Chapter 240 – Bidding Farewell to ScholarzardThe ma.s.s wedding in Forestzard ended in great success. A festive atmosphere permeated the capital for ten straight days. Hikaru and the others had their share of fun as well.
Claude and Luka decided to still hide themselves in Jarazack since Ludancia"s movements were still unclear. They didn"t have time for a honeymoon right now.
「If possible, I want to go to school again. I"m also interested about the student alliance"s future.」Claude said as he left.
Spring had come, which meant the start of a new school year. As soon as the wedding ceremony ended, Professor Mikhail and Professor Mille left Forestzard. Some time later, Hikaru returned to their apartment too.
「It feels great with the window open.」
The balcony was useless all throughout winter, but now it bathed in bright sunlight. Fresh air—still carrying a little chill—cleansed the somewhat stagnant air that filled the room from being closed for a few days.
「What are you bringing with you?」Lavia asked Hikaru.
「Just clothes, I guess.」
Hikaru and the girls were moving out. They might return someday, but he decided not to extend the contract on the apartment. They wasted no time in preparing even though they just came back. They didn"t have much personal effects in the first place, but they did end up with some things after living here for more than half a year.
「Hikaru-sama, what about this?」
Paula was carrying a dragon stone the size of a rugby ball. Drake, who was nibbling on biscuits on the table, suddenly straightened up.
『I wanna eat it! I wanna eat it! I have to! It"s a dragon stone!』
「Hmm… Okay, go ahead.」
『Come on! Just a little— Wait, really?』
「Sure, it might have some use, but right now I have a feeling we somehow have to do something against dragons.」
According to Drake, drakons went around the world fighting evil, or rather, exterminating them.
If that"s the case, they could"ve taken care of the dragon rampaging in Un el Portan, Hikaru thought. Apparently though, there weren"t a lot of drakons in the human world, and they weren"t around all the time too.
Also for uncertain reasons, drakons" numbers were dwindling. As a result, forces of evil were getting stronger. Or at least, that"s what Drake thought.
Hikaru ended up killing one of these valuable creatures, but the drakon attacked him first, giving him no other choice. He decided to destroy the huge dragon stone to make up for it.
Incidentally, investigation revealed that the earth dragon"s rampage was part of Ludancia"s head"s experiments to inject the new weapon into strong monsters. The central government had custody of her as of the moment. She would soon be judged for her crimes. Although, the queen was worried about provoking Ludancia.
『I"m eating it, then. I"m really going to, okay?!』
「Help yourself. How are you even going to eat it? Just chew on it? Or—」
Drake gnawed at the dragon stone on the table. It was too big for his mouth, at first. But then the drakon"s mouth slowly expanded. Like a snake swallowing an egg, the dragon stone went straight down to his stomach.
Hikaru could tell where the stone was exactly—at the bulging part of Drake"s stomach.
「Are you okay?」
『I"m kinda tired… Good night…』
「What?」
Drake dozed off and dropped on the table.
Hikaru and the others panicked, but Drake was apparently really just asleep. Does he need sleep to digest the stone? Hikaru wondered. Unfortunately, Drake was never good at explaining things.
The white drakon had plenty of useful information. Though he never just shared them without being asked first. Then again, Hikaru couldn"t ask questions he knew nothing about in the first place. When asked about other drakons, he only said they might be around but he didn"t know which ones exactly. Not really a helpful answer.
「I wish he"d wake up before we head to Vireocean.」Hikaru muttered as he left the apartment together with Lavia.
They couldn"t use the Drakon Pa.s.sage without Drake. Without his help, they would have to pa.s.s through either Ponsonia or Einbeast to get to Vireocean.
「We can take it slow. It"s not like we"re in a hurry.」Lavia said.「We"ll be stopping by a lot of cities as well.」
「You get sick in carriages, though…」
「Uh…」
「You should stop reading books while traveling in a carriage.」
「But…」
Lavia always brought books with her on long trips, but she also always got motion sick when riding rocking carriages. When that happened, Paula would use her healing magic on her, then she would start reading again, get sick once more… and the cycle went on.
But whenever Lavia didn"t feel well, Hikaru let her lie down on his lap which made him just a little happy.
「There"s quite a lot of people.」
Hikaru entered the academy with Lavia. They left Paula to watch Drake just in case he threw up or something. She was enthusiastic about packing, though.
New students and students returning from their winter break were about. Snow still remained under the shades, but trees in the campus were starting to sprout new leaves.
Not wanting to get dragged into helping out, Hikaru used Group Obfuscation to avoid Professor Mikhail who was using the students to ready the training grounds.
「Hi, Hikaru.」
Katy was in her laboratory. With the return of the other researchers, the lab was now tidy and in order.
They moved to a different room.
「I"m quitting the academy.」Hikaru said.
Katy"s brows twitched.「I had a feeling you would. You"re not really the studious type.」
「I learned a lot from Professor Mille, though.」
「Really? It"s unfortunate you can"t say your goodbyes, then. She"s back home.」
「Wait, really?」
Apparently on her way back to the academy with Mikhail, she was called back home by force. She had avoided all the marriage interviews during winter, saying she"d attend them during spring, but instead went to watch the ma.s.s wedding and then tried to go back to the academy to escape. Her plans were obvious, however; her family sent someone after her.
「Hmm… That"s just like her, I guess.」Hikaru said.
「Yup.」Katy chuckled.「By the way, is Drake doing fine?」
「Y-Yes… He"s well.」
「It"s fine. I won"t fiddle around with him, rub him, or even try to lick him. He"s not here today?」
「He fell asleep after devouring the dragon stone.」
Katy frowned.「You really shouldn"t say something that"ll make me curious right after you tell me you"re quitting school.」
「It"s Drake"s fault.」
「Forget about that for now. I made some progress on my holy mana studies. It"s only a prototype, but I want you to have this.」
Katy took out a device that looked like a wrist.w.a.tch from her pocket. It had a leather strap attached to a small metal box. The part that touched the arm was made of ore. It didn"t have a dial, of course.
「What is this?」
「By pouring mana into it, you can use holy mana for just a moment. The conversion efficiency is by no means great, though.」
「This is amazing!」
Hikaru"s eyes went back and forth between Katy and the device. She might"ve been able to study a drakon direcly, beings that could manipulate holy mana, but reviving lost technology was no easy feat. One could say this was the invention of the century.
「I call it the Gravity Balancer. By giving it regular mana to convert into holy mana…」Katy smiled like a mischievous child.「You can float for about 0.1 second.」