[Cleanup]
We had returned safely to the academy, but that did not mean everything was over.
We took Forein to the infirmary.
We explained the situation to Yureph and the Chancellor.
Hans commanded Special Division 4.
Countless tasks crashed over us like a storm.
By the time I had dealt with everything that needed doing, it was already evening when I returned to the dormitory.
“Is your body all right?”
Hans, who had followed me in, asked.
“Mine?”
“Yes. Your flu was only just getting better, and then you went and swung a sword.”
“It's not like I use up life force every time I swing a sword.”
“I do not know about life force, but there is more than enough chance your injuries worsened.”
I shook my head at Hans’s words.
“The opponent was only a lower-ranking demonfolk. I am fine after that much.”
“...If you say so.”
Hans gave a small nod.
“Then I will be going.”
“You're going to raise hell, right?”
“Yes. Those who joined hands with demonfolk do not deserve a place on the surface.”
Every Skadivian noble involved in this would be dragged to the Special Affairs Bureau’s cold underground prison.
They would not even be given a chance to escape their pain through death.
They deserved it.
But...
“Hans. I have one favor to ask.”
“Please, tell me.”
“Could you show Jerome leniency?”
If it had not been for Jerome, we would not have saved Forein.
If we had failed to save Forein, enormous confusion and conflict would have descended on the academy.
Jerome had done wrong until then, but could it not be said that he had changed his mind at the end?
That was what I thought.
“I am not the one who decides that. The matter is far too serious.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Still, I will mention it when I report to Her Majesty the Empress.”
“Yeah. That is enough.”
Anything beyond that would be greed on my part.
This involved more than just one student’s future.
“Oh, and Hans.”
I stopped Hans just as he was turning away.
“Yes. If you have another favor, please say it.”
“It's not a favor.”
I bowed my head to Hans.
“I'm sorry.”
“Pardon?”
Hans furrowed his brow when he heard my apology.
He looked as if he did not understand.
“What are you apologizing for?”
“You warned me that blood might be spilled.”
From the start, Hans had wanted Griam’s group removed.
Perhaps he had foreseen what the nobles behind those children might do.
Under the pretext of worrying about the students’ futures, I had not properly listened to that warning.
Looking back, I had clearly let my guard down.
It was not enough to say I was doing it for the students.
If I was going to say that, I should have shaken off my laziness and watched their surroundings properly.
“Hm.”
Hans stared directly at me.
“It seems you really were shocked.”
Of course I was shocked.
“I thought we had driven the demonfolk out completely in the last war.”
That was why I had been careless.
It also helped that there had been no danger related to demonfolk at the academy.
Yet there were still people working with demonfolk.
And they had enough leeway to send in two whole platoons through them.
“Are they trying to start another war?”
“They are not. There is more than a ninety percent chance they scraped together troops like wringing out a dry rag.”
Hans spoke firmly, as if he knew what I was worried about.
“Your judgment was not wrong, Lord Lewis. They simply took a gamble they never should have taken.”
In other words, we had defeated even a scheme wrung from the last of their remaining strength.
But that was not thanks to me.
It was thanks to Hans staying alert and on edge.
“Either way, I lived because of you, and Forein and Elaine could stay safe because of you.”
“You would have found a way through even without me.”
“Would I?”
Honestly, I did not know.
Ever since the last war, I had felt as though my strength was gradually weakening.
Or maybe it was because I had left my injuries untreated for too long.
Anyway.
“The fact remains that I stubbornly ignored your advice.”
I had been caught up in the idealism of worrying about the students’ futures and failed to consider the practical threat.
Because of that, something truly terrible had nearly happened.
But Hans gave a short laugh and shook his head.
“You do not need to apologize. Thanks to you, we were able to identify even one student with a proper character.”
He meant Jerome.
“This is only my estimate, but Jerome’s family will likely find it difficult to avoid the destruction of their house.”
“The family... There is probably no avoiding that.”
“But I think Jerome may still be able to walk the proper path again, if he receives a little help like he did this time.”
I thought so too.
If Jerome, who had found the right path for himself and chosen it, was given the chance, he would surely endure it.
“And you made every effort, Lord Lewis. To the point that I wonder whether you truly came to the academy because you were interested in being a teaching assistant.”
“How can you say something so terrifying so casually?”
Me? Truly interested in being a teaching assistant?
No way!
“I just did not want to watch the children go down the wrong path.”
“Very well. Let us say that is so.”
With that, Hans turned away again.
“In any case, just as the continent was safe in the past because of your efforts, I believe this time was no different.”
“Don't gild me for no reason.”
“I and the others will prepare for the practical problems, so you should do what you want to do, Lord Lewis.”
With those words, Hans left my room.
“Always trying to look cool. That is why he has so many female fans and no male ones.”
My nose prickled for no reason, so I grumbled in a sharp voice.
“He did look cool, though.”
A voice suddenly sounded from behind me.
“Hiiieeek!”
“Ahaha! What kind of scream was that?”
“You startled me!”
When I turned around, Kanibara was sprawled diagonally across my bed.
There had definitely been no one there just a moment ago?!
“When did you get in here?”
“Before you came back? You could not tell because I was under the blanket.”
“A professor broke into her assistant’s room without permission!”
“What a fuss.”
Kanibara spoke as if it were nothing and sat up on the bed.
“I came just in case, but as expected, he did not tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
“About the demonfolk in the forest. They were not all there was.”
I tilted my head at that.
“They were not all there was?”
“Yeah. They were probably there to draw attention.”
“...So they were a diversion.”
“Exactly. The real one was a high-ranking demonfolk.”
“And you dealt with it?”
“Reassuring, right?”
Kanibara puffed out her chest smugly.
I let out a relieved breath at her words.
“Is that why you have not been around much lately?”
“Watching the surroundings is not your job alone.”
Kanibara put me in a headlock.
“When did you start acting like you knew everything by yourself, only to get all gloomy over something like this?”
“How long ago do you think that was?”
That was certainly how I had been at the beginning, after possessing this body.
I knew most of the game’s story, so I had acted with tremendous confidence.
Then I had made mistakes a few times.
‘I learned a lot back then.’
That had been six or seven years ago already.
I answered curtly, but Kanibara did not release the headlock.
“Do whatever you want. And when it becomes too much, ask for help. You do not need to shoulder everything alone.”
“Shoulder it? I have no intention of doing that.”
“Then why did you wander the continent alone for ten years? Changing the Heroes at your side like you changed lovers?”
“What kind of absurd comparison is that?!”
Changing them like lovers!
How could she say that to a man whose time alive equaled his time single?
Of course, it was true that I had traveled around looking for the people who would become the Five-Colored Heroes and stopping demonfolk plots.
I could not just leave alone helpers who had enough ability and motivation.
And I had been curious about the Five-Colored Heroes who had never been released as playable characters.
I squirmed and escaped Kanibara’s arm.
Kanibara did not seem to intend to say any more, and she let me go readily.
“So you broke in secretly just to tell me that?”
“Yeah. And I was also curious what choice Hans would make.”
Hans had not told me anything at all about the high-ranking demonfolk.
The choice Kanibara meant must have concerned that.
But I did not think Hans had hidden the truth for some underhanded reason.
He had probably done it to lessen the guilt I would feel.
Kanibara seemed to think so as well.
“As expected, the Empire’s people cherish you like a jewel.”
“......”
“I think of you more as a cherished sword than a jewel, though.”
“What is the difference?”
“There's one. Something like that.”
Smiling, Kanibara ruffled my hair.
“Anyway. You did well.”
“What did I even do?”
“If Hans or I had stepped to the front, the atmosphere would be bleak by now.”
Kanibara swept her hand back and forth across her neck.
“All we know how to do is cut everything to pieces.”
“Hans said the same thing. Why do you keep gilding me?”
“It isn't gilding, but if you think it is, then fine.”
The academy had nearly suffered a catastrophe.
Because I had failed to cut off the sprouts ahead of time.
And yet they praised me.
It was enough to make me wonder what was wrong with these people.
“Anyway, I am going.”
Kanibara opened the window and leaped out beyond it.
Just as when she arrived, there was nothing ordinary about the way she left.
“...She really is a free spirit.”
And that kind of person was the strongest person in humanity.
I could understand why she was called the Gray Storm.
“Phew.”
I closed the window and threw myself onto the bed as if collapsing.
Other than a faint ache in my shoulder and a heaviness in my body, there was nothing seriously wrong with me.
‘They said Forein had only shallow wounds, too. The paralysis poison was already neutralized.’
Elaine had not even hurt a fingertip in the first place.
In the end, no one had been badly hurt.
Still, I could not help feeling weighed down.
‘It's true that the children were wrong. It's true, but...’
If someone asked whether their mistakes were serious enough for their families to be smashed to pieces and for people to march one after another to the execution scaffold...
I did not think so.
The ones who had committed mistakes that grave were not the children, but the adults who had used them.
“Of all things, they fell for a demonfolk’s temptation. Tsk!”
If it had not been demonfolk, they could at least have saved their lives.
No matter how humiliating it was for nobles to be reduced to commoners, nothing was more precious than life.
Those thoughts kept leaving my heart unsettled.
But it was already out of my hands.
‘The only thing I can do is what concerns Jerome.’
For example, I could ask Hildegard to be lenient with Jerome himself.
Or I could help Jerome with his life at the academy after the punishment.
Of course, I had no authority, so it was not something I should recklessly interfere with.
What I could do right now was...
“Check the rewards, I guess.”
A Message Window glittered at the edge of my vision.
So far, I had completed one Main Quest and two Sub Quests.
[M. Academy Tour]
[S. Will of the World Tree]
[S. Forest of Will]
And this time, I had completed one Main Quest and one Sub Quest.
However, their Message Windows looked a little different from the earlier ones.
[M. Exchange Meeting Complete!](Extra Reward Available)
[S. Seeds of Malice Complete!](Extra Reward Available)
I had already received my MP and SP, but the words ‘Extra Reward Available’ had appeared beside the completion messages.
“Yeah. If you have any conscience, you should at least give me something.”
Why Teruna had sent me to the academy while even giving me Quests.
This incident made it feel as if that reason might have been exactly this.
What if things had gone in a bad direction?
It was horrifying just to imagine.
The harmony between the three races that had only just begun would have been badly twisted.
As I reached for the extra-reward prompt, I suddenly stopped at a thought that occurred to me.
‘It isn't going to make me spend MP or SP to get the additional reward, is it?’
No, surely not.
It was not as if I were truly a slave.
And Teruna was not some exploitative master.
Teruna had not hidden the Message Window from me for ten years, had they?
I had not had to find the Five-Colored Heroes myself, had I?
I had not had to solve their problems myself to recruit them as companions, had I?
And after barely saving the continent, Teruna had not refused to send me home, had they?
“...The more I think about it, the more uneasy I feel.”
Trying to calm my anxiety, I tapped the Sub Quest reward prompt first.
Then—
Thud—
A Polaroid camera suddenly popped out of thin air and fell onto the bed.
“?”
Why was there suddenly a camera?
And was this all?
I searched for the Message Window with a dumbfounded expression.
But the Sub Quest Message Window that had been glittering only a moment ago had disappeared, as if its job was finished.
“What in the world is this?”
I picked up the Polaroid camera and inspected it from every angle.
I wondered if it had some kind of special power.
But no matter how I looked at it, it was an ordinary camera.
I could not sense mana, or magic power—the peculiar force of the Teruna Continent—from it either.
Click!
Just in case, I took a picture of the room.
Whirr—
The photo came out properly.
There was nothing special about it beyond that.
I even took a selfie, wondering if the image would move like the magic photographs in Harry Potter.
Whirr—
It was just an ordinary photo.
“There was not even an item like this in the original work.”
There had not even been an event that used photographs.
Then why had I been given this?
“I really do not get it.”
Was this what it meant to be told not to measure a god by human standards?
“Are the uses unlimited?”
Curious, I took pictures of several things in my room, but it stopped after exactly ten.
After the tenth photo printed, a message saying it was charging appeared in the corner of the camera.
It seemed to be limited to ten a day.
“What am I even supposed to use this for...?”
It did seem as if it could be quite useful if I wanted to make money.
There were no photographs in this world yet, after all.
Portraits were the best it had.
If I could make such clear color photos, nobles who wanted them would line up.
But I was not short on money.
And I had no desire to become famous by using a camera.
“Maybe it just wants me to take pictures of things around me whenever I think of it?”
Let us think positively.
One day, I would return to Earth, so perhaps it wanted me to preserve memories of this place in photographs and take them with me.
Though I had no idea whether Teruna had truly given me the camera for that reason.
“Ugh. Thinking about it just gives me a headache.”
With my expectations sunk to the floor, I tapped the Main Quest reward prompt.
POPPOPPOW—!
Several things began to burst!