Chapter 145: Human Love
“Are you ready~?”
“Yeah, all set!!”
“We’re good to go too~”
“Alright… it’s done.”
Ah… my back is feeling it. While my fairy clones and main body were handling the retaliation, the three of us were setting up the magic artillery cannons and distributing the ammunition. We finally finished.
Actually, just setting them up was easy. The problem was linking everything with the control code and configuring the firing timings, which took a lot of effort. But it was worth it. The setup turned out great. I designed the cannons so I could teleport ammo into them automatically, so we don’t even need people to reload them. If we did it manually, we’d need at least 100 people to keep up with the number of shots.
“Only a few minutes left now. As for Felnora and the others… yeah, they’re sitting over there properly.”
A few hundred meters away, the two of them sat close together on a sofa I had prepared. I even laid out a carpet on the ground. Fufufu… That’s got a little trick in it too. They’ll enjoy it soon enough.
“Alright, let’s finish the last task.”
“Yeah!”
“Mhm!”
“Even though it’s so cold outside, it’s as warm as being inside the academy…”
“Is this a magic tool too? It’s so advanced, I have no idea how it works.”
Felnora felt the same way. Both the sofa and the carpet were far from ordinary. She could tell they used beastman technology, but she had no idea how they managed to make something so compact and efficient.
The mood wasn’t exactly romantic, but their curiosity made both of them a little excited. However, as the time approached, Felnora cleared her throat and leaned even closer to Oikawa.
“F-Felnora!?”
“…It’s almost time for Idle and the others to start. They told me to do this.”
“Huh? What do you— (Whoa—!?)”
“—!?”
Just as Oikawa was about to ask, the sofa suddenly floated into the air, moving on its own with both of them still sitting on it.
Understanding now, Oikawa wrapped his arm around Felnora’s shoulders, holding her close. Since Idle and the others had prepared this, he wasn’t worried about falling.
The sofa kept rising, flying just below the academy’s barrier, and finally stopped at the center of the academy. Below them, students and visitors were still enjoying the late-night festivities, filling the area with lively energy. Just watching it was entertaining enough.
After a while, Felnora rested her head on Oikawa’s shoulder. He stiffened for a moment but, caught up in the atmosphere, he only squeezed her shoulder a little tighter.
“What those two said… is it true?”
“…Yeah.”
“What exactly did Chairman Marton threaten you with, regarding me?”
Oikawa hesitated, his expression conflicted. Seeing that, Felnora placed her hand on his knee.
“Tell me. What you thought, what you did. Let me hear it from your own mouth… so I can accept it.”
“…Alright.”
Oikawa made up his mind.
As a man, he had stubbornly kept it to himself, but since most of the truth was already out, he figured it was time to face it. Even if she hated him for it, he would accept the consequences.
“The chairman called me in about a week before Idle and the others arrived. You probably remember that back then, it was time to return the Ancient Magic Tools stored in the academy to other countries. It happens every year, but this time, the amount being sent back was much larger than ever before—almost nothing would be left.”
“The chairman wanted an Ancient Magic Tool for himself. And so, he told me this:”
『If you want Felnora to graduate, steal a magic tool from Radaria.』
That was the chain Chairman Marton had wrapped around Oikawa’s neck.
“He knew I would obey if he said that. Apparently, he had found out that I fought against Morita and the others to protect you… Did you know? This academy has surveillance magic tools set up everywhere. So, I couldn’t even talk to anyone about it…”
And so, Oikawa stole the magic tool.
Using his Holy Sword Trait, he used the true ability he had never told anyone about. A power that was arguably the strongest in one-on-one combat.
“My ‘Erasure’ ability… It doesn’t just make me invisible to those around me. I don’t just become transparent. I literally cease to exist. It’s similar to the barrier around the academy—by shifting myself to a different plane of reality, I become completely untraceable.”
“No traces, no footprints. Nothing. And I can momentarily touch objects at will. Only for a brief moment, and it has a cooldown of about 30 seconds, but…”
That was how Oikawa stole the magic tool without anyone ever noticing.
“But Radaria had Heroes. They had Kousaka and the others. That’s why Idle and her group came—to take back what I stole.”
Chairman Marton’s goal was to create his own Ancient Magic Tool.
Through spies in Galarnia, he had learned that a new Ancient Magic Tool had been unearthed in Radaria.
Radaria was not yet officially recognized as a nation. Without approval from the international council, it was merely unclaimed territory.
Thus, even if something was stolen from them, it wouldn’t be considered an international crime.
Because Radaria itself had kept its existence hidden from the world, except for Galarnia.
So, Marton used Oikawa to steal it before the next world conference.
“That’s the full story. After that, to ensure I wouldn’t expose him, the chairman decided to test his newly created magic tool—by sending those two after me.”
“…I’m sorry. I dragged you into this.”
“What… What are you saying!?”
“Huh? I-I’m sorr—”
“Shut up!!”
“Wha—!?”
To silence Oikawa’s apology, Felnora pressed his face against her chest, physically stopping him from speaking. When she saw him struggling, she loosened her grip slightly, and their eyes met directly.
“I will never allow you to belittle yourself. Both you and I are nothing more than victims, caught up in the chairman’s selfish desires. More than that, didn’t you only stain your hands with sin to protect me? Weren’t you just seeing me as a ‘hostage’?”
“Y-yeah, but still…”
“More importantly!! …………I want to know what was going through your mind when you chose to protect me. Don’t evade the important part… please.”
“Felnora…”
Placing both hands on Oikawa’s cheeks, she pressed her forehead against his.
“Tell me. What am I to you?”
The thing she wanted to know most. The answer she had been longing for. It was the words they had both dreamed of.
“…I loved you. I wanted to protect you because I loved you. Even if it meant tainting myself, I wanted you—Felnora—to remain pure. I wanted you to stay unblemished. Because you’re the person I love, the most precious one to me… so I—mmph!?”
“Mmh… nnngh…”
Before he could say any more, his lips were sealed. Passionate, searing heat escaped between them in the form of shallow breaths.
After several minutes, Felnora finally pulled away.
“Phew… you talk too much. Let me show you how it’s done.”
With a bewitching smile and eyes filled with unshakable resolve, she spoke.
“I adore you, Kanata.”
Whoosh… BOOM!
A magnificent bloom of fireworks exploded in the night sky, painting it in vivid colors.
“Ready, set—!”
“Tama-yaaa♪”
One by one, magic artillery shells were launched, tracing graceful arcs before bursting into dazzling ‘fireworks.’
“Whoa… is this really something I created? This is amazing…”
The fireworks were fired in a 360-degree spread around the academy, ensuring that no matter where someone stood, they could look up and see the spectacle.
As the blooms expanded, they began to shift shape—turning into dragons, pegasi, and even fairies, soaring across the sky before vanishing. The colors of the fireworks were handcrafted by Idle, who had struggled at first, stuffing the magical shells with imagery of creatures from reference drawings.
At its core, however, this invention stemmed from Bagot’s original creation, making it an emotional triumph for its inventor.
“Man, I gotta say, I’m pretty proud of myself. This looks incredible.”
“Idle, mine’s coming up next!”
“Oh, is it time for the ‘Youth Cannon’?”
“What even is that…?”
The entire crowd was captivated, the only sound being the fireworks themselves.
Soon, words began to emerge within the fireworks. Inside glowing heart shapes, pairs of names appeared. Several of them shot up, lingering in the sky for a few minutes.
This was the final push—the moment for confessions. Arena had gathered names from countless slips of paper and embedded them into the fireworks. If a name appeared in the sky, it meant both individuals had agreed to express their feelings.
Thus, the academy transformed into a massive confession festival.
“This is basically emotional terrorism.”
“Don’t worry, we used a lottery system, and only mutual crushes were included.”
“I see, so it’s been filtered properly. Well, Arena, Bagot—good job!!”
“Good job!!”
With that, the trio’s joint invention was a resounding success.
But meanwhile, our real selves were facing a bit of a situation. Not that it mattered much—after all, it was me and Arena. We’d be fine.
“Idle…”
“Don’t look like that… it’s going to be okay.”
So, I wrapped an arm around Arena’s shoulders, leaning into her as we watched the fireworks together.
Tonight was so lively. It would be a waste not to enjoy it.
So keep going, okay? Me…
“…There are students like this too, huh? It seems my eyes have been clouded.”
“Hey, Mr. Bujis!! Don’t just sit there all curled up—come watch with us!”
“Yes, yes, I shall. Let me offer my congratulations for your wonderful invention.”
“Thanks!! Woohoo~~♪”
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