Chapter 31
Karin’s eyes trembled faintly, but she did not avoid my gaze.
Originally, she even found it difficult to make eye contact.
Had she gained some confidence?
It seemed that conversation was now possible.
I jerked my chin and opened my mouth.
“Since you came at this hour, I guess you must have found it.”
“…Yes.”
Karin carefully revealed a branch from her bosom.
That was the source of her confidence.
It looked like an ordinary branch, but the faint aura emanating around it signified its uniqueness.
Putting it back into her bosom, Karin replied.
“How did you know? I never told anyone I wanted this.”
“There are ways to know everything.”
“What kind of way could that be?”
Muttering to herself, Karin soon answered again.
“Anyway, I’m truly grateful. …Now it’s my turn to grant your request.”
Karin clearly understood this as a transaction.
Without a word, I picked up the fire poker and added wood to the campfire.
‘She’s pretending to be confident, but inside, she must be deeply unsettled.’
Her expression remained calm, but she blinked several times.
Karin was doing her best to hide her fluster.
I was the one who first handed over what she desired, but perhaps that only caused misunderstanding.
It was only natural.
The fact that I knew Karin’s secret goal, which no one else knew.
The fact that I knew exactly where that goal lay.
The fact that, by using the core item, the ‘Branch of Life,’ as bait, I might demand some condition from her.
From Karin’s perspective, there were more than a few suspicious points.
I had to gradually lower her guard while leading the conversation.
“Why, do you think I’ll make some unreasonable demand?”
“…”
When I laughed lightly, Karin silently turned her gaze to the campfire.
Her silence was affirmation.
I looked up at the stars in the night sky and let out a light sigh.
“Because of that incident, I was kicked out of the dorm and it’s already been a month since I’ve been living in this damn livestock shed.”
If it had been the old Villed, I might have gnashed my teeth as I said it.
But now, as if settling my emotions, I answered in a calm, expressionless tone.
“The filthy hygiene, the cramped space—no true noble could live in a place like this. As the second son of House Dedenkman, I’ve never suffered such humiliation.”
“…”
Karin looked as if she didn’t know what to say.
“I was always the best, always lived however I pleased, but going through this hellish disgrace for the first time, I finally realized something.”
I met Karin’s eyes again as she silently stared and continued.
“I was forced to reflect on what kind of life I’ve been living.”
Karin still kept her mouth shut, watching me.
She was trying to gauge my intentions.
“Louis Karin, I speak without a shred of falsehood.”
As if declaring sincerity.
I placed my right hand on my chest and answered.
“I want to live.”
“…What?”
Karin’s brows rose in surprise.
I replied in a solemn voice.
“I don’t want to cause any more incidents. I want to graduate from Yggdrasil, live like a proper human being. That’s all.”
“Graduate…”
Karin slowly nodded.
It seemed easy enough for her to understand.
I had nothing left, living as a hanger-on in the livestock shed.
If I were expelled, I could already imagine how my family would treat me.
In the end, the only thing left for me, who had fallen into ruin, was the Yggdrasil Academy.
A thug who had lived like a brute was finally coming to his senses.
Karin thought for a moment, then cautiously spoke.
“To say that… you’re still quite a dangerous score.”
Hearing that, I lifted the corner of my lips in agreement.
It was the obvious answer.
The lowest score among the entire student body.
I was the hopeless problem child.
Not only Karin, but the other cadets as well must have thought I had no chance of graduating peacefully.
“Yeah, I’m not optimistic. At this rate, I’ll fail out in the first semester, let alone graduate.”
I let out a dry chuckle, but Karin’s face didn’t flinch in the slightest.
“Do you sympathize because you’re in the same boat?”
“I, I…”
At first she seemed about to deny it, then silently nodded.
Though not as bad as Villed, Karin was also a student whose rank was counted more easily from the bottom.
She only stood out greatly in Totem Studies, while in other lectures she barely scraped by without failing.
Seeing that honesty, I smiled.
“Anyway, it’s a fact that I’m a poor student. There are even rumors that I entered through corruption, so how could my grades be good?”
I stood up and snapped my fingers.
“But even for someone like me, there’s a way to avoid failing.”
A bubble appeared in midair.
“Everyone thinks I’m completely useless, but…”
Pop!
The bubble burst, and with a blue flame, Hwayo appeared.
She naturally descended and perched on my shoulder.
I took an egg from my bosom and offered it to Hwayo.
Pop.
Hwayo sleepily ate the egg.
After confirming the message ‘Feeling Good,’ I turned my gaze back to Karin.
“My magic is based on Spiritology, which I studied on my own.”
When I opened my palm in the air, flames flared and a card appeared.
‘Hwayo.’
Fwoosh.
As I grasped the card and answered inwardly, blue sparks began to flicker in Hwayo’s eyes.
And then.
Flaaaaaaash!
Red flames surged and split the air.
Thanks to the darkness around us, the firelight looked even brighter.
“It may sound boastful, but this is a rare ability you won’t easily find in any book.”
Since the ability to summon and handle a spirit beast did not exist in Yggdrasil’s system, I answered by making up something appropriate.
Karin had barely managed to keep a poker face, but after seeing Hwayo’s flames, cracks appeared on her expression.
“…”
She could only stare without saying anything.
During the spar with Ren, I hadn’t used a flame-spewing technique.
Seeing it for the first time, she looked dumbfounded.
“…So it was only a rumor. That you were incompetent.”
“Compared to the top students, it’s not much of an ability. Nothing that amazing. You also studied Totem Studies on your own, didn’t you?”
I snapped my fingers again, sending Hwayo back into <Animal Farm>.
I didn’t forget to add, “Keep this ability a secret.”
“I happened to read a Totem Studies book in the library. Using that, I came up with an incredible theory.”
At the mention of ‘theory,’ Karin perked up and listened intently.
“A theory that spirit beasts and totems can be combined.”
“Combined?”
She looked like someone with genuine academic passion for totems.
As her shoulders lifted in curiosity, her light-blue hair swayed side to side.
“Spirits resonate with other spirits. The spirit beast I handle is a kind of spirit, and totems are no different, right?”
Karin slowly nodded, as if mulling it over.
She was able to understand my words.
She had already realized that a spirit resided within a totem.
“So if a spirit beast and a totem are united, the magical wavelength could be amplified.”
Of course, it was just a fabricated explanation.
But the part about merging my animal with a totem to draw out potential was true.
I remembered the scene in <Animal Farm> where an animal resonated with a spirit, and I intended to use that.
Whether it would actually work or not could only be proven through testing.
“Just when I was thinking of experimenting, I found that among the first-years, there was one student who was obsessively devoted to Totem Studies.”
Karin let out a short sigh of realization.
“So that’s why you approached me.”
“Exactly.”
I nodded without hesitation.
“I expected you to know about the Branch of Life, which I could use as bait. Luckily, I was right.”
“So… that’s what it was.”
Karin slowly nodded.
“What do you think? Since you’re here anyway, I’d like to prove the theory.”
“…There’s no reason to refuse. I want to see it too.”
Karin didn’t hesitate long.
Her desire to confirm my theory with her own eyes came first.
“Let’s change location, follow me.”
After walking for a few minutes, we arrived at a grassless plain.
The sparks could bounce around without causing problems.
“What totem do you have with you right now?”
When I asked, Karin pulled out a fist-sized totem from her pocket.
“Only a Rotating Totem. If needed, I can bring more right away.”
“No, that one’s enough.”
It was just as I expected.
I drew Hwayo’s card from the air.
“When I give the signal, imbue the totem with mana and throw it high.”
“Got it.”
Karin held the totem with both hands and closed her eyes.
Then a blue aura appeared, as if trying to suck everything into the totem.
Like pulling the safety pin before throwing a grenade.
Imbuing mana into a totem was a kind of trigger to awaken it.
“Now!”
At my signal, she snapped her eyes open.
She must have put her all into it, striking a pose like a shot-put thrower before hurling it skyward.
I fixed my gaze on the totem in the air and concentrated.
‘Hwayo.’
A small magic circle appeared midair.
At that moment, Hwayo burst out, opening her mouth.
Flaaaash!
Direct hit.
The flames instantly swallowed the totem.
Fwoooosh!
The totem burned and sublimated as the mana condensed inside seeped through it.
The red flames gradually shifted to blue.
And not just the color.
They became a rapidly spinning blue tornado that shot higher into the sky.
And when it reached its peak—
Booooom!
The mana exploded and spread.
It was like light painting.
Like a spiral galaxy, colorful lights spread out in all directions around a great circle.
A midnight firework show.
Brilliant flames became a painting that dyed the night sky.
‘Success.’
I let out a sigh of relief inwardly.
Just as I remembered.
The setting where animals in <Animal Farm> resonated with spirits.
It also worked in Yggdrasil.
‘It’s far stronger than the usual ability.’
The rotating motion of the totem combined with Hwayo’s flames caused the change.
“…It’s resonating!”
Karin couldn’t hide her excitement at the successful result.
Just the fact that it amplified power was enough to prove the worth of using totems.
I looked at Karin silently.
At the same time, Karin also looked up at me.
I spoke first.
“I have two proposals.”
In a way, we were the same kind of person.
“First, be in the same group as me for the school trip.”
We had no friends to confide in.
We were nobles, but had fallen to the level of commoners.
“Second, help me write a thesis about the relationship between spirit beasts and totems.”
We leaned on something since we couldn’t gain others’ recognition.
Despite being at the bottom of the class, we were seeking a chance to turn things around.
“If I can be of help, I will gladly do so.”
Karin accepted the proposals.
The condition of securing the best assistant was fulfilled.
“We’ll put you down as co-author.”
“Is that really okay? You’re the one who made the theory, and I already received my reward.”
Karin looked surprised.
Had she thought helping was just a repayment for the Branch of Life?
“There’s no need to refuse just to keep up pointless appearances.”
“…Then, I won’t refuse.”
Karin looked back up at the parade in the night sky.
The flames still spun powerfully, showing no sign of fading.