5. Send Her Back Before She Becomes the Heroine
5. Send Her Back Before She Becomes the Heroine
Bang!
The collision was real.
My forehead met the desk.
"F-Finance Director? Are you alright...?"
"No. I am not. Goddammit."
I can't do this anymore.
I can't. This damned academy. These damned finances. These damned documents. And that damned Chairwoman!
Every last shred of it is driving me up the wall with loathing. I'd rather just lose my mind entirely. Then I wouldn't have to feel any of this pain or stress.
Resentment surges. Why am I doing this? Anger rises. Why am I doing this? Irritation floods in. Why am I doing this?
Wait, why am I even holding it in? If I just let it all explode—
"...Finance Director."
"..."
"Did you smoke more of that 'tobacco'? You told me you'd finished all of it."
"...I searched my room and found one pack left."
"It's fine. I'll take care of it for you."
The Chairwoman obviously could not fix the near-bankrupt finances.
But she had stepped quietly to my side, and with a gentle touch, she took hold of my wrist.
And then.
"Hah..."
"Do you feel a little better now?"
"Always grateful, Chairwoman."
The resentment, the rage, the irritation that had filled me to the bursting point—all of it drained away.
I'm human. Of course I have those three emotions. But normally, I can keep them under control at work. The reason I nearly lost command of myself, nearly let every negative feeling and vile sensation take over... was the side effects.
Side effects of military-grade stimulants.
"I told you. That product was manufactured with the assumption it would be taken by 4th Rank or higher. If you keep using it like this, Finance Director..."
"I know. I also know the side effects are severe for a 1st Rank."
"Then—"
"But I can't endure without at least this. Do you not remember last year? I left work, got to the dormitory, had a nosebleed, and passed out. You can't always be at my side, Chairwoman. So during those hours, I have to use something like this to keep going."
"..."
Twelve-plus hours of brutal work every day. Five-plus hours of study. And four to five hours of sleep, at most.
I've repeated this pattern for over a year without a single holiday, without a single break. I've grown fast at the work itself, but physically, it's simply impossible to endure.
That's when I use the military-grade stimulant. At first I managed by receiving the Chairwoman's ki directly, but ever since I collapsed unconscious in the dormitory—and once on the street—I've carried military-grade stimulants on me at all times.
So that even when the Chairwoman isn't beside me, I can somehow force this body to move, to focus on work or study. At the very least, to forcibly awaken both mind and body long enough to reach the Chairwoman's side before passing out.
The overuse far exceeding the recommended dosage, and the severe side effects caused by the rank mismatch—the Chairwoman personally handles those.
'What did she say again? She inserts her ki directly into my body and extracts it?'
A narcotic with no addiction and no aftereffects. All hail the 8th Rank.
"Anyway, if side effects or aftereffects do come, you resolve them, Chairwoman. Isn't this the very definition of pleasure without responsibility?"
"...Finance Director."
"Don't look at me with those eyes. I chose all of this myself."
Well, sure. At the very start, I did stumble on the financial status report in the Chairwoman's office and got semi-conscripted into this role.
But over this past year of work, up to this very moment, I've been genuinely committed. True, the urge to resign sometimes rages through me like madness, but that's probably the stimulant side effects. Probably.
'If I'm being honest, it's more that now I've sunk too much in to give up.'
What I've sunk in is my own time, my own experience, my own study.
So I'll use whatever it takes—military-grade stimulants and all—to revive this academy's finances.
That is my role as Finance Director.
"Now that the side effects are gone, I actually feel refreshed. Chairwoman, do you happen to have today's duel status report?"
"I... do."
"Let me see. Hmm. Total duels today: 37. Of those, 21 were properly conducted in the dueling arena. The other 16 took place on streets and in lecture halls... flowerbeds, fountains, streets partially destroyed... one lecture hall blown up because it was a magic department student... total damages... fuck."
"Finance Director?"
"Chairwoman, could you extract the side effects again? Resentment and irritation are suddenly flooding back."
"...Would it be a good idea to raise the disciplinary level for violating dueling regulations?"
"Please. Let's make it the top agenda item at the next faculty council meeting."
Still, since the students broke the rules and wrecked things, it's only right that they pay for the damages.
We usually take their circumstances into account and allow installment payments instead of lump sums. Most students pay in installments anyway, so the academy pays for immediate repairs and slowly recoups the cost through their compensation.
If the academy's finances were normal, this would be no problem. But this month, we're in a precarious state thanks to the tyranny of the Financial Destruction Four Heavenly Kings.
We have no money right now. What good does it do if it arrives later? I couldn't help but grab the back of my own neck.
'No, wait. I did resolve the Beatrice issue.'
Things got a little tangled midway and I couldn't extract an additional bribe, but the mere fact that the Building Destroyer might leave the academy is good news.
She's the worst of the Four Heavenly Kings. One week after admission, five lecture halls obliterated. If that demon attended the academy for three years, what would the future damage total look like? I genuinely don't want to imagine it.
I'd mentally braced myself that things would get real starting this year, with the protagonist and his companions entering, but I didn't expect it to be this bad.
Still, Beatrice should have beaten Chloe, so I could rest easy—
<Duel Arena 21: Amatrius Delphia Beatrice vs. Chloe Pisti>
<Result: Chloe Pisti's Victory>
"...Chairwoman, there's a printing error here."
"Huh? An error?"
"Look, the victor should be listed as Beatrice. It's wrong. Please have it corrected."
"Wait just a moment... It's real. I cross-verified it with the other reports, and they all say Chloe Pisti."
"Ah."
"Finance Director?"
"Oh for fuck's sake."
What the hell.
Why did you lose.
Honestly, I know. She just barely overcame her chronic illness in an incomplete state. I'm aware that realistically, beating Chloe—the strongest freshman except for the protagonist—would be difficult.
But she was supposed to win. She just had to. In every web novel I've ever read, after something like that happens, they win. It's a cliché.
Anyway, the fact that Beatrice lost means.
'She didn't get the pendant back.'
So she's not leaving the academy?
She's staying?
That Building Destroyer? That god of demolition who blew up five lecture halls in a week?
"...Chairwoman. Regarding Princess Beatrice's repatriation, what did His Highness Aken Delminos say?"
"The weakness I hold over that Aken bastard is a love letter he wrote to me during his adolescence. I waved it around and asked if I should discuss it with the queen, and he immediately agreed to grant me anything."
"Was there a deadline on how long he'd grant you favors?"
"Not specifically. However..."
Why.
Why are you adding a 'however'?
"He actually asked me in return if I couldn't just keep her here. He said the recent movements inside the Delphia Kingdom are unusual, and that a 4th Princess would be a sufficient card to hold in case of emergency."
"That son of a—"
"In exchange, he said if necessary, he could hand over some artifacts from the royal treasury."
"—truly, His Highness Aken Delminos. A wise and sagacious monarch in the flesh."
"..."
He's not giving us artifacts to spend on repairs. From the king's perspective, the Chairwoman is the legendary magnate who single-handedly sustained the kingdom's largest academy for decades.
He's probably just trying to curry favor since the Chairwoman is famously a collector of artifacts. Though she actually sold off most of the artifacts she collected.
But as I told Beatrice, artifacts are expensive. And if they're artifacts a king gives to the Chairwoman, they'll naturally be top-grade—rare and valuable.
Of course, it would be rather awkward if it came to light that an artifact gifted directly by the king was sold off and ended up in someone else's hands. But we have a method for precisely that situation.
"We call the dwarves."
"...This feels a bit wrong to say, but when it comes to artifacts at least, they're perfect for money laundering."
"That's why you might dislike dwarves, but you can't distance yourself from them."
We simply sell to the dwarves.
That's exactly how the Chairwoman disposed of every artifact in her collection. Selling to humans risked someone noticing: 'Wait, wasn't that a rare artifact the Chairwoman owned? Why is it being sold?'
The fact that artifacts sold to dwarves get 'disposed of'—the Chairwoman told me about that. And it's not a metaphor. They literally dispose of them.
"They'll be physically grinding up artifacts to restore their city. They'll vanish completely and cleanly."
"An artifact that eats other artifacts. I can't even picture it."
"I know because I visited the dwarf city before it was destroyed. It's probably the most secretive and unique artifact in the world."
What must it feel like for the dwarves—mining gold and ore to earn money, or negotiating with humans and paying the price to obtain artifacts—only to have to grind them all up?
After a moment's thought, I concluded it was none of my business and decided to ignore it cleanly. I've got my own problems.
"Do you have any idea about the quality and quantity of the artifacts?"
"Probably... around this much. That's how it was when I received artifacts in the past."
"Oh."
As expected of artifacts given directly by the king, the estimated liquidation value is considerable. It's considerable, but... when I weigh it against keeping the Building Destroyer around, which is more profitable?
'Ah, whatever.'
We'll take what we can get first, and if Beatrice wins her duel, we just play innocent. The king might give us the stink eye, but it's not like we receive subsidies from them anyway.
If I were being completely honest, I'd bark like a dog if it meant getting subsidies, but the conditions attached to royal subsidies are absurdly strict. Submitting financial statements and reporting our current financial status? Now that is tyranny by the royal family. Every other academy receives them just fine, but still, tyranny.
More than anything, our finances are far too catastrophic right now to be moving while factoring in something like the king's mood. If we go bankrupt in the meantime, mood means nothing.
I deployed my first-year-working-adult skill, 'Defer to Future Me,' and ended my turn.
"Understood. Still, thanks to His benevolent, wise, and just Highness, we'll be able to breathe a little this month."
"That's... right. As soon as we agree to take charge of Beatrice, he'll send the artifacts. And if we call the dwarves, they'll come the same day, so we can convert them to cash immediately."
"We're saved. If we hold out this month, the illusion magic department's investment funds will come in starting next month."
Several things happened along the way, but the outcome worked out. Once we liquidate the artifacts, we'll easily endure this month and have a fair bit left over. Considering the future investment ratio, the academy's lifespan will increase quite significantly.
'Though the projection is still only about three months.'
But still. When we'd been scraping by, adding a day or two at a time, to suddenly gain three months... I feel a strange, faint sense of pride.
With the time bought this way, I'll be able to try something more. That's how we endure.
I was smiling at this faintly hopeful outlook when the Chairwoman suddenly took an incoming call.
"Hm? Wait... What? Is that true?"
"...?"
"I understand for now. Um, Finance Director?"
"What is it? Has another facility been destroyed? Has a professor requested additional funding? Has an unexpected expense arisen? Or, failing that, has His Highness said he can't give us the artifacts?"
If that's the case, I was fully prepared to toss aside this smile and this faint pride and throw a raging tantrum immediately.
The Chairwoman's words were somewhat unexpected.
"A student interview request."
"Pardon? For me?"
"Amatrius Delphia Beatrice... wishes to have an interview with the Finance Director?"
"?"
"?"
No.
An interview?
With me?
Why?
*
I had told her how to overcome her chronic illness at the cost of giving up on an additional bribe. Yet she had lost anyway. And now, due to the king's request, we were obligated to keep Beatrice at the academy.
She awaited me in the interview room with a bright smile.
Didn't you lose? Looking at that smile, you'd think she won.
"It's been a while, Your Highness. It's been exactly one week since we last met."
"It's been one week, two hours, and forty-five minutes, to be precise, Adam."
"...Your Highness?"
Why do you remember that?
No matter how I think about it, this is self-consciousness overload. Wait, don't tell me—
"Heh, it was a joke."
"Ah, of course it was."
"But if I had to insist, it's not a joke. I bought a clock artifact right after parting with you, Adam. I calculated using that. There's probably a few minutes of error, though."
"...Noted."
A clock artifact, huh.
The clock artifact Beatrice pulled from her bosom was clearly broken. The hour and minute hands weren't moving.
What the hell. This is unsettling.
Noticing my gaze, Beatrice smiled bitterly.
"It broke while I was using it in my duel against Chloe Pisti. Still, I moved the hour hand and set it to that time from a week ago. This way, I can remember that moment forever, right? The first time I ever overcame my chronic illness."
"Ah, I see. That makes sense."
What was I worried about? Just a false alarm.
Having overcome the chronic illness that plagued her for so long, it's only natural she'd want to commemorate it like that. I guess fatigue had been making me have pointless delusions.
The misunderstanding cleared, I ate one of the prepared snacks and looked at Beatrice.
"It feels awkward to say this so bluntly, but... I heard you lost the duel."
"Yes, she really was strong. Maybe not the strongest in the whole freshman class, but in the magic department, she's overwhelmingly number one."
"Still, shouldn't you try again? To reclaim that pendant..."
"That's... true. But well, I'll get it back someday."
...What's this? Her reaction is different from last time.
Back then, she reacted intensely—saying the pendant was proof she'd been acknowledged, proof she wasn't a half-penny. I'd felt the heavy weight of her desperation to reclaim it somehow.
But now, how should I put it—she feels much lighter. As if she no longer needs the pendant that badly.
What could have changed in just one week?
"And Adam, I have something to give you."
"Pardon? This is...?"
A box I'd seen somewhere before was placed on the table.
Wait, isn't this the bribe box from last time? The one that held precious metals and gold.
Why do you still have this?
"Didn't you use all of it to purchase artifacts? I told you to do so."
"If I rashly spent all the money on artifacts and still couldn't beat Chloe, that would be a problem, right? So for this duel, I only bought about five to test as an experiment."
"Hmm..."
Now that I think about it, that is logical.
But didn't you say your nanny was ill and you needed to return as quickly as possible? Is it really okay for you to be this relaxed about it?
Given the king's request, it's actually better for me if Beatrice stays at the academy longer.
But my conscience pricked at me for not asking.
"Didn't you have a reason you needed to return quickly?"
"Hm? What do you... Ah, ah. I received a letter. Her condition has improved considerably and she's fine now."
"If you say so..."
If that's what she says, I can hardly object. Better is better, so I accepted it readily enough.
Beatrice, who had been watching me with a smiling gaze, suddenly directed her eyes toward the front pocket of my shirt.
"It's not there today. Your 'tobacco.'"
She'd already caught me, so there was no point hiding it.
"I smoked it all. It's for work, so I need to replenish quickly. But I'm told it'll be hard to prepare for a while, so I'm worried."
"Hmm..."
Rip.
After a moment's hesitation, Beatrice tore a sheet from the notepad on the table and wrote something down.
Below her signature was drawn what appeared to be the crest of the Delphia Kingdom.
"Show this to the merchant who sells that 'tobacco.' They're from the Delphia Kingdom, so they'll recognize it."
"What is this?"
"I can't be certain, but you'll probably be able to buy it at half price. And they'll prepare the goods immediately."
"Your Highness...?"
"In return, promise me just one thing."
"A... promise, you say?"
Half price? Considering the cost of one pack of military-grade stimulants, I could save a significant amount of money.
I'd promise almost anything if it was reasonable. But what kind of promise is she extracting in exchange for giving me this much?
"When you smoke that 'tobacco,' please do it in front of me."
"Excuse me? But I often smoke during work. And with my workload, going to meet you every time I smoke..."
"Not always. Just, at least when you have a moment to spare, please do it in front of me. It's not that difficult a request, is it?"
"...I promise. Thank you so much, Your Highness!"
I don't know what her intent is, but just for that, the stimulant purchase cost gets cut in half? What an absolute steal!
Does doing good deeds really bring blessings? For the first time, Beatrice started looking genuinely beautiful to me.
"It's nothing. Anyway, take this. It's a show of my sincerity toward you, Adam."
"Your Highness, I told you then as well—you should use this to purchase artifacts..."
"I said it, didn't I? This is not a show of sincerity toward Grandis Academy, or the Chairwoman, or the Finance Director."
"Hold... on?"
Beatrice drew close to me, bringing her face near.
And smiled.
A truly clear, gentle smile.
"It's sincerity toward 'Adam.' Do you understand what I mean?"
"..."
"Devotion is a flower that must be requited. If it isn't, the flower simply dies."
"No matter how many military-grade stimulants you use, you're only forcibly maintaining its shape while the inside festers."
"I sincerely hope that this gesture, this recompense—"
"Will become a reason for your flower to keep living."
"That's all it is, Adam."
"That's all."