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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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Deep in the night when everyone was asleep.
Even the most selfish and troublemaking students of Somerbadge were not awake at the stroke of midnight.
At a time when only the chirping of insects tickled the ear from the occasionally open main gate, what suddenly broke the silence was none other than my own mouth.
“I wanna go home.”
I want to go home.
Just like yesterday, while pulling an all-nighter to review the theory book on wind magic, I suddenly felt the urge to escape from reality.
So desperately.
I wanted to go home.
To be precise, within 30 minutes.
“Send me back…”
Even when I tried my best not to be conscious of it, I kept looking outside.
The time indicated by the clock tower.
23:30.
In just 30 minutes, the first episode of [Academy Somerbadge] will begin.
It is called ‘Night Raid’.
It is an unprecedented event, the first time since the founding of Somerbadge that a monster invasion has been allowed, and the starting point where the story truly gains weight.
Despite the empire’s barriers still holding firm, it becomes known that from now on, barriers alone cannot cope with the monsters.
‘The tower should be safe for now…’
Tap, tap.
I tapped the floor with the tip of my index finger. It was a habit that came out when I was anxious and my mind wouldn’t calm down.
Underpass.
This monster, discovered for the first time, has the appearance of a giant earthworm and is rarely encountered on the surface, but.
Where they pass, deep and wide burrows remain, and already the ground beneath the continent is riddled with complex tunnels like an anthill.
Small, low-level monsters can move freely through them, and the moment the end of that tunnel reaches inside Somerbadge is precisely midnight today.
“Nobody come out.”
Shiver, shiver!
It was my small wish, having finally come down to the first floor and plopped myself down on the cold steps of the main gate.
That until the sun rises, please, let no student leave the Tower of Truth.
The reason it’s limited to the Tower of Truth is that originally, a few characters residing in the Tower of Freedom, including the protagonist, have already left the tower at this point.
I also confirmed that the events related to this are proceeding normally.
I can’t move rashly either.
Because every one of my trivial movements will act as a variable.
‘There are no problems yet.’
Of course, it’s impossible for there to be no changes at all.
There is no protagonist in this world, and I am not the protagonist, but Lockstryn. The important thing is whether I can handle the variables that arise.
In that respect, no variables should arise, at least not in the Tower of Truth where the main characters of [Academy Somerbadge] are all gathered.
According to the standard procedure, students staying in the Tower of Truth do not get involved in this event at all. It means they were all sound asleep.
In fact, even when playing the game, the protagonist can generally only talk to Ainim for the first time after a month has passed.
Until then, there are almost no events where you meet characters from the Tower of Truth.
What if, by some chance, a major character staying in the Tower of Truth gets hurt?
‘I can’t handle it.’
Even I, the creator, don’t know what kind of aftereffects will follow.
In this first event, ‘Night Raid,’ casualties occur. It’s because of Somerbadge rules.
In particular, mainstream attack magic cannot be used carelessly unless it’s during class or in a specially permitted space on campus. Because none of it is not dangerous.
In the first place, magic was researched and developed as a weapon to fight monsters.
If you get caught, at the very least, you won’t get off easy, and depending on the scale of the magic, immediate expulsion is possible. There are plenty of precedents.
However, I soon realized.
“What are you doing?”
I shouldn’t have said that just now.
I had overlooked the fact that I, too, was strictly one of the characters in this game.
A so-called flag had been raised.
“I just came out to cool my head for a bit.”
“Here?”
“I have my reasons. Hahaha.”
Even without turning around, the flat, cold voice was very distinctive. More importantly, the air has genuinely become chilly.
“Is that so?”
Eruia didn’t seem particularly surprised by my strange behavior of squatting on the stairs of the dark dormitory lobby with my hood up.
No, for her to ask first was quite a reaction for Eruia. The problem was that she was about to pass me by and go outside.
“Shouldn’t you at least say thank you?”
I spoke to Eruia, who was trying to walk around me. It was clearly a provocative tone.
“For just covering me with a newspaper.”
“It’s something that I did it at all.”
“It was a pain to throw away.”
“I was the one who moved you.”
“Alright, thank you. Happy now?”
“You were heavier than you look.”
“Are you picking a fight?”
Eruia stopped in her tracks.
And it wasn’t a joke, she was really heavy. Eruia herself is a bit tall for her age, but the clothes she wears are incredibly thick.
It was the same now.
“Are you going out for some air?”
Why was Eruia, who should be asleep, going out of the tower at this hour? That was the first mystery to solve.
“I woke up. Someone kept tapping their desk on the floor below.”
“What a bad person. By any chance, which room number?”
“Room 1303.”
Ah, it’s because of me.
It seems I was unconsciously tapping the desk while studying. I was also in my room until 11 o’clock before coming down. Habits are this scary.
The fact that Lockstryn is staying in Room 1203 of the Tower of Truth is openly published in the ‘Monthly Somerbadge’.
Isn’t this an invasion of privacy?
“Be more careful next time.”
“Yes. But you’ll get hurt if you go out like that.”
The conversation couldn’t end like this, so I pointed to Eruia’s feet and spoke.
Contrary to her mysterious and cold impression, Eruia had a surprisingly clumsy setting.
Like being unable to change into a dress by herself, or tearing a steak with a fork because she can’t use a knife.
Therefore, she can’t tie her shoelaces properly either.
So clumsy.
“Shall I tie them again for you?”
“It’s fine―”
“I’m an expert at this kind of thing.”
Here, I had to be a little insistent.
I quickly grabbed the foot of Eruia, who was about to step back, and untied all of her clumsily tied shoelaces.
“……What are you doing?”
Eruia was flustered.
It was so sudden that she couldn’t even pull her foot back in time. She probably didn’t expect to have her foot grabbed out of the blue. Her pale white face was buried in her scarf.
I knelt on one knee and bowed my head deeply. It was a posture one would see in a traditional knighting ceremony. Though one isn’t supposed to wear a shabby hood like this.
Since Eruia was also a princess, she must have memories of doing this for her escort knights when she was young. Of course, there are no swords or vassals here.
“It’s taking too long.”
Judging by her expression, thankfully, she didn’t seem to be in a bad mood.
“All done.”
“Something’s strange…”
Of course it is.
By the time Eruia’s face started to distort as she grasped the situation, I had already stepped back five paces.
I did tie the laces.
While leaving the inside, which should have been tightened, loose.
I tied the outside excessively, using the suicide prevention knot I had used on my combat boots in the military boot camp.
“It’s tied well.”
I tied it ten times, so it will probably take a long time to untie.
Especially for Eruia, who always wears thick gloves, it was nothing short of a disaster.
“What have you done!”
“Wahahahat. Wahaha.”
Even when Eruia glared at me with fierce eyes, there was no way to explain. I just laughed foolishly.
Just think of me as a crazy person.
“Damn it…”
Having acknowledged that I was not in my right mind, Eruia gave up on the conversation and struggled, trying to untie the shoelaces somehow.
But that was only for a moment.
She soon realized it was impossible and slumped down. Eruia’s skill level was 3. The same as the average Lockstryn.
If she took off her gloves, she might have been able to untie it, but that wouldn’t happen. Even though it’s late, this is the tower lobby where people often come and go.
Her only option is to go back to her room.
“…Haa.”
“I have a terrible disease that makes me want to tie knots whenever I see a string. So please hurry back.”
“I’m wide awake now. Thanks to someone.”
“What about your classes tomorrow? I think the second years have morning classes.”
“I’m not going.”
I asked, pretending not to know.
Eruia rarely attends classes.
Also, the events assigned as choices are extremely rare, so it is very difficult to build a rapport and recruit her as a companion.
She has no particular interest in the achievements of magic, nor does she want to stand out, so the setting is that she can only be met occasionally in the early morning or late at night.
“You must be cold, though.”
“I think so too.”
“You don’t know since you’re a freshman.”
Eruia was born with a chill in her body, not warmth.
It was a terrible curse.
She came to possess vast magical power that she couldn’t even control, causing her to freeze everything around her without even realizing it.
She never wanted to study or use magic, yet she was suddenly slapped with a 4-star rating.
The reason she bundled herself up from head to toe was to protect her faint warmth, and at the same time, to protect the people around her.
“You’ll catch a cold.”
Of course, it was just a temporary measure, so it couldn’t be helped that a chilly air lingered around her.
Perhaps thinking it would be easier to show me, Eruia briefly lowered her scarf and blew out a breath.
Crisp.
A cherry blossom petal I had picked up near the stairs instantly froze solid and crumbled.
“That’s cool.”
Clap, clap.
I clapped as if I had seen a performance.
I hadn’t planned on sitting there for long anyway. I had achieved my original goal of preventing Eruia from going outside.
As a result, I did blow away the one level of favorability I had barely built up from the incident at the training ground before, but since we were staying in the Tower of Truth anyway, it wouldn’t be difficult to run into each other.
“We’re not getting through to each other.”
It was a strange expression. Seeing the corners of her mouth go up, it seemed she might have smiled.
In any case, I have to send her back.
The reason the three towers, the dormitories of Somerbadge, are safe is that they were built on high ground.
Because it was unstable from the beginning, there was a need to make the foundation work solid. Therefore, the Underpass cannot penetrate the ground in this vicinity.
However, there is no guarantee that a monster that has stubbornly crawled out of a nearby exit will not reach the vicinity of the tower.
And they will not miss the scent of humans coming from nearby.
“There might be another dangerous guy like me. Wouldn’t it be better to go up before I tie your other shoe?”
“That was the plan.”
“Be careful. Don’t fall.”
“You’ve got a lot of nerve saying that.”
It was Eruia who got up from her seat first.
The time was 11:55. It was about time for me to move too, so I got up.
Huh. But Eruia couldn’t take a single step.
“Why are you standing there blankly―”
Keeheehee!
The sound that came at that moment was a laugh.
Clearly not human, an unpleasant grating sound like scraping metal.
Something’s head suddenly popped out from between the garden shrubs.
An appearance that did not blend in at all with the beautiful scenery of the Somerbadge campus.
When the large head, unbalanced on a gray, short body, staggered and swung its arm.
“Ah.”
Thwack!
I was not sure how it was possible with Lockstryn’s sluggish physical abilities.
I threw my body without a moment’s hesitation.
I pushed Eruia down with one arm, and stretched out the other, chanting the one phrase I had practiced over a thousand times.
“「Will·Tro·Tas (Wind·Compress·Project)」”
Average level talent.
Average level magic power.
In a state without even a single grain of foundational knowledge, the one and only magic learned by squeezing my poor head for two weeks.
「Wind Blade」.
[The formula was largely divided into 3 stages: attribute, form, and solution. However, this process, which seems simple at first glance, is so difficult that it takes several months just to accept each one……]
Sizzle!
Wind, compressed to its limit, rushed forward.
The gray head that had been grinning fishily was lopped off, and blood spurted out.
At the same time, a terrible, intense pain came. From my arm.
I thought it would hurt more if I looked, but I couldn’t help my gaze dropping down.
“Keuheup.”
It hurts.
It hurts.
It’s a cruel twist of fate, since I designed it. That small low-level monster, the Gremlin, has a setting that says [it carries around a small blade it picked up from somewhere].
And when it enters a battle event with the player, it takes a motion of throwing it.
“Why is a monster…?”
While Eruia sat collapsed, muttering blankly, I tore the opposite sleeve with my teeth.
I could see the piece of iron that had deeply penetrated my forearm. The crude blade had mercilessly torn through my flesh, and the dripping blood had stained the student robe crimson.
I gritted my molars so hard they could break, but I was not used to pain in the first place.
I hate getting hurt, and I hate being in pain.
I’m just an ordinary human.
“So what did I say? I said it was dangerous.”
“You’re, you’re hurt?”
“Don’t worry about it, go up and get some sleep.”
By morning, it will all be over.
Swish, I pulled out the hand-span-long dagger and threw it on the floor. Her personality might be like that, but a princess is a princess, so she doesn’t have much tolerance for this kind of thing.
In any case, since Eruia wasn’t hurt, there’s no problem. I ran out of the tower just like that.
“Ha.”
So this is how it happens.
Already, the area was hopelessly swarming with monsters. Of course, the protagonist isn’t in the tower.
Even after hundreds of tests, I, who had only played from the protagonist’s point of view, have no idea what the situation is like over here.
Annoyingly, I bit my lip as I saw the text that only changed belatedly after things had gotten this far.
[CURRENT EPISODE]
The sense of unfamiliarity gave me goosebumps.
It’s not NEXT anymore.
The real episode, the beginning of the terrible story I created.
Reading the words I had written myself, I had the same thought I had just 30 minutes ago.
As I thought.
I want to go home.
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So, like a goblin