Chapter 23
Chapter 23
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Paradise on Earth
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A week had passed since then.
It had been about a week since the day I got hit by that stone and blacked out.
The panic gripping the academy had calmed down somewhat, and quite a few rooms now had their barricades removed.
My wounds still showed raw red flesh, but they were healed enough for me to get around, so I unwrapped the bandages.
"Your only pride was your face, and now it's cracked."
Judith peered closely at the scar on my face and remarked.
"My only pride is my face?"
"That's right, pretty much."
Come to think of it, that did seem accurate...
'Is this a compliment or an insult?'
Unfortunately, even including my father—who hadn't passed down a single gene resembling our family—I'd never heard anyone say I was anything less than presentable.
As I mulled over Judith's words seriously, she leaned against the wall and glanced sideways at me.
Her expression still carried lingering worry.
'She said she fretted over me nonstop while I was out.'
I liked Judith's composed yet oddly theatrical way of speaking, and her gruff affection—boiling with anxiety when I collapsed, then pretending otherwise once I woke.
If she truly hadn't been worried about me, she wouldn't have rushed over first thing when I removed the bandages, nor inspected every inch to make sure I was truly healed.
"The dispatched priest will arrive next week, so just hold out until then."
"Well, it doesn't hurt that much anymore. The wound itches a bit."
Judith traced the raised new flesh of the scar with the cool fingers of her prosthetic arm.
The heat in the wound seemed to subside, if only for a moment.
"You're lucky it didn't hit your eye."
"Yeah, I got lucky."
That wasn't much of a joke for someone who'd been knocked out by a stone and stayed comatose afterward.
Judith flashed a playful grin, baring her teeth, then sprang to her feet.
"Still tagging along? Watchdog."
"Probably? Until the Autumn Thanksgiving Festival ends the week after next."
"Oh...!"
Now that she mentioned it, autumn was almost here.
Aegis Academy held four major events a year, starting from the beginning: Welcoming the New Sprouts in spring, the Hunting Festival in summer, the Autumn Thanksgiving Festival in fall, and the Full Moon Festival in winter.
The grandest of them was the Autumn Thanksgiving Festival, celebrating the harvest and giving thanks for the year's bounty.
The masquerade ball held alongside it—everyone in masks—was particularly spectacular.
"They're still holding the thanksgiving festival amid all this chaos?"
"That's exactly why they're holding it."
Judith crossed her arms and gazed into the distance, as if recalling someone's words.
'She must've just met with Machina.'
Specialty students like Judith and Arthur were under especially close watch from Machina, the student council president and cadet council head.
Even in normal times, her sly knack for summoning students one by one, treating them to tea, and checking in on their lives left even Judith impressed.
"So, have you worked out those worries of yours?"
Judith was quick on the uptake, as always.
Perhaps as a side effect of always being vigilant as a foreign exchange student, she had a way of reading my mood even when I said nothing and broaching the subject first.
"You could say it's resolved. It wasn't a big deal anyway."
"Hmm."
She didn't seem entirely convinced, but I had nothing more to add.
Because after putting myself under self-hypnosis, I'd decided not to consult anyone about this issue.
On top of that, with everything still just speculation, I didn't want to rashly speak up and endanger everyone again—and part of it was that the first line I'd written that day still nagged at me.
[Never, ever think of it.]
Judging from the creation myth passage, that entity likely grew stronger the more people became aware of it.
Otherwise, there'd be no need to emphasize not calling it.
Leaving aside how reliable the creation myth's records were, the fact that I— of all people—had quoted a biblical verse was symbolic.
"Judith, now that I think about it, you pray when you're gearing up for tournaments or steeling your resolve."
"I do."
Judith's prayer consisted of kissing the pendant around her neck and tapping her heart once.
It differed from the Aegis faith's devotees, who made the sign of the cross and intoned, "The Lord will remember your prayer."
"Never found it tough, having a different faith?"
"Not really. Though finding a spot to kill time during theology class is a hassle."
"Oh, right."
The day I first had that dream, I'd been kicked out of theology class and run into Judith—the class president of Wooden Cross Class—in the hallway.
For her first few years after enrolling, she'd made every excuse to skip theology.
But once her talents as a specialty student started shining, she was officially granted "alternative classes."
"But Judith."
I called out to her long after the conversation had lulled, as she stood leaning against the wall, tapping her toe.
She responded with a half-hearted noise somewhere between "yeah" and "hmm."
"That arm..."
I'd almost asked about her prosthetic without thinking, and I clamped my mouth shut in surprise.
Judith stared at me calmly for my odd timing, then held out her right hand—missing all fingers except the thumb and pinky, all prosthetic.
"The prosthetic?"
"No, I mean... suddenly bringing it up. Sorry, that was a slip."
"You're such a lightweight."
I no longer remembered why Judith's hand and part of her arm had been replaced with a prosthetic.
Only the memory of blowing off her fingers in the dream remained vivid.
"Before enrolling at the academy, I got mauled by a beast. By the time I showed the wound to a priest, my fingers, half my palm, and half my forearm were already rotted away."
To Judith, it seemed no big deal that I—someone she'd known for so long—was only now asking about her prosthetic.
This was another contradictory phenomenon I couldn't comprehend.
Shirley hadn't found it odd when I was startled by Theodore's eyepatch.
Yet Judith wasn't surprised that I, who'd spent most of my teenage years with her, was suddenly questioning her hand.
'This is weird...'
What was happening now felt to me like forcing two different strings together into a knot.
From afar, the tied strings looked like one.
But up close, the knot was uneven.
That's when the sense of wrongness began to creep in.
I couldn't guess what it meant that I alone noticed this knot everyone else overlooked.
"But thanks to Aegis Academy's support, I got this awesome new part. I'm satisfied."
Judith wiggled her five fingers irregularly and grinned.
Her prosthetic was likely a high-end model from the Labyrinth Tower, run by the black mage Mahar as tower lord.
Labyrinth Tower prosthetics were precision machines with special circuits powered by the user's mana, overlaid with artificial skin mimicking real flesh.
In some regions, they argued that since they required mana infusion to move, they should be called golems.
"They must value your talents highly."
"Heh. Can't argue with that."
Labyrinth Tower prosthetics were so exceptional that without connections, even the wealthy or shadowy collectors faced long waitlists.
Even I, who'd seen my share of rarities, had never inspected a real one up close before.
"Seen enough?"
I'd been staring holes through her fingertips and forearm without realizing.
Judith swung her clenched fist back and forth and asked.
Ever since waking from the dream, things had been like this.
I kept obsessing over my world, making mistakes I rarely did.
I awkwardly averted my gaze and mumbled an apology.
Then Judith said,
"I don't mind you taking an interest like this. Actually, I'm glad."
"Glad?"
It caught me off guard mid-listen.
Judith smiled softly and continued.
"Arma, you put on that polite, well-mannered act, but sometimes you act like some old geezer who's lived it all."
"Me? I've never done that. I'm in the prime of my youth."
"Saying you're savoring your youth just proves my point."
What kind of person did Judith think I was?
And what did she even mean by acting like a geezer who'd lived a full life?
Questions piled up, but she showed no intention of clarifying.
"The polite, mannerly Arma Cruise is just an illusion, in my eyes."
"I'm losing track of what you're saying."
"You're actually not interested in others, don't expect anything from them, and yet—"
She rattled off words that could be praise or curses, then punctuated it with one final remark.
"You're kind."
An itchy atmosphere settled, and we both fell silent.
"Arma, during the hunting festival, you drove off those guys trying to hurt me."
"It was nonsense from the start. Mistaking a healthy person for a beast. Someone would've stepped in even if it wasn't me."
"It hurts to hear you say that, but I doubt anyone would've gone that far for me."
As a promising foreign specialty student, Judith drew not praise, but envy.
Seeing that had irked me a little.
"If it was really going to blow up, the student council would've handled it."
For a gathering of tempestuous teens, the academy functioned remarkably well as a mini-society.
The adults lurked in the shadows, but the student council deserved most of the credit for that miracle.
Around then, we shared an odd faith: no matter what incident arose in the academy, the student council would step in and resolve it.
"Judith. It's embarrassing for the guy who begged for help bringing it up that day, but..."
"Go on."
"More people were willing to help you than you think."
For the first time in ages, I could properly recall that day.
When Judith was in danger, several people had clenched their fists, twitched their toes, and reached out toward her—right there.
She didn't need to thank me specially.
Anyone could've done it; I just happened to be there.
"Hearing that makes me able to forgive Aegis's cold-blooded lot, even if just a little."
"Don't forgive them. They're awful."
Judith clutched her stomach laughing at my joke.
"Guess I've kept the hurt guy company long enough. Time to go, Arma."
"I was getting bored anyway—had fun. Come visit again."
"Sure."
Judith called the watchdog to signal the end of visiting hours and left the infirmary.
With no lingering aftereffects, I wished they'd discharge me already.
But the academy's panic hadn't fully subsided, delaying my release—and I was living like some shut-in old man.
Watching Judith's receding figure, I leaned deeply into the bed, lost in thought.
'Now that I think about it, it's all so strange. It was always a bit off, but from last year, things kept happening that were hard to laugh off.'
Even isolated on this remote island, the academy's immense scale—hard to believe it was built here—kept isolation at bay.
With its free academic vibe, ample funding, stunning nature, and cadets brimming with enviable talents, could anywhere else truly be called paradise on earth?
There was nothing to complain about.
Nothing at all...