C225: Arcane Chamber (1)
More than a decade ago Grander took Rudger as a disciple and taught him a lot. Her methods were both quite barbaric and self-righteous and involved great suffering but Rudger followed them well without a word but he did not always learned the lessons without reason.
If he had any questions he would persistently ask his teacher and one of them was how to increase the amount of mana emission.
-Teacher, I have a question.
– What is it? Tell me.
– How the hell did you find this mana path? No, how did you figure out the recipe for this mana inhibitor?
– It's in the book.
-What book is it? I want to read it, too.
-You can't read it.
His teacher, who was saying that, reached out to the bookcase on the wall and one of the countless old books on the shelf flew over and settled on her hand.
– This is the book but the language it was written on is now lost and no one can recognize it.
Grander soon smiled and handed Rudger the book, as if she had an interesting idea.
-But my student is curious, so I'll let him read it. This is the book with what you were curious about. Read it.
-Do you have a translation?
— Why would I need it?
-Can't you read it?
-I can.
-Then you can interpret it for me.
– Me? I'm lazy. Why do you have to rip out readable things one by one and come up with an interpretation?
-…cheap zombie.
-You must miss your teacher's love rod for the first time in a while.
-Anyway, I understand that you don't intend to let me know. I'll do it by myself.
When Rudger, who received the book, said he would interpret it himself, his teacher called him from behind.
-My student.
-Why are you calling me?
-Are you really going to interpret it yourself?
-Yeah, I think so.
-You won't be able to.
-I'll know if I try.
-I'm saying this knowingly. Do you think ancient languages are easy? It's possible because it's me, but you are not good enough.
This is what the eighth rank wizard said, so Rudger couldn't refute even though he was annoyed.
The difference between his teacher and his talent was just like the sun and fireflies.
-Well, if you do, I can show you mercy as a teacher. The language, seemingly all similar, is actually made up of three characters. Be aware of that.
-Is that all?
-Yeah, that's all. What's left is up to you.
Grander had no particular reason for telling him that the language was made of three characters but she believed that her student could not do it so she thought it wouldn't matter if she said this much.
Interpreting an ancient language consisting of three characters was not something a boy in his early to mid teens could do. He would get tired soon and ask for help.
-……I see.
However, Rudger, who did not know his teacher's playful inner thoughts, entered his room with the information about the three characters in his head along with a book written in Larsil.
– He'll come out soon anyway.
Grander thought her disciple had a strong pride and expressed his emotions only a little but he was not an idiot who blindly sticks to the impossible.
She believed that he would crawl out of his room in half a day at best and she would be waiting for him smilingly.
He is a great student but he is also prideful so he will hesitate to ask for help.
She was excited just imagining the scene of Rudger asking for help and using that as an excuse, she was going to take that opportunity to fix his bad habits.
She waited with anticipation for half a day but her disciple didn't come out yet.
'You're holding out quite a bit. But how long will it last?'
Another half a day passed and Rudger still didn't come out of the room.
'Well, I guess you fell asleep. I'll wait until tomorrow.'
The next day Rudger still hasn't come out.
No, seeing that the breakfast table was set, he must have come out and cooked as soon as the sun rose.
She didn't realize it because she slept a lot.
Grander grumbled as she nibbled at the rice her student had prepared. She should have gotten up a little earlier however, it hurt her pride to call him again now, so Grander decided to wait again.
Then the day passed again.
'This guy. He's very determined this time.'
Another day passed with that thought in mind and it's been three days since Rudger locked himself in his room.
The door opened around the time she thought he might not come out again today, and Rudger appeared.
'You've been hanging in there for quite a while. Yeah. Did you come here to ask because you didn't know? Show your respect for this teacher first.'
-I'm done with the interpretation.
Rudger said so with a tired face, as if he had not slept well for three days and nights.
'What? Did I hear something wrong?'
– What do you mean?
-I said I'm done with the interpretation.
-You're trying to make fun of this sky-like teacher.
-Why would I try to make fun of my teacher?
-There you go. I'll check it out myself. If what you said is false, I'll give you a hard time.
Grander said so and entered Rudger's room.
She was about to ask how well did he finish the interpretation when she froze after seeing a wall in Rudger's room.
-What?
A sigh of admiration comes out of her mouth.
Countless pieces of paper that filled one wall and on each paper the sentences written in the Larsil book were scattered like puzzles, breaking up into pieces of text beyond words.
The scattered pieces gathered together to form various forms, and eventually appeared properly in a complete sense.
– Really…You did it.
'I thought you were lying.'
She only gave him a small hint but he did it in three days.
In three days, the three characters of Larsil, were dismantled to the skeleton, analyzed, and had their meaning found.
Rudger, who came into the room afterwards, said in a heartless voice.
-Teacher told me it's made of three characters. It's all thanks to you.
-Thanks to that? Are you serious?
-Yes. Is there a problem?
Grander thought as she looked at her student who was not aware of what he had done.
'This guy didn't realize his talent.'
What kind of talent was that?
Just by looking at the results on the wall now, she could see how much effort was put into this.
– Why are you looking at me like that?
'In fact, this stupid fellow is still asking in a stiff tone.'
Grander smirked at the sight.
-You're finally looking like a genius.
-A genius?
Grander thought that Rudger's talent is a dangerous thing and she couldn't guess what would happen if he realized his talent so she had to pay attention and not let him become conceited.
The moment he goes out to the outside world, the world will be shaken in some way.
-So don't be conceited yet, but try your best.
-……Yes, it's also thanks to the teacher's advice.
Grander was dumbfounded and laughed.
Calling this kind of thing as advice, not deceit and the distorted way of thinking of her student, was like a bad joke so Grader started laughing.
-……?
Little Rudger tilted his head because he didn't understand why his teacher was laughing.
* * *
Rudger thought as he looked at the embarrassed Marloso.
'Yes, you don't understand. I wouldn't have known either if my teacher hadn't given me a hint.'
But he didn't feel sorry for embarrassing him since Marloso openly attacked him in front of everyone.
From there, Marloso became his enemy, so he didn't plan to be gentle.
"Have I answered enough questions?"
"No, not yet. Not yet!"
Marloso, with his bloodshot eyes, somehow threw a series of sharp questions to squeeze a gap in Rudger's research results.
It was possible to ask those questions because he majored in Larsil and the linguistic knowledge he had showed that he did not waste his time researching ancient languages but today he met the wrong opponent.
"Not to mention the answer to that question. Rather, your interpretation is wrong."
"Did I do something wrong?"
"Haven't I told you? It looks similar, but it's a completely different text. Look here."
Rudger said so and projected the text he analyzed as magic in the air. Among the sentences were the words that Marloso misinterpreted and spread them.
After that the words spread out and were divided into phonemes. Then even the phonemes were divided into small pieces, making it difficult to recognize their forms.
"What are you doing…….?"
"Look closely at these two shapes."
"What do you want me to look at?"
"Can't you still see it?"
Marloso narrowed his eyes and stared at the words that Rudger projected in the air and soon his eyes expanded greatly.
'It's different. The difference between the thickness of the pressed letter and the bluntness of the end was small, but it existed.'
"Do you understand now? Only by breaking down the language like this can it be interpreted."
"That's…"
"Any more questions?"
"……."
"Since you aren't answering I'll take it as no."
Marloso has completely lost his fighting spirit. He faced a huge wall and had no choice but to admit it.
Rudger's eyes naturally turned to Altego next to Marloso.
"Senior Altego is this enough to prove that all these results are mine."
"I, I…!"
As soon as Altego tried to argue, a sneer erupted from the top seats as Altego's face, full of tendons, turned upward and the moment he saw the other person, Altego's face was mercilessly wrinkled.
Because Elisa Willow, who had a feud with him, was looking down at him proudly.
"Senior Altego it's good to be suspicious, but I didn't expect you to speak so confidently in front of everyone even though you were wrong about your suspicions."
She should have been polite but she spoke without hiding her joy.
As soon as he heard that, Altego felt his spine cold.
He doubted Rudger's findings in front of everyone now but Rudger explained everything, and the mistake came back to him like a boomerang.
"You must be prepared to pay the price, right?"
"This doesn't make sense!"
Honestly, he didn't know this would happen.
Does that make sense?
Altego thought of fifty thousand things, but there was nothing he could say. He knew that whatever he says here will be nothing more than an excuse.
His common sense has been completely broken here and he had to ask for help.
Altego's mournful gaze was directed at Auguste, an elder of the Old Tower like himself
He asked for help with his eyes.
'Sir Auguste! Help! Don't we belong to the same Old Tower?'
Auguste, however, ignored Altego's gaze.
'You're the one who caused the problem, so you should fix it accordingly.'
Auguste drew a line openly, even though they belonged to the same Old Tower.
Altego looked around.
In addition to August, there were other people from the Old Tower here however most of them ignored Altego's gaze and some of them reproached his behavior.
Seeing that no one was on his side Altego felt an unbearable sense of shame.
'Damn it!'
In the end, Altego had no choice but to leave the audience with his head bowed.
"Altego Dantes will receive a fair punishment for maliciously accusing his opponent in the sacred Arcane Chamber."
"Okay then."
When Rudger opened his mouth, everyone's eyes naturally turned to him.
"If you have any further questions, feel free to ask."
I'll answer anything.
No one opened their mouths to his words.