Use Barbarians Against Barbarians
Use Barbarians Against Barbarians
"I believe it would be best for Prince Clion to serve as the assistant."
"What?"
Clion's face crumpled at my words. Professor Haspelt's expression twisted in much the same way.
One hit, two birds. But I hadn't even started yet.
"I received a poor score on the practical exam during the entrance examination. My skills are insufficient to serve as your assistant, Professor."
"That's not true. Miss Aether, your theoretical knowledge is outstanding, so you would do perfectly well...."
"Since Introductory Magic Arts deals primarily with scrolls, I understand that an assistant's magic aptitude isn't a factor. However, I am also unskilled in handling such scrolls. Even during the entrance exam, I couldn't even manage half the marks in the scroll section."
[Is that supposed to be a point of pride?]
It wasn't. It was fucking embarrassing even as I said it.
"That's because you weren't allowed to use Mana Cigarettes during the entrance exam...."
"Even accounting for that, I couldn't draw the circuits properly."
Professor Haspelt chewed her lip. It was a perfect checkmate against her.
The examiners had given the scroll I produced during the practical about 12 points. 12 out of 25. Not even half. The class average for this cohort was surely far higher.
I couldn't even go back and look at the scroll I had made during the exam. Only the admissions office held the right to access it.
—Rather lacking. Couldn't you have put in more effort?
Haspelt used to say things like that whenever my scrolls had even the smallest flaw. This was nothing more than copying those words and using them verbatim.
Only Rote, sitting beside me, seemed to have caught on to what was happening. Her lips twitched a couple of times, then she let out a sigh, smiled, and closed her mouth completely.
"You insolent wretch, to speak in such a manner with that flapping mouth of yours. Where exactly did you learn such impertinent speech?"
[Wow, looks like he's genuinely furious. Do you hate being an assistant that much?]
For a member of the imperial family who had lived a life of daily dominion, I supposed it made sense. They were people who couldn't bear standing beneath anyone. Especially given this reckless prince's temperament, even more so.
"Your Highness seems reluctant to become Professor Haspelt's assistant."
"Of course I am! Why would I take on such troublesome work?"
"Then who should do it? The Professor says she absolutely requires an assistant."
With those words, I turned my head from Clion toward Professor Haspelt. Haspelt's face was a picture of consternation.
The sight was well worth watching. I had deliberately provoked the prince.
"Your Highness, think about it again. You would be the exclusive assistant to one of the Four Great Dukes, the pillars who support the Imperial Household—not just any teacher."
"I said I don't want to!"
"But the compensation for accepting the assistant position is around twenty Gold Coins. To be frank, I think that's an impertinent sum for a commoner like myself."
Other students from noble houses would agree with that. At the same time, they would be left wondering why Professor Haspelt wanted me as her assistant so badly.
—Is there something about that member of the Gold-Eye Tribe tribesman?
That was precisely the kind of situation being staged.
If word of today's events in this classroom got around campus, Haspelt would be clutching the back of her neck and collapsing. If other professors who heard the rumors started targeting me, the picture she'd painted would be torn to shreds in an instant.
Who knew? After Professor Herlein's "Your assistant's amazing," another professor might pull a "Your assistant's amazing."
If that became reality, it would also mean presenting the prince with a nice little shit-sandwich. The prince's goal was to have me expelled from the academy, so me ending up under any professor was an unhappy outcome for him.
But it didn't end there. The shit-sandwich I was presenting to Haspelt was a three-stage separation big shit, like a rocket.
[What exactly are you trying to do....]
A male student raised his hand and asked a question. It was the top-ranked incoming student, Vermel.
"Professor Haspelt, isn't it true that an Introductory Magic Arts assistant need not have scored full marks on the written exam?"
"Th-that's correct."
"Then there is no particular reason to offer it only to Aether."
"Exactly. I wondered about that as well."
"If even Prince Clion objects, selecting from the other applicants seems the better course."
An unexpected ally had appeared. Once Vermel spoke up, the other classmates began voicing their opinions one by one, and in the end, Professor Haspelt had no choice but to abandon her insistence.
"Then I shall select from the remaining students aside from the Prince and Aether. Is there anyone who wishes to apply?"
The first hand up was Rote's. What the hell was she doing.
"Miss Saliere, serving as both assistant and class representative simultaneously is difficult. I would prefer you took on only one."
"Then I'll be the assistant. I've always wanted a chance to learn directly under Professor Haspelt!"
Haspelt sighed lightly and nodded. And so Rote retained only the temporary class representative position, with the permanent representative to be chosen from among the other students later.
As soon as the bell rang to end first period, I immediately pushed back my chair and stood. As I was leaving the classroom, my eyes briefly met Vermel's. He flinched and averted his gaze.
That made three times. If Vermel was a "Possessor" as the Hardcover Book had suggested, such a reaction made sense.
I still needed to stay in the observation phase regarding this matter. For now, I resolved to keep a close watch on that elf.
I was ready to bolt out of the classroom.
"Where are you going?"
"Something came up, so I'm going to take care of it. You go ahead and eat first today."
Even as I told Rote I had somewhere to stop by, the place I went was nowhere else.
[Earth Magic-Magic Golem Research Lab]
Knock, knock, knock.
"Oh my, what brings you here?"
"Professor Herlein, could I ask you for one favor?"
Professor Herlein, who had been writing a scroll, nodded leisurely. The gesture meant, say whatever it was.
"I want to intern in your lab."
**
With the bell, Vermel slipped into thought. What he recalled was what had occurred shortly before the homeroom session began.
Prince Clion had acted impulsively. He had plopped five thousand Gold Coins down on Aether's desk and urged her to withdraw from the academy.
'Up to this point, it was in the branching paths.'
Furthermore, Aether politely declining the prince's offer was also something specified in the route. There should be no problem with the plot progression.
But.
— SYSTEM : Entity 'Black Day Aether' displays homicidal intent toward 'Clion Philiut'.
'What?'
It should never have escalated to this. That Aether would even contemplate killing Clion.
'Has Corruption already begun?'
No, that was impossible. The point at which Corruption began was at least a year away.
There was no need to be frightened right this moment, but because of that very issue, Vermel had avoided meeting Aether's eyes directly until now.
He knew she was merely a game character, but the ending on that route had been profoundly shocking. So much so that after seeing that ending, he had lain in bed in a daze all day.
— SYSTEM : Entity 'Black Day Aether's status has changed to 'Calm'.
The urge to kill—that emotion had existed only for the briefest moment, then vanished. But that was no reason to feel relief.
If Aether became disillusioned with the Empire and turned against it sooner than expected, Tillet Academy would meet disaster that very day. As things stood now, she was the only means of stopping the other Great Machines of the Nine Heavens.
Vermel quickly understood what had led to this.
'She must have been under too much Stress before the prologue story even began. That's why she said those lines.'
Of course, this place was another world based on a game. Yet the situation in this world was unfolding in a direction similar to the game he had enjoyed. Save for a single case, no major deviations from the story's flow had appeared so far.
Even though Aether had withdrawn her homicidal intent, Prince Clion kept insisting on her expulsion. If this went any further, Aether's Stress Level might exceed 75.
If that happened, there would be no turning back.
Yet he had no suitable means of eliminating Clion right now. He needed to keep him alive until a certain point to draw out the mastermind behind him.
'I have to stay sharp. What did I come here for, instead of enrolling in Iliad?'
To prevent the world's annihilation. Vermel rose from his seat and strode unhesitatingly toward where Clion stood.
His hand came down on Clion's shoulder with a thud. Vermel succeeded in diverting Clion's attention from Aether to himself. After that, he held him off with narrowly chosen dialogue until the bell signaling homeroom rang.
Professor Haspelt entered with the bell. He had somehow managed to get past the event.
'The next event right away, then.'
It was out of the frying pan and into the fire. During that homeroom, Haspelt would propose that Aether become her assistant, and Clion would immediately object, throwing the classroom into chaos.
In the original, Aether accepted Professor Haspelt's proposal reluctantly with high probability. On most routes, she appeared as a gentle and passive child by nature until the Corruption.
But the Aether he had observed over the past few days was quite different from the one he knew.
—No.
The girl spoke in a bold voice. Direct speech. She conveyed her clear intent of refusal to Professor Haspelt.
What? Vermel fell into confusion.
If Aether, who had already experienced three years of slavery, chose to enter servitude under a professor again, he had intended to stop it by any means. But the girl's expression of intent was so unequivocal that he had no time to prepare.
That was not all. Aether demonstrated a high level of interpersonal skill, deliberately shifting control of the conversation onto the prince and the professor before slipping out gracefully herself.
'There was no case like this in the original.... Is the tangled development from the entrance ceremony affecting things even here?'
When he thought about it, it was strange. No one could have known that Aether, the most diligent of all, would fail to attend the entrance ceremony.
After first period ended, Aether made a movement as if she was about to leave. Then she paused, and looked directly at him.
— SYSTEM : Entity 'Black Day Aether' begins to keep a close watch on you.
— SYSTEM : Exercise extreme caution.