Chapter 61
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 61
Chapter Title: New Story (1)
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Putting aside Yoo Ji-hye, who was struggling without money or status.
I turned my attention back to this world.
["Supplies have arrived from the Evans family...?"]
["And this is from the Bellakshi house..."]
The Griffith territory was recovering at a remarkably swift pace.
Roel hadn't even requested help separately. It was just that the intelligence networks of the major houses were no joke.
Roel, utterly bewildered, left urgent letters for her two friends.
["Support has arrived from the Academy too!"]
["Th-this time it's from the Church...!"]
The topics for letters were piling up, but anyway!
Thanks to that, the Griffith territory was blooming with smiles once more...
No, it wasn't.
Smiles had never existed in the Griffith territory to begin with.
Now even that faint possibility had vanished, so there was no way they could smile.
Still, if there was any consolation, it was that a few lives had been saved.
["S-sis..."]
["I have nothing to say to you."]
Family matters were still complicated, though.
Recovery efforts at the Mage Tower were progressing steadily as well.
It was thanks to the powerful suggestion spell lifted from the entire tower upon the Archmage's death.
A few sharp minds had dug into the Archmage's corruption to some extent, and the once-secluded Mage Tower was entering a new phase by partially disclosing their technologies.
Oh, and they were rebuilding the collapsed tower.
All the surviving mages were being put to work on restoration, so by the time Roel returned for the new term, it would probably be fully restored.
And regarding the Archmage's killer...
"We've decided to cover it up."
"What?"
"You showed your face at the end, right? A few people saw, but luckily, we've reached an agreement with them."
The killer was officially listed as an "unknown demon."
It meant my face wouldn't be plastered across the kingdom, nor would I be hunted every time I used the avatar.
It was thanks to Helen's efforts.
"Is that okay?"
"Do you know how close our house came to losing our title and everything?"
According to Helen, Dillon's actions had also been proven to be under the suggestion spell.
It was honestly surprising how many issues were resolved just by killing one Archmage.
"We had to repay the favor at least this much. More importantly..."
"Yeah?"
"It's all true, right?"
As promised, I told Helen everything about the Archmage.
"You don't have to believe it. There's no hard evidence anyway."
"...I believe you. No evidence like you said, but the circumstances fit perfectly."
From here on, it's what I heard from the author.
The Archmage's goal had been to become a new god.
Over a long life, he'd figured out the method, planned it out, and recently moved to execute it.
"To become an absolute existence to over ten thousand humans. Can you really become a god just from that?"
"No idea. I stopped him before that."
"True... Anyway, thank you. For keeping your promise."
Honestly, I don't think the Archmage could've become a god even if left alone.
The Church isn't that incompetent; they wouldn't just sit by.
I simply eliminated the immediate threat.
"Nothing else you're curious about?"
"A mountain of it, but I doubt you'd tell me."
"...Yeah."
With that, all the urgent matters were settled.
Considering I'd started without any proper plan, it was a pretty clean wrap-up.
"You leaving?"
"Got places to be."
I'd been running nonstop, but time wasn't waiting around.
"See you again."
Days flew by in the blink of an eye—one day, a week, a month.
The blazing sun slowly hid its face.
As the hot air cooled somewhat, the season of openness arrived.
In other words, the genre deviation was finally over.
Roel returned to the Academy.
["Roel, you've changed a ton."]
["Laila, you've gotten stronger too, haven't you?"]
What does vacation exist for?
For rest, sure, but truly resting means falling behind.
No one probably took it easy for real.
The "trio" was no exception.
Far from lagging, their leaps forward would soon be revealed.
["Welcome back, everyone."]
The familiar ceremony took place.
The nominal rest period ended, and the education term began anew.
["Did you see that?"]
Opening ceremony this, orientation that...
No time for boring explanations like those.
This was a world inside a novel.
No matter how much it deviated from the original, the big framework was set.
If the first semester's story was the central continent arc, the second semester moved to the next chapter.
["You're talking about the class schedule, right? I saw it too."]
Centered on the central continent, whose name literally meant "center."
To the north lay the "Demon King's land," to the east the enigmatic nation called the "East."
The south was the "Dragon's land," untouched by any soul.
Then, to the west?
["It's true we're heading to the Western Continent?"]
In fantasy, there's one race you can never skip.
The pointy-eared folk living in the great forest around the World Tree, infamous for their extreme hatred of humans.
Elves!
For some reason, the Academy had secured their cooperation, announcing a trip to the great forest during the second semester.
"No matter how I look at this..."
I had a feeling we'd be getting deeply involved with the elves this time.
"Time to put it to use."
I shot up from my chair.
Until now, I'd just been going on instinct.
This'll work, that'll work.
Otherwise? Fuck it, we're screwed...
No choice.
I'm just a reader who'd skimmed about ten chapters of the novel.
"Future knowledge exploitation" like everyone else does? Never been an option from the start.
Now it's different.
Think about who's in this world besides me.
"Sitla."
—Yes, Master.
"How's she doing?"
—Yes! She's still alive!
The one who built the world, crafted the story, and wrote it down.
As I said before, even if the plot twists, the "chapters" don't change.
No matter how fierce the storm from the butterfly effect, it won't tilt Earth's axis—the world's grand flow remains.
Which means the author's knowledge could be useful too.
—What should we do?
"Feed her first."
—Got it!
Late at night, in the forest.
I had no idea how I'd ended up here.
I'd just kept walking aimlessly, and the scenery kept changing, changing, changing.
Does it make sense not to know where you're going?
That's a question Yoo Ji-hye was feeling too.
Why am I doing this?
Why won't I stop, why...
A clear anomaly.
As some might have noticed, Yoo Ji-hye's "steps" were Sitla's doing.
"Huff, huff..."
As she barely caught her breath and kept walking for no reason.
"Hey."
The (former) extra demon called out to her.
"You okay?"
"N-no, how could I be... okay..."
It wasn't that her stuttering habit had worsened.
She was just too exhausted to breathe properly.
Sitla, giggling, pointed at Yoo Ji-hye's back with her finger.
"Monster behind you."
"Eek!"
Yoo Ji-hye's body was covered in wounds right now.
Slashes, tears, bites, and more...
The handiwork of low-grade forest monsters that had toyed with her plenty.
Having developed PTSD naturally, Yoo Ji-hye lost all rational thought at the mere mention of a monster.
"S-save, save me!!"
"At this point, can't you take it on alone?"
"I can't! I can't!!"
She collapsed to the ground, trembling.
She didn't want more wounds, but her legs hurt too much to run.
"Pfft, haha! Just kidding! I already killed it."
Sitla landed on the ground and calmed Yoo Ji-hye down.
"Look over there. It's dead, right?"
And sure enough, a monster lay dead there.
A beast called a blade wolf. Its fangs were sharp like blades, but since that was its only weapon, even low-grade adventurers hunted them easily.
"Those are pretty tasty, you know?"
"Y-yes?"
Sitla trotted over and gathered some wood scraps.
Clack, clack. She arranged them into a campfire shape, then lit it with a small flame spell.
"Hungry?"
"Uh... yeah..."
Crackle.
Crackle...
The sound of burning wood filled the air.
The warm heat thawed Yoo Ji-hye's chilled body somewhat.
"Wait a sec."
She used magic again.
Sitla waved her hand a few times, and the blade wolf's hide peeled off as it was "butchered."
A large leg flew over with a whoosh.
It settled over the fire and began to roast.
A delicious aroma wafted up.
"R-really, really...?"
"Of course. Truth is, I didn't want to turn you into this either..."
Sitla let out a sigh.
She placed a hand on Yoo Ji-hye's shoulder and gave a human... no, a "demon-friendly" smile.
"Aren't you pissed? Who does she think she is!"
"Y-yeah..."
"And begging you to reflect? That's annoying too."
"Right. Right..."
"Yeah, yeah..."
The wolf leg roast was fully cooked before long.
Sitla took a big bite.
Tender meat tearing softly, with an explosion of savory juices.
To Yoo Ji-hye, who'd been starving for days, it was intense stimulation.
"I see..."
But that meat never reached Yoo Ji-hye.
Sitla stood up and walked off somewhere.
"Master, that's what she says."
"Yeah. No reflection."
The wolf leg was in the hand of a man who knew not when he'd arrived.
"Ah..."
Yoo Ji-hye's expression crumbled.