Chapter 323
Chapter 323
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 323
>Chapter Title: Yeah. You Take First Place.
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As Chenbi finished speaking, a faint silence settled over the table.
Damian, too, remained uncharacteristically quiet.
And for good reason… everyone knew.
‘One year.’
After that one year passed, there wouldn’t be many days left when the four of us could gather like this.
Of course, we might cross paths again someday as we each followed our own roads.
But that time would be but a fleeting moment, and it’d be a miracle if we managed to stay in proper touch.
“Memories… that doesn’t sound bad.”
Surprisingly, Evelyn was the first to speak, nodding along as if in full agreement with Chenbi.
For me, the sentiment hit differently.
‘Evelyn, of all people…?’
Evelyn had never placed much stock in the academy to begin with.
You could tell just from her plan to set up a black market there—the academy was little more than an extension of her business ventures.
For her to bring up “memories.”
“How about an adventure?”
“An adventure?”
Damian nodded as Evelyn voiced her doubt.
“Yeah, an adventure. There have to be adventures we can pull off at the academy. Or we could save it for break.”
“But… is there anything we can squeeze in while handling third-year coursework? As you know…”
Evelyn let her words trail off.
Her gaze landed on Chenbi, but it wasn’t as if she didn’t know.
The kind of effort Chenbi was putting in to keep up with academy classes.
Truth be told, Chenbi was stretching herself pretty thin.
She chipped away at her sleep every night to review lessons and spent every moment not chatting with us preparing for the next class.
Even so, her grades hovered in the middle of the pack. Not bad by any means, but it was hard to deny she was struggling.
Which meant.
‘Piling on more here, and Chenbi won’t be able to handle it.’
Memories were great and all, but unlike me, Evelyn, and Damian, academy grades mattered a great deal to Chenbi.
Jenion Academy might be the top on the eastern continent, and just graduating from the basic class might earn you plenty of respect, but bad grades could change the story.
Mid-tier was a shaky spot at best.
“Hmm.”
By now, even I had to mull it over.
Why?
I felt the same pang of reluctance about academy life.
“I’m fine either way. Grades matter, but…”
“No, that’s not it.”
I cut Chenbi off and shook my head.
Time past was gone for good, obviously. But that didn’t mean we could sacrifice our future for the present.
The question was, did we have a solid way forward…?
‘Ugh.’
Nope.
I kept pondering.
Memories, memories…
What could we do over the next year to make some? Or rather, how were memories even forged?
A few more ideas floated around after that, but nothing stuck.
The closest to workable was.
“How about a time capsule?”
“A time capsule?”
“Yeah. Bury letters to our ten-years-from-now selves. Then get together in ten years to dig them up!”
A time capsule, straight up.
“But where do we even bury it?”
“It’s Jenion Academy, so under the Tower of the Wise. Sneaking into the Tower of the Wise would be an adventure in itself.”
…Yeah, no.
It’d just rack up demerits and leave Chenbi in tears.
Still, the plan needed some polishing, but a time capsule had its appeal.
‘Letters to our future selves ten years out…’
Pretty cool, right?
We could lock in a reunion ten years from now, too. Perfect for turning the present into nostalgia.
And.
‘I’ve got the perfect spot to bury it.’
Where to?
The principal senior’s hideout.
No guarantee he’d still be principal senior in ten years, but academy development plans put that plot way down the list.
Unless some random tycoon dumped a fortune in donations out of nowhere, that land wasn’t getting touched.
Perfect. Burial spot sorted, more or less.
“For now, let’s lean toward the time capsule?”
“You’re seriously thinking Tower of the Wise?”
“You nuts? I’ve got a spot in mind.”
Evelyn didn’t buy it, her skeptical glare unwavering.
Guess she was short on “memories” from the Black-White Slums after all.
I was balling my fist when Damian swooped in to rescue Evelyn.
“So we’re doing the time capsule?”
“Maybe?”
“Sweet! I’m great at letters. Gonna be a blast.”
Damian was beaming, already thrilled at the thought, and Chenbi looked pleased enough too.
And so.
“Let’s call it here for today. Everyone, think about what to stick in the time capsule.”
We hashed out what to bury in the time capsule, then called it a night.
Letters to the other three, skipping ourselves.
And gifts.
That was how we braced for parting ways—and pledged a new reunion.
* * *
Time flew by.
Had Chenbi seen this coming?
We’d spent most of our days together, but as daily life ramped up, we started drifting apart bit by bit.
“Whew. This is insane. Why are these exams so brutal? Got a quiz tomorrow too…”
“Just don’t flunk. Don’t flunk.”
“That’s the hard part…”
Evelyn had always posted top marks, but she was paying the price now for slacking off a bit in her first and second years—days blurred into a nonstop grind.
And Chenbi…
“Sorry, can’t do lunch today.”
“Another advising session?”
“Yeah. Professor Jeira’s doing career counseling…”
Chenbi wasn’t just chasing credits; she was gearing up for life after graduation.
She met often with her advisor, Professor Jeira, who stressed how much there was to do for a job.
“Said a personal portfolio’s a must.”
“Personal portfolio?”
“Yeah. Any solo experiments from academy days. Or turn in a thesis.”
Experiments, fine… but a thesis?
I stared in shock, but Chenbi’s thesis wasn’t the monster I imagined.
“They said basic-class undergrad level’s enough. Nothing groundbreaking—just a review of established theories works fine.”
She brushed it off like no big deal, but it wasn’t that simple.
Experiments could slot into job-prep activities alongside the curriculum, but a thesis? The undergrad had to write the whole thing solo, start to finish.
Professors only offered edits.
“Career path… locked in on a job?”
“Yeah, gotta be. Professor Jeira said combat mage isn’t bad, but… eh.”
“Blandoga Family?”
“Kinda iffy.”
Chenbi gave a faint smile at my question.
She didn’t elaborate, but I got the gist.
‘Yeah… fair enough.’
The second she joined the Blandoga Family, things with Damian wouldn’t stay the same.
No helping it.
“Still, my foster mother’s been lenient—no ties to the Blandogas. Lucky break.”
Given how sponsored folks usually got pulled into family service, that was leniency for sure.
Sponsorships typically came with family duties attached.
…Damian was no exception, fully immersed in his own path.
“Friend, it’s all phenomena.”
“What kinda nonsense is that?”
“Rain falling? Phenomenon. Snow? Phenomenon. People too. Even if a friend punches me, I don’t get mad. Bolt from the blue? Unfair, sure, but just a phenomenon in the end…”
“…Uh, sure.”
Holed up in his private training room, grinding away—he was losing it day by day.
Looked like he’d hit some breakthrough, but his bullshit quota was skyrocketing too. For Damian, enlightenment and smarts ran inverse.
And so, as everyone hustled toward the academy’s endgame.
“Graduation…”
Different vibe from the kids, but I had my own last stretch to prep too.
So, what to prep.
First off.
‘…Librarian Teheman senior.’
I’d kept up steady visits and lessons with Librarian Teheman senior, but it was time to wind those down.
Post-graduation, carving out time would be tough.
Teheman senior got it, thankfully.
“Fine, then. Treat this year as the last and plan accordingly. No helping it.”
“But, just maybe…”
“Wondering if you’ve got no plans for the mage tower?”
“…Yeah.”
Teheman senior let out a short chuckle at my question.
“Erect your own tower first, then talk. Scheming to exploit a blind old coot—knew you were rotten, but damn.”
“Busted?”
“As if.”
Naturally, I didn’t quit.
Mage tower a no-go? There was always the Council of 72.
‘Let’s see… what rank suits Teheman senior…’
I was locked at 4th, Mysern senior at 8th.
Set in stone.
So for Teheman senior…
“Around 7th?”
He’d helped more than Mysern senior, after all—time to show some gratitude.
Lost in those thoughts, I stepped into the dorm.
[Me, me! Me numbah one!]
I chuckled down at the wyvern, freshly awake.
For the record, I’d called the wyvern over from the Second Black-White Slums to the dorm.
Couldn’t pop over to the Second Black-White Slums anymore, so no choice. I’d worried it’d feel cooped up, but the wyvern was holding strong.
‘Or… holding strong at this?’
[Me, me… numbah one… zzz.]
It konked out again like it’d never woken.
Lately, sleep was all it did.
Didn’t seem sick, but outside mealtimes, calling its time asleep wasn’t much exaggeration.
“Yeah. You take first place.”
[Good… frien’… dummy.]
The wyvern, thrilled at topping the Council of 72, grinned in its sleep.
‘Now that I look, it’s grown a bit, hasn’t it?’
Growth spurt?
Whatever.
Teheman senior was more or less squared away.
But academy loose ends didn’t stop there.
So, what else?
‘…One’s Reverse Heaven.’
Time to chase down those Reverse Heaven shards I’d shelved for academy.
Planned to wrap pursuit prep before graduation.
That meant deploying the Infinite Chain—Parun had already agreed to help.
‘Just gotta work the Infinite Chain.’
Truth was, my real headache was the final piece.
“Sallier von Decullan.”
The Decullan Family’s young patriarch, still attending the academy.
How to handle him.
That was my one and only worry.