Ch.179178. Time Without Her (5)

# 178. The Time Without Her (5)

“D-Die?”

“I’m saying it could happen, not that it will.”

Of course, it wouldn’t have actually happened that way.

No matter how many powerful figures leave this world, the Kainis Empire remains a place overflowing with talented individuals.

It wouldn’t collapse so easily.

Absolutely not.

Of course, neglecting training would make even less sense.

“That’s why you need to work hard to prevent that from happening.”

“You… you seem to have known about this for a while?”

“Me? That’s just your imagination.”

Obviously, that was a lie.

Since I was receiving information from Lilith, I had indeed known about it for some time.

“I’m just making educated guesses.”

“How strange… if things turn out as you say again, I’ll just consider you a prophet.”

“That’s a bit…”

As we continued talking about the future like we just did, those kinds of topics came up.

“What are you all planning to do after graduation? It seems like the time to really decide has come.”

Career paths.

Most students ponder for quite a while or can’t answer when asked that question.

Either they haven’t thought about it yet, or they lack confidence in achieving what they’ve considered.

But these guys were different.

True to their status as Imperial Academy students, they answered without hesitation.

“I’m joining a party. I’ve already got one in mind.”

“Oh! Me too.”

“I’m joining a knighthood.”

Though their answers varied, they could be categorized into three types.

Joining a large party, enlisting in the military, or entering a knighthood.

And the military could be further divided into regular forces and special forces.

Of course, since the bar for special forces was so high, it seemed most people were reluctant to even try for it, except for Reina and me.

“Everyone’s different.”

“Are you still set on special forces?”

“Yeah, though I’m considering a knighthood too. Parties aren’t really my thing.”

I definitely don’t seem like the party type.

It would be good if the monsters had higher stats than party members, but that’s rarely the case.

And I never really needed help in the first place.

Though I’m not sure if that’s because I’ve always been alone or if I never needed it to begin with.

“And I want to see her as soon as possible. Besides, I’m strongest when I’m with our princess.”

“That does seem true. Your coordination is incredible.”

We’ve never specifically practiced coordination, but our teamwork was inexplicably perfect.

Both of us having good basic skills helps, but our fighting styles also complement each other well, making us a good match.

“Plus I have skills for that too.”

“Huh? What skills? How do you activate them?”

“Skills and traits that activate just by being together.”

“That’s amazing…”

“Even the status window acknowledges our relationship.”

The trait [Someone’s Sword] that had disappeared when I regressed has returned.

If she becomes empress, [Right Hand of the Empress] will appear again too.

“So how good are these skills?”

“Well… they’re not exactly overpowered.”

“Isn’t having such traits overpowered in itself?”

“Is it? Anyway, they’re not that great.”

At best, they gave me some stat boosts and skill rank-ups when fighting alongside her.

Meaningful, sure, but not game-changing.

‘And the skill rank-ups are random anyway…’

Being random, they never seem to give me what I want.

At least that’s how it was in my memory.

Though occasionally they’d come through in critical moments and save my life, so I can’t complain too much, but usually they weren’t that helpful.

“Well, that’s good… it wouldn’t be fair if those were overpowered too.”

“You’re already strong yourself and you’re criticizing me…”

In truth, Chris was among the top five strongest students at the academy.

Yet here he was calling me overpowered.

To other ordinary students, Chris and I would seem equally exceptional.

But apparently that was just my thinking.

“You’re not seriously putting yourself and me on the same level, are you?”

“Aren’t we…?”

“Are you… messing with me?”

“I’m not…?”

“Then you’re just crazy. How could we be on the same level? This guy clears A-rank low dungeons solo.”

Unlike me, Chris was expressing his genuine thoughts.

“No… I meant from other ordinary students’ perspective.”

“Even then, we’re quite different.”

“Not just ‘quite’ different.”

“He’s right.”

Reicle and Reina agreeing with Chris.

Seeing their reactions, I was left speechless.

Apparently we really were different.

“You can even hold your own against Sir Marco now, right? It seems like you could manage even if he fought seriously.”

“That’s impossible…”

Of course, I couldn’t be sure since we’d never fought properly, but that seemed unlikely.

I barely won last time even when he wasn’t using skills.

‘And even calling that a win is questionable…’

Unable to understand Elin’s words, I told them:

“That’s just not possible.”

“You’re the one who’s not making sense right now, extremely so.”

“Fight him and see.”

“Yeah, there’s only about 6 months left anyway.”

They genuinely seemed to think I could win.

Looking at my current state, it didn’t seem completely impossible, but the chances were still slim.

After all, my opponent was a hero.

“We still have 6 months left.”

“Only 6 months! What can you possibly accomplish in just 6 months?”

“But weren’t you really confident before? Why the sudden change?”

As Chris said, about a year ago I was overflowing with confidence.

But after seeing a certain video, my perspective changed.

A video of Marco and Lilith fighting in a chaotic battlefield.

Naturally, Lilith was stronger.

But was Marco completely outmatched? Not at all.

‘He held his own that well.’

Lilith seemed to give her all, perhaps impressed by his skill, but still couldn’t subdue him immediately.

Seeing that made me realize how high the wall I needed to climb really was.

“The fact that he beat your sister without using any skills is already unbelievable.”

“You’re at that level too.”

“Please… be reasonable…”

He was spouting such nonsense when I could barely win against her even using all my skills.

I recalled the foolish words I’d said in the past.

“I shouldn’t have said that back then…”

“Said what?”

“I told her to use all her skills next graduation exam… Thinking about it now, that was… a mistake.”

“You can win, I’m telling you! And even if you can’t, so what? The fact that she needs to use skills against you already proves you’re the best.”

“That’s true…”

He had a point.

I’d be the only one at the graduation exam in that situation.

“Anyway, just try. If you win, great, if not, that’s that. Don’t chicken out and refuse to use your skills.”

“I wasn’t planning to say that even if I got scared…”

“I didn’t ask about that.”

I spoke to him as he continued to choose the most irritating things to say.

“Of course I’ll do my best, and you should work hard too.”

“What? Do you know how hard I’ve been working lately?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

“I’ll show you later, just watch.”

For some reason, Chris glared at me with blazing eyes.

He declared with absolute confidence:

“I’ll win impressively just like you did.”

He seemed to be saying he’d overcome the third trial of the graduation exam.

It wasn’t particularly convincing.

After all, it was so difficult that even she couldn’t overcome it.

Yet somehow, I felt there was a tiny, very tiny possibility worth betting on.

‘Is it because of that expression? It seems impossible… but I’m strangely looking forward to it…’

***

At that same time.

Another battle was concluding in the Orion Kingdom.

Though not large in scale, it had been a dangerous situation with limited standby forces.

Nevertheless, the small force led by her had managed to defend the walls from the enemy by supporting each other.

“Ah… that was really dangerous this time… If Riel hadn’t blocked at the end, we might all have died.”

“It’s all thanks to our princess.”

As always, Riel was praising her.

However, the one responding to Riel’s words wasn’t her but a certain man.

“Indeed. If the princess hadn’t been here, we wouldn’t be having this conversation now.”

His name was Greg Ignite.

The third prince of the Orion Kingdom and a talented individual who had risen to the position of party leader of a major party at a young age not much different from hers.

For some reason, he had been suspiciously frequently participating in battles as a mercenary since she arrived here.

She gave him an awkward smile.

“Ah… yes… thank you.”

As she was about to leave after saying that, Greg hurriedly spoke to her.

“Excuse me, Commander! We’re planning to hold a banquet tomorrow to celebrate this victory… perhaps…”

“I’m sorry, I don’t have time for such things. And while celebrations are nice, I’d prefer if you kept them moderate. We don’t know when the enemy might attack again.”

A polite rejection.

As always, she put up an impenetrable wall and left.

Greg was left embarrassed, and Riel looked at him with sympathetic eyes.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“You should give up. Besides, you know she has a boyfriend.”

“Does having a goalkeeper mean you can’t score?”

“It’s a goal that wouldn’t go in even without a goalkeeper… and there’s a goalkeeper too…”

Greg glared at Riel and said:

“That’s just your opinion.”