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Chapter 57
“Really? Then help me out one more time. I’m sick and tired of eating and sleeping on the sofa.”
“That… that’s going to take a massive amount of mana. You’ll need to recharge it often… Will that even be possible?”
Adrian’s face twisted immediately. An ice-attribute magic circle was the worst match for his mana, and right now his mana was rampaging uncontrollably.
Normally, no matter how much mana was consumed, he could have maintained the designed circle, but this time was different.
And he couldn’t exactly go around asking others to recharge his mana every time it ran out.
Even now, just keeping the current magic circle running was giving Adrian a hard time.
For the past few days, Jailyn hadn’t been coming to the clubroom much, and since Stephan wasn’t a mana user, he couldn’t help Adrian.
So Adrian had to literally stop random students on the first floor of the student center and beg for mana.
Most students were reluctant to lend mana, so Adrian ended up wasting a lot of time just finding someone willing.
Only after giving up enough cafeteria vouchers to last a month did he finally manage to borrow mana.
“Wouldn’t it be easier if we just made a magic tool?”
At Stephan’s casual comment, every gaze in the clubroom turned toward him.
“Wh-what? Did I say something wrong?”
Flustered by the sudden attention, Stephan looked around.
“If it’s that easy, why don’t you do it yourself?” Adrian grumbled.
“It’s possible if I have a blueprint! But blueprints for magic tools are different from single-use design circles. To engrave a circle into a tool, you have to separate the design and rewrite it, and that’s not as simple as it sounds.”
Stephan’s tone dropped in frustration.
“How do you separate it? M-maybe I could do it. I can’t make magic tools, but I did study magic tool design.”
At Jailyn’s words, Stephan perked up and began explaining excitedly.
“Then it’s possible! You just need to separate your design so it can be made into a tool. The part to engrave on the magic stone, and the part around the adhesive surface—two separate designs!”
“I-I can manage that much.”
“Awesome! Then let’s go make it right now!”
“R-right now?”
“Yeah!”
“Uh… where?”
“The workshop assigned to us at the start of the semester! That’s where most Magic Engineering students make tools. It’s equipped with the latest devices for it.”
“T-then let’s hurry.”
Jailyn had never once set foot there since being assigned the workshop at the beginning of the term.
She grabbed Stephan, eyes sparkling with excitement at the thought of creating something new.
But their plan was immediately interrupted.
“Now? Jailyn has to help me clean the hive later,” Lionel cut in.
Jailyn’s face instantly fell.
Lionel chuckled faintly, checked his watch, and added,
“Well, there’s still some time. About an hour should be fine.”
“R-really?”
“Yeah. Can you finish within that?”
“Yes, yes! An hour is more than enough. S-Stephan, let’s go quickly.”
“Alright!”
Overjoyed, Stephan dashed to Adrian, struggling to pull him up from the sofa.
“Get up already.”
“What do you think you’re doing? Hands off.”
Adrian irritably shoved Stephan’s hands away.
“We’re making a magic tool for you! You have to come too.”
Stephan put all his weight into pulling, but Adrian didn’t budge an inch.
With just a bit of strength in his arm, Adrian could easily overpower someone like Stephan.
“You can make it without me. Just go and leave me alone.”
“What? Jailyn and I are putting our blood, sweat, and tears into this for you, and you’re not even coming? Adrian, I’m so disappointed. How could you?”
“It’s inefficient. If I leave here, it’ll be hot. And once I’m there, I won’t even have anything to do. Why should I suffer for no gain?”
“Of course you should come! You can cheer us on! Huh? And… well… it’s just the right thing to do, you know?”
Trying his best to persuade, Stephan could only throw out flimsy, sentimental arguments, because logically Adrian wasn’t wrong.
Watching the pointless argument drag on, Lionel finally stepped in.
“You two go. I’ll stay here with Adrian.”
The moment Lionel said that, Adrian shot up from the sofa.
Since Stephan had been bracing with all his weight on Adrian’s arm, the sudden movement caused him to lose balance and fall flat on the floor.
“Hey, hurry up and go.”
Adrian urged him, unwilling to be left alone with someone like Lionel.
He couldn’t scold Stephan for being no match against Lionel—he himself wouldn’t fare any better. Lionel knew exactly how to handle Adrian.
“Can you even make anything here?”
Adrian scanned Stephan’s workbench with a disgusted look.
It was justified. Even to Jailyn, who wasn’t good at keeping things tidy, the state of Stephan’s desk was appalling.
On the first day, it had been spotless. Now it was piled high with books and random items.
Among all the desks in the workshop, Stephan’s stood out the most.
Except for a narrow space about two handspans wide in the center, every inch was cluttered with tools, looking like a bomb had gone off.
“Of course! It’s a bit messy, but masterpieces have been born right here!”
“Masterpieces, my ass. This isn’t ‘a bit messy.’ It’s a disaster. Looks like a thief ransacked the place. Clean it up.”
“Hey, even mess has its own order, okay? Anyway, the most important thing for making a magic tool is the magic stone.”
Stephan rummaged around his cluttered desk, then froze.
“Huh? Where did it go?”
Panicked, he began shoving things aside, making the mess even worse.
“You said there was order. Don’t tell me you don’t even know where it is.”
“Wait, just wait a sec.”
After scratching his head and even rummaging through the drawers, he finally found a small box with a lock. But when he opened it, it was empty.
“What? Not a single usable stone left? Guess I used too many during midterms. What do we do?”
Thinking hard, Stephan pulled out the familiar pouch from the magic stone theft incident.
He peeked inside cautiously, hiding it from view.
“Ugh, they’re all ruined. Not a single one usable.”
Glancing at Adrian, Stephan admitted hesitantly,
“This won’t work. We don’t have any usable stones. We’ll have to go into town this weekend to buy some. Sorry, Adrian—you’ll have to put up with it a little longer.”
Adrian frowned deeply.
“You dragged me all the way here, and now you’re saying to wait until the weekend? Do you want to die?”
“Huh? Why would I die? I was just trying to help you. Right, Jailyn? Maybe we shouldn’t bother making the tool after all?”
Even as an outsider, Jailyn thought Stephan was being insufferably cheeky.
“Wow, seriously. Before you made up with Jailyn, you were sulking like the world was ending, and now look at you, all smug.”
“Say what you want. I did make up with Jailyn! She’s on my side now.”
“What are you, a kid? Claiming sides? There’s a limit to how childish you can be.”
As the bickering escalated, Jailyn hurried to interrupt.
“W-wait! Let’s use my stones. I have some.”
Adrian, who had been fanning his collar at the corner of the workbench to cool down, looked down at her with an uneasy gaze.
He knew exactly which stones she meant—the reward she’d received after catching the magic stone thief.
He had seen how thrilled she’d been to get them, so he hesitated to accept.
Raising one eyebrow, Adrian asked,
“You sure about that?”
“Y-yeah. I have three of them.”
“Oh, perfect! Let’s do that then. Just lend them for now. We can pay you back later.”
Grinning, Stephan clapped Adrian’s back.
“You owe her now. Pay her back later.”
“N-no, it’s fine. They were meant for Adrian anyway. I only got all of them because he let me take them. Even if I use one, I’ll still have two left.”
At Jailyn’s refusal, Adrian said nothing more.
He knew if he insisted on paying her back, she’d just turn him down again. Better to wait for another chance to return the favor.
“…Thanks.”
At his quiet gratitude, Jailyn only smiled softly, as if that was enough.
