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'I was sent back in time by the robed woman, and if everything in the book was true... it seems I need to help Aden stop the revived ancient being somehow...'
I also wondered if it was really right to act according to the intentions of a woman who used a protection similar to the ancient being's.
But one thing was certain: regardless of whether or not I could trust her, I couldn't just sit back and do nothing.
The name of the massive spell she'd used to send me into the past kept nagging at me.
[Last Chance]
It was the kind of spell name that made it feel like something terrible would happen unless I actually did something about it now.
[Final Magic]
[Final Roar]
When words like "last" or "final" appeared attached to an action infused with mana, it literally meant a final act of desperation, wringing out every last drop of mana, whether one had it or not.
Whether I trusted that robed woman completely or not, and whether I found my own independent way forward or not, I needed to do something either way, but I had far too little information right now.
For now, I knew at least that Aden had regressed once, so it seemed I should head back down to the emergency shelter and wait for rescue, just as I had done before.
"Let's head back."
I roughly swung my sword to shake off the blood on it and started making my way down, and she, who had been watching silently, followed after me.
Since I knew the third and fourth years would finish clearing the mermen that had invaded their own dormitories and come here afterward, there was no problem at all in waiting for them.
Sitting quietly and waiting for rescue was fine, except that at some point my mood turned rather strange because of the girl staring at me with an odd look on her face.
I tried hard to avoid her gaze, but her persistent staring finally got to me, and I asked.
"What?"
"You like that woman you saw in the rooftop garden, don't you?"
"What are you even talking about?"
"That's really unfortunate... she seems to already have someone."
"No, I mean... what kind of nonsense is that?"
"Besides, the man there was handsome as a painting, while you..."
She quietly shook her head with a look of pity on her face.
What was even wrong with her?
If her goal was to get on my nerves, she'd certainly succeeded.
And I wished she'd realize that wearing her feelings so openly on her face like that was rude.
While I was debating whether to say something, the upperclassmen who had defeated the mermen entered the shelter.
Since Aden and I had more or less cleared the mermen that invaded the first year dormitory, the situation had resolved faster than expected.
As the tedious time passed and the moment to part ways drew near, she extended her hand toward me.
"I'm Lancia Feibrin, second year, Knight Department."
Since she offered her hand first, it seemed rude to just brush her off, so I extended mine as well and answered.
"Benjamin."
"...?"
"...What?"
"I meant give me the sword, not shake hands."
"......"
"Pfft!"
Seeing me freeze up, she let out a small laugh, then, seeming to understand, took my hand and shook it up and down a little.
"Greet me if you see me around the Knight Department from now on."
As I mentioned earlier, I was in the Magic Department.
But there was no real need to tell her that.
It absolutely was not revenge for how she'd dodged my hand a moment ago.
"See you later, then."
Watching her retrieve her sword and turn away coolly, I let out a sigh and turned my gaze the other way.
There, not far off, I spotted Aden carrying the wounded.
His clothes without a single drop of blood on them despite him having slaughtered mermen, his glossy blue hair, eyes you could get lost in, a well defined nose, and thin, closed lips...
I briefly wondered if such words were even appropriate for describing a man, but he really was strikingly beautiful.
The kind of face that made you think the phrase "pretty boy" had been invented just for him.
But in contrast to his beautiful looks, muscles so fierce that even his clothes couldn't hide them...
Wordlessly, I glanced down at my own scrawny, skinny body.
"...There's no hope."
Even though no one had spoken to me, a bitter mutter slipped out on its own.
My looks could be described as the complete opposite of his, painfully ugly as they were.
My messy black hair could be tidied up, sure, but there were also my narrow, slanted eyes, my low nose, and my pinched lips.
That alone was bad enough, but on top of it, my eyes, nose, and mouth didn't even seem to work together in harmony.
I knew this was a world where those who had everything kept getting more, while those who had nothing couldn't even scrape together enough to survive, but I couldn't help feeling sorry for myself anyway.
At least my body used to be something I could be proud of, but even that had been stripped away now that time had turned back.
If my memory served, once I hit twenty, even this thick head of hair had started falling out.
"..."
I reached up to check that my hair was still there.
Thankfully, it still seemed intact for now.
For now, I should rest a bit, and once things settled down, start building up my body in the training room.
Early morning.
I looked at the memorial monument near the training room and thought.
They said that of the four hundred first-year students, nearly a hundred had lost their lives in this incident.
Regular classes had come to a complete halt, and a memorial stone had been erected near the dormitory to honor them.
I did feel some sadness for the people who had died so senselessly, but that was about the extent of it, and after a brief moment of silence, I headed down to the training room in the basement.
"Huff... huff...!"
I hadn't expected anyone to be using the training room given the circumstances, but the moment I stepped in, the sound of rough, heavy breathing made me freeze on the spot.
Even though it was clearly a person, I could hardly believe it.
Because it was simply too massive to be human.
"Wow... I feel like there was a monster like that among the ones I used to know..."
Trapezius muscles rising sky high, and toned forearms exposed beneath short sleeves.
I even felt like the breath she was letting out alone was heating up the entire training room.
My instincts, honed over my years as a mercenary, warned me not to even dare touch the being in front of me.
"Huff... huff..."
But I couldn't just turn back, so I slipped in and grabbed a small pink dumbbell sitting in the corner.
It looked compact, but it turned out to be heavier than expected due to some kind of magical enchantment.
"Ugh!"
Whether it was because my weakened body couldn't even properly lift something this small, my stance broke and the strength drained from my arms.
Just then, a voice that seemed to reverberate like it came from a cave reached me.
"...That."
Feeling a sudden chill, I turned my head slowly, and the being who ruled over this training room was standing right behind me, looking down at me.
I nearly screamed, but screaming at the sight of a human face didn't seem right, so I barely managed to keep my mouth shut.
"Th-this thing?"
Polite speech came out of me on its own.
Given the atmosphere, like she might flatten me at any moment, I couldn't help but speak politely.
But the unexpected words that came out of her mouth right after loosened the tension as if by magic.
"That... you're not doing it... right."
"..."
Maybe it was because the tension had eased.
I hadn't been able to recall it a moment ago, but I was sure I'd seen some record of this massive being somewhere in Aden's life.
Even after Aden regressed, he'd been reluctant to approach her, so there wasn't much detail left, but I definitely remembered.
Luna Delsia.
Unlike her rugged, muscular appearance, she had a name that sounded girlish, cute even.
Which, perhaps, made sense.
Whether by age or by gender, she really was a girl.
'...I genuinely can't tell the sex apart just by looking?'
Her bulging muscles were so intense they were almost overwhelming.
I'd heard before that the Delsia family had an unusual talent for gathering mana into their muscles, but I never imagined it could be packed in this terrifyingly.
"Breathe in... exhale slowly..."
Naturally settling in beside me to teach me how to exercise, she spoke, and before I knew it I was raising and lowering the dumbbell slowly, adjusting my breathing along with her.
Thanks to her expert advice on muscles, the stimulation hitting my muscles definitely felt different from before.
The problem was that my arm, holding the dumbbell, felt like it was about to shatter.
"One more... one last one more... more!"
Just as I began wondering when "the last one" would actually end, Aden's pretty boy face flashed through my mind.
Having watched his entire life like a novel, I knew exactly how many women flocked around him.
"D-don't come near me!"
"Get away, you ugly baldy!"
Whenever I tried to ask someone directions, the answer I got was a request to keep my distance, and whenever I had nowhere else to sit and took the seat next to someone, they'd poke at my bare head and snap at me, wounding my pride each time.
So up until then, I'd thought every woman in the world was sharp-tongued like that.
But the women who appeared in his life were different.
How different, you ask?
"..."
Anger has always made for good fuel.
Twisting my whole body, fueled by burning rage, I managed to finish her entire training course to the very end.
Once the workout ended, half-exhausted and collapsed, she came over and silently handed me a cup.
"Your muscles... they're small and cute."
Did she not know that being called small and cute was humiliating for a man?
I wanted to argue the point in detail, but I didn't have an ounce of strength left in my body.
Emptying my mind, I took the cup she handed me absentmindedly, and inside was a murky, thick green liquid.
"What in the world is this..."
"Nutrient intake... the final step of all training... drink."
Having gone this far with her training course, I figured I might as well see it through to the end, so I closed my eyes and downed the strange liquid.
But contrary to its ominous color, the moment I swallowed it, a refreshing sensation spread through my body, easing my fatigue and leaving a pleasant, languid feeling all over.
On top of that, it actually tasted better than it looked.
"Oh, strawberry flavor?"
"My favorite flavor."
I wondered how a strawberry-flavored drink ended up this color, but I figured I'd regret finding out, so I let it go.
[Status]
Name: Benjamin
Age: 18 Talent: Reader, Editor
Body: 18
Synchronizing... Mana: 0
Status Ailments: Exhaustion
My Body score, which had risen to 16 while fighting the mermen, had gone up another 2 points from this single training session.
Even accounting for the high initial growth rate of Body scores, gaining 2 points from a single session was still remarkable.
"Hmm..."
I wanted to keep receiving this kind of training until my body was properly conditioned, and to do that, it seemed I'd need to get closer to this person.
I liked that she'd helped me so readily, with no ulterior motives, and I also wanted to drink that strange juice again.
Watching her sniffing at her own fist, veins bulging all over it, held up to her mouth, an idea suddenly struck me, and I pulled a yellow ribbon out of my pocket and started shaping it this way and that.
It was originally meant to be tied into a specific knot and hung on the memorial stone, but since I'd only given a simple bow and passed by, I'd just shoved the yellow ribbon into my pocket instead.
"Ta-da!"
I showed her the crudely made ribbon and smiled.
"Here, a gift for helping me exercise."
She glanced back and forth between me and the ribbon in silence, then carefully picked it up with her thick fingers and gently placed it atop her own head.
"Wear that ribbon from now on too."
That way, people won't mistake you for a man, I thought, but kept the rest to myself.