The Club Fair That Calls a Storm #1
It had been roughly a month since I got to know Nike.
As the new main heroine added through the DLC, and since I had loved D&A as much as my first love, I naturally couldn’t help but take an interest. Yet Nike seemed to carry a mountain of secrets, radiating an atmosphere that made it hard to ask about them. What sort of environment had she grown up in? And what had given her the strength to endure that homeless life in the forest, sleeping rough through the cold rain, dew, and wind? Asking such things outright was the tactic of amateurs. The way of veterans was to wait until the person volunteered the information themselves. So I waited. Besides, I had been far too busy to spare much thought for Nike anyway.
Then one day Nike said it. “My dream is getting revenge on certain people.”
It was a goal that clashed with the usual cheerful, bright Nike. But at the same time, it made perfect sense. I had thought there must be a reason she remained at Ludens, enduring the wintry forest, the freezing rain, the dew, and the biting wind.
Revenge. Was there any simpler fuel to drive a life forward than that?
The atmosphere grew quiet for a moment. Then Enio spoke up.
“Is it because of the Reshguard Forest?”
Did she know something? Enio continued.
“I heard the Reshguard Forest belongs to the estate of the de Winter Count family you mentioned before. I’ve also heard they’re developing the woods indiscriminately and tearing them apart.”
So that was happening. I didn’t know much about events on the ‘mainland’ kingdom. The stage of D&A was, after all, this Ludens island. In the original game the protagonist Luke never set foot on the mainland. There had been talk of adding a vacation episode set there, but more than ten years had passed without it.
“Is Libgah, the daughter of Count Winter, the one you want revenge on, Nike?”
At the name Libgah, Nike’s serious expression crumbled. She flinched and cried out, “T-that’s a secret…!”
Libgah, daughter of Count Winter. It was a name I was hearing for the first time.
“What kind of person is she?”
To my question Enio answered vaguely, “Well… I’ve only met her a few times at social gatherings. Miss Libgah is in Class B even here at Ludens, so we rarely cross paths.”
Libgah from Class B. I was curious what kind of story she shared with Nike. Anyone who could make the bright, forsythia-like Nike utter the word ‘revenge’ was surely a main villain. Just as Victorica became the villain in Enio’s route, and Enio became the villain in Victorica’s route.
“...Libgah of the de Winter family.”
It wouldn’t hurt to remember the name. She must not interfere with my dream of building an NVC.
Enio said, “Miss Victorica might know. The Arclight family is close with the de Winter Count family. After all, Libgah is Orca’s fiancée. I’m sure Victor would know about it.”
Orca was Victorica’s older brother and the eldest son. So a setting had been added that Orca had a fiancée. The story had undergone a massive overhaul compared to the D&A I remembered. Interesting. At the same time, the colossal enemy Nike would have to face began to take shape in my mind.
Orca Arclight was a formidable opponent. I could say that with certainty because I had seen it myself. He was the one who had defeated the protagonist Luke again and again. If she was to become the fiancée of Orca, eldest son of the Arclight ducal house, then the de Winter family’s power had to be immense as well.
Could Nike, wearing that Mokemoke doll mask, possibly overcome such an enemy? Of course she would win in the end. That was what it meant to be the heroine of the main story. The protagonist was a being for whom victory was promised.
However, I still did not know the method to reach that victory.
Nike said, “Please keep this a secret. It’s something I haven’t told anyone except the club members!”
“This Arnoi may be loose with an eating mouth, but my speaking mouth is very heavy it is-dat…!”
Teacher Domina, who had been listening beside us, nodded as well.
“I’m not the type to wander around spilling the secrets of the students I supervise.”
So the only ones left were Enio and me. Enio promised, “I’ll keep it a secret.” Of course, with Enio’s promises you had to believe half and let the other half pass right through you.
“Then it’s time to head back for the day. Everyone, let’s get going.”
At Teacher Domina’s words the club members began preparing to leave one by one. Perhaps because we had spent the entire day in all sorts of conversation, it felt as if our intimacy and mutual understanding had deepened.
“I want to stay and play a little longer it is-dat…! It has been a very long time in these eight years since I have had this much fun it is-dat…!”
Arnoi in particular seemed reluctant to leave the club room. Since the topic had come up, it might be good to schedule a club retreat sometime for fellowship. After all, while mixed-gender overnights in the club room were normally strictly forbidden, there was a regulation that made it permissible under the supervision of a ‘faculty advisor.’ Now that our club finally had one, it would be a waste not to use her.
Vacation retreat event. Fair preparation event. And so on. There were plenty of chances to legally pull all-nighters for work.
I asked, “Domina, do you have any information about the club fair?”
The club fair. It had appeared in the management system’s achievements earlier. Knowing the schedule for clearable events was always useful.
“Club fair…? I think I’ve heard something about the schedule…. By the way, Victor, I told you to call me Teacher Domina. Do you know how many years older I am than you?”
“Domina.”
“...You really are a strange kid.”
With that sort of exchange we parted ways as the sun set, each returning to our own rooms.
“Then, Victor, see you in the classroom tomorrow.”
To Enio, who was putting on her shoes to leave last, I asked.
“Enio, you brought that up on purpose, didn’t you?”
“What?”
“About the de Winter family and Orca.”
“Who knows?”
Enio smiled as if she knew nothing at all. But I suspected the earlier conversation had been intentionally guided by her. If it was the Enio I knew, she was more than capable of it.
“If you’re trying to drive a wedge between Nike and Victorica, stop it.”
“Drive a wedge? How scary. I simply wanted to let you know that sometimes it’s good to set the direction of your revenge correctly.”
“So Nike’s target for revenge is the Arclight family?”
“How do you think the de Winter Count family expanded their influence in the west? How were they able to develop so rapidly in just a few years?”
“You’re saying they had the backing of the Arclight family?”
“That would be up to interpretation. But sometimes it can be seen that way. After all, revenge requires being thorough about both your opponent and the scale.”
Enio’s expression as she spoke looked quite cold. It probably didn’t feel like someone else’s business to her.
“You’re thinking about your brother’s death, Enio.”
“......”
Enio stared at me in silence. Her eyes were a red even more vivid than the setting sunset. Her lips parted as if she wanted to say something, but then she let out a small pfft—like air leaking from a balloon—and shook her head.
“I never imagined you knew that much, Victor. That’s right. I also plan to take revenge for my older brother Aidan. If you’re going to say that revenge is a bad thing—”
“No. There is nothing sweeter than revenge.”
Why would I try to stop her? It wasn’t even my business. But my answer must have been completely unexpected, because Enio’s previously cold expression flooded with bewilderment.
“I-is that so?”
Then she asked, “The part about revenge being sweet… is that perhaps your own story, Victor?”
“As expected, you knew. The story about me and the Arclight family.”
“To some extent.”
“Don’t tell Victorica.”
“I can’t promise that.”
With a hmph, Enio snorted and vanished into the sunset.
Her personality really was strange no matter how you looked at it. Enio seemed to act far too freely. Maybe I should put a leash on her. It wasn’t as if there were no methods available. After all, the subtitle of Enio’s route was ‘Taming the Tomboy.’
As always, I opened my eyes to the strange cry of the wolf spider Keong-keong-i.
━Keong-keong…!
The time was exactly six in the morning.
“Accurate as usual. Well done. I will raise your share by 0.1 percent, Keong-keong. That should be enough for you to become a cold-hearted ant hunter in the stock market.”
━Hioong…!
After washing up and preparing the ingredients I would sell today, it was suddenly seven o’clock. This was usually the time to have a proper breakfast. I was about to tear into some leftover jerky when someone knocked on the door.
“Victor. I’m here.”
“......”
“Why are you looking at your teacher with those eyes?”
“No, I simply did not expect you to visit in the morning.”
“I brought ramen, you know?”
Domina had come looking for me, holding two packages of ramen. It was the kind sold at the grocery store—bland and lacking in nutrition, the food students called ‘human feed.’ Still, if you added special ingredients it became quite edible. Simply boiling it with the jerky I had planned to eat or some Bomb Sauce turned it into a meal made with care.
“You boil ramen well.”
“I have boiled it many times.”
“I never thought I would eat ramen again. You really are good at it.”
The way she slurped it suggested she would be back tomorrow morning as well. Since I was eating breakfast anyway, making an extra portion was no inconvenience. Still, if there is coming there should also be going; that is only common sense, is it not?
“Did you come empty-handed?”
“I brought ramen, didn’t I?”
“That is not what I meant.”
“Seriously, what kind of person are you…? Fine. After I got off work yesterday I looked into it a little. The fair schedule is written here.”
1st Semester Spring Club Fair Schedule
Event timeline and detailed program listed below.
Preparation period begins this week.
With a tap, Domina held out a single sheet of paper. Until yesterday she had been a teacher who enjoyed tormenting students, yet after work she had gone out of her way to find more tasks. But that was the original character of Domina. That was why her nickname was ‘Teacher Do.’ It was helpful in many ways.
“In that sense, this week is a club retreat.”
“...What exactly do you mean by that?”