Chapter 118

And so, my first objective—‘the Student Council Establishment’ and ‘Iri Elisbell as Student Council President’—had been achieved.

Unfortunately, there was still no sign of Part 2 beginning, nor had any notifications regarding Special Points appeared.

But I wasn’t too worried.

It was probably because the Student Council’s activities hadn’t officially started yet.

Once the second semester began, the matter would naturally resolve itself.

Rather, there were still two other issues I needed to pay attention to.

The first was, of course, the module problem.

‘After fighting that hard, there had better be some kind of reward.’

Not just for me, but for the others as well.

And so, the reward for this battle was none other than a new Arcane Module.

I entrusted the corpse of the tentacled monster I had named ‘Outer God’ to Miyu, requesting her to create a new module.

However, when Miyu accepted the request, she said—

“This isn’t something I can handle in the dorms, you knooow.”

Apparently, the material was far more difficult to deal with than most demonic substances, so she needed to go back to her original workshop in Sector E.

On top of that, to truly bring out the advantages of the material, she said she would need to spend at least a full month on it.

So, I permitted her to stay outside the Academy for a while.

Given how the period was already noisy with incidents like terrorist recovery, the election of the headmaster, and student protests, there was no need to worry about class attendance anyway.

“If you need anything, let me know. I’ll make sure to get it for you right away.”

I said that before parting with Miyu after escorting her to the workshop.

As I had told her, she never hesitated in requesting all sorts of materials and equipment.

And I did my utmost to provide them promptly.

And so, time passed until the end of July.

After receiving Miyu’s message that it was “finished,” I visited Sector E for the first time in a while.

Since the situation in the world was what it was, Foundation-related work had increased drastically, leaving me buried in tasks.

So, being able to leave the office for once put me in a rather good mood.

“You look cheerful today, Aaron.”

Evangeline, perched on my head, fiddled with my hair as she spoke.

At this point, my head was basically her personal seat.

Sector E was a dangerous place, so I had originally intended to go alone.

But since she insisted on tagging along for this rare outing, I ended up bringing her along.

“You look even more excited than I do.”

“Well, it is a rare outing!”

After Araya’s terrorist attack, Evangeline had been living with Maria, commuting together to the Foundation’s office.

At first, rumors spread that she might be some hidden child of either me or Maria, but since neither appearance nor personality matched at all, those rumors quickly faded.

Thanks to her cute looks and innocent behavior, she had instead become something like the office mascot among the Stingray staff.

Sometimes, when passing the break room, I could hear the sound of children’s anime playing inside.

There were even toys or photos with Evangeline on some of the employees’ desks.

Evangeline seemed somewhat satisfied with being pampered like that.

Still, after living that way for an entire month, she must have grown bored.

“Playing in that room was fine, but I was getting tired of it! More than that, I felt I should keep some distance from Maria for a while.”

“Maria?”

The unexpected remark surprised me.

Why Maria?

“Did something happen while living with her?”

“N-no, not exactly. But… on Sundays when she doesn’t go to work, or on days she comes home early… Maria gets a little scary.”

“Then maybe you should just behave better.”

“Eek! That’s not what I mean!”

“It’s not?”

“She sleeps all morning, then shows up in the afternoon all messy and disheveled. After hastily grabbing something to eat, she takes me to the living room…”

“……”

An image suddenly popped into my head.

Maria venting her work stress onto poor Evangeline, who lived with her.

I briefly worried that entrusting Evangeline to Maria might have been a mistake.

“She hugs me and keeps watching TV.”

“And what’s the problem with that?”

“She keeps watching. Keeeeeps watching. Never letting me go, watching magical-girl anime all day long.”

“……?”

“And when a touching scene comes, she cries.”

“??”

“Crying buckets.”

For a moment, my mind went blank.

The woman who always maintained the image of a “calm and perfect secretary” in front of me… cried her eyes out at magical-girl anime on the weekends?

“…Evangeline.”

“Yes?”

“Lying is bad.”

“W-what!? You think I’m lying!? If you lived with me, you’d see whether I’m telling the truth or not!”

Come on, that was a bit much.

Having to spend weekends together with your boss? What terrible sin did Maria commit to deserve that? I certainly didn’t want to make her resent me that way.

Noticing my lack of belief, Evangeline cried out indignantly.

“I’m telling the truth! Last week she even tried to dress me in the magical-girl clothes from the show! And even…”

“I don’t want to hear it.”

“Please, Aaron! Only you can quell Maria’s madness!”

“Enough. That’s enough.”

“Aaron!”

Evangeline’s words carried no weight.

No, to be honest, a tiny part of me did think it might be true.

But any further and it would feel like I was intruding too far into Maria’s private life.

Besides, I didn’t want the image of Maria in my head to crumble any further.

It was about time to end the topic.

“We’ll talk about it later.”

As we chatted, we arrived at our destination in front of the Talking Vending Machine.

Miyu’s workshop.

“Ah, you’re heeere?”

“It’s been a while, Miyu. How have you been?”

“Hehe… thanks to youuu.”

“I’m here too, you know!”

“Hello, Evangelineee.”

Miyu’s workshop, which I hadn’t visited in a while, had changed far more than the last time.

It looked every bit the engineer’s lair…

To compare, it resembled Tony S○ark’s room.

At this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if she actually built an I○n Man suit.

But when I thought carefully about it, I realized that in this world, such exoskeleton suits were considered outdated technology.

The technology of New Valhalla City was the greatest in the world!

“Did you come here because of what we talked about last timeee? It’s almost finished, so if you want to see it, this way… Ah, the room’s such a mess… s-sorryyy…”

“It’s fine.”

Miyu’s workshop was as messy as when I first came here to meet her.

If it were her dorm room, Iri would have dropped by regularly to nag her, so it probably wouldn’t have gotten this bad.

No—thinking about it, even if she had stayed in the dorms during this period, it would have been the same.

Normally, this would be summer vacation.

Official Student Council activities would begin in the second semester, but since this was practically the start of a brand-new Student Council, Iri was already carrying out her duties as president.

Digging up long-forgotten Student Council rules, visiting faculty to protest related issues, scouting members to recruit into the Council and negotiating with them in advance.

Together with the head of the Academic Department and the head of the Science & Technology Department, she was spending busy days constantly going in and out of the Main Building.

Which meant that even if Miyu had stayed at the Academy, Iri likely wouldn’t have been able to visit her as often as before.

Perhaps that was why Miyu seemed a little lonelier than usual.

All extended classes planned for summer vacation had been canceled, and aside from Silence occasionally visiting her for module maintenance, she had been holed up alone in her room all the time.

Maybe I should take her somewhere to play soon.

While I was reviewing my schedule, Miyu led me deeper into the workshop.

“This waaay.”

As she manipulated her computer, a mechanical arm hanging from the ceiling moved with a smooth whir, pulling out items from somewhere and neatly laying them out on the workbench.

A total of three Combat Module chips.

She explained.

“These are Arcane Modules I made using the ‘Outer God’ you provided, Aaron. From left to right, they’re for Miss Iri, Mister Silence, and Miss Raina.”

“The grade?”

“Level 4, you knowww.”

Lv.4 Arcane Modules.

As expected, that was quite a high grade.

The researchers in Stingray’s Technology Division were probably still just staring at the same material, locked in endless analysis.

And yet Miyu had managed to produce three Lv.4 Arcane Modules in just a month.

Proof, once again, that she was a genius.

But still, it was a little disappointing.

“So Lv.5 was impossible after all?”

What I truly wanted was an Lv.5 Arcane Module, also known as the “Game Changer” tier.

Deep down, I had hoped that by using the essence of the Outer God, I could obtain a fourth Game Changer-tier module to add to [Cloud Spider], [Techblade], and [Corpse Eater].

Miyu answered with a regretful expression.

“Using just the essence of a single entity, Lv.4 was the limit. I think Game Changer-tier modules can only be made by combining multiple high-grade essences.”

Of course, the production process of Game Changer-tier modules was treated as top-secret.

The reason smaller megacorps lined up behind Stingray or Militech was precisely because only those two corporations in this city had the ability to produce Game Changer-tier modules.

From time to time, the chairmen of those corporations would bestow an Lv.5 module like a gift to a smaller megacorp.

To earn such a favor, companies competed in loyalty.

‘After all, just one of those is enough to establish an entirely new colony.’

Naturally, the process was managed so tightly that no hint ever leaked to outsiders.

Even a genius like Miyu, who had taught herself everything, could only struggle through trial and error.

“Multiple high-grade essences, huh…”

“Is it too difficult, you thinkkk?”

Ordinary-grade arcane materials could often be found even in the Black Market of Sector E, but material on the level of the Outer God was nearly impossible for even me to obtain.

‘They’re probably being used in secret labs I don’t even know about, under heavy research and development. How would I ever get my hands on them?’

Unless my father, Chairman Drake Stingray, gave his permission, it was out of the question.

The reason I wanted a new Lv.5 Arcane Module was to prepare a trump card for the day I might one day clash with him.

But how could I possibly say to his face, “Father, I’d like some materials to stab you in the back with, haha”?

Even with the Outer God, it hadn’t been easy.

Pretending to hand over the new material to the Technology Division while secretly diverting part of it was a huge effort.

If word of that reached the chairman, a squad of ninjas might come for my head in the middle of the night.

And not like the ones I’d met at the hotel last time, but the “real deal.”

“Umm… s-so what should we do then? Should we just stick with Lv.4?”

“How many more can you make with the materials left?”

“Regardless of grade, I think about two more. Should I make them all Lv.4?”

“Let me think for a moment.”

I did have two tickets that raised module level by +1.

I could use those to turn Lv.4 into Lv.5.

But honestly, that felt like a waste.

‘What if I could make the first-ever Lv.6 Arcane Module? How could I give that up?’

Impossible.

First, I had to try producing an Lv.5.

Then, I would experiment with using a ticket on it.

If it failed and broke, then I would use the other ticket to upgrade a different Lv.4 to Lv.5.

After a moment’s thought, I made my decision.

“…It can’t be helped.”

I couldn’t ask the chairman.

And sneaking out of the city to hunt monsters and haul back their corpses was practically impossible.

That left only one other option.

‘I’ll head to the Blue Hunting Ground and the Violet Hunting Ground.’

I still had two Hunting Ground Tickets left.

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