HTACS 34

Chapter 34

After listening to Mille-feuille’s story, I sank into thought.

Kelterus getting hit and schooled by Aila early on—fine. But then he disobeyed Eve’s orders to play hero, charged in, got hit once, and flew away. Naturally, he’s diverged from the main story—but thinking about it, even worse things could happen.

“You said two weeks of suspension, right?”

“Yes. The student council president was apparently furious…”

That’s understandable.

Given Eve’s personality, she carries twice the burden of others. In a situation where she was powerless, a first-year not only violated orders but added more burden—and couldn’t even accomplish anything…

There’s a high chance that ‘prejudice’ has activated, and she might see Kelterus as garbage. I know she has no interest in him, but if it escalates to hostility—what then?

No matter what anyone says, the easiest route to clear all 12 acts of Zephrin is Eve’s route. Hostility, though…

“Um, Senior?”

“No, it’s nothing. I was just lost in thought for a moment.”

“Y-yes.”

Mille-feuille looked at me with anxious eyes.

She’s the same. She gets eliminated in 1-3, but that becomes the catalyst for Kelterus’s awakening.

[I know this academy isn’t all bright.]

[But—we’ll move forward for the classmates who couldn’t achieve their dreams!]

[That is my conviction—Kelterus’s conviction!]

He delivered some pretty cool lines like that.

Can Kelterus even say those lines now? He’d probably just look like a chuunibyou brat.

I was trying not to pay too much attention to the main story, but past the mid-game, there are hints of the entire academy being in danger—shadow organizations, demons, the Demon Lord, world destruction.

Damn that bratty Coolpiss. Get your act together.

I sighed at the pink-haired fledgling fidgeting nervously before me.

Still, I can’t exactly tell her, “You’re going to get expelled after losing to Kelterus soon, and become his stepping stone!”

“Mille-feuille von Sablé.”

“Y-yes! Please call me Mille-feuille, Senior!”

“I’ll make good use of this report. Thank you.”

“Ah, no—I really enjoyed the food too!”

Saying that, the pink fledgling bowed and took her leave.

Come to think of it, Vanilla’s hair is light yellow, Yogurt’s is green, and Mille-feuille’s is pink.

Seeing the fledglings’ hair colors, I nodded with an “Ah.”

“Like those colorful chicks sold in front of elementary schools.”

At the same time, I suddenly remembered the chick I’d bought for 500 won when I was a kid at the orphanage, saying I’d raise it—only for it to die two days later.

“We all fought over whether to make it into chicken soup or fried chicken, and who’d take the legs…”

Those were good memories, and a sad past.

I recalled that pink-sprayed chick that had faded away so quickly.

“Since you survived, after all.”

I hope you don’t die so soon.

—

The next day.

Aila came to visit.

“What brings you here, Aila?”

“It’s rent day!”

“…I see. Was it 1 million?”

“Yesss.”

“Got it. Wait a moment.”

Saying that, I went back and pulled out the safe.

Let’s see—1 million rin. 1 million rin…

…

……

“Aila.”

“Yes?”

“Would you care to have an in-depth discussion about our past—and our future?”

“…Huh?”

Aila’s eyes went wide.

“O-our future? Future… Hmm. Ahem. I-isn’t that a bit sudden? We’re still students and…”

“No. We must. This is something that must be discussed right now.”

“W-Wolfram? To be recognized as a proper member of the Triesta family, my grades at Zephrin are extremely important. So I think around the end of next year—after I graduate—would be better…”

“No. There’s something I need to decide now.”

“…Ugh. *Sigh.* Fine. I, Aila Triesta—the Black Crystal of Rebellion who fears nothing under heaven—shall graciously listen. Speak your mind.”

Aila steadied herself and stared intently into my eyes. Yes—you should steady yourself, because this is an extremely important matter.

“The rent for this building is too expensive.”

“………..Huh?”

“I don’t know why you bought this building, but I’ve wanted to say this for a while. There’s no revenue coming in at all, yet 1 million rin per month is excessive.”

“Wolfram. I have a question.”

“Speak.”

“Did our ‘past and future’ discussion just now—was it actually about rent?”

“That’s right. Isn’t it a healthy discussion between landlord and tenant?”

“…I see. That’s right. Fine. I’ll take that 1 million rin. I won’t discount a single rin.”

“What? Didn’t you hear me? I said the rent is unreasonable.”

*Bang!* Aila slapped the table and stood up.

“Wolfram.”

“What.”

“Rebellion is inherently unreasonable. There’s no such thing as a reasonable rebellion!”

Saying that, Aila snorted and left the convenience store.

That’s a cool line, but…

“Why is she so angry?”

—

The next day was a free period, so I used lunchtime to start selling in front of the first-year dormitory.

I was planning to be the bad uncle stealing pocket money from the little fledglings—but what came instead was a knight wannabe here to steal my money.

“One full set of doughnuts, please. I have money!”

Saying that, Nephti pulled out 20,000 rin. I nodded.

“Wait a moment. I’ll make it right away.”

“Yes.”

Money means customer.

Right.

Anyway, Nephti accepted the doughnuts, and we started our usual small talk.

The first topic was our store’s rent.

“That’s true. The rent is expensive.”

“Nephti. You think so too?”

“1 million rin a month—that’s enough for a whole family to eat well and live comfortably?”

“…That’s true. But Nephti.”

“Hmm. Yes?”

The Knight of Conviction nodded as if to say “talk while I eat.”

Even though she’s a paying customer, I’m still curious.

“Why are you here?”

“It’s lunchtime?”

“No, I mean—this is the first-year area. And what’s with that outfit?”

“Ah. I’m currently doing fieldwork.”

“Fieldwork?”

“Yes. I’m doing repair work on the first-year common dormitory that graduate student senior destroyed.”

“Aha.”

“I’m getting 70,000 rin per day.”

“I see. I can’t do manual labor with my stamina.”

“Yesss. That would be tough with that stamina. So how about doing something that uses your head instead?”

“Something that uses my head…”

“Yes. I heard the Magic Department is recruiting for head work. Maybe check that out? Or ask the student council president.”

Was there such a thing? There definitely wasn’t an event like that in 1-2…

“I don’t remember that.”

“I do. I wouldn’t forget anything related to money.”

Hmm.

When you put it that way, I have nothing to say.

The Magic Department has money-making work, huh.

As I was thinking that, a voice came from outside the cart.

“Hey, you! Break’s over! Stop chatting and come work!”

“Yes! Coming!”

Nephti clapped her hands a couple times and nodded.

“Time to work. I’ll be going then.”

A quick glance at Nephti showed a hard hat, work gloves, and even a Ex-band. Literally the full demolition gear.

Back in the day, I used to eat that kind of dust too. A feeling of nostalgia welled up.

“Work hard. Take a few more to share with the workers.”

“Yep. Thank you.”

“…Still short on money for your family?”

“Ah, this is to pay for the longsword I broke. Can’t Zephrin issue better quality supplies?”

Saying that, Nephti bowed her head.

“……”

I thought you were sending money home.

Bring those doughnuts back.

—

Anyway, based on the information from Nephti, I thought about what might be happening at this time—but nothing came to mind.

1-2 was a story within the first-year class, where Kelterus and his friends sneak out at dawn because they want late-night snacks and then sneak back past the guards.

There’s no way a suspended brat can do that, and if he did, he might actually get expelled.

Well, in times like this, the best thing to do is ask the person directly.

Eve happened to visit the convenience store, so I asked.

“Is there anything going on at the Magic Department right now?”

“Ha. Do you think I’d give you that information? On what grounds—”

“Five bags of candy.”

“Hmm. If it’s something happening this season—midterm practical exam preparation? Other than that, just the normal curriculum. I heard they’re preparing at the secret base in the north.”

“I see.”

Hmm. So far, it matches my thoughts.

Then besides that…

As I was lost in thought, Eve continued.

“Is there really nothing else?”

“Nothing. Why is someone who’s not even student council president anymore so curious about annual events?”

“Two more bags.”

“Hmm. Well, there’s nothing particularly unusual… Ah. Right.”

“What is it? Speak quickly.”

“Come to think of it, it’s not just a Magic Department event, but they do hold an annual event around this time.”

“Annual event?”

“Don’t you remember? They did it last year too. The Zephrin Student Competition.”

“Ah.”

Now I remembered.

Come to think of it, there was that.

—

In my childhood.

Under the grand pretext of “fostering informational literacy in children,” the orphanage had a computer.

Of course, its specs weren’t good, and it was filled with classic games that could run on low specs.

One of those was a classic raising sim called Princess Maker.

Why am I suddenly telling this story? Because the Zephrin Student Competition has something that evokes nostalgia for Princess Maker.

In Princess Maker, every year under the guise of the Autumn Harvest Festival, the girl you raise enters a competition and brings back prize money. It’s quite lucrative, so you always enter the category suited to your raising focus and sweep the prizes.

Zephrin is the same. No matter which route you take, the Zephrin Student Competition is held every year at the start of the year. A seasonal event. It always happens during this season every year.

“I was thinking from a first-year’s perspective, so I missed it.”

In the first year, entering this competition naturally means at best you place. In Princess Maker too, entering at age 10 doesn’t yield good results.

In other words, I had a blind spot.

“From what I remember, the total prize money was 10 million rin.”

1st place: 5 million. 2nd place: 3 million. 3rd place: 2 million.

In the game, it was deposited cleanly without any withholding tax or income tax deductions.

A honey event I remember farming every year from second year onward as Kelterus.

If I aim for it—5 million rin.

The goal is absolutely to take that 5 million and run.

The Divine Sword Tournament and the Divine Magic Tournament—skip. How would I enter a sword or magic tournament?

Maestro’s authority and Yggdrasil’s Grand Festival—also skip. I don’t want to have a weapon duel with a dwarf, or a sewing contest with an elf.

So the category to target is only one.

“The only category I can enter is Magic Craft.”

A battlefield where competitors create magical engineering tools to pit their skills against each other.

And in that battlefield, when playing as Kelterus, I always faced the same opponent in the finals—the third-year top student.

“The Grand Magic Merchant—Regina Ciella.”

The main heroine of the Merchant route, and a dangerous older sister who likes to toy with Kelterus.

And—

[Goodbye, Aila Triesta. Kelterus. Carry out the execution.]

[…Yes, Senior. Goodbye.]

[…Regina, Regina Ciella!]

A heroine who, together with Kelterus, leads Aila to ruin in Act 3.

The genius Aila Triesta never once beat her—earning her the reputation of perpetual second place. The most dangerous woman among the third-years.

“I see. So Regina Ciella is my opponent.”

A laugh escaped me.

This was worth a try.