Chapter 5 Part 23

Translator : PolterGlast

Unlike in the city, the outskirts of Arcazam were shrouded in darkness. The moonlight illuminates the overgrown vegetation, and the fireflies dance with their faint light.

Nozomu was in a place not too far from where he always trained with Irisdina and the others.

He desperately swung his katana while standing on the grass. It was as if he was desperately trying to shake off something that had attached to him.

"~!!"

Regardless of his intention, he kept swinging his katana over and over again. The slash of his sword that flashed in the darkness of the night was fierce, but it still stood out under the moonlight and fireflies.

"Haa, haa, haa ... !!"

Due to the influence of Ability Suppression, he felt exhausted in the blink of an eye, and a tremendous sense of malaise invaded Nozomu's body.

But Nozomu bit his lip, endured the pain, and tried to send his Qi into the katana with all his might.

"Kuh~! This ... Ugh~!"

However, due to the sudden depletion of Qi, his legs became unsteady. Even so, he kept trying to swing his katana while regaining his posture, but the balance that had begun to crumble did not recover, and instead, swinging his katana in an unstable posture caused him to fatally break his posture.

"Uwa!!"

Nozomu managed to support his body by touching the ground. He tried to stand up again to continue swinging his katana, but no matter how hard he put his strength into his legs, his legs didn't move.

"Damn it!"

He thrust his katana into the ground and used it as a cane as Nozomu desperately tried to stand up.

However, his unsteady body did not move as he wished.

After arriving at Arcazam, Nozomu headed straight for this outskirt and continued swinging his katana. His chaotic mind made him not able to think about his own exhausted body.

"Ku~uu!"

Nozomu even touches the invisible chain that binds him.

He tried to tear off the chain as he lose his calmness and vents his anger towards it. However, the invisible chains that were easily torn like paper in the past, were now tightly wrapped around Nozomu's body like real chains.

"... Damn, damn it..."

It was that feeling of fierce guilt and deep remorse that assaulted his immobile heart. On top of that, the swordplay he was waving right now was so terrible. If his master had seen him, he would have been beaten without question. His katana would have been taken away and ordered to redo his training. Nozomu punched the ground with all his might as he got angry towards himself who could only swing such pathetic swordplay.

Blood dripped from his clenched lips and fell onto his fist.

The light of the fireflies flew around as if dancing to cheer him up.

"... So you're in a place like this."

A bell-like voice could be heard. The moment Nozomu lifted his face, a long blue hair fluttered in the wind, and white porcelain-like skin illuminated by the moonlight jumped into his eyes.

"Hey ... what are you doing in a place like this ..."

It was Shna Yuliel who stood there. Perhaps she got pretty impatient and ran until she reached here, her long blue hair was messed up here and there.

"You too... why did you come to this place ..."

Nozomu asked with a surprised expression. He didn't know why Shna was here. Shna answered with an amazed expression as if she was wondering why she had to answer such a silly question.

"Of course I came to look for you. You didn't go back to school and suddenly disappeared So, everyone has been looking for you."

"Everyone"

Nozomu muttered with an unclear facial expression. Shna came towards the soulless Nozomu, and she crouched down beside him.

"Yup~. Irisdina-san, Tima-san, Somia-san. Anri-sensei, Mimuru, Tom. Even that troublesome Feo is looking for you, you know?"

"I see"

Shna tried to speak cheerfully, but she couldn't change Nozomu's clouded expression. His lips were tightly shut and he refused to talk to her any more than that.

Nozomu and Shna fell silent. Shna glanced sideways, but Nozomu didn't seem to want to speak.

She sighed as she couldn't help it, and she started talking about what she could call a trump card she had heard from Irisdina earlier.

"I heard from Irisdina-san. About your power..."

"~!!"

A feeling of tension ran down Nozomu's face in an instant. Surprise and fear could be seen from the expression on his face. Shna didn't know what he was afraid of, but she thought she had to talk anyway, so she continued to speak no matter what.

"Release of Ability Suppression. I've never heard of such an ability before. I haven't even seen it in a book in the school library."

Nozomu's answer was silence. Either he didn't want to answer or he couldn't. But Shna presumed it might be both.

Moreover, you fought against vampires of the Waziart Family and won. It was one of the seven clans that united the Dizart Empire. What you did is just like a very unbelievable story ..."

The story told by Shna showed that Irisdina and the others knew how powerful Nozomu's power was. At the same time, the guilt for having kept hiding so much power swelled in Nozomu's heart.

"...Isn't that true? Stories like that are like delusions you can easily hear from anywhere..."

The words that somehow came out of Nozomu's mouth were painful words that seemed to be self-deprecating. Naturally, Shna cut off meaningless words

"Sure. If they don't know you, they will judge you like that. That is if they only know the "Nozomu Bountis at school"..."

Shna emphasized the words "him at school". That was as proof of her belief in Irisdina's story, and as a precautionary line to keep Nozomu from evading.

"But we already know. You're totally different from the person in the rumors. The abilities and personalities. Otherwise, you wouldn't have helped me who used to say harsh words to you."

Shna laughed and smiled at Nozomu.

However, Nozomu couldn't see her smile. Let alone her smile, he was