Eugene's Circle
"I did tell him to milk the Griffin, but I never imagined he'd be milking it three times a day."
"What can I say? It's not like I can complain."
"Wouldn't it be weird if I said something after telling him to do it and then coming back to see he did too much?"
Even imagining it felt a bit off.
With that thought, I asked, "So, where is all the milk you've collected?"
"Ah, it's here."
Basil lifted a wooden board.
And there it was—
"...Wow."
Countless barrels filled with milk.
I was curious how much he had collected, milking three times a day, but this was beyond my imagination.
It seemed like we could make a considerable profit.
Thinking so, I stored all the milk in my subspace pouch.
"I should probably keep this subspace pouch at home."
As a valuable item, I was tempted to sell it, but it was a gift from Silvia.
So, I couldn't just get rid of it.
And since carrying it around felt a bit off, keeping it at home seemed like the wisest choice.
As I closed the subspace, the Griffin spoke.
—You can already handle subspace magic?
"Ah, yes. Well, I learned it at the academy."
—Unbelievable. Truly.
Looking at the structure of subspace magic, it's incredibly difficult to grasp naturally.
Therefore, teachings from others are essential, but since the Griffin didn't have the opportunity for such education, it would've had to learn naturally.
It might not have even learned it yet.
That must be why it let out such an empty laugh.
However, there was nothing I could do about it.
Just by allowing it to stay hidden underground without a permit for such a dangerous magical beast was already a huge favor.
If it weren't for me, it would've been fated to be slain by someone else.
With that thought, I bid farewell to the two and started walking.
I had somewhere to be.
*
-How is he? His strength.
"...Strong. Much stronger than me."
In the past, there was a sliver of hope, a chance for me to compete.
But now…
The gap had widened significantly.
To the point of being invisible.
Despite training day and night underground with the Griffin... how could this be?
It was incredibly frustrating.
Ever since Master passed away, I had dedicated my life to pursuing strength.
-Don't be discouraged. That guy is not someone you can catch up to. He will eventually ascend to a place we can't even fathom. But that doesn't mean we should just sit idly by.
We must continue to strive. If you do, one day, you too will stand beside him.
It was a distant future.
But... if I kept pushing like this, I could stand beside him.
It was instinctive.
The instinct to become stronger.
"...I need to work harder."
It seemed like I needed to put in even more effort than now.
And for that, I'd need to train endlessly.
With that thought, I opened the door to where the Griffin was.
-Then let's start slowly.
Starting today.
I had the teachings Master had given me.
*
"Oh my, Eugene! It's been ages. What have you been up to?"
"Oh, hello."
I met up with Violet after a long time.
It had been quite a while.
It felt like a considerable amount of time had passed since we last met like this.
Anyway, I was curious about what everyone else had been up to.
I decided to ask her about it while we talked, but first, I spoke up.
She'd probably be curious about what I've been doing.
"Things have been a bit hectic lately. I've been traveling around quite a bit. I even went to Lukphelton, and it was amazing."
Of course, I was referring to the front district, not the back.
While the back district was nice, it was on a different level compared to the front.
As I was thinking this, Violet continued.
"Lukphelton is nice. I went there once to relax a while back. It's a lovely place. By the way, what took you there?"
"Ah, there were some things I wanted to learn, so I decided to visit."
"I see…"
There was no need to hide the fact that I went to the academy.
Attending the academy would now be a part of my adventurer profile.
I didn't drop out; I graduated.
And there was a reason why I stayed until graduation.
Having "Academy Graduate" on my adventurer profile would look cool, for one.
And it came with the perk of reduced commission fees.
‘That's why some adventurers want to go to the academy.’
Of course, not going at all would save the most money, but strong adventurers are always seeking knowledge.
‘Except for Cthulhu.’
It seemed like he had nothing in his head.
Thinking such thoughts, I asked, "By the way, Violet, what have you been up to? I'm curious."
"Hmm… It's not the most pleasant story."
"Ah, well… it's fine."
I felt a bit uneasy.
What could it be that made her hesitate so much?
With a hint of nervousness, I focused on her words.
"Well, Teron was helping out at Harang Restaurant, and… his arm got paralyzed."
"What?"
I thought I had misheard.
His arm got paralyzed?
What kind of spectacular work was he doing at the restaurant to end up with a paralyzed arm?
It was absurd.
"Apparently, a prisoner escaped from the lord's castle and attacked Teron. And that goes for me too."
"...A prisoner?"
This was a bit unsettling.
It felt like something I had expected.
Thinking so, I looked at her cautiously—
"Yeah, that bastard. The one with the gold plate necklace dangling from his neck. It seems he held a grudge against us, because he attacked all three of us."
This was a bit shocking.
I had entrusted the lord with the prisoner, believing he wouldn't be careless with security.
To think he'd mess up this badly…
Anger started to well up inside me, but I calmed myself down and asked about the others.
"I guess I got off easy. I'm generally good at sensing nearby presences, so I only got slightly cut."
"...What about Dontas?"
"Well… Dontas, he… I don't know if I should say. He was… quite brutally attacked."
"What were the guards doing all this time?"
"Unfortunately, that day, the lord had treated everyone to drinks, so security was a bit lax. The lord was too complacent."
I didn't particularly want to hear the details of Dontas's condition. I wanted to see it for myself.
To think that the prisoner, instead of escaping the castle immediately, went around harming the people I was with…
It irritated me.
I wanted to rip him limb from limb if I ever saw him again.
‘Calm down.’
Suppressing my boiling rage, we rose from our seats.
"Oh, but the food just arrived…?"
"The money's on the table. Please use that to pay."
"Ah, yes, of course!"
Food was not the priority right now.
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