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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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“What? Are you insane?”
“Shh.”
Erica raised her voice, standing atop the watchtower of the suppression force’s fortress. Schlus placed his finger on his lips, silencing her.
Erica was speechless, flabbergasted by his suggestion for retaking Fort Four.
“I get what you’re trying to do, but it won’t work! They’re not scared little students! They’re soldiers in a war! Such a simple trick won’t work on them!”
“Erica, soldiers in a war are often the most terrified. The lives of their subordinates depend on every single order.”
“What does that…”
“The key isn’t whether they think we’ll use a trick or not. It’s enough to show them that we have the capability to do so. Unless they’re cornered, they’ll always be cautious and hesitant to take risks if they have the advantage. We’ll exploit that.”
“….”
She vaguely understood.
It was still a bit unclear, but seeing his confident expression calmed her down.
Schlus’s plans always worked…
He had never lost a battle.
She believed this time would be no different.
“So? Why are you only telling me this?”
Erica glanced around the watchtower. They were alone.
He must have had a reason for sending the guard away and bringing her here.
“It’s just… We haven’t had a chance to have a heart-to-heart talk.”
“What…!”
Erica, flustered, stepped back and—
“Whoa?!”
“Ugh!”
…lost her footing.
Schlus, reacting quickly, grabbed her arm and pulled her back.
She couldn’t stand up, her legs trembling, so she remained on her hands and knees.
Schlus extended a hand towards her.
“I was just kidding. I wouldn’t have said it if I knew you’d react so strongly.”
“Who makes a joke like that with a straight face…?”
Erica, grabbing his hand and standing up, pouted.
She felt uneasy.
She should be anxious and uncomfortable being alone with Schlus…
But for some reason, she felt at ease.
“I called you here because I need a favor.”
“A favor?”
“Yes. The rune I just mentioned… I need you to draw it.”
“Huh? Why?”
“You’re the fastest and most efficient rune drawer I’ve ever seen. Aside from Professor Ludwig, you’re probably the best in the Imperial University when it comes to magic runes.”
“Hmph. That’s not very convincing coming from the top student in Elemental Magic who got a perfect score on the midterm.”
“Question number ten on the midterm… You just copied Iris’s answer. And Iris copied yours.”
“What? Iris would never…”
“It was an open-book exam. She probably felt no guilt in deceiving you.”
“…”
It was plausible.
Iris was kind, but she was ruthless when it came to competition.
She would have definitely copied Erica’s answer during the open-book midterm exam.
So Erica was the only one who had actually solved question number ten?
She was dumbfounded.
“You’re the only one I can trust with this.”
“Alright, I get it, but that’s not the problem. We’re critically low on mana. For a rune of that scale, I’d have to devote all my mana to drawing it for a week… You think the enemy won’t notice?”
“Mana… I can handle that.”
“What are you talking about?”
The estimated mana requirement was 200,000.
How was he going to pour all that mana into a rune at once?
“Just draw the basic framework of the rune first. I need to infuse it with mana.”
“Fine… Fine…”
Erica, skeptical but compliant, focused her mana.
On the mana in the sky, above Fort Four in the distance.
A vessel for containing mana was instantly created.
“Why don’t you call Ainz and Iris and have them help you infuse the rune with mana? We could finish it in three days… Huh?”
Erica’s eyes widened.
Something unbelievable was happening.
A wave of mana, so vast that she couldn’t comprehend its scale, surged towards the vessel, filling it to the brim.
The amount of mana quickly exceeded 30,000, then 50,000, growing like a snowball, until—
“Holy…”
…it reached 100,000.
She turned her head in disbelief and was even more shocked.
Schlus was standing there calmly, showing no signs of mana exhaustion.
No way…
The mana measurement they had taken at the beginning of the semester must have been a mistake.
She had heard that his mana capacity was extraordinary, but this was the first time she had witnessed it firsthand.
“I’ll infuse the rest.”
“What? You said you’d do it tomorrow…”
“It’s a new day now.”
“Huh?”
He was right.
The rune was being infused with mana again.
She was so dumbfounded that she couldn’t even speak.
The amount of mana quickly surpassed 150,000, and then reached 200,000.
“Wow…”
She looked at him, and he was still standing there calmly.
It was beyond impressive. It was awe-inspiring.
Looking at his profile, she could only think one thing.
He was a monster.
He had been hiding this massive amount of mana until he became an adult…
He must have had countless opportunities to show off his vast mana while living as a commoner.
But he had endured, keeping it hidden until he entered the Imperial University.
Enduring the discrimination and prejudice that she couldn’t even imagine…
No, that couldn’t be it.
He must have made a contract with a demon and gained this immense power when he entered the Imperial University.
Yes, that had to be it.
[T/N: oh for fucks sake not again…]
“Ugh…”
She shook her head, clearing her thoughts.
This was no ordinary rune. A single mistake could lead to the rune being broken, potentially causing mass casualties.
She had been entrusted with an immense amount of mana, and she had to handle it with care.
Long-distance rune manipulation was especially tricky. A small mistake could easily snowball into a major error.
She spent hours refining the rune and reinforcing its security system.
It wasn’t easy to secure a rune of this scale.
Finally, she had finished the security system. All that was left was to gradually complete the rest of the rune and activate it when the time was right.
Erica wiped the sweat off her forehead and turned around.
“Huh?”
“…?”
Schlus was still standing there.
In the same upright, composed posture as before.
She wondered if her sense of time was distorted.
At least three hours must have passed…
“What? Why are you still here?”
“Guarding.”
“Huh?”
“How could I leave a mage unguarded while she’s drawing a rune?”
“….”
He could have sent a random soldier…
Erica lowered her head, speechless.
Schlus chuckled, watching her, and turned towards the ladder.
“Do you want to go down first, or…”
“Schlus Hainkel.”
“…”
Erica impulsively grabbed his wrist.
His head turned, and she felt her breath catch in her throat as their eyes met.
Why did I grab him?
“What’s wrong?”
“N-nothing… Let’s just… talk. Like you said, we haven’t had a chance to have a heart-to-heart talk.”
“Is that a joke?”
“No… unfortunately.”
She wished it was a joke.
But it wasn’t.
She didn’t know why, but she felt like she would regret it if she let him leave now.
Her intuition told her that she had to prolong this awkward, suffocating moment.
“A heart-to-heart talk… I think we’ve come too far for that.”
“Yeah…”
He was right.
She hated him.
She couldn’t help but hate him, after all the suspicions that had piled up.
There was no point in talking now. She wouldn’t be able to trust him, no matter what he said.
Believing and trusting were different.
She could believe in his abilities as a mage, but she would never be able to trust him as a person.
“Then I’ll give you a chance. I’ll give you five minutes to ask me anything. I’ll remain silent if it’s a difficult question, but I swear I won’t lie.”
“R-really? Are you serious?”
“Five minutes. Starting now.”
Erica’s mind raced.
She had so many questions.
So many things she wanted to ask.
But she hesitated, wondering if it was really okay to ask.
But this opportunity wouldn’t come again.
She might never get another chance to freely ask him questions, or even stand beside him and have a conversation.
She couldn’t let this chance slip away.
“My mom! What’s your relationship with my mom?!”
“…”
Damn it.
Her first question…
She had just blurted it out without thinking.
As expected, Schlus’s lips curled into an amused smirk.
“A reliable ally. No, a reliable ally I can’t trust. That’s the perfect expression.”
“…?”
“No follow-up questions. Next question.”
She was about to ask what he meant, but he cut her off.
So they weren’t dating?
But what did he mean by ‘a reliable ally I can’t trust’?
His answer only confused her more.
But she didn’t have time to dwell on it.
She had to think of another question.
No, even thinking was a luxury.
She blurted out the question that had been lingering in her mind for a long time.
“Schlus… Did you… make a deal with a demon?”
“What?”
“Did you make a deal with a demon to gain your powers?!”
She had said it.
She squinted at him and saw his face contorting.
Was she right?
No, it wasn’t the expression of someone whose secret had been exposed.
It was…
…the expression of someone who was dumbfounded.
“Ugh…”
“Hm?”
“Ugh… Hahahahahaha!”
“…?”
He clutched his stomach and groaned, and then burst into laughter.
She had never seen him laugh like this before.
Not a forced smile or a sneer, but a genuine, unrestrained laughter.
Was it that funny?
Perhaps…
But more than that…
…it probably meant that the distance between them had shrunk.
“Ugh… Ah, I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it. How did you even come up with that idea?”
“Well… You were a commoner with nothing, and then you suddenly became strong after entering the Imperial University… and you coughed up blood… I thought you might have traded your lifespan for power.”
“Erica, you’re making a grave mistake.”
“What? I thought it was a logical deduction!”
“There are no demons in this world. They only exist in fairy tales.”
No way…
Demons didn’t exist?
Erica felt like she had been hit in the back of the head.
[T/N: LMAOOOOOOOOOOO FUCKING FINALLY]
Now that she thought about it, she had never encountered a demon, aside from the stories she had read in fairy tales and heard in folklore.
But why had she believed in their existence so firmly?
Because her mother had told her about them seriously when she was a child?
“Ah…”
She blushed, embarrassed.
She could have easily figured out that demons didn’t exist if she had just thought about it rationally.
To think she had believed it until now…
It was her mother’s fault.
No, maybe not.
Her mother probably never imagined that her daughter would still believe in demons after growing up.
Erica wanted to crawl into a hole and hide. She felt so stupid and embarrassed.
But there was nowhere to hide on this open watchtower.
She realized she was crouching, her back turned towards Schlus.
“A deal with a demon… That’s a plausible theory… for an eight-year-old.”
“Ugh… I know, I was wrong. I misunderstood…”
“The secret of my power… It’s hard to believe that I suddenly became strong one day. Then let me put it this way. One day, I became a different person. Like I was reborn… Anyway, everything changed after that day. Is that a satisfactory answer?”
“…”
He had promised not to lie.
It was a strange story.
Became a different person…
Reborn…
Was it a metaphor for him experiencing a profound epiphany and becoming a new person?
It was a difficult answer to understand.
“Time’s up. You wasted five minutes on two questions. That’s a shame, Erica.”
“Schlus…”
“Hm?”
“I’m sorry. I think… I misunderstood you. A lot.”
She hugged her knees, thinking rationally for the first time in a while.
She had told herself that she had come to hate him because of the suspicions that had piled up, but the truth was the opposite.
She had hated him from the very beginning.
She had despised him for being a commoner who had surpassed her and entered the Imperial University as the top student.
The rumors about him making a deal with a demon and seducing her mother and Julia were all fabrications.
Justifications for her hatred.
Her subconscious had been clinging to these flimsy, easily debunked accusations to support her hatred.
“I hated you for no reason. I guess I was just like those nobles who ostracized you. No, maybe worse. They at least acknowledged you eventually, but I… I’ve been hating you until this very moment.”
She was the worst.
She was worse than the people she despised so much.
How could she face him now?
She didn’t deserve to be his friend, his companion.
“I’m… I’m an idiot…”
“You’re just figuring that out now, idiot?”
“Huh?”
“Well, at least you figured it out relatively quickly. I thought it would take at least two more years.”
“What? What?”
“You’re an exceptional idiot. An idiot who knows they’re an idiot.”
“….”
He was right.
Hearing him say it made her laugh, instead of feeling offended.
She raised her head and saw him extending a hand towards her.
As always.
As if he was ready to help her up, countless times.
He stood before her, his gaze steady, his arm outstretched.
“I accept your apology. And I need the help of a certain idiot right now. Would you stand up?”
“Hmph… Gladly.”
The man she no longer hated.
The only man who called her an idiot.
The man who had broken through her shell and pulled her out of her self-centered world.
She took his hand and stood up.
It was a beautiful night, with a sky full of stars.
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[this, this is cathartic.]
character growth? good for her so hopefully it sticks
No way character development???