Chapter 14 — Missing

1

What did he say-?

Alano stood frozen, dumbfounded.

She had entered the tower yesterday.

She knew Manus had moved alone.

Could something have happened to him?

“It seems he hasn’t returned from the tower. Were you not with him yesterday?”

“No, just the three of us went up separately and he said he’d move alone. Could he be trapped in the tower?”

The Chairman nodded.

There had been a few such cases before.

“That’s probably what happened. The problem is we can’t tell if he’s not coming out voluntarily or if he’s forcibly trapped.”

“…Then.”

-Then how should they act?

Alano suppressed her rising worry and thought.

He seemed to be in a hurry to do something.

If he deliberately moved alone, there must have been a reason.

So there’s no need to be hasty.

-But I’m still worried.

Various thoughts swirled in her mind.

Different feelings fought each other, causing conflict.

“-We should start searching for him. How about it?”

“That sounds good. As for the professors…”

“I’ll tell them it’s related to family matters.”

Alano nodded.

Would it be good to inform the juniors about this news?

“Inform the juniors too. But make sure it doesn’t interfere with classes.”

“I’ll do that. Ah, please take a look at this first.”

She took out the spoils obtained yesterday from her bosom.

One ring.

One necklace.

And a blue jewel.

The Chairman looked at the spoils with shining eyes.

“These are from the tower. They’re items imbued with mana… what should we do?”

“This… we’d need a proper appraisal to know the details, but they should have effects. And this stone is likely a mana stone.”

“If it’s a mana stone…”

It was literally a stone containing mana.

The Chairman recalled old memories and explained how to use it.

“Some people could absorb the mana dwelling in these mana stones.”

“Does that mean we can artificially increase mana?”

“Probably. But only for those talented enough to climb the tower-.”

Alano’s eyes shone.

If his words were true, isn’t this far more valuable than any ordinary elixir?

It’s groundbreaking.

But it must be equally limited and dangerous.

“Keep the matter of mana stones secret. It could cause major conflicts if mishandled.”

“Yes. We’ll use it only for ourselves.”

“These artifacts seem difficult to process… We can’t have them appraised now, so I’ll convert them to cash and return it to you. How’s that?”

Alano nodded.

Not just anyone could appraise them, and there was no one at the Academy who could do so now.

One burden was lifted, but a greater one was taken on.

A burden of the heart.

-Manus.

Where could he be and what could he be doing?

Alano’s worries deepened.

It seemed she wouldn’t be able to focus on classes again.

‘Why do you make me worry so much?’

In a monologue without response, she hurriedly moved her feet.

She deeply resented not having time to think deeply.

It was lamentable that she couldn’t think deeply because there was too much to think about.

2

Tower — 12th floor.

Manus roamed the tower interior like his own home.

For a veteran player, the low-level monsters were ones he could kill with normal attacks.

He was busy scooping up mana stones and absorbing them all.

It was a method often used by veteran players in multiple playthroughs to progress comfortably.

Entering the tower alone with a character and killing all monsters on every floor by themselves.

Usually, the character used was the protagonist, and from then on, the protagonist would become a bus driver overwhelming enemies with an overwhelming level.

‘Though I don’t intend to do that-.’

Like when he first decided to live in this world, he intended to intervene minimally.

The original protagonist will take care of everything anyway.

He would just fend off too severe threats and throw trials to make her stronger.

By the way-.

He didn’t expect it to be this easy to do what was dealt with in just a few lines of text in the game.

[Consuming mana stones was simple. You just had to eat them.]

[They were hard when put in the mouth, but turned to liquid when touched by body heat.]

[Something’s boiling up! I need to control it quickly-]

The content processed in the game text was realized exactly.

He thought he’d feel full, but that wasn’t the case.

The feeling of being filled with pure mana evoked a strange pleasure.

A kind of mental satiety-.

“…This should be enough.”

Chariot, Temperance, Magician, Devil.

He had collected four Arcana, making significant progress.

Now he should head down soon-.

-Will time have changed when I go outside?

He became curious.

At this level, he should be able to cast up to 3rd-Class magic without difficulty.

Caesar’s instinct told him so.

-If I keeps growing like this, how much more of a monster will I become?

He suddenly wondered.

Just how strong the character Caesar Manus could become.

He smiled as he descended the tower.

3

“…Is that really true?”

“Yes. Veronica said so, so it must be true.”

“If it’s Veronica…”

The pink-haired maid was very famous.

Anyway, to think that Senior Manus has disappeared.

“-He didn’t seem like…”

“There must be some reason. For now, I’m just letting you know. Don’t worry too much.”

“Okay-.”

Though she said that, Kael and Anais’s eyes trembled slightly.

That Manus.

But he’s human too, isn’t he?

Even the three of them barely made it up, no matter how strong he is, alone is a bit-.

“Kael.”

“-Yeah.”

A response came after a beat.

Anais spoke while watching Alano’s receding back.

She had no intention of staying still.

If they could help Manus even a little, wouldn’t it help build intimacy?

Anais started conspiring with Kael.

Then, suddenly feeling a sense of emptiness, she turned her head sideways.

“Doesn’t it feel kind of empty?”

“-Pearson.”

“…Ah.”

Peterson Pearson.

That chatterbox is missing.

No wonder the decibels in her ears felt empty, he wasn’t there.

Anais asked.

“He wasn’t there since we left the dormitory, right?”

“Yeah. Is he sick?”

Him?

Pearson wasn’t one to get sick.

Since childhood, he’d roll around in grass, fall into mud puddles, and still be running around energetically the next day.

If there was one thing he excelled at above all others, it was his physical stamina.

-The idea of him being sick was unthinkable.

“So tonight, okay?”

“-Yeah.”

The first friend they made.

Interacting with peers.

It was more fun and novel than expected.

They no longer wanted someone by their side to disappear.

[You… always end up alone.]

Someone’s words brushed past their ears.

The thought flashed through their mind, but they quickly shook it off.

Anais, sitting nearby, carefully asked.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“Ah— yeah. It’s nothing.”

“You looked really serious… Don’t push yourself if you’re tired. I can go alone to floors 1 and 2 if needed.”

Kael shook her head.

She wouldn’t send a friend off alone.

The two stood up and dispersed to their respective classes.

In the end, Pearson didn’t show up for classes that day.

4

The view was dark and gloomy.

Due to the time difference, fatigue accumulated quite quickly inside the tower.

Even so, Manus raced down the tower without hesitation.

Not just racing down, but thoroughly searching every nook and cranny.

“Hmm-. Since it doesn’t show exactly which floor I’m on, it’s a bit tiring.”

He didn’t know how many hours had passed.

Perhaps more than a day had gone by?

Still, he couldn’t stop his work.

Around this time, there was a new party member joining.

One of the reasons he stayed in the tower was to find him.

Though he didn’t reveal it to others, it would be good to disguise it as a coincidence.

-Aaaaaaahhhhh!

A resounding voice echoed.

To scream like that inside the tower.

He didn’t notice when he was a party member, but the chatty character doesn’t just go away.

Manus quickly moved his steps.

[Interference begins.]

A translucent message appeared before him.

Interference, huh.

In the original story, Anais and Kael come to rescue him.

It was an unnecessary early scene.

An event that didn’t matter who did it.

If so, he judged it would be good to do it while he was at it.

‘And it would be good to awaken his talent too.’

Pearson.

A male character with desperately low popularity.

But he’s almost always a fixed member of the party.

Why?

-Because he had irreplaceable performance.

Pearson’s talent wasn’t something barbaric (according to users) like attack magic.

His real talent was-.

“-Here you are.”

“Uhuhuhuhu…huh?”

Brown hair crouched in a corner, face a mess of tears and snot.

To think this pathetic-looking guy would be the protagonist’s friend and would be used until the end.

Manus’s cold gaze fell on his unsightly face.

“Se-Senior Manus?”

“Get up.”

“Wh-where is this? No, I just came in here last night, and suddenly the space distorted-.”

He really did talk a lot.

Both Manus and the man from the original world detested this type.

The difference between reading the text and actually hearing it was really huge.

Squish-.

Manus’s hand moved, pressing on his crown.

He spoke again with cold eyes.

“-Stand up.”

“…Yes.”

Even the naturally talkative Pearson automatically closed his mouth before Caesar’s majesty.

As Manus waved his finger, all of Pearson’s unsightly substances disappeared.

Pearson was so out of it, he didn’t even notice what the godlike senior had done.

“We’re going down.”

“Um… You’ll explain, right?”

“…”

Manus didn’t speak.

Pearson didn’t seem to expect much either as he followed him.

His back looked especially large.

A strange sense of relief spread from him.

It was really fortunate.

The occasional strange creatures that rushed at them were all dealt with by Manus’s magic.

It truly was a terrifying level of power and speed.

‘So this is what a genius is.’

Pearson simultaneously felt securely protected standing behind him and a sense of inferiority.

Those who come to Mythos Academy all dream of success.

Just learning wasn’t enough to put the knowledge to use.

Numerous beings threatening humanity lived on the Rox Continent.

Unleashing the knowledge learned at the Academy against them was the natural course.

At least 3 years.

At most 10 years.

How many fail to bloom their talents even in that time?

“You’re amazing.”

“You’ll be amazing soon too.”

“Huh? Me? Nah… I don’t seem to have any talent for magic.”

Manus erased a monster blocking the stairs with a single spell.

The two talked while trudging down the stairs.

It was their first proper conversation.

Pearson was thoroughly intimidated, to a point that even another man would find pitiful.

To Manus, that pitifulness felt pathetic.

So he added a word.

“There are many types of magic.”

“Y-yes. Many attributes, many techniques…”

That’s not what he meant.

It was time to give some direct education to this rambling guy.

Manus cut off his words.

“Attack magic isn’t the only solution.”

“-Ah.”

“Find something of your own, not the common things.”

Pearson silently nodded.

Somehow, it felt like he could see a path.

Maybe it wasn’t that he had no talent, but that he might have been on a completely different path.

It was the moment his thoughts changed for the first time.

–TL Notes–
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