Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 249

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

#The protagonist keeps trying to sacrifice himself not because he wants to, but because no one else is willing to solve the problem.

The stage event in Dekarucha, which Sunbird was directing for the first time in ages, was a roaring success. What started as a report request from the Professor of Social Movement evolved into a guerrilla concert at the Academy General Department Library Plaza, because the Dekarucha personnel were the type who, once they started something, saw it through to the bitter end.
Roughly five thousand people gathered. Sera, having awakened to socialism, infused every song with content representing the blood, sweat, and tears of the proletariat, which heated the atmosphere in a peculiar direction, but thanks to Sunbird’s miraculous administrative prowess and command of security personnel, we managed to conclude without major incident.
The Professor of Social Movement, who had abandoned his lectures to bring students on this field trip, was weeping. He applauded as if Bruno Kenin had returned to life, but when I told him that Bruno was still alive, the professor pretended not to hear.
Perhaps he was separating Bruno Siebenstein, who inherited the dukedom—a symbol of capitalism and class hierarchy—from Bruno Kenin, a key figure in social movements. I suppose if I learned that a union member I’d starved alongside during strikes was actually a conglomerate heir, I’d feel betrayed too. I’d consider him dead in my life. A filthy bourgeois like that.
“Ice Heart! Some blonde kid was looking for you at the visitation room—what’s that about?”
After performing encores and exhausted, I was gulping down water when an Academy student called out to me. From the description, it sounded like Apet. We could have arranged to meet and seen each other at home—why go all the way to the visitation room? Did he want to see how much the Magic Department resembles a prison?

“Ha-ha-ha! Good heavens! Is this a school or a prison!”
As expected, the old man laughed heartily at the sight of the visitation room. He went on about how nowadays kids are locked in the prison called school and given inmate numbers called student IDs, slapping his belly, but I set the record straight.
“That’s a joke from my parents’ generation. Are you trying to advertise that you’re outdated, old man?”
“What can I do? I actually am old.”
Grumbling, the old man sent White One and Machine King through the food delivery passage. It had been so long since I’d seen White One, and I was so happy that I hugged him and kissed him all over.
「Master! Aren’t you happy to see me?」
“Not particularly.”
「You bastard.」
I threw Makina up to the ceiling and encased him in ice. Machine King shrieked.
「Kyaaaa! It’s cold! If it suddenly gets cold like this, my power shuts down!」
So Machine King was actually an Apple phone. I drew an apple on the notepad in the visitation room and froze it right next to Machine King. It looked perfect.
“Stop teasing him already.”
“It’s the joy of my life.”
“Well, well.”
The old man, remarking that I seemed to be enjoying life, patted his waist and pulled out a stack of documents from his bag. It seemed the task I’d entrusted to Makina was complete.
“This is unrealistic stuff, so don’t get your hopes up too high.”
The contents were crude, and it was a method we couldn’t even attempt in our current situation. The old man added that this was reassuring, then handed me the translation straightforwardly. From the way he acted, if he’d thought this was a method I could actually try, he would’ve bolted with the translation.
“You went to the Mana Research Institute, so you must’ve figured it out roughly?”
Looking at the documents Makina had translated, they matched my suspicions. First, the Mana Research Institute contained many mummified children who hadn’t escaped. That meant all of humanity had conducted human experiments to use mana. That was the first piece of evidence.
And when I asked the auto-response function about the mana amplifier, Ursula said that skills could also be amplified and spread. That was the second piece of evidence.
Finally, I possessed the sharing skill, and Apet had told me this skill would be the most important in my life. But that wasn’t the old man’s own judgment. It was a statement from Mother Goddess, spoken through the old man’s mouth. Ursula might have been waiting for me to manifest the sharing skill.
Combining these three pieces of evidence led to one conclusion: if you put an individual with mana and the sharing skill into a mana amplifier and grind them down, others would gain the ability to use mana.
“But here’s the strange part. The experimental subject list only had one child. Were the rest in documents you didn’t bring?”
“Clones.”
There was no way dozens or hundreds of individuals with mana and the sharing skill were scattered about. They must have found one person matching the criteria and multiplied them through cloning. Since they were all withered and shriveled, I couldn’t verify their appearance, so that possibility hadn’t occurred to me until now. Were all the experimental subjects ultimately the same person?
“Clones? You mean they duplicated a person?”
“With the technology of that era, it would have been possible.”
Now I understood why the research institute had only been filled with children. In essence, it was like a hatchery for capturing spirits to increase productivity. Since it would be wasteful to spend capital and time cultivating adults, they probably threw test subjects into experiments the moment their skills manifested.
When I recounted what I’d witnessed at the Mana Research Institute, Apet’s expression twisted in revulsion.
“Are those bastards even human? How could they do such things to infants?”
“Ethics and morality vanish before new resources.”
Humanity had waged wars over mere oil—no one could resist the allure of unlimited, pollution-free resources. The cloned humans would never have been granted human rights. Even the person listed as the test subject probably only provided genetic material.
The genetic donor emerged normally from a human womb, possessed a resident registration, lived their own life, and was undoubtedly a human deserving of protection.
“Anyway, abandon this method. It’s impossible unless you learn clone magic and produce another hundred million copies of yourself.”
“Ooh.”
“What are you marveling at, you wet-behind-the-ears brat!”
But wasn’t that actually quite feasible? After all, if I can’t demonize all of humanity within three hundred days, I die anyway?
When I brought up my terminal condition, the old man—who’d been running around as the King of Ten Thousand Demons—smashed his forehead against the bulletproof glass, as if finally understanding why.
“Still, you must have everything arranged. The Goddess only grants trials that can be overcome.”
That sounded very religious, old man. I praised him and glanced around. With my terminal condition exposed and no friends nearby, I decided to broach something I’d wanted to test with him.
“Say, old man.”
“What is it, girl?”
“About repairing the Barrier Wall—you said it required two mana users, right?”
Since I’m now a mana master, my mana reserves exceed ordinary users by tenfold. If you cast recovery on me while I use an amplifier, couldn’t we block the radiation?
As I explained step by step, the old man went to the guards and argued fiercely, then snatched the key, opened the bulletproof door, and grabbed my twin-braided hair like reins.
“Didn’t I tell you not to spout such nonsense again!”
“But I’m not dying! It’s obvious I won’t die, and if we can repair the Barrier Wall, isn’t that good for you too? The Land of Death will disappear!”
“Ugh, this damned woman! This cursed woman! Acting like you’ll live well and prosper alone! Like everyone else in the world could die and you’d survive! There’s no tantrum worse than this, you cursed woman!”
Ahhh, all my hair’s falling out! The old man wouldn’t let go of my hair, so I forcibly pulled away, and with a snapping sound, dozens of strands broke off. My hair had become steel-like and didn’t break easily, so the old man must have considerable strength.
“You damned woman, you’d crawl back there even if you died, wouldn’t you?”
“I’m not saying I’d definitely go even if I died.”
“But you’re not saying you wouldn’t either!”
That’s how it goes. Anyway, being old, he was good at catching my words and dragging them out—I laughed with a “wahaha,” and the old man also chuckled and boxed my head.
“Fine. You won’t listen no matter what I say anyway. I’ll accompany you.”
“Ooh.”
“Stop with that ‘ooh’ sound! My heart’s about to burst!”
The old man barked that I should finish only that business and return, so I nodded obediently. Then the Machine King, whose power hadn’t been shut down yet, interjected into our conversation.
「Then I want to go too! I’ll study the structure Mother created!」
Despite being a thousand years old, his scholarly enthusiasm remained formidable. Thus, I promised to visit Sharit Bay next weekend with my guardian in tow. It was finals period, but exams were always based on one’s usual abilities anyway.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————