Chapter 80
Chapter 80
Episode 80
“Well, even if she had sold them, it was just small change. The price of a voting right would barely be enough to buy one or two pieces of candy? It had been about that much.”
Tia said with a shrug of her shoulders.
“But did you know what was infuriating here?”
“Was there still something more infuriating than this remaining?”
“Duplicate voting had been possible.”
“……”
At Tia's words, I glared at Eleanor, who was cowering in the corner.
Whether she knew what she had done wrong or not, Eleanor cowered even more.
Don't you dare lift your head. Because you were indeed a sinner.
“Ha……!”
A truly hollow laugh escaped me.
Eleanor, this brat, where had she learned such wicked things…….
Eleanor had sold voting rights.
But duplicate voting was also possible. What did this mean?
It meant she had incited competition among those buying the voting rights and sowed discord.
What remarkable business acumen.
It was something Eleanor could do, fundamentally because she knew many people.
Now, the level of recognition she had in Scientia was becoming frightening.
“For reference……. Heh… The votes cast for you, pfft… Ha, were even more than the number of students currently expelled from the academy, pffft… Puhahahahahah!”
“That was truly information I had absolutely no desire to know.”
“Ahahahahahah!”
At my blatant displeasure, Tia burst out laughing, banging on her desk.
I really wanted to hit her.
Tia, who had been laughing like that for a long while, soon wiped away the tears welling in her eyes with her fingers and told me an even more shocking truth.
“Ah, and you were a triple crown winner.”
“……”
“Congratulations. You were quite popular, huh? Number 1 for looking good in women's clothes, seeming like you would unexpectedly have a lot of tears, and seeming like a bad boy who had probably made many women cry in his usual life.”
One was enough to make me dizzy, but she said there were three. And what's more, that I seemed to have a lot of tears and would have made many women cry.
Was I some kind of tear fetishist? Was it not enough for me to shed them, I had to make others shed them too?
It was absurd.
“Ah, but the kids had been surprisingly quite serious about the voting. The number of votes cast for you was on the scale of a city.”
“What did that…….”
It couldn't get any worse than this.
Didn't this mean that among the personnel who had been monitoring me until now, there could have been people who had been serious about such a vote?
Didn't it mean that among them, there could have been at least one person who genuinely wished for me to wear women's clothes, and who considered me a person who unexpectedly had a lot of tears and made others cry?
I felt like I wouldn't be able to walk around the campus anymore out of fear.
It might even be safer on the side of the hostile Spellerge.
“Noah……?”
“Th-the voting results turning out like that wasn't my fault…….”
I strode purposefully towards Eleanor, who had committed such a cunning and terrible act.
That one deserved a beating.
“Woah, woah, calm down, Oz. You couldn't use violence in the Headmaster's office.”
As I tried to approach Eleanor, Tia used magic to restrain my body. I couldn't move at all.
Just one hit! Really, just let me hit that idiot once!
“And the women's clothes, it might unexpectedly suit you? If you just softened that foul-tempered look in your eyes a bit…….”
“No!!!”
Now I understood. The reason Tia had called me was neither because I had caused trouble, nor because Eleanor had caused trouble.
The pretext of being a guardian was merely an excuse. The reason she had called me was…….
“Huh? It really seemed like it would look good?”
Because she had found an opportunity to torment me. For an adult, she was childishly petty to a fault.
“Well, let's stop the jokes here.”
“……If you wanted to stop, you should start by lowering the corners of your lips.”
“Hmm, hmm…….”
As I put on a serious face, Tia, who had been finding it hard to hold back her laughter until just a moment ago, scratched her cheek and spoke.
“Anyway, this was where the main point began. The thing Noah had done was…….”
“No.”
There was still more? Eleanor, you, what kind of brat were you, really?
“Well, it was simple. Vote rigging. She had devoured five crowns all by herself, you see.”
“……”
Until now, I had felt anger to the point of it being unforgivable because she was so despicable, but now I felt a sense of pity.
Was this how a parent felt?
It was a dismal feeling.
“No, let's just say that her winning number 1 cutest girl… well, there had been some room to see it that way.”
“Wait a moment…….”
Eleanor pleaded with Tia. Her face was astonishingly pale.
“But number 1 girl who seemed like she would be kind was a bit much……. The difference in votes with Arietta was threefold……. Didn't you think that had been too shameless?”
“Ugh, ah…….”
Eleanor's face was now so flushed with shame that it couldn't possibly get any redder.
She threw herself flat on the floor, as if she no longer had the courage to face the world.
“Noah……. What on earth should I do with you…….”
“Please kill me…….”
I forcibly lifted Eleanor, who was stuck to the floor and showed no intention of moving, and sat her on a chair.
I understood her feelings, but she had to live.
Live and pay for your sins.
“Well, that was the reason that idiot had been called to this place. A large-scale fraud. She had done a very fine job of it.”
Her voice was so cold it was hard to believe she had been laughing until just a moment ago.
No, it was just that I hadn't noticed because I had been so dumbfounded until now; Tia had never looked at Eleanor favorably from the beginning.
If she had been continuously exposed to such a cold, contemptuous gaze, then even an attention seeker would have good reason to cower.
“Normally, it would be expulsion without a second thought. Did you know?”
“Ye-yes…….”
Eleanor was now beginning to well up with tears. Yes, it must have been scary.
I knew well because I had experienced that myself.
“Still, well……. Considering her intentions had been desperate, I could understand. Hmm, even if one took that into consideration, it would usually be grade repetition, though.”
Tia, who had been looking down at Eleanor with cold eyes, glanced sideways at me.
It was because I had decided to take responsibility for her.
She probably wouldn't actually make her repeat a grade. For example, she would assign things similar to how I had become responsible for the Day Dungeon.
“This time, I would let it slide with off-campus volunteer work. Half of your vacation was confiscated.”
Well, since her situation and mine were different, it was natural for it to become volunteer work.
“That's too much!”
Of course, for Eleanor, who had been making grand plans to visit Chrysos during the vacation, it was a plan she couldn't help but protest.
In the first place, hadn't she earned money by doing such things all for that purpose?
“If you didn't like this either, I would have no choice but to show you violence, you know?”
“On second thought, it seemed like a very reasonable alternative…….”
“Yes, good thinking.”
But in front of the apex predator, one had no choice but to become obedient.
Eleanor had no choice but to nod her head, hiding her tears.
She had finally realized it.
That the being before her eyes was closer to a tyrant than an educator.
“Even if it was called off-campus volunteer work, it wasn't anything grand. As it happened, both of you needed to become a bit more emotionally stable, so…….”
“Me too, you mean?”
“Then would I exclude you? Oz.”
I could understand going together, but to say I was emotionally unstable was a bit……. Wasn't that too much?
I could declare with certainty that there was no one in this academy more normal than me.
“Well, that was fine. Then, what was the place going to be?”
If possible, I wanted to avoid places that were too far or isolated.
Even though Spellerge had withdrawn the kill order on me for now, I was still a valuable target. Even if it wasn't Spellerge, there were many who would target me.
Moreover, there might also be people targeting Eleanor.
Such as henchmen of the [Death King] Thanatos or the ‘Outer Beings’.
Furthermore, since Eleanor's power had been shown more clearly than in the original story, the level of their vigilance would be much higher.
“As for the place, well, I had no intention of sending you to a particularly dangerous or dirty place.”
Tia shrugged her shoulders and gave me a look. It was a look that seemed to say there was nothing to worry about.
It seemed that Spina's egg had also started to move, so it probably meant she didn't want to be disturbed. That was likely the reason she was thinking of getting rid of us.
“I was wondering how it would be to go to the Papal States and cultivate your character a little.”
“……”
A response as if it were no big deal.
But I couldn't help but freeze. A chill ran down my spine.
The derailed Main Story Chapter 4.
The death of the Red Lion Mercenaries and their leader, 'Scar'.
The [Death King] Thanatos's intervention.
The warning Marie had delivered.
……And the place Eleanor would head to next.
All of it connected as if a puzzle were being pieced together.
The major flow of the original story was hard to twist.
That had been made certain by the death of Gerard, whom I should have suppressed, and the 'Outer Being' who had escaped despite thorough surveillance. There had been a cunning trap hidden in the flow itself.
In Gerard's case, it had been the intervention of the 'Outer Beings'.
In the case of the 'Outer Being' from the laboratory, it had been Tia's hidden assistance.
Each one had been difficult to notice in advance, and even if noticed, difficult to deal with.
The only thing I had managed to twist with all my might was saving Marie, who should have died.
A major flow was like a watercourse, and as such, was difficult to distort in itself.
“The Papal States, was it……. I didn't like it because it felt like it would be somehow stifling.”
“From the point you felt that way, wasn't it perhaps you who was strange?”
Eleanor, who was exchanging trivial conversation with Tia, came into view.
All incidents had occurred centered around Eleanor. No, in the first place, because I had focused on Eleanor in the game Broken Sky, it was natural that I could only know about incidents related to her.
If so, her actions should not have been taken lightly.
Eleanor's course of action had already differed from the original story. The fact that she had ended up committing such a large-scale fraud was also part of it.
She should have been the top student in the intermediate swordsmanship exam during the finals.
But because the exam method had changed, she had not received the scholarship. As a result, this situation had come to be.
We had to head towards the city-state called the Papal States, Hedenia.
Should I have thought of this as a mere coincidence?
No, the situation was too exquisite.
“The order had changed?”
The order of Chapter 4 and Chapter 5 had been switched.
I couldn't be certain, but circumstantially, I had no choice but to acknowledge it. Main Story Chapter 4 probably hadn't disappeared.
Because she would make her way to check on Chrysos sooner or later.
Separate from the fact that Eleanor would likely be unable to secure mercenaries, considering her drive, she probably wouldn't give up.
It meant that the biggest variable planted by the 'Outer Beings' had merely been removed; the purpose itself hadn't collapsed.
In the end, things that were bound to happen.
But the order had changed.
“Damn it…….”
Thinking about the course of action Oz had shown in Chapter 5, I couldn't shake off the lingering discomfort at all.
Were they stubbornly trying to push me into Chapter 5 and make me a laughingstock?
The situation was too full of malice.
“Master! They said we were to depart as soon as vacation started. Let's get it over with quickly.”
“Yes……. I wished it would be so.”
Eleanor, who had heard all the explanations from Tia, approached me and spoke.
Looking at that bright smile, I couldn't help but worry.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
On the day of the vacation ceremony.
In the first place, I hadn't been the type to be enthusiastic about academics, and I had figured that if I were there, the atmosphere would only become somber, so I hadn't attended separately.
And yet…….
“Heehee.”
“……”
“Aish. Master, you hadn't done as well in studies as I did, had you? Heehee.”
Eleanor von Chrysos.
This irritating brat had finally found me, who had been hiding in a corner.
The release of grades, carried out concurrently with the vacation ceremony. In the first place, as I had mentioned before, I hadn't been enthusiastic about academics.
Except for the subjects I immediately needed, I had taken the exams themselves half-heartedly.
But Eleanor was different.
She was an attention seeker who had to be noticed in everything.
If there was a problem, it was that her attention-seeking mentality sometimes developed in a good direction, and that was the case with this incident.
She, as mentioned before, had done well enough on the written exams not to have to worry about repeating a grade.
When considering only the written exams, she was first among the first-year students in the combat stream. If non-combat streams were included, she would rank around the 40s.
“If Master wished, I could teach you about studying, you know?”
“Be quiet, and have you packed all your luggage?”
“Ehehehe. Trying to change the subject, were you? Well, I supposed I had to understand.”
There were times when I genuinely wanted to smack Eleanor. She made people furious by forcibly making them care about things they didn't even care much about.
“Noah, if you were done with your nonsense, go and get your luggage.”
“Tsk, Master, you really aren't any fun. At times like this, wouldn't it be okay to praise your hardworking disciple a little? Because you acted so stiffly, you weren't popular……. No, come to think of it, it wasn't like you weren't popular at all, was it?”
“What are you talking about…….”
“Did you know that, Master? In the category of 'man who would look good in women's clothes,' 90% of the votes cast for Master had been from one person. They said there hadn't even been room for manipulation. What amazing popularity.”
“Yes, Noah. I understood well.”
Eleanor's words also had a point.
At times like this, it probably wouldn't be bad to praise her for her efforts and satisfy her lacking attention-seeking mentality.
It seemed I had lacked consideration.
Wasn't she someone who constantly put in effort in the first place?
Even if her intentions were impure, denying that effort was not a good idea.
Intermediate Magic
[Northeast Wind]
“Kyaaak!”
So I decided to 'lift her up'.
If she kept irritating me, I would 'lift her up' so she could look down on the entirety of Scientia at once.
“Get your luggage.”
“Ye-yes…….”
Eleanor, who had been floating high in the air for a while before coming down to the floor, walked unsteadily as if her mind were dazed.
Now the uninvited guest had been driven out.
“Did you have some other business with me? Alexios.”
So I had to greet another uninvited guest. There were many things to prepare for in the future, but there were only many guests.
“You really were a guy whose deal I just couldn't figure out...”
Alexios muttered as if he couldn't understand me, who until just a moment ago had been physically 'lifting up' Eleanor.
“A mage, by nature, possessed numerous facets.”
“Crazy bastard.”
Alexios dismissed my excuse with those words. It was clearly short, but it hit heavier than I had thought.
“I was going to the Federation from now on.”
“Go ahead then.”
“I was going to break Lena's legs and come back. And I was also going to drag her out of that damn group called 'Parade'."
“It seemed like the objective and the means had been reversed, or was it just my feeling?”
Why did breaking her legs sound like it was the main thing?
“Well, anyway, today I had come to give my thanks to you bastard. This thing has turned out to be more useful than I thought.”
Alexios spoke, tapping the bracelet-shaped magitool wrapped around his wrist.
It was the magitool I had commissioned from Tenebris a while ago.
“If you were really grateful, why didn't you choose your words better? What was with 'you bastard'?”
And why was your expression so damn smug?
“Ha! Don't make me laugh. For a bastard like you, 'you bastard' was more than enough.”
Yes, what could I expect from your personality.
With those words, Alexios's expression became a little more serious.
“And one more thing.”
“……?”
“I wanted to prove my innocence to my senior brothers and sisters.”
Alexios bowed his head with a polite posture that would have been unthinkable from his usual ruffian-like appearance.
Still, it looked like a gangster politely bowing to his boss, but…….
“I was stupid, so I didn't know how. So, could you teach me?”
For now, I understood that he was sincere.
For Alexios, who had been kicked out without even being able to make an excuse, persuading them would likely be a difficult task.
“Yes, you wanted to clear the suspicion, was that it? It seemed you hadn't thought of it, but surprisingly, the method was simple.”
“Simple, you said……?”
And I knew the method that would allow Alexios to dispel the suspicion most simply.
“Yes, it would be fine if you said it like this.”
I thrust my hand out in front of Alexios, who was bowing his head.
The shape my hand was making was a symbol of a promise, with the remaining fingers folded except for the ring finger and thumb.
“On the fact that you yourself were not the culprit, 'stamp'... hmm, hmm. You just had to say you would swear an oath on your mana.”
“……”
Well, what were you going to do, staring like that? Had I said something wrong?
If he was guiltless, wasn't it just common sense to do an M's Oath?