Chapter 15 : Glass Freesia

The grand cathedral located in the Armonia Spirit Academy.

There, the silver-haired noble girl finished the ceremony and opened her eyes.

“Well done, Yuri Freesia.”

“Thank you. How was the record?”

The nun assisting her stopped the hourglass and checked the record.

“…Four minutes.”

At her words, everyone’s attention focused on Yuri.

“Four minutes… It’s a new record!”

It was an unprecedented record in the history of the Armonia Spirit Academy.

[Armonia Chronicles] Chapter 1

I triggered Dark Bullet to escape the nightmare.

Starting with the carriage that Dark Bullet hit directly, the surrounding figures and background began to distort in sequence.

In a nightmare, doing something unrealistic—surprisingly—breaks the Nightmare spell easily.

Of course, only if you realize that it’s a dream.

Before long, I faced the wolf wearing the jet-black armor again.

…Of course, with one arm eaten.

“Let’s end this.”

I thrust the black dagger deeply into the gap of the armor where the blue light leaked out.

The armored spirit in the shape of a black dog disappeared into the form of a soul and was sucked into my heart with a slight scream.

And then, I opened my eyes.

Back in the cathedral.

Around me, I saw nuns looking at me and other participants who had gathered.

I could hear them whispering.

“Is that true…? Three minutes…?”

“Isn’t that a record?”

Three minutes? A record?

What are they talking about?

Puzzled, I asked the nun.

“Um, I’m not sure, but if it’s three minutes, I’m in the top 10, right?”

“Not in the top 10… You are in first place. Participant. And with the best record in Armonia’s history.”

“…What?”

I’m doomed.

According to the novel, the person who was originally supposed to take first place…

At that moment, it seemed that someone else woke up on the other side.

“This side is also awake!”

The people gathered around me quickly went there.

There, the silver-haired noble girl finished the ceremony and opened her eyes.

“Well done, Yuri Freesia.”

“Thank you. How was the record?”

The nun assisting her stopped the hourglass and checked the record.

“…Four minutes. Miss Yuri, it was almost a new record, but…”

“But?”

“Just now, a participant set a record of three minutes…”

“…What?”

It wasn’t difficult to identify who she was.

Among the participants who were lying down, the hourglass had only stopped for her and me.

She came straight to me, fluttering her silver hair.

“Is it you? The one who set a record of three minutes.”

Similar height to me, neatly arranged silver hair, and transparent skin—I could identify her identity just by encountering her.

She was the protagonist of this novel, Yuri Freesia.

I survived for 17 years to meet her.

I couldn’t help but feel a sense of welcome and called out her name.

“Perhaps, Yuri Freesia…?”

“…How do you know my name?”

Oops. To her right now, I was a complete stranger.

Let’s make an excuse for now.

“Because you’re the most talked-about participant this year…?”

“…Hmm.”

Since she is the one everyone is looking forward to, it wouldn’t be strange if I knew about her.

“Anyway, how did you subdue Osteon in three minutes?”

She stares at me.

This isn’t a look of suspicion.

It’s the eyes of a madly hungry scholar.

“I don’t know if you’ll believe me if I tell you…”

“Please tell me. Since it’s proven by the record, I have no choice but to believe it.”

I hesitated for a moment, then spoke.

“I gave up one arm. The movement was so fast that I thought it would be faster to just give up one arm as bait.”

“…An arm…?”

She was quite shocked.

Because I kept staring, I felt like I did something wrong.

“Usually, in that situation, consciousness would be ejected.”

“I endured it. With grit.”

“…You’re really crazy. You.”

With an expression that mixed admiration and awe, she said so.

She looked at me silently for a while, then turned away from me and left the cathedral.

Looking at her back, I sighed.

“…Ha.”

Originally, my plan was like this.

I was going to place within the top 10 to naturally attract Yuri’s attention, and I was going to try to get closer somehow.

I got too serious and ended up getting first place.

Did I make her hate me because of that?

If I can’t get closer even though I met her after 17 years, that’s the end.

“…Participant.”

The nun in charge of me said to me.

“Congratulations. Tomorrow, at the Spirit Master appointment ceremony, you will be directly granted the position of Spirit Master by His Majesty the Emperor, so please be sure to attend the appointment ceremony on time.”

“Th-thank you.”

As Yuri disappeared, the onlookers also scattered one by one.

First, the big thing is solved, so I should find a place to sleep today.

Before that, there’s one thing I need to check.

I came out of the cathedral and quickly opened the notebook with the novel written on it.

‘The part where the manifestation ceremony appears… here it is.’

As expected.

The contents of the novel have changed again.

The part where Yuri set the best record was changed due to the sudden appearance of a person called ‘me’.

‘What about the chaos level…!?’

Ding

Current Chaos Level: 1.3

It rose.

The Chaos Level, which was 1 for several years, increased by 0.3 due to the action just now.

‘This is dangerous…’

When the Chaos Level became 1, the concept of ‘Master Sarkas’ was created in this world.

What you need to know is that the one I dealt with was the weakest of the Master Sarkas.

It was an opponent that I could somehow deal with alone, but there will be Master Sarkas among wolf-type Sarkas or stronger Sarkas.

With a level of 1, such a thing was created, but if the Chaos Level becomes 2…

I didn’t even want to imagine what would happen.

‘…I’m hungry.’

For now, I’m tired from fighting, so I’ll fill my stomach with the remaining gold.

Forget about Spirit Master or whatever, let’s eat first!

Jingling the money bag with the gold, I set out to find a restaurant.

The nuns silently watched the black-haired girl in a hood walk away.

A young nun, who had something she wanted to say but no one brought it up, spoke first.

“A black-haired spirit master sets a record… Is the Spirit Academy cursed this year?”

“It’s not just that, the vulgar attire too. I wonder if it will have a bad influence on other students…”

“As clergy, can we have such prejudice?”

The one who intervened in the conversation was the noble girl with silver hair.

The nuns, who were caught having a secret conversation, blushed and coughed for no reason.

“Y-Yuri… You haven’t left yet.”

“I was going to, but I had something I left behind.”

Yuri, who picked up a shabby pendant, greeted the nuns and left the cathedral.

‘That person, it wasn’t a bluff that she gave up her arm.’

While talking in the cathedral a while ago, Yuri examined her body revealed through the robe.

Countless scars from fingertips to ankles, and the fact that the knees and wrists seemed to be slightly out of balance showed that they had been broken and reattached countless times.

It’s proof that she’s been used to pain since her usual life.

‘…It’s frustrating.’

About three thousand.

It was the number of virtual battles she had conducted in her head for the battle of the manifestation ceremony.

What she’s angry about now is herself.

Giving up defense increases the risk, but it was the surest way to shorten the time.

What the girl did was the very method that could shorten the time most reliably.

Of course, it’s a self-destructive method, and if you’re unlucky, you might lose consciousness because you can’t endure the pain, but anyway, it was a simple yet effective method.

She was deeply disappointed in herself for hiding behind safety and choosing the next best option.

‘Come to think of it, I didn’t ask her name.’

The black-haired girl.

The purple hood that she wore deeply to cover her hair, and the weapons made of unknown material, aroused her curiosity.

This is the capital of the empire, Semal. If such a person was walking around here, she would have definitely stood out.

Moreover, judging by her attire, she was definitely an outsider. But why…

‘Why did she know me?’

She still had a mountain of things she wanted to ask that person.