Chapter 39. The Perfect Freshman
Professor Cailin led the freshmen behind the alchemy workshop.
There, a vast field was spread out.
The freshmen had passed by the field on their way to the alchemy workshop, but they hadn't paid it any mind.
It was the same for Radel.
All he had thought as he passed by was, "Is there someone farming here?"
But when Professor Cailin brought out a bunch of things, a sense of crisis began to set in.
'Aren't those all farming tools?'
As expected, Professor Cailin piled up boxes of hoes and hand trowels in front of the vegetable garden and opened his mouth.
“Now, everyone, take one of these!”
“Pardon?”
Before the freshmen could even have their doubts, Professor Cailin began to speak.
“Someone asked a question earlier, right? Alchemy naturally requires ingredients. Then do you have to buy all the ingredients? No!”
Professor Cailin pointed to the vast field.
“It’s free if you grow it yourself!”
Strangely, even though he had heard a clear answer to his question, a feeling of unease remained in Radel's heart.
There's no way you can grow all the ingredients, right……?
Still, growing them himself seemed like a decent method.
“Of course, I’m recommending growing them because it has various advantages besides cost. The basis of alchemy is gathering ingredients. But gathering them in the wild is often accompanied by various variables. If you grow them yourself, that will happen less often, right?”
There was a point to Professor Cailin's words.
Looking around the field, each section was well-organized, and it was clear that it had been carefully tended.
If they put in this much effort, good herbs would surely grow.
There were some plants that were better to gather in the wild, but it didn't seem like a bad method at all.
“From now on, you will be pulling weeds so that the herbs can grow well. I will be evaluating how well you do, so I hope everyone does their best.”
The expressions of the freshmen who had been hoping against hope darkened.
In particular, Inette, who was standing next to Radel, was trembling as if she couldn't stand it.
“How can I do this? I’ve never done it before!”
It was the same for Leon. He could understand climbing a mountain or catching monsters, but to be told to pull weeds.
His followers' eyes blazed.
“No, how can our prince do such a rough job!”
“Your Highness, please stay still. We will do it for you!”
However, Radel, who was also a royal, was calm.
“If you’ve never done it before, you can try it now.”
It was a simple statement that took the wind out of their sails.
Inette was dumbfounded.
“So you’ve done it before?”
“No?”
Radel shrugged.
He might have in his past life, but he had never done it after being born as a prince.
But there was no need to explain all that.
Radel picked up a decent-looking hoe from the box Professor Cailin had brought.
'It's a relief that they have hoes here too.'
Isn't a hoe the best for fieldwork?
* * *
“H-how can I do this……!”
Edward Paradik clenched his teeth.
His friends had already given up and were pretending to pull weeds, but unlike his weak friends, he had to protect the pride of a great noble.
How can a noble stoop to work?
Edward glared at Professor Cailin, who had ordered such a ridiculous thing.
He only glared when Professor Cailin wasn't looking, for fear of getting a warning if their eyes met, but he tried to act as noble-like as possible.
It was all to protect the pride of a great noble.
No matter how unpleasant it was, he had to avoid getting his admission canceled!
'Right. It's ridiculous to be kicked out of the academy after coming this far.'
Edward recalled the days he had struggled to get into the Imperial Magic Academy.
The time he had screamed because the problem the professor had given him in the entrance exam was too difficult. The time he had turned into a toad on the first day of school for trying to maintain the dignity of a noble.
He was even sharing a 6-person room with commoners.
Edward had a huge bedroom of his own in every mansion of his family. Living with other people in a room smaller than a bathroom was torture.
He had endured such humiliations and somehow held on, but he couldn't get a warning for something like this.
In the end, Edward grabbed a hand trowel and squatted down.
As soon as he sat down, he felt his back ache.
“You’re here?”
“Edward’s here. See, give me 1 gold.”
“Tsk, I thought you wouldn’t come.”
It seemed his friends had made a bet on him.
Even though they were the children of great nobles, they were only seventeen years old.
Edward sighed at the sight of his immature friends.
He had to be the one to keep his head on straight.
'What are the royals doing?'
If it was this hard for him, a noble, there was no way the royals, who were of a higher status, would be okay.
As expected, the 9th Prince was sitting still, surrounded by his followers.
It was befitting of the 9th Prince, who had the strongest faction among the royals who had entered this year.
Although his mother, the 5th Imperial Consort, had passed away in an unfortunate accident, his maternal family, the Silvert ducal family, was firmly supporting the 9th Prince.
In contrast, the 8th Prince, who had manifested his Ability late and had no notable faction, had long been abandoned by the Silvert ducal family.
It was information that any noble who was even slightly aware of the rumors could not not know.
According to the rumors, he had recently had something with the Supreme Deity Order, but…….
'What am I thinking!'
Edward was surprised at himself for thinking about the 8th Prince.
It was better not to think of such an un-royal-like prince. It only made him angry for no reason.
'Any noble would be angry if they saw that.'
That's right.
Edward, without realizing it, had found the 8th Prince in the wide field.
The sight of him pulling weeds at a tremendous speed in the distance.
The sight of him working better than a commoner.
When he had first glanced at him, Edward had thought that commoners were indeed good at work.
His father was right. The empire would run properly only when commoners were like commoners and nobles were like nobles.
But when he looked again, he was not a commoner but a royal.
He was unlucky.
Isn't it wrong for a royal to be like this?
Then what does that make the nobles?
Edward felt the need to clearly advise the 8th Prince, who was so un-royal-like.
That was also the duty of a noble.
* * *
“Is this your first time doing this? Why are you so good at it?”
Inette was dumbfounded.
“As expected of His Highness.”
Gusto praised him.
“Oh, I can do it now that I’ve tried.”
And Radel was pulling weeds with an ease that surprised even himself.
In fact, the last time he had dug up plants like this was when he was gathering herbs that grew wild in dungeons.
Compared to digging them up in the harsh environment of a dungeon, the weeds growing in the soft ground felt very easy.
"Why can't I do it?"
Inette, who had been angry at first, saying how could she do this, was now pulling weeds quite seriously.
Her followers had a lot to do with this.
Even now, as Inette was struggling with a weed, they immediately rushed over.
“Princess! We will do it!”
“That’s right! If you just give the word, we will pull it out at any time!”
“To get dirt on your precious hands!”
Radel and Gusto, who were taking a class with Class A for the first time, were unfamiliar with such a sight.
It was certainly understandable why Inette was fed up.
“Didn’t I tell you to get lost! Just you wait if you come back!”
Inette, who had once again growled and chased away her followers, sighed.
“See? It’s always like this.”
“You’re having a hard time.”
"Just teach me how to pull weeds. It feels like they'll come back again at this rate."
Radel nodded and pulled out a weed.
“It’s important to pull out the whole root. Don’t pull the side that has spread in the ground, but grab the center and pull it out in one go.”
Inette, who had tried it a few times after listening to the explanation, seemed to have gotten the hang of it, as her speed became faster than before.
“You said you couldn’t do this, but you’re good at it.”
Radel praised Inette without stopping his hands.
When doing such simple labor, you had to make idle chatter to have the energy to work.
"If you can do it, why can't I?"
Inette said bluntly as she pulled a weed.
"Well, if it were the old me, I might not have done it."
At Inette's quite honest words, Gusto nodded and chimed in.
“You’re saying you’ve changed after meeting His Highness. I understand. It was the same for me.”
“Can you not feel a sense of camaraderie over something like this?”
Inette shuddered and threw a weed at Gusto.
But a notification sound was ringing in Radel's ear.
Tiring.
[The subject's Affinity has surpassed 10.]
Since Gusto's affinity had long surpassed 50, this notification was undoubtedly Inette's affinity.
This was a truly unexpected result.
He hadn't thought that Inette would open up her heart.
Radel smiled, feeling that he had gained a little trust in the world of royals who killed each other.
And there was someone looking at Radel with surprised eyes.
It was Professor Cailin.
'At that level, he could skip pulling weeds and I could teach him the next step.'
Professor Cailin's plan was to have them struggle a bit with pulling weeds at first, then get the hang of it by the second or third time, and then get used to fieldwork enough to be able to pull up herbs.
No matter how much money you had, alchemy was a field where you were bound to feel the limits of obtaining ingredients. The ability to grow herbs and obtain ingredients on their own was very important for an alchemist.
But to think there was such a perfect freshman.
Professor Cailin, who was watching Radel, shouted at the freshmen.
"It's going to rain this evening, so let's move faster!"
* * *
Swoosh.
As Professor Cailin had said, it started to rain in the evening.
Radel, just in case, had checked the waterways and fixed the drainage channels again before entering his tent.
Seeing the rain, he thought he had done well to prepare in advance.
Thanks to that, he was able to sit in his tent with a comfortable mind and review what had happened today.
'I was lucky to find out about the scan magic.'
When he had happened to meet Professor Marianne and was able to ask a question, what came to Radel's mind was the scan magic.
He felt he had to know exactly what kind of magic it was.
According to Professor Marianne, scan magic was not magic to find out information about the opponent. It was magic whose purpose was to find out the items the opponent was carrying.
'Items…….'
Radel had to revise his judgment of the guy. He thought that maybe he wasn't a follower of a royal.
He had naturally thought he was trying to find his weakness, but he was after his belongings? Then was he a prospective robber?
But among the things Radel had, there was nothing that anyone would covet.
Although he was a royal, he didn't have any luxury items to boast about, nor did he particularly cherish anything.
"What do I have?"
Radel muttered and searched his pockets.
A beginner's magic wand, some marshmallows he had left just in case, the consent form he had used for admission, and so on…….
Then, his hand caught on something.
Radel took it out and held it up to the light of the magic lamp.
It was Armandy's notebook.