Chapter 84

[Translator – Bob ]

[Proofreader – ilafy ]

Chapter 84

A torch-lit cave…

In order to arrive at that location, one had to open the way by first disarming every single trap in the Castle of Phantasms.

“This fortress… exists so that I can follow the orders from my master. Now that you’ve returned, I don’t need this place anymore!”

Lilith had attached herself right next to Sumire, her eyes solely focused on the girl. Sumire scratched her cheek as if embarrassed.

“Eh? Uh, b-but I’m not Laplace-nim…”

“No, no! Sumire-nim, you’ve inherited her power, and thus you are, without doubt, my master! From now on, I’ll devote myself to serving you!”

The domineering succubus was acting like an excited child to Sumire.

“Fufu, I’ve been waiting so long for my master to return! I’ve been closely guarding all of the treasure you left with me!”

Lilith’s eyes were overflowing with affection. A smile crept up on Sumire’s face as she bashfully laughed at the attention.

Sakura was quietly whispering into Seiji’s ear in the meanwhile.

“…So you’re saying that Sumire is the succubus’ owner now? And thanks to that, we completed the raid?”

“Haha, the full explanation is really long, so… I guess, in short?” Seiji laughed. 

Sakura nodded in response. “Hm~ quite the accomplishment. A student with a rank 5 boss monster as their minion? That’s reeeeally~ amazing~”

Her tone was sarcastic and loud enough so that it seemed as if she wanted the succubus to hear her.

“…Sounds like you wanted me to hear that.”

The succubus in question threw a look at Sakura, who deftly ignored her and approached Sumire from the side, drawing her into an embrace.

“Sumire~ thank you~! I’m alive thanks to you!”

“Eh? N-no, it wasn’t me! It’s because we all managed to combine our powers!”

“Aw, c’mon, I didn’t even do anything. All I did was get taken down by this dumb, idiotic-looking succubus over here!”

Sakura poked the succubus with her index finger, throwing a vicious jab towards the monster at the end of her sentence. A vein threatened to pop on Lilith’s forehead. She just barely managed to endure the insults though—for Sumire’s sake.

“It’s over here, Master.”

The room they had arrived at was incredibly plain, with a bookshelf adorning the place. The  succubus walked towards said bookshelf and took out a diary from it before returning back to Sumire’s side. 

The diary began to glow, reacting to Sumire.

Flash!!

Lilith offered the book to the girl.

“Master told me to protect this diary, no matter what,” she said, voice soft.

“Th-this is…”

Tap.

When Sumire touched the book, the purple light began to glow even brighter.

‘I-I’m sure of it… this is the second fragment.’

Fshh!!

The light emanating from the diary was sucked into Sumire through her fingertips.

Vween!

[Deciphering the language using data stored in the Pocket.]

[Deciphering complete.]

[The item in question is the (Witch’s Fragment–Laplace’s Diary).]

The Pocket began explaining the situation in a detailed manner through its hologram.

[You have obtained (Laplace’s Throne) as a Skill from the Witch’s second fragment.]

The light from the diary faded as Sumire absorbed all of its power.

“…This is where my role ends. I will leave your treatment of me to you now, Master.”

Saying so, Lilith bowed down on one knee for Sumire. No matter what her order would be, the succubus’ loyalty towards her would not waver.

Sumire looked at YuSung in a plea for help.

“Y-YuSung-ssi…”

Something to be thankful about was the fact that the Castle of Phantasms was rather far away from the city.

YuSung calmly opened his mouth after pondering the situation.

“…The important thing here is to get approval from the Association.”

“…Heeh, I guess,” Sakura sighed, looking at the succubus on one knee. “I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep well tonight if we kill off something with this high of an intelligence, and she already swore that she would obey Sumire and all that~”

For whatever reason, she was taking the succubus’ side.

Seiji laughed boisterously to his heart’s content. “I’ll go with what you guys decide, no matter what! The raid succeeded due to you guys, after all!”

Sumire’s newly-acquired power, and Lilith, who had become her minion… 

What YuSung needed at the moment was someone from the Association who would understand the situation and help them. 

As it happened, he had quite the reliable person in mind.

“Alright, then. I’ll try to ask for help from the Association president for this incident.”

The person YuSung had chosen to contact was Kang YuChan, the Fist King’s old friend—he was the highest authority in the Association.

“Th-the Association president?!” Sakura looked amazed. “Whoa~ j-just who are you?”

Sumire smiled and stretched out a hand towards Lilith.

“Then I’ll be in your care, Lilith-ssi!”

Lilith was a lonely existence after parting with her master, Laplace. To her, Sumire’s existence was a blessing unto itself, and to top it off, she was treating her with an excessive amount of kindness.

Lilith vehemently shook her head. “Lilith-ssi? N-no, you are the one who has inherited Laplace-nim’s will! Feel free to call me Lili in a casual manner!”

Not a single shred of the dignity belonging to a rank 5 boss could be seen in her.

Sakura sighed as she stared at the glittering eyes of the succubus. “I really have to work hard, huh. Losing to a puppy like that?”

Sumire smiled bashfully at Lilith’s passionate show of loyalty.

“Ah, o-okay! L-Lili-ssi! I’ll be in your care!”

On one side was Lilith, who was crying tears of joy over finding her true master, and on the other was Sumire, who was watching the succubus and smiling.

YuSung finally relaxed, letting go of the tension he had held onto for that entire time.

‘So clearing the rank 5 dungeon is also a success…’

As the party leader, the raid had become the perfect opportunity to strengthen both Sumire’s abilities and their party’s overall combat power.

‘It’s a good thing that Sumire managed to get the fragment. She’ll be able to become stronger as she fights in the International Competition and climbs the Tower.’

YuSung, who himself had been able to become strong through the Fist King’s teachings, was planning on pulling his party member, Sumire, up with him.

Translator – Bob

Choten Academy’s portal zone…

Students were lined up next to the portal, as per usual. Seiji took the time to give YuSung a courteous bow in farewell.

“Korean team, no, Shin YuSung! We learned something proper from you guys during this raid!”

The term “hot-blooded” fit him like a glove.

Seiji raised his eyes to look at YuSung and laughed boisterously.

“But we won’t lose at the International Competition, alright? Our goal is to be at the top of the world, and that includes Korea, too, of course!”

He held out a hand to shake, and YuSung smiled and clasped it with his own.

“Sounds good. I’ll be looking forward to the International Competition.”

“Hmm~ how passionate. Seiji, are you already attached to YuSung?” Sakura said, calling YuSung in a familiar manner.

Sumire covertly tried to scan the portal zone, which was filled with other students.

Seiji, seeing her do that, smiled bitterly. “…Isshin, that guy. Don’t bother looking for him. It looks like he didn’t come here today, either.”

“Well~ considering his personality, it might be weirder if he actually had come, right?” Sakura added, butting in.

Sumire, pensive, shook her head.

“N-no, it’s fine! I’m the one who was in the wrong… there’s no helping it… if he doesn’t forgive me.”

Saying that, she forced herself to laugh. 

It wasn’t like she couldn’t understand Isshin’s attitude. The facts were that she had abandoned her fellow party members and fled to Korea without even a single word.

“Sumire, Isshin is—”

“Stop it,” Sakura interrupted Seiji right as he was about to say something. “It’s a good day. Let’s stop talking about Isshin, alright? It’s not like they have a particularly good relationship together or anything.”

“…That’s true.”

Yamada, the teacher in charge, had been listening to the children talk without so much as a peep. Finally, he opened their mouth and began to speak, eyes tired.

“It looks like you’ve all finished talking with each other. I’ll open the portal now, then.”

Vmmm!

The portal began to activate with a grandiose sound. It was time for YuSung and Sumire, the principal actors of the dungeon raid, to take their victory lap back home.

*

The west side of the Italian Peninsula, the Tyrrhenian Sea…

– Squawk! Squawk!

– Splash! Boom!

The cries of seagulls ringing in the air… The sound of waves splashing in the sea… The yacht floating on the waters was nothing short of paradise, but the party members of Bianca ACademy were not on the yacht for the purpose of taking a vacation.

Their goal was to hunt monsters on the Sicilian Strait.

The brown-haired girl was fiddling with her glasses while muttering, book gripped in her hand.

“We will soon arrive at the Sicilian Strait. For the record, our destination, Lampedusa, is an island marked by the Association as…”

“Sophia, why don’t you save that talk for after we arrive at the island?”

A handsome young man with blond hair stopped Sophia’s mumbling in its tracks with a bright grin on his face. Leo Este was first in the student rankings among all of the first-year students in Bianca Academy, but even with those skills, he had not been chosen as the representative during the Selections. The reason was due to the fact that he had lost to a newly-participating student.

“Why don’t we introduce ourselves to each other instead…? Since we were oh-so-suddenly put into a party together.”

Leo, true to his nickname as the Sun Knight, was a boy with a warm personality. Thanks to it, he had an easy time becoming friends with others up to that point.

“What do you think, Miss Adela?”

But Adela was the exception.

A fascinating woman who had suddenly returned from Korea to recapture the title of first place in Italy, her immense skills had overwhelmed everyone.

Adela’s personality was as cold as the winter, and the frozen walls around her were stronger than anything in existence—she was someone that even Leo had trouble dealing with.

Seeing that she did not reply to his question, Leo smiled lightly and began introducing himself to start.

“My name is Leo Este. I use the Solar Blade, an artifact passed down throughout my family line, as my weapon.”

He looked at Sophia, indicating that it was her turn next. Sophia fiddled with her glasses.

“My name is… Sophia Rossi. If nothing else, I’m confident in my theory. My grades are at the top of our year.”

Adela continued to stare at the horizon with expressionless eyes. 

They were called her party members, but at the end of the day, they were nothing more than strangers to her. Adela had always acted on her own—it was the first time she had ever been a leader of a party. 

But there was a reason as to why she had done so.

‘…Since that was the condition they gave me.’

The headmaster of Bianca and the Italian Hunter’s Association branch had given Adela a condition to follow: put the first and second in students rankings—Leo and Sophia—in her party. In exchange, they would let her participate in the Selections and enroll her into Bianca Academy. 

Adela had handily accepted the terms. She could easily accept conditions of that caliber if it meant that she could fight YuSung, who had beaten her before.

“…Adela Ortensia, my ability is Cryokinesis.”

Leo felt rather embarrassed at her short introduction. However, the girl continued.

“And my goal…”

Her eyes looked towards Leo and Sophia.

“Is to win at the International Competition.”

The two could feel an oddly strong resolve coming through her listless tone.

Adela once again spun her gaze around to stare at the horizon.

“In order to do that…” she began to mutter, quietly, “I will need your help.”

The statement itself was nothing surprising to hear since one couldn’t participate in the International Competition alone, but Leo and Sophia seemed satisfied by the answer as they looked at each other and smiled.

“Alright, then. Let’s all do our best!”

“I can theoretically deduce that Italy’s percentage chance of winning is quite high, provided that you cooperate, Miss Adela…”

“You’re supposed to say that we’ll definitely win in situations like these, Sophia.”

Leaving the noisy conversation behind her, Adela tossed her hair back her as a certain someone popped up in her head.

‘…This time, things will be different.’