WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Irevi
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 21: Benevolence
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“Aren’t you going to finish me off?”
I had intended to.
But my body wouldn’t move.
‘I can’t use this carelessly.’
Gale’s Path was certainly powerful, but the exhaustion that hit right after using it was no joke.
This Art seemed to be a high-risk, high-reward Art that consumed Health to deal heavy damage.
If Senia suddenly got back up and stabbed me, I’d be guaranteed an instant death.
Still, I didn’t think she would.
The gem above her head had vanished.
Based on what I’d experienced so far, gems only appeared when someone had the will to fight. If it wasn’t there, this woman probably had no intention of stabbing me in the back either.
“Earlier, you asked whether a person could be one’s goal, didn’t you?”
“I only said that because the idea of becoming like someone else feels a little vague to me. You don’t need to worry about it.”
“Really? But you have Lady Adeline, Halibal.”
“Since I’m turn-based, it’s difficult for me to follow in Lady Adeline’s footsteps.”
Senia’s eyes widened, then she burst out laughing.
“Calling yourself a genius? Even I’ve never said something like that.”
“I didn’t say that either.”
Seriously.
For some reason, people in this world seemed to automatically interpret “turn-based” as “genius.”
Explaining the difference between real-time combat and turn-based combat in detail would probably sound boring and pretentious, so I decided to leave it alone.
Whether I was a genius or turn-based, all that mattered was doing my job well.
“Do you think it’s wrong to look up to someone?”
“Not at all. I just asked because I can’t do that myself, so I found it interesting that you could.”
“I find that difficult to agree with. I’ve always had someone I looked up to.”
With that, Senia sprang to her feet.
“I only lost that goal and wandered for a while.”
Her swift movement made me instinctively raise my guard.
Was phase two starting?
Just as I had created a new Art after seeing hers, there was a good chance she had figured out how to counter mine after taking it once. If we fought now, I’d probably lose.
“You don’t need to be so on guard.”
I expected the fight to continue, but instead, she opened Lapis Lazuli’s socket and held it out to me.
“Halibal, I acknowledge my defeat.”
“Were you planning not to?”
“Should we try again right now, then?”
“I’ll just consider this my victory.”
When the socket was open, the Shards’ effects didn’t apply.
In other words, she was entrusting her Shards to me, telling me I could do whatever I wanted with her.
It was a declaration of defeat, a scene that had appeared many times in the game as well.
“I said I’d take Renee if I won, yet I still lost... I should pay the price too.”
“You don’t have to.”
“No. I don’t want that. So how about this?”
She removed a Blue Shard from the socket and placed it in my hand.
“From now on, I’ll make you my goal too, just like Cecilia.”
“...What?”
“For that, our conditions have to be the same, don’t they?”
Just as Cecilia had entrusted Renee to me, Senia seemed to be trying to give me something of hers.
But wasn’t there a huge difference between Renee and a Blue Shard? That felt a little cheap.
Still, I couldn’t exactly refuse it, so I accepted it for now.
“This is...”
The instant I held it, I realized that the Shard she had given me wasn’t an ordinary Blue Shard.
“It’s a keepsake from my mother.”
“By your mother, do you mean the former Sword Princess?”
“You know about her?”
Senia and Cecilia’s mother, the former Sword Princess, Seidin Ren. She had never appeared in the story and only existed in the setting.
She had been described as having already passed away before Cecilia entered the main house, but she must have been precious to Senia, who had remained there.
“Before Mother passed away, she placed this tightly in my hand, just as I’ve now pressed it into yours.”
[Self-Love]
‘So this is where it appears.’
For a moment, I mistook it for a regular Blue Shard because it was from the same color family. Looking closer, though, this one was a much deeper blue.
Like Black Cloud, Self-Love was a Shard that raised Health by 8, but it was rarely included in endgame builds.
Most people preferred Attack Power or Fluidity and often ignored Health and Defense.
There were even monsters later on where it didn’t matter how much Health or Defense you stacked.
Anyway, this explained why she was still standing in relatively good shape despite fighting thirty-two consecutive battles.
Defense 15 and Health 8.
She had a full defense-and-health build.
“Will you be all right if you give this to me, Young Lady?”
In reality, Blue-type Shards directly affected one’s Health. Giving this to me meant her Health would decrease by that much.
“I’m strong enough even without it.”
It didn’t sound particularly arrogant.
It was true. I hadn’t expected someone stacked with defense to hit that hard either.
“Ah.”
Senia puffed out her cheeks.
“But Halibal, isn’t that too cruel no matter how I think about it? We’re daughters of a duke, after all... Do you think it’s acceptable to punch someone like us in the face so mercilessly?”
Of course not.
But the atmosphere had seemed perfect for landing the finishing blow with my fist, so my hand moved before I could stop it.
If there had been achievements, one probably would’ve popped up.
The One Who Punched the Duke’s Twin Daughters in the Face! Something like that.
“I’m going to tell Cecilia that Halibal punched me in the face.”
“Lady Cecilia will be sad to hear that.”
Senia narrowed her eyes at my response, then smiled mischievously.
“No. Cecilia will be jealous.”
“...?”
I assumed it was an unfunny joke.
Why would Cecilia be jealous that her older sister got punched in the face?
“Please take good care of the Shard I gave you.”
“I will.”
“If I defeat you next time, I’ll take Self-Love back, with Renee added as interest.”
“As long as you reach an amicable agreement with Lady Cecilia, you may.”
Of course, I had no intention of giving them up.
I was going to make good use of them for the rest of my life.
At my answer, Senia laughed again and lightly touched a finger to her lips.
“I’ll tell you in advance, I’ve never lost to Cecilia even once.”
With those words, Senia disappeared.
She had declared that she was giving up on conquering the dungeon.
After making sure she had vanished completely, I sprawled flat on the floor.
“This is rough.”
I had never planned to fight Senia in the first place.
On top of that, my new Art had drained a huge amount of Health, leaving my Health at rock bottom.
Could I even finish the rest of the exam like this?
‘At least I’ve met almost every playable character.’
The only consolation was that all that remained were NPCs who would trigger Instant Kill.
In a way, it was fortunate that Cecilia had been eliminated. If she had remained, I would’ve definitely lost.
But wait.
‘Luna’s still here.’
Come to think of it, the final playable character, Luna Grace, remained.
When I forced myself up, my entire body creaked.
It wasn’t the sound of my armor. It was my bones.
‘I’m screwed.’
Luna was the strongest magic DPS in Academy of the End.
She was a character who stood shoulder to shoulder with Cecilia.
Naturally, it would be difficult to defeat Luna in my current state.
‘Still, I want to finish the exam. What do I do?’
Then I remembered the Self-Love I had just received.
If it raised my Health by 8, maybe I could endure somehow.
I immediately slotted Self-Love into Renee.
My Health didn’t increase by 1, but by a whole 8!
Vitality rapidly flowed through my body.
My injuries didn’t heal or anything, but I was confident that I could endure the rest of the exam now.
The Ren sisters really did give without holding back.
So what if they were crazy and had rotten personalities?
They gave me Special Shards.
╔═════════╗
◈Abyss Core - Renee◈
╠═════════╣
▸ Equipped Shards: 16/16
◆ ◆ ◆ □
◎ ◎ ◎ ◎
◎ ◎ ◎ ◎
◎ ◎ ◎ ◎
╠═════════╣
□ = Red Shard II 1
◎ = Green Shard 12
◆ = [Black Cloud]
◆ = [Adamant]
◆ = [Self-Love]
╠═════════╣
▸ Stat Bonuses
Attack Power 2
Health 11
Defense 3
Critical Hits 12
Fluidity 8
╚═════════╝
Thanks to equipping a Special Shard, an ability unlock message appeared for the first time in a while.
[An ability will be unlocked due to equipping a Special Shard.]
[Special Shard: Self-Love]
[Special Ability: Bond]
‘Bond?’
Since it wasn’t an intuitive word, it was hard to guess the effect just from its name.
[Bond - When the user forms a party with someone they have a bond with, the party member makes an additional attack for each of the user’s attacks based on their Affection Level.]
“...What is this?”
Even after reading the explanation, I still had no idea what the effect really meant.
Whether it was Instant Kill or Mitigation, those were abilities meant only for me. I had been fighting turn-based battles alone in an action game.
But a party?
Wasn’t I the only turn-based person here?
Based on what I had experienced so far, when I entered combat, I moved in turns while everyone else perceived it as real-time.
Even if I split my attacks across two turns, my opponent only thought, ‘He’s incredibly fast!’
So how were turn-based and real-time supposed to form a party?
[Affection Level can be checked by aiming the Abyss Core at the target.]
[The maximum Affection Level is 5.]
On top of that, I didn’t understand this Bond Level thing at all.
How did it increase? How would the additional attacks work? I had questions about every part of it.
It had been a long time since I had felt this confused after arriving in this world.
In the end, I would have to test it to find out.
‘Won’t a playable character show up somewhere?’
As I fiddled with Self-Love, still holding onto that hope, the boss room door opened and the pink-haired girl appeared.
“...H-hello...”
Luna Grace.
The fact that she recognized me immediately despite my helmet made it clear that Viktor Grace had told her the exam details beforehand.
If she hadn’t heard about the exam, then that meant she recognized me just from my exposed abdomen and sides. That couldn’t be it.
Unlike Senia, I had never even interacted with Luna, so she would’ve had no chance to notice any of my habits.
I pointed my sword at her without delay.
My Health had recovered somewhat thanks to Self-Love, but I was still far from being at full strength.
Could I win?
Honestly, I wasn’t confident.
Still, she was clearly the final wall of this exam, so I had no choice but to grit my teeth and somehow overcome her...
“I’ll... give up on the exam...”
“...Pardon?”
That was what Luna said the moment she entered the room and saw me.
I was so dumbfounded that the persona I had desperately been maintaining slipped away without me noticing.
Luna definitely hadn’t given up on the exam in the original story.
If anything, I remembered her landing a blow on Adeline and receiving excellent marks. So why?
“G-goodbye...”
Luna faded away like smoke.
Wait, tell me why before you go!
Just in case, I aimed Renee at her just before she vanished. I wanted to at least test how Self-Love activated.
Then...
[Luna Grace]
[Affection Level: 3]
“?”
The maximum was 5, wasn’t it?
Why was she already level 3?
In the end, all I could do was stare in bewilderment as Luna disappeared.
The whole time, she never met my eyes even once.
What was that?
Right after Luna vanished, a message appeared above the bonfire.
[Ruidel Academy Entrance Exam complete. Halibal Velder, please come to the Ruidel Academy Admissions Office immediately.]
“Ah.”
When I looked around, the Shadow Dungeon was already slowly collapsing.
Only then did it truly sink in.
“So does this mean I succeeded in the Adeline Challenge?”
I had achieved the absurd goal I set for myself, not losing to a single applicant.
“Not bad.”
I didn’t bother holding back the grin stretching from ear to ear.
Footnotes:
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