SSS-Class Revival Hunter - Chapter 206

WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ SSS-Class Revival Hunter ◈

Chapter 206: Easter Egg (2)

──────

"Indeed. There was a minor misunderstanding."

Raviel nodded her head upon hearing my desperate explanation.

A fast-food restaurant.

I would have preferred a café, but the era of the [Side Story] still lingered in the past. The countrywide proliferation of cafés was still a ways off. Sadly, there weren't many places where one could freely enter and converse.

"Well, it's unlikely that you would turn your eyes to another while leaving me aside. It's more plausible to hear that the universe has abandoned the laws of physics. Even someone of my stature can get swept up in emotions."

"No, I'm really grateful that you believe me...."

Honestly, I thought the world was ending.

"Hmm. From what I saw, the Black Dragon Master was a competent individual. Had she been born in the empire, she would've flourished as a noble. To share a genuine friendship with such a person is a wise move on your part. You are blessed with good people around you. Of course...."

Raviel glanced through the front glass window of the shop.

"Though I never expected you to return with a goblin as your child.”

Outside the window, Uburka stood with his arms crossed, his back turned to us.

Despite the giant hobgoblin in the middle of a modern city, passersby seemed not to notice anything unusual.

While some were startled by Uburka's immense size, none recognized him as a hobgoblin.

"Could it be that we are under some kind of perception-altering magic?"

"Perhaps."

Clink.

Raviel stirred her cola, the ice cubes clinking against each other.

"In this place, the attire I'm wearing is quite alien. It would be normal to stand out. But while many steal glances at my face, none seem to pay attention to my clothes."

Raviel was dressed in an imperial gown. Yet, when the store clerk saw us earlier, there was no reaction to our attire.

It was the beauty of Raviel, not of this world, that caused their eyes to widen.

"The conclusion is clear. To their eyes, we all appear to be wearing ordinary clothes."

"A world-scale perception alteration... that's too excessive."

"It signifies that the entity accommodating your convenience is omnipotent. You do have the knack of gaining favor with the powerful, Gong-Ja."

"Haha."

A quick glance around showed that all the customers in the shop were sneakily glancing at Raviel. Perhaps the perception alteration didn't apply to looks.

In an era with smartphones, they might have secretly taken our pictures.

"Then bring over that child you consider as your son."

"Is that alright?"

"Yes. He may not be your blood, but he is a bond you've formed with your heart. Who knows, he might even find favor in my eyes and be recognized as part of the Ivansia Ducal Family."

It was rare for Raviel to show kindness to others.

Before the Duchess's mind changed, I quickly brought Uburka over.

"......."

Uburka sat down, taking up a chair with each of his left and right buttocks. Still with his arms crossed, he looked down on Raviel, who was much shorter than him.

"......."

The silence continued.

What's this?

Why do I feel the most tense being caught in between?

“……Silver hair mocking the moon and red eyes mocking the zinnia.”

Uburka was the first to break the silence.

“Now that I see you, your appearance reminds me of someone I have heard of in the legends. Ugor. Are you Raviel Ivansia?”

“Oh? Contrary to your appearance, you speak so poetically.”

“I’m just recalling what my daddy told me.”

“Is Gong-Ja spreading stories about me in your world too?”

“Daddy created five legends. The fourth one is about you, Raviel Ivansia. Silver Lily. The moon robbed of its heart by the mirror. Any Earth Spirit would know you, impossible not to.”

“Hmm.”

Raviel lifted the corner of her mouth. She seemed a bit more pleased. Holding a thin straw, she slowly stirred her cola.

“I heard you're a Constellation.”

“Ugor.”

“I was once a Constellation too. Not by choice, but I didn’t entirely dislike the fact that the world revolved around me. You possess a caliber far beyond ordinary humans. Do you have no doubts in considering Gong-Ja as your daddy?”

“Ugor, that's a foolish question. Even when Earth Spirits were immature beasts, daddy already tried to fulfill his parental duty. Bonds aren't formed by matching status, but by casting it aside.”

“Don’t you care about your own dignity?”

“Ugor. Dignity stems from qualification. Daddy has it. Conversely, I wonder who else, besides my daddy, holds the qualification to be revered by our Earth Spirits.”

“Hmm.”

Raviel nodded once.

As someone who loves her, I could tell with certainty that this was a sign she was in a good mood.

But why does this Uburka act so mature in front of Raviel and like a child around me? Is he discriminating against his daddy? It’s heartbreaking. So heartbreaking. This is why raising a son is all for nothing.

“How was your first encounter with Gong-Ja…”

“Ugor, during the war against the Slime Empire…”

Soon, the two of them began a warm conversation. Leaving me out.

Feeling isolated by both my wife and child, a wave of sadness hit me.

Is this the sorrow of a father left behind by his family...?

‘Huh?’

As I had nowhere else to look, I gazed out the window at the scenery, when suddenly a passerby caught my eye.

Something about that pedestrian felt strangely familiar.

"......?"

At first, I was drawn by the pedestrian's attire.

Shinseo Middle and High School's uniform.

Specifically, the middle school section.

Among those who bullied Kim Yul, there were middle schoolers too, both boys and girls. Maybe that's why my eyes lingered for a moment.

‘But they never appeared in the video.’

What could this sense of déjà vu mean?

When I enhanced my vision with Aura and looked more closely, one odd detail after another about the pedestrian began catching my attention.

Firstly, the hair.

'Blonde.'

Not dyed, but naturally blonde.

The long golden locks swayed with every step the pedestrian took.

I thought they might be a foreigner, but considering they wore the uniform of Shinseo Middle and High, that seemed unlikely.

‘A dirty uniform... and a briefcase?’

The pedestrian wasn’t carrying a student bag.

Instead, they walked while holding a briefcase of the sort an office worker might carry, carefully clasping it in both hands. The briefcase was extremely old and worn. The leather had peeled completely away from its corners, and it could already have passed for discarded junk.

The last point that caught my eye was:

'The stride is consistent.'

There was no variation in the steps.

This fact accounted for half of the unexplainable sense of déjà vu.

'The stride length and speed are maintained exactly the same.'

Such control over one's movement is difficult without significant training. Yet, the pedestrian showed no signs of Aura or even regular physical training. In fact, they seemed physically weaker than their peers.

As the pedestrian slowly passed in front of the fast-food restaurant’s window,

Our eyes met for a moment.

Time seemed to slow down.

No, it wasn't that my time had slowed down.

The pedestrian was utterly expressionless. As though born wearing that expression, it suited them perfectly. Their expressionless face also possessed perfectly sculpted features.

Their eyes.

Endlessly transparent.

It was midsummer, yet the pedestrian's eyes did not mix with the sweltering heat on the streets or the irritated sighs of others. There was an unmistakable purity, refusing any impurity.

Hooooonk!

A car horn sounded from somewhere.

At the crosswalk, the traffic light flickered.

Even the time of the three-way intersection, where the light changed from red to yellow, had nothing to do with the pedestrian’s eyes. She was walking in a different time.

The same rhythm. Exactly the same stride. An absolute uniformity that seemed to skim the world.

The act of [walking] should ordinarily prove one's belonging to this world.

But not for this pedestrian. With their gait alone, humans could reject the world several times over. With each step, once. With two steps, twice. Three steps. Four steps...

Endlessly.

"Gong-Ja?"

Unknowingly, I had stood up from my seat.

"What's the matter?"

"I'm sorry."

Raviel and Uburka stopped their conversation and looked at me.

"Please wait here for me. Just for a moment. I need to go somewhere."

I apologized to them but kept my eyes on the pedestrian’s retreating figure.

"I'll leave a trail of Aura, so if anything happens, feel free to follow. Uburka should be able to easily catch up."

"Daddy?"

"Son, please guard Raviel."

After saying this, I hurriedly rushed out of the fast-food restaurant.

'Where did she go?'

The pedestrian was crossing the street. The traffic light had just turned green not long ago, yet it was already blinking, urging people to hurry.

Beep beep beep-

It was a rare sight to see people crossing at this time of day in midsummer. Only one person, the pedestrian, was crossing the crosswalk. Despite the light still being green, drivers ignored the signal. Cars passed both in front of and behind the pedestrian.

'When? Where have I seen her before?'

I followed.

'When I attended Shinseo High?'

The pedestrian walked into an alley.

'No. I would never forget a student with such a gait. If I had seen her even once, I would have definitely remembered.'

The trees cast blue shadows on the ground.

'It's definitely the first time I've seen that face. But why...'

The summer sun blazed white.

The stark boundary between shade and non-shade was evident. As the pedestrian entered the shade, she seemed to drift away like a mirage, escaping the season.

Buzzzz-

Cicadas cried out.

'Who is she?'

Abruptly.

In the middle of the shade, the pedestrian stopped.

I, too, had to stop in my tracks.

"......."

The pedestrian slowly turned around.

I felt an invisible force pulling me.

Even the brief moment of the pedestrian turning seemed to slow down time. My breathing halted, my thoughts accelerated.

In the slowed-down time, fragments of memory floated by.

「I want to know how the tower is established.」

Before entering the 35th floor, the Paladin asked.

「Live the life of the most miserable person in that world.」

The Princess answered.

「There is a master who made the Tower.」

「That master lives the life of the most miserable person in each world.」

「A world where a Tower has been erected is a place the master has already lived in and passed through. A world where no Tower has been erected is a place the master has not yet visited.」

As the pedestrian turned halfway around, I felt a tickle in my nose.

A familiar scent wafted through the air.

It was a smell I knew.

「I'm going to school early today.」

Kim Yul.

「I need to feed the rabbits at the animal pens.」

The smell of old, stored animal feed in a corner of the warehouse.

「Anyway, the animal club is no more. Now, middle school class leaders take turns managing the animal pen... Middle schoolers won't be diligent in such tasks, right? It’s usually the security guard and me.」

「A certain middle school student.」

「The three of us do almost all the feeding.」

Our world has a Tower established.

If the Princess's words are true, it means the Tower Master once [lived] in our world too.

Living the life of someone deemed even more unfortunate than Kim Yul.

「Kim Gong-Ja.」

For some reason.

A single sentence hurled at me by the class leader crossed my mind.

「You went around calling them Shinseo Middle and High's two big outcasts, you named it yourself, laughing.」

The pedestrian looked at me.

I was standing under the summer sky. The pedestrian was on the shaded ground.

There was a distance.