The Demon Prince goes to the Academy

Chapter 138

Chapter 138

Harriet began to thoroughly explain the matter after hearing my statement that everyone should just become an Enchanter if it brought in that much money.

“If just anyone could become an Enchanter, the value of Scrolls would plummet. It’s said that Enchantment techniques are highly confidential, even in the Magic Association, and licenses are only issued to a small number of people to allow them to make use of those techniques. If someone were caught arbitrarily passing on the Enchantment techniques, they would be mercilessly pursued by the Magic Associations Hunters. This magic system is much more highly secured than you might imagine. That’s why they can’t teach those things in Temple. You can only learn those techniques after getting an Enchanter’s license from the Association.”

In order to maintain their price, the Magic Association strictly controlled the number of Enchanters. There seemed to be something called an Enchanter’s license test. I thought it was something like a public exam organized by the Magic Association.

“So, you’re saying they have a monopoly?”

“It’s an oligopoly. The Magic Association isn’t the only organization that has a hold of the enchantment techniques. However, wizard organizations with access to secret magic techniques such as Enchantment can’t be completely unrelated to the Association, so they are also very restrictive about the techniques.”

As I listened to them, I felt both puzzled and excited.

“Becoming a Battle Wizard is more or less a dead-end, so the smart wizards become Enchanters or Magic Crafters. A Wizard capable of Teleportation also has great prospects, but that’s all there is to it. Magic Crafters who are capable of magic Warp Gates and Mana Trains are considered much greater.”

To begin with, becoming a Wizard was reserved for those geniuses, but even among them, the ones who were deemed overwhelming geniuses majored in Magic Crafting, which was safe and could earn one a lot of money. Magic Crafters enjoyed a much better public reputation as well.

However, choosing that major was like trying to pick stars from the sky.

It was similar to saying that the geniuses of any medical school should go into plastic surgery, orthopedics, and dermatology.

Actually, when people thought of doctors, they thought of surgeons, but in reality, when medical students thought about which field they should go into, becoming a surgeon was a dead-end; applying that to Wizards, normally, people thought about wizards chanting great destructive spells, but becoming a battle wizard was a complete and utter dead-end.

So Adelia was trying to get an Enchanter’s license to make money, even though she didn’t actually have that talent.

Of course, Magic Crafters also seemed to make a lot of money, so she didn’t absolutely need that Enchanter’s license.

It was quite the strange setting that I had accidentally stumbled upon that was solidly integrated into this society.

Magic Scrolls were expensive.

Just because of that simple statement, the background that not everyone could simply make them was created, leading to the additional detail that Enchanters had to be the cream of the crop of wizards.

So, Adelia, a character residing in the main story, was also influenced to try getting an Enchanter’s license, even though she didn’t hold an enchanting talent.

I found it to be quite mysterious.

“Of course, this only concerns magic to earn money. Harriet is an exception.”

There was bound to be a difference between people who decided to become wizards to earn money and those that didn’t. Harriet had no reason to try and earn money with magic because she was the daughter of a lofty noble family—money was never even a concern.

There were people who went into the medical field just to become doctors and for no other reason, after all.

In Harriet’s case, she had the freedom to choose any major she liked. Of course, she was already so talented that she could learn any magic in existence.

“I don’t think approaching magic purely as a research subject is the right attitude for a wizard. I don’t like people like that, either.”

How dare you think about making money from magic…!! Magic is an art form… not a means to make money…! Screeech!

Both Adelia and Harriet trembled as if they knew quite a lot of wizards who spoke like that. Apparently, there was someone like that among the teachers of a class they had to attend.

That was why Adelia felt so ashamed that she went against the pure pursuit of magic, and Harriet seemed apologetic even though she didn’t have to—her and Adelia’s circumstances were simply different.

Adelia studied magic to earn money.

Harriet, on the other hand, simply studied it to master magic itself.

There was a reason why Adelia felt lesser when standing next to Harriet… because no one was better than Harriet in her field.

Adelia’s talents, magic crafting, and summoning magic were already included in Harriet’s talent.

Even though they were close… Actually, she must have felt absolutely inferior to Harriet.

Would they be okay if this went on? In the original story, nothing serious happened between the two.

“Hey, what is life?

Adelia slowly raised her head at my open remark.

“No matter what other people do or say, money is the best, you know? What’s wrong with wanting to make money? It’s something praiseworthy.”

There was nothing greater than money, girl. So what if you want to earn some? Adelia’s face slightly reddened at my words.

She was definitely the best friend of that habitual blusher, Harriet.

“Ah, yes… Thanks, Reinhardt…”

“Are you doing this to offend me? You shouldn’t say those words again. They make others feel bad.”

Adelia nodded slightly, and Liana just sighed at my remark that she felt was rather nasty.

“So what.”

“Do you stand behind those words, even after someone pointed it out to you?”

“Of course.”

“You’re seriously crazy.”

Liana clicked her tongue as if she didn’t want to deal with me anymore, and Adelia just had her mouth slightly open, staring blankly, watching me quarreling with the young lady Grantz like that.

‘Yeah, I knew that you were that kind of guy, but I still don’t get it’, that was what her expression seemed to say.

Liana smiled and looked at Harriet.

“Hey, when we graduate, let’s start with getting rid of this crazy guy.”

Harriet lightened up at Liana’s suggestion and nodded.

“Yeah! Let’s do that, no matter what! You’re dead when you graduate!”

Adelia’s complexion turned snow-white hearing the two’s plot, and Ellen, who also seemed to have noticed that something was happening, looked over.

I simply smiled.

“…If that’s the case, do you really think I would let you graduate without a hitch?”

Did you actually think you would be able to graduate safely?

At my words, Harriet’s and Liana’s faces seemed to say, “Oh, he was someone capable enough of that, wasn’t he?”

* * *

“I’m going to relax.”

When we went back to talking about our vacation plans, Liana said she would simply relax.

“Where?”

“I usually tour around the places my family has villas in.”

It seemed that Liana was planning to relax by traveling around the places her family owned villas in.

“Right. But I think I will just go to the Edina archipelago this time.”

“Edina archipelago? Where is that place?”

It looked like none of them had heard of the Edina archipelago, but I flinched slightly. It was the southernmost island country of the continent where Airi had opened a bar.

“It’s an island country south of Kernstadt, but there aren’t any Gates connected to it, so people don’t go there often. I heard it’s a great place. It’s like a secret tourist destination.”

“If there aren’t any Gates connecting to that place, are you going there by boat?”

Liana shook her head at Adelia’s question.

“If I went there by boat, vacations would be over before I even reached the place. I’m going with my butler.”

“Your butler?”

“Yeah. My butler is a wizard. We’re going to teleport there.”

Adelia was completely stunned by those words.

Her butler wasn’t just some servant; he was actually a high-ranking wizard skilled enough to use Teleport. Only Duke Grantz would be able to hire someone like that just for simple trips.

Adelia seemed to feel that she was rather distant from them every time Harriet and Grantz said things like that.

Of course, our little glutton was munching on the cake I had ordered but hadn’t touched yet.

…Although she went out with us, she was no different from usual.

She showed no reaction at all and only ate a lot.

‘Why did you go with them? No, why did they even take you with them? Were these three just that nice?’

I found it really upsetting!

I felt like a parent seeing their daughter not properly getting along with her friends.

Her friends are so nice, but why is my kid like this?!

Sorry for raising such an ungrateful kid, everyone!

Anyway, Liana planned on traveling during the vacation.

“I’m just going back home, but like Adelia, I’m going to continue my magic research with my brothers’ help.”

Harriet seemed like she wanted to return to The Saint-Owan Grand Duchy and study. Temple had good facilities, but they absolutely couldn’t hold a glass to the ones in the Grand Duchy; since her brothers were also wizards, she would be able to ask them for advice.

In many ways, Harriet was in a position in which she didn’t have to come to Temple to study magic.

Next, their eyes turned towards me.

“Well, I don’t really have any plans.”

I really had no idea whether I should go out or stay in Temple. I could stay behind and train, but I also wanted to do something more meaningful.

The only one left was Ellen.

“What about Ellen?”

I described how Ludwig spent his vacation, but not Ellen’s. When a question was directed at her, she started to talk while she cut off a slice of her cake and ate it.

“I originally planned on staying home and resting…”

It seemed like she originally planned to go back to her hometown to rest, but it looked like she had changed her mind.

“I’m going to register as an adventurer.”

“What?!”

“…All of a sudden?”

“Why an adventurer?”

“Isn’t that dangerous?”

All of us were shocked about her bombshell reveal in our own ways.

‘What? You wanted to become an adventurer? What kind of bullshit is that?’

“I want to go to the Darklands.”

I felt like my hair was turning white from shock.

That punk had finally turned crazy.

* * *

Everyone fell into a frenzy at her declaration.

“Ellen, Not all demons are dead yet, even if the Demon World War ended.”

“I know.”

Ellen just nodded at Liana’s words, saying she already knew that.

“Why do adventurers go to the Darklands?”

“The Darklands haven’t been explored well yet, so if you find an undiscovered area or something unusual in the Darklands and report it, it seems like the Adventurer’s Guild will pay you. They’re called dungeons or something like that.”

At Adelia’s question, Ellen started talking about money. Like that, I finally found out how the hell adventurers made a living.

However, she wasn’t going to the Darklands to earn money, right? That was just something extra.

“Y-you aren’t going alone, are you?”

“I’m going alone.”

“No! Y-you… This. I know you’re strong, but… What are you going to do if you run into a strong Demon?!”

Harriet, who knew that Ellen could summon that mysterious sword, seemed to think it was completely absurd for her to do this, even though she was a bit stronger than others.

“I’ll take a teleportation scroll from Temple with me. If things get dangerous, I’ll use it.”

It was crazy.

It looked like it wasn’t just a vague thought; she had already reported her vacation plans to Temple, and they even decided to give her a teleportation scroll, one of the most expensive ones.

Even if she was part of Royal Class, why would they do that? Was Ellen that special?

Everyone asked her worried questions one by one.

Except for me…

“Don’t go.”

I spoke firmly, not worriedly.

‘Do you want to die after wandering about that dangerous place? What is this kid even talking about?’

This development definitely didn’t happen in the original.

“Don’t go. Why are you even doing this?”

“…”

After answering the other kids’ questions thoroughly, Ellen just kept staring at me silently for a long time.

“…Okay.”

Everyone’s expression turned quite strange when they heard her give up on her plans so suddenly.