Chapter 6 PAST 4

Early Release!!

Translator : PolterGlast

On that day, when Nozomu, Lisa, and the other students came into the school, the first-year atmosphere was strangely restless in the morning. Even after the morning assembly was over, the restless atmosphere did not disappear. Lisa and the rest of the class tilted their heads at the strange atmosphere.

After parting ways with Nozomu, Lisa and the others entered their own classroom and found that the atmosphere was still the same.

Lisa called out to the classmate who was closest to her.

“Hey, what’s going on? Somehow everyone looks strange …”

“Um, Lisa-san. Actually …”

After Lisa’s classmate calmed down, she took a deep breath and opened her mouth.

“Actually … Nazwel and his friends died during a request in the forest…”

“Wha!?”

Ken’s and Lisa’s faces were dyed in shock.

Nazwel was one of the most talented students in the first year. Although he was not a student of this class, he had shown Nozomu and the others that he was in good health the day before.

It’s hard for Ken and the others to believe that the story of his death was true.

“I-is that really happened?”

“Y-yeah. Because someone from the same party as Nazwel-kun was able to come back. It seems that person rushed towards the guild for help. But the others are …….”

When Ken and the others heard the story, they were very surprised. From the way she spoke, there was no way she was lying. There was no reason for her to do that. So this story must be true.

“T-tell me the details …….”

When Lisa leaned forward to ask for more information, the teacher in charge of the morning class came into the classroom.

“Okay, everyone, please take your seats. Class is about to begin.”

Lisa and the others hurriedly came back to their seats. When the teacher stood in front of the class and was about to open her mouth to start the class, the girl who had just been talking stood up.

“U-um, sensei! About Nazwel and the others ……”

“Oh, so everyone already knows about that story ……. It’s true that yesterday, a party of first-year students who were carrying out a request in the forest met with a demon beast and were attacked by it. All but one died.”

Everyone in the classroom was rendered speechless by the teacher’s affirmation of the rumor.

“The demon beast they encountered was a C rank. In this school, we teach our students not to explore the forest or fight against higher-ranked demon beasts, but it seems that they thought they could win because they only had one opponent, so they went into battle.”

The teacher’s indifferent voice was the only sound in the quiet classroom.

“I am sorry to hear about the students who died, but you must understand that there is always the danger of death outside the city. Otherwise, you will end up losing your life just like them. Now let’s get back to the lesson. Please open your textbooks to page 40…”

Despite the presence of deceased classmates, daily life in Arcazam continued as usual.

On that day, the classroom remained shrouded in a gloomy atmosphere.

***

In a boy’s dormitory where the darkness of night reigns.

In one of the rooms, a boy was holding his knees with a blanket over his head.

He looked like a frightened child. In fact, his body was shaking like an old man shivering in the cold, and he was breathing wildly.

The moonlight from the window illuminates his blond hair and the figure peeking through the shadows of the blanket.

“He is dead, that Nazwel…”

The sun had already set, but the temperature was not that low. However, Ken felt as if all his blood was about to freeze.

He shrank back and rubbed his arms, desperately trying to warm his freezing body, but the death of his classmate and the worst possible future that could come from it quickly took away the heat.

“His ability is as good as me and Lisa ……. If it was us who were in the forest yesterday…”

What came to his mind was her figure, he could see her slumped over, covered in blood.

In Ken’s eyes, the sight that had cast a shadow on his heart from an early age was more clearer than ever before.

“No, I don’t want that to happen! But if it stays like this then…”

Nazwel and his party, who was just as good as him and the top students in the same year, were almost completely wiped out. This fact contributed to his impatience and drove him to the point where he couldn’t control it anymore.

If he didn’t do something about it, Lisa would be in danger.

Driven by this impatience, he desperately tried to find a way to protect her.

“If Nozomu continues to stay by Lisa’s side…”

Ken then remembered about Nozomu, who was currently dragging Lisa down the most.

With his Ability Suppression, Nozomu couldn’t get any stronger. This would only be a shackle for her in the future, when she may go to places even more dangerous than the Arcazam Forest.

“But Lisa chose Nozomu. But if Nozomu were here, Lisa would be…”

Ken didn’t want Nozomu to stay by her side. But Nozomu was the one who supported her the most right now.

When Ken thought about it, he felt an irresistible urge to scratch the inside of his chest.

“~! Why, why does it have to be Nozomu who stays next to Lisa..!”

His body, which had been frozen due to the fear that he might lose Lisa, heated up at once as if he had been bathed in scorching magma.

(Why can’t it be me? I can become even stronger in the future.)

(I would never drag Lisa down, whose talent was blossoming more and more. Even Nazwel said the same thing to me.)

It was an explosion of jealousy that Ken had suppressed until now.

Nozomu, who is not as strong as him, gets the woman he wants the most.

It was the moment when the dark feelings that had been nesting in his chest since childhood and gradually accumulating overflowed.

Once the negative impulse exploded, it easily swept away his friendship and feelings for Nozomu.

“Yeah, right. Lisa is in danger if Nozomu stays by her side. I have to separate her from Nozomu somehow…”

Ken mumbled to himself. His eyes were black and muddy, without the gentle light he used to have.

***

Ken carried out his plan on the day that Nozomu once again tried to go to his secret training session without telling Lisa.

Lisa, who was worried about Nozomu’s reckless daily training, told Nozomu to take a break, but he hadn’t changed his mind that he had to train.

The Ability Suppression that had manifested and the fact that he kept dragging Lisa and the others down kept coming back to him.

Being prompted by the dark impulse that springs up from within him, Ken had been trying to figure out how to separate Nozomu away from Lisa.

But the two of them had spent so much time together. They’ve known each other since they were children. Nozomu has always been the one for Lisa, and she has always been the one for Nozomu. It would not be easy to break that.

Ken was desperately thinking about a plan. Just then, the devil whispered something in his head.

“Ah right. If only something happened that made Lisa resent Nozomu…”

Impact that enough to separate those two. The kind of crack that reversed one’s feelings towards the other person. The idea was to make Lisa herself resent Nozomu.

That way, the stronger Lisa’s feelings for Nozomu were, the more hatred she would feel for him.

“Right, Lisa has noticed that Nozomu has been disappearing from time to time. Then I can make good use of that…”

Lisa was aware that Nozomu was training without telling her.

However, she had no idea where he was training. Sometimes he trained in the academy, sometimes in the outer edge of the city, sometimes in the dormitory garden.

Ken had been training with Nozomu for a while, so he had some idea of what he was doing, but Lisa didn’t know that much yet.

She often told Nozomu to take a break from his reckless training.

It was true that Nozomu had a tendency to train excessively after his Ability Suppression appeared, and she was worried about that.

But secretly, she was happy that Nozomu was willing to work hard for her.

Ken decided to take advantage of this. Having spent most of his time with Nozomu since arriving at the school, Ken was well aware of his behavioral patterns.

All he had to do was to prepare himself.

One day, after seeing Nozomu off to his training, Lisa came to see him.

“Hey, Ken. Where’s Nozomu?”

“Hm, Nozomu went into town. Maybe he’s doing what he always does?

“I see……”

She was half angry and half happy that her suggestion had been disregarded by Nozomu. Lisa’s cheeks puffed up slightly in displeasure, holding 40% of joy and 10% of sadness in her heart.

While admiring her face, Ken puts on a somewhat mysterious expression, trying to suppress his rising jealousy.

Lisa tilted her head and frowned at Ken’s expression.

“What’s wrong?”

“By the way, I think I heard that Nozomu and a girl we didn’t know were seen walking together recently…”

“……Eh?”

Lisa looked dumbfounded. She looked as if she had just heard something strange and was stunned, but she immediately shook her head and denied it.

“What are you talking about? It can’t be true. Ken, are you really believing that rumor?”

The rumor was that Nozomu had been seeing a woman other than his girlfriend, Lisa, in town.

Ken was the one who started this rumor. Ken started this rumor as a preparation to separate Nozomu away from Lisa.

“No, of course not. I just heard that Nozomu was walking with a girl in the commercial district last week, but I know that he wouldn’t do that.”

Ken said he believed Nozomu, but he dared to hint at the rumors, stirring up Lisa’s fears.

Currently, Nozomu was training at the outer edge of the city. There, no one with him, and no one will be able to prove his innocence after Ken framed Nozomu.

“… If you understand that, that’s fine. I’m going home for today, so tell Nozomu to get some rest.”

“All right. See you later.”

Lisa turned on her heel and ran off. At first glance, she acted as if nothing was wrong, but Ken noticed that Lisa’s eyes were shaking as she talked to him.

This would definitely make her want to find out what was going on.

He watched her disappear into the hustle and bustle, and then took immediate action.

He made excuses in the depths of his mind as he told himself that this was for her sake.

***

Ken went to a stall in a corner of the commercial district.

Originally, it was a place where traveling peddlers spread out their tents and set up temporary stores there.

Ken, who had put Nozomu’s face on his own with the [Reflective Water Surface of the Heart Mask], made his way to one of the dozens of tents. In the tent, he was facing a girl who was moving around busily.

She was a girl in her mid-teens, perhaps from the south, with tanned-brown skin wrapped in linen.

When the girl noticed Ken approaching, she shouted in surprise.

“Hmm, what’s up? I wasn’t told you were coming today…”

“Because I have free time. Am I… getting in the way?”

“No! That’s not true!”

Ken spoke to the girl with a troubled expression on his face. The girl didn’t seem too happy that he had asked her out of the blue.

She was originally a servant to a merchant who traveled from city to city doing business. She had been in Arcazam for a while and she met Ken when she was beginning to get used to the city.

At that time, Ken was walking around the city disguised as Nozomu, looking for a woman who might be the key to his plan. It was then that he met her.

A girl who originally didn’t stay long in Arcazam and was close in age to him. She was a perfect match for the kind of person Ken was looking for.

When Ken approached her, the girl did not pay much attention to him at first. However, when he spoke to her in a polite manner, she gradually broke the barriers in her heart.

That girl rarely stayed in one city for long and travels day and night with her group. She hadn’t been in a big city in a long time, and she was expecting a lot of things to happen, so it wasn’t too difficult to make progress once she got into a good mood.

“Do you have a minute? Actually, I broke some tablewares the other day … I’ve found a few possible replacements, but I was wondering if you’d like to help me choose?”

A blatant invitation for a date. When the girl saw Ken scratching his cheek somewhat shyly, she decided to accompany him on his shopping trip with high expectations.

They both said a few words to the shop owner and started walking together. Ken didn’t want to continue this relationship for a long time, and the girl understands that it won’t last.

Still, they indulge in their temporary encounter.

The girl wore a fake mask to drown the boredom of her everyday life, and the boy wore a fake mask to fulfill his selfish wish.

In the middle of their date, Ken glanced behind him and saw a red-haired girl. At that moment, Ken felt an indescribable bitterness in the depths of his throat.

A slight creaky sensation. He wondered if it was guilt over her or hesitation over what he was about to do.

They kissed for the last time that day and parted. The girl was leaning close to Ken as if she was regretting something, but at the last moment of their separation, she was smiling naturally, as if she had decided to leave him.

Ken had no idea what was going through her mind. It was no wonder. Their hearts had never really intersected at all.

But the moment he saw the girl’s last smile, Ken felt his heart creak slightly again.

But the pain was quickly overshadowed by a dark sense of satisfaction.

Lisa had been staring at them the whole time they had been on this date. And at the moment of the last kiss, Ken could clearly see his childhood friend, Lisa, who was in a state of shock.

And before he knew it, he was naturally thinking, “With this, Lisa and Nozomu can be separated …”

Ken was intoxicated by the muddy satisfaction that filled his heart. It was the most satisfying moment he’d ever had.

But it wasn’t enough. There was still one last thing left to do.

***

“Hey, Lisa! What’s going on! Answer me!”

In front of Lisa’s room in the girls’ dormitory, Camilla was banging on the door while shouting. The sound of banging and her loud voice echoed through the hallway, but there was no sign of anyone gathering around.

It was reasonable. They were in the middle of school time, in the middle of lunch break. The students were at the school, and there were hardly any people in this dormitory.

It had been three days since Lisa had locked herself in her room. No one had seen her since the first day when she took a day off from school because she was sick.

When Camilla had visited her on the first day, Lisa had replied to her, though in a forced way. However, since the second day, she had hardly replied at all.

She sensed that something was wrong, and thus called Lisa’s name out loud in front of her room, but there was no sign of an answer at all.

At that time, Ken’s voice suddenly rang in Camilla’s ears.

“Camilla! What’s wrong !?”

“Ke-Ken? This is a girls’ dorm, you know!?”

“Forget about it! Hurry up and tell me!”

Camilla was surprised by Ken’s sudden appearance in the girls’ dormitory, but Ken overheard Camilla’s words and kicked down the door.

“Wha! Don’t do something unreasonable suddenly… eh?”

Camilla was upset by Ken’s sudden action but was rendered speechless by the sight that came to her eyes the next moment.

The curtains were closed, and Lisa was sitting on the bed in a dimly lit room even in the daytime. Her eyes just stared at the floor, and she didn’t move a muscle.

“Li-Lisa? What’s wrong with you?”

Camilla rushed over to Lisa and shook her by the shoulders. However, Lisa’s eyes remained colorless, and Camilla’s voice did not seem to reach her.

Ken closed the door behind him and slowly approached the girls.

A small amount of sunlight shone through the curtains. It reflected his mouth, which was slightly distorted.

He crouched down beside them and showed the fake smile that had been plastered on his face for almost ten years. This was his final touch.

“Lisa, are you okay?”

Ken began to speak to Lisa gently as if reaching out to a drowning person. Driven by the dark impulse.