Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: Bedside Visit
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“Hmm.”
Veronica floated idly through the air, hands clasped behind her back.
“Is this the place?”
She had arrived at the forest, reduced to a pile of ashes.
“That idiot Delphine… I worked so hard to build all this.”
Every structure in the sub-space had been crafted by Veronica’s own hands. Naturally, she couldn’t help but feel a surge of anger.
“Let’s see…”
What Veronica sought was the remnants of the magic beast.
She picked up a nearby stick and prodded the ash pile.
“Is this it?”
Something foul emerged from the ashes.
“Hmm… Looks like it.”
The unpleasant residue confirmed it was indeed traces of the magic beast.
A moment later… Veronica opened her mouth.
Not in human tongue, but in the language of dragons… 【Dragon Tongue】 flowed out.
“Restore.”
The magic beast’s remains swirled and came back to life.
It took the form of a large dog, bleeding profusely… the Blood Hound.
“Whoa… It was a Blood Hound?”
Veronica marveled.
She knew it had been a red magic beast, but she hadn’t expected a Blood Hound.
“How did they take this thing down?”
Carnel specialized in magic.
“The President wouldn’t have been able to overpower it either… And Adel…”
Adel’s Word of Command was based on spells.
Language was magic, and magic was language. No matter what words Word of Command uttered, it was ultimately magic.
It wouldn’t have worked on a Blood Hound.
“So that’s why everything went to hell?”
Veronica scanned the ash-choked forest once more.
With heat this intense, no mere reflection could have blocked it.
- Grrrrowl…
The Blood Hound in front of her crouched low.
Its gaze was filled with instinctive terror toward Veronica.
“Ah, you can go now.”
- Snap.
Veronica flicked her fingers.
The space where the Blood Hound hovered warped and vanished it entirely.
“Hmm.”
- Whirr.
Veronica opened a portal from the sub-space and stepped out.
“Dean.”
“What about the Kaus' barrier?”
The Vice-Dean, Kaus Ostris, had already returned from the Empire to the Cradle.
“There were no anomalies in the barrier surrounding the Cradle.”
Veronica tapped her chin.
“…So something happened inside the sub-space.”
A brief silence fell, and Kaus cautiously spoke up.
“Dean…”
“What.”
“If something happened in your sub-space without leaving a single trace… doesn’t that mean the Disaster moved?”
“…”
Kaus wasn’t wrong.
If something had occurred in Veronica’s sub-space without any remnants…
“…Annoying.”
- Crackle.
Space visibly distorted. The dragon’s rage crushed the world before reason could catch up.
“So… the kids?”
“…Everyone’s safe except the top seat.”
“…Is he dead?”
“He’s lying in the infirmary.”
“Hmm… Guess I should give him a reward or something.”
Veronica pondered briefly whether to bring some orange juice.
***
“Br-bro!”
“Pi-Pikachu!!”
…What is this?
An incomprehensible terror. Something that surpassed even cosmic horror lingered.
Violet clung to me with terrified eyes, while Carnel shouted “Pikachu” with madness-glazed eyes.
‘No… More than that, why Pikachu of all things.’
Their gazes were eerie enough on their own, but the problem didn’t end there.
The moment Carnel cried out “Pikachu,” that madness sublimated into pure horror.
“Br-bro! It’s you!”
Amid it all, Violet grabbed my shoulders and shook them.
“You must’ve told Carnel what Pikachu means!”
Ah… So it was my fault after all… It was all because of me.
I… I had invited this death upon myself.
I humbly closed my eyes and accepted my fate.
“Don’t close your eyes—say something, bro!”
…Me, Adel.
I'll be dying here.
“…”
As I shut my eyes and awaited death, Carnel and Violet had already vanished.
…Off to research Pikachu or something.
‘I shouldn’t have said anything.’
It was pure curiosity in their eyes. Nothing deeper.
They’d just asked with sparkling interest, so I’d tossed out a few words out of boredom.
‘…But Pikachu is kinda cute.’
Once seen, that visual was unforgettable.
‘In the end, my mouth is the problem.’
I can’t speak, but my mouth was still the issue.
‘No, wait—is it my hands?’
And then.
[ ! ]
A system window popped up before my eyes.
[ You have defeated the red magic beast ‘Blood Hound’! ]
[ As a hidden reward, you acquire the unique skill 【Bloodfall Blossoming】. ]
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
【Bloodfall Blossoming】
Fallen blood reverts to life, blooming into flowers once more.
: Absorbs spilled blood to restore health.
The blood’s circulation rejects death, and life blooms anew.
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
‘This is it.’
The reward at the end of pain. That was the charm of games, the solace of reality.
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
[ Adel ]
Limit Breakthrough : ★☆☆☆☆
Attribute
: 「Abyss」
: 「Nothingness」
Unique Skills
: 【Disaster Devourer】
: 【Silent Walker】
: 【Word of Command】
: 【Bloodfall Blossoming】
: 【…】
Talents
: 【All talents are fixed at ‘Lowest’ due to the ‘Stigma’.】
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
Seriously.
Without this hidden reward, I never would’ve dreamed of setting my body ablaze.
High risk, uncertain return—who’d want to sacrifice themselves?
‘A skill that restores health just by absorbing spilled blood.’
Note that ‘health’ here means life force, not stamina.
‘I went through hell just to get this one.’
Dozens of save-loads.
I repeated the seven days of the group project countless times to isolate the Blood Hound.
Even as a swordsman, I foolishly tried magic and got insta-killed by the reflection.
‘Ah.’
Anyway, my body hurts like hell.
‘Burning my body too was insane, huh.’
Whenever that thought crossed my mind, I checked my status again.
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
【Bloodfall Blossoming】
Fallen blood reverts to life, blooming into flowers once more.
: Absorbs spilled blood to restore health.
The blood’s circulation rejects death, and life blooms anew.
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
‘It’s a unique skill, no less.’
Yeah, exactly. Worth the price.
Unique skill—unique skill.
Even sacrificing this body wouldn’t make it a waste.
‘Damn right.’
As I muttered to myself.
- Knock knock.
A knock sounded.
- Slide.
“…You’re awake?”
Our saintess had arrived.
[Uh]
Lev strode over and stood before me.
- Tap.
“?”
Lev’s hand touched the top of my head.
And then.
“…Your body’s weird.”
Her fingers trailed down my mask, cautiously reaching my chest.
‘My body’s weird?’
I knew that already. But hearing it pointed out like this… made me even more uneasy.
“Your mana circuits… are all tangled up.”
Lev’s fingers circled over my chest.
“…The wounds are self-inflicted from your own power…”
Poke.
Lev’s finger jabbed my chest.
“…What the hell are you?”
A red glint seeped through Rev’s hair.
Our eyes met.
My gaze and Lev’s locked perfectly, without a flicker.
Rev’s expression turned strange.
As if she found it odd that I didn’t look away from her eyes.
“…You don’t flinch even staring into my eyes.”
【Laplace’s Eye】 observed.
Another presence enveloping Lev’s body.
The form of jealousy overlapped behind her back.
It clung to Lev’s shadow like arms wrapped around her, leaning into her body—that emotion.
【Ah, eye contact.】
The form of emotion, of jealousy, whispered without a word.
I was odd for understanding it, but it wasn’t strange at all.
“…You talk to me so naturally, like we’ve known each other forever.”
The jealousy sank beneath the surface and slowly faded.
“…What the hell are you?”
Feels like I’ve heard this line before.
‘What did I say back then?’
Of course, it wasn’t Lev that time.
[For starters, I’m human]
“…For starters.”
Lev murmured after me, chewing on the word ‘starters’.
‘Ah.’
Only after replying did I realize.
I’d unnecessarily tacked on that suspicious word ‘starters’ again.
[And Lev’s my one and only friend]
“…Friend.”
I quickly added.
“…You’re my friend?”
[Yeah]
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
[ Lev de Lumière ]
Affinity : 【Strange Friend】
Status : 【Positive】
■■■■■□□□□□ (5/10)
✦━━━━━━━━━━━━✦
Strange Friend.
A friend, but strange? Or strange, yet a friend?
“…We’re friends, huh.”
[Obviously]
You’re my strange friend.
I’m your strange friend.
That we’re each a bit odd to the other.
That’s… enough for us.
***
“So, like, our buddy Klaus sliced that red magic beast in one strike~”
“Haha… Serros, you’re hyping me up too much.”
Serros laughed, arm slung over Klaus’s shoulder.
When did these two get so close? Even in the ‘Aka Calamity,’ they clicked well, and now they were fast friends.
‘But…’
I turned my head slightly.
“Is that true? A red magic beast showed up?”
“Dammit… Was I too far? I didn’t sense a thing…”
“…I didn’t feel it either.”
“Adel, got more tuna cans, nya?”
Anyone would think this was an official meetup.
Crowded into this tiny infirmary room, they were pressed together, chatting away… So relaxed.
‘Actually… the room isn’t that small.’
Maybe it felt cramped because of all the people.
Or maybe because my wish for things to stay quiet was futile.
I couldn’t hold back anymore and grabbed the whiteboard by the bed.
Pen in hand—scribble scribble—I wrote messily.
[When r u leaving]
The silence lasted less than a second.
“‘When are you leaving?’ Top seat, that’s a heartbreaking question.”
Serros reacted first.
[I’m the patient here]
“That’s why we’re visiting, Top seat. Know how much courage that takes?”
No clue.
Not sure if it really took courage, or if visiting was even necessary.
“Huh? I thought we came to hang out?”
“…second place, don’t say it like that.”
Laphia’s blunt words froze Serros’s smile.
‘This jerk.’
Serros waved it off frantically, trying to smooth things over.
“C’mon, c’mon! We’re here for Adel’s recovery, right? That’s the vibe?”
“Yeah, true, but.”
“Exactly~ Our crown prince sacrificed himself for the Empire’s people!”
…I’m the one who sacrificed my body.
“Adel, can I sleep here tonight, nya? The bed’s super comfy~”
[Out]
I shoved the whiteboard at her firmly.
‘Absolutely not.’
Don’t you dare eye my bed.
Technically the Cradle’s, but right now, it was wholly mine.
“Aww~ Too mean, nya. It's a waste to sleep alone, nya.”
I drew an X with my fingers and shook my head firmly.
Neru pouted, fiddling with the blanket’s edge, looking wronged.
***
“Top seat, you asleep?”
“…Looks like it.”
“Hmm… Should we head out now?”
“We really just came to hang?”
“It’s fun.”
“…Fair enough.”
The sound of them shuffling out en masse.
I swallowed my inner rage.
My ace-in-the-hole ‘pretend to sleep’ ploy bought a moment’s peace, but all it brought back was betrayal.
- Slide.
The infirmary door opened again.
I jolted, yanking the blanket over my head and squeezing my eyes shut.
- Step. Step.
Footsteps approached.
- Whoosh.
The blanket covering me was suddenly pulled back.
- Tap. Tap.
Someone tapped my mask with a finger.
“You asleep?”
A sweet voice.
“You’re sleeping, huh?”
Her ticklish tone nearly gave me chills, but I held firm and cracked my eyes open.
“Huh? Not asleep?”
Right before my eyes…
“Hi?”
The terrifying dragon… beamed innocently, locking eyes with me.