Chapter 115. You Must Be Having a Good Dream
Early in the morning, I got myself into the Academy uniform and left the inn that had been my lodging.
Raileigh, who’d drunk himself into a complete stupor the day before, was sprawled out like a dead drunk—but there was a smile on his lips.
‘You must be having a good dream.’
Yeah. The dream you couldn’t achieve in reality—go ahead and achieve it in your sleep, at least.
“Are you leaving now?”
“Don’t follow me.”
Shine, who’d been looking out the window, shrugged.
“That’s my choice, isn’t it?”
“Beating you to a pulp is probably my choice too.”
“If you can, try it.”
Shine’s red eyes gleamed. A laugh slipped out at that confident gaze.
Is that really the same one who got beaten to hell at the Fourth Base Camp? She’s overflowing with confidence.
‘Well, I guess she has reason.’
From the Fourth Base Camp to the city of Hazen—
Shine had recovered no small amount of strength.
A vampire replenishes power by consuming blood, and as if she weren’t a freeloader for nothing, she sucked down monster blood so neatly and thoroughly.
But I’d recovered strength too.
Still—
“Enough. Don’t go causing trouble—stay quiet.”
“Scared, are you.”
Leaving the Shine who was needlessly throwing out provocations behind, I stepped outside.
‘I need to form a circle, fast.’
Transcendence (超越).
I’d crossed a wall I couldn’t cross in my past life, but I still had a long way to go.
My realm was flawless—there was nothing to complain about—but the vessel supporting it was lacking, you could say.
To fully unfold transcendence, the body—the vessel—had to be raised to a comparable level first, as the most urgent priority.
It wasn’t a process I could easily promise how long it would take.
‘Well, even so, it won’t be as grueling as breaking through the wall of transcendence….’
Anyway, until I grew my vessel, transcendence stayed sealed.
Even so, there was no need to despair.
Maybe because, at the moment of transcendence, I’d glimpsed the final stage of the Scarlet Flame (Jeokhwa / 赤火) secret art—Saenghwa (生花)?
My Mental Image (Simsang) had advanced from the Seonghwa (成火) stage to the three-stage-ahead Geophwa (劫火).
I’d finally caught up to Kalahen’s realm.
What that meant was—
‘Now I can crush someone like Kalahen without relying on lucky breaks.’
It was a truly tear-jerking achievement.
Up until now, the reason I’d been able to survive wasn’t because my realm was high, or because the secrets I held were exceptional.
It was because I was just that good.
Because I’d gone wild like I had no tomorrow in every single moment—so I caught Kalahen, huh? Caught the Master of the Swamp too, huh? That’s how it was.
If it had been anyone else, they’d have died long ago.
‘Yeah. I really am good at fighting.’
Someone might call it sneaky and cowardly, but being sneaky is also skill.
Of course, I couldn’t let my guard down.
Just like the Master of the Swamp, who had ruled the adventurers of the Hamelin Great Forest with fear, got trampled by me—there are always matchups.
Anyway.
The dormitory at last.
‘…Not yet?’
I swept my eyes over the lobby I hadn’t stepped into in a long time.
Students preparing for class moved along rubbing sleepy eyes, but I didn’t see the faces I was looking for.
Usually by around this time, they’d come down…
It was right then that I met a familiar face coming down the stairs.
Halt.
One student stopped mid-step after seeing me. The owner of that unchangingly cold face was Pola.
“Yo.”
“…….”
My roommate Pola stared at me with a complicated gaze—no, an irritated gaze—then swept past me.
“…I delivered the letter properly.”
“Good.”
“And my fee is expensive. Just this once— mm.”
Ting!
“Is that enough?”
Pola snatched the coin I flicked over, checked the silvery gleam, then shot me a sharp look.
“Use me again next time.”
Simple bastard.
I like how faithful she is to capital.
Anyway, I silently let Pola pass by, when I heard voices coming from upstairs.
“Listen. Chenbi, promises exist to be kept. And I kept my promise. I studied hard for the midterm, and I placed within the top 16. Right?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“So then, Mom has an obligation to make both Blood, Sweat, and Tears No. 1 and No. 2. You understand up to here, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“But she says to choose. Either make Blood, Sweat, and Tears No. 1, or make No. 2. Does that make any sense?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
A high-tension voice despite it being morning. Even with those half-hearted replies, she kept stubbornly saying what she wanted to say.
Two faces came down the stairs—faces I recognized well enough.
“This is a clear contract breach— huh?!”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
Demian was the first to spot me.
Eyes wide, Demian rubbed them a few times, then stared at me.
Chenbi, with eyes half like he’d reached enlightenment, noticed me right after.
“…Friend?”
“…? …!”
Eyes flaring wide.
“Friend?!”
“…Aster?”
“Is that really you?!”
“Aster…?”
As if they couldn’t believe it—like they were seeing a dead person—each of them let out exclamations in turn.
I greeted the two with a relaxed smile.
“I’m here.”
But why was it?
The wavering in Chenbi’s eyes cooled instantly. With his face slightly stiff, he turned away from me and started walking, dragging Demian along.
“Demian, that’s not Aster.”
“It’s not, but it is?”
Dead people can’t come back alive.”
“It’s not, he didn’t die?”
“No. Aster is dead. That’s an illusion, and we’re seeing things.”
“Is that so?”
The two walked past me.
Demian kept turning back like he couldn’t believe it, but Chenbi’s attitude was firm.
He even grabbed Demian by the collar and dragged him away.
“Friend… are you really dead?”
“…….”
At that question, I couldn’t answer a single word.
Barely over a month. It wasn’t a long time, not long enough to call it long.
What in the world had turned Chenbi into that?
I couldn’t understand it at all.
Academy classes weren’t anything special.
The midterms were already over, and the person-to-person combat exam had also wrapped up, so most classes were run as review.
With the semester’s end approaching and the atmosphere loose, students drifted through their time floating on anticipation for the coming vacation.
Of course, I wasn’t one of them.
“…So you went off to train, and you couldn’t make it back in time?”
“Yes. I got lost….”
“Hm.”
My meeting with Professor Jeira was fairly bleak.
She looked at me with a dubious expression for a moment, then nodded easily.
“Alright, understood. In any case, your attendance days won’t be recognized. In cases like this, a make-up exam is also impossible. Keep that in mind.”
“Yes, understood.”
She looked like she had a lot she wanted to ask, but Professor Jeira didn’t press any further.
For something I’d just sort of glossed over, the alibi was fairly tight.
As I left the faculty office, I ran into Assistant Professor Yorbi, who was coming in carrying documents.
“Aster-kun, it’s been a while. You came back rather quickly. I’m glad you’re safe.”
“Ah, yes.”
Is he saying he’s glad I’m safe, or is he nagging me for being late?
The man was consistently unpleasant.
Come to think of it, I wonder what happened with Ivelin de Planche, Goldrin Merchant Company’s precious jewel.
If I were Ivelin, I’d have ground him up and eaten him.
‘But his face looks thick-skinned enough that maybe nothing happened.’
For the record, Ivelin was still busy these days.
Officially, it was because the merchant company had a lot going on, but it seemed she was running around trying to placate noble houses over the black market issue.
Anyway, after my meeting with Professor Jeira ended, I headed to the first-floor cafeteria café in the student dining hall.
There, I started a second round of “interrogation” with Chenbi and Demian.
“…So that’s why you were late?”
“…Yeah. Basically.”
I recounted the journey in the Hamelin Great Forest with a reasonable amount of embellishment.
Of course, I didn’t mention sensitive topics like “Hamelin Great Forest,” “Destrow,” or “forbidden mages.”
Just that I went traveling to train, and it happened to be a forest overflowing with monsters.
On top of that, I got lost, so I practically died and came back to life. About that much.
“…Mm. You’re not hurt anywhere, are you?”
“Well, I did get hurt, but I’m all healed.”
“You can’t get hurt.”
Maybe because I said I’d practically died and come back, Chenbi’s stiff momentum eased.
Or so I thought.
“I thought you ran away.”
“…….”
“I thought you were hiding somewhere, messing around. Ah—don’t misunderstand. I didn’t think you were slacking off using training as an excuse.”
No, that sounds exactly like what he thought.
“I mean, me—I was comfortable at the Academy. Really comfortable. With Demian—breakfast, lunch, dinner, three meals a day without missing, and once a day I’d catch someone trying to run away and drag them back.”
“…….”
“I’m not blaming you. Mm. Not at all. I also didn’t worry that you might’ve gone somewhere and gotten into trouble. Yeah. I definitely didn’t worry.”
“…….”
Did he have a lot built up?
And really, it had only been a little over a month.
While Demian had grown taller and his cheeks had gotten plumper, Chenbi was somehow pricklier, sharper around the edges.
At that moment, there was only one attitude I could take.
Apologize, and flatten myself until the silent storm passed.
So—how long did I listen to his lamentations?
“Anyway, Aster. I’m glad you came back safe.”
“I’m glad!”
The mood finally softened.
I’m fine.
Chenbi’s calm, measured tone carved me up like a blade, but I was still breathing.
I sat on a bed of thorns, vomiting blood in my mind hundreds of times as I collapsed—but still, I survived in the end.
And then, after the hearing ended—
Only then could we properly exchange greetings.
“By the way—what about the person-to-person combat?”
“I got 2nd! Chenbi got 22nd!”
“Second?”
“Yeah. Dahlia got 1st. But actually, I went easy on her. I could’ve won, but if I win, Dahlia gets hurt.”
It seemed Dahlia had charged in without holding back.
Demian, who hadn’t been desperate, gave a step and let Dahlia take the victory.
Still, Dahlia’s performance was quite unexpected.
‘Looks like she picked it up faster than I thought.’
If she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have gotten a result like that.
And like that, we let time pass, trading updates about what had happened.
The main topic was Blood, Sweat, and Tears No. 1 and No. 2—meaning, the lake and the statue.
“She’s telling me to choose between the two!”
“Then obviously No. 2.”
Because that one takes more work.
And so naturally, the topic shifted to the upcoming “vacation.”
The first vacation, right around the corner.
“This time, I’m going to House Brando with Demian to greet Gamo-nim. My parents are already there.”
“I’m going to go make No. 2.”
Chenbi planned to use this chance to meet Gamo Bianca and spend time with his family.
Demian seemed to be planning to make Blood, Sweat, and Tears No. 2—the dragon statue.
Well, the stonemasons would do it all, and Demian would only sit beside them and say, “do this, do that.”
Anyway, Demian—chattering excitedly—suddenly looked at me right then.
“Friend, you’re coming with us too, right?”
Clear, open eyes.
At that look, I scratched my head for a moment.
“…Not sure.”
If I went by what I wanted, I’d go to House Brando too and form a circle, but there was still a mountain of things I had to do at the Academy.
Not only visiting Lafiter, but more than anything—
‘Professor Parun.’
Professor Parun was looking for me.
—Pzzk, pzzak.
From a few days ago up through today: one calling orb breaking per day.
First, I needed to meet Professor Parun.
