The Strongest Gun Magus: I Cast Bullet!-Chapter 39: Reap What You Didn’t Sow

Reynard reached the hidden sanctum of his garden and plopped on the ground. For a moment, he felt like the entire world was either against him or just didn’t care. The Blut Bismuth School, Marien... Well, there was Terence, but he was just a kid!

"Oink!"

Chili was insistently trying to climb out of its pen and reach Reynard. Gone was the previous weakness of the little runt. The brown-furred piglet had grown by a few finger-breadths since Reynard adopted it, and its eyes had a healthy orange glow.

"Oh, Chili. Even you only care for me because I feed you. I have forced you into our unequal relationship by killing your parents and selling off your siblings... But if I didn’t do that, you would probably die in the harsh nature."

"Oink-oink!"

Reynard laughed and got up.

The Spirit Armor was still surrounding him, so he fearlessly approached the Forge-Boar piglet and petted it, ignoring the puffs of flame Chili let out in its excitement.

Thanks to the Spirit Armor, Reynard could do something like that and avoid setting his robe on fire.

"Okay, enough wallowing in misery! I have an entire month to do something. Coincidentally, I also have a month to apologize to Marien... Not that I will need it if I don’t deal with the Four-Moon Realm situation."

Reynard stepped away from the piglet pen and nodded to himself.

’The old man has really gotten serious about killing me! Until now, he couldn’t kill me openly because the entire school would protest something so unfair. But now everybody believes that I’m given something nice. If I refuse the honors, the Magister will have a legitimate reason to destroy my Athanor. But what are my actual chances there? The Magister must be sure they are below zero. I saw murder in his eyes!’

Reynard clicked his tongue.

’One thing is clear—I must get stronger. My guns could use an upgrade, I didn’t finish trying to recreate the flower-growing spell, and I am now eligible to study basic Albedo spells from the school library. I can also continue refinement. At the very least, I should gather mana and start my First Cycle properly. This will increase the amount of circulating mana I have.’

That was a lot of things to do, and Reynard knew that a month might not be enough for any of them.

After some consideration, he walked deeper into his garden, to the Saturnian Ivies. Some of them were about to give seeds, which had less Earth Mana, but could sell better on the market.

Other plants were growing to the side, many already showing berries and seeds.

Reynard dismissed his Spirit Armor and went for the gardening tools. First among them were gloves and a silver harvesting sickle.

It was time to reap what he didn’t sow.

***

"Miss Marien, did you hear?.."

"Miss Marien, do you know?.."

"Marien!..."

"Marien!..."

There were so many people who wanted to share the latest piece of juicy gossip with Marien that her patience soon ended.

"Leave me alone! I have no time for your pointless chatting, because I actually care about my refinement! Yes, you should be refining and practicing spells, not wasting my time. Begone!"

Whenever people whispered behind her back during a class or when she simply walked down the school nowadays, Marien couldn’t stop thinking about Reynard.

She remembered his outrageous, but charming ways, his strange allure... He seemed so confident, so mature beyond his years... So courageous.

And he angered her grandpa, who angered her, so it was a perfect revenge.

But now it all backfired on Marien.

She wanted to cry into her grandfather’s shoulder, but...

’He would just want to punish Reynard. How would that make me happy? Reynard is supposed to do that himself! And his month hasn’t passed yet.’

So Marien focused fully on her refinement. She mostly chased Winds of Mana in the fields around the town. They were weak and barely filled her Athanor, but at least it put Marien away from Reynard and everything Reynard-related. She even ate and slept there, only appearing in the school to attend lessons.

But even there, she couldn’t escape the rumors.

One morning, on the way down the town, Marien walked past a trio of Blue Bismuth School students walking from the market. She remembered Terence, while the other two were just two semi-familiar Nigredo magi that were needling him.

Marien was about to avoid them, but caught some of their conversation.

"C’mon, tell us! What did Reynard actually do to get the right to enter the Four-Moon Realm?"

"Leave me alone! You think you can push me around because I’m younger?"

"So what if we do, ’young genius’? I bet Marien told Reynard some juicy gossip about—Oh shit, that’s her!"

Marien scowled and stepped into the trio’s path.

"I told you already to stop gossipping! Hmph. Just today, I won’t tell teachers about this slander. But! What is it about the Four-Moon Realm?"

The words felt familiar, but she couldn’t tell why.

"This is a secret trove of treasures and trials for chosen students of the Blue Bismuth School, Miss Canseliet. You didn’t know? The Magister gave the honor of entering it to Reynard because he’s so talented. The entrance will open... In three weeks, now."

Marien frowned. Gears turned in her head.

Then it clicked, and her face reddened with anger.

"This old... jerk! He hid something like that from me, and then gave it to Reynard—when I need it more! The trials—they surely are full of Fire Mana! And my grandfather has decided to give this to Reynard, of all people? Why didn’t he just lock me in a cellar, then? He cripples me!"

Marien’s blush became one of embarrassment when she realized she had exploded like that in public. She glared at her witnesses.

"Don’t wag your tongues. That’s unbecoming for students of Blue Bismuh School!" Marien warned and stormed off. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

She was going to speak with her grandfather.

Loudly!