NOVEL NEXT Chapter 127
“I’m… I killed him.”
– drip drip drip…
Only the sound of water flowing by the brook could be heard.
After that, there was nothing but silence.
At Lev Denec’s confession, Aria looked at him, her mind struggling to comprehend. Finally, she opened her mouth.
“I’m sorry. I don’t understand… What do you mean right now? How could you… why Andras?”
“I killed him, so I inherited his powers. That’s why I could handle dark magic…”
“…Wait, wait a minute.”
Aria was familiar with the concept of inherited abilities.
When a war hero falls in battle, the powers they wielded during their lifetime are passed on to unspecified individuals.
In fact, at Claris Academy, there were many students who had inherited the abilities of countless war heroes or heirs.
But to inherit the power of a demon, not a hero or champion?
‘No, no way.’
This was completely new to her.
Aria had never read about such a thing in any book.
She rubbed her temples, thinking one last time.
Lev Denec killed the object of his hatred and inherited that power.
“…Ha.”
A small chuckle escaped her lips.
Aria knew better than anyone how powerful Andras was.
In what felt like a nightmare from the past, before dawn had even broken, he had completely annihilated a town.
The scene was too horrific.
Given that the war between demons had subsided, encountering a great demon in the empire was not something that happened easily.
The appearance of Great Demon Bunea during the festival at the academy was shockingly unprecedented.
In contrast, Lev Denec…
He wasn’t just some noble scion back then, was he?
He had only recently begun to stand out as a marksman.
Even four war heroes couldn’t guarantee victory over a great demon.
This made no sense.
It couldn’t be true.
Aria desperately denied it.
To be precise, perhaps she didn’t want to doubt it.
The fact that Lev Denec could use dark magic… That he had changed from a third-rate punk to something more at some point.
This was something she had buried deep in her heart, deciding not to think about it anymore.
Ultimately, Aria didn’t think of Lev Denec as a bad person.
‘You are…’
Thus, Aria came to a conclusion about this series of events.
‘You are trying to sever your bond with me.’
What Lev promised Aria was revenge against Andras.
Maybe it was the last thread connecting them.
‘Are you trying to cut that too?’
The harsh reality of having no further connection with him blurred Aria’s vision.
“Lev, are you… is this a bit too much of a joke?”
“Aria.”
“Andras is a demon who took away my loved ones… knowing that…!”
“…”
“Knowing that! Are you trying to push me away even mentioning him…?”
“…”
“That’s really cruel…! So cruel!”
– tap… tap.
Aria struck his chest as if she were crumbling down.
Of course, there was no strength in her punch.
– slip…
As Lev approached the collapsed Aria, memories resurfaced of the time she had asked him if he was a good person before their dungeon exploration practice.
– “Is Lev a good person?”
And his answer was…
– “Well, I just act on my impulses.”
That was it.
If his kindness until now wasn’t genuine…
If Aria had just been deluding herself…?
‘……That’s too much.’
The first fact.
She had started to like him.
The second fact.
He could handle dark magic.
The third fact.
Lately, he had been behaving harshly toward her.
The fourth fact.
He was connected to Andras.
These four conflicting situations forced Aria to speak up.
“Lev, you are… the one I like…!”
“I know it’s hard to believe, Aria, but…”
“How creepy… The person I believed in turned out to be worse than I thought. That night for sure…”
“…Wait for me.”
“…?”
What came out of his mouth was neither an apology nor a denial.
It was merely a plea to wait.
His hand seized Aria’s wrist.
“Wait for me. Aria.”
“!”
Somehow, Lev’s touch felt disgusting.
He who toyed with her heart, and the fact that she had recognized him of her own accord… made her feel regret.
“Let go. Please, get away from me!”
“!”
Aria violently brushed off his hand as if it were covered in dirt.
“I don’t need your help with my revenge anymore. I’ll handle it myself… don’t ever act friendly with me again…”
Just then.
“Are you two… fighting?”
From the distance, a man with emerald hair, Edwin, appeared through the bushes.
As Lev let go of Aria’s sleeve, she stood up and tidied her clothes.
“Just a moment, we had a disagreement about setting up the tent.”
“Oh, really? How different…”
“That’s all there is to it.”
As Aria interrupted, Edwin spoke in surprise.
“It’s amazing, that there are days you two don’t agree.”
“…”
“Well, that’s true. If it were Lev’s opinion, everyone would agree, I would too. It was the same during the selection test; if we listened only to Lev…”
“…I’ll excuse myself for now.”
With that remark, Aria disappeared into the distance.
“Oh? Did I say something wrong?”
*
In District 2, the six-member party of Caeran reached the center of the reed field.
With only three members, they could rush through here quickly unlike other parties.
In the golden light of dusk, Caeran was unfolding a note brought to him by the scribe.
——————————————————
Party 11. Edwin Gwynn, be cautious.
Take care to not be selected as a warrior aspirant in advance.
(P.S.): Use when alone.
——————————————————
It wasn’t just a note.
There was also a peculiar magical item the size of a palm added.
“What a headstrong girl.”
Caeran crumpled the memo and stuffed it into his pocket.
There were no sender details, but he had a rough idea.
It was probably an order from Yellody Latashia.
Given the neat handwriting, it seemed it had been ghostwritten.
That girl was a demon.
In Crow Pay, despite knowing this, cooperating under the guise of ignorance.
Caeran wasn’t sure why a mere human was being assisted by a demon.
Eventually, it was also thanks to Crow Pay and Yellody Latashia that he was able to accept the demon’s power and rid himself of the mysterious curse.
“It’s troublesome, but I suppose I’ll have to follow like a dog for now.”
One day, if he fully recovered his powers and acquired the strength of a great demon or perhaps the Demon King…
At that moment, he thought it wouldn’t be too late to betray that girl.
– gasp gasp!
Rough breathing echoed from behind Caeran chasing after him.
“Caeran, you’re too fast… can we slow down a bit?”
“Well, it seems like Melissa is too slow.”
“That’s right…! Physical training is part of being a student…!”
“…!”
As Caeran looked at the smug Aveline, Melissa sighed deeply.
Haa…
Who do you think caused this?
She thought it was hard to explain to this block-headed knight that it was tough just holding her ground, knowing Edwin was participating in this selection test.
When Melissa turned back to Caeran, staring hard at Aveline, he was wearing a rather fearful expression.
“Ca…eran?”
“Yeah. Can’t find the elixir of immortality, can’t break trial 3, demoted to grade A… don’t think we’ve fought even once to get here… Aveline, did we encounter any monsters along the way?”
“Not a single time, I swear by my knightly honor.”
“!”
Indeed, the surrounding demon creatures did not rush at him.
For a simple reason. Generally, demons don’t attack one another.
‘Oh no!’
Melissa felt a huge threat she couldn’t possibly understand.
In this situation…
She would be abandoned.
Once again, left behind.
She approached Caeran and grabbed at his sleeve.
“I’m sorry! Caeran, I won’t pretend to struggle anymore. Let’s go faster?!”
Then Caeran grinned and gave Melissa a light smack on the bottom.
“Hey!”
Who could treat a princess like this?
Yet, Melissa just blushed momentarily and couldn’t say a word.
The party leader was Caeran.
If he expelled her, Melissa would immediately be out of this selection test.
The opinion of her peers wasn’t good right now.
If she didn’t show good performances in this selection test amid this turmoil, her future would be bleak after going against several counterarguments just to follow Caeran.
“Okay, Melissa is a magician now.”
“…”
“I told you clearly, didn’t I? You’d do as I say.”
“Uh? Yeah, I’ll listen to Caeran.”
Then, handing a high-end scroll drawn with magical seals to a slightly hesitant Melissa, Caeran urged.
“Activate it.”
“This is something even Caeran can…”
“Haa. You do it.”
“Okay! Got it!”
As soon as Melissa placed her hand on it, the letters illuminated, and the entire paper began to shine brightly.
‘Things like this are hard to get and must be expensive…’
It seemed that the operation wasn’t difficult, but perhaps because the rune characters were of an ancient style, she couldn’t comprehend them at all.
Melissa’s curiosity didn’t last long.
“Just… a second! Ha… ugh!”
She felt dizzy, as if she might collapse.
‘If I collapse here!’
.
.
.
When she regained consciousness, everything seemed fine.
“Oh?”
In front of her stood a frowning Aveline and Caeran who was still smiling.
“Melissa, now we’re connected.”
“Connected?”
“Yeah.”
“Connected to Caeran…”
That phrase reassured Melissa.
The slight dizziness didn’t matter.
She wouldn’t be abandoned. At least until this connection was severed.
“I, I want to…!”
“Aveline will go next.”
“…Ah, got it.”
“Good, then let’s make this place our base for today.”
“Okay!”
“Understood.”
– *…
*
After the vibrant agreements from Aveline and Melissa, they stared blankly at Caeran.
‘This is what it means to be pampered.’
Caeran rubbed his brow with his palm and said.
“What are you two doing?”
“Yeah?”
“Caeran, Prince…?”
“I’m going to sleep here today.”
Melissa and Aveline exchanged glances, and a ten-second silence ensued.
Then, Melissa struck first.
“I-I’ll cook, so Aveline, you prepare the place to sleep.”
“I was going to do that anyway!”
With that, they began to busily unpack their things.
– clack.
‘What a pain.’
If only he hadn’t lost to Edwin,
He might have brought in party members like Selena or Lily, or perhaps even Aria Bluebell.
‘But if I think of them as pets, it’s fine, right?’
Those foolish girls wouldn’t even dream that the earlier spell had an effect of sacrificing their life energy to him.
‘Well, once I become a hero, both Selena and Aria will follow without much thought.’
Now, all that remained was Markosias. After all, just following the demands of the great demon would suffice.
Ultimately.
He would be the only one to become a warrior aspirant from this test.
In the end, the one who wins is the real victor, isn’t it?
Looking at the two struggling, Caeran wore a triumphant smile.