Chapter 18.1 New Year's Eve  

The return to Miyazaki Swamp was not a pleasant one, for as soon as I entered the grounds of the mansion, I was immediately taken in. I was first in the clan healer's clutches, but it wasn't unusual or unexpected, just a routine physical examination, except that they wanted to take blood and tissue samples, as well as a semen analysis.

 Well, there was no way to hide, because I was in over my head. When I saw the assistant healer taking a scalpel and trying to cut off a piece of me, I just twisted his arm, took the scalpel away from him (a man in his thirties), and threatened that if they tried again, I would cut off his nose and ears first, and then I would ask "why".

I gave the blood, but when my three hundred milliliters were already being taken out of the office, I whispered the necessary words, accompanying them with the ancient hieroglyph "Nature", drawn on the place where the analysis was taken. In the magical world, such tests can give a person great power, and such a simple ritual cuts off the taken blood from the host. If they analyze it, no problem, but if they try to use it in magic, the blood will go bad immediately. As for the sperm, he snorted, "Not yet," and left the office in silence.

No, the desire is already there, but the sperm is also one of the strongest levers of influence. For example, I theoretically know at least two spells that can be used to examine various organs and areas of a person's body for their usefulness and "suitability" for further exploitation, so to speak. Such a farce made me angry. Characteristically, they didn't touch me about the tests anymore.

After the doctor, I wanted to see my "favorite" teachers of magic, political science and economics, as well as alchemy and potions, i.e. the elders. And none of these mummies bothered to coordinate a time. As a result, each bastard gargled my brains for a long time and without any use, despite the words about other "wished", they let me go, I went to the next mummy, where I got a reprimand for lateness, and gargled my brains again.

The last teacher distinguished himself by making me wait for almost an hour and a half, then giving a long and boring lecture with many examples on the subject of political collapses due to irrational prioritization, and only after that repeating almost word for word the lectures of the previous mummies.

I reached my room only at nightfall, because Sugawara-sensei fished me out and tested my skills for three hours in a row. I was glad that he wasn't disappointed in me, even though he had bad words for the idiot who was supposed to teach me, but didn't. So I made progress, but not as much as Sensei had hoped. Generally, when I got to my room, I didn't bother to sort things out or have dinner, just cleaned up in the shower and went to bed.

And then I just kept up the pace I had on the first day. It was as if I had fallen into a stupid trance, living all the time on a clear schedule, without a single deviation. There was no personal time at all — after classes and training I immediately passed out, unable to do anything else.

I only broke out of the gray stream when I arrived at the brothers' mansion, and even then my reaction to their appearance was sluggish. I didn't even begin to ask questions about such a long delay in the journey. But after a couple or three days, the brothers were able to pull me out of the strange state I had fallen into with these studies. It turned out that it had already snowed, and in a few days it would be New Year's Eve. And even though it is celebrated more quietly in Japan, for me it is a holy holiday that I did not want to give up.

So, after I recovered a bit, I started to think about it. Unfortunately, I realized that I would never see the holiday, and there were almost no people I could give gifts to or expect them from.

The master of calligraphy died of old age, so I'll just pray for him. For the master blacksmith I made a small gold hammer, about the size of a finger phalanx, in which I melted a small raw sapphire, almost a shard. It turned out to be a small symbolic artifact, with not very strong charms for increasing stamina and healing mechanical injuries and not very serious illnesses, such as sprains, burns, or colds and flu.

The artifact is not very strong, and the quality... It was made with the help of a ritual circle, though difficult to draw, but still on paper. I used it to melt gold and apply anchor structures, controlling the process with my desire and will. It turned out so well, but I can't do any better now, not with this kind of supervision.