Chapter 160
Chapter 160
“Villed.”
It felt like I had only just fallen asleep, but my eyes opened at the voice calling me.
It was Lapin, who had been outside the holding cell.
“Please wake up, Mr. Villed.”
Luga and Ren also seemed to have woken up, as they were standing in front of me.
Click, creak-!
“Congratulations. It looks like all the charges have been cleared.”
Lahan smiled as he opened the door to the holding cell.
……Fortunately, all of us were able to be released from the holding cell.
“This time it was just a misunderstanding, but you mustn’t come back here again. This place doesn’t suit students.”
Lahan waved at us as we headed up to the surface.
We gave Lahan a brief greeting and went up the stairs.
We reached the first floor, opened the main entrance of the main building, and stepped outside.
But the moment I opened the door, I shut my eyes.
Perhaps because I had been in a dark place for so long, the sun felt even more dazzling.
“I didn’t know the morning sun could be this beautiful.”
Ren replied, and after a moment, I opened my eyes.
What came into view along with the shining morning sunlight were two people.
Curio, and—
“You……?”
It was Elined, with hollow eyes.
She was holding a document envelope in her arms.
Elined immediately ran toward me.
“You were released?”
“Uh, I think so.”
“…….”
Elined let out a small sigh of relief. After muttering “That’s a relief.” to herself, she briefly glanced at Lapin beside me, then looked back at me.
“Does that mean Lapin’s charges are gone too now?”
“Yeah, completely. She was actually a victim too.”
“……I see.”
Elined nodded belatedly.
I gestured toward the documents in her arms and spoke.
“What’s that?”
“It’s nothing. I don’t need it anymore.”
Elined hid the documents behind her back.
I didn’t know the exact contents, but I could tell just by looking at her eyes.
It seemed she hadn’t slept, and had been writing something to prove my innocence to deliver to Professor Ruber.
“……So among the first-years, we’re the only ones who actually saw the enemy’s face.”
Elined looked at everyone here.
Ren, Luga, Lapin, Curio, me, and…….
“Your Highness.”
Elined approached the Princess and knelt down. Her breathing was trembling slightly.
“Even with ten mouths, it wouldn’t be enough. Yesterday’s rudeness was…….”
“Elined. That’s enough.”
The Princess said.
Then the Princess knelt on one knee and lowered herself to Elined’s eye level.
Curio almost shouted something, but Luga covered her mouth with a smiling face to stop her.
“I was relieved.”
The Princess replied like that, then raised her arm.
……Was she about to slap her?
Yeah, that would have been understandable.
She had been rude to a member of the imperial family. A single slap would have been getting off lightly.
Elined, seeing that, must have been afraid of what kind of punishment would follow, as she tightly shut her eyes.
……But.
She didn’t feel any pain at all.
Instead, she must have felt a warmth that softened the chill of this cold winter morning.
Feeling that sensation belatedly, Elined’s hollow eyes opened wide.
The Princess was hugging Elined.
Realizing that, Elined opened her mouth, but no words came out.
“I know everything. You were confused, afraid your colleague might die. You were scared.”
The Princess said.
Elined’s arms had nowhere to go and simply hung limp, trembling.
“I’m glad I could see that warm heart of yours, Elined. Even you, who looked cold, had a heart that cared for others.”
“Y-Your Highness…….”
A single drop of moisture formed in Elined’s eyes, then soon trickled down.
“……I will, without fail.”
Elined hugged the Princess as well.
“Without fail…… I will wipe out every last one of those bastards who threaten Your Highness and our colleagues, and who throw the school into chaos.”
“Thank you, Elined. We feel the same way.”
In the worst case, the two of them could have clashed.
It was one of the worst endings in the game.
The reason that ending existed was because Elined and the Princess failed to understand each other.
As the episode progressed, they repeatedly went astray from one another, misunderstandings piled up, and it eventually led to division.
……But there was no need to worry about that anymore.
Because of this incident, the bond between the two of them must have been firmly forged.
They must have become allies who could entrust their backs to each other.
Under the dazzling sunlight, the two of them clung to each other, unable to let go.
“Ren.”
Just before parting ways with Ren’s group, I called out to him belatedly.
“It’s vacation. Where are you going?”
Ren opened his mouth with a smile.
“I’m planning to visit my hometown for the first time in a while.”
“……I see.”
“And what are you planning to do, Mr. Villed?”
“I think I’ll go on a short trip.”
“A trip, huh. That sounds nice too.”
“…….”
I looked at Ren for a moment, then turned my back and started walking without a word.
“Then I’ll see you next semester!”
Ren shouted from behind me, but I didn’t bother to turn around or reply.
There was no need to give him advice, so I kept my mouth shut.
Surprisingly, Ren was walking the very best path that would allow him to grow explosively.
Up until this year, Ren had barely been capable of defeating even low-ranking dungeon monsters.
Before I knew it, he had become a fairly skilled person who could freely handle the wind attribute.
During the vacation, he would further strengthen his power, and be able to overcome not only the Finders curriculum, but also enemies one by one.
Ren had to grow into a savior who would defeat the ‘calamity’ that would appear in the future.
He was the only means for this academy—and for humanity—to survive.
With that level of growth potential, Ren should be able to reach the level of a ‘savior’ well before graduation.
Yes. For humanity to survive, it had to be that way.
I didn’t want to die either, after all.
Before I knew it, Lapin trotted over and stood beside me.
We walked along the park path toward the livestock shed together.
For a while, neither of us spoke, but Lapin was the first to break the silence.
“Thank you.”
“What are you thanking me for.”
“Just. Everything.”
“…….”
Our eyes met.
Instead of answering, I responded with a smile toward Lapin.
……How long had we walked?
After arriving at the livestock shed, we immediately started the livestock work.
Moo~
Baa~
We fed them regularly at dawn.
But today, we were about three hours later than usual, so the animals cried out as if asking why we were late.
“Yeah, yeah. I went somewhere for a bit, so I’m late. I’ll give it to you soon, so wait a little.”
Only after giving all the livestock their drinking water and feed was I able to rest for a moment.
That was the end of today’s work.
Because today, Lapin and I would be leaving this place together.
‘……Rupina will come a bit later.’
I had already promised Rupina that she would take charge of the livestock shed work for about one to two months.
I told her I’d pay 100 gold per day, so that was a minimum of 3,000 gold and a maximum of 6,000 gold.
Rupina accepted those conditions with a deep bow.
After all, with just about a month of livestock shed work, she could earn the annual salary of an academy employee.
After resting a bit, I looked around the surrounding fields.
The Spirit Grass field was completely empty.
I had deliberately left it that way.
In preparation for vacation, I had increased the Spirit Grass harvest little by little beforehand.
I delivered it monthly to Erion Pharmaceuticals, and gradually stored the leftover Spirit Grass in Subspace, securing already three months’ worth.
Thanks to that, I had about two to three months of leeway.
‘Well, I don’t think the trip will last as long as two months. But just in case.’
I liked insurance too much by nature, so it couldn’t be helped.
When I entered the storage room, Lapin was sitting atop a pile of straw.
I could tell that her gaze was different from usual.
Having come back alive from the brink of death, it must have felt more profound than usual.
Lapin looked at me and said,
“For some reason, the livestock shed feels really nice today. I want to stay here every day without going anywhere.”
“Then what about the trip? You won’t be able to come here for a while.”
“I’ll go on the trip.”
“……Is that something different?”
I replied with a hollow laugh.
“Villed, aren’t you packing a travel bag?”
At Lapin’s question, I shrugged.
“A bag? I don’t really need one.”
I opened Subspace.
“I can just put everything I need in here.”
But Lapin shook her head.
“I want to take a travel bag.”
As she walked closer to me, Lapin said,
“Precious things. I want to carry them myself, with my own hands.”
I looked into Lapin’s eyes.
She seemed serious.
‘I don’t really get what kind of sentiment that is…… but if she wants to, then fine.’
I took out a high-quality carrier bag from Subspace.
It was a type you could carry on your back, hold by hand, or pull along with wheels.
It was the bag that had been in the dormitory on the first day I fell into this world.
Since I had Subspace, I never really used it and had shoved it into a corner of Subspace.
“I don’t use it anymore. You use it.”
“Oh.”
Lapin looked at my bag, her eyes sparkling as if she liked it.
“Thanks. I’ll use it carefully.”
“……Yeah.”
As I stepped outside the storage room, I said,
“We’ll depart when Rupina comes in the afternoon. Until then, put everything you want into that bag.”
Immediately, Lapin jumped up happily.
Her expression was flat, but her eyes shone brighter than anything else.
“Then…….”
“No. Cancel that.”
I cut Lapin off.
Right.
I had forgotten.
That was something she absolutely must not say.
Because I could easily predict what would follow from Lapin’s mouth.
“No animals.”
“……Hing.”
Lapin’s eyebrows drooped into an 八 shape.
……Meanwhile.
Professor Hilda’s laboratory.
Hilda sat in her chair, looking at the newspaper on the table.
In the photo printed in the newspaper, Lapin was holding a trophy set with a red jewel.
……And next to the newspaper, there was a small slip of paper.
「Notice of Withdrawal of Support for the Engineering Department
Due to internal circumstances, we regret to inform you that we can no longer accept your sponsorship. Thank you for your interest.
— Engineering Department」
……Hilda smiled as she looked at it.
By coincidence, Lapin and Villed set up a booth.
By coincidence, they even recruited the people she had intended to use.
By coincidence, they devised a considerable strategy and surpassed the sales of <Delicia>, which had always taken first place.
And then, in the end, Lapin and Villed—whom she thought would never be able to claim it—took hold of that trophy.
That precious red jewel had ended up in Villed’s hands.
……And that wasn’t all.
No one knew how he did it, but Villed reverted Lapin, who had become a monster.
To Hilda, it was an unbelievable result.
……Was this really coincidence?
No.
There was no such thing as ‘coincidence’.
When coincidence overlaps with coincidence, it becomes inevitability.
Causality.
A predetermined result always follows according to one’s actions.
“How long has it taken, I wonder.”
Hilda had waited for a very long time.
For miraculous coincidences to continue.
To ‘once again’ meet the person who would create those miraculous coincidences.
“Razli, miracles really did exist.”
Hilda spoke to the black-winged fairy perched on her shoulder.
“I thought I’d never see it again. But I finally found it.”
Hilda looked at the Finders recommendation letter placed beside the newspaper and rested her hand on it.
Then she gently traced the letters ‘Riz Villed Dedencman Ludwig’ with her finger.
“……My savior.”