An Unexpected Proposal
The principal slowly opened the warehouse door. Inside was pitch black, so dark that from outside, you couldn't see an inch ahead. An instinctive fear of the darkness welled up, but she somehow managed to take a step forward. Creak— With the rusty screech of hinges, the door closed behind her, and the darkness settled in thickly.
No matter how long she waited or fumbled around, no lights came on.
"......No, how am I supposed to see anything like this?"
Muttering a slight complaint, I summoned Anna. The human fluorescent light that brightened the surroundings just by existing. Sure enough, the moment Anna appeared, light flooded the area, filling the warehouse interior in an instant.
And at that moment, I couldn't believe my eyes.
"Master? What sudden business brings you......?"
"Hold on, just stay quiet for a sec."
"......? Yes."
Silencing Anna, I stepped further inside and looked around. Golden Knight's armor, Dragon Slayer's spear, Dragon Rider's saddle, Great Fairy's wings, and more. The warehouse was packed with regalia worn by game heroes and their heirlooms.
Crazy, crazy......
Among them, my eyes were drawn to the ornate golden armor. A full suit of golden knight's armor made from solid gold. It was a shame it was regalia rather than an heirloom. The golden knight's performance in the game had been outstanding.
But picking regalia isn't the move......
Regalia performed similarly no matter which summon wore it, but there were summons tailored specifically for them. Even if Anna wore that armor, it'd only boost her defense a bit. What I needed now was offensive power. Anna's defense was already more than sufficient.
First, let's find Anna's regalia......
And she'd probably spot her own regalia faster than I would. With that thought, I asked Anna,
"Pick out something you like from here."
"Something to my liking, you say?"
"Yeah."
At my command, Anna immediately zipped around the warehouse, peering at the regalia this way and that. She looked like she was searching for her own, so I relaxed and browsed the heirlooms.
......Some of these I don't recognize?
The warehouse held heirlooms I didn't know about too. Probably 1-star or 2-star ones only implemented as dummy data in the actual game. Useless junk. What I needed was at least a 3-star summon's heirloom. A 4-star or 5-star one would be even better, but......
There was no way something like that would be stashed here.
'Legacy,' she said.
Apparently, in this world, summons dropped their heirlooms upon death. And no matter how much they couldn't level up, 5-star summons wouldn't die. After all, they were calamities with god-like powers.
......Nothing catches my eye.
In the end, everything I found after rummaging was 3-star summon heirlooms. And the summons they could call weren't even that great. Specifically, bad matchups.
With Anna around, I don't need another tank.
All the heirlooms in the warehouse were for tank-type summons. Makes sense—ranged attackers wouldn't die easily on the battlefield. The ones that croaked were usually tanks or melee-only types.
There might be 4-star or 5-star heirlooms among the ones I don't know......
But if I didn't know them, they were summons never released in the game. So mostly 3-star trash or lower. No point gambling on it.
If Anna couldn't find her regalia, I'd just grab any 3-star heirloom. With that in mind, I waited for her.
A moment later, Anna flew back holding some weird shield.
"Master! This seems good!"
"......This?"
The shield she held was a dented, patternless thing. Nothing like the regalia I remembered for her. I opened the status window to check its details.
Sure enough, it showed info for regalia used by a nameless 1-star summon. A 3-star summon using 1-star regalia? Defense would probably tank.
"No good."
"......Didn't you tell me to pick what you wanted?"
"Not this. And why the hell is something like this even here?"
I ordered her to put the shield back and started hunting for her regalia myself, since she clearly missed it. Along the way, I let out gasps of admiration.
Blaze Dragon's claws—whoa, that's here? Ifrit's dress? Stella would lose her mind. And wind dragon's wings, collab character SF weapons galore.
Unfortunately, no sign of Anna's regalia.
"......Guess no choice."
A bit disappointing, but I pondered which 3-star heirloom to take. All overlapped with Anna's role—tanks with no other utility.
Maybe give it to Noah instead.
The thought hit me. Might actually be better. Protagonists need sturdy summons to survive, and this place was loaded with tank heirlooms.
As the protagonist...... she might have enough Soul Power for multiple summons.
No matter the system, I couldn't check someone else's Soul Power. Even players couldn't do that—only devs or admins. But I was dead certain the protagonist had it. Normal no-spend players had 2-3 summons by now.
* * *
Creak, creeeak—
The heavy warehouse door groaned open, and Ian emerged covered in dust. The principal, who had been timing him outside, welcomed him earlier than expected and scanned him up and down.
......Hasn't gone mad.
The warehouse held not just heirlooms and regalia, but demonkin drops too. A few had been driven insane by the intense demonic energy, despite heavy seals. Ian could've ignored warnings, touched something, and gotten corrupted.
Relieved he was fine, the principal approached.
"What'd you pick?"
"Ah, this."
Ian pulled a tiny stone from his pocket. To the principal, it looked like rubble from a collapse—utterly shabby.
"......Is that really an heirloom?"
"Didn't know?"
"Even I don't know every secret in there."
She knew about the dangerous items, but not every single object's identity. A stone you might accidentally chuck into a river? Sketchy visuals for a generational heirloom.
......Hope he keeps it safe.
Worried, but it was already his. Meddling more would be rude. Thinking that, she patted him down. Just formal procedure—no real zeal. Not many places to hide anyway.
Search done, they left the warehouse. She locked the door, hid the stairs, and magically erased them completely. The path to the warehouse would now spawn elsewhere, known only to her.
Still, worried Ian might snoop around campus, she warned sternly without revealing that.
"You know this, but tell anyone and you could get expelled."
"Got it."
"No sneaking in either. Clear?"
"I'm not that stupid......"
Good—he had the sense for it. A real greedy type would've hauled out multiples already.
"Alright, off you go. Good work, Ian."
"You too, Principal. Thanks for your trouble."
We'll see each other again soon, though.
With that thought, Ian parted from her and headed to the academy infirmary.
Academy students were precious talents, so facilities were top-tier: rare healing summons, doctors, priests. Nobles joked they'd hit the academy first if injured.
Ian found Noah's room quickly—she'd finally shifted from no-visitors to visitable patient.
"......Ian?"
Noah, lounging carelessly, greeted him with an unwashed, slightly oily face. She yanked the blanket over it and whispered,
"......Go out. Ten minutes to wash up."
"Uh, sure."
To Ian, her bare face looked fine, but Noah wanted him to see only her prettiest, cleanest self. After he left, she showered in the en-suite bathroom, changed underwear, and welcomed him back.
"D-did I keep you waiting?"
"Nah, sorry anyway. Should've said I was coming."
"N-no problem! Anytime you visit is fine!"
Fearful of seeing him less, she quickly defended him. They'd see each other daily post-discharge anyway.
Ian sat on the bed, facing her, chatting trivia: stuff while she was out, breakfast with Stella.
And then.
"Noah."
"Yeah? What?"
"You yielded your warehouse rights to me."
"Ah, yeah."
"Why?"
"......Obviously you deserved it. Honestly, I didn't do anything."
Ian grabbed her hand. She startled, trying to pull away—but not too hard.
"What do you mean, nothing?"
"B-but actually......"
"Without you, the teachers would've died right there."
Saying that, Ian pulled out the heirloom. For a 3-star summon—the protagonist's top need now. He pressed it into her palm. She yelped, staring at her hand, then tilted her head at the stone.
"What's...... this?"
"Heirloom from the warehouse."
"W-why give it to me?"
"Seemed more useful to you than me."
Ian grinned. But he didn't know one thing.
In this world, where one person usually summoned one, handing over an heirloom was a metaphorical "let's make babies."
Noah blushed, staring at him.
"......For real?"
"Yeah."
"R-really. With someone like me......?"
"......? What's wrong with you?"
"—WAAAAAH!"
Noah burst into tears, unable to continue. Ian hugged her gently, wondering how happy she must be. Once calmed, realizing it meant "summon with this," Noah demonstrated a country girl's raw strength on him firsthand.
* * *
"......What?"
The principal asked as if she'd misheard. But at her vigorous age, no way.
"I want to perform a summoning ritual."
"......Ian, you only get one lifetime summoning ritual."
"Normally, yeah."
"She's special?"
"Yes."
I pointed to Noah. She was special—the world's protagonist.
But the principal shook her head.
"You'll just waste the heirloom."
"That's my choice too."
"......Can't let you squander it on stupidity."
"Then I'll sneak into the temple and do it."
At my firm tone, she sighed in resignation. Many students had thought themselves special, made bad calls. Sometimes, letting them fail taught faster—she knew from experience.
"Fine, permitted. But no new heirloom if you waste it. Your choice."
"Don't worry."
I grinned and headed to the temple with Noah.
Priests, idle with prayers since enrollment's mass ritual, frowned at the sudden request—but prep was quick.
"Got it, Noah? Activate the circle first, offer the sacrifice."
"Yeah!"
Trusting me utterly, she nodded vigorously and approached the circle, extending her hand. It activated smoothly.
Ah.
Then I realized why summoning differed from the game. If anyone could summon with an heirloom, too many summons would flood the world. This denied even a sliver of chance to the unqualified—a world's will.
"Summon—!"
As instructed, Noah activated the circle and offered the heirloom. A guaranteed summon item— the summon naturally stepped from the circle, revealing itself.
—You are my...... master.......
Big. Huge.
Nothing else described the colossal statue god that appeared. At the same moment, Noah and the principal's eyes sparkled as they turned to me.