Chapter 31
Chapter 31
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: A Promise Kept
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“What did you sayyy?”
“Ahem, mhem, whehem…”
Unable to speak clearly, the student loosened his mouth with a “brrr” and “arrr.” He remained sprawled on the floor like a water strider, just as Calipan had left him.
At first, his words were as garbled as mine with the handkerchief in my mouth, but loosening up seemed to help. The next words came through clearly.
“It’s dangerous!”
What? I nearly dropped the handkerchief from my mouth.
I quickly crawled over to him.
“Huh? Wha?”
The student earnestly explained in his water strider pose.
“Curses can’t be materialized as substances, but if you focus on the framework rather than the curse itself, to put it simply, symbolic entities can’t fully correspond or match reality, but they can function as universal frameworks, so centering on the concept of a curse within a material framework…”
Was this student one of the original story’s weirdos?
I furrowed my brow.
“G-get to the point.”
“That *is* the point…”
Someone else jumped in quickly instead of the genuinely troubled-looking student.
It was the ruby-haired girl, whom I hadn’t even noticed had woken up.
She must have paid close attention in class, because she briefed the situation without a hitch.
“There’s a trigger device packed with all sorts of curses inside the classroom! It’s already resonating with the curses that leaked out and going berserk, so if we leave it in there, it’ll explode. And if it does, it won’t just endanger the people here—it’ll put the professors and the entire student body at risk!”
“...”
That meant…
If we left it alone, things would follow the original story’s route, right?
The people who couldn’t escape would die, and even those who got out would fall victim to the curses.
Even after all of Calipan’s hard work…?
I blankly looked up at the coldly shut door of the second magic lab.
The student who had warned of the danger spoke up.
“But we have to let it explode right there. If it goes off while someone’s carrying it out, the carrier will be hit with multiple curses at once and definitely die…”
I pushed off the floor with both hands and stood up.
My knees were shaking. I couldn’t tell if it was from pain or fear. The trembling spread thickly throughout my body.
“On the other hand, if we just let it explode, the curses will hit randomly, so there’s a chance of survival…”
I felt the ruby-haired girl’s hand shoot out and miss my collar.
“Miss, no!”
Ignoring her voice, I readjusted the handkerchief in my mouth.
Crunch.
My tightly clenched teeth dug into the handkerchief’s fibers. With all my strength, I dashed into the classroom.
Sometimes, people go a little crazy.
It wasn’t some dramatic development where my body moved on instinct in a crisis. I didn’t have that kind of heroic gene.
Even ignoring the fear stubbornly clinging to the back of my mind was a struggle. After all, I wasn’t the protagonist—just a side character.
‘I’ll protect them.’
All that pushed me forward was the resolution I’d built up over a long time.
It lifted my tearfully fragile self, straightened my body, and lit the way like a beacon, showing me just one goal.
It was the promise I’d made to myself.
‘I’ll definitely keep it.’
Once that promise, recited like a habit, ignited in the center of my heart like a lantern, only then could I faintly glimpse the hope rising beyond the fear. Until it grew clear.
That was how I mustered my courage.
As if watching a crystal orb replaying footage in slow motion, Calipan’s eyes took in every detail of Aiel’s form.
Her rigid expression, unsteady gait, sweat-drenched forehead, slender wrists, tightly pressed lips… and even the faint tears pooling in her eyes.
Whiiing!
In her arms, she cradled a device that could explode at any moment, spewing violet smoke like a blizzard.
The sequence of events imprinted itself in Mayches and his friends’ minds like a photograph someone had snapped.
Crack—
Like the whimsy of fate.
The moment that sight entered their vision, the device began to fracture.
Thump.
Calipan’s heart clenched in dizzying alarm.
‘It’s already too late.’
Calipan knew. Even if he split time itself to reach her, there was no split second to shake off the death clinging to her.
She was right there in front of him, yet felt infinitely far away.
He was getting closer to her, yet it seemed like she was drifting away forever.
It was already too la—
That was when something caught Calipan’s eye.
A red gem ring traced a thin line of red light through the air.
In Calipan’s dark pupils, he saw the ring necklace dangling from Aiel’s neck.
Thump.
The image of her small hand offering the ring lingered like an afterimage.
In that instant, Calipan’s body shot forward like a bullet.
His dilated pupils reflected only the approaching figure of Aiel, crystal clear.
‘Fight alongside me!’
I said I would.
If I can’t even keep that one promise, I have no right to bear the Jedkaizer name.
Snatching the device from Aiel, Calipan clutched it to his chest.
With feather-gentle hands, he pushed Aiel away.
Calipan worried for the pushed-back Aiel, but fortunately, she wasn’t alone. Her family was rushing over from afar, refusing to give up.
Of course.
Even if he was the smartest of them all and realized sooner than anyone that he couldn’t save her, abandoning Aiel would never have been an option for Mayches.
Fragments from the fracturing device began shredding Calipan’s clothes. Artificial curses seeped out and clung to his body.
In that fleeting moment, Aiel could only watch, powerless.
Calipan gazed at Aiel’s blankly opened eyes.
‘Don’t breathe.’
He needed to tell her that.
But there was no time.
Instead, Calipan hugged the device tight.
Ensuring the curses couldn’t harm Aiel, who was closest.
Ziiing—
The device in Calipan’s grasp vibrated furiously.
Soon, it let out a roar as it exploded.
The deafening explosion made the students gathered in the courtyard flinch and hunch their shoulders.
At the courtyard’s edge, the source of the sound was visible.
Viscount Yeong-sik, waiting for his turn in the swordsmanship test, lifted his head with a frightened expression.
He stammered in panic.
“W-what is that?”
Everyone around him was staring at the same spot.
Someone said in a trembling voice.
“Isn’t that the annex where the practical building is?”
“What’s going on…?”
A sight none of them had ever witnessed in their lives etched itself onto their retinas.
Silence swept through the speechless crowd.
Their instincts offered no answers to what this situation meant, but their senses did.
Over the settled hush among the people, a new shared atmosphere began to spread.
Someone said in awe.
“No way… is all that holy water?”
“It’s glowing… It has to be holy water.”
“I’ve never seen such a gracious sight in my life…”
Splash.
The entire fifth floor of the practical building was filled with holy water created by Bamper and Daluh.
It sloshed in a perfect square, as if contained in a transparent frame.
It was a beautiful scene, like gazing at a cross-section of the ocean.
“Like a massive divine aquarium.”
“But as far as I know, Lord Daluh is supposed to make blessing water soon, so he should be conserving his power…?”
“He must have a plan! That man is none other than Saint Daluh Dea!”
Yan had come to the edge where the practical building was visible and looked at the holy water chamber hovering in the air.
Splash.
Sunset light poured over the water’s surface, tracing transparent concentric circles.
“…What the hell are those guys up to now?”
In the end, her back view shattered along with the scenery.
Jayhan looked around his space. Shards fell at Jayhan’s feet. The fragments pulsed faintly.
Just like Aiel’s image from when she was much younger, now in pieces.
They were preparing to form a new scenery.
“...”
Jayhan slowly pieced the fragments together.
He might not have realized light was leaking into his eyes. So he didn’t know how to refuse it either.
“The pansies are so pretty… Thank you for inviting me.”
Seated at the garden entrance, she smiled.
Joy. She was happy.
Jayhan looked at Aiel but somehow couldn’t stare for long.
Instead, he turned his gaze to the pansy she was stroking. A clear birdsong slid over the velvet-like petals.
What’s the difference between hope and despair? Why do people—you—move like that?
So many things he’d learned without knowing why now felt questionable.
For the first time, Jayhan hesitated. But he couldn’t not say it.
He opened his mouth toward Aiel.
“If I have to learn something… I’d like it to be you who teaches me.”