Chapter 52 - Return

Grace's return to the Academy was a few days later than others.

She had already completed the request long ago. Her group members had already returned to the Academy, and only Grace delayed her return because she had something to take care of briefly.

It wasn't a big deal. She just visited the mansion briefly to bring some items from her family.

In the process, she cleared out a criminal organization that had nested in the territory to replenish her wallet, and went around looking for a few fateful encounters in her memories, so it took a little longer than expected, but she still didn't exceed the Academy return period.

I wonder if Acel handled it well.

Grace thought as she walked through the bustling Academy grounds, with fewer people than usual on the streets.

She hadn't accurately grasped how capable Acel's magic abilities were. But she knew that level was by no means low.

She now knew whose doing the lightning that fell from the clear sky during the entrance exam was. Thanks to that, she couldn't help but be quite surprised at the time.

Including memories from the previous iteration, the only lightning mage Grace knew was Ena alone. The sight of her single-handedly spraying all kinds of lightning while facing magic beasts and devils left quite a deep impression on Grace.

Although she died before the final battle, it was true they gained some reprieve thanks to her.

So Grace was quite relieved when she heard Acel was Genesis’ disciple. Because she was someone sufficiently trustworthy.

It was a bit concerning that she was a woman, but Ena was someone who didn't care a rat's ass about men, so there was no need to worry much in that regard.

She was a good person in many ways. Both in ability and character. Having learned under someone like her, it seemed there was no need to worry about Acel's skills either.

He probably finished the assignment with upper-rank grades. Maybe he could even finish midterms well and enter the upper class. Since that was Grace's goal too, she vowed they would meet there.

While thinking, she had already arrived at the Academy grounds. Grace tapped the sword hilt with her fingertips and first visited the dormitory. She entered her room and changed clothes, finished simple washing, then threw a ring she had brought from her family onto the desk.

A magic tool that momentarily extended perception time to split 1 second into an instant. Though it was a relic belonging to the upper ranks even in the Bydel family, Grace didn't feel much excitement looking at that relic. To her, the ring was nothing more than a tool to prepare for the upcoming midterms.

She had brought it out with her family's permission, and proving her own capabilities to them was nothing to Grace. She had just done what she had to do.

Since she wasn't tired enough to need to recover from travel fatigue, Grace put on a light shirt and leather pants and immediately left the room.

Before that, she stood in front of the mirror and checked her appearance.

A face without anything applied. An appearance like a virgin who didn’t know how to put on makeup. Even so, her face didn't fade at all. She put on a smile, then left her room and stood in front of Acel's door.

"Ahem."

Then she cleared her throat once and knocked on his door.

"Acel, it's me. Do you have a moment?"

The series of events from a few weeks ago remained a huge black history for her too. For several days afterwards, there were about ten blankets with holes kicked through them. It couldn't help but be a terribly embarrassing and shameful memory.

But separate from that, there were also some positive effects.

By confessing about the regression, the burden on her mind had somewhat settled, and she resolved to no longer cling desperately to human relationships from the previous iteration.

It wasn't easy, but Grace accomplished this. So she decided to rebuild her relationship with Acel from the beginning. She drew a rosy life starting as friends like before the regression, becoming conscious of each other, and eventually having children.

Today was the first step towards that.

"Acel?"

But there was no answer. Grace tilted her head and called his name again, but not even footsteps were heard. Only then did Grace realize that no presence could be felt from inside the room, and she pouted her lips.

Has he not come yet? Or is he out briefly?

Either way, it was disappointing. She left the dormitory with a face dripping with lingering attachment and headed to the Academy's main building. Then she realized the Academy's atmosphere was heavily depressed.

It was an unusual case for the Academy that was always full of vitality. Grace tilted her head and eavesdropped on the murmurs of 2nd year students moving in groups. Her senses, which had reached the realm of a swordsman, accurately captured even small sounds.

"I heard this year's freshmen were all amazing. But if they die and go missing in the first assignment, doesn't that mean they're actually nothing special? Or did they arrogantly pick difficult requests trying to show off?"

"No matter how difficult, it's still Academy level. It shouldn't be to the extent they can't solve it. It's just lack of ability. Still, it's a sad thing. An Academy student dying during the curriculum, isn't this the first time in history?"

"That's why there's even talk of entrance exam leave. Ah, this sucks. Because of these bastards, we might be forced to take a break too."

...Someone died during the assignment? A freshman?

Grace's face crumpled as she overheard their conversation.

This hadn't happened in the previous iteration. There was terrorism at the entrance ceremony, but even then there were no casualties. There were just a few injured. No fatalities occurred.

Of course, many things had changed from the previous iteration Grace had experienced. The terrorism didn't happen, and other minor incidents hadn't occurred so far either.

But in Grace's experience, if something that happened in the previous iteration didn't happen now, it would clearly come back as something else.

Perhaps all of that burst out in succession during the first assignment.

"..."

Grace's face crumpled. She stood in place for a moment, desperately racking her brain.

At that time, a male student who had been in the same group as her approached from the opposite side. He waved his hand towards Grace with a smile that anyone would find likable.

"Ah, Grace! You're back. When did you come? You should have said something."

"...Why should I tell you that?" Grace answered in a cold voice. 

The man's body flinched at that tone which even contained faint killing intent.

"I-I was just saying. I didn't mean anything by it."

"Is that so? Then now..."

Grace was about to continue telling him to get lost, but trailed off as a thought suddenly occurred to her.

Although she disliked the man who had been acting overly familiar since their first meeting, he was still a suitable person to resolve her curiosity.

"I heard someone died and went missing in this assignment. Is this true?"

"Ah, that? It's true, they say? Right away, there was someone named Gorsel, all his group members except Gorsel died, and a mage who was in the same group as Saya is missing too. His name was..."

Even Grace had never heard the name Gorsel before. He was probably someone who hadn't entered the Academy in the previous iteration, like Acel.

Grace engraved that name that somehow felt ominous into her mind and turned her head towards the man.

"What was the name?"

"So it's... Ah, I remember. Acel. It was definitely a name like that."

The moment she heard those words, Grace's brain momentarily ceased functioning. She stared at the man's face with wide eyes.

"...What?"

"From what I heard, they went to hunt a doppelganger but met a necromancer and fled in a hurry, but only Acel couldn't escape so he's being treated as missing. Well, they say missing but he's actually deaㅡ"

"Shut up!"

Grace shouted before the man could finish speaking. The man's mouth closed at that shout filled with aura. But Grace didn't even pay attention to him, covering her face with trembling hands.

Acel is missing? Dead? Why?

Grace had already experienced Acel's death once. The face that forcibly smiled while coughing up blood was still vivid in her eyes.

This life would be different. In this newly gained opportunity, she would absolutely not let him die.

She had resolved that as soon as she became aware of the regression, and made bone-scraping efforts to put it into practice. Thanks to that, she even obtained the title of youngest expert in the empire, but that wasn't enough.

The calamity approaching in the future wasn't something that could be blocked with just the realm of expert. She had to aim for master and even beyond that. So she diligently went out to find fateful encounters and continued training to become stronger.

This was the result of that. Her complacency in thinking he wouldn't be in danger since they belonged to the same Academy endangered Acel's safety, regardless of Grace's realm.

Perhaps it wasn't her fault. No, objectively thinking, that was surely the case. If anything, the Academy's mistake was more the cause of the problem than her.

But Grace thought the cause of Acel's disappearance or death laid with her. Her chest tightened at the fact that she hadn't actively tried to stop him despite having knowledge.

Whether that was true or false wasn't important. She ground her teeth and said to the man, "Saya, where is that bitch?"

***

A life gained through another's sacrifice wasn't very pleasant. No matter what she ate, it didn't feel like she had eaten, and she would wake up startled by voices blaming her even while sleeping. It had been a long time since she had slept soundly, and her body lacked strength.

If she had harbored evil intentions and forced sacrifice on the other person, would she not need to feel this guilt?

"..."

There was a saying that to catch a monster, one must become a monster oneself. In that sense, Saya knew she couldn't live purely like a good person to achieve her goals.

Sometimes cruelly, sometimes calculatingly. She knew she had to obsess over money with the mindset of a merchant without blood or tears to save her dying family in her hometown. But... knowing didn't mean she could just become like that.

There was such a thing as innate nature. Saya wasn't born to be an evil person who knew only how to eat others' backs, take sacrifice for granted, and satisfy her own hunger. That was why she couldn't be proud of herself for surviving through Acel's sacrifice.

Quill shouted that they should be grateful to him for saving them. He yelled to survive tenaciously for revenge instead of wasting time being sad.

It was truly a mercenary-like statement. That was why Saya couldn't do that.

Warren sent infinite commemoration towards the rising star of the magic world who was lost while saving them. It was a statement where sadness and gratitude coexisted, but it was commemoration towards the talent Acel possessed rather than Acel as a person.

It was truly a mage-like statement. That was why Saya couldn't do that.

Then, what should she have done?

In what way should she send him off?

How should she, who had driven him to his death by showing off her own judgment and choosing the wrong request, send him off?

She didn't know. So she writhed even more in guilt.

She spent time lying in bed staring at the ceiling all day. She roughly handled meals, eating but not really eating, and handed over the backed-up guild work to the vice guild master. Quill and Warren lied on the opposite bed occasionally say something, but when it passed, she couldn’t even remember what conversation they had.

But she could properly recall Acel's face.

It was the same now. Saya pulled the blanket over her head while recalling Acel.

If she had known this would happen, she shouldn't have approached calculatingly. If she had known this would happen, she should have tried to have more personal conversations.

If she had known this would happen...

"...Huu."

The more she thought, the more her sense of guilt towards herself grew. Eventually, tears began to leak again from tear glands she thought had dried up in the past few days.

That was when Grace entered the hospital room.

With a bang, the hospital room door opened. Everyone's gaze turned towards the door at the sudden noise. Grace ground her molars as she met Quill and Warren's gazes. But Grace didn't pay attention to them. Instead, she approached Saya who was covered with a blanket and opened her mouth.

"Yoho."

"...I'm not a cursed fox. If you're going to spout nonsense as you please, get out."

"You say you're not cursed when a group member who was with you went missing?"

"..."

"Forget it. I didn't come to argue about this."

Grace forcibly lifted the blanket Saya was covering herself with and looked down at her face.

"The place where the doppelganger hunt took place. Tell me where it is."

"...And if I tell you? What are you going to do?"

"I'll go and bring Acel back. Or at least find some traces."

"Wake up. Do you think you can handle that necromancer? We barely managed to hold out. Even that was only possible because the necromancer was being careless. You absolutely can't save Acel alone."

"That's for me to figure out."

"Don't talk nonsense. Are you crazy to die?"

"If it's a world without Acel, there's no particular need to live."

"...You."

Saya frowned. Then she raised her upper body and glared at Grace.

"Anyway, I have no intention of telling you so get out. I want to avoid another person dying because of me."

"You're going to irresponsibly let it go? One of your group members disappeared because of the request you decided on, and you're not going to do anything until you recover here?"

"...What would change if I did? Isn't telling you just pushing all my responsibility onto you? What if you die? Who will take responsibility for the emotions I'll experience then? If you die and Acel dies too! Are you saying I should suffer from guilt all day until I die?"

"That's for you to figure out."

Perhaps due to mental instability, a sharp voice burst out of Saya's mouth. Grace's face crumpled as she responded to those words.

"...Hmm?"

Warren quietly watched this scene, then turned his head at the sound of something tapping on the window.

There was a bird with a metal body tilting its head as if asking for the window to be opened. Warren realized the bird's identity was a messenger bird allowed only to Wyheim mages and opened his eyes wide.

"Could it be...!"

He immediately opened the window and let the messenger bird into the room. The messenger bird bowed its head towards Warren, then tried to fly towards Saya but realized the atmosphere between her and Grace wasn't good and stopped in place.

Warren said to the messenger bird, "You seem to have a letter to deliver? Show it to me first for now."

[Coo?]

"If it's for Saya anyway, it shouldn't matter if I receive it. I went through the same thing as her."

[...Coo coo.]

The messenger bird seemed to ponder, tilting its head to one side, then took a proper posture and opened the storage device attached to its abdomen. Then a neatly folded paper fell out from inside.

Warren immediately unfolded the paper and read through it.

"...!"

As soon as he confirmed it, he jumped up from his seat and approached Saya and Grace. The two people who had been glaring fiercely at each other turned their heads towards Warren as they saw him walking over holding the paper.

Warren spoke before they could open their mouths first, "It's news from Acel."

"...What did you say?"

"What?"

The two reacted simultaneously. Warren immediately spread the paper between the two people and showed them the contents written on it.

[Saya, I'm alive. I received all the treatment at a cathedral, and I'm staying here now doing rehabilitation. Don't worry too much. My master has locked me up, but I think she'll let me go soon. Anyway, I escaped well too, so don't mind and focus on recovery. Send my regards to the other two people too.]

Saya let out an "Ah" sound after confirming the letter, then immediately covered her mouth with both hands.

Grace also let out a deep sigh of relief and clasped her trembling hands. A feeling of anger and sadness that had been boiling until just now subsided in an instant. Tears welled up for a moment, and her heart thumped once. All kinds of emotions swirled then slowly faded away.

Yes, it's enough that he's alive.

Grace thought and raised her head. At that time, her eyes met Saya's, who had raised her head thinking similar thoughts.

"..."

"..."

The two looked at each other with awkward gazes, then quickly turned their heads away.