Chapter 12
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: Crack in the Main Scenario -1-
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Internal construction complete.
Library access available starting next week.
This was a bulletin announcing that the library would be open for use starting next week.
Spotting the signal flare for the episode's start, I headed straight for the library building.
The library was bustling with cleaners and caretakers.
"You must be the new instructor everyone's talking about."
"Pleasure to meet you. Librarian."
The head librarian was a wizened old man.
Seeing him in person rather than in the game, he looked even older than the dean.
"Heh heh... I didn't expect the famous instructor to know my name."
"How could I not know the one managing the library at the Academy?"
In the Academy's world, who doesn't know the weight the word "library" carries?
This cliché held true even in Akarite.
"Well... I've heard the stories, but you're quite the unique fellow. Not very adventurer-like... Ah! No offense meant!"
The librarian stroked his beard, looking flustered by his own words.
"I hear that a lot, so don't worry about it. Could I take a quick look inside the library now, by any chance?"
"Sorry, but that's not possible. The final construction and cleaning aren't done yet."
Even when I suggested borrowing just one book quickly and leaving,
the librarian firmly refused, straight as an arrow.
With all those forbidden tomes and intricate security spells inside, they were clearly swamped handling them.
Guess shortcuts aren't that easy, huh.
A casual glance revealed mana emanating from some of the cleaners.
It was a decent disguise, but it showed.
"Then I'll come back once it's open."
"You're welcome anytime once preparations are complete."
I wanted to retrieve the item before things blew up, but right now, not even the protagonist could get in.
With lingering regret, I circled the library one more time before leaving the Academy.
Rike sat in her dorm room, staring intently at her sword.
Something felt just within reach, yet slipping away.
(It must not have been easy getting this far. You're not wrong, so just keep going.)
She could simply feel it.
Those words weren't a lie.
For the first time, she'd been acknowledged by a powerhouse everyone respected.
That the time spent like a mad lunatic hadn't been wasted.
Pure joy welled up.
She was one step closer to slicing off those bastards' necks.
-Knock knock knock
Who could that be?
No one came to see her.
No matter how hard she thought, no one came to mind.
Finally, she sheathed her sword and rose from the bed.
Pressing down on the wooden door latch to open it, red hair swayed playfully.
Like a toy tempting a cat.
Tilting her head down slightly, she recognized the face from somewhere.
Probably a cadet from the same department.
"Hi~ I'm right next door, so I thought I'd say hello!"
"Ah... sure..."
The room with the red-haired girl was at the end of this hall.
"Right next door" meant she was the only one.
Didn't she hear my name in class?
She didn't seem to know her yet, but hearing the name would make her back off.
Rike cleared her throat for this rare interaction and spoke.
She even anticipated the girl recoiling in horror.
"Rike... Skadi."
"I'm Seria Electra!"
...?
Far from fleeing, she curtsied like she was in a dress and approached with a playful grin.
This was uncharted territory, leaving Rike unsure how to respond.
"If you're not busy, wanna grab dinner? We'll be seeing each other for three years—better get friendly quick!"
"......"
-
Rike only ate simple fare from the dorm entrance's milk and bread when extreme hunger hit.
Not out of thrift, but lack of appetite.
A means to survive.
Meals held no deeper meaning.
Even arriving in the capital, she'd gone straight from carriage to dorm, never venturing out for food or anything.
"I came here with my sister once before—great place! I'll cover the bill since I dragged you out!"
Unable to utter a word against Seria's bulldozer persistence, Rike was pulled outside.
Meekly following her into the shop, Rike ordered just soup and clammed up.
"That's really all? You'll get hungry at night."
"It's fine..."
Seria watched her, then twirled a fork between her fingers.
Hard to imagine as noble dining etiquette.
"I was just gonna train and crash, but today I couldn't sit still, so I came over."
"Feels like I hit this massive wall, y'know? Thought someone who's been through it might get it. Haha... sigh."
Seria's forced smile faded into a sigh.
This much, at least, Rike understood.
Was she supposed to nod along now?
Talking to a near-peer she'd just met was rustier than expected.
"No need to force words. I'm a total chatterbox anyway."
Seria placed a small piece of bread on Rike's plate as she fidgeted with her lips.
"Let's drop the formal speech first? Cadets are all equals, no ranks, and we're the same age anyway."
In truth, cadets had unbreakable hierarchies, but official word treated nobles and commoners as equals.
Rike nodded hesitantly, and Seria flashed a toothy grin.
Right on cue, the food arrived, steaming soup placed before Rike.
"...Thanks. Let's eat."
"Whoa! We just agreed to drop formalities."
"Ugh... L-let's eat?"
Only then did Seria look satisfied and pick up her utensils.
Seria didn't press Rike for replies.
She just vented her own story over the meal.
Surprisingly, the spot wasn't uncomfortable for Rike.
No etiquette or formalities forced, no demands for responses.
Seria deftly avoided any topic that might irk her, reading the room perfectly.
Clink—
The light dinner menu kept the meal short.
Seria ate fast anyway, so no big time gap with Rike's slow soup.
Outside, Seria eyed the still-bright sky thoughtfully.
"Wanna check out the Adventurer's Guild while we're out? If you're cool with it, Rike!"
From the meal chat, Rike gauged Seria's huge interest in adventurers.
She seemed set on adventuring in the capital post-graduation or building experience to manage a branch.
She craved real combat over Academy life.
But if she changed her mind toward management, the Academy was the way.
Seria's top goal—discard her title and estate like her sister.
Her estate...
Hearing her, Rike admired Seria's forward-planning.
Unlike herself, blind to tomorrow or next week.
"Let's go. I've got something I'm curious about too..."
"Yay!"
In the main scenario, these two never crossed paths.
New classes. New instructors.
And the myriad ties, human "emotions" no magic tool could replicate.
They began cracking the main scenario apart.
"That's why adventurers get called thick-headed thugs—vulgar and filthy."
I'm in the Adventurer's Guild basement tavern, ale in hand, schooling the reputation-wreckers.
-That punk's at it again...
-Someone fetch Liliane!
-Out on a quest?
-Fuck.
"If you're gonna rant about lizardmen turning you on in the capital square, at least ditch your guild badge first! I'd get dragonkin, maybe."
A party bragged loudly about wanting to screw lizardmen, drawing complaints to the guild receptionist.
I covered my face in secondhand shame hearing it.
"Roman. This freedom-worshipping adventurer can't just let this slide."
"Fucking cyclops lunatic. Wanna go?"
"Whoa, hear me out."
Nottingham Greenhill, Sapphire adventurer just below Platinum.
One-eyed, but his hundred-percent accuracy guarded his party, earning fame.
He grabbed his wine bottle like a mic.
"Brothers!! Can one who hides shame from their own walls call themselves adventurers, valuing freedom supreme?!"
Hell yeah!!
Educated one's different.
Background matters.
I think of lizardmen sometimes too!!
Who said that?
...
Adventurers' tavern.
Surveying these irredeemable idiots, a sigh escaped.
And this cyclops was just as hopeless.
A maniac stalking widows, not married women.
"Widow fetish makes your bullshit rhetoric pop."
"Tsk tsk—virgins are for greenhorns blind to true womanly flavor. Childhood possession fantasies."
"Got it! Die then."
I shot up, and Nottingham drew his hip crossbows.
No tremor despite the booze—Sapphire lived up to the rank.
Here they go again!!!
Exploded! Fuck!!!
Crazy bastards! Stop 'em!!
Get in the middle and you're dead! Up top!
Clatter and chaos as adventurers fled, leaving us alone below.
"I win, you admit virgins in maid outfits and garters—legs and ass on point—are supreme forever."
"Kukuku—brat with brawn. Taste a widow's ripe flavor, and you'll ditch visual thrills."
"Knock you out, bathe you in unicorn blood."
Unicorn blood boosts many ways, but huge drawback.
No arousal unless virgin or deflowering one.
Knight and adventurers suicided realizing they'd done dishes, sparking scandals.
Bicon's the opposite.
Nottingham, knowing this, pulled triggers without hesitation at the emasculation threat.
"Romaaaaaan!!!!"
Bang bang bang bang—!
Crossbows spat fire, unleashing a volley instantly.
No skill needed; his rapid-fire was masterful.
All combat skills OFF, I kicked the table as shield.
Thud thud thud!
Bolts riddled the table.
Mana or skills forbidden in personal adventurer scraps.
Adventurers sans pride and stubbornness are corpses.
Constant brawls from petty quarrels led to simple guild rule.
<[Winner's word is truth. Loser shuts up.]>
My win means Nottingham's wrong, mine right.
Pure muscle hurled the table at him.
"Die, you fuck!!"
-
Meanwhile upstairs, Rike and Seria pushed open the Adventurer's Guild doors.
"Eww—booze stench!"
Seria pinched her nose on entry.