NOVEL NEXT Chapter 75
Even so, I felt a refreshing vibe this afternoon.
It feels like about half of my worries have been resolved. I’ve gained a method to quickly recover from my exhaustion with meditation, and the issues in the Northern Region have been somewhat alleviated. Plus, I’ve managed to firmly impress my abilities on those around me.
The emotional display I showed Mia Crowfield might have been diluted a lot because of this incident. After all, I’ve shown that even I can inflict serious damage on the enemy.
Perhaps, I may have even given some warning to Countess Crowfield, who might be dreaming of revenge against the Emperor by now. In the original work, Claire was more like a late transfer student rather than a base student, and more importantly, she didn’t engage in open activities like I did, making the Crowfield side perceive me as somewhat harmless.
Well, back then, I also didn’t go and blow the Count away with a bomb.
There’s a big difference between dealing with an assassin and going up against a human weapon that can annihilate enemy squads.
“…….”
I can understand Mia Crowfield’s glancing looks toward me.
Thanks to that, it seems more difficult to become friends.
“Big sister!”
……And there’s another person whose attitude toward me has changed.
I thought that the number of people treating me with more caution would increase due to my human weapon-level activities, but instead, Claire treated me more casually.
It seems what I said earlier about it being something I wanted to do was a big factor. I didn’t mention my reasons either, and the deed itself was about crushing an mercenary group rather than gaining something to eat or possess, but it seems the act itself wasn’t a big deal to Claire.
Rather, it seemed she was convinced that I still had proper feelings left.
“Claire.”
“I know, I know! But this isn’t the Academy; it’s outside!”
Before I could say anything, Claire interjected and tapped my arm.
……Even though it’s outside the Academy, what we’re doing counts as a practical training day in the attendance days.
Moreover, we’re still wearing our uniforms. The only difference is the location; otherwise, it’s practically the same as being inside the Academy.
“However, Claire has been calling Sylvia ‘big sister’ over and over since a while ago. Can you tell me why?”
Claire was walking to my left while Alice was on my right. It made me feel uncomfortably peculiar since both of them were like sisters to me.
Well, it’s not like I’ve thought of them as ‘sisters’ in the exact sense… but you know, there’s that feeling that builds up when you spend time next to someone. Since Claire was following me in that situation, and Alice had been with me for quite a while, I felt that kind of sentiment toward both of them.
“Oh, that.”
After hearing Alice, Claire replied with a confident expression.
“Sylvia has a strangely sisterly atmosphere, right? I had a younger brother, but no older sister. So I decided to just call Sylvia ‘big sister.’”
“…….”
Turning my head slightly, I saw Leo staring at the back of Claire’s head with a look of disbelief, and I almost burst out laughing. While the reason for calling me ‘big sister’ was one aspect, the real amusing part was Claire referring to herself as a younger sibling.
“……You’re saying that’s the reason?”
Alice leaned her head slightly forward, the gaze she directed from Claire to me showed she had a hard time believing Claire’s words.
“…….”
I silently looked at Claire, but she merely turned her gaze elsewhere and avoided me.
Thinking about it, she hadn’t just started calling me ‘big sister’ now; she had been subtly calling me ‘big sister’ for some time.
Well, to be honest… I don’t feel particularly uncomfortable or displeased by it, but calling me like that in this situation makes things awkward for me.
“……I will explain it separately later.”
I quietly told Alice.
“……Alright.”
Once I said that, Alice didn’t ask any further. She wouldn’t press me for details since she trusted me.
Charlotte, who had probably caught my small voice while being close to Alice, had an interested expression but didn’t intervene, as she probably didn’t think prying into secrets seemed like royal behavior.
Jake didn’t seem to have any particular thoughts. He looked around, showing no interest in this side of the conversation… but I couldn’t let my guard down.
In the original work, there wasn’t usually such a bustling atmosphere. The lines characters delivered were fixed, and due to the limits of manpower, if a character did not deliver essential lines during an event, it felt strange, unless they were a central character. As for “potential party members,” they often ended up being mere background characters during an event. After all, there were no dialogue scripts, so even when they appeared in cutscenes, they would just stand in the back.
Moreover, characters roaming around in the field would typically be just the player’s designated character, with one or two following occasionally due to special events. Conceptually, they all traveled together, but the characters manifested to my eyes were just one.
So, this lively atmosphere feels a bit strange to me.
But at the same time, it’s also quite enjoyable. It felt awkward recalling games, but it brought back memories of chatting and hanging around with friends during high school.
“Alright then.”
Claire stretched her arms wide and spoke.
“Then let’s work hard this afternoon! We’ll be going back tomorrow!”
“……When we get back, will we jump back into classes from Monday?”
“Isn’t that obvious?”
In response to Claire, Mia Crowfield asked with concern, and Charlotte gave a straightforward answer. Mia shrugged her shoulders in response to Charlotte’s reply.
Tomorrow, we’ll wrap up the practical training by lunchtime and then head back to the Academy by train. However, since this place is quite far from Londarium, we would need to spend several hours on that train. The interior was spacious and pleasant, but there were no sleeping spots provided, so we’d still have to sit in those seats for those hours.
It’s hard to believe we’ll jump right back into classes the next day without even a moment’s break.
……I’m thinking of getting some rest tonight by replaying some of my nighttime routines.
But seeing how naturally I converse with Mia Crowfield and the others, it seems today’s emergency mission has done us some good. We seem to have gotten quite close.
The blue Marmaros still sparkled on the staff held by Mia Crowfield.
*
“Impressive.”
Jennifer said with a genuinely surprised expression.
The afternoon grind wasn’t as much as I thought it would be. Thanks to the protagonist party finishing most of the requests in the morning—though it wasn’t really late—well, relatively speaking, it was still late— the kids rushed into the request office, leaving only a few requests left for the afternoon.
And this also served as a trigger to reveal the hidden quest in the original.
If you finish all the morning sub-quests, after finishing the afternoon ones, you’ll get the event that says “There’s still time left.” It’s not like finishing all the quests in the morning would reduce the number of afternoon sub-quests, though.
By the way, if the morning sub-quests weren’t all completed and time slipped away because they were busy with other tasks labeled as sub-quests, then the dialogue scene with Jennifer wouldn’t even come up.
Anyway, before the afternoon started to wrap up, Jennifer said to the party that had just finished their tasks—
“Today, we have plenty of time left. There’s still a lot before dinner time.”
—She opened the conversation like that.
“Yes, that’s right.”
As Leo nodded, Jennifer mused, “Hmm…” for a moment, then said,
“In that case, do you want to take on quite a challenge during the remaining time?”
“Challenge… you say?”
At Leo’s words, Jennifer nodded, her face adorned with a mischievous smile.
“Yes. If you succeed, it may be a huge help to you guys. Well, considering the time, it’s a bit short.”
“…….”
The kids exchanged glances. Their eyes sparkled with interest.
Actually, Jennifer was half-joking and half-serious with this story. She wanted to surprise her mentor and also thought about rewarding her truly favored disciples.
Moreover, she had been keenly observing Leo, who had inherited the Grace’s sword technique.
At least, she considered that he had the talent.
“Are you interested in hearing about it?”
As the kids nodded after exchanging glances, Jennifer smiled and opened her mouth.
“In that case—”