Discovery (2)

"I will keep an eye on Mia Crowfield."

At first I had planned to keep it hidden, but our diligent imperial princess would always come find me on weekends and ask to study together. She wasn't the type to bury herself in study all day long, but even though it wasn't exam season, Alice apparently considered it only natural to properly review the week's lessons on the weekends.

She was definitely going to study insanely hard when exam season actually arrived.

It would help me as well. Although, whenever I couldn't understand something during regular class, I would already rewind time and listen to it over and over anyway.

Anyway, if I hadn't told her this in advance, Alice was bound to end up wandering around looking for me all over the place.

"...... Did House Crowfield do something wrong?"

"That's not it."

To Alice, who asked the question with a hint of worry, I gave a slight shake of my head.

"However, Mia Crowfield could become a threat."

Even in the original game, she was the strongest-tier character as a magic dealer. She was the type of character who, if you fully upgraded her staff and equipped it with a proper combination of Marmaros, could spam normal spells that dealt as much damage as everyone else's ultimate skills. Especially in the first installment, where the balance ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wasn't that perfectly tuned, there were a few absurdly broken Marmaros that made magic power recovery easy, so once her turn came around, she could practically fire infinitely.

Of course, this world had parts that were somewhat different from the game...... But it was also a place where some of the systemic aspects remained intact. If the spells from the game existed here exactly as they did, then even just 'some' of them would mean my life was forfeit.

"Don't tell me you're thinking of eliminating her?"

Alice's expression as she said that was filled with revulsion. That was only natural. From Alice's perspective, ignorant of that future, Mia Crowfield was nothing more than a classmate.

And to be honest, I also held no ill will toward Mia Crowfield. Her father was garbage, but Mia Crowfield herself was not a bad person. If anything, judging purely by her sense of justice, she was close to a good person.

"No."

So I was able to answer that way.

What I was trying to do was avoid the danger and prepare a means to defend against it, not to eliminate Mia Crowfield, who could become the cause.

I didn't want to do that either, and...... if I killed a student inside the academy, what would I do about the corpse?

"Truly?"

"Truly."

I gave an unambiguous answer when Alice asked me a second time, as if checking just in case.

Alice stared at my face for a moment as though trying to read my expression, then soon let out a long breath and nodded.

"...... Alright. If you say so with that kind of expression, I'll have no choice but to believe you."

......I had no idea what kind of expression that was. I just had my usual blank expression on.

For a moment, I wondered if Alice had some kind of psychic ability to read people's emotions.

I dismissed the thought just as quickly, of course. I was someone who had already read the original setting in exhaustive detail. That naturally included things like character abilities.

Parts that might have been spoilers for the sequel were naturally not revealed even in the Setting Guide, but almost all the information about the protagonist's party was disclosed. Alice had no psychic ability of that sort.

Because if she did, there was no way Alice would have failed to notice the emperor's plans.

"You're right, House Crowfield's attitude has changed...... If you're sensing a threat there, it can't be overlooked."

Alice murmured to herself like that, then suddenly looked at me and spoke.

"Shall I help you?"

"I'll be fine."

"...... You answered a little too quickly."

Alice replied to my answer, sounding a little wounded.

"The smaller the number of people conducting surveillance, the better. Because it lowers the chance of being discovered."

I had prepared that reply in advance in case Alice said something like that, and sure enough, I ended up needing it.

"But still...... What if I get on friendly terms with Crowfield first and then extract information?"

"Your Highness. You are the imperial princess because you are His Imperial Majesty's daughter."

If the daughter of the man who killed her father approached her, she would obviously be extremely suspicious. It did seem like she held no particular ill will toward Alice, but even so.

Maybe if I slowly drew closer to her over the course of half a year or so.

"So that's how it is, is it?"

"It is."

To Alice, who sounded a little regretful, I confirmed it once more.

No, more than that, I was much more at ease being alone. Because I could be slightly more comfortable.

*

Anyway, thanks to my saying that, I was able to shake Alice off and come out here.

I had already done my share of surveillance on someone. I had done it until I was sick of it when I assassinated the count. The method was to think through every possible route, revisit each one, and rewind time repeatedly.

The method worked inside the academy too. I had a high-performance pair of binoculars, and I also had a scope that could be attached to a gun. Even without bothering to mount it on a gun, it was usable all on its own.

The dormitory rooms all had large windows without exception. And they opened wide onto a pleasant view ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of the surrounding scenery. The academy itself wasn't shaped like a skyscraper jutting up alone, of course. No matter how well-maintained the surrounding environment was, it was still in the middle of the imperial capital. It was surrounded by buildings.

Instead, there was a large lawn between those buildings and the dormitory, designed to put one's mind at ease when looking out the window. It wasn't a huge space like Central Park in the middle of New York, but still, greenery in the middle of a city center had a way of comforting people just by existing.

It was a weekend, and students were sprawled out on it. A couple sitting closely on a spread-out mat eating sandwiches, some people stretched out taking naps. Well, it was spring, after all.

But that wasn't what I was looking at.

Because the windows had been cut to a generous size to help students manage their condition, the inside of a room was clearly visible if the curtains weren't drawn. Especially on a day like today, with the sun blazing brightly, it could be seen even more easily.

Atop a residential building outside the academy.

It was impossible to see the far-off dormitory from here by ordinary means...... but I had a large sniper scope.

Up to four hundred meters away, things could still be seen fairly large. Of course, even when looking that way, a person only looked about the size of a finger joint, but being able to see them 'large enough to hit something' was sufficient, anyway.

I knew where Mia Crowfield's room was. I didn't even need to go through the roster. The dormitory building was a part that had been implemented in the game as well.

Not every room was implemented, but the rooms of the major characters were.

Naturally, especially the rooms of the protagonist's party were.

In the original story, you could basically just walk into most houses. In fact, not a single character would get angry and call it trespassing if you entered and talked to an NPC inside; they'd even tell you their thoughts or what they were doing.

Of course, rather than seeing it as truly barging into houses to pry into people's information, it was probably more accurate to view it as a game convention that effectively showcased the world-building.

...... Thanks to that, I even knew that Mia Crowfield hid important items under the floorboards beneath her bed.

But since I couldn't just brazenly open that door and walk in here, I was surveilling the window from atop a building like this.

"......."

It was obvious, but the curtains were drawn over the window.

It wasn't a particularly thick blackout curtain. It was a moderately thin, white curtain, so that if there were a light inside, a person's silhouette might be visible from the outside.

But right now it was broad daylight. Outside was brighter than inside. Of course, there was no chance the interior of the room would be silhouetted through the curtain.

...... Mia Crowfield was probably in there.

In the original story, Mia Crowfield liked staying inside her room the most. That was only natural, since she was a character who genuinely had a line like, 'It's dangerous outside the blanket......'

She especially disliked hot sunlight.

Gloomy, timid.

Mia Crowfield was a character with those traits, true to her design.

...... Though that atmosphere had been a little diluted, perhaps because her father's mortal enemy was right next to her.

"Hm."

I made that sound without much reason as I fell into thought.

If the characters had changed this much because of my presence, wasn't the future plot development going to diverge drastically too?

If the plot diverged that much, would the future I already knew become useless?

"......."

The conclusion didn't come easily even after pondering it.

...... Well, I could think about that when the time came.

For the immediate present, observing Mia Crowfield ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was the priority.

If nothing worked, I could just rewind time anyway.

*

"......."

I should have expected it.

That people who consider holing up at home the best thing might not come out of their house all day.

I had been lying prone like this on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the very top of this residential building for half the day.

Even though the sun was slowly setting, the curtain in Mia Crowfield's room showed no sign of opening.

No, I couldn't even see a single light from inside.

Was she sleeping?

I pondered it seriously, but since there wasn't the slightest movement, no answer came to me.

"......."

Alright.

I put away the scope I was holding and thought.

Now that things had come to this, how about I simply go and visit Mia Crowfield's room?

Thinking about it, maybe the moment Mia had avoided answering properly was because what I had said the day before in front of so many people had backfired.

If Mia Crowfield was trying to avoid creating a one-on-one situation, then all I had to do this time was create a one-on-one situation with Mia Crowfield myself.

...... But if I went to find her now, wouldn't that make today's effort a complete waste of time?

"......."

For now, since I had already gone through the pointless effort, I might as well have a one-on-one conversation with Mia Crowfield.

After talking with her, I could then decide whether or not to rewind time.

Thinking that, I tapped my body lightly here and there, which ached from having been prone for so long, and got up from my spot.

Mercifully, I had spread a military poncho over the spot where I would lie down before getting prone.

Sighing heavily, I rolled up the poncho.

*

Fortunately, I didn't run into any acquaintances on my way back to the dormitory. If I had, those people with their extreme friendliness would certainly not have left me in peace.

Being dragged to a café to eat a parfait sounded fairly enjoyable, but I did have something I needed to do today.

I went to Mia Crowfield's room, which was on a different floor from mine or Alice's.

I stood in front of the large door, steadied my breathing for a moment, then checked my surroundings.

Luckily, there was still no one wandering the hallway. Well, it was Saturday. Plenty of students would have gone home to rest. Though, maybe rest wasn't the right word. High-ranking nobles might be receiving various other forms of tutoring at home.

But the Crowfield estate was far away. At the very least, it wasn't a distance you could go out and come back from over a single weekend.

And even in the game, Mia Crowfield was always inside her room.

Good.

I raised my hand and knocked slowly on the door.

"Lady Crowfield."

And I said that.

"......."

I waited a moment, but no reply came.

I raised my hand again and knocked a little harder this time.

Knock, knock.

...... But again, no answer came from beyond the door.

After checking my surroundings once more, I pressed my ear to Mia Crowfield's door and listened for sounds inside.

Not a single sound came from inside.

...... Was she really not in there?

"......."

I pondered for a moment, then looked around again.

...... No one was there.

Good, in that case.

The opportunity was mine however many times I wanted, and time was on my side.

I took a lockpick out of my pocket.