Dear valued customer!
I've read through the proposal you sent!
✧.◟(ˊᗨˋ)◞.✧
Thank you so, so much for sending it over so quickly!
٩(๑>∀<๑)۶That said, after going through what you sent, there were a few items that look a little difficult or might take some time… I'm just so sorry that my abilities aren't quite up to it.
(｡•́︿•̀｡) Sob sob.
I've attached a separate revised proposal, so please take a look and let me know what you think!
In the meantime, I'll get started right away on the artifacts I can make immediately!
Please bear with me for just a little while!
٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و Yeehaw~
"…What, does she get a kick out of using emoticons or something?"
Evangelline's message was so wildly different from her usual image that I genuinely had to stop and think for a moment.
Just a few days ago, the picture of her in my head was the youngest person ever to reach her rank — a Great Witch, cold and urbane and sharp-witted, with that aloof air about her.
But now she came across as someone slightly ditzy and unguarded, the kind of person you'd call a bit of an airhead.
For an alchemist, artifact craftsman, and Grand Mage like her, dragon scales must have been worth that much.
Even she — the one who had always kept her composure around me and kept her distance like she was wary — had ended up like this….
'…Maybe I should've set some aside for Professor Alice and Kath Ryle too, if I'd known.'
A little for Evangelline Loengreen to make artifacts.
A little for the Smith of Yado to forge weapons and armor for me and my companions.
A little for Lee Ye-eun, who'd taken immeasurable financial losses because of me.
A little for Han Su-yeong, who was also a mage.
A little for Lee Yu-na, who grew stronger by directly consuming monster bodies and mana entities.
And finally, one for Rauné.
Once I'd divided them up, there were barely any scales left.
These were the ones I'd set aside just in case.
Figuring I could hand them out the next time I went to visit, I lightly nudged the inside of my pocket with my finger.
"Rauné, you asleep?"
"……."
Rauné thumped my chest with a root, as if to say don't talk to me.
Surprised that its sulk was lasting longer than I'd expected, I gave an awkward smile and poked it once more.
"Can't you come out for just a sec? Just a little. Please?"
"……."
Then, with very visible reluctance, it squirmed its way out of my pocket.
I caught it in my palm, glanced around, and pulled something from my chest pocket.
"Here, you forgot this."
"……?"
The truth was that Rauné had thrown it down right in front of me like a protest, but I didn't bother bringing that up.
I'd secretly drilled a hole through one of my scales so it could be worn like a necklace, and I held it up for Rauné to see clearly.
Rauné spread its roots out wide, as if genuinely startled.
"……!"
"You'll take it, right?"
With that, I pressed it firmly into its little grasp.
Rauné accepted it, pretending it was being forced into the gesture.
I spoke in a tone full of real regret, like I was truly sorry.
"And next time something like that comes up, I'll be careful and tell you in advance. Rauné, honestly, I really didn't think it would shock you that badly. But there was no weird intention behind it or anything, I swear."
"……."
"You believe me, right?"
Rauné stared silently down at the scale.
As I watched with a fluttering heart, it suddenly held the scale back out to me.
I was sinking into the thought that maybe Rauné still didn't want to make up, when it rustled and gathered its leaves into a neat little bundle.
Then it turned its head toward me and stared, as if to say well, what are you waiting for?
I couldn't help smiling at the sight.
"Hold on a sec."
Smiling, I fastened the necklace around Rauné's neck.
I'd sized it with the mandrake in mind from the start, so it fit perfectly.
"How's that?"
"……."
Rauné fiddled with the scale dangling from its neck.
It tapped at it a few more times, then looked up at me.
A moment later, without a word, it scurried back into my pocket.
What really came as a relief was that this time it didn't deliberately bump against me on the way in, the way it had been doing for the past few days.
Looked like it had cooled off, at least a little.
"Phew."
I let out a quiet sigh of relief, then skimmed through the letter that had been waiting in the dorm mailbox.
A warning notice.
It began with that grim word, and it had been sent by the elderly professor in charge of all lecture-based instruction — the same one who served as Class C's homeroom teacher, where Lee Yu-na was.
The contents were simple and to the point.
In short: I'd been leaving early and skipping so often this semester that my attendance was hanging by a thread.
If I missed a few more days like this, I could be held back regardless of my grades, so consider this fair warning.
It was a completely useless concern in the grand scheme of things — but even back in my old world, the one thing I'd worked hard to avoid was being held back.
…If I ended up repeating a year, I wouldn't have been able to face my hardworking little sister.
I never imagined I'd be running into that word here, of all places.
"What am I supposed to do about this…."
I'd run into a problem I hadn't expected at all — and one I couldn't just brush off.
…If I thought about it simply, there were other options too: taking a leave of absence or even dropping out entirely.
I wasn't from this world to begin with, and I had absolutely no interest in becoming a hero or hunter or joining some guild.
And to put it bluntly, I already had more than enough strength to become a hero or hunter whenever I wanted.
There were also plenty of people — Lee Myung-jun, Laura Hartmann, Evangelline Loengreen, Ahn Ju-hyeok — who'd carve out a spot for me in their guild the moment I said the word.
In other words, there was no real reason for me to keep living the life of "a student at an academy training the next generation of heroes and hunters."
But that was clearly the worst option.
As I'd said, I hadn't come to the academy to become a hero or hunter in the first place.
I'd come to find a clue that could get me home.
And the most efficient, surest place to find that clue was right here at Orhe Academy — the main setting and backdrop of the original work, Clouds on the Horizon.
On top of that, Han Su-yeong, who could be called the "protagonist" of this world, would be spending at least four more years here, including this one… and longer than that if she wanted to.
I needed to stay by her side for any number of reasons, so getting held back or dropping out and leaving the academy weren't even worth considering.
"……."
No matter how I turned it over, the only solution I could think of was asking Esmeralda Lisnerger for help whenever I had to be away from the academy.
She could create a doppelgänger and even alter its appearance, so she'd be able to cover not just my absences but the others' too.
…The problem was that she didn't just dislike me — she hated me — which meant asking her for a favor wasn't exactly going to be easy.
Of course, if I went through her boss Lydia, Esmeralda would do it while glaring at me like she wanted me dead… but in the long run, that wasn't a great approach.
"And it's not like I can just patch things up with her overnight, either."
I was muttering all this to myself when it happened.
"Patch what up?"
The voice from beside me startled me so badly that I jumped sideways.
Belluna Hunt, perched on a chair, watched me and burst out giggling.
"You scared me! Belluna, please, can you at least let me know you're there at times like this?"
"I'm a spirit. How am I supposed to let you know I'm here?"
She snickered and put on a smug expression, like she'd just delivered a brilliant joke.
I let out a small sigh, edged a little away from her, and picked up a snack from the table.
I'd bought them to have on hand for guests, but it suddenly struck me that she'd polished off most of them single-handedly — and that, astonishingly, she was the visitor who came to my room more than anyone else.
"Ooh, snacks!"
She took the one I held out as if it were the most natural thing in the world, and was just rustling open the wrapper when she suddenly burst out:
"Oh, right! I came here to be mad at you today!"
Belluna stood up as she said it and started stomping her feet.
I was racking my brain for anything I'd done to make her angry when I noticed the enormous bag and bundle slung across her back.
"Yu Ji-hyeok, I thought you were only going to ask for your own things! Were you planning to open a weapons shop or something!"
Huffing, Belluna swung the things off her back and flung them onto the bed.
The bag and bundle landed on the mattress with a loud thud.
"Thanks to you, I scrubbed that guy's workshop spotless! With newspaper, no less! A person needs a conscience, you can't just be greedy! Haven't you read any old folktales? Greedy people get gobbled up by goblins and witches and trolls and ogres!"
Her reaction made me respond in spite of myself, my voice gone flat.
"…I'd beat them in a fight, you know."
"That may be true, but that's not the point!"
Belluna kept stomping and scolding me for ages.
Honestly, even I had to admit I might've overdone it a little.
I nodded along to her lecture, apologized profusely, and promised that from now on I'd live without greed and offer tribute to the great Belluna far more often — and only then did she forgive me.
"…Good. Be more careful in the future. You don't need me to tell you how weighty a promise made to a spirit is, do you?"
"No. I'll be truly careful from now on."
"All right, then…."
Belluna nodded and crunched away at her snack.
I glanced at the items piled on the bed and asked her,
"So… did you really come all the way here just to bring those?"
"Cola."
"Oh, right."
I quickly poured her a glass of cola and handed it over.
She shot me a sidelong glance, downed it in one go, and let out a small burp.
"Yes, I'm playing delivery girl too. Thanks to a certain someone, I've ended up saddled with a debt I never signed up for, and now I'm working hard to pay it off."
She jabbed a finger at the backpack and bundle, scrunching her face up like she couldn't stand the sight of them.
"Yours and Minerva's aren't here. Yours needs a bit more time… and Minerva's still missing some pattern she specifically asked for, or whatever — anyway, the finishing touches aren't done, so he says he'll send them together later. He said you'd instinctively know whose is whose the moment you saw them."
I nodded as if impressed and muttered,
"Even so, to crank all of this out in just a few days…."
"I hate to admit it, but his craftsmanship is the real deal. If he set his mind to it, he could probably throw up some grand mansion in a single day. You know, like in the old stories."
Belluna muttered it in a bored tone, waving her hand vaguely.
"More importantly, you want to start checking the goods? If there's a problem with anything, I'll be the one hauling it all back, panting the whole way."
"Haha…."
She was clearly in a foul mood, and her tone was as blunt as could be. I smiled awkwardly and walked over to the bed to check the items.
As I did, I heard the rustle of paper — Belluna must have picked something up.
"Hm?"
It was the warning notice I'd received.
After skimming through it, Belluna blinked a few times, then broke into the most devious, gleeful grin imaginable.
"Hey, Yu Ji-hyeok. Don't tell me this is that warning notice they only send to students who aren't keeping up with their studies?"
"…Yeah, basically."
I answered in a sour tone, and she covered her mouth with her palm and let out a deliberately exaggerated snrk-snrk of laughter.
"My son is ranked number one! In the entire school!"
"Yes, I know. Ivan's really good at studying."
"Ahaha! My son's number one!"
She was laughing in such genuine delight that I figured she really must have built up a lot of stress because of me.
The spirit Belluna Hunt was selfish and went at her own pace, sure, but she wasn't usually the type to act childish or petty.
For her to tease and goad me like that, her frustration must have been piling up for quite a while.
"Yu Ji-hyeok, you've got to study hard. That's a student's duty, and… um… ah, right! It's how you repay your parents."
I gave her a faint smile at that.
Maybe it was because she was a spirit and not human.
Or maybe it was the World Tree's influence.
Looking back, I realized I'd always been careful around the others, afraid of saying the wrong thing — but around her, I tended to let my guard down a little.
I suppose that was probably why I was now telling her about my family.
"Well… I think that depends on the parents."
"What?"
"At least my parents wouldn't have been happy if I studied hard."
"Why? Did your parents hate studying or something?"
Belluna tilted her head, looking utterly baffled.
"I don't have parents, Belluna. That's the thing."
"Huh? What's that supposed to mean? What — was Yu Ji-hyeok originally a spirit too? How can a human not have parents?"
I hesitated a moment, then figured it was fine to tell a spirit like her.
And besides, despite her usual demeanor, she was surprisingly tight-lipped when it counted.
"Hm… my biological father didn't even know I existed until the day we met, and the first thing he did was tell me to get lost."
"?"
"My stepfather started a new family the second he found out I wasn't his. As for my mother… I don't know. She walked out partway through, and I have no idea whether she's still alive."
I gave Belluna a feeble smile.
"So it's basically the same as not having any."
"Oh, um…."
For once, Belluna actually looked thoroughly flustered.
To other spirits it might not have meant much, but for her — someone who'd come to understand what family meant — my answer must have been pretty shocking.
It hit her harder because, even now, she still carried her husband Brix Hunt in her heart.
"……."
While Belluna was fumbling for words, Rauné poked its head out of my pocket.
It started staring up at her in silence.
Under its reproachful gaze, Belluna's eyes darted around the room before she finally mumbled at me, sounding aggrieved:
"…Why are you giving me a hard time?"
I came all this way lugging all these things over here.
She muttered it like she was about to dissolve into wind and vanish on the spot, and to coax her back I ended up offering up nearly all the snacks and drinks I'd stockpiled.
Honestly, I wouldn't have minded if she'd taken off, embarrassed by my family situation — except that if any of the items she'd brought had a problem with them, she was the only one who could fix it.