Surviving in a Doomed Academy Chapter 10
Roxwell, having comforted his heart, handed over the note.
“Actually, I came here to give you this.”
The note contained an address from somewhere.
When X sent him a questioning look, Roxwell explained.
“That place is the orphanage I sponsor. It’s a reliable spot for taking care of war orphans. If it’s you, the director there will give you a job.”
“…It seems you’re still trying to expel me.”
“I had to, after hearing that story. And I can’t stop it now. Your expulsion is already set in stone.”
I hadn’t wanted that. The real worry was something else.
Lola…
“What are you going to do with the remaining students?”
“I’ll beat them to death and throw them out.”
“And then? What about the Revolutionary Army?”
“Ask the obvious. I’ll crush them.”
The resolve in Roxwell’s eyes was ironclad.
This man was truly a saint.
I could trust him with everything.
“Professor Roxwell, remember everything I say from now on. Even if it sounds crazy, you have to remember it all. Whatever you hear here must never leave this room.”
“…Go ahead. No matter what you say, I won’t believe you.”
From now on, I would expose every scenario.
“I’ve seen the future.”
“…Sorry. It’s hard to believe.”
The reaction was exactly what I expected.
Of course, when the scenario hit, they would scramble to survive.
This was preparation for that moment.
Just as I was about to deliver the carefully worded explanation,
“Excuse me for interrupting.”
The door to the hospital room opened and someone stepped inside.
An elderly man with a benevolent, scholarly air.
His wild white hair and beard were tousled.
“Ah, you’re awake. Student X.”
It was the absolute worst timing. I immediately shut my mouth.
Roxwell noticed my reaction too.
We stared at the intruder.
Roxwell greeted him, knowing exactly who he was.
“Welcome, Headmaster Elndoor.”
“Oh, the homeroom professor for the student, Roxwell, was here as well. Excellent. Very good. It seems I won’t have to travel far.”
The benevolent old man, Elndoor, scanned X from head to toe.
“I heard you endured a terrible Rebound. Are you feeling all right?”
“No, it’s not great.”
“Oh dear. What a pity. I heard you used third-circle magic as a first-circle. Impressive. Your future is bright. Rebounding was a careless act, but at your age, such mistakes are inevitable.”
“Uh, thank you?”
“Unfortunately, I know your disciplinary committee has already been decided. It’s scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.”
He spoke in the precise tone of a headmaster.
Yet he clearly hadn’t come to discuss this.
Elndoor’s gaze grew serious.
“As headmaster, until the committee meets, I will temporarily ‘protect’ your personal situation.”
“…Eh? Wait, that’s….”
“This is final.”
Immediately, the academy security guards entered.
Roxwell tried to intervene in panic, but
“Professor Roxwell. Stop this meaningless resistance.”
“Headmaster, there has never been a case of detaining a student before the disciplinary committee!”
“This is a special case. Just know that the Chairman is extremely angry. He was humiliated before the princess.”
Chairman…
It was that man.
The timing could not have been worse.
He would lock me away so I could do nothing.
But there’s no other way.
If only there had been a little more time.
Roxwell also looked awkward that he had missed what he should have heard.
So X was dragged away by the guards.
***
A room furnished with nothing but the bare minimum treatment magic circle and equipment.
It was utterly desolate.
There was no need to respect the place; the state of the room was terrible.
The only difference from a prison was the absence of iron bars.
I had already spent a day in such a place.
Through the window, the Sunday sun was rising.
I couldn’t do anything.
This environment wasn’t a major problem.
After all, the disciplinary committee would be held in the afternoon.
Then I would be expelled and kicked out of the academy.
I didn’t tell Roxwell.
That was the real issue. I had to say something.
Escape is impossible.
My body was too damaged.
The Rebound wounds were deeper.
Healing was slow, so it would take a long time.
I can’t get help either.
The mana phone had been confiscated.
The door was locked from the outside.
I heard Roxwell was half-confined in a private room too.
The worst situation.
If only Lola could come…
Actually, if it were Lola’s personality, she would be crying and fussing to let me meet her.
The chairman had probably blocked it as revenge.
“Sigh…”
Just in case, I tried to meet Roxwell with Setting Edit, but the points were far too low.
Just as my calculations started to twist,
“Visitation.”
The guard waiting outside announced.
Someone entered through the open door.
Did Lola finally succeed?
But the person who walked in wasn’t that close.
“…Kirke.”
Kirke’s expression was one of pure bewilderment.
She strode in with her purple hair fluttering wildly.
She looked down at X on the bed with a complicated gaze.
“You’re alive.”
“Thanks to you, I didn’t die and am alive. If you came to mock me, go away. You lost in a duel because you were weak.”
“…If we fight again, I can win.”
“~ Nope~ I won’t fight weaklings~”
“Ugh…!”
I didn’t know why she had come.
She probably came for revenge.
If that was the case, she might have come to mock me thoroughly.
“…I apologized.”
But she dropped something unexpected.
Kirke avoided my gaze and muttered.
“I apologized to him.”
“…Oh?”
I was surprised.
I hadn’t expected this Kirke.
I knew her state of mind at this point.
After sacrificing everything from her past life to save the world,
She had reincarnated alone into this pathetic world.
Knowing the Demon King hadn’t died, she prepared somehow,
But saving the world alone was nearly impossible.
Emptiness and loneliness had eaten away at her mind.
That was why she had become aggressive and sensitive.
In such a situation, she had bowed her head to a young student.
Honestly, I hadn’t expected anything, so I was stunned.
Did I grow mentally by losing once?
When I looked at her with that gaze, Kirke’s eyes sharpened.
“What? Is it strange that I apologized?”
“Yeah.”
“…It was the winner’s demand. I did it because of that.”
“Fine, let’s say so.”
“She accepted the apology. Instead, she came to see you. She was fidgeting at the entrance.”
As expected.
That girl had a lot of affection despite her personality.
Or perhaps her personality was kind but her speech was harsh.
Still… It’s fortunate she apologized.
Even though it was a demand to eat my words, it was good.
I didn’t understand, but I accepted it.
The situation had become awkward.
It was hard to speak first.
It was Kirke who spoke first.
She gripped her clothes tightly, her eyes slowly shaking.
Then, with great effort, she squeezed out words.
“How did you know?”
“Know what?”
“That you would use great magic.”
It was enough to trigger a Probability Penalty.
It was natural to be suspicious.
I had already prepared an excuse.
“I didn’t know.”
“…What? Then why did you break the ice arrow?”
“I just stepped on it by accident.”
I decided to be shameless.
After all, we wouldn’t see each other again.
There was no reason to reveal more secrets.
However, Kirke didn’t accept this answer.
“Stop pretending! Do you think I don’t know you broke it intentionally? You covered my vision with flame magic and prepared great magic, breaking the ice arrow, which is the medium of great magic!”
“Did I do that? Lucky.”
“Not only that! As soon as the great magic failed, you threw a fireball to cover my vision! If I realized it had failed, I would respond immediately! In the meantime, you came behind me from my detection!”
“Wow, that was lucky too.”
“More than anything, the physical reflection magic I placed in advance suddenly disappeared! No one knows that. It was the last insurance I left! The only one who can defeat all that is…!”
Kirke muttered and barely spat out the words.
“If you don’t know already, it’s impossible.”
“As I said, it was just luck….”
“You already knew how I would fight. You knew a lot about me. All the moves were like that. This is not something that can be explained by luck.”
Kirke desperately interrogated.
She needed a satisfactory answer.
In response to her desperate questioning, X answered nonchalantly.
“I told you. It was just luck.”
“You…!”
“Sorry, but I can’t give you the answer you want. So give up and just go. After all, we won’t see each other again.”
With that nonchalant reply, Kirke had nothing left to say.
If I interrogated further, X would say nothing.
Kirke would learn nothing here.
At that moment of certainty, Kirke steeled her resolve.
“…Alright, I understand.”
Kirke opened her eyes clearly.
Her two eyes pierced straight into X’s as if trying to see through him.
A moment later, a transparent barrier surrounded the surroundings.
It was a blocking magic to prevent sound.
At the moment it was deployed, Kirke spoke.
“I am the magician of the Hero Party from 100 years ago, the rightful owner of the ‘Eye of Akasha’, and the only magician who made a pact with the Hero Protego just before the battle with the Demon King.”
In this place where only Kirke and X remained,
“The Sage [Aerial] who reincarnated into the present world. That is my true identity.”
Kirke revealed her true identity.
“I swear on Mana that there is not a single lie in what I say.”
Even while making the Mana’s Oath, which turns the breaker into a crippled mage who cannot use mana.
Kirke’s gaze trembled with fear.
“You… are the reincarnation of the Hero Protego?”
At this moment, X realized he had reached a great divergence.
…I can’t pretend not to have heard it.
I had heard the Mana’s Oath.
If I didn’t answer, I would never leave.
The forced choices were two.
First, say the fact that I’m not the Hero.
It was a really stupid thought.
It wouldn’t solve the current situation and would make perfect enemies with Kirke.
She might kill X here to silence his identity.
The worst was that I might receive a Probability Penalty.
Second, lie that I’m the Hero.
If I lied that I was the Hero, Kirke would believe it.
It would be decisive help in resolving this complicated situation.
It meant I could recruit one of the Hero Party members.
It would be the only Joker to solve the current situation.
The worry was deep, the time was short.
Ironically, the result of the worry was obvious.
There was only one answer from the beginning.
“…I’m not the Hero Protego.”
I said the truth.
There was nothing else.
I had tried to deceive someone who knew nothing with lies and treat them like my words.
I had used the opponent’s most precious feelings.
Just thinking about that for a moment made me feel disgusted with myself.
…Thinking about it, Roxwell was going to do the same. What kind of thing is this. This bastard…
It was all because of my circumstances.
I had tried to drag others into hell because of my circumstances.
Since the apocalypse was coming, what to do, what to do.
In the end, it was for my own survival.
My self-loathing reached its extreme.
They are just characters in a book…. Even seeing Lola, I thought that?
It was ironic.
The reason I could accept this world as not just a novel but one world is thanks to that little guy with no role.
Still, I’ll throw some bait. Now, eat the penalty. The system will disappear soon.
I looked straight into Kirke’s eyes.
“I don’t know if you’re the reincarnated Sage Aerial, but… I’m definitely not the Hero Protego.”
With that answer, Kirke’s eyes shook violently and swayed.
Soon, that sway gradually subsided.
“…Alright, I understand.”
The gaze of hope fading.
Seeing it like this, I understood Kirke’s feelings.
After 100 years of reincarnation, if everything dies and only I live…. It’s not even funny.
But she threw a hint and I didn’t know.
It seems she’s not wise except for fighting.
“If there’s someone like a Hero, I know one. That famous guy who’s good-looking and has a good personality.”
“…What?”
“If a Hero becomes one of the new students…. ‘Leon Brave’, I wonder if he’ll become the Hero?”
“…Leon Brave? New student representative?”
“Anyway, I’m not the Hero Protego.”
At this point, confirm once.
『[Remove 'Author Points'] Required points: 5,100 points』
Still okay. Giving more hints is dangerous…
『[Remove 'Author Points'] Required points: 5,500 points』
Suddenly, the points changed.
…What?
It was a subtle increase in points.
Even so, Probability Penalty did not occur.
Did Kirke notice something?
“…I’ll go.”
It didn’t seem like that.
She returned with the same eyes as before.
It seemed she had decided that X was not Protego.
Is there a separate condition for the points to rise…?
I couldn’t know now.
Then, something came to mind.
“Ah, wait a minute….”
I had given up on treating people like my words,
But the fact that they would experience the apocalypse was the same.
If there’s a possibility, I have to throw bait.
“There’s a note in my dorm room for Lola. Can you deliver it to Professor Roxwell? I’ll give you the key now. You have to tell her to deliver it before the disciplinary committee is held.”
“…Note? Okay, fine.”
She accepted it easily. I was relieved internally.
If it’s Lola, she wouldn’t understand the note, so it’s safe as a carrier. Even if she understands, since she’s not an in-story character, no penalty.
I handed over the key.
Kirke received the key nonchalantly and headed for the door.
Just before opening the door, Kirke said last.
“So, in the end, who are you?”
The words that pierced the essence surprised me.
It seemed she had realized that X was not an ordinary person.
So, that’s why the points rose.
X answered.
“Now, I’m not even a student. Extra X.”
“…I’ll tell you that for now.”
The door closed. Alone in the room.
My mind was in a mess with thoughts about future events.
Approximately 1 hour later, at 6 PM, the disciplinary committee would be held.
Without a miracle, expulsion was definite.
What I had to decide now was the action after expulsion.
How to develop abilities without the system…
I closed my eyes and pondered.
Unlike before, the answer didn’t come easily.
By the way, Kirke won’t steal the note, right?
She wasn’t that kind of person.
Probably.
***
Why am I making her do it instead of me.
Kirke thought as she headed to Lola’s dorm.
She got angry for no reason. I didn’t know why.
If you’re going to entrust it to me, you could have entrusted it to me.
Finding one note and delivering it to the professor.
That was something I could do myself.
You know that I’m not Protego…
When dealing with that guy, I felt an odd feeling.
It felt like my entire self was being seen through.
…It’s unpleasant. Predicting on my own.
So she wouldn’t tell me as I said.
I turned my steps towards Lola’s room.
Heading to the dorm where that guy lived.
I knew the location. Because it’s the bottom of the barrel.
The unusually dirty place caught my eye.
…Living in a place like this?
I didn’t care deeply. The purpose was the note.
When I opened the door and entered, there was a desk and a note on it.
What did he write that he wanted me to deliver to the professor…
Just as I reached out to check the note’s content,
Dang- dang- dang-
The bell ringing from the academy to announce the hour.
Looking at the clock in the room, it was 5 o’clock.
I have to deliver it before the disciplinary committee.
It was tight to read the content and deliver it.
Well, if I copy it like this.
When the Book of Eibon shone, light seeped into the note.
The light moved sideways and copied the note exactly.
It was a temporary magic to copy the form of an object.
With this, the content written in the note would be copied.
The copied note was tucked into my pocket.
This I will definitely deliver.
Holding the note, I headed outside.
It felt light because it seemed I ruined X’s plan.
Compared to telling him that I’m the reincarnated Sage, it’s cheap.
Unfortunately for X, the note containing the world’s truth ended up in the hands of the Sage who didn’t know where it would go.