I Became a Genius Mechanic at the Academy

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As everyone enjoyed the feast in the party hall, Charlotte had returned to her lodging and was lost in thought.

She felt she could no longer stay by Edgar’s side.

What on earth can I do?

Edgar was moving ahead, and everyone around him was extraordinary.

Would someone like me even catch their eye?

Charlotte sighed.

The long-standing inferiority complex that had loomed over her for ages gnawed at her heart.

*Knock knock.*

It was then that someone knocked on her door.

The voice that followed was surprisingly Edgar’s.

*Thud!*

Charlotte quickly got up and looked around.

Was she hearing things?

“Charlotte, are you in there?”

But it couldn’t be. It was definitely Edgar’s voice.

Charlotte hurried to stand in front of a mirror, checking her appearance.

There was nothing to like at all.

“Y-yes, I-I’m here… c-c-come in…”

Nevertheless, Charlotte couldn’t help but let Edgar in.

She was startled and had been moving around so frantically that things had clattered to the floor.

There was no way she could pretend she wasn’t here.

*Creek.*

Finally, Edgar entered.

His handsome face was always a sight to behold.

That look from the first moment she had fallen for him.

Compared to him, she felt so insignificant.

“I figured you’d be here. I didn’t see you at the party.”

“Ah… I just wanted to r-rest a bit…”

She said this while using her curly green hair to cover her face.

Edgar smiled and said, “Yeah, it was a bit hectic at the party, right? People like us prefer a quiet place.”

Edgar said this as he sat down in an empty chair.

However, Charlotte was tilting her head at what Edgar had just said.

“W-we, people like us…?”

“Yeah. I often want to be alone too. Most of the time, I work alone in the lab. I thought you might feel the same.”

…He was spot on.

Since she was little, she had preferred tending to the garden rather than mingling with others.

The ancestral ability to create life in nature passed down through the Verdian family.

As she created her own ecosystem using that ability, the sun would set before she realized, signaling dinner time.

“Charlotte?”

At that moment, Edgar’s voice calling her snapped her out of her thoughts.

He was looking at her, smiling naturally.

He said in a playful tone, “You were thinking about something else, weren’t you?”

“…!!”

Was he using mind reading or something?

Charlotte’s shoulders trembled.

When she lowered her head and mumbled, “S-sorry for thinking about other things…”, Edgar responded, “It’s okay. Actually, I often do that too. When a brilliant idea comes to me, I sometimes lose track of the conversation. Sometimes I go off on a tangent and say something weird.”

Edgar said this with a warm smile.

He was reminiscing.

During his college years on Earth, Edgar often said nonsensical things.

Even during casual conversations, when topics related to his major arose, he would get lost in thoughts about that.

“Ah… I-I can relate to that… Hehe…”

Understanding what he meant, Charlotte felt a joyful smile spread on her face.

Knowing that Edgar shared a similar trait somehow made her feel connected.

“Charlotte, are you not hungry?”

At that moment, Edgar asked while patting his stomach.

It growled loudly.

Charlotte jumped in surprise and replied, “A! W-wait, h-have you not eaten anything?”

“Yeah. I lose my appetite when I’m nervous. I was just talking to His Majesty the Dwarf King about diplomatic matters and got a bit tense.”

Edgar, who had to restore the relationship between humans and dwarves by any means necessary, hadn’t eaten anything and had been starving.

Charlotte hurriedly stood up and said, “T-then! Let’s eat! W-wait a moment!”

With an excited smile, she took out her special seasoning bottle from her backpack.

Finally, she had the chance to present her otherworldly style shabu-shabu to Edgar, something she hadn’t had the opportunity to showcase.

*Bubble bubble bubble.*

In no time, Charlotte finished cooking.

Fresh vegetables were boiling in a light, clear broth.

“I’ll enjoy this!”

Soon after, Edgar ate the vegetables with the broth and gave a thumbs-up.

Charlotte beamed with happiness.

“Um, Charlotte?”

At that moment, Edgar’s tone changed.

He had something serious to convey to her.

Charlotte felt it too.

“Tomorrow, there will be a meeting regarding the Emerald Mana Stone. I really hope you can be there.”

“…”

Charlotte smiled wryly at Edgar’s words.

She stared blankly at the vegetables floating in the hot broth and said, “B-but even if I attend… I-I won’t be… of any help…”

What she could do.

It was just boiling this vegetable soup.

While everyone else was overflowing with confidence and achievements, she had accomplished nothing here.

“…Why do you think that? Preserving the Emerald Mana Stone is something only you can do, given you can use the nature-creation magic.”

But Edgar found it puzzling.

Wasn’t tomorrow’s meeting her area of expertise?

Charlotte replied with a bittersweet smile.

“I-I… I’ve always… stuttered… and… I-my face… I-I’m… ugly…”

Charlotte had a severe complex about her appearance.

This stemmed from a painful experience from her childhood.

She could still vividly recall that moment.

-So, even a dog would like you?

-Yeah. It’s damn easy. An ugly girl is easily discarded.

Every time she thought back to that day, her breath quickened.

The overwhelming sense of betrayal made her shoulders shake, and tears threatened to spill.

He had been her first love.

She thought they had so much in common, and he was always the boy who told her she was beautiful.

-*Snicker. So, do you want to date?*

-*Well, let’s see? It’s a fallen family anyway, so it won’t be a loss if I eat and throw you away.*

Her first love had shown a completely different side of himself, as if a switch had been flipped.

It all began when she accidentally witnessed him that day.

It was when she had begun to stutter.

“Charlotte.”

At that time, Edgar’s voice calling her broke her reverie.

She hurriedly wiped her tears with her sleeve and mumbled in a crawling voice.

“Sorry… for suddenly… saying something weird…”

Edgar looked at her with pitying eyes.

Finally, Edgar opened his mouth.

“You’re not ugly.”

“…”

“It’s just that it’s been hidden. Do you want to take off your glasses?”

Edgar said while looking at Charlotte’s face.

As she hesitantly took off her glasses at Edgar’s urging, he grinned and said, “See? I wasn’t wrong. Your eyes are beautiful.”

With lovely doe-like eyes highlighted by soft double eyelids.

They were bright, sparkling eyes that harmonized beautifully with her kind expression.

All this time, her coarse lenses had hidden her greatest asset.

“I… m-me…?”

But for Charlotte, it was the first time she had heard such unfamiliar words.

That her eyes were beautiful.

“Yeah. It was just hidden under the glasses, and nobody noticed. You’ve never shown anyone how you look without glasses, right?”

Charlotte thought hard.

Now that she thought of it, she had never shown her face without glasses to anyone.

She had always believed she was ugly and had to cover her face as much as possible.

“And actually, your facial outline is sharp and pretty. The problem is that those terrible curls cover your whole face, making it look puffy.”

Charlotte’s uncontrollable curls were a tangled mess, resembling hundreds of twisted braids.

Because her green hair was frizzy like a lion’s mane, it gave her face a bloated appearance.

She had been sporting the worst hairstyle she could manage.

“I can’t have this. Wait a moment.”

Edgar said that and disappeared for a moment.

About ten minutes later, Edgar returned to Charlotte’s lodging, saying, “Sit down. I’ll fix your hair.”

“Uh, okay?”

In Edgar’s hands was a strange object.

It was a straightener.

But Charlotte had no idea what it was.

“Just fixing your hairstyle will change your whole appearance.”

Edgar said that and sat Charlotte down.

Then he began to straighten her hair with the straightener.

Every time Edgar’s hands ran through Charlotte’s hair, she could feel her heart pounding in her reddening cheeks.

“So, what do you think? It’s totally different, right?”

Finally.

After completely straightening Charlotte’s hair, Edgar placed a mirror on the table to show her reflection.

Charlotte stared at her face in shock and murmured.

“Uh… who is this person…”

The beautiful girl in the mirror was astonishingly mimicking her actions.

It was none other than the girl in the mirror herself.

“I told you. You have a pretty face.”

“…”

She couldn’t believe it.

Just by taking off her glasses and changing her hairstyle a little, her whole image had changed so much.

“Charlotte, can you see this?”

At that moment, Edgar took out something from his pocket and showed it to her.

It was a stone.

“A stone…?”

“Haha. It looks like a stone, right? This is a diamond raw stone.”

“!”

Charlotte looked again at the rough stone that appeared to be just a rock.

No matter how she examined it, it looked like just a stone, yet it would turn into a diamond.

“Well, if you haven’t processed one before, it’s hard to recognize immediately. But this is definitely a diamond raw stone. I can tell.”

As Edgar said this, he held the raw diamond out to Charlotte.

When Charlotte blankly stared at the diamond raw stone, he placed it gently in her hand and said, “Somehow, it seems to suit you. It’s a gift.”

Charlotte looked at the diamond raw stone in her hand.

At first glance, it appeared to be nothing but a stone.

But once processed, it would turn into a glittering diamond.

Charlotte could understand what Edgar was trying to tell her.

“…Thank you.”

Her emotions welled up, but Charlotte held them back.

Knowing she could also shine, she smiled instead of crying.

“I-I’ll do my best tomorrow! S-so I can be of help!”

Though the road ahead was long, Charlotte decided to give it a try.

To find the shining version of herself, just as Edgar had meant with this gift, she would have to confront the world and refine herself.

“Okay. Then shall we finish the rest? The rice with eggs is really tasty if we mix it together.”

After that, they ate shabu-shabu together, chatting about various things.

The more Charlotte conversed with Edgar, the more she felt as though her past wounds were healing.

The night grew deeper.