Chapter 36 – Making a Name (4)

There was a thunderous cheer that shook the ground.

I instinctively knew what I had to do at this moment.

“Please lead us to a hopeful future!”

“Aylen Vale, I will cheer for the path you will walk.”

“May the blessing of the Sun God dwell within you…”

As I stopped in my tracks, turned around, and bowed, voices blessing me could be heard from all over.

Hope, salvation, leader, the blessing of the Sun God…

‘I finally understand why people want to become magic engineers, and why they consider it an honor to become one.’

It was not a low-level satisfaction, like a sense of superiority from having a profession that only a tiny minority could obtain.

It was also not that I felt catharsis from the envious gazes of people who looked up to me now, whereas they had ignored me when I was a yellow-bander.

This was, so to speak…

‘I have become another ember for them.’

The Eternal Embers, which the ice age humanity had relied on for their entire lives.

It was a self-felt holiness or a sublime sense of duty, knowing that I had now officially taken on a role equivalent to that.

However, the thrill of feeling as one with everyone here at this very moment would not be mine alone.

That was what the birth of a magic engineer was like.

By the time I deeply understood what a magic engineer meant to people.

“…Aylen Vale, I have come to keep my promise.”

The man who had poured abuse on me, Ian Draco, appeared before me on his own feet.

“You didn’t run away.”

“Because I promised.”

“A promise… Or was it that you couldn’t escape?”

I was pointing out the situation where he couldn’t do so.

We had exchanged our names and origins in the presence of a hundred people who watched as witnesses of the bet.

Furthermore, Ian Draco was from the third ember, the Ember of Progress, and everyone in the exam hall would remember that name.

“You won’t believe me anyway, but even if no one were watching, I would have stood before you of my own free will.”

“Let’s be clear. It’s not that I don’t believe you, but that you are untrustworthy. You aren’t going to say you forgot your frivolous behavior at the exam site, are you?”

“…No way. I am also a guy who knows what shame is.”

Thinking that saying any more would only make him look uglier, Ian Draco silently took something out of his chest pocket and held it out.

It was the single gold coin and the exam slip he had wagered.

“Here is the promised gold coin and exam slip. Take it quickly. I don’t want to show an ugly side of myself any longer.”

“…”

Ian Draco’s outstretched hand did not tremble. The same went for his eyes that met mine without shame.

This was the case even though the exam slip was absolutely necessary for issuing the license.

‘Seeing him hand this over, did this guy pass the qualification exam too?’

Ian Draco had put up two wagers.

One was his life, and the other was the single gold coin and the exam slip he held out now.

However, offering his life was for the case if he failed the exam, so seeing him hand over the exam slip, he must have passed the exam just like me.

“Hmm…”

But what difference was there between an exam slip and a life?

Now that I had learned what it meant to become a magic engineer, I could not distinguish the difference between the two.

And around that time, a great commotion broke out among the crowd who understood the unfolding situation.

“I heard he made a bet with that top-scoring magic engineer, wagering his exam slip. The top scorer reportedly wagered his life?”

“What? A bet over an exam slip? What on earth does that guy think a magic engineer is?”

“His name is Ian Draco, from the Ember of Progress. It seems he passed too, though? Did they say his rank was forty-something…?”

In the crowded space, what transpired between the two spread in an instant.

Although Ian Draco was also a successful candidate, everyone began to criticize him.

However, he merely fell silent with his head lowered, as if to humbly accept the people’s contempt, jeers, ridicule, and criticism.

It was then that I swiftly snatched the gold coin and the exam slip from his hand.

“I will take these.”

It was not out of pity or sympathy, thinking he was pitiful or regrettable for becoming a public target.

For he had clearly crossed the line in the exam hall.

However, I did not drag out the time any longer simply because I did not want to see even his sincerity to become a magic engineer disparaged.

“With this, the promise is kept. Do what you want with the exam slip. Since I wagered a magic engineer as stakes, I have no right to become a hope…”

To Ian Draco, who spoke thus and turned around without lingering regret, I asked.

“Why was it now?”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean, why did you have to hand this over at this specific time and place?”

It was true that we agreed to settle the bet today, but we had not set a specific location or time.

Rather than in front of the Department of Magic Engineering where countless people would watch, he could have sought me out at a suitable time and place… That was what I was asking.

Stopping in his tracks and turning back toward me, he spoke.

Disappointingly, it was no grand reason.

“Because that wouldn’t be manly.”

“…”

“I wanted to be honorable. To myself, and to the ember that raised me.”

Right. Since Ian Draco had already publicized the bet with me, he thought finishing it in front of everyone would leave a clean aftertaste.

If he fulfilled the promise where no one was watching, rumors might spread that ‘the applicant from the Ember of Progress’ who lost the bet to the yellow-bander had run away.

But if he fulfilled the promise in front of everyone, it would end with ‘Ian Draco,’ who lost the bet to the top-scoring magic engineer, failing to become a magic engineer.

He had made sure the arrows of criticism resulting from his own mistake would point to himself, not his ember.

“So, are you a bit more honorable now?”

“I don’t know about that… but my mind is at ease.”

“And you don’t regret it?”

“It would be a lie to say I don’t regret it. But there is always next year’s exam. Since I passed once, why couldn’t I do it twice? It is merely a year’s delay.”

He spoke as if it were nothing, but it was not a bluff. Ian Draco would likely pass next year’s exam too.

Since I had heard earlier that he ranked fortieth.

However, he would not be able to become a magic engineer a year later.

Because I had decided so.

“Take it back, Ian Draco.”

“Are you pitying me? As for the gold coin, it’s fine. I already have plenty of mon—”

“Who told you to take the gold coin? You’re quite slow in these situations. Or are you pretending to be?”

“…!”

Ian Draco’s eyes, which had maintained composure after letting everything go, widened in shock.

He only stared back and forth between me and the exam slip with an incomprehensible look.

“Why…?”

“It is just a sheet of paper with no use or value to me. Take it before I change my mind.”

Returning the exam slip was not an emotional decision.

It was a decision entirely for my future.

‘A time, place, and story this appropriate do not come by often. I have to build my image while I can.’

The time, which was the day of the results announcement.

The place, in front of the Department of Magic Engineering where a crowd gathered.

And the story of the winner of a bet showing mercy to the loser.

There was no better opportunity to boost my reputation as both a magic engineer and a human being than this.

“It was too misleading to say it was entirely your fault. Above all, taking away a year from a talented magic engineer over a single mistake is not only a great loss for all of us, but as someone walking the same path, I also do not favor it.”

I gave Ian Draco a reason that would justify him shamelessly taking back the exam slip.

Since he was smart enough to pass the qualification exam, he must have understood what I meant.

“Aylen, you…”

Above all, what I just said was not entirely empty words.

In fact, out of nearly seventeen thousand applicants, fewer than a hundred passed.

And Ian Draco was ranked forty-something, so he was indeed a talented fellow.

‘Though it’s a bit ambiguous… it’s higher than the average, so I can say that, right?’

Anyway, it would be a huge loss for humanity if such a guy were delayed for a year.

As if agreeing with my words, the people also began to nod and praise my great generosity.

This meant my calculation was perfectly correct.

“Thank you… truly. I will not forget this grace even in death.”

When Ian Draco took back the exam slip, cheers and applause even erupted.

The top-scoring yellow-bander.

The loser from an influential ember.

Humanity’s communal tolerance and mercy transcending personal grudges…

From their perspective, there would have been no spectacle quite like this.

However, since the finale of a hefty reward still remained.

“Will you really not forget it even in death?”

“There is no way I would lie at this moment, is there?”

“Then hand over a few more gold coins. You said earlier that you have plenty of money, right? I think about five would do.”

“F-five…?”

“Ah, I misspoke. A grace that cannot be forgotten even in death, yet a mere five gold coins. I underestimated your feelings too much.”

“So, how many…?”

“I wouldn’t know that. Shouldn’t you give as much as the size of the grace you hold, ‘prospective magic engineer’ Ian Draco?”

This punk, trying to wipe his mouth with just a thank you after receiving a free pass to become a magic engineer.

“W-wait. I’ll go to my friends for a moment.”

“Sure, I won’t go anywhere and will be right here, so come back quickly.”

Indeed, giving one and receiving several times more in return.

This could be called the method of a master… no, a scoundrel.

* * *

“This is all of it.”

“…Didn’t you say you were from the Ember of Progress?”

“T-this really is all of it!”

“Alright. Got it. See you later.”

“Later, again…?”

Ian Draco disappeared as if fleeing.

Having scraped together money by pressuring the friends who came with him, he left behind a total of ten gold coins.

‘This is an unexpected gain.’

I wanted to rip off even more in my heart, but I could not do so.

In South Korean terms, ten gold coins was worth as much as a hundred million won, and who would carry around such a large amount of money while crossing the snowfields unless they were a merchant or businessman?

Just as he said, this must have been the maximum amount of money he could gather.

‘Where should I spend it? Herman Melville said he would handle everything related to the golem…’

Inevitably, the number of things I could do increased.

Even after paying off the balance for the whiskey, ten gold coins remained.

From what I had read in books, ten gold coins was enough to purchase fairly high-quality magic engineering equipment, or to hire top-tier professionals like magic engineers for a year.

It meant it was enough money to significantly shorten my future plans.

‘Should I buy installable heaters since there are many outdoor laborers? Or should I buy cement and rebuild the residential area?’

To ascend as a leader, I had to consider public sentiment, so I could not help but have many thoughts.

However, my contemplation could not continue further.

This was because the meeting I had anticipated so much was finally accomplished.

“Aylen Vale, so that was your name?”

“Yes, Will Ford. That is my name.”

The boy’s name, Will Ford.

For some reason, the name, which made him seem capable of building a train that raced through the world breaking glaciers, suited the talent of the boy, who was called a monster of magic engineering.

Just as the boy and I smirked while looking up and down at each other.

“Hmph!”

“You, were you not kidding around…?”

Beside him were his younger sister, Williana Ford, who seemed upset for some reason, and Namiya, who looked at me with complex eyes.

After exchanging eye contact with them one by one, I asked the boy.

“I believe the proof is sufficient by now. Will you follow me now?”

“What are you asking? Wasn’t that the promise from the start?”

No matter how I looked at him, I liked his straightforwardness. Although he behaved like an adult, perhaps because he was a fifteen-year-old kid, he also had a pure side.

However, his tone of voice was still impolite.

“Seriously, that tone of yours…”

“Then, what? ‘Yes, Lord Aylen Vale. I shall follow you~’ Is that what you want?”

“Forget it. It doesn’t suit you. Do whatever you want.”

One exam, two bets.

I gained money, honor, and reputation, and I also gained talent to assist me.

“Shall we go grab something delicious? My treat.”

So, wouldn’t it be fine to rest for a day before returning?

Since I became Aylen Vale, I had fought without letting my guard down for even a single day, but today at least, it should be fine to do so.

Just as I was about to attempt an escape from routine for the first time, an unexpected figure appeared.

“Lord Aylen Vale.”

“…?”

“I am Natasha McGrain, sent to be your attendant.”

Natasha McGrain, a beautiful woman whose voluptuous figure was clearly visible over the suit she wore inside a thick fur coat.

Together with her, whom Herman Melville had likely sent, reality, which spun fiercely without giving me a moment to catch my breath,

“I understand there are many matters to handle before you return…”

was dragging me back to the scene of fierce struggle once again.