“Ra… Raphne?”
Emily was the first to react to the familiar’s warning.
It made sense since she had been the one to fight Raphne on the last day she disappeared, so perhaps she was concerned.
“Why is Raphne here...? I heard she returned to her family’s ho….”
“Escaped? That’s terrifying!”
Next, Mary and Alicia responded in succession.
Adrian and I were the only ones who remained silent.
Wait.
Adrian?
‘Why does he look so shocked?’
But what bothered even more was the familiar perched on his shoulder.
I could understand the familiar alerting us to Raphne’s escape.
But why was it here?
And why did it seem as if it ca to inform Adrian specifically?
Before I could find an answer to that question, Adrian, looking tense, opened his mouth.
“It seems like now isn’t the ti to fight over badges.”
“What do you an? I absolutely need to win the prize…!”
Mary hastily objected to Adrian’s sudden declaration, but her words were cut off.
“Kyaaaaah!!”
Because Alicia’s scream drowned them out.
“M-my head! It feels like it’s going to explode!!”
“What’s happening...? Ugh, I feel like I’m going to... throw up...”
It wasn’t just Alicia. Emily, who stood next to her, also grabbed her head and collapsed to the ground.
And then Mary.
“No, no! What is this… my head... Ken...!”
Shaking uncontrollably, Mary’s face turned pale as she collapsed to the ground like Emily and looked at .
Her eyes filled with tears, and she seed utterly terrified, as if drenched in fear.
“Gah…! Is it too late…?!”
Lastly, Adrian.
He too scrunched up his face and held his head in agony.
Everyone seed to be in extre pain and distress.
‘...If this is due to the curse… Raphne!’
Raphne’s curse had a range of 50 ters.
Which ant—
Raphne was…
Nearby.
“Ken… sniff.”
And soon enough,
from the depths of the dark forest,
I heard a familiar sobbing sound.
“Ken, where are you... sob... Ken…!”
“R-Raphne…”
She appeared.
With red hair and crimson eyes.
“Ken…! KEN!!”
Raphne, tears streaming down her face, ca running toward from the bushes.
Throwing herself into my arms as she always did, she buried her face into my chest and began sobbing.
“You’re lying… sniff… it’s a lie, right? You didn’t abandon , Ken… sniff… you wouldn’t leave , would you? You wouldn’t... right, Ken?”
“R-Raphne! How did you get here...?!”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry… but I can’t live without you, Ken… sniff… I can’t live without you!!”
Just like she usually did when panicked, Raphne clung to , crying her heart out.
But this place was completely different from where she normally lost her composure.
Could it be because the tower had been unguarded for the past few days…?
I hurriedly checked Raphne’s status window.
[Na: Raphne Bel Martinez
Unique Skill: Nerve Acceleration
Unique Trait: Curse of Fear – Causes extre stress and fear to any living being within a 50-ter radius.
Possession Trait: Despair – Current Level 194%, Dependency Level 6]
‘Her despair level is...’
194%.
Even on the day we first t, her despair level had been at most around 120%.
But now, it had nearly reached 200%.
‘I need to calm her down…!’
This level was way too dangerous.
In the ga, Emily had committed suicide with her despair level at 100%.
If Raphne’s was at 200%, who knew what could happen?
I gently stroked her hair, trying to soothe her, as I always did.
“Get away from Ken!!!”
Boom!!
But before I could calm her, a wall of ice shot up between Raphne and , blocking her path.
It was Mary, who had sohow gotten close enough to stand between us.
“Ke-Ken… Who is that girl?”
Separated from , Raphne stared at Mary with a chilling gaze.
Mary, who monts ago had been terrified, now looked combative, breathing heavily as she held her head and glared at Raphne.
This was bad.
I needed to stop this.
“M-Mary…! You’ve got it all wrong! Raphne isn’t—”
“Ken! Get a grip! You can’t let yourself be bewitched by sothing like that!”
Mary cut off, stretching out her hand as if to protect from a terrifying beast.
Her hand was shaking with fear.
“Raphne! I don’t know what’s going on, but if you don’t stay away from Ken—!”
“You...”
Mary’s threatening voice was drowned out by Raphne’s quietly muttered words.
Her chilling tone sent shivers down my spine, even colder than the magic Mary had just released.
Raphne’s hollow, dark eyes fixed on Mary.
“Why... are you getting between Ken and ?”
“R-Raphne! Mary’s not—”
But before I could finish—
“W-wait!”
Raphne vanished from sight.
“Huh?”
And within the blink of an eye—
Thud.
Mary collapsed to the ground, unable to even scream.
Standing over her, Raphne gazed down at her coldly, expressionless.
“RAPHNE!!”
Soone scread.
It was Emily, who had been frozen in place until now.
Upon seeing Mary fall, Emily snapped out of it and raised her hand in a threatening gesture.
Swoosh!
Chains of magic shot out from her hand.
These were the sa sealing powers that had once allowed Emily to defeat Raphne in a previous duel.
But—
“Ugh…”
Thud.
Before the chains could even reach her, Emily collapsed to the ground just like Mary.
As if by teleportation, Raphne was already standing next to her.
‘Nerve Acceleration.’
That was Raphne’s unique skill, as I had seen in the ga.
It sped up her senses and physical abilities to the point that it felt like ti had slowed down.
Even Mary had been defeated without being able to make a move against that overwhelming power.
“Stop, Raphne!”
But despite witnessing her power firsthand, Adrian shouted at her.
His hands trembled, his face contorted in pain.
Suffering under the curse’s influence, he drew his sword.
“Return to the tower quietly.”
Flas roared as Adrian’s magic surged, wrapping his sword in fire.
He was now fully ready for battle.
“N-no! If you fight...!”
I knew how strong Adrian was.
If he swung his sword with real intent, even soone like Raphne could get hurt.
‘I have to stop this…!’
Boom!!
Before I could even reach out, the next mont I realized what was happening.
Raphne had already moved in front of Adrian, her posture indicating she had just kicked him, and dust rose from the impact.
Adrian was thrown far into a pile of trees, his body slamming into them. He was unconscious, his head slumped forward.
Seeing this, Raphne turned her body around.
“H-hiiik!”
Alicia’s face turned pale as her eyes t Raphne’s.
Tears stread down her face.
“A-ah… Please, please spare .”
Alicia pleaded, sobbing, as water started to stream between her legs.
Raphne looked at her coldly before walking towards , completely ignoring Alicia’s desperate pleas.
“P-please… please spare ! Please!”
Terrified, Alicia tried to crawl backward, begging for her life.
But Raphne paid no attention to her, walking right past and clinging to once more.
“R-Raphne…”
“I’m sorry, sniff, I’m so sorry… B-but they were getting in the way between us, Ken! I didn’t kill them, I just knocked them out! So please forgive …”
She looked up at with tears streaming down her face once more, leaning her body against .
“Right...? Sniff… please tell that’s right! Tell you won’t abandon …!”
It was as if the cold, ruthless gaze from earlier had been nothing more than a dream.
She was back to her usual self.
I gently stroked her head, as I was used to doing.
“Of course, I won’t abandon you. Calm down.”
“Sniff, wuaaah…”
I carefully, and as gently as possible, gave her the answer she wanted while stroking her head.
Raphne began to cry like a little child who had just fallen down.
“I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have co out on my own… I’m sorry for causing you trouble, Ken…”
“It’s okay… It’s all right, don’t cry.”
Of course, looking around, it was far from okay.
Mary and Emily were passed out on the ground.
Adrian was buried under a pile of broken trees.
Alicia was trembling, terrified, holding her head as she muttered apologies to herself.
“...Was this the result of leaving the tower empty for five days?”
I had explained things to Raphne in advance, thinking everything would be fine. But now...
How was I supposed to deal with this?
The Survival Contest abruptly ca to an end with Raphne’s intervention.
Luckily, Raphne had shown up just before the event concluded, so the contest itself wasn’t called off.
The important winners were still decided.
The three participants with the most badges were Emily, Alicia, and . We claid the prizes.
After entrusting the unconscious trio to Alicia, I returned to the tower with Raphne.
“Raphne, I’ll stay with you today, so calm down and rest.”
“Sniff… Thank you, Ken. I’m sorry.”
On the way back, Raphne kept apologizing over and over.
She thought she was in the wrong for leaving the tower suddenly.
She must have been unable to bear it any longer and had left because she couldn’t endure it.
Though she knew she shouldn’t have left, her mind had been too worn down to stop herself.
I stayed by Raphne’s side, laying her down on the bed and holding her hand until she fell asleep.
Even as she drifted off, Raphne continued holding my hand tightly.
Perhaps she was afraid I might disappear while she slept.
‘…How should I explain this to the others?’
Emily and Mary would definitely ask about Raphne tomorrow.
I’d have to be honest.
Even though Mary and Emily had reacted to her like she was a monster because of Raphne’s Curse of Fear, that was only because of the curse.
In reality, Raphne was incredibly kind.
I was sure they would understand once I explained it to them.
The next day.
Just as I had expected, the Academy contacted .
I was summoned to the student council room, escorted by the sa n who had abducted before during the repairs to Aspetra.
Standing in front of the student council room, I opened the door with a sense of nervousness.
“You’ve arrived.”
However, the person waiting for inside wasn’t the expected student council president, Anette.
“Sit down. I have a lot to discuss with you.”
It was Adrian, sipping tea while sitting on the sofa.
“Is the president… not here?”
With a gesture from Adrian, the n who had escorted left the room, leaving just the two of us.
“I asked her to step out for a mont. We need to talk about sothing important. Don’t just stand there, take a seat.”
Adrian gestured toward the seat in front of him.
I sat down on the sofa across from him.
It was a good opportunity.
There were a lot of things I wanted to ask him as well.
But for now, I had been summoned.
I had to let him ask his questions before I could ask mine.
Once I sat down and waited, Adrian put his tea aside and finally spoke.
“The thing I’m most curious about… What is your relationship with Raphne?”
“We’re just friends.”
“It didn’t look like you were ‘just friends.’”
He wasn’t wrong.
A girl clinging to , crying and begging not to be abandoned, wasn’t exactly the typical behavior of a friend.
I knew what Adrian really ant to ask—how I was involved with Raphne’s curse.
It was clear that he knew about the curse.
His reaction in the forest made that obvious, and given his background, it would be stranger if he didn’t know.
Of course, it must have seed unusual to him.
After all, no one could get close to Raphne because of her curse.
Yet, yesterday…
She had co directly to .
I decided to be honest.
“I’m helping her break the curse.”
“…Breaking the curse?”
For the first ti, Adrian’s face showed genuine surprise.
Usually, he wore a casual smile, an ever-present smirk.
Was my answer really that surprising?
If he knew about Raphne’s curse, wouldn’t this be a logical conclusion?
“Wait, does that an… Ken, you’ve been interacting with Raphne all this ti? How is that even possible?”
It was a reasonable question.
From the way he and the others had reacted yesterday, the pain of being near Raphne because of her curse was intense.
“That’s because the curse doesn’t affect . I don’t know why, but it doesn’t.”
“I see…”
Adrian placed his hand on his chin and fell into thought for a mont.
What was he thinking about?
Was there even anything to think about?
I was simply trying to help Raphne break her curse.
His curiosity should have been satisfied with my answer.
I didn’t understand what was making him think so hard.
And then,
Adrian finally broke the silence and spoke.
“I’m sorry, Ken. But whatever you’re trying to do with Raphne’s curse…”
He looked at seriously.
“You should stop.”
“…What?”
Stop?
Was he telling to stop helping Raphne?
Even though he knew what situation she was in?
How she had been trapped in that tower, alone for a year?
If he knew, how could he say such a thing?
“Why… are you telling to stop?”
It was a question full of confusion.
Adrian took another sip of tea and then, with his usual smirk, gave the answer.
“That’s because I’m the one who placed the curse on Raphne.”
Reviews
All reviews (0)