Episode 13
Translator: RaidenTL
Episode 13
SYSTEM: Treatment complete! HP has been fully restored. Waking up from ‘Faint’ status.
As she forced her heavy eyelids open, a white ceiling came into view. She grabbed the delicate hand that was placing a bandage on her forehead, her eyes meeting a pair of wide, startled green ones. In a hoarse voice, she asked.
“……How long was I out?”
“An hour. Adrian brought you here, sobbing his eyes out. You got a bruise on your forehead when you fell, so I just treated that. Elysia, please… Do you have any idea how worried I was…?”
She shot up, throwing off the black blanket that covered her, and quickly put on her shoes. Evan stood in her way, a displeased look on his face, and spoke in a stern voice.
“Rest a little longer. There’s no way you fainted just from a fall. You must have overexerted yourself, so you need to rest.”
What do I do? That’s exactly why I fainted. Having just woken up, her mind was still foggy. Shaking her head lightly, Elysia replied.
“Thanks to the bandage you put on, Senior, I’m perfectly fine. Besides, there’s somewhere I have to be.”
“Where?”
With a deadpan expression, she dusted off her hands once and muttered.
“There’s a place I have to go, and something I have to do.”
Unable to overcome her determined expression, Evan sighed as if he had no choice and let her go, though he was clearly reluctant.
Exactly twelve minutes later, Lucian Violante, beaten to a bloody pulp, was carried into the infirmary.
*
After closing the infirmary door behind her, Elysia’s suppressed anger flared to life, a stark contrast to the composure she’d maintained in front of Evan.
That son of a bitch hit me? I’ll fucking kill him.
Finding a place she’d been to once before was a piece of cake. She ran, her footsteps thundering as if she were trying to smash the floor, and in no time, she found the plaque that read ‘Classroom-14’.
CRASH!!!
Elysia threw the door open without knocking. The students of the Art Department stared, wide-eyed at the sound of the door nearly breaking. The bandage Evan had placed on her forehead only made her already menacing aura look even more vicious.
“Ah, there he is.”
Expressionless, Elysia walked toward the center of the room and kicked a man square in the chest without warning. With a loud clatter, Lucian fell gracelessly to the floor. He rubbed his backside, which had hit the stone floor hard, and yelled in annoyance.
“What the—”
“Why aren’t you fainting?”
His plan to jump up and shove this insolent woman away instantly evaporated. He froze the moment he saw her, her eyes radiating pure killing intent.
A chill ran down his spine. At the same time, he realized he had messed with the wrong person.
The woman stomped hard on his thigh and leaned down. Her short bob cut half-covered the white bandage on her forehead. Her silver-gray eyes were unfocused, as if she had lost all reason.
“Why aren’t you fainting? To be fair, you should faint too…”
“…”
“You wanna die…? Are you not going to answer?”
Elysia let out a dry laugh, grabbed Violante by the collar, hauled him up, and snarled.
“You know… I did some thinking on my way here. There’s that saying, ‘If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also,’ right? I thought about putting that into practice, but it’s just not my style.”
“Wh-What is this…”
“My style is to beat the shit out of any bastard who lays a hand on me until they’re half-dead.”
The woman tucked her hair behind her ear with her right hand and picked up a stool that had been knocked over beside him. Violante, trying to push her away, was stunned to realize how incredibly strong she was. The woman’s eyes had practically rolled back in her head.
She’s lost it. She’s completely insane. As she raised the stool with both hands, ready to bring it down, he shouted frantically.
“I-I just pushed your shoulder, I didn’t mean to knock you out—”
“You crazy bastard, you hit someone and now you’re making excuses? I’m going to kill you today. Hey, clench your jaw.”
CRACK! Starting with that dull thud, he was beaten without even a chance to resist. No one dared to intervene, intimidated by the menacing aura of the woman who beat and stomped on the Little Count with a dazzling frenzy, as if possessed.
Adrian Campbellton, who had heard the news and rushed over, hastily pulled the woman off the Little Count, and the man was moved to the infirmary.
All of this happened a mere twelve minutes after Evan had sent Elysia out of that very same room.
For the first time since the school’s founding, Minerva’s prefects were in the awkward position of having to punish one of their own.
It was awkward because the reason was violence on campus. It was doubly awkward because the victim was a member of a prominent family. And it was triply awkward because he was a member of the Student Council, which existed to solidify friendships among the nobles.
Evan and Adrian stared at the woman who had turned a grown man into a pulp in an instant. Adrian was the first to speak.
“…To be honest, I think he deserved it. Uh, actually, it was pretty satisfying. He called me a rat. That was definitely, you know, arrogant of him.”
Evan sighed as if to ask what he was talking about, and Adrian protested.
“You think so too, Senior!”
“I believe violence can never be justified, under any circumstances. Separately… Violante will need a warning. Anyway, I understand.”
Elysia, who had been as quiet as a mouse, flinched, reacting for the first time. Evan had just returned from a visit to the Student Council about this incident.
I’m such a nuisance… I should have controlled my temper, but that damn temper just won’t die…
Adrian, who had been anxiously chewing on his fingertips, noticed her dejected expression and asked with a smirk.
“I mean… you were just watching with an amused look on your face. Why did you suddenly jump in?”
“…I saw him. That drug addict.”
At her mumble, Evan frowned and asked.
“In the Art Department classroom?”
“He was sitting right in the front row, watching the fight. I went to grab him, but that crazy son of a… I mean, that guy grabbed me, and I lost him. Aaaargh!!! I could have caught him! I’m so pissed off…”
Adrian looked at Elysia, who was clutching her head in frustration, and muttered.
“But can we even punish an Art Department student for drug use at this time?”
“It would be difficult.”
“Why?!”
Evan pressed a hand to his forehead and let out a soft sigh. Elysia noticed that he, too, was annoyed. Wiping the displeasure from his face, he forced a smile and answered.
“It’s because of a custom, one that I despise.”
“Why would custom get in the way of busting drug addicts?”
Evan gazed silently at the woman sitting across from him. Every time he met her eyes, which seemed to burn with a fierce flame, he felt an inexplicable sense of interest. It was strange for him. He had never once liked people who resorted to violence.
Why are you different to me…? Pushing that question aside for a moment, he continued.
“Two years ago, there was a senior who took first place at the Art Festival. The painting he submitted was said to be worth enough to buy a small country. A month later, it was discovered that he had been using drugs.”
“…Wait a minute, two years ago?”
“Is there a problem?”
There wasn’t a trace of deceit in Evan’s puzzled eyes. Elysia tried to sort through her chaotic thoughts.
Since drugs that shouldn’t exist in this world have appeared, I naturally assumed it was because of me. But this was happening even before I got here?
Was I wrong?
As Elysia fell silent, trying to organize her complicated thoughts, Evan continued his explanation.
“Ever since then, drugs have been circulating in the Art Department. The exact same kind that senior used. They say it enhances creative passion… Well, the professors don’t look upon it favorably, so they did establish new school rules, but it’s hard to control, so they’ve been letting it slide.”
Her confusion was brief, quickly replaced by speechlessness at the state of this messed-up school. She recalled hearing that, unlike its early days when it was composed solely of commoner students, the student body was now dominated by the children of nobility.
It seemed the school was in a tricky position to punish them, since they were of a class that could easily get out on bail even if the matter was taken to court instead of being handled internally.
Moreover, the game’s setting wasn’t modern times. It was highly likely that drug use wasn’t a major crime.
…Still, this is ridiculous!
“They’re doing drugs just to win first place at the Art Festival? Are those bastards insane? Did they outsource their brains?”
“…When consumed, it causes hallucinations that last only a few seconds. It’s not highly addictive, so the school is tacitly overlooking it. Its name is…”
“Crea? I know. It’s made by processing a substance extracted from the flowers of the silk tree, right?”
“How do you know that so well?”
Evan looked at her strangely, as if it were odd for her to so casually possess knowledge an ordinary person wouldn’t have. Sensing he might have been rude from her silence, he cleared his throat lightly, stood up, and said.
“In any case, if the prefects issue a warning now, the Student Council will likely retract it. I’m sorry, but it would be best to give up.”
“I’m not giving up.”
“…”
“Once I’ve targeted someone, I’ll chase them to the ends of the earth.”
He raised an eyebrow and looked down at Elysia. The woman, her lips pressed into a firm line, stared back up at him with shining silver-gray eyes.
He almost let out a chuckle. Surprised at himself, he touched his lips and stood frozen.
♥ SYSTEM: Evan Sylvester’s favorability +10 ♥
Elysia, who had been subtly watching Evan with a hint of tension, tilted her head in confusion at the favorability window that had popped up out of nowhere.
I thought he’d yell at me to stop immediately, but his favorability went up? Does this guy enjoy taking responsibility for a total stranger’s messes?
Whatever the reason, it was a good sign for her. She strode over to Evan and smiled crookedly.
“Does that mean it’s okay for me to pursue this?”
“…Yes, but there’s something I have to tell you first. Elysia, you’ve been suspended.”
Evan thought she would freeze in shock, but she just tilted her head with a bewildered expression.
“Is that all?”
“…What were you expecting?”
“Paying for damages… I mean, compensation…”
Evan put a hand to his head as Elysia casually rattled off the consequences that typically follow a violent incident, as if she were used to it. This isn’t the first time she’s done something like this…
“That… I took care of it on my end.”
“Why would you do that, Senior? I’ll take responsibility for my own actions!”
Seeing Elysia’s apologetic face, Evan looked dumbfounded and, without realizing it, let his thoughts slip out like a sigh.
“It would be nice if you just didn’t create situations that require taking responsibility in the first place…”
Wow, he’s not wrong about a single thing.
She fell silent. He continued, a look of concern on his face.
“To be precise, the Student Council resolved it.”
“What do you mean?”
Evan recalled the smile of a man with long, fluttering eyelashes. He stared at the frowning Elysia and asked.
“You, what is your relationship with Cain Ror?”