The Last-Seat Hero Has Returned

16. Mental Training (1)

“You’ve secured the research funding?”

A shabby laboratory that looked like it could collapse at any moment.

Professor Jade’s wrinkled eyes widened.

“Yes, as you mentioned, 1 million gold. I’ve secured it.”

“…Huh.”

Professor Jade looked at me with an expression of disbelief.

Well.

Which candidate in the world would come to a professor with 1 million gold, wanting to participate in their research?

Especially to a professor conducting what the Holy Kingdom would call ‘forbidden research.’

“Are you… in your right mind?”

I never thought I’d hear such words from Professor Jade.

“Didn’t you say that at least 1 million gold was needed to start the research, Professor?”

“…I did say that.”

An expression that clearly showed he never thought I would actually secure it.

“By the way, I understand you’re attending school with financial support from the Republic… How did you secure this 1 million gold?”

“Did you investigate me separately?”

“Just answer the question.”

Professor Jade frowned, his wrinkled eyes narrowing.

I shrugged and answered with a nonchalant expression.

“I borrowed it from a friend.”

“Borrowed? 1 million gold?”

“Have you heard of Juliet Kang?”

“Never heard of her.”

“She’s the son of one of the top five conglomerates in the Republic, and my friend.”

“Hmm.”

Even if he’s from a conglomerate family, it wouldn’t be easy to lend 1 million gold to someone with the status of a candidate.

“Why do you want to conduct stigmatic research so badly?”

“There’s something I really want you to create, Professor.”

“What do you want me to make?”

“Yes.”

“What is it?”

I quietly opened my mouth towards Professor Jade, who was looking at me with curiosity.

“A stigmatic amplifier.”

“A stigmatic amplifier?”

“Simply put, it’s a drug that artificially overdrives the stigma to increase magical power.”

To me, who was always suffering from a lack of magical power, it was like rain in a drought.

Of course, the increase in magical power is temporary, but the amount of magical power generated by the overdriven stigma is much greater than that of any elixir or spiritual creature.

‘If I had taken the stigmatic amplifier, the result of the duel with Professor Lucas would have been different.’

Perhaps it would have been Professor Lucas, not me, who was knocked down and stuck in the wall.

That’s how much magical power the stigmatic amplifier increases.

Of course.

As good as the effect is, there is a corresponding price to pay.

“Artificially overdriving the stigma… Huh, huhuhuhuhu!”

Professor Jade laughed maniacally, his shoulders shaking.

A displeasing laugh, like scraping metal, leaked from his lips.

“You… You have no idea what happens when you artificially overdrive the stigma, do you?”

“I know.”

“And you still say such things?”

Professor Jade’s eyes gleamed fiercely.

“The stigma is a vessel that holds magical power and a kind of heart that spreads magical power throughout the body. And you want to artificially overdrive it?”

He had done quite a bit of crazy research himself, but the stigmatic amplifier was an idea that couldn’t even be compared to those.

“When the stigma is overdriven, the body’s energy channels twist, and soon the internal organs burst, leading to a painful death.”

Calling it a stigmatic amplifier is just a fancy way of saying it’s essentially poison.

“Well… If you research it, you might be able to create something that can be endured without dying once. But if you drink it more than twice, the body won’t be able to withstand it.”

“There’s no need to endure.”

“…What?”

“As long as the effect is certain, it doesn’t matter if I die after drinking it once.”

“…Ha.”

A low sigh escaped from between Professor Jade’s lips.

He waved his hand dismissively, as if it wasn’t worth responding anymore.

“Leave my office immediately.”

A firm order to leave.

Turning his head, Professor Jade’s face showed a hint of displeasure.

‘Well, it’s a natural reaction, I suppose.’

If I were in the opposite situation, I would have chased out such a madman too.

‘It can’t be helped.’

To make the professor research the stigma amplifier, I couldn’t keep hiding my cards.

Srrng.

I drew the sword from the scabbard at my waist.

Seeing the sharply honed blade, Professor Jade let out a laugh of disbelief.

“Are you seriously threatening me with that?”

“Would such a threat work on someone who has steadfastly continued stigma research despite the pressure from the Holy Kingdom?”

“Then what?”

“It’s faster to show you directly than to explain with words.”

I brought the sharp blade to my neck.

And cut.

Splat!

Blood spurted out like a fountain.

The head, separated from the neck, rolled on the floor.

“W-what the…!”

Professor Jade jumped up from his chair with a horrified expression.

As he was floundering in the pouring blood.

“…Huh?”

The blood that had poured onto his body turned into gray ash and fell to the floor.

And then.

“Do you understand now? Why I said it doesn’t matter.”

“Gasp…!”

Professor Jade, with his mouth agape, took a step back as if he had seen a ghost.

“Well, you… what on earth…?”

Well, that’s a natural reaction when you see it for the first time.

“Did you just cast an illusion spell on me…?”

“Why would a warrior use illusion magic?”

Actually, I did learn a bit from Senior Sophia, so I can use it roughly.

“This is thanks to the ‘Blessing of Resurrection’.”

“…Blessing of Resurrection?”

“Yes. It’s a blessing that regenerates the body when it suffers a fatal injury.”

“Huh.”

Professor Jade looked at me with an incredulous expression.

I brought the sword back to my neck and asked.

“If you don’t believe me, shall I cut it again?”

“N-no. There’s no need for that!”

Professor Jade shook his head with a horrified expression.

Phew.

The professor took a deep breath to calm down and then spoke in a slightly calmer voice.

“So, because of that Blessing of Resurrection you have, any wound regenerates immediately?”

“It’s a bit different in concept… but you can think of it that way.”

“…So that’s why you asked me to develop that insane thing called the Stigma Amplifier.”

Even if the stigma goes berserk and twists all the blood vessels in the body, if it can regenerate through that ‘Blessing of Resurrection’, there’s no need to worry about the side effects.

In other words.

At least for ‘Dale Han’, the Stigma Amplifier becomes a perfect elixir with no side effects.

“But no matter how much of a blessing it is, isn’t there a limit to the body’s regeneration?”

“Limit…”

A bitter smile formed on my lips.

If there had been such a thing in the first place.

I wouldn’t have wandered alone for hundreds, thousands of years, longing for nothing but death.

“At least it’s not to the extent that it can’t heal the side effects of the Stigma Amplifier.”

“Hmm.”

Indeed.

In a situation where he had just witnessed a severed head regenerate instantly before his eyes, there was no room to doubt the regenerative power of the ‘Blessing of Resurrection.’

‘If it possesses the blessing to regenerate even fatal wounds that lead to death in an instant.’

Gulp.

Professor Jade swallowed dryly, his throat tightening.

A sensation of heat spread along his nape, sending a shiver down his spine.

‘This could explosively advance the stagnant stigmatic research.’

Why is stigmatic research so taboo?

Of course, there are religious issues, but more than that, it is because tampering with the delicate organ known as the ‘stigma’ is extremely dangerous.

In such a situation, if there were an existence that could reduce that risk to zero and assist in the research?

‘…Perhaps.’

He might be able to realize the ‘dream’ he had longed for.

‘Oscar.’

A young man with red hair, whose cheerful smile suited him so well.

Professor Jade closed his eyes tightly at the face of his former student that naturally came to mind.

A guilt that seemed to burn his chest.

The more he recalled memories of his student, the more it felt like someone was choking him, making it hard to breathe.

“Professor?”

“Ah… Sorry about that.”

Professor Jade shook his head as if to shake off the thoughts in his mind.

“So, you want me to make a stigma amplifier since side effects don’t matter to you?”

“Yes.”

“Hmm. A stigma amplifier…”

To make the stigma run wild, allowing for temporary but explosive magical power.

“…I think I can make it without much difficulty.”

“Oh.”

“Well, there are already several researched methods to make the stigma run wild. The problem is that the wildness of the stigma must lead to an increase in temporary magical power… This will require more research.”

“I will assist in the research as well.”

“Ha ha ha! You, assist in the research?”

Professor Jade shook his head as if to say it was nonsense.

“Aren’t you from the warrior department? You haven’t even taken classes on magic or alchemy, so what…”

“I know it to some extent, though it’s just a theory.”

“Huh. Well then… why don’t you try solving this problem?”

Professor Jade picked up one of the piles of papers scattered messily on the table and handed it over.

The content written on the paper was related to the three great problems left by his distant ancestor, the ‘Great Sage’.

It was a problem of such difficulty that even the professors of the Magic Department couldn’t solve it, let alone understand it.

It was a problem given just to tease a candidate from the Warrior Department who didn’t know how difficult magic was as a discipline.

“I solved it.”

“What?”

Solved it?

Just by glancing over the paper?

Sigh.

Professor Jade let out a deep sigh as he took the paper.

“You may not know, but this isn’t a problem you can solve by guessing… huh?”

“Is there any mistake?”

“N-no. H-how…? This can’t be… this can’t be happening.”

Professor Jade’s hand, holding the paper, trembled.

“You, you…”

Professor Jade’s eyes blazed as he looked at Dale.

As if he had met his first love in a dream, the professor’s breathing became rough.

The professor, who had approached with long strides, grabbed Dale’s shoulder roughly.

“You…! Have you ever thought about transferring to the Magic Department?!”

“What?”

“After graduation, come to my lab! In the name of ‘Bastian’, I will support you!”

“No.”

That’s a bit…