I Became the Terminally Ill Character in My Friend’s Academy Novel – Chapter 5

—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: JayM
—————————————————————–

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

Being stranded in a dark cave with a beautiful woman.

It was a rather appealing situation in some ways, but I wasn’t thrilled.

Honestly, I didn’t expect this to happen because I thought the only person who could fulfill the second condition for this place was our pushover protagonist, Lilac.

“Be careful. Nothing has happened yet, but it could be dangerous if you stray from my side.”

Of course, this showed her sense of duty to protect a prospective student, but if she wasn’t inherently kind, she wouldn’t have cared about anyone else the moment they were transported to an unknown space together.

Wow.

She died such an absurd death because of her kindness in the original story, but I didn’t know she was a pushover on par with the protagonist.

Someone who could sincerely sacrifice themselves for others.

I called her a pushover, but it meant she was someone deserving of respect.

“Don’t worry. I may not look like it, but I’m an academy professor. My hero rank is quite high, and I can clear most dungeons safely.”

Yeah, I knew she was capable.

This world, like most modern fantasy academy stories, had monsters, beasts, and villains.

Those who fought against monsters and beasts from other worlds, and villains who were born superhuman but indulged in evil deeds, were called heroes.

The woman in front of me was a hero with an A-rank license, given only to those who could hunt upper-class beasts alone.

She was probably stronger than the protagonist right now.

An average reader would be flustered, not knowing how to react to this situation that didn’t appear in the original story, but I was a man who had memorized the settings book, being the author’s friend.

Naturally, I knew the second gimmick of this dungeon.

The problem was that while no monsters appeared in this dungeon when only those who were “grateful for small things” entered, monsters appeared when those who could “sincerely sacrifice themselves for others” entered.

It was probably a gimmick originally intended for the protagonist, but as expected of a failed novel, the second gimmick of this dungeon didn’t appear even until the story went on hiatus.

Why? Because by then, there were better opportunities for the protagonist than what was offered here.

“Don’t worry too much.”

“Huh?”

“You look too pessimistic right now. Since no monsters have appeared yet, maybe the dungeon master has a gentle disposition.”

Ah, she seemed to have misunderstood, thinking I was scared after seeing me despair while recalling my friend’s failed novel.

“Yes, thanks to you, I feel a bit better.”

But did you know?

It was a common rule in novels that saying something like that would summon monsters.

“Wait.”

As if to prove my almost prophetic prediction, she blocked my path while sweating.

-Kreek.

An eerie sound, like a mix of a frog’s and a human’s vocal cords, echoed.

The monsters that appeared in this dungeon were low-class Goblins.

Lower-class among the lower-class monsters meant they were incredibly weak.

Goblins were so individually weak that even an ordinary person could subdue them if they overcame their fear and fought hard.

However, there was one very unusual Goblin mixed in among those that appeared, and that was the problem.

Goblins as a group were already quite troublesome monsters, but when a particular Goblin was mixed in, their threat increased significantly.

A Goblin Lord.

Its individual prowess was nothing special, but all the Goblins in the group it was with received buffs.

With the buff, each individual Goblin would have combat abilities similar to a mid-class Hobgoblin.

-Kreek, gurgle.

Through the torchlight in the dim cave, the red eyes of the monsters came into view.

There seemed to be over twenty of them right in front of us.

Twenty Hobgoblins? Even seasoned heroes would be in trouble if they let their guard down.

The biggest problem was that the A-rank hero and academy professor in front of me was a specialist in one-on-one combat, making her a bad match against Goblins.

“Of all things…”

She was a martial arts hero.

A close-combat specialist who used her own body as a weapon, it wouldn’t take her more than a second, literally, to crush a buffed-up Goblin’s head with her fist.

Even two Goblins wouldn’t be a big problem.

The same went for three.

However, with ten, she would start having problems, and with twenty or thirty, she wouldn’t be able to keep them all in check.

Her weakness was group combat.

A Goblin lunged at us.

However, the Goblin’s neck was severed by her hand-blade.

Again, it wasn’t crushed, but severed.

Purple blood started flowing from the clean cut.

But the death of one Goblin didn’t mean much to them.

Goblins didn’t have any affection for each other.

They all suddenly rushed at us as one while making unpleasant kreek sounds.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

It would have been easier to subdue a single Ogre.

Every time her fist struck, two Goblins died, but then four more would attack.

‘There are too many…!’

Of all things, it had to be the type of dungeon she was the worst suited for.

Judging by the slightly elevated abilities of the individual Goblins, there must be a Lord somewhere in this dungeon.

If she was alone, she could have calmly dealt with the situation somehow, but there was a sick boy behind her.

Every time she ran off to deal with the Goblins attacking him, the openings created by her action would result in more injuries to her from the Goblins’ crude weapons.

It wasn’t a big problem for now, but she wouldn’t last long at this rate.

She had desperately trained and honed her martial arts, driven by her desire to save people, but her limits were clear.

A-rank.

It was a high achievement considering her mediocre innate talent, but A-rank was just proof of how lacking and weak she was compared to the S-rank her friend and benefactor had reached.

If she was S-rank, capable of single-handedly turning the tide of battle, could she have wiped out this group of Goblins in one fell swoop and reassured the boy?

There was no need to ask.

If it were her friend, they would have already annihilated the enemies and be comforting him with a smile, saying everything was alright.

“Haa…!”

However, even if she couldn’t save someone so spectacularly, there was still something she could do.

“Just… Just wait a little longer. There are a lot of them, so it might take a while.”

It might not be very reassuring, considering her increasing injuries, but she didn’t lose her smile.

Maintaining a smile to reassure someone.

She could at least uphold this one thing she had learned from her friend.

She was experiencing shortness of breath.

Perhaps the weapons were poisoned.

She had killed many Goblins, but their numbers seemed unchanged.

As the rate at which she killed Goblins gradually decreased, and with her clearly being pushed back.

-Who will be sacrificed?

The boy’s voice echoed through the dungeon as a portal opened.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

It was exactly as described in the settings book.

When two people entered this dungeon, if one of them was cornered, a portal would open, and through this portal, they could choose to move to either the exit or the reward room.

She wasn’t exactly cornered, judging by the rate at which she was still killing Goblins, but being cornered didn’t necessarily mean physical danger.

She was kind and virtuous, but she also had deep-seated complexes and a tendency to worry.

Perhaps she was inwardly comparing herself to the Chairman and feeling miserable.

Seeing the portal appear, she smiled and said to me.

“Hurry up and go in! I’ll stay!”

She was a good person.

In a situation where she could have resented me for being dragged into this, or even abandoned me to save herself, she offered to sacrifice herself instead.

Without hesitation, she stood before the exit that appeared and offered to protect it for a single student.

“I’m fine. I won’t lose to Goblins.”

She maintained her smile to reassure another person.

It seemed easy on paper, but the way she put her difficult ideals into practice was truly like a hero in a novel.

I made up my mind then.

She was originally tricked by a villain and met a tragic end, but I wouldn’t let that happen.

A reliable supporter of the protagonist and a kind homeroom teacher with heroic qualities. There was no reason to kill such a popular character.

Without hesitation, I threw myself into the portal.

My destination was, of course, the reward room.

As I passed through the portal, my vision momentarily shifted, and I was transported to a different space.

-Are you someone who can truly be grateful?

A voice echoed, but I ignored it.

It wasn’t some kind of test, but just the lingering thoughts of the saint, the master of this dungeon, left for the one who would inherit his will.

There were two rewards.

First, the bottle containing the Saint’s Tears, which also appeared in the original story.

This was the fortuitous encounter I was originally looking for.

And the other one.

It wasn’t in the original story, but it was probably the fortuitous encounter the protagonist was originally supposed to obtain.

The Saint’s Will.

This ring-shaped artifact had exactly what the protagonist needed in the early stages.

But there was no protagonist here now. I pocketed the ring and picked up my original objective.

-I sacrificed myself. But no one was ever grateful to me.

A refreshing fragrance wafted out as I opened the bottle.

-That in itself was fine. I hadn’t done it expecting anything in return.

-But it was regrettable that my sacrifice was meaningless in the end. I failed to protect them, after all.

As I drank the contents of the bottle, his last words echoed in my mind, as if timed perfectly.

-May my meager power be of some help to you.

Thump.

My heart pounded.

The Saint’s Tears, flowing down my throat and into my body, transformed from liquid into energy and settled within me.

Although he was called a saint, the saint who made this dungeon wasn’t that great of a person.

He was someone who wanted to save people from Goblins. But he lacked the power to save everyone and was ultimately sacrificed to them.

His talent was somewhat unique, but not particularly impressive. The Saint’s Tears was a fortuitous encounter that allowed one to obtain a weakened version of his talent as a trait.

Traits, unlike innate talents, were powers that could be acquired later in life.

The trait I obtained through this fortuitous encounter was Resurrection. It was originally the talent of Resurrection, but the weakened version as a trait was as follows:

Increases the quality of the soul and restores life force and innate Qi daily.

This ability wasn’t very useful on its own, but it held a different meaning for me.

The sensation of a new stream of water filling an almost empty bowl.

My pathetically heavy and sluggish body also felt a bit lighter.

Although I couldn’t really feel the increased soul capacity yet since it was a newly acquired trait, the second effect was enough for now.

Now, it was time to create a reliable supporter for the protagonist.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

“I wonder if he escaped safely?”

She was already at her limit.

Poison coursed through her body, slowing her movements and causing her to become feverish.

The Goblins used a crude poison, but she was a superhuman specialized in techniques, so she had almost no resistance to it.

She hadn’t expected to die so pathetically in the end.

Tears welled up in her eyes out of frustration.

She had been smiling to reassure the boy, but there was no need to force a smile anymore.

Only she and the Goblins remained here.

-Kreek…!

The Goblins approached while grinning hideously as if amused.

She was barely holding on, but once her remaining arm went numb, she wouldn’t be able to resist anymore.

Despite that, there was no resentment in her heart, only frustration.

After all, he hadn’t intentionally opened this dungeon, and he didn’t try to use her afterward.

“Sigh.”

Feeling her resolve weakening, she took a deep breath and looked straight ahead.

Weakening when cornered was a bad habit.

She could still move one arm, and her legs were also fine.

There was no reason for her to give up yet.

She steadied herself, determined to take at least one more Goblin down with her, but then something unexpected happened.

The portal that had disappeared when the boy passed through it opened again.

“Huh…?”

And from it, the boy who should have escaped already walked out.

Looking at her.

Her vision was blurry, so she couldn’t see his expression clearly.

“Why did you come back? I told you I was fine.”

He probably knew that was a lie just by looking at her.

He also most likely came back out of guilt.

“I’m sorry.”

He apologized and raised his arm.

A warm light began to gather on his hand.

Her dazed mind recalled his talent.

He smiled gently.

“It’s alright now.”

“No!”

By the time she thought to stop him, it was too late. The light had already moved from his hand towards her.

The light enveloped her body.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

T/N – That’s actually a pretty good trait considering the drawback of his talent. Now that his body isn’t being held back by his talent anymore, he can train his body up. I wonder what are the effects of the ring?

If you find any mistakes, feel free to point them out in the comments.