Chapter 19
Chapter 19: Student Rights
I decided to stay on the fifth floor for the time being, worried that heading back as we were might leave the kids with wounded hearts.
Using Spatial Magic, I cut the snow into one-meter cubes and compressed them. I stacked them into a dome shape and carved out an entrance.
In the blink of an eye, I'd built an igloo straight out of a cartoon—large enough for ten people to lie down comfortably—and lit a fire inside.
The Ice Ent branches nearby served as perfect firewood. I caught a few more in the vicinity and tossed them into the flames; they burned well. An ice tree catching fire had a strangely surreal feel to it.
Once the igloo warmed up, I released the Spatial Isolation around the two of them. As they drew near the fire, their breathing grew noticeably easier.
"Puhaaah…. Hiing…. Kyuuuuuuk."
A little while later.
Yuna snoring in the most bizarre fashion, and Silen frowning as though the noise was driving her mad.
I briefly wondered if Yuna was doing it on purpose, so I pinched her nose for a moment—but she let out a low uuungh and seemed to be in genuine distress, so I let go.
Thirty minutes passed like that.
When the warmth had settled inside the igloo and the water was beginning to bubble and boil, Silen was the first to open her eyes.
She then reached out with her foot and shoved Yuna with half-lidded eyes.
"Seriously, you're so loud…. Let me sleep!"
"Kyuuuuu…. Hmm? Haaaaaah. Slept well."
Jolted awake by Silen's assault, Yuna opened her eyes and stretched out with a wide yawn. Then she looked at Silen, looked at me, and gave a small nod.
"Ahaha. It's a dream, then. Good night."
And with that, she lay back down on the floor.
Silen stared at Yuna through narrowed eyes, then shifted her gaze to me and let out a long sigh.
"Silen, do you think this is a dream too?"
"No—this is real. Though honestly, I wish it were a dream. I remember everything up to the moment I passed out."
She said that and curled in on herself, hugging her knees.
She managed only a few sips of the tea I handed her before burying her face in her knees.
"Right. You were utterly wrecked back there. If I hadn't been watching, you would have died."
"Ugh…. I know."
"But because I was there, you survived. I'll be there from now on too, so there's no need to worry."
"Mister…? What is this? Are you bragging? Just because you're older and more capable?"
"Hmm…."
"Sorry. That was harsh. I'm the one at fault for being weak…."
Silen mumbled those words and went quiet.
I waited without pressing her, and before long, she opened her mouth on her own.
"I was frustrated. I couldn't do anything. I had to be supported by that Student Council President. And in the end, I could have died. All of it—every bit of it—was so infuriating."
"Were you frustrated by your own weakness?"
Silen nodded.
"I believed I had talent. I thought I'd become like Thunder Strike one day. And yet I collapsed on only the fifth floor! Only the fifth floor! What talent?!"
Unable to contain her frustration, her eyes welled with tears. She wiped them away and kept murmuring something under her breath.
In the face of that grief, I had nothing to say to her.
I am a genius—but a counterfeit one.
Of course.
This world is a game, and I am its playable character.
Put differently, unlike adventurers who are born with talent as a matter of course, my talent was constructed entirely by someone else.
Whether that someone is a god or anyone else, it's none of my concern.
My master had said this to me:
—My apprentice. Your elemental magic talent is, to be frank, the literal greatest talent in this world. Which is precisely why it feels unnatural. Has there ever truly been someone who has mastered all elemental magic? If asked that, even I can only shrug.
—When you crossed from that world to this one. You called it a game over there? Whatever the case, you said you were a manufactured Hero on a game board, yes? That story is fascinating in its own right—but simply put, you possess the elemental talent required of the 'Sage' among that Hero's party.
Those words from my master.
I am an existence manufactured entirely for a purpose in this world.
This talent of mine is not real either.
So when Silen spoke of believing herself lacking in talent, I could offer her neither sympathy nor encouragement.
When I stayed silent, Silen abruptly rose to her feet.
"Hold on, I'm going to get some air."
"It'll be cold."
"I'll be fine. I've got the tea you prepared…. I can bear it for a little while."
With those words, Silen stepped outside the igloo.
"Now then. Let's hear from the mischievous Student Council President who's been pretending to sleep while her friend is this upset."
"Ah…. Ahaha. You caught me?"
Yuna had been lying with her back to me; she rotated her body half a turn and looked up at me from the floor. Watching her awkward smile, I laughed before I could stop myself.
"What does the Student Council President think?"
"Hmm…. Honestly, I'm not sure. Because I think Silen's talent surpasses mine!"
I agreed with that.
Silen's talent as a Rogue was different from Yuna's—a hybrid Swordswoman—in that it was pure, and at the same time, her potential ceiling was extreme.
Yuna folded her arms and mulled it over, then tilted her head.
"To begin with, I can't understand the worry itself at all."
While Yuna strained her empathy to its limits, trying her hardest to understand Silen's feelings—
Silen, who had stepped out to clear her head and now returned, spoke with eyes somewhat more subdued than before.
"Mister. Tell me how to clear the Snowfield Zone. This time, I want to win properly."
"Understood. Come, sit."
A voice that was subdued, composed, and brimming with fire on the inside.
It was the competitive spirit an adventurer absolutely had to have—though whether that was what Silen needed right now, I wasn't quite sure.
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“The details may shift depending on the party's balance, but broadly speaking, what is demanded of melee classes in Snowfield combat is mobility.
In a snowfield, footing is treacherous, snow can pile up to the knees, and blizzards may sweep through at any moment.
That's why melee damage dealers—Warriors and their ilk—must always keep a wide field of vision, possess mobility nimble enough to fly across the snowfield, and have airtight cold-weather countermeasures.
In the end: move swiftly without sinking into the snow, without getting soaked, cut down monsters, and maintain broad situational awareness no matter how poor the visibility.
The entire map is a miserable one that slaps you with 【Status Effect: Frozen】, 【Status Effect: Blind】, and 【Status Effect: Slow】 all at once.”
The two little ones, who had face-planted and been knocked fully unconscious not long ago, were finally beginning to take my words seriously.
"Do you actually understand this time?"
"Yes! I've understood it completely!"
"Yeah. Got it, Mister."
The three of us headed back into the snowfield and encountered monsters.
"Right then, let's go!"
With Yuna's spirited declaration, we pressed forward into the Snowfield.
.
.
.
.
Nothing in this world goes exactly as one is advised, and if a single word of counsel were enough to spark enlightenment and transform a person, they'd be a coded machine, not a human being.
In other words, what I'm trying to say is—
"Waaaah! My foot, my foot is stuck!"
"Idiot! Get your stance right! The aggro is jumping to me!!"
【Yu—na—Lin—force—is—HERE!!!!】
"Don't use Battle Howling right next to me just to grab aggro!! You absolute idiot!! My ears! My earrrrs!!"
The hellish party of Yuna and Silen was turning the battlefield into actual hell.
Yuna, a Swordswoman with Warrior traits, had yet to master rapid movement, so she struggled to hold aggro properly and kept sinking into the snow—while Silen—
"Ugh, this thing!"
—was failing to handle the Rogue's natural weakness against area Status Effects and Slow, unable to land proper hits.
In the end, a grinding, muddy brawl.
Still—was it a little better than this morning?
"Silen! I've got the aggro!"
"Oraaaaaaa!!"
At Yuna's shout, Silen somehow charged across the snowfield and launched herself skyward, driving down with her dagger from high above.
Craaaaack!
One Ice Ent was split clean in two and died. Without slowing for even a moment, Silen charged straight toward the Frozen Fish barreling toward the two of them.
"Hmm."
That was clearly a poor move.
Left as is, the exchange would simply amount to trading one blow each with the Frozen Fish.
She might take down the Frozen Fish in the end, but Silen couldn't escape injury in the process.
Just as the thought crossed my mind that Silen might get hurt and I reached out my hand—
【Yu—na—Lin—force—KEHEKK!】
Thanks to Yuna forcing out a second 【Battle Cry】, the Frozen Fish's aggro snapped to Yuna, and it reversed course to charge at her.
The Frozen Fish's attack—launched without so much as a proper stance—caught Yuna squarely in the side. She went flying, and in that same instant, Silen drove her dagger into the Frozen Fish's head.
Combat over.
"Silen. Are you hurt?"
"Ah…."
Yuna, still clutching her side, checking on Silen—and Silen, watching that, realizing what she had just done.
"We're falling back for now."
"Yes!"
On the way back to the igloo—carrying the 【Ice Peach】 dropped by the Ice Ent and the 【Frozen Pollack】 from the Frozen Fish—Yuna and Silen didn't exchange a single word.
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Getting cold in this cold weather seemed like it would be a nuisance, so I prepared the cooking a different way.
What I intended to make today was peach jam.
Even if it was an Ice Peach, boiling it down long enough would eventually turn it into jam.
Since we still had a good while to wait before it became jam, I began the debrief on today's battle in the meantime.
"First, Yuna. Any injuries?"
"I'm perfectly fine. I'm a Swordswoman and a Warrior, after all. No need to worry, Master!"
"Good. And Silen—"
"……"
I glanced over at Silen to find her face was ashen.
No matter how you looked at it, Silen's mistake had been the main cause of Yuna's injury today.
It wasn't that the follow-up attack itself had been wrong—but because she had broken the most fundamental formation: dealing only after the Tank has secured aggro.
Because of that, Yuna had been forced to use a second 【Battle Cry】 while unable even to take a proper defensive stance—which was what led to the injury.
Had Silen insisted here that it was Yuna's fault, I would have been disappointed—but the pallor of her face made it plain she understood exactly what mistake she had made.
Before I could say a word, Yuna shot her hand up brightly.
"Master! I'd like to have a talk with Silen myself!"
"All right. Yuna is the one who was hurt, so it makes sense for Yuna to handle it."
Silen's anguish.
Having never once experienced despair over talent myself, I was in no position to offer Silen any real counsel.
I was also genuinely curious to see what Yuna would do—how Yuna Linforce, Student Council President, would respond.
And so, after brewing a cup of cinnamon tea for the two of them—
I stepped out of their line of sight and decided to watch how things unfolded. Yuna took a sip of tea and then asked Silen:
"Silen. Are you hurt anywhere?"
A small shake from Silen. Yuna gave a gentle ah and smiled.
"Thank goodness. If the damage dealer gets hurt, it's always the Tank's fault, right? Better that I'm the one who gets hit."
At those words, Silen—who had been staring with dead eyes—lifted her head and looked at Yuna.
"You…. What is that?"
"It's Yuna Linforce?"
"How can you possibly—in a situation like this—without blaming me for even a single thing…. How do you manage to act like such a good person?"
"Hmm…. Hmm? A good person?"
Yuna tilted her head, arms folded, and a flush crept across Silen's face.
"You can just say it. That I charged in recklessly and got you hurt. That it hurt. You're allowed to blame me. So why won't you…."
"Getting hit is just part of being a Tank. That's what a Tank is."
"That's not the point. You got hurt because of my mistake…. Why won't you blame me at all? What even are you?!"
"Doesn't everyone make mistakes?"
At Yuna's effortlessly matter-of-fact words, Silen stared in stunned disbelief.
"You know too. I…. No, we—we don't have the luxury for that. We have to push deeper into the Dungeon, take down stronger monsters, and keep getting stronger. For us—attending a backwater tin-can school like Demeter—mistakes are a luxury we can't afford! Even you, as Student Council President, know that!"
"Hmm…."
"You know that eight out of ten Demeter Academy graduates go back to being farmers even with a Job Aptitude, don't you! I'm a Rogue, but I want to become stronger than even a Hero's Party! That's why I have to reduce every mistake and somehow keep getting stronger! Mister is suspicious, but he's strong and wise—so we have to push through as much of the Dungeon as we possibly can!"
At Silen's outburst, Yuna kept her arms folded, tilted her head as if hearing words she couldn't parse, and then—once her thoughts were in order—opened her mouth.
"If you clear a Dungeon without making a single mistake, does that make you stronger?"
At that perfectly composed question, Silen's jaw dropped.
"What?"
"Isn't that strange? An adventurer who has never once made a mistake—when a genuine crisis hits, how do they cope? They wouldn't even know how to, would they? Wouldn't they just become the kind of party that charges at a powerful enemy thinking we've always won, so we'll win this time too?"
"What are you…. What do you even mean…."
"Me. I couldn't understand what Silen was saying at all—but now I think I get it a little. From the very beginning, we were thinking completely different things. I only just realized."
"Completely different things?"
Yuna flashed a grin and nodded.
"Silen is right. Thanks to Master, we pushed through Dungeons we could never have reached on our own, and we faced danger again and again. The Grass Cow. The Rocket Chicken. The Golden Rocket Chicken and the Ice Ents. Today especially was absolutely brutal. Wasn't it?"
"That's exactly why I need to reduce mistakes even more—"
"But we never died even once. Whenever it looked like we might die, Master saved us. So—right now, we're in the middle of an incredible opportunity, Silen!"
"An incredible…opportunity? What do you mean?"
Yuna, exactly as she had been on the very first day I met her—eyes shining bright—spread both hands wide.
"The opportunity to fail!"
At those words, Silen was struck speechless—and I, without realizing it, stopped stirring the jam and looked at Yuna.
"The opportunity to fall down as many times as we like, to keep getting back up and taking the next step forward! That's a far more wonderful opportunity than getting stronger unconditionally, isn't it?"
"……"
Only then did I understand what Yuna was saying—and how she had been different from Silen all along.
"Yuna Linforce. You……"
"Let's fall down as much as we want. Silen. Let's set aside the burden of being called the academy's greatest talent, and the burden of being Student Council President—and with gratitude for having an adult who can pick us back up no matter how many times we stumble, let's fall down to our hearts' content. Okay?"
"……"
Ah. So that's it.
That is Yuna Linforce's talent.
Not her Job. Not her Traits.
"Stumbling like that, and still taking down monsters—and afterward, eating something delicious! That is so many times more fun, and more fulfilling, and more wonderful a life than getting stronger without fail!"
That unwavering spirit spoken through those clear, blue eyes—
It was the greatest talent that surpassed even Thunder Strike, even Silen—and even, perhaps, myself.