Let’s Make Saving a Habit - Chapter 30
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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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Chapter 30
“Eek!”
Fire Boy covered his lower half with a deathly pale face.
“I-I’ll let it slide this time, but just you wait!”
He spouted a third-rate villain’s line before fleeing in indignation.
After that, several more came to destroy our egg, but they were frequently blocked by the demon and ran away.
However, after about three hours of this, I was beginning to grow bored.
“Mari, I think enough people have been eliminated by now. Let’s head toward the Safe Zone.”
“Why there? Raspi told us to wait here until he arrives….”
“Either way, people will soon converge toward the center because of the tidal shift.”
“N-Pardon? The tides will shift?”
Without understanding a word, I offered my condolences to all the tides across the nation that had been affected, then searched for simpler phrasing.
“Do you know what high tide and low tide are?”
“Ah, no.”
“Well, roughly speaking, it means there won’t be much space left on the island where people can stand once it’s submerged in water.”
After all, the fundamental rule of Battle Royale is that the arena shrinks as time passes.
“Gasp, how did you know that? Did you figure it out through foresight?”
“No, just intuition.”
“…That’s amazing!”
In truth, adjusting the arena size in Battle Royale was essential.
It prevented the match from dragging on due to people hiding instead of fighting.
As the arena gradually shrinks, participants are forced into smaller spaces where they inevitably encounter each other and engage in combat.
I led Rosemary and the demon deeper into the island where the Safe Zone was located.
Then, the backs of two children—a boy and a girl—entered my field of vision.
They seemed to be heading toward the center of the island just like us.
Rosemary’s eyes gleamed like a predator spotting prey upon discovering them. She whispered softly into my ear.
“Hero, may I eliminate those two?”
“Without the demon?”
“Yes!”
Having sat in one place for three hours straight, the restless tomboy Rosemary was practically itching for action.
Though she wasn’t an Ability User, seeing her so eager made me think I should just let her go.
This was experience too, after all.
[Saving current viewpoint to Checkpoint 1.]
“Sure, go ahead.”
“Thank you for trusting me. I’ll annihilate the enemies and return!”
…Where had she picked up the word “annihilate”?
I watched Rosemary’s movements with a distant gaze.
She matched their pace and crept toward them like a cat, and just as she drew close enough that her nose would nearly touch the ground if she fell—
She squeezed between the two of them and tapped their shoulders sharply before dashing past.
“Kyaa!”
“What—what is this?!”
The two children immediately drew upon their power and assumed an attacking stance.
One of them hastily patted their pocket to confirm their egg remained intact.
Once both children verified their eggs were safe, they turned their glares toward Rosemary.
“Damn it. I didn’t sense any presence at all…!”
“You’ll pay dearly for laying hands on us!”
Yet Rosemary simply laughed brightly and deliberately held up her own egg.
“Go ahead and break it if you can.”
“Let’s see how long you keep smiling!”
In an instant, a powerful gust of wind conjured by the girl surged toward Rosemary.
The girl appeared to be an Ability User who wielded wind.
“Ugh!”
Rosemary was swept up by the gust, her body staggering before she fell and lost her grip on the egg.
Crack—!
The egg shattered limply, its yolk and white spilling down in rivulets.
“Ha! And here you are, prancing about without even being an Ability User?”
“It’s astounding how someone so incompetent ever made it into the Talent Cultivation Institute.”
With her egg shattered in an instant and mockery-laced insults ringing in her ears, Rosemary…
“Pfft, puhaha!”
Burst into laughter, clutching her belly.
“What—what is this? Did you lose your mind from being eliminated so pathetically?”
After laughing for a while, Rosemary brushed the dirt from her clothes and stood up. Then, as if it were nothing, she revealed the egg’s owner.
“That egg that just broke? It belonged to your boyfriend.”
“What?!”
“I’m not his girlfriend!”
“Hey! Is that really what matters? Check your egg first!”
“That’s… that can’t be. I confirmed it was safe in my pocket just now…!”
The boy hurriedly rummaged through his pocket and pulled out his egg.
Whoosh—!
A pebble thrown by Rosemary struck the egg he’d just retrieved with perfect accuracy, shattering it with a crisp sound.
Only then did the two children look at Rosemary with expressions of dawning realization and shock.
She scratched her head sheepishly and confessed the truth.
“Actually, the egg that broke in the wind just now was your girlfriend’s. Even I can’t swap two eggs at once, you know?”
I let out a brief exclamation of admiration.
If she’d had time to swap the eggs, she certainly had time to apply enough force to shatter them.
Breaking them with force would have been far easier than swapping them.
The fact that she’d gone to such lengths meant… she was truly just toying with these two children.
“Goodness, how frightening.”
I shuddered briefly.
Now I understood how she’d become Duke Papiope’s third adopted child at that point in time.
Now that I think about it, when will Mari awaken her ability?
Unlike before when she lost her brother and sat alone on the streets, I worried that her life had become too comfortable, preventing her awakening.
While I was contentedly lost in such thoughts.
Rosemary laughed as if amused and threw their own words back at them.
“Life is real combat, you idiot. Walking around without looking back—how is that different from begging someone to kill you? It’s amazing these types even made it into the Talent Cultivation Institute.”
Spit.
Watching Rosemary spit so thickly, I found myself grateful anew that she was on my team.
It was Rosemary’s complete victory.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I never knew you’d be this dependable, Mari. Maybe you should be the hero instead?”
“Hehe, I was pretty cool, wasn’t I? But there can only be one hero. You’re the one and only hero, Tania.”
“Y-yes, that’s right.”
After Rosemary showed such unexpected prowess, I felt a weight lift from my heart.
Somewhere along the way, I had unconsciously taken on the burden of protecting her.
Yet I couldn’t very well tell an excited Rosemary to go to the Safe Zone because she was weak.
As we ventured deeper into the Island where the Safe Zone was located, I spotted several teams already engaged in combat.
Those destined to be eliminated were falling, and it seemed the rising tide was gradually narrowing the Island, forcing everyone toward the center.
In the Safe Zone, children who had declared their non-participation from the start, the eliminated, and Talent Cultivation Institute staff had gathered to watch the battles unfold.
“Oh, big brother!”
Among them was Raspi, mounted atop a monster and attacking his opponent.
But among all these people, the one who stood out most distinctly was…
Elysion, sitting leisurely atop a high rock, observing the others with ease.
“Wow… That’s the final boss, the Demon King.”
Certainly, quite a few people remained alive in the inner area, each engaged in their own battles.
Yet no one dared target Elysion, who sat so brazenly in plain sight.
“Mari.”
“Yes, hero!”
“Can you take all the monsters and join up with Raspi to reduce the numbers of those inside?”
“If I take all the monsters with me, what about you?”
“I’ll be going after Elysion.”
“…Without any monsters?”
“Even if I brought every monster on this Island, he still couldn’t be defeated. I’ll have to win through other means.”
“What kind of Ability User is he anyway?”
“He’s not an Ability User. He’s a mage.”
Elysion had ascended to the position of youngest Grand Mage and had orchestrated a massacre with a smile during the monster war Raspi had triggered.
He was essentially a war hero of the Empire. So to Elysion, this Battle Royale was nothing but child’s play.
I would either have to persuade him to voluntarily yield the adopted position.
Or exploit an opening to break his egg.
Without one of these two options, my chances of becoming Duke Papiope’s adopted daughter approached zero.
At least it was fortunate that Elysion had been quite favorable toward me despite meeting me for the first time yesterday.
I steadied my breathing, hoping my hypothesis that he had fallen for me at first sight was correct.
“Then fight well. I’m going to check on Elysion.”
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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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