[God Threatens Me with a Sword]
Lewis had become excited after seeing something, then suddenly said he wanted some fresh air and left the cabin.
Hildegard and Hans found nothing strange about that.
They had seen enough of Lewis's odd behavior over the past ten years to be used to it.
Left behind in the cabin, Hans dropped to one knee before the crystal ball.
“Long live Her Majesty the Empress. I greet the Sun of the Empire, who warmly shines upon all its people.”
* You have done well. Still, it is regrettable that the liquor ended up like that.
“I have no excuse.”
* Ah, the rest was merely self-talk, so do not concern yourself with it. That strange phenomenon is a natural disaster worse than Kanibara… No. It is the violence of a world that has forsaken all plausibility. Mere humans like us can do nothing about it.
As Hildegard spoke, her expression looked as though she were suppressing her anger.
* The fact that you experienced it beforehand is enough.
Hans nodded inwardly at Hildegard's words.
The violence of a world that had forsaken all plausibility.
No phrase suited it better.
Hans was someone who could run while swinging a sword even atop a thin wire.
Yet the very idea that he had slipped on nothing more than an icy road was absurd.
* Now that you have experienced it yourself, what do you think? Can you properly attend to Louie?
Hans answered Hildegard's question honestly.
“I believe the best course would be to guide him away from performing readings as much as possible.”
* There are many in the Underworld who bear grudges against Louie. You know well that it would not be strange for even top-tier demonfolk to target him.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
* And what if Louie permits a top-tier demonfolk to invade because of a strange phenomenon while he is performing a reading?
There would be no meaning in the word best.
That was what Hildegard was saying, and Hans knew it.
Nevertheless, Hans answered Hildegard in an unwavering voice.
“Lord Lewis is not the sort of person who can ignore harm done to those around him. Rather, precisely because he will be at the academy, he will not perform readings for himself.”
* …Yes. Louie secluded himself in the deep mountains because he worried about the harm he might cause to those around him.
Hildegard continued in a regretful voice.
* If it is Louie, he will say that he is going to the academy, will he not?
“Yes. He certainly will.”
* Can we not stop him? If he returns to the world, it will become noisy again. In many ways.
“Ever since no one would believe him, he has wandered the continent to stop the Underworld's ambitions.”
Lewis clicked his tongue whenever he saw Hildegard or Kanibara take action.
But conversely, Hildegard and Kanibara had been shocked by Lewis's actions more times than they could count.
“If we try to stop him, he will surely leave one day without a word.”
Of course, that was a misunderstanding shared by the two of them.
Until just moments ago, Lewis had had no intention of going to the academy.
No. Even now, outside the cabin, he was vigorously rebelling while cursing Teruna!
However, Lewis's past actions had been more than enough to make him a hero among heroes.
Enough for the Empress of the Empire to admire him.
* Yes. There is no one in the world as challenging and self-confident as him.
A bitter smile spread across Hildegard's lips.
* The war has barely ended, and is the world already about to become noisy once more?
“Is he not trying to stop it before it becomes noisy? Just as he stopped the Underworld before it could burn the entire continent.”
* Yes. You are right.
Hildegard nodded.
Then she looked Hans directly in the eyes.
* Hans.
There was no noble surname after his name.
No official title for the bureaucrat who worked for the Empire.
Hildegard called Hans by his name alone.
At that call, Hans bowed his head as though humbled.
* As a comrade who fought beside Louie, I entrust him to you. He is too fragile to bear more wounds again.
Lewis sobbing silently before the tombstones of his comrades.
The sight of him making a place for himself beside them remained vivid in Hildegard's memory.
And so did the look in his eyes at dawn after the final battle against the Underworld, as he gazed at the rising sun with bitterness and affection intermingled.
“I accept your command.”
* Ah. Speaking of wounds, how is his body?
At Hildegard's question, Hans recalled Lewis struggling with him only moments earlier.
Lewis's strength had clearly weakened compared to before.
Even his movements had creaked with an unnatural stiffness.
‘Lord Lewis seemed to think he had hidden it….’
If they truly fought, Hans was confident he could subdue Lewis in less than ten seconds.
“Yes. It appeared that he still has not recovered.”
* Tsk. Why did he step in so foolishly then? His life was not even in danger.
As if out of habit, Hildegard stroked her right shoulder.
* His body aside, that….
Hildegard trailed off.
But Hans immediately understood what she was trying to say.
“His mental illness remains as well.”
Hans spoke as calmly as possible, but he couldn't stop the tremor at the end of his sentence.
* Does he still say that he wishes to return to his hometown? Does he still draw those strange pictures?
“Yes.”
* We should tell him that he cannot return to a hometown that has already burned away….
Hildegard bit her lip in regret.
“Do you not already know that? Seeing as you deliberately do not go looking for it.”
* …….
“I believe he simply has not yet accepted reality.”
But that, too, was a misunderstanding shared by the two of them.
A misunderstanding born from their ignorance of the fact that Lewis was a possessor.
The hometown Lewis wished to return to was Earth.
But to those two, Lewis's hometown was the village burned away by the demonfolk.
Lewis shouting that he wanted to return to a village that no longer existed.
The drawings of Mickey Mouse plastered all over his cabin.
If someone who knew nothing saw it, it would be only natural for them to suspect mental illness.
Though Lewis himself had no idea.
After sinking into her thoughts, Hildegard spoke again a little while later.
* Chief.
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
* I have kept the position of Academy Inspector vacant. It is the academy's first year since opening, so it will not look strange for Special Division 4 to go there.
On the contrary, it would be a signal that the Imperial Household was paying special attention to the academy.
* It does not matter if you neglect your duties as an inspector. Remain by Louie's side.
“I accept your command.”
Hans lowered his head.
At that moment, the cabin door opened, and Lewis walked in.
Lewis was soaked from head to toe, for some reason.
When Hildegard saw Lewis's somewhat sullen expression, a smile spread across her face once more.
“I think I have to go in person.”
It hadn't taken me long to make a decision after seeing the newly appeared Message Window.
Teruna had practically threatened me while holding a sword to my throat.
[The Main Quest Will Not Proceed If You Do Not Travel to the Academy.]
[The Main Quest Is an Important Process for Preserving the Continental Peace Lewis Has Achieved.]
[MP (Main Quest Points) Will Be Awarded as Main Quest Rewards. You Can Return to Earth by Using 1,000 MP.]
[You Can Use MP to Obtain Various Rewards Besides Returning.]
See? If that wasn't a threat at swordpoint, then what was?
If I didn't go to the academy, the peace I had worked so hard to achieve would be ruined?
If I cleared the Main Quest, I would receive MP, and if I gathered 1,000 MP, I could return to Earth?
My mind had already been shaken by seeing a Message Window for the first time in ten years.
And now it was moving to cement the matter by wielding both a carrot and a stick at once.
Was this what it took to remain the sole god of the continent, Teruna?
Anyway, I told Hildegard that I was going to the academy.
At my words, Hildegard smiled as though she had known all along.
* Good. I can create whatever position you want. Dean? Or Chancellor?
“Eek. Why are you saying something so terrifying so casually?”
Did people in high positions dump their work onto those beneath them and relax comfortably?
At least in this Empire, that saying did not apply.
“You want me to die of overwork? Besides, most decent positions must already be filled. What will happen to those people?”
* Even a post such as Dean of the Knight Department is something you could win through ability.
“No. Such bothersome—no, such high positions should go to someone more capable.”
When I shot Hildegard a glare, she smiled.
* If you had coveted a high position, I would have summoned you to the Imperial Palace and seated you there at once. What a shame.
“It was a trap?!”
* I have kept a seat beside the throne open. It is a position called Imperial Consort.
“Marriage fraud, too?!”
She was trying to get two things with one stone.
As expected, not just anyone could become the Empress of the Empire.
When I recoiled in horror, regret flickered through Hildegard's eyes.
* Would the position of an ordinary professor suffice, then?
“Wouldn't a professor stand out too much?”
* There are already around three thousand professors at the academy, not including elves and spirits. Some of them are contract professors.
If that was the case, disguising myself wouldn't be difficult.
But after recalling the original work, I shook my head.
“Hmm. No. Being a professor doesn't feel right either.”
Main Quests had existed in the original game as well.
But I had no way of knowing how they had changed now.
Too many things had already changed.
Still, the Main Quest was leading me to the academy because there was some role for me to play, wasn't it?
‘If a crisis similar to the original work arises….’
I needed to respond in the same way as I had in the original work.
In the manner of a character-collection RPG.
With nothing predictable right now, that was the safest choice.
‘I need to gather talented students, obtain items, and resolve villains and character-specific stories….’
In a game, I merely had to advance the script.
But in reality, it was full of endlessly bothersome tasks!
‘No matter what I try to do, I’ll have to watch the people around me….’
For that, camouflage came second to freedom of movement.
A role where it would not seem strange for me to be discovered anywhere in the academy.
A position that allowed me to be friendly with students, professors, and staff alike.
An image that made it easy to explain anything I did or any place I intervened.
I needed a position even freer than that of a professor.
And one position with exactly those traits came to mind.
“I think being a teaching assistant in the Knight Department would be suitable.”
* A teaching assistant?
“A teaching assistant?”
Hildegard tilted her head.
Hans also looked at me as though he had heard something strange.
“Wouldn't a teaching assistant be able to move around freely? It would also be easy to interact with students and professors.”
* Hmm. That is not wrong, but you do know what a teaching assistant does, correct?
“Of course. Graduate students often work as teaching assistants, too. They help prepare classes and conduct research.”
I came from a miraculous country where graduate students had been recognized as human beings for only five years.
I also knew that graduate students here were much the same.
But Gloria Academy was an academy accepting its first students this year.
The professors would inevitably have to handle important matters themselves.
Even if work piled up, couldn't I just pass it along to someone else?
It wasn't as though I was passionate about earning a degree and becoming a professor.
“What do you think?”
When I explained my thoughts, Hans shook his head.
“I do not know where to begin correcting you, so I will not correct you.”
“……?”
Hildegard looked as though she were suppressing a laugh, then quickly spoke.
* Chief. Do not say unnecessary things.
“My apologies.”
* Louie, I think it is a good idea. If you are a teaching assistant, it will be much easier to disguise yourself. If we arrange the supervising professor from this side, they will not burden you with excessive work, either.
“See? I was right.”
* Yes. Even if you go here and there, wouldn't people simply think you are running errands? You might even be able to come to the Imperial Palace.
A slightly strange statement had slipped into that, but well. It was probably just exaggeration.
At Hildegard's agreement, I shot Hans a glare.
“Correcting me, my ass. You have never attended an academy, so you don't know anything, do you?”
“It is not necessary to attend an academy in order to know….”
“You didn't attend one anyway.”
“No…!”
“Honestly. Opposition for the sake of opposition is ugly. Just admit that you know nothing.”
Perhaps because he couldn't shout in front of Hildegard, Hans's fist trembled.
This was revenge for him suddenly activating the communication orb and selling me out!
As I exchanged looks and bickered with Hans, Hildegard continued.
* Then I will arrange a teaching assistant position. If you need anything, tell the Chief at any time.
“Hans? Why?”
Hans didn't belong to the academy. He was the chief of Special Division 4 of the Special Affairs Bureau.
“Ah, do you mean that I should contact him through the communication orb? A direct line to the Chief would be incredibly valuable….”
* Hans is scheduled to take up the position of Academy Inspector this time.
“…….”
At the words Academy Inspector, I couldn't continue speaking.
Between a teaching assistant and an inspector stood an insurmountable wall of power.
Even if I became a professor.
No. Even if I became not just a professor, but a senior professor or department dean, the difference between us would be obvious.
Unless I became the Chancellor, that was.
* So get along. Well, for the sake of your disguise, you will have to listen to Hans during normal circumstances anyway.
Beyond the crystal ball, a delighted smile appeared on Hildegard's face.
* I am sure you two will handle that well yourselves.
I forced my stiffening gaze toward Hans.
Unlike Hildegard's smile, Hans wore a faintly sinister one.
“…Would you like to make up?”
“Since I have never attended an academy, I do not know the meaning of the phrase make up.”
He was sulking!
He was absolutely sulking!