Episode 204 – Start of the Semester (1)

Start of the Semester (1)

“Are you Shion Ascal?”

The next day.

I had been summoned to the Libra’s underground late at night. It was a call from the team leader of the Intelligence Agency.

“Yes.”

I looked at him.

Sitting cross-legged in his chair with an authoritative air, his name was Benedict.

He was one of the six team leaders of the Intelligence Agency and a confidant of Derek.

“I heard it. That you were the one who submitted the extreme mana stone report?”

“Yes. By chance-”

“I know it’s a coincidence, only a real idiot would freeze a mana stone in a cold storage.”

The man slicked back his pomade-glossed hair as he looked at me.

“Whom do you serve?”

“I-”

“Cut the bullshit about not serving anyone as a Chaser. Speak like a man.”

“……”

Such a prick. If there’s a characteristic of Derek’s underlings, it’s this one.

They resemble their master, mostly authoritative. They easily dismiss people, and they care greatly about one’s background and lineage as much as their abilities.

“I serve the youngest.”

“What? The youngest?”

Benedict frowned and shook his head in disbelief.

“……You lack ambition. It’s pathetic.”

He then extended a check towards me.

The amount was 3,000,000.

The currency was Libra points.

The reason for not giving cash, probably because Derek values cost-effectiveness.

Cash is a resource that’s immediately consumed, but Libra points are a cost that doesn’t exist until I use them all up.

“This is……”

“Derek, the head of the family, is showing interest in a rookie like you.”

“……in me?”

“Yes. You’ll need a good luck totem. You could live a life much more splendid than under the youngest.”

I quietly looked at the check. Benedict, as if frustrated, stamped his foot down hard.

“Is this something to ponder? You won’t get another chance to switch sides.”

Tap tap- He tapped the check as he urged me, but I pretended to consider it and then shook my head.

“I’m sorry.”

“What?”

A sigh of disbelief escaped from his twisted lips.

“I don’t have great ambitions. Protecting just one person is enough for me.”

“……”

Benedict licked his lips with his tongue.

“You really are a fool. Well, having lived as an orphan, you probably need someone to serve as parents. Derek can’t become your mommy and daddy, you know.”

At that moment, I almost lost my composure.

It was my Achilles’ heel.

The fantasy of cutting off his head flashed before my eyes.

“There are no more chances. Leave.”

After putting away the check, he waved his hand dismissively as if shooing away a fly.

I bowed silently and turned around.

“Hey.”

Benedict called out to my back.

“Bell Moore seems to have built up some achievements. Do you know about it?”

Probably, Bell Moore had already restored the manipulated evidence and submitted it to the team leader.

“……No. I am not aware.”

“You really are stupid. It might even be a good thing for the head of the family. Now get lost.”

I walked out. As I turned away from the team leader’s office door, I thought quietly.

I have to kill him.

* * *

Monday. The day Raelro announced.

Soliette and I gathered at Elise’s building and logged into [Bethune].

“Good, you’re here. Shall we start right away?”

Raelro had already set up his goggles, and we naturally transferred our consciousness into the tank.

───.

A momentary sense of space shaking.

Then, upon opening my eyes.

“Ah, that detective again.”

I could see the hands and feet of the detective from the last time I logged in. He seemed to be walking somewhere, still dressed in his coat.

I first rummaged through my pocket.

“Hmm?”

I found a small notebook.

Without much thought, I opened the first page.

[Do you have a nail clipper?]

[If it’s you, please call me.]

“……!”

My eyes widened. It was a message left by Jared Arkne.

I quickly pulled out the phone from my pocket and dialed.

─…….

The call connected quickly, but there was no answer.

With a tense tone, I asked him.

“Do you, by any chance, have a nail clipper?”

An unexpected response came.

─I buried it in the ground. It’s you, isn’t it?

…….

Jared Arkne’s mansion.

I was looking at him.

He was looking at me.

“…….”

“…….”

Neither of us said anything, then he smiled faintly.

“You know. I know too.”

“Huh? What do you mean…….”

“That this world is fake.”

Jared looked at me with a somewhat bitter expression.

“So, I’m going to blow up this bottle from the inside. I’m going to free the souls trapped here. To do that, I’ll need your help.”

Jared pulled out some plastic explosives and a map from the drawer. I looked at them carefully.

“All you have to do is stick them at the points I’ve marked. I can control the explosion.”

“…….”

Jared’s voice was calm.

The destruction of this bottle would mean his death.

“Do you… know about Soliette?”

“…….”

He quietly nodded. A shadow of sorrow flickered across his face.

“Yes. I know. But, there’s no need to confuse my sister unnecessarily.”

“Confuse? Soliette thinks you’re─”

“I… I’m not sure if I’m Jared Arkne. I’m not originally a dead person in this place, am I?”

Jared spoke softly.

“I’ve been thinking a lot. Maybe I’m not Jared Arkne, just a manipulated soul stuffed into a created skin.”

“…….”

“I’m suppressing it for now, but someday, I too will face existential confusion. When that happens, I’ll go mad.”

Therefore, my existence is not beneficial to Soliette.

Jared murmured with a hint of self-mockery, his gaze drifting. But soon, he bit his lip tightly, looking at me with a clearer expression.

“How do you plan to handle Knightmare? I’m curious about that.”

Knightmare.

I thought about ‘it’.

It’s a phenomenon.

Probably, a phenomenon ‘invented’ by someone.

Therefore…

“I hope Knightmare lives.”

Soliette is still unconsciously avoiding reality.

Whether it’s focusing on the game or immersing herself in internet communities, it’s all because she lacks a foothold in reality.

“He’s wearing the skin of Althea. Probably, his memory is also that of Althea.”

Soliette must not kill Knightmare with her own hands.

Leaving her to kill him, who takes the form of Felix Althea, is a trigger for her suicide.

Knightmare must live.

Longer than before the regression, until Soliette becomes stronger.

“Letting him go is the way for Soliette.”

Jared’s expression hardened.

He let out a small sigh, as if worried about me.

“…You might be hated.”

“I’m always ready to be hated.”

I smiled.

“Just like you’re prepared for death.”

“…”

Jared closed his mouth quietly.

“But one thing. May I ask a favor?”

I grabbed Jared’s hand.

“…What favor?”

“You are Jared Arkne. At least to Soliette, there’s no doubt. So…”

She needs memories.

She needs a better memory than the day dotted with hell.

“Please meet Soliette at least once.”

The memory of you can heal that terrible past, even a little.

The figure of the brother she believed in and followed.

Soliette must meet Jared.

After a long contemplation, Jared placed his palm on the back of my hand.

“…At the end. It might be possible once at the end.”

…

On the way out with the plastic explosives and the map.

“Do you have a nail clipper?”

Someone stuck to my side and asked. It was a short-haired woman. I answered her.

“I buried it in the ground. Who are you?”

“You first.”

“Elise.”

“…How did you know?!”

Elise backed away greatly, on guard like a cat.

“Never mind. I’m Shion, so take this.”

I handed her half of the explosives. Elise accepted it, still questioning with suspicion.

“……Are you really Shion?”

“Yes.”

“Tell me the information you’re sharing.”

“I’m going to steal Bianca.”

“Hmph. Stealing an animal that recognizes its owner. That’s just like you. What’s this?”

“It’s an explosive. Take this map too, and install it at the checked points.”

I tore the map in half.

“……Is that all?”

“Yes. The inside agent will take care of it. We’re going to go out and deal with Knightmare. And Soliette?”

Elise shrugged her shoulders.

“I know where she is. I’ll go and tell her to join us. But what were you doing in Presidium?”

I looked at her.

“I met him.”

“Who?”

“Jared Arkne.”

“……”

For a moment, Elise lost her words. She blinked her eyes at me, and I put my hand on her head.

“Divide that explosive with Soliette. Stick it all. Be careful, you might be suspected of being a terrorist.”

* * *

──Since then, time had been busy.

Within the Bottle of Souls, we attached clay explosives, on the day of going out, we carried out various missions as Libra’s Chaser, and delivered the 「Premium Delivery Box」 formula to Kanya in Trick City……

Before I knew it, it was the first day of the national university.

“Nice to meet you.”

There’s no special event for the opening of the semester. It’s just the start of ‘lectures’ according to the curriculum.

“I am ‘Zed’, a 13-year veteran professor of the Knight Department.”

The professor introduces himself on the podium. The students look up at him from below.

So far, it’s normal, but the environment is not.

Snow is falling on the frozen ground everywhere. But that’s not all.

It’s cold.

It’s not just a little cold.

It’s minus 60 degrees.

The perceived temperature is probably close to -80~90 degrees.

Anyway, it’s so cold that the heated freshmen are all shivering.

“What do you want? Success as a knight? A knight commander? Or a team leader of a large corporation? A director? Or a millionaire freelancer?”

It’s the first lesson of the Knight Department, 「Training of Mind and Body」.

This place is an artificial magic space embodied with severe cold.

“Whatever you want, you’ll get it.”

Zed continued his speech.

“Patience, endurance, and physical strength.”

However, for me, it was easy to endure.

Of course, it’s cold.

But the body that was naturally strengthened by being frozen in Perion seems to have quite a strong resistance to extreme cold or heat.

─……Shion. Are you okay?

Soliette, who is whispering to me from the side, is the same. The Arkne family is hot-blooded.

─Yes. I’m fine.

─I’m glad.

“Today, as it’s a special opening day, the first lesson of 「Training of Mind and Body」 will be short and intense. We’ll only go for 30 minutes. You can give up at any time.”

Zed snapped his fingers.

A cold wind surged. It was a biting wind that seemed to scrape the skin.

“Ugh-”

One freshman opened his mouth and immediately retired. His lungs had frozen.

“Medic! Take one away.”

At Zed’s words, the knights rushed over and retrieved him.

“We’ve only been at it for 5 minutes!”

Zed shouted, but the dropouts were numerous. It was due to the knife-like wind that exceeded negative 100 degrees.

About thirty out of a hundred had already been taken to the medical station.

I endured, standing still.

So far, it was bearable.

“……The rest of you seem fine. But, it’s not over yet.”

Snap!

Zed snapped his fingers. The knife-like wind stopped at that moment. However, the humidity rose.

As the cold droplets clung to our clothes and bare skin and froze—

“Argh!”

Screams filled with pain echoed.

“I give up!”

Asher, too, couldn’t tolerate his face being ruined and immediately gave up.

I could endure.

My eyebrows were frozen white, but it was bearable.

Above all, I had a reason to endure.

All lectures at the national university are ‘pay-to-view’.

In other words, if someone from Libra paid the appropriate fee, they could watch how I’m attending the lecture, my attitude, and my extreme efforts.

Zia still hadn’t contacted me directly.

I had to appeal to her in this way…….

* * *

In the Aerial Garden of Libra, a bit far from the National University, Zia was watching a lecture from her office.

“……”

However, her camera was focused on just one person.

Shion Ascal.

Considering that the observation rights for the National University cost 300,000 Ren per semester, it was quite inefficient, but she was currently grappling with a huge dilemma.

Should she call him in?

Could she confront him directly, reveal her ambitions, and ask for his ‘loyalty’?

Could she trust him?

“He probably wouldn’t talk… even if tortured……”

That much was almost certain. If she were in his place, she would have given up in just a minute.

She hated the cold too much.

Bang─!

Suddenly, the door opened as if it were about to break.

Zia’s office was always like a neighborhood park.

“Zia.”

It was Johanna. She had dark circles under her eyes, perhaps from gambling, and clapped her hands as she looked at Zia.

“Congratulations on the success of the extreme mana stone business.”

She was late to the news.

She probably heard about it late because she was gambling.

“I sent you an email……”

“I know. I’ve already figured it all out. I couldn’t even hear the news because there was a big bet. It’s a shame.”

Zia nodded her head.

“Did you win… the stakes……?”

“Of course.”

Johanna raised her middle finger. It was just the middle finger, but Zia responded without showing any reaction.

“Ten million Ren……?”

“Do you think I’m cheap? I made 100 million Ren.”

“Wow……”

Johanna approached, chuckling, and looked at Zia’s monitor.

“Are you watching a university lecture? Are you trying to save someone?”

“Ah, yes……”

“It’s Ascal’s son. He’s one of the potential candidates for the balancer.”

Johanna recognized him at a glance. A mischievous smile appeared on her lips.

“Zia. Are you eyeing this guy?”

“Yes……”

“He seems like a talent too good for you.”

Johanna put her hand on Zia’s shoulder. Zia shrank like a prawn.

“This guy, he even rejected Derek’s offer. Of course. Why would he work under a money-grubbing old man who gives Libra points as checks?”

“……”

Zia kept her mouth shut.

She should not say anything about the gossip between the eldest son and the eldest daughter. She could be suspected for no reason.

“But, Zia. I’m different from Derek. I have 100 million Ren in cash in my bag right now.”

Johanna put her hand on Zia’s head. She ruffled her small head roughly and said,

“I can give this guy ten million ren in cash. So, who do you think he will choose?”

“If… you… want it, sister……”

Zia’s voice shook along with her head.

“……Never mind.”

Johanna let go of her head. Zia, whose hair was disheveled, blinked blankly.

“I don’t want to steal your man. Not yet, anyway.”

“……”

“Hmm. Since I have some time.”

Johanna stood Zia up. Then she sat in her place and sat Zia on her lap.

“Let’s watch together. Like the old times, when we used to watch movies.”

“Yes…… I’d like that……”

Zia quietly nodded.