Academy's Savior

Stepping out of the dungeon, I found Ryu Hana collapsed on the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ground. Her clothes were torn in places, blood streaming freely from the gashes across her body.

"Ryu Hana…!"

Startled, I hastily summoned a potion and began treating her wounds.

Ryu Hana looked up at my face, then twisted her expression. It was the face of someone desperately holding back emotions boiling up from within.

"…I lost. …I lost."

I doubted my own ears.

Ryu Hana lost?

In the original work, the enemy Ryu Hana faces is herself—an opponent with identical stats. A player only needs to focus on control to take it down without much trouble, and according to the in-game lore, Ryu Hana grows mid-battle and defeats her enemy.

It wasn't even an important side quest, so I figured it'd be fine… Fuck. Laplace. That bastard interfered.

Because of Laplace, the dungeon had been corrupted. He had clearly meddled with Ryu Hana's enemy as well.

Injecting demonic power into her opponent alone would have been enough. Thankfully she didn't die, but…

Ryu Hana had taken a severe mental blow from the fact that she had lost to herself. She lay there blankly, staring up at the night sky. Her eyes were unfocused.

It wasn't surprising. Ryu Hana's mental state always shook badly whenever she lost a one-on-one spar or fight. If she had known from the start that her opponent was stronger than her, it might have been different. But she had lost to herself.

Using the excuse of pouring potion over her body, I casually stripped off her top. Her white bra was stained red with blood. I glanced at her unexpectedly full, rounded breasts, then shifted my gaze to her right shoulder.

There was a crimson tattoo on her shoulder—a Suzaku with its wings spread wide.

The Suzaku Sword ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had branded the defeated. It was a curse-like ability. Left as she was, Ryu Hana would die in thirty days—and she would know that already.

The problem is that retaking the Suzaku Sword's trial requires at least several decades.

It takes twenty years for power to accumulate in the Suzaku Sword, and only with that accumulated power can it generate a dungeon.

The Mark of Suzaku vanishes once you pass the trial. But to take the trial, you have to enter that dungeon…

There was a way.

I spoke to Ryu Hana, who was still lying there in a daze.

"Ryu Hana. You know the situation, right? If you stay like this, you die."

"……So you know too."

"I was the one who gave you the Suzaku Sword. I have at least the bare minimum of information."

"…How? Wasn't that your first time seeing the Suzaku Sword as well?"

"There are a few similar items floating around. You're not planning to just die like this, are you?"

"I don't want to die. But… there's no way…"

"There is a way. In a sense, I'm partly responsible for you ending up like this… so I'll help you. Come on, get up. How long are you going to lie there?"

I held out my hand. Ryu Hana slowly took it and pulled herself upright. I took off my outer jacket and handed it to her for the time being.

Then I asked her what had happened inside the dungeon.

"…I went looking for my mother and father. I was curious what they looked like when they were young."

"Well, that makes sense. I met my mom too. How was it?"

"My father was clumsy… and my mother was beautiful."

Ryu Hana continued in a flat, detached voice.

She had been about to challenge her young father to a spar when someone who looked exactly like her appeared. That was her enemy.

The enemy attacked her without warning, and Ryu Hana responded calmly.

The battle dragged on for a long time. The enemy's physical abilities, techniques—everything was equal to hers.

She began to tire from the prolonged fight. The moment she let her guard slip for even a second, the enemy fled. Ryu Hana rested and recovered her stamina.

The enemy reappeared and attacked again. Conversation was impossible.

"We fought like that four times. But from the fifth fight, something was off. The techniques were the same as mine, but the power was stronger, and the speed was faster."

"…And then you lost."

"I lost. If a monster hadn't suddenly burst out from the side… I would have died right there."

A monster had suddenly appeared and interrupted the fight. Was that really a coincidence?

Coincidence, my ass. That was Laplace's scheme.

I didn't know Laplace's exact goal. But I thought I understood why he hadn't killed Ryu Hana.

A bastard like him would have known about the Mark of Suzaku…. He wants her to take the trial again. He's trying to use Ryu Hana as bait to draw me in.

Being led around by the nose was unpleasant. If I abandoned Ryu Hana, I wouldn't have to care—but I had absolutely no intention of throwing her away.

While I was lost in thought, Ryu Hana hung her head and stared blankly at the ground. The shock of defeat still hadn't faded.

"Ryu Hana."

I put force into my voice as I called her name.

"…?"

Ryu Hana raised her head.

"Starting today… no, starting tomorrow, spar with me every day. If you want to pass Suzaku's trial, you need to get stronger than you are now."

Sparring.

At that single word, the light returned to Ryu Hana's dead eyes, sparkling back to life.

Ah—come to think of it, I remembered that I hadn't sparred with her much recently.

Good thing her mental state isn't completely shattered.

Sunday.

Having slipped out of the academy, I boarded a boat and set sail across the East Sea. I wasn't the one steering—Makina was. I didn't know how to navigate, so I left it to her. Makina stuck out her tongue and spun the wheel with all her strength. The boat changed direction, cutting through the seawater.

"Hey, drive properly, will you? The boat's been rocking way too much."

"I am driving properly. If you don't know anything, shut up!"

With her dark-blue hair and white dress, Makina was only about sixty centimeters tall, looking for all the world like a fairy. Her personality, however, was the complete opposite of her fairy-like appearance—she was a total pain in the ass. Even now, she was flipping me the middle finger.

I suppressed the urge to smack her on the head. If I did, she might flip the entire boat. With Makina's personality, that was a real possibility.

"Are we actually going the right way?"

"Ugh. I told you to shut up if you don't know!"

"We've been going in circles for a while now."

"There's a great white shark down below. I was watching it."

"…Why is there a great white shark in the East Sea?"

"Ugh. Because it's the ocean? You don't even know that?"

Makina looked at me like I was an idiot. I found myself wondering how many hours it would take for a machine spirit to become shark shit.

"How are you even checking what's underwater?"

"I sent a camera into the sea."

Makina held up a smartphone roughly the size of her own face and showed it to me. On the screen, a great white shark was swimming leisurely past.

"You crazy little— No wonder I've been burning through so much mana… You've been wasting it on this nonsense?!"

"It's shark observation! How is that nonsense?!"

"Then let me ask you—what the hell do we gain from observing a shark?!"

"Dunno?"

"You little—"

Smack!

I finally smacked her on the head.

"Ow! Why'd you hit me?!"

Makina shot up from her seat. Tears welled in her eyes as she glared at me like she wanted to kill me.

Watching her talk back like that left me a little speechless. I was Makina's contractor—and not just any contractor, but one in a position of absolute authority. She had to know that, and yet she was still acting out like this…

She's counting on Seong Ha-ri. Ha-ri spoiled her rotten.

I couldn't entirely blame Seong Ha-ri. Makina's appearance was extremely cute, after all. And since I lived in the dorms, only Seong Ha-ri and Makina were at home. The two of them were probably getting along like mother and daughter. They were definitely talking shit about me behind my back, too.

"That's it. Today's the day I settle this."

"…Eek?! I-I'm sorry, okay? I went a little too far! Just calm down, Yujin!"

I grabbed the fleeing Makina with one hand. She apologized, but it was already too late. Holding her, I walked over to the boat's railing. Makina freaked out.

"N-no! Machines and water don't mix! Let go! Let gooooo!"

"Not a shred of genuine remorse."

"Iiiiih! You think you'll get away with this?! I'm telling Auntie everything!"

"Go right ahead."

I grabbed Makina and jumped into the sea.

My ears went muffled and my body grew heavy. Makina, clutched in my hand, flailed her arms and legs. Since she wasn't in spirit form, she had to feel the cold of the ocean.

I held onto Makina and descended deeper. Blessing of Water activated just fine even underwater.

After several dozen seconds, a thoroughly chastened Makina looked at me with a sullen expression. Being a spirit rather than a human, she had no need to breathe.

[Seawater. Tastes bad. Feels gross. I want to go up.]

Makina's thoughts rang inside my head. Because we were bound by a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠contract, we could communicate without speaking.

I ignored her thoughts and continued descending.

Then I spotted the great white shark leisurely swimming through the area. A camera floated near it.

…That's not a shark.

[What are you talking about? Don't you even know what a shark looks like? It's obviously a shark. A great white, even!]

What kind of shark is twenty meters long?

That thing was one hundred percent a monster. Kill it, and there'd probably be a mana stone in the corpse.

[So why'd we come here? To look at the shark?]

To feed the shark. It's bigger than I expected, but… eh, it'll be fine.

Right on cue, the shark spotted me. Its black eyes turned red. It thrashed its tail and swam toward us—a swimming form that somehow looked more graceful than a swan.

[I see…. So where's the shark food? D-don't tell me I'm the shark food?!]

……

[A-answer me, you bastard!!]

You should've listened when I told you to.

[S-stop…!]

If I'd planned on stopping, I never would have jumped into the ocean in the first place.

The approaching shark yawned its jaws wide open. Fish carcass scraps were wedged between its jagged teeth.

I dodged sideways and hurled Makina straight into the shark's mouth.

[AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!]

Makina's scream rang out as the shark's jaws snapped shut.

That should teach her some manners.

Normally, a spirit that takes a fatal blow reverts to spirit form. An ordinary shark monster wouldn't be able to harm a spiritualized Makina.

The shark swam after me, trying to eat me. I fled, dodging its attacks.

She should be spiritualizing any second now. Why isn't anything happening?

The shark suddenly stopped swimming and began to tremble violently.

Whirr.

A viewport appeared on the shark's head. Like a lid popping open, the top of its skull lifted upward. A ridiculously small shark brain—tiny relative to the body—floated free. And sitting right where the brain had been was Makina, perched in a chair surrounded by an array of mechanical devices.

[This shark is mine now!]

Makina piloted the shark upward. I stared blankly for a moment before my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠brain finally caught up.

…Fuck. What the hell did I just witness.