“Long time no see, Mr. Kunon.”
It was early in the morning, and yet again, someone addressed Kunon right as he was about to pass through the school gate.
At the sound of the voice, however, all the questions he’d been dwelling on for the past few days flew straight out of his mind.
“Miss Serraphila!”
“Y-yes?”
Serraphila Quartz, the Inferno Prince’s cousin, stood before him. She was a girl he had been quite invested in until recently. Specifically, until he entered the dungeon.
He hadn’t forgotten about her, exactly…… Well, okay, he’d forgotten about her.
He had been spending all his time pondering what happened in the dungeon, and that had left no room for any other thoughts. But until then, she had definitely been on his mind a lot.
Now that he remembered her, those emotions revived within him.
“Your cousin asked me to do all I can to look after you. Are you doing okay?! …Huh?! Did you already choose a faction?!”
Not long ago, Serraphila had been roped into going on an expedition with the Harmony Faction. The experience had left her feeling ashamed by her lack of skill as a sorcerer, so she’d shut herself away for multiple days to train at magic… Kunon knew that much.
He was in the dark about what she had done after that, though. How many days were they into the new school year? Kunon never paid much attention to the passage of time. That was especially true recently, given how eventful this school year had been right from the start.
“I did,” she replied. “I chose the Harmony Faction.”
“I’m sorry! I totally neglected you, didn’t I? I must have made you feel as lonely as a little bird all by itself in the great night sky! I’m ashamed as a gentleman!”
After Serraphila began training, it was no longer possible to meet her at school. But Kunon had intended to drop by her house and check on her.
Despite that, he had forgotten all about her. He’d even shared multiple meals with Gioelion in the interim, but her cousin hadn’t mentioned her, so Kunon never thought of her, either.
“Please, don’t concern yourself. This is my first time back at school since then. You look as gentlemanly as ever, Mr. Kunon. I can tell you keep your eye mask nice and polished. Its black luster is genuinely captivating.”
By “since then,” she must have meant since she shut herself in her room.
“…Did you finish your training?” he asked.
“I wish I could say yes, but you should understand better than anyone, Mr. Kunon. Magic isn’t that simple.”
He agreed with her there. He felt that especially keenly at the moment, given how occupied he’d been by the unsolvable questions he’d encountered in the dungeon.
“But if you left your room… Does that mean you have some business here?”
“Yes. I came to see you. I want to talk about making money.”
Ah. Money.
Advanced students had to earn their own living expenses. In some ways, that was their very first assignment.
“I’m really sorry,” said Kunon. “Your cousin asked me to help you with that, too, but I’ve been kind of busy lately.”
“Oh, it’s okay.”
Kunon truly regretted he hadn’t done more to help her. Serraphila sensed that and hurriedly continued.
“This is my problem, and I’ll need to show some initiative in order to solve it. But I have discovered doing so will necessitate consulting you and others. It is because of my own negligence that I failed to realize that earlier,” Serraphila said. “Even so, will you please hear me out?”
The two went to a café.
Kunon’s classroom would have been a fine place to talk, but his obsession with his current research had left his room a little cluttered, so he decided they should go elsewhere. Kunon didn’t have a problem with the mess, but he figured most people would have trouble navigating it without tripping.
They ordered riri tea from the Holy Kingdom and got right to the point.
“So what’s your current situation?” Kunon asked.
Serraphila said she had chosen a faction. If the grace period during which the factions were not allowed to recruit new Advanced students had passed, that meant they were more than a month into the school year.
“Do you remember the expedition? I received a reward for helping, giving me an income of five hundred thousand necca last month.”
“You received a reward for the expedition?”
“Yes. In addition to research materials, we collected items we believed we could sell. I received a share of the profits. That money will keep me afloat for at least a little while.”
She had already moved and done a lot to cut down on her expenses. Her new house was small, and she was sharing it with just one servant. Even so, in only two more weeks, she would run out of money. Serraphila wanted to apply herself to her training a little while longer, but her financial situation had gotten in the way.
“I want to find a way to make money and live a little more comfortably.”
She was paying her servant a very low salary and trying to eat as little as possible.
Serraphila wasn’t particularly bothered by her current lifestyle. All she wanted to do was improve her magic. That desire dominated her mind. However, Rudin—her elderly butler—had briefly returned to the Quartz estate, and when he came back, he told her something.
“Such a low standard of living will put you in danger.”
She understood what he meant. The Quartz family was one of the highest-ranking noble families in the Arcion Empire. If word spread that a young Quartz girl was living alone in the city like a commoner, people might try to take advantage of the situation.
If she couldn’t find a way to make money, her father would probably order her to transfer to the Second Level. If that happened, she would have no choice but to obey.
But she had already discovered the Advanced class’s appeal. The Second Level could never satisfy her now. Most importantly, she couldn’t stand the thought of being separated from Elva. There were so many other wonderful girls among her upperclassmen, too.
“Hmm, an income for an earth user… Did you consult Miss Elva and the other Harmony members?”
“I told them I would join their faction. But I have not asked them for advice.”
Kunon understood the reason without having to ask. “You don’t want to be a burden to them.”
Serraphila wasn’t yet confident in her ability. Right now, there was nothing she could do to help her faction members. In fact, her presence would only inconvenience them. That was why she couldn’t spend time around them yet.
Kunon had been through a similar experience. When he first became Zeonly’s disciple, he was totally ignorant of the man’s field of expertise, magic tools. He had no hope of keeping up or helping him in any way.
He responded by studying feverishly until he eventually became a capable assistant. Before he reached that point, he’d felt completely useless as a sorcerer. Of course, at the same time, he’d been overjoyed to have so much to learn. After all, the more he learned, the closer he would come to his goal of making eyes with magic. Or at least, that was how he felt about it.
“Well then, shall we brainstorm? We need to think of ways to make money using your earth attribute.”