Rorschach still held ninety-five shares. At the current market price of 611 Gold Lang each, that was a huge sum of nearly 60,000 Lang. Then again, the Gold Lang was gradually starting to devalue, so it was hard to say how much the value of this money had increased since Rorschach first cashed out.

Rorschach’s truly significant asset was the "Hercules" beverage factory. Mr. Pierre’s marketing was quite successful; the purple product could be seen in bars and restaurants on every street, on the tables of commoners and in the dining halls of the Royal Palace and Nobility. In particular, after someone—no one knew who—invented the method of squeezing lemon juice into it, the soft drink saw a new round of growth.

Rorschach had already planned to sell his Mining Company stock and free up the capital to invest in a new factory in the Empire. At the current exchange rate, it was worth about 30,000 Golden Eagle Coins.

The difficulty lay in the exchange. If he only had Paper Currency, converting it to the Empire’s metal currency would incur another discount. Rorschach was thinking that after the investment, he would use this money for procurement within the Holy Kingdom and ship the materials, especially the equipment he had designed, to the Empire via Airship.

’I can’t seem too eager...’ Rorschach took a sip of wine. "Is the Duke thinking of investing recently? Forgive my bluntness, but it seems a bit late to enter the market now."

"Rorschach Mage, you may not be aware, but the rules of the financial market are rich and varied. In short, however many shares you have, I will buy them. You need not worry about pressure from the Royal Palace. We have many ways to avoid Nekker’s attention."

"Alright, it’s a pleasure doing business with you." ’This old fox definitely has his own scheme,’ Rorschach thought. But as an Empireist and a Mage, he couldn’t be bothered with the Duke’s little tricks. Kano remained silent, as if he hadn’t heard their conversation at all.

...

Rorschach booked a large practice room. For the first time in a while, Kano’s entire group gathered to watch Rorschach’s "Divine Power Dispersal Technique" experiment.

Master Kano, Paulina, Pascal, four junior apprentice-brothers and sisters... ’Why do I feel so much pressure?’ Rorschach mused. He remembered when he first arrived at the Tower of Stars, the renowned head professor only had one problem student and his senior apprentice-sister holding down the fort. Now, the group was practically thriving.

"First, Rorschach will perform the Casting for verification. Second, we will verify the effect after it’s made into a Scroll." Using his Mage’s Hand, Kano lifted an arrowhead glowing with Holy Light. The gilt prayer-script on it shone brightly. "I believe the difference should be visible to the naked eye."

"It was so hard to get our hands on the Church’s weapons. Isn’t it a waste to just destroy them? Why don’t we test them out first?" To everyone’s surprise, it was Paul who suggested they first experiment with the weapons’ power.

Rorschach was also interested. "I think my junior brother has a point. We have plenty of materials, so we can run a control test first."

Hearing this, Paul immediately opened a package he had brought. Everyone could see he had come prepared. Inside the package were an un-tipped arrow shaft, a short hilt, and a sheathed shortsword. And then there was the bow he had been carrying from the start.

"Why do you have so many weapons?"

"What’s so strange? All Jasikone people are like this. We believe in using force to defend our rights." ’Is this kid trying to be a Demon Warrior? His style seems so different from everyone else at the Tower of Stars,’ Rorschach thought.

After fixing the arrowhead and loading it into a crossbow, Paul volunteered to take charge of aiming and firing. He stood with his feet shoulder-width apart, drew the bow, and aimed sideways at the target, finally adjusting the firing angle slightly upward.

SWOOSH! The arrow flew out, swiftly burying itself in the wooden target. A golden light exploded at the moment of impact, and under a sacred aura, the target was split perfectly into six equal pieces.

It was split so evenly for two reasons: one, Paul was an excellent shot and hit the bullseye, and two, the God of Light and Order was apparently obsessive-compulsive. The weapons He blessed also scattered their damage with extreme uniformity when released.

’If that hit a human body, the wound would be significant.’

Next, they tested the Blade of Evil-Breaking. Paul skillfully attached the blade to the short hilt, gave it a few practice swings, and then with a burst of power, he struck. The second target was sliced apart as if it were butter.

"It seems that besides being sharp, it has no other effect." Paul first inspected the smooth cut surface, then examined the blade from both sides. The golden light seemed to have dimmed a little.

"As its name implies, it naturally has a special offensive capability against evil forces. It’s just that now, with the Evil Gods and their servants nowhere to be seen, it’s not particularly meaningful." To Kano and Rorschach, this melee weapon had little value. ’Of course, a Mage should be focused on ranged attacks.’

Philippe, however, had a look of great appreciation for Paul, as if he wanted to take the heroic Jasikone youth on as his own squire. He asked for the shortsword and tried it himself, using the training he had received from his family, swinging at the half-chopped second target.

Awkwardly, he failed to replicate Paul’s hot-knife-through-butter effect; the blade got stuck in the wood.

Paul was unfazed. He pulled the blade out and observed it again. "The Enchantment on it was probably partially consumed, so it’s not as sharp anymore. Disregarding the blessing, the craftsmanship of the blade itself is pretty average."

Paulina had a thought. "There’s a problem with the arrow. The Technique being tested has a cast time, and its range is likely limited. If you miss the shot while firing the arrow, it would be a disaster. We should still experiment on it in a static state."

After seeing the effect, Rorschach also realized the flaw in his magic. The Casting time was similar to that of a Magic Array, requiring about a second of channeling. Furthermore, if used as a technique, hitting a high-speed arrow would be more difficult than catching a blade with his bare hands.

But there was another way. Rorschach copied Kano’s method, using Mage’s Hand to pick up the Arrow of Judgment instead of touching it directly.

The fact that an enchanted item could still be picked up by a technique gave Rorschach a preliminary judgment. Then he let go, and the arrow fell slowly. Rorschach’s Delaying Technique had taken effect, just as it had worked on the Transmuting Dust containing impure Divine Power. After carefully catching it, there was no explosion of golden light. It seemed the trigger condition was a sudden and significant change in momentum.

’Good, now I’m confident.’

"How did you do that?" Kano had noticed an interesting point in Rorschach’s action. "The Feather Fall Skill and Floating Skill shouldn’t work on this type of object." The other Mages and Apprentices might not have realized that those two techniques were based on enchanting the target, which would conflict with the Holy Light on the arrow and cause them to fail.

"I didn’t add something, I subtracted something. I reduced its momentum. The inspiration came from the Cold Ice Beam." Rorschach’s words left the others baffled. What did that have to do with being Frozen? Only the Great Mage understood the principle immediately and nodded, which only served to confuse everyone else even more.

"Paul, you can shoot directly at me. Use the Arrow of Judgment." Rorschach decided not to bother verifying if his Divine Exorcism Technique would work in a static test. Even if the experiment failed, he had the Slowdown Skill as a safety net. Rorschach had, of course, carefully read that paper, "Optimal Form Analysis of the Force Wall Technique Deployment," and inspired by that excellent article, he was even more confident in his Slowdown Skill’s interception capabilities.

"That’s too dangerous!" "Junior Brother, it’s just an experiment, don’t risk your life!" Paulina and Pascal still felt it was improper. They should at least test it statically first. Even Philippe felt that Rorschach was deviating from his usual rational image, seeming a bit too extreme. ’Is he that confident in his magic?’

Rorschach and Paul distanced themselves to prepare. "Since we’re testing a technique, shouldn’t we simulate a real combat situation as closely as possible?"

"Rorschach is right. Let’s just try it directly." After Kano spoke, the others agreed. The senior sister and brother trusted their master, while Kano had faith in Rorschach. As for Paul, he had been eager to try for a while now and nocked the arrow on his bow.

Rorschach and Paul stood at opposite ends of the practice room. At Paulina’s strong insistence, Kano stood right beside Rorschach in case of an accident.

Then Kano shouted, "Paul, aim straight! Don’t hit an old man like me by mistake!"

’Some teacher he is,’ Rorschach fumed.

"Don’t you worry! Trust in a Divine Archer from Jasikone!"

’With all those points in Martial Arts, why are you even a Mage?’

WHOOSH! A sharp, brief sound of something cutting through the air rang out. The arrow crossed the thirty-pace distance in an instant, yet it slowed down as it flew straight for Rorschach’s face. The young man raised his hand, and the target seemed to plunge into an invisible swamp of mud, its speed and altitude gradually decaying, but the change in momentum was not so abrupt as to trigger its effect.

He raised his second hand. The casting motion could have been simpler, but since this was his first attempt, Rorschach needed the auxiliary gestures to help him visualize focusing the Exile Skill on the arrowhead.

Everyone except Paul clearly saw the golden light on the arrowhead fluctuate violently. Just as they worried its power would detonate, the light collapsed amidst the fluctuations, causing no harm, merely dissipating powerlessly.

In truth, in Rorschach’s perception, the "Order" of the God of Light and Order had been exiled from the Material Realm, returning to some infinitely distant place. The remaining, restored Ether washed away the Slowdown Skill, leaving only a common iron arrowhead to fall to the ground, its Runes becoming blurred as if rusted.

Applause filled the practice room. The scene reminded Rorschach of a magic show from his previous life, except this time the audience consisted of Mages and Magic Apprentices.

How bizarre.