Chapter 166
Chapter 166
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 166
Chapter Title: 14. Farther than Love, Closer than Friendship (14)
Selene slumped against the dilapidated door, breathing raggedly. No. No. This won't do.
I have to do something, anything.
"Come out. Come out and fight me fair and square!"
It was hollow. No matter how loudly she shouted, nothing echoed back—only the stark reality before her eyes.
The dilapidated door right beside her creaked open, and out stepped a girl who looked like an elementary school student. A somewhat gloomy expression. A face that clearly dreaded going to school.
But with no choice but to go, she dragged her feet toward school anyway.
It doesn't reach.
Even knowing that no words of hers could reach, Selene still spoke.
"Please. Overcome it. Please find your courage. Don't abandon the person who helped you just because you're scared of being bullied."
Her soliloquy dissolved into sobs, and Selene collapsed in place, trembling, unable to move.
She'd thought she'd overcome it. Thought she'd learned so much from the past.
She believed she'd come to deeply understand how vital courage was in dealing with people—comparing that child's bravery to her own cowardice had driven the lesson home.
That's why she'd mastered mediating between kids who fought all the time.
She'd learned how to repay favors splendidly.
She'd refined herself to the point where she could share a relationship of mutual respect with Yulius, the era's finest young noble.
When asked her secret, she'd say she'd learned it from the pain of her past.
But it was all a mirage.
Every time she faced her past self, every time she imagined confronting that child, every time she gazed at the fluorescent light in the entryway where she'd hanged herself—her limbs turned ice-cold, her muscles locked up.
I hadn't overcome it.
It was nothing more than forgetting, because she'd fallen into another world where she never had to face it.
Forcing her weakened legs to obey, she clutched the wall and staggered to her feet.
I'm Selene. Professor Selene of the Academy.
I'm not that coward anymore—the one who got bullied, got hurt, and turned her back even on the person who helped her.
That won't happen again.
I won't repeat it.
After several deep breaths to steady herself, she stood and headed for school.
Her reflection in the glass along the way was pallid, almost the color of dirt.
Time to go to school.
With that resolve, she started walking.
Even if her face looked awful, no one could see her anyway.
She moved slowly. Nearly thirty years after her rebirth, and she could still navigate it with picture-perfect precision—the memory was just that traumatic.
Hurrying without even a moment to take in the scenery, she arrived at the school gates and spotted two people in utterly out-of-place attire.
"Professor Selene!"
"You're heading this way."
"Ah, yeah."
Ermina was as kind and worried as ever, while Yulius coolly assessed the situation.
Because she trusted them that much, Selene quietly laid out the truth.
"This... I think it's from my dream."
"Pardon?"
"...What do you mean?"
Ermina seemed purely shocked, but Yulius's expression said he was hearing something unbelievable. Selene spilled it all.
That she was actually from another world.
That she'd lived a life full of grave mistakes.
That after dying and being reborn, desperate not to repeat them, she'd completely remade her personality and habits.
That the trust Yulius placed in her was built on a mountain of failures.
"Professor."
"...Yes."
"It's not easy to speak of, but forgiveness demands great courage too."
Embracing someone who'd wronged you once more. Yulius spoke of that difficulty.
It was simply a lack of courage on both sides that had twisted things.
The one who'd stepped up to help bullied Selene—even if not right away, they would've forgiven her eventually.
If they met again, they'd surely have built a good relationship.
Yulius wasn't the type to encourage or comfort often.
But this time, somehow, his words felt like reassurance—no need to grieve or tense up—and it warmed her a little.
"Phew. Want to see the classroom?"
"Yes. Let's go."
Strength returned to her trembling legs, unlike before. A deep breath, and the dizziness didn't hit like it had.
Yeah. If we meet again someday, I'll apologize properly and beg forgiveness.
I'll confess that I fell for you at first sight when you helped me.
So for now... I'll do my duty as Selene.
Up the stairs, slowly to her old classroom. There was her past self—isolated, stealing glances at a book alone.
That child, by contrast, was mature, excelled at studies, and blended well with most of the others.
Honestly, she didn't want to see it. The petty bullying. Herself, crying, unable to handle even that.
But the things you hate most barrel toward you relentlessly. The moment she registered the three girls giggling and tormenting her, Selene squeezed her eyes shut.
"Shall we head back?"
"...Yes. Sorry."
"They say childhood scars don't heal easily, even over a lifetime."
Supported by Yulius, Selene made for outside the school.
What was the point of a barrier dredging up the past like this? What did that Explorer Chen guy intend?
"The intent baffles me most. Attacking like this just breeds resentment."
"I don't get it either. The barrier doesn't carry that demonic power corrosion effect."
"So... there's another reason for trapping us?"
"Well..."
"If it's too much, you don't have to say."
Yulius's consideration touched her. She didn't mind him being gentler than usual.
No idea why, but maybe he pitied her for baring her past.
Accepting his kindness, she lay on the bus stop bench for a bit.
"After trapping us, they might target the Magic Tower instead."
"Right. If it's just isolating us to buy time."
"Better to prep our escape than wait for Chen to come at us."
Yulius began gathering mana in his hand. Then two kids appeared before him.
"Really, what a joyless guy to mess with."
"Tell me about it."
It was illusions of her bullied self and the child who'd helped her.
The two, smirks blatant on their faces, burst into loud laughter at the sight of Selene.
"Selene, right? Thanks to you, we hit the jackpot. A world beyond the world. Fragile, no magic, nothing. Way easier for us to move around there!"
"Yeah, but figuring out how to cross complicates it."
"Once we do, though!"
It grated seeing them play both parts like a farce, but trusting Yulius—who looked ready to draw any second—she waited.
No way those were the real ones. So—wait for the real body, or break the link?
While Selene mulled, Yulius's sword flashed. The boy she'd crushed on as a kid vanished traceless.
Reeling from the abrupt shift, Selene froze. Chen seemed just as thrown, immediately griping.
"Hey, hey, hey! That was the guy this chick liked!"
"It's still you bastards underneath."
"Even so..."
"Scram. Can't stand the sight."
For whatever reason, he spared her past self—merely leveling his sword to shoo it off—then sighed.
In the end, Chen just tossed out taunts and bailed. But Yulius looked resolved, raising his sword and channeling mana.
Golden lines blazed vividly up his arm.
That had to be the stigmata—the one only spoken of in tales—now manifesting properly on Yulius.
The light piercing his clothes screamed extraordinary. The mana pouring from it defied measurement, even for a mage.
A presence that could literally cleave the world.
As if the barrier—mere reconstruction of memories—was trivial, his full-force slash ravaged the city from her memories, soaring up to split the sky.
"Whoa..." The awe slipped out, but Yulius's face twisted in pain from the stigmata as he spoke.
"Professor."
"Yes?"
"To me, you're Professor Selene—no matter your past. I won't see you as anything else."
"...Thank you."
"No need."
With a heavy sigh, Yulius eyed the crumbling vista.
"Sometimes... I think it'd be nice if the world just crumbled like this."
"Didn't expect that."
"If everything collapsed, everyone'd scramble like cowards just to survive. If we're all cowards... I wouldn't feel ashamed alone."
Another sigh, and Yulius offered his hand.
"Plenty to say—wants and musts alike. But after the fight."
Amid the barrier's golden dust scatter, Yulius smiled.
"Let's go home together. Professor."