Chapter 50
Chapter 50
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: If You Aim for Someone, Your Back is Left Open☆ (4)
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By the time the sun began to set.
Under the leadership of Student Council President Skadi, the city’s defensive systems were fully deployed.
Countless Disciplinary Committee members, mounted on mechs, were guarding the main gate, while the general students, including the outsiders, had evacuated to their assigned dormitories.
We tried to find a way to contact the United Student Council again, but we failed.
After the meeting, we had gathered at the garrison and tried calling the nearby shopping districts and schools, all to no avail. It was because of the siege network established by the Eastern Federation in the wasteland.
To be precise… it was because of the hundreds of menacing armored puppets.
‘No way… Has Svart Industrial High School already completed their final tech tree?’
In the original story, these summons were supposed to appear around the time of the Priest of Corrosion… in other words, the last named boss before the dragon.
According to the testimony of the Disciplinary Committee students who had returned from reconnaissance.
They said a devastating network of fire, featuring those magitek armored weapons and a host of other threatening armaments, had been formed in the wasteland.
‘Those second-year furballs… their combat skills were a joke, but they’re devilishly good at cutting off communication lines and forming a firing network… Guess they’re no good at doing things themselves, but great at ordering others around.’
I sighed, recalling the pathetic ladies who had their ears completely shorn. I heard they had been handed over to the Disciplinary Committee and locked up in a detention facility.
Click—
“Haaah…”
Vel had been trying to make contact until the very end.
She put down the receiver and sighed.
Then she crossed out the name of the last school on the list.
“Aargh… it’s no use. Even if we find something out, it’s all pointless if we can’t get the information to the boss quickly… This is a huge problem… I can’t even set the mood like this… Being this desperate isn’t like me…”
Vel muttered to herself for a long while.
Slump—
In the end, she was knocked out.
Vel buried her face in the office desk.
Like a wilted plant, her black side-tail drooped listlessly.
“…”
“…”
Silence once again fell over the garrison office. Through the open window, I could hear the worried voices of the outsiders and general students who had come to Mimir Industrial High School.
It was truly like the cries of the people groaning under the Yellow Turban rebels.
‘The Azure Sky is already dead; the Yellow Sky will soon rise… In that case, would Zhang Jue be the money-grubbing student council president of Svart Industrial High School?’
Andrea, the student council president of Svart Industrial High School.
Because of his materialistic and selfish nature, he, along with the furball leader Prau, served as an early-game boss.
Originally, they weren’t supposed to be such a formidable enemy, but the pointy-ears, who had used some unknown cheat code to max out their tech tree, had become a threat on the level of the Yellow Turbans.
‘Is this also… Ratatoskr’s doing, by any chance…? But they don’t have that kind of power…’
Well, I can’t make a guess if nothing adds up…
This damn knowledge of the original story hasn’t been helpful since my first year.
With that thought, I looked around.
All I could see were exhausted high school girls collapsed on the floor.
“…”
The attempt to restore the communication network, which had started at noon, had ultimately failed by the time evening approached. We were all sprawled out, exhausted from sifting through hundreds of numbers to find a detour through numerous schools and shopping districts.
The investigators were also all lying on the floor, resting.
“…”
“…”
Lotha and I were sitting on the floor, leaning against each other’s shoulders. Kara and Alvitt were slumped over their assigned telephones, heads bowed alongside the investigation team’s youngest, Greta.
‘Since it was simple, repetitive work… I guess everyone’s mentally exhausted.’
I understood.
When I worked at a company, the most difficult thing was simple, repetitive labor. Plus, ‘Clara’s’ body hadn’t fully recovered its Aether, so fatigue was setting in quickly.
“Uuuhm…”
A sleepy mumble came from my side.
It seemed Lotha, unable to overcome her fatigue, had dozed off and fallen asleep.
“…”
Twitch.
Twitch.
An orange blur passed by with quiet breaths.
Her cat ears twitched, tempting me.
“Nom—♪”
I took Lotha’s cat ear, which was brushing against my lips, into my mouth. A savory scent wafted up from under my head, accompanied by a pleasant purring sound.
“Om nom nom…”
“Purrrr…”
I savored the simple taste of Lotha’s cat ear and thought.
‘We need to know what the furballs’ main force is up to and get in touch with Hilde at the Golden Street before we can do anything…’
Even if we were to break through with a small squad including high-level Aether users, if the furballs were lying in ambush in large numbers, contrary to our expectations, it would be game over.
And on top of that, there was the potential threat of Ratatoskr…
‘A hundred pathetic grunts, I or Freyja could handle easily at full strength, but a thousand fully prepared pathetic grunts are hard to ignore…’
If only the communication lines were restored so we could assess the situation.
Imbuing my teeth with that impatience, I gently nibbled on Lotha’s ear.
“Mmm… Sister… stop iiit…”
“Om nom nom…”
This sly chef cat.
So I finally get to hear your cute, whiny voice.
I checked off another item from my bucket list of things to do as ‘Clara’.
‘One day, I’ll shower you with so much affection that you’ll come into my arms and rub your head against me, asking to be petted first.’
I planned to pamper her until she became a very plump housecat. With that resolve, I used my free hands to stroke Lotha’s chin and head.
“Purrrrrr…”
“Om nom nom…”
Even in her exhaustion, Alvitt looked at me with an exasperated expression and said.
“Senior, doing that to a sleeping girl is a bit…”
“Om nom nom…”
“Purrrrrr…”
“Sigh.”
Alvitt gave me a rude look, but I ignored her.
While everyone was exhausted.
Freyja, who was lying on the office sofa, suddenly muttered.
“…should we do it.”
“Huh? What did you say?”
Vel, who had been slumped over the desk, rubbed her tired eyes and sat up again. And Freyja, in a clearer voice than before, spoke as if making a resolution.
“Sh-should we… force a breakthrough… Just… sweep away everything in our path… With the people gathered here… I think we can… definitely do it.”
Freyja’s amethyst eyes swept through the darkness.
Of course, I was included in that gaze. The students who reacted to her words and gaze opened their eyes and got up.
“…!”
“…!”
“…!”
For some reason, I felt a chill run down my spine hearing those words. So I stopped stroking Lotha and looked towards Freyja.
Slowly…
The martial-type students got up one by one.
Lotha, who had been sleeping next to me, flinched at the sound and woke up.
“Hmm. My head knows we shouldn’t, but…”
“A forced breakthrough to protect justice…!”
“Isn’t that a little… dangerous?”
At Alvitt’s worried mumble, Vel spoke with a tone of disbelief.
“Alvitt, you say that, but you’re slowly being convinced too.”
“Indeed. Judging by the look in your eyes, you’re ready to charge out already.”
“…”
The light began to return to the eyes of the students confident in their combat abilities, like Vel, Sigrun, and Alvitt. Even the investigation team’s youngest, Greta, gulped, her red eyes shining.
‘Right… they’re all better suited to attacking than defending.’
The best defense is a good offense.
In the end, that was what Freyja wanted to say.
Freyja looked around at the strange fervor of the martial-type students focused on her and said.
“A-at this very moment… as they complete their battle line and feel secure… the pointy-ears’ magitek weapon units spread across the w-wasteland will all be paying attention to the main force…”
“Because this isn’t the main battlefield…?”
“Th-that, and… in the end, the Eastern Federation… is a f-federation in name only… they’re no different from… servants bought with the money of the aristocratic faction’s leader, Prau. I don’t think they’d w-willingly risk a difficult siege…”
Freyja now sat up completely on the sofa. The sunset light shining on her curly purple hair reflected like a transparent diamond.
“N-no matter how they form their battle line… the direction they’re truly concerned about is…”
“The west, breaking through the Aesir Girls’ High School front to seize control of the United Student Council…”
At Alvitt’s answer, Freyja nodded and continued.
“I-if the reason they believe they can even defeat The Azure-White Lightning Spear… is r-related to… them forming their battle line so hastily…”
“Because of a time limit, they have no choice but to turn their backs on us… is that it?”
“So the plan is to hit the Eastern Federation from behind while their backs are turned, and join the central forces… is that it?”
Vel and Alvitt’s respective speculations.
Freyja nodded.
“…”
Vel crossed her legs in the corner of the office, which was growing dark as the sun set. Despite her childish figure and youthful face, the pose somehow suited her.
“A plan built on speculation upon speculation… pure luck, in other words.”
“I-in a situation like this… expecting a 100% probability… is j-just too stupid.”
“Is that something a rational magus should be saying—☆”
“Hehe…”
For the first time, Freyja laughed at my words and spoke. And there was no hesitation in what she said next.
“M-magitek is a bullshit study based on luck anyway. What kind of field of study is it if you can’t even use it without a s-skill?”
“Ah…!”
Lotha, now fully awake, let out a short gasp at those words.
[I wish everyone could share the same magic and skills.]
Lotha’s fairy-tale-like dream.
Perhaps this was the first question that most closely touched upon that thought.
[Is magitek truly a part of the unchangeable truth of the universe?]
And it was said by the student with the most outstanding magician skill in the Academy City. This, too, was something that didn’t happen in the original story… The original had changed, but sometimes it was better than the original.
‘Good for you, Lotha.’
I smiled warmly at the sight.
Thud!
Vel, thinking the discussion was over, stood up and declared.
“Alright, everyone, go get your gear! We’ll be dividing into infiltration routes and attack teams, so get ready and assemble quickly!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“Understood!”
“…Okay.”
The students quickly filed out of the office.
Freyja and the underclassmen had also left their equipment in the guest room.
They said they would go on ahead and left the office in an instant.
“…”
The office was suddenly empty.
I also stood up from my seat to follow them.
At that moment, the Aether-phone on Vel’s desk rang.
Ring ring—
“…?!”
Right now?!
I hastily tried to call for Vel, but they had all already left.
If I didn’t pick it up now, there was no telling when it would ring again.
I had no choice.
I picked up the phone before it stopped ringing.
Click—
“H-hellooo—☆”
“Vel, this is an emergency. Report on the garrison’s situation… Lara…?”
The voice was Hilde’s.