Chapter 119

(5)

9.

The night after the mock battle.

At 10 PM, the dormitory lights went out.

The dorm supervisors patrolled the rooms to check attendance, and soon all the lights were extinguished.

The hallway was locked in darkness.

The Arsen guards patrolled the dorm as always. However, they didn’t notice the gigantic shadow slipping out of a window.

Well, of course.

The shadow belonged to Ulan, a figure who had attracted a lot of attention during today’s mock battle, revealing the true power of the Master.

Perfectly concealing his presence, he headed straight towards the accommodation where Laurea was staying, cutting through the forest.

Shortly after,

Ulan broke through the heavy guard in the blink of an eye. He swiftly climbed the outer wall of the accommodation, and soon reached his destination.

There it was, a window cracked open halfway.

Probably left ajar for easier access.

So Ulan slipped inside without hesitation and soon made eye contact with Laurea, who was casually sitting on the balcony.

“……Ah.”

Her round eyes widened momentarily.

But the surprise quickly faded as she realized it was Ulan.

At that moment,

Laurea made a sulky face.

“What’s up? Why are you so lateee?”

“I came at night as promised.”

“Still, this is way too late.”

She answered back in a grumpy tone.

I noticed the elongated vowel sounds in her words, which raised my suspicion. Sure enough, I could see her cheeks slightly flushed in the moonlight.

“Have you been drinking?”

“Yeah! I got a bit tipsy since you took so long to show up.”

“That doesn’t look like just a bit…”

“Shush! To me, it’s just a littleee.”

There were five wine bottles scattered on the floor.

Not to mention, the one in her hand was almost empty. Laurea was hiccuping non-stop, scrunching her brows she pointed to the chair across from her.

“Just sit there. My neck hurts from looking up all the time.”

Seems she was tired of craning her neck.

Ulan silently sat in the chair and immediately asked her about the reason for the visit.

“What did you call me for?”

“Hold on. Let me just finish this drink.”

After chugging the remaining wine,

she began tapping her cheeks with her palms to gather her thoughts. Then she clasped her hands together, gazing at the starlight while mumbling something under her breath.

After a while,

Paah!

A burst of white light enveloped her.

The blush on Laurea’s cheeks faded, the hiccups subsided, and her slightly dazed eyes returned to normal.

“Okay, I’m good now.”

Laurea wore a satisfied expression.

What she had just done was use her divine power through a prayer to shake off the effects of the alcohol.

Ulan looked at her calmly, having witnessed this scene many times before. Laurea too shifted her gaze back to Ulan.

And then she revealed the reason she called him.

“So, about earlier.”

“……?”

“While you and Ian were battling, I had a short conversation with Noa Darshen.”

Must be talking about the time when she used the holy prayer, Bridge of Light, to cross over to Arsen’s base.

She explained every detail of her conversation with Noa without missing a single word.

“In other words, the most significant piece of information we’ve gathered so far is that Noa Darshen and the Abyss are not on the same side.”

Once she wrapped up her explanation of the situation,

Laurea summarized the crucial part of the conversation for Ulan.

And then there was one more important guess.

“This is just my personal opinion, but I think she might be someone who came from the future like you.”

“What made you think that?”

“Well, she answered yes when I asked if she knew about the future, just like you.”

It turned out to be true.

However, Ulan had a somewhat sour response.

“But Noa has foresight.”

“I’ve heard that too, but honestly, it doesn’t make sense to predict such specific things purely through foresight.”

Laurea responded firmly.

Especially since the fact that someone like Ulan surely exists who came from the future makes this guess much more compelling than mere foresight.

“So it’s more reasonable to assume that, in the state of having memories from the future like you, she’s disguising it as foresight.”

After wrapping up her short speculation,

Laurea added an explanation.

“Also, the reason Noa doesn’t exist in your memories might be because the you from your past life didn’t attend Arsen Academy.”

“Hmm, that definitely makes sense.”

An argument that holds water.

If she had attended Arsen Academy in her past life, they would have never crossed paths.

So as he fell into thought without a word,

Laurea spoke up again.

“I have another new question.”

“What is it?”

“She said her goal is to return to where she originally was, right? So does that mean she wants to go back to her original future?”

If so, what could the reason be?

The future Ulan experienced was a place devastated by the Abyss, turned into hell itself.

Laurea looked curious.

Ulan shook his head. This time, it seemed her speculation was off the mark.

“It’s probably a different meaning.”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

“When the Abyssal Rift opened, the Abyss referred to Noa as an Outsider.”

“Outsider, huh…”

Laurea’s expression darkened.

As if she had found an important clue.

In the Empire or the Holy Nation, an Outsider refers to someone from a region with different cultures and customs, or someone from a foreign country.

Then what does an Outsider mean from the Abyss’s perspective?

“Could it be that Ulan, you also…”

“I wasn’t referred to as such.”

They didn’t even call Ulan, who was from the future, an Outsider?

Laurea frowned.

The question she thought would be simple suddenly felt like it was slipping into a labyrinth.

“Hmm, I need to look into that part a bit more.”

It’s hard to hypothesize from the current information alone.

Having made her judgment, she leaned back against her chair. Then she steered the conversation back to its initial point.

“But it’s definitely clear that she’s not our enemy. So I think it would be good to take the opportunity to share your story.”

Since Noa is not on the side of the Abyss.

Yet Ulan’s thoughts were different.

“No, Noa goes first.”

“Huh?”

“If Noa doesn’t tell her secret first, I won’t share my story either.”

An unexpectedly stubborn attitude.

Laurea asked curiously.

“Why’s that?”

“That girl has too many secrets.”

“Secrets, huh…”

“Just because she’s not an enemy doesn’t mean she’s our ally. So, when I’m able to trust her, I’ll consider telling her my secrets.”

A solid conviction was felt in his answer.

She nodded.

“I agree on that point. She definitely seems to be hiding a lot.”

Now that she thought about it, there are still many unresolved questions.

From how two souls coexist in one body to what her true identity is and even that strange term, player.

Just as Ulan said, there are numerous secrets yet to be unraveled. Laurea nodded again, deciding to respect Ulan’s thoughts.

“Alright then. We should set up a time later where the three of us can meet.”

“That would be good.”

Ulan smiled.

They could trust Noa if they spilled all their secrets and shared a conversation.

After all their discussions concluded,

Laurea reached for the wine bottle again.

“Are you drinking again?”

“Yup! I think the alcohol wore off, and I keep hearing the stars’ voices since earlier.”

Laurea shrugged her shoulders.

Bringing out a new wine bottle, she sat down and quickly removed the cork. After taking a gulp from the bottle, she turned back to Ulan.

“By the way…”

“Hmm?”

“What have you been staring at since earlier?”

Since the conversation ended, Ulan hadn’t taken his eyes off her body.

To say the least, it was an obvious gaze. Laurea smirked coyly as she asked back.

“Are you interested in my body…?”

“More or less.”

“……What? R-really?”

Laurea was taken aback.

She only asked playfully, but never expected him to admit it so readily.

Flustered by the unexpected answer, Ulan slightly corrected himself.

“More specifically, it’s your outfit.”

“Oh, my outfit?”

“It’s different from the ones you wore in your past life.”

Currently, Laurea wore a Black Uniform adorned with a silver stole. In contrast, in her past life, she had always donned pure white robes.

Since he had never seen her in black before, natural curiosity bubbled up.

“So I was curious.”

“Ugh, is that all?”

A rather anticlimactic reason.

Laurea sighed dramatically, as if deflated. Then she finally answered.

“It’s nothing major. The black outfit signifies being an apprentice in the Holy Nation.”

Thus, apprentice priests, apprentice knights, and even apprentice saintesses mostly wear black clothing.

It’s only after formally being recognized for their status that they receive the right to wear pure white ceremonial robes.

“I see. I learned something new.”

Knowledge he had not gained in his past life.

Ulan nodded, his eyes sparkling with understanding.

Just as the curiosity began to resolve, Laurea had already finished a bottle cleanly.

It was already her seventh bottle. By now, she should have stopped, but she brought out an eighth bottle of wine.

“Drinking again?”

“This isn’t enough. You know, right?”

Since she had shaken off the alcohol earlier.

She’d need to drink more to ignore the stars’ voices and fall asleep.

After savoring a sip of wine, Laurea suddenly wore a playful expression and offered the bottle in her hand to Ulan.

“Or do you want to drink with me?”

“If you’re offering, I won’t refuse.”

Ulan snatched the wine bottle eagerly.

Moments later, having guzzled the entire bottle of wine, he handed the empty bottle back to Laurea.

“That was good.”

“…….”

A moment that unfolded in the blink of an eye.

She blinked in surprise, then shouted, flustered.

“What the?! Can we actually drink?!”

“You offered first, didn’t you?”

“No, that’s not it! I heard that you’re recognized as an adult starting at eighteen in the Empire…”

“I’m not an imperial citizen.”

A completely straightforward response.

Laurea was left speechless.

“And even if you want me to count my age, I can’t say I’m just seventeen. I’ve already experienced up to forty-six in my past life.”

This too was a reasonable answer.

Although his body was seventeen, his mind could certainly be much older.

Realizing this for the moment,

“……”

Laurea’s chatter dwindled.

After some time, she re-buttoned her opened buttons neatly. Additionally, she meticulously adjusted her slightly undone collar.

Soon, she sat primly in her chair and began stealing glances at Ulan in silence.

“What are you secretly looking at?”

“Ah, no! It’s just, nothing, really…”

Her voice was getting softer.

A stark difference from her earlier reactions.

When Ulan raised an eyebrow in confusion, Laurea intentionally cleared her throat loudly.

“Ahem! Anyway, I have a question!”

Almost as if she wanted to change the subject.

She quickly fired a question.

“About drinking. Do you drink a bit too?”

“You could say that.”

“How much? Can you drink better than me?”

“Not really.”

“Huh? Seriously?”

“Yeah, among all my colleagues, not a single one could drink better than you.”

Laurea’s eyes went wide.

She seemed surprised by that unexpected revelation.

“Everyone else is surprisingly weak on alcohol then.”

“No, you’re just strong.”

Ulan corrected his statement.

This made Laurea pout, deciding to change her question slightly.

“Then who drinks second-best after me?”

This time it had to be Ulan, right?

Just looking at him, he looked like someone who could drink a lot.

But an unexpected answer came back.

“Fertisha.”

“Huh? Fertisha…?”

A name she remembered hearing once before.

She recalled and asked back.

“Isn’t she the one who said she’s closest to me, excluding Ian?”

“Exactly.”

Ulan nodded affirmatively.

At the same time, a new curiosity sparked.

A question she hadn’t asked before due to lack of time.

“What’s she like?”

“Compared to you, she has a gentler personality.”

“What?!”

Laurea’s face crumpled.

An expression of displeasure.

Meanwhile, Ulan continued to think of more characteristics about Fertisha.

“Another characteristic would be that she’s Half-Human Half-Spirit.”

“Half-Human Half-Spirit?”

“I’m saying she’s a hybrid of human and spirit.”

“Is that even possible? Spirits have no physical form!”

“I don’t know the details either.”

He had only heard her introduce herself as a Half-Human Half-Spirit when they first met.

Plus, she had actually demonstrated Spirit Art.

Noticing that Ulan couldn’t provide a definite answer, she ventured into another topic about Fertisha.

“So where is she from? The Arpen Duchy too?”

“No, she’s from the Rubens Empire.”

“Really? That’s unexpected. I figured she must be from the Arpen Duchy. So, is she a noble of the Empire? Or a commoner?”

As her speculations continued, Ulan replied.

“Fertisha is a princess.”

“……What?”

“She’s the seventh princess of the Rubens Empire. She introduced herself that way when we first met.”

Laurea’s eyes widened.

As if she couldn’t believe it.

“Are you sure you’re not misremembering? There should only be six descendants of the current emperor…”

“You reacted the same way in your past life.”

Ulan answered nonchalantly.

But the disbelief quickly faded.

Everything he learned about Fertisha through the Reflective Eye was proven true. Hearing this explanation, Laurea muttered with a surprised expression.

“A hidden princess….”

Now that’s an interesting piece of information.

Her golden eyes sparkled with intrigue.

Moments later, as the conversation about Fertisha came to an end, Laurea, with a slightly tipsy face, spoke up.

“Now that we’re at it, tell me more.”

“About what?”

“About the memories of the future.”

“You want to hear more about Fertisha?”

“Nah, I’m done with that.”

“Then?”

As Ulan asked back, Laurea suddenly shut her mouth. She hesitated to answer. After a moment, she mumbled in a tiny voice.

“……When we first met.”

“What?”

“When I first met you!”

This time, her voice came out a bit louder.

Whether it was the alcohol or something else, her cheeks looked peculiarly flushed.

With slightly moist eyes, Laurea fixated her gaze on Ulan.

“I want to know what happened between us and how we became close again.”

“What’s got you curious about that?”

“I’m curious. So tell me.”

Not backing down, she stood her ground.

For reasons unknown, it seemed she had to hear it. Since it wasn’t anything difficult, Ulan nodded readily.

“Alright. Then let’s start from when you called me a filthy barbarian.”

“D-did I really say that?!”

“Yep. That was when…”

Ulan’s story began.

As he continued talking, Laurea’s expression shifted through a rainbow of colors. One moment it was brown, then immediately pale.

The sight of her being crushed by the burdens of her past self transformed the deepening night.

And the next day at noon,

the participants from Arsen and Eloden Academies, who had taken part in the friendly mock battle, gathered in one place.

For the after-party.

Chapter 29. After-party