There's No Reasoning With Her

“What… are you talking about? That I deliberately tanked the exams?”

Amelia’s eyes went wide for only a moment before she looked away.

“I thought I’d been dropping enough hints,” I said.

I had told her, if only indirectly, that I already knew.

“I mentioned it earlier, too.”

Something more fundamental might be the problem. Willpower, for example.

…A fundamental problem, you say. By the way, Hasgard.

She had been the one changing the subject from the start. She had diverted attention that way even before I could. And not only today. Even when we first met.

I’m not showing grades good enough to get your hopes up, you know….

She had said “not showing.” Not that she “couldn’t show.”

The status window I could see—her stats were all A. A perfect hexagon. Strength, Intelligence, Luck, and every other ability. None of them had reached S, but she was hardly material for dead last in the entire school. Intelligence especially. Considering that Laward’s Intelligence stat, when I had raised him in the game, had been F, the gap was the difference between the Stone Age and the space age. I had known roughly even before I could see statuses. I could confirm it for certain only now, but as someone who had seen the hidden ending—

Her thoughtful expression was just like an armchair detective’s. Being the lowest in the second year felt like a lie.

That’s right. It had been a lie.

“How long have you known?”

I could hardly answer that I had unlocked my second privilege and could now see every status, or that this world was actually a game I had played. But I had things to say without revealing my secrets.

“I’ve known from the beginning. Why else would I have said I expected something from the school’s dead last?”

“True, I did think you were a strange one even then… but at the time I figured you were a pervert who only went after stupid girls.”

I see. Even with affection at ninety-nine, she was the kind of woman who could trash-talk the other party.

“…The decisive moment was just now. When you threw the report card.”

“The report card?”

“Throwing it itself was fine. It really did look like you were furious about the grades. But I caught a glimpse of the warning the teachers had written underneath.”

At the mention of the warning, Amelia’s expression hardened a fraction.

“This is as far as we look the other way.”

Every teacher had written something like that—the teachers who had taught her for two years.

“It’s not as if you cheated. You simply did poorly on the tests. Why would they write that?”

“……”

“It seems I’m not the only one who knows.”

Two years. More than enough time to notice something suspicious.

“Your Highness’s complaints were aimed at the teachers, weren’t they?”

“Heh… Is that so?”

Seeing Amelia laugh, it seemed she no longer intended to make excuses.

“So it’s already visible to you.”

At the words “already visible,” the true-ending CG from last time flashed through my mind. I forced the thought away and cleared my throat.

“Is it that dangerous? Dangerous enough that if you don’t play the fool, your life will be targeted?”

“Hmm. Something like that.”

Amelia said it lightly, with a shameless air. She might have her life taken by her family—by her brothers and sisters. It was not light at all. I had been grateful to be born the third son of a count’s house and spared any succession fight, but that was only because my family was special. This was not some forgotten noble house. This was the royal family. Moreover, at the very moment the king was trying to step down for the next generation. How could she not be anxious?

“It was all because of the palace intrigues, then. When I said you might have become a target of the Death God Cult, and you said that was actually better.”

“Yes.”

“And when you said you had no trustworthy guards.”

“…Yes.”

Amelia quietly nodded.

“So you remember. Even though I said it in passing.”

“I found it suspicious even then. It didn’t pass by at all.”

Rather, she was the one who had made me care about it. Even the phrase “said it in passing” felt like a lie.

“Yes. That’s how it is. Saying it was better to be ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠targeted by the Death God Cult. Keeping the guards at a distance because I didn’t trust them. And—”

Amelia raised a finger and pointed straight at my face.

“And thinking specially of you, who cowardly saved me at just such a time.”

She raised her voice with confidence, but in the end it lowered again.

“…None of it was for no reason.”

She then muttered something incomprehensible: “Though I don’t know who’s the cowardly one here….”

“Is Your Highness… taking refuge at the Academy until the succession is decided?”

“Refuge…? No. As I said, I was cast out before that. Being careful with my person in the meantime is the right move, though.”

She twitched her shoulders as if the word “refuge” irked her.

“My name isn’t among the candidates the feudal lords will vote for.”

Vote? The feudal lords voted for the next king?

“I lost the right of succession as punishment for helping my brother in the first place. Having that ring is what lets the feudal lords recognize someone as a successor—that’s the kingdom’s tradition.”

Even if she talked about tradition as if I already knew, I had no idea. She was underestimating someone who had become a shut-in the moment he arrived in this other world. Spending three years holed up at home was not something just anyone could do. But just now….

Had she said a ring?

“Yes. A ring. A mark of royalty—specifically, of a successor.”

Huh? That ring had that much backstory? That thing… was sold in the shop for 1,500 coins….

Come to think of it, something was strange. The ring Amelia mentioned was the reward for clearing Ending 15—Amelia’s true ending. It had also been made available for purchase with coins for players who skipped that ending. At the point of Ending 15, Amelia already possessed the ring. Obtaining it for her had probably been a major part of Laward’s story. I could simply buy it from the shop… but originally it would have been something earned through a great deal of effort.

The strange point was the Fourth Prince, Kairon. The true ending—literally the official history, the ending in which she became the official wife. In that one, Amelia did not die. Even on the brink of ruin she achieved true love. Then why did Kairon fall to the dark side? Why did he join the Death God Cult? As I thought—it was not that route. It was the harem-failure route. Endings 26 through 29. Among them, Ending 27: Declaration of War. That was the ending in which Amelia fell and even Kairon became a villain. Just like the ending in which another me had seduced Ester ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and burned the world, once again a heroine and a villain joined hands. Five heroines. Five villains. Making them match like that did not seem like a coincidence either.

All of Amelia’s romance endings were closed, but as long as that landmine ending remained open I could never let my guard down. However—conversely, if I locked that ending early, the possibility of Kairon becoming a villain became zero. With that alone I could neutralize the Death God Cult’s fighting strength. The Five Lanterns of the Death God Cult were no pushovers. They were so powerful that one could argue the true cause of the ruin had been them rather than the Necromancer. The moment I thought that, several detestable faces seemed to flash before my eyes.

……So I had to do it after all?

“Ugh.”

A battle for the throne…. Did I have to throw myself into something of that scale all of a sudden…? My stomach churned. A world that could never be saved as a paladin on the frontier. In the end, was it something I had to willingly take on—an incident with a nation’s fate riding on it—if I wanted to stop it? Royalty, feudal lords, and the forces supporting the candidates. Just imagining the people I would have to face if I helped Amelia made it hard to breathe.

Laward had reached the hidden ending even while skipping ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the throne-succession story. But that was only the story from the protagonist’s point of view. Naturally there were people and stories even where the protagonist was not. Just as I had been in my previous life. Laward did not have to participate in that event, but that did not mean I could ignore it either. The hidden ending had been a case in which Amelia won even without the protagonist’s intervention—a slim probability that had come true.

“Do I… really have to do it after all?”

I tried to think of ways to avoid it somehow, but they crumbled one after another. I had especially helped Amelia because she was royalty, and had tried to send her back to the royal family quickly. That was also why I had shared information about the Death God Cult—to get the royal family involved. But it turned out Amelia was a rotting vine. Something thin and weak that snapped if you grabbed it. A prince hated by the royal family and a princess stripped of her qualifications and cast out—that was what they were. One of Amelia’s endings had been Even If I Abandon the Royal Family, and that suddenly came to mind. Had it been a story in which she left the royal family entirely and farmed with Laward or something?

“I can’t do that….”

In any case I had already maxed out her affection. She was a student I was raising. For that reason alone, I could not give up. Yes. In the end I had to become one. A kingmaker.

First, I needed to earn coins. That was the only way to get back the ring that had been taken from Amelia. I opened the system window and rummaged through the challenge list. Let’s see. Find ones I could complete quickly and easily first. Hmm. The challenges I had seen last time inevitably caught my eye.

These looked easy yet paid quite a few coins. Not enough to gather 1,500 on their own, but considering that clearing a single ending dropped only 50 coins, they were fairly lucrative.

“Shall I start with the easy ones?”

And so, Wednesday, the break after third period. I arrived in front of the nurse’s office. Usually school ghost stories followed the rule of midnight, but this one was oddly set at third period. It was broad daylight. Wasn’t this a time of day lacking the sensitivity for a ghost to pop out? Whatever it was, I had no choice but to check. Ghosts were related to the dead, so it might be a clue about the undead. And among the Five Lanterns, there had been one—a ghost. Decisive clues were sometimes hidden in unexpected places.

I resolved not to be surprised no matter what came out from inside. Then—

Rattle— bang!

I flung the door open in one go.

“Waaaaah!”

“Kyaaah!”

Instantly, a man and a woman’s screams rang out from inside the “nurse’s office.” The students hurriedly snatched up their clothes and scrambled out the back door. A dim classroom. Curtains carefully drawn. A man and woman who had fled at the sound of someone approaching. I…. What had I just seen…? I had resolved not to be surprised no matter what came out, but I simply couldn’t. Suddenly Commander Blash’s words came to mind.

“F-fifty-five percent….”

Was that statistic actually real? The sudden mental shock made me want to sink to the floor. As I staggered with my head in my hands—

Swish—

Another bed’s curtain was flung open.

“Fwaaah….”

Along with that now-familiar lethargic voice.

“Oh. Karma-nim.”

There was only one female student who called me that. Why was she here too?

“Because ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠there’s a bed.”

Lucia stated something that was not natural as if it were the most obvious fact in the world.

“Wherever there’s a bed, there’s Lucia. Last time Lucia was even in Karma-nim’s bed….”

“Stop.”

“Yes.”

“More importantly, something like that just happened, and you were just sleeping?”

“Something happened?”

If she asked like that, I could not answer straight. I vaguely glossed over the situation.

“Ah. I was asleep so I didn’t notice at all. Aww, what a waste.”

“It wasn’t a particularly pleasant sight. If their parents found out….”

“It happens sometimes, so it’s fine. This is the nurse’s office, after all.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

It was a reply that nearly made me forget Daywin the noble’s way of speaking.

“It’s the nurse’s office, so… health practice?”

“…I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”

Careful. Get a grip. There was no reasoning with her. They said that if a person stayed up all night, their cognitive ability dropped to the level of a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08 percent. So it was no exaggeration to say Lucia was always drunk. A drunkard if there ever was one. As I pressed my forehead at the shocking remark, Lucia quietly sat on the edge of the bed.

“You look tired. Want to sit here?”

Pat, pat. Lucia patted the spot beside her.

“I’ll pass.”

“You’re surprisingly bashful.”

“Don’t you think you’re the abnormal one?”

“Fwaah. Then I’d better get up for today.”

For today? Did that mean this was not the first time she had slept here? The moment I realized it, a soft ding sounded and the challenge completed, awarding three hundred coins.

“……”

So that was it. The true identity of the nurse’s office ghost. I had a feeling I was raising the heroines all wrong.