The Discarded Pawn
"I-Instructor...?!"
"...Instructor Ophelia. Why are you here? You should be proctoring the exam in another hall right now."
"Oh, that. It was so boring that I just dumped it on someone else and gave up. Proctoring really doesn't suit me."
Fortunately, the Headmaster was well aware that a situation far more critical than a missed exam proctoring duty was unfolding, so finding a substitute hadn't been too difficult. It was as simple as asking an instructor whose break fell during that time slot to cover for me. In return, the Headmaster promised to compensate them handsomely, so that instructor would surely be satisfied. Even if the request had involved a tiny bit of coercion... Well, at least they would believe they had volunteered for the overtime of their own free will.
"My, what a shock. To think Instructor Ian was a terrorist."
"..."
I spoke with casual nonchalance, but in truth, I was deeply shocked. I had spent quite a while wondering why on earth he was doing this. In the game, he played the role of a mentor NPC who taught skills to the students. You know how it is—when you level up, you learn new skills from them. Naturally, NPCs in charge of such functions were classified as essential. Without him, learning or upgrading skills would be completely blocked. Such crucial NPCs were supposed to be exempt from these random encounters... Perhaps because I had fallen into this game world and made it reality, he, who should have been protected by the system, had somehow triggered a random encounter.
"So? Why on earth did you come here?"
"Pardon?"
"Do you intend to stop me? You must know better than anyone that it's impossible. You've never even fought a battle."
"Well, yes, that's certainly true."
"Or did you come to persuade me, like a true counselor? ...Ha. Persuasion won't work on me."
"I suppose so. Who could possibly talk someone out of avenging their murdered wife and daughter?"
"...How do you know that?!"
Ah. I slipped up. Seeing the glare Instructor Ian directed at me after my careless remark, I felt a bit intimidated. ...Actually, not just a bit, but a lot. He was genuinely terrifying.
"Speak! How do you know?!"
"Uh, well... You see..."
"If you don't tell me this instant, I will detonate this device!"
Although it had only been for a short while, I had genuinely tried my best to fulfill my duties as a counselor. To achieve my goals, my top priority was not getting fired. While most counseling sessions could be easily resolved with Hypnosis... I figured relying too heavily on it would eventually get me caught. Before becoming a counselor here, I had never done anything of the sort. If I leaned too much on Hypnosis, it would eventually show in my attitude. So, I had looked up some books on counseling, and they said something like this: simply listening well and showing agreement can be of immense help. Even without offering a solution, just being heard brings great comfort to the other party. I had tried my best to follow that advice, and fortunately, the students seemed satisfied. ...But an unexpected side effect had just reared its head. I had reflexively agreed with Instructor Ian's words out of sheer habit of showing empathy. Was this what they called an occupational hazard?
"Uh, well... You mentioned revenge, and earlier you spoke about the Holy See and the Imperial Family from a few years ago, right? Most of the victims in that incident died, after all."
"...Then how do you know the victims were my wife and daughter?"
"Ah."
Dammit. I thought I had smoothed it over. Flustered, I glanced around. The students and a few other instructors were staring at me with bewildered expressions.
"If you won't speak, so be it. You shall die with me!"
"Oh, crazy bastard! Get down!"
Instructor Ian looked around with a face full of grim resolve and pressed the detonator. Anticipating an explosion, everyone squeezed their eyes shut and braced for the impact... but nothing happened.
To put it in game terms, it would go something like this:
Instructor Ian cast [Great Explosion]!
However, nothing happened!
"...?"
"Why... Why is nothing happening?"
"Ah, seriously... Things have gotten so messy. If I knew this would happen, I would've just left it alone."
I had wanted to delay his death as much as possible so the students wouldn't have to witness something so unpleasant. But because of my slip-up, everything had gone completely sideways. Ugh, what should I do? No matter how I looked at it, this had become incredibly tedious. My slip of the tongue was too massive; making up an excuse now seemed utterly impossible. ...Ah, whatever. I'll just erase everyone's memories. Fortunately, I had left my phone behind out of fear that it might get damaged, so the Headmaster couldn't see what was happening. Which meant there was no one here who couldn't be hypnotized. I couldn't think of any other way to clean this up. I don't care anymore. Since I'm going to fix this with Hypnosis anyway, I might as well stop thinking and just do it.
"I-I definitely pressed it. What is the meaning of this...?!"
"The thing you pressed... do you mean this?"
"...?!"
"The detonator...! Since when?"
"Who knows? Aren't you curious about exactly when I started holding this?"
"...Give it back!"
"Uh-uh. What did I tell you at the very beginning? Don't move."
"M-My body...!"
I could feel the students' gazes boring into my back, staring at me as if I were some sort of monster. Well, it made sense. A person they believed had absolutely zero combat ability had suddenly appeared, babbled some incomprehensible nonsense, and then somehow snatched the detonator without anyone noticing. It was only natural they'd look at me that way. However, if there was just one thing I wanted to correct... It was that the detonator wasn't actually in my hand. The device was still clutched in Instructor Ian's hand, and I hadn't taken a single step toward him. The belief that the detonator had failed to work and that I had snatched it away without anyone noticing was entirely an illusion. I was actually quite curious: how did my motionless figure look through their eyes right now?
"Hmm, what time is it... Has it been about thirty minutes? It should be coming out right about now."
"W-What are you talking about? Who on earth are you...! Urgh?!"
"Ah. There it is."
Squelch, squelch. Something resembling pitch-black smoke began to slowly crawl out of Instructor Ian's ears. Naturally, there was no way such an ominous-looking smoke could be good for the body... Before long, his pupils dilated, and he collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud.
"Phew."
A sigh of pity escaped my lips. It seemed he had known he was being used as a disposable pawn... but did he fail to realize that they would discard him with their own hands? Or did he go through with it even while knowing? Well, since it was impossible for me to trace the memories of a dead man, there was no way to know for sure. But if there was one thing I was certain of... It was that he was a man who would throw away everything for the sake of revenge. Even if that everything was his very life.
"Kyaaaah...! A person is...!"
"Oops. ...Now then, shall we begin the cleanup?"
I really hadn't wanted to show them someone dying. Of course, it wasn't as if they had never seen death before. They must have witnessed it countless times in the past, and they would see it countless times in the future. But I had gone out of my way to come here hoping that, at least while I was helping them, they wouldn't have to go through such an unpleasant experience. I completely botched it. As expected, things in this world never go quite as planned. Letting out another small sigh, I put everyone to sleep to begin the cleanup. Honestly, it wasn't like I enjoyed touching corpses, and I wasn't entirely unaffected by the shock... but this was all for the students. I could endure it.
"...Right. So he ended up dead in the end."
"It seems so. I managed to talk him out of the murder-suicide, but... it looks like something was planted inside his head. Would you like to see?"
"No, thank you. Just dump it somewhere in the Headmaster's office."
"But the corpse will rot, won't it?"
"Don't worry about that and just do as you're told. We still need to conduct an investigation, don't we?"
"Well, sure. If you say so."
When I explained the whole story to the Headmaster, he seemed deeply disheartened.
"...Dammit. I thought he was a fairly reliable fellow. Why did he do it?"
"Uh... It was revenge for his dead wife and daughter."
"Hmm?"
"You didn't know? His wife and daughter were murdered. They got caught up in the power struggle between the Imperial Family and the Holy See."
"..."
"You know about it too, right, Headmaster? That incident from a few years ago."
"Yes. There's no way I wouldn't know. It was famous."
The Headmaster's face, visible through the video call, was contorted with emotion.
"...Right. It was his family. So that's why. Now I understand why he targeted those two."
"Though he ultimately failed, it was still a half-success in a way."
His goal was revenge against those two, plain and simple. Although he had failed to exact it with his own hands... the plan had been built on the premise of failure from the start. In that sense, his revenge could be considered a half-success. Even though he had been betrayed by the organization, if their ultimate goal was the downfall of the Church and the Imperial Family, then that was exactly what he wanted as well.
"Sigh..."
"How about a drink? If you drop by next time, I'll brew you some good alcohol."
"That sounds excellent. I shall look forward to it."