"Harold...?"
The girl, with eyes shadowed by despair, murmured my na and began to shiver. She had tied her hair in a ponytail-like fashion, and with her ordinary-looking sword and armor, she appeared to be just another female adventurer passing by.
"Uh... ah..."
It seed she recognized and wanted to say sothing, but her words wouldn't co out. She just opened and closed her mouth.
From my perspective, she was a stranger. As far as I rembered, I had never t her before, yet she seed to recognize and was clearly confused.
What on earth was happening?
"Are you okay...?"
Concerned, I approached the visibly distressed woman.
"Yes... Huh?!"
As I neared, her anguished deanor vanished, replaced by a calm one, though she still looked slightly flustered.
"You seed upset earlier..."
"I... I'm fine!"
She responded to my concern with an overly confident voice, shaking her head vigorously from side to side. Her fluctuating emotions made her seem quite peculiar.
"Do you know ?"
Didn't she call my na earlier?
"L...?"
My question seed to create a tense atmosphere, and I felt unexpectedly uncomfortable.
"What did you say...?"
She looked at with wide eyes, as if she couldn't believe or had misheard what I'd said.
"Didn't you call my na earlier? Have we t before?"
I expressed my genuine confusion. For so unknown reason, the red-haired woman seed utterly defeated, as if she knew but was heartbroken that I didn't recognize her.
Were we acquaintances? However, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't recall her face.
Despite my feelings, she seed deeply affected by my response.
"Ah... Well..."
She had been hesitating to speak to from the start and continued to do so.
"What's going on, Harold?"
Aris, unable to wait any longer, intervened.
Whoosh!
"Aris?"
Suddenly, Aris hugged , the kind of intimate gesture usually reserved for lovers. It could easily be misinterpreted by onlookers.
"Wha?!"
She was taken aback and stared in disbelief.
"Do you know Harold?"
Aris also asked the female adventurer a similar question. The atmosphere was different, though. For a brief mont, I felt a mix of emotions from Aris—jealousy, hatred, and various other negative feelings.
Aris continued her silence, seemingly lost in conflicting thoughts. She finally responded with a weak voice.
"No... I must have mistaken you for soone else... I apologize..."
She gave a chilling reply, devoid of any warmth, and hung her head as if she had lost everything. I couldn't understand why she was behaving this way, especially after she admitted not knowing .
"It's alright."
Instead of , Aris briefly replied to the red-haired girl and, ignoring my intentions, began pulling away by the arm. I couldn't be certain, but I felt there was more to discuss with the mysterious adventurer.
"Wait... Aren't we moving a bit too fast?"
As she disappeared from view, I turned my attention from the mysterious adventurer to Aris, who was hastily moving away.
"Aris?"
For so reason, she looked upset, as if she was jealous that I had shown interest in another woman... "From the way that woman looked at you earlier, it seed she has feelings for you, Harold!"
Aris puffed up her blushing cheeks, acting sulky, and made a 'hmmph!' sound, snorting in displeasure.
Did that woman really show interest in ?
Was Aris seeing things differently? I found myself wondering if that female adventurer had given off any such vibes, even for a mont.
"What are you talking about? She said she mistook for soone else... and we've never t before!"
Despite my rebuttal, Aris continued in an irritated tone, gripping my arm even tighter.
"But that woman definitely showed feelings for you! And I saw you giving her a aningful look too!"
Aris's bubbly personality sotis felt overbearing... She was jealous of a relationship that seed obviously awkward to everyone else.
After all, the woman apologized for her mistake, thinking she knew . Why would Aris react this way?
Actually, it's true that I have feelings for Aris more than for that mysterious girl...
It was an incomprehensible and strange situation... As the scene shifted, after Aris took Harold away, Erina watched them with a complicated expression.
"Ugh..."
She poured out all her suppressed anger and hatred towards Aris, who had taken Harold away from her.
"If only that tragedy hadn't happened..."
"I t him first..."
Erina began grinding her teeth in frustration, feeling the injustice of having to act ignorant while watching the man she adored embrace another woman.
If she could, she would want to tear apart that audacious woman...
Clank!
Picking up her fallen sword, she gently unsheathed the sharp blade.
"But what if I hurt Harold in the process?"
The reason Erina had to ignore him, even when he showed affection, the reason she had to pass on her love without him knowing, was due to a stern warning from Morione. Due to the effects of a curse, in this new life, Harold had to forget about Erina. Because if anything were to jog his mories from the past, it would be irreversible...
She couldn't be with him because of that warning. Erina had to pretend not to know him, even if it ant enduring the sight of their budding relationship.
Harold was kind, so she vaguely anticipated him forming a bond with another woman...
But...
Holding the sharp blade, she made a deep resolve in her heart.
"I won't just hand him over..."
She declared, her voice dripping with hatred, to the detestable woman who had left.
"I will never give him up..." In the principal's office of the Magic Academy.
It was a quiet place where no one, except the principal of the academy, should be present.
But this ti, it was different.
"Leave at once, I'm tired of punishing innocent students!"
A voice filled with resentnt broke the heavy silence.
The room wasn't only occupied by her.
"Now, are you saying that?"
Surrounding her in a semi-circle was a group of mysterious individuals. Their sizes varied, but they all wore similar outfits that concealed their identities.
However, to her eyes, their attire was all too familiar. They were the cultists that infested the academy, tainting Arisia's position.
"Why should I hand over my cherished students to the likes of you?"
Arisia, the principal, displayed her disdain for these heretical individuals.
"Please keep your eyes open! I can no longer turn a blind eye to our students disappearing!"
Arisia, her forehead creased in anger, confronted the group before her with a palpable animosity.
"You're changing the terms of our agreent now, Principal?"
However, the robe-clad heretics responded with a calm tone, tinged with a hint of displeasure.
"Get out! I can't even stand dealing with your disgusting aftermath!"
She looked at the mysterious individuals covered in robes with pure hostility, as if she wanted to tear them apart right then and there.
Drawing a magic circle with her hand, she seed ready to obliterate the cluster of heretics in front of her.
But then...
"Hmm, I thought you'd be more cooperative recently... Seems we were mistaken about your academy..."
A man pulled sothing from his robe, revealing a shining pendant. "That... that is...!"
Upon seeing the pendant, Arisia's face contorted in despair. She reached out, as if trying to stop the man holding the pendant.
"Even if you didn't want to be a sacrifice, wasn't it too much to resist your fate and even create a split form, Aris?"
While saying this, he applied pressure to the pendant, distorting its shape.
"Thanks to her, born with a fraction of your power, you beca an unsuitable sacrifice because your power wasn't whole, right?"
The pendant, as if it had a survival instinct, flickered as the pressure to destroy it increased.
"Isn't it because of your actions that our plans were delayed, and we're in this situation?"
"Wa... wait!"
As the pendant continued to deform, Arisia's face, which was filled with anger just monts ago, was now filled with anxiety.
"Well... thanks to your foolish actions, we found your weakness."
Crack... Snap!
The pendant, unstable as if filled with cracks, started to emit light in quicker intervals.
"This pendant, akin to your heart... It seems you care for Aris not just as a split form, but as if she were your daughter..."
The pendant emitted an even brighter and intense light, as if signaling its imminent destruction.
"If this is destroyed, Aris's life will..."
As the man calmly delivered his statent, just as the pendant was about to shatter...
"Please wait!"
With a desperate face, she pleaded with him.
"Fine...! I'll do as you wish!"
Only when she reluctantly agreed to comply did the force on the pendant ease.
"Finally, we're on the sa page."
Soon after, the pendant seed to miraculously restore itself to its original form.
"Thank you, Principal. We'll send you the list soon."
Then he hid the pendant sowhere within his robes and began to chant a spell.
"When you call, we'll gladly answer. Open the path we wish to take... Shadow Teleport."
Upon completing the chant, the heretics' shadows unnaturally expanded.
"Honestly, I wasn't sure it would work, but seeing how much you care for Aris... Even if you resisted till the end, we could have delayed our plans."
A small, mocking laughter could be heard.
"Of course, she would have died."
With a final taunt, he snapped his fingers.
Snap!
The heretics were swallowed by their shadows, disappearing as if they never existed. Left alone in the room, the principal exclaid,
"Ugh!"
As soon as the heretics disappeared, she clutched her chest in pain and imdiately knelt.
"Damn it!"
She had suppressed all her emotions to appear strong in front of the heretics, but now she let out all her pent-up feelings.
While showing anger by grinding her teeth, the majority of the emotions she felt were sorrow and despair.
"Please..."
With her hands together, she murmured a desperate prayer, tears streaming down her face.
What circumstances led her to submit to them and cry out in such misery?
"Soone, anyone... please save Aris..."
Only her desperate plea echoed in the silent room...
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