How To Survive A Cute Ghost Yandere
Chapter 40: Identity Card

Chapter 40: Chapter 40: Identity Card

After returning to his dorm.

Eiros felt he genuinely needed to get his thoughts in order. So much had happened in such a short span of time that it left him completely overwhelmed, especially considering he’d arrived in this world less than a month ago.

Yeah, it really had been almost a month now.

With a long sigh, he threw himself onto the bed. Somehow, the feel of the mattress made him drowsy, but he couldn’t sleep just yet.

He pushed himself back up to sit, forcing himself upright.

There were several things he needed to take care of starting now. First of all, he needed to know how far the seed had grown inside his body—that had to be his priority.

He could probably try asking the Tower Keeper of Wisdom about it.

Well, considering Estiel was the Tower Keeper of Wisdom, he might be able to dig up some important information. He didn’t know why, but since Estiel treated him well, that was a privilege he ought to make use of.

Next was...

[You have successfully rescued the Saintess and the Imperial twins.]

[Mission Complete]

Right, he needed to see what he’d gotten after suffering through so much for that mission.

Seeing the transparent blue screen made Eiros feel a flicker of nervousness, then his gaze quickly shifted to the screen showing what he’d received.

[X1 Identity Card, X30 Soul Stone]

Soul stones, and another card.

’...That’s an outrageous amount.’

Considering that the original Eiros only received one soul stone a month, while a top student like Valkas only got three a month, this was clearly something extraordinary.

Yes, of course, once the beginning-of-semester exams started, the monthly soul stone quota was supposed to increase—wasn’t that exactly why Eiros and all the first-year students considered the beginning-of-semester exams so important?

But, given what had just happened, it seemed the academy would push the exam schedule back, giving the students some breathing room while it put back together whatever had been destroyed.

’They must be swamped.’

His lips twitched at the thought. Next, Eiros watched a familiar black card drop out of thin air, followed by a single soul stone.

After that, twenty-nine more appeared, falling one after another, piling up in front of him.

Eiros stared at all the soul stones for a moment, weighing things over carefully, then thought:

’As long as I stay consistent, I should be able to climb to the Luminous tier within a year.’

That was an ambitious thought. Considering that reasonably talented students generally only reached that tier by their third year of study. Sure, Eiros might be ambitious, but he had the means to back it up.

He also couldn’t afford to linger at the Awakened tier. I mean, how could he, when his enemies always seemed to sit at a higher tier than him?

His first opponent in battle had been a two-headed basilisk, a monster of the Luminous tier. Then his next opponent had been that man—also of the Luminous tier.

Of course, there was a massive gap in strength between that two-headed basilisk and the man himself.

Just like Cray, who was of the Radiant tier but had still managed to fight and wound six professors—it was easy enough to say that had to be the influence of the seed of corruption, as if it were proof that ’their’ genes were simply far superior to those of ordinary humans.

Eiros then turned his gaze to the black card. After losing his previous Stigmata Card, he’d also realized that his ability to peek into someone’s Stigmata profile seemed to have vanished.

That made him wonder—what exactly could this Identity Shift and Identity Card do?

Then, as usual, the system offered up an answer the moment Eiros started wondering about it on his own.

[Would the Host like to create a new identity?]

Eiros went quiet for a moment, then smiled faintly. Of course it had a function that matched its name.

Switching identities, or whatever it was, would be incredibly useful to him. Given how dangerous the seed in his body was, and how narrow this academy felt compared to the world outside, it was hard for him, in his situation, to go wandering out there while still carrying the status of an academy student.

So all he had to do was stop being ’Eiros’ and become someone else entirely—someone unrecognizable.

"I’ll hold onto it for now."

Next...

Eiros looked at the soul stones.

Seemed like he’d have to pull an all-nighter tonight, but that was cheap, wasn’t it, for this much power?

***

The sun rose from the eastern horizon, its light seeping through the gaps in the room, revealing Eiros staring at himself in the mirror.

Well, as someone’s Soul grew stronger, it tended to bring about noticeable physical changes. The stronger it got, the more changes there were—in Estiel’s case, maybe his biggest change had been making him look younger and younger.

Eiros had messy black hair, and lately, it seemed to be growing longer. Meanwhile, his sharp red pupils were as sharp as ever, but far calmer than Eiros remembered them being.

His skin had also gotten a little better, though of course there were dark circles under his eyes.

’Guess I ended up pulling an all-nighter after all... Don’t blame me! It takes a lot of time to absorb all those soul stones. I genuinely didn’t notice how much time had passed.’

Haah...

Eiros let out a soft sigh.

Since the sun had already risen, maybe he should go visit Estiel now, while he still had the time. So that’s what Eiros did.

He made his way through the academy while it was still dark out. Only a few students were already up, and most of them looked half-asleep.

Once he reached the top floor of the library tower, Eiros knocked on the door.

Knock-knock!! Knock-knock!!

"Just come in."

Estiel’s familiar voice rang out. Eiros pushed the door open, and was met with the room—well, what else was he expecting?

It was as messy as ever.

And there was Estiel, as always, buried in a pile of books. Lying there with one leg crossed over the other.

"Heeyy, how are you holding up? I heard you saved the Saintess and the Imperial kids? That’s quite the achievement—oh, and nice work leading your friends to safety too."

Estiel looked as bright as ever, with his clear blue hair and his eyes hidden behind thick white-framed glasses.

"...You’re giving me too much credit. I just did what needed to be done."

"Hahaa, so humble!"

Estiel then struggled to his feet from the pile of books, and Eiros’s face twitched watching him walk toward the desk at the far end of the room. Yeah, Estiel just stepped right over all those things like they were worthless, then waved Eiros over to come closer.

Eiros’s gaze lingered on the cluttered floor for a moment. Then, once again, he had to carefully pick his way through the piles of stuff.

"So, what brings you here this time?"

Eiros sat down in the chair.

Haah~

He let out a sigh of relief, having made it there without breaking anything. Feeling Estiel’s gaze on him, an awkward smile crossed his face.

"Since I’ve managed to Awaken with my stigmata, does that mean someone’s going to come find me to ask how my stigmata works?"

"Yes, of course. The academy will handle that, and don’t be too nervous about it—it’ll get you a good chunk of money and contribution points."

Hearing that, Eiros fell silent. He mulled it over for a moment.

That would be difficult for him, because the academy would ask how he’d managed to Awaken his stigmata—not just because its activation condition was death, but also because the stigmata wasn’t even his to begin with.

"...Could this stay private? I mean, could I keep my stigmata to myself?"

"...Oh? And why is that...?" Estiel looked at him with interest, his eyebrows raised, his voice sounding faintly pressed.

"Well, didn’t you say it yourself?"

"....?"

"That some information is better left unknown."

That was the principle Estiel always stressed, wasn’t it?

’Let me use it for once too.’

Because, well, it sounded pretty cool saying it.

***