Chapter 105
Translator: Vine
Chapter: 105
Chapter Title: Too Late
Allen left the dormitory early, at the crack of dawn.
The flower garden surrounding the dormitory carried the damp scent unique to the dim hours of early morning.
The training hall where Gaion awaited was a short distance past the northern gate that cut across the academy.
In Elpis, a city filled with towering skyscrapers and extraordinary things, building a training hall underground was a relatively simple task.
‘Still… it's hard to believe they used that much orichalcum.’
Solely for the Eight Strongest.
The scale of the training hall, with its walls and ceiling entirely sealed with an orichalcum alloy—a product of both alchemy and blacksmithing—was immense.
From the dormitories in the east to the grand northern avenue leading out of the academy.
Unlike the western residential area and the southern commercial district, which would be bustling with morning preparations, this area was less lively.
As many were preparing for their day, Allen heard a commotion while crossing the academy grounds.
“They said he couldn't handle the mental shock of expulsion…”
“One of them survived, but the other two broke their necks instantly…”
“Tsk, they were the perpetrators, right? Isn't this for the best?”
The scene from yesterday came to Allen's mind.
The three male students, flustered by a single female student.
Without realizing it, Allen found himself pushing through the crowd. He didn't know why. The only thought in his mind was that he had to see.
“…Still, they must have had some talent. Suicide… Hey, who are you?”
“Please step back. The academy will be handling this shortly… Student!”
He slipped through the gaps in the crowd, sometimes forcing his way, and even sidestepped the guards blocking his path.
At the edge of the crowd he finally broke through, there were two bodies.
He does not save what cannot be saved.
Because it can't be helped.
“…Ah.”
An unintelligible gasp escaped his lips. His pupils trembled violently.
The small-bodied male student and the large-framed male student were dead.
Allen had to make a choice, and they were not chosen.
That was all.
* * *
“Your focus is worse than yesterday. Do you even want to be here?”
“…I apologize.”
“This is the special training *you* wanted, not me. If I catch your mind wandering again…”
Gaion’s yellow pupils sharpened as he looked down at Allen.
“Don't regret it then.”
“It won't happen again.”
“Hmph, anyone can say that. Don't take the Elder's words lightly.”
“Yes, sir.”
Allen could only be grateful that Gaion was giving him another chance. In truth, it had been difficult to focus after seeing those two dead bodies.
Was it because he had learned of their circumstances yesterday?
Or was it because he had decided not to recruit them?
In truth, he couldn't be sure of either.
It was just… yes. A slightly dizzying feeling. It wasn't anger, or sadness, or any emotion like that.
It was simply something building up inside his chest.
It was a feeling of accumulation.
Allen sighed and began to walk. His destination wasn't the dormitory, but the place he had visited yesterday.
“Careful, careful! Move it slowly!”
“The interior structure… it doesn't need fixing, just some refinement!”
Perhaps because his training had ended earlier than usual, the workers were still on site.
Among them, Soned bustled about, organizing the merchant guild's new branch.
“Soned.”
“Ah, Young Master! What brings you here?”
“Is Acandus upstairs by any chance?”
“Yes, he is. Shall I call for him?”
Allen shook his head and walked toward the stairs.
“No, I have something to discuss with him, so I'll go up.”
“…If, perhaps, you need me as well…”
“This is a personal matter, so don't worry about it. Ah, you're still sending the goods to the place I mentioned, right?”
“Ah, yes, yes. I’ve been making sure to check on it personally.”
His promise with the Queen of Shadows was being kept.
Allen checked a few more simple things, then knocked on the door to the top floor.
*Knock, knock.*
“May I come in?”
“Yes, please enter.”
After entering, Allen couldn't speak for a while. He himself didn't know why he had come.
Was it pity for the dead?
Or was it the feeling that his decision yesterday had led to their deaths?
Allen pushed aside his complicated thoughts and opened his mouth.
“…Hoo. Thank you for waiting.”
“Not at all. The reason you’ve come… is it perhaps…”
“Yes.”
There was no way Acandus, who had been monitoring them in various ways, wouldn't know the news after half a day had passed.
“Is it… impossible to recruit him?”
Allen's question held several meanings. It wasn't a genuine inquiry about its possibility, but something closer to a lament.
But unexpectedly, Acandus nodded.
“Actually… on the off chance that you might ask, I’ve sorted out an individual from the group who wouldn't seem out of place even if they caught Sir Julius’s eye.”
What he handed over was a single sheet of paper, different from yesterday's.
“This is… the one who survived?”
“Yes, his name is Noah. A second-year student of commoner origin. And…”
Acandus took out another sheet of paper. On it was an emblem familiar even to Allen's eyes.
A roaring blue lion.
“…Reinhardt.”
“He is one of the students sponsored by the Reinhardt family.”
* * *
[Are you certain I do not need to go?]
[I will go this time.]
[It's more natural for a member of the family to see a sponsored student, isn't it?]
[That is true, but….]
Allen waved off Acandus, who offered to handle it, and went himself.
It wasn't just because of the two male students' deaths; he truly felt the need to see for himself one more time.
‘If I'd known this would happen, I would have taken Rachel up on her offer.’
At the beginning of the semester, she had asked if he wanted to meet the individuals sponsored by the family.
He had dismissed it back then, not knowing it would lead to this.
‘Then is that why his face seemed familiar?’
He might have glanced at a document about him in his father's office.
Allen stopped when he reached his destination.
「Is this the right place…?」
Vestla asked doubtfully. Allen, too, wondered if the building before him was truly a place where people could stay.
The walls, made of old wood, were patched here and there with mud. Though it was only five stories tall, shorter than the surrounding buildings, he worried it might collapse at any moment.
However, according to the information from Acandus, he had been staying here since being kicked out of the dormitory.
Along with the other two male students, who were now gone.
After being the sole survivor that morning, he had received treatment from the academy and been sent back here.
Allen pushed open the wooden door and looked inside. The interior seemed to have been reinforced with logs, looking sturdier than the outside.
“Welcome! This is a 130-year-old traditional…”
“Is there a student named Noah here?”
Allen cut off the chattering innkeeper and asked his question. The man briefly glanced at Allen's attire before his face softened into an obliging smile.
“Oh, you've come to the right place! That student, he left with his friends this morning after some incident, but came back alone in the afternoon.”
“What room is he in?”
“Well, that is…”
His eyes darted back and forth. Seeing this, Allen began to understand why other nobles might run rampant in a place like this.
The residents here seemed fearless, perhaps because they knew the academy offered them absolute protection.
“Tsk.”
Too annoyed to argue, Allen tossed him a couple of silver coins. The innkeeper snatched them out of the air like a phantom and broke into a wide grin.
“He's in room 201, right upstairs.”
Allen silently climbed the stairs.
*Thump, thump—*
The place didn't seem to have many guests, as there was no sign of anyone else.
He passed the worn-out stairs and hallway and arrived in front of room 201.
Allen knocked on the door.
*Knock, knock.*
Allen discreetly extended his senses. An image of the life form inside room 201 formed in his mind.
*Knock, knock.*
“May I come in?”
He knocked several more times. Just as he worried the old door might break first, a voice came from within.
“……Yes, do whatever you want.”
*Click.*
A room with a single old bed, a dresser, and a small wardrobe.
On the bed lay the stern-faced male student from yesterday, limp and not even looking at Allen.
He looked no different from a living corpse.
“So, what are you here for?”
“I came to offer help.”
At Allen's words, the student let out a hollow laugh as if in disbelief. Then, as if to see the face of the person who had entered, he lifted his head.
“Help? What do you mean by… th…”
His eyes widened.
A question formed on Allen's face.
“Is there a problem…”
“Reinhardt? Now, of all times?”
His face twisted as if he were a demon from hell.
It jogged Allen's memory. He had definitely seen that face before. A face that was blurry yet etched in his mind.
‘If he were a little older, a little rougher…’
His face drenched in anger and sorrow, he shouted.
“Why! Why have you come only now! When I tried to find you, you never once showed yourself, so why!”
A floor stained with blood, an altar piled with skulls, a pentagram decorated with chunks of flesh. A blood-curdling scream and defiance.
“Why…!”
And then death. The faces overlapped.
“Ah.”
The memory returned.
* * *
When was it that Allen had stopped having nightmares?
Right after he regressed, nightmares were so frequent they were practically a part of his daily life.
Those sacrificed for the demon summoning.
Linbelle, who lost her mother while fighting with Julius.
Kim Woojin, approaching him while pretending to be the real Julius.
He stopped having such nightmares after the subjugation of the chimera user.
Their sacrifices were buried in the first timeline, a forgotten past, but from the moment he vowed not to forget them, the nightmares had ceased.
In that sense, Linbelle was a rather special existence to Allen.
She had shown him the hope and possibility of changing the future. She and Inellia had not died; instead, they held important positions as Allen's handmaidens.
The same was true for Kim Woojin inside Julius.
An entity he couldn't defeat even after dedicating his entire first life. A being he was determined to kill, and at the same time, the only clue to the whereabouts of the real Julius's soul.
He was the fundamental reason behind all of Allen's actions.
But what about the others?
He couldn't even remember how many people—dozens, hundreds—had been sacrificed for the demon summoning.
That was why he hadn't thought about them.
Because even if he remembered their sacrifices, there was nothing he could do for them in his current life.
Thus, Allen had never anticipated a situation like this.
“Why, why did you only come now! It's already over! Why!”
He convulsed as if he knew Allen's face.
Allen calmed his turbulent heart. He forced himself to maintain his composure, but he couldn't hide the tremor in his voice.
“…What do you mean?”
“Because you Reinhardts wouldn't meet with me! You wouldn't even show your faces…”
His mind didn't seem sound. Tears, resentment, anger—a mix of various emotions swirled within him.
“What are you talking about?”
“What are we to you, Young Master?”
“A transaction.”
Allen answered curtly. To him, sponsorship was akin to a transactional relationship.
“To me, to us, it was hope! The hope that you chose me out of so many commoners! If you were going to invest in us like that, couldn't you have done more?”
He unleashed his fury as if to lay all the blame on Allen.
Yes, he looked as if he had to blame someone else, his expression filled with resentment.
“Do you have any idea how many times we went to ask for help while we were suffering at that bitch's hands?”
He had no idea. In the first place, Allen had only heard about the sponsorships from Rachel.
“We were always blocked by that damn young handmaiden!”
A young handmaiden… Linbelle? Normally, he wouldn't have needed to believe such words, but having seen Linbelle's serious side, he couldn't rashly jump to conclusions.
“And now, you've come. After Mark and Louis are both dead…”
He then asked, his eyes filled with loathing.
“In the end… what makes you any different from Julius?”
Allen's mouth fell shut.
He couldn't give any answer.