The Last Heroine
“The joint athletic meet. Ah, you mean the Dowon Festival.”
The chairman spoke in a gentle tone.
A spacious chairman’s office, plush sofas, warm tea. The place had grown as comfortable as a lounge by now.
“That’s the name of the joint athletic meet. The Dowon Festival. Quite a historic event. Our Academy, the Military Academy, and the Theological School—three institutions gather every year to hold the competition.”
Three schools. And Dowon. The motif behind the name was easy enough to guess. It came not only from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms but from the very name of the club they had belonged to. Computer science, art, music—students from three different departments banding together to make a game, some for a job portfolio. Dowon. He had been a member himself; there was no way he wouldn’t recognize it.
“Of course this year is no different. It’s in October. Interested?”
He would have preferred to ignore some kids’ event, but there was no helping it. Too many story events took place there. Lucia’s second ending—the one that had been locked last time—had also come from that festival.
“Ah, so you want to watch Laward shine at the Dowon Festival!”
The chairman spoke as if he had read Daywin’s mind.
Laward was growing faster than expected. The championship reward for the Dowon Festival was a one-rank increase in stats. It would give the boy wings.
“In the end, yes.”
“Excellent. First-years have no participation restrictions. If they wish, first-year students can even enter the main event of the Dowon Festival—the duels. Well… if it’s Laward, he’d be selected even if the quota were only one.”
“Interesting. What if everyone applies? Wouldn’t that make running the event difficult?”
“If everyone applies, they’ll simply get crushed by second- and third-years from the other schools and drop out in the preliminaries.”
The chairman delivered the cruel truth as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“A first-year who advances past the duel preliminaries appears maybe once a year, if that. No need to worry. Haha. The students assess their own skills objectively before applying. If they don’t, they just end up publicly humiliated.”
“I see. How many from the other years can participate?”
“It varies by event, but for the duels it’s four per year. Concurrent participation is allowed as well.”
“Four…”
That was more than enough to send Rebecca and Lucia as well. The championship prize was only one, so there was no need to put them all in the same event. Still, he could already picture the heroines’ reactions.
I’m absolutely doing the duels! It has to be a real-sword match or nothing!
Lucia finds that kind of thing tiring… Lord Karma, wouldn’t a duel where you fight one match and rest until the next one be better?
They would definitely say something like that. Lucia might even refuse to participate at all.
“Hmm…”
And there was one unresolved problem. Ending number seven. In that route, Laward had entered the hunting event together with Lucia. And Lucia had said this:
—Veronica’s back too.
The fifth heroine. The last heroine had been released from suspension. Meaning, by the October the chairman had mentioned, the problem child would return to school. Better to approach her in advance. Last time he had visited the shop where she worked part-time, but she had been out.
“Can Veronica participate?”
“Who?”
“A student I sponsor. Veronica of the third-year Magic Department. I heard she’s currently under suspension.”
“Ah.”
The chairman thought for a moment, then made a short sound. As expected, the name alone had brought nothing to mind, but the mention of suspension made him clap his hands lightly.
“That student… yes.”
He gauged Daywin’s expression and toyed with his teacup.
“It should be possible. Whether she has any will to participate in the first place, though…”
Trailing off like that was the chairman’s final comment on the matter.
It was time to wrap up the conversation. At the same time, it was the moment to raise the most important point. The rewards. The Dowon Festival’s prizes were not limited to one. Just as when he had opened Houndry’s vault, there were hidden rewards obtainable when certain conditions were met. The Laward Daywin had controlled in the game had won the duels as a third-year and claimed a hidden reward. Fortunately, the Intelligence stat had not been a requirement. The hidden reward definitely existed. This time, if things went well, he might even snatch the hidden rewards for three years running. A three-peat. …Though first he had to check whether a first-year victory was even possible. If the rank-up was a game-system reward, the other was physical. An item one could equip, like the Ring of Disguise.
“What are the prizes for this Dowon Festival?”
“Haha, even I don’t know. It’s not our turn this year. The host—the Military Academy—is preparing them.”
“So weapons or equipment, then?”
“Who knows. It could simply be prize money.”
“When it’s the Academy’s turn, I imagine you’ll put up the founder’s spear as the prize?”
“H-how did you…”
Because that was exactly what Daywin had received. The prize for the Dowon Festival Laward had contested as a third-year had been the founder’s spear.
“I’d only been thinking that myself… yet you hit it exactly. Normally we would never have taken it out of the memorial hall, but after the recent incident…”
“You intend to dispose of it because a dark history is attached?”
“No, that’s not… not… entirely untrue.”
He admitted it messily.
“Leaving it at our Academy would only be a trauma and fuel ominous rumors. Parents are already clamoring for the memorial hall to be blown up.”
“Still, its performance was thoroughly proven.”
“While cutting down students, yes…”
The chairman’s shoulders sagged.
“If we could, we’d love to dump—er, offer it as a prize this year.”
“I’m not sure students from the other schools would want it. It’s rather grim, isn’t it?”
“They probably will. Kids that age might like it precisely because of that.”
True enough. Just as there were those who loved famous blades, there were those who preferred cursed ones.
“And if an Academy student wins?”
“……”
The chairman froze halfway through lifting his teacup.
“I hadn’t considered that.”
This time the admission was clean.
“Of course it would be wonderful if we won, but the Military Academy and Theological School have always been too strong. We raise students; they raise soldiers. They’re no easy opponents. Frankly, we haven’t won in thirty-three years.”
“Sounds like a baseball team.”
“Come now. What team is that?”
…At least such a school existed right here.
“Even so, is it all right to stake a cultural artifact?”
“The other side is putting up cultural artifacts this year as well.”
“Huh?”
“Ah.”
The startled chairman clamped a hand over his mouth.
“You said you didn’t know.”
“…Apologies. There was a meeting last time and I overheard a little. Truly just a little. I know nothing beyond that.”
“Hmm, I see.”
The chairman’s eyes truly looked as if further probing would yield not even a speck of dust, so Daywin left it there.
“There won’t be many items they treat as cultural artifacts in the first place.”
He might not have the exact answer, but he had at least obtained the answer bank.
Flip—
He turned the pages of the school life record he had borrowed from the Academy. The name written at the very top was Veronica. Veronica of the third-year Magic Department. Age, of course, XX. Place of origin: District 7. The same as Laward. Same district, same neighborhood. In other words, Veronica possessed the classic childhood-friend attribute that appeared with high probability in romantic comedies and school stories. Unlike the four heroines one met newly at the Academy, Veronica had grown up in the same neighborhood as Laward since childhood. Childhood-friend heroines rarely ended up with the protagonist in most stories, yet the destructive power packed into those four syllables was undeniable. Without even needing to turn the pages, one could infer their past. The two shared childhood memories. Common ground and trust already existed. Veronica had left their hometown first; long afterward they reunited by chance at the same school—as a first-year and a third-year. Had her suspension not been lifted in time, they might never have met again in their lives. How to express that special connection? She was the person who could shake Laward most easily. The fifth heroine. As the last heroine, she was the final boss.
Flip—
He brushed aside the uneasy thoughts and turned to the next page. ‘Specialties/Aptitudes.’ Unlike Rebecca’s, this one was clearly filled in. ‘Contracted with the Spirit of Abundance.’ Thus. An extremely rare Spiritist. On that point they would share common ground.
Flip—
Next page. ‘Disciplinary Record.’ The stain on the student file. Veronica was the only one whose entry was not blank…. Let’s find out how on earth she had received the heavy punishment of suspension.
‘Led gambling activities with monetary stakes on campus; suspended for one year in accordance with school regulations.’
…Let’s stop investigating.
By the time he slipped Veronica’s student record into his bag, he had arrived. It was the magic-tool shop where Veronica worked part-time, the place he had visited before. A storefront cluttered with chaotic banners and a beginner’s paint job. The interior would surely be even more of a mess. He took a breath that was almost a sigh and opened the door.
“Welcome—”
The shopkeeper’s languid voice, clad in a maid outfit, greeted him.
“Oh my— it’s been a while—”
The moment she saw his face her expression brightened with recognition. He hadn’t expected her to remember him.
“I trust you received the goods safely—”
She not only remembered his face.
“Lord Karma.”
She even knew his second identity. Startled, he turned his head; she merely shrugged.
“I know the address—”
Then she pointed with her chin at the ring on his finger.
“Looks like you didn’t know who made that—”
So the magic-tool craftsman who had created the Ring of Disguise was this woman…. If that was the case, her knowing Houndry’s hideout address made sense. Still, the Ring of Disguise was supposed to be an heirloom passed down through successive Karmas.
“Looking for something again today?”
While he was thinking she stepped closer and asked.
“Not an item. Is Veronica working today?”
“Veronica again—? She’s just clocked in, actually. She’s changing, so she’ll be out soon—”
She answered kindly, smiling with her eyes.
“But why have you been looking for Veronica since last time—?”
“I’m using the item well. It’s pretty useful.”
He blatantly changed the subject. His real intention was to build a connection before the joint athletic meet—the Dowon Festival—and get her to participate, but there seemed no need to say so.
“That’s a relief—”
She seemed to sense he had no intention of answering, yet let it pass naturally. Knowing he was Karma, she probably understood he had plenty of secrets.
“Please come again. The magic tools I make are cheap and perform well—”
“I will.”
Just as he nodded—
Clack!
The staff break-room door slammed open roughly. Ash-gray hair swayed with the motion. Veronica glared at the shopkeeper with wide, strikingly unusual eyes that mixed green and purple.
“Boss! It’s gotten even smaller again!”
She pointed at the waist of her maid uniform and shouted. He hadn’t meant to look, but her waist was cinched so tightly that the graceful curve stood out. On top of that, the white stockings she wore were patterned fishnets; no matter how one looked at them, this was no ordinary maid uniform meant for household labor.
“Oh my— was it—?”
“Why do you keep altering my uniform without asking?!”
“But it suits you so well— I hired you so I could dress you up to my taste in the first place.”
“I’m not some doll…”
Veronica raised her voice further, then seemed to notice another presence and turned her head. Those unique eyes locked onto Daywin’s face.
“Ah, a customer…”
“Yes, say hello— this is Lord Karma.”
What? He had come as an Academy sponsor, yet she was freely introducing him by that name.
“Karma?”
Veronica tilted her head a little, then smirked and walked toward him.
“I expected a tougher-looking mug. You’re surprisingly pretty.”
She pointed a finger at him as she spoke.
Hmm. Talking down to him when they’d only just met.
“Talking down to me when we’ve only just met?”
He ended up saying exactly what he’d been thinking. Yet she only drew even closer, unfazed.
“Who knew the face of that famous thug would be this clean. Houndry might be more of a joke than I thought?”
She ignored his question and flicked her index finger through the air as if about to stroke his chin. Before he knew it she was right in front of him. Her speech, her manner—both utterly lacking in decorum. She was from the same slums as Laward. Unlike Laward, she still carried every habit from those days. Habits that would never be corrected without meeting a “respected teacher” who could change one’s life. She needed socialization training, just like Laward. With people from District 7, overwhelming them with force was more effective. That was what they were used to. That was the rule of the place.
Hah.
He drew a light breath. Then released mana.
CRAAAAASH!
Every window in the shop shattered at once, and the already chaotic display shelves collapsed with a roar. Yes—Karma. Since she had called him by that name, this was the perfect chance to educate her properly. He seized the finger of Veronica, who had staggered for a moment from the shockwave—the same finger she had been jabbing at him—and forced it to point straight at his own face.
“It’s Lord Karma.”
“Understood?”
Veronica nodded, just a tiny bit.