Chapter 26
Chapter 26
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: To Look Back, You Have to Stop (3)
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Eir continued, a look of disappointment on her face.
Her arm was still slung over Vel’s shoulder as she idly swung the unusually shaped sword in her other hand.
“To think the girl who lived and breathed for battle would suddenly vanish. I thought about looking for you, but... tch. I suddenly got saddled with this student council president gig or whatever in my second year. I figured you were doing fine, but...”
“…”
“[The Spiral]'s eyes have completely lost their fighting spirit. This is no good... Back in our first year, your sparkling eyes were like a true 'flame.' Tsk.”
“…”
Eir stared into my eyes, her gaze filled with pity.
The battle maniac of Academy City, who knew nothing but fighting and arson.
To her, the only thing that mattered was the fighting spirit burning in one's eyes.
-Hey... did the boss just...?
-Did she just compliment her by saying she was like a 'flame'...?
At Scarlet Academy, to be called a 'flame' was a compliment acknowledging one's strength, as well as their madness. It was the highest praise one could receive at the academy. And coming from Eir, The Crimson Trajectory, the strongest student of all, the impact was immense.
*Murmur, murmur*
Hearing her words, I could feel all the Scarlet Academy students gathered at the scene shifting and murmuring amongst themselves. Beyond the glow of the flames, their shadows moved restlessly.
Soon, a few third-year students recalled my title and gasped.
“[The Spiral]…!”
“Don’t tell me, *that* [Spiral]…?!”
“The one who beat her opponents to exhaustion with endless ether…!”
“The God of War who fought with pure physical strength alone!”
Amidst the heated murmurs.
Alvitt simply stood with her eyes wide.
She stared at me and muttered in a questioning voice.
“Senior…? What in the world is… [The Spiral]?”
“…”
My title, suddenly revealed. But I wasn't as flustered as I expected. Ever since confirming the dungeon gate corrosion incident, I'd had a feeling that the inevitable had finally arrived.
The 'Five Priests' of the late-game raid boss, Ratatoskr.
I couldn't for the life of me figure out how the [Priest of Corrosion]—the boss responsible for the very last event among them—had been the first to run rampant.
‘To think the worst of their executives, one who pollutes the very environment of Academy City, would show up right from the start...’
The major incidents related to the hostile group Ratatoskr hadn't even begun yet... Even relying on my knowledge of the original story, I couldn't fathom the reason.
I had changed many things, but I'd been complacent, thinking it was still the beginning of the story. The events happening now and the changes I'd made were supposed to be elements far removed from each other on the story's timeline.
However, one thing was clear: fate had already changed drastically. No matter how much I played the clown like the original Clara, no matter how much I tried to return to the original path, it was now irreversible.
The bonds I've already formed will not disappear.
The past I've already created will not disappear.
During the time I acted on my own whims, events I failed to notice went awry, slowly twisting fate. And they have tangled the tracks leading toward the happy ending of the main story.
Even though I knew this... I couldn't discard the contradictory wish in my heart for everything to return to how it was in the original story.
All I had were my two paltry fists and my knowledge of the original story from my past life, so I had been relying on a fate that would surely lead to a happy future.
“…”
I had blindly chased after the things I liked. In the process, I came to understand a truly precious heart and the love I received from my three seniors.
And I learned far too late that true strength...
is about looking at what's around you.
…
No.
What would change if I regretted it now?
‘To be thinking such things in this situation.’
I clenched my fists and steeled myself. That was why I had remained still, even after sensing Eir's presence earlier.
This was not the mindset that a gloomy, frail man had learned from his seniors... from those kind girls. And the way to repay 'Clara,' who had given me a time of joyous struggle, was not to stand here whining with regret.
‘If things changed because of me, then I just have to fix them.’
I decided to use my strength for that purpose from now on.
With that resolve.
I met Alvitt's gaze.
A certain light flickered in her brown eyes.
The emotions held within them were anxiety and bewilderment.
Looking into those eyes, I knew what I had to do.
‘You're anxious, aren't you? Dragged into this confusing situation... learning about the unknown past of someone you thought you knew.’
I looked at Alvitt and smiled. I recalled the most foolish... and most 'Clara-like' smile I could, and I smiled with all my might.
-It's okay. Everything will be fine, so don't worry.
-I'm the same Clara you know.
-I'll always be your senior.
Not a character in a game, but my lovely junior... who, on the way back from Mimir Industrial High School, had said she was looking forward to her school life ahead.
I poured my heart into reassuring her.
“...!”
As if my feelings had reached her.
Alvitt's eyes stopped wavering.
I saw this and nodded in satisfaction. Then, I stepped forward to speak with Eir.
“Well now~♪ For a compliment to a cute lady…”
But before I could finish.
An incomprehensible word escaped from the lips of Vel, who was still trapped by the idiotic Eir.
“[The Spiral]…! To think the pink-haired girl was *the* [Faded Spiral]…! No wonder I couldn’t sense any ether when I tried to gauge her distance…!”
“…?”
‘What nonsense is she spouting all of a sudden?’
Hearing that, Eir also let out a deep sigh and said.
“...So the rumors were true. No wonder [The Spiral]'s ether was often unstable and impossible to read when we fought back then.”
“My god, could it be that [The Faded Spiral] was already starting to lose her mastery back then…!”
“To win her final battle against [The Azure-White Lightning Spear] in that state must have been pure grit... I can respect that.”
“…?”
The conversation Vel and Eir were amicably having.
Hearing it, my mind went blank for a moment.
[The Faded Spiral]...?
What in the world is that...?
‘Eir's curving attack patterns were just so damn tricky to deal with, so I was just trying to interfere with her distance gauging.’
My ether had wavered because I was using Clara's area-of-effect skill, Heart, by breaking it into tiny pieces and using them like chaff to deflect the 'gauging'—the radar-like ability to read an opponent through ether waves.
Tiny hearts, indistinguishable from the minute ether particles in Academy City's air. They deflect the 'gauging' of third-stage ether users who have reached the [Wave] mastery or higher.
It was just a little trick using Clara's skill, which was both an area attack and had unconventional conditions. It was by no means the price for dabbling in some forbidden art.
‘It was kind of my hidden ace, so I didn't show it off openly, but did it really feel that ominous to them?’
But it seemed the truth didn't matter to them.
Eir and Vel continued their friendly chat, arms still slung over each other's shoulders.
“A bizarre skill that doesn't even use a weapon... and endless ether... There's no way it wouldn't have a price. Tsk…”
“The legend who burned through all her ether mastery and faded away...! To think the rumors about [The Faded Spiral] were true!”
I was once again bewildered.
‘In the first place, 'Clara's' skill was a ridiculously weak gag skill, so it had no activation requirements...? And her own weapon aptitude was so pathetically low that she just brute-forced her total ether with her bare hands...?’
I slowly began to sense the gap in perception between them and me.
The shortcut I took to become strong... It was a method that didn't exist within the system of this world's original form, the game . That must have been the part that those who fought me found so alien.
Vel suddenly covered her face as if she'd seen something horrifying. The expression on her face was one of terror, as if looking at a plague victim.
“No wonder...! My seniors always emphasized that ether abilities must be used with a weapon! To think there was a forbidden path of consuming one's own mastery with bare hands...!”
“To lose all your mastery in exchange for a brief moment of strength... What a grim story.”
“It was just an ominous rumor I heard from my seniors... I thought they were just kidding to scare me.”
“Huh? Seniors...? Hey kid, weren't you from ?”
“...Seniors from a school I know.”
I watched the ridiculous situational comedy of these two idiots and racked my brain.
[The Faded Spiral]
It was a name I was hearing for the very first time.
I felt a strong sense of wrongness from it.
‘But the nuance feels familiar...’
In this absurd situation, my mind began to race. With a flash of insight like that of a master strategist, a recent memory replayed itself.
.
Maya's tired face.
The stuffy, smelly office.
The industrial hammer swinging down with a blank expression.
-[Spiral], let me check something.
-So 'that rumor' was just a lie someone intentionally spread.
-There's a ridiculous rumor going around among some of the third-years.
Ah.
I felt like something had finally clicked in my head.
Maya, with her cynical personality, rarely believed in rumors.
But for the highly suspicious Maya to 'bother' checking...
It meant that even she had harbored a 'what if...?' in the back of her mind.
A student from a poor, remote school.
An unconventional way of using ether.
A student shrouded in mystery who rarely interacted with anyone but the strong.
And after her final battle, she vanished as if she were dead.
I think I finally understood the basis for the absurd rumor of [The Faded Spiral].