Chapter 173
Chapter 173
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 173
Chapter Title: Hell Inside and Out
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‘Now that I’ve realized it, it feels strangely melancholy.’
Well, that was about the extent of my sentiments.
I hadn’t thought Ms. Collette’s kindness was purely selfless, after all.
No, even before that, I hadn’t held high hopes for Hazard Island or the Academy as a whole...
I had no desire to attach any grand meaning to my cadet life here, which I’d chosen as a refuge.
“Ah.”
But my awkward silence at that moment drew everyone’s attention.
I brushed it off with a smile, as I always did, to hide my bitterness.
“Hardships inside and out. It’s the first time I’ve had so many enemies.”
All sides were ocean.
On Hazard Island, where brutal storms raged once per season, divine and inscrutable beings that wished for my death were joined by a motley crew of sinister and bizarre humans.
“Thanks to you, Cadet Adrian, we’ve gotten closer to the truth much faster.”
“...It’s less my merit and more...”
“Anyway, it means less trouble for us.”
Adrian shrugged at my words.
Theodore sat across from me, quietly gazing at my face.
His eyes were calm yet persistently probing, as if trying to read my emotions.
“So, what will you do now?”
Izmel crossed her legs again and leaned back against the sofa’s armrest, half-reclining.
She then put the end of the candle snuffer she held in her hand to her mouth like a cigarette.
“Not worth connecting to Maha, right? Better to just report it to the police.”
‘This ill-mannered girl... calling her aunt by name like that...’
Talking with cadets from Thorn Crown Class always strangely stirred an urge to nag.
Be that as it may, in normal circumstances, Izmel would be right, but based on my own experience, the authorities offered no help.
‘Inspector Julia Anne Smith has probably forgotten all about this island by now.’
The fact revealed by Theodore’s experiment was that if you left the island seeking help, you forgot everything related to it.
But the lost memories returned like iron filings drawn by a magnet the moment you came back to the island.
I shook my head as I replied.
“There’s no evidence.”
“Even without it, a search will turn some up. That rock that hit you in the head last fall—wasn’t that thrown by them too?”
Izmel’s interest seemed to vanish the moment she learned the other party were followers of the God of Socialite.
I glanced at her involuntarily, and Izmel, who had both eyes closed, opened one and whispered as if letting me in on a secret.
“Human schemes are so boring, they hold no interest for me. They’re probably just acting like they’ve got a stake in the heaven they’ll end up in after dying.”
Who else but a Thorn Crown Class cadet...
As such thoughts crossed my mind, Izmel smirked, then promptly lost interest and fully reclined on the sofa.
Despite her eccentric behavior, Theodore sat motionless beside her, silently observing the situation.
They looked like the wastrel father and precocious son from a pulp novel.
“...By the way, that snuffer isn’t a cigarette, is it? It’s a candle snuffer... right?”
“Does it look like one? I get that misunderstanding oddly often.”
Izmel spun the snuffer with one hand, showing me the hollow end that blocked air from candles was empty, then put the other end back in her mouth.
With her delinquent attitude and flashy attire, anyone would think so.
“It’s a cigarette.”
“Huh?”
“Hahahahaha!”
Izmel burst into loud laughter at Theodore’s deadpan response.
Her mannerisms and speech were surprisingly bold compared to her appearance.
“Ah~ Sorry. I didn’t think you’d actually believe it. It is a cigarette, though the ingredients differ a bit from regular ones.”
Izmel twirled her ‘pipe’ in the air in a different direction from before, then showed me the inside of the hollow groove again.
With a ‘click,’ a blue-glowing gem appeared inside, unlike before.
“It’s a mana stone. I’m addicted to this substance.”
“......”
It was so absurd I couldn’t respond right away.
Theodore, seeing my reaction, must have thought I didn’t understand, so he added,
“It just means addicted to mana. They call it mana fiend too.”
“This guy, with his senior right in front of him—”
Izmel sat up and poked Theodore’s knee with the end of her pipe.
“Anyway, it’s harmless to anyone but the smoker, so don’t worry.”
“Doesn’t that mean it’s harmful to you?”
At my words, Izmel turned to me with a look that said, ‘What kind of question is that?’
“...You don’t smoke?”
“No.”
“Booze?”
“A glass per season.”
“Saying what sounds like an excuse in front of a doctor... Coffee?”
“If offered.”
“You mean that literally?”
“Yes.”
“Huh~”
Izmel, who hadn’t believed me no matter what, let out an impressed sigh only after hearing Theodore confirm it.
“I heard your chronic illness was cured?”
“Not entirely, just managed ongoing.”
“Oh man, you’re hardcore.”
Izmel playfully scrunched her face.
Even I sometimes wondered if I was being too extreme.
Plus, alcohol actually felt pretty good when I drank it.
But it was ultimately a habit issue; once I stopped, it was easy to maintain that state.
“...Ah, anyway... I’ll also vote that this isn’t something for us to decide among ourselves...”
Adrian cautiously interjected.
His listless attitude was so hard to believe from the man who’d been neck-and-neck with Arthur just yesterday; I was a bit flustered.
“I’ll discuss it with Arma Cruise. In the meantime, may I proceed with the favor I asked earlier?”
Theodore, dropping another hard-to-ignore line, suddenly removed his robe and spread it on the table.
The Thorn Crown Class robe, lined with smooth silk that shimmered subtly depending on the light, instantly became a decent tablecloth.
“It’s not difficult, but are you sure?”
“What’s there to be sure ab—”
“Yes.”
“This is more for surveillance than protection, so it won’t have much effect.”
“What protection—”
“It’s enough.”
“......”
Every time I tried to butt into their conversation, Theodore cut me off immediately.
Now that I thought about it, this was clearly intentional.
“Hey, no matter what, shouldn’t you at least explain what this is?”
“Please trust me.”
“Uh, alright...”
He didn’t seem inclined to answer at all from the start, and with Theodore like this, I had nothing to say.
His help was partly pure goodwill, but also because he was personally involved.
Now that things had come this far, maybe it was time to separate Theodore and me.
I had a gut feeling that soon—perhaps right now—I needed to ask him to remove the magic circle etched on my chest.
-Scrape.
As these thoughts swirled, Theodore tossed something onto the robe he’d spread out.
What scattered across the robe were glittering stones similar to those I’d seen inside Izmel’s pipe.
Varying in size, they pulsed and faded almost in unison, like heartbeats, proving they were no ordinary rocks.
“I’ll begin the incantation.”
“...Yes.”
“Izmel senior, is that alright?”
“For me, anytime.”
Theodore nodded, then carefully placed his palm over the scattered stones on the robe.
“[Boundary Reinforcement, Tracking, Protection].”
-Crackle!
The stones, which had felt inert, suddenly sparked with static electricity.
Theodore pressed down on them with his palm.
“Theodore?”
It looked dangerous at a glance.
While I was flustered by this sudden inexplicable ritual, Izmel placed her hand over Theodore’s twitching wrist.
“[Within procedure and providence, may there be peace.]”
-Ping!
Izmel chanted a relatively long incantation compared to Theodore’s and lent her power, sending faint silver light flowing down her arm to him.
-Clack, clack.
The stones scattered haphazardly on the floor began to shift and settle, as if finding their proper places.
“Wow... Theodore, that hurts.”
“Sorry.”
“Please hurry and join us, Cadet Adrian Nell Elman.”
Izmel, who’d kept a smile on her face throughout, changed her expression.
Her lips still curved, but with furrowed brows, she urged Adrian, who hesitated before placing his hand slightly away from theirs.
“[You shall find rest]...”
-Crackle!
“Huh, focus, focus.”
Izmel snapped her fingers to get his attention.
Even with the mask, Adrian’s bewilderment was palpable.
Adrian braced his hand, which he’d nearly pulled away, and finished the interrupted chant.
“[within blessing]”
-Crackle-crackle!
Intense light burst from around Theodore, Izmel, and Adrian’s hands.
The eye-searing brilliance flashed for a while longer before fading with a humming sound.
Now, on Theodore’s robe lay round mana stone orbs glowing in far more radiant hues than before.
‘They’re small and round now...’
As if shaved by the light, the rough pebbles had split and smoothed into glossy, pearl-like spheres.
Theodore swept his hand over the mana stones on the floor, collecting the refined ones.
‘Is it over?’
I had no idea what show I’d been invited to.
But at that moment, smoke began rising from between Theodore’s fingers clutching the stones.
-Sizzle...
“H-Hey, isn’t that smoking?”
“Yes.”
“‘Yes’? Your hand is smoking!”
“Correct.”
Theodore swung his smoking hand widely, scattering the orbs around the room.
-Rustle, clack!
“...?”
It was utterly incomprehensible behavior.
The orbs rolled as if alive, settling into corners of the room.
“Oh, success. Pretty good for our first time syncing, kid Theodore. But tone it down next time; that stung.”
“Couldn’t control the strength. Sorry.”
“...Then, may we go now? We can talk about the rest tomorrow...”
The two hurried their goodbyes, seemingly avoiding my gaze, and moved to leave the room.
I tried to call out to Izmel, who was already halfway out the door, but her reaction was faster.
“Ask Theodore about the rest. See ya!”
“See you tomorrow...”
“Huh?”
The absurdity of the unfolding events had me reaching for the closing door.
-Rattle!
Among the scattered orbs, five or six flew toward my hand, blocking it from the doorknob.