“Hn, hnn…”
Angel groaned a little as her body trembled, and she looked up.
Her vision and mind were blurry, but once she realized she was tied to a chair, her consciousness quickly awakened and she thought back to what happened to her.
“That’s right, I…!”
The previous day, after watching Yuugo’s duel with Isaac, she went back to the studio to study the flaming armor… And do one more thing.
She had an idea of who might have tended to the magic swords Isaac used in the duel… And was going to talk to him.
Why not ask Isaac about it? She wanted to investigate the studio to see if she could find any sort of clues, for Yuugo’s sake as well… But then she saw it.
The place was mostly deserted because of how many students had collapsed recently, and in the middle of the studio, she saw a few swords. They all matched what she heard about magic swords from Yuugo, and just as this shock was hitting her… Someone attacked her and she lost consciousness.
And now that she was bound and thinking back to the chain of events that brought her here, the one who abducted her appeared.
“Hey Angel…! You’ve been sleeping like a baby for a while now. You shouldn’t work so hard, kukuku!”
Behind that fake concern was obvious scorn, and the male student smiled and let out a sound from the back of his throat.
Angel glared at him while bound to the chair, and spoke to him with an unpleasant expression while groaning.
“You’re behind this… Neid!!”
“Ah, no point hiding it anymore… You’re right. I’m the one who’s been making the magic swords that have been sparking incidents.”
Neid Garn… A student of the technical department with good enough skills to not be outdone by Angel.
He was close enough to Isaac to basically be his exclusive technician, and after he casually revealed he made magic swords, Angel’s face twisted as she continued.
“Why…? Why did you…!?”
“I think how is more important than why, don’t you? Aren’t you curious about how I made magic swords?”
He said while showing off a dark red hammer.
It seemed to be enveloped in the same magic energy the magic swords had, but with an even darker color. He dangled it in front of Angel as he spoke.
“Making magic swords is easy, you just have to hammer swords with this, and infuse them with strong negative energy. And once you add the vital energy of some random person, it’s done. Simple, right?”
“Vital energy? Is that why students of the technical department have been collapsing!?”
“Haha, bingo! Unlike you, I’m practically worshiped by those people, so if I ask them to take a few swings with a sword I made, they all gladly do it! They have no idea their vital energy is being sucked away! Hahahahahahaha!”
“…Do you have any idea what you’re doing? You’re betraying your colleagues and spreading fear in this city! How can you laugh at that!?”
Neid laughed loudly while confessing his crimes, which fanned the anger inside Angel. She yelled at him, which caused his laugh to suddenly cool off, and him to turn to her with a cold expression.
“That’s not right, Angel…! I didn’t betray anyone, I was betrayed. And people here will thank me. I did what I did for a legitimate reason!”
“What do you mean? What are you scheming…!?”
Asked Angel, wondering about this legitimate reason of his and how he saw himself as the victim.
Neid responded with some passion in his voice.
“You agree, don’t you Angel? Magic item technicians are too low on the totem pole compared to magic knights. You can see that by looking at people in the academy. Only extremely talented people like you and me get praised, while everyone else gets ignored.
It’s not like magic knights, who are looked at with respect no matter how rotten they are at the core. They reveal their ugly natures by taking materials from each other just to climb the ladder, and yet, everyone sees them as upright and just knights.”
“…So?”
“The person who gave me this hammer said to put that anger I felt into making magic swords. The first one I made was the one used in that mugging incident a while back. But… That one was incomplete and too weak. A failed creation. The materials weren’t that good either, but the real reason was that my negative emotions weren’t strong enough.”
He said, as he looked at his empty left hand as if reminiscing.
And as Angel watched him with caution, he began to speak about his mental state.
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