The Deadly Binary Choice
The crazy bitch had finally done it. For me, this was the trolley problem of death. If I pretended not to notice, she would explode. I couldn’t even begin to imagine the collateral damage. But helping her would raise a flag. Naturally, I hated both options. Aaaah, why did this keep happening…? Why couldn’t they just leave me the hell alone…?
“Haa… Still, better than dying in an explosion, I suppose.”
I pushed through the howling wind and approached Irene.
“Just this once.”
I knew full well how fatal that “once” could be. I knew it would eventually drag me back into this mess, but when someone’s threatening you with a sword, what else can you do? You endure it.
“You stupid idiot.”
I placed my hand on Irene’s shoulder.
“I-Ihan…”
She was so flustered she could barely breathe.
“Take a breath.”
“B-but…”
“It’s fine. Breathe in slowly, then out. I’ll help you.”
“…Yes.”
Irene took a deep breath and steadied her mind. The flickering light that had been pulsing erratically began to stabilize.
I moved behind her and took her hands. It looked exactly like a back hug, but… there was no helping it.
Through our touching skin, I controlled the flow of divine power raging inside her. It was a task that demanded incredibly delicate control, yet for someone who had survived countless catastrophes like me, it wasn’t difficult.
“Ah…”
Irene let out a sigh, as if the sensation were something she had longed for.
“You remember after all, don’t you?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Your divine power patterns are just that obvious.”
The divine power that had been rampaging inside Irene gradually began to subside. The uncontrollable waves of force softened, then slowly shrank. Irene herself started to calm, and by the time she had completely regained her composure, only a faint glow remained at her fingertips.
“Haa…!”
Irene exhaled deeply and collapsed to the floor.
“Th-thank you…. In the end, you’re the only one who stays by my side until the very last moment. So you haven’t abandoned me yet, right?”
Irene panted, exhausted yet visibly overjoyed.
“Don’t misunderstand. I didn’t do this to help you. I just didn’t want to die.”
“Even the way you say that is exactly the same.”
Irene smiled faintly. Then, as if savoring the lingering sensation, she clutched the back of her own hand tightly.
“No…!”
Why was it going up?! A stream of curses surged up my throat, but I forced them back down.
“Sigh…”
That’s just how favorability works, I guess.
Irene’s rampage ended as nothing more than a minor incident. Normally, ignoring a professor’s orders and creating a dangerous situation should have earned her punishment. But the church backing her as a sponsor held such overwhelming influence that the whole thing was quietly buried.
After that, I minimized all contact with Irene. Being in the same class made complete avoidance impossible, but unless a class was absolutely necessary, I kept skipping to stay away from her. Irene seemed to realize her outburst had crossed a line, because she didn’t approach me for a while either.
Thanks to that, my academy life became remarkably comfortable. I even made a few friends.
“Hey!”
As I entered the dining hall, a male student waved from the far side. I grabbed a tray and headed over. He was one of the trio who had rescued me when Irene tried to sit in front of me last time.
“You never come to class but you’re always punctual for meals!”
This refreshing friend with his orange hair styled upward was Philip. He had a cheerful personality and natural leadership—the de facto leader of the group.
“Pfft…! Look at this scrawny pig, Ihan! All he does is eat and sleep! Hehehe!”
The friend who laughed easily was Angela. A beautiful girl with long golden-blonde hair.
“Don’t tease him too much. It’s all because of Irene. Have some sympathy for the guy who can’t even attend class properly.”
The one speaking in a slightly prickly tone was Yohan. He had green hair and a perpetually tired expression.
This group—three boys and one girl, known as Philip’s crew—always ate together. I had told them a little about Irene. Just enough: that she was obsessively fixated on me and kept trying to harass me.
“No kidding. That rampage last time… I seriously almost passed out from how creepy it was. I thought being the next saintess candidate meant she was impressive, but… causing trouble like that is just asking for problems.”
Angela frowned.
The trio’s impression of Irene was generally negative. Actually, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say the entire class felt the same. The incident at the training ground had been genuinely dangerous.
“But Ihan. How exactly did you do that? I’ve never heard of anyone controlling another person’s divine power. Isn’t that something only high-ranking priests can do?”
Yohan asked.
“Ah… Well, yeah. I grew up under a good priest when I was young, so I picked up a few things. That’s how I knew what to do.”
“I see. No wonder Professor Stefano seems to be keeping an eye on you.”
“Professor Stefano?”
Stefano was the professor who had overseen the previous divine power class.
“Yeah. Everyone else was panicking and running away, but you charged straight in and pulled off something bizarre.”
“I guess that’s true…”
“Well, catching a professor’s attention can’t be a bad thing, right? Maybe he’ll give you good grades or some special treatment!”
Philip declared energetically, his infinite positivity circuit running at full throttle.
“More importantly, what are we doing for tomorrow’s Combat Aptitude Evaluation? It’s pairs, right? We’re teaming up among ourselves, yeah?”
Angela brought it up.
Tomorrow was the freshmen Combat Aptitude Evaluation. It would be done in pairs to test both combat ability and cooperation. With four of us, we had planned to form teams internally. After a quick discussion on roles, we settled on Philip with Angela, and Yohan paired with me.
“Perfect! No issues for tomorrow’s evaluation then! After you finish eating, heading back to the dorm, Ihan?”
“Yeah. I’ve got some things to take care of today.”
“You always have ‘things.’ Anyway, see you tomorrow! We’re off to our next class!”
“See you.”
After saying goodbye to Philip, I headed toward a particular spot in the academy.
It wasn’t like I spent all my time fooling around. To survive what was coming, I needed to build strength. That’s why I trained diligently every morning and evening, and in my spare time I collected the hidden pieces scattered throughout the academy.
Thanks to that, my stats had improved considerably since the divine power test.
The hidden piece I was retrieving today was inside the academy’s chapel. It was hidden in the confessional—a relatively easy item that could be obtained by simply manipulating a device.
In the game, you had to perform confession a certain number of times to get it, but in this reality it had changed to operating the mechanism. Some kind of narrative plausibility adjustment, perhaps.
Taking advantage of lunch hour when no one would be around, I slipped into the confessional. I found the button beneath the chair and pressed it.
Touch the wrong thing and the confessional would seal itself, trapping you inside as an obvious thief—but I had done this dozens of times before.
I held my breath and pressed the buttons starting from the third one, counterclockwise.
Click.
A door opened in the confessional floor. From within emerged a single semi-transparent cloak.
The Cloak of Silence. It drastically reduced all sound made by the wearer. In the game, it had raised evasion and escape success rates.
“Nice. Another one secured today.”
I put the cloak on immediately and was about to leave the chapel when I noticed a lone woman kneeling in prayer before a statue in an otherwise empty space.
“Ugh.”
A familiar face. Ines. Daughter of the Northern Duke. A woman with deep-sea dark blue hair. The genius who would later earn the title Sword Princess and had displayed monstrous swordsmanship from the moment she enrolled.
She was also one of the heroines. In future timelines she would either get possessed by a demonic sword and stab me, or become blinded by greater power and stab me—various bad endings.
‘But was she this devout?’
I had thought she was practically an atheist.
‘Well, not my problem.’
I pulled the cloak over myself and quietly slipped out of the chapel. Who knew how I might end up entangled with her later.
The day of the Combat Aptitude Evaluation arrived. This was a mandatory event for the entire student body. Every class from A to D gathered at the training ground and sat on the benches.
“There you are, Ihan! How’s your condition?”
Angela asked brightly.
“Good. I rested well. You guys?”
“Good except for Yohan. That guy’s tired twenty-four seven.”
“It’s not that I’m tired. This is just how my face looks.”
Yohan shot back, slightly irritated.
This was nice. These ordinary conversations. This was what a proper academy life should be. I wanted to keep living these small, precious days.
“We will now begin the freshmen Combat Aptitude Evaluation! As you all know, the test will be conducted in pairs of two…”
The supervising professor announced the details. I had heard it dozens of times. I could probably recite it in my sleep.
“Then, you have ten minutes to form your own pairs and report them to the instructors.”
At those words, students began moving around to form teams. Since we had already decided, we were about to head straight to the instructor.
But of course—
“Ihan? Won’t you pair with me? The combination would be perfect. You in front, me in the rear.”
As expected. Irene approached and suggested we team up.
“Irene. Ihan already agreed to pair with me. Go find someone else.”
Yohan refused coldly.
“What did you just say? Ihan paired with someone like you? That’s ridiculous. Someone like you isn’t fit to stand beside Ihan. He deserves someone far more excellent…”
“What’s that supposed to mean? What exactly did I do? Are you picking a fight with me?”
“Picking a fight? I merely stated the truth. You don’t understand Ihan’s true worth. I, on the other hand…”
Suddenly, an argument erupted between Yohan and Irene. The entire class turned to watch. Most expressions read ‘Irene’s causing a scene again.’
As the verbal fight escalated into personal attacks and burned hotter, the students began whispering and parting to either side.
“...?”
And then an absolutely unwelcome figure appeared.
“Ines.”
She was A-class. Why was she here? To pair with Irene? That would make sense—the Saintess candidate and the Sword Princess. The ultimate duo.
But my prediction was brutally shattered.
She walked straight up to me and—
“Ihan.”
Suddenly knelt on one knee before me.
The training ground fell silent. The students who had been watching Yohan and Irene’s argument now held their breath.
Ines of A-class. The girl who had displayed overwhelming prowess in the entrance exam and claimed first place without question. Rumors said she had even crushed an instructor during a sparring evaluation.
Yet that same girl was kneeling in front of me.
“Um… Who are you?”
“This time, I will become your sword.”
Ines bowed her head.
…It seemed one saintess wasn’t going to be the end of it.