Episode 99. Interlude – Tangled Fates

Thanks to Iris’s healing magic, I was discharged from the Treatment Center earlier than expected.

After that, I was sitting on Professor Lucas’s office couch, enjoying a leisurely afternoon for the first time in a while.

“What are you doing here?”

Professor Lucas, who was flipping through some documents, glared at me fiercely.

I shrugged my shoulders while peeling an orange (apparently a gift from Professor Bianca) that was sitting in a box in the corner of the office.

“Can’t you tell? I’m the passionate Candidate who comes to the professor’s office after class to ask about things I don’t understand.”

“This punk is acting up again right after his suspension ended.”

Professor Lucas let out a deep sigh, holding his forehead as if he had a headache.

“Aren’t you going to the Training Grounds with Candidate Yuren today? You’ve been holed up there lately.”

“I got banned from entering.”

“Banned?”

Professor Lucas tilted his head and narrowed his eyes.

“Don’t tell me… you fought with Yuren?”

“Huh?”

“Hehehe. Kid, you were acting all old and wise, but you’re still full of youthful energy!”

“What are you talking about?”

Fight with Yuren? What fight?

Just yesterday, we were messaging each other about whether he was eating well and telling him to go to bed early.

‘But come to think of it, it didn’t feel like a conversation between friends, but more like a mom talking to her precious child.’

Well, anyway.

Yuren… no, Yurina, had taken away my access to the Training Grounds under the pretext of needing rest, but we were still keeping in touch.

“Ah~ Back in my day, I used to fight a lot with my friends too…”

Professor Lucas suddenly started reminiscing.

I stifled a laugh and asked.

“What did you usually fight about?”

“Well, fights usually start over trivial things that seem insignificant when you look back later.”

“That’s true.”

“Like when a friend stole and ate a limited-edition bread from the cafeteria without asking.”

“That’s way too trivial.”

I mean, seriously? Fighting over something like that? We’re not kids.

“Or arguing over whether a female Candidate in our etiquette class was pretty or average, which led to a fight.”

“Oh? And what was that female Candidate’s name?”

“……”

“It’s Professor Bianca, right?”

It’s common knowledge among the Candidates that Professor Lucas and Professor Bianca were Candidates from the same class.

“Of course, I was on the ‘average’ side!”

“Yeah, yeah, sure.”

This guy is really one-track-minded.

I smirked and asked.

“By the way, how are things with Professor Bianca lately?”

“I have no idea why you’re asking such a pointless question… but well, we’ve both been busy lately, so we haven’t been in touch much. The 4th-year Candidates just finished their ‘Hero Training’ a few days ago.”

Hero Training.

It’s the first class 4th-year Candidates take, where they temporarily join a guild connected to the school and spend about two months observing and learning from active Heroes.

“Hero Training, huh…”

It wasn’t exactly a fond memory for me.

“Tsk. If those guys hadn’t been out for training, the monster rampage during the Sealing Festival would’ve been suppressed much faster.”

Professor Lucas clicked his tongue and went back to flipping through the mountain of documents.

As he said, if the 4th-year Candidates had been at school during the Sealing Festival, the monster rampage caused by Ashtaroth would’ve been suppressed much quicker.

The current 4th-year Candidates are said to be one of the most talented classes in the 500-year history of Reynaldo Hero School.

‘In fact, many of the Heroes who will become central figures in the war against the Devil God’s army are among the current 4th-year Candidates.’

Aaron Baek, the Spear of Stars.

Bella Leonhart, the Sword of the Moon.

Rios, the Thunder Emperor.

Sophia Evergreen, the Archmage, and so on.

The current 4th-year class produced many famous Heroes in the future.

‘Of course, there’s one Candidate in the current 4th-year class who will become the most famous in the future.’

The current 4th-year class produced an overwhelming number of outstanding Heroes.

Among them was Senior Sophia, who would become one of the ‘Last Five Heroes’ with me in the future, but there was one Candidate whose name would be etched in the minds of the continent’s people even more than Sophia.

‘The Witch of the Night, Lanes Malam.’

The being who once turned half the continent into a frozen wasteland.

The most heinous Mine who accepted the Devil God’s blessing and slaughtered millions of people.

And.

The woman who met her end at the hands of Dale Han, the ‘Undying Ghost.’

‘Well, all I did was finish off the dying witch.’

It wasn’t me who cornered the Witch of the Night, but Yuren and the other comrades.

‘This time, I’ll have to act before she freezes half the continent.’

Of course, I couldn’t just go and kill her right now.

There were too many eyes around to eliminate her within the school, and if I provoked her carelessly, the ‘Witch’s Power’ sleeping within her might go out of control.

‘If that happens, the entire school would turn into a frozen wasteland.’

I shook my head, recalling the endless white snowfields I had seen in my past life.

‘Anyway, it’s too difficult to deal with Lanes right now.’

There was no need to rush.

It would be at least 15 years before she accepted the Devil God’s blessing and became the ‘Witch of the Night.’

‘The person I need to meet before Lanes is…’

Naturally, a woman with red hair and a small frame came to mind.

Despite her cute appearance, she had a fierce and prickly personality, but in reality, she was more caring and considerate of her comrades than anyone else.

I smiled faintly as I remembered her teaching me magic every night and hitting my head with a staff taller than herself whenever I made a mistake.

“…I should go meet Senior Sophia.”

“Huh? Who are you going to meet?”

“Nothing.”

I shrugged and got up from the couch.

“Professor, so all the 4th-year Candidates are at school now?”

“Well, yes… but why are you asking about the 4th-years all of a sudden?”

“Just curious.”

I smirked and turned around.

“Then I’ll be going now.”

“Get out of here.”

I left the office, hearing Professor Lucas’s enthusiastic(?) farewell.

* * *

Within Reynaldo Hero School, ‘4th-year Candidates’ are treated a bit specially.

Since they’ll graduate in a year and become active Heroes, their classes are structured around dangerous combat and training, unlike the previous years.

That’s why the building where 4th-year Candidates take their classes is located in a slightly remote part of the school, unlike the 1st to 3rd-year classrooms clustered in the center.

“It’s been a while.”

I looked up at the building with a design that seemed straight out of a fairy tale and stepped inside.

As I walked down the wide hallway, I saw some familiar faces.

‘Oh, there’s Bertrand the Iron Wall and Keia the Blue Lynx.’

Among the Candidates walking down the hallway were some who would become quite famous in the future.

‘This 4th-year class really is something else.’

Well.

It’s no wonder they’re considered the best class in the 500-year history of Reynaldo Hero School.

“By the way…”

I frowned as I wandered around the large building.

‘Where do I find Senior Sophia?’

I came here on a whim to at least catch a glimpse of her, but I had no idea where she might be.

‘4th-years have assigned seats in their classrooms.’

While 1st to 3rd-years don’t have assigned seats, 4th-years take all their classes in one classroom per division, so each Candidate has an assigned seat.

‘The problem is I don’t know which division Senior Sophia is in.’

Usually, there are six divisions from A to F in a year, and I didn’t know which one Senior Sophia was in.

‘Senior Sophia didn’t talk much about her school days.’

I was thinking I’d have to check each of the six divisions one by one when…

“Huh?”

In the distance, I saw a familiar figure.

Short red hair that barely reached her nape, a small frame that barely reached her chest.

A fierce gaze that didn’t match her cute, animal-like appearance.

‘Senior Sophia.’

I thought I had gotten used to meeting Iris, Yuren, and Berald, but…

Reuniting with a comrade from my past life still made my heart race.

“Ahem.”

I straightened my clothes and approached her, thinking about what to say first.

“Hello, Senior.”

“…You.”

As I got closer and greeted her, Senior Sophia’s gaze turned to me.

“You’re Dale Han, the 3rd-year Candidate, right?”

“Huh?”

Senior Sophia recognized me even though I hadn’t introduced myself.

I was surprised, not expecting her to recognize me, and looked at her with a stunned expression.

“I didn’t think you’d know me.”

“Your name is quite famous among the 4th-years.”

Senior Sophia glared at me with cold eyes.

“So, what do you want?”

“Ah, if it’s okay with you, I’d like to talk for a bit…”

“I have nothing to say to someone who works under that lunatic professor.”

Before I could finish, Senior Sophia walked past me.

‘Lunatic professor… Could she mean Professor Jade?’

It’s a well-known rumor among the Candidates that I often visit Professor Jade’s lab.

‘Did Senior Sophia dislike Professor Jade?’

In my past life, when I was in a party with Senior Sophia, Professor Jade had already died, so I never heard anything about him.

“Wait, Senior, there’s some misunderstanding…”

“Didn’t I say I have nothing to say to you?”

Senior Sophia glared at me fiercely.

“3rd-years shouldn’t be wandering around the 4th-year classrooms. Get lost.”

She walked away quickly.

“…Sigh.”

I frowned as I watched Senior Sophia’s retreating figure.

‘I didn’t think meeting Professor Jade would backfire like this.’

I knew the future was starting to change, but I didn’t expect my relationship with Senior Sophia to go south like this.

‘I’ll have to ask Professor Jade later. What exactly happened between them?’

As I was thinking that and about to leave the 4th-year building…

“Huh?”

In the distance, I saw a familiar figure.

“…Berald?”

What’s he doing here?