Chapter 88 : Ryner and Bram

TL:SummerPeanut

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April 15, 2030.

“Thank you for coming. Teacher Ryner."

I called Ryner into the gymnasium that Duke of Regan had prepared for me.

Currently, it is time for the afternoon magic class. I asked Sasha to swap today's magic class for a martial arts class.

By the way, the other students are standing guard outside.

Ike and Ellie are on the roof of this building, and all the S class students except Clarice are near the building. Duke of Regan and Sasha are also in the vicinity to prevent other teachers from entering the building.

“Mars, what's going on? Teacher Sasha called me over......"

Ryner really doesn't know what's going on, apparently.

So I said while daringly using appraisal on him.

“I called you here today to have a serious match. May I?"

I said this and appraised Ryner.

As expected, he is still in a cursed state even though he seemed normal.

And then I immediately start to appraise the magic sword Bram.

Name: Bram Chest

Title: -

Status: Human, commoner.

Condition: Cursed

Age: 32 years old

Level: 51

HP: 52/52

MP: 212/213

I could only appraise so far. During the appraisal, the magic sword Bram immediately appeared in front of me, and Ryner attacked me with that sword.

If I was concerned about the results of the appraisal instead, I would surely have been killed.

As Duke of Regan had said, the magic sword Bram was a person.

Ryner seems to have lost his mind.

He kept trying to kill me with deadly blows.

I used Sylphid, Vision, and Mana Eyes to defend myself. This time I just have to endure. And even if I take a little damage, I can heal myself immediately.

Not to mention, I can use magic as much as I want. I can use Wind Cutter if I feel it gets too dangerous.

There are only us in this gym.

After a couple of minutes of endurance, Ryner’s group started to attack again.

An ice blade came out of nowhere and settled in Ryner's dominant right hand.

In his left hand is the magic sword Bram... this is bad...... right hand is Ryner's swordsmanship and tricky attacks will be coming from Bram on his left.

I decided to deal with Ryner's right sword with Salamander Sword and use Wind Cutter to clash with the magic sword Bram.

The magic sword Bram would shift coordinates just when I thought I had repelled it sword so it was easier to intercept it with magic.

However, the situation is not good.

I’m evenly matched in the fight with his right hand, or in fact I’m actually holding the advantage but the defense against the magic sword Bram is inevitably lagging behind. That’s even when using Vision.

The reason is that the demon sword Bram seemed to have brought a dagger with spatial magic, and I am unable to fully avoid the dagger.

Furthermore, the dagger is carefully coated with poison......

Hence I've been using Wind Cutter to deal with Bram's attacks, and avoid the poisoned dagger if I can. When I can't avoid it, I'll recover immediately with a Cure and then a Heal.

I am glad that I have been training magic every day to raise my maximum MP.

I now have a maximum MP of over 7600.

Even if I use 100 MP per minute, I can continue fighting for more than an hour.

Well, in my case forget about 1 minute, I would easily use more than 100MP in no time at all so I used Sylphid and Vision at different key points.

As I continued to deal with the attacks, Ryner's expression changed.

At first, he seemed agitated but I think he is back to his usual face.

But it seems that he is no good with Holy magic.

When I used Heal and Cure, he was quite wary of me.

Maybe he was just surprised...

The fact that I can’t let my guard down from Ryner’s magic sword Bram attacks on his left hand remain the same but I can now afford to use appraisal.

I looked at the remaining MP of the magic sword Bram. There are less than 80 left.

If I can survive 80 more spatial magic attacks, it’s my win.

This appraisal by the Sky Eyes] led Mars to an advantageous battle situation.

Because while Mars can calculate his opponent's remaining fighting strength, Ryner and Bram, do not know their opponent's remaining MP. Common sense tells them that with all the Wind magic and Holy magic he was using, Mars's MP should have been depleted in less than a minute. However, Mars is not conservative in his use of magic.

Although Ryner’s face seems to be back to his usual one, his attacks are getting more and more intense, as if he has no more time to spare. The atmosphere is that he wants to decide the battle as soon as possible.

And Bram's MP is also running out rapidly... Bram's remaining MP is now in single digits.

I had been continuously using magic too so I have less than 500 left.

In fact, we were fighting a very close battle over here.

I kept appraising Bram's remaining MP all the time.

5, 4, 3, 2...... remaining 2, the magic sword Bram disappeared into space.

That means it used spatial magic when it had 2 left, so now it should have 1 only.

Okay! Just like the plan......*1

I was looking at Bram's MP the whole time so I completely overlooked the threat from Ryner's right hand.

There was no way Ryner could have missed this opening.

I couldn't avoid the killing blow from Ryner's right hand and got hit on my right arm, dropping my Salamander Sword.

Ryner seemed to think he had a chance and slashed at me with great momentum but I managed to intercept him with my Wind Cutter.

And that's when it happened.

When I hit Ryner's sword in his right hand with Wind Cutter, the magic sword Bram appeared in Ryner's left hand.

A deadly blade that can’t be evaded assaulted me.

I undid Sylphid and put on my newly-learned God’s Authority(Kamui) instead.

Kamui is referring to the previously activated magic by coincidence when I fought Barnes. It’s a combination of Wind Cloak(Sylphid) and Lightning Cloak.

It sends electric signals to the body, which has been enhanced by Sylphid, to forcibly improve the body’s physical abilities. Because it is a forced reaction, there are many disadvantages.

My body itself cannot keep up, which is dangerous because it leaves a lot of damage to the bones and muscle tissues.

Well, it can still be recovered with a Heal.

Ryner, who missed an attack with the magic sword Bram which they had thought was a sure-hit, attacks me in a frantic manner.

Immediately, I released Kamui and shouted.

"Clarice!”

Then, as if she had been waiting for me, Clarice came out of the women's restroom in the gymnasium, put maximum magic power into her Magic Arrow, and shot the magic sword Bram.

The impact was so great that Ryner dropped the magic sword Bram unintentionally, and Clarice sent the magic sword Bram flying further and further toward the edge with the Magic Arrow.

I picked up the Salamander Sword and stood between Ryner and Bram, ready to prevent Ryner from nearing Bram.

Clarice ran to Bram and casted High Heal on Bram several times.

Bram has no more MP so it can't escape into the void.

Our strategy was to set Bram's MP to 1 from the beginning and when Bram returned to the void, I would act as if I have fallen into a pinch so that it could not escape by consuming his last MP after reappearing.

We are of the opinion that even if Ryner's curse is lifted, Ryner might fall into the curse again if the magic sword Bram is still here.

I also thought that if Clarice was there from the beginning, Bram would be wary of her and would conserve its MP so I had Clarice stay on standby the whole time.

This time I got away with the best pattern but I even had a plan to reduce the magic sword Bram's MP to 0 until he pierced my abdomen in the worst-case scenario.

When Clarice High Heal-ed me several times, a light shot out from the magic sword Bram, and a man a little shorter than Ike appeared unclothed.

It was probably Bram. He seemed to have fainted due to a lack of magical power.

I immediately looked at Ryner who was just about to slash at me.

The man who was slashing at me had a face full of tears.

He was sobbing and slashing at me with tears in his eyes.

What could he cut with such a sword and strength? It was such an attack that make you question so.

Ryner was still cursed.

I sealed Ryner's sword while I was crossing swords with Ryner.

I was no longer the focus of Ryner's sight.

He was staring at Bram who was lying on the ground the whole time.

Clarice approached Ryner and High Heal-ed him while I and Ryner are locking swords.

Finally, the curse on the Ryner is broken and the Ryner collapsed on the spot.

After a bit of time passed and things finally calmed down, I, Clarice, and Ryner sat down next to bare Bram.

By the way, we haven't told everyone outside that the battle is over yet.

Ike will come to check once at 15:00 but it's only 14:30 now so that's not a problem.

By the way, my upper half is basically au naturel. I have holes in various places thanks to being slashed round and around by both Ryner and Bram, and I couldn't let anyone else see my current clothes and robe. The fact is that despite being soaked in blood, I don’t have any cuts anywhere on my body.

How did you recover from all that? There is no way I can answer that if asked.

I had burned the uniform and robe I was wearing on my upper body.

So that is the reason why I have no clothes for Bram.

Clarice has both her uniform and robe well intact but I’m not comfortable using a girl’s robe to cover the lower half of a male.

It doesn’t matter to Ryner apparently.

“thank you...really... Thank you so much."

Ryner repeatedly thanked me for my help.

"It’s fine. I'm glad we were able to break the curse safely. And please don't tell anyone about mine and Clarice’s magic.”

“I know that. I've seen that tragedy many times in this academy after all.”

Ryner’s face looks as if the ghost possessing him had fallen off his face.

Then Ryner began to talk.

“I still remember the time I killed Cyrus. I also remember when I cut my fellow adventurers from the back. I still remember the grief I heard from Bram......"

Sure enough, it was Ryner who killed Cyrus......

“Was Bram suffering too?"

“I think Bram probably suffered more than me. Thanks to the magic sword Bram’s curse who knows how many lives had been taken. He kept voicing…how do I return to normal, how do I die.”

I and Clarice listened to Ryner's words in silence.

I believe it's absolutely necessary to listen to him like this.

“There were also times that I can speak freely but when I hold or feel the magic sword Bram, my thoughts and actions became brutal......but Bram was the only person I can talk to. So for the past month, I've been able to talk to you guys and I didn't have to talk to Bram. I didn't trigger the curse as often. But then Bram would be alone all the time. I couldn't leave Bram alone because I'm the one who caused him to be this way to begin with...... And then the curse would always kick in, and everything repeats itself."

It was much more sublime and harsh than I thought… Can we hold these people guilty? I can kind of understand how Duke of Regan feels now......

“I'll answer for my crimes. With Bram. We had decided together all along that if we ever got back, we would atone for our sins. Then again, talking about that kind of thing can trigger the curse again."

Ryner's face showed determination.

“I understand. Let's follow the rules of Duke of Regan's territory. Please wait for the Duke of Regan to come..."

I stopped mid-sentence.

If I left Ryner here alone, he might possibly commit suicide......

“Clarice, I'm sorry but could you go get Duke of Regan and Brother Ike? I want you to go outside and tell them that we are safe, just in case."

Clarice understood my intention and immediately went outside the gymnasium.

Ryner chuckled at that.

So he intended to harm himself, after all?

Duke of Regan and Ike came quickly, and Duke of Regan cried when he saw Ryner's face, and as soon as she saw Bram's face, she broke down crying on the spot.

Duke...... it's fine to break down crying but you should do it at a better place...... what’s in front of you is the lower half of the bare Bram......

Ike came over to me and gave me a fist bump.

Then he said one word ‘That's my proud little brother’ I'm most happy to hear that.

Then Ryner turned to Ike and apologized.

“Ike. I'm sorry for what I did to you.”

Then Ike also apologized.

“It is also true that my conceited heart was strengthened thanks to you. Please don't apologize. It was a good wake-up call for me.”

After a while, we moved to a different place and started talking about the future.

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Author’s note:

Tomorrow is the last chapter of volume 5.

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TL’s note:

1. Must resist, can’t type ‘All according to keikaku’.