Chapter 26: Everyday Life (1)
70cD9She was all alone in the shivering cold forest.BfFZfUI
UEvs1hActually, she wasn’t literally by herself.wMfp
1E3PlThere were animals. The predators of the forest were trembling in fear next to her and thus, it might be possible to say that she was not alone since she was with the beasts.t70JIc
oWpKxThe demonic beasts that used to be the target of fear were now frightened because of her. For some unknown reason or because of some shift in values, that inexplicable fear made her feel rather content.2gp3SeI
LZqbHer scorching thirst and the shivering cold encouraged her to drink their blood but the thirst never went away and her heart was still cold.Gw7XgF
2PjkTsI see… My heart, and my veins do not pulse anymore…Ulf
2wk2Vh3That was when the boy came looking for her. With a whole crew, he was probably here to subjugate her.TC1mC
o2xuTRight… It was a natural turn of events. The tiny sliver of rationality left in her mind allowed her to predict the outcome of her life as an animal.HUTND
Oa4LN7M“It’s fine. You can slow down.”qnH
6x5PnThe hand tapping on her back was soft; and the touching skins conveyed warmth to her body. Her rationality which had been floating adrift settled back down to her body from the torrent of emotions.6P1Iq
NhKuoX1“It’s fine. It’s fine.”qJ2rl
EITSfAt last when she managed to remove the bestial instincts and regained her humanity—2J7B
TAACo“I’m sorry. I’m sorry… I’m… sorry.”zna
UJEJDV3The only words that she could force out of her mouth was that of an apology.a9gyS2
68b6pAh. Ahh…csbS
D01Do I even have the right to ask for forgiveness?WTSFGTR
xbqQ3bNWas Isabelle okay? What about junior?m9XULp
JXac3As a girl who loved people more than anything else, her conscience and the sense of guilt gnawed at her mind with each passing day.9sJW
Dk3GmPWithout retaliating against the restrictive spell of Lady Josephine, Marie locked herself on the other side of iron bars.fC9iR
RKwyQ5JWhen the boy visited her at the prison, she was in fact psychologically impoverished even though she didn’t show it on the outside.2etL
TNLOOETWhat if I went crazy again?GnUFOU
hChQ0PThere’ll be no turning back if I end up killing people…811jZ
yu4Marie could still remember her own self when she had been driven by her instincts into constantly craving blood. The memories of her rationality being chased out and the separation of her mind and the body still gave her goosebumps.KTgKH9s
bACShe was a beast – a monster; and a demon.vpvzYqd
tiGyIbwShe was the enemy of humanity who might suddenly start coveting blood. Was someone like her allowed to act like a normal person?JOfV
Ng4jf『Senior Marie. You’re a nice person. You’re kind, and you’re pretty… Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that I want a happy ending for you if anything. So… I want Marie Dunareff to be happy.』L60uJw
p6oqShe regained her usual state of mind in the blink of an eye. His words immediately sent all of her concerns flying out the window.WwfNIj
AEYPQ1The words that he said while shyly scratching his twitching cheeks felt more sincere and earnest than anything else she had heard in her entire life.MsoM7ZF
4VjGXAnd because she remembered the boy’s devotion of putting his body on the line to save her who had turned into a monster…InAVV
JNId8Marie knew that those memories would forever be etched in her mind until the end of her life.31tZ
xJy40hOHow would she ever forget it? How would she possibly forget that intense and heated moment, and the sincere goodwill and dedication of the boy?64VGz
30S7lhHe was the one who warmed up her cold veins and allowed her tranquil heart to start beating again.UXwIW
VFG『Senior Marie. You’re a nice person. You’re kind, and you’re pretty…』V0hxq0
TUa“Ahht…”z0c33I4
DD1『It’s okay. You can slow down.』bxpTj
aCfZV“Aahhht…”Azthu
F2itTQSIn a fit, she kicked the blanket off of her body. The cold dews of the night weren’t enough to cool down the heat pervading her body in the dead of the night.RFYt8L
TdsC****i0G18
pDQTyOverall, there weren’t that many lessons at Merkarva Academy.0VE
C0jf8ZcHowever, there were comparatively a lot more freshmen classes, which was probably because there were a lot of fundamental and essential skills like bookkeeping, camping and map-reading lectures, which were given out during the first year.4lGekT
sk4“Hey. Look at this.”MGr
wbmlQQsWe were in the middle of a domestic lesson – after learning how to sew ripped clothes in the previous lesson, we were now working on creating rations to have during a mission.AeGfbY
BeCN8“What do you… Puhup!”Ybh6
sB7F“Jaeger. You… kukuk!”PiZ
jho3N5“What is it?”dkTMV
YqJ3“Hoh, damn. That’s crazy.”riIYqz
Tzh0Avu“Uwek… that’s disgusting. Boys are seriously just…”SQ78
t3ua“Don’t come here. It’s not funny.”20606
0aXAt the center of the mixed reactions from male and female audiences, Jaeger seemed proud of his creation.rxeMLh3
6gIIn the middle of two balls of minced meat that you could swallow at once was a large mushroom which was easy to find in the mountains – that was Jaeger’s take on ration.Ybv9
8UXOk“How does it look, Korin! Don’t you feel like eating it?”7PxWx
0mp2iGj“Looks like something that freaking Park would love.”XeVOaiU
nYk“Who’s that?”Kyhe
xo3H“Just some stupid guy out there. Anyway, you should do that when you can~. When you’re old, you can’t even make jokes like that even if you want to.”FXZGT
fW1iBecause you could get ostracized in an instant.pcON2GX
MrhWell, leaving aside whether Jaeger was going to be ostracized or not, it seemed that his love life at the Academy had just been rendered impossible.wXqjp
AkRVw“Seriously. Just boy’s stuff…”TyMeUiG
o3PUv5q“Let’s not talk to him.”s0Y
1Xn3t“…Yeah.”888E
ncZFEven Jaeger seemed flustered after sensing the reactions of the female students who accounted to roughly half of both the Knight and the Magic Department, but it was already far too late.Gbl
bZREP60“K, Korin…”Uv02mz
RgVW“Umm… Please don’t come here. We are not that close, are we? Uhh, Mielle! Is that a pound cake? It does have a lot of calories, so I think it’s a great choice.”N7D
FAjSW“Korrriiiinn…! You traitor…!”JIV3
clJw2What was he even talking about? Of course you had to go with the girls in domestic lectures for good marks.iwVs
pdbvv“Looks great. Can I have a bite?”OTj13zq
Dd7XhR“Ehew~. Must be rough having a friend like that. Here you go.”4Z2E
Aip“Ohh, that’s refreshing. It will be even more amazing with tea.”RPAKe
tQqOP“Tea? Don’t you think it’ll be tedious to boil tea all the time when we’re outside?”4MaFUE
RB2J“Not necessarily. Tea bags are small and light, and it’s hard to have access to fresh water outside so boiling the water into a tea is a good way to filter the water.”J4L1oG
nMwKj“Wow~. Thanks for telling me that. Do you want another bite?”a3e5VK
PEEAhPw“I’ll be glad to. Ohh, this is seriously amazing. Mielle, I think you could even run a bakery.”6dNJ
lnD“Now that’s definitely an overstatement.”h5m3
SmD– HahaDxhbllw
NHFz4– HohoBngAE
Zp9GI returned to my seat after chattering with some of the girls and trying out their stuff when Lark came over to me. Lark was making smoked salmon and was thus taking a fair bit of time.9pzU
RbIAA“Korin. What are you even making? Why are you making the potatoes so thin?”jx5bE4V
RApa“Huhu. This is what I call the cutting-edge technology of rations. A revolution!”e8bF
7EMkg8“What are you talking about?”PR6
3ASOI pressed down on boiled potato chunks with a hot rolling pin and made them as thin as paper. There were already 20 sheets of them.tujk
21zAlWith a little bit of water and a bit of stirring, these sheets of thin potato could turn into mashed potatoes, and could also become like hash browns after frying them with some oil.sBh
JDtozJwYou could pretty much carry an infinite amount of potatoes if you continued pressing down on them, which was why it was a popular ration during World War II.n1xeE
jp07kIt would become a proper dish with a luxurious ingredient like cream or milk, but the prime goal of this thing was to fill up your stomach which was why it needed a compromise.tOmTJ
bL3I used to carry a lot of these when we were going outside on a long mission.OV11iUI
3AaHy“Hmm. I definitely wasn’t expecting you to use potatoes like this. Was that why you heated up the rolling pin?”wN8F
A9FJi3CProfessor Lulara of Alchemic studies, who was in charge of this lesson, looked into my product with an intrigued look on her face.Io8
Rdw94F“To think you would make a preservative food like this without even using magic… I’m sure the Knight Department would love this idea. Student Korin. I’ll give you merit points for that, well done.”QQI
nnOch“Wow. Thank you.”b5icT
Bh8tJO“If you’re alright with it, I would even want to check with the department and see if there is a possibility of this being used in the practical world.”8PXboTb
kig“Ohh. Then please call it Korin Potato later on.”UBylU
fz6snBy the way, it was called Park Sihu Potato in the previous iteration. That son of a bitch – it was my idea and yet by the time I realized it, there was something called ‘Park Sihu Potato’ added in the midst of the standard rations of the military and the guardians.LcN
p9ktY3“And Student Jaeger? You get demerit points for misconduct.”KPH9NQ
jJv6d2p“Huek…! Sorry…”FY2
KpwydQWith that, Jaeger now had 3 demerit points. Starting from minus 5, he would have to start cleaning the campus and stuff, and he was quite close to it now.OCEhfYY
TGf– Dude. Did you hear that?Swjg
8s4u3C4– What is it?WLN1X0O
S0EJs– You know Senior Marie, the highest achiever from 2nd year’s Magic Department, right?qxs
bZAqa– Ohh~. You mean that Senior Potato?m1lK
wvV– I heard this from a senior in the 2nd year, but apparently they’re done with her inspection!aTpk
i7D– Really? Is she actually safe?HfFR
sqm– Who knows? According to the chairman, she is.iHYfvA
sIrIt had already been a week since Marie’s incident.KBGgxou
GMtNl6The news of Marie awakening into a demi-human had been publicized shortly after that, and everything was literally in utter chaos.6P1M
MIwt9Actually, awakening into a demi-human wasn’t rare in this world, because the demonic molecules could be aroused by anything in existence. There were quite a lot of them, and there were even residential areas dedicated for demi-humans.WoAQVQ
aHJFCpThe problem, however, was that it concerned the prodigy of the 2nd year’s Magic Department, Marie, and another noteworthy fact was that the genius had awakened into one of the more dangerous demi-humans, vampires.7ex
HXPzOn the first day, there were mixed responses from the students.4qyjA
OvSShouldn’t we chase her out? It’s scary. How can we even go to the same Academy as a demi-human?3uC1Zn
6lMF1However, their arguments were rejected in an instant because of the existence of Hua Ran, a demi-human freshman. Leaving aside the potential risk of Hua Ran, she was currently commuting to the Academy without creating any problems so the threat of demi-humans wasn’t something that felt as realistic.R7eSO
DNfEpJxA week after the announcement that Marie had awakened into a vampire – after all sorts of complaints and queries from the Kingdom, the Tower of Mages, the Old Faith, the New Faith, the Guardian Alliance and other places, and after innumerable professors from the Magic Department checked up with her while basing off of countless books that told of the traits of a vampire, Marie was finally deemed to be safe.fwPgQH
kAsWj0As of yesterday, Marie was announced to be completely safe, and it was also announced that she would enter a special dormitory under the personal supervision of Senior Professor Josephine.2UegBeU
fAwY1Because of that, Marie had naturally been at the center of every conversation in the campus for the past few days, and that was no different for one of the related personnel, Jaeger.L5ly
i7HGB“Oi. That demon senior… I mean, Senior Marie is coming out today right?”41kYJ1
kjMai“I think so? And don’t even think about calling her a ‘demon’ and whatever in front of the 2nd year seniors. You’ll be actually bashed to death.”5JzfrRq
pcpMb“H, hmm…”xgX
oilJaeger didn’t seem confident in containing his chattery mouth.w3lnm
h8JIp“All done.”ugyiu
FkYcqQ“Ohh~ Korin. You’re pretty good at cooking aren’t you?”qZKM7xr
P6J“That mashed potato looks nice. Looks like you have a lot, so do you mind me trying a little?”TNny
0bUm3Zr“Just wait. Let me pack some of it up first.”mGk
zKCIXodThe mashed potato that was made with the remainder from the potato sheets was quite decent. After packing some of it up, I ate the rest with the other guys which marked a successful end to the domestic lesson.x5h8mW
ubDo****zE1qN5
WWePxtp“Sorry, Isabelle. I… I’m so sorry…”meuOOtm
Ieeh“No! I, I’m telling you it’s okay.”cI9M8
hnNAt the back door of the central lecture building, Isabelle was starting to feel tired from the constant over-the-top apology of her friend. On the first day of Marie awakening into a vampire, Isabelle had been attacked and had been unconscious for a long time.w9H
u4yzIHaving her blood sucked out was by no means a good experience, but Isabelle had her own share of combat experience as a 2nd year student of the Magic Department. She was rather used to being exposed to fights and blood losses.cU8k
Y4ToMarie was more important than that. When Isabelle ran to her after hearing the news and called her name while gasping for breath, what she had gotten in response was Marie taking a step back in fear.OGxVQL
8pU‘Marie was crying back then, wasn’t she?’6AO
R0G8tYHow scary would it have been for her? How confusing would everything have been?lqN8bbp
VfXIsabelle was as empathetic as a person could be when it came to things related to Marie, who had been her roommate ever since their 1st year at the Academy.bTh0O5
lml3rShe heard how vampires would usually be swept away by their intense impulse to suck blood when first awakening into one. Isabelle was very proud of how Marie had been able to stop herself in the middle and come to her senses.N35PZ06
cyBtw“I’m sorry… I thought about how I should apologize but there’s nothing I can do… this is the only thing I can do to ask for your apology…”nghDNsp
YxzuQ“It’s okay, it’s okay! It’s normal for things like this to sometimes happen in life!”3SF5zP
LLR5i6cAs expected of Marie’s friend, she had a bright and optimistic perspective.Zquf
Gk1iAkThat was why she had readily accepted the offer of Chairman Eriu and Lady Josephine who requested her to refrain from mentioning the fact that her blood had been sucked by Marie for Marie’s sake.PRpz
GAKsEven though they promised to give her a significant present as compensation, Isabelle adamantly turned them down.aXn
TZmcysBHer belief was that compensation was unnecessary when protecting a friend.RIaOrpd
AsSkh7WNow that Marie had regained her sense of self and had more than enough verifications from the professors of the Magic Department, there should be no need to mention this topic again.MR6uz3
uRv4SGA“You’ll be going into the special dormitory soon, right?”SlZyPcU
1FWVOPO“N, nn… Just in case.”iX0aZ
k4C“Marie. Everyone will still be your friends, and that’s the same with me. Do you still consider me your friend?”0YLyJJR
IICOj“Of course. But…”5udb
93vloDIsabelle patted Marie who was immersed in her sense of guilt.wMb
fX4u“Thank you, Isabelle.”5dE
uqhMarie leaned her small and adorable body on Isabelle’s chest. In Isabelle’s eyes, Marie still looked adorable and cute even when she was gloomy from guilt.M1flwnK
3OhQUGwFeeling like the characters of a youth drama, Isabelle was very content with the satisfying turn of events. She was open-minded enough to disregard the experience of her blood being sucked out.4TB
Mmd“Oh, there you are.”m1a8N
R5nEKZYIt was when she was savoring Marie’s hug that a seemingly insolent and arrogant… yet cheerful voice echoed across.XrSK
Rrs“Korin?”XU3S
o13rqFMarie’s voice was directed beyond her shoulders. When Isabelle stiffly turned her gaze to the back, she saw a boy who gave off a wild impression.IK30
bRdqHTaShe had seen him before. He was the freshman student who that stupid Kane picked a fight with for no reason – he was a subject of caution who Marie had been greatly interested in these days.SG31Lz
6KXr“W, why are you here?!”YLotL
XTzmMarie asked as her golden pupils glistened and blinked cheerfully, in contrast with the gloomy look from before. During her question, she jumped out of Isabelle’s hug and hopped her way towards him.kFJ
cQCGZiUhh…cCiN
cwBpPs2The only thing Isabelle could do was watch the girl run forward in a hurry.qxe
tSHndtc“You’re looking healthy.”Fo51
OOK6“Nn! It’s been a while!”Nzxqkg
GfC“Has it? We saw each other two days ago, didn’t we?”OeT8qK
EQdeWhat? What was going on?4xup
beWIaJWhy was Marie talking cheerfully with that freshman who she met two days ago, instead of me, her friend whom she hadn’t met for a week?Wj2
AuOMore importantly, were normal students even allowed to visit her two days ago?cCY
TOkS7qUThey seemed quite close as well, didn’t they? Why was that freshman talking casually to Marie, whom every 2nd year student was dying to talk to?lkSU
84nJDs“Here. Congrats on your discharge.”uVKs1
qH8g“Wow! Mashed potatoes! It’s my favorite!”97Lqu
31T“Have that when you’re hungry, and this one here is also for you.”7HV5ux
iQ36PwY“Tofu?”FFoAfnZ
4rIz“It’s given to people that come out of prison in hopes they live a pure life from now on[mfn]TLN: When people get discharged from prison, their friends or family would bring tofu. It’s white and it symbolizes purity. The common rule is to eat it raw without any condiments or sauces, because adding spices or other ingredients ruins the symbolic meaning of having a white tofu.[/mfn]. Well, it’s just an Eastern culture.”CGv8H
W7LlNyc“Wow~. Korin you’re so smart!”D3xwl
V0jO443Marie unhesitatingly dug into the white and unseasoned tofu.vBw
jalThen, she gave a bright smile with bulging cheeks without even swallowing the tofu inside her mouth. Gazing down at her with a facial expression that wasn’t too different from Isabelle’s was the freshman boy.kVKkFg7
Ale“Why don’t you take your time? Slow down.”Sdy
Plm“Uht, uuhht! Mhmm! Ahht?!”C7JXkz
xkx1CAs if those words overlapped with something from the past, Marie reacted like a broken doll. Her cheeks were deeply flushed in red as she took several steps back and immediately hid herself behind Isabelle’s back.jBI
vBO“Nn?”nRUAR
5C2TkBm“I, it’s… nothin… I mean, thanks for the tofu! It’s great! Ah, actually, I need to go somewhere with Isabelle!”HShlB
Nnl2YMarie blabbered gibberish while making up things that they hadn’t even decided on.Qk2F
I3D4E8It was good that Marie had returned to her, but Isabelle couldn’t help but notice the meaning behind Marie’s gaze.GMRzLQ
YMHbE‘See you later, thank you. I’m a bit busy!’ saying that, Marie looked keen on sending Korin away and yet was constantly sneaking a glance at his face.H9HJg
4DIny“Are you busy? Well, that’s unfortunate. Take care of yourself and see you next time.”rul
saSkqGN“Aht. Nn? Umm… okay…”TypW5
7C9MIsabelle did not miss the look of regret that flashed past her eyes.Kqx
54nvZThis can’t be!PBxG
dECMeOIsabelle’s instincts warned her that this was that thing.HxPIJI
C4rIQShe had no idea how that freshman was able to deceive this lovely and adorable highest-achieving student of the 2nd year Magic Department, but the animosity that rose inside her from the sense of betrayal that she received from Marie was instead pointed at the man.CFTHh
rJOeHe looked like a wolf and a bad guy who would have made countless girls sad.YuZbrLb
S4pIn her eyes, his wild appearance suddenly appeared to be that of a delinquent; his muscular body looked like that of a savage bully of the Knight Department; and his easy-going and considerate actions as that of a fully-experienced playboy.a9YUl6S
AGYIsabelle pitifully gazed at her friend but without understanding the message implied by her gaze, Marie simply lamented in regret.kOJPfE
8weQp“S, see you later…”1SryOPK
9ehKThere were so many things Isabelle wanted to say after seeing Marie shyly force out her words of farewell after the boy was pretty much gone, but swallowed most of them back.oWr
9KvOT“Marie.”b4pexda
Rk41yNt“N, nn? Why?”tW2
LYTL0“Men… are all wolves. Be careful.”kCW8QaZ
z0BaPRH“Umm? Is Korin also a wolf then?”1WAQXy
eRU4w0SGeez. Is that who you immediately thought of? Are you not even going to try to hide it?5XMHg
lEz772“Wolf… wolf… Nn. That’s a cool animal.”Trv
EFA1A9DThe advice that Isabelle gave in fear that this innocent and unaware girl might make a mistake ended up bringing about a reaction that was completely different from her intention.38L
t9qLY5****cN6n
CSpI heard that the special dormitory where Marie would be going into would be a building that had a mixed appearance of the western and the eastern continents. It was probably going to be the same dormitory as the one Hua Ran was in.eD0gtzI
KAE4I could only hope that Marie would be fine at the special dormitory away from her friends, and be on good terms with the one and only other person that would be living there with her.U49WD
m6h“Hmm~”jkROp
I117RMy stats had an explosive increase after resolving Marie’s incident. 100 points… that was the same as leveling up 20 times. I also earned 15 points through several missions on the weekend, and that summed up to 115 points.yOBUvx
XiSjYvBesides, both the Aura Rank and the Mana Rank went up by one level.yJiBkmj
BBpeocxEven though the equal distribution of stats meant that my stats wouldn’t be distributed efficiently, the sheer amount of stat gain was enough to make my body incomparably different from before.8wb
NjtNow with this, my physique was at an okay level.ky0h
rrVAs long as I raised my Aura Rank and consumed the Mandrakes that were growing up nicely… I should be able to use the Sixth Style before the final boss fight of the 2nd Arc.XzYK
xpzConsidering how I could only use the Sixth Style near the end of the previous iteration, it was a ridiculous growth speed.FKu
zfYIn the upcoming 2nd Arc, my individual strength would also become extremely important, so I had to reach the sufficient level as soon as possible.36qy
ksLBVEI‘Huhu. I have Mandrakes.’ubUHGy
1TY43Just thinking of the three Mandrake brothers that should be growing nicely at the dormitory made my heart race!6lalCdo
ijE‘That much should be enough. The concerns are the Murderer of the City of Fog and the King of Iron Mountain… as well as dealing with that traitor.’Agh7R
GUroThe Murderer, John Doe, was a key that would link me to Lunia Arden. It will be through this event that Alicia will grow into the True Alicia mode.ROB
ezPvFAlicia Arden was the key character of the 2nd Arc’s storyline. She needed to learn Domain Severance and defeat the final boss of the 2nd Arc, ‘King of Iron Mountain’ with the help of Sword Master Lunia Arden.0ftJy
dFVAnd because I had to deal with that bothersome guy by myself, I had to save my strength as much as possible during the fight against the King of Iron Mountain.vi6
eV7sPuEWell, there was still some time until this would happen. The ‘Murderer of the City of Fog’ incident which had acted as the catalyst that awakened Marie in the original storyline hadn’t even occurred yet.6cVwg
Zg7lrHowever, there was the chance that the events would happen earlier than scheduled like what happened recently, so I had to prepare as much as possible ahead of time.mz7B
WN18“What is Alicia even doing these days?”Enb
9ihQUIShe used to come to the training rooms a few times on the first few days but I couldn’t even see her shadow these days.OUvGf1
7tb5That talented yet weak-minded and untraining genius – when exactly would she start wielding her sword properly?Rhl
lZiVCrLBecause I knew of her talents and her circumstances, I simply waited for the time being.lWhv
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