episode_0052

Grace’s return to the academy happened a few days later than others.

The request had been solved long ago. The team members had already returned to the academy, and only Grace delayed her return for a short personal matter.

It wasn’t a big deal. She had only visited the mansion briefly because there was an item to retrieve from the family.

In that process, she supplemented her wallet by clearing out a criminal organization that had nested in the territory, and while looking for a few serendipitous encounters in her memories, it took a little longer than expected, but she still didn’t exceed the academy return period.

‘I wonder if Ashel handled it well.’

The bustling academy grounds. Walking along the streets with fewer people than usual, Grace thought.

She hadn’t accurately grasped the extent of Ashel’s magical abilities. But she knew that his level was certainly not low.

She now knew whose doing the bolt of lightning from a clear sky that had fallen during the entrance exam was. Thanks to that, she couldn’t help but be quite surprised at the time.

Including the memories from her previous life, the only lightning mage she knew was Ena. Her appearance, fighting monsters and demons while raining down lightning of all forms by herself, left a quite deep impression on Grace.

Although she died before the final battle, it was also true that they gained some respite thanks to her.

So Grace felt quite relieved when she heard that Ashel was a disciple of GaeByeok. Because if it was her, she was a trustworthy person.

Although the fact that she was a woman was a slight concern, Ena was someone who didn’t care a whit about men, so there was probably no need to worry much in that regard.

She was a good person in many ways. Both in skill and character. If Ashel had learned under her, it seemed there was no need to worry about his skill either.

Perhaps he would complete the assignment with top grades. Maybe he might even finish the midterm exam well and enter the upper classes. Since that was also where Grace aimed, she wished they would meet there.

While she was thinking, she had already arrived at the academy grounds. Grace tapped the sword hilt with her fingertips and first visited the dormitory. After going into the room, changing clothes, and finishing a simple wash, she tossed a ring she had brought from her family onto the desk.

A magic tool that momentarily extends perception time, splitting one second into an instant. Although it was an artifact belonging to the high-quality goods within the Baidel family, Grace felt no great emotion even upon seeing the artifact. To her, the ring was nothing more than a tool to prepare for the upcoming midterm exam.

Obtaining her family’s permission to take it and proving her capability to them was nothing to her. She had simply done what needed to be done.

As she wasn’t so fatigued as to need to recover from her journey, Grace put on a light shirt and leather pants and left the room immediately.

Before that, she stood in front of the mirror and checked her appearance.

A face with nothing applied. An appearance like a virgin who didn’t know how to put on makeup or the like. Nevertheless, her face showed no sign of fading. After putting on a smile, she left her room and stood in front of Ashel’s door.

“Ahem.”

And then she cleared her throat once and knocked on his door.

“Ashel, it’s me. Do you have a moment?”

The series of events from a few weeks ago remained a great dark history for her as well. To the extent that there were only about ten blankets kicked and holed in the few days after that. It was a terribly embarrassing and shameful memory.

But separate from that, there were also some positive effects.

The feeling that the burden on her heart had somewhat lightened by revealing her regression, and the resolve not to cling desperately to the relationships from her previous life anymore.

It wasn’t an easy task, but Grace accomplished it. So she decided to rebuild her relationship with Ashel from the beginning. She pictured a rosy life, starting as friends just like before her regression, becoming conscious of each other, and eventually even having children.

Today was that first step.

“Ashel?”

But there was no answer returning. Grace tilted her head and called his name once more, but not even the sound of footsteps was heard. Only then did Grace realize that no presence could be felt inside the room and pouted her lips.

‘Hasn’t he come back yet? Or is he out briefly?’

Either way, the disappointment was the same. With a face dripping with lingering attachment, she left the dormitory and headed towards the main academy building. And then she realized that the atmosphere of the academy was heavily subdued.

It was an unusual case for an academy that was always full of vitality. Grace tilted her head and eavesdropped on the muttering of the second-year students moving in groups. Her senses, having reached a state of mastery as a swordsman, accurately caught even small sounds.

“They say all these freshmen are amazing. If they’re dying and going missing on the first assignment, aren’t they basically nothing special? Or did they arrogantly pick a difficult request just because everyone was hyping them up?”

“Even if it’s difficult, it’s at the academy level. It’s not like it’s impossible to solve. I guess it’s just lack of ability. Still, it’s a regrettable incident, isn’t it? For an academy student to die during the course of study, isn’t that the first time in history?”

“That’s why they’re even talking about suspending admissions, they say. Ah, damn it. Because of these guys, we’re gonna be forced to take a break too.”

‘…Died during the assignment? A freshman?’

Grace’s face crumpled as she eavesdropped on their conversation.

It was something that hadn’t happened in her previous life. There was a terror attack at the entrance ceremony, but even then, there were no casualties. There were only a few injured people. No fatalities occurred.

Of course, in the current timeline, many things were different from the previous life Grace had experienced. The terror attack hadn’t occurred either, and besides that, there hadn’t been any minor incidents so far.

But based on Grace’s experience, if something that happened in the previous life didn’t happen in the present, it would surely come back in some other form.

Perhaps all of that could have exploded consecutively in the first assignment.

“……”

Grace’s face crumpled. She stood in place for a moment and desperately racked her brain.

Just then, a male student who had been on the same team as her approached from the opposite direction. He waved his hand towards Grace with a smile that anyone would find amiable.

“Ah, Grace! You’re back. When did you get here? You could have at least told me.”

“……Why should I tell you that?”

Grace replied in a cold voice. At her tone, which even contained a faint killing intent, the man flinched.

“Th-That was just something I said. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“Oh? Then now……”

Grace was about to tell him to get lost, but trailed off as a sudden thought occurred to her.

The man who had chattered pretending to be close since their first meeting was still dislikeable, but he was a suitable person to satisfy her curiosity.

“They say someone died and went missing in this assignment. Is that true?”

“Ah, that? They say it’s true? Right now, his name was Gorsel, I think? Everyone in his team except Gorsel is dead, and one mage who was on the same team as Saya is also missing, they say. His name was……”

The name Gorsel was a name Grace had never even heard before. He was likely a person who, like Ashel, had not entered the academy in her previous life.

Grace etched the name, which felt somehow ominous, into her mind and turned her head towards the man.

“What’s his name.”

“So that… Ah, I remember now. Ashel. It was definitely a name like this.”

The moment she heard those words, Grace’s mind momentarily stopped functioning. She stared at the man’s face with wide-open eyes.

“……What?”

“From what I heard, they went hunting a doppelganger and ran into a necromancer, so they quickly ran away, but only Ashel couldn’t escape and was treated as missing. Well, it’s just ‘missing’ in name, but he’s basically dead—”

“Shut up!”

Grace shouted before the man could even finish speaking. At that shout, which contained even aura, the man’s mouth closed. But Grace paid him no mind and covered her face with trembling hands.

‘Ashel missing? Dead? Why?’

Grace had already experienced Ashel’s death once. His face, forcing a smile while spitting up blood, was still vivid in her mind.

This life would be different. In this newly gained opportunity, she would never let him die.

As soon as she became aware of her regression, she resolved that and put in bone-cutting effort to put it into practice. Thanks to that, she even obtained the title of the Empire’s youngest Expert, but that wasn’t enough.

The disaster that was coming could not be stopped merely by the level of an Expert. She had to aim for the level of Master and even beyond. So she constantly sought out serendipitous encounters and continued her training to become stronger.

This is the result of that. The complacency of thinking that being in the same academy meant there would be no danger, separately from Grace’s level, put Ashel’s safety at risk.

Perhaps it wasn’t her fault. No, thinking objectively, it definitely wasn’t. If you were to assign blame, the academy’s mistake was more the cause of the problem than hers.

But Grace believed that the reason for Ashel’s disappearance or death lay with her. Her chest tightened at the fact that despite having knowledge, she hadn’t actively tried to stop him.

Whether that was true or false didn’t matter. She gnashed her teeth and spoke towards the man.

“Saya, where is that bitch?”

***

A life gained through someone else’s sacrifice was not that pleasant. Whatever she ate didn’t feel like she had eaten anything, and she would even wake up startled by a voice blaming her in her sleep. It had been a long time since she had gotten proper sleep, and there was no strength in her body.

If she had harbored evil intentions and forced sacrifice upon the other person, would she not have needed to feel this guilt?

“……”

There is a saying that to catch a monster, one must become a monster oneself. In that regard, Saya knew that to achieve her goal, she couldn’t simply live like a good person.

Sometimes viciously, sometimes calculatingly. She knew that only by obsessing over money with the mindset of a merchant without blood or tears could she save her family dying in her hometown. But… just knowing it didn’t mean she could simply become like that.

There is such a thing as nature. Saya was not born an evil person who would leech off others, take sacrifice for granted, and only satisfy her own hunger. That was why she couldn’t be proud of herself for surviving through Ashel’s sacrifice.

Quill shouted for them to be grateful to him who had saved them. He cried out for them to survive desperately for revenge instead of grieving.

It was truly a mercenary-like statement. And so, Saya could not do that.

Warren sent infinite condolences towards the rising star of the magic world who had fallen while saving them. It was a statement where sadness and gratitude coexisted, but it was a tribute directed towards the talent he possessed rather than Ashel the person.

It was truly a wizard-like statement. And so, Saya could not do that.

Then, what should she have done?

In what way should she send him off?

How in the world should she, who had boasted of her own judgment, chosen the wrong request, and driven him into a death trap, send him off?

She didn’t know. And so she struggled all the more with guilt.

She spent her time lying in bed, staring at the ceiling all day. She roughly handled meals as if she were eating or not, and handed over the piled-up merchant group’s work to the injured leader. Quill and Warren, lying in the opposite beds, occasionally said something to her, but looking back, she couldn’t even remember what conversations they had.

But only Ashel’s face could she properly recall.

It was like that even now. Saya recalled Ashel and pulled the blanket up over her head.

If she had known this would happen, she shouldn’t have approached him calculatingly. If she had known this would happen, she should have had a slightly more personal conversation with him.

If she had known this would happen……

“……Hngh.”

The more she thought about it, the greater her sense of guilt towards herself grew. In the end, tears began to leak out again from her tear ducts, which she had thought were dry after a few days.

It was then that Grace entered the hospital room.

With a bang, the hospital room door opened. At the sudden noise, everyone’s gaze turned towards the door. Grace, meeting the gazes of Quill and Warren, gnashed her teeth. But Grace paid them no attention. Instead, she approached Saya, who was covered by a blanket, and opened her mouth.

“Yoh-ho.”

“……I’m not a cursed fox. If you’re going to babble whatever you want, get out.”

“One of your teammates went missing, and you say you’re not cursed?”

“……”

“Enough. I didn’t come here to argue about this.”

Grace forcibly lifted the blanket covering Saya and looked down at her face.

“The place where the doppelganger hunt happened. Tell me where.”

“……If I tell you. What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to go and bring Ashel back. Or I might be able to find traces at least.”

“Wake up from your dream. Do you think you can handle that necromancer? We could barely hold on. And even that was only possible because the necromancer was going easy. You absolutely cannot save Ashel by yourself.”

“That’s something I’ll take care of.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. Are you crazy enough to want to die?”

“If it’s a world without Ashel, there’s no real need to live, is there?”

“……You.”

Saya frowned. Then, she raised her upper body and glared at Grace.

“Anyway, I have no intention of telling you, so get out. I want to avoid another person dying because of me.”

“You’re going to just irresponsibly let it go? Because of the request you decided on, one of your teammates disappeared just like that, and you’re going to do nothing here until you recover?”

“……What changes if I do? Telling you is just pushing all my responsibility onto you, isn’t it? What if you die then? Who will take responsibility for the emotions I’ll experience then? If you die, and Ashel dies! Am I supposed to suffer from guilt all day long until I die?”

“That’s something you’ll figure out on your own.”

Perhaps it was because her mind and body were unstable. A sharp voice sprang from Saya’s mouth. Grace crumpled her face and responded to those words.

“……Hmm?”

Warren watched the scene quietly, then turned his head at the sound of something tapping, tapping on the window.

There, a bird with a metallic body was tilting its head as if asking for the window to be opened. Warren’s eyes widened as he realized the bird was a messenger familiar, allowed only to mages of Wiheim.

“Could it be…!”

He immediately opened the window and let the messenger familiar into the room. The messenger familiar bowed its head towards Warren, then started to fly towards Saya, but realized the atmosphere between her and Grace was unusual and stopped in its tracks.

Warren spoke towards the messenger familiar.

“It seems you have a letter to deliver, don’t you? Show it to me first.”

[Coo?]

“If it came for Saya anyway, it won’t matter if I take it. I went through the same thing as her.”

[……Coo.]

The messenger familiar seemed to be considering, tilting its head slightly to one side, then took a proper stance and opened the storage device attached to its abdomen. Then, a neatly folded piece of paper fell out from inside.

Warren immediately unfolded the paper and read it.

“……!”

Immediately upon confirming it, he sprang up from his seat and approached Saya and Grace. The two, who had been glaring fiercely at each other, saw Warren walking towards them holding the paper and turned their heads towards him.

Warren spoke before they could open their mouths.

“It’s a message sent by Ashel.”

“……What did you say?”

“What?”

The two reacted simultaneously. Warren immediately unfolded the paper between them and showed them the contents written on it.

[Saya, I’m alive. I’ve received all the treatment at the temple, and I’m currently staying here and doing rehabilitation. Don’t worry too much. My master did keep me confined, but I think they’ll release me soon. Anyway, I managed to escape well too, so don’t feel burdened and focus on recovery. Give my regards to the other two people as well.]

Saya, upon confirming the letter, let out a sound of ‘Ah,’ and then immediately covered her mouth with both hands.

Grace also let out a deep sigh of relief and clasped her trembling hands. The feeling of the anger and sadness that had been boiling up moments before subsiding in an instant. For a moment, tears welled up, and her heart pounded once. All sorts of emotions swirled around, and then slowly faded away.

Yes, as long as he was alive, that was enough.

Grace thought that and lifted her head. Just then, her eyes met with Saya, who had also lifted her head with a similar thought.

“……”

“……”

The two looked at each other with awkward gazes, then quickly turned their heads away.