'This wasn't easy...'

I was exhausted!
I hadn’t used a significant amount of strength this time.
It hadn’t taken particularly long either.
But for some reason, as soon as I relaxed, all the tension in my body left, and I felt completely drained.

'But somehow, I managed to succeed.'

I went to the Shadow World through Laura’s mouth.
As soon as I mentioned this, the kids and Silvia opposed it vehemently, claiming it was far too dangerous.
But I was confident it would be alright.

Irene already had a history of dipping several people into the Shadow World and bringing them back.
Seeing that those people didn’t die, I figured I would be fine too.
When I presented this logic, the kids reluctantly agreed, albeit with disapproving looks.

Of course, I didn’t mention that many of those who had gone to the Shadow World hadn’t died but had been left as husks.
In any case, the outcome was safe, so it was all good, right?
Irene didn’t seem particularly fine, though...

'Thanks to taking advantage of Irene’s scheme, I obtained valuable information.'

In the end, I didn’t manage to get the neodymium I was aiming for,
but finding out that Irene never had the neodymium from the beginning was almost like achieving my goal.

The chunk of neodymium had already been absorbed entirely into Aslan’s body.
Normally, only a minuscule amount of neodymium should be absorbed every time an evil god is summoned, but it was taken all at once.
And the result of absorbing that much at once was...

[The evil god, 'Kali,' is urging you to calm our necromancer and dark knight who seem to be restless!]

It was Kali.
The evil god with whom the contract was made using that huge chunk of neodymium.
I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off.

Does that mean Kali has the power of hundreds of evil gods?
Or did hundreds of evil gods initially come to Aslan,
but only Kali remained after fighting over Aslan?

I have no idea.
Maybe each time an evil god is summoned, a random amount of neodymium is absorbed, and I just happened to hit the jackpot during my turn.
There was no need to question the reason for it now.
After all, everything had come to an end.

'In any case, the neodymium is gone now.'

Though I had searched high and low for the neodymium,
the confirmation that it had disappeared brought me relief.
Now, neither Irene nor anyone else would be able to misuse the neodymium.

Yes. This is the end.
The study of black magic ends here.
Just as I was about to swallow the bittersweet aftertaste of this feeling,
I thought...

'...Wait a minute. Is it really gone?'

A chilling thought crossed my mind, and my eyes snapped open.
The chunk of neodymium had turned into black smoke and been absorbed into Aslan’s body.
At first, I believed this meant that a part of Aslan had become that neodymium, and thus it had lost its effect.
But now the possibility arose that it might not be so simple.

'What if the neodymium has been absorbed into my body and is still functioning?'

Aslan had shown great aptitude for magic, to the point of being called a genius in the past.
But at some point, Aslan had become unable to manipulate mana at all.
Not just unable to manipulate it, but the very mana of the world seemed to avoid him.
Could one’s constitution change so drastically overnight?

And one of the properties of neodymium is anti-mana.
In other words, it repels mana from around it.
If that property is still manifesting in my body...?

'I need to research this.'

This isn’t something to brush off lightly.
If my hypothesis is correct, the body I currently inhabit is essentially the neodymium I had been searching for.
Perhaps the study of black magic could continue after all.

Soon there will be an academic conference.
If I don’t want to be embarrassed there, I need to prepare something.
For the research, I’ll need Yulia’s help.
Just as I thought Yulia would definitely help me, I called for her.

“Yulia. I’m going to resume my study of black magic, so please help me...”
“No. You just came back from somewhere super dangerous. After worrying everyone like that, you’re not even thinking about helping the guy who’s flirting with women. ...Right?”
“That’s true! We were so worried! You were supposed to come out by now, and we were so anxious waiting for you that we thought something had gone wrong...!”
“...”

[The evil god, 'Kali,' is chastising you strongly for not taking proper care of our dark knight and necromancer!]

With her arms crossed, Yulia turned her back on me, refusing to look my way.
And Charlotte, unable to hide her excited demeanor, was glaring at me.
Both were giving me reproachful looks.

“Charlotte. Yulia. As you both know, Irene is my sister. It’s not quite right to say I was flirting.”
“Are you really sure she’s your sister? She was hugging Aslan pretty affectionately. ...Right?”
“She was unconscious. In a dazed state, it’s natural to rely on what’s within reach.”
“That, that’s true? When Irene’s in a daze, it’s only natural to get closer since Aslan’s hand is so reassuring.”
“True, Yulia always tries to look mature in front of Uncle, but when she sleeps, she hugs Aslan’s hand as if it’s precious...!”
“Ugh! Be quiet, Charlotte!!!”

I was relieved to see that they seemed to have understood.
I was almost misunderstood because of the awkward situation created by Irene,
but I managed to navigate through it.

What if I hadn’t cleared up the misunderstanding?
Ah, just thinking about it suddenly makes me angry.
I originally planned to forgive Irene neatly and end things on a warm note.
But because of her irritation, that’s not going to happen.

No matter how I think about it, it seems only right to pay an appropriate price.
The problem is what price I should impose...

“Silvia, Charlotte. Move Irene to the carriage.”
“Yes, Lord.”
“Okay!”
“And Yulia. Pretend it was a mistake and instruct the skeleton soldiers to ease their vigilance. Make it seem like Emericy will have enough time to escape.”
“Huh? Why? ...Right?”
“I have a plan.”
“...? ”

To catch a bigger fish, I decided to let out some bait.
I could simply ask Yuri to chase after it.
Since stalking all day is what she learned at the company, she should have no problem doing it.

At that moment, after throwing Irene onto the carriage,
I was reminded of something I had almost forgotten, and Charlotte rushed toward me.

“Ah! Uncle, Uncle!”
“What’s wrong?”
“A reward! Since I worked hard today, I want a reward! I really struggled to break the golem that kept standing with the knight sister!”
“Charlotte’s right, Lord.”

Nodding my head, Silvia spoke with a serious look in her eyes.
Is Silvia also defending Charlotte so she can receive a reward?

“We both worked really hard. So please give a reward to both of us.”
“...”

This girl.
She only wants a reward for herself.
How on earth did this girl become the mentor of heroes and their companions in the original work?
No matter how I look at it, her mental age seems about the same...

“Silvia is fine. What do you want, Charlotte?”
“Why not me?!”
“Hmm! As for me! I have something I thought of in advance!”

With a pleasant sniff, Charlotte sounded excited.
Is she going to ask for something big?
Just as I was getting a bit nervous...

“Aren’t the massage vouchers all used up?”
“There should be exactly two left.”
“Then, if you make an additional ten massage vouchers just for me, I’ll accept it!”
“...Is that a reward?”
“Yes!”

Charlotte nodded enthusiastically, seemingly unaware that something was off.
Is the mere fact that I’m giving her massage vouchers a reward for Charlotte?
It was difficult to understand.
If I poked fun at her, she might change her mind and say, “Oh! You’re right! This isn’t a reward! Then I’ll ask for something else!” so I decided to stay quiet.

“What about you, Yulia? You worked hard late into the night. Don’t you want something?”
“Huh. Isn’t that just natural? I only helped because Aslan was in trouble. If Aslan dies, the person who will free us will be gone. That’s all. ...Right?”
“Thanks. I didn’t know you were such a thoughtful person.”
“Eh? Huh...?”

I thought for sure Yulia would demand money, but she showed unexpected loyalty.
Wasting no time, I accepted and patted Yulia on the head before turning away.

With a relaxed smile, I turned around, but Yulia’s face was flushed with embarrassment.
She looked as if things hadn’t gone according to plan.
Then Yulia, noticing I had moved a good distance away, grabbed Charlotte and began to weep.

“This is what you said would work! You said if I pretended not to want a reward, Aslan would be so proud and give a huge reward!”
“Huh? Well, since he did say you were thoughtful, isn’t that good enough?”
“Nooo...!”

[The evil god, 'Kali,' urges you to reward our dark knight and necromancer fairly for their efforts!]

Even without the push, I planned to reward the kids with new dog bowls.
The ones they had been using were literally for pets, so they were quite inconvenient for humans in many ways.
But this time, I had ordered custom-made dog bowls that would make it easy for people to eat with spoons.
Imagining the children’s happy faces upon receiving the dog bowls made me feel warm inside.