Lena Youngstern (4)
The rain poured down in torrents, hammering against my skull. I simply closed my eyes and let it soak me to the bone.
From the pit of my stomach, I drew up that murky, alien mana. The moment those tiny black beads of power touched the raindrops, they evaporated, and pure water-attribute mana seeped straight into my body.
“Kyah…”
This is a gold mine.
A printing press power source was literally falling from the sky for free! An infinite ink refill event, no joke!
To be honest, my worries about the main scenario had already been washed away by the downpour. I could just leave the original story’s flow to Kano Ameri, the possessed protagonist. That power-hiding sword master who spewed aura like it was nothing was a hundred times more main-character material than I could ever be.
Hmm. Come to think of it, I should probably thank Kano Ameri. Thanks to her, I could focus entirely on my ultimate goals.
Money. Peace. And erotic manga.
That’s all I needed to take care of. If I wanted to be a little greedy, maybe throw in a friend or two?
“………”
Lena Youngstern.
My childhood friend who had stared at me with tears streaming down her face before running away. The truth was, the reason I was keeping one foot out of this whole mess was because of her.
The standard clear route for Chapter 1 of the original story involved the rampaging Lena being saved through the combined efforts of Crown Prince Leonhardt and the Saintess Arina. That version looked the best, kept Lena safe, and neatly planted the seeds of romance between the prince and the saintess.
So while they’re busy with that, I’ll just farm water-attribute mana like a responsible citizen.
This massive rainstorm was the result of all the water mana in the academy’s vicinity being drawn in by Lena’s mana explosion. In other words, this place was currently the best leveling zone and mana gas station in existence.
Gas—no, mana prices were high these days. Might as well fill the tank all the way up.
“Fill it with water-attribute mana, please. Full tank.”
Heh heh heh. Delicious.
I wondered if standing in the rain like a lunatic made me act like one, or if I was doing this because I already was one. While I pondered this deep philosophical question and diligently trained, a loud splash interrupted my sacred farming session.
Someone had barged into my holy grinding spot.
It was Kano Ameri, her orange hair plastered wet against her cheeks.
What the—why are you here?
When I looked at her in utter confusion, Kano panted heavily and shouted.
“Ian Ash! What the hell are you doing here?!”
“It’s my hobby to stand in the rain. Feels pretty refreshing, doesn’t it?”
“This isn’t the time for jokes! The prophecy… the prophecy has completely gone off the rails!”
There it was again. That damn prophet cosplay. I had no idea why the person who was supposed to be the protagonist kept running to me to whine.
“Whether the prophecy breaks or not, isn’t that your problem, Cadet Kano? Just swing that fancy aura of yours once and everything should be solved.”
“No, that’s not the issue… Right now the regular students are sharpening their pitchforks to hunt you down!”
I stopped absorbing mana and stared at her blankly.
“Me? Why?”
“Because everyone thinks you’re the mastermind and culprit behind this disaster! Your behavior was suspicious!”
What kind of nonsense was this? I was just blocking a window gap in the library.
“It was that Saintess! Saintess Arina defended you by saying you were just quietly reading books in the annex library, but people twisted it into ‘wasn’t that dangerous forbidden knowledge’ or something and the rumor spiraled out of control…”
Ah.
I pressed a hand to my forehead. That pure-hearted saintess had tried to defend me and accidentally caused even more misunderstandings. People always hear what they want to hear!
I briefly considered giving a lecture on demagoguery and political manipulation later, then quickly shook my head. Why should I?
“So? Are the students coming after me with torches or something?”
“They almost did… but Lady Judith diverted their attention.”
I narrowed my eyes. Judith La Roche. The moment that woman’s name came up, I knew things weren’t going to end well.
“How did she divert it?”
“By shifting focus to subduing Lena Youngstern. That part does follow the prophecy, but…”
Kano swallowed dryly and added,
“Since Lady Judith is taking the lead, it might not be a rescue at all. It could turn into a brutal, dangerous suppression and capture operation. Lena might get hurt.”
That’s different from the prophecy.
The moment Kano quietly added that, a warning siren blared inside my head.
In the original story, the ones who were supposed to shine here were the Saintess and the Crown Prince. They operated outside of cost-benefit calculations and didn’t demand special rewards. But Judith was different. She would definitely try to use Lena’s mana in some way that benefited the La Roche family—or more likely, herself.
If Judith managed to get her hands on Lena under the pretext of ‘suppression,’ then forget the original plot; my peaceful extra life and my doujinshi business infrastructure would be completely obliterated.
“……The situation doesn’t look good.”
“Right? So let’s hurry! We need to bring you along if we want to follow the original—no, the prophecy’s flow!”
I let out a sigh and swept my wet hair back.
“Fine. Lead the way.”
The place Kano led me to was the academy’s central plaza.
What should have been a beautiful fountain and garden had been transformed into something resembling a frontline war camp. Female dormitory students and male dormitory students had joined forces to set up a barrier, desperately resisting the flood of water.
“…The situation got even worse?” Kano muttered in despair.
“It looks like a war zone.”
“Ah, it’s probably because everything related to water attributes near the academy came rushing out.”
Kano pointed at the creatures scattered nearby. Water spirits that resonated with mana, giant slimes that had lived in the sewers, and even amphibious magic beasts that normally resided in the academy’s ponds and lakes.
“Whoa. All the expensive ones are gathered here.”
I muttered without thinking, calculating their worth. Kano looked at me like I was insane. I shrugged as if it had been a joke. She let out a small sigh and spoke like a parent scolding a clueless child.
“They all resonated with Lena Youngstern’s mana explosion and swarmed here. The academy periodically clears out magic beasts in the surrounding area, so it’s dangerous. You should be careful.”
I see. The camp seemed to be in a lull, probably after a pretty intense battle. Once we entered the camp, my guess became certainty—everyone’s uniforms were torn, covered in mud, and they were all panting heavily.
Kano muttered beside me in a horrified voice.
“This… is way too different from the prophecy. Lena Youngstern’s power is far stronger than I expected. At this rate, all the students might get swept away.”
I quietly nodded. It was true that the difficulty for Chapter 1 had gone completely off the rails. In that sense, I kind of wished Kano Ameri would step up and do a bit more. But she was stuck in her power-hiding-nerd concept and couldn’t use her strength.
I get it, though. Not every possessor can perform perfectly from their first try.
In the center of the camp, a truly flashy group had gathered. Princess Eiphrid, her wet golden hair flying as she wore a manic grin. Saintess Arina with anxious eyes. And Judith La Roche, leisurely fanning herself.
“Let’s try once more. The water dragon was stronger than expected, but if we go all out, it doesn’t seem impossible to break through.”
And at the very center, the Crown Prince was calmly issuing orders with an expressionless face.
Even soaking wet, that guy still looks handsome. Damn.
Well, a saintess who didn’t even know the word ‘man’ would need that level of visual probability to fall for him.
Anyway, the gathering of all these sparkling named characters was almost blinding.
As I quietly listened to their conversation, I roughly grasped the situation. Not far from here was a powerful boss-like creature called a water dragon. They needed to break through it to search for Lena properly. But there were too many small fry in the way, so they were struggling.
That’s when it happened.
“……It’s Ian Ash.”
Starting with someone’s murmur, hundreds of eyes pierced through the sound of rain and locked onto me all at once.
Hmm. It’s a bit burdensome when you all stare like that.
The people who knew me—Saintess, Princess, and Judith—sent relatively welcoming glances. The rest were different. Their gazes toward me had grown even sharper, like they were looking at an artistic vagrant.
And then.
A man pushed through the crowd and strode forward. It was Vinicius Adam, the apprentice knight of the Imperial Guard who had picked a fight with me before.
Shing—!
A cold sensation touched my neck. When I lowered my gaze slightly, the tip of a sword hovered dangerously close to my skin.
“What the hell have you done, Ian Ash!”
“……”
“Isn’t it because you were researching sinister dark magic in the library that Lady Lena went on a rampage like this?! If you don’t release the spell right now, I’ll cut your throat where you stand!”
At Vinicius’s shout, the surrounding students began to murmur in agreement.
I looked down at the blade that was practically kissing my neck and moved my lips, quietly whispering to Kano.
“Hmm. Is this also going according to the prophecy?”
“…It’s not an important event, but yes. In the prophecy, you did get suspected around this point.”
Man. The original Ian Ash must have felt so unfairly screwed over.
The Ian Ash in the original story was just an incompetent young man who wanted to pay off his debts, marry his childhood friend, and live quietly. Not only did he get rejected by Lena and feel heartbroken, but he ended up being framed as the mastermind of a national disaster-level event.
This ridiculous and unfair situation was probably the decisive factor that turned the original third-rate villain Ian Ash into the fourth boss through corruption.
But.
I had no reason to follow in the footsteps of the original Ian Ash, whom I barely even knew.
If it had been him, he probably would have made excuses here. Then the kind-hearted saintess or someone would have rushed over to stop this small-dicked Adam guy. And that pathetic little prick would have sheathed his sword with a smug look.
That wouldn’t do. I’d end up looking like a pathetic side-villain. The hierarchy among villains is very important, you know. He’d try to order me around whenever he felt like it.
Should I try persuading them?
It probably wouldn’t work. In front of this excited mob, even if I explained that I wasn’t a dark mage and had only studied obscure magic to run a printing press, they weren’t in the mood to listen. Besides, the printing press thing was a secret between me and the princess.
One truth came to mind here.
Logical explanations are annoying, tiring, and above all, make you look weak.
So what should you do in that situation?
“So, will killing me here change anything?”
Yeah. Go ahead and try.
“Wh-what…?”
At my ‘then kill me’ provocation, Adam’s pupils shook violently.
“If I’m truly the mastermind behind all this, is there any guarantee the rampage will stop if the main body—me—dies? It might lose control and flood the entire academy instead.”
“Th-that’s…!”
“If cutting my throat will make this flood subside immediately, then go ahead and stab me.”
Saintess Arina, who had been rushing over to stop this, froze in place with a blank expression. Good. No matter what, it looked like the Saintess would save me.
“If you can’t even stab me, then put the sword away. And.”
I leaned my neck forward into the blade and grinned.
“If you’re not going to kill me, I have a proposal for you.”