The Magic Academy's Physicist-Chapter 87: The Golden-Eyed And The Youko (1)

A river separated the Philut Empire from the beastkin territory.

Starting from the Elankaya Cordillera, the water source followed the many streams towards Bruglium Falls. The two countries had agreed to use the river located between them–even wider than the Han River–as the border.

Waterways like this traditionally made for good trade routes. The Youko had realized this and began trading with the Empire around when Count Saliere had transferred to these parts.

Count Saliere was a wise man, treating the beastkin who’d been seen as barbarians until then as people. He permitted trading with humans and gave them food every summer when floods occurred.

Thanks to that, the relationship between humans and Youko was in good condition. That was the story behind Lotte not doing her best to stop me from going to the beastkin territory.

The drawbridge I was crossing had also been built out of Count Saliere’s consideration. There were three of these iron bridges which symbolized the current peaceful relationship between the beastkin and the Empire.

“Though that wouldn’t always be the case.”

The occasional small boat could be seen going up or down the river. I took in the scenery as I walked towards the beastkin nation, and that was when I spotted a strange boat.

“What the hell.”

No, it wasn’t the boat that was strange but the passenger. They looked familiar.

Dark purple locks as twisted as their personality. The eyes of one blessed with Earth Magic shone softly like black pearls, and the face that made them appear much younger than their age was round in shape.

Above all, she was a girl small in stature–140 cm if that.

“It’s Freyr.”

Freyr Shelkany, the one I’d been hoping to meet.

[What is your friend doing on a boat over there, Master?]

“Ah!”

The brat also noticed me then, looking surprised. She looked around nervously then ran into the cabin.

[What’s wrong with her?]

It was a good question.

I also would’ve been confused by her reaction to seeing me if I hadn’t heard from Vermel.

Simply put, this was an ‘event’ of sorts, a way to get into the beastkin nation without much opposition.

I tucked the hardover into my robe and straightened out my clothes. The hardcover asked in an anxious voice as it watched me get ready.

[Wh-what are you going to do?]

“Can’t you tell? I’m going to jump from here.”

[Excuse me?]

I started running full throttle along the deck of the drawbridge to gain momentum.

[A-are you crazy?! How do you know that you’ll reach the boat if you jump from here?]

I had my ways.

To determine if it would succeed, you needed to know the distance between the boat and the bridge as well as the relative velocity. The Golden-Eyed did these calculations subconsciously. In other words, it was part of their instincts.

If they say ‘This works!’, then it really worked, basically.

[Does the Empire have anything like the Darwin award?]

“Don’t say stupid things.”

Bang!

I landed safely on the hull to the book’s lame words.

The boat bounced and rocked back and forth due to restoring force against the sudden weight increase. I nearly toppled over.

“Whew.”

I steadied my breath as I centered myself.

[Trespassing onto another’s vessel–it’s something a pirate would do but you don’t even blink an eye.]

“Better to get a bit of flack for it than duking it out.”

I turned the cabin’s doorknob, hearing the sounds of crashing within.

“Owwww....”

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As I opened the door fully wide, Freyr was tearing up from where she’d fallen in the middle of the cabin. Seeing how she was rubbing her bum, it seemed as if she fell on it while trying to move hastily.

“The hell are you doing?”

“I-I should be saying....”

She rushed to cover her head but it was too late.

Tiny fox ears poked out of the curls, and that was enough to tell her species.

Freyr quickly put on her hat that was on the shelf, the witch hat she’d always worn at the Academy. According to her roommate, she didn’t even take it off to sleep, apparently.

“What are you doing here!!”

Freyr threatened to burst my eardrums with that scream, pulling the hat down on her head even further. She somehow tried to hide her panic along with her identity, but....

“Your tail’s showing.”

“Uwaaaaagh─!!”

Now she was about to cry.

She probably knew that she couldn’t hide it anymore.

Freyr took off the hat and revealed the two pointed ears. They were fox ears, alright.

“I’m busted....”

Her voice was mournful.

She was lucky that the Saliere territory was accepting, since the Empire still had a prejudiced view of the beastkin.

Barbarians who plundered at every opportunity–that was what they were to the Empire; no more, no less. Even now, the beastkin would go around plundering in the northwest or south where security wasn’t as good.

“So, what are you planning to do with me? Go tell our friends?”

“Yeah, right.”

“D-don’t lie. You hate that I’m a Youko, since you’re human, too.......”

Pause–Freyr finished speaking and looked at me with glazed eyes, looking blank as well as stupid. The gaze that she threw reached my pupils.

I said one thing.

“I’m a Golden-Eyed.”

“Oh, right....”

A race that had been persecuted like the beastkin since the past.

They couldn’t wield magic and were small in number. As such, they’d even been oppressed by the church during the times when magic supremacy was prevalent, being labeled as the offspring of Magic Beasts.

Although it was actually the opposite.

“What good is it for me to tell people that you’re a Youko?”

“W-well, because beastkin....”

“So you went around bullshitting about being a dwarf?”

“I’m mixed!”

“You know that it’s genetically impossible for them to mix?”

I remembered seeing a book on the biological history of this world.

Humans could only procreate with humans. Same for elves with other elves, and the Youko with Youko. The concept of ‘half’ didn’t exist.

That was due to the difference in genetics. Like the way tigers and lions didn’t interbreed naturally, you know?

“Euegh.”

Freyr let out that stupid sound as usual, the one she made when she was taken aback.

“Anyway, what were you doing by yourself on a boat?”

“Nothing?”

“I can see that you’ve been hiding something behind your back since earlier.”

“Uh, no? I’m not hiding anything.”

Sighing, I gestured to the crate behind her; it was cargo that looked obviously suspicious.

“Th-this?”

“Is it opium or something?”

“What opium...! This is mana grass, mana grass! Received directly from the Mystical One.... Hiiik......!!”

The brat who’d been spilling information realized what she was saying and shut it quickly.

“The Mystical One?”

“It’s nothing!”

“That’s the dragon who lives over at Falling Dragon Peak.”

“You... know who our Mystical One is?”

There was only one existence around these parts who’d be referred to as the Mystical One by the Youko.

The Primus of the Great Nine Mechas, Radiant Dragon Jǫrmungandr.

Jǫrmungandr was part of the Demon Army, the strongest entity right now in the absence of the Demon King.

Yet despite being in such a position, Jǫrmungandr wasn’t being cooperative with the Demon Army. She was a dragon before she was their soldier.

The dragons with their strong sense of camaraderie were a category of beastkin. They were merciless against non-compatriots, but gave everything out of compassion and chivalry for their own kind.

This softie mindset was the nature of the dragons of this world, and Jǫrmungandr would also be retaining that identity.

And because of that, the Youko who lived near Pitchblende Mountain were under Jǫrmungandr’s protection. They would bring tributes to the foot of the mountain and she’d use that as sustenance.

It would be the same for this brat.

“I have a vague idea. The legend of Falling Dragon Peak is famous, after all.”

“I see!”

“Then that mana grass must be a tribute or whatsit.”

“Yeah! I was on my way to give her some and then sell it to the humans. There’s a small village down this river.”

So, she was a supplier, in other words.

Wait.

“Trades can only take place in some parts of the Empire, and you’re selling mana grass. So in a way, it’s half-smuggling.”

“I guess?”

Wasn’t there a similar case on Earth?

I was about to remember something but was soon hindered by a different train of thought, because that wasn’t what was important right now.

“Hey.”

“What.”

“When you go back after selling these, let me come into your village, too.”

“... It won’t be a problem for a Golden-Eyed. But why?”

“There’s something I need to do.”

─ If you take good care of my compatriots, then I will make as much high-enriched uranium as you like. This is the agreement, and you cannot go back on it. Are you satisfied now?

Because I made a deal with that Mystical One of yours.

The agreement with Jǫrmungandr was vague as fuck, but I ok’d the indefinite ambiguous clause because of Vermel’s strategy guide.

The only person who I could properly talk with, being from the same homeland.

The ‘how to get Jǫrmungandr’s help’ that he spoke of was–

To not let this brat kill herself.