Chapter 121
Two Regressors – Part 1
『 Translator – Divinity 』
Far away from the grand conference room filled with the professors’ sighs and pity, and sudden fainting spells, was a massive building where the headquarters of various clubs were located.
Ruth Spero was heading towards the top floor. With an uninvited guest.
“…You can’t even enter the student council room. Go back.”
“Why are you being like this? You’re the vice president, can’t you even receive a single guest?”
“You’re not a guest.”
“I said let’s join hands. It’s annoying, but as the student council vice president, you have access to much more information than me. Especially regarding the Headmistress and the Finance Director.”
“…The Headmistress?”
“Just get going.”
“If you were someone I could trust, it would be one thing, but you’re like a reed, agreeing to my early graduation and then turning around immediately.”
“I’ll reveal that you’re a woman.”
“That’s a low-level threat.”
“But it’s effective, isn’t it?”
Ruth and Chloe.
The two celebrities of Grandis Academy’s Martial Arts and Magic Departments glared at each other. Although they had already agreed to cooperate, they were still at odds.
It all started at the Beryl family estate.
After witnessing that damn menopausal woman stealing Adam’s lips with her power, Chloe, with tears of blood in her eyes, decided to cooperate with Ruth.
This cross-dressing regressor was also incredibly suspicious, but she was still better than the menopausal woman.
──Why would I trust the one who agreed to my early graduation and then turned around?
──That’s funny. Are we in a position to trust each other? What are we to each other? Definitely not colleagues, not friends, of course, not even acquaintances.
──…Enemies of the same enemy.
──That’s why we’re joining hands for a moment. Or are you just going to watch the Finance Director being forced upon by that great-great-grandmother?
──……
──Hey?
──I… can’t do that.
There was no need to confirm that they were love rivals.
Aside from all that, the kiss between the Finance Director and the Headmistress was a serious matter in itself.
A staff member, who was supposed to be trusted, followed, and respected, was being kissed by a woman more than seven times his age? And she had an overwhelming difference in rank, and was even his superior?
It was ethically correct, and not entirely wrong, to think that she was using her rank and social status to intimidate him.
Especially since Chloe wasn’t the only one who had a reason to prevent their relationship.
‘Knowing the Headmistress’s personality, if they become lovers, she definitely won’t allow any other woman to approach him.’
She was a Rank 8 martial artist who was once called the Mad Dragon. It would be strange if she wasn’t possessive and had a low libido.
But due to the incident at the rock salt mine, Ruth had to stay by Adam’s side as much as possible.
‘Not only are the side effects of Dark Sword being neutralized, but this is the first time Dark Sword and the scabbard have been together. I have to observe them closely.’
However, the Headmistress and Adam had long known that Ruth was a cross-dressed girl. The Headmistress, especially, was displeased with Ruth being a girl and living with Adam, being near him. Didn’t she blatantly criticize and badmouth Ruth in an age-inappropriate manner before?
For a Rank 8 to badmouth someone in a way that even a Rank 6 couldn’t hear was truly an old-fashioned move.
She couldn’t give Adam to such a petty woman. And more importantly,
‘If Adam and the Headmistress don’t become lovers, even if the Headmistress dies, Adam might not fall from grace.’
Of course, he would be sad. Adam was that kind of person. He might even try to take revenge. Adam was that kind of person.
But if it wasn’t the death of a lover, but just the death of a respected superior…
Then couldn’t Ruth comfort and take care of him and prevent him from falling?
Couldn’t she prevent the future where he set the world on fire and turned it into a living hell?
‘I’m willing to sacrifice myself.’
The sword and the scabbard were one, after all. Ruth was confident that she could take care of Adam much better than the Headmistress or this witch in front of her.
She had taken care of him while living together in the past, and even now, she had improved the dormitory and made it a much better place for Adam, who had been living an inhuman life.
The two of them dramatically joined hands due to their shared interests, but…
They were still holding knives in their other hands, as if they would eventually part ways.
“It was you who suggested we each hold a secret to build minimal trust, wasn’t it? Spero.”
“Knowing a secret I wasn’t planning on telling makes you the villain.”
“I think your disguise was just poor. You were even caught by me. I told you a secret in exchange, didn’t I?”
‘You wouldn’t have known if it weren’t for me, how shameless.’
‘Shut up, me.’
She truly hadn’t noticed, and if it weren’t for adult Chloe’s help, she wouldn’t have known even now. Ruth’s disguise had become even more perfect as she reached Rank 7.
There must have been a reason why she entered the academy disguised as a male. At least while attending the academy, her disguise could be Ruth’s weakness.
Chloe then revealed a secret to Ruth according to their agreement, but…
“How can the fact that you can’t eat carrots be an equivalent secret to cross-dressing?”
“A secret is a secret, isn’t it? You were also planning to tell me something like that, weren’t you?”
“Are you trying to gain the upper hand?”
“If you’re unhappy, reveal my secret. I’ll reveal yours too.”
“…Tsk.”
‘Don’t worry, your eating habits will be fixed after just two days with Adam.’
‘Please stop with the useless comments. And what do you mean, two days?’
‘Coincidentally, there were only carrots in the food box I could find while running away. I tried all sorts of dishes to feed Adam with it, and he ended up eating them.’
‘…’
Chloe wasn’t focused on the eating habits or carrots.
It was the fragment of the future that adult Chloe had casually revealed.
‘Running away?’
‘…’
‘From what? Where to? When?’
‘You know I won’t tell you more than that. Do you want to merge with me?’
‘That’s true. But at least one thing is certain. Adam is also with you on that escape.’
Despite being with adult Chloe, Chloe didn’t know much about what would happen in the future. If she knew too much about the future, the ‘current Chloe’ would become similar to ‘adult Chloe,’ and the current Chloe, with her lower rank and weaker mana, could be swallowed up.
Therefore, adult Chloe rarely shared information about the future, but there were times when Chloe could infer things.
Adult Chloe’s obsession with and interest in Adam. Her intense hostility towards the Headmistress. She mocked Ruth Spero, didn’t call her master, the Archmage, “Master,” and didn’t seem jealous of Beatrice.
Just from that, Chloe could tell that unimaginable things would happen in the future. But to think that she would run away somewhere with Adam…
…Just imagining that scene made her heart pound; it must be because of her fear of running away. Chloe decided to think that way.
Anyway, Chloe, glaring at Ruth once again, made up her mind.
‘First, we need to figure out this regressor.’
‘I agree. I’ve seen her many times, but I don’t understand her. And she even reached Rank 7.’
‘Wasn’t she Rank 7 before the regression?’
‘Rank 6 was her highest. I don’t know what happened in the mine, but for her to become Rank 7… well, she must have remembered her dying wish.’
‘…You said you were killed by the future Ruth Spero.’
‘I mocked her when she was Rank 6 back then. It seemed like she would never reach Rank 7, but I guess regression changes people.’
Her future self being killed by Ruth Spero…
It would be a lie to say she wasn’t bothered by it. She even wanted to kill Ruth now and prevent the future where she died.
But there was no way Chloe, a mere Rank 5, could defeat Ruth Spero, who had become Rank 7. Moreover, her future self simply scoffed at death and didn’t seem to care about revenge at all.
‘…What happened in the future?’
Swallowing the curiosity that always arose, Chloe followed Ruth.
‘I have the upper hand with the information about her being a cross-dressed girl, so I can block the Headmistress and dig deeper into Ruth Spero’s secrets.’
‘Don’t get careless. She’s not an easy opponent.’
‘I know. You were killed by that Rank 6 girl, after all, even though you were Rank 7 at your peak. Knowing that is enough. Just focus on playing the Goddess.’
‘…’
‘You’re quite the actress, just like me… Never mind.’
Ruth Spero was now being handled by Chloe, and Adam by adult Chloe, the self-proclaimed Goddess (pfft).
As the only ones with two selves coexisting, they could divide and conquer, gathering information from both sides. Teasing adult Chloe, who was surprisingly good at improvising, was a bonus. Usually, it was the current Chloe who was on the receiving end of her teasing.
Adult Chloe fell silent, and when Ruth and Chloe finally reached the top floor,
A male student standing in front of the needlessly grand door waved his hand.
“Oh, Vice President, you’re here?”
“…Senior Allen.”
“You’re here to see the president again? Then I’m sorry, but…”
“She’s not here?”
“That’s right. She’s been suddenly disappearing a few minutes before you arrive. I tried to stop her once, but it was impossible, sorry.”
“It’s okay. But can I go into the archive for a moment?”
“Of course, no problem. Here’s the key… Huh? Chloe Piste?”
“Hello.”
Allen, the student council secretary, paused as he was about to hand over the key and looked at Chloe.
Allen was a student in the Administration Department, and his rank was only Rank 2. But his gaze was firm.
“I’m sorry, but students who aren’t part of the student council can’t enter. Especially not the archive.”
“I know that. But I’m here as the vice president’s guest.”
“A guest? Vice President, is that true?”
“………”
“Hey, don’t make things complicated.”
“…I’m not happy about it, but it’s true. I want to bring Chloe Piste inside using my authority as vice president.”
“Well, if that’s true, it’s fine, but you’re going to the archive, right? Even if she’s a guest, the high-ranking information won’t be accessible to outsiders. Is that okay?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Alright. Just write your name here and go inside. And I have one request.”
“Yes?”
“If possible… please don’t break anything. If you do, senior will come crying again.”
No one could mistake who Allen was referring to when he said “senior.”
Both Ruth and Chloe knew that Finance Director Adam Keynes was a student in the Administration Department and had connections with the student council.
In other words, causing a commotion would be troubling Adam. The two of them, after checking their old sword and mana, accepted the key and entered the room.
And inside…
“…What is this?”
“You’re a mage too, aren’t you? Cassandra made this.”
“No, no… what?”
“It usually looks different, but every time I come here, she does this and runs away. This must be the true form of this space.”
It was a space. Literally, a pure white space.
Up, down, left, right, where they were stepping, where the ceiling was, whether they would fall below…
There was nothing but white, making it impossible to distinguish anything.
Ruth acted as if she was used to it, but Chloe, as a mage, couldn’t understand.
‘Is this even possible?’
‘…What…’
‘Cassandra is a Rank 6 mage. You’re saying a Rank 6 created this?’
‘This is incredibly high-level magic. If she intervened in the space itself, don’t tell me…?’
‘Don’t tell me what?’
‘The Archmage…?’
“What?”
“Why are you suddenly muttering to yourself?”
“Ah, it’s nothing. Just lead the way.”
“…I was planning to, so just follow me.”
Ruth Spero, who wasn’t a mage, didn’t seem to understand, but the magic installed and maintained to create this space was beyond even Chloe and adult Chloe’s imagination.
Even if it was possible for Chloe, a Rank 5 mage, the fact that even adult Chloe, who had reached the peak of Rank 7, considered it high-level magic meant there were only two possibilities.
Either this space wasn’t actually created by Cassandra,
‘Or she’s hiding her rank.’
‘Cassandra is famous for entering the academy as a Rank 4 and reaching Rank 6 in three years. You’re saying she’s actually higher than that?’
‘…But that’s impossible. Not just her growth rate, but there’s no way the Headmistress wouldn’t have noticed. Especially considering that Adam and Cassandra have a connection.’
‘Then what is it?’
‘First, we need a proper analysis. It would be nice if we could sneak into this space later.’
‘Why would we need to do that?’
‘What?’
If they needed to analyze it in detail, there was no need to postpone it. Moreover, according to Ruth Spero, Cassandra herself was controlling this space, and it only changed like this when Ruth came.
Now was the perfect opportunity.
“Wait a minute. Let’s enter the archive later.”
“…Why the sudden change of plans?”
“I’m curious about this space. As far as I know, even a Rank 6 mage can’t create a space like this. Are you sure Cassandra made this herself?”
“That’s what she said when I talked to her before.”
“Then we need to look into it even more. I’ll analyze this space here, so wait for a moment. Or…”
“You mean you’re going to find out about Cassandra?”
“Well, yeah?”
“Then it’s fine. I don’t know anything about magic, so I’ll stay still. Take your time analyzing.”
“…?”
Why was she suddenly being so cooperative? Seeing how Ruth Spero was trying to meet Cassandra and Cassandra was avoiding her, it was clear that Ruth had a motive.
Perhaps even Ruth Spero was suspicious of Cassandra. If she thought that way, she must have decided to do it now that she was with Chloe, a mage.
‘So we’re doing it now. If Cassandra is trying to avoid her, she won’t come back while she’s here, right?’
‘…That’s true. Let’s start right away.’
‘Right, didn’t Adam say that before? What was it, in words that Adam knows?’
Ah, right.
Definitely.
“Strike while the iron is hot.”
“…What?”
“Don’t you know? This actually means…”
Right after Chloe tried to explain with a sense of superiority,
Ruth, who had been waiting with her arms crossed, suddenly appeared right in front of Chloe.
Holding her old sword and pointing it at Chloe’s neck.
“W-wait?”
“You, just now…”
“Why are you suddenly—”
“What did you just say?”
Chloe couldn’t help but shudder at the familiarity of the situation.
The stranger she encountered in the forest of the Magic Department, where Adam couldn’t enter. That stranger was Ruth Spero in disguise.
And now, Ruth Spero, who hadn’t disguised herself since then,
“Answer me. Now.”
…held the old sword that was about to transform into Dark Sword.
With murderous intent in her eyes.
…As if she had heard something she shouldn’t have.