Chapter 36
Chapter 36
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: The Gold-Scattering Beasts☆ (1)
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It happened one early summer day, during my first year with Hilde.
As one walked farther from the grounds surrounding each school, past the rapidly dwindling number of buildings, a wasteland would appear. It was dotted only with groups of students camping out to clear dungeon gates and the hideouts of delinquents.
It was in that wasteland that Hilde and I had happened to cross paths and were now traveling together.
“Hey there, Brynhildr~♪ Find anything good?♪”
“Not really. It’s hard to find a dungeon suited to my level.”
“Whoa~☆ A first-year freshman is already clearing high-level dungeons~☆”
“In any case, I was looking for a high-level dungeon with a new layout and structure.”
“Hmm♪ All the dungeons that spawn around here are structured to favor girls with magical skills, yet you challenge them regardless~☆ You really are amazing, Brynhildr~♪”
Hilde looked at me with a quizzical expression as she spoke.
“That’s not something for you to say, Clara, seeing as you fought me to a draw.”
“Th-that was thanks to a girl’s intuition~☆ I haven’t become a Strong Cute Girl who can win all on her own yet~♪”
“Why are ‘strong’ and ‘cute’ together?”
“Cuteness is strength~☆”
“…”
Hilde shook her head from side to side.
After months of me trying to be friendly, Hilde, who had been prickly every time I approached, finally surrendered. And so, our relationship had progressed to the point where we would travel together whenever we happened to meet.
Hilde suddenly sighed and spoke.
“Really… I can’t for the life of me figure out why you approach someone like me, who neglects her family’s mission and just wanders around with her back to the school.”
“Ahaha~☆ Just a girl’s intuition♪”
“If you truly wish to become strong, you’d be better off asking the third-years or second-year seniors at each school for guidance, or going to a school that fosters practical martial artists, like Eir’s Scarlet Academy.”
“Hmm~ I don’t know about that~♪ Eir comes to pick a fight with me all the time, so I don’t really need to go looking for her~☆”
“That’s true.”
I gave a noncommittal answer, brushing it off.
I still didn't feel any particular attachment to Central Prism Academy, but for some reason, the thought of leaving Frida and the others behind to go to another school felt wrong.
*Besides, if this world is similar to the game, you all are the only ones I truly want to defeat…*
I stole a sideways glance at Hilde.
“…”
“What is it?”
But Hilde had already noticed my gaze and turned to look.
*Ah…*
Her silver-white eyes, staring straight at me, were truly beautiful.
A nobility that could make one lose themselves in admiration.
Even with her face smudged with dirt, those two jewel-like eyes never lost their light. If I were still a man, just meeting that gaze might have made me blush beet-red and run away.
*I feel like she smells nice when she's nearby, too…*
Ah.
That sounded a bit perverted.
To be conscious of someone else’s scent.
*Even if I’m wearing Clara’s mask, that’s not okay…*
Feeling a little embarrassed, I turned my gaze forward again.
“…?”
“Mmm~♪”
If I were to tell her, *You’re destined to become the strongest in the history of the academy city, and I want to challenge and defeat you myself,* I would surely be treated like a lunatic, and my permission to accompany her would be revoked.
*Traveling with the future strongest… was more fun than I expected.*
Since both Hilde and I preferred roaming outside to staying at school, meeting up to travel together every three days had become a routine.
And so, we walked side-by-side through the windswept wasteland and the outskirts of the central district.
*Thud.*
*Thud.*
Because of the weight of the lance Hilde carried, we couldn't ride my red horse together. So as I slowly pushed my red bicycle by hand, I couldn't help but feel the pull of the Pretty Filter.
*Come on, have a girly chat!*
*This is a precious, once-in-a-lifetime chance!*
*Hurry and gather information to get closer!*
An intuition that felt something like that.
But the Pretty Filter didn't always just offer advice like this.
Sometimes, it would tell me to collect stuffed animals when passing a doll shop.
Or to devour all the sweet desserts set before me.
It would give strange instructions, making me act on impulse.
As I found satisfaction in following these impulses and tendencies, I sometimes found myself acting like Clara on my own, without the Pretty Filter's guidance.
It was as if Clara and I were slowly merging…
*At times like this, the Pretty Filter feels like another self, but no matter how much I talk to myself, it never responds.*
There were many times I’d feared it as a remnant of ‘Clara’ trying to make my soul vanish from this body. But now that the sense of unease had faded, I didn't think it was so bad that the Pretty Filter was making me like more things.
*If I had to put it a certain way, it feels like having a friend with very firm tastes…*
You become like the company you keep.
He who stays near vermilion is stained red.
If it had been a Cao Cao Filter instead of a Pretty Filter, would I have shared his dangerous and shady taste in women along with his average stat of 90?
Perhaps that too was just Cao Cao's preference.
The thought made me feel a newfound gratitude for the wholesome tastes of the Pretty Filter.
*Thank you for not having peculiar tastes… Clara!*
I, too, preferred spending time getting to know the future strongest over an awkward, silent atmosphere. So, following the Pretty Filter’s pull, I began to chatter away to Hilde.
“Phew~♪ It’s so hot~☆ Speaking of which, the seniors were getting along with the shopkeepers the other day, and you know what?☆ They brought back some super, super fragrant tea leaves, and when I tried them, you know what?☆ Wow♪ The aroma was on a whole other level compared to the usual compressed tea leaves packed tightly in a can, you know?”
“A can? Clara, why would tea leaves be in a can?”
Hilde tilted her head, looking genuinely confused.
*Hey, for a native of the game world, you not knowing that is a bit…*
I was taken aback by her obvious question but answered.
“U-um…? Well, of course, besides Holy Alfheim High School, which has the largest agricultural district in the academy city, there are few places that can cultivate their own tea leaves~♪ Most of it is long-term storage goods sent from the outside world, you see~☆”
“I see. I had no idea, as I’ve never seen canned compressed tea leaves. The tea prepared in the private rooms of the Aesir Girls' High School dorms is usually high-quality, provided by students who volunteer as attendants.”
“…”
“I don’t indulge in luxuries like the upperclassmen, so I wasn’t aware… This has been very educational. I recall once throwing out several boxes of things that were distributed for the sake of maintaining dignity.”
“…”
“From now on, I should try them before discarding them. No wonder the attendants looked so crestfallen…”
“…”
I shivered silently.
In the academy city, where there were few forms of entertainment besides the martial arts festival, teatime was a common and popular hobby. As such, tea leaves that weren't from a can were at least twenty times more expensive, and it was extremely difficult to even get your hands on them in the first place.
*And I had to steep what little I had with the seniors ten, twenty times over…*
And what was that? Private rooms? Attendants? Maintaining dignity?
Just what kind of world was Hilde living in?
I glanced at Hilde’s face again. She was nodding to herself, muttering that she had learned something valuable.
*Well, in the game, she was from a historic military family. And Aesir Girls' High School is the prestigious academy that effectively rules the city…*
Even though we were walking side-by-side, covered in grime.
In the end, Hilde and I were characters from different worlds.
The only world she, who lived in a world of nobility, shared with me was the world of fighting.
The reality of that fact suddenly hit me, and I let out a sigh.
“Sigh~☆”
“…?”
It was then.
Hilde and I both sensed a presence and looked in the same direction. There, dozens of elegant spear tips made of red ether hovered in the air, all pointed at us.
*Swoosh—*
Magical projectiles.
The kind launched by those furry beasts who just wave their staves from a distance.
The kind used by those walking magical skill launchers.
Among them, those who used the forms of the five weapons left by the Golden Witch were students from the prestigious Public Vana Boarding School.
*Those furry beasts from Public Vana Boarding School have a ridiculously high sense of pride, so they always come at you head-on like this.*
Of course, there were kind and friendly characters like Lotha…
*But at this point in time, she wouldn’t have even enrolled yet.*
In this world, magic could only be used by students with magical skills.
Moreover, given the nature of magical skills, which required calculating ether management with one's head rather than instinct, it was even rarer to find someone who could use them so freely in a combat situation like this.
*Using them in the form of spear tips like this means a third-stage powerhouse… Student council president or executive-level students wouldn't come here… The only ones with free time at this point would be first-years with no particular position.*
As I scanned the list of countless furry beasts that came to mind.
I recalled a pair of droopy, purple cat ears.
“…!”
There was one.
A girl who was growing stronger at a fast pace, just like us, even in her first year.
She was one of the five future powerhouses.
*Fwoosh—!!*
Amidst the spear tips that began to close in with menacing force, a timid voice was heard. In the distance, a female student in the uniform of Public Vana Boarding School was walking toward us.
“H-here… um… I… discovered… a dungeon gate first… s-so… that is…”
Droopy, purple, curly hair.
Droopy, purple cat ears.
Her spiritless eyes were filled with timidity.
But she was arrogant.
“S-so… you rabble… could you… p-please… get lost…?”
“…”
“…”
I spoke to Hilde.
“Left? Or right? I’m good with either~♪”
“I’ll take the right.”
“Okay~☆”
“Wh-what are you saying… you insolent wenches… aren’t you going to get lost…”
Hilde and I shot up from our spots and began to knock away all the spear tips in our respective zones.
*Clang-clang-clang-clang—!!*
Dozens of spear tips vanished with a flurry of fists.
*CRASH—!!*
A lance, swung like a club, deflected countless spear tips.
“Wh-what?!”
The projectiles that had dominated the space moments ago were being nullified.
The flustered girl tried to replenish the disappearing spear tips, but her reflexes were as pathetic as one would expect from a walking magical skill launcher. Before long, she was cornered, trembling before us.
“Ahaha~☆ Brynhildr♪ If you glare at her with such scary eyes, we won’t be able to have a little talk with her~☆”
“Hmph, Clara. That point would be more convincing if you said it with your fists unclenched.”
“Eek…! P-please spare me.”
“Hmm♪ Shall we start with the tickle torture~☆”
“Heeik…?!”
That day, I learned for the first time that a person could pee themselves from laughing too much. But even after that, I showed no mercy to arrogant furry beasts.
From then on, whenever I met her, I would call her by the nickname ‘Peeing Cat.’
That was my first encounter with the genius who would later be known as the Violet Spindle.
The seeker of the Vana School of Sorcery, Freyja.
***
A passage through which countless memories flowed.
The process of waking from a deep dream felt like surfacing from the abyss after a long dive.
Hands pressed together as if in a mirror.
Starlight pouring down under a dark sky.
The story of the girls, ended with a powerful clap.
As reality slowly seeped back into the darkness, I was lost in thought.
*I unexpectedly succeeded in talking with the original Clara… no, with Urðr, but the situation of this game possession and the changed world are still a mystery.*
The prophecy spoken by the Priest of Ratatoskr.
The unstable situation in Academy City Yggd.
The important things were still shrouded in the unknown.
All I received from Urðr was…
—*Do your best!*
“…”
But somehow, with just that.
I felt like I could face the journey ahead.
It was just like Clara—incapable, but her mere presence gave you strength.
*But things have gotten a little difficult.*
As my consciousness slowly surfaced, I checked the condition of my entire body.
The impurities and the fate of others I had taken in to exert over 300% of my power. My realm and body, which had been on the verge of shattering because of them, were now stable. But the absurdly massive amount of ether that had been inside my body was also gone.
A miraculously repaired vehicle.
An empty fuel tank.
That was the situation, metaphorically speaking.
“…”
Frankly, I had been on the verge of being crippled, and Urðr's help had saved me, so it would be shameless to complain. Still, it was a painful blow to lose all the dungeon buffs I had accumulated over a year of travel.
*All I could really do was increase my total ether.*
My natural recovery rate couldn't keep up with the total amount I'd built up, so just sitting around and waiting would take far too long.
*It’ll take three months to recover naturally…*
It was a hassle.
But there were many ways to quickly recover my total ether.
And my realm and cognitive abilities still remained.
But…
But I couldn’t help but be excited about a fact that was far more important than any of ‘that.’
*I have… a weapon aptitude.*
It was only at the level of [Basic Ether].
It would probably be faster to recover using my original methods.
But the aura of weapon aptitude, something ‘Clara’ had never possessed, had definitely appeared.
“…!”
As I realized this fact, I felt like tears would well up, even in my dream state.
*I can… get stronger… on my own!!*
It was just one step.
But I was finally walking the true path, not a shortcut.
*My journey isn’t over yet…!!*
*Thump.*
*Thump.*
Clutching my pounding chest.
Thinking about what I had to do from now on.
As I emerged from the passage of unconsciousness, a light began to appear.
I opened my eyes.
And what I saw before me was…
A wave of silver-white hair flooding my vision.
A girl with a doll-like, neat appearance had her face buried in the hair of my lying form.
“…*Snnniff*.”
“Hilde?”
“Lara…?”
“What… are you doinggg~☆”
“…”
“…”
I had a feeling I’d woken up at the wrong time.
“*Sn-snore~☆*”
“…”
And so, I went back to sleep.