Bonus chapter thanks to @Pop and @drew from Ko-fi!
“…….”
Angus fell silent. Frondier leaned closer.
“Can you count?”
“……Those were unavoidable sacrifices. It’s a rather old saying, but to achieve a grand dream, sacrifices are necessary. Don’t you know that yet, with all your abilities?”
Angus’s shameless reply.
Ellen, watching from behind, looked at Frondier’s hand.
Faintly, but undeniably trembling fingertips.
It wouldn’t be visible from Angus’s perspective, which is why Angus could act so arrogantly.
Right now, Frondier was controlling his anger with superhuman patience.
Ellen felt like she knew what he was enduring.
Frondier soon controlled his anger completely and spoke with a bold smile.
“Of course, I know. I just wanted to confirm.”
“Confirm?”
At Angus’s question, Frondier’s smile deepened.
He raised his right hand.
As if performing a magic trick, he repeatedly clenched and opened his right hand, and then…
“……?!”
At some point, a syringe appeared in his right hand.
It was a syringe filled with the final version of the Mana liquid that Angus had created after all his experiments and research. At least, that’s what it looked like to Angus.
“If you truly don’t mind sacrificing for that grand mission.”
While Frondier spoke, the Mana syringe in his hand multiplied to two, three, and then four at once.
“Even if you yourself are sacrificed, you wouldn’t have any complaints, right?”
“Wh-what are you talking about? That’s my…….”
“Does it matter whose it is? If this research progresses, it will take you one step closer to your grand mission.”
At Frondier’s words, Angus’s eyes widened.
“D-don’t talk nonsense! That’s my achievement! It’s the crystallization of my knowledge that I’ve built up over a long time and research! It’s not something a brat like you can just take away,”
“Even if you say that, I’ve already taken it. As you can see, this is my ability. I will put the research you’ve done to good use. Mr. Angus, please rest comfortably now. Inside the prison.”
Angus felt like his insides were turning upside down at Frondier’s words. He had to hand over all his research to this young boy?
No, that’s absurd. But the syringes Frondier had created were completely identical to his final versions.
How on earth did he steal those things, and if he didn’t steal them, then Frondier really──
“Ugh, argh! Unbelievable! I can’t give it to you! It’s mine!”
“So, why is that so important? I’ll complete your research for you. Then humans will become stronger and push back the monsters outside, reclaiming their territory and fulfilling your dream. This is what you call a win-win strategy. Ah, do you know what win-win means?”
“Shut up! The human weapon is a huge business! The legalization of weapons must be driven by capital! It only makes sense if you use the appropriate side effects and addiction symptoms to make them come back for my Mana injections! You idiot!”
“──So the restoration of the human territory and all that was just an excuse?”
“Do you think I invested this much for something like that!”
Angus thrashed about, struggling desperately to break free from the Obsidian that bound him.
Frondier watched him for a moment and then scratched his face.
“I was just asking in case you didn’t know what win-win means.”
Frondier took out his phone.
“Do you know what ‘recording’ means?”
“……Huh?”
* * *
After restraining Angus, Frondier found the antidote and gave it to Dier and Ellen.
There was no need to threaten Angus. He had already seen all the information through analysis.
“Sob, sob. My power is fading away.”
Dier muttered in a joking tone. After receiving the antidote, his Mana gradually disappeared.
Frondier chuckled and said,
“I can give it back to you if you want.”
“Huh? How?”
“Angus said it earlier, didn’t he? If you extract all the existing Mana from a person and inject this Mana, they can increase their Mana without side effects. Since it’s the same Mana anyway, you can keep injecting the Mana.”
Of course, regardless of the side effects, you should only inject as much Mana as the body can handle. Frondier added that.
After hearing that, Dier thought carefully and shook his head.
“I don’t want that.”
“Why?”
“Because my Mana is mine.”
“That’s right.”
Frondier nodded at Dier’s seemingly simple answer.
But in reality, it wouldn’t be that simple.
‘A person’s Mana doesn’t just exist to use power.’
Every living being on this continent, big or small, possesses Mana. If it were simply for using powerful abilities, then creatures that don’t need such power wouldn’t have Mana in the first place.
Therefore, Mana is essential for living beings. Dier must instinctively know that losing all of it would be extremely dangerous.
Ellen, who was listening, suddenly asked as if something had come to mind.
“By the way, Dier, how did you get the first Mana injection?”
After being captured by Ellen and brought here, Dier received the same injection as Ellen.
Thanks to that, he was able to break free from his restraints and corner Angus, but Ellen couldn’t understand how he had obtained it.
Dier replied as if it were nothing special.
“Ah, I stole it.”
“……Stole it?”
“It’s kind of embarrassing to say, but I’m good at hiding.”
Dier had heard from Frondier that an ally would come. Of course, that ally was Ellen.
Dier didn’t know that the ally was Ellen, but when he heard that, he thought:
There must be a laboratory somewhere in Constel.
“My movement patterns are simple. I just go back and forth between the dormitory and the classroom. I don’t have any club activities yet. Frondier said I would meet an ally in that short time, and Ellen actually came to me, which means the enemies also know that I’m easy to take, right?”
Then the answer is simple.
The laboratory is not far from Constel, and it’s even more likely that it’s within Constel.
There are no other places around here with facilities as good as Constel’s.
“So, I came here a few days ago.”