Chapter 139
Chapter 139
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 139
Chapter Title: Do Whatever You Want
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While Krash waited for Haring in front of the girls' dormitory...
Female students kept glancing his way as they passed.
It was only natural, given how much of a hot topic Krash was.
But no one boldly approached him.
There weren't many who could casually strike up a conversation with someone bearing the Valheim name.
"Krash?"
But that didn't apply to fellow Valheims.
Krash lifted his head at the voice calling his name.
"Big Sis."
There stood a woman with hair the same color as his.
The Sword Saint, Charlotte Valheim.
She must have just returned, as her body was lightly slick with sweat.
Even in spring, she gave off a faint, heated aura.
The Lion Corps had returned.
"Lord Krash!"
And for some reason, Karandis Poseidon was at her side.
The ninth princess of the Poseidon Kingdom.
Karandis Poseidon.
Like Charlotte, her clothes were damp with sweat, and her healthy, vibrant skin tone made her radiate sensuality.
She flashed a bright smile and waved at Krash the moment she spotted him.
"Why are you two together?"
Surprised by the unexpected company, Krash glanced back, prompting Charlotte to peek over her shoulder.
"She followed me on the way back."
Krash could roughly piece it together.
Karandis wanted to marry him.
Since Charlotte had been the leader of the Lion Corps on this mission...
Of course, she'd tagged along, figuring she'd win over the family first.
The only pity was that the family member in question was Charlotte.
Charlotte seemed utterly indifferent to Karandis's presence.
"Heehee, we were on the mission together!"
Karandis laughed good-naturedly, as if it were no big deal.
What incredible mental fortitude.
Meanwhile, Charlotte turned to Krash with her usual listless eyes.
"So, why are you here?"
"Waiting for someone."
Charlotte's gaze shifted to the girls' dormitory.
She eyed Krash with a peculiar look before speaking.
"Forgetting you have a fiancée gets tiring in all sorts of ways. Even if things are rocky with her, better to make up."
"L-Lord Krash, things are bad with your fiancée? Well, there's always the option of a new engagement...!"
Having overheard, Karandis pointed both index fingers at herself with hopeful eyes, pitching herself.
And Krash ignored her.
"Misunderstanding. Bianca and I are fine."
"Then no issue."
Still, perfect timing.
He'd planned to meet Charlotte anyway.
"Big Sis, can we talk about the Student Corps?"
Krash figured he needed her help to resolve this matter.
More precisely, her and her corps' help.
"You came to see me?"
Charlotte's eyes widened slightly before she flashed her signature half-smile, quirking just the corner of her mouth.
"Good call. My brother's got good instincts. Wait here."
She seemed in higher spirits than usual as she headed inside.
Looks like she'd shower and change first.
"Something going on?"
Once Charlotte was gone, Karandis stayed put and asked Krash.
Krash eyed her coolly before breaking into a wicked grin.
"Tensions between the Empire and Staron Kingdom could spark a war. Wanna get involved?"
"Take care! It was great seeing you today. Let's meet again sometime!"
Karandis bolted.
No matter how marriage-obsessed she was, jumping into something this massive would get her crushed.
Plus, Krash's tone hinted at "stay out," so she picked up on it and bailed.
'Sharp girl.'
Not on Sizzly's genius level, but sly Karandis was no slouch.
No wonder she survived as the ninth princess in a kingdom crawling with royals.
Anyway, things were looking up.
He could wrap this up quicker now.
As Krash let out a sigh of relief, two figures emerged from the girls' dormitory right on cue: Astria and her companion.
A girl with striking black-and-purple hair.
Haring Lagren.
"...Krash."
Unlike before, her face was utterly downcast.
"You okay?"
Krash asked, eyeing Haring.
Her expression was a total wreck.
Naturally, hearing her father the Poison King was gravely injured would've made her desperate to rush back to the Empire.
But she carried no luggage.
With a blank face, she stood there dazed, lost on what to do.
Krash got the picture.
'The Lagren family must've told her to stand by and do nothing.'
Without explaining why, of course.
It was top-secret from the Empire's side.
The Lagrens had to keep quiet too.
"...Yeah, I'm fine."
Haring answered blankly.
Her mind was completely checked out.
She wasn't focusing on the conversation at all.
Not even an abandoned cat in the rain would look this pitiful.
Krash glanced at Astria.
Astria stood with arms crossed, head tilted back, clearly insisting she'd hear it all.
Fair enough—it wasn't sensitive info for her anyway.
Krash decided to just say it.
"Came to talk about your father."
Haring's shoulders twitched for the first time.
"I'm heading to Hardenharts to hunt the World Erosion Beast that attacked the Poison King."
Haring slowly raised her head from its bowed position.
Her eyes shook violently.
She wore the look of someone questioning if she'd heard right.
"You."
Astria eyed Krash with a slight frown too.
The face of "that's way too reckless, even for you."
"...What do you mean?"
Haring, meanwhile, looked outright baffled, unable to grasp why Krash would say that.
The World Erosion Beast that critically wounded the Poison King was holed up in Hardenharts.
This was Empire- and Staron-level business, not for students with no official rank from their families.
Even if a latecomer showed up, they'd just get chewed out for being useless—at best.
And for Haring, directly tied to her father? Her family had explicitly told her to stand down.
That was the worst part for her.
She'd lost her brother to a World Erosion caused by one of those beasts, training relentlessly her whole life to prevent it happening again.
Yet despite all that, with her family in peril once more, she could do nothing.
That gnawed at her heart.
She hated helplessness more than anything.
But now Krash was telling her exactly that: he was going after the World Erosion Beast.
Replaying his words, Haring's face drained of color.
"Wait, hold on, no. Krash."
Haring stumbled toward him, clutching his collar instinctively and shaking her head like a child.
She looked utterly distraught from his words.
Haring had lived cool-headed, drilling training day in, day out, giving her all.
But inside, she'd been rotting for ages.
Her brother died because of her.
That truth tormented her endlessly.
The memory of counting alone in that poison chamber lingered like a scar, refusing to fade.
And today's news of her father the Poison King gravely wounded carved another gash into that scar.
Pus and blood kept seeping from the reopened wound.
Despite her efforts, her family ordered her to stay put again.
Helplessness dragged her back down once more.
And right then, hearing Krash declare he'd confront the World Erosion Beast? Her heart plummeted.
After missions, Haring had often seen echoes of her brother in Krash.
He was more mature than his peers, sometimes unconsciously showing an older-brother side.
And that kept reminding her of him.
Already shaken by her father's crisis, she was so confused now she could barely tell if the Krash before her was her brother or not.
"...No. I don't want to lose someone like that again."
She rambled incoherently, her body trembling.
Someone else going in her place felt exactly like when her brother locked her in the poison chamber alone.
Just then, something cold touched the hand gripping Krash's collar.
It was Krash's hand.
It slowly warmed, spreading gentle heat.
"Haring."
Krash called her name.
Haring slowly looked up to meet his eyes.
With the sun high behind him, shadows played across Krash's face.
"This incident will drive Empire-Staron relations to the absolute worst."
To her quaking eyes, Krash slowly explained why he had to go.
"I'm stopping it. With World Erosions popping off everywhere, those two fighting helps no one."
Krash's eyes burned with unprecedented seriousness.
He truly meant to handle this himself.
World Erosion.
For Haring, who lost her brother in one caused by a World Erosion Beast, it was the one thing she wanted to eradicate most.
"And to stop it, I need your power."
Haring's eyes began to widen.
Raheln Academy was, on the surface, a place of unity.
The Empire, four great kingdoms, and smaller groups declaring they'd fight World Erosions together.
That was why Raheln Academy existed.
And within it, there were corps.
Now twisted into faction wars, but originally, corps were about followers banding under a leader regardless of origin—that was the creed.
Unity embodied.
Now imagine: a direct Valheim and the Poison King's daughter—one of the Ten Supremes—joining a corps.
And heading to Hardenharts together to avenge the Poison King, aiding his daughter.
The ultimate symbol of harmony for the world.
'That alone could make the Empire hesitate to barge into Hardenharts recklessly.'
The Empire was pushing the "avenge the Poison King" pretext to storm Hardenharts.
But his daughter Haring held that claim strongest.
Once she moved as the Empire's rep, they'd lose their justification.
With Staron backing via a Valheim direct line, it showed full commitment too.
'That douses the immediate flames.'
In diplomacy, justification was king.
So right now, Krash needed Haring.
She symbolized the Empire's claim in this mess.
"That's..."
Haring's eyes trembled fiercely.
Even amid chaos, she grasped part of his intent.
She wasn't dim.
Which only flustered her more.
She hadn't expected Krash to invite her along.
Overwhelmed, she spoke.
"...My family said wait and do nothing."
Just as Krash predicted.
No wonder she was so on edge.
Being told to sit tight must've driven her mad.
Krash tightened his grip on her hand.
Somehow, his warmth seeped into her.
"You're a Raheln Academy student before an Empire affiliate."
Everyone here shed family ties for student status.
"Forget family or whatever—act like a student. Go wild, and it's just youthful impulsiveness."
Say the whole corps is volunteering for Hardenharts.
They'd planned to stand by but had no choice but to go along.
No family could stop that cold.
"This world's weaker than you think if you push hard enough."
Krash sneered at the world.
"Hate not being able to do anything, right?"
He met her eyes.
His shone clearer than ever.
"I hate that helplessness most."
Because he'd lived that way his whole life.
This world loved screwing the powerless hardest.
So Krash had thrashed endlessly until now.
And he'd thrash again this time.
He'd stop the war Arthur couldn't, crawling if he had to.
"So I'll thrash like hell."
Haring stared blankly at him.
"You thrash too. Family, friends, world—whatever. Do your best."
For Haring, who'd only heard "do nothing," this was the first "do anything."
Her body began to shake.
A new feeling welled from deep within, replacing helplessness.
Color returned to her pale face bit by bit.
Strength flowed back into her limp body.
"And for that debt from last mission, insist on paying it back. Don't Lagrens repay debts double?"
A boyish grin tugged at Krash's lips.
"..."
Haring stared blankly at that smile.
For a long while.
"Ha, heh heh."
A chuckle escaped her.
Her tormented face couldn't hold back the laugh.
Maybe because even Bianca showed more expression—this was a shock.
Krash eyed her in surprise.
Well, hers wasn't suppressed like a doll's.
Laughing was natural.
"...You know, I lost my big brother to a World Erosion caused by one of those beasts."
Krash fell silent at her words.
He hadn't known Haring the Poison girl's depths.
Just vaguely sensed she'd lost something traumatic in her past.
Not the details.
Now it clicked why she was so obsessed with avenging against the Pale Ghosts.
Why she'd throw her whole family at it.
'Her eyes must've rolled back.'
Bianca could've become a Pale Ghost too, turned into a beast's spawn.
So Haring had lost family twice over to beasts' doing.
"Hearing my dad got hit by one this time? Couldn't take it. And they tell me to sit tight again. Felt so damn powerless. Like all my effort meant nothing."
"Stay put."
For Haring, the most horrific, helpless words.
Because staying put had gotten her brother killed.
And in that moment, Krash told her: don't stay put.
"...So yeah, a debt."
She withdrew her chuckle and stepped back a few paces from Krash.
A faint smile lingered on her face.
"This too. I'll pay it back."
If that's how she felt.
"Do what you want."
Krash respected her resolve.
And inexplicably, he got chewed out again.
Astria even shot him a slightly annoyed look.
Krash felt utterly wronged.