VARIOUS REPORTS

On one of the buildings at the branch school of Magic University, there was a building dedicated for the experiments of the president. Of the three-story building, from the ground floor to the 2nd floor are the magic tools warehouse and laboratories while at the 3rd floor is the office of the president. In her office, Mel sat down as usual as she receives reports from the Pioneer City. However, the one who brought the report this time wasn't one of her subordinates in the branch school but⸺

「These are the reports issued by the Global Guild, President.」

「Thank you, so its Yurika who brought the reports this time.」

Yurika is one of Mel's student who is now the manager of the best company in the city. 

「Naturally, I have to get this opportunity to meet the president since I won't be able to meet you unless I'm a current student in the university.」

「You're already at a position where you'd be fine to make an appointment at a separate occasion.」

Mel thinks that Yurika, being the manager of the best company in the city, can come over since she's also an alumni in the university. 

「No way, I can't simply put pressure on the president's schedule. There are also students who wanted to speak with you so its not good for an alumni to take your time. I'll just take this chance of conversing with you while I'm giving you the report.」

Yurika says with a rueful smile. She has a deep connection with both the guild and the school so she kept the job of sending information to Mel. As a face-up, the delivery of report will be in the form of a request from the guild and although its not originally Yurika's job, she seems to be doing it because she wants to. Well, because there's always some precious opportunity⸺like if there's any promising student, Mel would speak to that person and send it to the Company, if there's a child who seems to have a strong magic background in the Company, Yurika would bring it to the branch school. While thinking of the merits for such a kind of relations.h.i.+p, Mel continues reading the report. 

「Hmm? Is there something wrong, Yurika? You keep staring at me.」

Yurika was still gazing at Mel's face so when she asked her, Yurika shyly smiled. 

「Oh, it's nothing. It's just that the president's hair is l.u.s.trous and beautiful as always. The president may have the blood of the Gem Clan but just like in my student days, I want to touch it unintentionally.」[1]

Mel smiles at her words. Those words were something she would commonly hear from her students. 

「Fufu, thank you for your praise but I can't let you do that. For me who drew the blood of the Gem Clan, it's not a good idea to touch my hair.」

As she mused, Yurika looked quite saddled. 

「The Gem Clan… A long time ago, a member of your clan coexisted another clan but they were repelled when they tried to touch the hair because of the divine protection in your hair.」

「That's right. Only those who are allowed to touched my hair are those who also have been blessed under the clan's tradition.」

「Due to the divine protection in your hair, people would normally be repelled when touching it and if one were to forcefully touch it, they would be played. So that's why there's no one else who had touched your hair until now, or so I heard.」

Mel touches her hair⸺it may look like an ordinary hair like any other person but each strand of her hair contains magic⸺its all thanks to that blessing that she can use magic for a long time than the average person. And the only ones who could touch Mel's hair are those with magic power stronger than hers and those who have pure heart can break through the divine protection imbued in her hair. 

「In order for you to be able to touch my hair, you need to strengthen your Alchemy Magic skills, Yurika. Not even my fellow Hundred Heroes touches my hair.」

「Yes! I'll do my best and improve my skills!」

While talking in such a pace, Mel proceeds to confirm the report she received from Yurika. Basically, it contains information such as what kind of problems occurred around the city and what kind of request the Global Guild made. When an important request is received like the defense and security of the city, the school provides the city with information by investigating using magic tools. In return, the Global Guild in the city also have to provide information to the school, and so on as the standard of operation continues. After the war with the Evil G.o.d, a system of mutual cooperation was created by Mel after coming to this branch university. As a result, it became easy to protect the security of the surrounding area in cooperation with the city.　

But⸺

「There's still a lot to improve.」

Mel exhales as she looks at the report.

「So this time, the delay was from the university's end… I received a call that it was due to the strange magic at the location of the higher spirit once the adventurers left for the quest—was what written here… And then, there's a monster's nest on the road they usually take and couldn't communicate well so they had to walk around it. They could've prevented this earlier.」

Mel couldn't blame anyone for this, but for the bad circ.u.mstances. 

「Yes, since the quest is a case that needs an immediate action, it makes sense how late the university's information.」

But there's no difference between the report of the university and the guild. 

「Well, there are many important and urgent requests that comes to both the university and the guild.」

Since those quests they receives usually have big influence on human life and properties, Mel understands the desire to do it quickly. Moreover, in cases where the magic beast is stronger than expected, or shows any irregularities, it can be solved by the adventurer's abilities. For the time being, Mel would like the city and the university to cooperate on those matters. 

In Magic University, there are magic tools that can observe magic power and magic tools that can be of use to the people. With magic tools that can observe magic power, one will be able to check whether there is a strange magic reaction at the location of the quest. Combine it with the information that the Scouts of the Global Guild has looked into, the work itself can be done well. The information on the school side is often an a.s.surance to ascertain the safety of the quest. Therefore, in case of an urgent request, she understands the feeling of acting immediately. It may take some time receiving and sending information, and above all, the mechanism for this system once again been changed. 

The people who use them and the way they handle the work is changing each pa.s.sing years, so it's natural that some people can't get use to it. That's why there are times when they mess up and the new mechanism can't be utilized. There are usually no problems, but occasionally there are adventurers who are exposed to dangers caused by some mess up from the personnel. The report says that none was a seriously injured, and she thinks they were lucky this time, but Mel thinks it would be better if there's no chances of having any of the promising adventurers injured.

「The tools and systems that the hundred heroes have come up with, including the one the president created are very convenient and helpful. Still, they're all new to people so it will really take some time for everyone to be able to get used. It seems that there isn't just enough time.」

「That's right. It may be convenient, but once we update the systems, people will take some time getting used to it again.」

So it's the mechanism of information sharing this time. It's too early to say that the operation has been done successfully in place, though life is rapidly progressing as a result of great changes and development in this world. However, there are still some things that needs more time to get done. Everyone is trying to adapt to the changes but everything comes back to how things are transmitted. It's going to take a long time before they could get used to it.

Then Yurika said⸺

「Even so, we have the president and your master to thank for all the convenient lifestyle and safety we have now. What the president had done was very helpful to us.」

Guessing what's coming in Mel's mind, Yurika gave her some follow up.

「I'm grateful hearing that from you… Rather than saying that I made those ideas, everything was thanks to our master's magic and wisdom who taught us about these.」

「Is that so?」

「Yes. Most of the things I have done were ideas my master has been telling me when I was just an apprentice. My master also taught me the importance of information sharing.」

Mel expressed how much she was indebted to her master as she recalls her past.

「Your master was the master that all the other hundred heroes were talking about when you were once under him as an apprentice. Your master has taught you not only about magic but also bestowed you wisdom.」

「That's right, I learned a lot from my master. The only reason why I'm working this well is all because I have my master as my model.」

「Then, haven't you turn out to be just like the master you have envisioned? I wish I could see him.」

Mel laughs bitterly at Yurika's words

「Yes, I really want to see him, too.」

After the war with the Evil G.o.d, Mel haven't seen her master for a very long time. Thinking about this made her realize how a bit of lonely she was… However, it's time for work and she have to concentrate on that. And so, Mel continues to read the second half of the report in order to drown out her loneliness. Then at that moment, she read something at the conclusion of the quest.

「Huh? Wait a minute, Yurika. This report about『simultaneously dealing with h.o.a.rds of magic beasts with miasma and a higher spirit』⸺but isn't this wrong?」

「Eh? Was that what they reported?」

「Its written here that『A Rank C adventurer not only subjugated a magic beast that's spreading miasma but also appeased a higher spirt.』」

「But it does have the guild's magic stamp and something I personally received from the guild's staff.」

「Huh… But this? This isn't an achievement for a Rank C Spirit Magician. Not even those within my peers nor those in top of the university could achieve this.」

This is especially true for this quest. It's not a quest that would allow a Rank C adventurer to go, so it's fortunate that they survived and received no injuries at the level of the quest's difficulty. The magical power of this man that's equivalent to Rank C isn't something to be reckoned with. For example, only a few top students here are strong enough at that level. However, since it's a higher spirit only a few percentage of people can fend them off even if adventurers grouped together. These beings which came from a different world, with different culture and different language⸺they're powerful.

And yet⸻

「This Rank C adventurer solved it…」

Mel doesn't get it.

「Come to think of it, some of my subordinates are talking about someone today. Its about a strong magician who appeased a higher spirit⸻then again it matches the job cla.s.s of the Spirit Magician. This must be the one in the rumors.」

「I see…」

「I guess they have a formidable skill or magic weapon.」

Rank is just a matter of measuring magic power, and that doesn't represents all of your abilities and talents. A fight isn't necessarily solved by pure combat. Now then, I wonder if I should to go to the city later. I want to hear the story of the quest, and if its an excellent adventurer, it would be a waste if we don't get to know each other. Mel moves on to the next one at hand after she took a note of what she would do in the future in her mind. The important thing is not only that there was a valuable adventurer and one that's related to spirits.

「The cause of the disturbance of the higher spirit is because it's trying to keep the Horned Moles that's spreading miasma inside the tornado.」

There's a ma.s.s number of magic beast. The quest is quite serious that's why they should immediately send information.

「It's not a good thing if there's a lot of magic beasts, moreover, they're Horned Moles so it's quite troublesome.」

「They have an unusual magic to reproduce and has an omnivorous apet.i.te that increases their numbers into dozens of offsprings so they can eat away vast areas. They also decreases the materials for alchemy.」

Yurika's eyebrows furrowed at the thought of having those nasty magic beasts increasing. Mel understood the sentiment.

「On top of that, the adult ones enter the territories of other magic beasts and eats their food.」

「Because magic beasts moves in search for food, the risk of encountering them increases, too right?」

「That's right. That's why we need to be careful after subjugating the Horned Moles.」

Magic beasts have various eating habits, like in the case of carnivorous magic beasts which has the tendency to favor people with a lots of magic power. Especially if they are very hungry. Smart magic beasts uses magic to aim at humans⸺though such kind of magic beast doesn't aim at a place where there are too many people.

「Then, we must strengthen the information sharing between the city and the university at all cost. There's no doubt that we're facing a dangerous situation.」

「Yes. Tomorrow or the day after tomorrow⸺once the information of the survey from the guild arrives, I'll visit you. I hope we can talk about this again.」

「Yes, of course. It's difficult to do so many things when they're both pleasant and troublesome⸺but let's not get our guard down.」

「I understand, President Mel!」