Chapter 5
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: The Human Girl
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I covered the second flickering flame with a curtain.
“Why does this work?”
After extinguishing the fire, I recalled the words of the professor who had been lecturing on [Pure Magic Theory].
The reason people couldn’t manifest magic through runes was because their vocal organs had degenerated, along with the original meanings and pronunciations.
Coincidentally, even if there was one odd director here who knew all the original meanings and pronunciations, his vocal organs should have degenerated as well.
“Is Aiden special or something?”
There were no records of Aiden using magic.
He had never shown any talent for it, and while magic swordsmen who combined swordsmanship and magic did exist, Aiden wasn’t one of them.
Which meant Aiden wasn’t special either...
‘To advance beyond a certain level, you have no choice but to specialize.’
It wasn’t so much a restriction as it was the way mana was accumulated.
Mages accumulated mana in their heads for quick calculations, while knights gathered it in their hearts to channel it through their blood vessels and strengthen their bodies.
Accumulated mana wasn’t a direct indicator of one’s level, but to pursue both paths required accumulating twice as much mana as others.
Even Aiden couldn’t do that.
It was only natural to focus on one as you climbed higher.
“So this is possible only because it’s ‘me’?”
Because I’m the director, and I’ve memorized all those settings.
It was entirely plausible...
“It’s sealed.”
In any case, if I just stayed out of it, the protagonists would handle the apocalypse on their own. I had no desire to meddle unnecessarily.
Even if eyes turned my way, the only attention I’d get would be from chitinous insects, with no real benefits.
At best, I’d gain one more self-defense tool.
Satisfaction at that level was the right line to draw.
I stepped out of the lab to clear my head.
With the semester start approaching, people were arriving at the dorms in droves, walking side by side down the streets.
Yet the campus was so vast that it didn’t feel crowded at all.
That’s why they had those shuttle buses aimlessly circling the university grounds.
I had no intention of going far, so I headed toward the canned coffee vending machine I’d spotted with Charlotte earlier.
Next to the machine, a female student was dozing soundly.
I knew the spring sun was warm, but it wasn’t mild enough to sleep so deeply.
The wind still carried the bite of winter.
But in this bug-infested world, I’d finally spotted a girl who looked human, and my body froze like stone.
Arms, legs, face, features—everything was human.
My pupils seemed to tremble for a moment, then an indescribable shock swept over me.
Not a cockroach?
Even rubbing my eyes and looking again, it was the same.
No chitinous shell... no insect. That was truly a human!
Like a revolution had dawned, I rushed over to figure out what was happening.
“She’s a person.”
A person.
No...
“Elf-lo. Half-elf.”
A race classified as a demihuman, bearing an appearance endlessly similar to humans yet not human.
Aiden’s Hallucination of Disgust targeted humans.
And some magical beasts, at that.
Demihumans were excluded from the domain of this cursed blessing.
Overwhelmed with emotion, I clamped my hand over my mouth.
“I’m not crazy.”
When the whole world says it’s right and you insist you’re the only one who’s correct, you have to suspect yourself first.
Of course, I believed I was normal, and that my race was human—no doubt about it.
But no matter how much I denied it, if everyone I saw was a chitinous insect, I couldn’t help but wonder, ‘Maybe I’m not human either.’
Perhaps the “humans” were just my hallucination, and in truth, even I was a cock—no, a chitinous insect.
I hadn’t been able to deny it completely...
But here was solid proof that I was human.
Like an enlightened sage who’d attained detachment, I could have kissed the back of that girl’s foot right then.
This welling emotion rising from the depths of my chest.
I savored this brief moment of bliss, steeped in contentment.
If I were Gregor Samsa instead of Grete seeing him, even the mentally strong Aiden might have lost the will to live.
Grete could endure it, but Gregor could not.
I didn’t want to die from an apple to the head.
Even aside from that, it was a matter of my dignity as a former human.
Sure, rolling in the mud was better than dying, but if you told me to live in the swamp of cock—no, chitinous insects, nine out of ten would choose honorable death.
I was confident in that hypothesis.
Calming my warmed chest, I gazed at the girl with boundless affection.
It wasn’t lust.
She was proof of my existence.
Yes, this was...
‘Platonic love.’
Otherwise known as devotion... This girl was more than worthy of devotion...
Her long ears were flushed red, perhaps from the cold.
Whenever the wind blew, she let out a sleepy groan mid-doze, stirring my contented heart.
I took off my coat and draped it over her, then placed the canned coffee I’d just bought beside her.
It didn’t feel like a waste.
On the contrary, I’d bought peace of mind for a bargain.
That’s when I got a chance to observe her face closely. She’d turned her head.
Studying her features up close, she seemed familiar, so I rummaged through my memories.
“Ah, it’s Elin.”
Eones Elin.
The top freshman, proudly claiming first place among those hailed as golden riders.
And one of the original story’s protagonists who would prevent the apocalypse.
She nodded slightly in her sleep, then turned away again.
I had no intention of waking her, nor of acting like I knew her even if I did.
Aiden taught in the Knight Department, while Elin was in the Magic Department.
Not that it mattered—right after graduation, Elin would join the Snowfield Magic Tower affiliated with Ri Sete Academy.
By the time Aiden died, she’d be on a floating island, enthusiastically researching magic. No chance of crossing paths.
I felt no need to wake her and disrupt the original story’s flow.
Having given her my coat, the cold prickled my skin.
I hurried back to the lab with quicker steps.
Right after Aiden left.
The silver-haired girl drowsily opened her eyes and looked at the coat covering her body.
“Huh?”
Elin stared at the unfamiliar garment with a puzzled expression.
The fabric was too fine for a commoner, adorned with intricate embroidery.
And it was a bit large—not something a student would wear.
Yet somehow, she knew whose coat it was. Elin pulled it closer to her chest.
She recalled the moment before sitting on this bench.
She’d just finished the third entrance exam on her way back.
Admissions were mostly decided by the first written test and second practical.
Reaching the third interview meant you were practically in—no issue there.
They just nominally assigned interview scores, with broad brackets predetermined. Unless you were utterly inarticulate, you’d get full marks.
So she hadn’t been overthinking it, but one question midway through clawed at her heart.
Thinking about it made her head ache.
“Haah...”
If she’d known, she would’ve at least cast a wind barrier.
Not shivering cold, but the chill wind still stung.
She deliberately walked in the sunlight.
The weather was bright, after all.
“Haa.”
Her breath escaped between parted teeth, feeling strangely hollow.
Wondering why, she realized... today, her chest felt utterly empty.
She shook her head sharply.
She wanted to deny it, but wasn’t sure what exactly.
“I hate this feeling.”
In a secluded corner of the academy grounds, quiet beyond tranquility into silence, where everyone seemed to hold their breath.
This spot had good sunlight but little else to recommend it, and her eyes fell on the bench in the smoking area.
Set up for professors and some students, but it looked unused for ages.
The massive ashtray for discarding butts was filled only with smooth sand—no cigarette remnants.
No smoke lingered, then.
No other benches around, so she plopped down there.
Having absorbed the dawn chill, it felt like pressing her butt against a freezer.
A short “Ahk” slipped out unwittingly.
But she adapted quickly.
Warmed by her body heat, she sat on the bench, gazing at the clear sky.
Peaceful.
Lost in that sensation, she lost track of time.
“How’d the interview go?”
“Don’t ask. That pressure interview? Where they grill you hard? I was sweating bullets just answering...”
“I didn’t get a pressure interview. Do they do that if your practical score’s low?”
“Hey!”
Two female students bickered playfully as they passed, like they’d been tricked.
Groups of others wandered by in the corner of her vision.
In contrast, she was alone.
Probably forever.
The interview room was dimly lit, relying on window light without lamps.
The stern-looking female professor glanced at her resume, pressing the pen tip firmly with her fingers.
After a long wait, her only question was one.
“Are you aiming to be top of the class, Miss Elin?”
“Not top. The best.”
Top was just a stepping stone.
No interest in lingering there.
It was a right she naturally deserved, but with so much ahead, settling for top wasn’t enough.
“...I see.”
She pressed her temple with the pen, swallowing a long sigh like it was a headache.
“So you see everyone else as nothing but rivals?”
“Yes.”
She didn’t need anything else anyway.
But the professor seemed displeased, grumbling under her breath.
Then, as if she’d found her angle, the professor spoke up.
“If you want top spot, Miss Elin, it’s yours barring any surprises. I’ve seen countless freshmen and outliers... Frankly, no one matches you.”
That went without saying.
Her existence was the ultimate aspiration of all witches and elves.
Near-infinite mana and spirit affinity.
A peerless mage and spirit user.
No one else was born to rival Elin.
“But.”
But.
Her eyes narrowed instinctively at the qualifier.
The professor set down her pen, asking as if truly confirming.
“Won’t it be lonely?”
“What do you mean?”
She unclenched her hands and leaned in playfully.
“Exactly what I said. A life where the whole world is your competition, burning with rivalry—comparing yourself to others, to greats of the past, endlessly.”
She probed, as if asking if Elin had considered it.
“Lonely, right? Tiring. Exhausting.”
“...I’m not lonely.”
The professor laid down her ballpoint pen leisurely, as if she’d expected that answer.
“Delaying your response means you haven’t thought deeply about it.”
Her smile felt oddly uncomfortable.
“Nothing beyond your immediate goals in sight?”
“......”
“Then I can say this clearly. You say you’re not lonely? Hm... No, you absolutely will be.”
The definitive statement left her speechless.
She wanted to snap, *Who are you to act like you know me?* But this was a professor, and an exam.
Even if the interview was largely symbolic.
Suppressing her retort, she glared curtly at the professor.
“Peerless, omnipotent genius. A brilliant star illuminating the night sky like the sun—rare, but not nonexistent. We see one every few years.”
She shook her head, saying that wasn’t the point.
“Even those who wonder, ‘Is that really human like me?’—my conclusion was... they’re human too. They get tired without sleep, hungry without food, lonely when alone... you know, basic stuff.”
Pity flickered in the professor’s eyes.
Realizing it was directed at her sparked momentary anger, but it faded.
The stories in those pupils said otherwise.
“The academy focuses on boosting skills, but that’s not all. I hope you take something away too, Miss Elin.”
She filed away the resume.
As if admission was already settled, bluntly.
“Welcome to the academy, Miss Elin. I hope it becomes your new home.”
That was it, with a warm smile.
Stunned by the softness, she stood awkwardly, bowed, and left the interview room.
When she opened her eyes again, the sun was at its zenith, pouring down light.
She’d only closed them briefly but must have dozed off without realizing.
Elin glanced at the coat again.
Thinking it over, it was a thick coat from someone unknown.
And beside the bench, a still-warm canned coffee, freshly vended.
Come to think of it, this coat looked like the one that female professor had worn. Did she spot me on her way out and cover me?
“......”
She pressed her cold hand against the canned coffee.
Warm.
Exhaling softly, she held and fiddled with the can.
“A home...”
Yes, this would be her home...
She lost herself in thought for a moment, planning to return the coat later.
Until she noticed the mana residue from worn runes on the coat.
Probably.
That’s how it would have been.