Adele.
She too had been one of the ten playable characters.
She was the only one among them who had not entered the academy as a student.
As the first main episode progressed, she entered the academy as the princess’s escort. That was her role.
That makes nine… we’ve almost gathered them all.
Now that even big sister Adele had appeared at the academy,
It finally felt like the story was truly beginning.
That also meant the road ahead would be nothing but hardship, which gave me a headache.
And I already felt like dying.
.
.
.
Time’s passing disgustingly slow.
History class had been boring. Extremely so.
There was nothing in particular I needed to pay attention to at the moment, so it was just one of those tedious subjects.
The problem was that this subject, which should’ve been boring, wasn’t because of two people.
One of them was our princess.
Her glances had been so frequent that I didn’t even need to check with my own eyes to know.
She kept fidgeting with her lips and fingers,
As if she had something she wanted to say.
…Let’s just ignore her as much as possible for now.
There was still nothing I could be certain of.
That’s why I wanted to avoid facing Hela directly if I could.
More than anything, the gaze from the other person guarding her was far too piercing.
Seriously, she looks like she could kill someone with just her eyes.
The other person.
Big sister Adele’s gaze hadn’t left me for a while now.
The dense killing intent radiating from her eyes had been real.
Out of everyone I had met so far, she had been the most sincere.
She had truly decided in her heart that she wanted to kill me.
If the opportunity ever came, she would probably cut me down without hesitation.
…I’ve committed far too many sins against her.
If that moment ever arrived, it wouldn’t end peacefully.
Not for me… and not for her either.
“…Haa.”
I let out a shallow sigh.
The boring class had shown no signs of ending.
And the gaze fixed on me hadn’t let up either.
***
After what felt like an eternity, history class finally ended.
I quickly shot up from my seat and rushed out of the classroom.
I thought I heard a familiar voice timidly calling out to me from behind, but I made a conscious effort to ignore it.
…Better not to run into her, for a lot of reasons.
Lunchtime came as naturally as the end of morning classes.
It had been a while since I’d eaten with Kiana, or at least it felt that way.
As she ate, she looked at me with a strange expression and asked,
“Why do you look so dead inside?”
“…This morning’s class was way too exhausting.”
“Was it history? Why did you even sign up for such a boring subject?”
“…Beats me. At this rate, I don’t think I’ll survive the semester.”
“You idiot, that’s why you should’ve listened to me.”
Kiana berated me with a look of pity and scorn.
I felt wronged in many ways, but I couldn’t think of anything to argue back with.
Even if I explained my situation, what good would it do?
And with that, we finished our lunch.
Since there was a bit of time before the next class, I took a walk through the streets to gather my thoughts.
Along the way, Kiana ran into a group of other students and parted with me after saying goodbye.
So she’d made that many friends already. Lucky her.
As I walked alone, the sounds around me became more noticeable.
The voice of a shop owner trying to attract customers.
The voice of a student grumbling about having too much homework.
Even the chirping of birds in the clear sky.
It was a truly peaceful scene.
…Of course, I had no idea how long it would last.
But at least for now, it was.
I’m really sick of feeling worn out.
Not everyone could be happy.
But at the very least, I wished the sounds around me were positive.
They were far better than something like screams.
As I savored this peaceful moment of daily life,
I, as always, steeled myself and sorted out my plans for what lay ahead.
It was while I was walking along the road like that.
“Ain.”
“……?”
I turned my head at the sound of a voice behind me.
A boy with striking ash-gray hair stood there.
It was Ron.
“…Ron?”
“Do you have a moment? There’s something important I need to talk about.”
“Mhmm, well… I guess so. Let’s move somewhere else first.”
The gazes of the surrounding students were fixed on us.
It was only natural. Ron’s face was well-known.
Not just his looks, but his magical skills had made him incredibly popular.
…He really was like a main character, huh?
“Then let’s go to the place we talked at last time.”
“Sure.”
.
.
.
A familiar place, where few people passed by.
As Ron cast his spell, the surrounding noise eventually faded away.
“So, what’s going on?”
Did he already gather all the materials?
If not, it seemed unlikely he’d have gone out of his way just to talk.
Could something have happened to Ren?
“Ain, I got all the materials you mentioned.”
“Oh, really? That was fast.”
“Here.”
He handed me a small ring.
It had a sleek design with a tiny black gem embedded in it.
And somehow, it looked familiar.
“I put everything in there.”
“…This ring. Isn’t it from the Magic Tower? Are you sure it’s okay to give it to me?”
“It doesn’t matter. You know as well as I do how messed up that place is.”
“……..”
“Just take it, Ain. It’s fine.”
…Come to think of it, it probably didn’t matter.
Back when I used to play as Ron, I’d stolen all kinds of things and used them.
A smile formed at the unexpected gift.
But I quickly wiped it away.
Judging by Ron’s expression, he still had something else to say.
And that look definitely didn’t signal good news.
“Ain. Do you remember that incident from three years ago?”
“…Hey. Don’t tell me—”
“I think that guy… he’s found out we’re at the academy.”
“……..”
It wasn’t hard to figure out who Ron meant by that guy.
Three years ago. The one I’d failed to kill.
Ron’s archenemy.
A headache set in.
How? How on earth did he find out so quickly?
And I was sure I’d injured him pretty badly, too.
This is a serious change.
Ron’s archenemy was alive.
Maybe it was because I had failed to kill him, but even in the original story, he wasn’t supposed to show up until at least the second semester.
For some reason, his appearance had been moved up.
To be precise, there was no way of knowing when he would show up here.
…Were those guys involved in this too?
It felt similar to what had happened with Hela.
It was too unnatural a variable to be just a butterfly effect.
But this time, it was particularly troublesome.
There’s no way to stop the chaos that maniac brings. At least, not right now.
This was on a different level from the previous incidents.
The guy carried out indiscriminate terrorist attacks at the academy.
Just like in the game, countless people were bound to die.
…That, more than anything, had to be stopped.
“Got it, for now. Thanks for letting me know.”
“…Sorry, Ain. I should’ve killed him with you back then.”
“Why are you blaming yourself again? You even gave me something valuable like this. I should be the one thanking you.”
I forced a smile at Ron and tried to encourage him.
Even if it meant I now had another unexpected disaster on my hands.
Still, since I had the information ahead of time, as long as I could prepare, it wasn’t impossible to deal with.
“What about the Tower Master?”
“I still haven’t been able to get in touch with Master.”
“…I see.”
So not yet, then.
Well, considering the timing, he was probably busy with other towers.
A sigh slipped out on its own.
“Is there anything else you need me to do?”
“Something else?”
“Whatever it is, just say the word. If it’ll help you, I’ll do anything.”
Ron spoke with a serious tone, revealing his resolve.
I gave it some thought after hearing those words.
The Archenemy was important right now, but the upcoming episodes were equally dangerous.
There was still a lot I needed to prepare if I wanted to get through everything smoothly.
“Then, Ron. Can you make a lot of these for me?”
I pulled something out from inside my coat.
It was a talisman engraved with runes.
I held it out to Ron and asked.
“This?”
“I think I’m going to need quite a few of them.”
“…How many are we talking about?”
“As many as possible.”
“Got it. Leave this to me.”
“That’s reassuring.”
Thanks to him, I felt like I could breathe a little easier.
If I could just restock these, things would go a lot more smoothly.
“Alright, I’ll get going now. Afternoon classes are starting soon.”
“Mhmm, Ain. Take care.”
“Okay.”
Without any fuss, we parted ways naturally.
***
Though I had definitely gained something, I also ended up with another problem.
While I was struggling with my tangled thoughts, I found myself arriving at a familiar place before I knew it.
A wide, open space stretched out before me.
The afternoon class was Intermediate Swordsmanship.
They’d said the schedule would change, and now it looked like I’d be pushing my body hard from the very first weekday.
I already felt like muscle pain was creeping in.
As I headed toward the gathered crowd, it became immediately clear.
So this was the intermediate class—
Unlike the beginner class, most of the students here were seniors.
This feels a bit awkward…
“Everyone, attention! Before we begin the class, I have an announcement to make.”
Not long after, Professor Chen Xi who was in charge of swordsmanship approached.
Just like the first time I saw her, she radiated charisma.
“Starting today, we have some new students joining the intermediate class. I trust you’ll treat them appropriately!”
With that brief explanation, Professor Chen Xi moved right on to the day’s lesson.
…It felt like all eyes were subtly turning toward me.
Sure enough, I could hear murmurs among the second-year students.
What was this about?
Was it because a first-year had been promoted straight to the intermediate class?
Still, that didn’t seem like enough reason for this many eyes to be on me—
“Ain.”
“Ah, you scared me.”
A familiar voice called out.
Startled, I turned around and saw the ash-grey hair that looked exactly like Ron’s.
…No, seriously, why did Ren keep showing up behind me like that and giving me a scare? She even went so far as to hide her presence on purpose.
“Can you please walk around making at least a little noise?”
“But your reactions are just too funny, Ain.”
“Your personality’s really twisted, isn’t it?”
This girl’s supposed to be a Hero?
—I almost said it out loud but thankfully managed to hold back.
Yeah. I’m kind, so I’ll let it go. Seriously.
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