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Chapter 206 [Illustration]
Chapter 206 [Illustration]
Chapter 206 [Illustration]
Charlotte returned to her own room, took a bath, changed into more comfortable clothes, and then curled up on her bed.
‘Did I do the right thing?’
She had always believed she would eventually have to do it.
The boy was someone she could no longer see and should no longer see. Eventually, she would have had to cut ties. However, the thought of severing that tenuous connection made her utterly afraid.
He always felt within arm’s reach...
Though she couldn’t see him, the feeling that she could reach him at any time was important, and losing that sensation was hard to bear.
In the end, Charlotte severed that connection herself. The primary reason was the recognition that she was endangering Reinhart, but ultimately, for her own reasons, she realized that it was better for her to no longer contact the boy.
A boy who was unknown and whose identity she couldn’t discern.
It had been a foolish action driven by heart and emotion, and severing the connection with him was also an action dictated by heart and emotion.
‘I hope he is happy, somewhere Vertus and I cannot find him.’
For the boy, who could be in danger merely by being associated with her, this was the right path. If she truly cared for him, this was the right action. Whoever he might be, however suspicious he was, Charlotte wished for his happiness.
Even though she didn’t know where he was or who he really was.
She wished for that boy’s happiness.
Charlotte was now trying to forget about him.
But not everything had disappeared.
Through the various foolish actions taken while trying to find that boy, Charlotte had made another connection.
A classmate with a bad first impression and poor reputation... Reinhart.
After various events and countless exchanges of help, they’d become friends.
In the pursuit of finding someone she cared about, she discovered someone else who had started to occupy her thoughts.
Charlotte felt guilty. Carrying such emotions felt like a form of cowardice.
It felt like she had chosen an easier path because she was afraid of the more dangerous one.
It wasn’t that she liked Reinhart. It’s just that she feared how these feelings might grow.
Charlotte De Gradias was afraid of that.
‘Detto... I kind of wish your prediction about me marrying Reinhart were actually true.’
Charlotte clutched her pillow and buried her face in it.
‘Because that would mean I’d be alive until then.’
The pillow was slowly getting damp.
If these intense feelings of longing she had for that boy were to change easily, she thought she would be disappointed in herself.
But more than that...
She didn’t want to die.
She didn’t want to waste the precious life that the boy had saved. This life was the only remaining gift from that connection—it was what he had given her.
It wasn’t that she was greedy for life or that she wanted to live longer.
This life itself was too precious. It was the only and final gift from the most important person in the world to her. She didn’t want to lose it, and wished that prophecy would be true instead.
Because that would mean she would not lose this precious gift. It would mean that she could endure just a bit longer.
Reinhart’s thought was that, if the prophecy about his marriage to Charlotte De Gradias was true, they would both survive the Gate Incident.
It turned out that Charlotte was having similar thoughts as well.
***
There was no need to deliver letters anymore. Charlotte didn’t explain to me why she’d made that decision or why she didn’t want someone else to deliver the letters on her behalf.
I had various doubts and considered a few possibilities, but in the end, speculation was pointless.
Only Charlotte knew the truth.
Ultimately, the big stone Dettomorian had thrown had caused several ripple effets.
That didn’t mean that much had changed.
More precisely, things had reverted to their original state.
“Hello, Reinhart.”
“Hey.”
“... What? Just ‘Hey?’ That’s all?”
“What do you want me to do?”
“... You have a fundamental lack of basic human decency. It’s not about my status; you have a fundamental problem.”
“So, what should I do about it?”
“Fix it.”
It wasn’t so much that things had returned to how they were before. Rather, I’d started to treat Charlotte more casually. And in turn, Charlotte’s eyes would flash and she would scold me for not being more considerate.
Our relationship had evolved into something that seemed both good and bad. With nothing binding us together anymore, both Charlotte and I felt more relaxed, and since I became more comfortable, I sometimes acted out. In response, Charlotte would always have a thing or two to say, leading to constant bickering.
It felt different from how things were with Harriet.
If we were in the same dorm, we’d probably squabble even more, but since that wasn’t the case, I only saw Charlotte during Supernatural Power classes or common classes.
Charlotte thought my personality needed some fixing.
“I’ve made it this far without changing, so why bother?”
“Ugh. How did the empire end up producing someone like you?”
‘Sorry, but I’m not exactly a native of this Empire. I’m an import.’
Charlotte shuddered dramatically as if she were repulsed, and took off somewhere with Scarlett.
Of course, despite our bickering, Charlotte still waved and smiled brightly at me as she left.
There was something about her smile that put me at ease.
Maybe it was because she’d been the first person I’d met when I came to this world.
Charlotte’s mere existence held various complex meanings for me.
‘That’s fine. Things don’t always go as planned. Events happen in places I don’t think about or know of, and those events find their way to me. As I deal with them, unexpected outcomes emerge.’
I didn’t fully understand what had happened when it came to the letter situation, but it seemed to have wrapped up.
Now, I just had to wait for the results regarding the Magic Research Club application.
As for the Rotary Club issue, I could get updates on the new project from Vertus.
The problem with Charlotte, if you could even call it a problem, has been sorted out. Our relationship had somehow gotten both better and worse.
***
“Oh, oh! I think I feel something!”
“What is it?”
“I need to poop. I’ll be right back.”
“...”
Whack!
“Ouch! Why’d you hit me? And why the head? If I get dumber, will you take responsibility?”
“... Can you get any dumber than this?”
Ellen narrowed her eyes at the nonsense I was spouting. There was no inkling of progress in the Mana Reinforcement training, so I could only resort to such nonsense.
“Your words are harsh! I might cry, you know? How bad do you think a grown man crying would look?”
Actually, it would be a man in his thirties crying after getting hit on the head by a seventeen-year-old... How pathetic would that look?
“Shut up and go to the bathroom.”
There had been no progress in my Mana Reinforcement training.
After returning from the bathroom, I sat back down with Ellen to continue the training.
“Alright.”
Srrr...
Ellen’s whole body was enveloped in a blue aura of mana, and her eyes glowed with a blue light. She was demonstrating Mana Reinforcement for me to follow.
“You know, I just thought of something. Could it be used as a light source in the dark?”
“... I haven’t tried. And stop saying useless things. Just follow along.”
“Don’t you understand that the reason I’m spouting this nonsense is that I genuinely have no clue how to do it?”
“I don’t care. Just sit down.”
Ellen gave me a look that said if I spouted nonsense one more time, I’d be getting a mana-reinforced punch to the face, so I quickly sat down opposite her, frightened enough to pee my pants.
“And you there, come over.”
“... Me?”
“Who else would it be?”
Ellen gestured for Cliffman, who had been sparring with a training dummy, to join us. She made him sit next to us, looking just as tense as ever.
Whenever she felt like I wasn’t getting it, Ellen often dragged Cliffman into our sessions as well.
“I keep trying, but I just can’t get it...” Cliffman said.
“Just keep at it. You might get it eventually.”
“... I really don’t think I can.”
“So are you going to give up forever if you can’t figure it out now?”
“N-No, but still...!”
“You have to learn it someday. Think of this as getting a head start.”
Cliffman wasn’t great at socializing. It wasn’t so much that he lacked social skills, but interacting with people seemed to drain him. His social ineptitude was different from Ellen’s.
And the person he found most difficult to deal with was Ellen. For some reason, he didn’t just simply find it difficult; he seemed almost terrified of her ever since around the time the cursed Tiamata issue was resolved.
When faced with Ellen, he was like a mouse in front of a snake, trembling and stuttering, sometimes even slipping into formal speech without realizing it.
So here we were, the regular members of the training hall, engaging in Mana Reinforcement training under Ellen’s lead.
Both Cliffman and I had made zero progress so far.
‘Hmm.’
Just as I was aiming to raise the skill levels of the magic students in the Magic Research Club, Ellen seemed determined to teach us Mana Reinforcement in her own way.
“Uh... I heard that if you misuse this, you could get seriously hurt...”
Cliffman was clearly concerned that experimenting with this could lead to injury, but Ellen simply shook her head.
“You’re nowhere near the level where you could hurt yourself.”
“...”
“...”
If you got injured while trying to handle mana, you would have to be able to manipulate mana to begin with.
Ellen’s fact-driven statement silenced both Cliffman and me. We couldn’t even hurt ourselves if we wanted to because we couldn’t manipulate mana at all.
“You know, sometimes you’re really harsh with your words.”
“It’s the truth, though.”
Ultimately, Cliffman and I had no counter argument since she was correct.
***
From the second semester onward, I planned to be more proactive, so I had added various things to my schedule.
The one concern I had was that Ludwig needed to grow stronger through various experiences, but now that many story events had gone missing, I was worried that he might not become as strong as expected. However, it seemed my worries were for naught.
The fewer events he encountered, the stronger he became on his own.
Of course, I could use my own foreknowledge to help Ludwig grow even stronger if necessary.
I wasn’t just aware of events; I could also utilize the resources and knowledge that remained unchanged regardless of whether I changed the future or not.
Events were flexible. There were events that would occur no matter what I did, and there were others that I could intervene in order to prevent them from occurring.
I planned to start to tweak those little by little.
The Temple was fundamentally protected by defensive barriers and anti-magic measures, but incidents and accidents happened continuously. Naturally, it had to be lacking in some areas; otherwise, it would be hard to create events.
In a perfect environment with complete safety, nothing much beyond ordinary school life could occur.
Incidents ranged from fights between students to external influences or internal disturbances.
Initially, I’d intended to leave things alone as long as they occured naturally without my interference.
However, knowing that Ludwig grew stronger on his own the fewer incidents he encountered made it seem acceptable to preempt some significant crises.
In essence, I was stepping in as the main character to reduce the number of distractions Ludwig would encounter.
Ludwig didn’t have to be this world’s protagonist. What mattered was the Gate Incident, and that was the only thing that needed to be resolved.
Ludwig didn’t need to grow strong through suffering and hardship. The inevitable would happen, so there was no need to make him experience it prematurely.
If Ludwig were a coward who needed to overcome his cowardice through various trials, I’d let the main events occur, but Ludwig was inherently driven by a sense of justice.
He was not someone who ran away when he had to fight, and would always step up when it was necessary. If he grew stronger steadily through normal training, he’d be ready to pull his weight when the time came.
Measures had been taken to strengthen the magic students.
There were plenty of ways to further enhance the strength of the combat students, which would also benefit me, unlike what I was doing for the magic students.
In the first semester, my focus had been on solidifying my foundation, and during the break, I’d obtained the Holy Sword Tiamata, which I could continue to use going forward.
In the second semester, I was turning my attention to other people and events.
For events that were bound to happen, I would act to mitigate the damage before they escalated. For events that might not occur depending on my actions, I’d first consider the severity and impact before deciding whether or not to cancel them.
Of course, this didn’t mean I could neglect my basic training.
I needed to maintain my existing regimen while taking on additional responsibilities.
There had been no progress with Mana Reinforcement. Rapid progress would have been strange, as I didn’t believe myself to be that much of a genius.
Trying to make myself believe that I was an expert in Mana Reinforcement through Self-Deception didn’t help either.
I was still holding on with an “it is what it is” mindset, and it hadn’t even been a month since I’d started Mana Reinforcement training.
Whether it was accurate to call them projects or not, I had five projects.
The Edina Archipelago Project.
The new Rotary Club project.
The Magic Research Club.
Mana Reinforcement training.
Interference with the future.
And lastly, the alpha and the omega... Achievement points.
[Achievement Points: 2430]
Before the start of the semester, I had accrued 6430 points, but spent 4000 points on the new talent, Mana Manipulation.
Talents were inherently rare. Thus, having three talents already makes me quite the talent-rich individual.
At the start of the semester, I had only possessed Infinite Aptitude, but now I had three specific talents. Considering I also possessed ultra-rare superhuman abilities, my complaints about Ellen being a genius seem a bit frivolous.
After all, Mana Reinforcement was not typically something that could be achieved by teenagers. Even those with talents in mana required years of training to be able to use it.
Even in this place teeming with talented individuals, Mana Reinforcement was a power only a select few could awaken, and many did not manage to grasp it before they graduated.
It wasn’t unusual for me to be struggling with it even with the talents of Mana Attunement and Mana Manipulation—Ellen is simply an outlier.
Still, I held onto the belief that I would be able to use Mana Reinforcement by the next year, even if it wasn’t a feasible goal for the end of my first year.
There was no other specific talent that I felt was strictly necessary, at least for the moment.
Having a weapon-related talent would be nice, but my swordsmanship skills continued to improve through training with Ellen.
The achievement point cost for my next talent was double that of the previous one: 8000 points.
The achievement points themselves were the most crucial.
Whether they were used to activate Revise, occasional Previews, or for additional settings—although I haven’t used it much—the achievement points were more valuable to me than money. I’d been stockpiling them for a long time in case of unforeseen circumstances, but then chose to spend a significant amount as an investment.
Since I’d spent heavily, I need to stock up again just in case.
With no ongoing events, there’s only one way to earn achievement points: Completing challenges.
[Challenge List]
[Edina Archipelago Domination - 40,000 points]
[Capital Underworld Subjugation - 20,000 points]
[(Festival) Limitless Tournament Victory - 15,000 points]
[(Festival) First Year Tournament Victory - 10,000 points]
[Midterms Overall Rank 1 - 8000 points]
Unlike in the past, there were now challenges that offered massive points, and since the main event of the second semester was the festival, there were challenges related to it.
However, what was the use of challenges that offered high rewards if they were nearly impossible?
‘What’s this? “Edina Archipelago Domination”? Sure, Airi is there, but do they expect me to conquer an entire kingdom right now?’
In the past, there was one called “Power Slap the Emperor”. Were the highest challenges always impossible?
The “Capital Underworld Subjugation” one might be slightly more feasible, but it was still uncertain.
[(Festival) Miss Temple - 1100 points] (Can be achieved without being in Reinhart’s form.)
[(Festival) Mister Temple - 1000 points]
[(Festival) Cross-Dressing Contest Victory – 1100 points]
‘And what’s this? Mister Temple, I get. But why is Miss Temple here?
‘And why does Miss Temple offer 100 points more than Mister Temple?
‘Are they telling me to do what I did last time? Transform with the ring and go for it?
‘And what’s with the Cross-Dressing Contest? Why is it also worth 1100 points? Get lost!’
[(Festival) Miss Temple - 1500 points]
[(Festival) Cross-Dressing Contest Victory - 1500 points]
‘... What the heck?’
The points were changing in real-time before my eyes.
‘So, 1100 points wasn’t enough? Alright, 1500 points, deal?
‘Is that what is happening right now?
‘I’m not doing it!’
[(Festival) Miss Temple - 2000 points]
[(Festival) Cross-Dressing Contest Victory - 2000 points]
The numbers changed again in real time.
‘Are they desperately trying to make me participate in some beauty contest by either cross-dressing or by using the ring? I said I’m not doing it!’
[(Festival) Miss Temple - 4000 points]
[(Festival) Cross-Dressing Contest Victory - 4000 points]
“Shit.”
‘Why is this system only generous in these sorts of things?
‘4000 points? I wouldn’t do it even for 40,000 points!
‘Though... for 40,000 points... that’s enough points to change the future...
‘Wouldn’t that be worth doing, then?
‘Is there a chance it will change to 40,000 points?’
[???]
‘... So that’s not happening, I guess?’
Maybe 40,000 was too much. The reward didn’t go that high.
Suffering through the mental damage done to me by these challenges, I continued to scroll down the list. There were midterm-related challenges, which were not much different from before. Given my previous failure, I wasn’t planning to attempt them.
Challenges were always a mixed bag.
They were either extremely difficult to achieve or involved performing some ridiculous stunts. Things like sneaking out of the Temple at night, or getting blackout drunk in the dormitory, with meager point rewards.
And then, something caught my eye...
[First Kiss - 500 points]
“...”
‘Why is this even here?’
And then another one.
[Face off with the Orbis Class - 500 points]
Now they were just outright encouraging me to become a delinquent.