Chapter 115
TN: Thank Llama for the chapter.
TL/PR: Ruminas; ED: novicelily
Sera doubted her own ears.
She thought she must have misheard.
So she asks again.
“What did you just say?”
“The two are going to have a relationship today.”
However, the answer that comes back is the same.
Even though a rather shocking answer came back, Iria’s expression was calm.
Maybe she misunderstood it.
While trying to maintain her composure, Sera asked Iria.
“That… What kind of relationship do you mean by having a relationship?”
“It’s exactly the meaning that Sera is thinking of. Is there any other meaning?”
“No, that’s… I mean…… The thing that a man and a woman do, that thing?”
“It doesn’t necessarily have to be between a man and a woman, but yes, that’s right. Did I say it too roundaboutly?”
Sera looked a bit flustered with a slightly reddened face.
Iria tilts her head as if she doesn’t understand Sera’s reaction.
She doesn’t know what Sera is thinking.
Sera’s mental defense is quite high.
They couldn’t use magic at the academy anyway.
But it’s probably correct.
Having a relationship means making a connection that connects people.
“Don’t most people usually do it?”
“They don’t normally do that kind of thing! You’re the weird one!”
“……”
It seemed that Sera didn’t want to make connections with other people.
She thought Sera would have many friends because of her bright personality, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Iria thought that she should at least become friends with Sera.
“Do you want to have a relationship with me?”
“Wha, what are you saying!! I, I don’t have that kind of preference!!”
Then Sera screamed and ran away.
What was the problem?
***
Clana’s behavior pattern is very simple.
She does what she’s told to do, and she does what she’s told to do.
And if she’s not told to do anything, she does nothing.
Because she grew up in a church and had been isolated from the outside world since childhood.
The pattern of life in the church is also extremely simple.
Pray early in the morning and mix holy water.
If there’s nothing special, that’s it.
There’s nothing else.
She also treats the wounded, but usually, it’s enough to just sprinkle diluted holy water to heal them.
Applying the already-made holy water to wounds is something the saint doesn’t necessarily have to do.
Usually, other monks take care of that.
So Clana doesn’t complain about the tasks she’s told to do.
There wasn’t anything particularly to do anyway.
It’s depressing if she does nothing.
She wanted to be someone who helped this world in some way.
Clana was a person who felt the purpose of life by doing what someone told her to do.
Because she has only lived by listening to someone’s orders until now and has never disobeyed them.
‘The director told me to get close to the hero of this generation.’
The obedient Clana follows Ariel closely.
She rarely left the church, so she didn’t forget to look around at the surroundings.
Even though it was just that, she felt good.
Unlike when she was cooped up in the church, at least she was doing something.
“Hehe.”
She hummed a happy tune and followed Ariel.
And,
‘Those two are already in that kind of relationship? Didn’t they meet for the first time yesterday? They did that kind of thing on the first day they met……’
Sera follows behind Clana.
Sera misunderstood something from Iria’s words, and her heart burned.
Sera is very close with Ariel.
The two were childhood friends who grew up together.
Moreover, Sera secretly wants a relationship more than friends with Ariel.
She doesn’t show it, but inside, she likes him.
To have him snatched away in just one day, from Sera’s point of view, it feels like her heart is collapsing.
‘Let’s just see what kind of person she is.’
The worried Sera followed Clana.
“……”
Iria was watching Sera’s behavior.
‘Why is Sera acting like that?’
Iria has lost most of her memories of her human days, so she knows little about this world, but she feels like something is wrong.
She understands that Clana entered the academy because of Sertia’s death.
It would have been the development according to the original work up to that point.
Because she felt deja vu while watching that scene.
However, Sera following Clana would not have been developed according to the original work.
The familiar scene becomes unfamiliar when Sera moves.
‘Is it because of my intervention that the development has changed?’
So Iria had no choice but to think that something was twisted because of her.
She was concerned about Sera, who ran out with a flushed face when she said something in the grass field.
She didn’t know what was wrong with what she said then, but she could intuitively tell that the situation at that time was the cause.
Since it seemed twisted as Sera moved, she thought it was necessary to monitor Sera so that it wouldn’t change any further.
So Iria followed Sera.
It was a train game that was created like that.
Clana follows Ariel, Sera follows Clana, and Iria follows Sera.
Ariel, who became the beginning of everything, scratched his cheek with a blank expression.
‘Are there people following me?’
“……”
“……”
“……”
Is it his imagination this time too?
Ariel began to doubt if he was being overly self-conscious.
***
Even after that, the flirting between Ariel and Clana continued.
Usually, it was Clana’s one-sided obsession, but the indecisive Ariel couldn’t strongly push her away.
So, from Sera’s point of view, it’s the same flirting.
She was trying hard to suppress the anger burning inside her.
There was nothing she could do now except look with a slightly unpleasant face.
“If it bothers you that much, why don’t you just approach him directly?”
Iria comforted Sera like that.
It was closer to monitoring than comforting, but even the insensitive Iria could tell that Sera was acting strange in this aspect.
For some reason, she looked a bit depressed.
“Hmm…… It’s not like that. I just feel like Ariel has been distant lately.”
Iria stood there silently without saying a word.
As a monster, who is she to comfort someone?
Iria could neither understand nor empathize with Sera’s feelings right now.
But at least she could listen.
Sometimes, just talking to someone can make things better.
Sera slowly continues her words.
“Actually, in the recent monster attack incident, Ariel awakened the hero’s power. He reached a slightly higher level. People said that it was my and Ariel’s achievement for catching the giant monster, but it was Ariel who hunted it down. Not me.”
“……”
“At first, I was just happy that my friend had grown, but as time passed, I felt like he was separated from me now. Because of how I am now, I don’t have the right to stand next to Ariel.”
Sera added with a dark expression.
Iria recalled the incident of the last attack after hearing those words.
Sera may not know, but Iria watched everything from beginning to end.
Certainly, Ariel was strong now.
Strong enough that it was difficult to classify him as the same student as others.
Sera also had outstanding power compared to other students, but not enough to be compared to Ariel.
It’s funny.
Until a while ago, they often clashed as rivals with similar skills.
Now, the gap has widened so much that they can’t see eye to eye.
Moreover, the timing of the saint’s appearance was also exquisite.
And,
“Unlike me, the saint has sufficient qualities to stand next to Ariel.”
The saint who received the blessing of the stars is different from herself.
It feels like the starting line itself is different.
Unlike Sera, who came here with bloody efforts, the saint was in a ridiculously high position just by existing.
The world is unfair.
Because there are always those who move ahead with a single gesture in front of those who run forward, saying they must win.
“I was just feeling disillusioned about all that I have done until now.”
“So you couldn’t approach him and just watched.”
“In conclusion, yes.”
Sera said with a bitter smile.
Then she pats the head of the silver-haired girl shorter than her.
As a senior, she can’t be a support, and now she’s just complaining to a junior.
She thought she should reflect on this too.
“Sorry for worrying you. Forget what you just heard. I’m fine.”
“……”
“I’ll get going now.”
Leaving those words behind, Sera turned her back.
Iria grabbed Sera as she was leaving like that.
She originally had no intention of getting involved in that complicatedly intertwined relationship, but she thought Sera’s current appearance was worse than her usual one.
And Iria had a share in making Sera like this.
Iria seems still unaware of what she did wrong, but she could tell that her slip of the tongue was somewhat included.
So she grabbed her.
“Why don’t you have a duel instead?”
“…… Huh?”
“You said love is something you fight for. Isn’t that why you challenged me to a duel?”
Before, Sera had challenged Iria to a duel.
Because Sera misunderstood that Iria had romantic feelings for Ariel.
At that time, Sera left a message saying that if you want something, you can prove it with your skills.
Iria was bringing up the story from that time.
Clana is the protagonist of this novel, but so is Sera.
From the perspective of Iria, who knows that fact, she didn’t think there was a big difference between the talents and qualities of the two.
Rather, she evaluated Sera higher.
Because she was beaten one-sidedly by a magician who awakened mana blood similar to Sera not long ago.
She would be able to reach a higher level here.
“You’re good at something, aren’t you?”
So Iria left a word while looking at Sera.
The development in the original work will change a bit, but it seemed like it would be better than Sera being discouraged like this.
She thought that something would inevitably change as long as she existed anyway.
Sera looked at Iria with a slightly dazed expression.
There was silence for a short while.
And Sera smiles.
“Shall we?”
She broke through the silence and had a better expression than before.
It was the same as the Sera that Iria used to see.
