Denial (3)

Aris had uncovered only a single undeniable fact.

Junon had certainly not been among the defenders at the start.

He had appeared only after she collapsed from mana exhaustion—which meant the commanding voice she faintly remembered had indeed belonged to him.

Articles, newspapers, incident reports, itemized logs, official transcripts. No matter what document she combed through, she could not find a single mention of his name in connection with any feat. He was listed merely as an ordinary participant among the surviving students, barely acknowledged as one of many who held the line.

"And yet he suddenly appeared out of nowhere and pulled all of this off?"

Piecing the information together from the mountain of records yielded a staggering sequence of events.

Right when she blacked out from mana exhaustion, Junon arrived on the scene. By some unknown means, he carved an opening through the swarm of Osoftera. Fluidly altering tactical formations on the fly, he shepherded every last student to Alkaid Hall without suffering a single casualty. Upon reaching the hall, he initiated a siege defense, stalling the monsters and holding out for reinforcements. Finally, Professor Dahlia arrived, the defense concluded, and emergency surgery was performed on Erika.

She could deduce that this was what had transpired after she lost consciousness.

"Does that... make any sense at all? From him, of all people?"

There was no way Erika, gravely wounded as she was, could have miraculously snapped awake to reorder the students' ranks and tactical structure. The likelihood that any of the panicked students on site had orchestrated such a feat was virtually nonexistent. Therefore, the mysterious male student who abruptly took charge had to be Junon, and he alone had forged this miraculous outcome.

It was beyond a matter of probability. The problem was that no one else could possibly have done it.

Yet reconciling that reality with who Junon was supposed to be produced a glaring contradiction.

A man who had turned into dead weight after losing his power. A man who clung to life through the sacrifices of others. A man who had stood by and let his own comrades die.

The Junon etched into Aris's memories was that kind of coward.

Her head throbbed as if it might split in two from the clashing thoughts. She could no longer bear to remain confined to a hospital bed.

"Patient Aris? Are you going out?"

"I'd like to process my discharge."

"Your discharge...?"

"Yes. Please prepare the paperwork as quickly as possible."

The Aris who had insisted on delaying her release just yesterday was nowhere to be seen.

I have to find out if that bastard is scheming something behind our backs.

"I-I'm sorry!"

"..."

Once again today, everyone who crossed my path scrambled away as if they had just seen a ghost. I got the message loud and clear: making eye contact with me was apparently terrifying. Still, it wasn't an entirely bad thing. At least it meant they hadn't caught on that something unusual was happening.

Snickers drifted from behind me.

Naturally, some people found immense joy in sinking their teeth into a fresh piece of gossip. A clutch of students trailing a short distance back was busy tearing into me with sharp, vicious whispers.

"Can you believe he's even avoiding his own classmates now? Senior Aris must have suffered so much because of that creep..."

"Well, she did skip a grade, after all. She's in a whole different league."

"Didn't he try to ruin the formation before she stopped him?"

"Ugh, what a shame. If my father hadn't called me away on urgent business, I would've seen it with my own eyes."

Keep flapping your gums.

They sat there talking cheap nonsense after quietly slipping away right when the Osoftera appeared, acting on orders whispered by the Noble Coalition. If any of you bastards had actually been on that field, you would have pissed your trousers on the spot.

Wait, no.

On second thought, it was a blessing in disguise that those cowards hadn't been around. If those trigger-happy fools, obsessed only with raw firepower, had miscast a spell and drawn the swarm's undivided attention, the vanguard would have folded instantly and wiped out everyone. However I looked at it, this outcome was far better.

Ignoring the slander humming behind my back, I checked today's official notice.

Their casualties were likely minimal. While there might have been localized damage across Scheat, most of it would have been confined to the western sectors. Since this incident would serve as leverage to deal a blow to the Noble Coalition, everything was fine so long as my rental of the Belshuar Ark didn't blow up in my face. Given that Professor Dahlia hadn't brought it up a day after retrieving the paperwork, it seemed there were no loose ends to pick at.

The victor of this subjugation campaign was unmistakably the Principality.

Naturally, that meant moving on to the next scheduled event.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Things weren't straying drastically from the past timeline. The most significant shift was that the end-of-term evaluations had been pulled forward, buying precious time. Consequently, even if the Class Assignment Exam had been delayed slightly by the monster breach, the overall timeline would progress much faster than before.

Another factor was that the number of vanguards hadn't plummeted upon entering the third year. That preserved frontline strength had made a massive difference during the Osoftera defense; while our numbers were fewer than before, our losses had been kept remarkably low.

Except for two individuals, that is.

The stark deviations from the previous life were Erika's severe trauma and Aris's mana exhaustion, and how those would ripple forward remained uncertain. With Professor Dahlia present at the academy, Erika would likely recover enough to sit for the upcoming Class Assignment Exam. If that happened, the results would closely mirror the past, with the only differences being the participant count and the accelerated schedule.

"Wait! The Class Assignment Exam notice is up on the board right now!"

"Let's go, let's go! It's finally time for the combat duels!"

There were countless futures I needed to rewrite, but there were also futures that, from my perspective, had to remain untouched.

Unfortunately, that train of thought was derailed immediately.

"Just what are you scheming?"

Aris McKenhaim.

The girl hailed as the foremost heroine of the Osoftera defense had seized the moment when the hallway emptied out to confront me.

I had anticipated this. Ever since Professor Dahlia walked in holding that object requisition permit, it had felt like the threads were twisting out of order. Plans rarely unfolded without a hitch, so I had accounted for this degree of variance and prepared contingencies. Still, before pulling out a pre-packaged countermeasure, it was far more critical to understand why this situation had cropped up in the first place.

"What are you barking about out of nowhere?"

I played dumb, praying internally that this wasn't heading where I thought it was.

"Tell me straight. What were you after when you put my name on all of it?"

"Put your name on what?"

When Junon merely shrugged and tried to brush her off with a brazen smirk, Aris ground her teeth. He was acting as if ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he knew nothing, brazenly playing innocent. Letting him slip away with such blatant deflection was out of the question; it was better to lay every card on the table.

"You were behind all of it. Why are you dumping the credit on me?"

"I have no clue what you're rambling about. Why don't you go complain to someone else?"

"...Are you mocking me?"

"You've got the wrong person. Go on, get lost."

"Answer me properly! Stop dodging my questions!"

Her temper finally snapping, Aris raised her voice to a furious shout. Breathing hard, her chest heaving, she began vomiting every suspicion that had been festering in her mind.

"The formation I ordered was the Kenique 6 Formation! I never once used the Hasirt 3 Formation! And completely contrary to my plan to push them back toward the East Gate, everyone ended up holed up inside Alkaid Hall running a desperate siege defense until Professor Dahlia arrived. And then, after all that, the credit falls on me? On me, who burned through every drop of mana trying to protect Erika and collapsed unconscious?"

"..."

"Are you satisfied now? Does it feel good proving that every single choice I made was a complete failure?"

Aris couldn't stop herself.

"No matter how hard I tried pushing forward with the Kenique 6 Formation, the line wouldn't budge. Then the rear guard ran out of mana, our firepower completely vanished, and we were forced back. That's when those cowards decided it was hopeless and bolted! Because of those deserters, our center snapped in two! And the moment our waist collapsed, Erika—who was trying to buy us time to fall back—got impaled!"

Her words laid bare that someone else had undoubtedly stepped in.

She emphasized that the true protagonist of the defense was certainly not herself.

She laid bare that her flawed commands had failed to instill confidence, breeding panic instead, driving students to desert and leaving her own comrade Erika in mortal peril.

She was confessing every last mistake, admitting it was entirely her fault.

"I've laid out everything, so now you answer me. What is your scheme?"

Even if it meant dragging her own humiliation into the open, Aris needed to know what Junon was after. Every single move he made grated on her nerves—doubly so because of the haunting memory of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠losing her comrades on his account. If he was preparing to meddle with her companions once again, she intended to stop him at any cost.

Then, an utterly unexpected response spilled from his lips.

"Ha... I kept wondering. Why that formation? Why did things fall apart like that? Right. You simply didn't know. That's why you did it."

A hollow, bitter laugh escaped him, his expression suggesting he had finally solved a riddle.

What did that mean? What was going through his head? What kind of demands was he about to make?

Aris tensed, bracing herself to finally glimpse his true motives. But the words that followed made no sense to her at all.

"It really is pathetic. My life came to an end at your hands, and yet... I had to step in and save you. I despise it."

"...What?"

His life ended at our hands? He hated having to save us? What is he talking about?

"I have no desire to run into you, and I certainly have no intention of joining your party. I know all too well that both you and Erika loathe me to the bone."

"..."

"I'll honor what you wanted back then. In exchange, handle your own messes from now on. That's all I have to say."

She couldn't comprehend a single syllable. Nothing he had just uttered registered in her mind. And what was that chilling, infuriated look in his eyes? Aris's thoughts spun in a dizzying storm of confusion.

She had to keep talking to him.

"Wait! We aren't finished—"

"The Belshuar Ark. You know what this is, don't you?"

Of course she knew. It was a defensive artifact crafted by the Empire's premier authority in magiteck. As she reached out to stop him, he raised his wrist, deliberately letting her see the bracelet coiled around his forearm.

It was a clear warning that he wouldn't hesitate to activate ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it if pushed.

"Our ill-fated ties end right here, Aris. Just as you... no, just as all of you wanted, I will never set foot in Team Tembris."

Having said his piece, Junon cut the conversation dead and walked toward the main gates without looking back.

"What on earth... does any of that even mean...?"

Aris remained rooted to the spot, staring blankly at the empty doorway through which he had vanished.

In the end, she had learned nothing.

She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the real hero behind the siege at Alkaid Hall was Junon, not herself.

Then why?

In her memories, he was scum who had stood by while a party member died—and not just anyone, but Goden, the core of the group. After losing his strength, he had become a dead weight dragging Team Tembris down. Somehow, he had manipulated the other members and the Principality's key figures into throwing their lives away to protect him. Just counting the corpses left in the wake of keeping him alive was sickening. Entrusting him with supreme command and the future of the Principality had been utterly incomprehensible.

She had believed he was a selfish wretch who didn't care how many died as long as he survived.

Then why now? Why take the risk to intervene, save the students, and rescue both Erika and herself? Wouldn't it have been more in character for him to flee like the deserters, or simply turn a blind eye?

There was one other possibility: knowing the truth of the siege, he could use it as leverage to hold a debt over her head for some twisted scheme. Yet he had stated unequivocally that he wanted nothing more to do with them. He had declared that this was the only time he would ever help, told them to handle their own problems from now on, and nailed down that he would never join Tembris.

None of it made sense. The pieces refused to fit together.

"My head hurts..."

Thinking in circles had left her temples throbbing. Deciding to shelve the dilemma for later, she made her way toward Erika's hospital room.

"Every time I close my eyes lately, I keep seeing it. That senior whose stomach was pierced clean through..."

"Ugh, don't even bring it up. I don't even want to think about it, but it pops into my head whenever I zone out. It's driving me crazy."

Two students standing before the bulletin board at Megrez Hall were discussing the news, their voices carrying toward her. They were undoubtedly talking about Erika. Normally, Aris would have ignored them and walked on, but the words that followed caught her ear.

"That surgery Professor Dahlia performed... that was for her, right?"

"Obviously. No matter how bad our injuries were, they're nothing compared to what Senior Erika went through."

"True... but why did she ask one of us to help her back then?"

"Even if Professor Dahlia is a master surgeon, she only has two hands. She was short-staffed. She needed an assistant, and when she called for someone, he happened to catch her eye, so she dragged him in."

"Ah... I didn't know that. Even if I'd known, I wouldn't have had the stomach for it..."

"What creeps me out more is how he came out of that room afterward without so much as flinching. Is that guy even human?"

"Tell me about it... I heard other people get goosebumps and run away whenever they see Senior Junon."

Junon? He's the one who assisted with Erika's surgery?

Hearing that, she couldn't simply walk past.

"Let's head back. Oh... Senior Aris?"

"U-Um, we're sorry! We weren't trying to badmouth anyone—"

"Is what you just said true?"

"Excuse me?"

"Is it true that Junon was the one who assisted during Erika's surgery?"

Terrified by the fierce intensity blazing in Aris's eyes, the two underclassmen froze stiff and could only manage a frantic nod.

How could that be?

'I know all too well that both you and Erika loathe me to the bone.'

Junon had spoken as though Erika had treated him with the same hostility as Aris had. If that were true, Erika was the last person he would ever want to help. So why?

The conversation between the two students made one thing abundantly clear: Junon had actively participated in saving the life of the very girl he could have easily left to die.