This Game Is Full of Contradictions

"How pathetic."

I'd expected it to some degree, but the whole thing was an even bigger mess than I'd thought.

That bloody wreck rolling around on the floor was Laward, of all people.

For someone who'd been hailed as the top of his class, a rising star, he was a sorry sight.

"Getting wrecked by a guy with one arm—what the hell were you thinking, Laward?"

Ah. Right.

Blash was right there. Better watch my mouth.

I wanted nothing more than to tear into Laward, but I still needed to sell him to Blash. Might as well be the one to throw the poor bastard a bone while he was face-down in the dirt.

"Ahem… well… knowing how honest you are, you probably fought without using one of your own arms, too…"

The moment the words left my mouth, Blash whipped around to stare at me.

…Alright, maybe that was a stretch even for me.

"To think…! Even in a life-or-death struggle, he would make such a noble choice…"

Huh.

Apparently it worked on this stiff-necked knight commander.

Sizzle—

Then, through a haze of acrid smoke, the undead's head regenerated and reappeared.

Regeneration. A disgusting trait.

"Just as the texts described…"

Blash nodded with a grave expression.

Is that so. The texts, huh.

I've seen this so many times I could throw up.

"Ugh…"

As I grimaced, I felt a gaze on me.

"Sponsor…"

It was Esther, her face on the verge of tears.

She looked so utterly exhausted that dark circles like Lucia's seemed ready to settle under her eyes any second.

"It was so dangerous… Thank goodness no one…"

She glanced around at the first-year students who had been revived from pools of their own blood, as if to show me the proof.

I'd seen it before, but every time, her healing surpassed expectations.

Why would anyone even bother becoming undead?

With Esther around, you simply don't die.

"While Laward was fighting over there, what were you doing?"

"Pardon? Well… this is the only thing I can do…"

"That's not it."

At my firm reply, Esther lifted her head with a look of injustice.

"I had no choice. Even if you say I should have fought alongside him…"

"That's not what I mean. Have you already forgotten what I told you the first time we met?"

"I could never forget! The words you spoke to me that day—I still hold them close to my he…art. Because of them, I found the courage to…"

"Not that either. Think carefully."

I pointed to the warm light gathering at Esther's fingertips.

"I told you. Recovery magic has another function."

I'd casually mentioned it once—an official setting of the game, and something I'd witnessed firsthand in my previous life.

Recovery magic regenerates humans.

And destroys the undead.

At the time, Esther had insisted that undead didn't exist. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠But the situation had changed.

They were right in front of us.

A race wiped out a century ago had returned.

And the hero who had led that victory had suffered the humiliation of becoming one of them.

"So go ahead. Do what you do best."

I gave her shoulder a firm pat.

Then I said again the words I'd spoken once before.

"You can do this."

Her eyes flew wide open.

Pupils that seemed to hold the dawn itself.

Those glittering eyes truly looked as if light were rising within them.

She nodded slowly.

Then she walked forward.

Sizzle—

The undead, sporting its brand-new head, started walking too—dragging Laward along by the ankle he still had clamped in its grip.

And just as the creature raised its spear—

Esther's lips parted.

"Heal."

Ziiing!

The undead's bleached bones flared with brilliant light.

For a brief moment, you could clearly see mana flooding into them like a wick being saturated—

CRACK!

The creature shattered into pieces and scattered.

In a single, almost anticlimactic instant, she had blown it apart.

At the same time, the condition that Laward protect Esther became impossible to fulfill.

With a power gap like this, the reverse was true.

Esther was the one protecting Laward.

"Ah."

Glittering bone dust fell like a meteor shower.

"Of course…"

Laward muttered from where he lay sprawled in an undignified heap, staring at the sparkling powder before his eyes.

Esther, now trained in recovery magic, was nothing like the girl from the entrance exam.

He'd known her mana pool was overwhelming, but he'd never dreamed she could pulverize something this thoroughly in a single strike.

"My instincts really never fail me…"

Part of him had hoped they would, this time.

Laward slammed his forehead into the ground again.

If there had been a rat hole nearby, he would have crawled into it.

Daywin and Blash were approaching.

Blash had never even known Laward existed to begin with, but Daywin had been trying to showcase him to the commander.

And when the chance to prove himself finally came, Esther was the only one who shone.

"Top of the class, my ass."

The complete opposite of the entrance exam—this time, Laward had only made Esther look better.

"What kind of Holy Knight am I?"

He drove his clenched fist into the ground.

"I still…"

Then, suddenly—

He saw the bone fragments scattered across the dirt begin to twitch and crawl.

"This is no time for despair, Laward."

Daywin's voice came from above his head.

"Take a good look. This is the enemy you and your people will face from now on."

Even with its entire body shattered, the creature was gathering itself back ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into one place.

Even after being blown apart, it was still trying to regenerate.

"Even for Esther, an F-Rank spell might not be enough."

Tsk.

Daywin clicked his tongue and summoned one more spirit.

A moment later—

BOOM!

Even those tiny fragments were detonated until not so much as a speck of dust remained.

"Well, Laward?"

This time, it was well and truly dead.

"Seems to me this little incident has made your destination—and your current position—perfectly clear."

Daywin looked down at him with half-lidded eyes.

"Master, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for disappointing you."

Laward got the apology out before Daywin could say anything more.

Given how obvious the disappointment was, the best he could do was not make excuses.

"You're still a first-year, second semester. Blash showing up was unexpected to begin with—a sudden event. Make the most of the time you have left until graduation."

The longer that voice went on, the harder Laward drove his fist into the ground, bitterness rising in his chest.

"It's not time for that yet."

The sword Daywin had given him—its blade reflected a face sunk in despair.

"Don't cry. It's unsightly."

It wasn't empty comfort.

I wasn't the type who was good at consoling people to begin with, and honestly, I thought this was for the best.

Considering that Chris—hailed as a genius of the same generation—had gone through his own middle-school-syndrome phase, taking a hard hit like this wasn't such a bad thing.

It was a shame Blash had no real interest in recruiting Laward, but that was a separate matter ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from the hidden ending.

It had no effect whatsoever on completing the hidden ending.

And I'd gained something, too.

After we returned to the Academy—

"Esther!"

Blash slapped Esther's school records down on the table with a grin.

Blash, Esther, and me.

One table, three chairs, the three of us seated around it.

"Esther Gray."

Blash suddenly called her by her full name.

"A subtle surname, that. Gray—neither black nor white. And yet you yourself still haven't found the middle ground! Your magic is either far too strong, or far too weak."

He was playing off her particular trait.

She'd found a workaround through recovery magic, but mana control was still beyond her.

Gray. Neither black nor white—the middle.

She wasn't living up to her name.

Meanwhile, I decided to feel a little ashamed that her name only made me think of polyester…

Speaking of names, it occurred to me that all the heroines had baptismal names.

And yet the one person who'd actually belonged to the Church in a past life was me—the one the developer designed as a villain.

This game really is full of contradictions.

"Still, it's a blessing you found your talent thanks to Daywin! Being able to use holy power means you're still a virgin, so the timing worked out wonderfully."

While I was lost in useless thoughts about names, Blash spat out something completely unhinged.

"Pardon? What are you…"

"Esther, wouldn't you agree?"

"Ah, th-that's… well… yes…"

Why are you answering that while looking embarrassed?

"Commander, you can't say crap like—I mean, things like that. It's dangerous. In more ways than one, we're already at critical levels of—"

"No, Daywin. This is important."

Important how, exactly?

More to the point—was he planning to keep going?

I was starting to get a genuinely bad feeling about this.

"According to recent statistics, fifty-five percent of Academy students give up their purity during their school years."

"Setting aside whether such a statistic even exists, why on earth would you look that up, Commander?"

"It most certainly exists. That's a five percent increase from five years ago."

"Right. And?"

"The remaining forty-five percent almost certainly didn't choose it freely—which means that among the students capable of dating, the vast majority abandon their purity!"

Blash wasn't just saying dangerous things now—he was saying cruel ones…

I didn't think area-of-effect attacks were his specialty…

"Only that forty-five percent represent potential talent for the Church, so I always keep an eye on those survey results. Without fail, every New Year, I check them."

"Ah. Yes. What vital information."

"In that sense, Miss Esther is a truly exceptional talent, Daywin. She could easily have chosen to date of her own free will, and yet she kept her purity in accordance with the Goddess's will."

Well…

As pretty as she was, Esther hadn't exactly chosen freely either.

More precisely, it had been Laward's "will."

Whatever. Can we please drop this topic…

"Anyway."

I deliberately raised my voice a little.

"It seems the Commander has high expectations of you, Esther."

"Th-thank you…"

Esther bowed her head politely.

"Hmm, no need to thank me! If anything, I'm the one who should be grateful."

Thwap—

Blash snapped Esther's records shut with a loud clap.

"Though the matter isn't settled yet."

"Isn't… settled?"

"Hmm. I think it would be best if Daywin explained this part himself."

Mid-sentence, he passed the baton to me.

I hadn't expected it, but if he was handing it over, I might as well take it.

"Esther, the Commander and I just came from a meeting with the Headmaster."

We had discussed her future in advance.

Of course, I was the one who knew her future far more precisely.

Especially now that I had the ability to examine it in detail—so I was also the one who had brought it up first.

Esther's fourth and fifth true endings could be seen in her second and third years, respectively.

I keep talking about intent, but this too was the developer's design.

Since Esther was the first heroine, if a player decided to pursue her route, there would be no need to see the other heroines.

So they placed her true ending in the third year, ensuring the player would meet the others and hear their stories along the way.

It was a structure any game player could understand well enough—but not anymore.

From my current position, no longer a player, it was nothing but a waste of time.

Nothing but dragging things out.

Now that I knew the surest way to clear an ending was to send a heroine outside the school—to make it physically impossible to meet her—

I had gone to see the Headmaster.

Setting aside the Headmaster, who was transparent as always, the important thing was that I'd secured a firm answer on the early graduation system.

"Esther."

And so I spoke again.

"There's nothing more for you to learn here."