Chapter 89: The Mad Professor (11)

Evan fell into deep anguish.

Humans, they say, go through the stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.

He had already done the denial part.

Anger… there was nowhere to direct it.

Bargaining? With whom was he supposed to bargain here?

Depression… honestly, he wasn’t sure.

He wasn’t such an F that he’d get depressed over something like this.

Anyway.

Now it was time for the acceptance stage.

Where exactly had it all gone wrong?

Evan was timid, not ignorant.

Of course, at this point he had every reason to examine whether there was something wrong with his own “perception.”

But the problem is…

The real problem was that this truly wasn’t a big deal.

At all.

Golems had two major advantages.

First, you didn’t need exceptional talent in alchemy to handle them.

The biggest issue with golems wasn’t that they were hard to control, but that research on them had never progressed.

There were no records, papers, or results left behind.

Most of the information Evan possessed was knowledge he had gathered while clearing the game.

In other words, being good with golems was simply a matter of skill plus information.

Of course I have no intention of teaching that…

It’s my livelihood.

I’d have to be insane to spread that information around.

He had only shown off because it looked cool.

That’s why he ended the presentation quickly.

He couldn’t risk exposing any weaknesses.

And there was a reason Evan stubbornly denied his own talent.

In the game, every character’s talent was already quantified.

Let’s say talent was displayed in stars.

Maximum 5 stars, minimum 1 star.

The closer to 5, the better; the closer to 1, the worse.

So what was Evan Alkart’s talent rating?

2 stars.

Not 1, but nowhere near 5 either.

Strictly speaking, below average.

That’s why he was the weakest Act 2 boss.

Everyone had probably forgotten, but Evan had been a boss.

The weakest boss of Act 2.

He had even researched chimeras to resurrect his dead mother, yet he was nothing more than an enemy you could kill in passing.

His rewards were so meager that many players just skipped him.

The only variable is… that I’m not the original Evan.

More precisely, that a different soul had possessed the body.

But changing souls probably didn’t change talent.

Talent was part of the body, wasn’t it?

So maybe the only advantage is that my way of thinking allows me to handle golems more flexibly…

Well.

In this world, making combining robots or transforming armor would drive people mad with excitement.

If the imperial family heard about it, they’d probably demand he make one for them.

He’d naturally refuse.

He could only make one, and even that was something his master had passed down, so he couldn’t teach it.

Master?

He didn’t actually have one, but he could just lie.

Even if he got caught, the family would cover it up…

“Evan!”

“That lecture was insanely cool!”

“As expected of an Evan-style lecture.”

Clatter!

The door burst open and two Sins rushed in.

…An Evan-style lecture? What does that even mean?

What the hell is “Evan-style”?

Are they making fun of me?

Evan nearly snapped but held it in.

It wasn’t the first or second time they had blindly worshipped and sucked up to him.

He was slowly getting used to it.

They had said they’d go hear the praise in his place.

And they came back loaded with gifts.

“This is for Evan, this is mine, this is for Frey…”

“Why did you bring so much?”

“They just gave them to me! They said I’m super pretty! That my future is guaranteed once I grow up a little!”

Lapis grinned.

“They said I’ll become a super pretty bride!”

“That was a flirting line, Lapis.”

“Yeah, I know? But anyone below Evan doesn’t even register as human to me.”

“You’re saying there are no people in this world, just more politely.”

Frey clicked her tongue.

“Does Evan think so too?”

If you grow up like this… yes.

“Then I’ll be super pretty, right?”

He had meant “don’t turn evil as a Sin.”

As he said, neither Lapis nor Frey had any visible flaws in appearance.

They were beautiful enough to make normal people look defective.

If they grew up just like this, they’d probably reach the level of a nation-toppling beauty.

The only problem was…

If they went astray even once, one would become a man-eating monster, the other a monster who grinds humans into paste.

Frey could start a cult with a single sentence and be worshipped as a god.

And Royan, who wasn’t here right now, would kill people just for being annoying, not even letting them breathe.

Yeah, just grow up like this…

Evan stroked Lapis’s head as she clung to his arm and rubbed her cheek against it.

Lapis giggled happily, and Frey—who had been watching enviously—sidled over and offered her own head.

As he stroked hers too, the door opened again and someone else entered.

“Oh! Evan, you were here? I thought you’d been kidnapped or something.”

Aegis.

Because they were at the Academy with many eyes watching, her usual casual attire was nowhere to be seen.

Right.

Only when dressed like that could she barely pass as a former princess.

…Though her speech and aura still didn’t match.

Evan replied.

“I came straight back.”

“Really? So that’s why everyone kept grabbing me…”

“Who did you talk to?”

“Me? The Chancellor.”

Aegis stretched long and said,

“The Chancellor knows my identity. That I’m a former princess, that I’m currently an elder… He seemed a bit hesitant to talk to you directly, so he bombarded me with questions instead.”

“Did you tell him?”

“Ha!”

Aegis laughed as if it was absurd.

“Me? No way. Absolutely not. Do I look like an easy woman?”

“No.”

“More importantly, what were you thinking showing all that off so openly?”

“?”

Evan sent her a look that said he was now tired.

A look asking why she was bringing it up again.

Only then did Aegis seem to realize why Evan had given that kind of lecture and burst into laughter.

“Pfft—haha! You really had no idea it would have that much impact?”

…Yes.

“That’s why geniuses are no good. They don’t understand the perspective of us ordinary people.”

Ordinary… everyone here is way too smart for that word.

The time Evan had invested was less than three months.

A bit more time had passed since then, so maybe about a year in total now.

…I’m not planning to reveal anything else from now on.

“You haven’t even shown Number 1 yet, have you?”

“Yes. I’m planning to seal Number 2 now too.”

“Honestly, even those golems alone would go down in history…”

“I don’t think it’s that big a deal.”

Evan flatly rejected her praise, then took out a sheet of paper.

This wasn’t working.

He needed to cool his head and find something else to focus on.

“What’s that?”

“Magic formulas.”

“Magic formulas? Oh, the ones you got yesterday? You already memorized them all?”

“Yes. I memorized everything and now I’m going to try applying them to golems.”

“?!”

Aegis made a face as if she had misheard.

“You saw them for the first time yesterday.”

“Yes.”

“And you’re already applying them to golems?”

I memorized them?

I roughly figured out the principles behind them. It was easy once I used Analysis Eye.

“Analyzing magic circles with Analysis Eye…? That shouldn’t be possible…?”

It was.

“No… fine. I’ll believe it’s possible. But which golem are you planning to use it on?”

“I was thinking of trying an ice-attribute golem first.”

Ice itself was an ambiguous attribute.

It wasn’t one of the four major elements, just one of the others.

But it wasn’t bad. 

No overwhelming strengths, but no real weaknesses either.

And…

“It’ll be useful for preserving food and such.”

“Why would a noble like you care about that?”

“I might have to travel someday.”

The weather was starting to get hot anyway.

Evan ignored her and began making the golem.

The golem form… same as usual.

He roughly engraved the magic circles and checked which spells to inscribe.

The best would be ordinary 1st-circle magic, right?

Normally it wouldn’t be easy.

But what Evan was doing wasn’t “casting” magic.

He was engraving magic circles that could cast magic.

In other words, his goal was artifact creation.

Aegis seemed to misunderstand, but Evan’s goal was to create a moving golem-artifact.

“Wow.”

Whiiiirrr!

After a few adjustments, the golem was complete.

The golem blinked its presumed eyes at Evan a few times, then moved with a creak.

“Fire.”

Crackle!

It worked perfectly in testing.

Seeing the ice magic activate successfully made him naturally satisfied.

Though it didn’t show on his face.

“I’m actually going insane…”

Aegis, who had witnessed it right beside him, stared at Evan with dead eyes.

“You’ve been secretly researching behind my back, haven’t you?”

“No. This is the artifact method.”

“…Artifact?”

“Yes.Golems are inanimate objects in the end. I just engraved magic circles inside and made them activate under certain conditions.”

The reason no one had done it before was that they didn’t know how to make the circles.

Now that he knew the method…

He planned to take a bunch of magic books with him on the way back.

A magical golem legion.

Just the name sounded exciting.

Eventually he’d complete automated research that would do the studying in his place.

“Did you know? Imagination is also a talent.”

“I don’t think so.”

Evan firmly rejected.

His abundant imagination was only because of memories from his previous life.

“Be honest. You can make a homunculus, can’t you?”

…No.

“Liar!! You’re already at that level!”

“It’s a misunderstanding.”

Evan was being thoroughly shaken down.

Clatter!

“Who now… Charlotte?”

The door opened again, and an even dirtier Charlotte appeared.

And the door wasn’t a normal door—it was one attached to the ceiling.

When did that even get there?

“…Phew. Hello.”

“Where have you been?”

“I thought you went to the bathroom?”

“That was the original plan…”

Charlotte brushed the dust off her hat and gave a wry smile.

“I ended up seeing something I shouldn’t have.”

“?”

“I need to talk to you for a moment.”

Charlotte looked at Evan with eyes mixed with exhaustion.

“You probably already know, but…”

Huh?

Me?

“Today.”

Charlotte took a small breath and said,

“Professor Moriarty is going to commit a very great [taboo].”

***

That night.

Deep into the night.

Professor Moriarty slowly walked down the corridor.

It was the hallway rumored to be haunted.

Even most students didn’t believe it, but strangely, only female students kept reporting sightings.

…Not here.

Professor Moriarty wandered the corridor for a long while.

But the ghost they sometimes mentioned didn’t show even a nose.

If it had at least appeared…

He wouldn’t have ended up like this.

But that thought lasted only a moment.

Professor Moriarty changed his destination.

The building where guests and important figures usually stayed.

Knock knock.

“Young Master Evan.”

Professor Moriarty whispered as he knocked on the door.

“May I have a brief conversation?”

Though coming at this hour was a tremendous breach of etiquette…

If it was Evan Alkart, he would have long since figured out his goal.

That was why he had come alone.

To receive his help.

Even if it meant crossing the line, to fulfill his wish.