I've Found a New Goal

There was an event you always saw once academy life properly began in Chronicles of Lodoros.

It was called The Moment Pride Breaks.

Adrian, baffled by a lesson he simply could not grasp, dared to test Glen's qualifications—and that was how it started.

Still young, yet already walking an elite path of his own, Adrian met his first true defeat in this very spar.

In the first exchange, his arrogance fell.

In the second, his pride.

In the third, his wrist.

Only a few more exchanges after that.

Once Glen saw there were no moves left, he ended the match with a simple motion and subdued Adrian completely…

And so Adrian tasted defeat for the first time in his life.

He had given everything he had, yet he could not land a single meaningful blow on Glen—could not even earn recognition.

The world was vast, and he himself was so very small.

With that realization, Adrian finally took a step forward.

That was how the spar was meant to end.

No—that was how it was supposed to end.

At a glance, what had just happened looked no different from the original.

Someone might well ask: Adrian lost, Glen won—so what changed?

But there was a difference, subtle if you wanted it subtle, enormous if you wanted it large.

At least, someone who had played the game as many times as I had could see it.

Unlike the original, Glen had acknowledged Adrian.

That single fact rewrote the entire flavor of the event.

From the story of a haughty crown prince being punished… to the story of someone discovering a glittering raw gemstone.

What that meant…

Even someone as dense as me could understand it now.

With trembling hands I clutched my cheeks.

If I didn't, I felt I wouldn't be able to endure it.

An unease like a cold draft had swept over me, raising goosebumps along my skin.

"Hey, Carmilla. What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"Your face looks terrible… Are you unwell?"

Worried voices rose beside me, but I couldn't take in a single word.

This was a secret I could never share with anyone.

Even if only a little… the future has changed.

Why?

I wondered, yet the answer came far too easily—as if I were simply drawing out something that had been inside me from the start.

Because I… served Adrian a meal?

The hidden trait Monarch of Gastronomy had made Adrian stronger than scheduled…

And that had twisted the predetermined outcome?

The thought that then brushed my mind was thoroughly ominous.

As if recalling an old promise, I asked myself:

Then… since when?

If the trait Monarch of Gastronomy could create variables like this…

Just when had the twisting begun?

Perhaps the beginning had been a very long time ago.

I remembered the day the trait first awakened.

The day I made warm stew for Luca, who had collapsed in front of the restaurant—that was the day I awakened the hidden trait Monarch of Gastronomy.

I still didn't know the activation conditions, but it was a trait that granted considerable stats to both me and the recipient.

After that came Roxanna, then Adrian.

I had served each of them the best plate I could manage and triggered the trait.

Thinking that far, a sudden realization struck me.

Perhaps I had already come too far to turn back.

In the midst of that dazed understanding, a mocking whisper suddenly arrived.

I had to admit it. I had been complacent.

I had known, at least, that I should have acted more carefully.

The truth was, I think I had known all along.

Taking in Luca, who never even appeared in the original work.

Roxanna, who was supposed to keep her existence hidden throughout academy life, becoming a regular…

And because of that, accidentally learning Adrian's true name when our paths crossed—

For some reason, every time something like that happened…

A quiet certainty had been stacking up inside me.

Even the reason I came to watch today's spar was the same.

I had wanted confirmation.

Deep down, I had hoped that everything I had done so far hadn't actually changed anything.

I had wanted to live the familiar life I knew so well.

But hearing that, I found the words absurd.

I had spent my whole life as a cook. I had simply done what I was best at.

And that was a sin?

Enough of that nonsense.

At some point I had become unable to leave a hungry person alone.

So I had simply done my best.

If someone now told me to go against that nature…

I had only one answer.

I'd rather leap into an unknown future a hundred times over.

In that moment, familiar letters appeared before my eyes.

What appeared on the status window was an unfamiliar message.

Until now, Monarch of Gastronomy had only ever shown me things like the trait's level or experience…

What floated before my eyes now was something entirely different.

This was clearly the special reward I had received when the trait activated for Adrian.

At the time I obtained it, the status window couldn't interpret its contents—but now I could read them.

Fragment of Destiny… What a grand name.

With that thought, I examined the details.

Ah.

Only then could I feel a measure of relief.

A different path…

That simple description felt as if it were affirming the road I had walked until now.

The moment that thought settled, the tension drained from me…

And strength left my body.

"Carmilla?!"

Through fading consciousness I heard Roxanna's voice.

Having someone who worried about me… really was a good thing.

With that thought, I closed my eyes for a moment.

"I'm gonna die."

This was the third straight night of all-nighters.

Gulping down herb tea with a stimulant effect, Heinz finally finished the paper he had been writing and found himself thinking:

Perhaps this place was the most two-faced spot in the entire school.

It was the Magic Research ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Lab beneath St. Celestia Academy.

A place that drew the longing of clueless, academically passionate students—

And at the same time, a place countless people desperately wanted to escape.

"Professor Elisia… I've finished the paper you assigned last time."

"Oh, really? Good work, Hanes."

"…My name is Heinz."

"Mm, that's what I said."

It bore the grand name of Magic Research Lab, but in reality it was little different from a slave camp.

Why did he think that?

Well, the reasons were painfully clear.

Just three days ago, Heinz had been forced to write a paper on a topic Professor Elisia had thrown at him.

A week before that, he had been ordered to implement a complex formula she had designated…

And of course, before even that, he had been sent on her errands all the way to the royal capital and back.

The most comfortable memory among them was probably sleeping in the carriage—

Truly a life no different from slavery.

And was the pay good?

Of course not.

It was so meager a rat's tail would have been envious, and even when he had money he never had time to spend it.

I could really use a smoke, damn it.

Regret was overwhelming.

He leaned against a deserted terrace near the lab and pulled out a thoroughly unhealthy habit.

"Ignite."

Hss, huu—

With the spreading smoke, Heinz sighed over how things had come to this.

How on earth had it come to this?

If only the research topic hadn't happened to be rare high-tier magic that perfectly matched his tastes.

If only she hadn't dangled premium sweets—a rare commodity—in front of a third-year who was thoroughly sick of cafeteria food.

No, if only Elisia von Lidel, a top-tier authority in the field, hadn't come looking for him in person!

Maybe none of this would have happened.

"Haa… I want to go back."

But if there was one thing he had learned while researching…

It was that reversing time was an act that consumed an enormous cost.

In short, unless something truly major was at stake, the juice simply wasn't worth the squeeze.

"So that nothing like that happens… our researchers should live lives without regret, right?"

He remembered Professor Elisia saying that in her somehow languid tone.

Considering she was the one who had recruited those very researchers, it was a cruel joke.

Researching time magic only to learn the lesson of living without regret.

The books didn't balance at all.

As Heinz muttered that complaint, a familiar voice reached him.

Actually, saying he "heard" it might have been a stretch.

It was a sound delivered directly into his consciousness rather than his ears.

Heinz could hear it because someone had cast the non-elemental spell Telepathy on him.

"She really can't remember a name."

Stubbing out the barely half-smoked cigarette, Hanes—loyal worker that he was—started walking.

Of course, that someone was a person he knew all too well.

"I'm here."

When he returned to the lab, Elisia was uncharacteristically busy.

If that woman was this busy, it was usually one of three things.

Occasionally, when the headmaster was about to barge in and they needed to tidy up…

When she had found a useful kid and needed the reception room dusted…

Or when there had been a major breakthrough in the research.

"Can you see this?"

What she pointed at with her finger was a massive magic sphere floating in the center of the lab.

Countless constellations and faint clockwork gears tangled together—it was the crystallization ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of the time magic she had been refining for years.

"I can see it. It's huge."

"Ahaha, I didn't explain properly."

Answering in a light tone, Elisia laid her hand on the sphere.

Light rippled outward like waves, and what unfolded before their eyes were dozens of faint lines branching in every direction.

The paper he had just finished writing was related to this, so Heinz had no choice but to understand.

"Something… changed?"

"Mm."

Saying that, Elisia traced a wavering curve.

"A variable."

And her voice, as she said it, sounded somehow delighted.