34. Summer Vacation (1)
The Stella cadets who had attended the Aslan Seminar were able to board a Stella-exclusive airship on the way back.
Originally, they should have used private vehicles or public transportation like trains, but after this seminar, the crowds had become far too overwhelming, so there was no helping it.
“I knew you’d cause a huge mess one day.”
“Was it my fault?”
“Yeah. Totally your fault, mister.”
In the onboard dining hall of the Stella airship,
Flame scolded Baek Yuseol as he forced down food that would not go down easily.
“…This won’t make the world end, right?”
“The world doesn’t end that easily. Aren’t you worrying too much about something useless?”
“Sigh.”
If Flame, who knew the future of the original story, was that relaxed about it, then perhaps the situation he had feared would not actually happen.
After letting out a deep sigh, he glanced around to see whether anyone was listening and then asked,
“This… when was this magic originally supposed to appear?”
“Probably around five years later. It was supposed to be presented at the Full Moon Tower.”
“Still, I’m glad I only moved it up by five years…”
“Though because of that, the Full Moon Tower basically had one achievement of the century stolen away by some random student. The researchers at the Full Moon Tower who were secretly studying parallel arrangement are probably crying tears of blood by now.”
“Ah, come to think of it…”
Even right up until just before boarding the airship, there had been people clinging desperately to the legs of his pants.
Hadn’t they introduced themselves as the Scholars’ Research Society of the Full Moon Tower or something like that?
‘…So those people must have been the researchers of parallel arrangement.’
A fresh sense of guilt rose in him, but what could he do?
He had already done it.
Flame took a sip of broth and then asked the thing she had been quietly curious about.
“But are your memories really that mixed up?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“No, I just mean… even so, for something as huge as parallel arrangement, I’d have thought you’d at least remember around when it was supposed to be revealed. Ah, if it’s something you can’t talk about, you don’t have to.”
We had agreed to be honest with each other only up to fifty percent.
Flame left the rest unsaid.
Her question struck a very precise point.
She had probably realized after that Alterisha item presentation last time that he came from Earth.
If that was the case, then naturally she would think he had read the original romance fantasy.
But Baek Yuseol had not read the original romance fantasy, and because he did not know the detailed development of the story, he had made mistakes like this.
He wanted to tell her that, but for now, narrative force would not allow it.
He had no choice but to be satisfied with the fact that she had at least developed this one small doubt.
‘She won’t be able to work out the answer on her own…’
Who would ever imagine that someone had transmigrated into a game based on the original romance fantasy?
And it would never even cross her mind that the protagonist of that game was Flame herself.
All of a sudden, as he looked at the cute short-haired girl in front of him neatly spooning seaweed soup into her mouth, it gave him a strange feeling to think that she was the protagonist who had nearly saved an entire world.
‘Hm? Come to think of it, where was Flame at the end of the game…?’
Just before transmigrating into this world, Baek Yuseol had hunted a black dragon called Black Night Thirteenth Moon.
But right before encountering that black dragon, he remembered receiving some sort of special sudden quest.
‘Find the missing Flame… was it?’
That was a very strange quest.
To begin with, ‘Character Flame’ was supposed to be the protagonist.
And ‘Character Baek Yuseol,’ the character Baek Yuseol had played, was nothing more than a supporting extra.
And yet all of a sudden, the protagonist disappeared, and a quest was given to the supporting character to find the protagonist.
At the time, he had not cared much about the story, so he had not given it any thought at all.
But now that he thought about it again, something felt strange.
‘…What was that?’
He clearly remembered that after hunting Black Night Thirteenth Moon, Baek Yuseol had been given a little bit of time before he transmigrated.
But although he had definitely killed the final boss, he remembered there had been no scene at all of Flame returning or anything like that.
Which meant that defeating the final boss had not actually been the correct answer to retrieving Flame.
‘I don’t know.’
No matter how much he thought about it now, there was absolutely no way for him to figure it out.
Because that quest had been something only Baek Yuseol himself had experienced, it was not recorded in bulbul-glasses at all.
He looked at Flame with fresh eyes.
Flame, who had been stuffing lettuce-wrapped kimchi into her mouth, raised her round eyes wide.
Receiving a look that clearly seemed to say, ‘What? Why are you staring at me?’ Baek Yuseol shook his head.
“Forget it. Just don’t go disappearing somewhere later.”
“Huh? Mmhm.”
When Baek Yuseol picked up his tray and stood first, Flame followed his back while chewing with her mouth still full of food.
‘Hmm… there really is something more here.’
Besides the keyword ‘regression,’ Baek Yuseol had other secrets too.
That much was certain,
but there was no way to uncover what they were.
She could not ask him any further.
They had promised to tell each other only fifty percent of their secrets.
In other words, regression itself was not the secret.
It meant that the other secret hidden behind that remaining fifty percent was the important part…
and she did get the feeling that perhaps within that secret lay his relationship with her before the regression, as well as his relationship with Eizel, but there was no longer any way to find that out.
‘…No, wait. Come to think of it, I did hear something like that once.’
She remembered the words of the old woman with the mysterious air whom she had met at a shady fortune-teller’s shop she had wandered into by chance while roaming the city of Camelon.
—Along with the child blessed by ice, cast the constellations. You may come to dimly understand the path you must walk.
There was only one child in this world blessed by ice.
‘She told me to do something with Eizel…’
That fortune-teller definitely possessed some kind of special power.
There were quite a few beings in Aither World who possessed prophetic abilities, so it was not strange for a fortune-teller in Camelon to make prophecies.
In fact, hadn’t Baek Yuseol himself gone to see that fortune-teller too? She did not know what exactly he had been doing there, though.
“Hm…”
After thinking about it for a moment, Flame decided that it would be better to try talking to Eizel, even if it meant taking a shot in the dark.
After all, she had nothing to lose.
With her thoughts having reached that point, Flame immediately stood up with the intention of going to find Eizel.
Meanwhile, at the rear of the airship, on the sky terrace.
“Princess! You really were amazing!”
“I knew you’d make a stunning presentation!”
Hong Biyeon was fully enjoying her sense of superiority while being surrounded by the followers and faction members who had even chased her all the way onto the airship.
She let the softly blowing wind scatter her hair naturally.
With one leg crossed over the other, sipping foul-tasting black tea while her followers chirped praises at her sides, what more could heaven possibly be?
“Princess, look at this!”
One of her faction members brought her a newspaper at just the right moment.
[The Humiliation of the First Princess Hong Si-hwa?]
[Is Even Hong Si-hwa Powerless Before Princess Hong Biyeon, Blessed by Fire?]
[Perfect Refutation, Complete Defeat]
The political struggle within Adolevit was more than enough to become a hot topic of discussion.
And if that topic was plastered everywhere with your own victory,
what kind of person would not feel good about it?
“Hoo. Why do you keep bringing me things I’ve already seen so much that I’m sick of them?”
Though she said that, she could not quite hide how pleased she felt inside.
And each time that happened, her followers responded with smooth nonsense like, ‘Ah, but if you’re already this sick of it now, what ever will you do when it keeps going like this from now on~’
Flip.
As Hong Biyeon turned the pages of the paper with a blooming smile, her expression loosened slightly.
[Baek Yuseol—Just How Far Will His Achievements Go?]
[From the Yeongongnansu Cross Formula to Mana Parallel Arrangement…]
[Experts State That Within Just Half a Year, He Has Advanced the Magical World’s Technology by Decades…]
If one side of the paper was covered with stories about Hong Biyeon,
the other side was covered with stories about Baek Yuseol.
“Ah, that commoner.”
“He really was amazing, wasn’t he?”
“Hey, hey! Read the room.”
“Ah, right.”
The faction members chattered noisily around her, but in truth, none of it entered Hong Biyeon’s ears.
‘Is this really the sort of achievement an ordinary seventeen-year-old can produce?’
At this point, exclamations of admiration no longer even came out.
All she felt now was a pure question.
She was surely not the only one curious about him.
But if even the information network of Adolevit could not dig up Baek Yuseol’s past, then who in the world could?
‘…No.’
Suddenly, she remembered something Eizel had said to her not long ago.
—I’ve found a way to uncover the past and secrets hidden behind Mr. Baek Yuseol’s veil. And perhaps… I may even be able to find a way to save him as well.
At the time, Eizel had said that while muttering something about the Library of Stars.
Naturally, Hong Biyeon had scoffed at first.
After all, the Library of Stars Constellatio Project was no more than a legend.
But Eizel had appealed to her with all sincerity, and before she knew it, Hong Biyeon had found herself nodding.
She had been unconsciously drawn in by that strange force Eizel possessed.
‘Now that I think about it, I really don’t understand it at all…’
How had she ended up agreeing?
It had truly been something more magical than magic itself.
But even now, when she thought about it, it had not actually been a bad proposal.
In fact, it was a little tempting.
After all, she had been worrying quite a lot about how to save Baek Yuseol.
Digging secretly into someone’s past was bad manners, certainly, but if it was only to find a way to overcome his short lifespan…
wouldn’t that be acceptable?
Having thought that far, Hong Biyeon abruptly rose from her seat.
“Hm? Princess?”
“There’s somewhere I need to go for a moment. You lot stay here and amuse yourselves.”
“Yes!”
“Of course!”
Leaving her followers and faction members behind, Hong Biyeon slowly walked along the edge of the terrace.
And just as expected, at the far end she spotted Eizel standing alone, savoring her solitude.
For a moment, Hong Biyeon found herself thinking that Eizel’s blue hair, a color like the sky itself, stood out even against the sky, but she quickly shook her head and forced the thought away.
“Hey, Morf.”
“…Ah. What is it?”
Since it was rare for Hong Biyeon to come looking for her first, Eizel looked slightly puzzled.
“About what you told me last time—could you explain it in more detail?”
“…Do you mean the Constellatio Project?”
“Yes. Can we really access the Library of Stars?”
“Of course. I… did it myself.”
Even as she said that, Eizel oddly lifted her gaze toward the sky.
For some reason, it felt almost as though she were watching the sky’s mood, and Hong Biyeon found that a little strange.
“You said then that you did it yourself too, didn’t you? If that’s true, then just tell me what you saw.”
“…I can’t do that. If I carelessly reveal what I saw there, even you could die.”
“What…?”
As Hong Biyeon looked utterly incredulous, Eizel quickly continued.
“Besides, in truth, I didn’t see very much either. With my strength alone… I was hopelessly lacking.”
“Hmph. So you need my power?”
“Yes. Don’t you have many things you’re curious about regarding Mr. Baek Yuseol as well?”
Hong Biyeon’s lip twitched slightly, as though her inner thoughts had been exposed.
“…Who said I’m curious about some commoner? I’m merely interested in the legend of the Library of Stars.”
“Whichever it is, I’m simply grateful that you’re willing to help. If it’s you and me together, then perhaps we’ll be able to see more than we did before.”
There was confidence and a sense of duty written across Eizel’s bold expression.
That sense of purpose, the determination to save someone no matter what, was what moved her forward.
For some reason, Hong Biyeon felt a little overwhelmed by Eizel’s spirit, though she made sure not to show it.
“Well then, I…”
“…That’s something interesting I just heard.”
At the voice that came from beside them, chills ran through both Hong Biyeon and Eizel, and they quickly turned their heads.
If someone who was not a descendant of the Twelve Disciples were to hear talk related to the Library of Stars, they could suffer great harm.
“You two seemed oddly close, and it turns out you were secretly talking about something like that?”
“F-Flame?”
“What, you…?”
The one who had been eavesdropping on them from behind was none other than Flame.
And strangely enough, she seemed to have understood the entire conversation.
“The Library of Stars? I’m kind of interested in that too. Mind letting me join?”
“…Can you actually understand what I’m saying?”
“Hm? Of course.”
At her answer, Eizel looked puzzled.
Because there were words that had been left behind by Stella’s knight commander, Arain, and Principal Eltman Eltwin.
—Unless they are descendants of the Twelve Disciples, they will not be able to understand talk related to the Library of Stars.
—And even if by some chance they do understand it… they will probably faint.
—So unless absolutely necessary, do not speak of it in places where many people are around.
In other words, anyone who was not a descendant of the Twelve Disciples should not have been able to understand this conversation in the first place.
And even if they somehow did, the normal outcome would have been to faint.
Yet Flame had heard it and remained perfectly fine.
Which meant…
‘Could that commoner possibly also be…?’
‘A descendant of the Twelve Disciples…?’
But that was impossible.
All descendants of the Twelve Disciples inherited their power through legitimate succession.
And what about Flame?
Wasn’t she a commoner from an orphan background who did not even know her parents properly?
‘What in the world is her identity…?’
“Hm? Why are you looking at me like that? Have you fallen for me?”
Watching Flame speak so calmly, Eizel and Hong Biyeon had the exact same thought at the same time.
For some reason…
it seemed that commoners with black hair tended to have an awful lot of strange and mysterious secrets.
— Read only on MugenCodex —
