Chapter 48
Chapter 48
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: When You Go After Someone, Your Back is Wide Open☆ (2)
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On the ether train, on the way to Mimir Industrial High School.
*Screech—*
The ether train came to a sudden halt with a sharp, metallic shriek.
It was an exclusive charter not open to the general public, so there were only a few passengers on board. Still, it was strange that there was no announcement from the conductor explaining the reason for the stop.
The sound of panicked passengers from the front cars.
We were sitting in the very last car, the tail car, which no other passengers had boarded.
“…”
“…”
Freyja and I quietly met each other’s eyes, then spoke, having already guessed why the train had stopped.
“Ahaha~☆ Looks like… it’s them, right?”
“Hoo… H-how much further are they going to drag the school’s reputation… th-through the mud… Th-they’re no better than b-beggars…”
“Hey now~☆ Even a school for beggars wouldn’t do something like this~♪”
“Th-that’s true. For students of a prestigious magic academy to be acting like common thugs…”
“The so-called noble girls are the real tomboys, aren't they~☆”
“I-I know… Th-this is why the noble faction is…”
Freyja casually drew her wand with one hand while pressing the fingers of her other hand firmly against her brow. Her unsightly purple cat ears were twitching, folded back vertically in anger.
*Hsssss…!*
*Rooowwwr…!*
A continuous growl rumbled from Freyja’s slender throat.
“Student Council President Prau… W-when I get back… I’ll have all the remaining fur shaved from her ears… and make her crawl naked down the long corridor… I-I’ve decided… to send her to the underground solitary cell…”
“Eek…?!”
Hearing this, Lotha trembled as if she had just heard a most terrible curse. She covered her lovely orange cat ears with both hands, breaking out in a cold sweat.
I, too, heard the muttering and groaned inwardly.
‘So the stray cat, despite being an outcast at school, genuinely despises anything that tarnishes the reputation of the prestigious magic academy…’
Shaving the remaining fur off one’s animal ears. And forcing them to assume a posture of submission, naked. For beast-kin, that was a severe expression of anger… something you’d only do to ancient war slaves.
‘The stray cat has become a mortal enemy of the noble faction… Can those girls even handle this…?’
As I was thinking that, Freyja quickly recited the unique activation command for her magic.
“[Eternal Spindle] Memorize, small-scale activation—Set radius, standby, delay firing time.”
Her voice was mechanical, like an automated voice response system. And as she lightly swung her golden wand, a violet ether began to ripple outwards.
The magic seeped into the train car’s walls as if it had always been part of the wallpaper. The violet ether, shaped like the circuits of a motherboard, shot out in an instant, lying in wait in every corner of our tail car.
*Shashashak—*
In a flash, the train car had become a fortress under Freyja’s control. This was why you should never give the [Violet Spindle] time to prepare her spells.
‘It’s been a while, but it’s nice to see this again…’
I recalled my experiences fighting against magic-type students.
‘No matter how powerful their [Unique Ether] is, mages have the weakest physical abilities… but they’re the most annoying when they set traps or orchestrate things on a large scale.’
The violet ether Freyja had suddenly released.
The cold silence just before the commotion.
It seemed the underclassmen now understood the situation as well.
Lotha and Kara flinched, looking around.
“…!”
“…I see.”
“In that case…!”
A judgment call that a front line was needed before the mage.
Alvitt drew the sword from her waist and quickly moved to stand in front of us.
“We need to go out and fight…!”
“Annd~☆ Stop—♡”
But I reached out from the side, grabbed Alvitt’s hand on the sword’s hilt, and pushed it back in. The crimson longsword’s blade, halfway drawn, slid obediently back into its scabbard.
*Click—!*
Our eyes met with the clear ring of the sword.
Alvitt looked at me with a bewildered expression.
But I just gave her a wink, holding her hand to stop her.
“Senior?!”
“Shh~♪ Just stay put, okay?☆”
“…?”
I pulled Alvitt’s hand, gesturing for her to sit down. She glanced at Freyja, then slowly took her seat.
“…”
“…”
A silent conversation passed between our eyes.
I sent a signal to the seated Alvitt with a look.
Alvitt quickly caught on and received the message.
-Shh, stay put… my little champion♡.
-Senior, what are you talking about all of a sudden?
-Let the stray cat run wild and cool her head a bit.♪
-Senior Freyja, alone?
-If we jump in now, we might get caught in her cat-hysterics.☆
-…
Alvitt, seeming to fully understand the signal, nodded her head. She then tapped Lotha’s arm and conveyed the tacit agreement with her eyes.
“…”
“…”
A nod.
Another nod.
Lotha and Alvitt nodded in unison.
Lotha also put away her wand and sat down quietly.
‘Ahh… this is the pinnacle of teamwork between seniors and juniors.’
We communicate as if we were sisters born on the same day.
Unfortunately, however…
Kara didn’t catch the signal and was left standing awkwardly by herself, holding her flag.
“…?”
“Just sit down.”
“Ah.”
Kara, the only one who didn’t understand the language of glances, finally sat down after hearing Lotha’s interpretation.
At the same time, the presence we felt beyond the door grew closer.
-Hmph, as expected of the vulgar commoners from the central district… there are hardly any passengers on this train.
-Isn’t it a courtesy of the commoners to reduce our search time?
-That’s true. Ugh… what if my skin gets damaged from wandering around in this rough wilderness…
-If it weren’t for Lady Prau’s great cause, I wouldn’t have followed.
-Hoho, you make a very valid point.
A constant stream of whispers.
They didn’t seem to care about giving away their position. Thanks to their incessant chatter, we could track their location in real time.
“…”
I felt the memories of the students from Public Vana Boarding School, which had been erased by the kind Lotha and timid Freyja, surging back up.
‘Right… this is the true nature of the fur… the beast-kin girls of Academy City.’
*Screee—!*
The seven furry beast train robbers slid open the compartment door. As if they had been teased for having flat noses before, every one of them held their heads high with an air of arrogance.
*Twitch.*
*Twitch.*
The animal ears of the girls—cat, wolf, and fox—were incredibly lush and beautiful. Their hair, too, shimmered like silk, and they were adorned with luxury goods from head to toe.
But I had no desire to touch their animal ears or rub their faces.
‘Ugh… the smell of perfume is so strong. Are their ears diffusers or something?’
The students, dressed in the uniforms of Public Vana Boarding School, spoke as they walked in with haughty strides.
“Don’t move! Commoners! This train is now under the control of the noble faction of Public Vana Boarding School!”
“Can you not kneel and show some respect!”
“The stench of commoners is overwhelming even from here!”
We stared blankly at them, who hadn’t noticed Freyja because they were too busy holding their heads high.
“…”
“…”
“…”
I let out a dry laugh at the sight.
‘They’re all weaklings who can barely use 2nd Stage Ether.’
These pathetic young ladies, acting like they were copying some villainess character straight out of a comic, making a grand declaration of a train hijacking while doing a model walk. This was the average for the fur beasts.
‘Damn it… I really tried not to call them fur beasts…’
Was it because of our silent, unresponsive demeanor?
A girl with bright crimson fox ears lowered her arrogant eyes and looked at us sitting quietly.
“Are you commoners unable to understand words? Hurry up and… uh… um… [Spindle]?”
And next to us was Freyja.
“…”
“…”
Freyja rose from her seat without a sound.
She slowly began to walk toward them.
Seeing this, the girls’ mouths fell open in shock.
We stayed hidden in our seats, holding our breath and watching the show.
*Step.*
*Step.*
The crimson-eared fox girl aimed her wand with a trembling hand and spoke. But her legs were trembling even more than her hand, curling inward pathetically.
“[The Violet Spindle]?! Why are you here?!”
“Y-you… you crazy bitches… H-how can you even ask that? I-it’s obviously because you hags burned all my luggage.”
Freyja, unable to contain her surging anger, gasped for breath with tears welling in her eyes.
“A-and my most precious books were in there…!! A-and I had so many drafts of my thesis… for this semester’s conference… in-in-in thereee…!!”
The last few words ended in something close to a scream.
“Hiii…!”
“Wh-what do we do?!”
Perhaps overwhelmed by her intensity, a white-haired, wolf-eared girl in the group instinctively defended herself.
“Th-that wasn’t us!! Lady Prau ordered all the second-year nobles to go on patrol!!”
“O-oh… s-so… th-that means you kn-kn-know who… d-did it, right? Right? Grrr!! A-a-a-all of you… if you don’t want your ear fur shaved off, you’d better talk…! Talk, I sayyy—!!”
“Hieeek—?!”
Freyja’s Ether skill, [Eternal Spindle], activated.
A large spindle spun behind her back, unleashing the skills it had stored. The tail car also began to glow violet, emitting an endless killing intent.
*Cl-cl-cl-cl-clack!*
Her teeth chattered uncontrollably from her threshold-breaking rage, making her stutter. The sight of her, slowly advancing with her violet eyes gleaming, was terrifying.
“F-fire!! Subdue her!! I said, subdue her!!”
“Lady Prau has had an awakening, so the [Violet Spindle] is a has-been now!!”
“R-right!! Just shoot her!!”
I thought to myself as I watched the scene unfold.
‘What does your boss having an awakening have to do with you guys…?’
But the pathetic noble faction girls lost control of their fear and fired their magic. From their wands, 2nd Stage red Ether shot out with all the pathetic force of a stream of piss on a winter day.
“Golden armament, be created according to my command…!”
“The very first armament shall be wrath…!”
What they fired was the basic magic left by [The Golden Witch].
The five stages of the armament of truth, made of Ether.
1st Stage, the Dagger Form.
It was magic that even Lotha, who dropped out after just one week, knew how to use.
*Fwit—!!*
*Fwit—!!*
*Fwit—!!*
“Hmph…”
Freyja moved her finger as if the dozens of daggers flying at her were a joke. At her command, the circuits on the train walls activated, and hundreds of violet daggers poured out.
*Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting! Ting!*
A wave of violet daggers swept past the red ones.
With a single flick of her finger, Freyja had nullified the dozens of spells fired by the seven girls.
“Hiiiii?!”
Seeing this, the group of girls frantically chanted their spells. Their faces looked as if they were about to wet themselves, and their legs shook like tree branches in a winter wind.
“…”
Freyja paid them no mind, lightly brandishing her wand like a conductor leading an orchestra.
And the violet space filled with armaments.
Countless daggers poured out, becoming a wave.
Thousands of longswords poured out, becoming a wind.
Hundreds of greatswords poured out, becoming a mountain range.
Dozens of spears poured out, becoming pillars.
A single, massive bow looked down, watching over everything.
An endless flow of armaments.
As if conducting, Freyja manipulated the spindle behind her back, where she had stored her magic beforehand, filling the space with violet armaments. They began to ensnare the girls with the force of a closing prison.
One of the girls screamed, her voice tearing. She frantically waved her wand, sending an emergency signal outside.
“Emergeeencyyy—!!!”
With that, the roof of the train was destroyed with a tremendous roar.
Through the thick dust and debris, a giant suit of armor burst in.
It was a magitech weapon, black with endless golden patterns.
I marveled at the sight.
‘Isn’t that a top-tier magitech puppet from Svart Industrial High School…?’
To think they were generous enough to assign a weapon capable of tanking an adult chaos insect to a bunch of small fry like this…
*Zhiiing—!!*
The massive armor emitted a red glow from its eyes.
After a stable landing, belying its three-meter-tall frame, the magitech armor puppet charged at Freyja with a whirring sound.
*Wooooong—!!*
The tail car shook with its every step, its presence overwhelmingly menacing.
It was far too ferocious and fierce an advance to be directed at a small, delicate girl.
It looked like a giant boulder rushing toward a chick.
“…”
But even seeing that, Freyja simply raised a finger and muttered.
“Activate.”
The violet bow fired.
*KABOOOOOM—!!*
A laser shot from the violet bow toward the black armor puppet. The armor puppet was blasted through the hole created in the train by the massive explosion.
*Rumble…*
After the faint sound of destruction from far outside the railway, there was silence.
“…”
“…”
“…”
In the space filled with silence, Freyja held a single violet dagger in her hand and spoke.
“I-if you talk now… I-I’ll only shave the fur off one of your ears…”
“…I’ll, I’ll talk.”
*Snip.*
*Snip.*
For a while, the only sound that echoed inside the train was the snipping of the girls’ fur being cut.
***
Vel rushed out of the garrison office, flustered.
“Oh my goodness…! Public Vana Boarding School suddenly blocked all the railways heading this way, so I was worried sick…! How on earth did you get here? And who are those girls?”
The girls, each with one ear now completely bare.
They stood with their heads bowed, captured by Freyja.
All we could do was laugh.
“Ahaha…☆”
“It was an interesting spectacle, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah, it was incredibly informative.”
“…?”
Vel tilted her head, looking at us in confusion.