People Make Mistakes
People Make Mistakes
Between Ian and Rina.
— Crackle
Electric current sparked through the air.
The space rippled, and a portal materialized.
Through it emerged instructors and professors.
They promptly and efficiently began handling the situation.
Tending to the wounded. Assessing the dormant monster's condition. And more.
"We have confirmed that one cadet has succumbed to corruption. I repeat, we have confirmed that one cadet has succumbed to corruption. The training exercise is now terminated, effective immediately. All cadets are to follow their professors' instructions."
The emergency response was swift and systematic.
As if they had been watching from somewhere all along.
Which, in truth, they had.
They must have been operating magi-tech equipment to extract all sorts of data for individual cadet evaluations.
Once the containment was finished.
Predictably, the professors' gazes shifted this way.
No. More precisely, their gazes shifted to Rina Rosewell and the blackened remains of Jacob in front of her.
'How much do the professors actually know?'
Ian swallowed dryly.
Rina Rosewell had undeniably attacked him.
Jacob had simply thrown himself into the path of one of those attacks.
Had the professors really been collecting that kind of granular data from this location?
"Miss Rina Rosewell."
"Yes, Professor."
Rina Rosewell smiled brightly at the professors.
A hint of tension flickered across her expression.
"Hmm... truly."
Gulp.
Rina Rosewell swallowed.
Ian didn't miss it.
'She's got something to be nervous about.'
Perhaps that was proof of just how hastily improvised her attack on him had been.
The professor finally spoke.
"...That was truly outstanding! To neutralize a corrupted cadet with just two attacks!"
A glance.
Rina Rosewell looked toward him.
Then she recovered her smile.
"I merely did what needed to be done. Thank you."
"Humble, too... Remarkable. Truly remarkable. I've heard many people's assessments of Miss Rosewell, but seeing it firsthand is a different experience entirely."
Other professors joined in with their praise.
Ian quietly crossed his arms.
A bitter taste filled his mouth.
'As expected, a heroine is still a heroine.'
That's how heroines worked.
It wasn't merely a matter of individual strength.
They were the axes of the story, its reference points.
The reputation each heroine had built, her connections, everything else — they were on a completely different plane from the worth Pongpongi had accumulated.
Rina Rosewell was a particularly extreme case.
Because the cadets and professors surrounding her were effectively her shield.
Could he declare, right here and now, that this woman had attacked him?
'Nonsense.'
The professors had seen the data with their own eyes and made their judgment.
Evidence or witnesses to overturn that?
Ian himself was the only direct eyewitness.
Danya had merely sensed the magic, and Everidge had no idea what was happening.
Ah, there was one more witness.
Yulan sidled up, unsubtle as ever.
"I could offer my assistance."
Ian shook his head and waved him off.
Trust the Blood Rock Sect and pick a fight with a heroine?
Ridiculous.
That would be nothing but handing his lifeline to this insufferable bastard.
"......"
Even in this situation, the corner of Ian's mouth lifted into a smirk.
And for good reason — in a strange way, he felt relieved.
'Now I know exactly who I need to focus on right now.'
Rina Rosewell's eyes met his at that moment.
Even among the crowd surrounding her, her smile shone with peculiar brilliance.
The endlessly gentle smile he had only ever seen through the screen in Fanta X Aca.
She bowed politely to those around her, then walked toward him.
"Ian. Are you all right?"
She held out her hand with a smile he had never seen before.
"That must have been a shock. I'm sorry. It was a mistake."
A mistake. A mistake, she said.
Ian found no words to reply and closed his mouth.
He stared at her blankly.
Small cuts all over her body. Tattered and torn clothes. The tips of her hair singed blue-green.
Rina Rosewell.
Ian thought back on everything he knew about her.
From Fanta X Aca, and from the contents of Pongpongi's journals.
If he had to summarize it all in one word, that word would be 'kindness.'
Rina Rosewell had lived a life of sacrificing herself for everyone.
The Great Forest — the vast woods that cut through the center of the continent.
House Rosewell had traditionally guarded it. Protecting the Great Forest was their family's creed. Such attitudes were the very source of the rumors of elven blood in their lineage.
She had grown up in a household that fundamentally gave more than it received. Rina Rosewell's affability, her warmth, her gentleness — these were traits born from that spirit of consideration.
But.
The world had not repaid that boundless kindness. Instead, it had taken her parents. The household had already been teetering under the weight of excessive generosity. Rina alone was not enough to protect it all.
Not the house. Not the siblings left behind. Not the family creed.
The more she had given to the world, the more the world had taken from her.
Yet Rina Rosewell had stood firm.
She had enrolled in Lichten Academy, even entrusting her remaining siblings to distant relatives. She had to succeed. To protect everything, she wanted to grow strong enough to shoulder it all herself.
A heroine who, despite carrying such a weighty past, never once frowned. A heroine who instead reached out to others first, considerate and tender-hearted.
When you synthesized all this information, a single thought inevitably arose.
Was it possible that her 'kindness' was a mask?
That was where the suspicion had begun.
Rina Rosewell was a girl who had endured far too much misfortune to be purely innocent and kind. If Ian had lived through a past like that, he would have come to hate the world.
'...And she's doing exactly that to me.'
Her current actions toward him proved it.
They were aggressive and destructive through and through.
Like a balloon with a single puncture, that pressure was aimed entirely at Ian himself.
This woman's hatred was venting with razor-sharp precision, aimed solely at him.
Ian looked at Rina, who was smiling faintly before him.
And beyond her, at the cadets and professors watching this scene.
"I truly wasn't trying to attack you. I'm sorry. It was a mistake. Will you accept my apology?"
Thus, this display from Rina was an obvious lie.
This girl was extending a hand of reconciliation while wearing a mask.
So what should he do?
He didn't deliberate for long.
"Fine."
Ian took Rina Rosewell's hand.
"...Huh?"
Rina's eyes widened for a moment.
'She wanted me to get angry.'
She must have wanted Ian Blackangus to fly into a rage, shouting that she had attacked him.
'You're soft, Rina.'
He was no longer Pongpongi. He could play along with a little game like this as much as necessary.
"It can happen. I accept your apology. You said it was a mistake?"
"Ah... haha. Thank you for understanding."
Watching Rina laugh lightly, he genuinely could not distinguish her from the heroine Rina Rosewell he had seen beyond the screen.
Her gently curved eyes. Her sweet voice. Even the faint scent of her.
A mask so perfect it gave him chills.
Following the bright smile on her face, a smile crept onto Ian's lips as well.
"Rina."
"Yes?"
Ian pulled on the hand they had clasped for the handshake.
"Eep!"
With a helplessly fragile gasp, Rina stumbled forward as if falling into him. Was there anyone in the world who could appear more harmless than this woman?
"People can make mistakes, right?"
"Huh? Y-yes!"
Her green eyes flickered a few times, as if flustered.
She immediately recovered her eye-smile, but now he felt he could tell the difference between the real and the false.
He could feel gazes watching him from all around.
Ian carefully tucked a strand of Rina's hair behind her ear.
The ear, now fully exposed, was pale white.
As if tickling the blush-pink lobe, Ian let out a soft breath.
"But, you know..."
He whispered, so lightly that only Rina could hear.
"Was pushing me off the rooftop a mistake too?"
◆
The 'Combat Training Exercise,' conducted simultaneously with half the academic year divided into four groups.
Rumors that a problem had occurred in Group 2 spread quickly through the academy.
The first to grow agitated were the faculty and administrative staff.
These were dungeons for combat training exercises, where difficulty was supposed to be rigorously controlled.
Yet the management of one such dungeon had been compromised.
The monsters had been artificially manipulated by someone, and a massive explosion of unknown origin had occurred.
Several pieces of magi-tech monitoring equipment had been hacked, which in turn delayed the on-site response.
To make matters worse, a [Corruption] incident had occurred, with one cadet contaminated by the Blood Rock Sect. It was difficult to even imagine a worse possible scenario.
——[ Kirtos - Anonymous Board ]——
- Is it real that Lichten's quarantine got breached by bloodsucking bugs?
↳ How the hell does an academy get breached by bloodsuckers? That's kind of creepy.
↳ Still though, calling them bloodsucking bugs is a little... isn't it a religion?
↳↳ Just say Blood Rock Cult Leader is a son of a bitch.
↳↳ One bloodsucker detained lol
↳↳ Gotta be honest, this feels suspicious. How can people who literally drink blood be a religion?
- Isn't first-year Sharon Pierce's talent the real deal this year? I heard it only took 57 minutes to clear the Magmam raid in the Lava Dungeon!
↳ Sharon is so gorgeous I love her sob sob sob. Take me, big sis!
↳ Am I the only one who's uncomfortable with posts like this? Feels like ranking cadets by their... performance.
↳↳ 22 She's totally carried by her frost element, the hype is way too much.
↳↳↳ OP here. Commenter, you don't know anything about elements, do you? It's common knowledge that frost is weak to fire...? Sorry, but do you mind if I ask how you even got into Lichten?
- What are the Saintess Candidates doing?
↳ They probably went to a different dungeon? Haven't heard anything from there yet?
↳ At home touching mammaries (Comment reported)
- My mom got sucked into the Blood Rock Sect so I know this stuff. If one corrupted cultist appeared, you can assume around ten Blood Rock Sect members are hiding out in that area.
↳ fr a bloodsucking bug nest, yikes
↳ Is your mom pretty? (Comment reported.)
↳↳ What's the mod doing?
↳ Can I ask what they're doing? How does the Blood Rock Sect even spread? Does everyone who joins get corrupted? If they all just explode and die when corrupted, why does the sect keep growing?
↳↳ Hard to believe, but the majority walk in on their own two feet. If you bring in three or more new converts, you can offer flesh or blood and avoid corruption. But people who get drugged or brainwashed? Assume they're almost guaranteed to get corrupted.
————
- Scrrrr. Scrrrr.
Resting her chin on her hand, Emilia scrolled through the Kirtos terminal, covering her mouth.
- Yaaaawn.
Stifling a yawn with an elegant gesture, Emilia murmured.
"Not a single post about Ian today. How boring."
Taptaptap. Tap.
Emilia's fingers produced a light, cheerful sound as they touched the Kirtos terminal.