[Discord]
“Whoa! You startled me!”
I was so startled by the celebratory fireworks that burst before my eyes that I fell backward onto the bed.
If the bed had not been there, I might have cracked the back of my head!
But it was not over yet.
Whirrr—!
The tarot deck hanging from my waist flew into the air of its own accord.
Then five cards slipped free and spun before me.
The sight felt familiar somehow.
“Isn't this that thing?”
Just like any other game, the original game Arcana Spirit had an enhancement system.
There were naturally ordinary enhancements, such as strengthening weapons, armor, and skills.
But perhaps it was the game’s defining trait.
Or its identity.
Arcana Spirit also had something called Fate Enhancement.
It was a system that strengthened a character’s stats by drawing from the twenty-two Major Arcana tarot cards.
Each card had a different effect.
The Arcana drawn was random, but you could choose which character to grant that Arcana to.
“In Elaine’s case, the recommended Arcana changed depending on her main weapon, right?”
If she used the World Tree Staff as her main weapon, The Magician was recommended.
Or The Hermit and The High Priestess were useful too.
When she used dual axes as a melee damage dealer, The Chariot and Strength were good choices.
“This is it. This is the kind of reward I should get.”
My mood suddenly improved.
Every Major Arcana was powerful.
If I could grant that power to others, the academy would become much safer.
“Now then, what should I draw? The right? The left?”
A part of me wished Teruna had simply given me a Major Arcana selection ticket, but...
Still, it was something that looked like a proper reward.
Excited, I chose one of the five cards rotating in a circle.
Whirr—
The other cards returned to the deck, and a brilliant light poured from the one I had drawn.
After a moment, the light faded to reveal—
“Huh?”
Arcana 0, ‘The Fool.’
It was the very card that always came up whenever I had my past read, also called the idiot or the jester.
“Why are you showing up here?!”
That card was not completely useless.
But its uses were extremely limited.
Its stat increase was the lowest among all twenty-two Major Arcana.
Yet its granted effect was ‘Continuance,’ which allowed you to survive once at 1 HP when you were rendered unable to fight.
It was an effect like Pokémon’s Endure.
It was a Major Arcana with incredible efficiency when given to a character who needed to buy time and cast a large-area grand spell.
But that was only useful when it was a game!
In reality, it was an incredibly awkward card.
“In one sense, it might be a card that can save a life once...”
But HP 1 meant you were grievously injured to the point that you could not move even one finger.
Even if you lasted a little in that condition, it was not very likely that you would survive in the end.
“Argh! Seriously! There is not even anyone I can give this to right now!”
As I pounded the bed and complained, the card suddenly flew toward me.
Whoosh—!
“Huh? Why is it coming to me?!”
I knew instinctively.
It was not flying toward my hand for me to hold it.
It was flying to be absorbed into my body!
“No! There's no point in me having it!”
But I was sitting awkwardly on the bed. There was no way I could dodge something that fast.
Whoosh—!
In the end, I absorbed the card without being able to do anything about it.
I felt power spreading throughout my body.
Along with it came an optimistic sensation that I could endure any danger once, no matter what happened.
“Seriously. Why are you doing this to me, Teruna...?”
The energy settling throughout my body seemed to be telling me, ‘There will be a time when you can use this.’
It made tears well up in my eyes.
“If you were going to give it to me, you should have done it ten years ago!”
You did not give it to me when I had to openly fight demonfolk, and now you give it to me? How did that make sense?
But the water had already been spilled.
I had not spilled it, but it was spilled anyway.
There was no undoing it, so all I could do was accept it.
“Ugh.”
I let out a sigh and looked at the Message Window still blinking.
The one consolation was that the rewards were not over yet.
When I tapped the still-glittering Message Window again—
[Affinity Item Draw Event Made Permanent!]
A new Message Window appeared.
“Oh?”
The Affinity Item Draw Event had been made permanent?
It seemed to mean that the event that let me obtain an Affinity Item once a day would become permanent.
I had already been worried about how I would handle the spirit and elf students once the regular term began.
But if cookies and World Tree Amber replenished every day, I did not think I needed to worry much.
“Yeah. This is the kind of reward I should get.”
Not a Polaroid camera that had hardly any use, or an uncomfortable Fate Enhancement like that.
Yet the Message Window was still blinking.
“Is there something else?”
Why was Teruna acting like this?
Why were they suddenly giving me so much stuff?
But it would be foolish not to accept something that was being given to me.
So I tapped the Message Window without suspicion.
[M. Discord]
A new Main Quest appeared.
“...Of course.”
You finished your work, and you got paid properly, right?
Then get back to work!
That was what it felt like Teruna was saying through the Message Window.
“Is this not too much...?”
How could they not stand to see me rest even for a moment?
And the Main Quest’s name was ominous, too.
Discord!
I had just barely stopped the crisis descending on the academy, and now it was Discord!
It was even more worrying because this damned Teruna did not even show the Quest details!
As I clutched at my hair and cried out—
[Would you like to consume 1 MP to view the details?]
That Message Window appeared as if to mock me.
“You little...!”
Ah. I wanted to swear so badly!
The aftermath of [S. Seeds of Malice] was already leaving a bad taste in my mouth!
Now I had no choice but to check it!
How was this any different from forced purchase?
For a moment, I considered resisting out of spite, but I put that thought away.
It was not as if I would be the only one in trouble.
Even then, the Message Window kept blinking as if ordering me to check the Quest’s contents.
“Damn it.... Fine! I will do it! I will check it!”
The moment I shouted, a new Message Window finally appeared.
If it had not been called something as serious as [Discord], I would have held out out of sheer spite!
That thought only lasted a moment.
After reading the Main Quest’s contents, I threw open the window and shouted.
“Hey! Teruna! Get down here! Let us settle this! You are making fun of me right now, are you not?!”
Unlike its title, the Quest’s contents were truly nothing much.
So much so that I felt stupid for having been so tense.
[M. Discord]
[The spirits are enjoying every kind of human snack, beginning with the cookies Lewis gave them.]
[But even among tasty things, there are things that are tastier.]
[More and more spirits are arguing with their friends that the snack they like is the most delicious.]
[For now, it is merely a clash of opinions.]
[But when spirits who are serious about the things they like begin to fight in earnest, a calamity called innocence may descend upon the academy.]
[Mediate the dispute and achieve harmony among the spirits.]
In other words.
The children were fighting because they claimed their favorite snack was more delicious, and it was telling me to stop them.
“I'm not even their nanny! I have to solve something like this too? Hey! Get down here!”
But no matter how much I shouted at the sky, Teruna remained silent.
If Hans had seen me, he would probably have called it a blasphemous outburst and a fit rolled into one.
“Huff. Huff.”
Once I had poured out my anger, I finally calmed down a little.
Fine. What else could I do?
Since I had to do it anyway, I should think positively.
The Quest had said so itself.
A calamity called innocence might come.
Spirits sometimes looked foolish because they were so pure, but they were fundamentally a race with enormous power.
They were innately stronger than elves.
Even demonfolk could not match a spirit one-on-one.
If children like that got angry and rampaged, a calamity would truly descend upon the academy.
It was an important Quest to prevent that.
‘It's ridiculous that snacks are the cause, though.’
Then how should I mediate the conflict?
‘Should I flood them with cookies?’
The cookies that gave spirits an Affinity bonus would certainly have an effect.
It even seemed possible that making the event permanent was meant for that.
But it also felt as though that was not the correct answer.
If cookies had been the spirits’ undisputed favorite snack, there would have been no reason for them to argue.
There had to be more children than I thought with different tastes.
Jellies or candies, for example.
Pouring out cookies at them would only add fuel to the fight.
There was no right answer when it came to taste.
‘What should I do?’
It was not easy to mediate people divided into factions.
Especially when it was not a matter of right and wrong, but a difference in taste.
‘The spirits are still not used to human food. They will find new things more novel and delicious.’
What if I recommended a new snack?
What if I could make it an enormous trend?
The children, divided and fighting over their different tastes, might be united as one.
It would not be easy to make a new menu enticing enough to attract spirits who had already tasted most of the snacks offered at the academy, but...
“Something comes to mind at just the right time.”
It was winter, too.
The supreme winter-only snack that no one could deny.
“I'll try that first.”
I opened a notebook and began drawing blueprints for the tools needed to make a new snack.
“As for making it, if I ask Hans, he will find a way to do it!”
***
“Have they all been arrested?”
At Hildegard’s question, Hans bowed his head and answered.
“Yes. We arrested every last one, including those who tried to flee.”
Hans had just returned to the imperial capital after arresting the Skadivian nobles.
The scent of blood still clung to him.
“How many took their own lives?”
“None.”
The nobles who had joined the Skadivian Resistance had been arrested before they could properly resist the Special Division 4 agents who suddenly stormed in.
They had not even had time to take their own lives or flee.
“Send them to Special Division 0 for a thorough interrogation.”
“Yes.”
“Those connected to demonfolk will all receive the utmost penalty. There must be no mercy in dealing with them.”
“I will carry out your command.”
Hans bowed more deeply.
It was because he could feel the deep fury in Hildegard’s voice.
But only for a moment.
Hildegard drew a very quiet breath, then spoke again.
“If there are any who genuinely did not know about the connection to demonfolk, grant them a small measure of mercy according to the severity of their crimes.”
At those words, Hans slightly raised his head.
“You mean...?”
“I mean that we should try to win over those who sincerely sought to rebuild Skadivia.”
Who in the world wanted their homeland to collapse?
Even if the rotten ruling class was swept away, no one wanted the history and culture that had continued until then to disappear as well.
“Those who maintained their loyalty without despairing even after being defeated by an overwhelming difference in strength. If we can bring them to the Empire’s side, that too would be a good thing.”
It would not be easy.
But it was certainly worth trying.
It would be a good opportunity to bring nobles from other kingdoms, who had merely watched from distant regions, properly into the Empire.
“And.”
Hildegard tapped the report on the desk with her fingertips as she spoke.
“I believe it would be best to exclude the children from the utmost penalty as well. What do you think?”
Hans quickly answered Hildegard’s question.
“The war ended only recently. Rather than resolve this with blood, I believe it would be better to show mercy.”
Control born of fear was powerful, but it came with an equally immense fatigue.
Moreover, Afernia had only just risen from a kingdom to an empire.
There was no need for its first Empress to walk a bloody path from the beginning.
“And that too will make a good example.”
“An example.”
Hildegard nodded.
“Though spared death, the surviving children’s path ahead will not be smooth.”
It might even be harsh enough that they wished to escape through death.
The hatred of children broken by hardship might turn toward the Empire.
Under ordinary circumstances, Hans would have said that the sprouts should have been cut off from the beginning.
But Hans remembered the possibility Lewis had shown.
“If even one of the remaining children repents for their sins and walks the proper path, they will become an example to all.”
After all, there was already a precedent in Jerome.
If not for Jerome, this would have been a session of censure rather than a report.
“That is what Lord Lewis hopes for as well.”
He was just like someone who said everything was bothersome, yet loved this continent more than anyone else.
Asking for Jerome.
Apologizing because he thought he had been careless.
Neither was an action a person who was merely lazy and found everything bothersome would take.
Hans thought so.
“He secluded himself as though he were going to turn his back on the world entirely, yet his heart is soft at times like these.”
At Hildegard’s murmur, Hans hesitated for a moment before speaking.
“Actually... Lord Lewis seemed to be thinking of Sir Roland.”
“Roland?”
The face of a middle-aged knight with a gentle smile came to Hildegard’s mind.
The knight his companions had called a busybody.
The knight who had said he wanted to become a professor at the academy after retiring.
“...He and Lewis were close.”
When Roland had died, Lewis had been deeply shocked.
‘It was the first incident in which someone died while he was with the Golden Mane Knights.’
Knights dying or being injured on a mission was common.
It was sad, but it was something one could overcome, and had to overcome.
But for some reason, Lewis had blamed himself for a long time and had not been able to easily overcome the death of his comrade.
‘He blamed himself, saying someone who was not supposed to die had died because of his mistake.’
Even now, she did not understand what that meant.
Was it a figurative expression of how highly he thought of Roland’s character and ability?
Or was there something only Lewis knew?
But Hans saying that Lewis was thinking of Roland sounded positive to Hildegard.
‘Is this Lewis’s own way of overcoming it?’
After thinking that, Hildegard realized that too much silence had passed and returned to the main point.
“The director of the Special Affairs Bureau is currently absent, so report the results of the interrogation directly to me as soon as they are ready.”
“I will obey.”
“But tell me.”
The tone of Hildegard’s voice, which had been heavy and hard until now, became much gentler.
Even though there were still matters related to Skadivia and the demonfolk to resolve, Hildegard asked Hans as if she could no longer restrain her curiosity.
“What exactly is this blueprint Lewis gave you?”
Hildegard pointed to the blueprint with her finger.
“It looks like a mold for turning something out, but its shape resembles a fish.”
“...Yes. That is what I was told.”
“What is it used for? Is it a machine for making underwater reconnaissance magic tools?”
Hans cursed Lewis inwardly.
Just before returning to the imperial capital, Lewis had thrust a sheet of paper at him without warning.
He had said it was an object for preventing a crisis that would descend on the academy, so Hans had slipped it into the end of his report.
But shortly before meeting Hildegard, he had found a moment to contact Lewis and ask what it was.
‘It is just a tool for making desserts!’
That was when he had learned it was only a tool for making a strange dessert called fish-shaped pastry.
‘How am I supposed to explain this...?’
Hans felt the greatest crisis of his bureaucratic career descend upon him.
He swallowed dryly.
“It is...”