Ten Thousand Lies

There was no Probability Penalty.

I'd never locked a viewpoint onto the Chairman, after all.

That was only natural. The Chairman was not a character who appeared often. He showed up only rarely, when some major incident shook the Academy — neither villain, nor lead, nor supporting cast. If you had to classify him, he was a prominent extra.

That's one of the big preparations taken care of.

Showing the Chairman that magic and Auror could be used simultaneously had any number of reasons behind it, but three stood out above the rest.

First: strengthening our forces.

This Academy was going to keep getting attacked. To keep the damage to a minimum, every student needed enough personal combat power to hold their own.

The Chairman will want to weigh the benefits and run his own selection process, so actual field deployment and widespread use will take a while.

The fact that it was possible was enough. He had never expected an explosive surge in combat power from this in the first place. Using the technique at all meant keeping up with a training schedule like his own, and that would mean putting the students through hell.

Kids should get to play a little, at least.

Personally, he had no desire to watch students get crushed under their education. He had made that point to the Chairman in no uncertain terms.

Second: temporary extralegal authority.

He had asked to be released from every rule the Academy had. Until the day of the tournament, at least, he needed a measure of freedom from those rigid regulations.

The Chairman's reaction, of course, had not been enthusiastic.

"Even so, that's going too far..."

"I'm aware you need to manage the Academy's public image. If word got out that you'd granted a single student extralegal authority, it would be a disaster. That's why I'm only asking until Grand Feast Day."

"Hmm. I'll consider it on a case-by-case basis. Just... get in touch with me whenever you're about to do something."

"I'll report in, of course."

With a promise that he would inform the Chairman before doing anything that might cause trouble, he had secured his extralegal authority.

Third: eliminating the Probability Penalty.

The Probability Penalty triggered whenever he did something that didn't fit the narrative and Elysia caught him at it. In other words, if nobody else could use magic and Auror at the same time, and X alone kept doing it until he got caught, the penalty would fire.

But what if everyone could use it?

Then the Probability Penalty couldn't trigger. Everyone was using it, so X was simply using it too. The conditions for the penalty couldn't be met.

That was why he had handed over the method for using magic and Auror simultaneously.

The Chairman felt a hollow sort of dismay at the method X had given him.

"It was possible just by changing the heart method?"

"It was less a matter of technique than a matter of common sense, actually..."

"Haaaaah..."

The Chairman already had a headache coming on.

"We'll have to rebuild the entire curriculum from scratch. All the educational theory I've researched up to now can go in the fireplace..."

"Well. Beats the Academy disappearing, doesn't it?"

"Is there anything else? Something else we could use if we just changed how we think about it?"

"I only stumbled onto this one by accident, so..."

A lie, of course. X's head was still packed with enough secrets to stop the Chairman's heart.

The Chairman eyed that shameless answer with genuine puzzlement.

"Aren't you even a little afraid?"

"Pardon? Of what?"

"I could dispose of you right here and go around claiming the knowledge you brought me as my own. From the looks of it, you haven't prepared for that at all."

"Ah. That."

The Chairman had a point. The knowledge X had brought was valuable enough to change the world. Anyone with a shred of greed would have killed him on the spot. And yet he had made no preparations against it whatsoever.

The reason was obvious.

"You're not that kind of person, Chairman."

Because the Chairman wasn't that kind of character.

"...You staked your life on that alone?"

"I didn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠need to stake my life on anything."

The Chairman went blank at that answer. He simply could not keep up with this student's mind.

X left the dazed Chairman where he sat and stood up.

"I'll be going, then. If anything comes up besides what I already mentioned, I'll contact you immediately. And as I said — you must not let it get out that I was the one who discovered this."

"...Right. I'll handle the rest."

"Then I'll take my leave."

X walked straight out of the Chairman's office.

Left alone in the room, the Chairman stared blankly at the ceiling — then a dry laugh ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠burst out of him.

"Heh. Heheh... Heheheh!"

For the first time in a long while, the Chairman laughed with no pretense at all. To a man who had spent his life being suspected of everything simply because he was the Chairman, being trusted like this was a rather pleasant thing.

"Right. If I've been given trust, I'd better live up to it."

The Chairman immediately called someone on his Mana Phone.

It was a day he could actually enjoy his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠work, for the first time in a long time.

By the time he stepped out of the Chairman's office, the last period of the day had already ended.

"Alright. Let's see if they took the bait."

X checked the response to the lure he had thrown.

"Oh. So the news has reached them."

A rustle of wings —

Out beyond the window, a crow was watching him from a distance. Andras's familiar.

So far, so good.

He pretended not to see it. He had made all that noise for this exact reason.

First I should check how far class got and pick up the assignment.

He headed for Michelle Eve, the professor of Auxiliary Magic whose lecture he had missed while meeting with the Chairman. He needed today's material and the homework that went with it.

"Oh my. I didn't think you'd actually come."

"If I didn't, you'd talk behind my back."

"What do you take me for...? Here. Today's lecture content and the assignment."

"Huh. Didn't think you'd actually tell me."

"I beg your pardon?"

"Nothing at all."

She was one of the people who had tried to have him expelled at the last disciplinary committee, and she had a habit of treating anyone who wasn't a noble like something she might scrape off her shoe. That she had actually given him the lecture notes and the assignment was unexpected. She was the type whose insides were thoroughly rotten, which made him suspicious for no good reason.

This isn't fake, is it? She might have given me something else entirely...

"I gave you the real thing, so don't stand there inspecting it like that. It makes me want to drop a fireball on your head."

X turned on his heel before Michelle could actually lose her temper.

"Ah — wait a moment."

Michelle caught him before he could leave. She let out a small sigh and got to the point.

"You're friends with Miss Elia, aren't you? This is about her."

"We're not particularly friends..."

"Is something wrong with that student?"

The question came out of nowhere, and it threw him. Come to think of it, this was the first time Elia had attended class without X. He felt a flicker of unease — had she caused some kind of incident?

"Did something happen?"

"Genius of the martial path or not, being completely unable to read is a serious problem. She can't do basic arithmetic or even simple logical inference. I understand that commoners receive a poorer education, but this is..."

Michelle groped for the right words and finally forced them out.

"It feels like looking at a newborn baby that just happens to have a grown body."

The remark stirred a sense of wrongness X had already been carrying.

She didn't have any titles either. I'm sure of it.

X had been checking various people now and then with the new Character Info feature. The common thread he had found was that almost everyone had titles. Even the ones with the fewest had at least three.

Elia had none.

No titles, no basic knowledge, and not enough common sense to get by.

Elia's true nature was creeping closer and closer to an answer so nauseating he did not want to imagine it. Even so, he decided not to treat it as certain.

"Well. I'll look after her if I can."

"I don't particularly want to ask this of you, but we've already accepted her as a student, so I have a duty to fulfill. You're the closest thing she has to a friend, so I'm asking you."

"And what do I get for it? I'm not interested in taking a loss."

"Oh, you have got to be — fine. Shall just the two of us go somewhere nice later?"

"Ugh... Right. She was this kind of person..."

"Excuse me, what is that look, like you're staring at sewage? Where do you think you're going! Get back here right now! Hey!!"

X fled from the enraged Michelle, seriously reconsidering whether he even needed to attend Auxiliary Magic at all.

When he got back to his dorm room, a letter had been shoved under the door, the writing scrawled in a rough, hurried hand.

These guys don't waste time, do they.

It was clearly from Sword Rang. He would have to go, of course. But first, he would check on Elia.

He had told her to go to Lola, but that didn't stop him from worrying. Lola was not exactly the type to take good care of someone.

...She's not in her room.

When he peeked into Elia's room, there was nobody there. He hurried to search the places she might be, and found her in an unexpected location, with an unexpected person.

"You write this character like this."

"It's a weird drawing! That's an earthworm, right?"

"I'll have ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you know my handwriting is actually pretty good?!"

Elia was in the library, studying with Lola. More precisely, Lola was teaching her.

She's looking after her better than I expected.

Considering how Lola usually put on airs as a count's daughter, it was a genuinely surprising sight. He knew she had a kind heart, but he hadn't thought she would take this much care of someone.

...Is it because they're about the same mental age?

That was the best explanation he could come up with. Either way, he had confirmed Elia's situation. Now it was time to get to work.

X called Roxwell as he headed for his destination.

"Master, it's me."

"What."

"Starting today, I'm going to have to spend a while getting beaten up."

"If you want to get beaten to death, I'll kill you myself."

"No, I have my reasons for this."

"Tsk. If you're just gonna wander around getting your ass kicked, I'll kill you myself."

"You don't need to worry."

The back of the dormitory was not far. In the brief time the call had taken, he had already arrived.

A dozen or so martial-track students with vicious builds were waiting for him. Every last one of them was Sword Rang.

"Eight 1-Stars, five 2-Stars, two 3-Stars... I can take about half."

"That's all?"

"Then I'll push myself and thrash ten of them."

"Hang up."

He tossed the Mana Phone somewhere convenient and walked forward. He also took the ring off his finger for now, saving it for later. A training sword was already in his hand.

Andras showed up on time, too.

He could see the crow hidden among the trees. Just to be sure, he checked the Synopsis as well. Andras was definitely watching this unfold.

Time to move.

"What's with the pack? You're not a bunch of stray dogs."

He tossed the words out indifferently, keeping a measured distance. The insult thickened the killing intent rolling off the Sword Rang members.

"Doesn't look like you're in a mood to talk."

The student who seemed to be their leader stepped forward. He had a shaved head and a scar across his forehead that caught the eye. His face belonged on a criminal, not a student.

"You've probably heard of me. Gary, first-year officer of Sword Rang."

"Really sorry, but I haven't."

"...I'm here as a representative of Sword Rang to offer you some advice."

Gary threw something at X's feet. A rolled-up sheet of paper. X picked it up, scanned the contents, and a snort of laughter escaped him.

Gary declared the charges as if reciting a list of sins.

"What you did is unforgivable for the rest of your life. Attacking a scion of Count Dremore's house. Tarnishing their honor. And so on. Originally, it would have been a crime fit for summary execution."

"Then why aren't you doing it?"

"The magnanimous Lord Daniel has personally granted you his forgiveness. Sign the contract, and every one of your sins will be pardoned."

X held the paper up and gave it a pointed shake.

"This 'slave contract,' you mean? What generous forgiveness. Why not just say it straight? You'll lock me in a basement nobody knows about and torture me whenever you're bored."

"In that case."

The moment Gary finished speaking, every member of Sword Rang drew their blades. Unlike X's, they were all live steel, honed to a killing edge.

"What's it going to be?"

The words meant, Are you prepared to put your life on the line?

X gave his answer by showing it.

A rush of flame —

"Ah. The contract burned. Got a spare?"

"...You've actually lost your mind."

"I'm a mage, so I'm smarter than you lot, for what it's worth."

"A mage, by himself, thinks he can take all of us?"

"Depends on the mage."

As he spoke, three brilliantly white light-blades rose into the air behind him.

"...Auror?"

Anyone could see it was an Auror reaction. The sudden manifestation sent a ripple through the Sword Rang members.

"What? Wasn't he a mage? Why is he using Auror?"

"Swords floating in the air... that means he's actually a 7-Star, right?"

"This isn't what we were told. Nobody said anything about this."

As the bizarre spectacle in front of them set the mood wavering, Gary put force into his voice and shouted.

"Don't fall for it! The opponent is a mage! It's obviously an illusion!"

That snapped them back to their senses.

"R-right. It's a trick. That wouldn't even make sense!"

"An illusion that fools the senses, even. I almost bought it!"

"Once you know it's magic, it's over. You're dead!"

They spat curses, each of them talking down the unease in their own chests. As the atmosphere turned sharp, Gary smiled thinly.

"Your trump card's already been seen through. Anything else to show us?"

Clap. Clap. Clap.

X applauded, as if in admiration of Gary's insight.

"That's all I've got. Impressive, seeing through it like that."

"You're right. I made it with magic. Pretty convincing, wasn't it?"

"How would a mage use Auror? That doesn't even make sense."

"So."

He poured Auror into the training sword.

"Go ahead and come at me. Relax."

He burst forward, Auror swinging — a fierce leap, a tiger plunging into a pack of stray dogs.

"It's all just magic, after all."

That they failed to see through the lie meant a nightmare had begun for them.