Please Do Not Abandon the Adopted Heroine

Chapter 7 – No Matter What, I Hate Long Things

I shouted in fright.

“aaah!”

My throat hurt, but I kept shouting. At least, to avoid suspicion.

After clearing my throat, once again.

“Gyaaah! …Aah….aab! Hack-hack………..hack! Gasp. Huff.”

With each gasp, echoes of despair resound.

Swallowing a dry lump, my lungs felt prickly. They say you shouldn’t do something you don’t usually do. I guess this much screaming is enough.

The pitch-black floor. As I was falling in real-time, I didn’t even worry about where the end of this cliff was.

I shouldn’t have worried at all. This is how the wasteland is. Thinking will only cause headaches, an unproductive act as learned from my long experience.

“…Huff.”

As I floundered, I grabbed Cecilia’s wrist, who was falling alongside.

Did she faint? She was unconscious. I checked her heart first, in case of a heart attack.

“I made you a pendant…never even taken it out. Didn’t you like the design perhaps?”

Cecilia didn’t call me until she was falling off the cliff.

The usage of the pendant, Freya had demonstrated once.

Why…why indeed?

I barely thought of several reasons for this, one possible explanation being the issue might actually be with the pendant’s appearance. I started to cold sweat, even forgetting that I was free-falling.

Design?

A problem I never thought about.

A magic enchantment device – as long as it works, who cares how it looks? That was my belief.

But what if, in front of her schoolmates, a girl at her peak is too embarrassed to take it out because of its shameful design?

And what if the third-rate teacher who gifted that old-fashioned junk is stigmatized by Cecilia… My heart sank and I may never stand on a teaching podium again for the rest of my life.

No! Our age difference isn’t that big! I’m not from a generation with a disjointed aesthetic sense! It’s simple enough!

It might have a bit of a classical feel, but I think it’s a design that even women can find pretty! Undine wanted one so desperately too! I brushed off the lingering thoughts in my head, mechanically reaching for the Battar.

It’s a pointless argument to dwell on now.

The air around me feels different somehow.

I could sense the end getting closer.

And now, with all my strength, I aim and thrust at something flashing before my eyes.

Bang! The dull impact sound and the vibration spreading to every part of my body through my wrist.

A resounding crash accompanies a piercing echo in my ears, like an explosion of iron armor.

And in the midst of all that, my back gives out unexpectedly.

“Ah… damn! Ahhh! sh*t…! My back hurts…!”.

Despite stamping my feet on the ground, my face turns pale as I desperately collect myself while hopping around.

It’s unfortunate that my blow with the Battar couldn’t land a substantial hit on the enemy.

This became clear when I felt an unnatural presence squirming behind me.

The gigantic figure was so overwhelming that it was almost embarrassing to compare it to the chaotic lower-rank monsters we had faced before.

One of its yellow, sharp, poisonous fangs was the size of me.

“Sssss…” “I hate snakes…” In my left hand, the Battar.

In my right arm, Cecilia who had fainted.

And before my eyes, a monster in the form of a snake staring at me with its split eyes.

Put simply, it resembles a snake.

But it was more like a creature made by roughly mixing worms, snakes, and parasitic insects and unnaturally enlarging it.

As the monster opens its mouth, I see things that look like teeth or thorns spirally sprouting out, they catch my eye.

Although I don’t know which part of this long creature the term ‘neck’ would refer to, a long arm suddenly reaches out from what seems around that region.

I have to admit, I’ve never gotten over something long and slippery even at this age.

If it has a lot of legs, it’s even worse.

I just hate it.

Also, the idea of arms coming out of the neck does not sit well with me.

Ah, for real.

Please, let’s take it easy.

Yeah, let’s run.

Even now.

Grrr!

The demon writhed violently and crawled towards me as I ran. A sticky liquid, whether mucus or saliva, splattered in all directions.

I simply focused on running. It must have been a chaotic situation for Cecilia, who was being carried. Her body twitched with short moans.

“Uh…hmm…?”

“Hey! Did you sleep well? It might be confusing to wake up and find yourself in this situation, but let’s make one thing clear for now.”

“…Where is this…?”

“Your position might be uncomfortable, by the way. I recommend not looking behind you.”

Even with my rapid words bursting out, Cecilia maintained a blank expression…or rather, to be honest, what I saw was her legs, waist, and lower body, including her buttocks, since she was wrapped around me in reverse. I couldn’t see her expression, but… Anyway, her blank expression and blank tone continued in a dazed manner, as she stared blankly while lost in thought.

However, there was one thing I could be certain of.

If the terrifying creature with its mouth wide open that I first encountered as soon as I woke up was a demon, even if Cecilia was a warrior of reversal, her enlightenment level would undoubtedly plummet instantly.

Sure enough, a brief, unsuccessful whimpering sound came out of Cecilia’s mouth.

“He… hik…!”

***

I fell from a cliff.

That’s how it happened.

The last thing I saw was the receding sky and Professor Nepherna, who reached out her hand towards me and fell together.

Desperately reaching out my hand, everything became distant, and suddenly my vision became blurry.

That’s how it happened.

When I regained consciousness, albeit hazily, I could vaguely realize that I was alive.

My body was swinging up and down, hanging on someone.

That must have been how it happened.

When I raised my head, I could see a mouth. Wrinkled, fleshy skin with rough protrusions.

It was clear that it was something alive, but I couldn’t easily infer exactly what kind of creature it was.

It seems my experience in the hero’s party wasn’t in vain. Alarm bells ring inside my head. I take in my surroundings. The person carrying me is none other than Professor Neperna, and the monstrous apparition before my eyes is…

“Professor…! A monster! A monster!”

I forget the fact that I am being carried in an embarrassingly ridiculous manner and I began to pat, no, smack the professor’s back incessantly while shouting. The screams of terror roared from behind.

“There… there is a monster!”

“I know that.”

The monster was quite aggressive and wild.

Would it be a mere delusion to think it appeared more akin to an indignant retaliate, rather than the usual predator stalking its prey?

“Turning crises into opportunities. Changing opportunities back into crises.”

“I, I beg your pardon?”

“Alright! Cecillia! Let’s do some practical work!”

Professor Neperna shouted boisterously.

“Pr…Practical work?”

“It’s an enjoyable moment for practical work amidst the chaos. … Let’s see, aren’t you suppose to show me your ‘Signature Phantasm’? Try to cast it once. I will be the one to monitor.”

I was speechless at her placid tone.

Suddenly…?

‘Signature Phantasm’ refers to the magic that a magician is most confident with.

It’s each magician’s unique signature.

A self-esteem equivalent, a magic that stands singularly alone.

Even if I put aside the idea of fighting off monsters with magic, in a situation like this, it was not plausible that my signature would be of any help.

“A, Are you saying that now?”

“We came all the way to the snowfield, we have to practice. We haven’t been able to properly catch a monster due to the sixth holy sword so far. There aren’t many opportunities to come this far from the academy. It’s actually a good opportunity. Even if it’s a hero party, you need to understand basic skills for the navigation to work.”

“……….”

“The size of the monster can’t be an absolute scale, but there’s no harm in being careful around the stupidly big ones. They are usually the older ones. You’d know if you traveled around the snowfield. If it’s at that size…they are mature ones. It could be fatal with just a touch. It won’t end just with a fractured bone. So, how would you usually respond in a situation like this?”

“I’ve never seen such a monster… Even if it’s not that, your sword always…”

“Then is it okay to be fed to that monster now, in the hero’s absence?”

“No, I don’t want it. Please, don’t abandon me…”

I reflexively grabbed the hem of the professor’s clothes.

Rebecca’s mockery still lingered in my mind. How did I manage to survive on this cliff? Imagining being abandoned like this, I was filled with dread.

“Cast the magic. It is your ‘signature phantasm.’ However, if there is anything that was embossed, try it without that. Full casting with full phantom. Besides that, you can do it as you like. Show me once.”

I felt the cool sense of reality settling in from his unswerving voice.

The professor seemed unwilling to compromise.

Casting magic isn’t difficult.

It would probably be the same for proving how pathetic my talent is.

You told me not to use the engraved margin.

Then I need to start building the margin first. Despite the confusion, my hands are relentlessly moving.

First, I construct the essential array with mana.

Following the auxiliary arrays, stacking the structure and activating the spells.

At the same time, I emit the tangled phantom in my mind.

My own ‘signature phantasm.’

“‘The flame that swallowed the ashes, at the gesture of the little spirit, burn down to the last dust!'”

“Wow, is this elemental magic?”

The flame sphere released from my hand was fired quickly.

Then the next thing that would happen was as clear as day.

It probably didn’t have any sort of effect.

That was what I was sure of.