Chapter 92
Chapter 92
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 92
Chapter Title: Under the Verdant Tree ☆ (1)
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Like clockwork, time flowed on in Academy City Yggd. Before we knew it, the hottest, sunniest days of August were upon us.
As the days grew longer, so too did the energy of the ether.
In the parlance of this place, it was the period when the energy of the heavens was at its fullest.
During the past month we spent coming and going from Holy Alfheim High School, the academy city remained as boisterous as ever.
Just to name a few incidents I recall…
A conflict between a suspicious group from Mimir Industrial High School who roamed the city in nothing but swimsuits and the public security organization, Gjallarhorn.
Scarlet Academy's "Rampage Festival" escalating into the "Modified Bike Flame Rampage Death Road," with 999 participants.
Public Vana Boarding School's simplified festival, which featured the "Titillating Instant 5-Minute Erotic Fairy Tale Writing Contest," hosted by the research-oriented students.
A 100:1 battle royale among girls, a bloodbath for the new limited-edition chocolate from the Golden Cat, the finest dessert shop on the Golden Street.
…Things like that happened.
If you were to include all the minor incidents with fewer than 100 participants, the list would be much longer. But this was about all we could learn from the United Student Council's broadcasts.
If this were a game, it was the kind of continuous stream of incidents and accidents that would have spawned at least ten limited-edition alternate characters.
‘They’re always full of energy, but these kids seem to lose all reason once vacation starts…’
It seemed the students of the academy city were just as captivated by the word "vacation" as anyone else. But now, in just a few more days, the leisurely summer break would come to an end.
The second semester was coming, a time to knuckle down and achieve results with seniors and juniors again.
The time for festivals was passing,
and the scent of daily life was just around the corner…
Yet, there were some who welcomed this period.
Holy Alfheim High School.
Those pseudo-religious, rural elf girls regarded the World Tree and the ether as blessings from the heavens. It was a kind of primitive faith.
Therefore, for these ear-freak students, the summer month of August, with its longest days, was a sacred period for communing with the heavens' energy.
The "Summer Harvest Festival," a peaceful celebration where the pseudo-religious girls gave thanks to the World Tree and the ether.
During this period, called the "Summer Harvest Festival," students from both the agriculture and theology departments wore white clothes reminiscent of priestly robes.
The streets were brightly decorated with flowers and grass,
the students walked around wearing crowns woven from summer flowers,
and they shared delicious food and flowers with their guests.
It was an event where peace outshone violence.
Excluding the "Martial Arts Festival," which everyone in the academy city looked forward to, it was also the grandest and most spectacular event.
Essentially, it was the highlight of the summer vacation.
‘It has a completely different feel from the haphazard festivals of other schools or the tech-presentation-style festivals of the industrial high schools… I heard other schools scramble to get invitations, right?’
Naturally, Central Prism Academy had a free pass.
If you had a problem with it, you could go pull out a holy sword and become a hero, or a pink-haired saintess.
‘Though, Alvitt hasn’t actually pulled out the holy sword yet…’
…
Anyway…
The school with the largest campus in the academy city. And the largest festival in the academy city—Holy Alfheim High School's "Summer Harvest Festival" had begun yesterday.
Naturally, during this time, the school was bustling with guests from other schools, all looking to end their summer vacation with a flourish.
Students frequently got lost on Holy Alfheim High School's massive grounds or unintentionally broke their rules.
That was why it was also the busiest time for the pseudo-religious ear-freak girls of Holy Alfheim High School.
Together with my pink-haired senior, I was preparing a cute and trivial act of rebellion, avoiding the eyes of the wicked fork-horror girls.
*Tap-tap—!*
Carrying the translucent, baby-shaped senior on my back,
I lightly scaled the three-story building.
My physical condition was once again approaching its peak, and I felt as light as a feather.
My target was now close.
It was a warehouse from which a sweet aroma wafted.
Confirming with my sharp senses that no one was around, I quickly channeled ether between the window frames and slid it open.
“Heeyah—☆”
“Tyah-tyah—☆”
I met the eyes of the Sword Spirit clinging to my back. And I felt the inner dialogue that resonated from her.
Ready, ‘Sword’?
-Ah, of course, ‘User’. Devour all the snacks the ear-freaks have hidden.
“Huhu…!”
I had reached a point where I could somewhat sense the will of the 'Sword Spirit'—my pink-haired senior.
…Of course, "ear-freaks" was my own interpretation.
‘But what’s important is the heart… right, Senior Frida?’
Art students were originally an uninhibited bunch.
Senior Frida would probably be smiling fondly as she watched me make a fool of the fur-beasts and ear-freaks.
-Well done, Clara Kim. Wipe out all the demi-humans in this world.
Of course, this was just my imagination.
Senior Frida had never made any discriminatory remarks about other races.
“Ooh-hoo-hoo…☆”
Imagining Senior Frida’s radiant smile, I carefully placed one of the syrup jars stacked in the warehouse into my backpack.
“Huhu♪ This will be delicious drizzled on fruit—☆”
“Tyah-tyah—☆”
-You betcha—☆
…Of course, this was also my interpretation.
The Sword Spirit and I had spent the past month together, creating many memories.
Raiding the potato and oil warehouses to make potato chips.
Raiding the vineyard to make special grape juice.
Infiltrating the kitchen where they were baking bread to sprinkle raisins everywhere.
And so on…
The 'Sword Spirit' would watch me with a pleased expression,
sending signals that she was happy I was carrying on the will of the pink-haired so well.
The essence of a pink-hair is chaos.
Those with pink hair must cause trouble.
I was fulfilling that destiny splendidly.
*Clatter—*
“Let’s get out of here now—☆”
“Oo-tyah—♪”
Seeing my senior so happy brought joy to Clara, daughter of Frida. Pink-hair Gospel 1:11.
Having executed our minor, adorable operation of relocating a single jar of syrup, I was about to head back out the window.
Just then.
“…!”
Rainbow-colored images flashed through my mind. It was a video made of simplified shapes, like an old movie.
The moment I open the window.
From a place outside my perception, a female student from another school happens to spot me climbing out and screams. Then, the theology students who were beside her rush over.
…
Playback finished.
“…”
I remained perfectly still for ten seconds, my hand poised to open the window. Slowly, the rainbow hues faded from my vision.
That future was now gone.
I was getting used to handling this special ability of mine, which had started appearing intermittently after I met the Sword Spirit.
“…Alright☆”
“Oo-tyah-ah—☆”
My senior joyfully patted my cheek.
-Excellent! So energetic! I’ll make a special point of not telling Nella.
…Naturally, that was my interpretation.
But a similar intention was conveyed.
Receiving her blessing, I climbed down from the warehouse building to make a snack for Alvitt, who was still struggling.
*
“…Senior, you’re here.”
“Yep♪”
A haggard-looking Alvitt looked over at me and managed a faint smile.
Alvitt was wearing the coarse white shirt and pants often worn by the students of Holy Alfheim High School. The uniform she had been wearing until now was stained, so she had finally changed.
However, perhaps as a final vestige of her pride as a swordswoman,
or perhaps out of affection for a cherished weapon,
the crimson longsword I had gifted her was still at her hip.
A fortnight had already passed since her change of clothes.
The failure that had lasted a fortnight stretched into another, becoming a full month.
“…”
The scene was unchanged.
The holy sword stood proud and forlorn, embedded in the ground.
Alvitt stood motionless before it.
The weapon and its master, who should have been united in an instant, had been running on parallel lines for a month. I couldn’t understand how this had happened.
‘She pulled it out so easily in the original story, but she still hasn’t gotten it…’
Without letting such thoughts show, I took out the special pancake. It came with a bonus of super sweet and savory special syrup.
“Yep♪ I ‘happened’ to get my hands on some new syrup the agriculture kids made—☆”
“…Thank you.”
“…”
“…”
Alvitt simply began to eat the pancake, drenched in the thick syrup, without a word.
“…”
She didn’t react to my pink-haired comment, which clearly suggested I had been up to some suspicious trouble. It seemed she didn’t even have the energy to notice.
“…”
But I didn’t press her, didn’t ask why she was hesitating to draw the sword, why she couldn’t.
Because I knew Alvitt’s circumstances.
‘She knows all too well that she has to do something for this world… so she tries to follow everything so diligently.’
Coming to the academy city in accordance with her mother's prophecy.
Shouldering the duty of preventing the world's destruction, a fate she never asked for.
Being ordinary and diligent, yet destined to lead.
I knew it all.
And not because of my knowledge of the original story,
but because I believed in the diligent junior I had come to know.
I didn’t feel the need to ask "why?"
‘…Even if she gives up, we can just find another way together.’
The world had already changed.
Even without the [Hero], perhaps the power of the [Saintess] could face [The Dragon Crouching in the Abyss].
“…”
In fact, I was surprised at how calm I was.
I thought I would have agonized more, wondering if there was room for compromise.
The truth had been revealed.
It was possible that the ‘Prophet’ was ‘another me.’ And that guy was helping Ratatoskr destroy the academy city.
It felt strange, and I couldn't imagine how it had come to be… but my resolve came surprisingly easily.
‘I… will kill… ‘him’.’
I am Clara, the pink-haired girl of Academy City.
Kang Jin-soo, the office worker who loved Romance of the Three Kingdoms and played mobile games on his subway commute, was dead.
The only one here is Clara, a student who loves a girl named Hilde and respects Senior Frida.
‘That guy… in the distant past… called himself ‘Kang Jin-soo’ in front of the [Saintess of Sacrifice]. And he spouted enough knowledge of the Three Kingdoms for the executives of Ratatoskr to recognize it.’
No matter how absurd the deduction, when this many clues came together… it was right to assume the worst-case scenario.
[He and I were once the same person.]
Different times, different situations, different bonds…
We had been split apart in different streams of time.
[He and I are now strangers.]
Simply recognizing that made my resolve incredibly easy.
“…”
When the ‘Prophet’ reveals himself,
‘I’ will be the one to step forward and kill him.
That was my responsibility to the one who might have been another self—one who once shared the same past.
Why he changed like that.
Why one person’s soul split in two.
It seemed there would be no time or leisure to uncover the exact reasons.
Frankly, the reason to do so had vanished.
‘Things have already become as twisted as they can be…’
If I hesitate, my juniors and friends will be in danger.
If I can’t save this world,
I might never see Senior Frida again.
“…”
That alone,
was enough to erase all my reasons for hesitation.
*Clink—*
Alvitt finished the pancake and politely handed the plate back to me.
“…Thank you for the food.”
Taking it from her,
I slowly got to my feet.
“Okay☆ I’ll get going now!”
“The school… I’m worried about what’s happened. I’ve been away for so long…”
“Kara and I have been taking turns checking on it☆ And Lotha is coming here tomorrow—☆ So don’t worry~♪ We’ll always protect the place you’ll come back to—☆”
“…Thank you. I’m sorry for making you wait so long… It’s just… the reason I’m like this is… well…”
I gently stroked the head of Alvitt, who was trying to make an excuse. She looked up at me with surprised eyes.
“I trust you. We trust you, so relax and lean on us.”
“…”
Alvitt ducked her head low.
“Thank… you.”
“I’ll be on my way then—☆”
“…”
I left, giving Alvitt some space so she wouldn’t feel pressured.
“…”
…Now then, what kind of trouble should I get into next?