Three Favors

The same dilapidated sitting room from yesterday greeted us. A single round floor table held its ground at the center, keeping its lonely vigil. It felt oddly tidier than the day before—Professor Reyna must have cleaned.

The drinks were the same as yesterday: cold water.

In front of them, though, sat two cake boxes. Cake boxes I knew all too well.

"Hehe! It's from a shop with incredible word of mouth...! I'm, um, not very good with snacks and that sort of thing, so I asked the owner to recommend something...!"

"Ooooh! I'm so looking forward to this!"

Elly beamed, her gaze sparkling as it landed on the boxes. She looked far brighter than she had when she'd first laid eyes on the Rogue Department building.

Professor Reyna's uniquely soft atmosphere seemed to have won her over. As expected of a merchant family's daughter, she melted into a new environment at an astonishing speed. In the original game, too, Elly had been a character you could befriend with ease.

"I'm so happy three students came...! I'll do my very best, so..."

Before Professor Reyna could finish, an unfamiliar presence suddenly brushed against my senses. At the abrupt appearance of a stranger, Professor Reyna's head whipped around.

"Hiiiek...! Department Head Tepes...!?"

The stranger was Professor Flora Tepes, Head of the Academy's Swordsmanship Department.

Unlike Professor Reyna, who was department head of the Rogue Department in name only, this was the head of the Academy's largest department. At the appearance of Professor Flora, ranked first among the faculty, Professor Reyna shot to her feet.

"I-If it's about the money I borrowed, I'll repay it within the weekkk...! It's just that payday hasn't come yet...!"

"I'm not here for the money. I figured I'd already given you about half of that anyway."

Professor Flora dropped into a seat with a hearty laugh, her sociability a match for Elly's. So Professor Reyna had borrowed money from Professor Flora.

"What's that bitch doing here...?"

Sierra muttered under her breath, too quiet to reach Professor Flora's ears. A yandere event could trigger at any moment. If I wanted to keep this from turning into a scene, I had to keep a tight grip on the situation. I swallowed and focused on Professor Flora.

"This place is in really bad shape. I've put in a few requests, but nothing seems to have changed."

"It's only thanks to Department Head Tepes and Vice Head Kerr speaking up that we can even use this building...! I'm always so grateful...!"

Professor Reyna bowed her head in thanks. Professor Flora shook hers in answer.

"I'm the one who should apologize. I'd like to push harder, but the other professors make it so difficult. When you're a department head, souring relations with the rest of the faculty makes everything a lot harder."

The faculty's view of the Rogue Department fell into three camps: positive, indifferent, and contemptuous.

Most were contemptuous. Indifference was rare. Positive regard was as scarce as a chick's tear.

Even counting Dean Grass, the people who looked on the Rogue Department favorably could be counted on one hand. And one of them was Professor Flora.

"Anyway, Department Head, why would you come to a shabby place like this...?"

Flora Tepes's sudden appearance shook Reyna to her core. Professor Flora was a busy woman. She was not someone who showed her face here without a special reason.

Reyna looked back and forth between Yohan and Flora, worry written across her features. She couldn't think of a single reason Flora would come in person. Unless...

She's here to kidnap Student Yohan...!?

Yohan's talent was dazzling. There wasn't a professor alive who hadn't realized it.

Wanting an outstanding student as a disciple was only natural for a professor. And if Professor Flora thought that way...

"You can't...!"

Reyna shouted at the top of her lungs. Losing the first student she'd ever received—like this—was something she could not accept. Even if the other party was Professor Flora.

"Haha. Looks like you've fallen into another weird delusion."

Professor Flora laughed as she watched Reyna's expression twist through a dozen shapes at once. For all her formidable skill, Professor Reyna's head occupied a slightly fourth-dimensional space.

No—not slightly. Among everyone Flora knew, she ranked as one of the most thoroughly unhinged people alive.

"Don't worry. I just came to get a look at our top incoming student's face."

"I knew it!"

Reyna wrapped her arms around herself with a grim expression. Sierra's face changed too. She gripped Yohan's hand tight.

What is that thieving cat going to do to Yohan...

Sierra stared at Professor Flora with eyes brimming with wariness. Under that heavy gaze, Flora slowly opened her mouth.

"Student Yohan. I'm sorry about yesterday's duel."

At Professor Flora's words, Yohan tilted his head.

"Pardon? Why would the Department Head need to apologize to me...?"

"That spar—you won it. If we'd followed procedure, Bohn Zaborg would have been expelled. You could call it karma, but from the Academy's perspective, that wouldn't have looked good."

The Academy pursued ideals, but it could not ignore the walls of reality. In the end, the Academy operated in the real world.

That was why the administration had to strike a delicate balance between ideals and reality. Draw too close to the ideal, and you drifted from reality; draw too close to reality, and you drifted from the ideal.

Taking requests from great noble houses, or granting preferential grades, would stray too far from the ideal—and so, from the Academy's standpoint, such things were impossible.

That did not mean, however, that great nobles and commoners were treated as complete equals. Most of the Academy's operating funds came from donations by nobles—great nobles in particular.

As a policymaker, Professor Flora had been forced, again and again, to choose between ideal and reality. Handling Bohn and Yohan's spar had been one such choice.

"I don't know if you'll be satisfied calling this compensation for that, but..."

Professor Flora snapped three fingers open toward Yohan. He smiled faintly, as if he already understood what those fingers meant.

At her words, Yohan deliberately cocked his head. He'd understood instantly from the original game, but given the flow of the conversation, showing confusion was the right play.

"What do you mean?"

"I'll grant ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠your requests up to three times. Meaning you can swing the sword named Flora Tepes a maximum of three times."

Sierra, Elly, and Professor Reyna all startled at once.

"D-Department Head Tepes!? Are you seriousss...?"

"No way! What's that worth in money!?"

I haven't even done anything and her affection is already at 70? What's going on?

Yohan felt a flicker of bewilderment at Professor Flora's behavior.

Raising affection was never easy. Cooking tributes could push it up quickly, but even that had limits. And he had never even offered Professor Flora a dish.

He turned it over in his mind, searching for the cause. There was a character around him whose affection had risen at a similarly unnatural speed.

Sierra was like that.

In the original, Sierra had been a character whose affection couldn't be raised at all. In this world, not only was it possible—the rate of increase was extremely steep.

Yohan had guessed it was because Sierra belonged to the yandere type. Given the way she actually behaved, it was a very reasonable guess.

But Professor Flora is a character who exists in the original. And even in the original, her affection never rose this fast. Which means...

Perhaps his own existence had been the catalyst for this change in Professor Flora. The character Yohan Baker did not exist in the Legend Route. That was why even Yohan himself ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠couldn't fully grasp the synergy this character produced with others.

That was as far as he could speculate for now.

"You'll grant three requests. Is that true?"

"Of course, unreasonable things like raising your grades are impossible. I'll help with things I can realistically throw myself into. Not a bad deal, right?"

It wasn't merely "not bad." This was gold rolling up to his feet of its own accord.

Having said her piece, Flora stood.

"Well then, I have other students to meet, so I'll be going. I'll put in another request about this department building. No idea if it'll land."

Flora waved and left the Rogue Department building.

"He really is even more handsome up close."

The image of Yohan's faint smile wouldn't leave her mind. Flora carefully brought a hand to her lips.

Soft.

The memory of yesterday's impulsive prank rose again.

The prophecy of her close friend, Biblio Organ.

The keywords of the prophecy clearly pointed to Yohan. The kiss had been the final keyword. It had piqued Flora's interest.

Of course, Flora hadn't stolen Yohan's lips purely because of the prophecy, or out of curiosity.

Yohan was handsome. Not just handsome—insanely handsome. Among Academy students, Yohan's looks were a furiously hot topic.

"To think I was this shallow."

Flora Tepes.

It was a fact she was realizing for the first time, but Flora was an enormous face-lover.

The atmosphere was that of a storm having swept through. The Maiden of Thorns had left a short but heavy impact.

"Now that Professor Flora is gone...! Let's eat cakeee...!"

Reyna hadn't been entirely pleased by Professor Flora's appearance. She was one of the few professors who helped the Rogue Department in many ways, and Reyna was grateful for that—but if she took Yohan, that was another story.

She'd said that wasn't why she'd come, but you never really knew what was in a person's heart. How could Reyna know that the favor shown to Yohan wasn't a stepping stone toward kidnapping a student?

She needed to score points with Yohan. With that thought, Professor Reyna turned her gaze toward the snacks. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Nothing scored points quite like delicious treats.

"It's an expensive cake, so I'm sure you'll like it...!"

Reyna reached out with a pale hand and opened a cake box. What appeared before her eyes was shocking.

"Hiiiek...! Th-the cake has gone baddd...!"

Professor Reyna shot to her feet with a cry.

Something vividly green covering the cake.

Wasn't that mold?

"I trusted the owner and didn't even check the product...! The cake went bad in just a single day...! This is definitely a defective product...! And this was a recommended item...!?"

Her grand plan to pull attention back from Professor Flora with a cake offering shattered the moment she saw it.

"Um... Professor Reyna. This is definitely..."

"To think he'd deceive me...! That shop owner was definitely bald...! He must have gone bald because he deceived people and took unfair profits...! Since ancient times, baldness has been divine punishment visited upon the greedy...!"

"Professor. Did you by any chance buy this cake from a bakery called Dwarf's Hearth?"

At Yohan's question, Professor Reyna clenched both fists and cried out.

"That's righttt...! I was so excited because it's incredibly famous, but you really can't trust viral marketing...! A reputation built on fake news is this hollow...!"

Yohan smiled like he was having the time ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of his life. Sierra, on the other hand, looked restless, glancing at Yohan's face.

"Ehh!? Isn't Dwarf's Hearth that bakery that's hugely famous these days!? Our Janette Merchant Guild was even preparing a collaboration product with them... I suppose we'll have to reconsider that business..."

"This is matcha cake! It's not mold—it's green tea!"

Sierra, determined to clear things up, shouted at the top of her lungs.

"M-Matcha...?"

"It's an Eastern trade good. Professor Reyna, didn't you say you were from the East? And you don't know matcha?"

"I-I'm a coffee person, so... this is my first time seeing green tea..."

"Oho! Matcha is a trade good even our Janette Merchant Guild has trouble acquiring! Does that Dwarf's Hearth place have its own independent trade network?"

"There's no way they'd sell a moldy product. Yohan developed this himself. It's so good!"

Sierra cut a piece of cake with a fork and brought it to her mouth.

"Mmm~! That bitter-sweet flavor! Yohan really is a genius!"

At Sierra's display, Professor Reyna looked back and forth between the cake and Yohan.

"Wait! W-when you say Student Yohan developed it, you don't mean...?"

"Haha. That dwarf bakery. It's my father's shop."

"Hieeeeeh!? I-I'm so sorryyy...! I was talking complete nonsense...!"

Reyna offered Yohan an apology in the time-honored Eastern fashion: a full grand dogeza.

"It's fine. My father is bald, after all. I'm not, though. And he does seem pretty greedy. I'm not, though."

"B-baldness was originally a symbol of vitality...! I heard every harem master was bald...! It's not all bad...!"

The atmosphere stayed as noisy as a marketplace. The clamor settled as they shared the cake. Delicious food has a magic that softens a room.

"Student Yohan...! I'm truly sorry for what I said earlier...! Please just think of it as garbage rolling around talking nonsense...!"

"Hmm. Professor, your self-evaluation is way too low. I'm really fine."

To the professor who kept apologizing, Yohan held out the grayish egg he'd brought and spoke.

"If you're that sorry, could you appraise this egg for me?"

"An egg...? It looks a little unusual..."

Reyna poured sharpness into her hazy eyes and examined the egg Yohan had brought.

Sierra and Elly watched with fascination. In an instant, Professor Reyna's entire atmosphere changed. Just from her eyes, she seemed like a completely different person.

"This is..."

After observing the egg for about five minutes, Professor Reyna carefully opened her mouth.