Chapter 84
-I'm sorry, Maelyn.
-Is the gap really this wide between us?
-Milady is no longer the successor.
‘.......’
It wasn’t a pleasant dream.
Maelyn, who had been reading through a fragment of memories she didn’t want to recall, came to her senses and opened her eyes.
A bumpy cave ceiling came into view. In her ears, the crackling sound of a campfire echoed softly.
It was a little cold, but oddly dreamy. Rubbing her eyes, she groggily sat up.
"......?"
She was wearing unfamiliar clothes. It was a slightly oversized robe, and even when she stretched her arms out, only the tips of her fingers peeked out.
She looked around again. It was a cave, and outside, the rain was falling steadily.
And in front of the campfire near the cave entrance, a lean but solidly built man was sitting with his upper body exposed.
Just then, he turned around and smiled softly.
"You're awake?"
"Si, Simon?!"
Why the hell is he half-naked again?!
Startled, Maelyn quickly looked down. Then she caught sight of her own outfit.
"Wha, wha, wha, what is thiiiiiis!"
Underneath the robe she was wearing, she was dressed in damp underwear. Her face flushed deep red as she instinctively covered her chest and pulled her legs together.
Tightly curled up in a defensive posture, she asked in a trembling voice,
"W-Where are my clothes?!"
Simon scratched his head awkwardly and pointed with his fingertip. Near the cave entrance, on a vine strung like a makeshift laundry line, their soaked male and female school uniforms were drying side by side.
"......Sorry."
Simon cleared his throat.
"I thought if we stayed in our wet clothes, we’d catch a cold, so......."
"......!!!"
Maelyn's face flushed so red it reached her earlobes, reaching the limit of her tolerance for embarrassment. Her eyes even welled up with tears.
"You, you, you perverted freakkkk!"
"Ma-Maelyn! Please, keep it down...!"
She wanted to grab anything nearby and throw it, but unfortunately, there was nothing within reach. Simon, now sweating nervously, stood up.
"I swear! Nothing happened! I even kept my eyes closed when I took off your uniform!"
"Haa, huu, haa."
She gave a full-body shudder and covered her face with her palms.
Simon quietly waited until she calmed down.
"......."
About ten minutes passed in silence. Finally, she lowered her hands, ready to face reality. Her face was still bright red, of course.
"......What the hell happened?"
Simon explained the situation as if he’d been waiting for her to ask.
While they were fighting, a high-ranking monster suddenly appeared and interrupted. Caught in the resulting shockwave, Maelyn lost consciousness. Then the rain started to pour, and Simon found a cave beneath a cliff to take shelter.
‘Everything checks out. There’s no reason to doubt it.’
She knew Simon wasn’t the kind of guy who’d do anything weird.
But still, to have her clothes taken off by a guy…! She wanted to crawl into a hole and die of embarrassment.
Still curled up, she sniffled and glared at Simon.
Simon quickly averted his eyes and scratched at his temple.
"......Simon."
"Yeah?"
"Turn around."
Maelyn spoke in a barely audible voice.
"Turn around? All of a sudden?"
"Ah! I’m changing clothes, you idiot!"
Startled, Simon quickly turned his back and stared hard into the fire.
Truthfully, she would’ve preferred to send him outside for a bit, but with the rain still pouring, there was no helping it.
"Y-You better stay still! If you turn around, I’ll really, really, really kill you!"
She was trying to sound threatening, but her voice was trembling so badly that it had no intimidation factor at all.
Like a small puppy barking weakly in the rain.
Simon, hiding his reaction, replied calmly.
"Got it. Take your time."
"......."
Tensing her shoulders, she slowly stood up. Sneaking glances at Simon, she pulled a dry towel and fresh underwear out of her subspace.
Simon still showed no reaction.
"......."
Relieved, she quietly grabbed the robe draped over her.
But the most nervous person in that space wasn’t Maelyn, it was Simon.
‘Wh-Why the hell am I getting so nervous…?’
Contrary to his usual values, Simon’s heart, that of a healthy 17-year-old boy, was pounding like mad.
His eyes were fixed on the fire, but all his other senses were helplessly concentrated on his hearing.
As if trying to hear what he couldn’t see.
Then came the soft rustle of fabric sliding, followed by the robe dropping to the floor.
Rustle. Rustle.
Next, the sound of wet underwear being removed.
His nose tingled. Strangely, saliva kept pooling in his mouth.
Splat.
Finally, the sound of the soaked underwear hitting the floor. It sounded heavy, likely because of the water.
She really took everything off.
If he just turned around, he’d see Maelyn completely naked.
Realizing that, Simon’s heart pounded like it was broken.
‘I-I’d rather be outside right now.’
Unconsciously imagining her figure, Simon trembled with overwhelming guilt.
Maelyn was his friend. Entertaining indecent thoughts about a friend was a sin. He had to regain control.
Desperately, Simon busied himself by shifting firewood around.
Rustle.
Maelyn wiped her wet body with a towel and finally changed into clean underwear. She wrapped herself tightly in Simon’s robe and buttoned it up before letting out a long sigh of relief.
She slowly approached the still-stiff Simon.
"Gasp."
Then she plopped down right next to him by the campfire.
Simon glanced at her, and seeing her pale legs through the robe, he quickly turned his head away.
"What?"
Maelyn giggled and poked at Simon’s arm.
"Why are you more nervous than me, you coward?"
"......I’m not nervous."
Letting out a short laugh, she hugged her knees and rested her arms around them. A peaceful silence passed between them.
"You hungry?"
Simon stood up.
He stirred the pot boiling over the fire and soon scooped steaming soup into a small bowl, handing it to Maelyn.
"It’s meat soup."
A recipe by Hongpeng.
Her eyes widened. She hadn’t expected to see anything resembling real food on this island.
"......Thanks."
She quietly accepted the bowl.
She was starving. Carefully, she brought a spoonful to her lips.
‘Wow!’
It was exactly the same taste as the soup she had eaten at Hongpeng’s cabin.
She took a second and third sip in quick succession. Simon watched her eat with pride.
"Simon."
"Yeah?"
Having emptied the bowl in no time, she blushed and responded shyly.
"......Thanks. For saving me."
"Don't mention it."
She rested her chin on her knees and gazed quietly at Simon.
"But why did you save me? Honestly, you could’ve just left me. I attacked you first."
Simon made a face as if to say, ‘Why ask that?’
"You didn’t really mean to knock me out either, did you?"
"......."
"That’s what I felt. It wasn’t that serious. I couldn’t just abandon a teammate I’ll be working with all semester over something so small."
Simon smiled and held out his fist.
"Right?"
She gave an awkward smile and bumped her fist against his.
"Ugh, this just won't do!"
"Is something bothering you?"
Instead of answering, she lifted her right arm where the Tongue Pad was attached.
She unfolded a magic circle using Darkness and inputted a command to overlay onto the Tongue Pad.
‘Wait, that command is…’
Simon had memorized all the commands for the Tongue Pad too.
Maelyn's Tongue Pad opened wide like a mouth, and a tongue several meters long shot out.
She retrieved a green orb that was wrapped in the tongue, a massive chunk of points.
"Maelyn! What are you—!"
"What do you think? I feel bad being indebted. I'm repaying what you did to save me!"
Take it, don’t take it—the two of them wrestled in a petty scuffle.
Maelyn forcibly brought the orb to Simon’s Tongue Pad. Simon’s Tongue Pad eagerly slurped it up.
"Ah…!"
The Tongue Pad’s point count surged. The value jumped from about 127 points to 260.
Simon jumped in shock.
"How much did you give me?!"
"Everything but one point."
She casually said, spooning more soup into her mouth.
"Isn’t it obvious? I should’ve been out back there."
"But you…"
Simon said, his expression stiff.
"Weren’t you aiming for first place in this evaluation too?"
"……"
She stared silently into the fire, then smiled.
"Hmph, of course I am! There’s still two days left, right? If I just hunt the named monsters, I can definitely aim for first."
"……Haha."
The mood naturally lightened. The two of them scraped the bottom of the pot, sharing the last of the meat soup.
Outside, the rain still fell steadily.
Past the campfire was a sheer cliff, but thanks to that, the whole island could be seen in a single view, the scenery was incredible.
‘It’s warm.’
The more she thought about it, the more Maelyn appreciated Simon for finding such a good spot. She felt safe, full, and comfortably drowsy.
"Maelyn."
Just then, Simon casually spoke up.
"Can I ask you something?"
"If it’s some pervy question, I’ll kill you."
"No, not like that."
Simon paused for a moment before continuing.
"Why are you so obsessed with being number one?"
"……"
Her gaze sharpened as she stared out of the cave.
"There’s someone I must surpass."
"That someone,"
Simon picked up,
"must be Special Admission No. 2, Serne Eindark, right?"
"……"
Maelyn’s reaction to Serne was extremely sensitive.
He remembered that the atmosphere had turned icy just from him mentioning her name the day they first teamed up.
And when Hector called her “Serne’s lackey”, she had genuinely charged at him with the intent to burn him alive.
"Yeah."
She nodded without hesitation.
Unfolding her arms from around her knees, she leaned back, supporting herself with her hands on the floor.
"This is something I’ve never told anyone in Keyzen, but I was actually the official successor of the Ivory Tower."
It wasn’t Serne, but Maelyn? That was news to Simon.
"I guess it was decided when I was little. So yeah, I grew up kind of spoiled. The people of the Ivory Tower treated me like royalty, and I remember strutting around full of myself. I had no idea how heavy the title of successor really was. I just thought it was fun when adults bowed and scraped before me. I was immature."
Then, she continued.
"One day, the Tower Master suddenly adopted a new foster daughter."
Simon quickly followed the story.
"That foster daughter was Serne, huh?"
"Yep. Same age as me, clearly brought in as my rival. Of course, the reaction within the Tower wasn’t good. ‘Now they bring in a foster kid?’ ‘So obvious it’s political theater’. She wasn’t even a blood relative, had no claim to the legacy, so my position as successor looked secure. But…"
Her voice tightened.
"Serne was a genius. No, genius isn’t even enough to describe her, she was a monster."
"……"
"It took me nearly half a year to master the Darkness form-shifting. She did it in a week. No matter how complicated the theory, she grasped it instantly. They say if you taught her one thing, she figured out a hundred on her own. The Ivory Tower values bloodlines, sure, but in front of Serne’s talent, none of that mattered. Before long, people stopped talking about factions or family names. The whole Tower was drunk on the hope that one day, when Serne becomes the Tower Master, the Ivory Tower would return to its former glory. And I…"
She let out a bitter laugh.
"Got pushed aside. The adults kept comparing me to her. I was always the fool who existed to make Serne look even more brilliant. Even in official ceremonies, I was paraded around just to be embarrassed. By the time I finally came to my senses and grew up a little…"
Maelyn shrugged.
"It was already over. The elders even rewrote the Tower’s laws to officially make Serne the successor. After that, the way people looked at me changed completely. The family elders, the servants, my friends, even my own parents… everyone gave up on me."
"……"
"Then we turned seventeen, and because of the oath with Keyzen, Serne was sent to study here as a special student. So I took the entrance exam on my own and got in, too."
Now, Simon finally understood everything.
That’s why she obsessed over being number one, why she barely slept, and pushed herself like a madwoman.
To surpass Serne. To regain the recognition of her family.
He had thought Maelyn's reason for attacking him earlier was kind of flimsy, but now, it all made sense.
Simon was Special Entry No. 1, the one who outranked Serne, No. 2.
Of course, the gap between Simon, who had only recently started studying black magic, and Serne, was vast. The No. 1 and No. 2 positions weren’t even based on skill.
Still, Maelyn’s competitive spirit would have burned. If she could beat Simon, maybe she could close the distance between herself and Serne.
"I’ll never give up, not even if it kills me."
She clenched her fist tightly.
"Everyone says it’s impossible, but someday, I’m going to take back everything that was stolen from me. No matter what."
Simon smiled.
"If anyone can do it, it’s you. I’m rooting for you, Maelyn."
"Hmph."
She scoffed, but a smile curved at the corner of her lips.
"Oh right, and you know the survival test on this island includes all 961 first-years, right?"
"Yeah."
"Serne’s here too. If you run into her, avoid her at all costs. I’ve watched her for years, and the more I see her… the more I think she’s not even…"
Maelyn’s expression turned deadly serious.
"Not even human."
Superb.