106. The Guild Master's Scheme
106. The Guild Master's Scheme
The Siren's Charm
Since the legend held that sailors were charmed by the Siren's song and leaped into the water to their deaths, the method to prevent it was similarly simple.
First, one could be afflicted with an even higher-level debuff that would completely override the charm.
But in that case, combat itself would become impossible, so that was out of the question.
Second, one could form a party with 'someone' capable of devouring everyone else with sheer charisma alone.
However, this too was impossible since the heroines hadn't appeared yet.
Thus, only a single method remained.
"Whether it's singing or playing, you just have to do it better than the Siren."
"...Huh?"
Minerva looked at him as if she didn't understand what he meant.
It seemed she still hadn't grasped it, so he explained again in further detail.
"It's true that hearing the Siren's song inflicts charm. But only as long as you 'keep listening'—the charm gradually intensifies the longer you hear it."
So, to put it the other way around,
"What I'm saying is, we just need to put on a performance or a song so goddamn amazing that no one will even bother lending an ear to the Siren's song."
"Ah... Aah...!"
Minerva's pupils gradually dilated.
She finally seemed to understand, sending a silent round of applause, and soon Minerva smiled brightly and said,
"Then there'll be no problem at all!"
"Oh? Feeling confident, are we?"
The event hadn't even started yet, and she was already brimming with confidence.
Judging by her state, he'd thought this might be an event they could breeze through, but...
"Well, of course! Chrono's performance is one that even Muse herself acknowledged, isn't it!"
"...What?"
Something was about to go very, very wrong.
******************
"No... you're the one who's supposed to do this..."
"Chrono is better at it than I am, isn't he?"
Refuted.
"Even so, this is Athena Guild business—rather than an outsider like me—"
"—Chrono is strictly an intern and a member of our guild."
Refuted.
"Well... actually, to suppress the Siren's song, you need an instrument blessed by Muse. And, by coincidence, that happens to be at an underground club on the outskirts of this town—"
"—That 'weapon' you possess, Chrono—it was definitely a weapon blessed by Muse, wasn't it?"
Refutation after refutation.
"...Minerva."
This wasn't right.
It was really, really not right.
He stared blankly at Minerva.
"As expected of Chrono. I believed in you all along, you know?"
"..........."
Indeed, something was off.
At the very least, the Minerva he knew and the Minerva standing before his eyes were different—something about her had changed.
And what exactly was that something?
...There was no need to ponder it; the answer came immediately.
'She's relying on me too much.'
Her behavior had perhaps surpassed the level of mere reliance and ascended to the realm of outright dependence.
At the very least, the Minerva he knew was not a character with this kind of personality.
'The Minerva I knew was, how should I put it...'
A bit of a communication disorder.
The type who took on the leader role but couldn't guide the others well.
Yet despite that, if a problem appeared before her eyes, she would step forward to resolve it somehow—he remembered her as that kind of character.
"Honestly... I just feel ashamed, as if I'm only ever receiving help from Chrono every time..."
"...Ah!"
There it was.
That was the reason.
'What changed from the original...!'
Him.
Chrono's existence.
Because of him alone, Minerva's autonomy had flown far beyond the heavens and vanished entirely.
And the reason for that was all too clear.
"I handled everything by myself, on my own, too damn well...!"
"Pardon? Yes. That's because Chrono is someone far greater than I am, after all!"
Don't agree with him.
He felt utterly troubled right now.
'I was wondering why Minerva's personality was slowly crumbling...'
The crises, hardships, struggles, and treacherous trials that appeared before Minerva's eyes—
Though barely half a semester had passed, in that short half-semester, every single time he moved together with Minerva, he had always leveraged his experience and memories to breeze through those trials with ease.
The process might have been somewhat arduous at times, but it never strayed from his expectations, and even if there was some deviation, he could always resolve it somehow by drawing on his experience.
'But what about the original protagonist?'
What about him, indeed.
Right now the guy was on his second loop and still acting like that.
A complete and utter doormat.
Hopelessly incompetent beyond belief.
Just a good-natured, diligent screw-up, Ter.
Thanks to that, trouble piled up endlessly while situations spiraled into chaos, and every time, Minerva—who always took on the big-sister position—had to press her hand to her forehead and struggle to fix things.
She stepped forward to resolve things.
She moved forward to overcome hardships and trials.
...But what about the current Minerva?
"Are you... really okay with that?"
"Because sometimes it's better to take the easy path rather than going the long way around."
She had met him.
She had moved alongside him.
She had learned the comfort of leaning on someone else, had come to realize the ease of being led rather than forcing herself to lead.
And so she simply leaned, depended, and reached out her hand to the strategy guide that existed right beside her.
"And since people's lives are at stake here, I want to take the surest option available."
"...Yeah."
Her very foundation hadn't changed completely.
But the process had changed.
This child, who was once nothing but kind, upright, and lacking in finesse,
now showed a side contaminated by someone, somewhere—
an attitude that declared the process didn't matter as long as the results were good.
"Haaaaa."
He slowly gazed up at the sky.
'How do I deal with this...'
There was no answer.
To be precise, this was a problem he had never seen before in his entire life.
He didn't even know where or how to begin fixing it.
"...Damn it."
In his heart, he wanted to just act however he pleased.
But this was none other than the world of NTR Academy.
If he went around acting recklessly on a whim, he would immediately suffer an NTR.
Ultimately, it was a problem that circled right back to square one.
'Should I really just handle everything by myself like Minerva said?'
Just as he agonized over whether to gamble on an uncertain future—beep-beep, his phone rang.
"...Father?"
Minerva picked up her phone and answered the call.
"Yes..."
Yes...
...Yes.
Yes?
...Understood.
"───Hoo..."
Minerva exhaled deeply as she ended the call.
He took a step closer and asked.
"What's going on?"
"...Chrono."
Minerva pressed her lips tightly together.
An expression that looked as if she truly didn't want this, yet had no choice.
"The performance... it seems I'll have to do it."
"Huh?"
All of a sudden?
This was exactly what he had wanted—a development he couldn't have even imagined.
He looked at Minerva, momentarily wondering what wind had blown her way, and—
"I was praised for finding the strategy to counter the Siren. And..."
They said they would send an orchestra—the instruments needed to attack Queen Siren.
"...???"
They would provide support.
They would have her back.
What possible problem could there be with that?
Just as he was starting to wonder what ulterior motive lay behind this unexpected support, Minerva let out another long sigh.
"And as the main performer of that orchestra, they told me to do well."
"Ah......"
Ah.
Aaaaah...!!
He collapsed onto the spot with a thud.
"Wha... waaaa... whoa...!"
A situation that might have been a terrible turn for Minerva.
But for him right now, it was an opportunity he wouldn't trade for anything.
"Good heavens... how did things end up like this..."
"I'm truly... sorry, Chrono."
Minerva bowed her head in apology.
No. Don't apologize.
He was acting like this because he was happy right now.
'The goal is probably to divide us + worsen relations + etcetera etcetera, but...'
Clearly, he was the one who had found the Siren's weakness.
He was the one who had shown that the debuff could be dispelled through performance.
There was no way the guild staff had misobserved that, so the report must have been delivered accordingly.
Yet instead of crediting him, they had naturally attributed it as Minerva's achievement, and at the same time, they had maneuvered to elevate Minerva as the main performer against Queen Siren.
If he were an ordinary person, he would have felt resentment toward this, and on top of that, to stage an even more unpleasant situation...
'They'll probably try to take Agape too, right?'
Since they couldn't afford to let the main performer be outshone,
if they took the instrument he possessed right now under the pretext of 'safekeeping,' and then proceeded to 'lose' it, 'misplace' it, or if not that, 'damage' it—replacing it with some dirt-cheap substitute?
The moment that happened, it would be war between him and Minerva, and the Athena Guild.
Resentment would pile up endlessly, and he wouldn't even want to think about his relationship with Minerva anymore.
That truly was killing two birds with one stone—no, killing three birds with one scheme...!
"As expected of someone from the Athena Guild..."
The level of scheming rivaled that of a career politician who'd been at it for ages.
Shock and horror. He trembled, paruru, in the storm of that thuggish nonsense.
"I-I'm... sorry. Truly, truly, I didn't want it to turn out like this...!"
"...Minerva."
He slowly raised his head toward Minerva.
"You're going to perform, right?"
"...I'm sorry."
Minerva kept apologizing.
She must have been immensely flustered from her perspective as well.
Because right in front of her stood someone far more skilled than she was, and it had turned into a situation where she was snatching away his achievements, his position, and even his honor—completely and utterly.
If some other guild staff member had said it, that would be one thing, but to hear it from none other than the guild master—her own father?
For Minerva, who had already been thoroughly gaslighted, it must have been an 'order' she could never refuse.
'Yeah. I get it. I get it perfectly.'
He slowly rose from his spot.
At the same time, he spoke to Minerva.
"Since it's come to this, let's do it diligently, and give it our absolute best."
"...Yes!"
Minerva looked at him with eyes that mixed both guilt and motivation.
As an aside—
"I'm sorry, but outsiders are not permitted to enter."
"Huh?"
The orchestra sent as support from the Athena Guild—
Right in front of him, before the door to the practice room, he stood staring blankly at the ensemble member before him.
"You may be an intern, but an 'intern' is all you are, after all."
"......Wow."
Beyond all expectations, the guild master had apparently been grinding his teeth for this.
Getting cut off right at the entrance was something he never could have imagined.