Chapter 294
Chapter 294
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 294
>Chapter Title: It Will Get Deeper From Now On
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Second-year summer vacation.
All vacations are special, but the second-year summer vacation was more special than any other.
Why?
‘The last vacation before diving into full-blown hell?’
Of course, it wasn’t literally the ‘last’ vacation.
There was still the second-year winter break, and even third-year graduates got vacations.
But the reason it felt so ‘special’ was probably... yeah, to borrow Damian’s words, it could be put like this.
“The last vacation where we can just play.”
“Just play?”
“Yeah, so we have to play.”
Inside the rattling carriage, I glanced at Damian, who was staring fixedly out the window, then shifted my gaze to Chenbi.
Chenbi was sitting there reading a magic studies book and replied curtly without looking up.
“From third year on, the retention and expulsion rate hits 30 percent. Exams get harder, and the failing threshold rises.”
30 percent?
My eyes went wide at the news I’d never heard before, and Evelyn picked up the thread.
“Oh, I’ve heard about that too. That’s why most people start advance studying from the second semester of second year...”
“Right, so this summer break is the last real one.”
It was pretty brutal stuff.
‘One fail means retention... two means expulsion?’
No wonder academy students were on edge.
Retention... well, for kids from wealthy families, maybe it wasn’t so bad to experience it once.
But expulsion?
“Two fails and your tuition’s just torched?”
It felt uncharacteristically harsh for the Jenion Academy we knew.
But surprisingly, Chenbi seemed to accept the fact with calm indifference.
“That’s why Jenion graduates get such good jobs. Even basic class grads are considered solid in the fundamentals.”
“And if you graduate without any retentions or fails, you get bonus points, right?”
“Exactly. And it’s kinda childish, but... they say it even gets brought up at alumni gatherings to draw lines.”
Evelyn and Chenbi surprisingly clicked well.
Chenbi would speak plainly, and Evelyn would pull conversation fodder from it to keep things going. Evelyn was used to being the one carrying chats like that, but Chenbi was the unexpected one.
‘She’s never like that with me or Damian...’
Did we ever go back and forth more than three times on a single topic?
Come to think of it, Evelyn and I had barely traded three words in everyday chit-chat either.
‘...’
Feeling oddly miffed for no reason, I watched the two of them before turning to Damian.
In the spacious carriage, Evelyn and I sat side by side, with Damian and Chenbi opposite us. With those two getting along, my gaze naturally drifted to Damian.
But for some reason.
“...?”
I tilted my head.
“Something fun out there?”
“Huh?”
“Not ‘huh’...”
Damian kept staring out the window even as he answered, so I turned to follow his gaze.
The scenery outside was peaceful.
Vast fields.
The Blandoga family’s escort forces protecting the carriage. And beyond them, a single lumbering turtle in the distance.
Nothing special...
“...A turtle?”
Where’d this turtle come from all of a sudden?
“Bishu.”
“Bishu...”
Right. The spirit Damian contracted with in Baharmut was named Bishu.
But what I was wondering now was this.
“Why’s it...”
“It said it wanted to run.”
“...The turtle?”
“Yeah.”
Well, it was a spirit, so maybe not a real turtle.
I had a ton of questions I wanted to ask, but seeing Damian beaming innocently at the galloping Bishu and its own eyes sparkling brightly, the words caught in my throat.
Was this what they meant by inside jokes?
I didn’t know what it was, but it was scary.
Both Damian and Bishu.
...In the end, I’d failed to mesh with Damian too.
A thought suddenly crossed my mind.
‘Is this the loneliness of being in a crowd?’
I was right there with people, so why did it feel so lonely and desolate?
Still.
“Not bad.”
Day two since leaving Blandoga.
The galloping carriage, the unhinged Damian, Chenbi who’d found a friend, the slacking Evelyn. Vast fields and a running turtle to top it off.
In this landscape.
There wasn’t a single worry.
The Decullan presence that had always loomed in a corner of my mind since regressing, crushing me. The sense of duty to the Magic Tower. Salbation and the second prince. Even the impatience to form my fourth circle.
I felt freed from everything that had plagued me.
Truth be told, I’d readily agreed to Damian’s suggestion to head to the sea, but right up until departure, I’d been torn by all sorts of conflicts.
In the Magic Tower’s current environment, where I should’ve been moving even busier than I was, was it right to take it easy?
It felt like even pausing for a moment would leave me in the dust.
Surprisingly, it was Evelyn who gave me the answer to that dilemma.
- What Aster needs right now is courage.
- Courage?
- Yes. The courage to rest.
I hadn’t realized it, but resting took courage too.
- All those problems piled up ahead, and the obstacles you can foresee even if they haven’t hit yet. Feels like if you look away even for a second, they’ll all come crashing down, right? But that’s because you’re scared.
- Scared?
- Yes. You don’t have confidence you can control all that, and you can’t solve it right now, so you can’t tear your eyes away. Like it’ll swallow you whole.
That’s when you need to muster courage.
The courage to turn away from the problems.
- Ignoring reality is avoidance. But if you face reality head-on and it still doesn’t solve the problems, you need to rest. Because... we’re not machines, are we?
Honestly, I didn’t fully understand what she meant.
‘Feels like she just said it because she wants to rest...’
For one thing, the Evelyn saying it wasn’t even looking my way—she was too busy picking out clothes for the trip.
Who could trust that?
Still.
‘Really, not bad.’
My heart felt kinda ticklish.
* * *
The rest of the journey was peaceful.
The carriage raced unimpeded across fields stretching to the horizon, and the weather stayed perfect without a single hitch.
At night, we pitched tents in the middle of the fields for camp—that was Damian’s request.
“The flower of travel is camping.”
...Your house knights don’t seem to think so.
They weren’t openly griping in front of the young master, but this wasn’t exactly normal.
After all, the Blandoga contingent tagging along numbered in the dozens at least.
Knights, of course, but also mages, servants to attend us, and all sorts of other personnel.
Naturally, setting up a single camp took considerable prep.
Being out in the open plain meant the escorts had plenty to watch out for too.
But setting all that aside... it was pretty fun.
“Ahem, well then. The story I’ll share tonight is about something that happened to my grandfather while exploring the Hamern Great Forest...”
At night, a silver-tongued servant would spin yarns, mixing in some tall tales.
Sometimes a grizzled knight would vividly recount adventures from his youth.
And one servant played a harmonica he’d brought along. Surprisingly, Damian took an interest in it.
“I wanna try that.”
“Hoho, you will? Just a moment.”
Did he have musical talent? Damian took to the spare harmonica the old servant handed him like a natural.
It squeaked the first few tries, but in less than an hour, he was playing basic tunes.
And it wasn’t just Damian enjoying himself.
“Ahem, shall I sing a song then? If I may, elder—do you know ‘Winter Night’?”
“Hoho, yes indeed. Shall I play it?”
“Please do.”
“Then...”
Evelyn sang along to the old servant’s harmonica accompaniment. It was a sight I’d never imagined.
I had no idea she had this side to her.
“Aster, why’re you staring like that? Surprised? Did I sing too well?”
“Nah, just surprised you’re good at having fun too.”
“Of course. Who do you think I am?”
The only ones feeling out of place here were me and Chenbi.
Or maybe not quite out of place.
“Wow.”
Whether due to his personality or lack of experience, Chenbi wasn’t joining in boisterously, but his sparkling eyes showed he was enjoying it plenty.
And so, the nearly three-day camping trip was a blast.
It felt like memories we’d never forget no matter how much time passed—especially the night sky.
Turned out Chenbi had a surprisingly sentimental side.
“You know? They say when people die, they turn into stars.”
“Chenbi, when people die, they turn into corpses.”
...Damian had a subtly realistic streak.
Well, there were moments that broke the mood like that, but the sky we lay in a circle around the bonfire gazing up at was truly beautiful.
“Next time... I wanna come like this with my family.”
Chenbi’s family had returned to their original territory, and it seemed he was missing the ones he’d left behind.
Somehow, it was a tender moment.
If not for Evelyn.
“I don’t have any family.”
“...”
Her words turned the living, breathing father and brother into the departed, sobering the mood.
...Yeah, disowned meant disowned, so none.
But.
“You say that in front of me?”
“...”
“...”
Evelyn looked sheepish. Chenbi at a loss for words.
An awkward silence settled in, and Damian put the period on it.
“I don’t have any either. No dad, no mom.”
“...”
“...”
“...”
No need to mention how the Blandoga retainers silently watching turned pale.
Of course, the awkwardness didn’t last.
The stars were too beautiful to get hung up on it.
...But.
“Let’s... come again next time.”
“Sure!”
“Yes, that’d be nice.”
I couldn’t answer.
No idea why.
It was just a simple ‘yeah, let’s.’
“Promise! Friends promise, right? The three of us have to come next time too.”
“Three? Damian, why’re you leaving me out?”
“Busted?”
“No, you said it to get busted...”
“Guilty.”
“...Fine, then the three of us’ll go. I’ll take Chenbi and Aster and leave you out.”
“No way. That one needs me too.”
“Why? You’re fine leaving me out—why can’t I?”
“Obviously not. ‘Cause I was planning to bring Evelyn anyway.”
“Really?”
“Nope?”
“...”
“Kidding!”
“I was serious.”
“Ouch.”
“Gave it? Got it?”
“Both.”
“Evelyn, Damian... wish both of you would just vanish.”
I closed my eyes lightly amid their comic back-and-forth.
Maybe the summer air, or the bonfire— the field’s night felt warm. The occasional breeze was refreshing.
The night grew deep.
It would only get deeper from here.
And so, that unforgettable final night of camping came to an end. Two days later.
After warp gate and a solid half-day ride, we arrived at a seaside mansion.
“This is our villa!”
Panoramic view.
A vast sea stretched out before us.