Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Traveling Together (4)
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Of course, since she herself was enrolled as a student at Cradle, Gray had to attend classes too.
Just that her classes were in a different form from those of most students.
Teaching a Hero something in the first place carried a bit of an oxymoron.
It was far closer to guiding her to realizations on her own.
She was a human who had already graduated from the academy's basic curriculum long ago. The right path was to accumulate experience and figure out her deficiencies herself to make up for them.
"—I surrender."
As Siona Libel raised both hands and said that, Gray let out a sigh and sheathed the sword she had pointed at her.
The spirit energy swirling around Siona vanished all at once.
"Wow— you're still a monster. Even after summoning three or more spirits, I couldn't win."
"You didn't fight properly either."
"⋯⋯Pardon?"
"Dragon Blood. You didn't use it."
Siona giggled.
"Hero, that's top secret, you know. You can't just blurt it out."
"Who cares? It was a few years ago that you slayed a dragon."
Gray sighed and slid the Holy Sword into its scabbard. Siona shrugged her shoulders and spoke.
"Did you learn it? That Mind's Eye thing."
It wasn't her imagination. The movements were remarkably similar to those of that man named Carlyle.
Moving as if he already knew what would happen seconds into the future.
"No. I just roughly picked it up."
"⋯⋯Pardon?"
"I watched him use it a few times, so I got the gist. Copied it."
"⋯⋯."
⋯⋯This really was a monster.
She hadn't even learned it formally, just eyeballed it a few times and replicated it perfectly?
"More importantly, any progress on that?"
"Pardon?"
As she tilted her head at the sudden question, Gray furrowed her brow and said,
"That guy. You were looking into his background. Nothing turned up?"
Ah.
Come to think of it, she had asked to be informed if anything came up.
‘⋯⋯Carlyle sure is popular.’
The Gray Cardinal was one thing, but the Hero too— for a mere human to draw this much attention wasn't easy.
Especially when it was the same person.
And he undoubtedly had a history that intriguing.
"Nothing."
"⋯⋯What?"
"Exactly that. There are no records left at all."
"⋯⋯."
"The first record is only of him being adopted by an orphanage around age fifteen. Nothing on his birthplace, who raised him, or how he ended up there."
Strictly speaking, it wasn't that unusual.
No matter how advanced the administration, people living beyond those remote borders were discovered all the time. Carlyle Bellfast could just be one such case.
"But there was one interesting fact."
"⋯⋯What?"
Tracing records via the name 'Valtheimer' mentioned by the Gray Cardinal.
Something a bit odd did come up.
The Valtheimer family where the Gray Cardinal had grown up. Looking into records of people who had passed through its 'vicinity.'
"No records on a Carlyle Bellfast, but there were records on the 'Belfast family.'"
"⋯⋯?"
Gray blinked in confusion at what that meant, and Siona propped her chin on her finger to continue.
It was a gesture that seemed to invite an 'Oho!'
"The entire family was exterminated by imperial decree, and their records erased."
Gray's expression darkened.
"⋯⋯Why?"
"No idea. No records left on that. Not even sure if that Belfast family is connected to Carlyle Bellfast."
Could just be another entity with the same name. Not rare among the empire's countless citizens.
⋯⋯No definitive link. Everything from one to ten was ambiguous.
But one thing was certain.
Not just any other thing.
A family the Emperor and his closest aides had personally moved to 'erase its very existence.'
If that was connected to the man Carlyle Bellfast.
"Hero. I don't usually say this, but you should be cautious from here on."
"What?"
"That man's background reeks of something profoundly deep and dark. No, more dangerous than that."
"⋯⋯."
Gray closed her eyes briefly, then opened them.
"That's for me to hear and judge."
"⋯⋯Hmm."
"Besides, that old Cardinal. She's interested in him now, right? You seem to be investigating under her authority too."
"Oh, you knew?"
A flash-like punch landed on the nonchalant Siona's chest.
⋯⋯That it ended with just a cough showed her durability was no joke.
Gray snorted and continued.
"I don't want news leaking only to her side. Bring everything to me too."
"—Yes, understood."
As Siona sniffled in response, Gray inwardly sighed.
Suddenly.
"⋯⋯?"
A prickling sensation came from the Holy Sword on her back.
What.
Never happened before. Did the Holy Sword have this function?
Gray tilted her head and looked that way.
Concentrating her mind to analyze the mana pattern.
"⋯⋯."
What to say.
It was as if something capable of communing with the Holy Sword was sending a kind of 'signal.'
The location.
"⋯⋯Eternal Forest?"
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Progress after meeting Letty had gone surprisingly smoothly.
Arriving at the forest's central area before meeting other students was proof.
"⋯⋯We're probably the first to arrive, right?"
"Looks like it?"
The real issue started here.
The deepest heart of the Eternal Forest was blocked by a massive spherical barrier.
[Barrier ward. It weakens the longer you wait. By tomorrow morning, it'll be easy to pass.]
‘⋯⋯They said early arrival gets high scores, so why set up something like that?’
[Well, even poking a tiny hole in it gets full marks. For freshmen, it's impossible to breach in one night, so that's their way of encouraging attempts.]
Thanks to me, we breezed through.
The Holy Sword boasted, but Carlyle closely examined the barrier ahead.
It looked solid. Immensely so.
[With my mana plus Vespa's help, it might work. Tough job though.]
‘Do we have to go that far?’
[The one who set it up is the Dean. We have to.]
‘⋯⋯.’
⋯⋯Fittingly eccentric, he flexed his skills in eccentric places eccentrically.
Carlyle sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
‘⋯⋯Well, shall we wait until tomorrow morning then?’
[⋯⋯⋯⋯Why? It's not like we can't break it. Gonna camp out on purpose?]
The Hero sounded deeply displeased, but Carlyle replied flatly.
"Vespa looks worn out. Don't want to push her."
No issues from entering tomorrow morning.
Just pass the exam.
[⋯⋯.]
The Holy Sword clamped its mouth shut in dissatisfaction.
The situation itself irked it immensely.
[So, you're camping in the forest? Just the two of you?]
‘I know it's not easy.’
Surviving a night in the wild forest was harder than thought.
Bugs made it uncomfortable, noise tormented the mind, and stamina drain was immense.
Hence the camping gear prepared diligently for overnight forest stays during the exam.
‘Let's rest somehow.’
He relayed that to Vespa beside him.
"Not a hard task, I think⋯⋯"
Vespa's gaze flicked briefly to the campsite behind.
The tent she and Carlyle—precisely, mostly Carlyle while she struggled—had set up.
"⋯⋯Isn't that a bit cramped?"
"⋯⋯."
Hm.
Carlyle silently affirmed after glancing at the tent.
⋯⋯It didn't look wide enough for separate sleeping.
"—For one night, we'll have to stay stuck together."
"⋯⋯."
"⋯⋯Might even have to share the sleeping spot, yeah⋯⋯"
Vespa's voice trailed off smaller.
"⋯⋯."
"⋯⋯."
Awkward silence filled with chirping crickets.
[⋯⋯Trash, pervert, sex-brained monkey sh—]
‘No, what are you even thinking?’
Sleeping was sleeping.
He wasn't the type to do anything shady to Vespa.
The problem was how overprotective it was of her.
[Not fitting the situation, but are you impotent by any chance?]
‘⋯⋯.’
[⋯⋯That function not working? Letting such a blatant setup slide?]
‘⋯⋯It works fine.’
Asked if he wanted to or not, he was a man with interest there.
But context and degree mattered. What did it take him for?
He and Vespa weren't close enough to cross that line anyway.
‘We're both adults; nothing major will happen. We can discern right from wrong.’
[⋯⋯You trust one side. The one who won't cause trouble. The other side's the issue.]
What was that supposed to mean.
‘No, can't you trust me that much? I just stay put.’
[You're not the problem⋯⋯ Never mind. Just bite your tongue and die.]
‘⋯⋯.’
A barrage of intense curses flew.
As Carlyle blankly pondered that, Vespa fidgeted her fingers beside him and said,
"Um, then, Carlyle, shall we, um, sleep together?"
"⋯⋯."
Why say it so awkwardly.
The Holy Sword's earlier words resurfaced unbidden, making Carlyle clear his throat affectedly before replying.
"Yeah, sure. Let's go."
[—Hold on.]
As he answered, a voice suddenly rose from the Holy Sword.
[Not the time for that. Better think of breaking the barrier and finishing the exam now.]
‘Why suddenly?’
[She's coming.]
"Pardon?"
[No idea how she knows, but she's heading this way.]
Chills ran through him at those words.
‘—Here? Suddenly?’
[The presence is clear.]
⋯⋯Damn it all.
The one who hated seeing him with others so much she crashed study sessions—finding out he and Vespa might share a tent?
‘She'd freak.’
[She would.]
Damn.
He gritted his teeth and approached the barrier.
⋯⋯No choice. Had to find a way to break it.
‘No, why's the Lady suddenly coming here? Any guesses?’
[How should I know.]
If Carlyle weren't so urgent, he might've noticed the voice's end stiffen awkwardly.
Like a pang of conscience.
⋯⋯But right now.
Really.
[She must've tampered to monopolize something she wants.]
Pretending nonchalance.
As if oblivious.
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