The Extra’s Academy Survival Guide - Chapter 113

Adele, the keeper of the torch.

When Saint Clarice lived in the Holy Capital, she was a girl that came to her bedroom window every day, playing the lute.

“Isn’t the joint combat practice pretty soon…? That means I will be dueling against a second-year upperclassman…?”

The night before at Ophelis Hall, Kylie sat on her bed looking out the window. Saint Clarice recalled her memories of when she lived in the Holy Father Building.

The songs Adele played for her and her longing for freedom made her secretly cherish a new dream. Without Adele’s influence, Clarice wouldn’t have come to Silvenia to ask for the chance to learn.

So, after Adele left the Holy Capital, Clarice continued to greatly look forward to seeing her again.

However, even though it had been quite some time since she entered the school, she still hadn’t had the chance to see Adele.

“……”

In the center of the Holy City Karpea, the sacred land of the Telos Religious Group and the largest city-state on the continent, there was a towering and magnificent cathedral.

The cathedral was a place where the followers of the Telos Religious Group, spread out across the continent, all passed through. It was called The Holy Father Building, as it was a place where the Holy Father Eldane lived, preaching the will of god.

The cathedral was so massive and magnificent that it occupied the entirety of the huge hill. It was a space of land where two or three castles could fit. And the height of it naturally extended extremely high into the sky.

If you were to climb the clock tower that was erected in the center, at a glance you could see as far as the Lamelin Mountain Range in the north or the Denkin wetlands of the Kroel Empire in the south.

At the very top of the clock tower, there was a torch that was constantly burning in honor of Telos, the one that constantly gives.

There, a girl sat down, maintaining the torch while constantly looking out at the vast world beneath her.

The girl looked down upon the world from a higher place than Clarice, who boasted the highest level of nobility beneath that of the Holy Father Eldane.

As for Clarice… She really wanted to meet the minstrel Adele.

But Clarice was only a first year, while Adele was a second year.

It wasn’t that there weren’t any opportunities for her to interact with the second years, but it was rare for Adele to show up to such occasions.

In the first place, Adele would constantly disappear and reappear suddenly in the east and west, so even among her classmates there were barely any people that knew her whereabouts.

She couldn’t break into the classroom in the middle of class, or visit her at the dormitory, so Clarice could only say ‘I’ll see her when the time is right.’ And with that, she spent her time focusing on her school life.

However, even though she was slowly getting used to her life at school, there still wasn’t any sign of being able to see her. At that point, Clarice began to feel a little downtrodden.

Clarice had personally thought that her relationship with Adele was quite special. But even though Adele must have heard the news of a saint entering the school, she didn’t come to visit her even once.

She briefly started to think as such, but… she then immediately shook her head.

Right now, Clarice’s position was quite unique. Rather than the identity of Saint Clarice, she was living her school life as Kylie, an aristocrat from the outskirts. Adele would probably be confused by that, unaware of the situation. She might have noticed that the person acting as the saint currently was just a fake.

It was a slightly precarious situation. But right now, Clarice decided to not make any hasty decisions.

Relationships were like the drifting wind. If it was a close relationship, wherever in the world you met up, you would be able to see each other again with a warm embrace. That was what Adele had said.

Clarice thought those words were right as she looked up at the moon, smiling. Since they were both living in Slovenia, they would surely end up meeting when their fates aligned.

She prayed that their fates would quickly align so their regrets of the past could be resolved.

***

Lucy Mayreel sat on the roof of the cabin with her round eyes half open and her arms wrapped tightly around her knees.

Sitting there, she could see the entire camp. But what she was witnessing wasn’t very pleasant to her.

The view of all sorts of spirits gathering together, cutting and carrying well-trimmed pieces of wood to make a cabin… From Lucy’s point of view, it felt like uninvited guests were invading the camp.

Although in actuality, it wasn’t Lucy’s camp. That was why Lucy, also being an uninvited guest, wasn’t in the position to complain.

Still, the feeling wasn’t pleasant. All she did was sit there with puffed up cheeks, grunting heavily and twisting her hair. It was quite a dramatic reaction from Lucy, who rarely showed her emotions.

And the girl that was the cause for it all… Yennekar Palerover sat by the campfire in the center of the camp with her legs stretched out.

The cabin, which was originally scheduled to be completed in five days through overworking the spirits, had been pushed back after Yennekar got a critical strike on Takan’s forehead with her wand.

The low-ranking spirits, especially Mugg, clapped loudly with tears coming from their hearts.

The cabin’s construction plan, which had been reverted back to the original plan, was progressing well.

By the third day, Yennekar was rather satisfied after seeing the cabin make decent progress. Now, she sat at the camp the entire day as she hummed.

Sitting on the roof of Ed’s cabin, Lucy wasn’t at all happy watching her. In fact, even if it weren’t Lucy, anyone would tilt their head upon seeing Yennekar’s current appearance.

She sat on a tree stump near the campfire, stretching her arms and legs out for a moment. She then took a glimpse at the camp, looking at her cabin and smiling widely. Her smile was so innocent that it looked as if a flower was blooming.

Afterwards, she went to go read her book, but halfway through she started to look at her cabin again while smiling. Then, when it seemed like she was going off to get firewood, she would suddenly turn around to look at her cabin and smileagain,before going back to walking. When she thought of doing some spiritual resonance training by herself, after looking at the cabin again she fell into a deep thought with a smile on her face.

Seeing such a scene made Lucy feel nauseous. At some point, Lucy had completely forgotten to take her nap as she sat there with her cheeks bulging out.

“……”

After about five or so minutes, Lucy got up to eat some jerky that was drying on the drying rack as she flew near the campfire.

Tak!

Lucy landed beautifully on a rock next to the campfire. Patting her clothes a few times, she then stood up straight.

Looking in front of her, she could see Yennekar sitting on a tree stump folding the corners of her book as she was lost in her rosy imagination. She looked really ridiculous.

“Ah…”

Yennekar then met Lucy’s eyes.

The innocent Yennekar almost instantly went to greet her. However, intuitively she knew that Lucy wasn’t the person to do such a thing to.

She was an opponent that she had already gone through a war of nerves with back at Ophelis Hall. However, for Yennekar—who didn’t want to become enemies with anyone—she was an unwelcome opponent.

She didn’t want to hurt her or say anything hateful, but she couldn’t afford to just lose to her either.

In the end, Yennekar sat back down and looked back at her cabin. With her hands on her hips, she pushed her chest out as if to brag. It looked as if she was trying her hardest to act arrogant with that smile on her face.

Lucy opened her half-closed eyes as she showed off a beautifully bright smile. She then quietly patted her clothes. It was surprising that such a perfect and bright smile was meant to be sarcastic.

***

I left the student library with a couple pieces of jerky in my mouth, and my hands full of elemental studies textbooks.

Thanks to constantly borrowing books and making sure to return them before they became overdue, I could now borrow quite a few books all at once. Since I personally knew the librarian, Elka Islam, there were some things that I could get away with.

“Whew…”

With a bunch of books in hand, I went down the hill that the student library sat upon. I headed straight to the eastern plaza of the education district.

The reason I borrowed so many elemental studies textbooks was to finally complete my training in intermediate magic.

It had been a while since I’d mastered the intermediate magicPoint Explosion, but the fact that I could only use one intermediate magic spell was a bit of an issue.

The firepower ofPoint Explosionwasn’t that much different than beginner magic. Rather, it was simply the fact that it was easy to cast, good for surprise attacks, and difficult for opponents to deal with.

Having such a strategic advantage was a big help for my combat style. Still, I thought that it would be crucial for me to also learn a magic that had tremendous firepower. After all, you never know when or how a battle would unfold, so it was only natural that I should have one.

I had a strong resonance with the fire and wind elements. Originally, if possible, I was going to try and learn an intermediate wind magic, but… I quickly changed my mind.

Most wind-type magic was useful in controlling a battlefield or assisting with combat, but relatively, there were very few spells that actually had pure, strong firepower.

For me, since I already knew how to utilize magically engineered equipment as well as elementalism, I already had various different methods to turn the tides in a fight. So, in order for me to become dramatically stronger, the most effective method was to train with absolute firepower.

That was why I borrowed all those books on elemental studies—to help search for a magic that I could set as my next goal.

The number of books I borrowed were so great that I needed to hold them with both arms. I then walked across the East Square with the mindset that it was all just physical training.

From the central plaza, where the Student Center and Obel Hall were located, if you walked along the road stretching towards the east you would eventually find the eastern plaza.

The size of it was relatively small compared to the central plaza. Still, it had everything a plaza would need. There was also a decently sized clock tower in the middle, benches set up here and there, and a fountain that looked quite decent.

“♪ ♫ ♪”

Seeing a girl sitting on the other side of the fountain playing the lute, I suddenly recognized the owner of that familiar face.

She gave off an impression that matched the word ‘free’ more so than anyone else.

It was still during the middle of classes, and seeing her wear comfortable clothes, I wondered if she had already finished all her classes for the day.

Her pleated skirt that reached her thighs was nearly spread out. The cuffs on her blouse were also open, which was the exact appearance I remembered. A bouquet-shaped ornament was tied to her waist, extending down her side.

Her hair was beautifully braided to one side with various beautiful flowers, including lilies, daffodils, baby’s-breath, surprise lily, and freesias, braided into her hair. Perhaps it was because her pale-yellow hair wasn’t all that strong in color, but their beautiful appearance showed even more.

“It looks like you’re busy today as well, Ed.”

As I was about to pass by, Adele was the first one that who spoke to me. That was another unexpected situation, so I couldn’t help but tilt my head.

Adele, who was playing the lute, made eye contact with me as she smiled. We weren’t exactly close enough with each other to greet each other like that.

Adele Cerise was a colleague of Taylee McLaure, the protagonist of Silvenia’s Failed Swordmaster.

As a bard that can freely use all sorts of enhancement-type magic, she had been constantly making appearances since Act 1, bringing attention to herself… But until the final battle of Act 3, she doesn’t particularly come forward to take an active role.

In the first place, even though she had a finger in every pie, she didn’t seem to properly participate in any battle until the final battle of Act 2. But after that, she didn’t particularly try to do anything else.

Until then, Adele would just appear in random places playing her instrument. I thought that perhaps that was a choice on the writer’s part to emphasize her free-spirited nature.

No matter the urgency of the situation, she was a girl that would play her instrument without losing her freedom.

The reason she could always be so calm was because she has the ‘prophetic temperament.’

“…….”

Sometimes, Adele could see the future through the holy power of Telos. It was not a power that she could freely manipulate—rather, she recited the future as if she were possessed by a sudden revelation.

That was only possible because of her unrivaled resonance to Telos’ holy power from her birth. That was why she was in a position where she was treated well in the Holy City. She was a person that even had her name considered as a candidate for the position of Saint when she was young.

“Are you talking about me…?”

“I often hear stories from Taylee and Ayla. It seems the two of them have quite a bit of a complicated relationship with you…”

“Yeah… Though, it’s not really any of my business.”

It seemed that Taylee, the protagonist of this story, was still on a roll.

His talent in swordsmanship was so great that by the time Act 4 came around, he boasted a completely overwhelming level of strength. Since the storyline had already passed the middle of Act 3, he might have already started to slowly stand out.

As for me, since I was in a different school year than him and I’d subtly separated from him ever since the incident so that I didn’t really have much contact with him… Well, I already knew all too well that Taylee’s growth wasn’t something that would easily be hindered.

If he continued to grow with the highest level of efficiency, without wasting a single moment, then by the time the next joint combat practice event arrived he could defeat not just Wade, but even Ziggs. Of course, that was only possible if a completely skilled player like me was playing the game.

Normally, even defeating just Wade proved to be quite difficult, so I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

“Would you like to hear a song? I am a minstrel that has traveled all over the continent. Though, now I am staying here in Silvenia.”

“…It’s fine.”

“Oh my, what a shame.”

I’d never personally met with Adele before, so I didn’t know why she was treating me so warmly.

Maybe it was because my reputation as a student at Silvenia had recently improved quite a bit? Or maybe it was just because stories of me had been circulating around Adele?

I was already holding onto a crazy number of elemental studies textbooks. It was a sign that went without saying, but I was already having a hard time carrying so many heavy books and I wanted to go home and get rid of them quickly. Adele was disappointed, but smiled as she bowed her head and bid me farewell.

I then turned back around as I headed towards the North Forest.

The storyline was already halfway through Act 3. The main timeline, which had become twisted little by little, had already begun to deviate greatly when Tanya won the student council president election.

The storyline had flowed similarly to the original up until Act 1. By Act 2, it began to become rather scattered—but by Act 3, it was no longer possible to control the direction it was heading towards.

Still, the overall flow was still as I remembered, so the future knowledge I had would still prove to be useful. However, the deviated flow of things would likely soon lead to an unknown result.

It was like a straight line following across a dotted line.

If you were to follow the dotted line without shaking one bit, a perfect straight line would be drawn. But if you begin to shake even the slightest bit, a twist in the angle would occur. At first, that slight difference might seem fine, but as the line continued it would only stray further and further away from the dotted line.

In the first place, I didn’t have any big ambitions and my only goal was to graduate. I just wanted to survive. But at the same time, it was arrogant for me to think that everything would go according to my will.

In the end, the world ended up becoming like that. At that point, just quietly watching from the sidelines wouldn’t solve the problem.

The original timeline had begun to deviate greatly from the original path.

And in the end, the only way to deal with it… was to get Krepin.

However, as he was now, Krepin didn’t have any political weaknesses. He was also strong and had many loyal followers throughout the empire, so killing or subduing him now would only be an act of treason that would ruin one’s life.

In the first place, a little bit more time to grow was necessary before Krepin could be fought. And even if I were to go ahead and get someone’s help, I couldn’t take his life without just cause.

But that didn’t mean I don’t have a card to play. There was Tanya, who was an insider of House Rothstaylor. There was also Princess Penia, who was currently hostile towards him as well.

When it was time for Act 4 and Nebula’s manifestation neared, Krepin would surely show his true self. Then, during that moment, that guy would surely show an opening.

You had to know the perfect timing to go for your opponent’s throat. When his evil plans started to show, I needed to be fully prepared.

“Ed.”

Suddenly, as I was about to head back, Adele called out to me.

I turned around with a bewildered expression, but Adele was cheerfully playing the lute and not even looking towards me.

The pleasant notes of the strings harmonized with the sounds of the pouring water in the fountain. It all resonated perfectly here in the square in late spring.

“Someday, when you take the throne to your House, you will have to kill the person you respect the most with your own two hands.”

It wasn’t an omen, but rather just an insinuating remark.

“Just bear in mind that if you hesitate at that moment, you will be the one to die.”

“……”

I was going to ask her more questions, but there wouldn’t be much of a point. In the first place, Adele played one last note of her lute and created a beautiful sound, then stood up and took a few steps before quickly disappearing.

I continued to watch Adele leave from afar as I held onto my elemental studies textbooks.

I then took a deep breath.

Adele, the keeper of the torch. Romantic Adele. And the prophet Adele.

Her prophecies weren’t always true, so it was hard to pay any particular meaning to them… but in any case, her ability to make a person’s heart uneasy was excellent.

There were many different scenes that came to mind when I thought of Adele… The first one that came to mind… was her death.

Act 3 of was an important turning point in the storyline. The final boss, Lucy, would stay still as she safely finished her role before temporarily taking her leave. During that storyline, regardless of Lucy’s involvement, two characters from the protagonist’s generation would die.

One of them was the minstrel, Adele.

The overall flow of the story was still flowing in the same direction as the original timeline, but in many different ways a major twist had already occurred.

Knowing what she said, what stance should I take now?

In the first place, Professor Glast’s death was out of my hands. No matter what I did, he would have taken control of the Seal and taken over the entire school. Either way, as a mere student it wasn’t like I could influence him.

And with Adele, there wasn’t any guarantee that I’d be able to do something. Regardless, now that I was aware of those unpleasant words from her… In more ways than one, I couldn’t help but feel a bit uneasy.

I racked my brain a few times as I tightly held onto my books, heading towards the North Forest.

First off, I needed to go back to the camp, finish organizing the books, and prepare to make the wand… Those were the immediate tasks I needed to take care of.

Still, there were all sorts of thoughts that I needed to sort out as well… Too many of them.

***

“No.”

It was a firm and clear answer.

Lucy, who was chewing on some jerky by the campfire as she fiddled with her knees, looked to be in a foul mood.

“……”

That was an unexpected reaction.

After cutting two branches off of The Guardian Tree of Merilda, I asked Lucy to cast lighting magic on them to make a wand.

The amount of magic power that Lucy used to cast lighting magic was massive, so it would have a pretty good direct effect on the performance of the wand.

I told her that I was planning to make two ‘thousand-year-old wooden wands struck by lightning’ with these two branches. One for Yennekar and one for me.

From Lucy’s point of view, it wasn’t a difficult request to do. That was why I had thought it wouldn’t be a problem, since she was relatively good at accepting requests from me in the first place… But today, Lucy felt particularly strange.

“Can you just make me just one?”

It was quite refreshing to see her stick her lips out as she hugged her knees, grunting. Was she really the same Lucy that was always sleeping and looked completely disinterested in everything?

She still looked a little dazed and still gave off the impression that she was a little out of it, but it was the first time I had ever seen her puff her cheeks out like that. I couldn’t get used to seeing her make such colorful facial expressions these days.

Though, when I thought about it, there were only a few patterns of it.

“Making one or two of them, it shouldn’t matter right…? Either way, you only have to cast magic one time.”

“……”

“Phew, alright… Well, if you say so there must be a reason for it. Ahh my head hurts.”

After saying that, I quickly turned my head away from her. Lucy then started to float through the air to see what was bothering me so much.

“If I make one… who is going to use it…?”

“I have to give it to Yennekar. She’s the person that can use it better than me, after all. I still need to train in Elementalism a bit more anyway.”

“Eughk…”

Feeling bothered by my disappointed expression, Lucy began to mumble as she muttered something as she bowed her head.

Then, with her lips clenched, she quickly stood up from her seat and walked furiously toward the tree stump where I was sitting.

I stood still, wondering if she was going to stick close to me like usual. Lucy lowered her eyes as she sat down with her butt on my lap, tightly holding down on her hat.

She then pushed her back into my chest as much as she could, but since she was so light, I didn’t feel any weight at all. She was only slightly heavier than the pile of books I was carrying before, using the muscles on my arms.

“Fine, I’ll do it. Both of them.”

And then she added on something else.

“But there’s a condition. It’s nothing that great.”

“Condition?”

“There’s a place I want you to go with me.”

It was strange for Lucy to say such a thing, but since I didn’t have a choice, I only nodded my head curiously.