Echo Labyrinth.
Watching Arthur rack his brains over the Minotaur’s axe, Hulim Heyerar spoke up:
“Instead of fussing over that thing, we should recover our mana and find the next target—we’ll make even more that way.”
Arthur thought for a moment, then nodded.
“You’re right......”
He finally chose to give up the Minotaur’s axe.
He then walked back to his backpack, pulled out a Mana Potion, and drank it down in one gulp.
Hulim stared at the potion he’d drunk, a look of confusion crossing her face.
It was a shoddy, cloudy low-quality Mana Potion.
“Why are you drinking that kind of potion?”
“Huh, this thing?”
Arthur froze for a moment, holding the empty bottle, then explained:
“It’s cheaper. But don’t worry—it works just as well as regular Mana Potions. It’s just ten times more disgusting to drink.”
“......”
Ten times...... Hulim could barely stand the taste of regular Mana Potions. Ten times worse—and she was pretty sure her tongue would “commit suicide” right in front of her!
“Haha, it really makes you question life the first few times you drink it. But I’ve got the hang of it now—if you chug it straight down without letting it touch your tongue, like this, it’s way easier!”
Arthur laughed, demonstrating the motion of pouring the liquid down his throat.
He then carefully stowed the empty bottle back in his backpack. Normally, useless, cheap items like this would be tossed on the ground—after all, the dungeon would absorb them eventually.
“......Is that person...... in a really bad way?”
Hulim suddenly asked.
Arthur, who’d been pulling gathering tools out of his backpack, froze for a second, then replied quietly: “You could say that......”
“Can you tell me about it?”
After spending time with him, Hulim knew Arthur wasn’t bad at making money—but he was always strapped for cash. He still used the most basic equipment, and even drank this terrible low-quality potion to save coins.
The only explanation was that the person he was protecting was in an extremely dire situation......
“......Her name’s Alice—she’s my......”
“......sister.”
Arthur picked up the tools, walked over to the Minotaur’s corpse, and began dismantling it for materials as he spoke.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“We grew up in an orphanage. I never knew what our parents looked like, not even from the day I first opened my eyes.”
“I don’t know how much you know about orphanages in the slums, but to put it simply—they’re indescribably awful......”
“Ever since I can remember, Alice and I have only had each other. We fought sewer mana rats for food, stole from thugs, even snuck into gang hideouts...... Anything to survive, we did it.”
“We had no one to rely on in this world. We never knew what it meant to have a father or a mother. All we had was each other—or rather, we were the only family each other had.”
“......So I swore to myself that I’d protect her. That I’d get her a warm, leak-proof house, a soft bed to sleep in, and let her eat whatever she wanted.”
“I always thought I could make that wish come true......”
“But......”
“I was way too naive.”
“I don’t know why Alice got that strange illness......”
“Aunt Claire said she was born with it, but before, it was just mild weakness and occasional dizziness! Then, why did it get so bad......”
“......I’ve seen countless healers, bought every kind of medicine—but nothing works.”
“When the people from Manacos came to recruit me, I was overjoyed.”
“I knew about this academy—it’s the pride of Langard. If I could get in, making my old dreams come true would be child’s play! I foolishly thought that once I was at Manacos, I could cure Alice’s illness......”
“After that, I did start making more money—far more than I ever had before, more than I’d dared to imagine. I found better healers, could afford better medicine—but—”
“None of it mattered! Not a single healer in Langard can cure Alice’s illness! She’s getting worse and worse—she can’t even walk anymore, she’s stuck in a wheelchair......”
“Why......”
Boom——!
Arthur punched the ground hard.
“Why Alice? Why does she have to suffer like this? What did she do wrong?!”
“......”
Hulim didn’t know how to respond to the boy in front of her. She could make potions, but she wasn’t a healer who understood pathology. Even if she wanted to help, there was nothing she could do.
“I’m sorry...... for dumping all this on you. Just pretend you heard a story.”
“......”
......
......
“......These are the styles of magic circles popular in the ancient Mogalia Civilization. As for these circles, the rules of their incantation scripts have been mostly deciphered in recent years. The only unsolved mystery is the materials used to construct them. If we could figure that out, our society would surely take a major leap forward!”
In the Magic Circle class, the Magic Circle Professor was patiently explaining knowledge to his students.
“......There are many more ancient Mogalian incantation scripts besides what I’ve covered today—they’re detailed in the books at the Grand Library. You can look into them further after class. Alright, that’s all for Mogalian magic circles today. Now, about the task I assigned last time—has anyone managed to complete it? If so, come up and demonstrate.”
“Professor Dez, I’d like to try.”
“Oh, can you, Miss Hulim? Then come on up!”
Hulim stood up from her seat and walked to the Magic Circle Platform in the center of the classroom.
Dez Swan pulled out a pile of materials.
“I’ve prepared the materials for constructing the circle, Miss Hulim. Please begin!”
“Yes, Professor.”
Hulim picked up a Rune Pen and began drawing a magic circle on the platform, following the sequence she’d memorized.
After some time, a brand-new magic circle took shape.
“Excellent!”
Dez nodded in approval, then pulled out a Mana Crystal.
“Now let’s test its effect! Everyone else, pay close attention.”
With that, Dez placed the Mana Crystal in the center of the magic circle.
Hum——!
The magic circle lit up instantly, and a barrier slowly expanded, soon enveloping the entire classroom and isolating it from the outside world.
“Perfect—it works flawlessly!”
Dez removed the Mana Crystal, and the magic circle’s light faded away.
“As I promised last class, Miss Hulim Heyerar, I’ll award you one credit for this!”
“Thank you, Professor.”
“Very well. Class is dismissed for today......”
