82 – Round Two

“I can win.”

The thought flashed across her mind, a fleeting spark.

‘…To feel capable of victory against that monster.’

When she’d first laid eyes on him,

only curiosity had stirred within her.

Even when she realized he could see spirits,

when she’d mistaken him for a half-elf,

when she’d heard whispers of the rumors surrounding him,

when she’d spoken his name to her mother,

everything about him had always

posed questions for her.

In the tedious existence of long-lived races like elves,

curiosity was like a downpour in a drought,

and the one who offered it,

was just the same to her.

So, she watched.

Restraining her elven arrogance,

willing to be the first to approach if necessary.

An act that would warrant a scolding, had another of her kind witnessed it,

but she felt it was right, that she must.

Her experience observing countless humans

was warning her.

The man before her seemed uninterested

in all her material possessions.

He didn’t display any avarice for money,

nor did he seem to desire a connection with her.

‘Does he want nothing but the spirit stone?

As I said, even for us, that is not easily given—’

‘The spirit stone is the most… necessary.’

Nor was he a libertine, as the rumors claimed.

On the contrary, he seemed to shun such things.

The whispers of arrogance and vanity

felt like falsehoods when observing his actions.

‘…You truly are peculiar. Based on the rumors alone…’

‘Almost every rumor is true.’

And what was truly strange,

was that he was doing nothing.

Despite surely knowing the rumors

that permeated every corner of the academy.

Even if the rumors held truth,

his actions now were undeniably strange.

Had he so much as offered an apology before everyone,

a whisper might have spread of his newfound redemption.

But there was no response, no explanation offered to quell these rumors,

and he endured the harsh words directed at him.

Moreover, the power he now displayed…

It wasn’t the strength of a common student.

He was, at the very least, on par with a knight, perhaps even stronger.

The proof: he fought a monster that even the Empire knights

accompanying them as escorts struggled to handle.

And yet, he didn’t try to dominate anyone.

He forced no one into servitude.

He didn’t manipulate people for his own ends.

He showed no interest in wealth or power.

Could humans who had lived in a world where

power was strength, and strength was power, truly act like this?

Especially a scion of a ducal family, notoriously arrogant, one who

you could clearly call powerful?

‘…Truly, I cannot fathom you, not even a little.’

And furthermore?

Suddenly, he spoke in a tongue none could understand.

He shook off his grievous wounds and rose to his feet.

He succeeded in controlling a mass of mana that other humans, even elves,

would have failed to manage.

He absorbed all the mana from the forest,

adding it to his own and even manipulating it.

And now, finally,

he reached that monster.

The monster they had been struggling even to impede.

Everyone present must have seen it:

his mana touched the monster,

and then, another explosion.

“Heh heh…heh heh heh…”

“Yo…Your Highness?”

“Wh…What is it?

Is there perhaps somewhere you are badly─”

Barely alive and crawling out from the vicinity,

the elves heard her laughter and approached her,

but her gaze was still fixed on the one who was struggling still.

She simply turned and moved toward the people,

offering no reply, only a smile.

Though her hands crushed the black blossoms,

though her magic delivered the wounded,

though her spirits watched from beside her, a curiosity in their gaze,

the smile never left her lips.

She simply wished to continue smiling.

Truly, thankful to have encountered

the most intriguing being in all her life.

“D..don’t c..come any closer… eh?”

“T-the black blossoms are fading!”

“I don’t know what’s happening… but get the injured moved, quickly!”

“Yes, sir!”

At long last, the black blossoms that dominated the area withered.

As if they had lost all nourishment.

Withering and withering, turning into dry, brittle branches,

before finally vanishing as ash.

And in the hearts of those who witnessed it, hope began to bloom.

Perhaps, there was a chance to live.

“First… triage! Bring all the medicines and bandages!”

“Treat those with the most severe injuries first!!”

“Those who can still move,

I ask you to keep watch over the smoke!”

And all eyes locked onto the smoke.

To the spot where Jennison had detonated the explosion.

Gripped by fear.

‘I..is that monster… still alive?’

‘Just… if something appears…’

Afraid that this hard-won hope would be shattered,

everyone was on edge,

when, at last, the smoke from the explosion cleared.

The smoke that was so thick and acrid.

She was the first to approach.

Toward the smoke that was rising from the blast.

“Jennison, are you alive?”

“….”

“..Levi, clear away the remaining smoke.”

And within that acrid smoke,

there was no one.

Neither the monster, nor the black-haired boy.

He was not to be seen there.

Only the moonlight, bathing the place they’d been

in its beautiful glow.

*

“…Where is this?”

“S-Sen…pai, you’ve…arri…ved?”

Clearly, it connected.

So I thought I’d won.

The blade of a spear, wrought from my own mana,

had surely pierced the fiend’s body,

and not just pierced, but detonated it.

All that abundant mana, completely.

So I was certain he was dead.

“…Where is this, I asked.”

“Whoa, now…you sound like…Senpai?

Your tone…it just wasn’t…you, Senpai.”

But he hadn’t died.

If this thing before me was the same entity as that guy.

Where had the youthful boy gone,

with his shimmering orange hair,

and the red glint in his dark irises?

Instead, there was a mass,

not a deep, beautiful black, but

mixed with a touch of crimson,

giving it a black-red hue.

Something akin to a slime.

And yet, it was uttering his voice.

Moreover, the space around us

felt… off.

The scent of grass and blood mingling,

the scenery of the great forest from just moments ago,

was completely gone.

Though I wore boots, I could feel

a sticky, viscous substance on the ground.

And a landscape with no structures whatsoever,

stretching into an endless horizon, greeted me.

The scenery shifting so suddenly,

I heightened my vigilance to the extreme.

Then, from the mass that had been wriggling on the ground,

a head popped up, *plop*.

Orange hair, dark eyes.

A faint shimmer of red in the irises.

The head of that fellow, which I had been facing just a moment ago.

“Greetings, Senior!”

“….”

“Woah, never seen you make that face before.”

“You, are you Number 8?”

For a moment, I couldn’t quite grasp the spectacle

unfolding before me, my head throbbing.

Clutching my constantly throbbing head, I asked,

with a sliver of hope, what his true form was.

“That’s right, I am!”

“…!”

Two tentacles sprang from the ground,

coiling around both of my hands.

Crimson tentacles, reeking of thick blood.

“….!”

“Ah, such a pity…”

I swiftly conjured blades from my shoes,

swinging them to sever the tentacles and break free.

The very spot where I’d been standing a moment ago

was now impaled by countless tentacles.

“..How did you survive?”

“Ah? That’s simple!

Just give up your human body, that’s all!”

“..I can’t say I understand what you’re blabbering about.”

“Hmm, the reason is simpler than you think.

What does my current form look like to you?”

“A disembodied head, talking to itself.”

“No, take a look below and tell me what you see.”

He said, extracting another tentacle from below,

pointing it towards his lower half.

A writhing, dark reddish-black mass.

A resilient flesh-lump, that even a gentle poke

would instantly revert back to its original form.

A mass, still faintly reflecting the image of its opposite side,

possessing translucent segments.

“..A slime?”

“Correctamundo!”

“So, you didn’t die because

we didn’t attack the core.”

“Oh, you seem smarter than you were in your previous life?”

Slime,

The most well-known of all monsters.

Its body is covered in a unique ability, impervious to almost any attack,

Yet the body’s own material and durability

Aren’t particularly strong.

So, if one pierces the body and strikes the core within,

It immediately perishes – the most common monster.

The method for its extermination has been known since ancient times,

Making it not too difficult to capture.

But, unless the core is destroyed, it will never truly die.

The fact that it can survive even if its body is torn apart.

The fact that the torn pieces become new slimes.

It was a monster with many troublesome aspects.

“…One thing, answer me.”

“….?”

Still, that could be thought about later.

There was a story I wanted to ask about, right now.

Grasping my trembling hand,

I parted my tightly sealed lips.

Unaware if this tremor was caused by rage.

“My mother, Sariel.

The death of Sariel Reinhardt.

Are you involved?”

“N-no’m not!”

The immediate reply to my question

Brought a momentary sense of relief.

But the creature’s following words

Made my grip instinctively tighten.

“It wasn’t just me, it was everyone’s idea’m!”

“….”

“I was the one who initially thought of it, that’s true’m!

But everyone agreed to it,

And the roles were divided up, each to their own task’m!”

“….”

“Honestly, I didn’t think we could even get close.

I didn’t think we’d be able to get in just by disguising ourselves’m!”

“….”

“Uh…it was definitely Pride who transmitted the disease—”

“Done.”

It cuts off the far-too-lively voice

of the young boy.

I ignore the tilt of his head,

a gesture asking why.

I curse and regret the moment

I entertained such a foolish thought.

“…I was foolish.”

“Well, it’s true, you’re rather foolish, Senior.

That’s why you betrayed even me…”

“I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Huh? What are you ta—”

“Since I was going to have to do this to you anyway.”

The boy’s neck fails to finish the sentence,

falling with a *thud* to the sticky floor.

Severed so quickly,

his eyes hadn’t even had time to close.

“Eh, what is…?”

“I shouldn’t have done that.”

“..Haha, Senior?

Could you perhaps ease up on the killing inten—”

“I shouldn’t have tried to kill you

even a little bit faster.”

“….”

“You said you were a slime, right?”

“….”

“Kill me as quickly as possible,

or else bring your core to meet my attack.”

“….”

“Because from this moment on, my desire

to eliminate your core has completely vanished.”

“..How, even when things have come this far,

does your resolve not break?”

“….”

“Wasn’t that a desperate attack?

Didn’t you gather all of your mana?

And yet you still won’t give up? How?”

“Shut up.”

“Why do you always exceed my expectations, Senior?

“

“Even if I taste pain every single day, I won’t break, see?”

“Yell all you want.

Either way… you won’t be able to talk soon enough.”

“Aah, even that confident face.

I am so. very. envious and jealous, seonbae.”

The second round began.