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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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Chairwoman Alexia left the Imperial Academy.
I heard it was to personally assess the war situation…
But it didn’t sound very convincing.
What could there be that required Alexia to move in person?
‘Is she going to meet another Majin?’
That would make sense.
Only another Majin could move Chairwoman Alexia, who was typically busy eating, sleeping, and playing for decades once she settled somewhere.
Had another madman gone on a rampage in the wetlands, breaking the agreement between Majins?
No, that wasn’t it.
If that were the case, Tilpitz would have handled it.
If not that, then…
‘I don’t know.’
There wasn’t much I could guess.
Well, it didn’t really matter how Alexia moved right now.
Unlike other Majins, the possibility of Alexia causing problems early on was close to zero.
Rather, Alexia was more likely to be on the side of resolving issues along with Tilpitz.
So there was no need to worry too much.
“Mr. Hainkel.”
“Yes?”
As I was heading to the underground training room, I heard Emilia’s voice from behind.
“Are you going to study again today?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Mr. Hainkel… When you go in there, you lose track of time. You can’t hear anything from outside, and there’s not even a window.”
“That’s why I go in. It helps me concentrate.”
“It’s good that you concentrate, but I’m worried about your health. Can I come in with you?”
I hadn’t expected this request.
I closed my mouth for a moment and pondered.
Was there anything I shouldn’t show Emilia inside…
Not particularly.
These days I was just studying in preparation for the midterms.
In fact, having Ms. Emilia watch from the side might have the effect of reducing my break times out of guilt.
“Alright.”
“R-really?”
“Yes. You can come in.”
“Then I’ll intrude.”
Just as I was about to go down the stairs with Emilia, who seemed strangely excited, we heard the sound of the doorbell.
Emilia and I turned around simultaneously.
I thought I saw Emilia’s expression become slightly displeased for a moment, but maybe I was mistaken.
“I’ll go check.”
“No, I’ll go.”
There had been too many visitors lately.
With Trie coming almost every day, and professors repeatedly asking about the Whist Forest incident.
I opened the door abruptly, unable to fully hide my somewhat irritated attitude.
“Who is it?”
“It’s me, Schlus.”
“M-me too…”
“…”
Iris and Erica, huh.
I was about to slam the door shut right then, but-
“Hey! Why are you closing it when guests have arrived?!”
“Uninvited guests are not welcome.”
“Please let us in!”
Erica’s shoe wedged into the door gap, forcing me to open it again.
This was truly an awkward combination.
Just being face-to-face with Iris seemed to tire me mentally.
And Erica, being someone who rarely sought me out, made me suspect her reasons for coming were not trivial.
“Shall I bring some tea, Mr. Hainkel?”
“No, it’s fine.”
“Why aren’t you serving us tea?!”
“I have no tea to serve you.”
“You’re so cold, Schlus.”
Emilia smiled gently and went into the kitchen.
It seemed she realized it was a joke and went to make tea anyway.
Actually, I wouldn’t have minded if she really didn’t serve them tea.
“No, seriously, I won’t serve-”
“Here, eat this instead.”
“…!”
I poured some cookies I had received as a gift from Ainz into a bowl.
As soon as I put the bowl on the table, I saw Erica’s eyes change.
Right, I remembered there was a setting that this girl was crazy about cookies.
Soon, Erica started eating the cookies one by one while glaring at me.
It seemed I could keep Erica quiet until the cookies ran out.
“It’s nothing special, we just came to chat.”
“Aren’t you busy preparing for exams?”
“I’m already prepared.”
“I’m not.”
“What a joke.”
“…”
Iris laughed, covering her mouth.
It was hard to tell if she was laughing because she really thought it was a joke, or if she was mocking me.
Just as I was starting to feel a bit annoyed, Emilia came with a teapot and cups and poured the tea.
Perhaps because her mouth was dry from eating only cookies, Erica gulped down the tea like water.
I wondered if she had come here just to eat, but I didn’t bother to say it out loud.
“Chat. I see. Let’s have a chat then.”
“Fufu. Good. How can people only meet when they have business? We should meet for trivial things like this too.”
“Right. I heard Erica was bawling her eyes out in front of my coffin.”
“Puhup!”
This girl…
She spat out her tea and fell over.
Emilia, without the slightest change in her expression, came with a rag and started wiping the floor with a smile.
Wow.
If it were me, I would have cursed at least once.
She really was a big-hearted person.
“Cough… hue… W-why is that story coming up?!”
“Didn’t you say we were going to chat?”
“Not about this. Something else.”
“That’s right. I heard you were on the verge of collapse from crying so much.”
“Even Iris!”
With Iris’s firepower added, Erica soon became teary-eyed.
Well, I could understand.
Erica was a person with such rich sensibilities that she probably cried her eyes out as if a family member had died when a schoolmate she knew passed away.
Understanding and teasing were two different things, though.
“Back then, I just had something in my eye…”
“At that rate, you would have gone blind.”
“Ugh…! Stop teasing me. Iris, we didn’t come here to talk about this.”
I knew it.
So much for just chatting.
It seemed they had a separate agenda.
“I wanted to enjoy the chat a little longer…”
“Don’t say weird things. Hurry up and tell me.”
“Why don’t you tell him, Erica?”
“If I say it, it won’t be credible. Hurry.”
“Alright. Don’t rush me too much.”
Iris leisurely finished her cup of tea.
By this point, even I was getting curious.
What on earth had these two been whispering about before coming to see me?
“I’ll have to excuse the attendant for a moment.”
“…?”
Iris waved her hand once, and a perception interference barrier spread around us.
It seemed she wanted to prevent Emilia from hearing.
“I saw the future, Schlus.”
“What kind of future is it this time?”
“It was a future where you die.”
“If it’s something like that, there’s no need to tell me. You can just save me, can’t you?”
“It’s not just you who dies, that’s why.”
“What do you-”
“You kill Erica’s sister, Julia, get arrested, and are executed.”
“…”
For a moment, I couldn’t suppress the twisting of my mouth.
I was both dumbfounded and angry.
Me, kill someone?
“Even jokes have limits, Iris.”
“I’m serious.”
“Tell me it was a lie right now. Then I’ll forgive you.”
“I’ll say it a second time, it was the truth without a shred of lie.”
“Get out. Both of you.”
I stood up abruptly and forcibly dispelled the barrier.
In front of Emilia, they wouldn’t be able to spout such nonsense anymore.
Nevertheless, Iris was still sitting there munching on cookies, while only Erica was fidgeting nervously, looking back and forth between us.
“I-it’s true, Schlus. What Iris said…”
“How can you be so sure? Did you see it yourself?”
“No… But it’s about my sister. It’s clear that you two have an unusual relationship, not just having met face-to-face a couple of times… But I don’t know what it is!”
“You’re right. We’ve just met face-to-face a couple of times. That’s all.”
“That can’t be. Julia… She seems to have nightmares every night. She cries in her sleep calling your name. And sometimes a strange name too.”
“What is it?”
“What was it again. Kim… Jinwoo, was it?”
“…”
An indescribable emotion washed over me.
I couldn’t remain rational at all.
No matter how I thought about it, it didn’t make sense.
Julia had nightmares calling my name?
That name would probably be Schlus.
But Kim Jinwoo… she occasionally called my real name too?
Ha. Shit.
That’s fucking impossible.
My real name isn’t something that can be guessed.
But why does Julia know it?
How does a mere extra in the novel know my name?
“Schlus?”
“…Get out.”
I left the table and walked out of the living room.
Soon I heard footsteps following me, along with Emilia.
Emilia called out to me occasionally, but I ignored it all and headed for the underground training room.
Right now, I just wanted to be alone.
“Schlus!”
“…”
Erica finally caught up with me and grabbed my shoulder.
I took a deep breath and turned around.
“That time you met our mother before. What was that about?”
“…”
So she had noticed.
That I had been using Lady Lichtenburg almost like a servant.
Well, if it was about that, it made sense for her to confront me so urgently.
“Don’t worry. I’ll use her just a little and let her go soon.”
“What are you…!”
Ignoring Erica’s voice, I entered the training room immediately.
Emilia seemed to have sensed my intentions as well, as she stopped following me and saw me off with a bow.
Thud…
“Phew.”
With the sound of the door closing, silence fell.
No, I had entered into the silence and sunk into it.
In the calm and chilly storage room, I walked slowly and took deep breaths.
“Calm down, you bastard. Calm down.”
I had never shown my anger in front of others like this before.
Not just in this world, but even in the real world, it was rare for me to get this excited.
I slowly suppressed my anger and unraveled my tangled thoughts.
“Julia said my name…”
– Julia knows Schlus.
– Schlus also knows Julia.
I already knew this.
Since they were both from Iceburg, it was entirely possible.
But that wasn’t the problem.
– Julia said Kim Jinwoo’s name.
– In the future, I kill Julia.
No matter how much I thought about it, these two things didn’t make sense.
Why?
How?
The only cause I could guess was…
“The Ring of Miracles.”
That damned ring.
It was the only explanation.
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