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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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It was late evening, and the sun had already completely set.
As befitting a large city, Haelen was still bustling with noise.
Of course, those sounds felt distant to her, standing on the rooftop of the academy.
‘Is this really the right path?’
She looked up at the night sky with a sorrowful expression.
Thanks to the transparent barrier surrounding Haelen, the stars were shining clearly in the sky.
‘Some of those stars are said to have already died out.’
She was afraid.
Afraid that her constellation might also be a star that had already faded.
Afraid that she had been clinging to a constellation that had already perished.
‘Please answer me. Constellation.’
Her gaze was as desperate as if she were begging for her life.
But there was no answer.
Yuseora’s expression gradually turned cold.
‘Are you going to keep your mouth shut?’
She started moving forward.
One step at a time, towards the edge of the rooftop.
And finally, she reached the very edge.
‘Even now?’
She looked down.
She felt dizzy for a moment.
It wasn’t that high, but it was still a height where she couldn’t guarantee survival if she fell.
‘Please, say something. Stop me.’
She was serious.
She had already come too far to turn back.
She wanted to confirm whether the path she had walked was right or wrong, at the very least.
But there was no answer.
‘This is the end.’
She leaned her body forward.
The ground below became perpendicular to her gaze.
It was the moment the sensation of falling enveloped her body.
‘Huh?’
A wind blew from somewhere.
And someone embraced her.
“Damn it!”
It was a somewhat familiar voice.
She turned her head to look at the person holding her.
It was Seo Yoo Rang, a member of her team.
‘Why?’
Before she could think about how he had found her, she first wondered why he was holding her.
Because she was already falling.
This would only lead to a double suicide.
…It definitely should have.
At that moment, a miracle happened.
Their falling speed began to decrease.
‘What is this…?’
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I realized the reason why Yuseora kept bothering me.
It was a sense of camaraderie.
Her wandering, uncertain demeanor reminded me of Seo Yoo Rang.
And the moment I saw her throwing herself off the rooftop, I didn’t have time for rational judgment.
I used the power of the wind to rush over and grab her as she fell.
“Damn it!”
But she had already gained considerable speed in her fall.
I tried to reduce our falling speed using the power of the wind, but the added weight of Yuseora seemed to hinder its effectiveness, and it wasn’t as powerful as usual.
Crack.
It was incredibly fortunate that there was a tree beneath us.
I managed to minimize our speed with the power of the wind, and the tree branches absorbed the impact, minimizing our injuries.
Although it was a bit painful, we were able to roll on the ground alive.
‘I almost died.’
A double suicide was out of the question.
As I lay on the ground, catching my breath,
“Why?”
Yuseora asked.
I answered as if it were obvious.
“When someone’s trying to die, you have to save them first.”
She was asking the obvious.
I wondered if that was the right thing to say to someone who had just been saved, but with Seo Yoo Rang’s memories, I could understand Yuseora to some extent.
I, too, had tried to kill myself as soon as I entered the first ordeal.
‘Then for now…’
We had passed one hurdle.
But it would be naive to think that Yuseora would change on her own.
I had already failed to grasp Yuseora’s situation due to my carelessness.
I couldn’t make the same mistake twice.
“Miss Yuseora, when was the last time you were in contact with your constellation?”
Yuseora seemed a little flustered that I knew about constellations, but soon answered,
“…Three years ago.”
This was crazy.
Three years ago was before I even received Seo Yoo Rang’s memories.
That meant her problem was different from what happened to Wilhelm and me.
‘Giving up on raising her, huh?’
I should have thought of this first when I saw her growth status.
But since I was more accustomed to being Seo Yoo Rang as a player, that thought didn’t occur to me quickly.
‘So she’s been following a three-year-old order from her constellation?’
Yuseora was also impressive.
She wouldn’t have been able to do that if she hadn’t been a character so dependent on her constellation.
It made me a little sad to think that even Seo Yoo Rang had chosen to give up on raising her character more than once.
‘But Yuseora must have realized it to some extent.’
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have made such an extreme choice.
This meant that sugar-coated comforting words wouldn’t work on Yuseora now.
There was only one way.
“Then your constellation gave up on you three years ago.”
A head-on approach.
That was the only option.
“Thank you for saving me, but how dare you say such things about my constellation?”
“Well, do you think that constellation even remembers you?”
Of course, they might remember her.
As one of the characters they messed up.
That failed experience might even serve as an important foundation for the next time they raise Yuseora.
But that meant nothing to the Yuseora here.
“That’s…”
“See? You don’t know much about those so-called constellations.”
Yuseora retorted as if she was offended.
“Then do you know them well?”
“Yes.”
Very well.
Because I have the complete memory of one constellation.
Even if I couldn’t confidently claim to be a constellation like before, I was still half a constellation.
“My constellation was a chain smoker and an alcoholic. He regretted his own failures and projected himself onto me, the fool.”
“How could you…”
“How I know isn’t important. What’s important is that they are imperfect beings like us.”
At those words, Yuseora’s eyes widened.
“Imperfect beings?”
“You must have known too. The path of the sword that guy ordered you to take is full of flaws.”
Yuseora remained silent.
I could take that as an affirmation.
“Then, wouldn’t any constellation do?”
“What do you mean?”
This was the main point.
The head-on approach to save her somehow.
I said the words that would be the beginning.
“How about we make a bet?”
“A bet, all of a sudden?”
“Yes, the winner becomes the loser’s constellation.”
Yuseora looked perplexed.
Of course, it was a proposal that would elicit such a reaction.
“But I don’t even know what exactly a constellation is.”
“It’s simple. A constellation is a being that can give orders. But those orders have no binding force.”
She looked even more confused.
“Then isn’t it meaningless?”
Meaningless, my foot.
The biggest proof of that meaning was her.
“But you were bound for three years by the words left by such a meaningless constellation, weren’t you?”
Yuseora’s expression hardened.
She seemed to have finally realized it.
She asked me,
“Let’s say that’s true. Then what is the bet about?”
The subject of the bet.
Since I chose a head-on approach, there was only one thing I was confident in.
Although it was a bit underhanded.
“Swordsmanship. Let’s have a swordsmanship match.”
At those words, Yuseora was once again taken aback.
Then she started to think.
She was probably considering whether this bet was a trap or not.
But she had no choice but to accept.
She didn’t know my swordsmanship skills yet, and she had nothing to lose.
‘It’s a trap, so just accept it already.’
After a moment of contemplation, Yuseora finally spoke.
“Alright. Let’s give it a try.”
This was half the success.
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“Are you really sure about this?”
Yuseora, still feeling uneasy, repeatedly confirmed with me.
Of course, I had no problem at all.
“I’m telling you, I’m fine. I’m actually quite good at swordsmanship, you know?”
“No, not the swordsmanship, are you really okay with me using Overload?”
I had set a rule for the bet that we must use our full strength.
That full strength included Yuseora’s Overload.
“Use everything, Overload or whatever. I’m really good at swordsmanship.”
I was sincere, but Yuseora didn’t seem to believe me.
Well, it didn’t matter.
I could just show her.
“Then let’s go in.”
Although the ordeal was originally only available for class purposes, I could easily use it thanks to the contract I made with that unnamed god last time.
I felt a bit indebted to the god I had things to settle with, but it couldn’t be helped.
The ordeal was the only place where I could reveal my swordsmanship without exposing it to the outside and draw out Yuseora’s full power.
‘Shall I limber up a bit?’
Lately, I had been feeling stiff from just shooting arrows from afar.
Of course, I’d go easy on her, so there was no need to worry.
Though I wasn’t sure how Yuseora would feel about it.
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