Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Academy Assault
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Love was truly a noble emotion, or so I had thought since long ago.
I crossed countless brushes with death, met many people, and witnessed the colorful stories held within them.
Among those stories, love was always a regular guest that never failed to appear.
‘I thought it was still a far-off tale for me.’
I innocently blessed others’ romances, envied them, and yet subconsciously believed such feelings would never come my way.
But after meeting the professor at the academy—the one who fit the word “cold” to perfection—I finally understood the emotion called love.
Afterward, I fought alongside him to save the continent.
We overcame throngs of people and countless crises. We grew, we grieved, we raged, and even reached the very end.
And yet, I lost.
‘If there’s a next time for you, then—.’
What had my professor, sacrificing himself for my sake, been trying to say at the last?
Did you know?
The truth is, I regretted it back then.
I regretted not pouring out my heart to you properly.
Just the disappearance of a single person was enough to scatter my feelings like spilled water, derailing them beyond any hope of recovery.
In the end, the world came to ruin.
Leaving behind only the somewhat trivial regret of a single little girl.
That was supposed to be the world’s conclusion.
Or so I believed.
My regression happened seven months earlier.
Amid my parents making a huge fuss about my enrollment as a first-year at Robern Academy.
Unfortunately, rather than the joy of reuniting with parents I hadn’t seen in ages, another emotion bloomed within me.
Once more.
Again.
I could meet Professor Dayus.
How long had it been?
After his death, my life had crumbled into utter wretchedness.
When everything finally ended and began anew, I was more grateful for the chance to meet my professor again than for mere survival.
And now.
Honestly, I’d wanted to rush to him right away, but for my goal, I held back—and kept holding back.
Until finally, like a farmer reaping the harvest of seeds he’d sown.
Today, I could finally lay eyes on the long-awaited Professor Dayus.
“Whew!”
Mana gathered in Aria’s fist. Having already reached the realm of enlightenment in my previous life.
Boom!
Aria smashed through the evil spirit-reinforced glass with her fist. Princess Elenoa, watching from behind, stood there with her mouth hanging wide open.
Aria had already ditched all the other students and leaped out the window.
*
It wasn’t a simple barrier.
Thinking back to the spirit-summoning rite in Northsweden, where surrounding souls awakened and swarmed in—this was exactly the same.
It wasn’t just the academy’s evil spirits gathering. Vengeful spirits from the vicinity and even yokai that shouldn’t exist were appearing one by one, shattering the boundary between life and death.
Take the massive, earthworm-like bugs rising on the academy sports field, for instance.
The yokai known as flesh-devourers were called the demons’ instruments of punishment—living torture devices that spent hours gnawing on the living.
The situation had spiraled way out of control, but I knew the reason.
“Iluania, hand me the axe and wait outside.”
“Y-Yes, sir.”
“The guards will arrive soon. Explain it just as I told you.”
Iluania bowed her head and stepped out beyond the barrier.
I took the axe I’d brought for Pindenai, ready to face the flesh-devourers.
“They’re heeeere!”
Pindenai’s cheerful voice echoed from above. Astonishingly, she was sliding down the sleek body of a flesh-devourer straight toward me.
A nearby flesh-devourer bared its massive jaws and lunged at her.
But Pindenai had anticipated it and leaped high, tricking the hapless beasts into attacking each other.
The wolfish woman landed neatly right in front of me. A flashy entrance—she must’ve been on the rooftop.
“Why’re you so late? I wasn’t worried or anything, but I thought you’d ditched me.”
“There was an accident.”
Pindenai glanced at my clothes, spotting the marks from the widow evil spirit in the carriage, and clicked her tongue.
“You can’t even stay quiet for a minute.”
“……I don’t want to hear that from you.”
Who would’ve thought the day would come when I’d get that line from the woman who caused nonstop chaos at the mansion.
Pindenai naturally ignored me, gripped the axe, and grinned.
“Nice and chilly, with real weight to it. Not bad at all. Where’d you snag it?”
“Brought it from the Verdi warehouse.”
It had looked pretty valuable—Darius would probably chew me out if he found out.
“Oh, sweet. So, what’s my job? Round up all these and kill ’em?”
Pindenai slung the axe confidently over her shoulder and flashed a toothy smile.
The sight oddly reassuring, I nodded softly.
“We’re heading into the academy. Clear the way.”
“When the master gives an order, I obey!”
Pindenai shot forward, her maid outfit’s skirt fluttering wildly. Her dynamic moves flashed her undergarments, but the bloomers meant no embarrassment.
Gideon leaped from the rooftop too, swinging his blade of flames.
Erica followed, scattering golden mana as she landed.
The pair synced perfectly with Pindenai, carving through the flesh-devourers one after another.
The barrier made it easier for evil spirits to harm humans.
But the reverse held true as well.
“Die! Die! Dieeee!”
“Whew!”
Gideon and Erica fought with extra ferocity, as if venting every past humiliation.
Then.
A girl slipped gracefully through a pack of flesh-devourers that even Gideon and Erica couldn’t breach, approaching me.
She wore the Robern Academy uniform, with the red necktie marking her as a first-year dangling at her throat.
Wavy black hair, and looks that anyone would call a classic beauty.
“Pleased to meet you! I’m Aria Rias, the newest first-year enrollee at Robern!”
Her bright smile clashed wildly with the hellscape surroundings.
“Aria Rias.”
I mulled the name unconsciously. Impossible not to know it.
She was the protagonist of Retry—the game world I’d entered.
“Since you broke through the barrier, you must be incredibly strong. Mind if I join the fight?”
A sudden sense of disconnect hit me; I checked her approach path.
A second-floor classroom window lay shattered. Inside, students flailed about, some leaping out, others screaming for help.
“Tch.”
I clicked my tongue without thinking.
The Aria Rias I knew was innocent, just, and treasured her bonds with comrades.
She wouldn’t abandon her classmates, no matter how briefly acquainted.
Gritting my teeth, I brushed past her.
“If you’re a student, stay put. You’re not the one protecting—you’re the one who gets protected.”
“Ah, a-ah! Yes! Got it!”
I left Aria behind, bouncing with some weird感動 and glee. So much I wanted to say, so much to ask.
‘But that’s not the priority right now.’
Stabilizing the academy came first.
I followed the bloody path Pindenai had carved.
The flesh-devourers were mostly cleared; the three waited for me at the building entrance.
“You’re here. Took you long enough, damn it.”
Gideon combed back his red hair, sarcasm dripping without a hint of hiding his irritation.
“We’re going in. Get ready.”
Ignoring him, I began gathering mana. With no souls at my command, this was the perfect test of a necromancer’s fundamentals.
Erica hesitated, then approached cautiously.
“Um, about what happened earlier…….”
“Talk later. No time now.”
Erica clamped her mouth shut, gave a small nod, then asked again.
“What do you make of this barrier?”
Finally, a worthwhile topic. Mana cloaking my hand, I replied.
“The evil spirits hijacked the necromancer’s magic.”
“Necromancer?”
“You summoned one, didn’t you?”
“……Ah!”
Erica nodded vigorously, crying out in realization.
“I get it! That’s how the evil spirits pulled off this barrier with necromancy. If the necromancer they summoned died, she’d have become a spirit too!”
“She’s the sole murder victim—not likely cooperating. ‘Forcibly exploited’ is more accurate.”
Which made this fight straightforward.
“Find the necromancer’s spirit, and it’s done.”
That would collapse the barrier, banishing the evil spirits and yokai awakened by accident.
“I see.”
Erica tugged her white gloves taut, battle-ready—or so I thought.
Gideon piped up loudly, barging in.
“Hold up! Let’s make this clear. Dayus Verdi! You a necromancer or what?”
I scowled despite myself and shot back.
“Get ready. You know what’s waiting in the central entrance, right?”
“…….”
Gideon’s face brimmed with pent-up gripe. I sighed and spelled it out.
“Yeah, I’m a necromancer. Happy? Keep yapping useless crap, and I’ll turn you into a ghost first, you slacker. Shut it and get in front.”
My fierce warning and chin-jerk left Gideon staring blankly before he bit his lip and shuffled to Pindenai’s side.
“Our master gets scary intense sometimes.”
“Sh-Shut up.”
Pindenai snickered mockingly while Gideon flushed red with humiliation.
Erica took a careful spot beside me, and we advanced into the central entrance.
A one-armed warrior slumped on the first-floor stairs, head bowed, immediately caught my eye.
He slowly lifted his head, his blue-flame gaze erupting with savage hostility toward the intruders.
“Whew, the little guy’s still got it.”
As expected, Pindenai laughed familiarly—she’d tangled with him before.
That’s probably how she lost her axe.
I’d anticipated that, but her confidence meant she’d already sized him up as manageable.
“He’s a kind of guardian spirit.”
I began a brief rundown on the warrior.
“A swordsman who still won’t release his blade, guarding countless souls.”
Erica and Gideon flinched, glancing at me. They knew what had gone down here long ago.
“We can’t proceed unless we take him down.”
Creaaaak.
The sound of a rusty sword being drawn.
Exuding a violet, menacing aura, the warrior rose slowly.
Then charged straight at us.