HTACS 43

Chapter 43

The long, long day was over.

After a rewarding day’s work, my steps back to the convenience store were light.

“Then I’ll be going now.”

“Good work, Aila.”

“Not at all.”

Saying that, Aila gracefully withdrew.

Arriving at the convenience store, I let out a sigh.

“Phew.”

I’m absolutely exhausted.

But there’s still work to do.

With food not settling in my stomach, I ate the cake with Half-Berserk active.

*Whoosh.* My mana decreased.

Wolfram’s mana is 3—and it was drained.

Strength and stamina rose by half the mana consumed, and an incredible vitality surged through my body.

“So this is the realm of 3.5.”

I roughly grasped it.

The buff duration is still 20 minutes.

“Enough to move once in the most dangerous moment.”

Right now, I’m weak. I need to mobilize all the cards I have—and this Half-Berserk cake, which can raise my stamina by a whole 1.5, might be more useful than expected.

I forced myself up. There’s no time. What I need to do now is prepare for tomorrow.

I cleaned up and finished preparing for business. I put the doughnut dough in the freezer, pushed the cream in too. I lowered the output to turn the freezer into a refrigerator and finished cleaning. Quickly—all within 20 minutes.

“Just because I won today’s fight doesn’t mean I can rest tomorrow.”

That’s self-employment.

The sun will rise tomorrow, and I’ll need to do business again tomorrow.

That’s how life goes.

When everything was done, I was satisfied and lay down on the mat.

Tomorrow, another day begins.

—

The next day, I rested due to muscle pain.

—

“……”

My head throbbed. My body felt like a waterlogged sponge. Upon reflection, it was only natural.

In D/Z SAGA’s official system, Berserk skills always have ‘feedback.’ That is—if you increase your stamina by consuming mana, you later take that damage.

In my case, I had forcibly enhanced 75% of my existing stamina from 2 to 3.5—so I took that feedback in full.

Anyway, I barely managed to pull myself together and get up. I might be skipping classes too freely, but midterms are still a ways off.

“More importantly, 1-3 comes first.”

The entrance ceremony. Aila’s defeat in the tutorial.

The common dormitory ghost incident.

The midnight dormitory escape incident.

And then—the end of Act 1 arrives.

Since each act mostly consists of boss battles, naturally 1-3 also has a boss battle.

“It’s quite an important branching point, after all.”

As I was organizing my thoughts, I heard a knocking sound. I turned my head to see a pink fledgling carefully looking in from outside the door.

“Mille-feuille.”

“…Hello, Senior.”

She had a chick-shaped bandage on her face and looked utterly exhausted—

But there was a fledgling smiling brightly.

—

Since Mille-feuille had come, I brought out two light smoothies and sat down.

“Why are you so fidgety?”

“Huh? Yes?”

“Drink.”

“Y-yesss.”

The fledgling was still looking around nervously, startled by my call and chirping. After sipping the smoothie, she let out a few deep breaths and then nodded, seeming calmer.

“Um, Senior. I-I don’t know where to start.”

“First—the result of the fight.”

“Ah, yes. From there. U-um. So… I won. …Hehe.”

“Is that so.”

I said that, but I was quite surprised.

The hero Kelterus—had been defeated by the failing student Mille-feuille.

“Can you explain how you won?”

“I-I did just as Senior taught me.”

Did I teach her something?

Ah.

“Crash.”

“Crash.”

We both opened our mouths at the same time.

It was just one syllable—but we understood everything.

I see. Crash.

It’s a technique usable in the game too.

When facing a mixed physical-magical character.

If you successfully defend or immunize against a close-range attacker a few times, the enemy AI will back off and prepare magic.

If you surprise attack or assassinate during that casting time, you have a high chance of success.

But that’s just a game strategy.

How many times must this child have tumbled to beat Kelterus? How many attacks did she allow just to make Kelterus use magic through sheer spirit alone?

Kelterus was born different. His very existence is a cheat.

She overcame that with nothing but unwavering will—and landed a single blow.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say she forged a miracle with her own hands.

“How many times did you fall?”

“…Huh?”

“When fighting Kelterus, how many times did you fall?”

“I don’t really remember how many times I rolled… But I think I got hit about a hundred times.”

“……”

Saying that, Mille-feuille chuckled.

A hundred times.

After 20 minutes, Half-Berserk wears off and Mille-feuille’s victory becomes impossible. So she allowed over a hundred attacks within 20 minutes.

And yet—she stood up and stole a blow from Kelterus.

“Your knees were scraped and your palms were torn. It must have hurt a lot.”

“…Yes. It hurt terribly.”

“And yet—you did it. Good work. You worked hard.”

“…Yes!”

Mille-feuille raised her gloved left hand in a V-sign, answering with a radiant smile I’d never seen before.

Ah. The glove.

“That glove seems to have helped.”

“Y-yeah? …Ah. Yes! It helped, helped a lot… I mean, not that much. No, it helped a lot.”

“Speak clearly.”

“W-well, you see. It felt like Senior was right beside me… thinking that. So, that’s why I could be faster, so…”

“Did it feel like you could attack faster?”

“Y-yesss… You were beside me… so.”

“That’s correct. You attacked faster.”

As I nodded, Mille-feuille’s face turned crimson.

“Th-that means… our hearts… were connected in that moment…”

“That glove has an effect that raises dexterity by +3 for anyone under 10. So you actually were faster.”

“……”

“Why are you like that?”

“The glove. I truly appreciate it, Senior.”

Suddenly so formal.

“Here—I’ll return it.”

Is she a bit cold now?

“Hmm. I’m glad it helped.”

“Yes. Thank you. Thanks to you, I won.”

No.

That’s not right.

“Nonsense.”

“Yesss?”

“It was all brought about by your own effort. It’s an achievement you earned yourself.”

“…Ugh.”

The fledgling puffed out her cheeks and glared at me with a red face.

Why is she doing that, really.

—

After the fledgling left, I decided not to do business for the rest of the day.

With leftover muscle pain and all, I mindlessly tidied up outside the convenience store, dragged a chair over, and sat down.

Zephrin’s seasons are the same as Earth’s, and the calendar is the same. They don’t use things like “Waning Moon” or “Waxing Moon”—just January to December, 1st to 31st. You’d think, “How can they be so unoriginal?”—but that casual approach to setting is also part of D/Z SAGA’s charm.

So right now is early May. Spring at its most pleasant.

As I was dozing off while smelling the drifting floral scents—

“Is Wolfram here?”

“…Hmm. Aila.”

“Oh my, meditating in a place like this? Were you thinking about rebellion again? You really are something, Wolfram.”

Saying that, Aila laughed.

How can she have such convenient thought processes?

“What brings you here?”

“Ah, first—take this.”

Aila held out a bundle of bills.

“A hundred 50,000-rin notes. The grand prize money.”

“…Why are you bringing it?”

“We agreed that I’d manage the distribution rights for everything made with Magical Pâtissier, right? Since I declared that, they sent the prize money to me instead. They told me to pass it along.”

“Makes sense.”

She’d only monopolized the rights so far, so the professors’ bureaucratic logic produced this mistake—thinking they could just hand it over roughly. Trash professors.

“And there’s something else. The professors asked me to put in a good word with you.”

“A good word? What kind?”

“They want to get their hands on a pair of the wings of rebellion you’ve crafted, no matter what. Disgusting, really. For a bunch of fossils in their rooms. I refused.”

“I see. So that’s what it meant.”

“Yes. That’s what it meant.”

Amazingly—I have no idea what she’s talking about.

What does she mean?

“Countless revolutions led by Magical Pâtissier. Innovation. Under the flag of artistic rebellion woven from all of that, we don’t need such fossils. Even if we gave them any, they’d only go to the truly selected few.”

“……”

Ah.

So—if I translate Aila’s words into normal human language—the professors seem to want my Magical Sweets. And Aila refused them in the middle.

“That was a good call.”

“Yes. The heroes who can gather under the flag of rebellion are limited. Of course, I am the first seat.”

“…Hmm. Right.”

“Those filthy professors. Thinking they could join this great endeavor with just a few tens of millions of rin or a 7T magical tool.”

“…What?”

How much?

“But all of this is, on the surface, a plan devised by Wolfram—who appears to have no money. I almost fell for it too, you know? Complaining about expensive rent and deliberately provoking my emotions. Isn’t that a bit too much?”

Saying that, Aila smiled.

No.

That’s not it.

I don’t have money. Really, I don’t.

“Thanks to this false information, the second-raters will offer money. We’ll weed them out and only let the true first-raters join. All of this is Wolfram’s camouflage to separate the wheat from the chaff, isn’t it?”

“……”

“I alone was the first to see through that camouflage and intuitively grasp the whole truth. Hehe.”

The camouflage is twisting.

What am I supposed to do here, really.

At this rate, instead of lowering the rent, she might double it.

“Aila Triesta. You know.”

“Since you revealed that plan to me, I’ll only take half the rent from now on.”

“What?”

“If I made it completely free, my pride as a merchant would be hurt. But I don’t want to extort a partner who trusted me with everything. So half. 500,000 rin.”

“…Aila Triesta.”

“Yes.”

“You’re the best partner.”

“Not at all.”

Saying that, Aila gracefully turned around.

What is it? Why is she glowing like that?

“So—I’ve delivered the 5 million rin, the rent discussion is over—and what criteria will you use to distribute Magical Pâtissier?”

“I won’t distribute it.”

Are you crazy? Distribute it?

What if all sorts of weirdos come knocking?

“You won’t distribute it at all?”

“Hmm. At least, not until I’ve built up a certain level of strength. Besides—this skill has higher tiers. Every time it evolves, it doubles in power.”

“…What did you say?”

“And there are two evolutions left.”

At those words, Aila’s eyes went wide.

“…Yes. Understood. Then let’s end today’s meeting here. I’ll be going now.”

“Go safely.”

This was a meeting?

I had no idea.

Walking against the spring breeze, Aila made her way through Zone 8.

Before leaving, Aila left me one more word.

“Ah, speaking of which—that season is coming soon.”

“That season?”

“The commotion of the flowers. You know about it, right? I won’t worry about Wolfram looking shabby, but be careful. If you need anything, let me know.”

“Hmm? …Hmm. Got it.”

After Aila left—I sank into thought for a moment.

May. The commotion of the flowers?

What was that again?

“Something that happens in early May in the original?”

I thought for a while—and then I remembered.

May.

A status effect that covers all of Zephrin.

In a sense—a disaster.

“At the end of the Eastern Forest region—in the Sanctuary of Flowers created by the great Emperor—the flowers bloom in full, and the wind blows toward the residential zone. And…”

The barrier, having judged that pollen doesn’t harm humans, doesn’t activate—and Zephrin is covered in pollen.

That’s the Commotion of the Flowers.

The time when sniffles and teary coughs cover all of Zephrin to the ends of the sky.

In particular, there was a sub-story during this season where Eve—once caught by the pollen—became useless in combat.

That Eve, sniffling and sneezing.

“…I don’t want to see that.”

That’s really… something.

Why would I go out of my way to see that?

“It’s just a matter of solving it.”

I’ve already solved the main story and the seasonal event.

Solving one or two sub-stories is no big deal.