The World After the Bad Ending - Chapter 13

After a morning jog, training with Aisha.

Morning combat class and scratching Isabel a little.

After lunch, paperwork for the student council with Nikita.

Afternoon joint class, ignoring Card and focusing on the lesson.

Before dinner, preparing and gathering information for the mock battle.

Sometimes there’s extra student council work with Nikita.

After dinner, reviewing lessons, doing homework, and training.

Sleep at night.

This has been my daily routine lately.

If it were the old me, I’d be exhausted and knocked out by the next day from this colorful, chaotic routine.

But Vikarmern’s stamina is beyond imagination.

From what I see, this body could stay up for three days and nights straight and still be fine the next day.

That’s how exceptional Vikarmern’s physical strength and recovery speed are.

‘Vikarmern, this guy should have focused on training his body rather than learning useless magic.’

Why did he even bother to learn magic in the first place?

Of course, I’m not completely ignorant of Vikarmern’s story.

Vikarmern’s family, Niflheim, is originally a family of mages.

He learned magic in desperation, trying to catch up with his talented older brother.

But Vikarmern was hopelessly untalented in magic.

Even his younger sister mastered the ‘Ancestor’s Magic’ and showed the potential to be a great mage.

Vikarmern felt humiliated and became even more obsessed with magic.

‘He couldn’t develop his strengths due to envy and jealousy.’

In the end, it is what it is.

Anyway, his current strengths have become a great help.

Stamina is power.

I’m starting to realize what that means, as my endurance rapidly increases.

“Senpai, I’ve added a routine today that trains both your arms and chest!”

Maybe that’s why.

Aisha’s training routine has been getting more bizarre lately.

Aisha, who has iron-like stamina, seems to really enjoy having a training partner.

Every morning, she comes out even earlier than me, cheerfully setting up the training equipment.

I guess training alone all this time must have been quite lonely for her.

“Senpai, today’s routine focuses on legs. Let’s wear this and run together before jogging!”

The equipment she brings is becoming more and more unusual, regardless of her bright face.

But seeing her so happy, I couldn’t really feel bad about it.

More than anything, Aisha’s training has definitely helped.

“Training together is fun!”

After today’s training, as I collapsed, Aisha smiled at me with a refreshing, healthy grin that looked straight out of a sports drink commercial.

Seriously, Aisha’s stamina seems to have no end.

No wonder she can swing a giant sword around for fun.

She used to have a bit of a cold image.

Now I know just how innocent and reckless she is.

Thanks to her, I managed to drag myself back up.

Watching Aisha, who has even more stamina than me, stirs my competitive spirit.

One day, I’ll have enough stamina to swing a giant sword around for fun, too.

“Senpai, it looks like the training is paying off. Your body’s been getting better lately!”

“…You can see that?”

“No, your muscles are telling me.”

Hey, what kind of scary talk is that?

But Aisha is right.

Whether it’s because of the training, I can tell my body is getting stronger, even under the bandages of the veil.

Seeing how quickly my body is developing, I must have a different natural physique.

Indeed, Vikarmern should have gone into martial arts.

“Thanks to you.”

“Oh, hehe, no, it’s more thanks to your hard work, Senpai.”

Aisha let out an embarrassed laugh and swung her greatsword even harder, trying to shake off her shyness.

I wish she’d stop swinging it before she ends up sending it flying.

“More importantly, Aisha, I’d like to try a mock battle soon to prepare for the upcoming practice match.”

I spoke up before Aisha could really send me flying.

“Would you be up for it?”

“With me?”

Aisha’s eyes went wide.

Then she slowly put down the greatsword and soon gave a mischievous grin.

“I won’t go easy on you, even if you’re my Senpai. Is that okay?”

“Of course, that’s what I want. You can be as rough as you want.”

“I can already picture you trembling, unable to get out of bed the next day.”

“Don’t you think it might be you who ends up like that? Aisha, you’ll be crying in bed, unable to move the next day.”

“What… what on earth are you two talking about!”

At that moment, an unexpected voice cut through our conversation.

When Aisha and I turned our heads, there stood a girl with short, fiery red hair shining in the sunlight.

Isabel Luna.

The main heroine of the Blazing Butterfly arc, and the one I’m struggling to stop from going down the self-destruction route.

Isabel’s face was flushed red from her ears to her cheeks as she glared at Aisha and me.

Seems like seeing my face first thing in the morning has ticked her off.

Good, we’re steadily becoming enemies.

I’m satisfied.

“Isabel Luna, what do you need this early in the morning?”

When I asked, addressing her by her full name, Isabel caught her breath and glared at me with hostility.

“…You and I are on morning duty today.”

Oh, right, I almost forgot.

I got so caught up in training with Aisha that it slipped my mind for a moment.

“Aisha, we’ll finish this conversation later.”

“Yes, Senpai, you worked hard today as well.”

After Aisha’s polite farewell, I walked over to Isabel.

“I need to stop by the dorm first, looking like this.”

There’s no way I’m heading there covered in sweat and dirt.

Isabel let out a big sigh and suddenly tossed a bag at me.

I realized a little late that it was my own bag.

When did she grab it for me?

“…Card told me this morning. He let me know you were here, and your uniform should be in that bag.”

So that’s why she came here.

Still, there’s a problem.

I glanced at Aisha with a blank expression.

“Like I said, I can’t go like this.”

Even if my uniform is there, I can’t wear it while I’m all dirty and sweaty.

“I’ll take care of that.”

At that moment, another person appeared from the bushes.

With small star-shaped tattoos near her eyes and earrings dangling from her ears, she gazed at me with half-lidded, sleepy eyes.

So she came with her, huh.

One of Isabel’s close friends.

Sharin Sazaris.

She’s from the magic department and is the top student in her second year.

Known for being bad at waking up early, she let out a long yawn and pulled out her staff, making a small gesture.

Water droplets formed around my body, absorbing the sweat and dirt before disappearing.

An impressive water magic spell.

“All clean now, right? Bel, let’s gooo. I wanna nap in the classroom.”

As she clung to Isabel and called her by her nickname, Isabel nodded.

Then she gave me a disapproving glance.

She must have meant, ‘I solved your problem, now follow me.’

A rebellious urge flared up in me, but I held it back.

I didn’t want to be late and get demerits for being on duty.

Even if it doesn’t matter to the students, building a good reputation with the professors brings plenty of benefits.

So I slung my bag over my shoulder and turned to leave.

Isabel frowned deeply and grabbed my clothes.

“Where do you think you’re going? We’re on duty, aren’t we?”

“I’m just going over there to change clothes. What, are you going to follow me and watch? You have a strange hobby.”

“N-no, sorry for grabbing you. Go change.”

Apologizing in this situation?

Even with someone she considers an enemy, she still apologizes properly. That says something about her character.

Leaving Isabel, who was stammering out of embarrassment, I walked towards the trees.

From afar, I could feel Sharin’s gaze lingering on me for some reason.

With her sleepy eyes, it was hard to tell what she was thinking.

Sharin is another unpredictable factor.

Her character trait itself is fickleness.

She could suddenly say ‘I’m done’ and retire in the middle of a battle.

Sharin’s fickleness was so extreme it was practically a debuff.

But her skills and stats were unmatched, so in dire situations, I would occasionally hire her like a mercenary, relying on pure luck.

Now that this game has become reality, I can’t gauge how unpredictable she’ll be.

‘Getting involved with her now won’t bring me anything good.’

I changed into my clothes and stepped outside.

Isabel, as if waiting, quickly turned and began walking away.

I waved at Aisha, then followed closely behind.

The three of us walked in almost complete silence.

No need to explain the awkwardness between Isabel and me.

And Sharin, who wasn’t a morning person, kept yawning and stumbling as she walked.

“Sharin, walk straight.”

“But I’m so sleepy.”

Sharin, known for her morning grogginess, often had these events where Isabel would drag her along.

Normally, this would be where Lucas would join in.

If Lucas were here, the atmosphere would be lively.

We’d probably chat about today’s classes or the latest academy rumors, sharing all sorts of casual conversations.

‘But because of morning duty, it just so happens to be me today.’

All we had was this heavy, uncomfortable silence.

It was Sharin who first broke free from it.

As we reached the entrance of the magic department, she was about to part ways.

“Have a good class, and don’t fall asleep.”

“Mom, just five more minutes.”

“Sharin, your mom’s not here.”

Isabel patted her head as Sharin clung to her.

Isabel seemed a bit more at ease when she was with Sharin.

But even Sharin couldn’t fill the empty space in Isabel’s heart where Lucas used to be.

Without Lucas, Isabel’s extreme choices are inevitable.

As I stared at that scene, Isabel glanced my way.

Ah, time for her to pick a fight.

“We’re going to be late for morning duty.”

“…You’re one to talk.”

She’s right.

But I pressed on shamelessly.

Since I’m destined to be hated, I might as well be thoroughly hated.

“Your friend Lucas was probably just as relaxed as you.”

Isabel’s face turned ice-cold in an instant.

She bit her lip hard, then let go of Sharin.

“You won’t be able to say things like that much longer.”

With eyes full of hatred, she glared at me before whipping around and walking off.

The hatred is building up nicely.

Let’s keep it up.

It looks like morning duty is going to be particularly chilly today.

‘Might as well get going.’

By now, I was used to it, so I followed after Isabel.

Thump!

But I was immediately stopped.

And by someone unexpected.

“…Sharin Sazaris?”

“Hey, hey, you know…”

She dragged out her words, gripping my wrist tightly.

Then her navy-blue hair, sparkling like a galaxy, tilted to the side.

“Why are you disguising yourself like that?”

Oh, crap?