C29
... Your complexion doesn't look so good.
Duke Seymour, who was playing with a daisy, looked at me and said with a frank expression.
It's really shocking that two people have already pointed out that I don't look so good these days.
Philap, you little bastard. How dare you hurt my precious skin that has no imperfections or pores?
This is the face I value the most. So, my irritation towards Philap grew.
Duke Seymour frowned when he saw my stiff face.
"If it's because of the Montes' son, then consider your dignity, Deborah. You are the only princess of Seymour. I can't believe you've done something so childish that not even a child would do. Why are you acting like this when even a small thing is going to be gossiped about?"
Perhaps what happened at the Academy reached Duke Seymour's ears as he spoke to me with an angry look.
"Oh my God! I didn't know how much time and energy I had spent trying to make a good impression, but it was seen negatively."
I felt something bubbling inside me as if it were boiling.
I opened my mouth, facing the Duke's cold eyes.
"No, it's because of that stupid Montes guy who doesn't understand my words."
"What?"
"It's hard to believe my words because of what I've done in the meantime, but time is different from the past, and there's no witness who actually saw me harass that lady."
"..."
"Because I didn't harass her. It's just a rumor derived from the scene where Philap Montes was carrying the injured lady all over the campus."
"Certainly, the rumor only focused on the behavior of Montes' son..."
The Duke began to suspect at the same time he was convinced by my words.
It was quite extraordinary for a guy like Philap to walk around campus while carrying the damsel in distress in his arms.
So it tended to get relatively buried.
Like a dark background that beautifully illuminated those two who were in love?
"Well, if you had an accident where Montes' successor showed up with a woman in his arms, I'm sure you would have hit him immediately."
"Because she's a one-dimensional evil woman, so they persuaded her to return to being the villain like this."
For some reason, Duke Seymour seemed to want to believe my words, so I quickly pointed to the daisy, thinking it was a relief.
"It's just that I didn't look good because I was worried and upset about this flower. I mean, it's a flower garden that my father decorated himself."
Duke Seymour narrowed his eyes at my words.
"I can't believe you're worried about flowers. That's a bit unexpected."
"It's exactly as I said. As you can see, only the daisy leaves are wilting."
At my words, he leaned in to inspect the daisies.
"... now that you've mentioned it, I think it clearly looks like it."
"I don't blame you. Daisies simply can't thrive in this soil."
"How do you know that?"
I pointed to the blue hydrangea flower, displaying its bright colors in the distance.
"If hydrangeas are blue and not red, it means the soil is acidic. Daisies don't do well in acidic soils."
As if my words had piqued his interest, curiosity gleamed within Duke Seymour's cold eyes.
"So, Deborah. What will you do now with this daisy? Since I'm concerned about the flowers planted that can't thrive in the soil, are you going to remove everything and return it to where it was? Meanwhile, the flowers will wither and die."
He wasn't a wizard with a strong natural sciences background, so the Duke immediately asked me how to solve the problem.
As I intended, his curiosity was stimulated, so I triumphantly distanced myself from the unpleasant topic of Philap.
"Father. Why do we have to remove the flower when the problem is in the soil?"
He tilted his head when I asked him to respond.
"Perhaps you're going to touch the soil? As far as I know, there's no magic that can change the nature of the soil so that flowers can thrive."
"You don't need to use magic to do it."
This world tends to rely too much on mana and magic.
Mana is infinite, while magic is something more complete, but it also interferes with problems that can be easily solved by just observing a little and using your brain.
"So?"
"This problem can be solved simply by sprinkling charcoal in the soil."
"Charcoal? How does that work?"
"We can neutralize the soil with charcoal. Charcoal has alkaline properties, which are the opposite of acidity."
"As you said, it's definitely a much simpler way than magic."
He looked at me with a strange look as he rubbed his thin mouth and shook his head slightly.
"But it's the first time I've heard that charcoal can neutralize acidity. Deborah, how did you know that fact? Judging by the fact that the daisies have been left unattended, I don't think even the garden caretaker knows."
"... I discovered it by chance while looking at a book in the library."
In my past life, during a science class.
It was a white lie, as it was actually knowledge I acquired in my previous life as a student.
There's no possible way the Duke can find out unless he reads all those books in the library to confirm the truth of my words.
"I see. So that's why you've been coming in and out of the library recently. To take good care of the garden..."
Duke Seymour, who had a good judgment of my behavior, suddenly coughed forcefully and shook his head.
"Hm. I really can't stop you. Do you really like this garden that I worked hard to decorate?"
"... It's the garden that is more beautiful than jewels that my father worked hard on. As a member of the Seymour family, I also want to take care of this garden beautifully."
For some reason, I believe that I have only improved my acting and improvisation skills after coming here. Am I wrong?
"Honestly, I would have preferred it if you were more interested in a field that would help your disastrous report card instead of flowers, but it's still noteworthy."
"I'm also interested in the field that will help my grades."
Looking into Duke Seymour's deep-water eyes, I quickly cast a fishing rod.
This is because I have something I wanted to check after coming here.
"What is it?"
"Recently, not only have I been studying flowers while coming in and out of the library, but I've also been studying magic formulas."
"Aren't you doing something other than formulas?"
Duke Seymour's silver eyes reminded me of a blatant sense of shame.
I think he's embarrassed and also at a loss for words.
"Wow, you're ignoring me."
Well, that's inevitable.
Deborah used to be dumbfounded even by the lowest difficulty level of the most basic arithmetic equation.
However, I am a natural sciences student who could also solve calculus.
"Hm, Deborah. First of all, it's important to try what you want to do, so do your best. The process of trying is also significant in life."
The Duke's voice murmured with a hint of regret.
His voice contained compassion for his daughter, who has the lowest magical talent among all the direct descendants of Seymour.
"...But by the way."
I said solemnly.
"What is it?"
"Why is everyone so slow at solving formulas? To be honest, I thought they were scribbling."
"What do you mean?"
"It took me less than a minute to solve the problem, but the other students clung to it for over five minutes. It's frustrating."
Magic formula class.
Professor Kyle tries to show a strong commitment by giving a class every day, but he simply repeated a similar type of problem and left.
"Secondary mana reinforcement magic?"
He says the formula is to strengthen the destructive power of the world of magic aggression, but in my opinion, this was just an arithmetic progression.
On the first day, I left after solving it immediately because I didn't want to waste time, but that day I was curious, so I looked around and left.
"I discovered something interesting."
Everyone was solving it using the inefficient formula created by Taega the Great Mage.
"Everyone was slow at solving formulas?"
The Duke showed a hint of interest.
"Yes. To give you an example, in the same case of a problem where the amount of mana is obtained through wide-area magic, everyone clung to their answer sheets for 10 minutes, but I was able to solve it in 5 minutes."
"How can you get it in five minutes?"
I gave him a smile with a hint of remorse at the Duke's question with a ridiculous expression.
Although I have to review the formula again, my guess was correct when I saw Duke Seymour, the greatest mage in the empire, react this way.
"Honestly, you don't even need five minutes. It's possible in one minute."
"You really don't have a talent for joking, Deborah. Stop it."
"How would I dare to make this kind of joke? You can confirm it if you have doubts. I'll show it right in front of your eyes."
"Let's go back to the office."
Duke Seymour hurriedly took the lead in response to my unusual atmosphere.
He seemed impatient when I asked for help to pose a wide-area magic formula exercise and asked him carefully as I sat at the table.
"Maybe, father, can you demonstrate first how to solve this question?"
"Sure."
The Duke solved the wide-area magic formula using the formula developed by the ancient Taega the Great Mage.
I couldn't understand if there hasn't been any formula development since ancient times, or if we must solve it this way to manage mana.
There's no way to check because I have no sensitivity to mana.
"Father. Do we have to solve the formula this slow and inefficient way?"
The Duke frowned as if caught off guard and embarrassed by my question.