Magic Academy's Genius Blinker - Chapter 46
Chapter 46
Gourmet Club (5)
Alterisha’s private lab was attached next to the Alchemy lecture practice room. Most students regarded it as merely a storage room. In fact, Professor Maizen often used it to store teaching aids, essentially turning it into a warehouse.
Yet, Alterisha appreciated even such a place. Compared to her days of secretly experimenting in semi-basements and attics without proper research space, this modest storage room was a blessing, as it offered enough space and no need to hide her research.
The reason she endured Professor Maizen Tiren’s constant bullying and harassment was that she had this cozy little haven of her own.
Here, she could dream of the future.
“Alterisha, hand over the paper you wrote this time.”
When those words were spoken, Alterisha felt the inevitable had come and hung her head.
Professor Maizen Tiren had said, ‘I will give you the opportunity to participate in the conference.’
T h i s w a s c o p i e d f r o m k i n g m t l. o r g
Opportunity.
Yes, it was an opportunity.
A chance for the small alchemist Alterisha to finally spread her wings and soar high.
T hi s was co p i e d f r o m k i ng m t l . o rg
Using the pretext of ‘opportunity,’ Professor Maizen Tiren was holding Alterisha’s wings down, preventing her from taking flight.
However, there was no other option.
“You have another chance next year, don’t you?”
“…Yes.”
T h i s w a s c opi e d f r o m k i n gm t l.o r g
Professor Maizen spoke in an unusually soft tone, as if coaxing a child, like an adult taking away a strawberry-flavored candy from a child.
She was trying to take away Alterisha’s paper.
Alterisha clenched her fists, trembling, but there was nothing she could do.
It had been five years.
Five years? It might as well have been her entire life as an alchemist invested in this research.
She had been happy.
In her semi-basement, in her rented room, in her moldy attic, she felt joy each time her research made even a small step forward.
When she finally completed her paper, it felt like giving birth to a child.
She felt ecstatic, as if she owned the entire world.
But Professor Maizen… she tortured her by giving her hope, only to snatch her child away.
“Do you understand? I’ll help you properly prepare for the presentation next year.”
It was a lie. She wasn’t capable of that. Next year, Maizen would take her results again.
“…Yes.”
But there was only one answer Alterisha could give.
She couldn’t withstand Maizen’s numerous connections and abilities. With one word, Maizen could ensure that Alterisha would never be able to spread her wings in this industry.
“Now, bring it here.”
Alterisha silently organized her paper and handed it over to Maizen, who took it as if merely retrieving a deposited item.
“Oh, and if you bring another prepared paper, I’ll try to get you into this year’s conference.”
Th i s was co p i e d f ro m k i n g m t l. o r g
“…Thank you.”
“Yes, keep striving.”
After Professor Maizen closed the door and left, Alterisha sank into her chair.
A second paper? The next conference was just around the corner. How could she prepare another one in such a short time?
It was just another form of harassment by Professor Maizen.
‘I gave you the opportunity, but you failed to seize it,’ she would say.
T h i s wa s c o p ie d fr o m k i n g mt l. o rg
The realization of that tormented and pained her.
T h i s w a s c o p i e d f r o m k in g m t l . or g
Faced with this harsh reality, Alterisha could only hold her face in her hands.
‘What should I do?’
She had endured so much pain and loneliness until now. But she held on, dreaming of herself flying high in the distant future.
However, she was painfully aware that hope was futile. If she had no hope, she would have given up and felt at peace, but Maizen kept throwing her crumbs of hope, preventing her from giving up.
After so many years, even the most naive Alterisha began to realize that those crumbs of hope were just that—crumbs, impossible to hold onto.
T hi s wa s c o pied f r om k i ng m tl .o r g
Maizen was torturing her with hope until the very end.
If she brought another paper, she would be allowed to participate in the conference.
But…
‘Can I really write another paper?’
She had no confidence.
* * *
As Flame had said, even assistant professors or assistants could be advisors for clubs at Stella Academy.
The reason for this absurdity was that most professors avoided being club advisors out of laziness, leading to a policy change.
Well, it wasn’t bad for me. I wasn’t on good terms with the professors anyway.
Arriving at the Alchemy practice room, I headed for the corner storage room. Though called a storage room, it was practically a lab.
As I approached the storage room and tried to open the door, it opened from the inside, and I made eye contact with Professor Maizen Tiren.
She was holding a thin document envelope at her waist.
“Hello.”
Even though I greeted her, she turned away and went on her way.
However, she didn’t seem particularly displeased, and a faint smile lingered on her lips.
‘What is this?’
Curious, I pushed the slightly open door and entered, finding Alterisha sitting on the floor, startled, picking up scattered papers.
“Oh, oh. You’re here.”
She seemed flustered. Her glasses were smudged, and her eyes were slightly red.
I hardened my expression and walked over to examine the scattered papers on the floor.
“Why, why are you doing this?”
“…Assistant.”
I stared into Alterisha’s pink eyes.
“Where is the paper you said you’d been preparing for so long?”
She smiled foolishly.
“Huh… I gave it to the professor. You know, there’s a conference coming up soon. The professor will use my paper then. It’s a good thing. My research will be presented at a gathering of distinguished alchemists…”
“Sigh, Assistant. That was just taken from you. Does your name even appear on it?”
T h is w as copie d fro m k i n g m t l . o r g
At my words, Alterisha paused momentarily and then smiled bashfully.
“Heh… It’s okay! This is all part of the experience. This industry is like that. I’m not the only one getting taken from. Everyone goes through it.”
Everyone endures it to become an alchemist.
Although she left out the last part, somehow I understood it as if by telepathy.
The academic world of alchemy was incredibly small. The saying that everyone knew each other within two degrees of separation wasn’t for nothing. If she offended a senior alchemist, she might have to give up on becoming an alchemist forever.
She was right.
Everyone went through it. Everyone endured it.
But surely none of them accepted it willingly. They were forced to accept it.
Probably.
This academic conference would have been the moment Alterisha had been waiting for her entire life.
Her research would finally be unveiled to the world! For that single moment, she had endured Professor Maizen Tiren’s bullying and persevered. But Maizen must have said,
‘Just wait one more year. You have another chance next year.’
She accepted it. She was forced to accept it. That was reality. Even if she refused, she couldn’t do anything about it.
‘In the game… this didn’t happen.’
Around this time.
Professor Maizen Tiren would have presented ‘Tiren Point B-Type,’ an idea she had stolen from Aiselle, at the academic conference. But with the future twisted, she had nothing left.
So what? She turned to the closest and easiest alchemist.
That was Alterisha.
‘I shouldn’t be asking her to be the club advisor now.’
Alterisha would follow Professor Maizen and present her research, gaining recognition from all the alchemists there.
More than Maizen’s work.
It was obvious. Maizen’s research was ultimately just a unique twist and an idea, still at a student level. There’s no way the result of years of research by the genius alchemist Alterisha could lose to that.
There, she would gain confidence for the first time.
‘I can continue being an alchemist!’
She would gain the motivation to keep being an alchemist despite the bullying, neglect, and persecution.
T h i s wa s c o p i e d fr o m k ingm t l. o r g
Alterisha was now at her limit. No matter how much she tried to stay positive, her inner walls were so weak that they could collapse at any moment.
I glanced at the blackboard inadvertently.
The ‘Random Aeration Cross Formula’ still left unfinished. Within at least a month, Professor Maizen would complete that legendary formula.
I had intended to let Alterisha complete that formula herself. But seeing her getting robbed repeatedly, I couldn’t take it anymore.
Not only would I retrieve her paper, but I’d also make Maizen eat a big one.
“Assistant. You have another paper you were working on, right?”
T h i s w a s copi e d fr o m k i n g m t l. or g
“Huh, huh? Which one…?”
“The Random Aeration Cross Formula.”
“Oh… That one we were working on together? You know, the Random Aeration problem has remained unsolved for 300 years. There’s no way it can be solved now. I kept trying your unique approach, but it didn’t work.”
“That part where you said you got stuck last time. Didn’t you say it seemed like there might be a way through if you could solve that?”
“Uh? Yes, but…”
“I solved it.”
“…What?”
Alterisha froze at my words. She slowly raised her creaking neck to meet my eyes.
“But no matter how much I solved that part, I couldn’t understand it at all.”
“What… did you say? You really solved it? Really?”
“Yes. Do you want to see?”
Seeing Alterisha nodding up and down, I took a pen from my coat pocket, clicked it, and began writing a simple formula.
As I wrote, Alterisha’s large eyes grew even larger, her mouth opening in a silent scream.
“Oh…!”
She realized something. Unlike me, who merely copied, she, a true genius, was experiencing a flood of images, formulas, and techniques in her mind.
“This can’t be…”
I mustn’t solve this problem. It’s essential for her to submit the paper herself and gain confidence, but also because funding is given to the person who completed the paper.
I had no intention of becoming an alchemist. I didn’t have the ideas or capabilities. I was just pretending to be smart by relying on my glasses and following recorded recipes.
But she was a true genius. One who could change the future of humanity.
“If we add scattering and reflection to Trini’s coefficients and add Panusen’s flow to the equation…”
She seemed to be lost in something, oblivious to my presence. Her concentration was always so astonishing.
Leaving Alterisha to her work, I quietly stood up and closed the door without making a sound.
My role ended here.
End of Chapter
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
LilyAllucard
Cara essa mazen é tão fdp que merdaaaaa