I glanced sideways and stole a look at her face.
“…….”
I had expected her to be surprised, flustered, or maybe even angry.
But contrary to my expectations, she simply stared at the chessboard in silence and showed no reaction at all.
…This atmosphere was unbearably awkward.
An uncomfortable silence stretched on.
One minute, two minutes, three minutes. If she had reacted in any way, I could have at least said something. But she showed no sign of opening her mouth.
Just as I started wondering if I should be the one to break the silence—
“…Haah.”
With a sigh, the tense atmosphere eased slightly.
She leaned back against the sofa, took out a new piece of candy, and finally spoke.
“Hmm, I didn’t expect this… Well, either way, you won your first round, right? Go ahead, ask me anything you’re curious about.”
“…Aren’t you going to ask anything else?”
“Like what? The fact that you know who I really am?”
“You figured it out right away.”
“…….”
She bit into the candy and went into deep thought.
Then, with another sigh, she started chewing again.
Crunch!
“It’d be a lie to say I’m not curious… but I just decided not to ask.”
“Isn’t this something too important to just let go?”
“I think you’re misunderstanding something. It’s not that I’m too lazy to ask or that I’m being generous.”
Crack—Crunch!
“Look, I did some digging into your past before you entered the academy. You sure lived an interesting life, huh?”
“…I wouldn’t exactly call it interesting.”
There was no way anything about this twisted life could be described like that.
“Well, anyway. Seeing how you’ve been acting, I think I have a pretty good idea why you came to the academy.”
“…….”
“Want my help?”
“……? What?”
“I’m asking if you need help.”
I looked at her in surprise at her unexpected words.
Her drowsy eyes met mine with an unwavering gaze.
When our eyes met, she continued speaking.
“I know it too, you know. That strange flow in this world, how everything seems to revolve around my academy. Sooner or later, incidents are going to start popping off, right?”
“…You knew?”
“Did you really think I wouldn’t be? Come on, you, of all people, should know what kind of position I hold.”
“…….”
At her words, I recalled what I knew about her.
Dimensional Dragon, Lily. She was a survivor of the dragon war that had taken place thousands of years ago.
And the only remaining dragon in this world.
The headmistress of Ella Academy. A woman so deeply attached to this place that she was willing to risk her very life to protect it.
But despite her importance, she wasn’t a character who appeared often in the game.
If anything, she was more like a deus ex machina.
She was a hidden element that occasionally stepped in to resolve dead-end storylines with ease.
But aside from those rare appearances, she only ever showed up after disasters had already struck.
To be honest, it was frustrating. It made her seem just like the incompetent higher-ups in other academy stories, with their laughably weak security.
Yeah… if I’m being honest, something always felt off.
She wasn’t just an ordinary human; she was a dragon. A being who had inherited and managed the very concept of “space” itself.
She could perceive the laws and flow of the world. And yet, she couldn’t even anticipate the incidents happening within her own academy?
Even though she had such a deep attachment to this place?
“Can you tell me why?”
“Why what? Why I know everything but still came to you for help?”
“Yes.”
“Are you seriously asking because you don’t know? Obviously, it’s because I can’t do it.”
“…And you think that if the headmistress can’t do it, I can?”
“From the start, you enrolled under the condition that you’d remove the shackles I carry. This is just an extension of that, nothing more.”
…Come to think of it, I did say something like that when we first met.
Maybe this is why people say it’s best to keep your mouth shut.
“…The reason I don’t bother prying into your business is exactly because of that.”
“That’s a bit too much pressure, don’t you think?”
“It’s the same thing you’ve been doing all along. No one else can do it but you. Everyone in this world is bound by fate.”
“……..”
“Changing the ‘subject’ of fate… It’s a novel approach, but not just anyone can pull it off.”
She had already figured that much out.
Her insight was far greater than I had imagined.
Just as she said, what I had done up until now, and what I would do from here on…..was something only I could accomplish.
A technique possible only because the one changing the “subject” was an outsider who was not bound by fate.
“…So, you’re going to help me? How?”
“Well, to be honest, I’m particularly restricted by fate. I can’t offer much direct help, but at the very least, as the headmistress, I can support what you’re about to do.”
“So I won’t get expelled.”
“As long as you keep things within reason. If you blow it out of proportion, even I won’t be able to cover for you.”
“That’s more than enough. Thank you.”
“…Haah, yeah.”
She let out a sigh and sank back into the sofa as if she had no interest in continuing this conversation any further.
At last, I could bring up the real topic at hand.
“Then… is it okay if I ask my question now?”
“Yeah, sure. What do you want to know?”
“Do you know of someone called the Sage of the Stars? He’s a guy, has completely white hair, is a little shorter than me, but way better-looking.”
“Hey, do you really think I’ll recognize him with that kind of description? Come here.”
At her gesture, I got up from my seat and approached her.
As I drew closer, her fingers lightly touched my forehead.
“Picture that so-called Sage of the Stars in your mind.”
“……..”
Wooong!
At that moment, an immense amount of magical energy burst out from her body.
It lasted only for a fleeting instant before she immediately withdrew her hand from my forehead.
She gave a casual nod as she chewed on her candy as if she understood the general idea.
“Hmm, so this is what he looks like?”
“…Do you know who he is?”
“Nope. Never seen him before.”
“But I heard he’s a student at the academy.”
“My memory is ridiculously good. I remember the faces and names of every student who has ever enrolled. But the face you just showed me? Not once have I seen it.”
Her words left my mind in turmoil.
He never even enrolled?
I already had very little information to go on, but in the game, he always appeared in some route or another.
Because of that, I had assumed he had to exist somewhere within the academy and that, as the headmistress, she would surely know him.
And yet, she had no connection to him whatsoever?
“By the way, the title ‘Sage of the Stars’… It’s a bit unusual, don’t you think?”
“He’s connected to time, one of the laws of the Star God Lyell.”
I decided there was no need to hide that part, so I told her the truth.
There was a chance I might gain more information in return.
“Lyell? And how do you know about him?”
“It’s similar to how I know about your true identity, Headmistress.”
“…Hah. You’re not even trying to hide what you know anymore, huh? So, why exactly are you asking me about his whereabouts?”
“Because he inherited a law from the same Star God. Since you oversee the law of space, I thought you might have some insight into someone connected to time.”
“You even figured that out? I swear, I’d love to crack your skull open and take a look inside.”
“Please don’t say such terrifying things…”
She was, after all, the “Dimensional Dragon”.
It was not just an impressive-sounding word. It was a power obtained through the law of space, inherited from the Star God.
The very reason we’re able to enter this subspace is thanks to that power.
Of course, the exact nature of the relationship between the Star God and her had never been clarified, not even in the game, so even I had no way of knowing.
“…Hah. Well, whatever. I said I wouldn’t ask any questions, so this is on me.”
“Haha…”
“But if that’s the case, then I can say this with certainty.”
Crunch—!
“That so-called Sage of the Stars has absolutely nothing to do with time.”
“Huh?”
Her words, spoken as she bit into her candy, were nothing short of shocking.
“Space and time are concepts deeply intertwined. If someone like that truly existed, there’s no way I wouldn’t have sensed them.”
“…Then—”
“It has to be one of two possibilities. Either, as I said, that guy has no connection to time whatsoever… or he never existed in the first place.”
“……..”
A figure who had served as little more than a MacGuffin in the game had suddenly vanished without a trace.
Now that this world had become reality, every unnatural deviation like this felt unsettling.
It wasn’t as if he had just poofed out of existence without any rhyme or reason.
Where the hell did that bastard of a Sage disappear to?
A creeping sense of foreboding began to rise within me.
***
“…Thank you for your time.”
“You leaving now?”
“Yes, I have class tomorrow, so—”
“Yeah, yeah, off you go.”
Thud!
After sending off the bothersome boy once again,
She lay back on the sofa and started staring blankly at the ceiling.
She didn’t particularly like this colorless, odorless space, but it was a good place to sort out her tangled thoughts.
Judging by his expression, things didn’t go too well.
The so-called Sage of the Stars…. she had never even heard of such a figure before.
Chasing after something even he didn’t fully understand… that boy really seemed to live a troublesome life.
Where did he even dig up that kind of information?
Ugh, seriously. Should I just go over there and crack his head open right now?
She barely resisted the urge and stretched out on the sofa. Her idle leg kept bumping against the desk.
Thunk.
A chess piece tumbled to the floor.
She clicked her tongue in annoyance and reluctantly picked it up.
It was the last piece he had moved during their game. The one that remained on the board until the very end.
A piece she had modeled after herself.
“…Of course, it had to be me.”
Looking at it reminded her of her powerless childhood.
…A memory she had no desire to recall.
Tsk. If I were still like my old self, I would’ve just killed him on the spot.
There were few people who had pried into her past and lived to tell the tale.
It wasn’t just because she needed his help that she let him live.
Of course, that was part of it; but more than that…
…There’s something strangely familiar about him. He reminds me of that hero.
1,000 years ago.
The first human who had ever played chess against her.
She couldn’t shake the strange feeling that the boy who had just been here bore an uncanny resemblance to him.
Was it just her imagination?
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