There's No Tree That Won't Fall After Ten Chops
They say there's no tree that won't fall after ten chops, right?
The atmosphere among the students crowding into the old classroom turned solemn.
Ester felt their gazes pierce her like arrows.
Bundles of pitying looks flew her way.
The girl once called the Academy's Goddess had let the other students witness her broken state.
I… got rejected?
Ester murmured blankly to herself.
No matter how many times she repeated it, she could not grasp the situation she was in.
—I find you repulsive.
It wasn't merely a rejection.
She had confessed she was romantically interested, and what came back was the word "repulsive."
The exchange rate was abysmal.
The numbers didn't add up.
…This isn't right.
It had been her first confession.
Before that confession, she had never even felt attraction toward the opposite sex.
Men had always trailed after her even when she did nothing; they declared their feelings of their own accord.
And yet the first man she had ever developed feelings for—she had laid her heart bare to him.
—It would be best if you stay out of my sight from now on.
Laward had been nothing but cold.
He had poured out sharp words of pure disgust.
It was as if he were telling her to go die of shame right there—cruel.
That can't be. Something must have happened to Laward today. That's why… he acted that way.
Ester shook her head.
She couldn't possibly lack charm.
There was no way she could fail to conquer a man.
She denied reality.
I-I'll talk to him again tomorrow…. Something unpleasant must have happened to him today….
And so, the next day.
Ester slowly approached Laward as he sat in the classroom reviewing swordsmanship theory.
The very back seat.
Even during the noisy break, Laward remained alone, immersed in his studies—and he looked splendid again today.
His ceaseless effort and focus toward a clear goal drew Ester in once more.
"Laward, I'm sorry for suddenly saying those things yesterday. If you have time, maybe we could talk again today…."
He stood up abruptly, textbook in hand.
"Excuse me? I was talking to you…."
Ester called after him, but Laward left the classroom with a scowl on his face.
He ignored her completely.
"…Eh."
She froze in place once again.
Of course, once more, it was right in front of the other students watching her.
I won't… give up.
Second rejection.
She had reached the point of overcoming her shame through sheer stubbornness.
Some time later still.
Ester finally decided to use her feminine wiles.
Her face, of course—and her figure as well—were her confident winning strategies.
Her last resort.
Her trump card.
In short, her ultimate technique.
She casually undid the front of her uniform, emphasizing the curves of her body.
Normally she fastened every button tightly and even wore her necktie snug, but today she left two buttons open.
Someone might say it was only two, yet for a girl of her usual proper conduct it was a massive deviation that all but denied her entire life up to that point.
Even knowing it was a uniform violation.
By now, Ester saw nothing else.
After all, forbidden techniques were all the more powerful.
"Ah, it's hot…. It's really too hot today…. Don't you think so?"
She fanned her chest with her hand while glancing sideways at Laward.
Laward looked at her and muttered,
"…Lowly lump of meat."
He grimaced.
"W-What?"
Even after that, she never gave up until the end.
She continuously appealed to Laward with her charms.
Her methods even evolved into something more blatant, yet the results were disastrous.
Meanwhile, male students who called themselves Ester's fans existed at the Academy.
They trailed after her, secretly stealing glances at her back.
Following Ester around was the same as before the confession incident.
But—
"So… Ester. What kind of defeat will you show us today?"
At some point they had begun to feel a strange thrill at the sight of Ester being pitifully rejected.
They had awakened to an irreversible taste.
"Shh, quiet. It's starting. The tenth confession."
"What's today's concept?"
Today's confession concept was the domestic woman.
That morning, Ester sought out Laward as he honed his sword at the training grounds.
Today he would not be able to ignore her.
She had prepared a lunch box with her own hands.
Clutching the cloth-wrapped lunch tightly, she approached from behind him.
Even to her own eyes, the idea of making a lunch was perfect.
Men were weak to domestic women, as a rule.
She had staged the scene of preparing a healthy meal for the hardworking him and looking after his meals herself.
Heh heh….
Above all, it was a strategy that could deeply impress upon him that Ester—who was cold to every other man—thought of Laward alone as special.
Since a lunch implied considerable effort, it also carried the meaning that she had woken early and carefully prepared it thinking only of him.
The lunch was an undefeated strategy and the key to victory.
With a confident air, Ester held out the lunch box.
"Laward, you're working hard first thing in the morning."
Laward looked back at her with an annoyed gaze, but that was not enough to cow her.
She had already been rejected nine times.
A look of contempt had become as ordinary as a morning greeting.
"If you use your body from the morning, you need a solid lunch. This is… I made mine this morning and ended up with some left over… s-so I brought it."
She had meant to say honestly that she had worked hard for him, but the words were too embarrassing and she swallowed them back down.
"I'm rather confident in my cooking, you know? I prepared five side dishes, all good for the body. You won't be disappointed…."
Laward ignored Ester and rummaged through his bag.
He pulled out a roughly formed rice ball and chewed it like a beast.
"I'll manage on my own."
Laward discarded the five-compartment lunch Ester had poured her heart into and shoved the barely edible rice ball into his mouth.
"I told you to stay out of my sight."
…Ester swallowed her tears and turned away.
"That's our Ester. Rejected again today."
"Ahh… it burns…. That teary face of hers sets me on fire…."
The self-proclaimed Ester Fan Club.
They had become a gathering of perverts who observed the spectacle of the proud Ester being futilely rejected by Laward.
003
I set out for the Academy.
It was a long way from our home, the Hasgard Viscountcy, but the time had come to meet the heroines.
I believed Laward had distanced himself from them by training toward becoming a Holy Knight, yet I could not rest easy until I saw it with my own eyes.
The thirtieth ending: Paradise.
The route in which Laward conquers all five heroines.
I had experienced that worst possible conclusion, after all.
I must not let my guard down.
While I had been among those pure-hearted men who preserved their chastity so they might go to paradise after death, I was the one who had tasted true paradise.
The game my junior created contained a total of thirty-one endings.
Like some ice-cream specialty shop, thirty-one varieties had been prepared.
Five heroines, five endings each.
Five times five is twenty-five.
On top of that, five more harem routes.
Add them up and you get thirty.
Plus one hidden ending.
Thus, thirty-one.
Laward meets the female characters in order.
And not just any women—women who develop feelings for Laward.
As long as this world is a beautiful-girl dating simulation game, it is only natural that the heroines fall for the protagonist.
Each loves for her own reasons.
The story flows exactly as the developers intended.
With designed narratives and soul-filled illustrations, they ask the player:
Look carefully. There are five heroines with all sorts of charms.
They say they like you.
Cute, right? Pretty, right?
So, which one will you conquer?
Oh, and by the way—
There's also the option of conquering them all.
—Something like that.
Moreover, around this time Ester's confession event should have occurred.
The first heroine, Ester.
As the first, Ester was designed to seize the player's attention and make them interested in the scenario.
In other words—
She was the character the developers had "put effort into."
They made her steal hearts with beauty that no amount of words could adequately express.
Radiantly shining eyes.
Silver hair that spread a mysterious, fantastical atmosphere.
A figure that looked like it belonged in a sculptor's masterpiece.
The honorific-using tsundere classmate attribute.
Against such an Ester… would the protagonist—who had been so woman-crazy that he cleared the harem route on a single try—have held out without being conquered?
From the letter alone it seemed he cared for nothing but the Goddess, but one never knew what was inside.
I would go myself.
Go and see with my own eyes.
I was an extra, and my status was not one that could become an Academy student or teacher.
Yet the method that would let me watch the heroines up close and intervene was a scholarship.
In other words—
Becoming a sponsor.
"You wish to provide scholarships to our students?"
The Academy teacher's question.
She was the one Academy teacher character I had liked when I played the game.
Unlike the heroines whose ages were hidden as "XX years old," she was clearly set as a woman in her thirties.
I was lucky.
Today I almost wanted to acknowledge the existence of goddesses.
Long, straight red hair.
A mature impression the kids could never reach.
Her wrinkle-free skin made her look young at a glance, yet the atmosphere itself was different.
I could proudly claim I had a radar that picked up the unique aura of older women.
Had I mentioned that a succubus changes form to match its prey's ideal type?
……She looked exactly like the succubus from back then.
More precisely, the succubus had transformed into this Academy teacher, but the lewd atmosphere of that day rose up and I felt a little flushed.
It would not have been strange if Chris appeared right then and cut my head off.
I would have been fine with being seduced first.
Better finish the main business quickly and start making a move.
First, ask her name.
In the game, even her name never appeared.
Avoiding the apocalypse and preventing the fall of my house were important, but this life I had the right to be happy.
As a Holy Knight I had run hard, yet lived as if I had nothing.
This time, for sure.
"Yes. The Hasgard family intends to sponsor five students."
I calmly traded on the Viscountcy's name.
The financial side already had my father's permission, and I had saved enough money to cover five people with ease.
The head of Hasgard—my father—had always said that giving was the most noble thing a noble could do.
He had also been the one most delighted when I said I would sponsor students.
"I see. Then… shall we use academic performance as the criterion?"
The Academy teacher asked as she tucked her long hair behind her ear.
The question was secondary; that small gesture spread a fragrance mingling spring flowers, grass, and fresh soap.
Damn it. Calm down.
Don't let every little gesture like that toy with your five senses.
I may have lived as a pure Holy Knight, but what am I, a middle-schooler?
"No."
I yanked my sanity back into place and spoke firmly.
"Actually, I looked into the students a little. The ones I wish to sponsor are Ester."
And the remaining heroines.
"Lucia, Amelia, Veronica, Rebecca. Those five."
"They're all… female students?"
Huh.
The look in the teacher's eyes as she regarded me changed in a flash.
Was she seeing me as a common Viscountcy wastrel?
As trash who used status and wealth to lust after beautiful girls?
Troublesome.
I may not look it, but I was a Holy Knight.
A noble and pure Holy Knight.
Respected by my comrades and recognized by my superiors.
—Haa, I am not the captain's backpack. Please get a grip. Don't you feel sorry for the person who gifted the captain a famous sword? How many times is this that you've left your sword behind…. O God, please watch over the captain….
—Daywin, if you wanted more food you should have said so…. Because you used my name at the mess hall and ate two servings, I went hungry for dinner tonight. Daywin, how about showing a little respect to me, a bishop?
…Trivial old frictions I had forgotten suddenly floated up.
Sorry, Chris.
My apologies, Your Excellency the Bishop.
"As you said, they are all female students… is there a problem?"
"Hmm…. It might be a matter of fairness. The students you named are all."
She put emphasis on the word "all."
"Not performing well academically."
That was true.
The heroines' grades were terrible.
The story of the top student of the entire school meeting the bottom of the class, that sort of thing.
From the moment of enrollment, top-ranked Laward and the heroines fighting for the lowest ranks—that was their bond.
Yet all of them possessed tremendous potential.
It simply remained hidden until the player discovered it.
Discovering and drawing out that potential while earning the heroines' affection was the main narrative and goal of the game.
"So I'd like to carefully recommend someone. How about Laward of the Sword Department, who took first place in this year's entrance exam? Given his family circumstances, Laward is the one who needs a scholarship, and as the top student the justification is ample."
She cleared her throat and continued.
Somehow the sticky voice of a succubus seemed to overlap with hers.
"And yet you insist on sponsoring only the female students with low grades?"
"…That is correct."
Faced with a confirmation-kill of a question, I had no choice but to affirm.
"Ah…. Yes…."
The Academy teacher nodded awkwardly.
The glance I caught in passing grew even fiercer.
Ahh.
She was definitely looking at me like a wastrel.
She was absolutely viewing me as trash.
Beautiful Teacher–Daywin ending: locked.
Unconquerable.
No save point I can return to… exists.
It can't be helped.
At this rate, not only would I fail to dispel her suspicions, even getting close to the heroines would become impossible.
In the end—
"I am the one who recommended that Laward to the Academy."
I told the truth.
"Oh… really?"
Her eyes went wide.
She asked me to wait a moment, then rummaged through various documents.
"You're right!"
She fluttered a sheet of paper and her expression changed.
Her attitude shifted noticeably.
Well, of course.
Someone who suddenly insisted on sponsoring only the five lowest-ranked female students would look completely different from someone who discovered a genius in the slums and recommended him for Academy admission.
"Then the conversation… changes. Clearly, you must be a person of discernment."
She glanced at me, then stamped the sponsorship certificate with a solid thunk.
"I'll deliver this to the headmaster right away."
"Would it be all right if I met them once?"
"The headmaster?"
"No, the students."
Why would I want to meet that old man.
"I would like to convey the scholarship news in person."
"Ah, yes. Knowing where the money comes from should motivate the students as well. However, Amelia won't be particularly happy about a scholarship. She might even take offense. That is a bit…."
She casually extended her index finger and pointed upward.
"She's our student now, but originally she was someone of very high rank."
"I understand. I'll meet them in order starting from the first-years."
"Yes, for first-years the first would be Ester. Ester is…."
She trailed off mid-sentence and her expression changed.
Worry clouded her face.
"…Of all people, the first has to be Ester."
Of all people?
Wasn't Ester a student with excellent reputation among both students and teachers?
Her academic performance was somewhat disappointing, but she was proper and sharp in her conduct.
I clearly remembered that setting, yet the teacher's face was thoroughly awkward.
"Is there some problem with the student?"
"Ah, no."
She made a thoughtful sound and paused for a moment.
"…You'll understand once you meet her."
Walking down the corridor to meet Ester, anxiety accompanied me.
Because of the sudden worry that rushed in, I ultimately failed to ask her name.
"Nice to meet you, Ester. I've come to inform you that you have been selected as a scholarship student."
"Yes…."
Ester sat on the sofa staring blankly at the ceiling.
"I've… been selected as a scholarship student…."
It was a voice from which the soul had completely drained away.
"Why me? I'm nothing but a lowly lump of meat…."
Huh?
I felt a sense of dissonance.
This was not the Ester I knew.
Ester had always been a confident character.
Sometimes excessively so, yet because that confidence was based on ability, it was never unpleasant—that kind of character.
Ester merely stared vacantly through the patterns on the ceiling with empty eyes.
Where did the tsundere go?
"Why, you ask. Your grades are a little…."
Hmm.
If I state the truth too plainly she'll get hurt.
"A little disappointing… but I hear you have a good reputation with the teachers and are tremendously popular among the students. You even seem to have a grand nickname. The Academy's Goddess, was it?"
"H-Hic!"
In that instant she flinched hard.
"What's wrong?"
Did I remember the setting wrong?
"N-Nothing…. Just… suddenly…."
"Anyway, the students are rather childish. Calling someone a goddess."
"H-Hwaa!"
Every time I called her Goddess, Ester overreacted.
As if I had pressed some button, she jumped up from her seat.
What's with this kid…?