One Genius Is Enough
No one knows how the world might have changed if the Necromancer’s Paradise had succeeded a hundred years ago.
As always, the winners decide what is right.
History belongs to the victors.
“…This is hard.”
“There’s no need to think about the hard things. Just focus on living your school life properly.”
And while you’re at it, listen to me a little better.
“‘You’?”
Veronica tilted her head as she asked, but he did not answer.
The train arrived at the marquis’s territory around dawn.
I returned to the lodging, caught up on a little more of the sleep I was missing, and then headed to the Academy.
“A duel at the Dowon Festival?”
We were sitting on a bench along the walking path when Rebecca’s face lit up in surprise.
“I’d love to! Master, you really believe in me!”
Originally I had no intention of putting the heroines into the duels.
I had planned to have them score points in other events and build their confidence that way.
After all, only the duel champion received the victory reward, and the only person who could even remotely stand against the other schools’ aces was Laward.
But then—
Hah! The Dowon Festival? That little scrap is nothing but child’s play!
The words of that bastard Hakan from the Military Academy kept replaying in my head.
The victory reward was important, of course, but I wanted to crush that guy for certain.
Laward still had the highest odds, yet the heroines were no pushovers either.
The duels were a tournament format.
Even if the heroines could not beat Hakan outright, they could still chip away at his stamina and mental fortitude.
“Heh heh…”
And if they injure him beforehand, even better.
“Master, your expression looks evil…”
“I hear next week’s Academy sports festival is the selection trial for the Dowon Festival. You’ll need to place among the top four second-years. Can you do it?”
“Of course!”
“No— you can’t.”
A third voice cut in.
Behind the bench, the school nurse Akikira poked her face out between Rebecca and me and fixed Rebecca with a steady stare.
Three blondes on one bench.
Rebecca froze with her fists still clenched in excitement.
“Absolutely not. You were carried into the infirmary not long ago—what are you even saying?”
“Th-that’s, Teacher! It’s not like that!”
“I told you to rest and recover, didn’t I? Do you even know what rest means?”
“But this is such a perfect opportunity!”
“Ah, this isn’t going to work.”
Snap—!
Akikira grabbed a wrist and started pulling.
“Huh?”
Not Rebecca’s—mine.
“T-Teacher? Why are you dragging Master…?”
“You stay right there!”
Akikira looked back over her shoulder and jabbed a finger downward at Rebecca.
A short while later, in a building alleyway, she shoved me against the wall.
We were close enough that one more step would have been a full wall-pin.
My heart’s racing a little here.
“Lord Daywin is Rebecca’s sponsor, correct?”
“That’s right.”
“How much do you know about Rebecca?”
“At least as much as what’s written in her student record…”
“Then you already know there are a lot of blank spaces.”
Akikira’s serious tone gradually calmed my heartbeat.
Tch.
I thought I was about to get a relationship event.
“You’re her sponsor, and she seems to trust you, so I’ll tell you.”
She let out a short sigh.
“Rebecca has no guardian.”
“Pardon?”
“She… has no parents.”
And that means what, exactly?
The only heroine who still has both parents is Ester, after all…
“Rebecca gets lonely easily, and because she grew up without parents, she desperately wants to look good in front of you. You’re the one who sponsored her when no one else expected anything of her. So she’ll push herself—even use the magic I forbade—if it means showing you only her best side.”
“What exactly are you trying to say?”
“Please let Rebecca graduate dead last.”
“What do you mean by that…?”
“She only needs to hold on for about one more year. She’s endured this long already.”
“You’re saying she should do nothing and simply graduate as she is.”
“Yes. I can’t go into detail, but for Rebecca’s sake, that is…”
“Because using magic makes Rebecca lose her memories?”
“…How do you know that?”
Well.
You can roughly figure it out from the ending previews, and it comes up in the hidden ending too.
Plus I overheard the two of them talking in the infirmary last time.
“Does Rebecca… know that you know, Lord Daywin?”
“She doesn’t. I haven’t let it show.”
“Why…?”
“Rebecca promised she would tell me herself in a month. About two weeks left now.”
Akikira looked a little surprised at that.
“Until I hear it from her own mouth, I have no intention of acting like I know.”
“…That’s the kind of thing that makes the kids…”
“Pardon?”
“No. It’s nothing…”
Akikira crossed her arms and tapped her elbow with a finger.
“Rebecca had swordsmanship and magic forced into her.”
After a moment of hesitation she spoke.
“Forced into her?”
“Lord Daywin, do you believe it’s possible to artificially create a genius?”
It felt like a continuation of the conversation I had with Veronica on the train.
Artificial slaves.
And artificial geniuses.
“I wouldn’t know.”
“Of course you wouldn’t. The Magic Tower tried to find that answer. It was a research project led by the royal family.”
“Creating a genius…”
“The research was half successful. Rebecca can handle every weapon, and every spell is inside her head. But her capacity wasn’t enough. The more massive information that poured in, the more information she had to forget.”
“And that information is Rebecca’s memories.”
Like the memory of a black box.
Delete the oldest data first.
Free up space.
“The erasure is still ongoing. The more she draws on the information the Magic Tower implanted…”
“Rebecca herself disappears.”
“Yes. If someone hadn’t rescued her with the resolve to stand against the royal family, the Rebecca we know would already be gone. The swordsmanship she uses now was learned after that, so it’s fine—but if you push her any harder she’ll end up using the magic and techniques the Tower stuffed into her, just like last time.”
“Are you certain?”
“What?”
“I mean, if she stays as she is now, is it certain she’ll be all right?”
“…For the time being, that’s the best we can do.”
“The best, you say.”
In the end, even Akikira spoke as though a complete cure was impossible.
“So please don’t let Rebecca overdo it. Wouldn’t it be a shame if we could never see that bright girl again?”
When I watched the hidden ending, I raised Rebecca as a mage and sent her to the front lines.
Back then I never even considered looking for a way to make her strong while preserving her memories.
I had no interest in stories about filling voids, overcoming conflict, and eventually succeeding at romance.
My only goal had been to reach the ending as fast as possible.
The Rebecca I raised poured everything into magical training and forgot not only herself but every sword art and weapon skill that had been implanted alongside the magic.
She became a heroine specialized solely in magic.
In Laward’s party from the hidden ending, there was a great mage—but there was no Rebecca.
Woooong—
I summoned a Light Spirit and floated it in front of Rebecca.
“This little guy will follow your sword and defend you.”
I pointed at the spirit flapping its wings and radiating light.
The buff I had placed on it was the same one I used when I faced Karma before.
Automatic defense mode for the spirit.
“Your task is to break through the spirit and attack me. Without using magic.”
Until I found a solution, I decided to cooperate with Akikira’s request.
“You’re not going to teach me the sword yourself, Master?”
Ah, right.
She still thinks I’m a swordsman…
“It’s not time yet. First, try breaking through this.”
“If I break through it, will you teach me?”
“Then you’ll have to face two of them. Break two and it’ll be three.”
“Eh…”
“Don’t rush, Rebecca.”
Whoosh—
I moved the spirit in a sharp dart.
“Even one won’t be easy.”
That was how I trained Rebecca—
and then it was the next heroine’s turn.
“Ugh… Do I really have to?”
Lucia hung her head low.
Her dark circles were deeper than usual.
“Lord Karma, don’t you think something like that doesn’t suit Lucia at all? Standing in the spotlight is scary…”
“You’re the one who said you wanted to make some memories before graduation.”
“The timing’s terrible. Lately the little ones won’t sleep and it’s exhausting. They’re past that age, too. If they take after me and become nocturnal, they’ll also take after me and never grow tall…”
“Didn’t you say you were looking for someone to take care of them?”
“I am looking. Thanks to you, Lord Karma, I have the money. But I think it’s the address. No one wants to become a maid in District 6…”
That makes sense.
No matter how high the pay, if the job is in the red-light district people are going to be suspicious first.
Unless they’re already used to that kind of neighborhood.
“Isn’t this your last chance to leave a real impression of school life? You don’t want to graduate like this either—no tournament records, bottom-of-the-class grades. Even if you give up on improving your grades, participating in the Dowon Festival will be a good experience.”
“Improving… grades? Lord Karma, what exactly does ‘improving grades’ mean? Doesn’t that sound incredibly lewd to you?”
What kind of insane nonsense is that?
“….”
“I’m joking. I’ll do it. You already know I can’t refuse an order from Lord Karma.”
“Right, that’s how you were raised…”
“I want to look good in front of you too, after all.”
…And that was how I persuaded Lucia as well.
Then the next heroine.
I didn’t particularly feel like going to Veronica in person again, so I sent a letter.
As soon as you return to school, prepare to participate in the Dowon Festival.
— Daywin Hasgard
That was all I wrote.
“Master… Did I do something wrong…?”
Finally, Laward’s turn.
“You didn’t do anything wrong.”
I just went and saw a bastard named Hakan who has a nature similar to yours.
And I’m thinking about how the two of you ran away together in the last life, both of you completely crazy for women.
“Th-then why are you angry…?”
“Laward.”
“Y-yes!”
“The Military Academy has a genius named Hakan, and the Theological School has a genius named Chris.”
“I-is that so? Chris would be…”
“Yes. The Holy Knight who came with Commander Blash.”
“Yes.”
Apparently remembering that he had vowed not to let it slide the next time they met, Laward nodded with a serious face.
“And the one I trust at the Academy is you.”
“Ahaha… Thank you…”
“The holy magic you showed in the duel against Rebecca last time was excellent. Knowing many spells is fine, but having something that is uniquely your own is not something just anyone can do.”
“Thank you…!”
“But Hakan and Chris are the same. One of them became a royal knight, he’s that strong, and Chris created his unique magic before you did.”
“…Yes.”
“What I’m saying is that you’re still lacking. We don’t need three geniuses. One genius is enough. And that one has to be you.”
“I will keep that in mind.”
Laward nodded firmly.
“Laward, I don’t care that the Academy hasn’t won for thirty-three years or that this year will be hard. I don’t want the Academy’s victory. I want yours.”
“You think that highly of me…! Y-yes, Master…!”
He thumped his chest with a bright expression.
“To become that one person, I will never neglect my training. Master, I’ll head to the training grounds now.”
“Good.”
Just as Laward turned his back—
“Let’s go.”
“…Pardon?”
He spun around in shock and looked at me again.
“I told you. You’re still lacking. Doing the same solitary training you always do won’t make you strong enough to beat those bastards in just a few days.”
“Then what you’re saying is…”
“I first taught you magic about a year ago, didn’t I?”
“Yes. It was before I entered the Academy.”
The basic technique of the Holy Knights.
A full year had already passed since I taught him the F-Rank stun magic.
In that year Laward had raised that spell to the highest level.
Even his [Holy] stat had reached S-Rank.
“It’s about time you learned a new magic.”