Chapter 152

I spotted something sitting there miserably, like an abandoned puppy on a rainy day, so I picked it up on my way home from work.

It was a bit big for a puppy, but well….anyway.

Dahlia, who had been going around closing all the windows in the house because of the sudden downpour, widened her eyes when she saw Jacqueline whom I had brought with me.

“Welcome back, Master. Oh my, it’s the student who came to visit you when you were ill. Are you a guest today?”

“Yes.”

“But it looks like you got soaked in the rain. I’ll get a towel right away.”

Dahlia brought over a white, fluffy towel and vigorously rubbed Jacqueline’s hair to dry it.

The sight was exactly like someone handling a large dog.

I left Jacqueline with Dahlia and sat down in the living room first. A moment later, Dahlia came trotting over and asked,

“Master, may I borrow one of your shirts, by any chance?”

“Why?”

“The student’s clothes are wet, so you can see through them. My clothes probably wouldn’t fit her.”

“Go ahead.”

After a little while, Jacqueline came trudging into the living room.

Without being told, she quietly went to the sofa meant for guests and sat down.

Come to think of it, this was already the third time Jacqueline Dogwood had come to my house.

If so, it made sense that she’d be used to it by now.

Since she must have lost body heat from the rain, I was about to ask Dahlia to prepare some tea, but perceptive as ever, she brought exactly what I wanted without a word.

The tea was hot enough to burn the tongue. A citrus fruit preserved in sugar and boiled in water.

In other words, yuzu tea.

It helped calm the mind, and it was perfect for restoring fluids and energy to someone who had been crying in the rain.

Jacqueline seemed to like the sweet, warm drink, as she quietly sipped from the cup.

Only when Dahlia came to refill it did Jacqueline finally speak.

“…Thank you.”

“Crying while sitting in the middle of the road. What, did you feel like playing lost child even though you’re all grown up?”

Normally, if I teased her like that, she would have snapped back with some spirit, but Jacqueline stayed silent, staring only at the back of her own hand.

She really must have been in bad shape.

“Tell me what happened.”

After hesitating for a long time, Jacqueline finally answered like this.

“I’m thinking of quitting the academy. I don’t think I have any talent, and it doesn’t seem like the right fit for me… I’m starting to question whether this is really what I wanted. I messed up the exam again, too.”

I nodded.

“Yeah. I figured you’d feel that way.”

“So you think so too, Professor? That I don’t have what it takes to be a mage?”

“Do you want me to be honest?”

Jacqueline’s eyes wavered.

Her expression shifted from surprise to hurt, then to resentment, and finally, with a look of resignation, she lowered her gaze.

Then, Jacqueline quietly nodded.

I told her only the truth I knew.

“You might have talent that could rival even Shannon Quinlivan.”

In the original Candela of Judgment, Jacqueline Dogwood was a fixed-encounter NPC.

But not quite on the level of a named character.

***

In the original game, Jacqueline Dogwood appeared as a support NPC around the middle of the first year.

That is, right after the player character finishes training at the Transformation Camp and enters the capital.

Disguised as a member of the military police, the player who was actually a knight of the Candela Order requests support from the Royal Mage Bureau while pursuing a rogue magic user.

At that point, Jacqueline Dogwood is working as a low-level employee at the bureau’s civil services and support division.

A young woman with dark circles under her eyes, showing a polite, professional smile.

Someone slowly losing their spark between the endless paperwork and a meager paycheck.

At the time, the player is struggling due to a staff shortage in the Mage Bureau’s Safety Management Department, and Jacqueline offers to help without hesitation.

She doesn’t do anything especially impactful, but she does provide small bits of help in the investigation with her basic knowledge of magic.

Later, if you meet certain conditions, you can recruit Jacqueline as a party member.

The requirement is to gift her a magic theory book she’s always longed for, one she lingers in front of at the bookstore but can’t afford due to her financial situation.

That’s right.

In her original fate, Jacqueline gave up on learning magic just six months after entering the academy.

But she was someone who never truly let go of her attachment to magic.

“Why did I drop out of the academy? Well, my grades were terrible. I was never that good at studying… and, honestly, a few things happened. Still, I kind of regret it now. I should’ve just stuck it out.”

What if Jacqueline hadn’t given up and had kept studying magic?

The original game gave a glimpse into that possibility.

There are players like that….you know the type.

The kind who never swap out their starting companions and take them all the way to the ending.

It was through those players that Jacqueline’s true potential was discovered.

She starts out with low stats and requires a huge investment to train, which makes her a real burden in the early game.

But she possesses a rare trait called “Late Bloomer” and if you steadily invest in her, she eventually grows into a top-tier mage in the late game.

Of course, she was never a particularly popular companion character.

From the player’s perspective, it was a burden to invest precious early-game resources into her.

And by the time you got to the later stages, fully-trained mage companions would pop up like mushrooms after rain. No need to raise one from scratch.

“A chicken rib.”

That was how Jacqueline was summed up by the Candela of Judgment fandom.

But that was from the player’s point of view.

Right now, I’m Winter Winslet.

An academy professor and a wealthy man with more than enough to give.

Which means…I can do a lot for Jacqueline.

That is, if I can be sure she’ll be useful to me.

“Jacqueline Dogwood.”

“Yes, Professor?”

“You are truly… pure.”

“Huh? What do you mean all of a sudden?”

Jacqueline blinked wide-eyed, then quickly averted her gaze and muttered under her breath.

“I didn’t even wash my hair this morning.”

“……”

“What? Don’t look at me like that. I was just too busy studying.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

…Okay, I was briefly worried she might trigger the “Hygiene Sense” penalty, but anyway.

Jacqueline really is pure.

Her death flag record, I mean.

While hundreds of students at the academy have had death flags raised and cleared for me depending on how I acted or responded, this girl Jacqueline has not triggered a single death flag with me. Not even once.

Maybe that means she’s inherently good.

Or maybe she’s just so ordinary and cautious she never even thought to go against me.

Either way, it’s a huge plus when it comes to choosing allies.

Even my fiancée Josephine is a named character with S-rank Swordsmanship.

And yet, I still can’t bring myself to trust her enough to watch my back.

Why?

Because of death flags.

But here’s someone who has never pointed a blade at me and whose future fighting power is already proven?

That’s like a lottery ticket worth scratching.

And on top of that, her role in the party isn’t bad either.

If Shannon is an all-rounder mage with a talent for duels, then Jacqueline’s fully-developed form in the later part of the original game is that of a wide-area firepower war mage.

In the latter half of Candela of Judgment’s main story, large-scale incidents become especially frequent, so a mage who can launch powerful area-of-effect spells one after another was a valuable asset.

And though I don’t know why it’s different from the original, Jacqueline’s current level of magic is far more advanced than when she first appeared in Candela of Judgment.

In the original, Jacqueline restarted her studies late, yet by the endgame, she performed at the level of a top-tier party member.

So then, what happens if you start raising a “late bloomer” type character right now?

At this point, she’s definitely worth investing in.

Jacqueline asked,

“But, Professor… were you serious about what you said earlier? That I might have talent on par with Shannon?”

“You don’t believe me?”

“It’s not that, exactly… I just thought maybe you were throwing out random encouragement… or maybe you ate something bad recently. Haha.”

“What would I gain from lying to you?”

“Well, you never know! Maybe you’ve got ulterior motives, and you’re trying to seduce me while I’m emotionally vulnerable…”

I gave a nod, then pointed to the entrance of the living room.

“The front door’s that way. Feel free to get out of my house.”

“I was joking, joking! Haha, can’t a person make a joke these days?”

As Jacqueline let out an awkward laugh, I chuckled as well.

Looks like her mental state’s finally recovered enough to crack silly jokes again.

“Anyway, what I wanted to say is: don’t be in such a hurry. A large jar takes longer to fill, and you’ve got a greatness that’s all your own.”

“What is going on today? You never give compliments like this. Is it because you’re worried I might actually drop out? Wait….don’t tell me I was some kind of genius worth holding onto? Oh no, is that really it?”

“Of course, even a stray mutt on the street has a greatness befitting a stray mutt.”

“……”

As Jacqueline glared at me, I finally said what I’d wanted to tell her from the start.

“And no one dislikes someone who works hard.”

“Ah.”

Jacqueline’s mouth fell open, like she’d been caught off guard.

“Working hard isn’t something to be taken for granted. It’s not something to be mocked, either. In fact, it deserves praise. If there are people who laugh at or tear down someone’s effort, then they’re the ones in the wrong.”

There’s nothing wrong with trying your best.

Everyone feels insecure at times, gets shaken by doubtful words, and is too afraid to move forward.

I didn’t want Jacqueline to fall apart here.

“So don’t shrink back. You have every right to hold your head high.”

“Professoorr…!”

Jacqueline’s expression crumpled, and she began to sniffle. So I once again pointed outside the living room.

“Blow your nose outside. It’s gross.”

“Ugh, seriously. I was this close to being touched, and you ruined the mood.”

Still too sniffly to blow her nose, Jacqueline replied in a nasal voice.

“But you know, Professor… it’s really hard for me when people hate me. I really was just trying my best, but there are people who hate me for even that.”

“Then just ignore them. You didn’t enroll in the Academy to get their approval, did you?”

“It’s easy for you to say… only because you’ve never gone through it…”

“Oh? You think I haven’t?”

At my words, Jacqueline made a sheepish face.

“That’s right… your nickname was…”

The Academy’s infamous bastard.

Winter Winslet.

That’s me.

“Now that I think about it, you are the professor with the most people who hate him on campus. Suddenly, everything you’re saying feels a lot more convincing.”

Jacqueline let out a small laugh, then looked me straight in the eye and added,

“You’re right. I’m done letting other people’s criticism make me feel small. But that doesn’t mean I’m giving up, either. See, I grew up being ridiculously loved by the ladies and men in my village. They adored me. And old habits die hard. So I’m going to make people like me my way.”

“Fine. Do whatever you want.”

“And that includes you, Professor…”

Jacqueline was muttering something under her breath when she suddenly frowned and let out a startled noise.

“Professor! I think you’re bleeding from the mouth; are you okay? Now that I look at you, you’ve looked pale for a while…”

No.

I’m not okay at all.

It’s because I’ve been getting non-stop alerts about my trait penalty activating since earlier.

[Warning]

[Willpower and Health have temporarily decreased.]

[Activated Trait: Lack of Humanity]

– Those whose humanity has dried up also speak in a dry manner.

– When giving compliments or words of comfort, Willpower and Health temporarily decrease.

[Penalty Repeated]

[Willpower and Health have greatly decreased.]

“They say when someone starts acting out of character, it means their time has come…”

What an infuriating thing to say—

But I couldn’t exactly argue with it.