Chapter 33 – This Time Wasn’t Normal Either (1)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Lunchtime after the morning classes ended.

Chloe and I took seats on a bench along a quiet, tree-lined path inside the academy.

Today’s menu was fried rice made by stir-frying anchovies said to be good for the bones together with green vegetables and rice.

Salmon and blue-backed fish were supposed to be good for scrapes too, but the thought of those mermen eyes covered in grayish-white films made it hard for me to reach for them. More than anything, they were expensive.

Even if I’d suddenly come into a decent amount of cash, if I spent without a plan, my money would run dry in no time.

As a seasoned merchant, I’d pass on useless waste. I decided to think of that ten million won as future seed money.

“Geom-ma, this fried rice is seriously, seriously so good! Even the rice grains are so fluffy!”

“Glad it suits your taste.”

With every spoonful, Chloe exclaimed “It’s so delicious!” and kept chewing happily.

One hand cupped her cheek as if she were savoring each grain of rice individually. With both cheeks puffed full, she looked like a hamster storing up food.

I quietly studied Chloe. Thankfully, thanks to Speed Weapon’s swift first aid, she’d recovered from her injuries quickly and had stopped using crutches as of yesterday.

According to her, bones were supposed to become stronger by breaking and healing over and over. Just what kind of mindset lets someone think of a fracture like muscle training…?

Even so, in my fretful way, I still thought it was best to take care of your body while you were young if you wanted to avoid ailments when you got older.

After scraping every last grain from the metal lunchbox and patting her belly in satisfaction, Chloe sat there with a few grains of rice stuck to the corners of her mouth. When I picked them off for her, she flushed red in embarrassment. Then her eyes shifted toward Murasame lying in the corner of the bench.

“Wow, is this your first real weapon, Geom-ma? It’s so cool!”

Chloe looked Murasame over carefully with bright, sparkling eyes and a flushed face. Somehow, she seemed to like it even more than I, the weapon’s actual owner.

Since I’d allowed her to touch Murasame, she tried feeling the paulownia-wood hilt and even undoing the cord wrapped around it.

There was something faintly chilling about how she examined the cold blade this way and that with the innocent face of a child opening toy packaging. It really was an image that suited Chloe’s yandere tendencies all too well.

While I was lost in thought for a moment, Chloe rolled Murasame around in her hands and let one remark slip out.

“It’s good enough that I wouldn’t think it was E-rank.”

Chloe praised Murasame with her usual bright expression.

‘…E-rank.’

But sometimes words said innocently and without malice hurt even more. My cheek twitched irregularly, and panic immediately spread across Chloe’s face.

“N-no, that’s not what I meant! I-I mean, for the lowest rank it’s actually really dec… no, that’s not what I mean either!”

She lightly bonked her own head with a fist and scolded herself. I forced a smile and said:

“It’s fine. I got a decent amount of money refunded from the blacksmith anyway. And thankfully, if I just bring enhancement materials, he said he won’t charge any separate enhancement fees. If I keep enhancing it, it’ll probably become pretty usable eventually.”

“Exactly! You were strong even with Daiso sashimi knives, Geom-ma! If your weapon supports you properly, you’ll definitely become even stronger!”

“Hmm, it’s not like I’m enhancing it just because I want to get stronger….”

If you looked at it closely, there really wasn’t any reason I personally needed to become stronger. From the moment I’d cut down the demonoid mermaid, I should have been able to slice through most middle-tier demonic beasts and above without much difficulty.

Of course, A- or S-rank monsters were only called monsters by name. In reality, they were strong enough to rival ordinary members of the demon race.

To be honest, running into a demonoid mermaid during the midterm had just been a case of unbelievably awful luck.

Put another way, it also meant that I was just unbelievably unlucky… unless there was some other underlying reason.

Thinking that way made me sink into gloom, so I shook my head to clear away the stray thoughts. The real reason I’d decided to enhance my weapon was actually this:

Fwaaat.

== ==

[Blessing of the Sword God]

If it was cut, it would be cut.

◎Rank of the Flesh: (7▶8) ▷ The specifications of the sword were relaxed.

◎Rank of the Mind: 4 ▷ Intimidation dwells in words and actions.

◎Rank of the Weapon: (1▶3) ▷ The pain caused when manifesting the blessing was reduced by one stage.

☆Synchronization Rate: 7.2% ▶ 9.3% ▷ One line of 【???】 could be read.

→[The next unlock condition will be met upon reaching 15% Synchronization Rate.]

★【???】

[※ The blessing only activates when the sword’s length is (36+2) centimeters or less, and its width is under (9+0) centimeters.]

== ==

‘The pain caused when manifesting the blessing is reduced by one stage.’

That line was what made up my mind on the spot. My priority had to be improving my weapon first.

The reason I was reluctant to manifest the Blessing of the Sword God in the first place was that horrifying pain that always followed it.

If weapon rank could reduce that pain, then that alone was already more than enough reason to strengthen it.

In fact, right after seeing that line yesterday, I tried manifesting the Blessing of the Sword God without using the Blessing of Painlessness….

But the moment the pain of my optic nerves being twisted hit me, I dropped the sashimi knife instantly.

Maybe because it was still only stage one, the reduction in pain wasn’t all that large. Still, it had definitely hurt a little less than when the Blessing of the Sword God had first manifested accidentally on entrance day.

On that first day, I’d screamed my lungs out. I suppose you could say it had been reduced from pain bad enough to paralyze reason into merely collapsing after coughing up blood.

‘Though it’s still just as impossible to endure.’

All the stray thoughts that had been drifting around my head without direction suddenly assembled into a concrete purpose.

Maybe, as I kept growing one step at a time like this, I might finally be able to find some clue as to what exactly the power I’d been given really was.

On top of that, a vague belief also arose that I might someday come to know the being that had thrown me into this world.

I gazed silently at the status window and sank into thought. Seeing that, Chloe tilted her head and stared blankly at me.

From her point of view, I probably looked strange, staring at empty air with a hardened face every so often.

“Geom-ma, I guess you’re really that upset about what happened to your weapon….”

Chloe’s eyes slowly began to cloud over.

“The blacksmith who did this to your weapon….”

“…?”

The red in her pupils gradually deepened into something closer to blood.

“Anyone who makes Geom-ma suffer…”

There was a thick killing intent in every muttered word. This was Chloe’s so-called yandere mode.

“I’ll kill them all….”

“Chloe.”

When I lightly shook her small shoulder, she finally snapped herself awake and shook her head from side to side. Light returned to the pupils that had been steadily clouding over.

“Ah, sorry.”

Chloe awkwardly scratched the bridge of her nose and stuck out her tongue a little.

“Still, if you think about it another way, even if it’s E-rank now, its growth potential is high, so if you keep enhancing it, couldn’t it become A-rank or, if you’re lucky, even S-rank? Isn’t it more fun that way? If everything’s too easy from the start, it’s boring. There’s something satisfying about growing. And that blacksmith must’ve felt at least a little guilty, since he refunded you ten million won too.”

“…Heh, that’s cool.”

A crimson blush spread across Chloe’s cheeks. Since I had no idea how to react, I just smoothed my expression over. I genuinely had no clue what exactly had sounded cool to her.

While Chloe and I were talking on the bench, I sensed a secretive presence behind us. It was hidden so well that even Chloe hadn’t noticed it.

But my five senses, which were growing sharper by the day, caught that faint trace without fail. At this rate, it felt like I’d soon be able to hear the sound of ants crawling across the ground.

I turned my head and lazily swept my gaze around. After moving my eyes quickly for a few seconds, my attention stopped on a row of trees. Left were shaking there in an artificial way.

‘What’s with that bastard?’

Clicking my tongue once, I told Chloe to stay seated for a moment and took Murasame back from her. Then I walked toward the swaying tree.

The closer I got, the more violently the tree shuddered. The number of falling left visibly increased.

I knocked lightly on the trunk with one hand, as if rapping on a door, while gripping Murasame in the other.

You could call it somewhat aggressive behavior, but if my intuition was right, then for a bastard like this, that much pressure was absolutely necessary.

“What are you doing?”

“……”

I let out a dry sigh, then slowly began loosening the cord around Murasame as I added:

“If you don’t want to die, get down here.”

“……!”

Thud!

At that moment, the male student hiding among the left fell to the ground. Twigs and left were tangled in his red hair. When I frowned, he immediately averted his eyes.

“……”

An uncomfortable silence passed. I was the one who spoke first.

“Do you need something from me?”

Without meaning to, a voice so cold it was almost freezing slipped out between my teeth. The boy’s face was filled with shock and fear.

Nox Auditore sat down hard on the ground, shrinking his shoulders and avoiding my gaze.

* * *

Sitting on the bench, I rested my chin on the armrest. In my other hand I loosely held Murasame, half-wrapped in its cord.

Whenever the breeze made the cord around the blade flutter, Nox flinched at exactly the same time.

Like an alley cat bristling with hostility, Chloe pressed herself tightly behind my back. Only her eyes peeked out over my shoulder as she glared at Nox. It seemed she, too, had no idea what was going on.

Nox’s attitude, so drastically subdued compared to before, was honestly a little shocking. It was hard to believe he was the same brat who had once been that impossibly insolent. Now he shrank his shoulders and looked utterly deflated.

I stared at Nox, who stood there with his hands clasped behind his back. For a moment I wondered if he might have been hiding a blade back there, but since I couldn’t smell any metallic blood-scent, he seemed to be unarmed.

Well, even if he had a weapon, it wouldn’t really change much. The moment he showed any hostility, I fully intended to lop off one of his arms without hesitation.

“Do you have some business with me?”

“……”

He only moved his lips, unable to bring himself to speak.

After letting out a short breath, I asked again:

“I thought I made myself pretty clear the last time.”

“I-I’m not here for that reason!”

Nox stammered as he waved both hands. The way he talked and moved felt oddly similar to Chloe when I first met her.

‘Guess blood really doesn’t lie.’

I didn’t expect him to look this thoroughly broken.

The words I’d thrown at him during the hospital visit must have worked quite well. People did say that a beating could be medicine, and the old sages were rarely wrong.

“Then why did you come?”

“I came because I had something to tell Chloe, but….”

Nox trailed off awkwardly. Judging from how he was fidgeting in place, it looked like he was thoroughly cowed.

Though fine, even if it was for his sister Chloe. But he said he had something to tell me too? A note of suspicion crossed my expression, and Nox sighed deeply, then shook his head.

“No matter what I say to Chloe, it’ll obviously reach your ears too… so it’d be better if you both just heard it together.”

As Nox muttered that in a self-mocking tone, Chloe twitched behind me. Being family, he really did know his little sister well.

“And this also concerns you, Kang Geom-ma.”

“…?”

“The academy elders.”

After hesitating a moment, Nox drew in a long breath and finally moved his lips.