Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 16

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I hadn’t lied.
In any case, Ronell’s eyes lit up as she explained that this fabric was something only an incredibly powerful adventurer could obtain. She went on about how it was a treasure that could only be retrieved by entering the domain of Arachne, a high-level magical beast, and that this particular bolt was top-grade—if made into clothing, even a blade wouldn’t pierce it. She claimed that with such durability, not even a needle would penetrate it, requiring special artifacts for tailoring, which would drive up the cost considerably.
“At that point, even a needle won’t go through, so we’d need to use a special artifact. That would make the price a bit….”
“How much?”
“How much were you prepared to spend?”
“Make a joke and I’ll kill you.”
“It would be ten million crowns, customer.”
I’d anticipated as much. Ignoring the reservation queue to craft the item meant some extra effort was required. Handing over this sum would leave me with nothing after paying my Academy tuition, but I figured I could earn spending money through part-time work while traveling before enrollment.
“Understood. I’ll pay in full now.”
“Oh my, customer, you’re so generous!”
“And regarding this poison—we’ll destroy the evidence right here.”
“Thank you, thank you so much!”
I nodded at Ronell, who was bowing gratefully, then turned toward the clerk. I slid the teacup across the table toward him.
“Drink it.”
“Pardon?”
“Once you finish it all, the evidence will be destroyed.”
“Ugh, ugh!”
Ronell jabbed the clerk repeatedly with her elbow, remarking that this was hardly the end of it. The clerk had no choice but to down the tea in one gulp, muttered an apology, and bolted for the restroom.
“I’ll have it ready by the entrance ceremony, I promise!”
“Good. If you don’t, you’re dead.”
“Oh my, customer, you’re quite the jokester!”
“I’m applying to the Department of Magic.”
….
“Combat specialization.”
….
“I killed about seventeen people on the way to the Capital.”
“One week. I’ll definitely have it ready within a week!”
“Thanks.”
Ronell really does provide excellent service. Satisfied with the transaction, I smiled warmly at her and pulled the harpoon embedded in the wall free.
“Oh, I thought my kid had put up some strange decoration, but it was yours, customer.”
“Yeah. I killed seventeen with this.”
“Have a safe journey!”
I waved goodbye to Ronell, who was bowing at a ninety-degree angle, and headed toward a nearby tavern. I asked the proprietor for work but was turned away. Undeterred, I visited twelve more establishments before finding an employer at a spice shop in the Market who would hire me. I worked diligently at the Market until the application period ended.

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“Evan! Safe travels!”
“You’re definitely going to pass the Academy!”
“Evan! Thanks to you, our shop’s sales have skyrocketed tenfold!”
“You can do anything you set your mind to!”
“Thank you so much for helping my dad escape unemployment, big sister!”
I waved goodbye to the market folk and shouldered my travel bag. The fishmonger, the spice vendor grandmother, the errand boy who ran around the market—even the horse I’d ridden from Ilam to the Capital, having grown attached to me during our time together, came out to see me off with its new handler.
“Thank you all. Stay healthy, merchants.”
“If you don’t fix that speech habit, you’ll get ostracized at the Academy!”
“If any nobles give you trouble, tell me! I’ll take care of them!”
“I’m stronger than you.”
“Well, that’s true, but—!”
After shaking hands with the young man from the ice shop who’d worried about me, I waved once more in gratitude and left the market alley. Mages were precious talents even for the Academy, and the Department of Magic had only ten new students alongside the Third Princess and the Golden Oriole Knight—the main couple. Including me, that made eleven, but regardless, the Academy treated mages well.
Once I submitted my application and received acceptance, I’d be assigned dormitory housing immediately and could eat the cafeteria meals. Until now, lacking funds, I couldn’t even send letters to Mother and ate sparingly, but if I could eat the Academy meals, I could eat my fill and build up my body.
I really regretted not having more weight in my fight against Tiger Man. Imagining my muscular, toned body, I boarded the regular carriage heading to the Academy. The Imperial Crowell Academy was located in an isolated area that could only be reached by crossing a vast Freshwater Lake.

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Meanwhile, the Academy Headmaster of the Imperial Crowell Academy received a document from House of Neftis and was wracking his brains over it. No matter how many times he read it, the contents were bizarre. Of course, he was grateful for the substantial donation, but he couldn’t fathom what the Duke intended with such a letter.
“Hmm… what on earth…?”
The Headmaster examined the document once more. On thick, high-quality paper, the Duke’s demands were listed with numbers.
The first was a threat: a stunningly beautiful woman named Evan Laef would be enrolling in the Academy’s Department of Magic, and if he didn’t provide her with conveniences, he’d kill him.
The Headmaster alternated between looking at the photograph brought by someone from House of Neftis and the document. In the photo was a country girl wearing glasses with freckles scattered across her face, silver-blue hair crudely braided into two pigtails—the kind who probably smelled of chicken dung.
“A stunningly beautiful woman?”
People’s tastes certainly differed, but Duke Neftis was hardly one to discriminate based on appearance. When he’d been searching for someone to marry, he’d deliberately chosen the most beautiful among the mages and pursued her relentlessly. Back in his Academy days, he wouldn’t even befriend the Headmaster because he wasn’t handsome—a madman who wouldn’t speak to anyone unattractive.
Moreover, the Duke’s eldest daughter, about whom rumors had spread throughout the Capital that she’d been executed by Crown Prince Seian, was also extremely beautiful. Even if she’d lacked talent for magic, the Duke would have doted on her—she was the prettiest of his children.
“That bastard… why?”
Death threats were familiar enough. Duke Neftis’s mad dog had become so notorious that before Mitchell Neftis made her name, the current Duke himself had quite the reputation as a madman. Honestly, the Headmaster was deeply impressed that such a daughter had been born from that man. Truly, blood doesn’t lie.
And the second threat was: the child had grown up spoiled, not seeing people as people, and if professors didn’t give her good scores because she misbehaved toward them, he’d kill them. It meant to evaluate her purely on ability, setting aside character.
“…”
What kind of personality does this kid have?
If Duke Neftis would say something like this, did that mean this child was even worse than Mitchell Neftis? Where did such a thing come from? Did this bastard secretly father a child outside without his terrifying wife knowing?
The Academy Headmaster, who had been classmates with Duke Neftis during their school days, continued to rack his brains. He’d heard the news that Mitchell died and sent a letter of condolence, but received no reply. So he had a hidden child. The Headmaster was certain of it.
Otherwise, given Duke Neftis’s personality, it would be strange that he hadn’t turned the Imperial Palace upside down. He surely would have roared that our child shouldn’t have to die because of some unknown prince. Yet strangely, he’d been quiet.
Especially seeing the third threat—that if he didn’t make the Department of Magic dormitory meals spicy, salty, and sour, he’d kill him—it was clear that the child born outside was a mage.
Mitchell Neftis clearly still had a long way to go before her magical skills would awaken. But this child seemed to be growing faster than Mitchell. Had the Duke given up on the dead Mitchell and staked everything on this child?
Ultimately, this document meant that Duke Neftis’s mad bloodline was enrolling in the Academy, and if he didn’t bend his back in service, the Duke would bend his backward.
He really hated this. But even if the father was like that, perhaps, just maybe, one in a million chance—the child might be decent. Having grown up without any contact, the child was probably raised only by her mother.
Even without the fourth clause—a threat that if he told anyone about this, he’d be killed—the Headmaster intended to keep his mouth shut.
Because… it must never be known that the Duke, blinded by a descendant with magical talent, had fathered an illegitimate child. It was a matter of the nobility’s prestige, and it was also the Headmaster’s way of looking out for the madman who could be called his old friend.
So the Headmaster made his way to the site where the Department of Magic applicants were taking their practical examination. There, alongside the Examiner, the Academy had prepared a low-level magical beast, and only those who defeated it would pass—this was the Academy’s tradition.
Someone had forged a skill certificate, creating this tradition suddenly ten years ago.
“Evan Laef. Show us what you can do.”
The female student called Evan had already mentally passed and enrolled at the Academy, appearing in her uniform. And she displayed a kindness of heart so pure it was impossible to imagine she shared Duke Neftis’s bloodline.
“I won’t kill animals. They’re pitiful.”
Her speech pattern was a bit odd, but what did it matter? The point was that this girl named Evan possessed a compassionate heart.
Truly, what a gentle soul. But to pass the examination, she had to swallow her tears and eliminate that beast.
“Instead, I’ll kill you, Examiner. Then I’ll pass, won’t I?”
She was insane.
She was definitely Duke Neftis’s bloodline.
Without even asking for consent, Evan Laef cast her magic skill, sending an ice spear whistling forward. She kicked off the wall to gain momentum and delivered a flying kick to the Examiner. He hastily activated a defensive skill, but Evan’s magic and the force of her kick were so tremendous that cracks spider-webbed across the barrier.
“Help! Headmaster! Please save me! Another incident in the Department of Magic!”
“Stop! That’s enough, student! You’ve passed!”
In any case, mages had always been nothing but lunatics, thugs, and socially inept fools. That’s why the Academy had a principle of isolating Department of Magic students in individual dormitory rooms.
“If I’ve passed… can I go to the dormitory and eat meals now?”
“Yes, I’ll issue you a temporary student ID. Go eat as much as you’d like!”
Evan Laef’s face bloomed with a smile. The student who cheered with a “hooray” at the prospect of eating her fill then nodded to the Headmaster and left. Next came Reina Letem, who entered the examination hall, saw its condition, and excitedly asked if there was an ice-attribute mage among the incoming students.
“Who is it?! The ice mage! Where’s the frost mage! Was it the one who just left? No, looking at the power, the previous examinee’s ice might not have melted yet!”
House of Letem, famous for producing only flame mages. So the daughter of that flame count was enrolling this year too. The Headmaster felt tears welling up at the thought of the turbulent times ahead.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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