The rumors spread quickly.
Originally, people have a desire to show off and boast to those who don’t have what they possess, rather than hiding what they have.
Even magic professors, proficient in magic and churning out half a dozen papers a year, were not sages. Among them were those who couldn’t control the urge to say, “This is a real secret, keep it just between us.”
Of course, inevitably, “keep it just between us” was synonymous with “my mouth is itching, so spread it for me.” Therefore, despite only three days passing since Felix’s declaration, the rumors had already spread by word of mouth among the faculty and students within the academy.
“Wow, really…! What is going on?!”
And the aftermath spread even to an extra villainous young lady, who was barely hiding and panting for breath, boasting a fiercely sharp yet still beautiful appearance.
An ordinary morning, no different from usual.
No, when she thought about it, it felt a bit different from usual.
As always, she woke up at dawn, finished her light exercise, showered, and went to the cafeteria for a meal. As soon as she entered the cafeteria, she felt a change in the atmosphere, causing her to flinch.
Just a moment ago, she could clearly hear the noisy voices of many students, but as soon as she entered the cafeteria, it became quiet in an instant, albeit very briefly.
Rosaria, who had gained a sensitive sense unlike ordinary people, noticed the situation, but she didn’t think much of it at the time.
As she began her breakfast, people suddenly started flocking to her, so she put down her spoon and looked around.
“Excuse me… Lady Evergarden?”
“? Who are you?”
“Pardon me. I am Harrington Britton, the third son of the Britton baronetcy.”
“Ah, yes. But what’s the matter…”
From among the gazes watching Rosaria from afar, one person stood up and approached Rosaria, beginning his self-introduction.
Of course, from Rosaria’s point of view, it was bewildering that someone she didn’t know suddenly approached and introduced himself.
“If you don’t mind, could we talk about the Elixir that is scheduled to be produced in Lady Evergarden’s territory recently—”
“Wait!!! Lady Evergarden! Talk to me! As for me, I am Mustang Guerril, the second son of the Guerril barony! If you don’t mind, could we talk about the specialty Elixir of the Evergarden territory—”
“Hey! Where are you talking without me?! Lady! Let’s talk!”
“No, talk to me… talk to me!”
“I was first!”
“No! Me!”
“Huh? Eh? Ah?”
However, starting with the third son, whether he was Britton or Burrito, the students who rushed in like a pack of wolves that had found prey began to argue with each other, insisting that they were first, causing Rosaria’s eyes to spin.
From Rosaria’s point of view, she was just having breakfast, but suddenly people swarmed in and started fighting, so she was just bewildered.
The problem wasn’t just that.
“Lady Evergarden!”
“It’s Lady Evergarden!”
“Found her! She’s here!”
Unable to withstand the atmosphere, she returned her tray, which was only half-eaten, and as soon as she left the cafeteria, students lined up in the hallway, glaring at her and rushing towards her.
“What is it?! What is it?!”
Rosaria, whose head couldn’t keep up with this strange situation from the morning, ended up running down the hallway, trying to escape.
At that moment.
Thump-
“Oh, no…!”
Rosaria, who was running away in a hurry, failed to notice the person walking from the opposite direction and ended up bumping into them (of course, Rosaria was unfazed).
“Oh, no…! Who is running in the hallway from this morning?!”
“Oh…! I’m sorry!”
The person she bumped into was not just a student, but a faculty member.
“You are… surely from the Evergarden family…”
“Ah, yes. Are you alright…?”
“Ah…! Of course, I’m fine! More than fine!”
“Oh… Professor?”
The professor, who had fallen heavily on his backside and whose face was flushed, checked Rosaria’s face as she reached out her hand, his eyes widening as he immediately stood up.
“Haha! Oh, you’re energetic from the morning! Hmm! Academy students should have this kind of spirit!”
“Is that… so?”
“Of course, Lady Evergarden. Are you hurt anywhere?”
“I’m fine… but Professor-“
“I’m fine too! By the way, Lady Evergarden. About that ‘Elixir…”
“Eek.”
The professor, who had been wearing a bright smile as if the expression he had just made was a lie, immediately approached Rosaria and began to mention the Elixir.
“Of course, I know that it is not yet officially on sale… but do you happen to have any remaining stock of the prototype?”
“I, I don’t know. Goodbye!”
“Oh, no…! Lady Evergarden! Wait! Wait a moment!!”
Rosaria, horrified by the intense desire revealed in his expression, ended up running away again.
Rosaria ran, desperately ignoring the professor’s desperate cries calling out to her from afar.
And so, Rosaria had to keep running away all day, avoiding the gazes of those who were looking for her.
Currently.
“Everyone’s crazy. As soon as they see me, they rush at me like a horde of zombies…!”
Rosaria, who had barely finished her classes and chose to hide in Felix’s lab, grumbled as she recalled what had happened today.
“Well… it means the Elixir is popular, so wouldn’t it be okay to take it positively?”
“Easy for you to say? I almost fainted when they followed me to the bathroom!”
Rosaria shuddered, as if she was fed up with the obsession of those who clung to Rosaria, who belonged to the same Evergarden family, wanting crumbs because the news that the Elixir was being sold in the Evergarden territory had spread.
In particular, the eyes of the student who was staring at her from across the window, even though it was clearly a five-story building, were still vividly etched in her mind.
“How long do I have to keep doing this?”
“Probably… it will continue for a while?”
“What?! What’s so great about that Elixir…!”
“Well… to make it easier to understand, you know the RPG game that your brother mainly plays? What do you have to do to level up in that game?”
“Huh? Hmm… you hunt, go to dungeons, complete quests… that kind of thing, right?”
“But what if there was an Elixir that made you level up just by drinking it?”
“I’d buy it even if I had to pay real money!”
“That’s it.”
“….Ah.”
Rosaria, who had been suffering from people’s attention since morning without knowing why, finally understood people’s reactions when she was given an explanation that matched her level.
Although there was a limit to the absorption rate for each person, it restored mana and stamina, improved concentration, and restored overall condition.
For those living in a fantasy world, an Elixir that could utilize all of the above functions without side effects was nothing short of a pay-to-win item.
“Still. If people are this interested, I feel like I’ll be sitting on a gold mine as soon as the Elixir starts selling?”
She was tired of the attention she had received for a long time, but a smile blossomed on Rosaria’s face.
She couldn’t imagine how many people would flock to her once she started selling the Elixir, as much attention as she was getting.
“At this rate, I might even be able to bathe in gold in a bathtub?”
“Gold, what… you’ll have enough to fill an entire large bath with diamonds?”
“Re, really?! That much? Wow… that’s crazy. So, am I a second-generation chaebol now? Labor liberation? Am I becoming young and rich?”
Rosaria began to imagine even more at Felix’s words.
“Then I can pay off all the debts I owe to that Baron or Viscount Bjor, right?”
“That’s just a matter of time. However… the problem is that the problem isn’t solved just by paying off the debt.”
“? Is that so?”
Bjor and Rosaria’s territory were already deeply intertwined.
To be exact, it was just ordinary pressure from Viscount Bjor.
“Since the opponent has a monster, which is a nuclear bomb, it’s not enough to just pay off the debt.”
“Can’t we just strike first and say, ‘They have monsters~”?”
“Trials between nobles are not that easy and simple. Once a trial begins, unless there is solid evidence, it takes at least two years to see who breaks first. If they hand over the bomb in the meantime, it’s a mutual destruction at best.”
“On top of that, unlike our family, which has no backing in politics at all, the opponent, who already has strong backing from the imperial family, is more advantageous.”
“Ugh… it’s really complicated. So, is there no way?”
The more Rosaria listened to Felix’s explanation, the more her head spun.
She didn’t understand why they had to suffer damage even though it was clearly the other side’s fault.
Rosaria muttered, groaning with her head filled with such complaints.
“There is. That’s why I’m putting on this show, isn’t it?”
“Huh?”
In response, Felix smiled at Rosaria and said.
At that time.
-Knock knock
“Ah, it’s finally here.”
“Who? Are they trying to draw Tene’s blood again?”
“That’s for later. It seems like something has been caught in the bait I spread.”
Clang-
At the sound of a neat knock on the lab door, Felix immediately walked over and opened the door.
“…Huh? There’s no one here?”
“This is…”
However, even though he opened the door as soon as he heard the knock, there was no one beyond it.
“Is that… a letter?”
Instead, only a letter was lying on the floor.
“It seems like a big catch has been caught?”
While Rosaria tilted her head at the sudden letter delivery, Felix muttered with a smile.
A dragon emblem on the white wax used to seal the letter in the center.
As you know, the White Dragon is the emblem of this empire, and there was only one place where people could put such an emblem on stationery.
It was a letter sent by a member of the imperial family.