Chapter 74
Chapter 74
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 73
Chapter Title: While He's Away (2)
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“Whew, our luggage somehow ended up even heavier on the way back.”
“Yeah, tell me about it.”
Tana and Eve let out sighs as they stared at their bags upon arriving at the dormitory. They'd packed so much that one of the wheels had broken midway, making the trip a real ordeal.
“I just want to get inside and take a shower already.”
“I feel grimy too, but we've still got more work ahead.”
“Ughhh.”
The women's floors were on the fourth floor.
Climbing those stairs up to the fourth felt like scaling a treacherous mountain for the two of them.
“Should we take a quick break?”
“Y-Yeah, maybe?”
As Eve and Tana plopped down right there and started chatting, a red-haired girl passed by—Arni Duratan.
She was already dressed comfortably, her luggage unpacked, and she glanced at the two blocking the stairs.
“Oh, sorry!”
“Sorry about that.”
Arni watched them hurriedly shove their bags aside, then asked with a peculiar expression.
“What are you two doing here?”
“The bags are too heavy.”
Tana answered flatly—they had some familiarity since they were from the same batch—and Arni gave them a quick once-over before effortlessly hoisting both bags with her hands.
“C'mon, I'll carry them up for you.”
“O-oh?”
“Thank you!”
Tana looked flustered while Eve bowed her head eagerly, overjoyed at the savior.
Arni chuckled at their reactions and strode up the stairs.
“Wow, she's seriously amazing.”
“Carrying both of those by herself.”
“I thought only Daniel could pull that off.”
Arni smiled faintly as the two chattered behind her like ducklings trailing their mother—it was apparently cute.
Just then, as they passed the third floor—the men's floors—there was a commotion from inside.
The three peeked in curiously but didn't dare enter since it was the guys' area.
And causing the ruckus? Girls.
“What the hell are you crazy bitches blabbering about? She already has someone she likes! They're planning to date!”
May Flob, her reddish-brown wavy hair a bit longer now, was yelling in frustration like something was lodged in her throat.
“I've realized it. Daniel's heart might waver for a moment, he might even like someone else. But fate will bring him back to me.”
Rin clutched her chest with both hands, spouting some cult-like nonsense.
“Who cares who the owner dates? Do you throw out all your stuff when your boyfriend gets a girlfriend, May?”
Elise, making one question if they were even on the same topic.
“Whoa, what the heck is going on?”
“Ugh, a fight right from the start?”
“Elise?”
Tana and Eve wondered what the deal was, but Arni saw it differently.
Elise, who always carried herself with poise but hated stepping forward, boldly showing up in the men's area like that?
She could tell there'd been some change of heart over the break.
“Isn't that Daniel's room?”
Tana jolted at Eve's mutter and leaned forward to check. Yup, Daniel's room.
“......”
Tana sneaked a glance at Eve, but she just murmured casually as always.
“I wonder if Daniel's back. I'd love to say hi.”
“D-Doesn't that bother you at all?”
“Huh? Bother me how?”
“Well, girls are crowding Daniel's room. From what I overheard, it sounds like they're fighting over him. Doesn't your heart race or anything?”
“That again? Nah, doesn't faze me.”
“......”
How did it come to this?
Tana had dubbed Eve's condition “Romance Reader Syndrome.”
She viewed her crush's love life like a reader flipping through a romance novel, and to Tana, it seemed serious. She'd tried treating it over the break.
'Failed.'
She'd given all sorts of advice and even recounted her own feelings from when she liked Ares in detail.
But the effect had been minimal.
“Talk of romance?”
Surprisingly, it was Arni—who was carrying their bags—who showed interest. As they headed up to the fourth floor, she asked cautiously.
“Daniel does seem pretty popular... You two too?”
“Uh, well...”
“He turned me down.”
Arni, who'd asked offhandedly, got flustered at Eve's casual reply, but Tana sighed and nodded.
“We're just friends, and Eve... likes Daniel, I guess.”
“Ahem, far more open-minded about relationships than I thought.”
Arni looked thrown by their boldness. Anyway, after dropping the bags at their rooms, the two offered to buy her coffee or something as thanks.
“......”
Arni pondered for a moment, her face flushing like her red hair, then asked.
“Mind if I help out a bit too?”
“Hm? Need something?”
“As long as it doesn't need stamina, sure!”
Even as they nodded eagerly without hearing details, Arni fidgeted with her hair ends, hesitating.
After a pause, she took a deep breath and shouted like she was throwing a punch.
“I-I want some romance advice!”
*
While Aios Academy students dragged their feet back, reluctant to end their break...
A man was heading in the completely opposite direction.
Daniel McClane.
Me.
The stifling air pressed down on my whole body, and with every breath, some thick haze seemed to pile up in my chest.
It had been a while since I'd entered the Demon Realm Forest, so I needed a moment to adjust at first, but that was just a moment—soon I was moving like it was my backyard.
'No need to stick around the entrance.'
I'd come to the Demon Realm Forest for herbs to cure Michelle's illness.
Rare outside, but plentiful around the middle of the forest, so my basket was quickly piled high.
'Thinking of future Michelle, this should cure her illness.'
The Michelle I'd met in my past life was frail but never took medicine, so probably developing a cure or steady doses would fix it.
'Gotta gather enough for about three years.'
I crammed herbs not just into the basket but the bags on my back and waist too, when chirping sounds echoed around me.
“Hmm, so they recognize the guy who killed their master, huh?”
Huge bugs with patterns on their backs were already charging at me.
They must've recognized me as the killer of their king, Abiel, because they screeched fiercely as they rushed in.
“Tch, such a pain.”
No need to fight them all here.
I bolted the opposite way without even drawing my sword. There was a decent spot nearby.
Kwachuk.
Kwaduduk.
“Neat, right? They're called Red Skull Roses. Anything entering their territory gets pierced—that's their habit.”
Countless thorns rained from giant rose-like trees, shooting toward me and the bugs.
Of course, I dodged easily out of familiarity, but the pursuing bugs didn't fare so well.
Passing the Skull Roses' turf, next was the acid giants' area.
Giants without legs or consciousness, just drooling endlessly—their saliva turned the ground to mud that melted shoes and soles alike on contact.
I could navigate by picking spots with less drool, but the bugs couldn't.
With their bellies dragging, most melted away, leaving only a handful.
I considered drawing my sword but got lazy and kept running, eventually reaching the silver lake—one of the brighter spots in the Demon Realm Forest.
The shimmering silver lake was breathtakingly beautiful, but the truth was less impressive.
As I approached, it overflowed, surging toward me and the bugs.
“Whoa!”
The range was wide but slow, so I dodged, but the bugs behind became its prey and vanished.
I called it the silver lake for convenience, but it wasn't really a lake.
'Just a massive Silver Slime.'
An absurdly huge monster covered entirely in acid.
Still, it was a relief that only simple beasts appeared in the early-mid forest.
If bugs had shown up deeper in, I'd have stirred up extra trouble.
As I turned back to gather more herbs, a figure cautiously emerged from the trees.
I thought it was another bug at first, but surprisingly, it was a person—and even more surprisingly, someone I knew.
“Daniel?”
“Adriana?”
Adriana, the Black Forest Witch who'd fulfilled the prophecy of fate and survived Abiel.
Having achieved her goal of survival, she'd dropped out of the academy and returned to the forest. She stared at me in shock before rushing over.