Outdoor Class Begins
The outdoor class had finally started. The academy grounds, which I hadn't walked in what felt like ages, felt strangely unfamiliar. It had only been a week and five days since I'd left the academy, yet why did the surrounding scenery feel so alien? It was probably because my status had completely changed between then and now.
Count Fix. I had now officially joined noble society.
“Ed! I heard the news! Congratulations!”
“I knew you'd pull it off someday. Man, as expected!”
“Ed! Do you remember me? We talked briefly during class the week before last.”
“Hey, Sir Fix! Where did you decide on for your territory? If you're ever struggling with it, feel free to ask me anytime!”
Just walking across the grounds drew eyes and attention naturally toward me. It was true that ever since becoming a count, the interest had grown a bit excessive. Before, it was mostly just people I already knew greeting me, but now even students I'd never interacted with were pretending to know me and striking up conversations.
“Would you perhaps like to have tea with me?”
And it wasn't just that. Even the female students who had never once glanced my way because I was a commoner were now approaching me. Their patterns were roughly like this:
Three female students who said they were using the air conditioner well and wanted to repay me.
One female student who openly confessed her interest and asked me out on a date.
“Yes?”
“H-here, take this! And this too!”
“This is... a letter...?”
“Have a wonderful day!”
Two female students who suddenly handed me letters and chocolate before sprinting away with a whoosh.
“......”
“Now that you've become a noble, it's good to have at least one hobby, don't you think? How about it? Joining our masquerade ball club... hehe...”
And even one who suddenly held up a half-mask to my face to recruit me into her club. They approached me in all sorts of ways.
Of course, I rejected them all. I didn't have time to waste on any of this.
I need to continue the research I've been putting off!
The most important thing for me right now was to resume the research I'd delayed. The projects I'd started weren't one or two in number. Crucible research, computer development, automatic suit mounting system, new weapon development, suit upgrades, and so on. The workload was piled up like a mountain. If I could have my way, I'd ditch all the academy classes and hole up in the lab.
“It's finally over!!!!!”
Fortunately, Wednesday arrived quickly. Four days of free time were granted from Thursday to Sunday.
“Hey! Ed!”
“E-Ed... H-have you written a reply by any chance?”
“Hehehe... Welcome to our masquerade society...”
But even with free time, it was useless. They were now camping out in front of my lab, waiting for me.
What the... seriously.
The feeling I had watching them was pure bewilderment. I could tolerate them striking up conversations in the cafeteria line, while walking the grounds, or during short breaks even if it was a bit annoying. But coming all the way to my lab and camping out like this was crossing the line.
“Haha. Um, I'm busy today, so maybe next time...”
I was just about to swallow my irritation and politely send them away when a chilling voice came from behind me.
“You lot. Coming all the way here is crossing the line.”
It was Isabella. She'd appeared out of nowhere and now stood beside me, threatening the students camped in front of the lab.
“I really can't stand this one. This is a place even I don't visit often. Because the commoner hates it.”
Isabella spoke as black haze emanated from her. At the same time, her pupils turned completely black, and the frightened students began to retreat. Once they'd all neatly disappeared, Isabella let out a sigh and said,
“Parasites. Commoner. Now that you're in this position, you need to learn how to properly drive people away. Once your name gains value, flies tend to swarm that much easier.”
She turned to look at me as she spoke. The eyes that had been dyed pitch black had returned to normal, and the black haze had vanished without a trace. Instead, the way she smiled at me reminded me of her from the previous round.
The her who had loved me.
“I'll only bother you a little. I have something to give you.”
She handed me a single sheet of paper. The moment I took it, I couldn't help but be shocked. It was a Krayble Union Merchant Auction entry ticket. She'd given me an invitation to the black market that operated in the underworld.
“What... is this?”
However, I had no choice but to pretend I didn't know what it was. From Isabella's perspective, it would be impossible for me to know about this. I needed to act ignorant.
“...Explaining it would take a while, but to get to the point, it's an invitation to the black market.”
“......”
“Yes. It's dangerous. Krayble is the largest organization in the underworld, and their creed is anti-empire and anti-kingdom.”
Krayble. They were a terrorist group seeking to overthrow both the empire and the kingdoms. Their leader claimed that humans are dignified beings with the right to happiness, yet only the emperor and nobles possessed such dignity. Therefore, all their resources should be seized and distributed equally. In other words, they were this world's version of communist revolutionaries.
“...Why are you giving me such a dangerous invitation?”
Still, I wondered how Isabella had obtained this invitation and why she was giving it to me. Eventually, she spoke.
“Because you might need it.”
“......”
“...Of course, you might not. But I think you're similar to me. That to achieve your goals... you'd be willing to do anything.”
She was right. If it was to prevent the destruction of this world, I could do anything. Even if it was morally wrong, if it could save everyone from ruin, I would throw myself down that path without hesitation.
“That's why I'm giving it to you. The black market has plenty of items you can't obtain through normal means.”
“...Do you really think I'd take on such risks?”
“What? Puhaha!”
At my following words, Isabella burst into laughter. With a strange puhwaht! timing, she leaned in close and said,
“Your probing is so clumsy it's cute. You don't need to pretend in front of me. I can see your desperation clearly.”
As expected of Isabella. She had an exceptional ability to read others' desires. Perhaps the reason she was fundamentally cynical was because she could easily see through the desires of the flies that swarmed around her.
“So if the moment comes when you need that invitation, tell me. Going alone would be dangerous.”
She took my hand as she spoke. It was just holding hands, yet her words 'I'll go with you when the time comes' seemed to echo in my mind.
“Then, Fix... no, you're a count now...”
Before leaving, Isabella corrected my title. Calling me Count Fix, she gently stroked the back of my hand with a seductive smile.
“Then, Count Fix. See you Monday.”
Click... click... The sound of her footsteps faded away. And in my hand was the black market ticket. I stared at the ticket Isabella had given me. Just as she'd said, the moment when I'd need this ticket would definitely come.
“But not yet.”
However, now was not the time. Now was the time to further upgrade the computer and create a blueprint for developing the Crucible. I immediately entered the lab and took out Fix, which I'd stored in my inventory.
Fix, returning to the lab after so long, let out an excited 'Weeeuuung~!' and darted around the entire space.
“Fix! Shall we work together after so long?”
“Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeuuuuuuung!!!”
And so we began the research we'd left untouched for a long time. We studied the Emerald Mana Stone obtained from the Dwarf Allied Kingdom, upgraded the computer semiconductors, and brainstormed ideas to implement the Crucible.
“Hmm... This isn't easy.”
However, implementing the Crucible proved difficult. Since the concept I'd vaguely sketched out was so abstract, turning it into something concrete wasn't simple.
“In the first place... the idea of melting emotions experienced through a game is a ridiculous concept...”
The method to create the Crucible. Its vague outline was to use the 'emotions' from the past 87 rounds as its power source. Just as Obsidian used Layna's memories and emotions as fuel, this would use my memories and emotions from round 1 through round 87 as its power source.
“......”
The problem was that the depth of those memories and emotions was far too shallow compared to Layna's. While Layna had felt such resentment and hatred through her actual life, I had only indirectly experienced the memories and emotions from rounds 1 through 87 through a computer interface.
“But why...”
Then why didn't I feel like my despair and rage fell short compared to Layna's? They were merely memories of playing a game, yet why did they feel as vivid as if I were remembering my past lives?
“Well, it could be possible.”
I decided not to think too deeply about it. Since the very act of possessing an extra in this game world was already nonsensical, I chose to simply accept phenomena that couldn't be explained scientifically. If I could naturally accept possessing an extra in a game, then feeling the playthroughs of previous rounds as if they were past lives shouldn't be strange at all.
The point was that I could create the Crucible using those memories and emotions.
“To do that...”
I would need to extract the memories and emotions from rounds 1 through 87. Moreover, I had to purely draw out the despair and hatred felt at those times and pour them all into a single spell formula. If successful, it would create an insane sword equivalent to combining 87 Obsidian blades—a Crucible that could tear apart demons.
It would be an excellent means of communication capable of one-shotting most demons.
“There's going to be a lot of preparation needed.”
Of course, for that to be possible, there was much to prepare. First, I needed to enter a hallucinatory or hypnotic state to vividly experience the previous rounds, along with various safety measures to prevent being consumed by the memories. I'd also need special mana stones capable of containing intense lingering thoughts, and above all, an extremely high-level spell formula to collect all the lingering thoughts from rounds 1 through 87.
“This won't be easy.”
On top of that, I hadn't even considered the difficulty of the engineering design required to technically implement this. Of course, with my overpowered Engineering Thinking ability, the technical implementation wasn't particularly concerning... but one never knew. Gathering 87 lifetimes might prove more difficult than building a computer.
“Let's take it step by step.”
Though the mountain of tasks ahead felt suffocating, if I solved them one by one, I would eventually overcome them. After all, the stage where I'd need the Crucible was after the demons began appearing in earnest. So first, I should solve the issue of experiencing past lives. There was nothing more effective than actually experiencing those lives to extract their pure emotions.
“Elves.”
Thus, I thought of the elves. They were a mystical race that gathered the souls of their ancestors in the World Tree and communicated with them.
“Clarice.”
Naturally, I thought of Clarice, the half-human half-elf I'd recently come to know. As a hidden royal of the elves' kingdom, Eldar Kingdom, using her would allow me to set foot in the world of elves who had cut off all contact with humans.
“Besides, I need to prevent the destruction of the elf kingdom as well...”
In one year, the Eldar Kingdom would be destroyed by an ancient calamity. And that ancient calamity, having swallowed the World Tree, would merge with demons and evolve into an uncontrollable, worst-case magical beast. That was something I absolutely had to prevent this round.
“The course of action is set.”
The ancient calamity and experiencing past lives. I would catch both of these rabbits. The time remaining was less than a year. Within that time, I needed to become strong enough to kill the ancient calamity.
Time passed, and it was the following Wednesday. I, along with the entire academy student body, stood before a dungeon in a high-risk zone. This was because we were taking the first period Wednesday class, 'Crisis Response Through Real Combat.'
Crisis Response Through Real Combat. This was a mandatory course that all academy students had to take. Since the academy's founding purpose was the 'Subjugation of Demonic Lands,' it was essential to develop practical senses for effectively killing monsters.
Perfect timing.
This was exactly what I'd been hoping for. It was the perfect opportunity to test the performance of the suit I'd upgraded over the weekend.
“Then, Group S-12! Follow the supervising instructor and enter the dungeon.”
Finally, the entry order for the S-12 group I belonged to was called. I took the suit I'd upgraded over the weekend out of my inventory to equip it.
Crackle!
A rift formed in the air.