Chapter 117: War of Nerves

I returned to my dorm and placed the wrapped gift on my desk.

A gift.

There was nothing strange to think about it.

Karina had promised to give me a gift as a reward for saving her life from the blood curse and as payment for having suspected me.

There was no need to question her intentions, no need to make a fuss.

The reason I felt awkward was because of Karina’s somewhat strangely suggestive atmosphere.

Come to think of it, Karina’s attitude toward me lately has changed quite a bit.

At first, I thought the curse, not fully eliminated, was eating away at her brain (not kidding, I was serious).

But it wasn’t.

After returning from the off-campus activity, I had asked Professor Ilai, and she had confirmed that there was nothing wrong with Karina.

The funny thing was Karina’s reaction that followed.

The Karina I knew would have naturally thrown a fit.

Why?

Because I had suddenly treated her like a lunatic.

The Karina I knew should have raged and thrown a tantrum.

And yet.

“She left without saying much.”

She did glare at me, but that was a reaction a normal person would show, definitely not a reaction Karina would show.

It was so unexpected that even Professor Ilai, who was watching from the side, asked, ‘Did you happen to find some dirt on Karina?’

“Did we really develop a love-hate bond or something?”

If so, that was a relief.

No.

Not a relief, this was actually how it should be.

‘Look at how much I’ve done for her.’

I forgave her for suspecting me of being a thief.

Forgave her for stalking.

Forgave her for breaking and entering.

I had saved her life several times, and if you add in all the help I gave her without her knowing, love-hate bond or not, Karina should be worshiping me as her savior.

It was me, wasn’t it?

I would have given my all.

In other words, a normal person would have been grateful long ago, but because she’s Karina Zain, she’s only now feeling thankful and trying to be nice to me…….

“……Hmm. That doesn’t suit her either.”

Karina was, by name and in reality, the craziest bitch in this area.

I couldn’t for the life of me picture her being nice to me.

“Karina should be Karina. If she suddenly changes her concept, that’s tiring in its own way.”

I thought the current distance between us was just right.

Now, there was nothing more to give, and nothing more to receive.

Karina is the arbiter of justice who brings down the hammer on evil.

At the same time, she’s a hero who will save this world along with Ivan, so getting deeply involved would only become tiring.

I didn’t want that either.

“Anyway, this must be the gift, right? Let’s see what’s so great that it took this long.”

I took out the neatly folded letter and the wooden box containing the gift from the wrapping paper, and after wondering what to look at first, I opened the box.

Click.

Inside the box was a bracelet.

A thread bracelet.

At first, I thought it was gold, but when I took it out of the box and looked at it from different angles, it also changed to red depending on the direction of the light.

“Oho.”

It was fascinating.

But that was all.

Other than the color-changing, it looked ordinary, and I couldn’t find any distinctive features.

Could it be like the ‘Star’s Blessing’ and melt into my skin when worn?

I tried putting it on my wrist, but that wasn’t it either.

The length was a perfect fit for my wrist, as if custom-made, neither too tight nor too loose.

I shook my wrist with the bracelet on and chuckled.

“This is just an accessory, isn’t it? She talked like she was giving me something amazing.”

I put on the bracelet and this time picked up the letter.

I wondered if the real gift wasn’t the bracelet but the contents of this letter.

“Huh? But the stationery has changed.”

It wasn’t the stationery I had seen in the room.

Back then, it was definitely a light pink, but now it’s white.

She must have had something to correct, so she threw it away and changed it.

Thinking it was no big deal, I unfolded the letter.

What was important wasn’t the color of the stationery, but the content written inside.

[That. I had it specially custom-made by requesting it from the Red Dragon Workshop. So it doesn’t have a name. If I had to give it one, it would be ‘Agnis’ after my middle name…… Ah, whatever. It’s yours now, so call it whatever you want. The special ability is [Warmth of Healing], so use it well, or don’t.]

The letter ended there.

From beginning to end, it was so uncool, but in a way, it was also very Karina-like.

Anyway, a product from the Red Dragon Workshop.

“This is awesome.”

I looked at the bracelet again with new eyes.

It was only natural that I didn’t recognize it.

An artifact specially custom-made at the Red Dragon Workshop would be an item that didn’t exist in the original work.

So this was an artifact made just for me.

“And [Warmth of Healing] on top of that.”

[Warmth of Healing] was a fire-attribute magic corresponding to the 5th Circle.

A vision that, despite being a fire-attribute elemental magic focused on attack power, had a healing effect that could rival water-attribute magic or holy magic.

‘For 1 minute, automatically restores the wounds the caster has sustained.’

That was the description from the guidebook, and the word to pay attention to here was ‘automatic restoration’.

With holy magic, one couldn’t move while casting, but [Warmth of Healing], once used, would heal wounds on its own, allowing the caster to move and take other actions.

Meaning, it was a recovery vision that shined in a chaotic battle.

Of course, it had the drawback of not being able to heal others, meaning injured comrades…… but I doubt I would ever have an occasion to use this on someone else anyway.

“For a selfish bastard like me, this isn’t even a drawback.”

What was most touching, though, was the unseen effort that must have gone into making this artifact, ‘Agnis’.

I couldn’t see it, but I could guess.

It was an artifact inscribed with a 5th Circle magic array.

To have this made, how many favors must Karina have asked for, and how much must she have run around?

Even if the Red Dragon Workshop belonged to the Zain family.

In fact, that would have made it more difficult and she would have had to be more careful.

“Hmm.”

……It seemed I needed to revise my perception of Karina.

Not a moderate distance, but Karina was more grateful to me than I thought.

She just didn’t express it outwardly.

“Or maybe……”

I stared at the changed stationery for a while before folding it neatly and putting it in my drawer.

***

The next day.

As I was leaving the classroom after class, Yuria, who was stuck to my side, noticed the bracelet’s existence as if she were a ghost and asked.

“What is this?”

“Ah, this? A bracelet.”

Yuria lifted her head and stared at me intently.

Who doesn’t know that?

Her jet-black eyes were asking just that.

“……Where did you get it?”

I hesitated for a moment.

I myself didn’t quite know why I was hesitating.

I could just honestly say I got it from Karina, but my instincts screamed that if I said that, I’d be screwed, and my brain concocted excuses.

“Um.”

But there was no need for that.

“I gave it to him.”

Karina, who had appeared out of nowhere, looked down at Yuria and answered for me.

“Why? Is there a problem? There isn’t, right?”

“……”

“By the way, that looks quite good on you. See, I have good taste. I thought red gold would suit y…….”

“Is it an artifact?”

Yuria cut Karina off and asked.

“Ah. Yeah.”

“……Ah. Then I guess I can’t even break it.”

It was a small mumble, but my hearing clearly picked up her voice and the deep disappointment contained within it.

So I hid the bracelet behind my back.

A bead of cold sweat trickled down the back of my neck.

The two women glaring at each other.

And me, stuck in between.

I felt it.

Something.

Something was about to happen.

“Gerard-senior saved me, you know?”

“So?”

“So I gave it to him as a gift. As a thank you.”

“I didn’t ask.”

Karina’s lips curled up into a smirk.

“You’re still so childish, aren’t you? Your looks are childish and your behavior is childish. Well, I guess a kid who just says thank you to senior every day and has done nothing for him has to save her pride this way. I understand.”

Yuria flinched.

Judging by her reaction, that last one hit hard.

As expected, Yuria stuttered.

“D-don’t act all high and mighty just because you did that one little thing.”

“Huhu. One little thing? Do you even know how much this costs? If you knew, you wouldn’t be able to say that.”

“How much is it?”

“200 gold?”

Yuria was aghast.

And so was I, standing next to her.

200 gold was a whopping 100 million in real-world money.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. 100 million. No, 200 gold?”

“Th-that’s a lie.”

Yuria shook her head, denying it.

Karina leaned her face close to her and showed a triumphant grin.

“Eh? A lie? Why would I tell such a lie?”

“……”

“Do I look like I wouldn’t have 200 gold? You must have forgotten, but I’m Karina Zain, Karina Zain. 200 gold is really nothing to me.”

I wonder if it’s about the cost of my food for a month──?

Karina tilted her head, placing a finger on her lips, then glanced down to check Yuria’s expression.

Yuria stood still.

However, her shoulders were trembling finely as if she were suppressing her anger, and Karina, catching this, smiled again.

The smile of a perfect victor.

“Well then. Now that I’ve seen that it suits you, I’ll be going?”

And with that, Karina coolly turned around.

I watched her retreating back with its clicking heels with an incredulous look.

‘Why on earth did she come here? To show off her money?’

It was obnoxious, but aside from Karina’s business, I looked at ‘Agnis’ with new eyes.

I knew it would be expensive, but I never thought it would be as much as 200 gold.

‘No, wait. It’s made by the Red Dragon Workshop, so of course it’s expensive.’

To be precise, it was an item that couldn’t be given a ‘price’ tag.

The Red Dragon Workshop only dealt with people who were ‘qualified’.

It was an artifact you couldn’t get even if you had the money.

All their products were handmade, and since this was a special production with only one in the world, it couldn’t even be resold.

The Red Dragon Workshop probably recognized that the owner of this ‘Agnis’ was me, Gerard.

‘Now, what do I do?’

I looked at Yuria with pitiful eyes.

Yuria, defeated in the clash of two titans, was crestfallen and still silent.

As far as I knew, this was her first defeat in a war of nerves with Karina…….

‘Honestly, crushing someone with money is cheating. Even I can’t beat Karina with money.’

Honestly, how many people on this imperial land could beat Karina with money?

But it was hard to say anything, because the one who fired the first shot was none other than Yuria herself.

‘Why did she have to ask how much it was…….’

Yuria had started a fight she was at a disadvantage in, and in the end, she lost.

‘Don’t tell me she’s going to fall into a slump again, thinking something like Karina is a better match for me, right?’

Strangely, Yuria’s mental state weakened whenever it was related to Karina, so this worry suddenly popped into my head.

As I was fretting inwardly, Yuria called me first.

“Senior.”

“Ah. Uh. Yuria. Go ahead.”

“I have something I want to do.”

“Oh, really? What the heck, I’m feeling generous! I’ll do whatever you want today! What do you want to do? Eat? Or should we go to the Lodge Café and have some strawberry cake for the first time in a while? Feel free to say whatever!”

Normally, we would have just eaten and gone to train together, but it didn’t seem like we could do that today.

It wasn’t the right atmosphere, and I was having strong doubts about my own role, whether I was a mentor or a manager, but whatever the case, taking care of Yuria was the priority right now.

“I want to earn money.”

My thought process momentarily stopped.

I thought she would at most suggest eating some sweet dessert, but this was an answer that was not in my predictions.

“……Money? Suddenly?”

Yuria nodded.

“Yes. I need to earn money. A lot of it. So, among the things I can do right now, what’s the best way to earn the most money?”

“Are you being serious?”

“Yes.”

I was a bit flustered because it was different from what I expected, but recalling what just happened, it wasn’t a completely incomprehensible situation either.

A job where we could earn a lot of money at our level.

This was what immediately came to mind.

“Bounties, of course.”

“Bounties……?”

“The villains, you know? The bounties on their heads. Aiming for that is the way for us to make a lot of money.”

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