Chapter 10 — A Task Only We Can Do

1

The morning classes passed without incident.

The school was peaceful, as if nothing had happened yesterday.

A dichotomous world.

It seemed to take some time to adapt to a world that felt like going back and forth between heaven and hell.

Kael couldn’t concentrate on classes all day.

F-Class.

In the practice-oriented classes designed to awaken talent, Kael felt an anomaly.

Whoosh-.

“Oh, such power. You have considerable talent, student Kael.”

“…Thank you.”

After last night’s battle, many things had changed.

Things that weren’t visible before could now be seen, and it felt like she had learned techniques she couldn’t do before.

The 32 mana stems shining within the flickering fire magic were clearly visible.

‘That’s not all.’

She gained the ability to cut the lines that serve as pathways for mana, strand by strand.

That was the technique Manus had shown last night.

It would be best not to show this to others.

Fwoosh-!

She cast fire magic as if cutting off stray thoughts.

The magic-made scarecrow burst into flames.

The professor in charge raised his eyebrows.

It was truly remarkable power.

To the point where one might wonder if this child was born of the bloodline of one of the great families.

“Well, I’m looking forward to the ability evaluation next week. You’ll go up to at least B-Class, I’d say.”

“…”

Kael simply bowed her head without saying anything.

Several gazes flew and stuck to her.

When she turned her eyes to look at them, the gazes became even harsher.

‘-What’s this?’

The innocent Kael simply moved on.

She hadn’t experienced the various emotions entangled in human relationships.

She didn’t know that there were people who envied even small actions, even things inherited.

She heard whispering, but she didn’t think much of it.

As classes ended and lunchtime came, Kael stood up from her seat, intending to go to the promised place.

“Hey, wait-.”

“Going to eat lunch? Want to eat with us?”

Kael stared at their faces.

They were unfamiliar faces.

She didn’t understand why they were suddenly being friendly.

-After all, there had been no connection between her and them.

“I have an appointment-.”

“Come on, don’t be like that, let’s go.”

“Yeah, you’re a commoner, so you don’t have money, right? We’ll buy for you.”

“…Scholarship.”

“…”

Their smiles cracked.

Surprisingly, Kael was on a full scholarship with additional subsidies.

She didn’t show it, but she wasn’t so poor as to go hungry.

Of course, she wasn’t well-off either.

“You really have no manners, do you?”

“Yeah— why did you throw away people’s goodwill like that?”

“If you live school life like that, isn’t it going to be really tiring-?”

It was mockery.

Mockery from the children of baron and viscount families towards a commoner.

Kael compared them to Anais.

Naturally, the commoners she had met before also came to mind.

‘This is strange.’

It was full of incomprehensible things.

The realms of mages and knights are different.

Knights compete only with their bodies, but for mages, one of the competitive factors was financial power.

Mage items were very expensive, and there were also specially distributed items.

There were even merchants who only sold to nobles, which says it all.

Unlike the Guardian and Knight classes, the Mage class was particularly dominated by noble factions.

Commoners don’t have money.

There were too many things intertwined to explain it with just that reason.

“Come with us while we’re being nice,”

As they approached threateningly— a loud voice was heard.

“Kaeeeeel-! Where are youuuu-!”

“Eek-.”

A voice so loud it couldn’t be thought to belong to a noble.

The noble who had taken a step forward to threaten Kael was startled.

This voice.

It was the lively voice of a noble known to everyone in the Academy.

“Oh, here you are? What are you guys doing?”

“Ah, it’s nothing-.”

“Oh, so your appointment was with Anais, ta, take her, take her away.”

Anais lightly grabbed Kael’s wrist.

And she opened her mouth again as if to confirm.

“Senior Alano has arrived too. Let’s go quickly.”

“-Okay.”

Alano?

That student council president Alano?!

The students’ mouths fell open.

Why?

‘Did we hear that right?’

‘Senior Alano called her? Why?’

‘I don’t know, did we get on her bad side?’

Questions followed one after another.

Why-?

That simple question floated around in their heads.

In an instant, Kael’s position was elevated.

The Flois family was one of the top warrior families on the continent.

It was also a family that produced knights, guardians, and mages alike.

Entangled with a family that burns like fire, there was no place untouched by its scorch.

The children of baron and viscount families tightly shut their mouths.

Not long after the two left, another storm hit.

“Hey-.”

“Yes— who… Gasp!”

Someone’s shrill scream rang out.

It was a much more intense reaction than the appearance of the Flois family.

Naturally, the gazes of the F-Class students were drawn to one side.

Silence-.

Everyone was overwhelmed by the suddenly rushing enormous presence.

Black hair, blue eyes.

A gaze looking down intently due to his tall stature.

All of that overwhelmed the entire F-Class.

“-Where is the student named Kael?”

“Ah, sh, she just, just left… left-.”

“Where did she go?”

“The, the president… Oh.”

The suddenly rushing storm disappeared as quickly as it came.

What on earth is going on-.

For mages, black hair boy was half-idolized.

Just being spoken to by a direct descendant of such a family made the freshman’s legs go weak.

“Wow-. Can you see his legs giving out?”

“Know that it’s an honor, you fool-.”

Manus.

He was looking for Kael.

New gossip was growing.

Kael.

Why were there so many people looking for her?

Kael herself didn’t know, but she was becoming a storm of a transfer student.

2

Alano looked at the new nest, the club room.

It was the smallest and in a corner, but somehow it exuded a cozy feeling.

Slurp-.

Today, the taste of tea strongly stimulated her tongue.

The aroma was also more intense.

Was it because her senses were keen, or because she was nervous?

Even the sound of placing the teacup down, click, sounded louder.

In the Academy, she couldn’t feel this kind of atmosphere except when meeting with the faculty.

She calmed her rapidly beating heart with a small sigh.

“Senior! We’re here!”

A welcome sound was heard from beyond the door.

As Alano flicked her hand, the door opened.

What entered were two fresh-faced freshmen.

But they were also ones with potential that no one could ignore.

She stood up, and the two froze as soon as they entered the club room.

“Welcome. You must be the students who resolved yesterday’s battle.”

“This is the Chairman. Greet him.”

Alano’s gentle words made the two move.

“Ah, hello. I’m Anais Flois.”

“-I’m Kael.”

Chairman McPherson Nyx wore a benevolent smile.

The sight of fresh-faced students was always enjoyable.

Students not yet tainted by the world had limitless potential.

He offered seats to the two and began the main discussion.

‘This leaves no choice but to acknowledge it. The problem is…’

He needed to create a motivation for them to step into the extraordinary.

He felt a bit sorry for the children.

While he was just watching from the sidelines, he was pushing talented rising stars into danger.

“There exists one secret in this Mythos Academy.”

“A secret… Are you talking about yesterday’s incident?”

Nyx nodded.

He explained step by step.

Ziggurat, the hidden world, its inhabitants…

The students’ expressions became serious as they listened to each part of the story.

The Chairman’s purpose in coming here was to approve the club’s establishment and to persuade Kael and Anais.

“That’s why we established the club, and judged it was time to uncover the academy’s great secret. I don’t want to force you, but…”

“But-, why us?”

Anais asked cautiously.

The secret seemed to have been maintained for quite a long time.

It had been quiet until now, so why suddenly?

If Manus were here, he might have thought ‘because it’s the game story’.

It’s a cruel thing, but these were characters consumed merely as entertainment.

The Chairman carefully examined the faces of the three people.

He also recalled the face of one student who wasn’t present.

Since the secret emerged, no more than three chosen ones had appeared.

Even then, if they were really unlucky, they would often be devoured by the tower.

The Chairman slowly closed his eyes.

It was time to give an answer.

“Well, I’m not sure of the exact reason, but this is the first year since the school’s founding that so many students able to climb the tower have appeared. We couldn’t build a proper force before. And…”

The giant monster that appeared last night.

This was the first time a being much larger than those called demons had appeared.

The Chairman couldn’t help but feel a sense of crisis.

Unlike the demons that existed only in the tower, they were beings that could harm students and teachers in real life.

He decided that this situation needed to be resolved as soon as possible.

“We’ve temporarily named them Demonium. Because they’re much larger than demons.”

Everyone nodded.

The name didn’t matter, whatever it was called.

Alano voiced the question she had been curious about all along.

“What happened to that student from last night?”

“She fainted and doesn’t remember the situation well. We’ve made sure she’s resting absolutely. Please don’t worry too much.”

Thank goodness-.

Anais sighed in relief.

Although it wasn’t their fault, she would have felt very uncomfortable if something had gone wrong.

The Chairman looked at the children and thought they were good kids.

Purely worrying about the victim, it would be quite rare to see such sincerity except from students of this age.

Nyx let out a small sigh.

‘To think we have to send such untainted ones up the tower-.’

If he had outstanding combat abilities, he would have gone up himself.

At times like this, he really resented himself for having nothing but money.

“We’ll spare no support, so please investigate the tower. This is… something only you can do.”

“Only we can do it…”

“-I’ll do it.”

Unlike the worried Anais, Kael raised her hand brightly.

What’s wrong with her?

Anais stared at her blankly.

She kept nudging Kael with her eyes, urging her to explain more.

Kael expressed her intention hesitantly, but firmly.

“I’ve always been alone… so if I can help someone like this, I want to do it.”

“…You-.”

“Oh my…”

Anais and Alano’s eyes shook violently.

The Chairman nodded as well.

“Indeed… she came here for a special reason.”

“I see-.”

“I had no idea it was like that…”

Even Alano’s eyes began to well up with tears.

It was just like someone who loves protecting others.

“I want to do it because I feel like I won’t be alone if I’m in this club.”

Perhaps, this was the reason her parents sent her here.

The thought was soon interrupted.

The door opened, and a familiar man entered.

“-I’m late.”

“Oh, please sit down. Manus.”

He was a man whose mere presence made the surrounding air settle.

Kael and Anais stared at him blankly.

He glanced at the two before looking straight at the Chairman.

Kael felt a strange fluttering.

Hair that seemed to pull you in.

His clear eyes, flickering like mana flames, resembled her hair color.

“The talk went well. The two have agreed to cooperate.”

Manus nodded silently.

“Eh? Me too? I-.”

“Anais, let’s go together.”

Kael’s bright eyes stimulated Anais.

Ugh-.

After frowning for a moment, she finally surrendered.

“Ugh, alright! We’ll do it together!”

Manus smiled inwardly at the sight.

As expected of Anais, true to the Flois family, she was weak to loyalty.

Right after, Alano, who had been sitting quietly, looked at Manus and asked.

“Then, Manus, are you joining too?”

“If, if it’s with you, senior, there’s nothing to worry about-.”

Anais chimed in cautiously.

However, the expected answer didn’t come.

Manus opened his mouth while looking at the teacup.

“I’ll move separately.”

“Alone?”

“Yes. There are things I need to investigate.”

It was an expected part, but the atmosphere died down a bit when they realized they couldn’t receive his help.

Manus stood up from his seat.

There was no reason to stay now that he had confirmed they had joined normally.

Rather than interfering and creating unnecessary thoughts, it was better to let them build bonds among themselves.

He thought it wasn’t good for them to rely too much on him either.

He also wanted to see with his own eyes the sight of the original characters living and breathing, growing.

Sharing emotions together grows into a very strong bond.

Why wouldn’t Manus, a fan of this game, want that?

‘But sometimes, you need to watch from afar.’

He knew the timing.

Now was the time for them to grow solidly among themselves.

Manus looked at the three and said.

“I’ll look forward to it this time.”

His eyes were directed straight at Kael.

–TL Notes–
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