Chapter 248 : Private Audience
Chapter 248: Private Audience
“Ahem.”
Lu lightly cleared her throat with a fist against her mouth.
“I don't know what important conversation you're about to have, but this big sister will step aside.”
“…….”
Without replying, Mari merely looked at me with her expressionless face.
“I'll be waiting over by that house with the red roof. Oh, and Mister. As punishment for leaving only me out, after you're done talking with Mari, it'll be this, this.”
With a mischievous grin, Lu mimed slashing a knife across her throat with the side of her hand before leaving.
“…….”
There should have been only Mari and me here now.
She undoubtedly believed the same.
But I knew otherwise.
……For some time now, every nerve in my body had been on edge.
I could strongly feel someone's gaze.
《You can detect hidden allies or enemies.》
……Not far away, a third party was hiding and watching the two of us.
But I deliberately didn't look in that direction.
Aside from the Cleaner, there was only one first-year capable of using the ability ‘Stealth,’ so it wasn't difficult to figure out who it was.
In fact, it was exactly what I wanted.
For my plan to work, that person had to be watching me.
I quietly spoke to Mari.
“As you know, I'm being pursued. You have a way for the two of us to talk privately. Use it.”
“……!”
Mari was startled once again.
“How does Senior know about that……?”
“Enough with the unnecessary questions. I told you to use it.”
It was then.
Mari's eyes trembled ever so slightly before she let out a short sigh, as though she had resigned herself.
At that moment.
A strange ripple spread upward from beneath our feet, instantly erasing even the presence of the hidden intruder.
The surrounding scenery blurred like wet paint before my vision was swallowed by darkness, and even my sense of gravity began to fade.
……It felt as though I were standing in the middle of the vast universe.
Her Unique Skill, ‘Private Audience.’
By using this skill, she isolated her target from the world itself, pulling them into a space where only the two of them existed.
Within that domain, no one could interfere.
Nor could anyone escape.
……Even in the game, Mari had been one of the most troublesome boss characters.
I'd fought countless bloody battles against her in this very place.
Click, click.
The sound of footsteps echoed.
“I never expected this.”
Along with those words, Mari gradually emerged from the darkness.
“I never imagined that a senior I'd only just met would know so much about me.”
“Why are you acting surprised now? It goes both ways, doesn't it? You heard at least a little about me from Shen too.”
“…….”
Mari didn't deny it.
She looked straight into my eyes and spoke.
“Riz Villed Dedencman Ludwig, eighteen years old. The second son of House Dedencman. A second-year Student of Yggdrasil Academy. Professor Hilda's Schuler. And Brother Shen's friend.”
As Mari recited my information, her voice grew even lower.
“……Senior called me ‘Alice.’”
Though she remained expressionless, the hand clutching the hem of her skirt trembled ever so slightly.
“How do you know that name?”
A name that no one in this world should know.
“Could it be… were you involved in ‘that experiment’? There shouldn't have been any survivors.”
Though she desperately tried to remain calm, her eyes were filled with wariness toward me.
It was only slight.
Yet it was an instinctively sharp vigilance.
‘Alice.’
That had been her name when she was an experimental subject as a child.
The research had eventually been abandoned, and everyone involved had been purged.
As a result, ‘Alice’ had become the horrific shackle buried in the deepest corner of Mari's heart.
She had never even spoken that name to Shen, the family member she trusted most.
……Yet I knew it.
From her perspective, it was more than enough to shock her.
It was enough to make someone think they'd seen a ghost.
Naturally, she couldn't help but become even more guarded against me.
But there was something I had to accomplish, even if it meant doing this.
……Lunatic.
The Cleaner's attack on the Imperial Princess.
‘Once the Cleaner starts moving, the center of the arena will be destroyed.’
To destroy Professor Ruber's protective spell, the Cleaner would unleash overwhelming magic and strike the ground.
The spell was so powerful that casualties would be unavoidable.
……But I couldn't simply stand by and watch.
The day I pulled Lapin back from the brink of death, I made myself a promise.
……I wouldn't let anyone die.
It wasn't some shallow hero complex or hypocritical sense of justice.
This was nothing more than my own selfish desire.
I wanted to see the best ending.
The ending that the game itself had never shown.
That alone was what drove me.
Because of that.
To minimize the casualties in this incident, I needed Mari's strength.
Like Heidel and Kaylin, she was an exceptional powerhouse who far exceeded the level of an ordinary student.
I desperately needed her help.
“An experiment…? Hmm, an experiment…”
I deliberately answered in a nonchalant manner.
Mari immediately raised the sword she had been holding and pointed it at me.
“Senior, stop playing games and answer me properly.”
Pretending to acknowledge the sword, I slowly raised one hand halfway in surrender.
“I suppose I have no choice. There's no point hiding it. You already know I'm incompetent anyway. The truth is, half of what you said is right, and half is wrong.”
“……What do you mean?”
“I'll tell only you. The truth is… I also possess a Unique Skill.”
I frowned and held my forehead as though suffering from a headache.
“I only awakened this ability recently. You might think I'm crazy, but whenever I look at a certain person, I can see fragments of that person's past or future.”
“……No way.”
Mari's face showed clear surprise, as though she'd realized something.
Her eyebrows rose so high that I felt as though even the eye hidden beneath her eyepatch had widened.
“You know about this ability… even though I barely understand it myself?”
Pretending to be surprised, I acted my part.
After a long silence, Mari finally uttered a single word.
“……Observation.”
That's right.
The Unique Skill, Observation.
It was a real ability even in the game.
Although its gameplay effect was to expose an opponent's weakness and deal massive damage.
According to the lore, its true ability was to see another person's past and future.
Within this world, ‘Observation’ was considered an exceptionally rare ability.
Even throughout the Empire, there were only a handful of people who possessed it.
“……Senior can use Observation?”
Of course, I couldn't.
This was a complete bluff.
To suddenly call out the hidden name from someone's past without any explanation?
Not only that—even Shen, whom she considered family, and even her own sisters didn't know that secret.
From her point of view, the situation made absolutely no sense.
So the correct answer was to pretend I didn't know anything and imply that I had merely seen fleeting visions beyond my control.
There was no reason to unnecessarily provoke her hostility and ruin everything.
“Observation? So that's what this ability is called. I learned something new.”
“……There's no way Senior possesses Observation.”
Mari still shook her head suspiciously.
“I've heard it's a bizarre Unique Skill that only manifests in someone with such an overwhelming amount of Mana that they can't even control it.”
She was skilled enough to read another person's Mana just by looking at them.
She had undoubtedly already confirmed that I didn't possess even the slightest trace of Mana.
“But that's exactly what's strange. I can't sense any Mana from you at all. There's no way someone like Senior could possibly possess such an ability……”
“So what?”
I let out a dry laugh and continued.
“Are you saying I somehow picked up that top-secret information in some back alley?”
“There isn't anyone left who could tell me. The people who knew you were Alice no longer exist in this world.”
“……That's true, but.”
“I simply told you what I saw. I don't intend to waste my energy arguing over whether this ability is real or fake.”
So what?
I'd already given my answer.
What else could she say?
“If you still don't want to believe me, I won't force you.”
“……I'll believe you. But why did you approach me?”
Despite saying she believed me, her eyes still hadn't lowered their guard.
Mari's voice grew even colder.
“You know my past, so are you planning to blackmail me with it?”
At that question, I slowly curled my lips into a grin.
“That's right. You could call it a form of blackmail.”
“A blackmail forcing you to cooperate with me.”
“…….”
Although she didn't say, ‘What a piece of trash,’ aloud, Mari looked at me as though I were a disgusting insect.
I paid it no mind and simply maintained my relaxed smile.
“Whether I wanted to or not, I saw the future of this match.”
“……?”
“One hour from now, this battlefield will suffer considerable casualties.”
“……!”
At the word ‘casualties,’ Mari's eyes widened even further.
“Unknown magic will strike and destroy Professor Ruber's protective spell. The backlash will leave dozens injured and several dead.”
“……And you expect me to believe that?”
“You think I'd bother making up a story like this just to mess with you?”
I deliberately replied in an irritated tone.
Mari fell silent.
Then, as though she'd realized something, she spoke.
“Then… was the reason you stole the key from Senior Kaylin to protect the students?”
That's right.
Even if only for my own selfish desire of seeing the best possible ending, I couldn't allow them to die.
……But there was no reason to leave Mari with a favorable impression of me.
So I immediately answered.
“Protect who? Me?”
I burst into laughter.
“I couldn't care less whether those worms live or die.”
Then I continued with a cold smile.
“I'm only acting because I don't want any trouble coming my way. I hate dying, and I hate getting hurt. If everyone gets wiped out and the Academy falls into chaos, that'd be a nuisance. I'd hate having my comfortable daily life ruined because I have to match the mood of a funeral.”
“……That's a selfish reason.”
“Humans are selfish by nature. Isn't your own life more important than someone else's? Sacrificing yourself for others is just something hypocrites pretend to do.”
“…….”
Mari let out a small sigh, looking utterly dumbfounded.
“I don't like you, Senior. But casualties still have to be prevented.”
“So you're one of those hypocrites too.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“I'm only doing this so my Academy life won't be affected. ……Because I don't want to see anyone die here either.”
“Then should I say you're just another selfish person like me?”
“The thought of being lumped together with you is horrifying. ……Just stop talking.”
Despite Mari's blatant hostility, I merely shrugged.
In a situation like this, a relationship built purely on mutual interests was far more comfortable for both sides than reckless trust or emotional bonds.
I had neither the time to waste on emotional arguments nor any intention of making pathetic excuses.
So I pulled the key from my pocket.
“Take it.”
I held it out toward her.
“Let's get to the main point. I'll explain the plan only once, so remember it carefully.”