The Magic Academy's Physicist-Chapter 179: Our Work Explodes (3)

The Crowpeltz Foundation was notorious for being picky when it came to judging artworks.

They chose the work based on award criteria that ordinary people had trouble understanding. As such, they would get criticized by the public often.

Fools who don’t even know what art is.

Crowpeltz smiled wryly.

“Would you like to look around more?”

Crowpeltz shook her head at her secretary’s question and replied.

“It’s rather underwhelming this year.”

There wasn’t anything that immediately caught her eye.

As I thought, it’ll have to go to Durand.

The other works weren’t even worth looking at. Crowpeltz planned to give the win to Durand like last year.

She liked this young man named Durand as the toilet that he had put up for exhibit inspired her artistic senses.

That boy, Durand, had artistic intuition. To be exact, his taste for art was similar to hers.

“Let’s head over there.”

Crowpeltz pointed to the fountain.

It was where Durand’s work was.

“Hm?”

Arriving at the fountain, Crowpeltz halted in her steps.

Watercolor painted randomly on the map.

It was the work of Durand.

Why is it worse than I thought?

From what she was seeing, it was lacking compared to the toilet that he’d shown last year. Putting paint on a map didn’t change anything.

If anything, he should have painted it with more detail.

But he needs to win in order for us to scout him....

She didn’t want to dismiss Durand’s genius just for ruining a single artwork. Crowpeltz looked at the piece for a long time and explored what artistic value it had.

The map is visible at least, blurry as it may be.

Perhaps it was a representation of the world being tainted by Beasts.

Then it was too blatant. The kind of art that she sought had to have restrained techniques and evoke subtle emotions.

“Hm?”

Someone caught Crowpeltz’s eyes.

It was a girl, observing Durand’s work from a distance. Admiration continuously flowed from her mouth.

So that’s the perception of the public.

That girl wouldn’t know much about beauty.

However.

Crowpeltz’s attention was drawn to that girl.

Beautiful.

Fair and white pearl-like skin, ink black hair as if it had absorbed all the light in the world. And gold eyes sparkling brilliantly like topaz.

A Golden-Eyed of the legends.

But Crowpeltz’s impression of the Golden-Eyed girl wasn’t simply ‘pretty’.

“Abstract yet a perfect contrast of colors....”

She muttered unconsciously.

White and black, as well as the gold that subtly filled the gap in between. These three colors didn’t exist in Element Magic, but it was that aspect that she found aesthetic.

Yes, as if.

Her existence itself is art!

Crowpeltz walked towards her in admiration.

“Miss, do you know who I am?”

Crowpeltz abruptly asked.

Those around them began to buzz at her question.

- It’s Director Crowpeltz!

“So you’re Aether. And your surname is?”

“I don’t have one, ma’am.”

Crowpeltz inhaled sharply, but soon gave a slight smile while remaining calm.

“I see. You’re really beautiful.”

Aether was caught off guard by the sudden compliment. If it hadn’t been for the poker face unique to the Golden-Eyed, she might have been disrespectful.

She’d heard that she looked beautiful, but there had never been anyone who said it to her face upon meeting.

She didn’t know how to respond.

“...Thank you.”

“Ahh, your very existence is artistic.”

Aether sighed inwardly.

She figured she’d caught the attention of someone strange again.

Who’s this bitch coming onto sis?

Rosemary, who’d been standing next to Aether, glared at the back of Crowpeltz’s head while chewing on her lips.

She’d let out killing intent if she could, but there was the risk of being discovered by an Elemental if she used ‘Intimidate’ here.

Crowpeltz spoke.

“Did you enter the art festival?”

“Yes.”

“Really? I’d like to see your work.”

Aether learned that the woman in front of her was Director Crowpeltz from the whispers of the other students.

Crowpeltz–the judge with the most power in the art fest.

It wouldn’t be bad to suck up to her, but that wasn’t her thing.

But she couldn’t just dismiss her either. Aether knew better than anyone that treading a tightrope was important at times like these.

“Of course, it’s over....”

Just then.

“Oh my, if it isn’t Madam Crowpeltz?”

Durand, who’d noticed her while explaining his work, approached with his head bowed. It was the respectful attitude of someone inferior towards a superior.

“You’ve come to see my work again like you did last year! I, Michel Durand! Am overwhelmed by the attention from the teacher I greatly admire!”

Crowpeltz nodded in acknowledgement. Her eyes never left Aether.

Such an artistic appearance. I’d like to try body-painting her.... Is there a way to bring her into the foundation?

Crowpeltz’s eyes turned dubious.

“Speaking of which, Golden-Eyed girl! You’ve also entered something, no? I’d like to see it!”

Aether pointed in a direction in reply.

Aether’s work was on the hill leading to the Fire Magic labs. It was a secluded area compared to the central square.

“Why did you leave it in such a quiet place like this?”

Durand asked.

“Because it’s heavy.”

Updated from freewёbnoνel.com.

When she thought about it, she hadn’t rented any equipment to transport the piece.

There wasn’t enough power and time to drag a nearly five-ton atomic bomb to the fountain, and so Aether had placed her work where it wouldn’t be easily seen by others on purpose.

It didn’t exactly matter even if people didn’t notice it. The one to give the award was the judge, anyway, and even if they failed, she just had to enter it again for the invention contest.

“Hmm....”

Crowpeltz let out a hum as she looked at it.

The outside of the piece was clean. The curves were trimmed elegantly, and the shape was well-defined without flaws. The form was clear as well.

The work’s appearance was Freyr’s achievement. As she’d only practiced transmutation for almost twenty years, she’d naturally become proficient at sculpting as well.

However.

“It’s a structure that follows an overly classical style.”

It wasn’t abstract and also lacked aesthetics.

A normal person may think of it as a relatively well-made piece, but the structure was far from suiting Crowpeltz’s tastes, as she sought a more artistic realm.

“What is it called?”

Crowpeltz asked.

“Mushroom.”

At Aether’s inorganic answer, her brows arched like a bow.

Mushroom...?

The same mushroom that she knew?

The way it stood tall like a tower did look like a mushroom.

“Is it called that because it looks like a mushroom?”

“Yes, for now.”

Then it was a fail.

It lacks depth.

Showing something as it was didn’t match the kind of artistic idea she sought. Something like this could be made by anyone, and even a child could come up with a name like this.

If only it had the theme of innocence that only a child could produce instead. This was simply too blatant.

Unable to hold back her disappointment, Crowpeltz let out a sigh.

It might have been more unconventional if they had put this girl up on display and used the same title instead.

Crowpeltz opened her mouth.

“Abstraction of ideas, reinterpretation of concepts.”

She asked Aether.

“Where did these two elements go?”

“They were left out.”

“Hmm, deliberately?”

Aether couldn’t answer.

Of course, because this wasn’t her area of expertise. She didn’t want to say gibberish and get humiliated from being exposed.

At times you should just stay quiet. It was wisdom that she’d gained in life.

When Aether chose to be silent, Crowpeltz nodded on her own.

Guess she doesn’t like it.

She could tell what she was thinking just by looking at her face.

Well, what could she do? She’d just have to re-enter it for the invention contest and win the prize.

How unfortunate. I was curious about the secondary prize.

Apparently there was a special item given as a bonus besides the prize money if you won the art fest.

─ That? If you can get it then it’s possible to complete most side quests. It’s not all that important but it does make things easier.

It was information she’d heard just yesterday from Vermel who was in the infirmary.

If they won, she was going to give it to him as a gift for getting discharged.

“Is there structure on the inside as well?”

Crowpeltz asked casually while she’d been lost in thought. Nodding, Aether opened the connecting part.

“Here.”

There were several devices on the inside.

The detonator and neutron generator, scrolls that were attached only for efficiency purposes with no artistic elements whatsoever, as well as a spherical uranium shrouded in beryllium.

There was nothing that wasn’t significant.

Crowpeltz asked in bewilderment.

“Wh-what is this trying to represent?”

“It’s not supposed to represent anything.”

“Th-then....”

Aether blurted it as is without thinking.

“We made it to blow it up.”

Rosemary’s complexion turned deathly pale.

“Because our work is only completed when it explodes.”

After saying that, Aether took out a tiny scroll from her inner pocket.