The Cabin in the West Forest (3)
“Hehe. It’s possible I don’t know everything, after all. But I can tell you one thing. If you’re honest and confess what’s truly in your heart…”
“I’ll give you a hint that can help you achieve what you want.”
Inside Hint’s cabin, Hint reached out toward Yulia, who existed in another dimension.
He was doing his best to appear as calm as possible, but in reality he was desperately trying to steady his heart that was pounding like crazy. When Yulia had drawn her sword and swung it earlier, he genuinely thought his heart might stop.
‘This is strange. In the original story, she only starts swinging her sword so recklessly in the latter half of Chapter 1.’
By now everyone could probably guess it, but the content of Chapter 1 stemmed entirely from Yulia’s inferiority complex.
Shepia, a true genius, and Yulia, who had grown strong through relentless effort. Unfortunately, Shepia held an overwhelming advantage in their head-to-head record, so Yulia felt jealous and inferior. Yet because Shepia herself wasn’t a bad person, Yulia maintained their friendship. That only made her hate herself more for feeling jealous and inferior toward her own friend.
In that way, a tiny crack formed between the three S-class girls—Stelle, Shepia, and Yulia…
It was only in the latter half of Chapter 1 that Yulia’s mind would completely break, to the point where she would swing her blade at a worried Stelle. That was how it was supposed to go.
‘It’s too fast. Way too fast.’
Chapter 1 began after the senior-junior exchange match that was practically a prologue, and it spanned one month of in-game time. Yet here she was, already this broken after just one week.
Something had gone seriously wrong.
The first time he realized it was during that sickbed visit.
‘By the way… how can I become strong as quickly as you?’
For Yulia Frostwolf of all people to suddenly show up under the pretense of a visit and ask a boy she had only seen once for advice on getting stronger. It was a clear omen that Yulia was deteriorating faster than he had anticipated.
That was why he had asked Stelle to keep mentioning the cabin to her, but seeing it in person made it undeniable. ‘Yulia Frostwolf’ was breaking down much faster than in the original story.
He tried to have a proper conversation first, but Yulia shook her head.
『I refuse.』
“I see.”
Well, his favorability with her probably wasn’t high enough yet to peer into the deepest parts of her heart. Hint scratched his cheek. Come to think of it, considering the original story, it made sense that she wouldn’t talk about it yet.
『Then I’ll be going. And… I apologize for swinging my sword earlier. It seems I let my emotions get the better of me in a way that was unbecoming.』
“Hehe. It’s fine. I’m a ghost, after all. But before you go, why don’t you sit a little longer?”
『What is it? Do you have other business with me?』
“Well, you came all the way here. It would go against my very reason for existing to send you away empty-handed. I can’t give you anything big, but here’s one thing. I’ll give you a hint that will help you become stronger.”
『Is that truly the case?』
Yulia’s eyes sparkled as she stared at him. Behind those eyes, a small flicker of desire gleamed.
“Hehe. It’s nothing special. However, there is one condition.”
『What is it?』
“If you listen to my hint and find it helpful, please come back to this cabin the day after tomorrow. And when you do, tell me a little about yourself. In return, each time you do, I’ll show you the next step forward.”
『What meaning does that hold for you?』
Hint closed his mouth. What should he say? After a brief moment of thought, he opened his lips.
“Because I’m a ghost. A ghost who survives by feeding on people’s stories. I’ll show you the path forward, so you must tell me your story in return.”
『…Very well. If that’s all.』
“Hehe. Don’t be too suspicious. If you simply listen to what I say… your skills, which have been stagnating lately, will definitely improve.”
With those words, Hint told her what she needed to do the next day.
Hint—or rather, the ghost of the cabin—spoke, and Yulia’s expression twisted.
『…Are you serious?』
“It’s only for one day anyway, right? Just humor me and give it a try. Then, the day after tomorrow, if you think my hint was helpful, come back. Or you can simply never visit this cabin again.”
『…Fine. It’s not that bad of a suggestion.』
Though still half-doubting, Yulia nodded and left the cabin.
“Phew… it’s finally over. What a thing to happen in the middle of the night.”
Once Yulia was gone, Hint let the tension drain from his body and collapsed onto the bed. Thanks to the conversation he just had with her, tomorrow’s plans were set.
“Stalking a princess, a duke’s daughter, and the protagonist… If I mess this up, I could actually die.”
He had given her instructions, but he couldn’t just sit back and wait. Hint opened the cabin’s drawer and pulled out a pair of sunglasses whose purpose he still didn’t understand.
Saturday classes at the academy ended early for most students. It was to guarantee their autonomy and a minimum amount of rest, and even S-class students were no exception. That was why most students used that precious free time to do all sorts of things. The most typical activity was heading into town to have fun.
“How surprising☆. For Yulia to be the one suggesting we all go into town together.”
“Yulia, thanks for inviting me too!”
“It’s nothing. Even I have days like this sometimes.”
Excluding the crazy Amazoness who spent all her time looking for strong opponents to pick fights with and the antisocial elf who disappeared to who-knows-where the moment she had free time, the three S-class girls had come into town at Yulia’s invitation.
Everywhere in town, cheerful squeals and laughter rang out. The sounds were so different from the usual noise of swords slicing through the air or ice freezing solid that Yulia felt her mind grow dizzy.
‘I’d rather be swinging my sword one more time right now.’
Thinking that, Yulia started to slightly regret coming into town. If that ghost from the cabin yesterday hadn’t said—
『Tomorrow, go into town with your friends and have a genuinely good time. I’ll tell you some shops I personally recommend, so visit them if you feel like it. And absolutely no training. Do not even touch a sword.』
If he hadn’t said that, she would be madly swinging her sword in the training grounds by now. She resolved that if the ghost’s advice turned out to be completely useless, she would tear that cabin down.
“By the way, Yulia, do you have any recommendations?”
“Ah. Yes. Right. I heard there’s a good restaurant nearby. How about we go there?”
“Whoa☆?! Yulia actually looked up a restaurant?! Yulia, are you feeling sick?! You can’t die and leave me behind!”
“…As I always say, your reactions are way too much, Shepia. Anyway, follow me, everyone.”
The restaurant was ordinary enough. It was a pasta place that many students frequented. Stelle’s eyes sparkled as she began eating a type of food she had never tried before, while Shepia, who knew Yulia’s personality well, kept rubbing her own arms as if she had seen something horrifying.
“Wow! This looks delicious!”
“…It’s actually starting to scare me now. Yulia. Are you really Yulia?”
“That’s why I told you to stop.”
“Hmm… something really feels off… Ah, wait a second, Stelle! You don’t eat pasta with chopsticks!”
“Huh? Does it matter?”
“No, it’s just… Here, I’ll help you!”
Ignoring Shepia’s sharp gaze that had lost its usual ☆ and was now staring at her with strict, serious intensity, Yulia twirled her pasta and put it in her mouth. Honestly, pasta wasn’t really to Yulia’s taste, but she had decided to follow the ghost’s instructions for today…
“Mmph?!”
“Yulia?! What’s wrong★?!”
Yulia lowered her head, her body trembling. Even though she was embarrassed by such an un-noble display, she couldn’t stop shaking. Still, she couldn’t just leave Shepia worrying about her like this. Swallowing her shame, Yulia lifted her head.
“It’s not… that…”
“That…?”
“It’s… delicious.”
Leaving behind a completely frozen Shepia whose usual liveliness had vanished, Yulia and Stelle continued eating their pasta. And in a corner of the restaurant, a certain boy was watching the scene with a satisfied smile.
‘In the original story, that was the shop where Shepia’s favorability increased the most.’
The boy wearing a hat pulled low and sunglasses even indoors—Hint—twirled the pasta in front of him and took a bite. Mm, it really was delicious.
The strategy for Chapter 1 of Black Horse was simple. Depending on how well you cared for Yulia as she gradually showed more and more abnormal symptoms, the difficulty of the final battle in Chapter 1 would change dramatically.
If you kept raising favorability with Yulia from the very beginning of the chapter and stacked up events, the final battle would end as a pure fight against her. But if you failed to notice her collapse and left her alone, Yulia would begin to go berserk.
The Frostwolf family’s mana specialized in cold ice magic. A berserk Yulia who had lost control of her broken mind and let her magic run wild was an insurmountable wall for the stats available in Chapter 1.
Since he had already raised Stelle to S-class, he had considered leaving this chapter entirely to her. But no matter how he thought about it, Yulia’s condition worried him too much. As he had seen last night, her mind was in an extremely dangerous state right now. If he left her be and Stelle ended up dying to a blind swing of her sword, it would be a straight path to a bad ending.
Of course, they probably weren’t at that point yet, but still…
“Well, I suppose I’ll keep an eye on things for a while.”
He would need to watch them closely for the time being. After that, the three girls continued wandering around town.
“A photograph…? What is this?”
“Ah☆ Stelle’s never seen one before, huh.”
“Well, unless you’re in the capital or a ducal territory, they’re pretty rare even in the empire. You might faint when you see a movie later.”
“What’s a movie?”
“It’s like a moving photograph… Ah, right, you don’t even know what a photograph is. Well, you’ll understand when you see it.”
They took photos and watched movies.
“Mmm! This dessert is incredibly good…!”
“…It really is delicious☆. Yulia is getting more and more suspicious.”
“You’re still saying that, Shepia.”
They spent time together eating desserts as well. Watching the three girls walk around together like they always did in the original story was a sight that was enjoyable in its own right.
That was when it happened.
“Ah, hold on everyone! I’ll be right back, I just need to step away for a moment.”
Stelle, who had been happily eating a crepe, suddenly left her seat. What was going on? Did something happen? But he couldn’t follow her and risk losing sight of Yulia. At that moment, someone lightly tapped Hint on the back.
“Hint. What are you doing here?”
“…Oh dear. I’ve been caught.”
The Stelle who had left her seat was now standing right behind him. She must have circled around through the alley. Having been caught openly stalking them, he had nothing to say. The pattern on the back of Stelle’s hand was glowing blue, so he could guess who had told her he was following them.
“Since a little while ago?”
“This is a bit of a— ”
“It’s fine. You must have your reasons, Hint. You don’t need to make excuses. More importantly, here.”
Stelle held out the crepe she had been eating toward him.
“This is… the crepe you were eating, Stelle.”
“Yeah. It was so good I wanted to give you a bite.”
Oh no. This was completely outside his expectations. At Stelle’s pure and innocent words that made his heart feel like it might stop, Hint clutched his chest. Stelle became flustered at the sight.
“W-what’s wrong?! Are you hurt somewhere?!”
“N-no. I was just a little surprised. Then… I’ll enjoy it.”
Hint took a small bite from the side Stelle hadn’t bitten. The rich taste of milk cream and the fresh, refreshing fruit flavor spread through his mouth.
“How is it? Delicious, right!”
“…To be honest, it’s amazingly good.”
“See! I told you it wasn’t a waste coming here! Ah, shoot! The others are going to get suspicious! See you at the cabin later!”
“Yes. I’ll see you at the cabin later.”
With those words, Stelle ran off like the wind. Sighing, Hint rubbed his cheek while clutching his still-racing heart.
— I’ve been noticing someone watching us for a while now, my lord.
— Sniff sniff. This smell… isn’t that Hint oppa?
Yulia had known from the beginning that Hint was following her—or rather, following them. She had brought Skoll and Hati on the back of her hand this time since they had been begging to see the town. It seemed like he had been tailing them all day, but she didn’t really mind. It was Hint, after all. He must have his reasons.
— But my lord… for some reason, Sir Hint is only watching Lady Yulia.
— Whoa! Does he like her?!
Still, it was a little displeasing that he hadn’t looked at her once all day and only had eyes for Yulia. So she decided to play a slightly mischievous prank.
“Hint. What are you doing here?”
“…Oh dear. I’ve been caught.”
Hint was usually expressionless, but whenever he was surprised, that blank face would crack just a little. He waved at Yulia and Shepia, who were waiting for her in the distance.
“Sorry~ I’m late!”
“What happened☆?”
“It’s nothing important. Don’t make me say it out loud in public, Shepia.”
“Thanks for the consideration, Yulia. By the way, this thing called a crepe? It’s super delicious!”
“Is that so. I’m glad you like it.”
Stelle stared at the part of the crepe that Hint had bitten. Then, with slightly flushed cheeks, she took a bite from the same spot.
“Yeah! It really is… delicious.”
Stelle’s tongue licked her lips.