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Chapter 244 [Illustration]

“It seems like he knows you, and you know something too... I just don’t get it,” Olivia said.

Olivia was glancing back and forth, clearly confused by the situation. However, Owen and I didn’t give any clear explanations.

We had suddenly entered into a sort of cryptic dialogue, and conducted the negotiations using roundabout expressions only we understood.

What exactly was this value that was unique to me and only present while I was enrolled in the Temple, and why was Owen interested in buying it?

“Just take it as it is. Why do you need to know everything?” I said brusquely, ending the discussion.

Olivia pretended to be on the verge of tears. “Hey, that’s mean!”

We spent a significant amount of time going around the sponsorship gathering, but in the end, I had received funding not because of what the Magic Research Club was doing, or because of Olivia—it was thanks to the Rotary Club’s ongoing project.

I hadn’t expected the guild master of the Merchants’ Guild to show any interest, so it was essentially a lucky break.

However, there was a problem. While we did secure a promise of sponsorship, we have no idea how much it would be. No matter how much we got, it would never be enough. The more, the better, but there didn’t seem to be anyone else willing to sponsor me apart from the somewhat exceptional case of the guild master of the Merchants’ Guild.

“You obviously need more, right?” Olivia asked, apparently reading that sentiment from my expression.

“Well, I don’t know how much we will receive, and the more the better.”

“Hmm... Alright. I knew it would come to this too...”

Olivia seemed to have some thoughts of her own.

She must have had some plan, considering she had come to the sponsorship gathering knowing it would be difficult to get sponsors.

The situation with the Merchants’ Guild was an exception—what else was Olivia thinking of?

Owen was sitting alone again, and we sat at an isolated table to eat our food. Many covetous gazes were directed toward Olivia, but her impenetrable nature was well-known, and no one approached her.

While Olivia was lost in deep thought, someone approached us.

“Number 11.”

“Ah, Mr. Effenhauser.”

We were still in our isolated spot when Mr. Effenhauser approached us.

Olivia and I stood up because we knew who was standing next to him.

“Introduce yourselves. This is Dame Sabioleen Tana, the Head of the Imperial First Knights Division.”

A knight in the ceremonial uniform of the Imperial Knights stood next to him, her posture as sharp as a blade.

I was rooted to the spot under Sabioleen Tana’s calm yet keen gaze.

She looked young even though she should be much older than Mr. Effenhauser.

Of course, in my story, those who reached a certain level of mastery aged more slowly, or could even rejuvenate themselves.

Sabioleen Tana had achieved such a level.

She was close to sixty, but looked like she could enroll as a new student at the Temple right away, creating quite a bit of dissonance.

“Hello. I am a first-year student of the Temple’s Royal Class, A-11 Reinhart.”

“And I am a fifth-year student of the Temple’s Royal Class, A-0 Olivia Lanche.”

‘Olivia is number 0?’

I was surprised at such an odd detail.

Come to think of it, she was originally supposed to be in her sixth year, but had been held back in her fifth year. Thus, her number must have been reassigned.

Originally, she should have been assigned the last number, but considering her talent ranking, that wasn’t possible. So, instead, she got the non-existent number 0, being above the original 5th-year A-1.

Regardless, Sabioleen Tana simply stared at me.

“Are you the future of the empire?”

“... Excuse me?” I responded, puzzled.

‘What? What kind of things has Mr. Effenhauser been saying about me?!’

Mr. Effenhauser always acted overly proud but without a single hint of a smile or any casual expression. With a completely serious face, he went around declaring that I was the future of the empire.

In many ways, it was enough to make me mentally exhausted.

***

Sabioleen Tana, the head of Shanapell and the empire’s greatest knight.

She extended her hand to me, and I grasped it. She had a firm, rough hand.

She was the empire’s strongest knight and the protector of the imperial family. Although everyone’s talent seemed insignificant when compared to Ellen Artorius, the person in front of me was also a monster.

At this point, she was the strongest in the continent for close combat.

Sabioleen Tana was also Mr. Effenhauser’s senior at the Temple.

“I don’t doubt your judgment, but I am not sure of it myself,” Sabioleen Tana said.

“He is still just a first-year student,” Mr. Effenhauser responded.

Mr. Effenhauser kept using the cringe-inducing term “future of the empire.”

It was solely Mr. Effenhauser’s idea. Sabioleen Tana seemed to have made a complete assessment of me from just one handshake.

‘But hey, is it really okay to dismiss people right to their face, just because you’re the continent’s strongest warrior?

‘I guess it kind of is. She is the strongest, after all.’

However, it felt quite strange and unsettling to see the baby-faced Sabioleen Tana speaking so informally to the older-looking Mr. Effenhauser.

In reality, Sabioleen Tana was indeed a senior far above Mr. Effenhauser. Sometimes, what you see isn’t everything.

“If there is one who is the future of the empire, I think it would be her,” Sabioleen Tana said as she looked towards Olivia Lanche.

“...”

Olivia had greeted Sabioleen, but was now eyeing her with a hint of wariness.

It was somewhat evident that they were acquainted.

I couldn’t clearly understand the perspective that Olivia Lanche was the future of the empire. It could be true, or it might not be. In the original work, Olivia Lanche faded into the background of the story.

Was Olivia Lanche as exceptional as Ellen, or even Ludwig later on?

Sabioleen Tana addressed Olivia firmly, “The offer still stands, Olivia.”

“...”

“If you don’t intend to join the Order of the Holy Knights, join Shanapell.”

The future of the empire...

Sabioleen Tana seemed to place more weight on Olivia Lanche. Anyone would, considering she had shown much more.

It seemed Olivia had previously received an offer to join the empire’s First Knights Division. Judging by her expression, it was clear she had declined. Olivia gazed quietly at Sabioleen Tana.

“How much can you give us?” Olivia said, her expression firm.

“... Money?”

“Yes.”

Sabioleen Tana frowned slightly at that.

Then she looked at me.

“Ah, I see.”

Although it was our first time greeting each other, she must have known that Olivia and I were seeking sponsorship funds.

My brain felt like it was freezing up.

“If you promise to join, I can offer up to ten thousand platinum coins.”

Ten thousand platinum coins... That translated to a million gold coins.

In Korean terms, that was a trillion won.

A superhuman was essentially a tactical weapon, and was already considered an asymmetric asset.

Did that mean Olivia was already at that level, or did she believe she would reach it soon?

“For the future of the empire, that’s an investment worth making.”

Olivia Lanche was seen as being worth more than a modern fighter jet.

Only then did I realize that I had completely underestimated Olivia Lanche’s value.

Even though a trillion won was a colossal amount, it would be considered a paltry sum if it could be traded for an irreplaceable tactical weapon, the future strongest warrior of the empire, wouldn’t it?

If such a superhuman didn’t belong directly to the empire but instead to a vassal state, it would be a dire problem, and the empire would want to prevent that at any cost.

I finally understood why Olivia seemed to know everything would be solved if she attended the sponsorship gathering, despite expecting it to be difficult.

She already knew who would pay the highest price for her.

“Yes, that amount is...”

“Wait. Just wait a moment,” I interjected, grabbing Olivia Lanche by the wrist. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Olivia lowered her eyes as if she had foreseen my reaction.

“... I knew you’d react like this... That’s why I didn’t want to bring you along.”

No wonder she seemed reluctant to bring me; it was for this very reason.

***

Without looking back, I dragged Olivia out of the sponsorship gathering hall. It didn’t matter to me whether Mr. Effenhauser or the empire’s greatest knight was there.

“Is this why you said you wanted to come alone?”

“...”

Olivia couldn’t even meet my eyes and just looked down. She spoke without looking at me.

“Why? I... I don’t have anything to do after graduation anyway, and besides, they’re offering a lot of money. I have no use for that money. But you, Reinhart, you need it. So, that settles it, doesn’t it?”

“Weren’t you originally planning not to join?”

“...”

Olivia must have received numerous offers from various places, all of which she had declined. But now, just because I said I needed money, she was willing to get sponsorship money by joining Shanapell, and intended to give that money to me.

“Why are you going so far for me? Just because I saved your life once? By that logic, you’ve already repaid me. So why are you putting your entire life on the line for this?”

“Just... Because I can.” Olivia looked at me with difficulty, her eyes trembling. “This is the only way I know how to live.”

Her eyes were those of someone who had learned to live only through sacrifice, never knowing how to live for themselves.

“If I can do something for the person who saved me, then I believe I must do it. That’s why. It’s not a bad thing, is it?” she said.

I had always thought of Olivia as a strange person, but she genuinely was a strange person. In fact, she was almost bizarre.

She cared more about other people’s needs than her own. She had always been strange, yet no one saw it that way because that was just who Olivia Lanche was. For that reason, no one ever recognized her strangeness, not even myself.

She had been raised to be the Commander of the Order of the Holy Knights and the next symbol of the Five Great Gods. It was impossible to imagine her growing up normally. I didn’t know about her past environment, but it seemed Olivia Lanche had always been forced to live for the salvation of others rather than being allowed to pursue her own desires.

That was why she’d become such a person.

The faith that was the foundation and root of her existence was gone, but the way she lived her life remained the same.

Olivia Lanche was a person who did not know how to live for herself. In a way, she was way more similar to Ragan Artorius than Ellen was.

If she had to die for the sake of the world, she wouldn’t hesitate, for the simple reason that she was able to.

Olivia looked at me, her eyes full of emotion. “I no longer have anything I want to do. There’s nothing I need to do, and I don’t know what to live for. I could do anything, but if doing that could help you, I’d be satisfied with that. That’s all there is to it.”

As a human being, not a saintess, Olivia Lanche was a broken person.

By being recognized as a saintess, she was everything anyone could ever want, without a single flaw. But now that she could no longer be that, Olivia Lanche did not know how to live an ordinary life.

An unimaginable sum of ten thousand platinum coins... That would surely resolve all the research funding issues.

But I didn’t want the money that Olivia Lanche raised by selling her future.

“That’s... just weird. Your own life should come first, and others should come afterward. Why are you trying to buy something so insignificant with your life as the price?”

“...”

“Honestly, if I were at risk of dying, I might understand. The research funding is important, but it’s not something you should be sacrificing so much for.”

That was the real issue. There was no reason for Olivia to go this far.

It was bizarre that she was willing to sell her future for something like this.

Olivia looked at me with a sad smile. “Then, will you teach me?”

“... What?”

“How to live for myself. Can you teach me?”

Her words froze my tongue.

“Are you living for yourself, Reinhart?”

“...”

“You’re also doing all this for the Magic Research Club, despite not knowing a thing about magic.”

Olivia’s words pierced my heart.

“What’s the difference between you and me?”

‘I’m doing this for the future. I am different from you.’

That’s what I wanted to say, but the words wouldn’t come out.

Both Olivia and I were dedicating our time and effort to things unrelated to our personal gain, the only difference being the degree.

“I’m not as selfless as you, senior.”

“Yeah, probably not.”

Olivia stared blankly at the night sky, which was filled with starlight. “You and I, we’re both peculiar.”

There was no way to argue against that. Olivia continued to gaze at the night sky, then looked at me with slightly reddened eyes.

“Shall we... figure out how to live for ourselves together?” she asked.

“...”

Looking into Olivia Lanche’s eyes, which seemed like they could tear up at any moment, I pondered my response for quite a while.

There was only one answer.

“Nothing indecent.”

“Wh-What! Seriously, what do you take me for?!” Olivia screamed. Her face turned bright red at my sudden and inappropriate joke.

“You reap what you sow. What are you trying to say?”

“I-It was a joke! I was just joking! I-I’m actually not that kind of person!”

“What kind of person are you then?”

“E-Eek! Now I understand why the kids dislike you!”

Olivia was genuinely furious, and continued panting heavily for quite some time.

***

Having learned about Olivia’s plan, there was no need to return to the sponsorship gathering. However, we still went back to the event hall.

It would be rude of me to drag my senior out in front of the world’s strongest person and our homeroom teacher without even apologizing.

Of course, I wasn’t entirely sure if it was Sabioleen Tana’s or Mr. Effenhauser’s reaction that I was more wary of.

“My apologies... Sorry for the disturbance,” I apologized.

Mr. Effenhauser didn’t seem to care much, while Sabioleen Tana just continued to look at me with the same unsettling stare as before.

She looked rather intimidating, and I couldn’t tell if she was angry or not. Olivia peered awkwardly at the stern-eyed champion of the world.

“Thank you for the offer... but I still need some more time to think about it,” Olivia said.

“Sure, take your time. There’s plenty of it,” Sabioleen Tana replied.

It was obvious that Olivia’s sudden change in attitude was because of me.

‘Scary. How painful would it be if the world’s strongest person hit me?’

She had her eyes set on Olivia Lanche and likely had the imperial authority to spend an unimaginable sum of money.

Olivia Lanche... While she was valuable to me, she mostly just clung to me, which I found somewhat annoying. How strong was she really, that the world’s strongest person considered her the future of the empire? That alone spoke volumes.

Now, I was beginning to truly feel the significance of having saved Olivia, a turning point in history.

Sabioleen Tana continued to stare at me.

“You said you needed funds for magical research.”

“Yes.”

“You’re a superhuman, aren’t you? Why are you involving yourself in magic?”

“Think of it as me handling external affairs so that my peers can focus on their research.”

Sabioleen Tana looked at me for about three seconds, then looked at Olivia for another three seconds, then back at me for yet another three seconds. She seemed to be considering it very deeply.

Despite her serious expression, she reminded me of a grown-up Ellen.

A stoic exterior, but probably a cute side deep inside.

It felt as if, though her face was unreadable, her thoughts were laid bare.

She seemed similar yet completely different from the incomprehensible Mr. Effenhauser.

‘Olivia refused me before, but she suddenly offered to join as long as the funds for his research were provided. It’s clear that Olivia thinks very highly of him.

‘After he dragged her out for a talk, she retracted her statement, which must mean he has some influence over Olivia.

‘Hmm... Hmmm... So, if I support Reinhart, who can influence Olivia, can it improve Shanapell’s standing with Olivia?

‘Supporting Reinhart might be a way to increase our influence over Olivia. Reinhart will develop a favorable attitude toward Shanapell, which will inevitably influence Olivia. I’m certain.

Am I perhaps... a genius?’

This was the first time I’d seen anyone whose thoughts were more transparent than Adelia’s.

Maybe I was getting better at reading expressions since I’d gotten used to the subtle shifts in Ellen’s face and eyes.

‘Am I stepping into the realm of mind-reading now?’

After a long period of deep contemplation, Sabioleen Tana finally spoke to me.

“We shall provide sponsorship.”

“Oh, thank you very much!”

Although I could not read her thoughts perfectly, I seem to have guessed them fairly accurately.

In the end, it was thanks to Olivia Lanche that I managed to secure sponsorship from the First Knight Division of the empire.

Securing promises of support from two of the key groups at the sponsorship gathering...

You could say it was an unprecedented achievement.