Chapter 32 - Who gave you permission to rename someone else's lover?

“Who? Laward...?”

“Yes, him. That boy you like.”

“Sh-shh! You can't just say that out loud!”

“Is there anyone at this school who doesn't know...?”

“There might be!”

“Could there be? That's a miserable school life in its own way.”

“Not everyone can get along with people the way you do... Wait, so Laward stole your lover?”

“Yes. And as if stealing wasn't enough, he's flaunting it.”

“What do you...?”

Only after that exchange did Esther realize they were talking about a sword.

“... You scared me.”

“Ugh, how did he buy it? His scholarship... was pretty generous, sure, but it couldn't have been enough for that sword!”

“I'm not sure... I don't know how much Laward received from my sponsor. Wait, perhaps my sponsor bought it for him?”

“That's it!”

CLAP

Rebecca clapped her hands.

“So that's what happened! Estie, is he always like that? Is he the sort of person who gives you and that boy things without sparing any expense?”

“Of course. I heard he was the one who recommended Laward for admission, and he helped me discover my talent. He's an incredible man.”

“Hmm... I see.”

“Why?”

“Oh, nothing. I just thought... I should get on his good side.”

“He's not the kind of man who buys you everything just because you're pretty. He's not that sort of sponsor. You are pretty, but... that would be inappropriate!”

“Don't suddenly make this sordid!” Esther added.

“Huh? What are you talking about? How do you even know about things like that...?”

“... What? W-well...”

“Anyway, don't worry. I have my own methods!”

“It's those methods of yours I'm worried about...”

“Or are you trying to warn off the competition?”

Rebecca looked at her with a grin.

“What competition?”

“Hmm. I can't figure you out lately.”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

“Back in the first semester, you were always getting rejected by that boy and crying in our dorm room, remember? Yes, you were. I even had a serious talk with the dorm supervisor about changing roommates.”

“Y-you did...? I'm... sorry.”

“No, no. Looking back, it was fun. Though on the first day, I did find it a little annoying to have such a cocky, brazen junior for a roommate.”

“Ah... Sorry about that too...”

“You're not like that anymore, and you were entertaining to watch.”

Then Rebecca's tone changed. “But...”

“You haven't been talking about that Laward lately. You used to go on about him so much that even I memorized his name.”

“Most people can remember three syllables after hearing them once or twice.”

“Look at you changing the subject! Scary!”

“I'm not changing the subject...”

“You're confused, aren't you?”

“What...?”

At that response, Rebecca's eyes crinkled in a sly smile, as though she'd realized something.

“How naughty, Estie. Can your first love really change that easily?”

“Wh-what are you talking about!”

“Oh, nothing.”

Rebecca poked Esther's arm and started walking.

“We'll talk about your love life in our room later. I've got something of my own to discuss!”

“You're not going to ask him outright, are you? W-wait a moment!”

“Wait? You know...”

Rebecca came to a firm stop, her confident strides having brought her right in front of Laward.

“I hate that word.”

032

Huh?

I tilted my head at Rebecca, who had stopped in front of Laward.

Hmm?

What's going on?

No matter how I thought about it, Rebecca had no reason to confront Laward right now. Their events did start in the second semester of the first year, but that was around the sports tournament preliminaries, not now.

I switched on the Affection Scouter. Rebecca's affection toward me was, naturally, 0. Neutral. That, at least, hadn't changed.

Then what about the endings?

I immediately checked the Ending Preview screen, but nothing had changed there either. The Laward–Rebecca ending requirements were much like those for the other heroines, and the number of requirements fulfilled or rendered impossible so far was also zero.

What on earth was going on?

“Did you buy that sword?”

Rebecca questioned Laward with a piercing stare.

She naturally had sharp features, but her constant smile usually made that hard to notice. This was the first time she had put those looks to full use. As expected, she looked frightening when she wasn't smiling.

Ah.

Now I understood.

I'd caused this whole mess...

It was all because of that sword...

What even were swordsmen? Why did they all care so much about swords? Having broken mine within hours of buying it, I couldn't understand their world at all.

“Who the hell are you...?”

Before Laward could answer, I clamped a hand on his shoulder.

“Laward. Can't you see the color of her name tag? Speak respectfully to upperclassmen, adults, and people you've just met.”

This bastard seemed to be getting sloppy a lot lately.

“To think I still have to teach you the basics...”

“... I'm sorry.”

Laward rubbed his face with his hands, then looked back at Rebecca.

“What is it?”

“I asked if you bought that sword.”

At Rebecca's words, Laward tightened his grip on the sword.

“My esteemed mentor here gave me Holiday as a gift.”

“Unbelievable. Who gave you permission to rename someone else's lover?”

That gave me a fright.

For a moment, I thought she meant me and I'd finally been caught, but I'd never gone so far as to change a name. Therefore, I was a better person than Laward.

“I can't believe this.”

Laward shook his head.

Naturally, he must have been dumbfounded by Rebecca calling a sword her lover.

“How is a sword my esteemed mentor gave me your lover?”

... So he had no problem with treating it as a lover?

If anything, they carried on as though that were perfectly natural. I couldn't join this conversation between swordsmen, to the point that I wondered whether I was the strange one.

No, I didn't even want to.

“I don't need to have seen it to know you pestered him to buy it. You must have wanted that sword.”

“What am I, a child? My esteemed mentor bought it for me when I wasn't expecting anything! That's why it moved me twice as much!”

“Is that true? Please, tell me. This insolent junior really didn't pester you?”

“Well, this works out nicely. Rebecca, I'm returning it anyway. Once I've gotten my refund, you can buy it and use it.”

“Oh, really? Thank you! That fellow wants me to wield him too!”

“Esteemed mentor, we already settled this!”

“How is it settled? It's not settled until the money's back in my wallet. If we don't return it today, we can kiss that refund goodbye.”

This situation was rather troubling. It wasn't simply that I hated wasting money; it was an affection issue. From the look of things, this incident had made Rebecca dislike Laward. Their story hadn't even properly begun, but her expression alone already made her disapproval clear.

This was a fresh development, in its own way. Until now, I'd stepped in to disrupt his relationships with the heroines, but this time a heroine was distancing herself from the protagonist first.

Emotional distance.

About as far apart as Monday and Friday.

But I couldn't simply celebrate, because romances could start this way too. There were romances of the “It was love at first sight” variety, but there were certainly also those of the “You're that asshole from before!” variety.

I'd heard the trend these days was to get hot and heavy first and start dating afterward, but that was irrelevant. I was already outside that trend—and that era.

Anyway, thinking this might be the latter sort of romance left me conflicted. With Laward and Rebecca's story taking an unexpected turn, I couldn't let my guard down.

“R-Rebecca!”

Esther's voice made me look up from my thoughts. At the sound of that clear voice, Rebecca also broke off her tirade and walked over to Esther, who stood some distance away.

A little later...

“Hey, first-year.”

Rebecca had returned to address Laward.

“You've got a field trip today, right? They're looking for you. Hurry up and go. Better yet, leave the sword behind.”

She was passing on Esther's message to Laward.

Why wasn't Esther telling him herself?

“She says he probably wouldn't like it if she told him herself.”

What battle was Esther even fighting...?

It would be easier to give up.

“Ah, esteemed mentor. I'll be going, then. I'll have to see Commander Blash another time.”

He stood up and brushed off his clothes.

“And things were too hectic for me to mention it yesterday, but that Chris fellow, or whatever his name was... I'll give him a proper talking-to so he never gets uppity with you again.”

I don't know about that.

You'd lose to him right now.

... The first-years left the academy, and Rebecca bowed to me before taking her leave as well. Her expression suggested she had something to say, but she kept her silence to the end.

“Hmm, there are fewer students than I expected!”

Some time later, Blash arrived.

“Welcome. I don't see Chris.”

“Chris is looking for a courier.”

“Still...? It would be convenient if the Church used communication magic items.”

“That's out of the question. For security reasons.”

Ah, yes.

Of course it is.

I know all too well how set in your ways you people are.

“The academy looks empty because all the first-years are away. They just left for a picnic.”

“Ah, you mean a field trip.”

“A picnic.”

“Which is a field trip, isn't it?”

He certainly knew a lot about that for someone who'd never gone to school.

“So, what brings you to the academy?”

“I can't attend to it now, thanks to the field trip.”

“You had business with a first-year student?”

And yet he'd said it wasn't Laward?

How exactly had the rumors about the Houndry affair spread, then? Had it instead become some sinister urban legend circulating only in the underworld?

“Yes. A student you know well, Lord Daywin.”

“I do?”

“Esther. I hear she distinguished herself assisting you at the Subjugation Festival.”

“Well, I didn't expect you to know even that.”

“She isn't suited to the paladin order, but I wanted to introduce her to the sisterhood. Maintaining a good relationship with them is also part of a commander's duties.”

As someone who had once been commander, I found those words humbling. I'd never thought of that as a duty. Though that was partly because I'd been even busier trying to survive than I was now.

“So I came to the academy to take care of both matters.”

In any case, this was a good opportunity to get Esther into the Church. If she joined now, managing the endings would become much easier. Esther's remaining unlocked endings were Numbers 3, 4, and 5.

Three left.

But if Esther left the academy and joined the Church, all three endings would lock automatically. None would remain attainable.

There was a rule that Laward could never leave the academy, but the heroines were different. The best way to lock endings was to physically separate them altogether and let time pass.

“I'd like to assess Esther's abilities. Though I'll have to wait until she returns.”

“Then why don't we go too?”

“To the field trip site...? Even if we go, we won't be able to assess Esther's healing abilities, will we?”

“Who knows?”

Come to think of it, hadn't I said earlier that we wouldn't be able to return Laward's sword after today?

“Nothing will change if we just stay here.”

It wasn't a question of the deadline. The shop had said I could return it within a week as long as I had the receipt.

It was a question of condition.

The difference between an unopened secondhand item and one that wasn't.

In other words, Laward would use his sword today.

“All right, everyone. Gather over here, please.”

The guide spoke loudly.

The first-years' field trip destination wasn't far from the academy. In fact, it was very close, like the park adjoining the dormitories.

The Academy Founder's Memorial Hall.

“We're about to enter the academy founder's tomb. As I've explained, the founder was one of the heroes who distinguished themselves in the war against the necromancer a hundred years ago.”

The guide explained enthusiastically, but the students trudged along, barely listening. They hadn't been looking forward to the tomb of some old man who'd died a hundred years ago. Because it was an academy tradition for their wicked upperclassmen to conceal that fact and get their hopes up for a picnic, none of them could hide their dejected expressions.

It was an outing that did nothing but drive the guide up the wall.

“I see.”

Only one of them, Laward, listened attentively to the guide. He didn't find it particularly interesting either, but he had promised Daywin to give his all to the academy curriculum.

Diligence in his regular coursework. Thorough self-directed study as well. Those were the rules he had agreed on with Daywin.

“Yes. The founder amassed a great fortune before the war, and afterward, he established the academy to rebuild an environment where children could receive an education. He devoted the rest of his life to the school. His last wish was to be buried near it.”

“I see.”

“Before we move on to the spear the founder used in life, please stand here. Now, if you look this way, you'll see a large coffin, won't you?”

Entering the memorial chamber that housed the founder's coffin, the guide turned with a flourish to stand with her back to it.

“There's something a little unusual here. For a wealthy man's coffin, it has no decorations and isn't especially elaborate. You can see the founder's attitude toward life reflected here too.”

“I see. Excuse me, I have a question.”

Laward dutifully raised his hand to ask.

“Yes, what is it?”

“As you said, the coffin is a little different. Is it supposed to be like that?”

“Yes. You're surprised it's humbler than you expected, aren't you?”

“No. That's not what I mean.”

Laward slowly lowered his raised hand to point at the coffin.

“The coffin is open.”