Jurassic Park
“Disciple, this master has something she’s curious about.”
“I have something I’m curious about as well, but…”
Why on earth are you here?
“Speak first!”
“Why on earth are you here?”
“What a rude question! Ahem. Training is sufficient. This master has decided to resume her studies once more.”
“And so, after being crushed by reality and forced to set aside her dreams for a time, Miss Alice Schiller returns as a mature student, more diligent than anyone else…”
Smack!
“Ow—that hurts!”
Well, enough joking around for now.
I began to think it over seriously.
In the game, she had been the resident spirit NPC of the academy forest.
Of course this world had become reality, but even so, there was no reason she should ever leave the forest.
So why?
Could it be some butterfly effect I’d caused…?
When you’re curious, the surest way is simply to ask.
“What made you decide on that?”
“Why, because of my disciple, of course!”
I looked at her with a question mark practically floating over my head.
Master explained with obvious pride.
“Did you not say last time that you expelled every last one of your party members, and that future party activities would be a problem?”
I nodded.
No way.
“So this master left the mountain to join her disciple’s party!”
I stared at her, mouth open.
Honestly… I was genuinely moved.
“Master…!”
“Disciple…!”
We were just about to share a tearful embrace when I stopped her. My classmates had been watching us the entire time.
“Huh? D-Disciple?”
“M-Master… people are…”
I gestured around us.
I already attracted an enormous amount of attention—mostly the bad kind.
In any case, I was used to that sort of scrutiny by now.
Even so, my face wasn’t thick enough to hug someone without a shred of embarrassment in front of everyone.
“Ah, I understand…”
But seeing Master’s dejected face was so adorable—no, so guilt-inducing—that I gave her a light hug anyway.
Just like that, Master beamed as if nothing had happened.
Fine. I’d ignore the stares from everyone looking at the two of us like we were complete freaks.
“Anyway, what was it you wanted to ask earlier?”
I asked her.
“Ah. Why is everyone arriving so late?”
“Pardon?”
I hadn’t been late at all.
Just in case, I asked Master.
“When did you get here?”
Was she so excited and nervous about academy classes after so long that she’d come first thing in the morning?
That would be a little cute.
“I arrived precisely at seven, but there was no one here.”
No, that was still far too early.
“Master, class starts at nine.”
“That may be, but is there not a zeroth period?”
“Excuse me? A period that suddenly doesn’t exist?”
Zeroth period? What kind of nightmare was that?
“No, normally one is supposed to come out from seven and do self-study…”
Master, just what kind of academy did you go through?
I respect you.
I have absolutely no desire to follow your example, though.
Anyway, I explained the new rules of this world to her.
“There’s none of that anymore. As long as you arrive at the classroom before nine, you’re fine.”
“Hah, is that truly so?”
“Yes. No zeroth period, no mandatory self-study. Isn’t that nice?”
“Bah, tsk tsk! Back in my day, we came out at six on our own and did self-study without anyone telling us!”
She clicked her tongue at me.
“Kids these days, I swear! You ought to come early and study without being told. Disciple, from now on you’ll come early with me and—”
“No.”
“Why not!”
While we were talking, nine o’clock must have arrived. The front door of the classroom opened and the professor walked in.
The professor for our memorable first class of second year was—
“It’s been a while, everyone. Take out your books.”
Henry Willston, the magic professor.
He’d be launching straight into the lesson on day one.
…Damn it.
But something was off.
Professor Henry, who normally would have called attendance immediately and started teaching, hesitated for a moment.
“Alice… Alice Schiller?”
He tilted his head.
At the professor’s call, Master answered.
“Yes.”
Seeing Master’s face, Professor Henry muttered to himself.
“Haha, have I finally succeeded?”
People stared at him strangely, but he didn’t stop murmuring.
“My time magic, researched for decades… at last…!”
He seemed to be under some kind of misconception.
“But I clearly didn’t touch the magic circle yesterday. How is this possible? Wait—aren’t the rest of the cadets the current ones?”
Then the professor’s face turned grave.
“Could it be that space-time itself has been warped?! Oh no, what have I done…”
In the end, thanks to Master’s vigorous explanations, Professor Henry learned the whole story.
The expressions on the cadets’ faces when they heard about Master’s years of repeating the year were truly something to behold.
Anyway, there was a brief uproar, but true to everyone’s expectations, Professor Henry pushed ahead with the material from the first day.
All the way until the end-of-class bell.
I was normally a student who paid attention in class.
Even so, starting lessons on the very first day of the term was going too far.
And even when I tried to concentrate, there were far too many things distracting me.
For one, my classmates kept glancing at me far more frequently than usual.
Master sitting right beside me was probably part of the reason.
Still, I was more or less used to those stares by now.
Even setting that aside, though, there was Master right next to me.
And over there, sitting in the corner of the classroom with dead eyes—Felice Ansberg.
Those two especially drew my attention.
Felice Ansberg, in particular.
Why is she here?
I thought for a moment.
In the game, if you failed to save a heroine, she was automatically written out of the story.
In Felice’s case, failing her rescue event meant her territory was destroyed and the Ansberg family was wiped out.
Everyone except her, that is.
So Felice Ansberg, forced to take responsibility for the house, would have no choice but to abandon the academy and return to the territory—naturally dropping out of the hero’s party as well.
And once I thought that far, I understood.
Ah. It’s because of me again.
A game is ultimately just a game. Succeed or fail at her rescue, the result is one of two outcomes.
But this is reality.
I failed to stop the gargoyle swarm, yet I had given advance warning instead.
In the end the territory was roughly ruined, her rescue half-succeeded, and as a result the Countess and Lucy Ansberg survived.
Because there was still someone to take charge of the territory and the house, Felice Ansberg could continue her academy life.
But was that really a good thing for Felice?
I pondered it seriously for a while.
When class ended and the cadets, reunited after so long, gathered in little clusters and began chatting, the common topic on everyone’s lips was the Ansbergs.
“Honestly, how could they be so filthy…”
“I never would have imagined.”
“Imperial Sword? Those frauds?”
Given the chance, the cadets tore into Felice with relish, as if they had been waiting for this.
Especially since, before the fall, the Ansbergs had wielded far greater influence than the other count houses.
Felice simply sat quietly, listening to everyone’s condemnation.
Before the break there had been plenty of cadets trying to talk to her.
Seeing her position reverse so completely in an instant left me feeling…
“Fucking awesome.”
“What did you say, disciple?”
“Nothing.”
Ah, that felt genuinely refreshing.
I’m not normally the type to sneer at other people’s misfortune, but she had done me far too dirty.
Of course, the criticism wasn’t limited to Felice alone.
And the next person people started gossiping about was—
“Lucy Ansberg, was it?”
“Yeah. She enrolled as this year’s first-year runner-up.”
“Lucy Ansberg… I’ve never heard of her.”
“Maybe the little sister pulled some scam too? Just like her sister.”
The cadets mocked her openly, but Felice showed no particular reaction.
She was no longer my problem, though.
I started worrying about Lucy instead.
In the game, Lucy is a character who harbors an inferiority complex toward Felice.
Naturally, her talent and skill fall far short of Felice’s.
And that girl enrolled as first-year runner-up?
Under normal circumstances it would have been impossible.
Damn it. So it came to this after all.
Of course, thanks to my knowledge of the original game, I already knew how she had claimed the runner-up seat—and the truth behind it.
In the game you first meet Lucy through Felice’s events, but the gargoyle swarm attack is strictly Felice Ansberg’s event.
Lucy Ansberg has her own separate event.
I’d better find a way to deal with it before it’s too late.
Anyway, while mulling over this and that, the morning classes of the first day of the term came to an end.
When the bell rang, the cadets began filing out of the classroom.
“Disciple, where is everyone going?”
“It’s lunchtime now.”
“Ah, of course. Let us hurry as well.”
She latched onto my arm and started dragging me out of the classroom.
And then someone stepped into our path.
“Hold on, Louis Wallenstein. I want a word with you.”