Chapter 70
Chapter 70
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 70
Chapter Title: A Dirty Bastard to the End (5)
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I instinctively checked the satellite city's durability.
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*Current Main Power Unit Durability (1281/99999)
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I flinched.
In a single day, the satellite city's durability had dropped by over 100.
*Krrrrrrumble!*
The vibrations continued.
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*Current Main Power Unit Durability (1194/99999)
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The durability was dropping in real-time right before my eyes.
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*Current Main Power Unit Durability (1079/99999)
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I tried to reassure myself.
That if the satellite city had fallen in the middle of the Empire, there was no way my past self wouldn't have known.
Even if it were to crash, it wouldn't be now, at least.
“Ah, or maybe not?”
But I couldn't be sure.
“Mandragora, Barisada, and...!”
By the time I came to my senses, I was already darting around the room, gathering my personal belongings.
I hastily grabbed my things and left the room.
“Wh-what is it!”
“Uwaaah!”
I saw the kids who had rushed out of their rooms before me, clinging to the walls and screaming.
“I knew something was off from the start! A city floating in the sky is impossible!”
“That's right! They say anything with wings eventually falls! How is the Cradle any different!”
There was even one who was on the verge of tears.
“Don't say such unlucky things!”
Whether they were crying or shouting, they were all terrified.
It was utter chaos.
“Ah...”
Seeing the wailing kids, I found myself unable to move.
I couldn't bring myself to abandon them and run away alone.
“Everyone, calm down!”
I stopped in my tracks and shouted.
I helped up the kids who had gotten tangled up and fallen while running around in confusion, and I yelled at the top of my lungs to calm down those who had completely lost their composure.
“Let's all get out of here for now! We need to find the staff!”
But my voice was quickly drowned out by the roaring and screaming.
In the end, I gave up and started crossing the hallway.
If they had attempted to repair the main power unit several times, the Cradle must have known the satellite city wasn't in a normal state.
If there was a way to escape, they would know it.
I had to find them and hear what they had to say.
“Huh?”
But then, the vibrations suddenly began to subside.
I checked the satellite city's durability once more.
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*Current Main Power Unit Durability (999/99999)
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The durability, which had been plummeting, stopped falling at 999 and held steady.
The roaring and vibrations were gone as well.
*Thud.*
I collapsed right where I stood.
I rubbed the back of my neck, which had gone stiff with excessive tension.
It was damp.
It wasn't just my neck.
Before I knew it, my whole body was drenched in sweat.
“Wow. That took ten years off my life.”
A belated wave of relief washed over me.
I laughed in hollow relief, then belatedly realized the state I was in.
In one hand, a pot with the repotted Mandragora.
On my back, a thick backpack.
“When did I pack all this?”
Even in that urgent situation, I checked the contents I had managed to stuff inside.
It was filled with my personal belongings, including Barisada, and items provided by the Cradle.
They were all valuable items.
It was amazing that I'd had the presence of mind to pick out only the expensive things in that situation.
“Heh heh.”
Just then, I heard a crackling sound from a corner of the ceiling.
[Ah, ah. An announcement for all cadets of the Cradle.]
A clear voice followed.
[There was a brief disturbance while passing through turbulence caused by unexpected inclement weather.]
A black box I hadn't noticed before caught my eye.
The voice was coming from that box.
[We have now completely passed through the turbulence, and both our route and flight status have returned to a stable state. We ask that all cadets remain calm and stay in their positions. I repeat. Unexpected...]
I didn't know who was speaking or from where, but one thing was certain: the satellite city wasn't going to crash right this moment.
Of course, all that talk about inclement weather and turbulence was undoubtedly a bald-faced lie.
I'd have to look into the reason for the sudden drop in durability later.
In any case, a Cradle staff member had officially declared the situation over.
It seemed safe to assume the commotion was over for now.
The last vestiges of anxiety finally subsided.
“Haaah.”
As I let out a sigh of relief, my tension easing...
“...?”
I suddenly felt stares on my back.
The kids were looking at me.
With gazes that were half dumbfounded, half contemptuous.
“Ah.”
I realized how I must look in their eyes.
A crammed backpack.
At the far end of the hallway, a good distance from my room.
“Were you trying to run away by yourself?”
“And you even packed your bags in the middle of all that.”
There was no other way to see it; I looked exactly like someone who was trying to flee to save his own skin.
“No. This is...”
I tried to explain, but no one believed me.
“...”
Even Pon, who had been friendly to me ever since the entrance exam, was looking at me with a disappointed expression.
I thought I was going to lose my mind.
“Hey, you. I helped you up earlier! Don't you remember?”
“What are you talking about? When did you do that?”
Feeling wronged, I grabbed the kids I had helped up and asked, but their answer was that they didn't remember.
It wasn't that they were lying out of some grudge against me; they genuinely looked like they couldn't remember.
Given the situation, their memories must have been jumbled.
Even if I wanted to clear up the misunderstanding, time wouldn't allow it.
“Alright, alright. You heard the announcement, right? It was nothing serious, so stop causing a scene and get back to your rooms!”
A Cradle staff member, who had shown up a step too late, forcibly pushed the kids into their rooms.
“Uh, excuse me...”
As I stood there blankly watching the scene, some pale-looking kid approached me.
“N-never mind.”
Then, after hesitating by himself, he disappeared into his room as if fleeing.
I didn't even have a chance to ask what he wanted.
“What are you doing still out here? Get inside, quickly!”
“...Yes, sir.”
“We're watching everything with the closed-circuit cams, so don't get any funny ideas.”
Shoved by the staff member who was making threats with words I didn't even understand, something about 'closed-circuit cams,' I returned to my room.
“What a mess.”
The room was a disaster, as if a war had broken out.
I couldn't tell if it had been messed up by the satellite city's shaking or by me scrambling to grab my things.
Whatever the reason, it was clear that cleaning it up was my job.
“Feels like all I did today was get chewed out.”
Come to think of it, this was my life.
Things had been going unusually well since I returned to the past, so I guess I'd gotten ahead of myself without realizing it.
Since when had I ever been acknowledged by those around me?
‘A man with no loyalty, who changes masters like he changes his shoes.’
‘An irredeemable snob who knows nothing of chivalry.’
‘The world's greatest dullard.’
‘A disgrace to all squires.’
Wasn't I the one who lived with all sorts of labels branded on me?
Compared to back then, a misunderstanding like this was hardly worth worrying about.
*Yom yom.*
Lost in thought, I was jolted back to my senses by a babbling sound.
The flowerpot I'd been clutching the whole time, too distracted to notice.
*Yom yom.*
The Mandragora was crying softly.
But its cry sounded different from usual.
It sounded like the purr of a kitten that had just finished a satisfying meal.
Though I was sure it was just my imagination.
“Sigh. I should just clean.”
I shook off my idle thoughts and began to tidy the room.
By the time I finished cleaning, it was already dawn.
Lying in bed, I asked the stars of the Outskirts Constellation.
But I heard no answer on how to stop the satellite city from crashing.
I turned on the terminal.
I planned to check out a feature I hadn't been able to look at the day before.
The Starstream bulletin board.
A place where cadets of the Cradle, regardless of their year, could post all sorts of things.
□ Do the route managers really get paid for this? [47]
□ Upvote if you thought we were actually gonna crash today [89]
□ The first-years must have been terrified. Let's be nice to them next time we see them [1]
□ A strategy I saw some guy use in Riona yesterday. Rate it [92]
□ Anyone who wants info on the new professor, come in [102]
□ Anyone know about the newly appointed professor??? [92]
□ I'm in the same year as the guy who wrote that pretentious post below... [88]
□ This isn't the first time. Why is everyone freaking out? [60]
□ It was pretty bad today, though. Worried the Cradle actually has a problem [204]
Half the posts were about today's incident, and the other half were about the mysterious new professor. With a few useless posts sprinkled in between.
There wasn't much of substance.
The only thing I gained was a general sense of how things worked at the Cradle.
I turned off the terminal and closed my eyes.
And so, another one of my days came to an end.
My third day at the Cradle.
A Black Knight in disguise was assigned as my supervising professor, and the main power unit's durability dropped by nearly 300, bringing the satellite city one step closer to crashing.
I'd earned the nickname 'coward' and been branded as one.
It had been a rather eventful day.
“Ugh.”
Enough to make me groan.
* * *
The next day, I headed to the training grounds as soon as I woke up.
“Huh?”
But there was no one in sight.
I wondered if I was early and waited a bit longer, but it was the same.
Tired of waiting, I was about to leave the grounds to figure out what was going on.
“Class isn't here today.”
Pon, who had shown up late, said this and turned away.
I quickly followed after him.
Not far from the training grounds, I saw a building that was neither large nor small.
「Hall of Stars」
When I went inside, all the kids from Group 3, except for me, were gathered there.
“Tch. What a waste of effort.”
“Why would you even bother with a guy like that...?”
The moment I saw the kids frowning as if an uninvited guest had appeared, I realized.
They had deliberately not told me that the class location had been changed.
In other words, I was hated.
My attempt to run away and save myself the day before must have really bothered them.
It was obvious that trying to explain it was a misunderstanding now wouldn't work.
Once you're branded as someone who abandoned his peers to save himself, it's not an easy thing to correct.
It was a situation I'd experienced countless times in my past life.
“Heh.”
I couldn't help but laugh.
I remembered the fate of those who had ostracized me in my past life.
*Twitch.*
The kids' faces scrunched up.
Faces full of contempt and hostility.
“We have no intention of treating a coward like you as a group member.”
“As soon as we win the first group competition, you're out.”
The group leader, Lian, and the other kids threatened me.
Ignoring them, I found a suitable empty seat and sat down.
“Alright, is everyone here?”
Just then, the professor appeared.
His name was Dieter Rizner, I believe.
He was the same professor who had abruptly started a tournament on the first day of class.
Behind him stood the teaching assistant, his face still etched with fatigue.
“Hmm? What's with the atmosphere?”
Professor Dieter Rizner tilted his head, noticing the tense mood.
But he didn't bother asking the kids for the reason.
He seemed to assume everyone was on edge because of the previous day's incident.
“Alright, this morning's class will be on celestial observation.”
Professor Dieter Rizner began the class right away.
“To put it simply, today, in this very room, we will confirm whether or not there are any stars interested in you.”