WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Irevi

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 79: Full Buff

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I thought I'd collapse the moment I returned to the dorm, but I was more awake than I'd expected.

In the meantime, I packed my things.

Even knowing Aren was a woman, I had no intention of crossing the line by insisting on sharing the same room.

The problem was that this wasn't a decision I could make on my own. It was an Academy measure.

'I’ll have to rely on Alicia again.'

Just then, Aren returned, looking utterly exhausted.

She glanced at me packing and at the bags piled in one corner of the room.

"How did things go with Cecilia?"

Aren's eyes shifted before she broke into a soft smile.

"Ah, well... Give me a moment. I'll tell you after I shower."

Without waiting for my reply, she headed for the bathroom.

Come to think of it, I'd never seen her shower in this room.

I always returned to the dorm late at night, and she'd always finished washing by then.

I'd wondered why she was being so fussy about it.

'I would've been embarrassed too.'

As I sat quietly on the sofa and waited, Aren's humming drifted out from the bathroom.

How much time had passed?

Aren came out, drying her wet hair as she walked.

She was wearing nothing but an oversized shirt.

Was it because she'd taken off the bandages?

The outline of her body was far clearer than before.

Enough that my gaze couldn't help but drift there.

'...Isn't that a little big?'

At least Mine's size. Maybe even more.

Where had she even been hiding those?

Aren soon sank down in front of me and smiled brightly.

"I apologized to Cecilia."

"...You did?"

"Yeah. And... we decided to be friends."

Friends.

The weight behind that one word came through clearly.

"That's good."

"She said she'd keep my secret too. It's thanks to you. Thank you so much, Halibal."

"I didn't do anything. You were the one who went to face her, and Cecilia was the one who forgave you."

"No. If it hadn't been for you, I probably..."

Aren trailed off and looked at my luggage again.

The shadow returned to her previously bright expression.

"...Are you really leaving?"

"Yeah. I should."

"But..."

"I don't think we should keep living together. It'd be uncomfortable for both of us."

With her head lowered, Aren only fiddled with her wet hair. She couldn't say anything more.

"After talking to Cecilia, I went to see the Imperial Princess."

"Did you decide?"

"No. I think... I still can't let go of the part of me that's the Child of Prophecy."

It wouldn't be easy to change the way she'd lived her whole life overnight.

If anything, that was a relief.

As long as she was Aren Bright, I didn't want to see her give up on clearing dungeons so easily over something like this.

"So?"

"For now, I'm going to avoid accepting support that comes only because I'm the Child of Prophecy."

"What about what you've already received?"

"It'll sound like an excuse, but... I didn't receive that much, you know? Just dorm fees and tuition. I'll return what I have through the Imperial Princess, and for the rest..."

Aren sighed.

"...I'll have to get a part-time job during break and pay it back."

'Hm. That's inefficient.'

I swallowed the words that rose to the tip of my tongue.

"Even if I remove the Child of Prophecy label from myself... that doesn't mean there's nothing left."

At some point, she had begun fiddling with the Sun Shine I'd given her.

"I still want to defeat the Evil God. I want to become a strong swordsman, and I don't want to lose to anyone. I want to try using this thing you gave me too... This isn't the will of the Child of Prophecy. It's the will of Aren Bright."

Aren abruptly rose to her feet and looked at me.

"So I told her I want to join the party clearing the Undead Dungeon this time."

"That's..."

"Of course, I don't plan to enter with all of you. I heard the Undead Dungeon is pretty complicated, even before the mid-boss room. You might have trouble, so I'll be there to help."

"And while you're at it, defeat the boss too?"

For the first time, she gave me a playful smile.

"If I get the chance, absolutely."

A small laugh escaped me.

Having set down the burden of being the Child of Prophecy, she finally looked like a girl her age.

I turned back toward my luggage.

There wasn't as much as I'd expected.

I'd arrived in this room with practically nothing, after all.

"And lastly, I think I'll decide how to move forward from here after I visit my parents during break."

Just as I was about to walk over and pick up my things, Aren grabbed the hem of my shirt.

"Um... Do you remember what you said last time? About going to see the sea together in Baran?"

"I remember."

"So, if it's okay... could you go to Baran with me during break, like you said back then?"

Baran.

The place where Aren's awakening event took place in the original game.

After hitting a wall, the original Aren returned to Baran at Master Jin's summons.

There, she faced her past and began a hidden quest that pushed Ultimate Divine Sword beyond its limits.

The final reward for the quest was Savior's first awakening.

This event, which unlocked the true power contained within the sword, was a necessary step for facing the enemies that grew drastically stronger from the second year onward.

Unlike the original Aren, who had stubbornly avoided Baran, the Aren before me had come to that answer herself.

Maybe that meant her body and mind were just that exhausted, or that she had nowhere to lean on.

Still, I was relieved that I no longer needed to hint at it myself.

Whether the Aren of this world could achieve the same awakening there as the original was another question.

To find out, I had to go to Baran.

"Sure. If we make it safely to break, definitely."

"R-Really?"

There were other reasons I needed to stop by Baran too.

In the game's setting, Baran was on the Empire's frontier.

Off Baran's coast lay Shipwreck, a hidden dungeon that neither the Empire nor the Church had discovered yet and that only opened under certain conditions.

Shipwreck was an underwater dungeon with an absurdly high difficulty.

But Siren’s Song, the item that could strengthen regular Abyss Cores, could only be obtained there.

My Core, Renee, was a Standard-Issue Core.

Unlike special Abyss Cores that consumed unique materials, it absolutely needed Siren’s Song to be strengthened.

I'd already planned to visit during break, so there was no reason to refuse when she made things this easy.

A relieved smile appeared on Aren's face at my answer.

"...Thank you."

With those words, she released the hem of my shirt.

Now, she held only the Sun Shine instead.

After staring at it for a while, Aren carefully clasped it in her hands as though it were something precious.

'It was worth the trouble of getting it.'

"Put it to good use. It suits you better."

"Yeah."

"I'll get going now. See you in class."

I slung my bag over my shoulder, opened the door, and left the room.

Dawn was breaking.

⁎⁎⁎

After school, Centipede Dungeon.

"You're taking this training pretty seriously."

"Not really. Compared to Evil God's Abyss, this is child's play. Besides..."

Alicia gestured toward Mine with her chin.

"...Wouldn't clearing this place mean something to her too?"

Mine's legs were still trembling.

But her eyes were distinctly different from before.

Her legs shook, yet the hand gripping her mace didn't waver in the slightest.

Rosia, her summon, stood beside her with a blank expression.

Since this was training, I'd naturally assumed we'd practice working together at the training grounds, but Alicia had surprisingly chosen an actual dungeon.

'What's the point if you don't train like it's the real thing?'

I agreed.

For that reason, she chose the Centipede Dungeon, where Mine had collapsed right after saving Pasha and Mar.

Alicia seemed to think properly clearing this place would let Mine completely break away from Mine the liar.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes...!"

"Good! Then shall we begin the great Perfect Alicia's glorious comeback?"

At Alicia's declaration, we entered the dungeon.

Rustle.

An unpleasant sound came from within.

I sensed three presences.

"Two Regular Centipedes and one Elite Centipede."

"What's the plan?"

"Senior, buff me while I prepare an attack. Mine, use Holy Enchant and send Raphael ahead."

"I-It's Rosia!"

"Kuhut. I like how simple and clear that is. And the finishing blow?"

"Leave it to me."

"Judging by that confidence, it seems you've made some progress."

When I nodded, Alicia stepped behind me.

Mine whispered, "Please," and Rosia naturally moved in front of us.

She was taking on the role of a tank.

'Not bad.'

Raphael's AI had been terrible in the original game, but things were different if Mine could control her directly like this.

She could even use her as a tank.

Without meaning to, we'd formed a stable DPS, tank, healer, and buffer-support composition.

"Kieeeek!"

The three Centipedes that had spotted us rushed down the walls in an instant.

Since an elite demonic beast was among them, Instant Kill didn't activate.

Gems appeared above everyone's heads at once.

My turn.

Deathblow: Reversal was unquestionably the most powerful of my Arts, but it had one fatal weakness.

It was a charge skill that consumed an entire turn.

What was more, I became defenseless while gathering power, which meant even Just Guard was sealed away.

There was no choice but to take the hits and endure.

Not that I'd ever lived without getting hit.

Then a thought suddenly occurred to me.

'Couldn't this work as a substitute for skipping a turn?'

Mine and Alicia made an excellent combination, but matching the party's speed was difficult.

My Fluidity was high, while the two of them couldn't keep up.

I didn't want to load them up with Black Shards and give up their buff strength and healing output.

So until now, I'd repeatedly acted first and received buffs on the following turn, an inefficient arrangement.

But what if I used Deathblow: Reversal?

By forcibly spending a turn, I could delay my turn until later.

In other words, on the next turn, I could immediately unleash my strongest skill with full buffs.

I stretched my left foot back and drew power into the sword at my waist.

The sword in its sheath growled like a beast, and ash-gray energy swirled around me.

"H-Halibal?"

Mine looked puzzled by my sudden movement.

Naturally. The DPS who should've been attacking had started gathering power the moment combat began.

Alicia, though, seemed to understand my intent at once and smiled slyly.

Alicia's turn.

"Kuhut. Good. I'll set the stage."

She opened her fan, and red petals wrapped around me.

Flowers Fade in Ten Days.

Every sensation in my body sharpened, and surging fighting spirit filled me from head to toe.

Mine's turn.

"H-Holy Enchant!"

Realizing Alicia's intention a beat late, Mine hurriedly offered a prayer.

As if answering her prayer, pure white light wrapped around my sword.

"Kieeeek!"

At that moment, the three Centipede monsters rushed toward Rosia.

Crunch! Clang!

Without retreating a single step, Rosia swung her mace and blocked every attack from the monsters.

Then my turn returned.

"Deathblow: Reversal."

The power I'd condensed to its limit over a full turn became...

Swaaaaaash!!

An ash-gray line that split through space.

Slice!

The flying sword energy narrowly passed Rosia and carved threads of death across the bodies of the three Centipede monsters.

Boom!

The sword energy continued deep into the cave before finally splitting the rock wall with a thunderous explosion and disappearing.

The faint presences I could sense farther inside stopped in an instant.

The enormous bodies of the monsters split in two and scattered into dust.

"As expected of the sword I chose."

"T-That just... got all of them..."

That was when it happened.

Rumble...!

Dirt and stone dust poured down from the cave ceiling like rain.

'It's ridiculously strong.'

That attack had affected the structure of the dungeon itself.

"You overdid it, Junior."

"I'm sorry."

When the trembling stopped, I readjusted my grip on my sword.

"Let's go. It looks like we've cleared out the entrance."

Alicia said an hour of training would be enough.

And today, clearing the Centipede Dungeon took less than an hour.

Footnotes:

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