Chapter 24
Chapter 24
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Group Project
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Clunk.
The door to the student council room swung open, violet hair whipping through the air.
“Carnel~ I brought what you asked for~”
With those words, Violet plunked a thick stack of documents down on Carnel’s desk.
The desk let out a thudding cry as a bonus.
“Whoa… what’s all this?”
Violet gasped instinctively at the pile of papers stacked on the desk.
“Hm? This is…”
Violet picked up one document and started reading.
“Suspected to possess a sub-space artifact…”
“Possesses an artifact in the form of a sword.”
“Artifact in the form of a mask…”
Violet swallowed hard.
“Eek…”
Then she carefully set the document back down.
As if she’d glimpsed something she shouldn’t have.
“Um… Carnel?”
“Why are you calling me?”
Even as she answered Violet, Carnel’s hands never stopped moving.
“By any chance… are you investigating your little brother right now?”
Carnel’s hands froze.
She looked a little flustered.
“A-ah, Violet. You can’t phrase it like that!”
“…Then what is it?”
Carnel puffed out her chest proudly.
“This is the student council’s legitimate talent scouting.”
“Oh… I see.”
Violet felt something was off, but she nodded anyway.
And then.
‘…Isn’t it the same either way?’
She called it talent scouting, but the essence was identical.
A thorough digging into private life without permission.
The kind of investigation that would make the subject freak out if they knew.
Normally, she should stop it…
“Hm…”
Violet was Carnel’s friend.
No, her best friend.
Maybe that’s why.
“Let me take a look too.”
The words slipped out on their own.
…There’s that saying.
Birds of a feather flock together.
“Oh… wields a technique similar to the ‘Dragon Tongue’ from ancient texts.”
“I think I’ve heard of this one too… something about dying if you hear her voice three times?”
Violet flipped through the documents with eyes full of curiosity.
“Communicates via whiteboard instead of speaking… I knew that.”
“Magic power measurement impossible? Pffft… not ‘zero magic power,’ but ‘immeasurable.’”
“Activity only detected recently… blank slate before that?”
“Birthplace unknown. Residence unknown. No prior history…”
“…What if the little brother we’ve seen all this time was actually a ghost?”
Meanwhile, next to such a Violet, Carnel was…
“Hmm…”
Looking dissatisfied.
“What’s wrong?”
“…It’s nothing.”
Carnel lowered her gaze.
Her eyes caught a small note in the corner of one document.
‘…All traces untraceable until about half a year ago.’
…Why?
‘It doesn’t make sense…’
No traces at all.
No family, no origins, no history—nowhere does she exist.
‘Did he just drop out of the sky?’
Or perhaps…
‘If someone erased the information…?’
Not by Adel’s own will, but by someone’s ‘intent’—if his past was deliberately wiped?
Carnel’s mind raced, piecing together a story.
…Illegitimate child of the Delbar Ducal House.
…Cast out for lacking magic power.
…Given a few artifacts and abandoned somewhere.
…All records erased along with her.
‘Gasp…’
A perfect narrative.
But she quickly shook her head vigorously.
‘…What a ridiculous theory!’
Yet strangely, that ridiculous theory felt all too plausible.
“Carnel… what are you imagining?”
“Ah… n-no, it’s nothing!”
She jolted.
Carnel shot up from her seat.
Her face beet red.
“Absolutely! I never imagined that a zero-point pervert is my little brother!!”
“Ah… r-really?”
Violet couldn’t hide her fluster at Carnel’s sudden confession.
***
At that moment, I was…
‘What should I do with this.’
Bubble bubble bubble…
Water bubbled away in the pot.
“What are you doing, human!!!”
In my hand, above the pot, dangled a pink, sparkling loach.
‘Loach soup or spicy loach stew…’
That was the question.
“Put me down this instant! There’s a limit to ingratitude, human!”
[You want me to let go?]
“…Ah, no! Never let go of that hand, human!!!”
The loach flapped its mouth and thrashed wildly.
Smack. Smack.
I pretended to loosen my grip, and its tiny tail whipped my hand.
[What should I do with you?]
I pondered while dangling the loach this way and that.
“What do you mean, what? Get rid of that pot first! It’s not too late, human!!”
Whoosh. Whoosh.
The loach desperately pointed at the pot with its slippery tail.
[(⊙_⊙)？]
Smack. Smack.
The tail kept smacking my hand.
Of course, it didn’t hurt.
Just a little ticklish.
Swoosh.
“I’m getting roasted… roasted, human!!!”
Swish swish.
I shook the loach around.
‘Eh, that’s enough.’
Whoosh.
- Splash!
I tossed the loach back into the fish tank.
“Huff… huff…”
…Man, for a loach, it sure pants impressively.
[So, what are you?]
“…What do you mean, what, human.”
[What’s with the fish tank and that body?]
At that, the loach slapped its fin against the tank glass.
A pose brimming with oddly overflowing confidence.
“My home.”
…Ah, sure. Of course.
[What about the loach body?]
This time, it slapped a fin to its waist.
“Ahem, this isn’t a loach, it’s a ‘dragon,’ human.”
[Then fly for me.]
“My condition’s off right now. I’m holding back, human.”
Hm…
Had this loach been trapped in my mental space so long it went crazy?
“And if you ask why I came out… being stuck in the mental space was suffocating, so I escaped outside.”
Ah, I see.
‘But…’
Swoosh.
I peered closely at the loach.
‘No matter how I look, it’s a snake, not a dragon.’
Its appearance was exactly half dragon, half sea serpent.
No horns for a dragon, no wings… at best, scales glinting on its fins and tail?
[Are you really a dragon?]
I couldn’t hold back and asked.
“…What?”
And… that was my mistake.
[No matter how I look, it’s just a sea serpent—]
“Eek…!! Take that back right now! Take it back, human!!”
- Splash! Splash!
The loach thrashed madly in the water.
Jumping up and down, turning my dorm room into a watery mess.
“I’m a dragon! A dragon…!!”
And then…
“Sniff… I’m a dragon… a dragon…”
Tears welled up in the loach’s eyes.
‘Ah…’
Please no.
***
“Hey~ Top seat, why so down?”
Serros approached with a cheeky grin, patting my shoulder.
[There’s a sad legend here]
Heavy, lingering handwriting.
“…Huh, a legend?”
[Something like that]
The strongest race was bawling and dribbling snotting everywhere.
I was cleaning up the flooded dorm until dawn, no sleep.
…Just that kind of sad, pathetic tale.
And…
Zing…
“…Blasphemous wretch.”
I turned to see Erwin glaring at me, grinding his teeth.
‘…What’s your deal?’
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
[ Erwin von Orpheus ]
Favorability: 【Divine Blasphemy】
Status: 【Negative】
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ (-20/10)
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
‘Whoa… you’re impressive too?’
Didn’t expect you to break the system’s limits.
‘Dizzying, so dizzying.’
He’d always shot laser beams from his eyes, but today… it felt like he might actually fire.
‘Were you always this character?’
In the game, he wasn’t this much of a gag character.
Somehow… evolving in a weird direction.
“Ugh…”
Serros belatedly noticed Erwin’s glare and subtly stepped away from me.
“Um… Top seat, did you do something to piss off Erwin by any chance?”
[No]
It was the honest truth.
Aside from plunging him into the abyss.
‘…Was that the issue?’
No, he started the fight first, right?
He lost and now whines like a sore loser?
‘For real?’
- Rattle.
At that moment, the Class S door opened.
“Hi.”
Veronica strode in.
“Have you all heard about the group project? I gotta go adjust the sub-space…”
“…Group project?”
“You didn’t hear about it?”
Veronica broke out in a sweat.
“R-really? Ahaha… anyway, study hard? Good luck…?”
And with that.
She tossed out the word ‘group project.’
And vanished as quickly as she appeared.
‘Tch.’
She was spoiling it like that.
***
To be fair, it was going to be announced today anyway.
“The group project is to survive for seven days in the sub-space while investigating the beasts.”
…But.
Is surviving and investigating in a space where you don’t even know what’s inside really just a ‘project’?
“Of course, all the beasts are artificially created ‘fakes.’”
Professor Delphine continued her explanation.
“However, they are restricted only from killing; all other actions are permitted.”
Gulp.
Swallowing sounds echoed here and there.
‘Can’t blame them.’
They won’t kill, but they can beat you unconscious.
“Everyone must be wondering.”
Professor Delphine set down the papers in her hand and spoke.
“Why assign such a project.”
The students nodded cautiously.
“As you all know, beasts are classified into five colors by danger level.”
White, Gray, Blue, Red, Black.
A five-tier system.
“But… just as there are heavens above heavens, within those five colors lie another five stages.”
“…”
“With your current abilities, you could handle blue beasts with ease.”
Blue is the ‘standard’ by Cradle’s benchmarks.
Something every Cradle student should manage.
“Then… why?”
“Because of that very assumption.”
“…Pardon?”
“Even a blue beast can escalate to red or higher depending on terrain, environment, and your condition.”
The classroom atmosphere grew subtly heavy.
“This project evaluates observation, judgment, and situational response—all of it.”
More like measures, to be precise.
‘If that’s the case, just call it an evaluation.’
The thought crossed my mind, but…
“But this is a ‘project.’”
Professor Delphine addressed the curiosity.
“Not an ‘evaluation,’ but a ‘project.’ The implication is simple.”
“…No way?”
“Correct. The faculty will not intervene in this project at all.”
- Murmurs…
The classroom erupted in noise instantly.
“Of course, if it becomes too much, students may forfeit the project themselves.”
An ‘evaluation’ wouldn’t allow the word forfeit.
But this is a ‘project.’
You can back out, and the responsibility is entirely yours.
But cross that line.
And no one will cover for the consequences.
***
‘Group size: three.’
Two freshmen.
And… one second-year senior.
Note: No Class S on Class S.
‘For freshmen… Klaus should work.’
Our protagonist, Mr. Klaus.
He was the king of outcasts until a few days ago, so he had no groupmates in sight.
‘I’ll just swoop in nicely.’
Anyway, secured one capable mercenary.
The issue is.
‘But… who for second-year.’
Our invincible Violet?
‘Possible, but…’
Lost in such thoughts while walking.
“Ah! You! Found you!”
A familiar, sharp voice.
“You! You’re recruiting for the group project right now!”
Our proud Cradle student council president declared, hand on chest.
“I can specially! Join! You!”
…This was more a forced enlistment than help, of course.
[Thank you]
But...
Why would I refuse when the cheat key walks in on their own?