บท 42: A genius surrounded by fools

My morning started normally, like any other day in my monotonous life.

The first thing I do is wake up; obviously, the day doesn't start if I don't wake up. Then, normally, as someone of my status, there should be several servants to attend to me and help me bathe and dress. But I was having none of that; who would want to touch the body of a cripple like me?

Or well, that's what some people say; I honestly consider myself to have an attractive body; my measurements are just right so that they are neither too small nor too exaggerated.

What do you want me to tell you?

Tough luck, my friend; maybe in your dreams when you go to sleep, who knows? Maybe you'll hit it.

I lay there for a few seconds to recover from the drowsiness; after a few minutes, my mind was clear enough, and I got out of bed. Moving my still drowsy hands, I reached for my cane that was next to my bed. It had an elegant design of a raven on the end.

Crows were always animals I liked; they were very intelligent, and I thought they were cute. Too bad that in this area of the kingdom it was very difficult to see any.

With the help of my cane, I stood up and walked to the bathroom.

I was born with a partially dead leg, more precisely my right leg, so I needed my cane to be able to walk. I couldn't even feel it at all; it was like having a big piece of flesh hanging off your side. It was not a pleasant feeling, but I had gotten used to it.

With the help of my cane, I made it to the bathroom, and after a refreshing shower, I came out fully awake.

After that, the only thing left to do was to choose my clothes to go out. Looking in my closet, I could see a huge amount of shirts of different styles and colors, trench coats, fur and wool coats, some hats, and shoes. There were no dresses or heels, as I didn't like dresses, and no way was I capable of wearing heels with my condition.

"Let's not get too complicated today."

I loved wearing different styles of clothes. It might be my favorite thing in the world to sport various extravagant outfits.

"After the wine, of course."

Nothing beats a good wine.

But today I didn't feel like getting too complicated; I grabbed one of my favorite shirts that had ruffles on the sleeves. It might look simple, but I loved the way it looked on me; it was simple and elegant. After that, I grabbed some black pants that clung satisfactorily to my figure and a pair of comfortable boots.

"Oh, I almost forgot."

Walking over to my nightstand, I opened the top drawer and pulled out a large black patch.

"They make a big fuss if I go out without this on."

Those idiots wanted me to cover up any imperfections that might tarnish their "prestigious name." But who cares? I looked good in him and considered it an essential part of my charisma.

"I feel naked if I don't have this on my eye."

Once the patch was on, I opened the door and breathed in the refreshing morning air.

Walking through the halls of this huge prison- ahem, I meant, mansion, I finally made it to the dining room, and what I found was a huge empty room with a huge table with a plate of cold food on it.

Yes, the servants absolutely avoided me. The few servants I encountered cleaning the mansion didn't even turn to look at me. I guess it was some form of tormenting me or something.

"Whatever, I don't want to see their faces either; they would ruin my morning."

I sat down at the exaggeratedly large table and ate my cold plate of food without any particular feeling.

"Hmm, I have to go to school today; what a bummer."

Magischer Hort was the best magic school in Rosenheim, founded by the Schmetterling family itself to cultivate talented magicians who could join their ranks. And the only reason I was allowed to go there was to monitor me and make sure I didn't get out of line.

"Even though there's nothing I can learn there anymore."

I already knew and mastered everything they taught at that school; of course I couldn't put it into practice because of my condition, but as for the theoretical, I could teach a damn class myself.

"But then again, if I don't go, they're going to make a bloody fuss."

I finished my cold meal and, with uneven steps, made it to the door of the mansion. It was several minutes of walking, as my room was in a very secluded location away from the main facilities of the mansion.

"Literally a sort of basement used only for storing things."

Once I left the mansion, there was a carriage waiting outside. At least they had the decency to set that up for me.

I got into the carriage, and the coachman started it up. The subtle swaying of the carriage made me feel drowsy again, but I tried to stay awake by watching the people walking down the street.

Finally, after a few minutes of riding, we arrived at the school; clearly, the coachman wasn't going to help me get off, so I did it on my own.

Once I got out of the carriage, the carriage drove away and left me alone in front of the school gates. There were several people who were arriving at the same time as me, and as I started walking, some of them mumbled things with the intention that I should hear them.

"Look, it's the cripple."

"Yeah, the same cripple you see every damn days, don't they have anything else original?"

Hearing my words, the girls who were whispering looked angry, but as they were about to retort, I interrupted them.

"Yeah, yeah, 'Who do I think I am?' Well, I'm the daughter of the damn founder of the school, you idiot."

After blurting out those words, I walked away, leaving those noble women red with anger and shame.

But to be honest, what the hell was wrong with those girls?

Well, not just them; most of the people at school were insulting me like that. And it's not that I'm angry, it's just that I was already finding it extremely boring.

'Look, it's the cripple. 'The cyclops.' 'The gimp.' Literally all of their insults were based on that. It got to the point where I would literally applaud when someone came to insult me in an original way.

"Do they think this is some kind of trashy romance novel?"

In that kind of story, those insults would work.

"So I would be the tragic heroine?"

I hope my prince charming is someone tall and muscular.

Yes, I like muscles; do you have a problem?

As I continued with my stupid ramblings, I arrived at my classroom and walked in without further hesitation. When I opened the door, everyone in the room stared at me like I was some kind of rare animal in a zoo.

"Hey, but if it isn't the gimp, didn't you fall down the stairs while walking here?"

Said one of the guys sitting down and his small group of friends laughed.

'That joke doesn't even make sense; there are no stairs on the way.'

Sometimes I wonder how these people got into this school; weren't only the smartest people supposed to get in? But these kids showed anything but intelligence.

"Hey Gunter, don't worry, I didn't fall down any stairs, but what about you? Did you manage to seduce any women yet, or are you still having problems with your little penis?"

The boy ceased his laughter instantly, and his face turned red. I could tell that some of the girls next to him couldn't hold back their laughter, which only added to their embarrassment.

"You!"

"All right, everyone to your seats!"

He wanted to reproach me, but the teacher entered the classroom, and all he could do was swallow his words and look at me with hostility. I paid no attention to him and sat in my seat, ready to endure hours of useless chatter about knowledge I already knew.

***

"Bhwaa~"

I had finally finished first-hour classes, and my most tolerable time of the day, lunchtime, arrived.

Walking through the busy hallways, I came to a desolate area of the school. It was located near the storage rooms where teachers left their materials and objects used in some classes for practice.

Despite being a pariah in the Schmetterling family, I am still a member of the Schmetterling family, so with a lot of insistence I managed to get a room reserved for me at the school. Of course, they gave me the most ramshackle and dusty one, plus it wasn't very big.

But I didn't give a shit about that; through hard work I managed to clean it up and turn it into something halfway decent. With my savings, I bought materials, test tubes, and tools to be able to carry out my experiments.

Alchemy, what a beautiful art.

Alchemy is a mystical and ancient art dedicated to the search for the hidden essence of matter and the transformation of the ordinary into the extraordinary.

In a world where the elements are intertwined with magic, alchemists are considered the keepers of ancient secrets, able to combine rare and powerful ingredients to create potions, elixirs, and artifacts of great power.

"Oh well, that's the romantic way to put it."

As mystical and incredible as alchemy might sound, the truth was that it was mostly about calculations of temperature, quantities, and integration times, and in general, a person who didn't have deep knowledge might think that alchemy wasn't much different from cooking, albeit with much more dangerous results if you got certain mixtures wrong.

"But it has its things too."

Walking over to the shelves, I pulled out some previously prepared ingredients to go straight into the mix.

"In order to perform alchemy, it is necessary to follow some rules and fundamentals.

The first thing is to have full knowledge of the elements.

"The basics of the basics."

Every alchemist must have a deep knowledge of the four elements: earth, water, air, and fire.

"Of course there are also the others, such as ice, metal, lava, light and dark, but the former could be considered variations of the main ones, and the light and dark elements are very rare to see, so they can be discarded."

Each element has unique properties that must be understood and respected.

This has a lot to do with the so-called elemental essences; materials can have fire elemental essences like the tail of a salamander or the core of a magma golem. Attempting to mix these materials with something like a newt fin will end up creating something impractical and unusable due to their opposing elemental essences. On the other hand, if you combine two ingredients with equal or compatible elemental natures, the result will end up being more potent and powerful.

"But here comes into play what is possibly the most fundamental rule of alchemy."

Symmetry and balance.

Alchemical formulas must maintain a balance; for every action, there must be an equivalent reaction.

"If you want to create something like, say, a bomb, then you will need a detonator and fuel."

Depending on how big you want the explosion to be, the bomb will need a powerful detonator and more fuel. If the fuel is too little, then it won't explode, and if the detonator is too weak, then it won't go off.

"Of course it also works the other way around; if the fuel and detonant are very powerful but meet a weak casing, then things will get unstable, and the bomb will end up exploding in your face before it even touches it."

And finally, there would be the purity of the materials.

"If you want to make quality stuff, use quality stuff; it's as simple as that.

If you use junk materials, then your mixes will have a very high percentage of failing; it could even lead to dangerous consequences.

"Okay, all set."

With my work table filled with the materials I was going to use, I began to make the mix.

"Quartz sand, salt of nymph's tears, tortoise shell powder, cadmium star powder, and essence of Iridis flower."

Despite the fancy names, these were fairly common materials to find. I guess they gave them those names to sell more, but who cares?

"Let's cook.".

1. Mix quartz sand and nymph's tears salt in a silver mortar.

"Silver is the material most commonly used in alchemical tools, as it has very few impurities and is said to have certain properties that improve mixtures, although it is only superstition."

2. Add the tortoise powder and mix seven times counterclockwise.

3. Add the cadmium star powder and mix for 3 minutes clockwise.

4. Add the Iridis flower essence and mix for 1 minute.

5. Place the mixture in a heat-resistant glass mold.

6. Heat the mold in an alchemical oven for 3 hours at 1000°C.

"I'm going to miss two classes, but who cares?"

7. Once the three hours are up, remove the glass molds and enjoy.

"Iridis Crystal."

In my hand was a small glass with a hexagonal structure that appeared to have a rainbow trapped inside.

"Let's try it."

I tossed the crystal in my hand, and it flew a few feet before crashing to the floor and shattering.

As it did so, a colorful light suddenly glowed, but it only lasted a few seconds before disappearing.

"Haha, cool."

Iridis' crystal was a recipe I invented for the rose festival.

When broken, it releases rainbow-like lights due to the refraction and diffraction of light in the crystal structure. The colors emitted can vary depending on the proportion of ingredients.

"Unfortunately they didn't accept it because of the danger presented by the glass crystals flying out when the mold broke."

But it was a simple mixture with a fun result, so I made it daily.

"Let's keep these for now."

I put away the remaining 5 crystals carefully in my bag, and as I was about to leave, a shrill voice stopped me.

"Well, so here you were."

" Phew..."

Turning I could see a girl standing in the doorway. She had pink hair styled in some spiral shapes at the ends and navy blue eyes.

"Playing and skipping class again, cyclops?"

"I wasn't playing pink drill; I was working."

"W-who are you calling Pink Drill, you stupid cyclops?!"

"You, I can see your pink head from miles away, even with one eye."

The girl was red in the face with a frustrated expression; she looked like she wanted to answer me but couldn't find the words. It was a funny thing to watch.

This strange, silly girl was my younger sister, Dorothea Schmetterling.

"Whatever! They sent me after you again because you skipped class, you asshole!"

"Aww, what a filial little sister going to pick up her big sister."

Dorothea's face instantly turned red, and she started pointing angrily at me.

"I-it's not like I like you or anything! Who would want to have a cyclops for a big sister?"

And so she continued babbling things until she calmed down and got back to the topic of why she came here.

"Whatever, you have to come; the director is calling you."

"Yeah, forget it, I'm not coming."

"But it's already the third time you're not going! They'll end up expelling you if you keep this up."

"Let them do it; better for me, there's nothing I can learn in this school anymore after all."

As I said before, this school has nothing to offer me anymore; I've already learned everything I could possibly know about magic circles and alchemical formulas.

"Well, not really; I still have a lot left to learn, but they're not going to teach it to me here."

If I could just leave it all behind and escape from this school and my family, I could learn more about the fascinating world of alchemy and magic circles.

"But... What if the family does something to you?"

"..."

Well, there are a few reasons why I can't leave.

The first is obviously the power the Schmetterling family has in the city. They would catch me before I even thought of a plan to escape.

And the second is this clumsy, silly, naive, and cute little sister.

Dorothea is not someone who was born with a talent for magic. She also had no talent for swordplay and was not very smart. Or, in short.

She was completely useless in the eyes of the family.

This led to her becoming isolated, just like me, albeit to a lesser extent, but she still got teased by our older brothers and some brainless nobles with low self-esteem who saw it as an outlet to pick on a girl younger than them.

Since we were in similar situations, Dorothea would always seek me out to hang out with me when we were kids, even though that usually got her reprimanded and even punished.

We were very close when we were kids, and in fact, I think my taste for fashion rubbed off on me from her, who was always talking about opening a tailor shop to sew beautiful dresses.

"Although now she's going through puberty and doesn't want to express her feelings properly."

Ha, really... what would this silly girl do without me?

"Don't worry, those idiots won't be able to do anything to me."

I told her confidently as I rested my hand on her head. This seemed to calm her down, as her gloomy expression brightened, but after a few seconds, her face turned red, and she started babbling again.

"W-w-w-w-w-who's worried about you!?"

And after that, she ran off.

I can only shake my head in amusement at his demonstration.

I meticulously cleaned up the tools I had used and left my workshop. The sun was still high, as classes started at 6 AM and ended at 12 PM, so I still had a whole day.

"Hmm... where should I go?"

I heard of a certain tailor shop that opened not too long ago, and they sold quality clothes. Let's go take a look.