Chapter 63

Chapter 63

Paper (2)

“Paper... new research topic... a new paper that no one has done...!”

“G, Gracie? Why are you like that?”

At the sight of Gracie muttering while covering her mouth, Amelia felt an inexplicable fear.

[Noblesse Fire]▶What is that human? The eyes look dangerous.

▶Isn’t that the look of seeing prey? lolol

[Soft Queen]▶What did you say! Insolent thing! How dare you try to do something to my kin!

[Gothic Luxury Bone]▶There are humans who treat Mallang-nim preciously, so they won’t be able to do anything easily.

[Soft Queen]▶The act of directing such a gaze at my kin itself is wrong!

[Thread Lady]▶That’s right! We have to protect the cute Mallang-nim!

[Just Stick It In and See]▶Anyway, if they do something stupid, we can just stick it in, right?

▶Ah, that sticking insect.

▶lololol

“Gracie, are you alright?”

“Hup!”

Only when Paulen also spoke did Gracie return to her senses.

But the gaze toward the slime did not change.

“Saintess! Paladin! I have a request!”

“A request?”

“Yes!”

Gracie clasped both hands as if earnestly praying and shouted.

“Please! Please let me research the slime!”

““...?””

At the sudden unexpected word of research popping out, Amelia and Paulen simultaneously tilted their heads to the side.

“Research?”

“Yes!”

‘I must not miss this opportunity!’

The only thing in Gracie’s head right now was the research paper through the slime.

The Saintess and Paladin suddenly came to her house?

The slime found her house on its own?

Such things were very trivial in front of a new paper that no one had researched.

‘If I do this paper properly, the worries about support funds are over!’

Gracie, who became a mage out of admiration for Ventus Frail and because the family’s support funds would be cut off otherwise.

For the Frail family to continue receiving support funds, Gracie had to prove her skills and achievements as a mage.

Skills could be proven by using magic tools.

Even the natural mage old fogies at the Magic Tower, though they didn’t like it, acknowledged her ability to utilize magic tool combinations when they saw it before their eyes.

But achievements were a separate matter.

There were two ways to prove achievements.

One was to form a party as an adventurer and complete requests of a certain difficulty or higher.

The other was to publish a research paper and prove one’s knowledge and ability as a mage.

Gracie chose the latter of these.

Because going around here and there to do requests was bothersome and tiring!

She respected Ventus Frail who had wandered various regions to defeat the black dragon, but that was that and this was this!

However, even though the Magic Tower acknowledged that Gracie was good at utilizing magic tools, they looked at papers with a strict gaze.

No matter how much Gracie wrote and submitted a paper about magic tools.

She wrote it well... hmm, is that about it?

Only lukewarm reactions and mediocre evaluations were given.

Therefore, Gracie was always in a state of barely meeting the conditions to receive support funds, just scraping by.

‘Damn natural mage old fogies!’

Magic tool artisans even came to her house personally after seeing her paper, saying they got new ideas, and thanked her, but the Magic Tower’s paper review committee only gave stingy evaluations, so it was frustrating.

Moreover, she had almost used up everything she could write about, and there was no particularly usable topic left.

In the midst of that, the slime that appeared before her eyes, using magic tools, and moreover using magic stone-type magic tools without magic stones, with only its own mana!

Even if they were natural mage old fogies, it was a topic that would force them to look at the paper carefully, saying ‘No, how do you do this?’

What scores high in the paper evaluation criteria is how new it is and how much it digs into and researches things that were previously unknown.

Therefore, Gracie was confident that she could receive a high evaluation score with this topic.

“I’ve never seen a slime like this in the world... no, a monster like this! A slime that uses magic tools in this way! This is something even mages find hard to do!”

“Is that really true?”

“If you’re a mage, can’t you use magic tools even without magic stones?”

“I’ll say it again, but magic tools that require magic stones and those that don’t have fundamentally different structures in how they handle mana. Even a high-ranking mage’s limit for using it like this slime is doing is 15 seconds. But this slime is using it for over 30 seconds right now!”

“That much?”

Paulen looked at the slime, which was still splashing and playing with the magic tool funnily, as if he couldn’t believe it.

“But how will you research it? If there’s any chance of Budul getting hurt, I’ll refuse.”

Even if it was a monster, Amelia never wanted to see this slime that was friendly to people get hurt.

“Of course, there won’t be any getting hurt or anything like that! I’ll just watch and observe from the side as this slime uses magic tools! If you’re really anxious, you can watch together from the side!”

Thinking that if she upset the Saintess’s feelings like this, the best paper material that had come would disappear, Gracie spoke with earnestness.

“Please! Please allow it! I beg you! I’ll also diligently fulfill my assigned role! If you tell me to lick your feet, I’ll lick them!”

“What?! Ah, no. Why are you suddenly saying you’ll lick feet!? Uh, don’t prostrate yourself!”

“It means I’m that desperate! Please! If I don’t get a good evaluation on this paper, the family support funds will be cut off! Please! Think of it as saving our family and pleaseeeee!”

At the sight of Gracie rapidly becoming servile, Amelia and Paulen were greatly flustered.

And.

-What do you mean support funds again! Even if it’s good paper material, trying to lick feet is another matter!

In the middle of being satisfied with the frustrated reaction, Kkanjuk’s skull ached at the sight of his descendant becoming dizzy.

On top of that.

▶lol that human what is it lolol

▶Why is it trying to lick the same human’s feet?

[Soft Queen]▶I cannot entrust my kin to such a human!

[Just Stick It In and See]▶Isn’t that a submissive posture?

▶Ah! Submission X!

▶Look at it disliking the same humans lolol

-Kuaaaaah!

As his descendant became a laughingstock for the viewers, even more mental damage came in.

Usually, Kkanjuk used informal speech and happily watched as a viewer in this room and that room, whether others got angry or not.

But now he was being scratched in a place the other viewers hadn’t thought of.

+++

While Amelia, Paulen, and the slime were in the Holy City.

Nellin and Godric’s group arrived at Tartan, where the Colosseum was.

“This place is the same as ever~.”

Tartan maintained a scenery that was not much different from when Nellin had visited in the past.

Those with skills challenging the Colosseum, those with ambitions to bet money on the Colosseum and make a big score, and those who had gone completely broke and walked with dazed expressions without accepting reality were walking the streets.

Unlike Nellin, who had been there once before, Godric’s party looked around the streets of Tartan here and there.

“This is Tartan...”

“Pfft, our legend begins here.”

“You’re having weird delusions again.”

“Hmph, whether it’s a delusion or not remains to be seen.”

“M, Marin noona. Can we really achieve g, good results in the Colosseum?”

“Come on, I told you not to worry? Dep, you worry unnecessarily a lot. Believe in me who trained you guys more!”

Pat!

Nellin patted the back of the worried Dep.

“Y, yes!”

Nellin’s plan was like this.

First, secure a room for about a day and re-evaluate Godric’s group’s skills.

And the next day, go straight to the Colosseum, apply for registration, and show off their skills.

But something Nellin hadn’t thought of happened.

“What? The first match is in 3 days?”

“Yes.”

“No, originally if it’s the Colosseum, if you register in the morning, you could do it right away that day, right?”

“I’m sorry, it’s currently the Black Dragon Festival period.”

“Black Dragon Festival?”

Black Dragon Festival.

It was a special duel festival of the Colosseum created to honor the legends of the heroes who subjugated the black dragon, the calamity that appeared 50 years ago.

It was held once every half year.

Since many skilled people from all over the country gathered and the winning prize money was even more luxurious, the duel period of the ordinary Colosseum was also longer and conducted in a more intense manner.

If one were to pick the biggest difference, since there were many participants, the preliminaries were such that those who survived the free-for-all brawl advanced to the main rounds.

And the Black Dragon Festival period was held for a week, and ordinary duels resumed 3 days after the Black Dragon Festival ended.

Nellin, who had not come to Tartan since catching the black dragon, didn’t even know that a new festival called the Black Dragon Festival had been created.

If they didn’t participate now, 3 days until the Black Dragon Festival started, a week during the Black Dragon Festival period, and 3 days until the ordinary Colosseum opened.

A total of 13 days.

Since they would have to wait nearly 2 weeks, Godric’s group applied to participate in the Black Dragon Festival duel.

It was different from the plan, but Nellin had no complaints about participating in the Black Dragon Festival.

Rather, since the scale was larger than ordinary duels, it would be better for gaining fame.

“Tsk, why is the name Black Dragon Festival?”

What Nellin was dissatisfied with was precisely the name Black Dragon Festival.

Unable to watch Nellin, who had been continuously dissatisfied since hearing the name of the Black Dragon Festival, Godric asked.

“Marin noona, what is it that you dislike so much?”

“Of course I dislike it, you!”

Nellin slapped Godric’s shoulder while getting angry.

Pat!

“Ack!”

“Of all things, they named it after that damn calamity guy! Huh! Would it hurt to name it after other heroes? Damn it!”

“Heh, but doesn’t the Black Dragon Festival look stronger?”

“Looking strong my ass!”

Pat!

This time Nellin hit Hawein’s shoulder.

“Ack!”

“Isn’t it because there were several heroes who caught the black dragon? There are 5 of them.”

“Even so, it’s better than the Black Dragon Festival!”

Since it had already been decided 50 years ago and couldn’t be changed, Nellin was even more dissatisfied.

“I, I also think it would be better to name it after the heroes rather than the black dragon.”

“Right? As expected of Dep! You know a thing or two! There are so many better names than Black Dragon Festival! Huh! Like Aldor Festival! Like Cachal Festival! Like Fresia Festival! Like Ventus Festival! Like, Nellin Festival...”

“Hmm, the feeling is weird. As expected, Black Dragon Festival sticks to the mouth the best...”

“You just earned a beating!’

Paang!

“Ack!”

Looking at Hawein, who got hit on the shoulder again, Sgol snickered.

“Kekek, got a beating for being stubborn again.”

“The food you ordered is here~.”

After finishing the meal, Nellin, whose head had cooled a bit, said to Godric’s party.

“Since the preliminaries are in 3 days, it actually worked out well. Since the scale is bigger, I’ll give you special training so you don’t get careless and lose stupidly, so know that.”

“If it’s special training, that’s what we wanted. But is Marin noona not participating?”

“What? Me participating?”

Nellin laughed with a smirk and said confidently.

“If I participate, you guys won’t get the attention.”

‘And there might be guys who recognize me for no reason.’

“Or what, do you want to fight me? It’ll be completely different from training?”

Seeing Nellin’s smile that revealed her teeth, cold sweat flowed on Godric’s party’s faces.

Even during training, rushing in as a group wasn’t enough to be a match.

But when fighting 1 on 1, treating them completely differently from training?

It was obvious that they wouldn’t even put up proper resistance and would just be the ones getting hit.

““...No.””

“Right?”