Chaos During the Exam (3)
"...Well, fine. If it's an order, I have to follow it. But keep one thing in mind."
"What's that?"
"I can't do something like that either."
Sighing in annoyance, Aileen pointed toward Orca. Perhaps still fueled by lingering rage, Orca was repeatedly kicking a dummy that had already folded in half and ceased to move. A teacher, who had finished evacuating the students, tried to stop her, but it was completely futile. Orca wasn't the type to be swayed by such half-hearted intervention. In the end, the teacher seemed to decide to ignore her. Perhaps to help the other students being attacked by the remaining dummies, the teacher began to move away.
"I don't expect anything like that from you. That is a bizarre stunt only she could pull off. For us, just holding the line is enough. Surely you can manage that much?"
"Sigh, why do I have to deal with this... If a princess is in danger, shouldn't people be rushing to save her before anyone else?"
"W-Well, that's..."
"Why? Am I wrong?"
"..."
Leo couldn't find a retort. He wanted to argue that every life was equally precious, and that prioritizing rescue made no sense, but... no matter how he looked at it, the objective of this incident was far too blatant.
The dummies were swarming around the Princess and the Proctor. While other dummies were dealing with dozens of students on their own, a massive crowd of them was closing in specifically around those two. Though he didn't know the exact reason, they were undoubtedly the targets. It felt as though the others were being cleared out simply to prevent any interference.
Even without knowing the reason, the fact that they were being targeted wasn't particularly surprising. Since both were highly prominent figures, they were naturally easy targets. Besides, if either of them were to be killed or kidnapped, what would happen? Leo couldn't even begin to guess. Or rather, he simply didn't want to imagine it. The entire world would undoubtedly be thrown into absolute chaos.
"They can't come because it is impossible. The positioning of these dummies is exquisite. It looks incredibly difficult to break in from the outside."
"Why on earth did you drag me into such a troublesome mess anyway?"
"It is only natural, as you happened to be right there. Besides, I am well aware of your capabilities."
"How annoying..."
"Now, now. This is an order from the Princess."
"Yes, yes, Your Highness."
"I will cast a buff on you, so just play the role of a meat shield quietly."
Watching Aileen trudge forward listlessly, Leo felt a wave of doubt. Princess Stella must have seen countless skilled individuals in her life. No matter how he recalled their previous encounter, Aileen's skills hadn't seemed impressive enough to catch the Princess's eye.
"Phew, we got lucky. To think Aileen was hiding out here."
"...Um, Princess."
"Hmm? What is it?"
"From what I saw, Aileen didn't seem particularly skilled. Is there a reason you hold her in such high regard?"
"...When was the first time you saw her?"
"Pardon...? During the friendly match, of course."
"Then it makes sense you wouldn't know. That woman is stronger than me."
"What?!"
Leo was utterly shocked. During that chaotic battle, hadn't Princess Stella and the Proctor held off the combined assault of Orca, himself, and Aileen? To be honest, Leo had felt as if he were facing an insurmountable wall back then. He felt his and Aileen's presence in that melee had been practically nonexistent. ...And yet, Aileen was that strong?
"How should I put this... Hiding her true power? Unwilling to fight? You can think of it along those lines."
"Come to think of it, someone forfeited earlier. Could it be..."
"It is easy to explain since you remember. Yes, it was Aileen."
The Princess let out a wry chuckle, as if she found the situation absurd even as she spoke.
"Isn't it hilarious that the young lady once hailed as an unprecedented sword prodigy is reduced to that state? It has probably been several years since she last held a sword properly."
"What?! T-Then shouldn't we stop her?! The dummies are already...!"
He had heard that even the most outstanding knights would grow rusty if they went too long without training. But for a student like Aileen to have laid off for years? Leo, who had just relaxed his shoulders after the Princess assured him there was nothing to worry about and that they were lucky to have found Aileen, was thrown back into a panic. W-We have to go save her right now...!
"There is no need to worry. If there is one thing you can trust, it is her skill."
"B-But you said it's been years since she held a sword! Her skills must have rusted..."
"That applies to ordinary people. It does not apply to someone of Aileen's caliber."
"What on earth does that..."
As Aileen stared blankly at the approaching dummy, her sword suddenly became coated in a brilliant blue light. ...Could that be?
"Sword Qi..."
"Do you see? Although it is a tragedy that she is letting such talent go to waste, you can absolutely trust her strength."
With a smirk, the Princess began to walk away. Not toward Aileen, but in the completely opposite direction.
"A-Are you abandoning Aileen?!"
"What a dreadful thing to say. I am not abandoning her. I am simply going to help those who look like they are struggling."
"...Ah."
"Tsk. Why on earth is that girl over there?"
At the end of the Princess's gaze, the Proctor was protecting the students. However, Stella wasn't looking at her, but rather at the students huddled behind her. Among them, Leo spotted a familiar face.
"You are going to save your friend."
"It is nothing of the sort."
"I'll take your word for it. I will go help Aileen."
"...I told you, it is not like that!"
"Don't get hurt! Okay?!"
"You insolent... Listen to me—ah, he's already gone."
"...It's a complete mess."
"No one is seriously injured, so isn't it fine?"
As I watched the incident unfold via a video call with the Principal, who was currently outside the Academy, she suddenly spoke up. A complete mess. Well, she wasn't exactly wrong. Why were there so many dummies anyway? In the game, there was only supposed to be one. Right now, forget one—there were easily over twenty of them.
Although the teachers were frantically keeping the dummies at bay while evacuating the students... they seemed severely understaffed. To be honest, I was a little anxious. A monster that was supposed to appear as a single entity in the game had multiplied to well over twenty. Was it just a matter of narrative abstraction, where only one dummy represented a whole group in the game? Or did my presence somehow cause over twenty to spawn when there really should have been only one? Since I didn't remember the game's script perfectly, I wasn't sure how to react to this subtle discrepancy.
"Wow, they're fighting really well. I suppose experiencing things like this is how they grow in the future, right?"
"...I've said this before, but you're really not the mastermind behind all this, right? You are incredibly suspicious."
"Hey, what about me is suspicious?!"
I felt so wronged. What did I even do? If I were the actual mastermind, I wouldn't have warned her that this would happen in the first place. Whether you called them the mastermind or the root of all evil, there certainly was a character in the game where, if you traced back the playable characters' misfortunes, you'd inevitably say, Ah, this bastard was the problem! If that guy was the mastermind, sure, but it definitely wasn't me.
"Well, fine. Fortunately, the students seem to be handling it well, which is a relief. ...If I had my way, I'd go out there and sweep them all away myself."
"You can't do that. Opportunities to get real combat experience like this are rare. Unless it's a truly life-threatening situation, it's best to leave it to the students."
"...It's exactly that kind of attitude that makes you suspicious."
"Pardon?"
"No, it's nothing."
"I heard everything! Why do you assume I didn't?!"
Had Stella called the Principal an old hag? ...I felt like I finally understood why she reacted that way. What a teasing, mischievous old woman.
"...So? Isn't it about time you told me?"
"Pardon? Told you what?"
"The culprit. The traitor. I want to make sure I personally deal with that bastard."
"Ah..."
The traitor, huh...
"I don't know."
"What?!"
"Who could it be? Do you know, Principal Veronica?"
"How should I know?!"
The traitor was a random encounter. It was a randomized element determined when generating a new seed at the start of the game. The value of a variable called Despair would randomly be set to 1 for only one of the teachers. For all other teachers, it remained at 0. The person assigned that Despair value became the traitor. Therefore, I had no way of knowing who the traitor was. It was literally random. There was absolutely no way to predict who it would be. Since it was a value determined at the creation of the game world, the only way to check was to open the text files and look up the Despair value. But this was reality. It wasn't a game, so doing something like that was impossible. Waiting quietly was the only answer.
"Don't worry, the traitor will reveal themselves soon enough if we just wait."
"No way. A traitor isn't the type to show themselves unless they're caught."
"That would be true. If they didn't have a tragic backstory, that is."
"...A backstory?"
The Despair counter. As the name suggested, the teacher who accumulated this counter would have a tragic past added to their history—one severe enough to make them harbor deep resentment toward society and join an anti-social organization.
"Mmm, it would be best to hear it directly from them. It's a bit delicate for a third party to talk about."
"..."
"Oh, Aileen just unleashed her Sword Qi. How cool!"
I said it as a joke at first... but is Counselor Ophelia really not the mastermind behind this? Veronica thought to herself.