Chapter 60
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: Quasi-Executive Baal (4)
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Perhaps...
Perhaps...
I never had anyone on my side from the very beginning...
Maybe everything Baal said was true.
From the start...
From the start, I...
Maybe I was never meant to be loved...
Maybe I was never meant to be happy...
'I never had anyone on my side... It was never there to begin with...'
In truth, I just...
I didn't want to admit it...
My father's indifference...
My mother's torment...
My sibling's hatred...
That they could never change...
That they could never truly be on my side...
I just didn't want to accept it.
Like everyone else...
I wanted us to greet each other warmly after a long time apart,
gather occasionally...
and share a warm meal together...
Just a...
cozy family like that...
I wanted to return to something like that.
I couldn't forget the warmth of my birth mother that I'd experienced once...
That's why I'd always craved my family's affection even more...
"You... you've got talent!"
In that endless thirst...
As I wandered lost for so long, the one who reached out with a warm hand,
the one who let me recall even a little of what family bonds felt like,
was the Magic Tower Lord, Bella.
She was the only one...
"Those aren't family at all! From now on, you can think of me as your family!"
'Master... that wasn't sincere, was it...'
In truth...
In truth...
I knew even the affection Bella gave me...
Even her warm words...
Even the kindness she offered as if I were her real family...
They were all lies.
I knew they were all...
directed at my talent...
Because...
I'd always been sensitive to people's emotions since long ago...
And yet...
'Still... even if it was all fake, it was okay...'
And yet, it was fine.
Even if it wasn't real, it was okay.
Even if the Magic Tower Lord's approach was solely for my talent...
Even if the affection was just an act...
Even if the kindness was built entirely on lies...
It was the first warmth I'd felt since my birth mother...
It comforted my weary heart all the same...
Even if it wasn't sincere,
still...
'Thank you... Master...'
You were...
such a precious person to me...
'That's enough now...'
But...
Now, it all felt irrelevant.
Craving affection from my family...
Wanting that warmth again like before...
Even just occasionally...
Sharing a warm meal with my family...
Even wanting genuine, precious affection from my master...
Now...
I was tired.
I didn't want to think about anything anymore...
"Well then... Cadet Isabel...? You're about to become demon chow. Any last words?"
And then...
In the depths of despair,
a loathsome voice heralding my end echoed out.
It was the Academy's Alchemy Professor, Baal,
who had finally cast off his mask.
Soon after...
Amid the nauseating demonic mana already permeating this place,
a horrific existence that shouldn't be in this world began to reveal itself...
'A demon...'
And not just any...
Probably a high-ranking one that even the Academy professors couldn't handle.
Such a high-ranking demon...
Finally manifested into this world from the hands of its contractor, Baal.
(Is the sacrifice... prepared...?)
Afterward,
as that repulsive voice echoed and the mana density thickened horrifically...
I started feeling like I couldn't breathe.
'This really is the end...'
It felt like the absolute finality of everything...
They call it a life flashing before your eyes...?
Past memories flickered before me.
"Isabel is going to become a truly great mage in the future!"
"Really?"
"Of course! My daughter... Mommy loves you!"
Someday...
She'd gone around boasting that I'd become a mage greater than anyone...
smiling so happily...
Those distant old memories...
But...
'This is as far as it goes...'
In the end, I never became that great mage, did I?
You bragged about me so much...
You had such high hopes...
'I'm sorry... Mother...'
I'm sorry I couldn't become a great mage...
I'm sorry I remained powerless until the very end, unable to do anything...
I'm sorry for always being a bother...
I'm sorry I couldn't even say "I love you too" when you said you loved me...
I'm sorry for all the harsh words I said...
'Still...'
"It's okay! As long as I have my Isabel, everything's fine!"
You always gave me...
endless love. Thank you...
'I'm going now...'
I'll go there and...
say it one more time for sure...
So—
Boom—!!!
'Huh...?'
But...
Just as the words I was sending to my mother in my heart were about to finish...
As if denying those thoughts...
As if saying it wasn't over yet...
Someone burst through the wall with a thunderous crash.
'The mana... it's gone...?'
And at the same moment...
The mana crushing this space vanished...
The smoke finally cleared,
and the figure who had smashed through the wall came into view.
'Ah... Aden...?'
Like Libia...
The one person I could call my only friend.
Aden, the top Academy entrant.
It was unmistakably him, but...
The way he had broken through the wall felt off somehow.
'He's... grown...?'
He was taller,
his features more mature, but...
His eyes were even more terrifyingly hollow,
and he exuded a razor-sharp aura that could slice through anything.
And it wasn't just me who sensed that strangeness...
"You... who the hell are you...?"
Baal and even the demon behind him
were filled with alarm...
"Who knows... I..."
Aden, who seemed to have grown in every way...
"...don't even know."
spoke in a tone as if everything bored him,
as if everything was beneath him...
"Wh-what the fu—""No time."
And then,
cutting Baal off came
the overwhelming pressure of "no time," followed by
Aden slowly raising his arm.
After that,
along with the trembling of the world, a rune etched into Aden's hand...
a magic containing the principles of the world.
'Rune magic...?'
From ancient times...
The magic that even rendered dragon spells trivial...
Discovered by the greatest sage,
known as the language of the gods,
which even that great sage had failed to fully master...
That very magic.
{Destruction}.
And as soon as the rune character meaning exactly that single word etched itself into Aden's hand,
Beeeep—
with a short high-pitched whine,
light exploded, blinding my vision.
And then...
as the light and whine faded and my sight returned...
What I saw was as if,
nothing had ever been there to begin with.
The demon and Baal.
Just those two were gone...
Leaving an empty space.
Clank—
"Eh...?"
Crack—!
And then,
Aden, who had approached unnoticed, gripped the restraints binding me and applied the slightest pressure,
shattering them instantly...
My body was free.
"Were you crying?"
Followed Aden's words.
But,
he no longer exuded that sharp aura from before...
It was just the soft,
worried, playful tone...
The Aden I knew...
'It's Aden...'
Hearing that familiar voice that brought such comfort...
All the tension drained from my body,
and an overwhelming wave of sorrow crashed over me.
"Hic... sniff"
"You are crying..."
Right now,
how Aden had such power,
how he knew to come here—it didn't matter.
I just wanted to surrender to the grief for a moment,
lean into Aden's chest and act spoiled like a child.
Aden looked flustered for a bit at my state,
but then gently placed a hand on my back to soothe me...
"Eh... Did our top entrant make a girl cry?"
From behind,
the Academy Chairman's voice began to ring out.
"Making a girl cry is bad, you know?"
"If you're late, shut up."
"Whoa... straight to informal speech. Sorry I'm late anyway—I came as fast as I could..."
Aden started exuding that sharp aura again somewhere,
and after a few exchanges between him and the Chairman...
"It's almost over... Take her ahead and explain, Eris."
"Up to where?"
"Everything."
"Got it. I'll be in the Chairman's office."
And with that final short exchange—
Transfer magic circles appeared beneath the Chairman and me, glowing brightly.
And—
Just before the bright light swallowed my vision,
the last thing I saw was Aden's face contorting in pain...
A simple yet refined interior...
My vision shifted inside a building.
Flustered for a moment in this unfamiliar interior,
I soon told the Chairman that Aden hadn't come with us.
"Aden... isn't here."
"He'll come later."
She replied shortly that he'd come later,
gesturing to a chair for me to sit.
Seeing that, Aden's pained expression from the end flashed in my mind,
and I opened my mouth to speak...
"But Aden... he looked like he was in pain at the end..."
"Don't worry. I saw it once before— it passes after some time."
But the Chairman continued calmly,
as if Aden's pain was no concern.
Anger flared up for a moment, and I nearly spat out an irritated retort...
"How can you—"From now on."
Looking at me intently as if it was important...
She cut me off with her firm words.
Stunned for a moment...
"Everything from now on is the truth."
Before I could shake off the shock,
the Chairman continued with a resolute expression.
"The truth is... Aden is a regressor."
And those words...
Far from dispelling my shock,
only overloaded my mind even more...
"And what you just saw is what Aden was like in his previous regression..."
Assailed by one unbelievable piece of information after another that made my head feel like it would explode...
Isabel finally stopped thinking altogether...