I Became the Academy's Turn-Based Swordsman - Chapter 76

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Irevi

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 76: Because I've Hit Him a Lot

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Unity of Body and Sword.

Aren saw the inscription engraved on the sword.

‘...What happened?’

When she looked up, she saw Cecilia clutching her shoulder, bleeding.

A clear sword wound had been carved into her shoulder.

Blood dripped from Savior, the sword in Aren's hand, its blade gleaming with a cold blue edge.

“Ah...”

Only then did Aren realize she had made an irreversible mistake.

Cecilia spoke as Aren stumbled backward without realizing it.

“You... were driven that far?”

The venom from before was nowhere to be found in Cecilia's expression.

In its place was pity.

“...I wish you had told me from the beginning.”

With those words, Cecilia lost consciousness.

Clang.

Savior slipped from Aren's hand and hit the floor.

“Cecilia...?”

Aren immediately stopped the bleeding from Cecilia's wound.

She didn't care as her hands became covered in blood.

Once she had stopped the bleeding, Aren carried Cecilia on her back and rushed her to the hospital.

“Fortunately, the nerves haven't been damaged. Since the bleeding was stopped quickly, I don't think her condition will worsen either.”

Aren couldn't hear the doctor's words.

All that consumed her mind was the fact that she had swung a real blade at her own Follower.

“First, we should contact her guardian... Huh? Where did he go?”

Before the doctor could finish, Aren ran out of the hospital and blindly sprinted through the streets of Nevil.

‘...What have I done?’

Her chest felt tight.

The bandages wrapped around her chest were made from the same material as those originally wrapped around Savior.

They were one of the sacred relics that concealed a person's presence, given to her by her teacher, Master Jin.

She had never imagined Cecilia knew her secret.

If people found out, she might lose her reason for existing entirely.

That was why she had swung her sword without thinking.

Yet Cecilia didn't resent her.

It would have been easier if she had.

‘...Why did you look at me like that?’

She couldn't breathe.

Not because of the bandages constricting her chest, but because of the guilt squeezing her heart after she had slashed another companion.

She had done it to protect her secret, afraid that everything about her would be denied. For such a selfish reason.

The Child of Prophecy? The savior meant to save the world?

‘...Don't make me laugh.’

Where was she supposed to go now?

What was she supposed to do?

How was she supposed to face the others...?

‘I have to... prove it. There's no other way...’

After rushing back to the dormitory to pack her things, Aren boarded a train for the Ronwood Plains without a second thought.

By the time she noticed, it was dark outside the window.

The moon was hidden behind clouds.

Aren stared vacantly at Savior as the hand holding it shook like a leaf.

A few passengers recoiled at the sight, but she had no room to care about them.

The only thought in her head was that she had to clear the third Evil God Dungeon as soon as possible and prove herself.

Maybe clearing the dungeon would ease this suffocating feeling.

Maybe then, she could speak with Cecilia like before.

With that in mind, she got off at the station.

Just as she began wrapping Savior in bandages, she heard the voice of a boy who shouldn't have been here.

“I don't think you need to wrap that.”

The moon, which had been hidden behind clouds, emerged and bathed the boy standing before the station in light.

Ash-gray hair fluttered in the wind.

“...How?”

Halibal Velder.

He glared at Aren with an angry expression.

His sword hung at his side.

⁎⁎⁎

Every Endgame Weapon had the word Divine in its name.

Among them, Aren's Endgame Weapon, [Divine Sword - Savior], was special.

It was the only Endgame Weapon carried from the beginning of the game, and it grew stronger along with its user.

So even if the player changed weapons along the way, they were bound to return to Savior eventually.

Savior had a trait that existed only in its setting. Its blade changed color to reflect its user's emotions.

The sword in Aren's hand had turned dull, as though rusted.

The color of sadness.

“...How?”

“The hospital. The dormitory. Here. Is that enough of an answer? I got here quickly thanks to my Abyss Core.”

There was no point hiding this after Adeline had already found out.

Aren nodded, seemingly convinced.

“How did you know I'd be here?”

“You and I think alike.”

After hearing what happened from the Ren sisters, I went to the dormitory, but Aren had already disappeared with his belongings.

For some reason, I was certain he had headed for the Ronwood Plains.

Even if I was wrong, it didn't matter.

I could always use Renee's shortcut.

“...That's what I thought, but honestly, I'm not so sure anymore.”

The main thread of the story was Aren struggling to defeat the Evil God according to the prophecy.

That had also been the foundation of how I acted in this world.

That was why I had once tried hard not to stray too far from Aren's path in the original game.

Of course, everything was a complete mess now.

Still, the Aren I remembered from the original game wasn't someone who would stab his Follower and run away.

The moment I saw Cecilia injured, I lost my head.

Ah, Cecilia has to be our magic DPS!

I might have thought that in the past, but all I felt now was guilt.

Cecilia had chosen Aren as her Follower because I recommended Aren to her.

That meant I was partly responsible for Cecilia getting hurt.

Responsible for trusting Aren too much.

“Then... why did you come?”

“To talk.”

“Talk about what?”

“Anything. You could tell me about your hometown, like you couldn't last time. Or we could talk about the academy. Personally, I'd like you to tell me why you stabbed Cecilia and ran away.”

Aren gave a broken smile instead of his usual cheerful one.

“I-I'll explain everything. Once I clear the dungeon, I'll tell you everything then...!”

“Are you kidding me? Your Follower is lying in a hospital room because of you, and you're here talking about dungeons?”

“But... I have to clear the dungeon... I have to prove...”

“Prove? Bullshit.”

I cut him off harshly.

There was no way anything nice could come out of my mouth.

“Shouldn't you apologize first?”

“...What?”

“You should get on your knees and say, ‘I'm sorry. I lost my mind and attacked you by mistake. I'll never do it again.’ That comes first. You don't get to cover up your wrongdoing with an achievement.”

Honestly, I expected Cecilia to tell me to beat Aren senseless and make him kneel here.

‘I was wrong for not noticing how mentally cornered he was. So don't blame him too much.’

Instead, Cecilia had defended Aren.

Her career as a swordswoman could have ended if she'd been any less lucky, and she was acting like some kind of saint.

For the first time, I found myself missing the Ice Princess Cecilia.

“Y-you had the same goal as me, clearing dungeons! You said you'd clear the Evil God's Abyss before vacation started!”

“I never had such grand thoughts about proving anything.”

“...That's because you don't need to prove yourself.”

“Who told you that you had to prove yourself? Who pushed you into this?”

I never thought I'd say something Adeline had told me to the protagonist of the original game.

But if you stripped everything away, wasn't that the truth?

Under it all, he was just a seventeen-year-old boy.

Fantasy world or not, he was still just a child soldier.

The idiot was whoever told a child soldier to save the world, not the child who failed to save it.

Especially when I was here too.

Just like I had thought when I first came to this world.

He could leave everything to me and enjoy an easy life. No one would blame him for it.

At that moment, Aren's eyes darkened.

“...Someone did push me. You, Halibal.”

“I never did.”

“No, you did! You cleared two Evil God's Abyss dungeons alone when I couldn't even attempt one! And now you're preparing for the third!”

“You can do it too. I said I'd help you.”

“That's not enough!”

Aren's voice burst out like a scream.

“Do you know what people at the academy have been saying lately? They say you're the one who'll bring the sun to the Empire, not me. I can see the people who once had hopes for me... giving up on me one by one.”

“What's the problem with that?”

“It is a problem! For me!!”

His cry echoed through the station.

I couldn't say anything in response to such an extreme reaction.

It was ridiculous.

I thought I had helped him as much as I could. I had even set aside [Sun Shine], the key Abyss Core from the original game, specifically for him.

Yet Aren himself was jealous of me.

‘And he's blaming me for this?’

It felt horribly unfair.

I had twisted the original game's plot, not anyone's personality.

Aren and I had only first met at the academy, too.

I had no idea why Alpha Male Aren had turned into such a mess.

As that thought crossed my mind, Aren's free hand reached for his collar.

Click.

He slowly began unbuttoning it.

“...Did you know? Ultimate Divine Sword was originally swordsmanship designed for a male body.”

I did.

That was what the Imperial Swordsmanship Institute records said, and there hadn't been a single female character who used Ultimate Divine Sword in the original game.

Aren himself was a man, after all...

“I've devoted my whole life to learning Ultimate Divine Sword. Because I didn't want to disappoint my parents or my teacher.”

Wait.

Something was strange.

As he undid his buttons one by one, my eyes were drawn to Aren's collarbone.

I didn't know what was wrong, but something was definitely wrong.

His neck was too slender.

His shoulders looked delicate rather than sturdy.

His husky voice had somehow risen in pitch.

Huh?

“That was why I had to change everything. To look like a man, act like a man, fight like a man...”

After undoing the last button of his shirt, Aren pulled the collar apart with both hands.

“...Look.”

Then curves that shouldn't have been there were revealed beneath her clothes.

Along with a very assertive pair of breasts.

“Huh.”

At that moment, every piece fell into place in my head.

“I... can't be the Child of Prophecy, Halibal.”

“...”

“I was never qualified to be one in the first place.”

I repeated it to myself.

‘...Am I an idiot?’

It was obvious.

Aren standing before me was obviously a woman.

She was in the 160-centimeter range and looked feminine enough to be mistaken for a woman.

A delicate body and a husky voice.

Everything was different from the original game, yet I had only ever thought of her as a man.

There was only one reason.

Aren had been a man in the original game.

‘...I'd gotten it wrong from the very beginning.’

Right. Now everything made sense.

The Aren from the original game really was the Child of Prophecy.

Why? Because he eventually cut off the Evil God's head.

That was why I had remained optimistic even when he showed jealousy.

I knew he would eventually handle everything himself.

I knew how strong his resolve was.

Most of all, I thought Aren was the only person in this world who met the prophecy's conditions.

But I was wrong.

The Aren Bright standing before me wasn't the Child of Prophecy.

The Child of Prophecy had to be a boy who inherited Ultimate Divine Sword.

Even so, she had been raised as the Child of Prophecy. To prove herself, she might have driven herself even harder than the Aren from the original game had.

Physically and emotionally.

I was confused.

‘Aren isn't the Child of Prophecy? Then what the hell is this world...?’

Aren's voice broke through my thoughts.

“I've been called the Child of Prophecy my entire life and lived only for that. But if I lose that now... how am I supposed to live?”

“...”

“So... let me go. This is the only proof... that my life has meaning.”

Her desperate words brought me back to my senses.

“No.”

“...Why?”

“I'm sorry I didn't realize you were a woman. I must have made things needlessly uncomfortable for you. Once we return to the dormitory, I'll move out immediately.”

“...”

“But no matter what you think of yourself, there's one thing that doesn't change.”

Aren's empty eyes turned toward me.

“You need to apologize to Cecilia. That's why I came here.”

“...”

“I might have expected things from you on my own without truly seeing you either. I'll apologize for that too. Properly, later.”

“...”

“But that's one thing, and this is another.”

Still holding my sword, I slowly approached her.

“If you still want to prove yourself...”

I pointed my sword at her.

“Prove it with this.”