Chapter 135
Chapter 135
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 135
Chapter Title: Miracle
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What do I want to become?
Before that question, I hesitated for a long time.
It wasn't that I was hesitating to answer.
I didn't even have the right to answer in the first place.
‘…….’
No, more than that...
Had I ever been given the right to even ponder such a thing?
With the very roots of my 'self' shaken, talking about what I wanted to become on top of that...
Wasn't it like building a tower on sand?
If each grain of sand could be called a 'sense of self,' I hadn't even gathered them all yet.
'Who am I?'
That question had been circling inside me for a long time.
But...
No matter how much time passed, no answer, no direction came to mind.
'I am......'
Whether I was truly a being named 'Adel,' or just some entity wearing the mask of 'Adel' as a product swept up by fate...
I couldn't even know that.
'Contradiction.'
That was all I was.
Every moment I'd lived so far, everything I'd grasped slipped away like grains of sand, and the footprints I'd left were erased.
That was why...
Perhaps the reason I couldn't handle advanced magic wasn't all that complicated.
Because there was no 'tower' I'd built, no place to place my 'self' atop it.
─“Lower magic. The name of this stage is 'Imitation.'”
Lower magic was mere mimicry.
A parrot copying someone else's knowledge.
─“Mid-level is 'Understanding.' From this point, magic stops being a 'tool' and starts becoming a 'language.'”
Mid-level magic was comprehension.
Entering the realm of language, finally attempting to converse with magic.
Then what about advanced magic?
...A realm reachable only by establishing one's 'self' at the center, based on all the knowledge and philosophy one has accumulated.
'Of course it was.'
Thud.
I sprawled out once more, staring up at the desolate ceiling of the training hall.
'...'Self'...'
I didn't know myself, didn't know why I wielded magic, didn't know what I lived for.
'Sigh.'
I let out a sigh inwardly and just turned my head to gaze at the center of the training hall.
Klaus crossing swords with Charlotte.
A little ways off, Lapia was attempting to commune with a spirit, while beside her, Seros was repeatedly thrusting his spear with elegant flow.
“Why do it here of all places? Do it over there; it's distracting.”
“Oh dear... Third Place. That's just an excuse.”
And...
“Hmm... Not bad.”
Erwin was alone, loftily tinkering with a magic circle, while Rufus had stabbed his greatsword into the ground and was doing push-ups bare-handed.
Each in their own way, trying to surpass their own 'walls.'
Some with their bodies, some with communion with spirits, some with swordsmanship, some with the discipline of magic.
It felt like that sight was questioning me, the only one standing still.
'What are you doing?'
I silently watched the scene.
They advanced, building outward strength.
Tempering their bodies, honing their magic, stacking up what they aimed for.
'...What are you doing?'
I dropped my head with a thud and asked myself.
Why was I sitting here?
Why was I just staring at the floor?
'Training' held no meaning for me now.
Just following repetitive motions was merely covering up the root of the problem and running away.
...It was then.
“......Meditating again?”
While I wrestled with the cold floor, Rev had quietly approached and crouched down beside me.
He tilted his head and glanced at me.
[Deep in thought this time]
“......I see.”
Who I was, why I walked this path, what I sought power for.
Others knocked on the door, while I stood frozen, not even realizing the door existed.
'......No.'
I shook my head slightly.
That wasn't it.
No matter how much I ran, I ended up back at the start...
Because I was running without knowing myself.
What was the strength the world spoke of?
What was this miracle called magic?
“......What are you worrying about?”
【Worries about why I'm so ugly!】
Snap!
Rev immediately punished Lament's nonsense.
I gave a thumbs up and held up the whiteboard too.
[Thinking about miracles]
As Veronica said, it demanded an answer of 'self.'
Someone who could define themselves more clearly than anyone.
Someone who knew who they were and could say why they wielded this power.
Only then would the miracle lift its head.
Only then would the crack of impossibility in magic open.
'Hmm.'
Whoosh!
I quietly exhaled and abruptly stood up.
In the end, worries don't end with just thinking.
“......Where to?”
[To enjoy some freedom]
“......?”
[Wanna come?]
“...Going rogue?”
Please spare me the bad word 'rogance.'
This was just struggling to move forward.
“......I'll go.”
[Okay]
Rev stuck right by my side.
I nodded as if it was no surprise, and Rev and I left the training hall without a word between us.
After walking for a while... I glanced sideways.
[Why did you start learning magic, Rev?]
“......Magic?”
[Yeah]
Rev possessed divine power.
He didn't need to learn magic...
Why choose the additional path of magic?
I suddenly grew curious about that.
“......”
Rev stopped walking and quietly turned his head.
I stopped beside him too.
“......Magic.”
Rev clasped his hands together.
And then... closed his eyes.
Whirr──
A small magic circle formed above his palms.
Two spheres of different textures formed atop it.
One deep like a black abyss, the other clear like radiant light.
The two spheres gazed at each other and spun round and round...
Pew──!
“......I liked the name 'miracle.'”
Like fireworks...
They soared into the sky and merged into one.
[Yeah?]
I'd thought of magic as merely a 'tool' or 'means.'
A tool for fighting, a means for survival.
[Same as me]
But at some point...
The more I mulled over the word 'magic,' the closer it felt not to a means or tool, but to 'aspiration.'
“...Yeah.”
The heart that comes to believe in miracles.
The desire to reach out and touch it, no matter how unattainable it seems.
“Miracles... are good.”
Rev and I walked different paths, but...
At least in this moment, under the same sky, we gazed at the same miracle.
***
“What did you say?”
In the student council room during lunchtime.
Carnel slammed down the documents in her hand and widened her eyes.
It was a basically busy space, but today it was especially hectic and chaotic.
The cause was right in front of her...
[The training camp]
Thanks to Adel.
Carnel looked at Adel with suspicious eyes and nodded.
“Yes... What about the training camp?”
[Can I join?]
“......Pardon?”
Adel's words were simple.
During the upcoming break, the student council planned a training camp that doubled as training.
It had a clear pretext of training and required significant preparation and approval...
“...Well, you see.”
Internally, Carnel wanted to nod immediately.
But reality wasn't that simple.
“It's not up to me alone...”
Though inwardly screaming 'Sure!', as student council president, Carnel couldn't let her responsible demeanor slip.
The student council's training camp used the academy's budget.
Meaning it wasn't something that ended with Carnel saying 'Okay.'
But─
[The headmaster approved too]
“Ah, the headmaster...”
Carnel trailed off.
Then... her eyes went wide.
“Pardon?”
[??]
“Who?”
[The headmaster]
“Ah......”
[Yes]
“...Huh?”
[Yes?]
Carnel glitched.
Adel tilted her head.
[If you don't want it, no choice]
“No─! It's not that I don't want it!”
Carnel snapped to attention.
She protested almost in a shout.
[Oh, okay]
Adel, startled in turn, took half a step back.
And a beat later, a muffled breath from the corner of the student council room.
“Kh... That guy, daring to put the president in a tough spot.”
“Yurian, shut it.”
Under the desk, beside the cabinet, between the window curtains.
The student council members, not even hiding but openly huddled in the corner, whispered.
[Then I'll be off]
“...Already?”
[I'm super busy]
“Doesn't look like it at all...”
[Wh-?]
“...Nothing.”
Adel tilted her head with an exclamation mark over it, blinking in clear confusion.
And Carnel... silently opened a desk drawer.
“Take this.”
[What's that]
Rustle.
A small pouch of cloth was placed on the desk.
A heavy weight accompanied by a jingle.
“...Reward from the request.”
[Oh]
The payment for the request she'd undertaken as Carnel's partner a few days ago.
However...
Adel eyed the pouch, rolled it around, then shook her head.
[I’ll just take a little]
“...Pardon?”
Before Carnel could ask again─
Adel plunged her hand into the pouch and carefully took out just five gold coins onto her palm.
[See ya]
Taking exactly five, Adel bowed her head without another word, then...
She twisted her body like a cat and scampered out of the student council room.
“......”
Truth be told, Adel's life wasn't so destitute these days.
She had a reliable money source in Al-cabbage, and some leeway in daily living.
And...
“...Approved.”
The student council members, unaware of that fact, nodded at Adel's retreating figure, somehow convinced of something.
***
“Headmaster. Surely I misheard?”
“Already senile? You heard right.”
“...What on earth are you saying?”
Unlike the peaceful student council room...
The headmaster's office was, as always, a total mess.
...Atmosphere-wise, of course.
“S Class students and the student council... going on a training camp together?”
“What do you mean? It means S Class and the student council are going on a training camp together.”
Klaus instinctively pressed his forehead.
S Class... and the student council on a training camp together was no issue at all.
The real problem was...
“No, why... is the headmaster going too...?!”
Veronica coming along as well.
Klaus was going mad over that fact.
“What's the problem?”
“That's the problem...”
Veronica never left the Cradle.
That was...
Because of the seal she'd placed on herself.
The moment she left the Cradle, most of her power would be sealed.
Yet Veronica knew that and still insisted on going.
“And to the Great Forest, no less?”
“That's right.”
“Sending students to the Great Forest in the first place doesn't make sense─”
“Klaus? Don't you remember I sent you to the Great Forest back in your student days?”
“......”
“You can go, but the others can't?”
“That's......”
“We're going for a different reason to begin with?”
Veronica had no intention of explaining that 'different reason' in detail.
In the end, Klaus sighed and changed the subject.
“Headmaster... Aren't you favoring S Class students too much?”
“I gathered S Class kids to favor them from the start?”
“......”
Veronica's unusually logical words for once.
Klaus had no choice but to shut his mouth.