Eustia Banquet (3)
‘Right, that’s how I can do it without taking off their top. Damn it.’
Zeke glanced at Selena and Iriel.
Selena was diligently practicing mana circulation with her eyes closed, and Iriel was running and sweating, not wanting to lose to her.
‘Well, wouldn’t they be mad if I told them it was okay not to take their clothes off now?’
Even Zeke, who was clueless about most things, couldn’t help but think that way when he recalled their reactions to the mana road procedure.
‘Selena kicked me out of her room, and Iriel threw a fit too.’
He was pissed at Rosnante, who was blinking blankly as if he didn't know anything.
‘This bastard is putting me through this.’
“Turn around and sit on the floor.”
“Y-Yes…”
Rosnante's back was starting to get soaked with sweat.
‘Shit.’
Zeke cursed inwardly.
To be honest, Zeke was the type of person who would eat bread even if it was covered in dirt, but he was reluctant to put his hand inside a man’s clothes.
‘It's too late to explain this to Iriel and Selena now, so let’s just go with this concept.’
“Take it off.”
“Yes.”
Rosnante took off his top. Then, he suddenly asked Zeke as if it was strange.
“Um…about that…do you do this to Selena and Iriel too…?”
“No.”
Zeke quickly denied it.
“Women and men are different.”
“I-Is that so…?”
However, Rosnante didn't take his suspicious gaze away.
‘I guess I have to put my hand inside Soi Spoon and Yuri Gilbert’s clothes. If he tells the First Prince about this, I'm screwed.’
Perhaps because he trained to some extent, Rosnante's body had no flab.
Zeke's hand touched his back.
*Swoosh*
“Aaaagh!”
Rosnante screamed as soon as Zeke's mana invaded him.
“Shut up.”
Zeke frowned.
Then, his gaze softened slightly.
‘This kid…’
The task of examining Rosnante’s mana road was over in a matter of seconds.
The Second Prince trembled and collapsed forward.
“Rosnante.”
“Gasp…gasp…”
Zeke called out to him, but Rosnante couldn't answer.
It was a momentary pain that lasted only a few seconds, but it felt like his entire body was being stabbed with thick needles simultaneously.
“Haaaaaaa…”
Tears streamed down his face.
Soi Spoon and Yuri Gilbert, who were watching from the side while running around the training ground, stiffened.
Soi Spoon and Yuri slowly slowed down and matched their pace with Iriel.
Pant…
Pant…
Her red hair was drenched in sweat.
However, she was born with such beautiful features that even that looked noble.
“Hey, Iriel…”
Soi Spoon spoke to her.
“Pant, pant…huh? Elise…?”
“I, you said you received that…the mana road thing, right?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. I did.”
“Was it that painful…?”
After hearing Rosnante’s scream just now, Soi lost her confidence.
That's why she went to Iriel, who already received the mana road procedure.
Yuri felt the same way.
“You’re asking if it hurts? Well…”
At her question, Iriel recalled the feeling she had received from Zeke that day.
The pain, pleasure, and excitement she felt that day.
And the arms that embraced her, Zeke's crumbling face…
She shuddered.
“Heuk…heuk…ah, it hurts, but…”
“It hurts?”
Then, Iriel’s face hardened.
‘Wait, Zeke. Is he going to take her clothes off too?!’
Iriel turned her head towards Soi Spoon.
“It really hurts. It really, really, really hurts. It hurts like hell. So don't ever get it. You.”
When she warned her in a stern voice,
Soi Spoon and Yuri, who were eavesdropping from the front, gulped.
“See the Second Prince? It really hurts like you’re gonna die if something goes wrong. So never ever get it. I almost died.”
Soi Spoon nodded with a stiff face.
* * *
*Blink, blink.*
Rosnante opened his eyes.
“Are you alright now?”
“W-Where am I…?”
“The training ground.”
He only lost consciousness for a short time.
Selena was still meditating, and the others were running around the training ground.
“Rosnante.”
Zeke called out to him in a heavy voice.
“…Yes.”
“It must be hard for you.”
“Excuse me?”
Zeke shook his head.
As if there was nothing he could do.
Rosnante frowned.
“Hard, what do you mean?”
“You have mana deficiency syndrome.”
“Mana deficiency syndrome? What’s that?”
“Your body has almost no mana. So there’s a limit to how strong you can become.”
“What?!”
It was like a bolt from the blue.
Rosnante asked back in a bewildered voice.
“W-Wait. So you’re saying I can’t get stronger?”
“If you train your body to the limit, you can get strong to some extent…but it’ll be difficult to overcome the wall.”
‘That can’t be true!’
He was of noble imperial blood.
His innate talent would be different from ordinary people.
Rosnante couldn't accept Zeke's words.
“Even after going through that pain…you’re saying I can’t get stronger…?”
“Yes, those who are born with it don’t usually feel that much pain.”
“T-That can’t be…”
The people who supported him had left, and now even his strength was about to leave him.
It hadn’t been long since he escaped from despair.
He thought he could make a fresh start.
“T-Then what, what should I do?!”
Rosnante asked Zeke, clutching at straws.
“...”
Zeke shook his head silently.
Like a doctor announcing an incurable disease, he looked truly sorry.
“Because I have mana deficiency syndrome! Mana deficiency syndrome! That can’t be true!”
Rosnante cried out in a desperate voice.
Zeke opened his mouth, which wouldn’t move easily.
“…Actually, it’s not like there’s no way at all…”
“What, what is it?! Please tell me anything. I am the Second Prince! I can get anything!”
Zeke frowned slightly and said,
“Magic stones.”
“Excuse me?”
“Magic stones. Forty. Are. Needed.”
Zeke spoke in a clipped tone.
Rosnante’s eyes widened.
Forty magic stones. It was an enormous amount that Rosnante could never afford with his current funds.
He was already struggling to pay back the debt after the First Prince extorted twenty from him.
He was even cutting back on meals and tightening his belt.
Forty more magic stones in this situation?
“I-I can’t. I can’t get that many.”
“I. See. Then. It. Can’t. Be. Helped.”
*Sigh.*
Zeke let out a sigh as if he was truly sorry.
“…”
Suddenly, a reasonable doubt sprouted in Rosnante’s frustrated mind.
‘Wait. Magic stones? Wasn’t it Zeke Clayman, this swordsmanship instructor, who demanded magic stones from me just like the First Prince?’
If he needed magic stones right now.
And that’s why he created this situation to obtain magic stones.
‘It’s also strange that he gave mana roads to Selena and Iriel first.’
Two duchess daughters. It would be easier to deceive women.
Could it be that they were also ripped off of their magic stones?
If so, this was a serious problem.
How dare an academy instructor try to scam me?
It was a crime of insulting a noble and a crime of insulting a member of the imperial family. He would have no right to complain even if he was sentenced to death on the spot.
Rosnante’s eyes turned cold.
“Instructor.”
“What is it? Have you figured out a way to get forty magic stones?”
Rosnante’s frown deepened.
He didn’t know how to speak in a roundabout way like the First Prince or how to pressure him with a scheme.
He just went straight for it.
“Mana road. This. Are you sure it’s not a lie?”
Zeke’s face hardened.
“Do you know what you’re saying right now?”
“Yes, I have my doubts. I doubt if this thing called mana road really exists. And about the Duchess daughters! I suspect that you extorted magic stones from them.”
‘Nice.’
Zeke, who was looking at Rosnante with pity, inwardly cheered.
If Rosnante asked if he really needed forty magic stones, he was worried that he would have to put on another awkward act.
“Ha, Selena.”
Zeke called her name in a low voice, putting magic power into it.
Then, she opened her eyes, snapping out of her concentration.
Selena turned her head around, looking for Zeke.
“Instructor?”
“Yes. Selena. When I was working on your mana road. Did I ask you for magic stones?”
“Huh? Mana road? …You didn’t?”
Of course, Zeke had asked for magic stones, but not because of the mana road.
And he never brought it up again after that.
“Then why…?”
Rosnante intervened from the side.
“Selena Yohaiden, is it true that the swordsmanship instructor never asked for magic stones in exchange for the mana road? I am the Second Prince of the Empire. Tell me honestly, Princess Yohaiden.”
Selena’s eyebrows furrowed.
“Second Prince Rosnante, does your mana road require magic stones?”
Zeke nodded.
“Yes. Rosnante’s mana road is…premature.”
“P-Premature!”
“N-No! I’m not premature!”
Selena’s eyes turned pitiful.
She was a little offended that he was badmouthing Instructor Zeke,
But she understood why he was reacting that way after hearing those words.
“That’s why I need magic stones to treat it, but he doesn’t believe me.”
“Sir Rosnante…”
“D-Don’t look at me like that! I’m perfectly normal! Normal!”
He yelled, but Selena’s gaze didn’t change.
“Selena. Are you able to use Eruption proficiently now?”
“Ah, yes!”
Selena nodded confidently at Zeke’s question.
“Then show this guy who doesn’t believe me. Oh, you don’t have to circulate it this time. It’ll be more intuitive if you just shoot it out.”
“Yes, I understand.”
*Fwoosh—*
Selena closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
*Fuuuh—*
And a deep exhale.
The wind blew beneath her feet,
And Selena opened her eyes.
She lowered her stance and pulled her fist back.
And
One swing.
*Booooom!!!!*
With an explosion, dust from the training ground scattered like a storm.
Everyone’s eyes turned to Selena.
Astonishment.
Soi Spoon and Yuri Gilbert stared at her with their mouths agape.
“Wh-What was that?”
“Crazy…h-how do we report this to the First Prince…?”
Iriel had seen it once before, so she started running even harder.
And Rosnante.
He was pale and terrified, his eyes wide.
Cold sweat trickled down his forehead.
A dizzying thrill ran down his spine.
Zeke smirked as he watched him.
“Still not going to do it?”
“I-I’ll do it! Please do it!”
“Magic stones.”
“Y-Yes! I-I’ll get forty of them!!”
“Good.”
Zeke nodded in satisfaction.
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