Chapter 79: Is it funny that I’m going to lose credits again?

After solving the problem of the scumbag brother, Charlotte’s gaze fell upon Yuffie not far away. Ignoring the blood still flowing from her own body, she rushed to Yuffie’s side.

“Yuffie! Yuffie!”

Charlotte called Yuffie’s name repeatedly, but no matter how much she called, Yuffie could not wake up again.

Her life force had been taken by her wicked brother, and her body was slowly growing cold.

Yuffie was beyond saving. This was an irreversible fact.

Charlotte clenched her fist in frustration.

Her purpose for this trip was to stop Yuffie, to keep her from doing something foolish, not to take her life.

Now that Yuffie’s life had been taken, did that mean her entire trip was utterly meaningless?

“Damn it!”

Charlotte angrily pounded the stone slab below her, splattering blood everywhere.

“Lady Charlotte!”

Seeing this, Lillian, who was behind her, rushed forward, trying to stop Charlotte.

“Lady Charlotte, please stop!”

However, at that moment, Charlotte suddenly noticed that the previously dimmed magic circle was shining brightly again, revived by the pouring of her own blood.

This was the Soul-Revival Magic circle that Yuffie had set up to save her brother. It had dimmed because all the magical power was used up.

The fact that it was shining again meant that if more magical power was injected into it, the Soul-Revival Magic might be able to take effect again.

Noticing this, Charlotte opened her palm and looked at the pink necklace she had just obtained from the white armor.

“Lillian!”

“Lady Charlotte!”

“I am going to use Soul-Revival Magic to bring Yuffie back! But this is my first time using it, and I don’t know what terrible consequences it might cause. So, while I am casting the Soul-Revival Magic, I entrust my body to you for protection!”

Hearing Charlotte’s words, Lillian looked shocked, but seeing the look of firm resolve in Charlotte’s eyes, Lillian patted her own chest, the chest that Charlotte so envied.

“Leave it to me, Lady Charlotte! I won’t let anyone harm you!” Lillian’s face also showed a confident expression that seemed to say, “Dare to trespass, and I’ll make sure you suffer a crushing defeat.”

Charlotte nodded slightly. After tying the pink necklace around Yuffie’s neck, she stood up and walked to the front of the magic circle.

She pulled a sharp silver dagger from her dimensional space and cleanly cut her own arm, allowing her blood to pour onto the magic circle below her.

“Lady Charlotte!”

Seeing this, Lillian cried out in alarm.

“Don’t worry! I’m just draining the excess blood! I can replace it with Holy Magic later.” Charlotte explained softly.

To quickly inject a massive amount of magical power into the magic circle, Charlotte had no choice but to resort to this drastic measure.

The magical power consumed by Soul-Revival Magic was enormous. If she couldn’t gather the required magical power, the spell wouldn’t activate successfully.

Fortunately, Charlotte was born with an innate abundance of magic. Her magical power seemed limitless.

After only a moment of bloodletting, the light emanating from the Soul-Revival Magic circle became incredibly brilliant.

The time was right.

Charlotte raised her right hand, mimicking Yuffie’s previous action, and silently chanted the long sequence of incantations in her mind.

Instantly, another beam of light descended from the sky, landing on Yuffie’s body.

Countless magical energies surged toward Yuffie’s body like a tide.

The surrounding air became chaotic, and Charlotte’s and Lillian’s hair was tossed about wildly.

But they paid no attention, staring intently at Yuffie’s body, which was slowly lifting.

Their hearts were pounding with anxiety.

Would Yuffie be saved? They couldn’t be certain, but they prayed silently in their hearts that she would live.

After a brief silence, a dazzling light suddenly radiated from Yuffie’s body, scattering like fireflies in a summer night’s forest.

Yuffie’s body slowly descended, resting quietly in the center of the now-dim magic circle.

Charlotte and Lillian stared blankly at Yuffie’s body for several seconds before rushing over to check her condition.

“Yuffie! Yuffie! How are you?”

Charlotte gently called Yuffie’s name.

As she reached Yuffie’s side and gently touched her body, a string of memories that were not her own suddenly transferred to her mind.

In those memories, the image of a young boy occupied most of the frame.

It seemed the boy had been very caring toward “her.”

‘Yuffie, let’s go out and play!’

‘Yuffie, don’t be sad! Come and watch the magic trick your brother will perform for you!’

‘Yuffie, don’t worry. Your brother will protect you no matter what!’

The image of that boy was undoubtedly Yuri, the one who had just taken Yuffie’s life.

“Senior, you saw it, didn’t you!” Yuffie’s voice suddenly came from the side.

Charlotte snapped back to reality and saw that Yuffie had opened her eyes.

Tears streamed from her eyes. It seemed the beautiful dream she had been longing for had silently shattered.

“Uh, I didn’t mean to pry!”

“It’s alright. It doesn’t… matter anymore.” Yuffie wasn’t angry, even though Charlotte had seen her private memories.

“Brother Yuri was the best brother in the world to me. I wanted to use Soul-Revival Magic to bring him back and save this Magic Academy, but I never expected that my brother was always so…”

“…caring about me? Senior, how am I supposed to live now?”

“Yuffie, you weren’t wrong! I believe your caring brother truly wanted you to live happily when you were little. It was just that after the fire, he was blinded by despair and made the mistake of wanting to kill his sister. Your desire to save your brother was absolutely not wrong!”

Saying this, Charlotte tightly gripped Yuffie’s hand.

“Yuffie, if it’s okay with you, I’ll be your older brother from now on!”

“Eh? Senior will be my older brother?”

“Yes! Don’t let my age fool you. I’ve been an older brother to two sisters before! No one is more suited to being an older brother than me!”

“Hehehe…” Yuffie suddenly laughed. “Senior, you’re joking again. You’re a girl. How could you have been an older brother?”

“Eh? I mean… older sister. That’s right, just treat me as your older sister.” Charlotte quickly and awkwardly corrected herself.

“Thank you, Senior.” Yuffie looked relieved.

She wiped the tears from her eyes and stood up, as if she had regained the motivation to live.

She extended her hand to Charlotte.

“I’m sorry, Senior, for making you worry. But you don’t need to worry anymore, Senior. I know what I want to live for now. From now on, please look after me!”

Charlotte showed a look of relieved joy.

However, just as she was about to reach out her hand, her vision suddenly went black, and she slumped to the ground.

“Senior! Senior!”

“Lady Charlotte! Lady Charlotte!”

Yuffie and Lillian cried out simultaneously.

Charlotte let out a wry, faint smile, then passed out.

‘Crap, I forgot to use Holy Magic on myself. I’m going to bleed out.’

****

The incident of stolen magical power caused by Yuffie came to an end.

Yuffie, who had arbitrarily used a forbidden spell, should have been handed over to the Witch Association for trial.

But fortunately, Yuffie proactively admitted her mistake.

The academy, considering that the incident hadn’t caused severe consequences, reduced her punishment to a deduction of 200 academic credits and probation.

Following that, Yuffie sincerely apologized to the freshmen whose magical power she had stolen, and through her continuous efforts, she finally earned their forgiveness.

Yuffie could now look up at the clear blue sky and move forward, once again like a witch full of hope for the future.

As for Elsa, who was severely injured by Yuffie, she quickly bounced back to full health afterward.

Although the entire incident was ultimately resolved by Charlotte, Elsa stubbornly insisted that she was the one who first discovered the mastermind. She still wanted Charlotte to wear the maid outfit she had personally selected and serve her for one day in her room.

Charlotte righteously refused this demand.

After all, Elsa had fallen unconscious from the sleeping tea before she could tell Charlotte the mastermind’s name. Charlotte had found the mastermind’s true identity entirely on her own.

Objectively, Charlotte should have been the one who won the bet.

Since neither Charlotte nor Elsa could convince the other, the bet was voided.

“Is Yuffie alright?”

When Charlotte learned about Yuffie’s current condition from Instructor Mashiro, she finally relaxed.

“That’s good. I was worried the academy would punish her severely. It’s a relief that it was only a 200 academic credit deduction.”

As expected of a senior who was used to having credits deducted, she spoke with an air of righteous indignation.

“Although she’s fine now, you’re about to be in trouble.” Mashiro said coldly, her eyes as sharp as a millennium-old hawk’s.

“Hmm? Me?”

“You used two forbidden spells, and even Special Grade Magic, causing such a huge disturbance in the academy. Did you think you would get away without any punishment?”

‘The Crimson Judgment Bullet destroyed the Sun-Glow Tower, startling the entire academy.’

“Eh? I destroyed the Sun-Glow Tower?” Charlotte looked at Mashiro with disbelief.

If she remembered correctly, the Sun-Glow Tower was Mashiro’s territory as the Sun Witch.

While Charlotte and Yuffie were fighting fiercely, Mashiro had been happily taking a bath in the Sun-Glow Tower.

When she finished her bath and walked out wrapped in a towel, she was shocked to find that the entire Sun-Glow Tower was completely ruined.

“Are you saying you won’t admit that was your doing?”

Mashiro stared at Charlotte with murderous intent.

Charlotte instantly broke out in a cold sweat.

“No, no, no, I didn’t mean to destroy the tower!”

“For using two forbidden spells and destroying one of the academy’s defensive towers, you will be docked three hundred academic credits.”

“Three hundred?!” Charlotte’s eyes nearly popped out.

Mashiro was truly ruthless. Her academic credits were utterly ruined on the spot.

“Wait a minute, three hundred academic credits is too much! I only earn thirty academic credits for completing one commission!”

“Alright then. If you can clean up the ruins of my Sun-Glow Tower before the sun sets today, I will consider reducing your deduction to two hundred and fifty.”

“Before the sun sets?” Charlotte looked up at the sun, which had already slid toward the southwest. “That doesn’t leave much time!”

“Are you going to take this commission, or not?”

“I’ll do it, I’ll do it, fine! I’ll do it!”

Charlotte rushed off toward the Sun-Glow Tower.

However, just as she was about to take off, Mashiro added another sentence.

“By the way, there are many Explosion Magic Circles embedded beneath the Sun-Glow Tower. If you use magic to clear the ruins, it might trigger an explosion on the spot!”

“What?!” Hearing this, Charlotte gritted her teeth.

That meant she had to clear the ruins by hand in the remaining two or three hours. The sheer volume of work was even greater than cleaning the pool a few days ago.

“Thank you so much, Instructor Mashiro!”