Chapter 7 – The Scoundrel is No More (4)

After Caleb went to deliver the news, I did not wait for him.

This was because the conversation between Demian and Caleb could somehow be heard clearly through the slightly ajar door, across the distance.

‘Demian Vale… he does not have even a shred of affection for me. I can obtain nothing by taking a submissive attitude against a man like that.’

Judging by Demian’s dry tone and heartless expression, I thought that doing nothing would lead to nothing.

‘I will strike first.’

Stepping inside right away, by the time I provoked them using the golem as an excuse and exchanged questions and answers with Demian, I could clearly realize it.

Just as I had heard at the tavern, Demian Vale was too great a person for this Ember to hold.

“To ask for a recommendation letter as the Head of the Magic Engineering Department… that is even more out of the question.”

“Is it because I have not proven my skills?”

“That is not even worth discussing. Before that, do you even properly know what a recommendation letter is?”

At this point, I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut. If he refused to write the recommendation letter by nitpicking my skills, I had planned to bluff that I would somehow develop the golem in the remaining time to prove my skills, but the spark flew in a different direction.

‘Recommenders, recommendation letters. There was no such thing in the game’s setting book.’

No matter how much of a veteran player I was who had memorized the entire setting book of over ten thousand pages, the setting book of was written assuming only one Ember.

I was bound to be defenseless against matters linked to ‘other Embers,’ such as recommenders, recommendation letters, and magic engineer qualification exams.

Soon, wearing a look that said he knew it would be so, Demian continued speaking.

“Writing a recommendation letter carries a weight beyond your imagination. If you just pass the exam, you can put your name on the official magic engineer list of the First Ember, and you will be respected as a pioneer of hope in any Ember. A recommendation letter is something that only those who are prepared to sacrifice themselves at the frontlines of humanity can receive. Do you think you deserve such an opportunity? A scoundrel like you?”

Suddenly, Demian’s eyes turned fierce. At the same time, the other magic engineers also began to glare at me with eyes full of contempt and anger.

Only then did I realize that what they were discussing with me now was not a matter of skill.

‘A scoundrel… So that was the real reason they refused to write the recommendation letter.’

Setting aside unproven magic engineering skills, a ruined character was the decisive disqualification for writing a recommendation letter.

For that reason, even if I were to prove my magic engineering skills, Demian was highly likely not to write the recommendation letter.

According to what I had gathered at the tavern, he was a fair and upright person with clear principles, who valued the process over the result.

In short, no matter how good a result a method could produce, if it deviated from his beliefs, he was a man who would not tolerate it even if he were to die.

‘To put it nicely, he is a righteous man… to put it badly, he is a stubborn and inflexible person.’

Just seeing him treat me, his only blood relative, so coldly was enough to know it was the absolute truth without a single lie.

Even so, since the only lifeline I could grasp was Demian Vale, I asked one last question.

“Even if I can complete the blueprint of the magic engineering golem within a week, is it truly impossible?”

“Impossible. I am tired of repeating the same thing.”

Just as I had thought, it was as expected.

“Discussing a golem at your level is laughable. It seems you have gained confidence after clumsily going through a few introductory books recently… but this is not a problem that can be solved with such meager skills. A golem is something whose development can only be discussed by someone at least at the entry level of intermediate-advanced.”

“…….”

I had a lot to say, but I held my tongue. Even if I claimed to understand intermediate-advanced magic engineering books here, they wouldn’t believe me, and there was no way to prove it immediately.

Of course, since the correct design direction and improvements that came to mind the moment I saw the golem blueprint earlier were blossoming in my head, I was confident that I could produce a new blueprint in just a few days.

‘When there is nothing to gain or wish from the opponent, there is no need to show it.’

Showing off one’s skills without any purpose, just to boast, was a mistake committed only by novices.

Experts revealed their skills only in the necessary places, and only in absolutely necessary situations.

If one gave something, they had to receive one or more in return.

That was the trade and politics of an expert.

And what I wanted from Demian now was only the recommendation letter, but since he had declared that he wouldn’t give it to me regardless of my skills.

“I will keep that in mind. Then, I will be on my way.”

I stepped toward the entrance without any lingering regrets.

This place and this situation were not the right time to show my skills.

Step, step—

It was the moment the cold metal surface of the doorknob touched my skin.

“I heard what happened at the tavern. You didn’t touch a drop of alcohol, and you even pressed down the Wayne brothers, whom you always feared, with words?”

“…….”

It was chilling that something that had happened so recently had flowed into the Magic Engineering Department in real-time.

Who on earth had heard and delivered the news, where, and when? And just how far did the web-like news source of the Magic Engineering Department reach?

I once again thought that the popularity and respect of the Magic Engineering Department, led by Demian Vale, was indeed remarkable.

“I do not know what whim has possessed you, who used to indulge in alcohol and women… but continue to do so from now on.”

“……?”

“One time, two times, three times. If you live each day normally and diligently like that, the day will come when you will also be recognized as a proud member of Ember.”

“Thank you for the good words.”

I turned my body and bowed politely. Although things had gone wrong, there was nothing to gain from making an enemy of the Head of the Magic Engineering Department.

At that moment, an unexpected word was heard. It was a voice so small, like a mosquito’s.

“……Well done.”

It was clearly praise directed at me, but it was not I who was shocked.

“……!”

“B-Brother…?”

“Department Head…”

The department members following Demian had their eyes wide open.

They had not expected him to praise me, who had dragged the prestige of the Magic Engineering Department down to the floor, even underground.

And the same went for me.

“Ahem! I did not speak as a father! I spoke as the Head of the Magic Engineering Department, as an adult, and as a member sharing the same home, because a member who lived a foolish life is walking the path of rehabilitation on his own. Do not misunderstand.”

“……Ah, yes. I am sure you did.”

Caleb sarcasticized as if he didn’t like it, but quickly shrank back at a single glance from Demian.

‘Father… your preamble is too long.’

I revised my evaluation of Demian.

From a man who wouldn’t bleed even if pricked by a needle, to a man from whom at least a drop would come out if squeezed.

No matter what, a parent was a parent.

However, I had no choice but to revise the evaluation once again at his next words.

“And Aylen, there is no recommendation letter anyway.”

“Yes? What do you mean…”

“Our Ember is of a small scale, not even the size of a small town, so originally a recommender could not be selected. However, due to a small connection, Yan Casselos and I each possess one recommendation letter.”

Perhaps that small connection referred to the intermediate-advanced magic engineer who had proposed Demian Vale’s transfer to the First Ember.

In the past, having highly evaluated Demian’s potential and Ember’s possibilities, he must have exerted his influence so that our Ember could also have recommendation rights.

“Yes, the recommendation letters have already been given to the Wayne brothers, one each. That means there was no recommendation letter for you from the very beginning.”

“……!”

This man, he completely played me. It was a bluff.

I thought I was an expert, but Demian had tested me while hiding the fact that there was no recommendation letter in the first place.

Obtaining the opponent’s possession with something that did not exist.

Looking at it now, the real expert was Demian, not me.

‘I should have clearly confirmed whether the opponent really held what I wanted… It was my mistake. Let’s keep my wits about me. This is reality now, not a game.’

Yet, apart from the self-reproach of being caught by such a clumsy trick,

Thump, thump—!

My heart began to beat violently, like the core of the Eternal Embers.

As a gamer, I couldn’t help but feel thrilled that the spine-chilling psychological warfare and push-and-pull, which I had only enjoyed in games, had actually become reality!

But if I was to just take it, that wasn’t me. Regaining a relaxed smile, I spoke.

“So there was no recommendation letter. That’s a real shame, since it would have been a good deal for both of us. But did you know? You might not believe it, but I really have a way to develop the golem.”

“……?”

“Anyway, what is urgent right now is not the production, but the presence of a blueprint with development potential. Therefore, placing the weight of the golem on magic, which is at least our Ember’s strength, and reversing the magic engineering structure of the central magic board of Prosthetic Hand No. 8 from …”

“……Reversing it, and then?”

“Find out the rest for yourselves. I worry that the short insight of an initiate might cloud the vision of you high-and-mighty gentlemen. Well then.”

“W-Wait…!”

Thud!

Behind the dying screams of the fading magic engineers, the laboratory door closed firmly.

‘Go ahead and search for a hundred days. You won’t be able to hold out without looking for me.’

If pretending to have what did not exist and obtaining things was the method of an expert,

Making the opponent anxious by acting as if one would give them what they had, but not quite,

Was the method of a super expert.

* * *

Aylen Vale, who had come like a storm and left a deep lingering impression before disappearing.

The magic engineers, including Demian, stared blankly beyond the door where he had vanished.

“What did that guy just say…?”

“……I don’t know. He definitely told us to examine the intermediate-advanced magic engineering book, though.”

“He said it was the Fusion of Medicine, Human Body Engineering, and Magic Engineering section, right?”

They moved like broken machines.

Everyone, as a founding member of the Magic Engineering Department, remembered Aylen’s disastrous magic engineering talent, which was hard to believe for the son of the Head, Demian…

“What does Aylen even know to say such things?”

“Hey. It’s an intermediate-advanced book, an intermediate-advanced book. Even the Department Head is still intermediate, so it’s obvious no one will understand it, and he was just bluffing.”

“No. Mentioning the sub-title exactly, and calling out Prosthetic Hand No. 8, the central magic board… it was too detailed to dismiss as a bluff.”

Not only did the person change overnight, but he had also disappeared after presenting directions and clues to the solution for the golem development that even Demian was struggling with.

“Caleb, bring the book.”

“Yes?”

“Bring the intermediate-advanced book.”

Demian spoke with a serious expression. He seemed like a person standing on an anxious boundary line, on the verge of realizing something.

However, Caleb, who did not notice such a change in Demian, shouted loudly.

“What? Brother, do you believe that nonsense?”

“Shut up and bring it if I tell you to bring it! Do not make me repeat myself.”

“I am sorry. I will bring it right away, Department Head.”

Caleb immediately brought the intermediate-advanced book Aylen had mentioned.

He was slow-witted, but quick to act.

“…….”

In that suffocating silence, about an hour after Demian began examining the intermediate-advanced book,

Thud!

Demian closed the book.

At that, Caleb asked.

“Department Head, did you grasp anything?”

His question to his superior, asking if he could understand the content, was quite provocative.

However, it was an intermediate-advanced magic engineering book. Furthermore, an intermediate-advanced magic engineer was a pronoun meaning an expert who was on a completely different level from the leaders of most small towns.

On the contrary, Caleb’s question was an extremely honorable one for the recipient.

And soon, Demian answered that glorious question, but,

“I do not know. But I understand. What intention and purpose Aylen had in saying those words. Truly, truly…”

That halo was somehow shining not behind Demian, but behind Aylen.