Academy’S Gumiho Is A Magical Genius [EN]: Chapter 226

Summer Vacation (1)

A week isn’t very long, but it was enough time to plot. Baek Eun-ho approached me as I was engrossed in creating a fake identity for the child and diverting the family’s attention outward.

He handed me a document.

“Patriarch, this is the report after investigating the place you mentioned.”

“Thanks. This should be enough to get the elders to lift their heavy asses and stop glaring at me with those beady eyes for a while.”

“But Patriarch, may I ask a presumptuous question?”

“Of course. What’s on your mind?”

He asked me a question while I was skimming through the document Baek Eun-ho handed over.

I looked up from the document for a moment and met Baek Eun-ho’s gaze, his expression unreadable.

“Do we really need this much preparation to avoid the eyes of the family and the elders? Even so, this seems like overkill.”

“Your question is wrong.”

“Yes…?”

“It’s not that the scale is too large; rather, we can’t divert the elders’ attention unless it’s on this scale. In fact, you could say preparing this much is just right.”

I flipped through the document again.

A really well-organized report. The contents were a full investigation of a certain cave.

The subjects of the investigation were the magic concentration and saturation inside the cave.

And the identification of the creatures living inside.

“Everyone in the nearby village knows that this cave is big, but no one knows exactly what the inside is like.”

That’s because the cave in the document Baek Eun-ho investigated was…

“If the inside of a cave that’s less than a year old is wider than a dungeon, and the magic concentration is so high that even B-class players would be breathless, everyone would overreact.”

One of the backgrounds that will appear in the later part of the novel.

That was the cave Baek Eun-ho investigated.

A remote mountain village. There was a huge cave near the mountain where elderly people farmed for a living.

The entrance to the cave, which even the village chief, who had lived in the village for decades, was seeing for the first time, resembled a tiger’s mouth, a tiger’s den.

It is said that the villagers don’t even go near it because their hearts race when they get close to the cave, as if they were reminded of a tiger’s den. If it were a real tiger’s den, throwing meat nearby would fill the tiger’s belly, and it wouldn’t attack the houses where people live.

That’s how a year passed.

The creature in the cave that received food from people grew in size with enough time.

No, it would be more appropriate to describe them as monsters in the cave.

“Are these all the signals of creatures captured outside the cave?”

“Yes, no matter how expensive the equipment, 726 creatures were all we could find.”

726 creatures living in the cave.

Among them, there were many as small as insects, but conversely, there were some as big as houses. In that sense, the number 726 is…

“There’s no way there are so few living in that cave…”

Not many at all.

Rather, it’s on the small side.

The size of the cave is comparable to that of an average dungeon.

It takes an average of 1-2 weeks to clear an A-class dungeon using normal methods. There’s no way there are only about 700 creatures living in a cave that boasts the same size or larger.

I killed at least 10,000 monsters in the dungeon I went to with Erzebet and the others before.

I don’t know the exact number if I calculate it accurately, but it easily exceeded 5 digits even if I kept it to a minimum. So this number was strange.

“Patriarch, may I offer a word of advice?”

“You want to say you don’t know the depth, perhaps?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“…No matter how expensive and sophisticated the equipment, there’s bound to be difficulties if the depth of the cave is unbelievably deep.”

The equipment Baek Eun-ho used to measure the cave is unbelievably expensive.

It measures not only the concentration and saturation of magic, but also all kinds of other values at once, and can even measure biological signals. Moreover, the fact that it is quite heavy but can be easily carried by hand has resulted in an enormous price.

It’s probably worth the price of an average apartment in the metropolitan area.

However, even with such expensive equipment, the limitations were clear.

The depth of the cave.

It can measure up to a certain length, but it seems that it could not measure even half of it due to the density of magic that spews out like a thick fog.

That means…

“The 700 or so creatures are the ones living on the upper part, the surface of the cave. Does that mean the ones at the center of the cave’s ecosystem exist at the very bottom?”

“That’s the most reasonable guess, but unfortunately, a detailed description of the cave did not exist in the novel I read.”

“You mean there’s no clear way to know right now?”

“Yes… I’m sorry.”

“Apologies are unnecessary. Why are you bowing your head as if you’ve done something wrong? If there’s anyone to blame, it’s Eve for not including a detailed description of the cave’s area and depth in her novel.”

Of course, not all the information Eve wrote in the novel is correct.

Even if I only look at the protagonist Kyle’s actions and growth that I heard from her, there were no significant achievements. Of course, that part is also because I am interfering with the guy’s growth opportunities due to the protagonist’s characteristic of calling for more difficult trials as he grows.

In the first place, there were not many big events in the first semester of the first year.

Concentrating on classes and filling in the gaps was the protagonist’s way of growing. But even if I interfered with the few opportunities, the guy’s growth rate was below my expectations.

So.

It was ordinary itself.

‘I was relieved on one hand, but honestly, I was disappointed.’

Cain is the protagonist and the owner of the characteristic 「Great Talent Matures Late」, which grows explosively as the vessel is filled. Nevertheless, seeing that Kyle’s growth rate is ordinary, not everything Eve says is correct.

…Maybe Leona, the protagonist in the novel that Baek Eun-ho mentioned, is the real protagonist, unlike the conversation I had with Eve.

Her growth rate is faster than her peers, so she has been consistently noted as a promising player during the first semester. Of course, Sung Yeon-hwa and Isabel’s growth rates are faster than hers, but that’s due to my active intervention.

Leona grew rapidly with only the fighting spirit and competitive spirit stimulated by seeing them getting stronger quickly without my intervention.

‘The novel Eve wrote and the conversations I had with her are just information to refer to. It is my responsibility to judge whether that information is valid and useful.’

Information that should not be blindly believed.

However, right now, the novel Eve wrote and the conversations I had with her are guiding us in the direction we should go.

Even the information about the cave was obtained through her novel.

The cave deep in the mountains was correct information.

Then, naturally, the guy who will pop out of that cave will also be as we obtained the information. Human memory has limitations, so I can’t remember everything, but one thing is certain.

The very bottom of the cave.

“A monster lives there.”

Creature or monster. A real ‘monster’ that is difficult to describe with such trite expressions lives there.

Of course, if you go into the details of the classification, you could say it’s a monster.

The second highest. A monster that was given a high rank of 2nd tier by the association upon its appearance. The identity of the cave is that such a guy is coiling up and living there.

“The 2nd tier is a monster with enough power to destroy a country. Of course, since the main background of this world is South Korea, it will not lead to destruction. It was the same in the novel. But there are huge rewards and honors that he gives, are you really going to leak this high-level information to the market little by little?”

“Of course. This level of information is enough to get the attention of the elders as well as the industry to the cave. Anyway, he’s not a monster that can be caught within a month or so, so I’m going abroad carefully in the meantime.”

“But Patriarch, which country are you planning to go to?”

“…Didn’t I tell you?”

“No.”

To Baek Eun-ho, Baek Seung-woo was a war hero.

He was his idol.

It was the order of such an idol, so he carried out the order without any complaints, but he wondered which country he was planning to go to that he was moving so secretly.

“I’m thinking of going to Germany.”

“Germany…? Germany at this time?”

Baek Eun-ho thought.

Isn’t Germany a bit dangerous at this point?

Even more so if it’s a member of the Cheonho Baekga family [likely referring to a powerful or influential clan]. Just then, I opened my mouth to resolve Baek Eun-ho’s question.

“To be precise, it would be correct to say that I’m going all over Europe. I’m planning to go to various countries including Germany this summer vacation.”

“It’s not… for travel purposes, is it?”

“Haha, I wish I could just go on a trip with peace of mind. You know it’s not for such a pleasant purpose, but you’re still asking. Baek Eun-ho, you seem to be quite comfortable with me now. You’re even playing such mischievous pranks.”

“I, I’m sorry…!”

Baek Eun-ho was horrified by my words.

He had a genuinely embarrassed expression. He was shaking his hands hard, denying my words, saying that he had no intention of playing pranks.

That figure was like a balloon doll at an event hall, and the baby watching it smiled broadly. Really, looking at this expression alone, it’s hard to believe that he was born from an egg like a dragon that will lead the world to its end in the future.

“Ah, I, that, that’s…!”

“I know you didn’t mean to do that. I was going to surprise you and see your reaction, but rather, I was the one who played a mischievous prank.”

Baek Eun-ho finally felt relieved when I smiled slightly.

Heaving a sigh of relief, I gave Baek Eun-ho an additional explanation.

“There’s no special reason why I’m personally going to Europe. It’s simple, you could say.”

This was a reason that all parents could relate to.

The number of children to support has increased from one, Erzebet, to two, including the baby who has not been named.

That means.

“It’s just that ‘I’ have a reason to work twice as hard.”

It meant that a nanny was needed.

However, I couldn’t just hire anyone, so I’m moving myself.

“Now that there are two children to take care of, the cost of childcare is doubled. Wouldn’t I need twice the labor?”

“…Ah, that’s what you mean.”

Without having to explain in detail.

Baek Eun-ho seems to have noticed what I wanted to say.

There’s not much to be in Europe anyway.

At most, there was an orchard and labor.

And I have now finished preparing to go and get all of it.

[Passport – Baek Seung-woo]

“I’ll be back soon.”

“Bring me back a souvenir when you come.”

“Okay. Should I buy all kinds of snacks from the duty-free shops in each country?”

“Ah, that’s a bit…”

Baek Eun-ho’s expression suddenly distorted.

Haha, this bastard. He’s acting shy when he likes it.