Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/822139844414118669/episodes/2912051595333098443
As I stepped out of the infirmary, the afternoon sun was shining down on the cobblestones.
The school grounds were as bustling as ever.
Students with bandages were walking around, and teachers were moving back and forth between buildings, some leading students by the hand, others carrying stacks of documents. In front of the infirmary, a long line had formed—perhaps of students waiting to have minor injuries treated.
Glancing at the scene, I made my way into the main school building.
“Lord Rai, what business do you have…?”
Liene, walking beside me, asked curiously.
“I just need to go to the workshop district for a bit…”
In the royal capital of Astrea, there is a district where workshop facilities are concentrated.
There were blacksmiths and alchemy workshops for adventurers near the city entrance. Separate from those, there was a workshop district prepared specifically for academy staff.
Magical item creation, blacksmithing, alchemy, and more. Experts in every field are stationed there full-time, crafting equipment and items to aid in dungeon exploration and providing technical instruction to the students.
Conquering dungeons isn’t something that can be done with just swords and magic.
Maintaining and enhancing weapons, restocking and crafting consumables, researching and developing useful magical items—it is only with this behind-the-scenes support that students can set out to conquer dungeons.
(……Even in the game, I relied on them constantly from the beginning to the very end.)
Starting with enhancing equipment at the forge, to crafting high-grade healing potions through alchemy.
Then there’s the development of useful tools at the magical artifact lab—there were few moments during our dungeon runs when we didn’t rely on these places.
Thinking about all that, I used the direct teleportation magic circle to move to the workshop district.
My vision flashed white for an instant, and the next moment I was standing beneath a blue sky.
Workshops of all sizes lined both sides of the cobblestone street.
High-pitched metallic clangs echoed from the smithies, and colorful lights spilled from the windows of the alchemy workshops. In front of the magical item shops, strange devices and prototypes were haphazardly displayed, and figures who appeared to be craftsmen and researchers bustled back and forth—sometimes alone, sometimes accompanied by students.
“It’s amazing…”
“It sure is. It’s just like a craftsmen’s district.”
Agreeing with Liene, who murmured that beside me, I continued walking straight down the street.
Glancing at the craftsmen and students passing by, I walked for a while before the workshop I was looking for came into view.
“Clauser Workshop”—the wooden sign bore those words in simple lettering.
“Is this… the workshop run by Rio’s grandfather?”
“Yes.”
A magical artifact research workshop famous even in the capital.
It was the research workshop of Albert Clauser, the great man who laid the foundation of the magical civilization.
(…It’s exactly the workshop I saw in the game.)
Compared to the other research workshops lining the street, this building alone had a different atmosphere.
Many of the surrounding workshops had been hastily constructed to coincide with the dungeon expeditions over the past year. There were quite a few buildings that looked as though they’d been hastily cobbled together from scraps of wood.
In contrast, this workshop…
The stone walls were weathered by wind and rain, faded in places. The roof tiles were well-worn, and the letters on the signboard had faded slightly over the years.
It had been here for a very long time.
It had that kind of calm, settled presence.
“Lord Rai. What brings you here?”
Just as I was about to answer Liene, who asked this while tilting her head slightly—
“What! You don’t have to talk to me like that!!”
The girl’s angry shout echoed from inside the workshop.
I stopped in my tracks, and the next thing I heard was the calm voice of an old man.
“Rio… Listen to me. I was just… trying to—”
Was this… the middle of an argument?
Just as I thought that, the workshop door burst open with a “Bang!!”
“Enough already!”
The girl who burst out was someone I recognized.
She wore leather goggles on her head and carried a huge backpack that towered over her. Wearing a lab coat over her uniform, with her dark brown hair in a ponytail, she came out shaking the small toolbox she held in her hands violently. She spun around roughly on the spot and
“Grandpa… I absolutely hate Grandpa!!”
She shouted the words as if spitting them out, then ran toward me.
Rio slipped past me and Liene like the wind, running straight down the street without looking back even once.
As if to say she didn’t want to stay here even for a second.
“……”
For just a moment, a strange silence fell.
Standing frozen in front of the workshop, I stared in the direction Rio had run off in.
“Was I too late?”—the thought crossed my mind.
“……Rio was really angry, wasn’t she?”
“Yeah, I guess so……”
As I replied to Liene beside me, I turned my gaze toward the workshop entrance.
There stood an old man, staring blankly in the direction Rio had run off in with his dull, jade-green eyes.
His hand resting on the edge of the doorway, he muttered softly, “It’s not like that, Rio…” His expression was one of profound sorrow. That figure was a far cry from the image of the renowned statesman known throughout the capital.
He simply stood there, having been rejected by his grandson, unsure of what words to say. To me, he looked like nothing more than a lonely old man.
“…Lord Clauser.”
When I spoke to him, the old man—Albert Clauser—shuddered.
Then, as if finally noticing my presence, he blinked behind his round glasses and lowered his eyebrows awkwardly.
“I’m sorry. I’ve made a spectacle of myself.”
“No…”
Liene replied hesitantly.
I turned my gaze toward the open workshop door. Inside were neatly arranged workbenches, tools hanging on the walls, and magic stones and metal parts stored on shelves. Near the entrance, several small screws were scattered on the floor—likely from him rushing out in a panic.
It seemed a heated argument had been taking place in here just moments ago.
Silence hung heavy in the air. Albert glanced back into the workshop once, then let out a small sigh.
“…A request to create a magical artifact?”
Saying that, he turned back to face me.
But his expression was somewhat subdued. Normally, he would have had the face of a craftsman welcoming a visitor, but right now, he clearly wasn’t in the mood for that.
“I’m sorry, but as you can see… I’m a bit swamped today.”
With an expression that was barely a wry smile, Albert continued.
“If it’s not urgent, I’d appreciate it if you could come back another day…”
He bowed apologetically, and I shook my head slightly.
“It’s not a commission.”
“…?”
Albert raised his eyebrows slightly.
“We’re Rio’s friends.”
The moment he heard those words, Albert’s expression shifted ever so slightly.
“…That girl’s?”
“Yes. Rai Arkberg from the Royal Arcadia Academy of Magic—we’re both in S-Class.”
Liene beside me also bowed her head slightly.
“I’m Liene. Rio and I sometimes have lunch together.”
Albert studied our faces for a moment.
Then, as if all the tension had suddenly drained from him, he smiled.
“…I’ve heard about you. That kid who’s always holed up in her workshop would occasionally mention you two. She’d say there was a ‘Super-Strong Magic Monster’ and a ‘girl who looks like a puppy.’”
“P-Puppy…?”
I didn’t really think much of it, but Liene next to me looked completely dumbfounded.
Then she looked up at me. Her face seemed to say, “Do I really look that much like a dog?”
“Actually, Liene does have a bit of a dog-like quality.”
“Wha—!? D-do I really have that kind of thing!?”
“Yeah. —Like how you get in a good mood when I pet your head like this.”
As I said that and gave her head a pat, she closed her eyes slightly for a moment, looking as if she enjoyed it.
After a while, she opened her eyes wide as if she’d just realized something. It seemed she’d come to realize herself that she really was “puppy-like.”
Seeing her like that, I stifled a laugh, turned my gaze back to Albert, and spoke quietly.
“…May I ask you a few questions?”
At that, Albert faltered for just a moment.
But then, as if resigning himself to it, he gave a small nod.
“…Sure, why not. Standing here isn’t very comfortable—come inside.”
Following his lead, I stepped into the workshop.
It was even more spacious inside than it had appeared from the outside.
In the center stood a large workbench, its surface completely covered with magical artifacts in the process of being disassembled, blueprints, and tiny parts. In the back, a device that looked like a magic furnace hummed softly, and along the walls, tools organized by purpose hung neatly on racks.
It was a bit of a jumble. Yet, strangely, it didn’t feel cluttered.
It was a space that seemed to embody the very traces of years of research and trial and error that had been accumulated here.
“Have a seat.”
At his invitation, we sat down on the round chairs placed in the corner of the workshop.
Albert himself did not sit in the chair across from us; instead, he remained standing in front of the workbench, silent for a while—
“…Well, where should I begin?”
Eventually, he opened his mouth and began to speak.
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