Chapter Two Hundred and Four: The Stage for Assertion 4
“Please wait!”
“Harald, I told you to stay at the alchemy workshop.”
The one who appeared was Harald. For some reason, he was drenched in sweat and out of breath. His face showed a deep fatigue that seemed too much for someone who had just run here, as he climbed onto the stage.
“I’m the party involved in this conflict, right? I couldn’t possibly run away alone and let you stand in the line of fire, Lady Karen.”
“But you’ll get dragged into this.”
Harald would be dragged into an endeavor that Karen was undertaking just because she wanted to. Harald, who had originally possessed almost no magical power, truly was—just as he said—at the center of the storm.
“Lady Karen, you seem to be thinking of using this occasion as groundwork for the future, but wouldn’t winning outright here also be an option?”
“If only that were possible.”
Harald floated a knowing smile and held out his hand to Karen.
“Lady Karen, may I borrow the voice-amplifying magical tool?”
“Marian, that’s okay, right?”
“…Fine, I don’t care. I think it’s a futile struggle, though.”
Harald looked around at the audience while catching his breath.
The atmosphere was quite cold. Since Karen was the one who had chilled the air this much, she felt somewhat apologetic. After taking a deep breath, Harald smiled at the people directing cold gazes at the intruder.
“Everyone, nice to meet you. I’m Harald. My magical power at birth was below F-rank. A magical power gauge couldn’t even measure it. I was what people call ‘magicless.’ Lady Karen was kind enough to employ someone like me.”
The audience stirred with murmurs.
Perhaps somewhere among them, the people Marian had spoken of, who hated the magicless, were watching Karen. The very reason Marian was about to condemn Karen was Harald.
After waiting long enough for the audience’s curious attention to gather sufficiently, Harald drew in a breath and exhaled.
“However, I am now an E-rank alchemist.”
Harald opened the box he had been clutching and showed it to the audience. Inside, the iron brooch that was proof of an E-rank alchemist glittered in the sunlight.
The commotion in the square stopped dead. Karen understood why. Even Karen herself couldn’t grasp the meaning and held her breath.
Unable to process what Harald had said, everyone stood bewildered, as though their breathing had stopped.
“…Harald, what do you mean by E-rank?”
“I just passed the advancement examination moments ago, Lady Karen.”
Harald said while wiping his sweat.
The smile on his face was radiant and overflowing with joy.
“I apologize for keeping it from you, Lady Karen. I had no certainty I could advance and didn’t want to disappoint you. In fact, I failed the first advancement examination. However, perhaps because I used my magical power to its limit at that time, I was able to climb the ranks again.”
Karen had also used up all the magical power in her body during the E-rank advancement examination. But she hadn’t been able to climb the ranks. Yet Harald said he had been able to climb the ranks.
“In the second advancement examination, I somehow managed to become an E-rank alchemist—everyone, I was originally magicless, but my current magical power is E-rank.”
Now that she thought about it, Harald’s height seemed to have grown again. His growth rate was too fast. But even with that growth rate, how could he become an E-rank alchemist with E-rank magical power? Back then, even Karen with D-rank magical power had struggled. And she had been told that even that wasn’t normal.
“Even if one is born without magic, by ascending the steps, it is possible to reach heights like this. People should not be oppressed simply for being magicless. If Lady Karen asserts this, then it must surely be the will of the goddess.”
Saying that, Harald smiled brightly.
He hadn’t attended a commoner school and, naturally, couldn’t read academic papers until now, knowing only what Karen had taught him.
Leaving Harald’s goddess theory aside, he did not understand just how unnatural his growth speed truly was.
Why was Harald’s growth rate so abnormal?
“It’s just a coincidence!”
Marian roared, and Karen was pulled from her thoughts.
“Even if you really were born magicless! If you climbed the steps from there, then you must have put in extraordinary effort, enough to be acknowledged by the goddess as worthy. That’s all there is to it. What does that have to do with you being formerly magicless? Most magicless people in this world can’t climb the ranks at all! The reality right in front of us proves it! Because they aren’t loved by the goddess—that’s why they almost never ascend!”
“That’s not true!”
“If you have objections, use the voice-amplifying magical tool, Karen!”
Scolded by Marian, Karen received the voice-amplifying magical tool from Harald.
“That’s not true, Marian. Even if Harald made efforts, this growth rate is abnormal.”
“So what!? Are you saying that has something to do with him being formerly magicless!? …Don’t tell me it actually does?”
Seeing Marian’s expression change, Karen gasped.
“No! Wait! This is different from the direction I wanted to persuade people in! I wanted to talk about how even if your efforts aren’t the kind the goddess would recognize, they still shouldn’t be treated with contempt…!”
When Karen moved to put down the voice-amplifying magical tool, a shout cut in from the crowd:
“Don’t you dare back out!”
After Karen’s body flinched, she looked at the source of the voice and pursed her lips.
“Why are you even here, Ahim?”
“I heard a rumor that you were doing something stupid, and that someone was dragging you into a debate. I came to see what it was all about. Don’t try to distort reality to suit yourself just because you’re an alchemist. An alchemist’s duty is to uncover the truth!”
At Ahim’s denunciation, Karen bit her lip hard.
She wanted to talk about how desperate efforts were valuable even if the goddess didn’t recognize them. And yet, it felt as though the discussion was drifting toward the logic of the strong.
At the same time, a desire to verify the truth was beginning to sprout within Karen. Because of some vague conviction forming inside her, the sky seemed to press down on her little by little.
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