[Translator - Clara]
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Chapter 32: Prevent the Assassination
After finishing my work with the student council, I began walking back to the dormitory.
I spotted a familiar figure in the distance as I made my way there.
With hair resembling a dry, scruffy broom, it was Foara, the first-year student and Spirit Lord’s contractor.
It seed like he had just finished school and was heading sowhere.
“Foara.”
When I called out to him, Foara turned his head towards .
He greeted with a bright expression and bowed his head.
A polite junior is always a good thing.
“Hello, Senior Hannon!”
“Yeah, are you heading to the dormitory?”
“Oh, no, I’m on my way to the Grand Forest of Spirits.”
Even after school, he was heading to the Grand Forest of Spirits.
He was certainly devoted to spirits.
“Diligent, huh.”
“Haha, it’s not that I’m going to study, actually. The Spirit Lord said sothing peculiar.”
Sothing peculiar, coming from the Spirit Lord?
My interest was piqued.
“Is it sothing you can share with ?”
“Yes, actually, I wanted to consult you about it.”
“What is it about?”
“It’s about the Mystery that once shrouded the Grand Forest of Spirits.”
The Iron Empress.
The Mystery that had granted my most significant ability—my Steel Skin.
“What about it?”
“The Spirit Lord says they have sensed the presence of another Mystery.”
My eyebrows furrowed slightly.
Mysteries are inherently dangerous beings.
They are wayward entities that, for so reason, failed to ascend to godhood.
The fact that another Mystery was being sensed ant there was potential for sothing dangerous to occur.
“But sothing about it is strange.”
“Strange? Explain.”
“Yes, the presence of the Mystery is faint, as if it’s cloaked by so kind of barrier.”
“Faint, you say?”
Mysteries are typically uncontrollable manifestations of power, spilling out endlessly due to their inability to contain themselves.
Such a faint presence of a Mystery didn’t make sense.
“I don’t fully understand it either, but that’s how the Spirit Lord described it.”
Foara, being the Spirit Lord’s contractor, was likely knowledgeable about Mysteries as well.
It wasn’t surprising if he felt sothing was amiss.
“You sought my advice because I’ve defeated a Mystery before.”
“Yes, Senior, you wield the power of a Mystery, don’t you?”
Foara, the contractor of the Spirit Lord, must have heard from them about my deeds in the Grand Forest of Spirits.
I didn’t deny it and simply nodded.
“My ability to fight barehanded during that battle was thanks to that power.”
“I thought you might know more about this, so I wanted your opinion. The Spirit Lord seems quite uneasy.”
It was understandable.
The Spirit Lord had once lost control of the forest to the Iron Empress, a Mystery.
“Alright. I’ll look into it personally as well.”
“Wow, thank you so much! You’re amazing, Senior!”
Foara’s eyes sparkled with genuine gratitude.
Perhaps it was because I’d only ever shown my best side to him.
It seed I’d beco a highly trusted senior in his eyes.
“Well, I’ll be on my way now.”
“Take care.”
After seeing Foara off, I fell into thought for a mont.
A Mystery suddenly appearing?
Was there any event connected to Mysteries scheduled around this ti?
‘Nothing cos to mind.’
If that’s the case, what coincides with the timing of this Mystery’s appearance?
Only one thing.
The arrival of soone new at Zerion Academy.
‘Nia Cynthia.’
My eyes glinted coldly.
At the sa ti, I recalled what Iris had told about Nia’s assassination.
Why had Iris ntioned Nia’s assassination to ?
‘Iris knew about my involvent with the Iron Empress.’
Among the student council mbers, one was loyal to Iris.
That person must have revealed the secret of the Iron Empress incident to Iris.
In other words, Iris knew I was connected to Mysteries.
I reached a conclusion.
‘Sohow, the assassination of Nia is linked to a Mystery.’
Mysteries are unpredictable entities.
Assassinating Nia—framing it as an accident—was plausible with their power.
My expression hardened.
‘Damn it.’
I imdiately set off after Foara.
It didn’t take long to catch up to him as he headed toward the Grand Forest.
“Foara, I’ve realized sothing about the Mystery. Can I et with the Spirit Lord?”
I didn’t know what kind of Mystery could be behind Nia’s assassination.
I needed to fill in the gaps in my knowledge.
Fortunately, Foara readily agreed.
In the Grand Forest of Spirits, Foara began his preparations.
In response to his spirit sensitivity, a faint figure began to appear above the forest.
What erged was a massive jade-colored bird.
With its arrival, the winds swirled as if dancing.
The blessing of the wind seed to envelop the entire area.
However, within the wind,
my instincts—etched into my very being—caused my body to shiver.
My hands and feet trembled.
Even with my Steel Skin, goosebumps ran across my entire body.
I suppressed the reaction with effort.
The Spirit Lord’s presence was overwhelming.
【 It’s been a while, child. Thank you for helping our forest back then. 】
A belated expression of gratitude.
【 Your lack of spirit sensitivity ant you couldn’t even see at the ti. 】
So that was why I hadn’t seen a single spirit during that incident.
My near-absolute lack of spirit sensitivity had rendered them invisible to .
‘But they must have lingered near briefly after I defeated the Mystery.’
Even my mories of that ti were faint.
Regardless, the Spirit Lord now showed great kindness.
Although I couldn’t speak to them directly without Foara’s help,
they were well aware of how I had saved the Grand Forest.
Thanks to that, I was able to ask the Spirit Lord a few questions.
【 The Mystery is being sensed within Zerion Academy. 】
The Spirit Lord said the Mystery was already within the academy.
However, as ntioned earlier, Mysteries are uncontrollable eruptions of power.
If one had entered Zerion Academy, soone should have noticed imdiately.
“Does that an it’s taking a form similar to mine?”
My Steel Skin was imbued with the Mystery’s power.
Although the consciousness of the Iron Empress was gone, her Mystery remained a part of .
【 Indeed, now that you ntion it, there is a resemblance. 】
The Spirit Lord agreed with my question.
It seed more likely that the Mystery’s power had been embedded in sothing or soone rather than the Mystery itself appearing.
‘Is the assassin aiming to kill Nia imbued with the Mystery?’
However, there was no record of any new individuals entering the academy besides Nia this year.
Given the risk of Nia being targeted, I had thoroughly reviewed the student council’s records.
But in those records, Nia was the only newcor.
‘If it’s not soone new, then among the existing individuals, who could be targeting Nia?’
Frankly, no one ca to mind.
As soone who had played Firefly Butterfly countless tis,
I knew the personalities, traits, and pasts of the key characters inside and out.
‘Of course, it could always be an extra I don’t know about.’
But Nia was an active, magical knight.
Even if soone imbued with a Mystery existed, it was hard to imagine an extra successfully assassinating him.
‘That leaves one possibility.’
I raised my head.
“Spirit Lord, I’m sorry, but may I ask one last question? When did you first sense the Mystery?”
【 A week ago. 】
A week ago.
That was the sa ti Nia arrived at Zerion Academy.
“Thank you.”
[Translator - Clara]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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Realizing this, I imdiately left the Grand Forest and started running.
Just as my body was imbued with the Steel Skin,
there were objects in this world infused with the power of Mysteries.
It was just a hunch.
But there was a high probability that Nia himself possessed an item related to this.
And one specific item ca to mind.
That staff.
The staff that Nia had recently acquired through an acquaintance.
Even Nikita, usually unfazed, had reacted to it—an exceptionally well-crafted staff.
Was it re coincidence that he obtained a new staff at this point?
Nia’s original staff was broken.
At the sa ti, the staff artisan had an accident and was injured.
An acquaintance recomnded a new artisan.
A sense of foreboding crept over .
Nia’s assassination was inevitable.
If that was true, then sothing must have been at work to create that inevitability.
The result of coincidences layered upon coincidences so that even Nia didn’t notice.
Realizing this, my legs moved faster.
Before I knew it, the magic studies building of the Jerion Academy ca into view.
I didn’t know when Nia would be assassinated.
Even if I stopped it this ti, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t die later.
And considering the storyline of the main narrative, it was right to let his assassination happen.
Even so, my legs didn’t stop.
A person was going to die.
Now that I knew, I couldn’t just stand by and watch.
‘I said I’d do anything for the main story.’
But when faced with the situation, my body moved on its own.
What a fool I was.
I was supposed to be ruthless for the sake of the ending, but I couldn’t do it.
If the story failed to follow the main narrative, the world would almost certainly face destruction.
And I would die too.
If I didn’t want to die, I had to steer the scenario back to the main storyline sohow.
However.
There was soone who would mourn Nia’s death more than anyone else.
During my Fla Butterfly Arc playthroughs,
No matter what I did, I couldn’t stop Nia’s assassination.
And that led to Nikita’s descent into darkness.
The following acts, and the ones after that, hinged on this event.
Nikita beca the Act 3 boss, destined to be defeated.
Once Nia’s assassination was set in motion, her descent into darkness beca an unavoidable route.
My fists clenched tightly.
I was soone who had replayed the Fla Butterfly Arc countless tis.
I was undoubtedly a veteran of veterans.
‘With Lucas already dead…’
The direction of the main storyline had diverged at twilight, and I was desperately soldering it back together.
Yet here I was, struggling to avoid the world-ending bad ending.
Striving to create a happy ending for the Fla Butterfly Arc, even without the protagonist.
‘If Nia doesn’t get assassinated, can’t I still steer this world toward the main story?’
No.
I could.
I could definitely do it.
I’d seen countless endings of the Fla Butterfly Arc.
I had patched things up countless tis, over and over.
If sothing was missing, I’d just patch it again.
‘Since I’ve already decided on a happy ending as my goal.’
Determination filled my eyes as they flashed fiercely.
‘Even in the Fla Butterfly Arc, surely…’
A happy ending where every character could smile wasn’t too much to ask for.
Today, I revised my objective.
If I was going to see this through without the protagonist,
I might as well create the most ideal happy ending.
Resolving myself, I pushed more strength into my legs.
With my resolve solidified, my pace quickened.
As I climbed the stairs of the magic studies building, I soon reached the faculty office.
Just as I was about to search for Nia—
Creak—
The door opened, and a familiar face walked out.
A girl with hair that shimred like a galaxy tilted her head upon seeing .
“Hannon, why are you running like that?”
The girl who asked with a languid expression was Sharin Sazaris,
the top student in the 2nd-year magic studies departnt.
“Huff… Huff, Sharin.”
Leaning on my knees with both hands, I caught my breath and looked up at her.
I was so out of breath that I couldn’t form proper words.
“If you keep staring at with such burning eyes, I’ll get flustered.”
“Stop joking around… Is Assistant Professor Nia inside?”
Sharin shook her head.
“No, he left.”
Damn it, did we miss each other?
I straightened up after catching my breath.
“Do you know where he went?”
“He’s probably headed to the Demon Dungeon. He said he finished preparing for the magic trial.”
As soon as I heard that, I imdiately turned around.
The assassination of Nia was already underway.
Of all the timings, it had to be now.
At that mont, I began to feel a sense of weightlessness.
As I flailed my legs in midair, Sharin floated beside .
“Seems urgent, huh?”
Urgent didn’t even begin to describe it.
A life was on the line.
“I’ll help.”
With those words, Sharin changed direction.
She headed straight for the window.
Whoosh!
The window opened with her wind magic.
Carrying , she flew straight out the window.
The scenery below whizzed past in an instant.
It was incomparable to the speed I could manage by running.
Once again, I realized just how useful magic could be.
“We’re heading to the Demon Dungeon, right?”
“Yeah, thanks for helping.”
“Buy a curry bun next ti.”
So she intended to use this as an excuse to make her bread courier.
“After this, I’ll buy you cream buns and red bean buns too.”
“Yay, I’ll try even harder now!”
With a delighted expression, Sharin picked up speed.
Before long, the Demon Dungeon, once a speck on the horizon, lood close.
The enormous gate of the Demon Dungeon gaped like it was ready to swallow the sky.
Seeing it, I prayed I wasn’t too late.
[Translator - Clara]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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