Allen quickly turned his head back as he felt a chill brush against his skin.

The operator, with a dark bruise on his chin, smiled with his mouth stretched wide horizontally, his limbs bound.

“It’s a shame, we were in the final stages of commercializing Kura. It seems everyone has figured out Kura’s true nature.”

“……”

Nigel Ars, Allen Evans, and Noah Beselion could not give any response to the operator.

It was because they hoped their thoughts were not true.

“Why is everyone so quiet? Very well. Then I’ll tell you. As you’ve guessed, Kura was made from ordinary people’s magic power.”

The operator licked his lips with his tongue.

“To be precise, from the life force minutely mixed in their magic power.”

As soon as she heard those words, Nigel Ars’s clenched fists loosened helplessly.

It felt as if sharp glass shards had shattered in all directions and pierced her entire body.

Even though it was something she had already suspected, hearing the confirmation from the operator filled her with mixed emotions.

“We tried every method to replicate Reparo, but… There’s a reason everyone keeps talking about Reparo, Reparo. Whether they put gold in it or not, it wasn’t easy to even make something with similar effects, let alone an imitation.”

Kura came into existence because Reparo was released to the world… No, because Nigel Ars hid the secret.

If she had quietly gone to the temple as in the original story, or if she had gone to the Duke’s family holding the locket, would something have been different?

Clench.

Nigel Ars tightened her fists again.

‘No, nothing would have changed.’

She didn’t break down.

Not when she realized this was inside a novel, and no matter what she did, she couldn’t return to where she originally lived.

Not when she alone nurtured a dream that everyone would laugh at – going to the Imperial Academy from a rural village in Tillin without even a proper library.

Not when she received a letter saying that the day after she left for the capital, the Duke’s family had personally visited the Tillin orphanage to see her.

Nigel Ars unconsciously fingered the letter hidden in her pocket.

This time too, she could not, no, did not break down.

Nigel Ars’s eyes filled with determination.

“Young lady, the atmosphere has changed. You look like you want to kill me with your eyes alone. But what can you do about this? Now that you know the secret, you’ll have to die.”

The operator wriggled his bound arms, feeling around his body.

…As if searching for something.

“Beselion, stop that bastard’s hands!!”

As soon as Nigel Ars’s shout ended, Noah Beselion dashed forward nimbly.

But by a hair’s breadth, the operator smiled victoriously.

Clatter…

A shining red button, slightly larger than a gold coin, fell to the floor from his dark navy woolen jacket.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

A bone-chilling sound, an ominous alarm matching the button’s color, filled the room.

“If only you had quietly signed the contract, you wouldn’t have to lose your precious lives so eas-”

“Shut that mouth.”

Nigel Ars grabbed a nearby rag and tightly tied it around the operator’s mouth.

“No one in this room will lose their life easily. Except you.”

The operator’s eyes curved into crescents at Nigel Ars’s words.

“We’ll see. …How it turns out.”

As Nigel Ars clenched her fist, the ring on her little finger sparkled in the light.

Noah Beselion, who had been glaring at the operator with sharp eyes, suddenly widened them.

“Everyone, get behind me, quickly!”

Nigel Ars and Allen Evans hurriedly stood behind Noah Beselion’s back.

Not long after, the thudding sound of dozens of footsteps could be heard from far away at the stairs outside the entrance.

Bang!

With a thunderous sound as if the door would fall off, the entrance opened.

One after another, burly men with large builds entered the room endlessly, each holding various weapons.

One, two… Their number easily exceeded twenty.

“They’re the people who were guarding the stairs to the second floor earlier…”

Allen Evans said in a trembling voice.

“Don’t leave my side, any of you.”

Swish.

In Noah Beselion’s right hand was the longsword he never went without.

Noah Beselion’s appearance holding the sword looked much more natural and comfortable than when he wore his school uniform.

‘As expected, this guy should have gone to the Knighthood, not the Academy.’

Nigel Ars thought, looking at Noah Beselion’s back.

“…What’s this, it’s those little brats who were swinging clubs around earlier.”

“Hey, milk-breathed youngsters, where are your guardians?”

“What, I thought we’d finally get to use some strength, but this is pathetic.”

“Hey, but that girl in the back isn’t pathetic at all, she’s quite a looker, why.”

Hahahahaha!

An unpleasant laughter filled the room for a moment.

“How dare you use such low-class words…”

Noah Beselion’s eyes darkened like the deep sea as he adjusted his grip on the sword.

“Hey, kid! Don’t act tough and just kneel down quietly. Well, if you do, I might go easy on you.”

Hahahahaha!

The group of mercenaries burst into laughter once again.

“…There he is! The operator is back there!”

Just then, a short man with scars around his eyes shouted loudly.

“Operator sir!!”

“You bastards, we were going to go easy on you because you’re young, but you dare to do this to the operator…!”

“We’ll tear you to pieces…”

The burly men started to get heated as they saw the operator with all his limbs bound and a black bruise on his chin.

Their muscles, already large, bulged even more as they twitched.

Noah Beselion raised his sword high.

“Beselion, need help?”

Nigel Ars, who had suddenly appeared beside him, asked while creating a small magical flame above her hand.

Blink blink.

That small magical flame had destroyed Heres’s magic tool and the classroom wall no less than four times.

At least then, Heres’s barrier had been in place, but now…

“…No, it’s fine.”

Noah Beselion smiled awkwardly.

“Then… should I help?”

Allen Evans was trembling like a newborn lamb, clutching a dagger tightly in his hand.

Thud.

Noah Beselion placed his hands on Allen Evans and Nigel Ars’s shoulders in turn.

“Allen, Nigel. Thank you, but I’ll just accept your feelings. Please leave this matter to me.”

“…Alright.”

“O-Okay!”

Noah Beselion turned his head to look at the group of mercenaries.

The gentle smile he had shown to Allen Evans and Nigel Ars disappeared, replaced by the face of a predator eyeing its prey.

“The young one’s got a decent look in his eyes, at least?”

“Even so, can one little brat really beat us?”

“The enemy of our savior, the operator! We’ll kill you!!”

With the last words as a signal, the mercenaries rushed at Noah Beselion as if to kill him.

Noah Beselion maintained his stance without any sign of agitation.

Just as the weapon of the man at the forefront was about to touch Noah Beselion’s body.

Whoosh.

The sound of wind was heard in the enclosed space.

Thud!

And a beat later, a man with a body as big as a door panel fell to the floor.

“H-How did you just do that? Noah, I couldn’t see your sword at all…!”

Allen Evans spoke as if entranced.

Nigel Ars also couldn’t see the trajectory of the sword.

‘Even without awakening, is a male protagonist still a male protagonist?’

“D-Don’t let your guard down! It was just a fluke.”

“Let’s avenge the operator!!”

“Woaaaah!!”

Despite the mercenaries’ fierce spirit, they fell helplessly like candles in the wind with each swing of Noah Beselion’s sword.

“Oh~”

Allen Evans exclaimed in admiration each time one fell.

The group that had easily exceeded twenty was now down to the last one.

Just as Noah Beselion’s sword was about to turn towards him, who was stuck to the wall like an insect.

Trudge trudge.

Nigel Ars approached Noah Beselion’s side.

“Nigel…?”

Noah Beselion quickly stretched out his arm to stop Nigel Ars’s movement.

Tap.

But as soon as Nigel Ars’s fingers touched Noah Beselion’s arm, his sturdy arm immediately lost strength and allowed Nigel Ars’s passage.

Nigel Ars crouched in front of the bald man with a long scar under his right eye.

“Did you lure the girls here?”

“……”

The bald man furrowed his brow deeply and avoided Nigel Ars’s gaze.

Shing.

At that moment, the tip of Noah Beselion’s sword pointed at the bald man’s neck.

Only then did the bald man open his mouth.

“…Y-Yes! We did it. But what’s wrong with that?”

“…What?”

“W-We didn’t force them to come! Those stupid wenches followed right away, tempted by the mention of gold coins, just as the operator said!”

“……”

Encouraged by Nigel Ars’s silence, the bald man continued excitedly.

“O-Of course, we did imprison them, but not everyone thinks they’re forcibly imprisoned, right? Among them, there’s one with no life force left to extract, who kept whining and clinging to my trouser leg, begging to be let in, how annoying…”

BOOM!!

Startled by the sudden explosion, the bald man clamped his mouth shut.

Then he slowly rolled his eyes to the left.

“…Hiik!!”

Right in front of his nose, a large hole big enough for a sturdy adult man to pass through was cleanly blown open.

If he had just tilted his head slightly to the left…

The bald man’s eyes lost focus and spun around, then he promptly lost consciousness and collapsed.

“……”

“……”

Noah Beselion and Allen Evans stared blankly at Nigel Ars.

“…What. This time I only destroyed the wall.”

Nigel Ars said grumpily.

“Nigel! Allen! Noah! Are you all safe? I just heard something explode!!”

At that moment, Roneh burst in, roughly flinging the door open.

…Swish.

Noah Beselion and Allen Evans silently raised their fingers at the same time to point at Nigel Ars.

“Ah.”

Nigel Ars and the wall next to her with a hole as big as a house, no, a new entrance, came into view.

Grab.

“Nigel, transfer to the Swordsmanship Department.”

Roneh tightly grasped both of Nigel Ars’s hands.