The Magic Academy's Physicist-Chapter 73: You’ve Been Captured

Chapter 73: You’ve Been Captured

The Empire’s financial situation was currently in shambles.

The national treasury had always been shaky due to centuries of warfare and with the outbreak having occurred causing numerous casualties, it wouldn’t be long until spiders made homes out of the safes.

Sovereign default. So what had the head of the state been doing in a situation where that could occur?

That was the issue. Even though Robespierre held the title of a Marquis, he’d never been given the specifics about what the Emperor was up to. It was all a matter of speculation.

The current Emperor Yelchin Philiut wasn’t a tyrant but neither was he a wise ruler. To borrow the words of someone, he didn’t have the qualities of a king.

A figure that may be capable of being a village chief somewhere, but lacking the ability to oversee a vast territory like the Empire.

And this was the one command he gave him–to cut down the scholarship given to the students.

To Robespierre who was an educator before he was a noble, it was an incomprehensible decision. It had been a sudden notice that wasn’t previously discussed so it was rather baffling.

These were hard times, of course. They were short on money so it was common sense that it should be saved up rather than used unless it was an emergency. As a vassal, he had desperately attempted to understand this decision by the Emperor.

That is, until yesterday when the Imperials held a large party.

Forcing the Academy to make cuts while they threw themselves a grand banquet?

He couldn’t sit back anymore. Robespierre reached out to those knew, including Professor Heerlein.

And amongst them was a Golden-Eyed girl of commoner origin who would soon become a noble.

“I can’t thank you enough for this. Is there anything I can do to help?”

The Golden-Eyed girl before him, Aether, was an intelligent child. She was a student who scratched the itches even when he hadn’t expected them.

Surely she’d do well here even after graduating from school.

“This doesn’t seem the place to talk about it. Let us continue elsewhere.”

No, he supposed that wasn’t going to matter.

As the Empire would soon go down the path of ruin.

** The chairman replied to my question immediately and stood from his seat. His complexion was a little better than before.

Whereas I bit down on my lower lip in worry.

The Cataclysm could be watching us from anywhere at any time.

Even the conversation was stopped by the chairman’s remark just now. Since he’d abruptly suggested changing locations in the middle of talking about scholarships, the beast with enhanced vision would think ‘Jackpot!’ or something if they were seeing this.

As I kept shifting my eyes, the chairman spoke again.

“If you’re concerned about time, I will finish as quickly as I can.”

Unfortunately, he had the wrong idea.

Even in the case that the Cataclysm wasn’t eavesdropping on the conversation, the situation wasn’t much better. If the previous remark happened to reach the ears of a noble close to the Imperial family, then the chairman wouldn’t be able to maintain his current position.

The Philiut Empire was a nation of absolute monarchy. No matter how foolish and soft the Emperor was, his words still had power. Anyone who didn’t follow his commands could be seen as a traitor.

But the chairman was ignoring the Emperor’s order to cut down funds to provide me with the missing scholarship.

The money was only about a few million won to a noble, but from Chairman Robespierre’s standpoint, he was giving me the equivalent of the cost of his life.

In conversations between adults, one needed to be able to understand the intentions of the speaker. So let’s think about what the chairman wanted specifically from me.

But no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t come up with a plausible result with my current knowledge. I helplessly went along with the chairman’s request.

The three of us moved together, which could seem suspicious to the beast. Was this okay?

I unconsciously walked next to Miss Heerlein and unconsciously searched her face.

Heerlein wasn’t smiling. Her usual playful grin was gone for today along with the make-up.

Miss Heerlein and I were guided by the chairman down different corridors. Then we stopped in front of a steel door with a magic lock on it in the corner of a middle hall.

It was a door padded with thick steel that looked like the entrance of a bunker.

As expected, I felt a strange chill against my face as the chairman turned the handle. The unsettling Screee of the door dragging across the aluminum floor was a bonus.

“Where is this?”

“This is the basement.”

“Basement? There was a creepy basement like this at the Academy?”

I began feeling apprehensive.

Even with the stairs leading down, it was so dark that it didn’t seem possible to go down without some sort of light.

No, to be frank, I just didn’t want to go in.

“Do we have to go in here?”

“It’s a matter of security so I hope you understand.”

The chairman lit a flame from his fingertips, a simple ignition spell that any Fire Mage could do.

But it must have been fairly advanced because he was able to maintain an appropriate amount of brightness according to the surroundings without much effort. It was like some living photosensor.

Anyway, I wondered if we had to talk in a dreary place like this.

Watching my steps, I went down the stairs. Once we reached flat ground, a narrow, winding corridor appeared covered entirely in metal.

After a while of walking down this corridor, there was a large room roughly the size of 66 m2.

Inside the room was a big circular table with a few chairs, and all the walls were padded with thick metal sheets like the hallway. Whoever did the interior design, it was bizarre as fuck.

“This is amazing machine aesthetics. I didn’t know there was such a facility in the basement of the Academy.”

Machine aesthetics? This thing...? Isn’t it just a shipping container?

I furrowed my brows and turned to where the voice came from, and there was a nobleman stroking his mustache while looking around the room.

And looking closely, he wasn’t the only one here.

“Oho, we have a special guest.”

“Is it not the Golden-Eyed commoner who developed Flare?”

There were several people who were already here before the three of us arrived. None of them were around my age but old enough to be parents.

And among them was a face I’d seen before.

“You’re the Golden-Eyed who helped our Iluka together with the elf. I didn’t think that I’d see you again.”

“You must have met before.”

“Yes, I became indebted to her.”

Iluka Eliyev’s father, and the head of the Viscount Eliyev family. After seeing his face, I glanced around and realized that everyone gathered here were nobles. Except me.

“Um, sir. This is...?”

The chairman smiled mysteriously as I asked again and it gave me the shivers.

That instinct turned out to be right.

“Say hello. The people here will pay for your tuition from now on.”

“... Excuse me?”

The first blow.

“What do you mean?”

“Miss Aether, you asked if there was something you could help with, yes?”

“Huh? Yes, I did.”

“We hope that you will continue to have a good relationship with us even after graduating.”

The second blow.

Stunned by the sudden double blows, I began to analyze Robespierre’s words.

To maintain a good relationship, which obviously meant give-and-take in business.

In other words, we’ll be your sponsors so do as we ask.

“What do you want me to do?”

“I’m glad you understand. Yes, Heerlein, it’ll be good if you explain everything to her carefully since you’re her homeroom teacher.”

At that, Heerlein who’d been behind him fiddling with her staff at the back sighed deeply.

“Where should I start....”

That’s what I’m saying.

I got that everyone here including the chairman was expecting something from me. But I’d never had this many sponsors before even back when I was researching on Earth.......

Wait. Sponsor?

Didn’t nobles of the past financially support scientists to research something by sponsoring them?

As Heerlein chose her words carefully, I took a seat at table with the chairman. A lady handed me some citron tea that was perfectly warm enough to drink.

“Right, I should tell you this first.”

“Yes, go ahead.”

Swallowing dryly, I concentrated on what Heerlein was about to say and brought the cup to my mouth.

Then.

The sourc𝗲 of this content is frёeωebɳovel.com.

“Miss Hasfeldt has gone missing.”

“Kuk, kehugh, khek!”

At the unexpected uppercut, a piece of citron went down the wrong pipe.

** 「I can’t thank you enough for this. Is there anything I can do to help?」

「This doesn’t seem the place to talk about it. Let us continue elsewhere.」

“Hm.”

How strange. Something wasn’t right.

Rosemary let out a short hum as she was watching the chairman’s office with Scope. She was unhappy about a few things.

“Is there some kind of problem?”

It was Duke Blanton who asked. He readied a drink for his superior who was tired from Multi-Scoping all day then sat next to her.

“Well, it’s odd no matter how much I think of it.”

Rosemary took the mug that Blanton held out to her which contained green liquid like the color of aloe.

“Khek!”

She brought it to her mouth then spit out the aloe-colored drink in disgust when it touched her tongue.

“I told you I don’t drink octane below 110!”

“We haven’t been able to get money due to the country being a mess.”

“Fuck. Do I have to keep track of the finances of this country, too?”

“It would be Quintus who used the plague and impoverished the Empire.”

“Ugh. Forget it.”

It was just a waste of time to question things like this. Rosemary returned to her task and focused on monitoring the state.

She currently had her eyes on three people–the Academy’s chairman, the Earth Magic professor, and the most important figure, the Golden-Eyed girl.

“They were talking about scholarships and are relocating all of a sudden? Why?”

They headed to a dark basement. Rosemary’s Innate Magic only allowed her a small glimpse of the inside.

The three were then gone through the door. She immediately began tracking them but the view gradually blurred then vanished like a mirage. Clicking her tongue, Rosemary took out the strawberry-flavored candy she’d been eating.

It was a sweet containing mana, pricier than mana grass. This was a luxury product originally invented by the beastkin nation to aid children with mana exhaustion, but for her as someone under the protection of the Blanton family, it was nothing more than an indulgence.

“Is there something wrong?”

Rosemary’s face noticeably darkened at Blanton’s inquiry.

“That chairman bastard.... He knows that I’m watching him.”