I Received The Holy Sword By Dawn Delivery - Chapter 28

“Want to drink? It’s my specialty, a muscle-building elixir.”

“No, it’s fine…”

“I said try it. If a man is as weak as Aaron, he’ll die old without even holding a lady’s hand once.”

What is this, a self-introduction?

Rukna Golden glanced at Bolton, who had been pestering her to introduce him to women, then took the bottle and casually took a sip.

‘Oh, this taste!’

Scenes from the gym she used to go to in her previous life flashed before her eyes.

It tasted exactly like the protein supplement she had tried on the trainer’s recommendation.

“It really tastes like it’ll build muscle.”

Rukna gave a thumbs up and handed the bottle back to the self-proclaimed excellent alchemist.

At that moment, Matian Wiegratz’s voice was heard saying they would move again.

As they walked to where the horses were kept, Bolton looked down at the bottle’s mouth where Rukna’s lips had touched, feeling embarrassed.

Just then, Chad appeared with sleepy eyes and kicked the bottle Bolton was holding.

As the bottle hit the ground, Bolton glared at Chad angrily.

“Why are you picking a fight again?”

“Yawn, you were making an annoying face while looking at the bottle.”

Chad then complained that he wasn’t feeling refreshed even after resting the entire break time.

“When traveling long distances, we should just ride tamed animals and fly. That Matian, he’s so old-fashioned. My back is killing me.”

Grumbling, Chad sluggishly approached where the horses were gathered.

Chad’s hand passed over each of the Student Corps’ horses.

He was casting speed enhancement and stamina strengthening magic on them.

As he was about to casually skip Matian’s horse, Matian, standing beside the horse, grabbed Chad’s wrist and pressed it against the horse’s side. It meant to cast the magic.

“Horses have sensitive hearing, so they can quickly detect and run away if they hear a mermaid’s voice. They won’t stay still and get enchanted like other animals.”

“Oh my, I’m sure that’s the case, Chairman Matian. I’ll just sacrifice myself like this.”

Chad eventually had to cast magic on all the horses with a tired expression.

Afterwards, he staggered towards Rukna, who hadn’t yet mounted her horse.

“Ugh, I used magic twenty times each, I’m drained. Let me ride behind you, Ruka.”

It wasn’t just Rukna who was flustered by those words.

Matian raised one eyebrow and exchanged a silent glance with Bolton.

Aha. Bolton’s eyes sparkled as he shook the dirt-covered muscle-building elixir.

“Hey, Chad! Don’t be like that, come here. I’ll give you an elixir that boosts strength.”

“Sorry, but as an intellectual, I don’t eat things that have fallen on the ground.”

Save me, Ruka.

This muscle idiot is trying to feed me something dirty! Chad whined and bent his lanky body to cling to Rukna’s neck.

A heavy scent of burnt sandalwood wafted from his wide-open shirt collar.

It was a dangerous yet captivating scent, opposite to Matian’s cool and calm fragrance.

Chad buried his face in Rukna’s shoulder and nuzzled her head.

“Get off, Chad! It tickles. Hahaha!”

Rukna burst into laughter as she pushed Chad away, shrinking her shoulders. Matian’s eyes narrowed as he watched this.

Bolton’s expression wasn’t good either.

He shook the bottle he was holding vigorously, then opened the cork stopper as if to pour out the remaining elixir.

“Stop messing with the blockhead and come here, Mr. Second Place who’s out of energy.”

“Ugh, I said I don’t want to drink that!”

Damn, how dare he call me Second Place! What place was that bastard again?

He wanted to tease Bolton too, but Chad, who only remembered those who had stepped on him, couldn’t recall Bolton’s rank.

“If you won’t drink it with your mouth, I’ll make you eat it through your ass!”

Bolton easily detached Chad’s body from Rukna and shoved the bottle into his mouth.

A magic circle appeared under Bolton’s feet as if Chad had cast magic on him, but it quickly disappeared.

“I’m wearing magic-resistant artifacts today, you know? Don’t overdo it.”

“Ugh! Crazy, gulp, it’s dirty!”

Chad struggled, but couldn’t escape from Bolton’s thick arm wrapped around his neck.

Eventually defeated, Chad drank all the muscle-building elixir and trudged back to the horse he had ridden.

Thanks to Chad’s magic, the horses ran as swiftly as if flying through the sky along the Valt River, and it didn’t take long to reach their destination.

The lower reaches of the Valt River, where it met the Tulan Strait, were as vast as the sea, and far away, a small island could be seen floating in the middle of it.

‘So that’s the Island of Wisdom.’

There was a conical tower in the center of the island, surrounded by buildings with roofs shaped like conch shells.

‘If you brought an underwater mermaid village above ground, it would probably look like that.’

By the way, do we take a boat to get there?

Rukna dismounted her horse along with the other students and tied it up in an empty barn near the ferry dock.

One student with a talent for magic, though not as skilled as Chad, cast an anti-theft spell on the barn.

Watching the whole process, Rukna suddenly scratched her ear at an unfamiliar sound.

『This way. Come quickly.』

A strange singing voice had been flowing into her ears and stopping repeatedly for a while now.

Is it tinnitus? The faint sound became clearer as they got closer to the riverside.

『Let’s research together in the lab.』

‘…Bisby, is that you?’

Rukna looked around, calling for Bisby.

「Be careful, Master.」

The necklace vibrated, warning Rukna.

Oh, it has a vibration function too. Rukna flinched and came to her senses.

She had somehow already dipped one foot in the river, as if planning to swim to the Island of Wisdom.

How did this happen?

「The song you just heard is sung by a lonely mermaid alchemist trying to lure an apprentice while researching alone.」

Somehow, the situation seemed similar to a professor who couldn’t find a grad student… I mean, a slave.

「Mermaid songs have the power to enchant humans. Shall I block the volume?」

‘Yes, please.’

Looking around, she saw that only the usually diligent students were enchanted by the song.

They were trying to swim across the river like sleepwalkers, while the rest of the students were busy stopping them.

‘Among the earnest ones, only Matian isn’t enchanted.’

Matian didn’t bother getting his shoes wet by going into the river.

Instead, he checked the condition of the students as others pulled their enchanted colleagues out of the river, and then handled the situation.

However, one of the students pulled from the river, Randall, couldn’t regain his senses and was flailing his arms in the air.

‘That guy used to really admire Matian, didn’t he?’

He was the type of student who quietly studied, not particularly trying to look cool, but using the same hairstyle and stationery as Matian.

He would sometimes wear lenses with a hint of blue to imitate Matian’s blue eyes, but for this expedition, he participated wearing thick glasses instead of lenses.

And those glasses were about to fall off, twisted as he flailed his arms.

“Let go. I… must… go.”

“Snap out of it, Randall. We don’t have time now.”

Matian Wiegratz cupped Randall’s chin and cheek with one hand, murmuring in a low voice.

It seemed affectionate at a glance, but Rukna Golden could see the veins bulging on the back of his hand and the faint blue aura swirling around it.

If he’s not careful, that might leave a mark on the cheek.

“To the lab across the river… must go…”

“I clearly said we don’t have time to waste.”

Matian raised his other hand to straighten Randall’s glasses. The frame seemed slightly cracked, but that must have been a mistake.

“Huh! Ma, Matian?”

Randall’s eyes suddenly widened as he stared at Matian right in front of him.

For some reason, Randall’s face turned even paler than before.

“Th, than, thank you.”

He checked if his glasses were intact and hurriedly returned to his place.

Matian slightly turned his head to check his reflection in the river water, then turned back with the same gentle smile as before.

And his eyes met directly with Rukna’s.

He slowly raised one eyebrow, as if asking how long she had been watching him.

“…”

Their gazes clashed silently in the air.

Rukna was the first to look away.

Still, judging by the tingling on the side of her face, Matian seemed to be still looking at her.

The tense situation could end thanks to Bolton, who suddenly appeared behind her.

“Are you alright, blockhead? Were you enchanted and about to go too?”

Bolton reminisced about his childhood, saying he became an alchemist after being enchanted and going to the island like that.

Apparently, he had swum all the way to the island before he came to his senses.

“Haha, I see. I kept hearing voices saying to come to the lab and research together.”

“Lab means the alchemists’ personal research rooms. This is definitely the work of someone who’s holed up in their lab, focusing only on their research even while we’re in a standoff with the Red Eagle.”

Bolton clicked his tongue, saying do you know how many selfish alchemists there are.

“Didn’t you say earlier that countless humans challenge alchemy? Why bother enchanting like this?”

“They probably wanted a modest and diligent apprentice rather than a fool who’d run away unable to endure after only aiming for the golden elixir.”

Then Bolton walked along the empty dock and stopped at its end.

In front of him was a transparent crystal pillar as tall as Bolton.

When Bolton placed his palm on the magic circle engraved on its side, the crystal pillar turned into water and swallowed Bolton’s hand.

Soon, the same magic circle appeared in Bolton’s right iris, and the water pillar began to emit a rainbow light.

It then shot upwards, curved, and formed an arch.

Simultaneously, the river water in front of the arch parted with a whoosh, creating a tunnel-like passage.

Bolton had opened the path leading to the Island of Wisdom.

“Come on, everyone snap out of it and let’s enter!”

Bolton flicked his left eye patch and gestured towards the students.

It was the most impressive moment of Bolton that she had seen so far.