I Was Just Having Fun With The Time Limit - Chapter 79

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Biatone chuckled lightly.
“It’s been a while since I’ve felt this angry.”
At his feet lay a person of massive build, sprawled unconscious.
Lsalin let out a sharp shriek.
‘W-why can’t I make a sound?’
It seemed she had been hit with some kind of magic.
Every hair on Lsalin’s body stood on end.
She had traversed dangerous places and experienced battlefields before, but this killing intent was unlike anything she had ever encountered.
‘That… that person is… Biatone, the Chief Advisor of Vilotian?’
It was definitely Biatone.
Seeing her expression, Biatone smirked.
“You know me?”
“Ugh… ugh…!”
She wanted to say something, but the magic prevented any sound from escaping her throat.
Lsalin pointed repeatedly at her own neck with her fingers.
She was signaling for him to release the magic so she could speak.
But Biatone didn’t seem inclined to do so.
“What? Does seeing my face put you at ease? You think I won’t do anything rough since I’m the Emperor’s adjutant?”
“Ugh… ugh…!”
“But here’s the thing—I’m on vacation right now.”
In Biatone’s hand was a bundle of papers.
It was a draft of a newsletter not yet sent to the Whispers headquarters.
It contained information about Isabel, naturally written in a way disadvantageous to her.
“No matter how big a mess you make, it’s just a personal indiscretion, you bastards.”
Whoosh!
The draft in Biatone’s hand burst into flames and vanished.
“So now I’m wondering just how big of a mess I should make.”
Meanwhile, Michael, who had been lying unconscious in the back, regained consciousness.
He sprang to his feet and grabbed a chair nearby.
He could see the back of Biatone’s head. Biatone, engrossed in conversation with Lsalin, seemed unaware that Michael had awakened.
‘This insane bastard!’
Michael swung the chair with all his might.
Biatone didn’t dodge.
Crack!
The chair struck Biatone’s head with tremendous force.
‘That’s it!’
Now this monster would surely fall.
‘…Huh?’
But Biatone remained standing perfectly fine.
“If you were an ordinary person, you might have died from a concussion.”
Biatone glanced back over his shoulder.
A thin stream of blood trickled down from his head.
He touched the blood with his finger to confirm it.
“I’m bleeding.”
Biatone smirked.
He could have defended himself, but he deliberately didn’t.
“Now that’s self-defense.”
You’re the one who attacked suddenly, and you’re the one burning the manuscript—how is this self-defense?!
I wanted to argue, but I couldn’t.
That day, Michael experienced hell.
For someone as large and physically powerful as Michael, it was his first time.
‘P-please just kill me!’
While Michael experienced his torment, Lsalin felt extreme terror.
Being beaten was frightening enough, but watching someone else being beaten was its own ordeal.
Biatone brought a chair crashing down toward Michael’s face.
“Ugh, ahhhhh!”
Crash!
The chair shattered with a tremendous sound.
It hit the floor beside Michael’s face and splintered into pieces.
Fragments scattered everywhere, yet miraculously, no one was injured.
“Why are you so scared?”
Biatone glanced back.
Lsalin was trembling violently.
“Sometimes fists are closer than the law. Isn’t that right, my friends?”
Biatone snapped his fingers.
Lsalin felt as though his throat had been suddenly opened.
“Th-this is press suppression.”
“Want me to suppress you first?”
“….”
“Why do you think I revealed my face and identity to come find you?”
Michael lost consciousness again, overwhelmed by Biatone’s presence.
Biatone walked slowly toward Lsalin.
“D-don’t come any closer.”
Lsalin’s back touched the wall. There was nowhere left to run.
“I could eliminate all of you without leaving any evidence….”
Ah, but if I say something so harsh, the Princess won’t like it.
Biatone thought of Isabel and softened his language.
“Because I can send you somewhere far away.”
“….”
“If you want to rest comfortably, just say the word anytime.”
“….”
“Disappearing without a trace is my specialty.”
Lsalin’s legs gave out and he collapsed to the ground.
He began to weep, gripped by a fear he had never experienced before.
“P-please, I was wrong.”
“The draft. And the copies too.”
“Th-that is….”
The smile vanished from Biatone’s face.
“Everything until now was just playing around.”
Biatone knelt on one knee and met Lsalin’s gaze directly.
He looked at Lsalin with an expression he had never once shown to Isabel.
“I can truly let you rest in peace.”
“I-I’ll give it to you.”
Biatone ultimately destroyed even the copies of the draft.
“Tell your superiors this: if you wish to embark on a journey to that distant place, try repeating the same actions. It will be a most comfortable journey. Comfortable enough to sleep eternally.”
He rose to his feet.
“It won’t pass as peacefully as it did today.”
This was a truly final warning, delivered through what could only be called a “peaceful” method.
* * *
Biatone returned to Isabel’s room.
He had watched Isabel sleep countless times, and through this he had become adept at gauging her condition simply by listening to her breathing.
‘It seems she tossed and turned for quite a while today before falling asleep very late… wait?’
He noticed a note clutched in Isabel’s right hand.
She was gripping it so tightly that it was all crumpled.
Biatone continued to watch over the sleeping Isabel.
The sight of her sleeping together with Kim Beolggwol was so endearing that tears threatened to spill.
‘What a strange emotion this is.’
To feel tears welling up from sheer tenderness….
I never thought I would experience such a feeling in my lifetime.
‘This won’t do. Tradition be damned—I must protect the Princess.’
She was not my daughter, yet she felt more precious than any daughter could be. I felt I could do anything for Isabel.
‘I need to strengthen my media influence as well.’
Unlike the Magic Federation, the Vilotian Empire had never particularly involved itself in media matters.
It was an unspoken tradition that had lasted five hundred years.
‘These blasted swordsmen are always so frustratingly rigid.’
[We do not deceive the masses through media. Truth shines brightly even in silence. To manipulate through the press is unbecoming of a swordsman.]
…This was the stance the Sword Art Empire had maintained for five hundred years.
‘That’s why we never even sponsored the newspapers.’
But things must change now.
The era when overwhelming force could solve everything had passed.
‘Where should I even begin?’
* * *
The morning sunlight was quite warm and pleasantly bright.
My eyes snapped open and I bolted upright.
‘Refreshing.’
It was truly remarkable.
Despite having lost sleep all night yesterday, my body felt remarkably light upon waking.
‘My body aches disappeared in just a day—I really do have an incredibly resilient body.’
I rose from bed and opened the window.
The morning air was crisp and invigorating, filling me with a pleasant mood. A refreshing breeze drifted in.
I needed to throw myself into volunteer work with renewed vigor today.
With only two days remaining, I felt a touch of melancholy, but I had resolved to give my absolute best until the very end.
Then a visitor arrived.
“Yuli the Reporter?”
I greeted Yuli the Reporter with a bright smile.
“I was worried when you suddenly disappeared.”
“I apologize for causing you concern, Your Highness.”
After exchanging brief pleasantries, Yuli the Reporter broached the main topic.
“May I ask you just one thing?”
“Of course.”
“How are you able to be so happy, Your Highness?”
“Pardon?”
“Doesn’t volunteer work exhaust you? How can you smile so genuinely?”
Because I’m an attention seeker.
…I couldn’t possibly say that.
I couldn’t say that…
“I’m grateful for everything. I’m grateful that my body is so strong and healthy that I can help others, and because I’ve learned magic, I’m able to assist people around me.”
It was perhaps too polished for public consumption, but it wasn’t a lie either.
‘What I yearned for so desperately was simply the ordinary lives of others.’
I wanted to breathe as normally as everyone else did. Without oxygen masks, that is.
I wanted to walk as ordinarily as everyone else did. Without a wheelchair, that is.
“Each day given to me is something I’m grateful for. That’s why I must do my best to be happy.”
Because I’ve been given the very things I dreamed of and longed for.
Yuli the Reporter gazed at me.
Tears glistened in Yuli the Reporter’s eyes.
Yuli the Reporter opened her mouth as if she had made a decision.
“Would you be willing to employ me as your personal reporter?”
“Pardon?”
The continent’s largest news outlet. Why would the chief reporter of the Whispers—the organization all journalists aspire to join—make such a proposal?
“I, I….”
I don’t have much money, and I still don’t have much authority, but….
“You need not pay me a salary. Simply providing meals and lodging would suffice.”
“Why are you suddenly saying this?”
“Because I wish to reclaim what I have forgotten.”
Yuli the Reporter continued.
“So many things have become too ordinary, and I’ve forgotten them. I want to reclaim those things.”
“….”
“The Princess said that each day fills her with gratitude. The sunlight that awakens her in the morning, the gentle breeze, the fact that another day has been given to her—she said she is grateful for all of it. For most people, these things are so mundane they stir no emotion whatsoever… yet the Princess cherishes that very ordinariness.”
“That is….”
It is not because I am anything remarkable, but simply because I experienced such profound loss in my past life.

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