Chapter 59

After leaving behind the event that didn’t even feel like one, Lir and I visited a musical instrument store.

There, various large string instruments such as violins, guitars, and cellos were displayed by category, along with pianos and collections of famous musical scores.

Most of the sheet music was for hymns or church chants, and instead of the modern staff notation, they were mostly written in the ancient neumatic notation, which wasn’t very useful for me.

After ordering a piano, I asked them to send the item to our side later via a courier. Although the shop owner initially looked suspicious due to my plain attire, once I handed over a gold coin, his demeanor completely changed, and he treated us kindly.

…In front of capital, what importance does social status hold?

In addition to the piano order, I also bought a few guitars and sheet music before leaving the store. Of course, carrying the guitars fell to Lir’s responsibility.

Though her expression showed some dissatisfaction, as I couldn’t possibly ask her to let me carry such heavy loads, she quietly shouldered the guitar case without complaint.

After finishing our musical shopping, Lir decided to visit several stores to buy coffee beans and tea leaves. She took time to taste test coffees, carefully comparing the aroma and taste of each kind of bean. The delicate senses of an elf truly come into play, even when it comes to drinking coffee.

After both of our shopping trips were completed, we waited on the road, now completely dimmed by twilight, for the carriage. The coachman arrived on time, leading the royal carriage to where we waited.

It was a rather uneventful day.

Or was it… didn’t we encounter bandits?

But the bandits were nothing special, so it could still be considered an uneventful day.

For some reason, I dozed off in the carriage returning to the castle. When I opened my eyes, a colossal castle gate, large enough even for dragons to pass through, greeted me.

As always, I smiled and greeted the guards.

“Ah, by the way, please check this.”

“Coffee beans?”

Lir handed over the coffee beans she had purchased to the guards.

As a matter of principle, any food brought into the castle from the outside needs to be checked for poison and whether it is safe enough for the castle’s important figures to consume.

After giving them the bag of coffee beans, Lir licked her lips in a slightly regretful manner.

“Why are you so sad when you know you’ll get it back in a few hours?”

“Because I wanted to brew it as soon as we arrived.”

…If someone sees this, they’d probably think there’s no coffee or tea in the castle.

“Isn’t the coffee and tea provided by the castle enough?”

“Although it’s of top quality, the taste and aroma are always the same. Sometimes I just want to try a different flavor, right?”

“Hmm…”

Honestly, I don’t know much about this. My sense of smell and taste isn’t as sensitive as an elf’s, so if Lir says so, then it must be true.

So, dismissing the matter, I returned to my quarters.

A soft bed, a warm cup of tea, a cheap guitar, and some mysterious sheet music…

For a while, I almost forgot that in a few days I’d be dragged into sheer hell. While staring at the peaceful ceiling, I tried to enjoy everything I currently possessed to the fullest.

My hands, untouched by calluses, cried out in pain each time I pressed down on the guitar strings. My fingers quickly became scarred.

Though I don’t like pain, I don’t mind the feeling of my skin brushing against the guitar strings.

‘You might think I’m strange,’ but honestly, the sensation of my skin grazing the guitar strings was closer to pleasure than pain.

…No, the word ‘pleasure’ makes it seem much perverted.

Let me find a different word.

‘Freedom’? No, this word also feels quite perverted…

“Bin Neem!”

“Whoa!”

Covering my scarred hands like a child caught watching dangerous videos by his mother, I tried to hide it.

Why does it feel awkward and shameful, like my privacy has been exposed? Am I really that strange? No matter how I think about it, this is just the result of plucking strings on a guitar, so why does it feel like I’ve done something wrong?

“Why? What is it?”

After hiding my wounded hands under the blanket, I looked at Lir, who came in after roughly opening the door.

“I reached Tier 9.”

“Huh?”

“Tier 5,” she exclaimed.

“Huh?”

She suddenly burst in and kicked open the door, shouting something incomprehensible.

“Look, look!”

Lir held out a sapphire orb she was carrying in her arms and showed it to me.

“What is this?”

“Inside the crystal orb, can’t you see that there are five circles drawn?”

“…Ah.”

After hearing her explanation and examining the orb closely, I saw five luminous white circles floating inside the blue orb.

In the game, you could right-click on a mage to check their tier in their character information, so I had never heard of such tier-measuring magical tools.

“Today, after listening to Mr. Bin, I tested and found that my tier had increased! I also felt that lately my lightning spells were just a bit more powerful… Thank you!”

Why is she thanking me?

I don’t think I’ve ever helped her in any way.

Lir’s reaching Tier 5 was an achievement made solely through her own efforts. Even if, by some chance, I had given her any inspiration or influence, the results that turned that into reality were entirely due to her efforts.

I saw her in the Achilipthus forest, tearing parchment countless times and bleeding from her hands as she clutched her wand, completely immersed in that inspiration.

This was an achievement solely built by her. Any gratitude toward me was simply uncomfortable.

“You know, becoming Tier 5 at twenty-one years old is considered the youngest, even including humans.”

“Although it’s limited to the storm school only…! But with this level of achievement, even those old men should reassess me, right?”

Old men? I don’t know who those old men Lir refers to, but she certainly harbors a strong grudge against them. The word ‘damn’ coming from her mouth says it all.

“Why are you working so hard to gain the approval of others?”

I asked casually, without much thought.

But this question didn’t seem so light to Lir.

“Excuse me?”

Caught off guard by this question, Lir appeared speechless for a moment and then repeated it after staring at me blankly.

“Why are you working so hard for someone’s approval?”

I thought she just hadn’t heard me because she was not paying attention.

She had just confirmed her increase in tier, so she could have been too excited to really listen to what I said.

“No.”

Suddenly, she gave a firm answer with an unwavering expression.

In the suddenly stiffened atmosphere, I reflected on my words to see if I had said something wrong.

But there was nothing I could find fault with, so I concluded that this strange elf was just acting up again.

“It’s alright, those old people are not that important.”

“Eh, really?”

Why is she suddenly making another enlightened expression? Did her mind break instead of her tier increasing?

“Thank you.”

So, what exactly am I supposed to understand?

Can you give me a clear explanation, please?

“I study magic because I love magic.”

After ending with another incomprehensible statement, Lir left the room.

She came in abruptly, then left after making statements that had no explanation for the whole time.

“…Ah, okay.”

As Lir left the room, I gave her a listless answer.

Seriously, what’s even going on?

*

The next day, Lir, me, and Alter began preparing seriously for the departure five days later.

Most materials and supplies can be arranged through provisions, so we focused on listing special accessories, magic books, robes, and books that wouldn’t be available through military logistics.

The young servant said that if you could get the list of needed items by today, we could properly prepare everything before departure. Thus, we needed to complete the list before lunch.

“First, we will take the guitar…”

“Coffee beans and tea leaves as well… Just in case, right?”

“Be sure to take a lot of chocolates to stock up on sweets.”

That was an unusual choice. Alter still seems to love chocolates even at his age. They say that one’s preference for sweet foods decreases as they grow older, but…

“…”

Lir turned her head toward me without saying anything. I looked at her and nodded silently.

“What’s the point of chocolates? It’s not like we’re going on a picnic, Teacher.”

“You’re right, Valleland is a battlefield, Alter.”

Both of us, as though having the same thought in our minds, criticized Teacher Alter’s childish item selections.

We were being hypocritical considering our list already included coffee beans and guitars on top, but…

What can you do with your ingrained nature?

“The chance of brain function not maintaining its regular output is high, if there’s a lack of instant sugar. For magicians, the speed of brain function is literally our lives, so don’t look at it like that.”

“Teacher, you can just honestly say you like sweet stuff. It’s not embarrassing or anything…”

“I agree, I like chocolate too.”

“…The saying ‘time reveals truth’ seems to have been made just for moments like this.”

Alter deflected our attacks with a dignified response befitting his age.

Not that it would stop our mouths even if he did blow it off…

As I continued to poke fun at chocolate being cute, or that Valentine’s Day was over half a year away, I proceeded to write down the items on the list.

“…Hey, do we really need separate escort forces?”

Lir, checking the list before sending it to the servant, questioned the phrase “escort forces” written at the bottom.

“The military will surely provide an escort for the mages, so can we delete this item?”

“It’s insufficient.”

“…Insufficient?”

I took the paper from Lir who was about to rewrite it and continued talking.

“Valleland is probably a much more dangerous battlefield than you can imagine. And we will likely be deployed to many such dangerous battlefields. This means we’ll face insurmountable difficulties that three mages alone simply cannot overcome.”

“Uh, yes, that’s true.”

“However, if the escort changes every time, that would be inconvenient for both sides. They don’t know our habits, and we will have to keep figuring out their battle styles, and detailed positions, etc.”

“In short, you’re suggesting a fixed group, correct?”

Alter accurately gauged the implied meaning behind my words, proving his years of experience as a mage.

“Exactly.”

“But isn’t Mr. Bin technically a mage under the Sword Saint’s group?”

“You mean using the Sword Saint as my personal bodyguard?”

I’m not yet a mage worthy of the Sword Saint’s protection. I don’t need to elaborate.

The Sword Saint can easily overpower a Grand Marshal with his bare hands and is widely considered capable of triumphing in a one-on-one battle against the Demon King or devils, making him humanity’s ultimate combat weapon.

While the frontline fighter’s main task may be to protect the damage dealers, this is only valid when their abilities are similar.

Right now, the Sword Saint surpasses me by several dimensions, and using him just to protect a mage like me… It doesn’t make any sense.

“…Come to think of it, that does sound unreasonable.”

Lir corrected her earlier statement after briefly considering it.

“Then, do you have someone in mind?”

I immediately responded to Alter’s query.

“I want to involve Rex first.”

Rex’s destiny was to become a legendary Orc Barbarian who would rise to fame across the continent without needing any help from me. And with the extremely powerful Barbarian Artifact I had acquired within the game world, his future seemed even brighter.

This was the perfect opportunity to buy in at a low point.

Rex is at his cheapest right now…!

“Did you ask about his intentions?”

“Not yet, I’ll need to do that.”

“…Rather rash, aren’t you? He’s currently serving as the platoon leader of Belua’s company, so we should consider the possibility of his refusal. I’ll look into other capable frontlines as well.”

“I do prefer Rex, since getting familiar with a complete stranger would be difficult.”

“Don’t worry, Rex will probably not refuse.”

I confidently assured Alter and Lir as I rang the golden bell, list in hand.

“How do you know that?”

“Because there’s a monster in Valleland that Rex desperately wants to kill.”

A young servant dressed as usual entered the room.

I handed the servant the list along with two letters for Belua and Rex, respectively.

The next day, Rex’s position change was officially decided.