Chapter 50
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Academy (1)
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The lady's heart was pierced through, yet her signature stoic expression didn't crack. A faint wince from the pain was the only change.
The Succubus Queen scowled in disgust.
"Still wearing that damn face... What a shame. If you'd been just a bit weaker, I could've thrown you into the pigsty."
The lady heard the insult but didn't get angry. Once she returned, it'd all be undone anyway. Everything was meaningless.
"At this point, I'll toss your corpse in there instead. Who knows if the rutting pigs will mount it?"
Only now did the lady shift her gaze to meet the Succubus Queen's eyes.
"You wouldn't like getting eaten by pigs yourself, would you? But what can we do? Seeing how much you hate it, I guess I have to do it right. Have the black mage turn your corpse into a ghoul... Huh?"
After countless regressions, the one thing Lady Helena was most confident in was suicide. Especially overloading all her mana to blow herself up along with everything around her.
Her mana began to surge wildly. Sensing the imminent explosion like a precisely controlled bomb, the Succubus Queen's voice trembled.
"W-Wait a sec..."
The lady pursed her lips in a smirk and was engulfed in a flash of light.
She staggered slightly and pressed her brow. As expected, she was back at the academy again.
She didn't need to look around to know the situation. It was sparring time for first-semester grade assignments.
A young man who looked like a noble watching from the side made a fuss.
"Lady Helena! Are you alright?"
Lady Helena glanced at him dismissively and ignored him. She had always been cold, but the repeated regressions had made her even icier.
'How many times has it been? Four? Five?'
She'd abandoned even the minimal courtesy for reputation management. No point getting attached anyway—watching them treat her like a stranger after each regression only hurt her.
It was soul-crushingly awful to see them act like they didn't know her after regressing.
But since the regressions didn't stop even when her mind shattered, she eventually gave up.
'They're... yeah. Just dolls. Think of them as dolls.'
Finely crafted toys. NPCs in a game, actors in a play. Thinking that way made it bearable.
But at the same time, the world turned gray.
A lifetime of predictable reactions to her every poke.
It felt like being forced to play a difficult, unfair, and boring game.
Same people. Same conversations. Same responses.
The professor drew a bead with a number on it, and Helena looked up before it was even announced.
"Lady Helena! And number 132! Yeah, you! Get up here already."
She, the Northern Duke's daughter tasked with blocking monsters descending from the ruined North, got polite treatment. Meanwhile, number 132, with his pitiful innate mana, was openly disdained.
In the Daehan Empire, where classism seeped into the bones, the academy—the one place supposedly pursuing equality—was no different.
Helena walked lightly to the sparring ground, lost in thought.
'Can't do it alone.'
Early in her regressions, she'd tried hogging everything herself. But after brutal failures, she realized the truth.
She needed allies. Not idiots like the trembling number 132, but real ones.
Thwack!
"Aaaagh!"
As expected, the fool couldn't withstand a single mana bolt from her and went flying.
The crowd applauded in admiration, but she felt nothing. Straw dummies, after all.
"As expected of Lady Helena!"
Ignoring the obvious flattery, she thought about the next match.
'Number 1 and 22...'
The professor drew the next pair.
"Number 1, number 22! Come on up."
"Kyaa! Go, Su-ho!"
The handsome guy with the number 1 tag on his chest strode out confidently, his blond hair swaying.
With high innate mana and good looks, he was surrounded by girls. His confident attitude only made him shine brighter.
But until the previous life, Helena had ignored him. No reason to ally with someone who squandered his talent and lacked grit.
But in that previous life, he'd changed.
When his childhood friend died, his attitude flipped. Choosing the path of vengeance, he'd grown endlessly strong.
She could still picture his final strike before he died—a beautiful sword stroke brimming with starlight.
When she'd asked for his secret technique, he'd revealed his trait right before dying. It had to be real.
-[Legendary] One Path Devotion: Once the path is set, break limits and advance endlessly.
'Should I let that girl die again this time too...?'
Plus, number 1 had insane luck. Even regression veteran Helena was shocked by the sheer number of fortuitous encounters he'd gained.
Deep down, she'd decided to focus on raising him this time.
She was excited to see how much he'd grow with the encounters she'd discovered thanks to him, plus the ones she already knew.
The fight between 1 and 22 rushed toward its end.
Impressive talent and combat, but boring. No thrill in scenes she'd seen a hundred times. It just felt like finding a decent tool.
"Hahaha! It's over!"
Thwack!
Number 1 dodged his opponent's sword and threw a hearty punch. His long hair caught the sunlight as it swayed.
Numerous female cadets swallowed hard at the sight.
Number 22 rolled on the ground, covered in dirt, grinding his teeth. Number 1 approached him.
The girls' eyes sparkled at the gesture of offering a hand to the fallen foe.
"Good work. Not bad."
Number 1 smiled at the grimacing 22. Even Helena had to admit inwardly,
'His face is decent, at least.'
The swarm of female cadets around blushed while staring at him.
"Eek! Su-ho, you okay? Oh no! Look at all this dirt."
As the match ended, some airheaded girl rushed over to dust him off. He accepted it as his due.
That personality was why she'd ignored him until now...
'Sigh... No choice. No talent around.'
She'd seen too much to fall for a pretty face.
Helena lost interest in number 1 and began planning her schedule.
'Handle the clock tower first...'
The next match started, but her attention had already faded.
The others were nothing special. Only toward the end did a few noteworthy ones appear.
Helena closed her eyes to refine her plans, then lifted her head at a voice from beside her.
"Haha! Look at that guy, milady. Isn't it hilarious? How's an idiot like that even in the academy? Shouldn't we tell the headmaster to expel him?"
She shot a slight glare at the fool casually name-dropping the headmaster.
On the sparring ground stood numbers 52 and 3. Helena glanced at 52 and dredged up the memory.
He was so insignificant it was hard to recall, but she got it eventually.
'The bullied kid...?'
Number 3 parroted his lines like a macaw.
"Heh heh heh... Park Jin-gu. Fancy meeting you here in the academy."
The pierced number 3 suddenly got serious.
"But... you're reacting weird to seeing your friend. Not happy?"
Normally, 52 would smile awkwardly and say he was glad...
'Sigh. How many times do I have to watch this crap.'
But.
Silence.
Number 52 furrowed his brow, staring into space. Then he stroked his chin, deep in thought.
A vein bulged on number 3's forehead.
"Hey! Park Jin-gu. You deaf? Want a beating?"
Usually, 52 would've pissed himself at that alone.
Afterward came the "education."
The professor clicked his tongue.
"Cut the crap and start already."
Number 3 grumbled boredly.
"Aight~ Tch! Fine."
Number 3 cracked his knuckles and approached. He didn't even draw the sword at his waist.
Watching that, 52 suddenly snickered.
Number 3 hardened his expression sharply and growled.
"You laughing...?"
By now, Helena was stunned.
Something was off.
Unfamiliar. A scene she'd definitely seen before, yet it was veering off bit by bit.
'Unfamiliar...?'
Number 52's voice rang out.
"What the fuck are you saying, you piece of shit? You're done."
An unfamiliar tone she'd never heard.
This academy starting point was the most familiar place to her. As long as her actions stayed the same, it was an unchanging, intricate world.
An impurity had slipped in.
Number 52 started pummeling number 3.
"Bite down hard. Solar plexus! Solar plexus! Solar plexus!"
Thud! Thud! Thud!
"Guh...! S-Stop, you...!"
Slap!
"Aaaagh!!"
"Hey, mouth! Solar plexus again!"
Number 52 smacked the wrist of number 3 as he tried to draw his sword, disarming him, then kept beating.
"S-Stop...!"
"Stop what, asshole?!"
Helena's eyes welled up unbidden. Her small mouth fell open.
"Ahh...!"
The impurity disrupting the meticulously turning world.
It began filling the gray world with color.
The impurity was so welcome that she nearly burst into tears.
The one "person" born in a theater full of scarecrows.
"Fucking punk acting tough."
His voice was so sweet.