CHAPTER 181: MINE WAS MINE [1]

"He’s waiting upstairs."

A tea house owned by the Golden Turtle Company.

The lights were off as if it wasn’t open for business, but the door wasn’t locked.

Upon entering, a waiting employee guided Rosalia as if they had been expecting her.

"You’ve got quite the setup."

Rosalia snorted at the magical engravings carved on the doors and walls, opening the door without knocking.

"You’ve arrived?"

Gerhard was waiting inside. But Gerhard wasn’t alone.

"That invitation was rougher than I expected."

"Since you’re someone who wouldn’t budge without being called roughly, I had to be a bit aggressive. I apologize."

"The reason you called me?"

"Please sit down first."

"I’d like you to know that just being here is already quite a concession on my part."

"You must sit. Do you think that letter was a simple invitation?"

Gerhard didn’t back down at all. He tapped the table with his fingers, not avoiding Rosalia’s cold gaze.

"Results are about to come out. You want to pull out now?"

"If necessary, yes."

"After making massive investments for over five years, you’d just throw that money into the ground? You, of all people?"

"If a loss greater than those five years of investment occurs, wouldn’t that be quite possible?"

When Gerhard mentioned loss, Rosalia’s pupils trembled slightly.

"When I was young, my father gave me a gift. It was a small golem made of steel."

"That must have been nice."

"It was. At the time, I was just starting to take interest in magic."

It was a time when he was fascinated by the power source, principles, and formulas that made golems move, sleeping with it in his arms.

"But one day, my younger sibling saw it and threw a tantrum, demanding I give it to them."

"Did you give it?"

"I didn’t. Mine was mine, and my sibling’s was my sibling’s."

Though it was slightly different from Gerhard’s values of wanting to make his money his money and other people’s money also his money, he quietly listened to Rosalia’s continuing words.

"Father gave my sibling an identical golem, but they insisted on having specifically mine."

"So what happened?"

"What do you think happened?"

Gerhard pretended to think for a moment.

"You gave it to them."

"It was taken from me. That’s probably when I vaguely realized."

Rosalia’s voice, looking up at the empty space as if recalling the past, carried a faint sigh.

"Now I know that what my sibling wanted wasn’t the golem itself but the attention I gave to the golem, but that’s not important."

"The lesson I should learn here is that you extremely dislike having things given and then taken away."

"You’ve grasped the essence properly."

Rosalia sat down.

"You’ll have to convince me."

"Yes, I will."

Gerhard nodded.

"...What’s going on? Why is the professor...?"

"I’m not sure about this either, but brother. Should we leave?"

"No, stay seated. I called all of you because you’re all needed."

"Hyde and Jayce? This is another strange combination. Tea?"

"I’ll serve it."

Soon an employee entered with four cups of tea and coffee, along with refreshments.

"You may smoke as well."

"I don’t need to since someone made me wide awake."

Gerhard put down his coffee and opened his mouth.

"The reason I had to call you, Professor, was because I had no choice."

"Tell me the exact reason."

"First, Jayce. Take that out."

"Huh, brother? Is this right?"

Jayce was flustered, but Gerhard was firm. Eventually, he took out a translucent crystal sphere.

"What’s this?"

"Do you recognize it?"

"Was this all it was? Am I a demon seed?"

"I don’t think so."

Gerhard knew Rosalia well. Her family, her past, what kind of person she was.

It was the first investment he made after creating the Golden Pillar. It would be a lie to say he hadn’t thoroughly understood his investment target.

Rosalia Wienderk was like a lofty scholar. She would die before selling her soul to demons.

Still, the reason he proposed testing her was because certainty was better.

The Rosalia he had come to know wouldn’t do such a thing, but there were no absolutes in the world.

A speck of blemish and mistake could lead a great enterprise to failure.

"So?"

"I’ve caught a clue. I trust you, Professor, and want to continue trusting you, so I’m proposing this."

"There’s a problem not with me but with my laboratory?"

"Yes."

"That’s the same as saying there’s a problem with me. It means I can’t properly manage my own laboratory."

Even to words that sounded harsh, Gerhard affirmed without wavering.

Even though he had openly said her abilities were lacking, Professor Rosalia didn’t even twitch an eyebrow.

"One of the assistants?"

"I wish that were all."

But she couldn’t maintain composure at these words either.

"I conduct my experiments and examine results every day."

"I also hope there are no problems."

Her doubt was also Gerhard’s doubt.

Rosalia was an outstanding wizard. Her abilities wouldn’t lose to anyone in the academy, or anywhere on the continent.

Was it really possible for a demon seed capable of deceiving her eyes and using her research as a medium for demon summoning to be hiding?

It was unbelievable, but such a thing had happened. At least within the prophecy book. And the prophecy book had never been wrong about such matters.

Especially about things that gripped his lifeline.

"You’ll have to take responsibility for what you said."

"I will."

"I didn’t find anything."

"That’s why Hyde Armian is here."

Hyde asked with a blank expression, "Me?"

"You think Hyde Armian can find it?"

"The power Armian possesses is more lethal to demons than you think, Professor."

"If he can’t find it?"

"Then I’ll admit my mistake and double the research funding."

Rosalia reached for the crystal sphere. She immediately injected mana, but the transparent crystal sphere didn’t turn gray.

"You have no trace of demonic energy. At least not through artifacts made by the Order."

"Is it over then?"

"Yes."

He wanted to use Hyde and Gardner to be more certain, but freely peering into a wizard’s interior was crossing the line, and crossing it thoroughly.

"Proof?"

"Please clear the laboratory of everyone as soon as possible."