Chapter 92
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 92
Chapter Title: Lesson 20. Familiars Become Copies? - 2
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Thursday morning, Ban Yu-won looked utterly exhausted.
He had good reason. The night before, he'd spent the entire evening with Mira in the Artifact Creation Department's workshop, renting it out until dawn to craft artifacts.
The highlight came at the end when Professor Campanella showed up.
'Mira! And... Student Ban Yu-won?!'
She'd gaped in shock at the sight of Mira with him, then burst into tears when Mira bowed and apologized to her.
Once her tears finally subsided, she'd grilled them like Mira's actual big sister, interrogating them about their relationship. Then she brewed them tea and launched into an endless ramble about her own (unrequited) love life. Finally, she made them promise to come see her first during the major exploration period in the second semester of freshman year before leaving.
She wasn't even pushing for the Artifact Creation Department—just asking to be their first choice. There were limits to how timid a person could be.
"Sniff sniff... sniff..."
"Ah—yeah, Lucelle. Go ahead until you're satisfied."
Thanks to that, Lucelle had latched onto Ban Yu-won the moment she saw him that morning, diligently overwriting his scent.
...Which was accelerating his fatigue more than anything else.
At least she wasn't prying about what happened or who he met. Small mercies.
"...You met up with a girl?"
"Looks like you had quite the enjoyable night, huh."
But then the other members had to bring it up anyway!
"I got close to a senior from the Artifact Creation Department and got some help making artifacts. Enjoyable my ass—I nearly died of exhaustion."
"Ban, don't you just make artifacts by blinking? ...Wait, Artifact Creation Department?"
Light caught on quickly.
Ban Yu-won had been thinking lately that the guy actually had pretty good instincts.
"You don't mean... that Mira senior?"
"Yeah."
"..."
At Ban Yu-won's casual confirmation, Light's face crumpled for some inexplicable reason.
"Ah... I see..."
"What's wrong? You know her?"
"No, I don't. But... I don't really want to."
Ban Yu-won shot the group a look, silently asking if anyone knew why Light was so blatantly upset.
Lucelle was still focused on marking him, and Dokgo Yeon said flatly,
"He's probably jealous since she contracted with a constellation."
"Ugh."
"Dude, she's a third-year and we're freshmen."
"But Ban's a freshman too, and he's got two sponsors. That's why you're meeting her, right?"
Hearing that, Ban Yu-won realized Light was in a seriously annoying mood.
What flashed through his mind was the image from after their first expedition, when Light had turned into a total goblin and gotten himself wedged squarely between the table and the wall.
He'd placated him with hot chocolate back then, but you couldn't keep using the same trick forever.
"Dokgo Yeon, pass."
"Handle it yourself. He's sulking because of you."
"Are you my parents or something?! Ack."
Dokgo Yeon's lightning bolt struck down on Light's head as he yelled.
She glared coolly at the now-meek Light and said,
"The exams end this morning."
"Y-yeah, so?"
"Once they're over, go on a date, just the two of you."
"A date?!"
"Kyaa!"
Light and even Lucelle perked up their ears at Dokgo Yeon's utterly unexpected suggestion.
Meanwhile, Ban Yu-won thought, 'Dokgo Yeon using words like 'date'? She's really fitting in around here.'
"I'm a guy!"
"So what if you are? Right, Ban Yu-won?"
"You're tossing this to me here? Well... doesn't matter to me."
Personal tastes deserved respect, and crucially, Light wasn't actually a guy.
But whatever Ban Yu-won said, Light crossed his arms over his slender frame and pouted.
"Y-you..."
"She just means go hang out together, Light. Calm down already."
"Ah."
Light finally shut his mouth, realizing he'd overreacted.
Lucelle alone seemed displeased with the exchange and shot Dokgo Yeon a glare, but all she got back was a snort.
"You went on a date last time. Today, it's all-day special martial arts training with me."
"True, but ugh. A date... I want one too."
"Alright, then how about you and I hang out this weekend, Lucelle?"
"Yes!"
"..."
Dokgo Yeon eyed Ban Yu-won somewhat sourly as he easily soothed Lucelle.
"You're getting good at this, Ban Yu-won."
"Don't say it like that. Makes me want to die."
Ban Yu-won always roomed with Light in the dorms, but oddly, they hadn't had many one-on-one heart-to-hearts.
Since he figured they'd need to tackle the holy sword issue together eventually, Dokgo Yeon's suggestion was welcome.
11 a.m.
After perfectly filling out the answer sheet for the last midterm subject and submitting it, Ban Yu-won stepped out of the exam room. He grimaced at Light, who had buried his face in his hands.
"No way."
"I wrote most of it. Most of it, I swear. But I lost focus at the end..."
Light glanced at Ban Yu-won as he said it.
Ban Yu-won scowled.
"You're not seriously going to use me as an excuse."
"Sorry. My bad."
"Whatever. If you bombed the midterm, make it up on the finals."
Ban Yu-won decided he'd need to start studying a week earlier for finals season as he dragged Light toward Ronica.
"So, what are we doing? ...What'd you do with Lucelle? Or that girl?"
"Who I did what with doesn't matter. We'll just do whatever sounds fun."
The words were cool, but he didn't do anything special with Light either.
Fed him tasty food, tricked him into women's clothes by calling it unisex fashion—and then ran out of ideas.
It was now 3 p.m.
As Ban Yu-won grumbled about whether to hit a café, debating it,
"Man, how can a place with everything be so culturally backward..."
"Ban, what's that?"
Light, whose mood had improved after Ban Yu-won showered him with cash, pointed at a massive building on the main street.
"Oh—that's a movie theater. Like how Tike films us, it's a place where they screen videos shot by cameras from other people."
"Let's go!"
"Knew you'd say that."
The big city of Ronica had movie theaters, of course.
If there were cameras that could film videos, movies were inevitable, and theaters to show them even more so.
The problem was...
[The constellation Black Flame's Right Arm stands with me. I shall burn you all and establish His justice!]
[A dr-dragon...! A massive dragon made of black flame!]
A protagonist brazenly flaunting flashy-but-shallow constellation powers (the chancellor would love it).
[All He desires is my soul—and the suffering of villains like you!]
[Gaaaaah!]
A protagonist who clearly got scammed into a bad contract by his constellation, no matter how you sliced it.
[But what if it's the power of the constellation Laughing Petal's Fragrance?]
[Laughing!]
[Petal's!]
[Fragrance!]
And side characters blatantly shilling an obviously weak constellation.
"..."
Thirty minutes in, Light stared blankly at the screen before quietly tugging Ban Yu-won's hand and dragging him out of the theater.
Then he exploded.
"What the hell was that?! Why are the characters blindly praising constellations with zero context?!"
"Probably 'cause it's funded by constellation contractors. All movies are like that, FYI. Especially romance ones where they deep-kiss thanks to 'constellation sponsorship' powers. Gives me the chills."
"Worst ever!"
Ban Yu-won agreed, which was why he'd never returned after his first curious visit.
Bad timing, though.
Light, already stressed from constellation crap, had hit his limit.
Ban Yu-won sighed softly at Light, who looked like a gorilla despite his pretty outfit.
"Wanna go blow off steam? Top secret from the others."
"...Huh? Th-that. Uh, I..."
He made an offer he'd never extended to anyone else.
Light's pupils shook as he agonized, but when Ban Yu-won yanked his hand firmly, he followed with feigned reluctance.
Thirty minutes later, the two were charging through a goblin-infested cave.
"This is way different from what I imagined! ...But the stress is melting away!"
"What'd you imagine?"
"Can't say even if you kill me!"
He'd asked Eve and Lilith to lure all the dungeon monsters together beforehand, then gleefully hacked through them.
Goblins couldn't even scratch them, and they could cleave several per swing. Pure catharsis.
It took prep work, but his helpful familiars handled that!
"Yaaah!"
Light swung his spear wildly, venting all the pent-up stress from exam week.
He went so ham that Ban Yu-won only got three goblins.
"Hoo, haa..."
They blasted through the goblin swarm section, charged straight to the boss room, and Light vertically bisected the goblin warrior posing dramatically inside. He slammed his spear into the ground, stood still, and let out a satisfied sigh.
His face looked refreshed as he turned to Ban Yu-won.
"Humans are so cruel, Ban. Killing other creatures just to relieve stress."
"You seriously saying that right now?"
After enjoying it the most himself, too.
Ignoring Ban Yu-won's incredulous look, Light pulled his spear free with another sigh and turned.
"Ban, spar with me."
"Sure."
"If I win, tell me everything that happened with that girl."
Mira had really gotten under his skin, apparently.
Ban Yu-won chuckled and asked,
"And if I win?"
"If you win..."
Light aimed his spear tip at him, eyes sparkling.
"I'll tell you my story."
"Light, that's called an unfair deal."
"Here I come, hyaaah!"
Playing dirty, Light charged without waiting!
Ban Yu-won hastily drew his sword from thin air to block the spear.
—Clang!
"What's that? The holy sword?"
"Just upgraded it a bit!"
More than a bit, but showing it off would just piss Light off again.
The two clashed weapons fiercely, neither yielding an inch.
—Clang! Claaang!
Back at enrollment, Light had been overwhelmingly superior—like heaven and earth compared to Ban Yu-won.
But Light had sealed his overpowering-yet-occasionally-possessed holy sword and honed spearmanship instead, actually lowering his combat prowess.
Meanwhile, Ban Yu-won—the fastest grower across all dimensions—had awakened his unique authority, massively boosting his physical/magic stats, plus Dokgo Yeon had imprinted systematic swordsmanship into his body. He was a whole different being from two months ago.
—Kagak! Chiiing!
Now, fighting at full power, it was an intense, pulse-pounding even match.
"You not using your familiars?"
"That wouldn't be fair!"
No matter what, Light—abandoning a sword he'd had for half his life for academy-learned spearmanship—wouldn't accept a win if Ban Yu-won used everything. So martial arts only.
Matching Light's academy-acquired skills.
—Maybe that's why every clash reminded him of her.
"Dokgo Yeon... she's incredible."
"What, jealous of Dokgo Yeon now?"
"How could I not be? Without my holy sword, I'm nothing, but you guys all..."
"Nonsense."
Truth be told,
Up to last week, even on equal terms, Ban Yu-won would've had the edge.
Not anymore.
Meaning Light's growth this past week outpaced his own.
(Combat skills only—Ban Yu-won had been busy elsewhere, so his lagged.)
"Still, you're getting stronger fast. Fact."
They locked weapons, deadlocked.
Light bared his teeth, glaring as he exhaled hot breaths. His face screamed disagreement.
Ban Yu-won ignored it and pressed on.
"You're a genius even without the holy sword. Hell, it might've been hiding your real talent."
"'Enough' isn't good enough. Not..."
"The more you push, the bigger your growth. Once you accept you're amazing without it, you'll master the sword too."
"Don't spout crap like you know me."
"Yeah, I don't."
Ban Yu-won shoved Light back hard.
"Kuh... hyaaah!"
Light thrust with a sharp yell, but Ban Yu-won easily spotted the tip's faint wobble.
Perfect opening.
Ban Yu-won deep-breathed, unleashed flow and counter principles simultaneously to bat the spear wide, and aimed the Executioner's Longsword at Light's exposed chest.
"So tell me. I'll listen to it all."
"...Hoo."
Light dropped the spear with a small sigh and plopped down right there.
"Can't tell you everything honestly."
"I know. You're a liar."
"...I hate you. For real."
As Ban Yu-won sheathed his sword and sat beside him,
Light pouted but obediently started talking.