Activating the Magitech Card!
As expected of Pride 1, made using the method for crafting Refined Emotion Cards.
Even the black light it emitted upon activation looked more sophisticated.
The dark golden orb that flew out of the Magitech Card was also rounder, steadier in flight, and faster.
Before DemiDevimon could react, the orb shot into it.
For a moment, it froze, as if its brain were switching from "mischievous" mode to "arrogant" mode.
(?ˊˋ)
After that moment, its pretend "wounded" expression immediately transformed into one of haughty, overbearing pride!
DemiDevimon's entire bearing changed!
It raised its head and declared, "You dared force this upon me against my will. Do you know your crime?"
Dark: "Huh?"
DemiDevimon said arrogantly, "I shall grant you the honor of atoning with a head pat!"
Dark, looking utterly bewildered, reached out and patted it on the head until it narrowed its eyes in satisfaction and let out a comfortable moan.
Afterward, Dark wrote in his notebook: "Excessive arrogance may damage the brain."
Card Name: Pride 1
Type: Magic Card
Effect: Makes the target arrogant.
Without a doubt, Pride 1 was more effective this time, and its duration was longer, too.
DemiDevimon didn't return to normal until the twenty-first minute.
What's more, the Pride 1 card didn't shatter after activation.
An extremely faint orb of light even floated out of DemiDevimon's head and returned to Pride 1.
When he infused it with magic power, he found that Pride 1 emitted only a weak black light, but it was steadily recovering.
This meant that Pride 1 had become a reusable Magitech Card!
Its practical value was limited, of course.
But from a research perspective, this was undoubtedly a major breakthrough!
It proved the sustainable development potential of the Pride series of Magitech Cards and laid a solid foundation for the development of Pride 2.
Emotions were a kind of power.
And the seven deadly sins were a power with enormous potential!
Another fifty-nine minutes passed, and the light emitted by Pride 1 returned to its normal strength.
"Estimated cooldown: 59 minutes."
To test whether using it a second time would weaken its effect, Dark activated Pride 1 again.
DemiDevimon:?!
The final experiment results showed that:
Pride 1 was relatively stable, with no apparent signs of weakening so far.
Judging by its Magitech Card evaluation, it was practically a finished product!
Dark thought so, too.
He looked at the last blank Magitech Card remaining.
Next, he planned to test the carrying limit of a blank Magitech Card worth 10 credits when it came to Pride!
For that, he'd need to ask Professor Kazel to lend him another Thought Bottle, which was worth several hundred credits and could store emotions.
—Perhaps this was the composure of an honor student!
The Villainous Young Master Only Wants to Live a Buddhist Life
Chapter 21: Dark Dimon Was Beyond Reproach
When Dark woke up, it was already Sunday.m
Rain pattered outside the window.
Dark got out of bed with narrowed eyes, brushed his teeth, and washed his face, giving Sloth no chance to score any points.
He didn't go to the common room today. Instead, he spent some quiet time in his bedroom.
The Sin Index could be difficult to gauge. For example, he was doing nothing right now, just watching the rain by the window, his mind calm and at ease, and nothing had been triggered.
But that state of mind wasn't easy to maintain.
At around seven, Dark went to the Cafeteria for breakfast, something he rarely did. Afterward, he went to borrow a Thought Bottle from Professor Kazel.
Professor Kazel seemed to assume that Dark was studying emotions, so he lent it to him without asking many questions.
As its name suggested, a Thought Bottle was a container for storing "thought matter," such as memories, emotions, knowledge, and ideas.
Of course.
Memories, emotions, knowledge, and ideas all faded with time.
A Thought Bottle costing a few hundred credits couldn't completely prevent thoughts from fading.
It merely provided a barrier, slowing the loss of thought matter.
The optimal preservation period for thought matter was seventy-two hours. After that, the fading grew more pronounced.
Dark therefore scheduled his next experiment for Tuesday afternoon or evening, three days later.
By then, he should have three points of Pride available for testing.
Perhaps because the rain kept getting heavier, the first-years could only sulk in the common room.
Some read, some played chess, and others scrambled to finish their homework.
Diana was one of the last group.
She pulled Rose to a spot in the corner of the common room, held her pen between her teeth, and hurried through her assignments.
Diana really wasn't very bright. Often, she needed to go over something twice when other people could remember it after a single read.
All her talent was concentrated in magic power and physical strength.
If this had been the era when the Demon Race still existed, she would have made a perfect magic-and-martial-arts paladin. She might even have ranged across the battlefield and gone down in history.
But in the Saint Marian Era, knowledge was the foremost productive force.
To become a qualified Magic Guide, one had to learn to use one's head.
Diana had only managed to keep up with her studies so far thanks, in part, to Rose's help and, in equal part, to Dark's tutoring!
He had been an enormous help, especially with Arithmetic Class, the subject first-years found hardest.
Dark had always tried to avoid socializing. At first, he'd been afraid he wouldn't be able to control his short temper and might fly into a rage and awaken his Wrath if he ran into some obnoxious person.
Now, he was afraid he wouldn't be able to control his sense of superiority and would become too arrogant.
The truth was, not one of these first-year Little Magisters could hold a candle to him!
The Great Sage Daily was once again buzzing with stories about St. Marian, mainly because the descendants of the Kingdom's Twin Swords had both become new students there.
Teachers and students at places like the Holy Rite Academy were growing rather envious. If they could catch one of the new students behaving badly and report on it at length, they could surely knock St. Marian's arrogance down a peg!
They naturally set their sights on Dark Dimon, whose reputation was appalling. They'd heard that the young duke was addicted to pleasure despite his tender age: arrogant and lazy, stupid and quick-tempered—a perfect target, just standing there waiting to be beaten to a pulp!
And by going after Dark Dimon, they might also deal a blow to the Dove Faction, led by Duchess Alvitr!
Everything in the world was full of contradictions and reversals.
The Valkyrie, who had once charged across battlefields without batting an eye as she killed and buried her enemies, had come to understand the importance of rest and recovery—and become a Dove Faction supporter who advocated peace.
The Holy Church, which had once urged peaceful coexistence and fewer deaths during wartime, had become the Hawks, promoting military expansion now that its development had stalled!
How did that saying go? Without war, what need was there for faith?
The Pope of the Holy Church wouldn't go so far as to get involved personally, but the Archbishop, the chief among the thirty-six councilors, often held forth in the council, urging the king to send troops on campaigns.
They should wipe out the surrounding small kingdoms before they had a chance to grow powerful!
The king was old and had lost his ambition, so they urged the Eldest Prince to take the throne and conquer the world.
The Eldest Prince was ambitious, and his goals aligned with those of the Holy Church.
As a result, the Dove Faction had no choice but to support the more moderate Eldest Princess. They also took advantage of the current Renaissance trend, advocating that women should rule and pushing for the Eldest Princess to take the throne!
Of course, everyone knew why a galgame would have a setting like this. (w)
And yet.
A fly couldn't land on an egg without a crack—or, put another way, an egg without a crack was invincible. (Probably.)
The Hawks' plant at St. Marian hadn't managed to dig up a single scrap of dirt on Dark!
He was well-behaved, excelled in his studies, kept a healthy schedule, lived a disciplined life, and worked hard. He wasn't greedy or jealous, treated people warmly, was humble and courteous, followed proper etiquette, and was elegant and handsome...
It was as if every good quality in the world applied to him.
That's right. This was Dark Dimon!
An excellent, perfect, irreproachable man!
The young future nun who had been watching him from the shadows had almost fallen for Dark Dimon's charm herself!
If they absolutely had to find fault with him, perhaps the fact that his Familiar belonged to the Demon Species could stir up some public opinion...
By contrast.
The other descendant of the Kingdom's Twin Swords didn't seem nearly so impressive.
Though he was the Son of the Hero, a figure even more exalted than the Valkyrie, Mr. Gaude spent his days and nights hanging around with the son of a minor country noble.
He didn't do his homework properly and sometimes even showed up late or skipped class!
After just one week, he'd lost half his credits!
He was a disgrace to the Hero's family!
And this Son of the Hero also had a Familiar from the Demon Species!
The descendants of the Kingdom's Twin Swords, renowned for exterminating the Demon Race, had Familiars that were both from the Demon Species!
The truth was that the appearance of Familiars from the Demon Species was influenced by a variety of factors, and didn't prove anything specific.
But to people who knew nothing about Magic Guidance, it was a major scandal capable of stirring up a public uproar!
And yet.
Even the Hawks didn't dare go after both sons of the Kingdom's Twin Swords at once. Doing so would likely provoke a backlash across the whole country!
As the people grew more educated, they became harder and harder to fool.
The Hawks had only meant to secretly stoke hostility between the two sides. Perhaps they could even use that to draw the Son of the Hero into their faction.
But now, look at them.
They weren't even on the same level.
How were they supposed to oppose each other?
What a headache!
Even so.
The Great Sage Daily was still filled with...
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