The Acceptance Letters
The moment the message window appeared—
— The God of Wisdom and Curiosity prioritizes knowledge and wisdom above all else. Though slightly disappointed, she sincerely congratulates you, her apostle, on passing Stellarium.
— Notification: Please claim your reward.
A watch vibrated with a low hum.
“…Looks like it’s here.”
Zernya reacted first. She dismissed our earlier argument as if it had never happened, turned her attention away from us, and opened her screen.
Acceptance Notice
Name: Zernya von und zu Adelbein
The above student is hereby notified of acceptance into the Academia program.
The text was reversed left-to-right, but one word stood out clearly: Accepted.
Just as expected.
“No way, already…?”
Rustila’s eyes widened as she finally grasped the situation. Truthfully, I hadn’t expected the results to come out today either.
“Ah!”
Rustila’s face lit up brilliantly.
Acceptance Notice
Name: Rustila Kersil
The above student is hereby notified of acceptance into the Academia program.
She had passed too.
“My written exam was so close…!”
Rustila tapped my shoulder repeatedly, wearing a radiant smile. Her face looked as fresh as a flower blooming in a meadow.
With this, Rustila had fastened the first button toward realizing her dream.
“You worked hard.”
I had always liked people like her—those who stubbornly pursued their goals despite obstacles. After all, I was the same kind of person.
— Jinsu? Graduate school? What are you talking about?
— I already got in.
— Jinsuuuu!!
…That was a slightly different story, wasn’t it?
Anyway.
The way she pushed forward toward her objective, undeterred by interference, was truly praiseworthy. Seeing Rustila’s smile lifted my own mood. It felt like I could finally breathe easy.
Yet the gap between them remained.
Acceptance Notice
Name: Zernya von und zu Adelbein
The above student is hereby notified of acceptance into the Academia program.
Remarks: Outstanding Scholarship Student
Zernya’s notice carried an extra line: Outstanding Scholarship Student. An honorable title awarded to those ranked second through tenth among the countless new Academia students. In other words, her entrance exam scores had been absurdly high.
Zernya might have a foul personality, but she was undeniably good at studying. Yes, studying. She excelled at everything except character.
But then something strange happened.
“Huh…?”
Zernya’s eyes clouded over as she scanned the remarks section. She quickly shut off her screen and alternated glances between me and Rustila. A look of bewilderment filled her amethyst eyes. She stared at me for a particularly long time.
“…You. Did you pass too?”
Silence fell. Rustila’s smiling lips drooped. Suspicion crept into Zernya’s gaze. Having checked my own results on my phone instead of my watch, I could only sigh repeatedly between the two girls.
Acceptance Notice
Name: Idel von Rheinland
The above student is hereby notified of acceptance into the Academia program with outstanding results.
Remarks: Top Scholarship Student (Valedictorian)
Should I say it or not? After a moment’s thought, I decided against it. Things were already suffocating enough without getting dragged into a long conversation with Zernya. She would find out eventually anyway. No need to tell her now. I forced a bitter smile.
“You failed, right?”
Zernya asked with a sly grin. Anxiety and doubt flickered in her eyes.
“Your face says you failed.”
She took a step closer.
“Who the hell are you?”
Rustila stepped in to block her.
“Who do you think you are, throwing baseless accusations at my friend?”
Rustila snapped at Zernya in an uncharacteristic display of protectiveness, her strong sense of justice compelling her to defend me.
“I have no interest in losers. Move.”
“…Aren’t you being a bit harsh?”
Zernya’s fierce assault met Rustila’s defense. The situation was awkward. I just wanted to slip away and rest, but the two girls looked ready to argue far longer than expected. To clear my head, I claimed the reward from the Outer God.
— Congratulations. You may now utilize the SAN parameter!
SAN parameter. SAN stood for the first three letters of Sanity, representing mental fortitude. In short, it was an additional function of the status window that allowed one to view a person’s mental strength. It was an ability the protagonist obtained in the latter half of the novel. From the moment he gained it, a faint thread of hope appeared in the story. Characters who should have gone mad remained sane, and those who should have died survived. It was that important a metric—a module capable of changing the future.
The Outer God Cartesia had granted me this power so early in the story.
The SAN parameter operated on the same scale as the Fron value (PN). For convenience, higher values indicated a greater likelihood of mental collapse. At only Level 1, it could reveal only basic traits and mental states. There would surely be ways to raise its level later. At that point, I would gain access to more detailed information—finer emotional nuances, concrete methods for reducing stress levels, and so on.
Of course, all of this came at a cost.
— Notification: 100 Fron has been deducted for one minute of viewing.
The longer I viewed the information, the more people I tried to observe, and the more detailed the data I sought, the more Fron it consumed. This was where the paths diverged: the “monopoly route,” where all earned Fron went toward self-improvement, or the “companion route,” where I protected everyone’s mental states and helped them support one another.
“……”
There was no need to think twice. I closed the screen and looked at the two girls. They had already started arguing among themselves, leaving me out of it.
“Don’t pick a fight with Idel.”
“Why are you butting in?”
“Because you’re being rude to my friend for no reason.”
“Oh, so that was a fight. I didn’t realize.”
“You look like you have no friends.”
“None of your business.”
In the original story, these two had a terrible relationship. Reality seemed determined to follow suit.
“Sorry, Idel. Did you wait long? Let’s go.”
Deciding further argument was pointless, Rustila grabbed my arm and tried to lead me out of the park. Then—
“Where do you think you’re running off to?”
Zernya, wearing a sulky expression, quickly chased after us.
“Did you pass or not? Just answer that!”
“Run.”
Rustila walked even faster—now more of a jog than a walk, bordering on a full sprint. My heart and lungs felt ready to burst. My blood vessels screamed. Rustila’s running speed far exceeded my expectations. While sprinting at full power, she asked me in a whisper,
“…Idel, I’m curious too.”
“I’ll tell you when we get back…”
“When we get back……?”
I nodded.
— The God of Wisdom and Curiosity nods at your wise choice.
— You have received 100 Fron in sponsorship!
“Hey, you two! Where are you going?!”
Rustila and I shook off Zernya and finally made it back to the dormitory. Just as we were about to step into the first-floor lobby—
“Young miss!”
The androids escorting Rustila swarmed around her like a cloud.
“Oh dear, young miss, where on earth have you been?”
“More importantly, look at all this sweat! You must get to the shower immediately. If we leave you like this, you might catch an illness!”
“What exactly were the two of you… Surely not?”
Her mental fortitude, which had barely changed during the argument with Zernya, had jumped by forty points all at once. Not good. Now that her mental strength was visible, Rustila looked even more pitiful. Sighing on her behalf, I stepped forward.
“Does even light exercise require your permission?”
“For the young miss, it does,”
Zermel answered immediately.
“Lady Rustila is the sole heir of the Kersil family. We must protect her at all costs. The head of the family’s orders……”
“And yet you got beaten up by me.”
“That’s—!”
“If you’re going to hit someone, at least do it properly like our Sonia.”
The robots froze, unable to respond.
“Rustila got into Stellarium anyway.”
“Ah, the young miss did…?”
The androids’ artificial muscles twitched as their mouths fell open. Being fourth-generation models, there was something unsettling about the sight.
“Yes. So you no longer have any obligation to guard or care for her, Zermel.”
“Even so, to say we have no duty to protect the young miss… Isn’t that a bit of a leap?”
“She needs to learn independence at Stellarium. She might collapse from exhaustion while studying, catch a cold from failing to adapt to the climate, or even bleed during sword practice.”
“That—that absolutely cannot happen!”
“Then cancel her acceptance?”
My rebuttal left the androids speechless. They must have realized this wasn’t a decision they could make. Stellarium was far too prestigious a school to have its registration canceled.
“We need to wash up, so please move aside.”
I was sticky with sweat. I wanted to rinse off and rest as soon as possible. Waving my hands, I pushed through the androids. At the same time—
Just as the minute ended, I checked only Rustila’s mental fortitude value before deactivating the parameter.
“Let’s go.”
A moment ago, it had been Rustila grabbing my wrist. Somehow, this time I was the one holding hers as we walked inside.