To become a king and a magician

Of course, no matter how despicable Natsukawa Tora was, he wouldn't lay a hand on six-year-old Grey. However, his intuition told him that if he went to bed with her, that scumbag Meryl would definitely not miss the chance to smear him. Perhaps he was overthinking it, but having been tricked so many times, Natsukawa Tora preferred to believe it was true rather than gamble on the possibility that Meryl wouldn't cause trouble.

As a result, he developed a fever.

Meryl took Xia Chuanhu's temperature with a thermometer: "Hmm... 39 degrees, that's a bit high. You should stay home and rest for the next few days. Webber, please ask for leave for Xia Chuanhu at the Clock Tower."

"A few days?"

"Two days will be enough. I can concoct potions; a mere fever will be cured with one bottle."

Meryl's potion?

Xia Chuanhu's brow twitched slightly: "Just asking, that medicine... cough cough cough... it should be a normal medicine, right?"

"Yes, that's normal. But all medicines have some side effects, so there will be some minor, insignificant ones. It's nothing to worry about."

"Specifically?"

"Increased appetite, mental confusion, cognitive impairment... Oh right, it seems to also stimulate male hormones. I accidentally produced more than a dozen small animals when I was doing animal experiments before."

Okay, just as Natsukawa Tora predicted.

"I would rather die than drink your medicine."

"Eh~~~~Why?"

"Why don't you have any self-awareness... cough cough cough!"

Seeing Xia Chuanhu's wary expression, Meili pouted in dissatisfaction. However, his reaction was expected; at worst, she could just mix the medicine into his food or water.

Just then, Waver spoke up: "Isn't it unnecessary to use a potion? If you have a fever, you can just go to the hospital and buy some medicine, right?"

"what?"

"Have you been magicians for too long and forgotten what kind of society we live in now? Let's put aside terminal illnesses for now. If you have a fever, just take some medicine, right? I don't have class today, so I'll go out and buy some medicine in a bit. I'll also go to the Clock Tower to ask for leave for you. A week is more than enough. During that time, you just stay in bed and rest."

After saying that, Weber turned and walked out of the bedroom.

Seeing this, Meryl couldn't help but laugh and said, "Oh my, it's surprisingly reliable. What a pity, I have a lot of new medicines in my room that I haven't used yet."

"So that's what you were planning, right?"

"Hehe~~~"

Hey, what the hell are you talking about?

Natsukawa Tora was too lazy to even complain about this old, immortal nightmare. He pulled the covers over himself, turned over, and said, "If there's nothing else, I'm going to sleep."

"How could you be alright? It seems neither Weber nor you have discovered the real cause of the fever."

"Huh?"

What is the real cause of the fever?

Natsukawa Torama looked at Meryl again: "Isn't it because you caught a cold?"

"You're a superhuman now that you've fused with a Servant's Spirit Origin. How could a mere cold make you so listless? It's been over a year, and you still don't have a clear understanding of your physical abilities?"

As she spoke, Meryl tapped Natsukawa Tiger's forehead.

"What's really causing your fever is a problem with your magic circuits and magic power. That being said, it's not that you've been cursed or poisoned or anything; it's simply that something foreign has entered your body, like eating something bad."

"So...cough cough cough...I don't have a fever?"

"The only symptom you're experiencing is a fever. The magic circuit is rejecting the foreign substance that has entered your body and is expelling it on its own. Once it's completely digested, the fever will subside in three or four days."

At this point, Meryl frowned slightly: "What I'm more curious about is why there's a foreign object mixed into your magic circuits. Do you have any clues?"

"No."

"Hmm... Alright then, you should get some rest. This time, I'll be unusual and not tease you."

"Thank you so much."

Natsukawa Tora gave Meryl a weak glare.

At the same time, Grey's voice came from the doorway: "Brother, I made some porridge—ah, Sister Lillian, good afternoon."

"Good afternoon, little Grey! You actually made lunch for Xia Chuan. How thoughtful of you! I feel like you'll definitely be a good wife in the future!"

"Wife?!"

Grey's cheeks flushed bright red, and Ad, who was hiding in her cloak, jumped out: "Hehehehe! Wife, I can't imagine who would want this idiot. How about the young man over there consider him?"

“Climb...cough cough cough...and I’m disabled now, don’t cause me any trouble…” Natsukawa Tora said while looking at Grey, “Grey, the porridge is on the bedside table. I’ll take a nap first and drink it when I wake up.”

"Okay, okay!"

————————————————————————————

Inside Kenneth's office at the Clock Tower.

"Okay, I understand. Since there's nothing we can do about it, let him rest for a few days."

Kenneth then hung up the phone.

Sitting on the sofa not far in front of him, Sora turned his head and asked, "Whose call was that?"

"Weber Velvet came to ask for leave for Xia Chuan, saying he was feeling unwell and needed to take leave. Honestly, as a magician, he can't even take care of his own physical condition. That's really immature."

“After all, he and Will went through that incident last night. Going home in that storm, he must have caught a cold.” Sora was quite understanding. “By the way, is there any news about last night? I remember you went to the field investigation with the Legal Affairs Department.”

Mentioning that matter, Kenneth frowned, a rare occurrence for him: "The unexpected result was just some minor anomalies in the ley lines, which were already adjusted at the time. But..."

"Is there a problem?"

"Ah."

Sora fell silent – ​​this was the first time since they met that Kenneth had pointed out a problem. With Kenneth's abilities, he could easily solve any problem, so problems were often not problems at all.

But this time...

"Weber Velvet and Xia Chuan reported that a black dog fairy had appeared. It was an almost inevitable result of a combination of factors such as a crossroads, thunder, storm, and night. It could be described as a targeted spirit possession, and there was nothing unusual about it. In fact, similar situations often occur in various parts of Britain when the weather is similar."

"However, the summoning result was problematic."

"The two men reported that a black dog fairy as tall as a person had appeared. A normal black dog fairy is about the size of a regular dog, but as tall as a person... This size has never been recorded in the Clock Tower's records."

"Could it be due to the summoning factor?" Sora asked.

Kenneth nodded: "That should be true. After that, I performed several simulated spirit summonings based on the situation at the time, and the summoned creatures were all normal black dog fairies."

It wasn't arrogance; Kenneth firmly believed that his summoning spell couldn't possibly go wrong. This meant that there was indeed an unknown factor interfering with the summoning spell at that time, causing the summoned black dog fairy to grow to a gigantic size.

After thinking for a while with his chin resting on his hand, Kenneth stood up and said, "Sora, I'm going out for a bit. You can act as my representative here. If there's anything else, just hold off until I get back."

"I understand—you're going to that intersection?"

"Ah."

"It's rare to see you so concerned about things other than yourself. Are you worried about those two people?"

Kenneth sneered upon hearing this: "How could that be? I just thought that if I could investigate that uncertain factor, my research on spirit summoning might be able to advance further, and if I could write a good paper, my achievements would be even greater."

"Besides, those two aren't so fragile that I need to worry about them."

38. Presuppose failure

When Kenneth got out of the car at the intersection where the black dog fairy had appeared the night before, he saw someone he had never expected.

"Weber Velvet?"

"Alas--!"

Upon suddenly hearing Kenneth's voice, Webber, who was standing at the intersection, screamed as if startled, then looked at Kenneth with lingering fear: "Mr. Kenneth?! What are you doing here?"

"This is the question I want to ask you. You have courses in all the basic courses and modern magic, why are you wasting time instead of preparing your lessons properly?"

"Ah... well... actually there's something I've been concerned about, so I came to take a look."

Webber scratched the back of his head and said in a low voice, "However, even if I noticed the problem with my magic skills, it would be extremely difficult to find the key to it, so I'm just about to go back."

"A problem?" Kenneth frowned. "What problem? Tell me, and if I'm interested, I'll give you a free tutoring session."

"Huh?!"

Kenneth's extracurricular tutoring?!

Weber rubbed his eyes, afraid that the Kenneth in front of him was a fake—the real one would never be so kind!

After hesitating for a moment, Weber said, "It's about what happened last night. The black dog fairy who fought the tiger last night had a spirit body of a scale that defies common sense. It's not a phenomenon that would occur under normal circumstances, so I wanted to come and investigate whether there were any external influencing factors."

Upon hearing this, Kenneth's gaze towards Weber trembled slightly—it turned out he had the same purpose as him?

(This kid's magic talent is only third-rate, but his eyesight is surprisingly good... That's right, if he didn't have this ability, I wouldn't have made an exception to give him the opportunity to graduate.)

“It’s amazing that you could even notice that, Webber Velvet.”

"Teacher, you flatter me... Eh? Oh?" ​​Weber was startled. "Could it be that your purpose in coming here is also...?"

"After all, this is a situation I've never seen before. If I find out the cause, I might be able to write a paper to add to my achievements and help the development of spirit summoning. It just so happens that although calling your magic skills third-rate would be too kind, you can still handle simple assistant work, right?"

"Ah, yes."

"Then come with me. Although it doesn't really matter if you're not here, it'll be good to have someone help me record the data."

"..."

After taking a deep breath to calm himself down and avoid making a fool of himself, Webber quickly caught up with Kenneth.

......

There wasn't much to investigate, because Kenneth had already conducted several simulations and was thoroughly familiar with the parameters and conditions that constituted the spirit summoning spell. As he said, he came here simply to investigate the factors that influenced the Dynamaxing of the Black Dog Fairy.

Previously, because the Legal Affairs Department was present, Kenneth hadn't investigated thoroughly. But now that he had brought Webber, a discerning person, to conduct a thorough investigation, Kenneth's temper flared up immediately.

"—This caster didn't even try to hide their mystery."

Kenneth's face darkened noticeably as he looked at the magical runes etched on the lamppost at the intersection.

The method for summoning the Black Dog Fairy has been figured out. The caster created a simple barrier by inscribing runes on streetlights or utility poles around the crossroads, thus transforming the crossroads into another world. Then, using the crossroads as an altar and the magic circle itself, and with the magic power of the ley lines, stormy weather, and corpses as catalysts, the Black Dog Fairy was summoned.

It's a very standard procedure; Kenneth himself does it this way.

But the caster made no attempt to conceal themselves during the spell! The runes were simply and brazenly etched onto the streetlights and telephone poles without any disguise! It was practically an act of deliberately exposing their mystery to everyone!

"Who on earth would do such a thing?"