfect match for us?”
“Hm.”
Kaya skimmed through the documents on Charlotte before shaking her head.
“She seems off. Like someone’s backing her.”
“…Then what do we do? We already failed with Oscar.”
“No choice, then.”
Crack. Crack.
Kaya stretched her neck and stood up.
“If we can’t hire them properly, we’ll just have to take them by force.”
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