Chapter 20
Chapter 20
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 20
Chapter Title: A Scent of New Encounters☆ (2)
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Alvitt asked again, her voice bewildered.
“…Who?”
Vel, the United Student Council’s resident ‘sly powerhouse’ with a lovestruck persona, wore a sullen expression.
“Aah~”
Vel was sitting in the shadows of the second-floor student council room as the sun set. She twirled a lock of black hair around her fingertip, her chin resting in her palm, radiating displeasure.
And with a sigh, she muttered.
“...And I practiced all my lines and scenarios for nothing.”
For a second-year high school student, Vel had a small, almost childlike physique. But the aura she exuded was one of an oppressive might that couldn't be easily dismissed.
“Hmph…”
The sunset glinted off the silver second-year badge on Vel’s sleeve.
“...This is no fun.”
With those words, Vel, her expression listless, tried something. As her red eyes fixed on us, the very air around us trembled.
*Sssshhh—*
A subtle sound, audible only within the ‘World of the Moment,’ a state of immense cognitive ability.
“...!”
I sensed Vel’s presence and was impressed.
In that brief moment, she was already gauging the ‘distance’ between us and seizing control of the space.
‘For a powerhouse character who joins mid-story, she’s already using [Wave Ether].’
[Basic], [Vibration], [Wave], [Unique].
The third of the four stages of Ether manipulation.
The stage beyond [Vibration Ether], which ‘resonates’ with reality.
This was [Wave Ether], which ‘distorts’ reality.
It was a level only reached by those who could confidently call themselves ‘powerhouses’ within Academy City Yggd.
Vel’s red Wave Ether split into threads, spreading out to occupy the student council room.
*Sssshhh—*
Her [Wave Ether] perceived and dominated every object and person within a several-meter radius. Though smaller than the domain of a [Unique Ether] user, she had certainly created a space of her own.
“…”
Vel, having thoroughly assessed her surroundings,
began to fill her eyes with a mocking sneer.
“Hmm...?”
Her earlier dejection vanished, replaced by a grin as she let out a quiet chuckle. It was the smile of a cat that had just found a small, fun creature to toy with.
“What’s this? All of you are wearing student council coats, yet you’re all just small fry using Basic Ether?”
Now that it wasn’t just a concept but a genuine chance to dominate, she couldn’t contain her excitement.
Watching her, I let out a dry laugh inwardly.
‘This damn pipsqueak who loves stomping on the weak. The moment she decided she was the strongest one here, she started looking down on us.’
In truth, Vel was overlooking two things.
The first was that I had avoided the ‘range’ of her [Wave Ether].
‘It’s a minor trick I never even had to use against Hilde.’
I had deflected all of Vel’s ether as it tried to gauge my distance and pretended to be oblivious. But the underclassmen, still at the [Basic Ether] stage, could only flinch at the faint sense of her presence.
‘From her perspective, it must have looked like all of us, including me, were intimidated.’
As the atmosphere grew tense, Vel began to act more leisurely. And it was only then that the underclassmen sensed something was amiss.
“…”
I watched the scene unfold in the student council room, lost in thought.
It was strange.
If Vel was from the United Student Council, she must have had plenty of contact with Hilde.
Her current actions were not those of someone who knew about [The Pink Spiral].
‘It seems she hasn’t heard anything about me from Hilde.’
One thing was certain.
Vel did not know the ‘me of the past.’
‘Rather than recklessly revealing my power... I should probably play along for now to move the conversation forward.’
I stared at the floor beneath the chair Vel was sitting on.
*Creeak—*
“…”
The second fact she was overlooking.
Seeing that, it wouldn't be long before her persona shattered.
So, I decided to continue acting as Clara in front of Vel for the time being.
“Waaah~☆ So cute! The ribbon suits you! Hey☆ Are you here to visit our school~☆ Should we have a tea party together?”
“Hehe, thanks. But I’m not here to play~”
Vel, without dropping her cold smile, fully unleashed her [Wave Ether] and took complete control of the space. The underclassmen, finally realizing something was happening, began to panic.
“That girl just...!”
“...I think she did something.”
“Wh-What?! What’s going on~☆”
“…”
Alvitt’s bewildered expression vanished, replaced by a cold gaze as she stepped forward to ask a question.
“I don’t know who you are, but may I ask what a second-year student from another school is doing in our student council room?”
“Hmm~”
Despite her polite tone, Alvitt’s hand rested on the hilt of her sword, her posture filled with caution.
Seeing this, Vel just kept giggling.
“Hmm… I wonder? Why could that be~? This cute upperclassman doesn’t feel like answering a sassy underclassman’s question~”
“I am not your underclassman. And if an unidentified student is occupying our school, we will have to take action.”
“What? Ahaha! Is the sunset so bright you can’t see the clothes I’m wearing?”
“…”
“Hahaha… Just kidding~ This cute upperclassman just came to visit because she wants to be friends~”
“...Tch.”
Alvitt clicked her tongue in frustration but didn’t back down, determined to protect us.
*Hee hee.*
Vel openly displayed her power, a pleased smile on her face as she watched Alvitt rendered speechless.
Red eyes glowing in the darkness.
A black United Student Council coat draped over her shoulders.
The ability to effortlessly dominate her surroundings with Ether.
In every apparent aspect, Vel overwhelmed Alvitt and her group.
“…”
“...Kgh.”
“…”
Everyone from Central Prism Academy was frozen, unable to refute her words. It was precisely the kind of situation Vel, with her malicious persona, absolutely adored.
“Hmm...!”
Vel savored the frozen atmosphere for a while with a look of utmost satisfaction. Then, she withdrew all the Wave Ether she had spread throughout the room and put on a deliberately cheerful smile.
“Ahahahaha~! Just kidding, just kidding! Hey! Your expression is so scary! What if you frighten this cute upperclassman~”
“…”
With that, Vel walked forward, extending a hand toward Alvitt.
She stepped on a certain spot on the floor.
*Creeak—*
The sound of the newly laid flooring twisting.
The spot was inconspicuous, thanks to the construction that had finished today.
But it was where a hole had originally been in the old wooden floor of the student council room.
‘Now...!’
I channeled [Wave Ether] into the tip of my foot and stomped.
*Thump…!*
A sound so faint it was masked by the creaking floor.
Distracted by the sunset and the tense atmosphere, everyone’s gaze was directed upward.
No one saw the faint red Ether that leaked from my foot.
And so, Vel continued to approach Alvitt with a sly, satisfied smile. Her neatly tied side-tail swayed with her cheerful gestures.
“Well! It was tough waiting for so long~ but let me formally introduce myself! I am the United Student Council’s cute secretary, Vel—!”
*CRACK—!*
With the sound of the wooden flooring shattering.
Vel’s nonchalant face slowly sank downwards.
It happened so suddenly that everyone could only stare in bewilderment.
*Tilt—*
“Eeyaaah—?!”
As if sinking into a swamp.
Vel’s figure disappearing through the floor seemed to play out in slow motion.
And in an instant, she was gone, down to the first floor.
*CRASH!!*
*CLATTER—!!*
*RUMBLE—*
*CLANG!*
A cacophony of landing noises was followed by the sound of construction materials piled on the first floor collapsing. A cloud of dust billowed up from the hole in the student council room floor, as if a bomb had gone off.
We stared at the dust cloud, stained red by the sunset light, and muttered.
“What in the world.”
“...Hmph.”
“...What just happened?”
“...Ahaha☆ Looks like they didn’t quite finish the floor construction~☆”
The tension vanished in an instant.
We stared down blankly at the hole in the floor.
Down below, stuck among the construction materials, was Vel, who had landed with her skirt completely flipped over her head. She seemed dazed by the sudden turn of events, her eyes darting around until they met ours.
“…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
Silence…
Awkwardness…
Embarrassment…
*Rustle—*
Vel subtly got to her feet, pretending to be unfazed as she dusted off her clothes. But her uniform and coat were already stained with paint. She looked around at the utter mess with a dejected expression and spoke.
“...Uh, could you please not report this? If my boss finds out, I’ll be in huge trouble.”
“…”
“...Sorry. I’ll clean it up.”
Vel hurriedly made a show of cleaning, but the construction materials scattered everywhere were far too much to clean up just by pretending.
“…”
“…”
“…”
Soon giving up, Vel looked up at us. She glanced down at her filthy uniform and stammered.
“...D-do you happen to have any spare clothes?”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“...Guys...?”
Her persona was, after all, just a persona.
Vel wasn’t the type to actually cross the line and abuse her power.
She just enjoyed the atmosphere and left it at that.
However, illegally occupying and damaging the facilities of an allied school was an offense that could be formally reported to the United Student Council.
In truth, most United Student Council members would have looked after their own and quietly swept it under the rug. Unfortunately, the student council president, Hilde, was famous for being a stickler for the rules.
And Vel was Hilde’s direct subordinate.
“Um, guys...?”
Finally, Lotha responded to her pitiful cry.
“...You can borrow my tracksuit.”
“...Sorry.”
***
We took Vel’s paint-splattered coat and uniform to the old master at the tailor shop, but he just shook his head and declared them beyond saving.
“...Does it fit?”
“...Yeah.”
Vel was temporarily wearing a Central Prism Academy tracksuit. In exchange for us not reporting her, she had agreed to stay the night at Central Prism Academy to help us repair and clean the room.
On the way back to the school.
Vel stared at her ruined uniform and said in a hollow voice.
“That... was an expensive coat... And I even attached the ribbon I bought myself...”
“...Well, who told you to sit there so ominously?”
“…”
But she couldn’t retort to Alvitt’s jab and simply hung her head.
And so we returned to the school.
The sun had completely set, and it was now dark.
Only the light left on in the student council room shone faintly.
*Thump, thump.*
Amidst the sound of Kara’s hammering as she patched the hole in the student council room floor with leftover materials, we were listening to Vel explain the purpose of her visit.
“...So, because the general atmosphere in the eastern region is tense, you came to inspect the affiliated schools while also delivering textbooks from the United Student Council... is that what you’re saying...?”
“Right, right~ I don’t know if that’s all a cute secretary is supposed to do, but! I’m competent, you know!”
“Com...petent...?”
Kara stopped hammering in surprise.
Vel, who was laying down some construction materials, flinched.
The student council room was soon enveloped in an awkward silence.
“…”
“…”
“...This time was a mistake.”
“...I see.”
*Thump, thump.*
The hammering resumed.
And so, everyone went back to their assigned tasks.
Lotha and I put the textbooks Vel had brought onto the student council room bookshelf and sorted through the old books.
“...Senior, I think you should take that book out. It’s an outdated theory now.”
“Okay~☆”
Since I didn’t study, I didn’t know any better anyway.
I quietly sorted the books as Lotha instructed.
“...Hm.”
Suddenly, Alvitt stopped sweeping the floor and looked at Vel to ask a question.
“By the way, what exactly is happening in the eastern part of the academy city?”
“Well~ what I can tell you is about the formation of an alliance between Public Vana Boarding School and Svart Industrial High School… and the erosion status of each school’s dungeon, I guess~”
“Erosion... status...?”
“...!”
Dungeon erosion.
Alvitt didn’t understand the meaning of the word and repeated it.
I was shocked because I understood its meaning all too well.
Vel, seemingly oblivious to our reactions, continued.
“Yeah~ Lately, it seems the Ether Cores that operate the dungeon gates on school grounds have been getting contaminated, causing the dungeons to go haywire~ So, they’ve issued entry-ban orders for any dungeons showing abnormal phenomena~”
“Heeh…”
“Central Prism Academy doesn’t have a dungeon gate on its grounds, so you don’t have to worry... but you know how it is with official notices, they have to be sent out to everyone~”
“Hmm…”
Alvitt nodded, completely convinced. Then she went back to tidying up.
“…”
“...Senior?”
“Yes~☆ I was just reading a title~☆”
I, too, mentally adjusted my plans and went back to organizing the books.
‘To think *those guys* are already starting to crawl out. I’ll have to revise my dungeon exploration plans...’
The next morning.
“Well then, this cute secretary will be on her way~”
Vel, who had appeared so ominously, left for the United Student Council garrison being set up on the grounds of Mimir Industrial High School, dressed in a red Central Prism Academy tracksuit.
***
Before leaving for the garrison,
Vel had to report on her ‘real mission.’
She borrowed an Ether-reception phone from a nearby shopping district.
*Click.*
“…”
“Boss~ It’s your cute secretary, Vel~”
“...Report.”
“Um~ how should I put it... they were all small fry, right?”
“…”
Vel scratched her head as she reported her impressions of Central Prism Academy and the information she had gathered from the nearby shopping district. Most of it was about a female student who had been helping with odd jobs around the shopping district for the past year.
“Well~ no one said they ever saw the pink-haired senior do anything special... and more importantly, when I checked her from a distance myself, I couldn’t feel any Ether from her at all?”
“…”
As soon as Vel finished her report,
a cold silence followed from the other end of the line.
“...Boss?”
“…”
*Click—!*
*Beep... beep...*
“...?”
Vel tilted her head, puzzled.
Her boss had never hung up on her like that before.
“No way?!”
Did those brats from Central Prism Academy report me after all—!
Even after I helped them clean all night!
Vel trembled with a growing sense of crisis and betrayal.