Winter Vacation

Bella grabbed me as I was about to return to the academy after finishing my meal.

“I have a gift for you.”

As I looked at her with puzzled eyes, Bella gestured to Theodore, who was sitting behind her. Theodore took a small box out of his pocket, placed it on the table, glanced at me with strange eyes, and then returned to his seat.

At her gesture to open it, I opened the small box. Inside was something like a bright red ruby, a transparent pill. I could feel something wriggling inside, like a living creature.

“…What is this?”

At my question, Bella swept her hair back.

“It’s a mystical medicine from the Imperial Vault. It’s so powerful that it can restore lost lifespan. The timing is weird, but don’t misunderstand. I’m not giving this to you because you’re a Yuri, but because you’re Roel’s younger sibling. I was thinking of fixing… my mistake.”

For a moment, I stared straight into Bella’s eyes. As if to show she wasn’t lying, she looked straight back at me, and I closed the box without a word.

A mystical medicine that can restore lost lifespan would be hard to find anywhere but the Imperial Vault. The Yuri’s identity was revealed this afternoon. It would be difficult to obtain this kind of mystical medicine in just a few hours, even for Bella, who is an Imperial Princess. Access to the Imperial Vault is the Emperor’s unique privilege. She must have worked hard for a long time to get the mystical medicine.

I don’t mind giving a thank you to someone who has worked hard for me. It’s actually closer to a settlement for violence, but it’s true that she put in the effort.

“…Thank you.”

The bright smile on Bella’s face at my thank you felt so unfamiliar… I had no choice but to turn around and leave the store as if running away.

***

Back in the clubroom, I immediately took out the box containing the mystical medicine Bella had given me from my spatial storage. It’s the first time I’ve ever taken a mystical medicine. It was only natural to be excited.

In fact, I was planning to steadily buy mystical medicines if I made a lot of money with the improved portal. There were definitely things that could not be obtained through training and effort alone.

Mystical medicines alone won’t get you to the realm of a Transcendental, but it’s also true that the help of mystical medicines can lighten your steps towards that realm.

Without hesitation, I swallowed the pill-like mystical medicine with water. And I looked forward to the changes that would come.

“…?”

Nothing changed. I wondered if I had been scammed, scratching my head. At that moment, a surge of hot energy began to spread from my heart.

“Kkeu, kkeueueueuk…!!!”

It was as if my blood vessels were burning, and my internal organs were melting from the heat. An enormous energy was pounding my entire body, to the point where I forgot even the instinctive act of breathing in and out.

“Heok…! Heoeok! Keuheueueueuk…!”

I gritted my teeth in pain. It was a similar agony to the volcanic poison toad’s innards I had eaten once before.

Thanks to repeating it for a while, a familiar message finally appeared before my eyes.

[ Indomitable Courage is activated. ]

It felt like the pain was receding, but that was only mentally. My body trembled like crazy as if feeling the cold, and something surged up from my throat.

“Puhak!”

I vomited dark red blood. The blood that soaked the clubroom carpet was bubbling, as if boiling.

Could it be that Bella gave me poison with the intention of killing me? It was such a severe pain that it felt like my organs were being forcibly twisted.

The hot energy stirred through my body and then gathered back into my heart. I felt a strange sense of déjà vu at the feeling of my blood vessels constricting. The path where the hot energy had passed was not exactly the same as the passage through which I manipulated mana when using the Formless Breath, but it was similar.

I used the Formless Breath as if by instinct. Then a huge gust of wind swept through the clubroom.

In an instant, my vision was pierced and reversed by something. It’s not a human’s point of view. I am recognizing the passage that the mystical medicine’s energy is stirring through in my head with a third-person perspective.

Something is blocking the way. For some reason, chains made of runic characters that exist in my blood vessels were pushing the energy away. I tried to gently push the chains away, but they didn’t budge. I gathered energy from my heart to my whole body and poured it into the chains in an instant.

-No!

Someone’s voice is heard in my head. I felt a pain as if my brain was tingling, but in the end, the chains were pushed away and a huge energy reached my brain.

I opened my eyes as something escaped from the crown of my head. And before my eyes, a familiar message I had seen a long time ago was floating.

「Synchronization Rate 97%.」

***

Three days later, Kane returned to the academy. He had a refreshed look on his face, so I casually asked if he had good news. Kane replied with a sigh, unlike his expression.

“She told me that since I was wrong, I have to confess five more times. Then she said she would think about it, teasing me?”

“…That’s so Aria-like.”

When I replied with a smile, Kane also smiled and shook his head.

“Well, I was wrong all this time… I have to try to please her.”

Kane will do well. He has a new driving force. I silently patted Kane on the shoulder and left the clubroom. I had promised to meet Estelle at Modiste.

When I arrived at Modiste and was heading to the room where Estelle was, I ran into Amy walking in the hallway.

She was a little too skinny when I first met her, but she looked a little plumper, probably because Ember was taking good care of her. I waved my hand with joy, and Amy glanced around before waving her hand slightly. I guess she’s still shy.

I spoke in a friendly voice, thinking of easing her tension.

“Hi, Amy. Long time no see.”

“H-hello.”

As Amy said that and lowered her gaze, I held out chocolates and candies that I had taken out of my spatial storage. Amy, who was making a pretty, beaming smile with a face that instantly brightened up, was so cute that I gently stroked her head.

Amy, who had stuffed chocolates and candies into her pockets until they bulged, looked at me with her lips pursed, as if she had something to say.

“Why? Do you have something to say?”

After hesitating for a moment at my question, Amy finally opened her mouth.

“To enter Transcendence Academy… do I have to study for hours every day like my older sister says?”

I raised the corners of my lips at Amy’s eyes, which seemed to want me to give her the answer she wanted. That age is when you hate studying so much. Of course, I got in through special admission, but I have enough social skills to know how to answer in this situation.

“Actually, even a few hours isn’t enough. If you study hard every day, exercise hard, and train hard, you’ll be able to get into the academy.”

She looked slightly disappointed at my words, but eventually smiled happily at the words that she could get into the academy. I suddenly became curious at that smile and asked.

“Why do you want to go to the academy?”

“…I want to wear a pretty uniform like Estelle Onee-chan too!”

It’s a childish reason, but it wasn’t a bad reason to take as the first step to entering the best academy on the continent. Whatever the reason, the fact that you have a goal is an opportunity to make an effort.

However, by the time Amy is old enough to enter… the academy will not be functioning properly. The world will change to a world where survival takes precedence over learning.

Even if a tragic future awaits, there was no reason not to support Amy’s efforts. I will endlessly strive to change the predetermined future, and if my efforts bear fruit, Amy will be able to enter Transcendence Academy normally.

So, what I had to say was decided.

“If you work hard, you’ll be able to do it.”

*

When I entered the room where Estelle was, Estelle, who was wearing a black cat mask, immediately began to berate me.

“You lolicon…! I told you to come quickly, but you’re busy seducing innocent Amy?! You perverted pig, is there no age limit for you when it comes to women?”

She must have been eavesdropping on the conversation I had with Amy in the hallway. It must have been quite a distance, but the successor of the assassin group is definitely different. I sighed and scratched my head, saying.

“Why does telling someone to study hard become seduction?”

Estelle, who had nothing to say to my sharp criticism, banged on the desk with her hand and said.

“Anyway, you perverted pig, you’re banned from approaching Amy from now on!”

Ignoring her nonsense, I sat down opposite Estelle.

“So, what’s the good news?”

Estelle’s letter, which told me to come to her last night, had the words “I have good news” added to it.

At my question, Estelle puffed out her small chest and took a haughty pose.

“Heung, you seem curious~? How about it, did you stay up all night with anticipation~?”

At that sight, I asked, wondering.

“Could it be that the reason you sent the letter at night was that? To keep me up all night with anticipation?”

“N-no way…!”

I knew it.

When I gave myself a dry face wash and stared at her, Estelle quickly changed the subject.

“You… your energy seems to have changed? Did you eat some kind of mystical medicine?”

At Estelle’s question, I flinched without realizing it. Just by eating the mystical medicine, I had gained valuable effort.

The stats that would have taken almost half a year of effort to raise had risen all at once just by eating the mystical medicine. However, I couldn’t figure out the phenomenon of the synchronization rate decreasing.

I boasted to Estelle, who was staring at me and waiting for an answer.

“Thanks to having a good older brother, I got a decent mystical medicine.”

At my words, Estelle snorted and shrugged her shoulders.

“Anyway…! The good news is that they found a clue in the Canyon of Death. They said they found the entrance to an old dungeon buried in the soil.”

I couldn’t hide my surprised expression at those words. I was prepared for it to take some time, but I never expected them to find it so quickly.

Estelle, who was reading my expression, was moving her head up and down with her arms crossed in an even more arrogant pose…. Just helping me get the Spear of Shadows was enough to make me feel grateful rather than thinking of her as a cocky brat.

Estelle got up from her seat and asked.

“Okay! Are you ready to get the Spear of Shadows?”

This winter vacation will be a time of explosive growth for me.

I got up from my seat and shouted with all my might.

“Ready!”