Chapter 5
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Descent
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Have I been too complacent?
I shouldn't have brushed it off as her being too old to act spoiled. I should have asked why she was trying to bring up her nightmares even though she thought she was past that age.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
The door shook like it was about to shatter any second.
No, it was actually breaking.
I had no idea what was behind that door...
─Roooeeel!!
─Opeeen the doooor!!
They didn't seem friendly toward me.
"......At least they don't seem too bright."
I'm not the type to lock my door.
If they could just turn the knob to get in but aren't doing it, that means they don't have the brains for it.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
Thud! Thud! Thud...
......
"......Gone?"
Click.
"Ah."
─It opened it opened it opened it opened
─It opened it opened it opened it opened
─It opened it opened it opened it opened
─Roooeeeel!!
Something that had figured out how to open the door started pouring into the room.
It was a swarm of "hands" with human mouths attached.
"You fuckin'..."
The hands grabbed my limbs. They held me tight so I couldn't move and dragged me toward where they'd come from.
I couldn't tell where the hands were coming from. Their arms stretched out of sight.
Instinct told me I couldn't let myself get dragged away like this.
......A nightmare, right?
If this place was affected by nightmares because it's "Roel's inner world."
Has Roel been tormented by nightmares like this all along?
─Grrrrrind grrrrind
─Follow follow follow follow
I know Roel's past well.
Just fifteen years old. The overwhelming expectations from her family starting then.
Under that crushing burden forced upon her, Roel must have endured every moment just to avoid being crushed.
─What what what what what
I respect Roel.
Even if not right now, as long as this world is a novel, she'll overcome every trial in the end.
However.
─Won't budge won't budge won't budge
─Pull harder harder harder harder
Do I really have to pile on more trials for someone already suffering like this?
"......Not exactly a great role."
I suddenly halted while being dragged.
The hands strained desperately to pull me along, but somehow I could hold my ground.
Thanks to my privilege, I'd inherited Roel's talents.
And the talents I could wield were in a state of complete mastery.
I'd been thrown off at first by their grotesque appearance...
Well, Roel's peak wasn't something these monsters could touch.
Crack.
I forcibly twisted my body, ripping off the hands holding me.
I snapped the ones gripping me hard and swatted away the ones reaching to grab again.
─Weird weird weird weird
─You're you're you're you're
─Not Roel
"Right. I'm not Roel."
I don't know when it started.
"And from now on, you'd better not even think about touching Roel."
A single sword was in my hand.
"She's the only one I get to bully."
"......It's a dream."
Roel muttered.
A very familiar dream.
A pitch-black space. Standing alone in the void where nothing was visible, only to have her limbs torn off by countless monsters in the shape of hands, leading to her death.
"Wondered why it hadn't come."
It had been almost a week since she'd last had this dream.
Considering it usually came every two days at the latest, she'd held out pretty long.
Probably thanks to the brutal fatigue of the past few days, she'd fallen asleep without dreaming at all.
"......Hoo."
Roel let out a sigh thick with tension.
Because she knew.
Once she entered this dream, resistance was pointless, and the best course was to die quickly and wake up.
The pain was strangely vivid...
But there was no helping it.
Right on cue, the monsters appeared.
─Save me save me save me save me
─Roooeeel!!
─Heeeelp!!
"Eh."
It was a little different from usual.
Slash.
Stab.
Someone other than Roel was in the dream.
─Resist resist resist resist
The monsters were getting sliced apart one by one.
They screamed and fled.
The mysterious someone relentlessly pursued and cut them all down.
"Wh-what..."
The person sometimes seemed to look like Roel.
And sometimes like a completely different man she'd never seen.
Seeing two utterly mismatched appearances at once—was it because this was the dream world?
"......"
Roel held her breath and watched the scene.
Ruthless and beautiful.
She hadn't known a sword could be swung like that.
Fear mingled with awe, leaving her entranced.
Roel was captivated by him.
She watched in a daze for a long while.
All the monsters had been wiped out.
Suddenly, her mind cleared.
A sensation like being pulled somewhere told her she was waking from the dream.
Before fully waking, Roel looked at him.
He faced her and said something.
This time in the dream, Roel didn't die.
"Ah..."
Roel sighed and opened her eyes.
As she sat up in bed, her body felt astonishingly light.
"......Amazing."
Five years since becoming a Blessed One.
She'd had countless dreams like this one, but this was the first time it ended like that.
Why?
What had changed?
─If you're awake, stop spacing out and get ready. Duel's soon, right?
Roel wore a blank look.
No way...
"Ah, Demon."
─What?
"Did you perhaps see me in the dream..."
─Cut the nonsense and get ready already.
"Ah, yes."
The curt firmness made Roel shrink back a little.
Right, this wasn't the time.
She pulled herself together and got out of bed.
She changed clothes and grabbed the weapon provided by her family.
Thirty minutes left. Going early to warm up sounded good.
─Leave that.
"Pardon? What?"
─The sword.
At the Demon's words, Roel looked at the sword in her left hand.
A high-grade sword stamped with the Griffith family crest. Leave this behind?
"......Then what do I fight with?"
─There's a wooden sword there.
"But Sera's going to bring a real sword."
─You'll still win, so just leave it.
Roel stared blankly into empty air.
Am I not the one fighting? What was he basing that confidence on?
This whole mess happened because of that Demon in the first place.
Resentment bubbled up.
"......Yes."
But she didn't voice it.
No point in arguing now—it would just be pointless back-and-forth.
And besides, hadn't she gotten some proper training out of it?
Thanks to that, no dreams for about a week...
And she'd woken up safe today too...
The more she thought, the more it felt like only good things had happened.
No, even so, she was still set to get utterly crushed today?
The Demon said she'd win, but she couldn't believe it for the life of her.
She was the one who'd get hurt, the one who'd be humiliated—anyway, she was the one taking all the losses...
Ah, whatever.
Roel left the dorm without the sword.
It'd work out somehow.
A short walk later, she arrived at the training ground where the duel was set.
Roel slipped in cautiously and glanced around.
A good crowd of cadets had already gathered, even though the duel hadn't started yet.
"Ah, that's Roel?"
"Yeah, a 5th Grader challenged Sera to a duel."
Whispers from all directions.
Roel felt her ears burning red but forced her expression to stay neutral.
She picked up a wooden sword and headed to a corner to warm up.
Plenty of eyes were on her, but focusing on her stretches let her forget them naturally.
"......"
Then, a flicker of unease crossed Roel's face.
The easiest way to check her own growth was simply to swing her sword.
Even if it wasn't objective, she could sense the difference from before to some degree.
However, what Roel felt now was...
'Nothing's changed.'
Strictly speaking, it wasn't nothing at all.
She could feel that her swings had a bit more power and the strain on her body was slightly less—a sure sign the week's stamina training had paid off.
But could she call that "getting stronger"?
More importantly, could she say this level closed the gap with Sera at all?
Not in the slightest.
In that moment, Roel was certain.
She would definitely lose today's duel.
"Cadet Roel! Over here."
The professor serving as referee called to her.
Sera stood beside him, real sword in hand.
Duel time.
Her feet wouldn't move easily.
The hesitation probably stemmed from knowing she couldn't win.
─Roel.
"......Yes?"
─Trust me.
The Demon's voice reached her.
Being told to trust him was a little reassuring.
Maybe from spending the past few days together.
"Got it."
The church preached never to yield to a demon's whispers.
But demons always slyly exploited human weaknesses.
If this voice really was a demon's, resisting it was impossible from the start.
Roel took a step forward.
She slowly advanced and stood before Sera.
"Didn't run, huh?"
"Of course not. I'm going to win."
This time, it wasn't the Demon speaking.
Sera's face twisted at Roel's own provocation.
"Fine, let's see how far you get with just a wooden sword."
Sera stepped back.
Putting five steps between opponents. That was the duel rule.
Roel did the same, and the professor gave the signal.
"One."
She gripped her sword tightly.
"Two."
She took her stance, never taking her eyes off Sera.
"Three."
Trust.
Trust the demon inside me.
"Start!"
And in the very next instant, the flat of Sera's blade struck Roel's jaw.
Thud.
Roel collapsed face-first to the ground, unconscious.
The match was decided.
"......Duel over. Winner, Sera."
The declaration rang out flatly, as if it were a given.
There were no cheers for the result.
"Knew it'd be like this."
"What gave her that confidence?"
"Who knows. Hilarious, though."
All sorts of mockery.
Scorn, ridicule, disdain.
The fainted Roel heard none of it.
Someone else heard.
"......One condition's a real bitch."
Someone who wasn't Roel.
He spoke through Roel's body and rose using Roel's body.