WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Irevi

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 23: Come

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“Why did you do that?”

Why? He knew better than anyone.

In the original story, Viktor had drawn countless talented academy students to his side.

The result was the Academy Civil War.

As the story moved toward its latter half, followers of the Evil God began running rampant even within the academy. With things already in chaos, Viktor began stirring up trouble in earnest.

His approach to me this time probably wasn't out of simple goodwill either.

If word spread that I'd received his help, more students would come looking for Viktor in hopes of finding the same opportunity.

Of course, I had my own excuse.

“Isn't Your Grace part of the imperial faction?”

Viktor was, at least on the surface, firmly aligned with the imperial faction.

“I thought Your Grace would welcome the princess gaining more recognition.”

In other words, he was in no position to object to me giving the credit to the princess.

Yet Viktor tilted his head and asked, “What are you talking about? I was asking why you gave up first place.”

‘...I screwed up.’

What a way to talk.

This was why I didn't want to get involved with him.

I'd jumped to conclusions and brought up the princess first.

It was like one of those unpleasant military-style questions: Do you know what you did wrong?

I'd never deal with this bastard again.

“Weren't the conditions different?”

“But Eugene's argument had merit, didn't it?”

After the exam ended, just as they were announcing the top student, Eugene's name was called.

At first, he refused the position, saying he didn’t deserve to be top of the class because he had lost to me.

He was frustrating as hell, but that was just who he was.

Anyway, he insisted that I should be first, but I hadn't even taken the same test, so I had no grounds to claim it.

“Didn't you want the prize?”

Of course I did.

The prize was why I had aimed for first place from the beginning.

In the original story, Cecilia, who ranked first in the entrance exam, received a Tier 2 Shard from Viktor as her prize.

Even during sparring classes, she wore that Tier 2 Shard. If you later chose her as a companion, she could start with it from the beginning.

That was what I had been after too, but...

“It's fine. It was never mine to begin with.”

Once I'd made the absurd mistake of oversleeping, giving up the prize had been the right thing to do.

I'd already thought of a way to get a Tier 2 Shard after enrolling anyway.

More importantly, as the scenario continued, the stats of all the students, not just the protagonist, would become important.

So Eugene taking it wasn't a major loss for me.

Viktor fell silent for a while after hearing that.

His eyes still swept over me, clearly trying to judge what kind of person I was.

“...In any case, as I said before, your application for admission will be officially accepted. No one will be able to object.”

“Thank you.”

“Still, it is a pity. No one would have objected even if you had been first.”

The moment he finished speaking, Viktor took two small boxes from his coat and held them out to me.

“So accept this.”

“This is...”

“A personal gift from me to someone who made such an impression in this examination.”

As expected, he had no intention of letting me go so easily.

But I had no intention of obediently drinking from a poisoned chalice already boiling over with venom.

As I stared silently at the boxes, Viktor spoke.

“Surely you don't think this isn't yours too?”

“...”

“Very well. Try your luck. One contains the same prize Eugene received this time, while the other contains a worthless trinket.”

A duke running a shell game.

His easygoing demeanor made it seem as if he were saying, “I've conceded this much, so accept it graciously.”

‘Ugh.’

There was nothing to gain by backing down any further.

Being on his bad side would be even shittier than maintaining a relationship with him.

He was this determined to slip me something, so what could I do?

Trying to look on the bright side, I picked one at random.

It would be nice if it was a Tier 2 Shard, but it wasn't a huge deal if it wasn't.

“Oh dear. It seems it truly wasn't yours.”

“So it seems.”

When I opened the box, a transparent, colorless Shard lay inside.

He said it contained junk, but I hadn't expected it to be actual junk.

[Void]

“That’s a Shard byproduct currently being researched by the Imperial Department of Technological Development.”

“Is that so?”

“Have you seen one before? You're not surprised despite seeing a colorless Shard.”

‘Am I supposed to be surprised?’

Maybe I should have at least pretended to be.

But it was something I already knew about, and the disappointment on top of that made it difficult to react that way.

The Special Shard, Void.

It was also called a Blank Shard.

It was a garbage item with no bonuses, a byproduct created during Shard development, just as Viktor said.

In the original story, it was an item on the level of carrots or radish sprouts, automatically sold whenever you pressed the Sell All button. It barely fetched more than a slightly sturdier imitation gem.

You could equip it, of course, at the tremendous cost of wasting an entire Shard slot.

‘Still, it's a Special Shard. Could it have some kind of ability?’

“May I try equipping it?”

“That?”

Viktor looked surprised when I said I wanted to equip a worthless trinket.

At a glance, it looked like a Shard without any power.

In reality, it was exactly that.

When I opened Renee's socket, he spoke again.

“You don't guard against me?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, are you sure you should open your socket so carelessly in front of me?”

Opening a socket meant disarming yourself.

It was probably something Viktor would never do.

But I didn't care.

I'd already entered the tiger's den. Whether I held a sword before the tiger or put it down, I’d die either way.

What would be the point of showing that I was wary now?

“You helped me enroll. I saw no reason to be wary of my benefactor.”

“...Is that so?”

I removed the Green Shard and slotted Void in its place.

[An ability will be unlocked due to equipping a Special Shard.]

[Special Shard: Void]

[Special Ability: Escape]

‘What? The Blank Shard had an ability too?’

[Escape - The user can flee from combat.]

I stared blankly at the message for a long time.

The ability was literally called Escape.

In a way, it was refreshingly honest.

Maybe the abilities I'd gotten so far had been too extraordinary.

Perhaps it was my fault for expecting something amazing again. No, maybe this was exactly the ability that suited a Blank Shard.

“How do you feel?”

“Worse by one Green Shard.”

“Hahaha. As I expected.”

Unlike Black Cloud, Adamant, and Self-Love, it felt like a rather underwhelming ability.

How many times had I put my life on the line until now? Would I ever have a reason to use this?

‘Could I find some way to make good use of it?’

With that thought, I removed Void and put it in my pocket.

“What a shame. I wanted to put you in my debt.”

“You've already put me in more than enough debt. So much that I don't know how to repay it.”

Of course, I had no intention of repaying him.

My gaze drifted to the clock on the wall.

Night had grown deep, and the next day was right around the corner.

“We talked so long that it's gotten late. I hope I haven't kept the great Funeral Sword too long.”

“Not at all. I was glad to be able to speak with Your Grace. Though I don't know if there will be another opportunity like this.”

“Haha, don't worry about that. I'm on the Ruidel board as well, so we'll meet a few more times while you're enrolled.”

That was just politeness.

I had no intention of seeing him again.

“Ah.”

Just as I was about to leave, Viktor stopped me.

“When will those burn scars heal?”

“...”

“I heard the Saint mentioned three years... Isn't it about time they disappeared?”

“...They were supposed to disappear tomorrow or the day after, but thanks to Your Grace, I think they'll be gone tomorrow.”

I was a little grateful for that.

The burn scars should have completely disappeared around a month ago, but I'd skipped the medicine several times and kept delaying the treatment.

If Viktor hadn't brought it up this time, I would've forgotten again and put it off until tomorrow.

Still, he knew that Mine had given me three years and that I needed to take the medicine regularly.

This was why he annoyed me so much.

As I opened the medicine bottle and drank the medicine on the spot, I felt warm energy condense beneath my navel.

‘I'll finish up at the barracks.’

Viktor waved with the same relaxed smile.

“Then I'll be going.”

“Very well. Take care of yourself, Funeral Sword.”

I didn't look back.

⁎⁎⁎

The moment I returned to the barracks, I sat in the lotus position.

Whenever someone meditated in a martial arts novel, there was always a scene of them sitting in this position.

But judging from the way every joint in my body ached and creaked, it didn't seem all that good for you.

Maybe it was a posture designed to make you focus on something else to forget the pain.

‘Mine told me to draw up holy power in this state.’

When I closed my eyes and focused near my dantian, the condensed holy power slowly began to stir.

Waves of holy power soaked and tickled the burned areas one after another, starting from my abdomen.

It was the sensation of new flesh beginning to grow. It all hit at once, turning the itch into a stinging pain.

Yet this damn holy power got stuck around my solar plexus and refused to rise any higher.

Mine had healed me with a single click, so I thought it would be easy for me too.

I guess she wasn’t called a Saint for nothing.

As I forced the reluctant holy power upward, all kinds of stray thoughts rushed in.

Maybe that was the effect of sitting in the lotus position. My mind was working strangely well, and my thoughts were organizing themselves unnecessarily fast.

‘Should I sort out the parts of the original scenario that have gone off track?’

First, my very existence.

Originally, Halibal was supposed to be captured by the religious order.

Second, saving Senia.

She was supposed to die too.

Third, sparring with Cecilia and being assigned to the Gale Raid Party.

Because of that, Adeline never came to the academy.

Fourth, clearing the Beast Dungeon before Aren could, even though Aren was supposed to clear it. This was probably the change that would snowball the hardest, but I had no idea what would happen.

And fifth, today's entrance exam.

At this point, hadn't practically everything gone off track? Academy of the End had already become Academy of the End Royale, far removed from what it used to be.

But what muddled my thoughts even more than those changes was Renee's existence.

Renee, originally a standard-issue Abyss Core, had awakened as a Special Core, and I'd even seen an unknown girl.

The girl called Renee definitely hadn't existed in the original story.

‘What the hell is going on?’

As I sank into thought, the waves of holy power finally broke through my solar plexus and began rising toward my chest.

“Ghk...”

The pain grew beyond a sting, forcing me to open my eyes with a sharp intake of breath.

But what unfolded before me wasn't the barracks.

“This is...”

I'd only been here once, but it was a place I could never forget.

The entire space was formed of blue gemstones, with an altar barely large enough for one person and a massive throne filling the space behind it.

The girl sitting on that throne, leaning against a backrest much larger than herself, was naturally Renee.

Using her wings as a pillow, she calmly looked down at me.

‘I was definitely in the barracks...?’

Then Renee's voice echoed in my mind.

『You're quite impatient too, aren't you?』

She pointed behind the throne.

『Look. There are already only six left.』

I turned toward where she was pointing.

The last time I was here, a large, radiant blue gemstone had been embedded there.

But now it had vanished without a trace, as though it had never been there at all.

Instead, a small statue with the head of a bison occupied the empty space.

The moment I saw it, its name came to me naturally.

“...Varh atan.”

Renee half-opened her eyes and yawned as if she couldn't be bothered.

She looked so drowsy that it wouldn't have been strange if she fell asleep at any moment.

But I had no intention of letting her sleep like this.

I doubted I'd get many chances to speak with a girl whose very existence was a mystery.

“What are you?”

『Renee.』

“I already know that name.”

『I don't know anything besides my name either.』

Her gaze then shifted to another blue gemstone beside the Varh atan statue.

『But I can't remain like this forever. Someday, I'll gradually recover my memories... and you already know the way to do that.』

“...What do I know?”

Renee's eyelids slowly lowered.

『When we meet again... I hope something has filled that spot too.』

“Hey, wait-”

『By then... perhaps I'll have more to tell you.』

Just as I tried to approach Renee, the ground beneath my feet seemed to collapse, and my vision swayed wildly.

‘This is... like when I fought Varh atan...!’

When I opened my eyes again, I was still sitting in the lotus position in the barracks.

Morning sunlight had already begun streaming through the window.

Which meant I'd spent the entire night in this position.

“Ghhhhh...!”

My entire body was stiff, as if I had become a jointed doll with every joint locked up.

Yet the warm energy that had been circling through my dantian was gone as if it had never existed.

Then I noticed my face in the mirror.

There was no trace of the burn scars that had still been there yesterday.

Keeping my eyes on the mirror, I touched the area where the burns had been over and over.

Before I could even feel that they were healed, Renee's sleepy voice seemed to linger in my ears.

‘What the hell was that just now?’

At that moment, I sensed someone outside the barracks.

“Come in.”

“Hey, Halibal! Sleeping agai...”

Adeline swung the barracks door open and froze the moment she saw me.

“...Oh.”

A short exclamation escaped her lips.

Footnotes:

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