Episode 58 – Tomorrow (2)

Tomorrow (2)

I took a sick leave.

No matter how hard I tried, my body wouldn’t move, and my head was spinning as if I was on a roller coaster.

I was prepared for the deduction, but fortunately, Jeoly knew that I was directly involved in the Recordark incident last night.

Thanks to that, I received a ‘special leave’. It means there’s no deduction even if I miss class.

“……The side effects are harsh.”

It must be because of Perion again. It seems fine, but it goes down in an instant.

Anyway.

The current time is 11:45 PM.

I’m looking at the water from the back of the old building.

By the way, I’ve already made a hospital appointment.

[Reservation Completed: Libra Medical Center, Aden Edsilla Hospital]

[Wednesday, March 28, 15:00.]

Libra Medical Center, Aden Edsilla Hospital. The last Wednesday of March.

Since today is March 21, it’s exactly a week later, which is about two weeks earlier than before the regression.

At that time, I only got the test early, but the treatment schedule itself was very delayed.

“……Life is shit.”

I mumbled like that at the thought of starting chemotherapy again.

Rustle-

A human figure, draped in a blanket, appeared from the bushes.

It’s Soliette.

She trudged over and sat on the stone chair. Like me, she looked at the lake and said,

“The third week’s assignment in Swordsmanship is the Three Sword Forms.”

“……Ah, is that so?”

The theme of the third week seemed to be sword forms.

When you link more than three initial forms, it becomes a sword form. If the initial form is a raw material, then the sword form is a pillar. The pillar that supports the building called swordsmanship.

Here, the Three Sword Forms refer to the three most popular sword forms using the Five Basic Forms.

The ‘Five Basic Forms Three Sword Forms’ can be seen as the basics of swordsmanship.

“And, please take this.”

Soliette handed me a thick envelope. I looked inside.

Twenty bills worth 1,000 Ren each.

Exactly 20,000 Ren.

“Thanks for the salary.”

“How do you plan to proceed with the investigation?”

Soliette asked that first.

Of course, she doesn’t worry about me. She has little interest or curiosity about my physical condition.

Of course, I don’t feel bad or bitter about it.

Because that’s Soliette. Because we met for work now.

“It’s simple. I need to reconstruct.”

Knightmare is definitely alive, but knowing that fact alone doesn’t mean I can track him. I still don’t know Knightmare’s identity.

As I said, I was just a very small helper for Soliette, and she herself ended it with her own hands.

“……Reconstruction, you say?”

“Yeah. I have to go to the scene where he killed people, reconstruct the incident, and fumble around in time.”

For a moment, her expression froze coldly.

I continued without caring.

“I have to trace his footsteps by going over all the incidents that have been revealed and those that haven’t.”

With that, I handed over the case file I had prepared in advance. The ‘Knightmare Case File’ that she must have read hundreds, thousands of times more than me.

“You decide the order.”

The official death toll of the Knightmare incident was 17.

Although this was significantly less than the Demon of Mirina, the social impact of Knightmare was different because it specifically targeted knights.

I said to her,

“But, you won’t be able to avoid what you want to avoid. You can’t pick and choose your investigations.”

“……Fuck. Understood.”

Soliette murmured faintly. She took out a cigarette with trembling hands and lit it. The end of the cigarette glowed red.

I leaned against a stone chair, looking up at the night sky. Suddenly, old memories surfaced from within its cold texture.

Soliette had two people she cherished. One was her family, and the other was a close friend of that family.

Jared and Felix.

Their names are still unfamiliar to me, but to Soliette, they were companions from birth. They had spent more days together than apart.

Jared was Soliette’s older brother by three years. From him, Soliette learned how to face the world and its attitudes.

Felix was Jared’s close friend, and the man Soliette loved. They always argued over trivial things, but it was because they liked each other. Because they were unsure of their feelings.

Perhaps, she could have become Felix’s lover. Maybe they could have promised eternity with Jared ‘s blessing.

That future was stained with blood in an instant.

She realized her feelings were love only when the people she loved died.

Before my regression, I wanted to be their substitute.

Of course.

It was impossible.

When she killed herself, I realized I shouldn’t even try to replace them.

When she gave up on this world, I finally let go of my lingering feelings for her. I discarded all emotions of regret and affection.

It’s the same now.

I just don’t want to miss the chance to revive Soliette.

I just hope she lives longer.

In this life, I hope she finds her own worth.

Because even if you love someone, they are not more precious than you.

“……Yes. Understood.”

Soliette exhaled smoke. A sigh filled with color bloomed thickly in the night sky. She rubbed her cigarette into her personal ashtray and said,

“I’ll relay it soon. Which case to start with.”

“Okay.”

She got up.

I didn’t see her off as she retraced her steps.

Ding-

Just as I was about to immerse myself in thought, an inconsiderate alarm from my smartphone.

[Elise: Are you writing the script? Everyone seems to know what the outcome will be except you.]

It was Elise. I replied casually.

[Yeah, writing.]

[Elise: Okay. Good. I’m curious, when will you finish the script and when will you find more people? You’re a retarded kid who can’t grasp reality or self-objectify. Why are you living? Die.]

“……”

Did she suddenly go crazy?

“She must want to be the protagonist.”

Anyway, you’re going to be the protagonist since you’re a woman.

[Are you crazy? You be the protagonist, and you find the people. Don’t worry, I’ll pick a good script.]

Once, I watched a musical that reinterpreted ‘The Bard’.

The reason why the memory of that time is clear without needing to rely on a 「Notepad」 is not just because the people who went with me were Theia and Gerkhen Kal Doon.

It was simply fun.

Even I, who hated this world due to the Cancer of the Magic’s Core, and Gerkhen Kal Doon, who seemed indifferent to anything other than promotion, were engrossed in the play to the point of forgetting everything at some moment.

The story of ‘The Bard’ can be summarized as follows:

First, the protagonist, The Bard, is the most successful storyteller and singer, that is, a bard, in the kingdom.

As usual, while performing on the street, he is invited by the king one day and goes to the palace. He stays there for a week preparing for the performance, when suddenly…

A series of terrible murders occur.

First, the chamberlain dies, then the regent, the baron, and even the prince die in the storm of serial killings, and The Bard gets caught up in it unknowingly…

(Spoiler Alert)

In fact, The Bard was the culprit.

The Bard had a secret of birth.

He was the illegitimate child of the king and a maid, that is, of royal blood.

However, the queen, nobles from the maternal side, and the chamberlain, fearing a succession dispute, pressured the bard’s mother, and she eventually fled the palace and settled in a distant countryside with the young bard.

The queen did not even allow that. She sent an assassin to kill his mother. They tried to kill the young bard as well, but he was hiding under the floor.

He witnessed his mother dying from that floor.

Therefore, The Bard is a revenge play. A reinterpretation that overturns the original genre of ‘romance’.

However, love clearly existed in it. It was a tragedy caused by love alone.

[Lunatic: I’ll secure the roles as you said. I’ll be the protagonist. But the deadline is three days. If it’s not fun, or if your low-quality temperament shows, I’ll cut it off immediately.]

“I want to throw a punchline.”

I held back. Because Yael would swear at the same time.

[Understood, now get lost.]

Elise’s reply ended there.

______________________________________________________________________

Clemen Hall on Friday. As usual, Elise went to school with Kain, Asher, and Layla.

As soon as she sat down, she started humming a tune without realizing it. Is it because of the protagonist role? She’s feeling unusually good.

In fact, she had already written the script based on ‘The Cunning King’. Shion Ascal’s script would obviously be the worst.

“Did something good happen?”

Kain asked. Kain and Asher looked tired together.

They went to a club last night.

“Well.”

Elise changed her expression to a sly one.

“Hmm. You’re going to be the protagonist~ That’s nice~ I wish I could~ You don’t even let me in~”

It was a sharp criticism. Layla crossed her arms as if she was very upset.

Elise quietly defended herself.

“…You said you didn’t want to do it.”

“No! Who wants to be a background!”

She had suggested the role of a tree to Layla. Layla’s face would be the only part visible on a tree panel. Like a photo zone in a theme park.

“I think being a talking tree isn’t too bad.”

Elise replied naturally.

It was a play with an invitation to ‘Sermones Laeterni’. She couldn’t risk ruining it by unnecessarily involving Layla.

“Wow… Elly, that’s too much. Really. Fine. I’ll ask Shion.”

This time, Kain and Asher frowned.

“What are you asking that guy for? He’s about to get dropped.”

“Exactly.”

Layla looked at them with an expression that said they were pathetic.

“You guys have been saying that for three weeks now, haven’t you?”

“…That bastard is holding up pretty well, isn’t he?”

When Asher turned to Kain and asked, Kain laughed as if it was ridiculous.

“Exactly. How on earth, or why is that guy still alive… Ah, my hangover is pretty bad.”

“Oh, there’s Shion.”

Speak of the devil.

Just then, Shion appeared.

He walked in shakily and sat in the very back seat. Layla, being very careful, started to head towards him…

“Good morning.”

The front door of the hall opened, and the voice of the person in charge was heard. Layla quickly sat back down.

“Second time, huh?”

This week’s Friday person in charge was Shelton again.

His specs as a wizard of the Magic Tower and a senior researcher are superior to those of Chedric and Asillen.

“Today’s assignment is not only for Endex but also for all the seniors of the magic high schools participating in the college board… It might be a bit tough for you all.”

Everyone in Clemen Hall tensed up.

The person in charge said it would be tough. It meant it would be seriously hard.

“You all will be entering the ‘Magic Space’.”

At that, the tension in the room became higher than the oxygen level.

Magic Space, simply put, means ‘a space made of magic’.

It looks like a narrow shack from the outside, but when you go inside, it’s as wide as several sports fields combined, or it’s definitely underwater, but you can breathe, all these places are Magic Spaces.

50 years ago, it was a mysterious space that only occurred naturally, but these days, with the advancement of technology, artificial construction has become possible.

“Be on your guard. Everything inside the Magic Space is real. Therefore, it can hurt you, and in severe cases, it can lead to death. The medium that maintains the Magic Space is the ‘Magic Core’.”

The Magic Core is simply a higher version of the mana core. It can hold much more information than a mana core of the same mass, process much more magic, and is generally much more expensive, high-performance, and rare in all aspects.

Therefore, the Magic Space created with the Magic Core will be almost as real as reality, and the dangers there will be as real as those in reality.

“The purpose of the assignment is only one.”

Shelton said with a grin.

“Survive as long as possible for 30 hours.”