After Luke improved the recipe by suppressing the excessive recovery performance to make it suitable for mass production, the taste and aroma of the tea received great acclaim among the Forest Keepers.
The Forest Keepers asked Luke, “Will you sell it again tomorrow?” but Luke postponed any further sales indefinitely, stating, “I have no more ingredients.”
Just a few days ago, this left many Forest Keepers disappointed.
And now, for some reason, Luke had been holed up in his room for several days, only coming out to eat.
Dayton mumbled as he looked up at the silent stairs.
“Looks like Luke is preparing for the magic competition again today.”
Yerna nodded and replied, “It seems he has a lot to study.”
The International Magic Competition was just around the corner. This time, they had to go to Beriton’s White Tower to take the exam, not just the Mage Tower of Aires, so there was much to prepare.
Therefore, besides studying, it was also essential to maintain psychological stability to avoid being nervous at the competition site.
However, during this recent move, with everything being chaotic, Luke had also taken the time to make drinks to earn some pocket money, so he was probably quite overwhelmed.
But since none of this was forced upon him, he couldn’t blame anyone.
The national magic competition was literally a test held by the most talented individuals from all across the country.
Even though he was often regarded as a genius, it wouldn’t be too strange for Luke to fail here.
After all, he was only a second-year student.
If they were to place, their role would be to offer congratulations; if they failed, they would offer consolation.
Yerna would love to help, but with no talent for studying, she couldn’t even give advice.
All she could do was bring sliced fruit and place it beside Luke’s desk as a form of support.
Yerna picked up an apple and began to cut it.
-Crack, crack.
She was quite pleased with the cheerful sound of the knife.
As she chuckled to herself, realizing she had gotten used to cutting fruit, Dayton was sweating nervously.
“……”
“What’s wrong?”
“Ah, it’s nothing. Just be careful not to hurt yourself……”
Dayton couldn’t help but worry about Yerna’s unique way of handling knives.
“Come on, stop worrying. There’s no way I’d get hurt with a knife like this! I mastered this ages ago. Besides……”
Yerna smiled and began to twirl the paring knife skillfully in her hand.
“I’ve been feeling like this knife is lighter lately.”
“R-Really?”
Dayton was startled by her almost acrobatic movements and averted his gaze from Yerna.
‘What is this… The chill I feel from Yerna holding a knife…’
As someone who could sense magic, Dayton felt a strange aura emanating from her.
It wasn’t like this when he taught her to cook at home…
With Dayton’s fearful gaze on her, Yerna finished preparing the fruit and stood in front of a sign on Luke’s door that read “Luke’s Room. Knock Required!” written in Luke’s distinctive beautiful handwriting, tightening her fist.
-Knock, knock, knock.
——
At that moment, Luke was walking through the space linked to his room, the streets of Arinseia, with Liv in his arms.
“The weather in Arinseia is warm, just as always.”
Luke mumbled as he reminisced while looking around.
Liv, being a Living Armor of Arinseia, presumably had her own memories of the streets, yet she didn’t respond.
In fact, it seemed she was a bit dissatisfied, occasionally squirming and twisting her body.
Why was it that there was no more satisfying environment to reminisce about the brilliant days of the past?
The reason was, in fact, quite simple.
Luke was covering Liv’s eyes with his hand, preventing her from seeing any scenery.
“……”
Liv squirmed once again in Luke’s grip.
As if to say, “Let me go or at least uncover my eyes,” her cute resistance made Luke burst into laughter.
“Hahaha, just a little longer. We’re almost there.”
“……”
If that were the case, Liv wished he wouldn’t have described the scenery in Arinseia in the first place, internally venting.
She was also curious about what her master was trying to show her with such a delay.
A short while later.
“Alright, we’ve arrived! Take a look around!”
Finally, Luke removed his hand from Liv’s eyes.
Liv focused on her vision as a doll and started to gradually distinguish the objects around her.
“……!”
Then Liv gasped at the sight before her.
Brilliantly shining like the first snow of winter, strong and heavy like castle walls, and ornate like a sculpture.
It was undoubtedly ‘Living Armor.’
“……!!”
Seeing the rows of Aseril armor, Liv covered her mouth in astonishment.
Luke, feeling thrilled by Liv’s reaction, spoke enthusiastically.
“How about that? With the money I earned selling drinks before, I managed to get materials to fix the armor. I’ve only barely restored four pieces that are in good condition now.”
With Luke’s proud voice, Liv began to look up at him intently.
As if asking, “How?”
Aseril, named after Arinseia, is a composite material that can only be handled by skilled blacksmiths.
Once completed, it disperses or absorbs any impact it receives, making it incredibly hard to destroy or alter.
Furthermore, it possesses a high resistance to magic, making it difficult to break with spells or blades.
Thus, repairing broken armor was an even more challenging task.
Aseril easily repels most magic and impacts, thereby rejecting the touch of both mages and blacksmiths attempting to repair it.
That memory may not exist in Liv due to the reversal of time by the Hourglass of Reversal, but didn’t Luke already have Liv’s Aseril armor, which had been completed and fixed in a solid state?
It was no joke that making a new piece was easier than repairing rusty Aseril, after all.
However, Luke simply scratched the back of his neck and replied.
“Well, these days, the rust removers work quite well. The precision machining tools were surprisingly good, too……”
“……?”
Modern technology was truly astounding in many ways.
After all, even so, the processed minerals created by humans or dwarves 5000 years ago were much weaker compared to the overwhelming precision processing methods of contemporary times.
It made sense that metal formed by manipulating mana unit by unit is better than melting and hammering minerals into shape.
At least, the field of metallurgy had reached a level that past humans could hardly imagine.
“So, actually, Aseril isn’t that incredible of a metal anymore these days. It’s just tricky to handle, which is why it isn’t commonly used.”
Wasn’t it even common today to enchant materials instead of enchanting after completion, stacking them together during production?
And in an era where such processes could be mass-produced in factories…
It was only astounding to learn new things.
“……”
Listening to Luke, Liv felt a slightly ambiguous emotion arise within her.
After all, her pride regarding Aseril, which once formed her body, had been exceptional.
Yet now Aseril had merely become an average metal……
“……”
Still, seeing her subordinates in this fresh light brought her some joy.
Liv slipped out from Luke’s arms and gently tapped the lined-up Living Armors, immersed in deep memories.
“……?”
However, strangely enough, there was no reaction at all.
Looking back at Luke in confusion, Liv saw him clarify.
“Oh, actually, I couldn’t fix the insides at all. The mana stones were too broken to repair, you see. So they can only perform the commanded functions right now.”
“……”
At that, Liv’s body language expressed tremendous disappointment, causing Luke to hurriedly pick up his explanations.
“D-Don’t look at me like that. Even if I wanted to, it’s too tricky to fully repair completely broken mana stones without help from time manipulation. Plus, they were already at their limit, so I couldn’t restore them either…”
“……”
As Liv’s body language suggested disappointment in his excuses, Luke sat down beside her to offer comfort.
“But if I earn enough money later and fix the ‘Hourglass of Reversal,’ I can fully restore your army, Liv.”
“……”
Yet Liv still seemed dissatisfied.
This led to the question of why he had repaired the armor in the first place.
“Because it’s needed for various reasons right now.”
Living Armors had various uses for Luke.
From labor power to cultivate fields, to providing protection in dangerous situations, and to counter the huge threat he currently faced—the ‘Sigarmata.’
Especially since Sigarmata was an opponent that couldn’t be overwhelmed by magic circles, having this kind of power would give Luke some peace of mind.
Ultimately, the army of Living Armors was desired not only by Liv but also by Luke.
For that reason, Luke was also considering making them resemble Liv so that they could connect with the reality.
After all, he couldn’t take these enormous armors of Arinseia outside.
‘Wait, an army of dolls like Liv…?’
Oh, that sounds like it could be quite amusing.
Filling his room with dolls and using them as assistants would likely boost his research efficiency.
He could think about it while finishing Kate’s personality.
At that moment, a massive rumble erupted from the sky of Arinseia, sounding like thunder.
-Boom.
-Boom.
-Boom.
Even though one might be startled by such tremendous noise, Luke merely sighed.
This wasn’t something to be alarmed about.
“Looks like Yerna brought more fruit again.”
The colossal booming sound that resonated through this world was, in fact, the knocking sound accepted by this plane, linked to Luke’s door.
To avoid suspicion, he had inverted the time scale, making the knocking sound resemble that of a giant bell tolling.
“Let’s go check it out.”
“……”
Liv nodded.
