This Instructor Really Knows How to Teach (6)
There is a word called spoiler. It refers to the act of revealing important plot points or major twists in advance, whether in games, comics, or movies. In a mystery novel it would be something like, “Hey, the culprit is actually XX.” In a romance novel, “Oh, the female lead dies at the end.” In a fantasy novel, “The protagonist awakens and gets XX ability and becomes insanely OP.” The higher the reader’s immersion in the story and the more sincerely they are enjoying the work, the greater the destructive power of a spoiler. In extreme cases, it can even lead to murder.
But spoilers have a kind of shelf life, whether people realize it or not. Spoiling a work that was released recently is a mortal sin, but for something released about a year ago, people tend to shrug and say, “Well, it happens.” Once ten years have passed, most people end up learning the spoilers before they even experience the story itself. More precisely, it stops being treated as a spoiler at all.
The case of Planetarium fell squarely into that category when it came to information about the Third Prince, Julius, and his faction. Although I had never achieved a perfect 100% completion, I had seen several endings and occasionally checked strategy guides on the forums. Naturally, I knew that Julius was one of the masterminds behind the scenes.
However, to players who had just started right after the game’s launch, Julius was nothing more than a background NPC or a sickly pretty-boy character at best. Even the players of The Heir of Red and Blue Blood, the template most closely tied to the imperial family, only paid attention to the Second Prince Lucas—who constantly picked fights with overwhelming martial prowess—or the Crown Prince Leon, who possessed near-perfect stats except for his lack of magic talent, or the Fourth Prince Valt, who was cunning and held special artifacts. No one bothered to watch Julius.
His actions were that secretive. Depending on the route, there were countless cases where players reached the ending without ever realizing his true identity. The same went for his subordinates. In some ways, his followers were even worse than their lord.
Crow, Spider, Snake, Rat.
Julius’s four closest aides each had a separate public “face” for their external activities. Two of them even appeared openly in the story, yet a significant number of players never suspected them. Think about it logically. On the game’s title screen, right in the most eye-catching central position, there was a pink-haired beautiful girl striking a cool pose with visuals and fashion that clearly screamed “a lot of effort went into this character.”
“Oh, she must be an important character. Is she the main heroine?”
“Ah! She’s a trap card planted by the devs to backstab the player! Die, you subordinate of the mastermind!”
Which of those two reactions would be the normal way of thinking? Anyone who jumped straight to the latter without any prior knowledge would honestly be terrifying.
That was exactly how Spider, Cuella Panel, slipped past the players’ suspicions. The same applied to the beautiful boy positioned on the back cover—the counterpart to the front cover’s reversed composition—who was Snake.
There were several conditions required for Spider and Snake to appear, but the simplest route was this: choose the The Heir of Red and Blue Blood template and enter the academy. If the player was male, Spider would approach them. If the player was female, Snake would approach instead.
Because of its complicated background, the The Heir of Red and Blue Blood route came with countless restrictions and was plagued by political maneuvering and schemes. For those struggling players, Spider and Snake—who declared they were willing to abandon their families if it meant staying by your side and showered you with affection—were pure comfort. Not only that, both characters could be recruited as party members, and their performance was excellent enough to become mainstays of the team. On top of that, they had numerous exclusive events that could only be seen after recruiting them.
If the player never noticed Julius’s true identity and unknowingly followed the route where they became his puppet, there was no problem. But if the player figured out Julius’s identity and chose to oppose him, these two would betray the player at the most critical moment.
After outfitting them with the best equipment, feeding them every rare consumable, and raising them as the party’s strongest ace, they would not only turn enemy—they would even land a surprise attack on their former allies. The shock experienced by players who got stabbed in the back without any warning was indescribable. The forums were flooded with screams demanding to know what color the developers’ blood was.
“What the hell is this betrayal event?! I poured everything into raising her as my main DPS!”
“Dev blood color when? I need to know what shade of red to paint my keyboard.”
“I trusted her… I even gave her the limited edition costume… FML”
“Senior, what are you thinking about so deeply?”
“Ah, it’s nothing. I was just reviewing today’s plans.”
“You don’t have to think so complicatedly! I’m fine with just wandering around anywhere!”
Cuella Panel smiled brightly as she said that. There wasn’t the slightest hint of calculated seduction or push-and-pull tactics in her pure, innocent expression. I let out a dry laugh.
Of course. If you’re going to mercilessly betray a comrade you’ve spent nearly three years with, this level of acting is the bare minimum.
At first glance, it might seem sloppy. One could think she was a fool who couldn’t even hide her intention to get closer. But that was precisely what made it dangerous. People tend to let their guard down easily against opponents they believe they can control—opponents they see as beneath them.
“That won’t do. Today I came specifically to pick out equipment for you, Cuella.”
“Still, wouldn’t it be okay to at least have a meal together in between?”
“That much should be fine.”
“Kyaa! Senior, you’re the best!”
The reason I didn’t push Cuella away and continued to keep her around was precisely because I knew her true identity. I didn’t know exactly why one of the Snake or Spider—who were originally supposed to approach the The Heir of Red and Blue Blood player—had come to me instead, but there was nothing easier to deal with than a spy whose identity you already knew.
Of course, since she was a first-rate operative, she would naturally sense that I harbored some level of suspicion toward her. No, it would actually be problematic if she didn’t notice.
More precisely, the core of this operation was to make her believe: [Chrome Midas is treating Cuella as a honey trap trying to latch onto a newly risen noble and is trying to probe her background.]
From Cuella’s perspective, in order to make me trust her, she had no choice but to continue showing this consistent innocent behavior. And that meant I could use her as a valuable fighting force whenever the situation called for it.
Even if that weren’t the case, simply having Cuella by my side meant Julius wouldn’t need to waste precious manpower by sending additional agents to investigate me. The information that passed through Cuella could be adjusted as needed. I could feed her fake intel, or perhaps even leak dangerous explosive information to make the two sides clash…
Heh. Heheheh.
My original-knowledge cheat, which had been gathering dust thanks to those damn cultists, was finally getting to shine again. It felt incredibly satisfying.
“No matter how much it’s for a junior’s education, I still question whether it’s necessary to spend your day off wandering around the shopping district and even buying her personal equipment. Relying too much on tools isn’t good either.”
On the surface, Lyla was speaking logically, but in reality she couldn’t hide her sulky expression as she stared at the two people walking ahead.
“Why did I have to come all the way here…”
Ligret scratched her head with an expression that screamed she was dying of boredom and let out a deep sigh.
“Come now, you two. If we don’t hurry, we’ll lose sight of Brother!”
Fiore was grinning from ear to ear, clearly finding the current situation hilarious.
If anyone had witnessed the current scene—three beautiful women and young ladies of varying styles stealthily tailing two people—it would have become quite the topic of conversation. Fortunately, that didn’t happen.
A composite spell of flame and wind. A sphere of magical power that used the refraction of air to conceal both sound and appearance from the inside was currently enveloping the three of them, with Lyla at the center.
Ligret spoke with an utterly fed-up tone.
“If you don’t like the two of them going around together, why don’t you just go confront them? What the hell are we doing sneaking around like this?”
Lyla shot back.
“Aren’t you worried at all, Ligret? What if Chrome gets seduced by some strange woman and ends up being used?”
“That wicked merchant? The guy who sucks people dry? Unless he’s the one doing the sucking, I guess.”
“There’s such a thing as ‘just in case.’ They say even the greatest heroes become vulnerable in front of alcohol, women, and gambling.”
“Then if you’re that worried, why don’t you just step out in front and stop them like a normal person?”
At Ligret’s words, Lyla shut her mouth as if she had been rendered speechless.
“But that would be…”
It would make her look like a nagging woman who interfered in every little aspect of his private life. She had no proper justification either.
As Lyla hesitated, unable to voice the thought that had crossed her mind, Fiore stepped in as if to support her.
“Now, now, Miss Ligret. We still don’t know whether Miss Cuella truly approached Brother with malicious intent or not. Since nothing is certain yet, openly giving her the cold shoulder would be detrimental to both Miss Cuella and Brother Chrome. Let’s just quietly observe the situation for now.”
“I’m not interested.”
“But if something were to happen to Brother’s body, wouldn’t you be failing in your duty as his bodyguard?”
“……”
“While Lady Lyla’s spell can hide our appearance, we need your exceptional hearing to eavesdrop on their conversation, Miss Ligret.”
“……”
“It’ll only take a moment. Please?”
“Fine, fine, I got it. Just stop already.”
In the end, Ligret raised the white flag. Fiore beamed with a bright smile.
It looked like this extremely entertaining… no, this tailing mission would continue for a while longer.