NOVGO.NET Chapter 499
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Chapter 499
Pababababak!
Along with that sound, a gigantic golden tiger-like beast sprinted madly through the forest with a girl in academy cadet uniform riding on its back.
“Faster! Faster!”
Even so, the girl riding atop the beast kept urging it onward while anxiously staring behind her.
There was no tremendous roar or massive tremor, but the oppressive aura spreading from behind and crushing the surroundings little by little steadily grew stronger.
“Hiiik!! Radon! Please, I’m begging you! Don’t let us get caught!”
If she got dragged back to Melissa like this, everything was over.
It would be far better for her survival chances to run away for a while, let tempers cool down, and get scolded afterward.
While being dragged away by the ear by Melissa, she had crouched down using a stomachache as an excuse for a moment, then escaped using Radon.
Melissa had not bothered chasing her frantically.
She merely pressured her leisurely.
Certainly, Radon’s running speed after enlarging his body was unimaginably fast, but Arsha riding on top of him was not particularly sturdy.
Because of that, even for Radon, it was impossible to go any faster than this.
Saaaaaaah!!!
When black vine-like strands stretching out from the darkness tried to wrap around Arsha, Radon deftly avoided the black strands with skilled movements and kicked off the earth.
Projecting aura externally and using it like a lasso.
She could not even begin to imagine just how much Melissa’s skill had improved.
How many times had they repeated the process of dodging like that?
At some point, the pressure that had been bearing down on them disappeared.
For a brief moment, relief washed over her at the thought that maybe Melissa had given up.
But only for a moment.
From the opposite side of the forest she was heading toward, Melissa burst out like a flash, appearing with a chilling smile brimming with eerie energy.
“Kyaaaaaaak!!! Radon!! Radon!”
Calling out to Radon in terror, she saw Radon lower his body and swiftly change directions, dashing off another way.
“Why not give up already? If you surrender now, I’ll at least let you live.”
The trees obstructing Melissa’s path bent with shrill screams as she trudged forward.
“N-No way!”
Arsha used every bit of know-how she had accumulated through all the trouble she had caused over the years to escape from Melissa.
And then, as if throwing in a feint, she cleverly slipped away.
“You didn’t expect this, did you?!”
“This child still doesn’t understand the situation. Do you really think someone like me, who spent years running away from your brother, wouldn’t have tried something like that?”
Kwaaang!!!
A thunderous explosion erupted in an instant, battering Arsha’s ears.
Clinging onto Radon’s back, she was flung away by the sudden blast of wind and rolled across the ground.
“Eughk!”
Her legs got scraped as she fell to the ground, but without caring, she desperately ran.
In a situation where even Radon’s speed could barely shake Melissa off, there was no way Arsha’s own running could escape her.
Then.
A familiar figure entered Arsha’s sight.
Her eyes widened greatly, and upon seeing her older brother walking from beyond the forest, Arsha hurriedly ran toward him and clung to him like a cicada sticking itself to an old tree.
“Brother!”
At the sight of Arsha brightly smiling as she tightly wrapped her arms around his neck, Leon smiled gently and supported her backside with his arm so she would not fall.
“Arsha. Have you been well?”
“Yeah! Brother! You came to save me, right?! Right?!”
At her cry, Leon chuckled and nodded.
“Yeah. I came to save you.”
“As expected! It’s my brother! Unlike that sister who’s practically a demon—”
“If you get caught right now, you won’t die, Arsha.”
“Huh?”
She froze on the spot.
“I figured this would happen, so I just let it go.”
Then Melissa walked up and instantly jabbed her fingers into Arsha’s back, striking her pressure points.
“Ghk… Eulk. Gk!”
Letting out a bizarre scream, Arsha stiffened completely, and Leon carefully caught her in his arms.
Arsha’s eyes looked full of betrayal, as if saying, Even Brother too?!
“Let’s go.”
* * *
The aftermath handling for Arsha’s incident passed without issue.
Even the academy, which fully understood the situation, sent word that they had no intention of imposing any sanctions so long as a certain amount of compensation was paid.
On the other hand, it seemed Graven Coltus, the root cause of this entire incident, was scheduled to receive quite severe disciplinary punishment on the grounds of tarnishing a fellow cadet’s honor.
Of course, the fact that the condition of that man named Graven Coltus was no longer normal was a separate matter entirely.
“Brother.”
“Yeah, Arsha.”
“I really hate you.”
Watching her grumble while wearing work clothes, I chuckled.
“Arsha. Do you really think Melissa’s angry just because you caused trouble?”
“Isn’t she?”
At that question, I pondered.
Is she?
Or not?
Probably not.
“I don’t think so?”
Perhaps my words did not sound convincing at all, because Arsha pouted her lips.
“But that guy was the one in the wrong……”
“No. That bastard was definitely in the wrong. But that doesn’t mean your fault disappears, does it?”
“Ughhh……”
“There needs to be a proper limit to everything. Otherwise, at least cause trouble within a range you can take responsibility for.”
At my words, she sank deep into thought.
Causing trouble was fine.
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I had already caused countless incidents myself, so who was I to lecture her about that?
However, if she wanted to cause trouble, it should at least be within a level she could handle herself.
That was what I wanted to teach Arsha.
“Your sister’s worried in her own way too. If you recklessly cause problems while letting your emotions run wild, you might feel it at first, but later you become numb to it.”
“Ughhh…… You’re making it impossible for me to argue……”
Honestly, half-destroying an academic building?
Damaging artifacts?
None of that really mattered.
But the problem was that the trouble she caused without thinking had spread beyond a range she could handle.
“The academy doesn’t seem to have any intention of punishing you either. You can just go back and attend the education sessions. For now, help your brother out a little first.”
“But Brother. You really are terrible at cooking things for the first time.”
“Hey now.”
I playfully bonked her on the head.
“Elpiria’s birthday is coming up soon. I wanted to try making a cake myself this time.”
Theoretically, I understood it.
But once I actually tried making it, there were a lot of trial and error issues.
So I got some help from Arsha.
“Haah. Brother. Look here. You forgot this.”
“Huh? Huhhh? When did I forget that?”
“Whatever. I’ll teach you one by one, so follow along carefully, Brother.”
Watching her prepare the flour beforehand, I slowly took in the key points of her actions.
‘Librarian!’
And then.
As though using a cheat key, I extremely strengthened my eyesight and captured every variable within my field of vision.
[Unique Authority – Eyes That See All Things activates.]
-Using the Martial God’s authority to create and use it for something like this.
Along with Librarian’s voice, Lucifer’s dumbfounded voice could also be heard.
This was what one might call the ultimate form of skill theft.
If craftsmen saw it, they would probably call these eyes wicked enough to gouge out immediately.
But who cared?
It wasn’t like I was going to make money with this.
This could truly be called the essence of mastering techniques just by watching over someone’s shoulder.
Arsha had learned cooking here and there since childhood, so she was far more knowledgeable than me in this sort of field.
No.
More accurately, after joining a club at the academy, she had become even more proficient in these kinds of skills.
Her club seniors looked on the surface like lunatics wandering around searching for haunted spots, but the funny thing was that aside from searching for haunted locations, they were all practically all-rounders who excelled at everything.
And.
The same was true for Arsha as well.
Thus, after I learned the method Arsha demonstrated and began skillfully making the cake, Arsha’s eyes sparkled.
“Brother! What did you just do?!”
“Mm. I’ll gladly take your technique.”
“This is so unfair I can’t even talk.”
Arsha let out a hollow laugh as though dumbfounded.
“Now then. What do you think?”
When I showed her the cake I made, Arsha scooped up a spoonful from a pre-made cake for testing purposes and popped it into her mouth.
Then she said:
“Mm. It’s not bad. Elpiria will like it.”
Smiling prettily, she raised her hand, and I returned the high-five.
“Thanks. Your brother will give you lots of allowance money.”
“Kyaak! Brother’s the best!”
My youngest sister Arsha had become much brighter and far more affectionate.
* * *
Even though it was a cake I had worked quite hard to prepare.
“Ah…….”
I stared blankly at the cake that had been reduced to nothing but ruins before my eyes.
“Which bastard did this?”
I had worked hard making it and even sealed it.
And someone broke through that and ate the cake?
There were extremely few beings capable of something like that.
I glared sharply as I searched for the culprit.
However, the culprit revealed themselves in a different way than I expected.
“Elpiria?”
“Daddy!”
The moment she saw me, Elpiria came running over with a bright smile.
Cream was smeared all around her mouth, and both her hands were covered in cream as well.
“I made it so you could eat it on your birthday, but you couldn’t even wait that long……”
No.
It was a sealing art strengthened with the power of the Martial God.
Yet how many beings in this world could destroy it instantly?
The culprit had been decided from the start.
Elpiria had toddled over, broken the seal with her own power, and eaten the cake.
[The sturdiness of the sealing art placed on the cake was at a level capable of enduring even a dragon’s breath.]
Apparently, to Elpiria, who possessed the power of Creation Transformation, it had been a meaningless barrier from the start.
Brightly smiling while still sucking on her fingers, Elpiria seemed somehow unsatisfied and cheerfully created pure white light in both hands.
“N-No!!”
Seeing that, Luna and I cried out in terror and tried to stop her.
But.
Before that, Elpiria’s power manifested first.
Puhwaaaak!!
At the same moment, a gigantic wave of cake poured throughout the corridor area.
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