Let’s Block the Ruined Route in Advance Chapter 65

Aire stood in the moonlight, the bluish hues of the moonlight soaking into his silver hair.

 

“You are no hero, but an imperfect substitute who pushed the true one aside!”

 

The man who lay hunched over at his feet, bound by the ropes, screamed in anger. The young priest, Gavil, looked at the man in disgust and said,

 

“I’ll shut that filthy mouth right now.”

 

At those words, an apprentice priest came toward them with a gag. Gavil scowled as he watched the man’s mouth, which had been howling like a beast, tightly clamped shut.

 

“I thought you were simply a fanatic deifying a clan of heroes.”

 

Several of the priests exchanged uneasy glances. The tension was palpable, but Aire remained expressionless as he pulled a pocket watch from his chest and opened it.

 

His eyes were impassive as he looked down at the watch. Inside the pocket watch, there were no hour or minute hands. He watched for a moment as only the second hand ticked silently, then closed the watch.

 

“From now on, time never was.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Wait. You’re giving this to me?!”

 

The next morning. Jessie’s eyes widened as she looked down at the object Eileen handed her. In Eileen’s hand lay a ring, piled high on white silk.

 

It was the demon-chasing ring she had received in the temple as a child.

 

“We still don’t know when it will happen, or what force caused it, but we do know it has something to do with Magi and the growing number of them.”

 

Recalling the grotesque man with the sewn eyes, Eileen looked down at the ring. It was a makeshift, but if it could ward off Magi, it would help protect Jessie.

 

But Jessie was bewildered to receive a ring that looked expensive at first glance.

 

The ring was made of thin silver metal with a small golden gemstone embedded in the center, and although it was simple, it had a brilliant shine to it that made it look like something out of the ordinary.

 

“No, I can’t accept something like this! What do you mean, a ring?”

 

Jessie, her face flushed red with embarrassment, refused, and Eileen told her with a mixture of truth and lies.

 

“It’s not just any ring.”

 

“…It is?”

 

“It’s a sacred ring that wards off bad spirits.”

 

“Why would you suddenly give me such a precious thing?!”

 

“Because I actually have… precognitive dreams or something.”

 

“What?”

 

Jessie raised an eyebrow at the unexpected comment. Eileen continued with a shameless smirk.

 

“Elementals communicate with nature, so it’s not uncommon for some to see the future. I had a dream last night, and I think something scary might happen to you.”

 

To make her lie more convincing, Eileen used Star to make a plant in a pot on the window sill sway slightly. Jessie swallowed hard as she watched the plant sway in the absence of wind.

 

“Is this real…?”

 

Her conscience pricked at her frightened expression, but she had no choice but to hand her the ring.

 

“Uh, yeah. I don’t know exactly, but I think you’ll be fine with this ring, and if it’s too much to ask, just think of it as borrowing it for a little while.”

 

Jessie let out a small sob.

 

She’d been a commoner all her life, and such an expensive luxury was out of her comfort zone.

 

“But I’m scared!”

 

The seriousness in Eileen’s eyes as she recounted her premonition made Jessie think. Now that she thought about it, Eileen was prone to crying or breaking out in a cold sweat. Maybe it was because she often saw the future.

 

As Jessie thought about it, her behavior began to make more sense. She took the ring with a trembling hand, deducing a similar, albeit wrong, entryway.

 

“I’ll borrow it for a while, then.”

 

“Good thinking!”

 

Eileen smiled brightly, as if she’d just realized something, then regained her composure.

 

“Oh, and please don’t tell anyone I have precognitive dreams, it’s not just for Elementals, and it can give you a headache.”

 

“…Yes!”

 

Jessie nodded, clutching the ring tightly. The innocence in her eyes, the determination to keep her junior’s secret, stirred Eileen’s guilt.

 

‘I’m sorry!’

 

But it was necessary for her safety.

 

Eileen shamelessly continued her act.

 

“Thank you for understanding.”

 

It was a good thing Eileen’s reddened ears were hidden by her long hair.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Jessie looked down at the ring awkwardly around her neck. The fancy ring felt uncomfortable, so she hastily arranged a string of necklaces.

 

“Is this really going to protect me?”

 

She didn’t know what she was getting herself into, but the look on Eileen’s face as she handed her the ring was so desperate that she had no choice but to accept it.

 

“You’ll have to go down first.”

 

Jessie nodded, determined, hid the ring under his shirt and picked up the paper bag of cookies. It had been a day since she’d made them, but she could still smell the buttery aroma. The familiar smell relaxed her as she left her dorm and headed for the club room.

 

“I’m home earlier than I thought.”

 

She thought as she opened the door to the club room, hoping to place a cookie at each seat before the others arrived.

 

“Ah.”

 

As she expected, Neumann was the only one in the club room, and while Jessie took a moment to think of something to say, Neumann spoke first.

 

“Hi.”

 

“Mm, you’re early.”

 

There was an awkward silence between them after the greeting. Jessie scratched her cheek nervously and glanced at Neumann. The boy was staring down at the board, breathless as a sauerkraut.

 

‘Looks like bad cookie dough again today. What a curious kid.’

 

Neumann was quite famous at the academy, in a bad way.

 

Initially, he was known for an incident where he hung out with Gray and talked too much and got embarrassed in front of everyone, but everyone assumed he would redeem himself after a while.

 

‘I don’t think he’s usually spoiled.’

 

But contrary to everyone’s expectations, Neumann didn’t come back from the dead. He seemed to have completely fallen out with Gray, and he avoided meeting with anyone else. He sank like a bad loaf of bread, stuck in the dirt.

 

‘I can’t help but think he’s being punished for a mistake, but it’s still strange that he’s the youngest apprentice in such a prestigious family, and he’s so discouraged by one slip.’

 

Jessie clicked her tongue.

 

She was a commoner, but she’d been gifted from a young age, and had been brought to Verotanis by her lord because she’d caught his eye. Her future was set in stone, with an almost one hundred percent chance of returning to the manor upon graduation and working for the lord.

 

The life of a lucky commoner. The life of a successful man who would be foolish to escape.

 

‘But a life where dreaming is a luxury.’

 

Jessie didn’t think she was unhappy. The lord was a well-liked man, administration suited her constitution, and she had a family to care for.

 

But she couldn’t help but feel a small pang of inferiority as she watched other students freely discuss their dreams.

 

What to study, what to do after graduation. It was the privilege of those with status and power to decide how to live their lives. To be honest, Jessie envied them, which made Neumann all the more curious.

 

‘The prestigious Marquis of Kamar, with a father who was a treasurer and a sister who was a transcendent. Shouldn’t you be able to live a little more on your own terms?’

 

It was hard for her to understand Neumann, who had everything, panting.

 

“Eat this. I baked cookies yesterday for the guys.”

 

Jessie, hiding the question in her heart, handed Neumann the well-wrapped cookies.

 

‘Well, if you say you can’t eat this low-grade stuff, there’s no soup next time.’

 

Jessie held out the cookie, trying to ignore the unnecessary flare-up of jealousy. Neumann, who had been staring at her, spoke up a beat too late, surprised.

 

“Me too?”

 

“Huh? Uh, you’re one of us.”

 

“Oh, thank you.”

 

Neumann nodded, as if realizing something he’d forgotten. Jessie looked at him in surprise as he accepted the cookie obediently, then passed it around the table and sat down.

 

‘The silence is killing me!’

 

Feeling uncomfortable being alone with Neumann, Jessie focused her senses on her ears, desperate to hear the other members of the squad.

 

No such luck.

 

“Huh?”

 

But it wasn’t footsteps she heard, but the cheerful crunch of a well-baked cookie.

 

As she turned to find the source, Neumann was shoving a cookie into his mouth. When their eyes met, he blurted out in embarrassment.

 

“Uh, it’s delicious.”

 

“Ah, uh. Well, that’s good.”

 

There was silence between them again.

 

A misreading.

 

But Jessie realized that the silence wasn’t as awkward as before.