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Kleio raised his head.

“If you conduct ether while it is in contact with the catalyst, you will be able to engrave the tiplaum. It softens it as it returns to its original form.”

‘My god! Was it like that?’

The catalyst was so common and obvious no one had thought of it. Or maybe the author had just thought of it while drinking.

“So?!”

“I found the catalyst to use when engraving the formula, but the formula to stabilize activation wasn’t completed. After Robert was arrested, my quarters at the academy were burned down, and all that research was lost. After going through all that, my desire to do research vanished.”

‘Assassination, imprisonment, suicide… he was in the midst of all that.’

What the hell did Melchior do? Kleio lamented deeply at the loss of such talent.

“Haah…”

“In fact, it’s questionable whether it’s a problem that can be solved with only scientific methodology.”

Kleio buried his head in his hands.

‘Well, I don’t know much about science in this world…’

Fran’s tone softened as if he noticed that Kleio wouldn’t understand what he was going to say.

“…You’re a wizard, so let me explain it in a magical way. For example, you have to create a single formula that combines [Reinforcement], [Consolidation], [Continue], [Overturn], and [Repeat]. If those can be combined and imprinted, the etheric activity will be permanent.”

“But Fran, humans cannot create new magic formulas.”

In this world’s setting, the formulas were gifts left by the daughters of the goddess to humanity. Therefore, no one had ever succeeded in creating a new one.

“I had a dream of writing a formula inspired by magic. But now, I find no pleasure in learning. No matter what I look at, the faces of the dead float on the blank papers.”

Fran muttered quietly, his expression distant.

“Fran, thank you for telling me this difficult story.”

“Even if I don’t, Melchior will figure it all out.”

“If you need help later, please tell me. I’ll offer as much power as I can. Don’t die alone.”

“How far will that go…”

Fran, buried in his chair, began to fall asleep. Kleio removed the boy’s glasses and covered him in a blanket. He received the needed information, but it was a bitter dawn, nonetheless.

***

The winter palace annex was empty. Fran had returned to the capital, having many things to deal with, but the most significant reason was so he didn’t encounter Melchior. The rest of the students left to hunt, led by Lippi and Leticia. Kleio was faking sickness, which everyone believed, given his usual record. Once all the lodging’s inhabitants left, Kleio got out of bed and pulled a flask of whiskey from his luggage.

‘I thought I’d need it, but who would think it would be so useful?’

And, more importantly, he pulled out a palm-sized piece of tiplaum. He had to ask Arthur to snatch him a bit.

‘That child is a master of stealth.’

Arthur didn’t even ask why and just brought him a large piece. There was quite a distance between the palace and the mine, so he didn’t know how he moved so fast.

‘The mine is royal so that Arthur will own it all in the future anyway.’

Thus, Kleio rationalized their crimes. He took a sip from the flask first, thinking it a waste to pour it all out. The smell of peat passed by his nose and cleared his head.

‘I feel like it’ll work out!’

He poured the whiskey into a teacup. Instead of ink, he put alcohol into a pen and used it to carry the ether through. The circle didn’t open, however.

‘This should be possible without opening one.’

He scratched the top of the tiplaum with the alcohol-soaked pen, which gently dug into the metal without a sound.

‘It works!’

He tested it out several more times. The ore had a soft texture like soap as it was scratched by the pen. Once the ether and alcohol left, it hardened once more.

‘If you scrape tiplaum normally like this, the marks will disappear after a few seconds, but it remains.’

Fran was a genius, after all. It would’ve been nice if they still had that data that had been burned up too…

‘Now, the catalyst issue has been resolved. The problem now is the formula…’

Magical science had played a vital role in the second half of the last manuscript.

‘Making an anti-aircraft defense net or attaching guidance devices to firearms can only be done if tiplaum processing becomes feasible…’

The problem was that Kleio didn’t have the mind to create such a formula.

‘I’m barely capable of common science! But now it’s magical science?!’

If so, there had to be another way to find the answer. As Fran explained, why not use a new magic formula? Kleio began to stroke the ring stuck on his hand.

‘It’s said that humanity can’t create new formulas, but I already have items given to me by the god of this world, so why not?’

Understanding, the second function of Promise, was the ability to understand the elements of the narrative to discover other’s ether levels and unique skills.

‘Would it be possible to use that with the right magic formula to ‘understand’ it?’

Kleio memorized the magic formula of [Reinforcement][Consolidation][Continue][Overturn][Repeat], scratching it down on a piece of paper. Understanding judged only the overlapping of four magic formulas as magic, but the five magic formulas that exceeded his number of slots weren’t judged as magic.

‘Because I only have four magic slots at level 4, I can’t even test five at the same time. I have to turn on Understanding and look into if it is correct…’

It felt stupid, like he was trying to brute force a math problem meant to be solved by a formula. He skipped lunch and immersed himself in his work, but things weren’t going well. If it could be solved so quickly, the brightest minds in the country wouldn’t be losing their heads over it now.

‘I’ve already wasted three-hundred sheets of paper. Haah…’

Still, his progress wasn’t zero.

‘Some argue that magic formulas aren’t something that can be read, but it is a kind of text, so this way should be right.’

Six segments in a circle. It was only that much, but unlike the other lines he scribbled down, when he injected ether in it and used Understanding, it shone gold.

‘It feels like I’m putting together a 50,000 piece jigsaw puzzle, but… ahh.’

Putting down the pen, Kleio went outside to cool his head. The sun was setting, so the wind was rather chilly. At that moment, a familiar voice could be heard from the palace’s yard.

“Ahaha! I won today! Sixteen!”

It was Lippie, running through the yard. When she saw Kleio, she ran straight to him.

“Oh! Lei, can you stand up? Are you feeling okay?”

“I’m feeling a little better now…”

“Then come here. Look what I hunted!”

She grabbed his arm and dragged him along with frightening strength.

‘Oh, please, that’s…’

Kleio, helpless as he was dragged along, saw the hunting groundskeeper with a pile of wild beasts loaded onto a card. There were birds, rabbits, and deer all piled up, with the smell of blood hanging heavy over them. The other hunters looked just as proud as Lippie.

“That little girl was awesome!”

“Incredible!”

“How many times have you been here before?”

“Ahahaha, thank you! Look, Lei, all those rabbits are mine!”

Lippie jumped over to the cart and picked up two large white rabbits on the top.

“They have very soft fur. I’ll give one to you, Lei! It’s cold, so make a rabbit fur muffler!”

“Oh, thank you…”

Lippi’s eyes sparkled like that of a cat who just brought its owner a rat. Kleio gingerly reached out toward the rabbit, but the hunting groundskeeper saved him.

“Hahaha! Lady, the blood needs to be drained first.”

“Come here; I’ll take care of it.”

The other students were returning to the palace, one by one, as they chatted. Cel, Isiel, and Leticia were together holding long guns, their sports tweed jackets and long boots matching nicely. There was also Arthur a little farther away, who had leaves all over his head like he had taken a nap.

“Lippie, Leticia, how did you know where each other was? You drove the animals better than the hounds.”

“Oh, Arthur, you must’ve seen it for the first time. That means…”

Leticia shrugged, interrupting Cel.

“I can feel where Lippi is.”

“I can tell exactly where Leticia is, even if she’s far away!”

“It’s a twin thing.”

“So, Lei, did you get Lippi’s gift? Where’s the rabbit, rabbit?”

“She said, ‘Thank you for playing with us before.’”

“Hey, pay respects properly.”

Arthur and Cel chatted with Kleio between them.

“If I received two of those, I might die from surprise… The keeper took it to take care of the cleaning.”

“Were you surprised to see a rabbit body?”

“I know for sure that hunting doesn’t suit my aptitude.”

“You’re seriously that weak-stomached? How will you fare in the compulsory service?”

Cel pounded his back and teased him, but Kleio met her eyes.

“I’m not joining the military. I will graduate in third place.”

“Wahahaha, do it well. So, what can’t you do? Our wonder Kleio.”

“Don’t say that, Cel!”

“Oh, you’re so sensitive too.”

.

.

.

The rabbits and pigeons caught by the twins were definitely delicious. They weren’t as soft as animals raised for their meat, but with the proper seasoning, the flavor was great. Of course, it complemented the Tarsus wine rather well. Though, Kleio himself didn’t ever want to hunt.

***

The next day…

Kleio had eaten and slept well, but he kept faking illness. They knew it was because he didn’t want to go hunting, so the twins backed up his excuse. In the meantime, Leticia was burning with a sense of competition against her sister.

‘Sleep well, Lei. I’ll catch a fox today! That’s better for a muffler than a rabbit!’

It was clearly not for Kleio; she just didn’t want to lose to Lippi. After everyone left for the hunt, the annex grew quiet again. With that, he produced a new piece of paper. He was in good condition because he had rested well. Kleio turned on Understanding at the same time he opened his Perception. Hopefully, he could read something, anything, from the etheric flow on the paper. Opening both to the maximum caused his head to spin and made his body feel like it was floating.

The passage of time tangled together, making what was an entire day feel like it passed in an instant. Kleio couldn’t even remember moving his hand. It was like the author’s will to correct the world’s direction when Fran stopped his research by possessing him. Like an oracle dictating the future, the magical formula was drawn, updated, redrawn. Finally, he felt a terrible headache and fever strike him, and Promise was burning on his hand.

Blood was flowing from his nose to stain the paper as the ring vomited out golden letters.

[—User’s narrative involvement increases.

—The cumulative percentage of narrative involvement is being calculated (□□%)]

[—As the user’s participation in the narrative is increased, the additional function of Promise has opened.

—You can judge whether an issue is true or false and whether an element is appropriate.

*Caution: When using this function, 95% of the ether in the body is temporarily consumed.]

[―Would you like to use the appropriate judgment?]