Chapter 160
Chapter 160
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 160
Chapter Title: Autumn, New Semester (3)
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"Welcome, Miss Chloe."
"H-Hello!"
"Please feel free to speak casually, Miss Chloe. If you have any inconveniences with life in the Central Hall, don't hesitate to call on us anytime."
The maid bowed slightly and stepped back.
Her restrained movements were like watching an exquisite doll.
"Why don't you take a short stroll? We'll have your luggage unpacked neatly in the meantime."
"I-I can do it myself..."
"It's part of our duties. Leave the unpacking to us, and please feel free to explore the campus."
How could she refuse when they put it like that?
Chloe nodded quickly and started walking. With a dazed expression, she wandered the corridors of the Central Hall. It felt... incredibly surreal somehow.
Living with maids attending to her every need?
In a place this opulent?
'This is straight out of a noble lady's life...'
It was like something from the novels she loved to read. Noble young ladies always living with the gracious assistance of their servants. She felt just like one of those characters from her favorite stories.
"...Gulp."
Chloe swallowed dryly for no reason.
She shouldn't get too excited. She needed to stay calm and poised, like the model student she aimed to be... But then she'd recall the glimpse she'd caught of the room through the maids, and her steps would lighten with joy.
'This is insane... insane...!'
She'd never felt happier.
After a decade scraping by in the back alleys, followed by one or two years cooped up in the dreary Black Tower... enduring that endless winter of a life, spring had finally arrived.
The land of dreams and hope, Aphria.
Chloe decided to make Aphria her forever home. Unfortunately, there was no one around to tell her what a foolish choice that was.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Oh, Belnoa."
In the Central Hall lobby.
Belnoa, who had left the unpacking to the maids and was killing time on the sofa, tilted their head at the unexpected visitor.
"Professor Lania? What brings you here...?"
The woman with ash-gray hair cascading down.
She looked like a student at first glance, hands shoved in her trouser pockets... gazing down at Belnoa at a slant.
"Oh, nothing much."
Belnoa's spine tingled at those words.
'Nothing much, you say...'
Whenever Professor Lania uttered a phrase like that, Belnoa had always ended up in a nightmare. The professor thought differently from normal people. What she called "nothing much" was almost always something huge.
'What now...?'
As Belnoa tensed up... Lania continued.
"Your childhood friend, Chloe."
"...Pardon?"
"Do you know where she is?"
"Ah, you mean Chloe."
Belnoa answered without much thought.
"She said she'd take a quick look around Aphria while the maids unpack. She's probably nearby."
"Hmm."
Lania touched her lips.
"Well, she'll run into her eventually. Thanks for the info."
"...But why are you looking for Chloe?"
"Got something to check with her about class."
Something to check.
Feeling an inexplicable chill at the words, Belnoa slowly nodded. Lania waved dismissively and turned to leave.
"See you soon, Belnoa."
"Yes, Professor."
Belnoa watched Lania's retreating figure leave the Central Hall for a long while... then turned away. What big deal could happen if they met, anyway?
'Professor and student.'
They were bound to cross paths eventually.
If it happened a day or two sooner, would some grand event unfold? Professor Lania knew her limits, after all. She wouldn't make excessive demands on Chloe, who had just enrolled at Aphria...
"......"
Belnoa fell silent for a moment.
What flashed through their mind were all the trials, tribulations, and ordeals from the past semester. Thinking back on them... a very obvious question arose.
"Hm..."
Belnoa stared blankly into space and muttered.
"Does she... know limits?"
A question that came far too late.
The milk was already spilled.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 2.
The autumn breeze tousled her snow-white hair. The weather was pleasantly cool, and the sun shining lazily from above felt perfect.
"Hm, hmm~."
Chloe strolled the campus humming a tune. Lightly, as if dancing. Her steps were buoyant beyond measure. She glanced around eagerly as she walked.
'Central Library!'
A model student had to befriend the library, or so she'd heard. Student ID issuance would take at least three days... so she couldn't go inside yet, but she could at least admire the exterior and imagine what lay within.
Shelves packed with magical tomes.
Students at tables, burning with scholarly passion.
Soon enough, she'd be one of them. Chloe pictured the elegant ladies from novels attending prestigious academies.
'Smart, refined... utterly devoted to their studies. That's what makes them such beautiful young ladies!'
She could become like them too.
Calming her pounding heart, Chloe darted here and there across campus. Whenever she passed Aphria students, her eyes sparkled as she stared, sometimes earning puzzled looks in return.
That was fine.
The little things didn't matter.
"Whoa..."
Chloe let out a sigh of awe as she walked.
This was on another level from the newspaper descriptions she'd read. Here, she was certain she could start over.
A perfect life.
The academy life of her dreams.
An academy brimming with dreams and hope. A smile refused to leave Chloe's lips. As she pondered her next destination happily...
Click.
Footsteps echoed.
Click. The low sound of heels striking the stone grew louder. Click. It drew closer. Click. Chloe's nerves stood on end.
The stars were singing.
Her instincts warned her.
Don't look back. Run. Escape. That's the only way to survive. But Chloe wasn't yet attuned to the stars' instincts. Tilting her head, she glanced back without thinking. What could it be?
"Ah."
And then, Chloe realized immediately.
Why the stars sang of despair.
"Oh."
Someone exclaimed in admiration toward her.
The woman smiled. A smile infinitely beautiful, yet infinitely chilling. Her lips moved slowly.
"Found you."
Three syllables.
As those words lingered in her ears...
"...Gasp!"
Chloe swallowed hard.
Reflexively, she spun around.
One thought filled her mind.
'Run!'
It was still on school grounds, and running would only delay the inevitable—but she didn't think that far. She just needed to escape this moment. Chloe resolved to do so and acted on it immediately.
Life scraping by in the back alleys.
She'd had Belnoa's protection, sure, but the environment demanded she master the art of escape. And now was the perfect time to put those skills to use.
Thud.
Just as Chloe was about to break into a sprint...
"Hello."
A hand clamped onto her shoulder.
"Where are you off to in such a hurry?"
Someone whispered in her ear.
It was an incredibly kind voice. Soft and sweet, the kind that melted away one's guard without fail.
Yet, for some reason...
Chloe felt a chill from it.
"Uh, uhhh..."
Chloe stiffly turned to look behind her.
'There was a good distance between us...?'
How? She had no idea.
The woman who had closed dozens of paces in the blink of an eye—Chloe stared at her with trembling eyes. It felt like their first meeting. Like she'd arrived on the wind itself.
"Hm."
The woman smiled at Chloe.
"Second time."
Cascading ash-gray hair.
Half-lidded bluish eyes.
A woman looking at her like a fascinating specimen... an experimental subject.
Lania van Trias.
She gripped Chloe's shoulder firmly and said,
"Shall we have a little chat?"
The academy life full of dreams and hope.
Disaster whispered in the ear of the young girl who dreamed of it. That it didn't exist. That she'd come to the wrong place.
"Y-Yes..."
Chloe nodded frantically, hiccuping.
On her first day stepping into Aphria, she instinctively knew something was deeply, terribly wrong.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 3.
With just over a week until the start of the second semester, Aphria was noisier than ever. Rumors about the mysterious girl transferring in played a part... but an even bigger spectacle had drawn everyone's attention.
「Combat Magic Department Duel (Rank Battle) Schedule.」
A single notice posted on the campus board.
Due to the department's emphasis on real combat, it had a unique duel system.
'Duel.'
A one-on-one fight to determine winner and loser.
Unlike other departments, Combat Magic valued points from duels highly when ranking top students. It was like a battle for rankings.
Challenge the top student.
And win.
That alone let you claim the top spot. A place that prized real combat over theory. Fitting for a department training practical Battle Mages, it was a pretty radical setup.
But now, halfway through the year...
No student had used the system.
There had been minor spars, but never a formal duel. The reason was simple. Spars alone revealed the rough rankings... and the one holding the top spot was in a league of her own.
The Combat Magic Department's top student was Belnoa.
No one could beat them.
Belnoa's strength had surpassed student level.
Thus, no one dared risk the penalties of a duel loss in a hopeless fight. At least, not until yesterday.
「Challenger.」
Today, someone shattered the long silence by throwing down the gauntlet. Students eyed the challenger's name on the board. It was the one they'd half-expected.
「Rak van Grace.」
The department's second-in-command.
The Northern Duke's heir had challenged the Twilight Nightmare. It was only natural that all eyes turned to them. Amid the murmurs, someone spoke up.
"There it is."
Rak tapped the notice and said,
"This one's gonna be tough, Belnoa."
Declaring intent to seize the top spot.
Belnoa nodded slightly in response. A gesture like, "If you think you can, go ahead." That provocative motion... amplified the students' buzz.
The gauntlet was thrown.
All that remained was to crown winner and loser.
In the week before the second semester began, Aphria Academy was regaining its original fervor.