Chapter 50

———At the time when Shin was heading towards the center of the forest, Hera and the others were defeating moderately strong monsters halfway through the forest.

Even though Hera was by far the one defeating the most monsters, she had a dark expression on her face, as if her mind was elsewhere. Arthur approached her.

“Hera-sama, I don’t think you need to worry so much. Honestly, I feel more sorry for whoever has to face Shin.”

“…I don’t think for a second that Shin-kun will lose.”

Oh, so she doesn’t think that… Arthur felt a little deflated. At the same time, he wondered why she looked so anxious despite that.

(If it were Shin, he’d probably know what she’s thinking…)

He recalled the face of his most reliable friend, Shin, and smiled a little. But Shin wasn’t here. In that case, he had to handle things himself.

“Then why do you look so worried?”

“…Shin-kun hasn’t been talking to me lately.”

“…Huh? Ah, well, isn’t that just because you’re in different teams?”

“I know that, so that’s not it. And it’s probably my fault anyway…”

“Did Hera-sama do something?”

Even as he asked, Arthur was confident that no matter what Hera had done, Shin would never dislike her, so he didn’t understand the reason. However—Arthur was about to be utterly shocked by Hera’s unexpected confession.

“…I told him I wanted him to stay with me…”

Hera’s face turned red as she spoke, and Arthur’s eyes widened in surprise.

(Wait, isn’t that basically a confession? Ah, so that’s why Shin looked so sleepy the other day. Now it all makes sense.)

Indeed, being confessed to by someone you like would lead to sleepless nights. As Arthur realized this, he also grew a little indignant towards Shin for not telling him about how much their relationship had progressed.

“So, what happened? Did he say yes right away?”

“Well, um… I ran away before Shin-kun could say anything…”

“…So, Shin doesn’t know how to act around the person who confessed to him, and Hera-sama is too embarrassed to talk to him after confessing?”

Seeing Hera nod at his accurate deduction, Arthur raised his hand to his face and looked to the sky.

“Well, for now… after this test is over, you should talk to Shin again. I’m sure of it. Shin would never betray your expectations.”

“—Which means… I’ll have to do my best so Shin-kun praises me.”

With that, Hera dashed off and slashed apart monsters that were supposed to be difficult for students to defeat, as if they were mere pieces of paper. Wielding her black blade, imbued with destructive power, she cut through them in a single strike. At that moment, their team gained the maximum 100 points.

But—this maiden in love couldn’t be stopped.

“I’m going to get first place and make sure he praises me…!”

Hera skillfully leapt from tree to tree, swinging her black blade in every direction. Just that alone was enough to reduce countless monsters to pieces, piling up a mountain of corpses.

“…The prodigy of Spirit Academy sure is strong…”

“Yes, but I believe Salvatore-sama would be just as strong if he bothered to get up from the sofa. That is, if he could fix his leazyness.”

“You’re as harsh as ever, Yui… You know, you’ll never be popular like that.”

“I’m a secretary, so I don’t care about being popular.”

While Hera was busy slaughtering monsters, the student council president—Salvatore, who had a contract with the Great Demon of Sloth—was leazy relaxing, leaving all the monsters around him to Kai.

“…This team doesn’t even know the meaning of the word ‘unity,’ do they?”

Arthur sighed heavily as he looked at the three of them. He resolved that he had to be the one to pull them together—when suddenly, a distant explosion reached his ears. Shortly after, smoke rose, and the screams of students echoed through the forest.

And then—

“…Sylphid?”

Arthur’s contracted spirit, Sylphid, suddenly began attacking him. He narrowly avoided the strike, but a shallow cut appeared on his cheek, and blood trickled down.

“This… might be bad…”

Arthur remembered this incident from the original game, and quickly tried to alert the other three of the situation’s gravity—

“I’ll go take care of the rampaging spirits and demons.”

“Yeah, thanks. I guess I should probably get up and do something too.”

Yui vanished from sight in an instant, likely heading toward the rampaging spirits and demons attacking the other students. Surprisingly, Salvatore also stood up from the sofa and gave orders to Arthur and Hera, who were still fighting monsters.

“Hera, Arthur, the test is temporarily suspended. I don’t know what’s going on, but spirits below transcendent level, great demons, and the demons under their control are rampaging. Since your spirits are probably fine, hurry and help the other students.”

“Yes!”

Hera replied, pulling her black blade from the monster it had pierced, and disappeared towards the screams. But Arthur stared in shock at Salvatore, unable to move.

“Wh-Why… How do you know about my real spirit…?”

“I’m a contractor with a great demon. It’d be strange if I didn’t know. I’m going to help the other students…”

“I see… Understood. I’ll head over after I subdue this spirit.”

“Do that. See you later.”

With that, Salvatore disappeared, leaving the sofa behind.

“…They don’t remember anything, but they’re still amazing… I can’t fall behind either.”

As Arthur muttered those words—at that very moment—

A vast amount of magical power erupted from Arthur’s body.

It was far stronger than during the game. Although his magical power was slightly less than Shin’s, it was still overwhelming. The rampaging spirits and demons, who had lost their reason, were suddenly filled with terror as they felt the force of his power. The immense magic turned into wind, forming a massive tornado that swept up only the rampaging spirits and demons.

At the center of the storm, Arthur spoke:

“Please… lend me your strength—Aura.”

Another god-level spirit appeared in the world.