Fairy Tale Chronicles - Volume 5-Chapter 8.1

Volume 5 Chapter 8.1

「So it’s today, huh？」

「I wonder what we’ll see？」

The very day of Hiroshi’s special lesson, Rufeus Academy was enveloped in a restless atmosphere.

「Hey, Teres-san？」

The Western History classrooms were also filled with a tense air, despite not being related in particular to this field. Several students approached Teres uneasily.

「Uhh, if you’re asking about Boss Man’s special lesson, we haven’t reached that level of proficiency yet so he hasn’t taught us any of what he intends to speak about in his lecture……」

「Huh? Really？」

The students’ eyes opened wide at hearing this. Teres and the others were the first members hired to become part of Azuma Workshop, so they had expected them to be more knowledgeable in this particular area.

「I mean, we haven’t even been part of Azuma Workshop for a year.」

「Boss Man gave us a place to stay, and that was November of last year!」

Teres and Lime came out with this new information, and the students were so shocked that they lost any words they were about say. In order to reach the proficiency that these girls had in potionmaking, one would typically expect a longer time working in the aforementioned field.

「Besides, it was September of last year that the workshop even opened up as an independent workshop.」

「So the workshop hasn’t even been around for a year……」

「No, it hasn’t.」

By this point, the students couldn’t even find words. How did these people manage to infiltrate their way into the royal houses of the Three Great Western Kingdoms, and on top of that build another branch of their workshop in Rufeus? These average students simply didn’t get it.

「That…has to be a joke, right……？」

「I’m with you on that one, but unfortunately, Nora and I were also involved in establishing the workshop……」

「I think majesty, or excellence, or whatever name those people had can prove it, mhm!」

The more they heard, the more the students knew how crazy this story was. While inclined to stop listening, there was still one student who couldn’t contain their curiosity, timidly asking Lime a question.

「Hey, Lime-chan? This “majesty” you just mentioned…you’re not talking about His Majesty the king, right？」

「His majesty the king? Yup, that’s the word I was looking for!」

Lime responded in a cheerful voice, and the student felt a sudden sense of dizziness as they sank down into their chair. Of course Lime would never lie about something just to show off; the student knew that from being with her this long, hence why they lost their composure.

「Yes, I’m afraid to say that Boss Man and the others are what we call Guests from the Unknown Continent and have only been here for about a year. So it’s physically impossible for them to have had a workshop for over a year. Wulls even has record of this.」

「Oh, so they’re from the unknown continent. It makes sense that they would have extraordinary power, then.」

「Although seriously, we also want to know just how these people got mixed up in all these dangerous feuds and how they keep calling trouble to their side……」

Teres had a faraway look in her eyes, and everyone else fell silent for a loss of words.

「Well, that’s how it is. There’s still a lot we don’t understand, and Boss Man hasn’t told us anything about the lesson.」

「Lime did hear that you hafta make a class six potion without failure or something.」

「And we barely got to Class Seven, so we’re not nearly qualified.」

「Lime only got to class eight. They told Lime that class seven is a no-no.」

「No no no！！」

Several students of the potionmaking course blurted out all at once. Being able to make Class Seven potions in under a year or being able to make Class Eight potions despite not even being six years old was seriously insane.

Besides, if you could make potions that easily, Class Seven potions would certainly not be 500 Chrones. Being priced like that in the first place meant it was low in supply due to being difficult to produce.

「Well, ahem, anyhow.」

Teres perfectly understood what the students meant to say, but simply got back to the previous topic with a grimace. Derailing the conversation at this point would prevent them from continuing it.

「We may be part of Azuma Workshop, but we aren’t mysterious visitors like the rest of the members, so we are mere not anywhere close to the level of the students of Rufeus.」

「We still can’t do any of the tough stuff!」

The potionmaking students found themselves stricken with a form of grief when they heard Teres and Lime’s follow up statements. Truth be told, they had yet to even reach Class Eight proficiency, let alone Class Seven.

「……I lost to a five year old. I…I lost to a five year old at potionmaking……」

「……Don’t worry about it, man. My classmates haven’t even beaten her.」

「……But y’know, even if elves are long-lived and have lots of experience, to lose so thoroughly to an elf who’s only been at it for nine months just makes me want to cry……」

「Hm, oh, but wait! Lime-chan may be special, but look at her older sister Fum-chan. She’s seven years old and made it as an official member of Azuma Workshop. So, maybe……」

One of the downtrodden potionmaking students realized something forbidden. But then, as they turned to Teres and Lime with this strand of wishful thinking in their eyes,

「Sorry. Fum is the same level as me and has no trouble with Class Seven potions.」

「Yup, Sis always gets compliments on how skilled she is for her age.」

An extremely apologetic Teres and a cute, smiling Lime put a merciless end to the student’s lingering hope.

「……Just what have we been studying until now……」

「Is it me, or is Rufeus Academy’s beginner potionmaking starting to look kind of shady……？」

「I don’t know if I can even continue like this……」

Teres’s honest explanation seemed to have thoroughly robbed the potionmaking students of any lingering motivation. Stubbornness or pride was one thing, but to break someone’s will was truly overdoing it, and everyone looked at Teres with reproach.

「Uhh, well, Azuma Workshop is the kind of environment where you need to discard common sense among other things, so you might say we only made it this far because we had no choice but to put up with it, given our situation. I just thought that perhaps regular individuals would find the environment to be a little on the harsh side……」

「Yup, and you also have my big bro Tatsuya and my big sis Makoto who go out to hunt monsters every day whenever they have free time. And that’s our food every day. And they bring back many strange ingredients. And we eat many monsters that most people don’t eat.」

「Yes, well Lime, discarding common sense isn’t limited to just that, you know.」

The more they heard about Azuma Workshop, the more the students questioned what in the world was going on, but in the end, fearing they might bring unnecessary trouble upon themselves again, none of the students would be pursuing this any further.