Chapter 53
The battle between Gilbert’s party and the flame giant lasted nearly an hour. Mary summoned a storm to douse the flames, while Elisha’s arrows relentlessly targeted the giant’s eyes, nose, and mouth. Even as the enraged giant swung its merciless limbs, Bord’s Frontkeeper blocked it, allowing Gilbert and Lina to tear into the giant’s flesh.
And then, a holy ally wielding twin swords dealt critical blows to the massive flame demon.
[Ahh, burn, burn! Even if I die… ahh, my kin aren’t here! Aaargh!]
The flame demon, resembling Matthew, collapsed.
“Ha! That was tough!”
“We protected it well today too!”
“We… we did it!”
I wanted to join the party in savoring the victory, but Gilbert’s focus couldn’t shift from the sudden ally.
‘That person.’
Though dressed in shabby clothes, I couldn’t miss the fabric’s once-noble quality and the embroidery of a lofty belief.
Lina, the escort knight, subtly cast a mana barrier to block sound. Truly reliable.
I approached the figure sheathing their twin swords, speaking cautiously so the party wouldn’t hear.
“Are you, perhaps… a Holy Assassin?”
“Hm? You know me, young man?”
“How could I not? My grandparents were from the Cosmos Empire.”
And I’m a crown prince without a country, inheriting the imperial bloodline. I swallowed the latter part.
“It’s classified, but with the empire gone, there’s no need to hide it. Yes, I’m a Holy Assassin. And a member of the Peacemaker. I heard you’re from a hundred years after the Cosmos Empire’s fall?”
“That’s right. I’m Gilbert Offer Cosmos. My grandparents escaped the Cosmos Empire during the Great Collapse and gave birth to my parents in the Imperium Empire.”
Gilbert hadn’t been born during the Cosmos Empire’s fall. But through his grandparents, who lived through it, he inherited the empire’s spirit, its radiant glory across the continent, and faith in the grand cosmic order of Cosmosism.
“Hm, I see. Today’s a special day, hearing news of my homeland twice.”
Gilbert flinched. Now was the time to ask.
“Um…!”
You were talking to Martin earlier, weren’t you? Is Martin also from the Cosmos Empire? Is he a Peacemaker too?!
Rumble!
The question couldn’t continue. The ground shook.
“Eek!”
“Whoa?!”
A tremor so intense even seasoned warriors lost their balance. An earthquake? No, the world itself was trembling.
“It’s time. Time to part, young heroes of the future.”
When Gilbert turned, the Holy Assassin’s form was fading.
“Wait! I have a question!”
“Ask that Martin fellow.”
With those final words, the nameless revolutionary vanished like smoke, ascending after completing his mission. Into eternal rest.
Gilbert deeply regretted not asking, but he was almost certain. Martin was a member of the Peacemaker, or their descendant. …Like me.
He offered a prayer for the loyal servant of their fallen homeland.
The world trembled as it began to reconstruct.
***
“Cadet Martin! Cadet Martin!”
Just as the Time Chaos Dungeon shook and began to collapse, Matthew called out to me. I could see countless animals surrounding him. Amidst the animals, glowing like white spirits, Matthew was smiling and crying.
“This time, I saved them! I saved them all!”
If this world was the ecological park fire caused by Matthew’s mistake ten years ago, those animals must be from that time.
The past couldn’t be undone. It couldn’t be repaired. But it could be overcome.
“Yeah.”
Soon, the warped world of time and space began to return to normal. Enveloped in bright light, we returned to the original world.
Knowing the protagonist party would come looking for me, I grabbed the dungeon’s medium, said goodbye to Matthew, and escaped using Flash (Blink).
“Welcome back, Master!”
Greeted by Lilac’s warm welcome, which melted my fatigue, I wrapped up the task. All I did was entrust the restoration of the dungeon’s medium and the transcription of the memorized folder to Nerjin.
The next day, Matthew, who had failed the five-element basic magic assignment, performed basic fire magic in a makeup class, shedding his failing title.
You resolved the trauma of the minor extra, Matthew von Yulha Animas! You also conquered the Time Chaos Dungeon that would have turned the ecological park into a sea of flames and brought down the Petrak Kingdom! In the process, you obtained critical strategic information from a nameless revolutionary, a survivor of the Cosmos Empire!
The protagonist party will remember today. Their perception of you shifts to ‘someone with ulterior motives, but not entirely bad.’
The protagonist, Gilbert, will remember today. He is convinced you’re from the Cosmos Empire.
Matthew will cherish today forever. His perception of you shifts to ‘a kind and cool person others don’t fully understand.’
By conquering the ecological park’s Time Chaos Dungeon with Matthew, you succeeded in rescuing the animals! An ‘Extra Exclusive Item’ for Matthew has been unlocked!
You gained 3,000 points.
***
Nothing else significant happened. The only difference was that summer had arrived, and we switched to summer uniforms.
I decided I could no longer leave my accumulated points unused.
Remaining Points: 9,842
The nearly 10,000 points made me swallow hard.
‘They’re an emergency fund for dire situations, but hoarding too many is foolish.’
I had planned to use them for the ecological park conquest, but thanks to the nosy protagonist party, they remained untouched.
With summer here, the first semester would soon end, and summer break would begin. That meant the very early part of the story was over.
The protagonist party’s level would rise another step during summer break, proportional to the increasing difficulty of disasters. I had to keep up or I’d be in trouble.
More importantly, since I only completed Part 1 of the original story, I only knew the broader strokes of what came next. To prevent an untimely death from an unexpected event, I needed to bolster my strength in advance.
“First, let’s raise Know-It-All and Wild Instinct from Level 2 to 3.”
Consumed 2,500 points to enhance Know-It-All to Lv 3.
Know-It-All (Lv 3) provides Absolute Memory, Directory, Information Access (Stage 3, Direct Insight), Focus Enhancement, and Weakness Identification.
‘Direct Insight? What’s that?’
I glanced at Sebastian, lounging by the bed.
Know-It-All (Lv 3) analyzes Sebastian with Direct Insight! Name: Sebastian, Age: 17, Male, Currently very relaxed.
‘Aha.’
They say a great detective gleans more from the same clues as an ordinary person. Direct Insight must be a function that catches details I might overlook.
Consumed 1,500 points to enhance Wild Instinct to Lv 3.
Wild Instinct’s core abilities, Danger Detection and Presence Detection, are activated. Physical senses are greatly enhanced. You can now freely adjust your body’s condition and use Berserk.
The nearly 10,000 points were already halved.
But I had no regrets. Not only were the original functions enhanced, but new ones were added. Know-It-All gained Weakness Identification, and Wild Instinct gained Berserk. I instinctively knew what these skills were.
Weakness Identification would be useful at all times, but Berserk, while powerful, had significant recoil. I hoped I’d never need to use it.
Where would I use these enhanced abilities? At the academy, the story’s main stage? No. The essential highlight of a summer school life was approaching: ‘break.’
Recovering hidden pieces scattered across the world would be a long and arduous task. No amount of preparation would ever be enough.
Of course, there was one hurdle to clear first.
“Is everyone preparing well for the final exams?”
As Teacher Hectia entered and asked, the cadets’ faces fell. The academy’s exams were notorious for pushing people to their limits.
“The finals carry a different weight in the cadet records compared to the midterms. Stay sharp and prepare thoroughly. The midterms were only written, but the finals include practical exams, so don’t let your guard down, or you’ll fail.”
She was right. Letting your guard down meant failure.
“Today, we’ll have a pop quiz to prepare for the finals. It’s a compilation of questions that appear every year, so memorize them. It won’t affect your cadet records or be graded separately, so study it or don’t—it’s up to you. I’ll leave the answer sheet up front for reference.”
“Ugh, a pop quiz…”
“Sigh…”
The cadets groaned, but—
Know-It-All (Lv 3) assesses the difficulty of the questions. It’s an easy win.
Know-It-All had already secured the top spot at Level 1. There was no need to study.
Instead of picking up a pen, I opened a specialized book borrowed from the library. While Know-It-All’s Information Access had improved with the level-up, it fundamentally relied on what I saw and heard.
[Advanced Human Anatomy Through Bones and Blood Vessels]
Hectia scanned the classroom before stepping out. With her illustrious past, she likely had many miscellaneous duties even as a mere academy teacher. Handing out key questions was probably her way of compensating for not teaching properly.
[Humans are born with 270 bones, but through fusion during growth, this reduces to 206 in adulthood. 29 in the head, 26 in the spine, 25 in the chest and back, 64 in the arms, and 62 in the legs. Elves and beastmen have more, while dwarves and orcs have fewer.]
“I can’t solve question 1.”
“Please, lower the exam difficulty…”
As Hectia left, the cadets began chattering.
It wasn’t excessive, and most of it was study-related.
“Elisha, do you know this one?”
“…No, I’m weak at these applied questions. What about you, Mary?”
“U-Um, it’ll take me some time…”
Of course, none of this concerned me.
My thoughts wandered briefly, but I intended to dive seriously into the anatomy chart. I wanted to know where to aim a bullet to kill an opponent, stop their movement, or cause unstoppable bleeding.
“Hey, Cadet Martin!”
“…?”
I looked up to see someone standing in front of me, holding the pop quiz. A familiar face.
“Is it okay to ask a question…?”
“Do as you like.”
Matthew smiled brightly and placed the quiz in front of me.
“The first question on the pop quiz has me completely lost. I thought maybe you’d know, Cadet Martin.”
I fixed my eyes on the first question. A vicious problem.
Matthew muttered.
“It’s hard enough to calculate a Time Chaos Dungeon’s time distortion rate with a meter, but to figure it out just by observing the dungeon’s conditions? That’s ridiculous.”
That was enough time.
“Level 4. Approximately 405,000.”