Chapter 5: The Sweeper Detective Club

“Are you crazy…?”

I leaned back on the sofa as if collapsing the moment I heard the door, muttering a complaint that seemed to come out of nowhere.

The school I was attending again after several years was incredibly tiring. It was far better when I was being chased by deadlines, fighting assassins, and stopping a royal capital terror attack.

“Brother, what should we have for dinner?”

“Miya. I keep telling you, knock before you come in.”

Why does our little sister always barge into the room without knocking? I never raised her that way.

“After all, you know from the presence.”

“That’s one thing, but this is another.”

“By the way, if you’re going to work while eating, shall I make you a sandwich?”

We nobles eat food we make ourselves every time.

We have servants, but most of the time it’s because Miya’s protection is the purpose, and it’s a habit from when we lived without them.

Unlike me, who thinks it’s okay to hire a chef now that things are better, Miya opposes it, saying why spend money to hire someone when she’s there.

Among the many talents estimated to be reincarnation bonuses, she has a talent for cooking, so she likes cooking quite a bit, and usually she makes it anyway, so I don’t mind.

“No, let’s eat together at the restaurant.”

“I’m fine with that, but is work okay?”

“I stopped all work except writing after enrolling in school.”

Specifically, I stopped only the things that wouldn’t work without me. Things that would work without me, I didn’t need to stop.

Even if I stopped them, there was little loss. After all, they were more like hobbies.

“Then rest. I’ll call when dinner is ready.”

“Trust me.”

Thanks to Miya’s consideration, I was able to rest until dinner time.

Ah, but.

“How about the next volume…?”

--

“Next volume! Where’s the next volume!”

Peter, who went to the infirmary to check on Crystal’s condition after class, was surprised to find that his childhood friend, who had even passed out, was overly healthy compared to his expectations, and blamed Benjamin.

“I wish you had made her behave for a few days.”

It must have been a dream-like time. That’s why it’s an unfulfilled dream.

Peter wanted to turn around and go back to the dorm, but he couldn’t. His heart was heavy, but he couldn’t.

There was also the fear of the afterlife, but more than that, he couldn’t ignore the girl who was being swung around mindlessly by Crystal’s hands, a stranger.

“Hey Crystal. Classes are over, so let’s go back to the dorm…”

“Peter! Run to the bookstore right now and buy this next volume!”

The book Crystal threw at Peter was the one she had been holding while foaming at the mouth and unconscious.

Crystal and books. I thought a dragon doing flower arranging would suit her better, but Peter caught the book and tilted his head.

“, right? This next volume hasn’t come out yet.”

“What?! No, more importantly, do you know this novel too?”

“Not knowing is strange.”

It was a famous novel series known even in their remote countryside estate. It was selling like crazy in republics, empires, and even the Holy Kingdom.

“Finding a place without this in the entire continent’s libraries and bookstores would be harder? Even people not interested in books know the name of this series. That you’re not aware of it is strange.”

While saying this, Peter thought that the morning’s duel must have left a strong impression on Crystal.

Crystal is the kind of person who wouldn’t even show interest or forget immediately if there’s even a little interest. Moreover, to her, the thing called a book has no meaning other than kindling.

If such a Crystal deliberately went to find and read a book by a count, it must have had a very strong impact from that duel.

“So the next ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠volume doesn’t exist?”

“It doesn’t. Jenkinson Count is probably still writing it…”

“Then let’s go to the Jenkinson Count’s residence!”

“If you don’t want to make the entire continent’s readers your enemies, stop right now.”

It was a sincere plea. After the Sweeper Detective became a hit, how could there be readers like Crystal?

There were incredibly many. Among them, there were ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠dangerous people regardless of status, gender, or age.

“I heard that once, Miya Jenkinson, the count’s sister, was threatened by an extreme fan. At that time, the count got so angry that he said if something like this happened again, he’d throw away the Sweeper Detective series.”

Throwing away meant abandoning the story without finishing it properly. As a result, an implicit and absolute rule was created among the continent’s readers.

The count’s sister must never be touched.

“Of course, even after that, there are still many bad fans who go to find the count, but those people are usually buried under fans before the count moves.”

“Socially?”

“Physically.”

Therefore, interfering with Jenkinson Count’s writing was a painful act of suicide.

“Damn it. No matter how much I am, I can’t fight the entire continent.”

I didn’t ask if I could fight, would I have done it? His childhood friend is a woman who can handle that.

“Ah, next volume! I want the next volume! I want to know how the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠detective brother survived from the death waterfall!”

Peter felt more surprise than embarrassment at Crystal’s now completely whiny appearance.

What was rarer than Crystal showing interest in something was that she got hooked on something.

Of course, to get hooked, you need to show interest first, but anyway, Peter had only seen Crystal get hooked on a specific target with the fingers of one hand.

“Was the last time this happened when a traveling troupe that was popular for a while in the kingdom visited our estate?”

It must have been when she was six or seven years old, so about ten years ago.

And from experience, since Crystal’s unresolved anger was likely to turn towards him, Peter pointed at the fallen girl and asked to divert attention.

“Is it okay to just leave her like that?”

“Huh? Ah, right. Wake up, Jane. Hey.”

A few minutes later.

Peter learned that the poor girl’s name was Jane White, that she was a freshman like them, that she was just a bad luck victim who was resting in the infirmary because her condition was bad and she caught Crystal’s eye who was bored at the time.

“Uh… Crystal wants to read the next volume?”

“Of course! What? Is there a way to read it?”

Crystal asked with sparkling eyes and enormous momentum, and Jane, a bit scared, continued cautiously.

“It’s not that, but… fans who are curious about the next content wait by doing various activities like writing themselves. I thought maybe it could help Crystal too…”

“Fans? Activities?”

At that moment, Peter felt both fear and anxiety.

It was because Crystal’s eyes lit up at Jane’s explanation.

“Yeah. I sometimes did that alone too…”

“That’s it-!”

Unfortunately, the uneasy feeling didn’t slip by.

It’s a sad thing.

--

Unlike my worries, the situation at Animus Royal Academy was following the flow of the original Misfortune in Life game.

I had worried about what to do if the story line of the original twisted because the main event’s timing was off and I intervened, but it seemed my worry was groundless.

Currently, Crystal’s evaluation was achieving a high rating that lightly surpassed the original chapter 1’s evaluation.

Because of that, the undercurrent struggle between the royal faction, noble faction, and commoner faction trying to lure her into their faction was intensifying day by day.

“In this place, excellent or strong students are naturally strong cards in themselves.”

As Miya said, excellent students naturally create a propaganda effect by attracting other students just by existing, and strong students can be used as the sword in student duels.

Especially, student duels are the most commonly used and preferred means of solving troubles when they occur.

Each faction always has to be satisfied with a strong duelist.

Watching the struggle for that, I was confident that it was flowing as in the original. I didn’t know yet if this was a good thing or not.

“Perhaps because attention is focused on Baker-ssi, the number of people bothering me has decreased.”

“For me, it’s a grateful thing.”

I was trying to maintain peace for me and my sister by maintaining the family, kingdom, and world, not because I was living to protect them.

To put it extremely, if I and my sister could just live peacefully, I didn’t care if the family, kingdom, or world collapsed.

But since peace and collapse can’t coexist, I reject collapse to prevent destruction.

It was fine if there were gains for other futures. Not getting involved in faction fights or kingdom politics was also for that reason.

“Knowing that living peacefully is beneficial to both of us… Kya…?”

While walking down the hallway with Miya, I couldn’t finish my sentence and blinked at the large poster stuck on the bulletin board.

I wanted to believe it was a mistake, but it wasn’t a mistake. Or I wished my eyes were playing tricks.

“Oh my.”

It seemed not to be that either, seeing my sister’s reaction.

Then what is this.

I rubbed my eyes and read the poster.

…Yes. This can be called a typical fan club.

The problem was the next part.

It seems that the club president of a club with Crystal Baker, the hottest topic at school recently, and Jane White, the only daughter of the White Merchant Guild, as members, is me.

Are you crazy…?

“…Um, brother. If someone sees this, won’t they think that brother has created a new force?”

“Not if someone sees it, but no matter who sees it! I would think that too! More than that, my fan club president is me, what kind of humiliation play is that!”

I was even more angry that I had made a hole to escape with the word “(expected)”.

I thought I should go and confront it right away, so I went to the location written on the poster, and that was a mistake.

I should have found out when the poster was posted first. Or not gone at all.

The thing I faced because I overlooked that point due to anger was a huge crowd gathered to support.

“……”

“Ah.”

It was Camilla, who came out after finishing the interview.