Volume 5 Chapter 7.5

Narrowing his eyes at Fum and Lime as they bowed and said goodbye, the professor responded with his own goodbye and thought to send the two girls off. This was generally when they would return to the workshop, but……

「Hiyohiyo, time to go home.」

「Tweet.」

「Eh？　You want to talk to the professor？」

「Tweet！」

Hiyohiyo, who had been minding his own business in the back this whole time, flew slowly over to the professor, which almost never happened. It seemed he had been waiting for things to be settled.

「Tweet.」

Landing on the teacher’s desk, Hiyohiyo lightly pecked at his wings and pulled out a feather that was basically downy hair. It seemed that Hiyohiyo had pulled out one of its feathers because more feathers were coming in and there was no need to be forceful.

There was no use wondering why Hiyohiyo could fly despite having essentially downy feathers. After all, divine beasts were drastically different in their abilities compared to their appearances, as seen with the octogals and their peculiarities.

「Tweet.」

Putting down the feather in front of the professor, Hiyohiyo chirped once before returning on top of Lime’s head. The professor felt perplexed. Unfortunately, he didn’t appear to comprehend Hiyohiyo’s words like Fum or Lime could. What was weird to him in the first place was why the members of Azuma Workshop could even understand every little thing such a creature said.

「He says he wants to give you that feather as a present.」

「Hm? I recall Hiyohiyo-kun being a young divine beast, so I suppose his wings have some sort of crazy power within？」

「I dunno about the overall value, but what I can say is that the feather acts as a catalyst that never runs out, even for people who suck at enchanting. Although I should add that the material has a tendency to be too clear cut with what enchantments it can do and what enchantments it can’t do, being that its affinity is rather extreme.」

「Lime always practices with this～」

「Well……、I daresay……」

The professor gaped at Fum’s explanation. An item that never depleted, even for amateurs? This was a novel invention that completely blew away preexisting norms. Even Fum knew how crazy this catalyst was, giving Hiyohiyo a look for so casually handing one of his feathers to the professor, but the bird in question just dozing off nonchalantly on Lime’s head.

Enchantment catalysts, as per the name, did not vanish during the enchantment process. After all, they were merely items that connected the objects you wanted to enchant and you, the enhcanter, enhancing the process. Therefore, you could theoretically lay permanent enchantments down without catalysts, and several figures throughout history had indeed done just that, as per the legends.

Then why did enchanting expend catalysts? There was an easy explanation for this. It was because the large amount of mana that emerged when you drew the connecting lines burst out like a charge of electricity, damaging the catalyst. It wasn’t just the channel connecting the effects and line that signified your enchantment expertise, but also controlling the mana charge to minimize it as much as possible.

So when Hiroshi enchanted, the catalysts would not vanish. However, catalysts that required they be in powder or liquid form would always scatter or evaporate during the process, which always guaranteed some form of reduction. Also, for some reason, a large portion of the materials used for catalysts were powders or liquids, meaning that even with hiroshi’s prowess, it was not possible to infinitely enchant with one catalyst.

「This is amazing and all, but to Hiyohiyo this feather is just one that was going to fall out anyway, so I don’t think there’s any need to overanalyze.」

「Tweet.」

「I-Is that right. Then I gratefully accept.」

Hiyohiyo concurred with a chirp to Fum and her follow-up. The professor, who had braced himself for the worst, gratefully accepted this rather abrupt present.

「Okay, leaving for real now.」

「Bye, Professor～」

「Yeah. Take care, you two, and I do mean it.」

Eyes were all on Fum and Lime after this little exchange. There were many emotions mixed in with these gazes, such as reproach, greed, envy, or maybe just awe at how cute everyone was regardless of what had just occurred. Fum and Lime simply ignored all this and went on their way full of energy.

The professor watched them leave with a worried expression. Right now, he felt like a grandfather looking after his grandchildren.

「……This is……、……I do say……」

Two days after Hiroshi’s special lecture was decided, Rufeus Academy’s headmaster felt a strong tremor in his chest as he looked over the 20 A3 size documents Hiroshi had sent.

「……If this info is accurate, it could uproot half of all the research we’ve compiled……」

One of the alchemy professors murmured in a dry voice as he looked over the documents. There were only 20 sheets of paper, so from Hiroshi’s perspective, it was very condensed, but even in this so-called condensed information, there were enough eye-raising facts to make many of the faculty at the school want to hang themselves.

「……Well first, we need to examine this to see if it is accurate or not.」

「……But with our equipment and materials, it is simply impossible to examine everything with precision before the lecture.」

Professor Olstar and Professor Lester, the head duo of the opposing faction, could hardly even groan out words as they glared at the lecture notes that carefully detailed every bit of knowledge relevant to the theory of the lesson. It was clear from the get-go that several of the items on the list were not even achievable without the use of difficult-to-handle enhancement machines. They wouldn’t be able to even tell whether the theory was mistaken or their handling of the machines turned out to be a failure. Doing this investigation would guarantee an increase in attempts, so the likelihood was high that none of this verification, or even examination, would end in a mere few days.

Much like the upper conversion of the raw materials, there was also information that Rufeus had once discarded as armchair theories, to make matters worse. Of course some of this would be possible by following what was written, but reconsidering what had once been discounted as an armchair theory would take over one or two years just to inspect and create a new research topic to help the growth of researchers.

It was too far off from the technology that Rufeus Academy had in its possession, and there was nothing that could be inspected within five days. Unfortunately, all they could do right now was follow the directions of the documents and attempt to replicate what was instructed, checking what could be checked.

「……Hm, how about I offer a helping hand.」

「A helping hand, you say？」

「Yes. The enchantments inscribed from the third page to the first half of the fifth page have already been inspected to some degree. It would appear that experimenting with Miss Fum and the others after the lecture led to some very useful results.」

「Are you serious？」

「I would certainly never lie in a situation like this. The relevant sections scattered after that point are currently the themes I am researching in the lab. However, there are not so many people well-versed in potionmaking or alchemy in our lab, so that would be a section best not touched without concentrating a good amount of energy and time on it.」

The enchantment professor in charge of Fum and Lime did indeed extend a helping hand.

「Even if it is only a part of it, I am grateful that there is something that has finished inspection. However, it would appear that the information Professor Emile is currently researching is already inscribed as factual here……」

「Nay, even if the information inscribed is proven as factual in the special lecture, I have a reason to research. After all, the members of his workshop are craftsmen when you get down to it. They do not appear to care about all the particulars in theory. Therefore, backing up the theory here at Rufeus with research is no doubt something necessary for assisting Azuma Workshop in gratitude for their contributions.」

In response to Professor Emile, who had been speaking of all this in a calm manner, the other professors who had been whispering to one another all fell silent. In the end, deny it or agree with it, there was no mistake that they would have to inspect everything themselves.

The reason Professor Emile was supportive of Azuma Workshop was likely because he had already finished a good amount of inspection and had found enough to support their credibility. Also, the fact that a longstanding professor such as him found this information credible probably meant that the rest would follow, with minor exceptions.

「Hm……So in the end, all we can do is settle down……」

「We will be debating over actual phenomena, so I believe it is prudent we provide a basis.」

Professor Olstar grimaced at Professor Emile. Yes, he was opposing Azuma Workshop due to vested interests, but he was still a student in his own right. It was better that he accept Professor Emile’s challenge and brace himself.

「Indeed. Then let us expose this bunch for the frauds that they are.」

「I am looking forward to it.」

Professor Emile grinned at Professor Olstar’s impudent attitude. Hiroshi was a powerful medicine, and this medicine was now beginning to shift Rufeus Academy in new direction.