Chapter 7 – The Academy Wasn’t Easy (3)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The most distinguished heroic families hunt demonic beasts under the sunlight. They gain glory, earn public awe, and strengthen their own standing.

But wherever things had gone stagnant, there were always enemies within. Vested-interest powers who use the authority of heroes to oppress and exploit those who were not like them.

When even public power became incapable of punishing those corrupted forces, one of the heroic families stepped forward and voluntarily became the shadow that would put them down.

A family that maintained order and carried out assassinations while following the family creed: “We work in the shadows and aspire toward the light.”

Auditore da Sicilia.

On the surface, they were a minor noble family living on the southern coast of Italy, but in truth they were an assassin family that removed internal enemies and cut away rot from the body.

Those born into the family were raised as assassins before they were even old enough to know better. The period when emotions truly blossom was generally adolescence. So before those teenage years could flower, the family imposed mental conditioning, all to turn them into emotionless killing machines.

Chloe had first bloodied her hands at the age of fifteen.

The sticky, slick sensation that had coiled around her fingers. Every time she swung a blade, the blood of corrupt nobles splashed through the air in brilliant sprays.

At an age when she should have been enjoying youth to the fullest, Chloe’s life had been stained in the darkness of night and the red of fresh blood.

Chloe, did not deny your talent as an assassin.

It was something she had heard so often from the people of her family since before she was old enough to know better that it felt as if dried blood had caked in her ears.

The expectations of the family, who had recognized Chloe’s potential as an assassin early on, were a noose tightening around the heart of a timid little girl, but in order to cut away that weakness, House Auditore forced every kind of training upon her.

Chloe accepted it. In truth, she had no other choice.

The endless, brutal training distorted Chloe’s inner world, and a dark shadow settled deep inside her.

By the time her sense of self had gradually worn away until only traces of emotion remained, Chloe too had become old enough to enter Hoakin Academy.

The three years she would spend at the academy were nothing more than another punctuation mark in that dragging life, and Chloe too was destined without exception to become an assassin.

In keeping with the family’s orientation toward the shadows, the members of Auditore were assigned by the family to Ordinary Class.

Each and every one of them had skill that was at least Dragon Class level. But because House Auditore and Hoakin Academy had made an agreement so they would not stand out, even those three years of youth had their freedom taken away by the family.

It was the time of Hoakin Academy’s class assignment test. She already knew what the test would be, because the family had informed her in advance.

Even while telling her, Auditore added that she was not to stand out. If that was the case, she wondered why they bothered telling her the contents of the test at all, but Chloe simply nodded like a wooden doll.

In the end, nothing would change anyway. That was what she thought.

Until she met that male student.

During the class assignment test, she ended up in the same group as the Mao twins, who were known as the Vicious Twins. Every time those two hurled out their iron fists, their opponents screamed in pain before their waists buckled.

That sight stirred little in Chloe. She was an assassin. The sounds of flesh being cut and bones splintering were already sickeningly familiar to her.

No matter how vicious the Mao twins were, compared to the blood that had already stained her hands, theirs would amount to no more than a drop in the bucket.

Besides, this place was the subspace, a realm of illusion, a place where even if you died, you did not die. The lived she had taken until now had all been real.

The Mao twins, who had been toying with their classmates like playthings, turned their attention to Chloe. Sour smiles spread across both of their mouths.

Chloe calmly decided to accept their attack. She would be assigned to Ordinary Class anyway.

Her whole body trembled faintly at the fear of death, but she was able to erase that fear. It was a product of the Auditore way of education.

You sons of bitches! Leave her alone!

All at once, someone suddenly cursed at the twins. Reflexively, the twins’ gazes followed the source of the shout.

At that thunderous cry, Chloe’s mind turned blank like a sheet of paper, and she dropped the weapon she had been holding.

A black-haired male student. He stood there with sashimi knives in both hands, shouting again and again at the twins.

Something deep inside Chloe shook at that shout laced with curses. It was as though the very bottom of her being had been struck by an earthquake.

It felt as if sunlight had broken through storm clouds within an inner world full of cutting frost. Something hot surged inside her.

Then one of the twins swaggered toward him. Flexing an iron gauntlet slick with sticky blood, he let out a rancid laugh.

The tip of the blade aimed at the twins was trembling. At that rate, a gust hole would be punched straight through that male student’s face in a single blow.

Even if it was only an illusion, experiencing death was enough to overturn one’s values from the roots.

I had to stop it.

Chloe fumbled across the dirt and barely picked her dropped weapon back up. At that same moment, the black-haired boy moved only his wrist in a clumsy posture and snapped the sheath aside.

And then Chloe’s eyes widened. Every time the chopstick-thin blade in the boy’s hand trembled, chunks of flesh fell away.

A sword wielded to protect someone. The reason the boy was swinging that blade was herself. Her heart hammered hard, as though striking her ribs.

Under the merciless rush of sword strikes, the head of the twin who had been lording it over everyone fell from his shoulders in less than a minute.

A fairy tale she had secretly hidden by her bedside and read without the family knowing came to mind. It was the story of a prince appearing to save a princess trapped in a castle. For an instant, the illustration of that prince overlapped with the male student in Chloe’s eyes.

Her face flushed red, and her chest tickled. Pressing both hands to her cheeks, Chloe stared at the boy. An unfamiliar, hazy emotion rose inside her.

Chloe decided to define that feeling as love.

* * *

Chloe kept staring at me in silence for quite a while.

She still had the rubber gloves on her hands, the dish soap not yet rinsed off them.

“…”

“…”

As if I had no idea what was going on, I gave her a small smiling look.

At that, only her neck bent, while the rest of her body remained frozen.

Without saying anything, I leaned against the railing and looked out the window.

We were on the fifth floor.

I was fucked.

Where had things started to go wrong?

Was it from peeking at the pure feelings of a teenage girl? Or had it been from the point where I stupidly followed along all happy just because she offered me food?

I swallowed once and threw off my thoughts. Right now, surviving came first.

I shifted only my eyes and glanced sideways.

The fluffy baby-bird face was already gone. Eyes wrapped in white and emptied of all warmth were staring directly at me.

Clearing my throat and scratching at my head, I spoke.

“Chloe, isn’t the moon really beautiful tonight?”

“…”

There was no reply.

“And thanks to you, I had a really great dinner for the first time in a while too.”

“…”

“I’m going to head back now. See you tomorrow.”

The moment I tried to move, Chloe slowly peeled the rubber gloves from her hands.

My guts turned cold, and I gripped the railing with one hand. Her tightly closed little lips parted.

“Did you see it?”

“Huh? See what?”

“That.”

With a jerk of her chin, Chloe pointed at the diary I had left on the desk. I gently raised the corners of my mouth and answered.

“Ah, you mean that study book? You really work hard at your studi…”

“The diary.”

She cast me a flounder-eyed glare with a sulky expression. My body flinched.

The honorific speech she usually clung to so stubbornly had somehow already changed into curt, prickly plain speech. It felt like I was facing an entirely different person.

“I didn’t see it.”

“Liar.”

“Fine, I saw it.”

At that answer, Chloe picked up the Japanese sword that had been leaning against the wall. Judging by how fine the finish on the blade was, its cutting power was probably excellent too.

Srrrng-

Chloe drew the sword. A watery wave pattern spread across its surface. Looking at those eyes like a venomous snake’s, it seemed she wanted to dye the white wallpaper red. A dangerous line of veins stood out along the thin wrist holding the hilt.

Chloe took one step forward.

Caught between a rock and a hard place.

In front of me, a sword fiend radiating ominous killing intent was closing in, but if I jumped out the window, my body would be smashed to pieces. I turned my head slightly and glanced at Chloe with a last sliver of hope.

Her pupils were unfocused and lifeless, without the slightest twitch. As though her consciousness had been severed, she slowly advanced while dragging the tip of the sword across the floor.

I had a rough idea about this sort of type.

Yandere.

They say they’ll chase you until the day you die. I had to seize control of the situation here, or the rest of my life would never be safe.

And on top of that, the savage tone she had switched to in an instant and the eyes dyed a murky red were no longer the Chloe I had known.

could she have a split personality?

It seemed likely that opening the diary had triggered the personality shift.

One yandere trait alone was already too much, and now a split-personality trait on top of that.

…Life at the academy really wasn’t easy.

I rolled my eyes quickly and scanned the surroundings. The kitchen knives lined up in formation over by the kitchen caught my eye. But if I made a dash over there and reached for one, I’d probably end up either one-armed or one-legged.

I turned my gaze even faster. If I wanted to keep living, then I had to force some kind of method out of my brain.

The stronger the killing intent became as Chloe drew closer, the more I could instinctively tell it was beyond even the Mao twins. If that was the case, then why had she hidden it until now? More and more thoughts piled up, making it harder to judge the situation.

I shook my head fiercely. At that moment, my eyes came to a dead stop on the desk.

A box cutter in the pencil holder.

…

Chloe’s steps grew faster and faster.

The time I had left was nine seconds.

I wanted to solve this by talking.

I swiftly snatched it up.

Drk-

The blade that slid out gave a cry.

[By showing resourcefulness, the rank of the mind rises.]

[Your words and actions are temporarily imbued with intimidation.]

[Suppressive force begins adjustment to fit the user.]

Bzzzz-

For an instant, it felt as if the back of my head were being pulled tight and numb.

Then a completely unreasonable calm rapidly cooled the heated beat in my chest.

[The Blessing of the Sword God activates.]

++++++++++++++++++++++

Might the blessing of God be with you.

++++++++++++++++++++++

Meeting her eyes, I spoke in a low voice. As the cold night wind blew, Chloe’s red-tinted side hair clung against her cheek.

“Chloe.”

An indescribable pressure made the tip of her jaw tremble faintly.

“Your hair has gotten a little long.”

The sorrowful moon hid itself behind the clouds.

“I’ll cut it for you.”