Chapter 33
Chapter33
Omen (2)
The two tall figures walked quickly down the corridor. The place Soloven headed toward was a space meant for using break time efficiently.
When Soloven arrived at the outdoor lounge on the terrace, she leaned her upper body against the railing. I leaned my back against it beside her.
Taking a cigarette out of her pocket, Soloven stylishly flicked one into her mouth. The way it slipped neatly inside was almost like a trick.
A flame rising from her index finger lit the tip of the cigarette.
“If you’re asking the reason for the disciplinary action, it’s nothing special. A student suffered damage during the process of subjugating that monster.”
I scoffed. Formally speaking, prioritizing the safety of students above all else was correct.
That meant carrying out rescues was fine, but subjugation had crossed the line.
In other words, the most we were supposed to do was stay put in the shelter.
“Well, it’s just for formality’s sake. All I received was five penalty points. And even that was entirely covered by a portion of the reward points we received for subjugating the monster, thanks to you and Bereninche.”
“So it’s a measure for the future.”
The academic affairs office’s intention was clear. If something like this happens again, stay put and think about your own safety.
If people like me were rewarded, idiots who didn’t know their place would rush in next time just for the compensation. This was a way to prevent that in advance.
Episode 2 began in that very gap.
“Come to think of it, I should thank you. Both for the subjugation and the rescue—I owe you a lot.”
“It wasn’t something I did expecting gratitude. Nor did I do it out of goodwill.”
“Is that so. Then I suppose that’s how it is.”
For some reason, she seemed a little sentimental. It appeared that this attack had affected her more than I thought.
I recalled the game. What had Soloven been like there? She had been steadfast and strong.
She possessed an altruistic personality that cared for others, along with a classical knightly code that valued honor. The kind of person I would never understand in my lifetime.
“Your strength was a great help in the rescue as well. The fact that you didn’t get caught in petrification like the second-ranked fool already counts as pulling your weight.”
At my continued words, she chuckled softly. Petrification magic was almost instantaneous, making it difficult to evade.
In truth, it would have been more appropriate to praise Soloven for not being hit by it, but instead I mentioned the second-ranked student to lighten the mood.
“They said your suspension will be lifted?”
“Yeah. I’ll be attending classes again starting next semester.”
“I’m sorry to say this, but there’s a chance that won’t happen.”
“Ah. I expected that.”
Uncharacteristically, Soloven offered advice. The original Davide had mainly bullied the weak. Of course, he would bite anyone who provoked him, no matter who they were.
But someone like Soloven would never have provoked Davide. Seeing how she treated me rather gently, it seemed Episode 2 would unfold as I had anticipated.
“See you next time.”
“Next?”
I had grasped everything I needed to. Soloven’s attitude—the most important part—was clear enough. I said my farewell.
Perhaps it was my tone, as if promising a next time, that made Soloven tilt her head in confusion. Without offering any further explanation, I left her side.
The final boss of Episode 2. ‘Soloven, the Guarding Sun’. A troublesome opponent who would slowly grind the player down to death with her extreme defensive power.
But she wasn’t a problem for me. Rather, it was the one who would become the mid-boss of Episode 2 that concerned me more. That one would be a nuisance on the political front.
***
“What is it.”
I gave it some thought. I had come all the way here, but was this really the right move? In the end, I decided to test the waters first.
I waited for Bereninche outside the classroom. After the lesson ended and students began pouring out like a flood, the atmosphere gradually turned solemn.
Bereninche spotted me and tilted her head. Bereninche had no such thing as friends. Thanks to that, it didn’t take long for the area around her to empty out.
“Take this.”
“Hmm?”
I pulled a gem from my pocket and tossed it to her. The droplet-shaped gem I had received from the Merfolk Man (Male). The Essence of the Sea.
Without even looking at it first, Bereninche caught it and then examined the gem with a face full of suspicion. The sky-blue gem was beautiful in itself, but what truly drew attention was the magic contained within.
“My goodness. You actually managed to obtain something like this?”
For once, Bereninche looked surprised. Seeing a reaction of shock—something she normally never showed—gave me an inexplicable sense of satisfaction.
“So? You didn’t come just to brag.”
“I came to give it to you. I can’t use it anyway.”
“……You can’t use it?”
At that, her eyes narrowed even further. That was what the bloodline of Duhein meant. It brought positive effects to most things related to water.
Magic of the sea like this was especially beneficial to the body. There was no better tonic. To give such a thing away so casually—and to claim I couldn’t use it as the reason.
There was no way she wouldn’t be suspicious. But I had no answer to give her. I had already sacrificed everything related to magic power to obtain Adaptive Body.
For someone satisfied with Adaptive Body, this much wasn’t even worth calling a loss.
“How much should I pay you?”
“I don’t need money.”
She immediately brought up the main point. At Bereninche’s words, I shook my head. I wasn’t in urgent need of cash. If I sold some assets, I would have enough, and I could roll that over again.
What I wanted lay elsewhere.
“Winter got herself a new weapon.”
“A weapon? What kind?”
“An axe. You’ll see it during hunting class.”
“If it’s not a spear, I won’t like it.”
“Cut her some slack. It’s a rather unusual weapon.”
“So. What does that have to do with this?”
“I want you to look after her.”
Bereninche’s head tilted sharply to the side. Her expression clearly said, ‘What the hell is this bastard talking about right now.’
“There’s no need to look at me like that. I need to raise Winter’s overall strength.”
“She’s steadily building up her body.”
“I’m talking about her skill. And besides that, get a bit closer to her.”
“Is she a daughter you secretly had without me knowing?”
“……Can someone give birth at the age of one?”
Suspicion was understandable, but jumping straight to the daughter joke felt like a stretch. Skipping past being lovers straight to father and daughter made no sense, but judging by her eyes, she was just teasing me.
“Seeing how well you treat her, it looks like you plan to make use of her for quite a long time.”
“……She’s a person, for starters. Watch your wor—. Right. Not that it would mean anything to you.”
Sometimes I wondered if I was investing too much in Winter. But I shook my head.
Right now, I was in an extremely comfortable position. And the reason for that was Winter’s administrative ability. Being in a position where I had to lead the Order against my will, I knew better than anyone how grateful I should be.
There were three official documents I had to submit every month. Those went to the Imperial Family, and since I was at the Academy, there were more than six reports that had to be filed with the academic affairs office alone.
Applications for administrative support, lists of the Order’s achievements, Order operation taxes, rental and supply reports for the Academy chapel—countless administrative headaches. Winter handled all of it by herself.
The ridiculous part was that she processed those tasks so flawlessly it was nauseating. I had even realized that if I tried to help, things would only slow down and Winter would end up suffering more.
If I didn’t have Winter, it would be a serious problem. Above all, she possessed that rare mental-type defense and recovery skill.
“You don’t seem to drink much these days?”
“Drink? Well, not really.”
Bereninche brought it up casually. It seemed the original Davide used to drink often.
But thanks to the Duhein bloodline and the ‘Blessing of Paillet Lake’ attached to Anaye’s skill, I never got drunk.
If it didn’t even taste that good and I couldn’t get drunk from it, there was no reason to drink.
“I get what you’re saying. Since you gave me something valuable, I’ll repay the favor. More importantly, what about the ‘Eye of Aira’?”
“That’ll be during the break. Access to the [Sanctuary] isn’t exactly easy. I’m taking Winter on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I’ll bring it back then.”
“Just make sure you bring it before the end of this year.”
Bereninche gave me a meaningful smile. An uneasy feeling crept over me. That little devil had clearly just thought of something.
I quickly left the scene. I had already conveyed everything I needed to, and there was nothing left to do. Now I truly just wanted to rest at the chapel.
“What are you doing?”
I headed toward the chapel like that. As the sanctuary drew closer, my body began to relax. I should hurry and lie down on the sofa for a nap.
Thinking that, I walked on—and saw Winter scrubbing the chapel doors with a scouring pad. What on earth was she doing?
“……Ah. Senior. You’re here. How are you feeling?”
“I’m always sturdy. But what are you doing exa—. Hah.”
Winter answered in a slightly dejected voice. Even so, she didn’t forget to ask about my well-being.
I responded half-heartedly and looked at the door she was cleaning. The chapel doors were covered in all kinds of vulgar graffiti.
My first impression was pity for the childish bastards who had done it.
They didn’t have the courage to confront me directly, yet they were dissatisfied—so this was the only thing they could do. Watching the flailing of those with neither ability nor courage was almost pathetic.
“You could just erase it with magic.”
“……Neither of us can use magic. And Divine Magic doesn’t have any daily-life spells at all.”
“Ah.”
Pouting slightly, Winter resumed scrubbing.
Unlike Episode 1, Episode 2 leaned heavily into the political sphere. From this point on, players realized how important interactions with characters were.
This was what signaled the beginning. The graffiti was originally supposed to be in my dorm room. But perhaps because it became known that I was always at the chapel, it showed up here instead.
I knew the culprits. The followers of Soloven whom I had just met. Their psychology was simple.
‘Our Soloven received disciplinary action! And someone like Davide gets rewarded! Not only that, he even gets his suspension lifted as a massive reward! We can’t allow that!’
It was a trivial reason, but things like this easily became exaggerated and twisted. There didn’t seem to be any real way to stop it.
This was a nuisance brought about by Davide’s reputation. Unless the past itself was changed, it wouldn’t cross a major line beyond this.
I had already laid out my plans. The problem, if anything, was Winter’s safety. Lately, she had been sticking close to me, so naturally her name had begun to be mentioned as well.
Of course, in a very negative way. I didn’t want this fragile child to hear such things, nor did I want her to be dragged into it.
“That’s enough.”
“Yes? But this is…….”
“Hey. Stop and come here.”
“Eung~ I’ve been caught~”
I stopped the girl who was diligently scrubbing. I took the scouring pad from her and tossed it into the bucket of water. Winter didn’t resist.
I patted her shoulder when she timidly tried to protest and then shouted toward the surroundings. Only then did a girl pop out as if summoned by a ghost.
Canis appeared with an absurdly cheerful voice. Startled by the sudden intrusion, Winter nearly rolled her eyes back and collapsed—I caught her just in time.
‘And this is supposed to be a magician.’
I had called her just in case, and she really showed up. Even my heart skipped a beat. Winter must have been far more shaken.
Winter fainted without even managing to scream. What shocked me more was that tears were still flowing from her closed eyes.
“Mm. She fainted?”
“That’s because of you.”
“But last time, she was fine though?”
“Enough. Take care of this.”
“And my compensation?”
“You’re permanently banned from entering the chapel from now on.”
“Oho~ I love cleaning!”
At Canis’s wave of her hand, the graffiti vanished. How convenient. It was easy to see how people could fall into magic supremacism.
I hoisted the impossibly light Winter over my shoulder and stepped into the chapel. I also called Canis, who was standing there blankly.
“Such low-grade graffiti~”
“Pathetic, isn’t it.”
I laid Winter down on the sofa. Her face was heavy with distress. She must have been quite upset.
Not because I was being insulted, but because it had happened in the chapel—a sacred place.
Me being cursed at wasn’t anything new, and even Winter understood that to some extent, so that part could be brushed aside.
The issue was that this chapel enshrined Anaye, who was no different from salvation itself to Winter. The only deity who had accepted someone who had always been rejected.
And yet crude insults had been scrawled in the space devoted to that deity. There were no insults directed at Winter yet—but later, even that was uncertain.
“How devoted.”
“You don’t understand this child’s worth.”
I took a robe hanging on the wall and draped it over her. I adjusted her hair so she wouldn’t chew on it in her sleep, and when I looked up, I saw Canis’s mischievous face.
I frowned at her next words. To others, Winter’s position was exactly that. Just a fragile girl.
She wasn’t stunningly beautiful, nor did she have a powerful family. As for exceptional ability, nothing showed on the surface. Even Canis thought so—so what would fools understand?
I felt the need to end Episode 2 a little sooner than planned.