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Chapter 66: Elixir (2)

The day after receiving the magic stone from Professor Elisha, I reached out to Iris for help.

Without knowing what I would ask, Iris came straight to my dorm room.

"You want me to purify this magic stone?"

"Yeah."

I showed Iris the magic stone inside the box.

A fist-sized stone, it emitted an eerie, ominous aura typical of dark magic.

"This... seems like a pretty high-grade magic stone."

Iris frowned slightly, sensing the dense dark energy emanating from the stone.

"It\'s a high-grade magic stone."

"A high-grade magic stone? Where in the world did you get something like that?"

Iris looked at me with wide eyes.

"I helped Professor Elisha with something personal, and I got this as payment."

"What kind of work would get you paid with something like a high-grade magic stone... wait!"

Iris grabbed both my shoulders with a pale, shocked expression.

"Could it be, Dale? Did you— did you have some kind of physical relationship with Professor Elisha in exchange for this?!"

"No."

What kind of nonsense is this woman spouting all of a sudden?

"It’s not like that."

"Answer me properly! Look me in the eyes!"

"I swear it’s not like that."

I shook my head as I met Iris\'s gaze directly.

"Hmm."

Iris stared into my eyes as if examining me closely.

Apparently, that wasn’t enough for her.

She suddenly leaned in close and started touching me all over, as if she were kneading dough.

\'What on earth is she going to figure out by touching me?\'

As I looked at her with a baffled expression, Iris muttered under her breath, slightly flushed.

"Surprisingly... you’re more muscular than you look. Broad shoulders... and, um, a strong chest."

"Excuse me?"

Iris?

Hello?

"Ahem! Anyway, as long as there’s been no improper conduct with Professor Elisha, right?"

"I swear to the heavens, nothing of the sort happened."

"Well... I\'ll believe you."

Iris nodded and carefully lifted the magic stone from the box.

"So, you want me to purify this magic stone?"

"I’d be really grateful if you could."

"Hehe, got it."

"...But are you sure it’s okay?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I heard that purifying a magic stone is quite a complicated process."

In her previous life, purifying a magic stone was as easy as breathing for her, but that was in the past.

I wasn’t sure if she could do it as a candidate right now.

"Hehe, who do you think I am? I’m the Saint, after all."

Iris smiled confidently, puffing up her chest.

Watching her chest move with such energy filled me with newfound confidence in her abilities.

"I haven’t done it much, but purifying a magic stone is no big deal."

"Really? Then I’ll leave it to you."

"Just trust me."

Iris’s enthusiasm was palpable as she rolled up her sleeves.

She placed the magic stone on the table and slowly closed her eyes.

"O seven gods who shine in the heavens."

With deliberate motions, Iris made the sign of the cross and began to recite a prayer.

"Bestow your grace and purify this unholy energy."

Wooooong!

A pure, white light began to emanate from Iris’s body.

It was such a radiant and pristine power that it inspired awe just by watching.

Iris clasped her hands together as if praying and drew even more divine energy into herself.

The white light flowing from her body formed into a shape: a Stigma.

‘The Stigma of the Sky God.’

This was the Stigma Iris bore, the one most commonly used by candidates in the Support Division.

‘Even after all this time, it’s still so clear.’

The Stigma of the Sky God that naturally appeared whenever Iris used her "prayers" shone brightly, far more brilliant than the marks used by priests from the Holy Kingdom.

‘It looks like the purification will go off without a hitch... Wait, what’s that?’

Then, something unexpected began to happen.

"Haah."

Iris exhaled a deep breath and opened her eyes.

Her pupils sparkled with rainbow hues.

‘The Seven Eyes.’

The power of the Seven Eyes activated, and the number of Stigmas floating in the air increased.

The Sun, the Stars, the Moon, the Sky, the Earth, the Sea, and the Forest.

Seven Stigmas swirled around as if they were dancing.

‘So, this is the power of the Seven Eyes.’

I let out a low breath as I watched Iris.

I had seen her pray countless times in my past life, but I had never witnessed all seven Stigmas appear at once.

‘Of course, I hadn’t seen it. In her past life, she had her Seven Eyes stolen by Astaroth, the Archbishop of Illusions, and was unable to use the power of any Stigma except the Sky God’s.’

‘I changed her fate.’

Seeing the rainbow light shining in her eyes filled me with an indescribable sense of emotion.

‘And this isn’t the end.’

In fact, this was just the beginning.

There were still many more futures I needed to change, not just Iris’s.

‘Though it feels like the number of people involved is only increasing.’

I thought of Professor Elisha and couldn’t help but smile wryly.

Although the growing connections felt like an increasing burden, it didn’t matter.

I had already made my decision.

I had resolved to live a life where I wasn’t led by someone else, but where I took the lead.

‘I need to become stronger, faster.’

To be honest, even with my current growth rate, it was hard to find historical precedents that matched it.

But with my goals set so high, this much wasn’t enough to satisfy me.

"Huff, huff. Ugh…."

Iris, drenched in sweat, continued the purification ritual.

Responding to her efforts, the dark, ominous energy emitting from the stone gradually turned into a clear, transparent blue light.

After about five more minutes passed...

"Haah! It’s done!"

Panting and drenched in sweat, Iris finally withdrew her power.

The white light that had filled the room vanished, and her rainbow-hued eyes returned to their original color.

"You did great."

I handed her a glass of cool water.

Iris grabbed the glass and gulped it down as if she were parched.

"Ah! You should check if it worked."

"Sure."

I let a bit of mana flow into the purified stone.

The soft blue glow emanating from it grew stronger.

‘Wait, what? What is this?’

My eyes widened as I checked the mana inside the stone.

‘The purity of the mana has increased?’

The magic stone, which had once had an enormous amount of mana but lacked purity, now had a much higher degree of purity after the purification process.

"How is this even possible…?"

Just as cleaning rusty iron wouldn’t turn it into steel, there should have been no connection between purification and enhancing the magic\'s purity.

‘In her previous life, Iris couldn’t raise the purity of a magic stone with her purification.’

The fact that the current Iris had achieved something that her previous, far more skilled self couldn’t...

‘It must be the influence of the Seven Eyes.’

I began to understand why Astaroth had been so obsessed with obtaining the Seven Eyes.

"What do you mean, ‘how is this possible?’"

Having caught her breath after drinking the water, Iris asked.

"Oh, I just mean... the purity of the mana increased."

"Huh? The purity of the mana increased?"

Iris blinked, wide-eyed, as if even she didn’t know.

"You didn’t do that on purpose?"

"N-No. I didn’t know the Seven Eyes could raise the purity of mana. I just thought using the Seven Eyes would make the purification more thorough, so I used them…."

"......"

Now that I think about it, Iris had mentioned before that she didn’t fully understand the Seven Eyes yet either.

‘Well, whatever.’

All\'s well that ends well.

Looking at the results, it was a situation that couldn’t have been better.

‘Originally, the purity of the mana was low, so it was graded as high-tier… but now it might even be graded as top-tier?’

Even a high-tier mana stone is worth at least 5 million gold, but a top-tier mana stone?

‘If I make an elixir with this…’

Gulp.

A dry swallow slid down my throat.

A thrilling sensation spread through my whole body, down my spine.

"Sainteeeess!"

I grabbed her hands and shook them up and down vigorously.

"Ah, D-Dale…."

Iris, blushing, trailed off.

She waited patiently until my excitement subsided, then smiled a beautiful smile and spoke softly.

"I\'m glad the process went well."

"Seriously, thank you."

"Hehe, I\'m just happy I could help you, Dale."

"Ugh."

How can she speak so sweetly, our saintess!

"By the way, Dale."

"Yeah?"

"You’re not just planning to leave it at \'thank you,\' right?"

Iris looked at me with sparkling eyes, a mischievous smile forming at the corners of her lips.

"Is there something you want? I\'ll do anything I can."

She’d turned a high-tier mana stone into a top-tier one, so what favor couldn’t I grant?

"Really? You just said you\'d do anything, right?"

"Yeah."

"You’ll really do anything I ask?"

"Uh, yeah."

What’s this?

Suddenly, I had a bad feeling.

"Hehe, in that case…"

Iris rummaged through her bag and pulled out a headband with dog ears.

"Tada!"

"Wait."

Why are you carrying that around in your bag?

"Hehe, it’s the headband I gave the others as a gift during the sealing ritual."

"No, I mean, why are you carrying it around?"

"I figured there’d be a chance like this someday!"

A chance like this…?

Wait.

Could it be that her request is…

"Put on this headband and pretend to be a dog!"

"Alright. This mana stone is getting trashed."

"Aaah! What are you doing!"

Of course, I didn’t actually destroy the stone.

"You want me to wear this and act like a dog?"

"Yes!"

Iris nodded enthusiastically, beaming with a pure smile.

‘Ah.’

A memory from my previous life flashed through my mind.

‘Come to think of it, she was always into this kind of thing.’

Back then, during our intimate moments, she would occasionally ask for certain… "requests."

I didn’t wear the headband back then, but I never imagined it would come to this.

"You promised you\'d do anything, right?"

"Ugh."

"Or are you saying you lied to me?"

"……."

Damn it.

I realized there was no way out and reluctantly took the dog-ear headband she was handing to me.

* * *

"...Dale hasn’t been around much lately."

In a private training room, one that could only be reserved by those who ranked within the top 50 of their class or made substantial donations, a young man with blonde hair stared blankly into space.

"Sigh."

Yuren let out a deep sigh, opening his Hero Watch to check the messages he had exchanged with Dale.

Two days ago:

[Let\'s train together today.]

[I\'ve got something else to do today, so I can\'t.]

Yesterday:

[Are you busy again today?]

[Professor Elisha called me, so I have to go. Sorry.]

And today:

[Um… how about today?]

[Ah, sorry. I’ve got plans with Iris, so I don’t think I can make it.]

"……."

For the past few days, Dale hadn’t trained with him, claiming he was busy.

"You said I did well and praised me…"

Yuren stomped his foot on the training room floor in frustration.

As he idly wasted time without practicing his swordsmanship, a sudden idea struck him.

\'Should I go check out Dale’s room?\'

Although Dale said he had plans with Iris, it’s not like he’d be gone overnight.

If Yuren waited by his door, Dale would eventually come back, right?

"Ahem. Yeah. I’m just going to see his face! Friends can do that, right?"

Yuren hurried toward Dale\'s dormitory, feeling excited.

"Let’s see… He said he lives in Dorm C, right?"

It was one of the cheaper dorms, mostly used by cadets on scholarships.

"…It’s really run-down."

Compared to the A-dorm he was staying in, it looked like a building in the slums.

\'That’s the one.\'

He found the door, remembering the room number Dale had mentioned, and stood in front of it.

"I\'ll wait here until he comes back… huh?"

Then, he heard a "woof woof" sound coming from inside.

\'A dog?\'

Obviously, pets were forbidden in the dorms.

\'Could it be that Dale’s secretly raising a dog?\'

If someone else passed by and heard this, Dale would be in trouble.

In the worst case, he might even get penalized for breaking the rules.

\'I can’t let him get a penalty when he already got a zero score recently!\'

Determined to sneak the dog out before anyone noticed, Yuren opened the door.

And what he saw was—

"Woof woof."

Dale, wearing a dog-ear headband, pretending to be a dog.

"……."

The reunion with his friend could not have been worse.