WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Irevi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ I Became the Academy's Turn-Based Swordsman ◈
Chapter 104: I'll Get You Out
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Whether she meant to or not, Aren Bright's choice of words was practically miraculous.
In a medieval-based world, "greeting the parents" was practically the final step before marriage discussions began.
It was a moment that made me realize once again that clearing up a misunderstanding was overwhelmingly harder than creating one.
Meeting her parents was Aren Bright's business, not mine. I had only agreed to stop by Baran.
But no one present seemed to believe that, so I had no choice but to tediously and pedantically explain the misunderstanding.
Even after my desperate explanation, Cecilia, Senia, and Mine's gazes remained ice-cold.
Richard and Ran's looks weren't kind, either.
'Don't tell me... you're into that kind of thing?'
'Y-you're into men...! I-I'll respect your preferences, but...!'
Since they still believed Aren Bright was male, their eyes were filled with contempt.
Please don't.
'...Fine. As long as you visit our family home too.'
'You'll stop by the Rose Church too, right?'
Thanks to that, my vacation schedule rapidly grew.
Aren Bright only beamed happily.
As I fumed inwardly, a wild Alicia suddenly appeared from afar and joined in.
'Stop by the Imperial Palace too. I would like you to give me a chance as well!'
What are you even doing here?
Anyway.
After that noisy end-of-semester ceremony, I returned to my mansion in Nevil.
A few days after clearing the Undead Dungeon, the mansion had finally been completed.
Thanks to that, I no longer had to stay at an inn.
It wasn't quite a grand estate, but it was a two-story stone building in one of Nevil's affluent neighborhoods.
It came furnished with the basics and even had a private training ground, making it far too spacious for one person.
"Haah..."
As I sank into the soft sofa in the drawing room, the question from that morning rose again.
'Halibal Velder.'
Who was I?
No, who had been the original owner of this body?
There must have been a life Halibal Velder lived before being captured by the cult.
'Should I look into it?'
Perhaps some other variable or clue I didn't know about was hidden in this body's past.
I rose and immediately sat at my desk.
Pushing aside my complicated thoughts, I began writing out my vacation plans.
Planning the most efficient route.
That was my specialty.
With all the extra work that had come up, I had become incredibly busy.
I would have to start moving early tomorrow morning.
By the time I finished making the schedule, dawn had arrived. The densely filled plan had gone well past two pages.
After packing lightly, I took a short nap.
Before long, my consciousness sank deep.
⁎⁎⁎
'What is this?'
When I opened my eyes, I was inside Halibal Dungeon.
I had become able to enter and leave Halibal Dungeon freely, but I hadn't expected to come in like this while asleep.
Apparently, that was one thing and this was another.
Before my eyes...
'...Why have they grown so much?'
A flock of sheep, their wool several times thicker than before, circled around Renee, who was buried beneath a mountain of fleece.
Two slender arms stuck out of the wool. One held a slice of cheesecake, while the other held a cup of jasmine tea.
The drink she had asked for last time.
It seemed the jasmine tea Adeline had brewed had left a strong impression on my mind.
『Help me.』
"There, there."
I reached into the wool and pulled Renee out.
Her small frame fit neatly into my arms.
"By the way, why have they grown so much?"
Weren't those sheep products of my perception too?
Could they grow as well?
『Maybe it's because you believe that living things naturally grow.』
"Is that so?"
『Next time, sheep shears, please...』
Holding Renee, I looked around.
As if it were only natural now, a new skeletal statue stood beside the statues of Rose and Lillian.
A statue of Necreddin.
Which meant Renee had more to tell me.
I set Renee down nearby and sat across from her.
"Then tell me. Everything you newly remembered."
But Renee looked discouraged.
As if they understood how she felt, several sheep approached and rubbed against her.
Renee sighed and spoke.
『...I told you last time, didn't I? That I thought someone had made me stay here.』
"Yeah."
『I take that back.』
With downcast eyes, she stroked the wool.
『I wasn't made to stay here. I'm imprisoned here, in Halibal Dungeon.』
"...Imprisoned?"
『That's right. I didn't come here of my own will. And I can't leave on my own, either.』
"Could that be because of me?"
This was a dungeon inside my mind.
If so, didn't that mean I was the one holding her prisoner?
But Renee shook her head.
『It probably isn't because of you.』
"Why not?"
『Because... I called you then.』
It was true that she had called me.
When I had been defeated by Varhatan and stood at death's door, I had clearly heard Renee's voice and been dragged here.
That meant that even before I became aware of Halibal Dungeon, perhaps from the moment I fell into this world and became Halibal, Renee had already existed inside me.
'But doesn't that make no sense?'
How could someone else exist in my mental world before I did?
What if this wasn't solely my mental world?
Or perhaps...
'The dungeon's owner changed?'
Judging by Renee's silence, she had not recovered memories of that part either.
I changed the subject.
"Then why are you imprisoned?"
『I don't know. But maybe it's because I did something worthy of being imprisoned?』
If there was one thing a girl who struggled to shear even a single lock of wool could have done to deserve imprisonment, only one possibility came to mind.
A keyword I had heard from Mine not long ago.
'Is she imprisoned because she can wield the power of time and space?'
The power of time and space.
A heaven-defying power that could reverse even death's outcome as easily as turning over a hand.
If it became known that someone could wield such power, even the Empire would pass a death sentence. That was why I had not told anyone else.
But how many people in this world could imprison someone who wielded that kind of power?
If anyone could...
'It would be the Main Gods or an Evil God.'
Renee remained silent.
She could read my mind, so she was likely thinking the same thing I was.
'Wait.'
She was locked up here?
Then didn't that make this place a prison?
Had I been freely coming and going from a prison inside my mind all this time?
And as far as I knew, only two kinds of people could freely enter and leave a prison.
'Prisoners or guards.'
...Which was I?
If I was a guard, everything I had done until now was the complete opposite of a guard's duties.
I had actively helped Renee, a prisoner, recover her memories and grow stronger.
Then was I a prisoner too?
Trapped in this prison of a mental world with her?
But I could enter and leave this prison freely, and alter it as I wished.
Statues were erected based on my experiences, and the sheep grew according to my perception. I could even fight the bosses I had faced before again.
As the name Halibal Dungeon implied, this place clearly belonged to me.
I was certainly the owner of this prison.
Its owner and a prisoner.
A guard and someone helping a prisoner.
Nothing but contradictions.
In the end, only Renee could answer this question.
"Why did you call me?"
『I just... felt it. The sense that you existed somewhere.』
"You felt it?"
『Yeah. I stayed here for a long time, but... I had never sensed another existence besides you.』
Renee turned to look at the statues.
『So I called you. Holding on to the hope that you might one day take me out of here.』
That I might take her out.
Only upon reaching her third memory did I finally gain something.
Renee's third memory.
It was her purpose.
She had called me because she wanted to leave this place, and she had been lending me her strength for that reason.
Even that alone felt as if it had cleared much of the fog from my mind.
After speaking, Renee looked up at the sealed gray ceiling.
The same ceiling, faintly colored by light reflected from the blue crystal.
She said she had been trapped here for a long time.
But just how long had it been?
"How long have you been here?"
『...I don't know.』
Renee shook her head.
『The sun and moon don't rise here. I can't even tell whether time is passing.』
"..."
『But I know this one thing for certain.』
Renee looked at me.
『Ever since you came, time has begun to pass here.』
Then she gave me a soft smile.
It seemed she had smiled like that when she granted me the first blessing of time.
Whether I was a prisoner or a guard, Renee was a prisoner.
What crime had she committed to be locked away in this prison?
No matter what, taking her out of here meant releasing a prisoner into the outside world.
It meant I would bear the weight of that crime with her.
But I had received far too much from her to fear the consequences.
If it hadn't been for Renee, I couldn't have been here.
I would have lost every bond I had formed in this world.
Repaying a kindness.
Whether in my original world or this one, it was likely an unchanging law.
"All right. I'll get you out."
『...Really?』
"So wait just a little longer. With the power you've given me, I'll definitely break this prison."
I looked toward the four empty pedestals.
To do that, I would need to fill every one of them.
『...Okay. I'll trust you.』
[Renee's Affection Level has increased.]
[Renee]
[Affection Level: 3]
⁎⁎⁎
When I opened my eyes, I saw the familiar ceiling of the mansion.
Warm morning light streamed through a gap in the window.
When I checked the time, it was already nine.
I had decided to get busy early in the morning, yet my resolve had not even lasted a day.
Maybe it was because I had met Renee like that for the first time in a while, or perhaps because of the magic contained in the word vacation.
I had definitely let myself relax.
I got up and stretched.
The first day of vacation.
I had a mountain of things to do.
'First, the nearby Starlight Mountain.'
It took only three hours by train to reach Berhart, where Starlight Mountain was located.
The terrain was rugged, but as long as I knew the route, it would not take long to reach the destination. A day should be enough for a round trip.
With that in mind, I planned to go hiking on the first day.
I had already packed my hiking gear yesterday.
'All right. Let's get going.'
Just as I energetically stepped into the drawing room.
"You're finally awake?"
"...?"
"Don't you think you're getting a little too carried away just because it's vacation?"
There was a guest.
No, not a guest. An intruder.
A faint jasmine fragrance drifted through the warm morning sunlight.
"Hello? I stopped by for a home visit."
Adeline.
She sat on the sofa, smiling sweetly.
"But I found something I need to ask you about."
In her hand was the two-page vacation schedule I had written yesterday.
The schedule densely listed the locations of cult branches and where to obtain various rare items.
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