Chapter 35 - This Game Is Full of Contradictions

“Pathetic.”

I had expected some of this, but it was an even bigger shitshow than I’d imagined. To think that bloody mess rolling around on the floor was Laward. For someone touted as the top student and a rising star, he was doing a miserable job.

“How could you lose to someone missing an arm, Laward?”

Whoops. Better watch myself in front of Blash. Much as I wanted to use this opportunity to whip Laward into shape, I needed to sell him to the commander. I should at least offer some comfort to the wretch sprawled so disgracefully on the floor.

“Ahem... Well... Knowing your scrupulous sense of fairness, you must have fought without using one of your arms, too...”

Blash whipped around to look at me the moment I said it.

... Had that been too much of a stretch, even so?

“Incredible...! To make such a noble choice even in a life-or-death struggle...”

Hmm. It seemed to work on this rigidly principled commander.

HISSS

Meanwhile, the undead’s head reappeared amid acrid smoke.

Regeneration. A disgusting trait.

“Just as... the books described...”

Blash nodded gravely.

Ah, yes. Books, you say. I’ve seen it so often I could puke.

“Ugh...”

As I groaned, I felt someone looking at me.

“My patron...”

It was Esther, looking ready to burst into tears. Her face was so exhausted that I half expected dark circles like Lucia’s to appear beneath her eyes at any moment.

“It was so dangerous... Fortunately, no one...”

She looked around, as if to show me the first-year students revived in pools of blood. I’d seen it last time, too, but her healing abilities exceeded my expectations every time.

Why would anyone bother becoming undead? With Esther beside you, you wouldn’t die.

“What were you doing while Laward was fighting over there?”

“Pardon? Well... This is the only thing I can do...”

“No.”

At my firm response, Esther raised her head, looking wronged.

“I had no choice. Even if you say I should have fought alongside him...”

“That’s not what I mean. Have you already forgotten what I told you when we first met?”

“How could I forget? I still treasure what you told me that day... I do. It gave me the courage to...”

“Not that, either. Think carefully.”

I pointed at the warm light appearing at Esther’s fingertips.

“I believe I told you about healing magic’s other function.”

I had casually mentioned a discovery that was both official game lore and something I had witnessed firsthand in my previous life: healing magic regenerated humans, but destroyed the undead.

Back then, Esther had said there was no such thing as undead. Things were different now. One stood right before us.

A race eradicated a century ago had returned. Worse still, a hero who had led that victory had suffered the indignity of becoming undead.

“So put him to rest.”

PAT

I patted Esther’s shoulder, then repeated something I had told her once before.

“You can do it.”

Her eyes flew wide. They seemed to hold the dawn itself; looking at those sparkling eyes truly felt like watching the light rise.

She slowly nodded, then began walking.

HISS

The undead, now sporting a new head, began walking as well. It advanced, dragging Laward along as he clung to its ankle.

Just as it raised its spear again, Esther parted her lips.

“Heal.”

ZING!

The undead’s white bones shone brightly. For a brief moment, I could clearly see mana pouring into it, like a wick being saturated.

CRACK!

It shattered, scattering in every direction. She had blown it apart in one almost anticlimactic instant.

At the same time, the condition requiring Laward to protect Esther became impossible to fulfill. With such a difference in strength, the opposite made more sense.

Esther would protect Laward.

[Ending (3) Locked]

[Even If It Kills Me]

Current Ending Clear Count: 10

A Stage 2 perk is awarded for exceeding 10 ending clears.

New items have been added to the Achievement Shop!

A new upgrade for [Affection Scouter] has been unlocked!

035

“Ah.”

Glittering bone dust fell like shooting stars.

“I knew it...”

Still sprawled disgracefully on the floor, Laward murmured as he watched the powder sparkle before his eyes.

Now that she had learned healing magic, Esther was nothing like she had been during the entrance exam. He had known she possessed an overwhelming amount of mana, but never dreamed she could smash the creature so effortlessly.

“My instincts really don’t miss...”

Part of him had hoped they would.

Laward pressed his head against the floor again. He wanted to crawl into a hole and hide.

Daywin and Blash had arrived. Blash had said he hadn’t even known Laward existed, but Daywin had wanted to promote Laward to him. A chance to demonstrate his abilities had come, yet all he had done was make Esther stand out.

“Top of the year, my ass.”

In a complete reversal of the entrance exam, Laward had made Esther shine.

“What kind of paladin am I?”

He slammed a clenched fist into the floor.

“I’m still...”

Then, suddenly, he noticed the scattered bone fragments creeping across the ground.

“There’s no time for despair, Laward.”

Daywin’s voice came from above him.

“Look closely. This is the enemy you and the others will face from now on.”

Despite having been shattered all over, the creature was gathering itself back into one place. Even after being blown apart, it was trying to regenerate.

“Even Esther can’t manage it with an F-rank spell, then.”

Daywin clicked his tongue and summoned another spirit.

A moment later—

BOOM!

He blasted even those tiny fragments away, leaving not so much as dust behind.

“Well, Laward?”

This time, it was dead for certain.

“I think this has made both your destination and your current position quite clear.”

Daywin lowered his eyes to look at Laward.

“Esteemed mentor, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I disappointed you.”

Laward spoke before Daywin could say anything more. His disappointment was obvious. The least Laward could do was refrain from making excuses.

“You’re still in the second semester of your first year. Blash’s arrival was unexpected to begin with. An unscheduled event. Make the most of the time you have left before graduation.”

As the voice continued, Laward pounded the floor even harder in frustration.

“It isn’t time for that yet.”

The sword he had received from Daywin reflected his despairing face in its blade.

“Don’t cry. It’s disgraceful.”

My words of comfort weren’t insincere. I wasn’t particularly good at comforting people to begin with, and frankly, I thought this was fortunate.

Considering how Chris, hailed as a genius in the same generation, had gone through a delusions-of-grandeur phase, taking a major shock around now wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

It was a shame Blash wasn’t very interested in recruiting Laward, but that was separate from the hidden ending. It had no bearing whatsoever on completing it.

Besides, we had gained something, too.

After we returned to the academy...

“Esther!”

Blash slapped Esther’s school record and smiled. Blash, Esther, and I sat in three chairs around a single table.

“Esther Gray.”

He suddenly addressed her by her full name.

“An intriguing surname, considering you’ve yet to find a middle ground yourself! I hear your spells are either far too powerful or far too weak.”

He was alluding to her particular trait. She had found a workaround through healing magic, but mana control was still beyond her.

Gray. The middle ground between black and white. She wasn’t living up to her name.

Meanwhile, I decided to reflect a little on the fact that Esther’s name had only ever made me think of polyester...

Speaking of names, weren’t all the heroines named after baptismal names? Yet the one who had actually belonged to the Church in a previous life was me—the character the developer had designed as a villain.

This game was full of contradictions.

“Still, thank goodness Lord Daywin helped you discover your talent! Being able to use divine power means you’re still a virgin, so the timing was excellent.”

While I was wasting time thinking about names, Blash blurted out something insane.

“What? What are you...”

“Wouldn’t you agree, Esther?”

“Ah, um... Well... Yes...”

Why would you actually answer when it embarrassed you that much?

“Commander, you can’t say that cra—those things. You’ll get into trouble. In more ways than one, we’re already approaching dangerous territory...”

“No, Lord Daywin. This is an important matter.”

How, exactly? More importantly, was he planning to keep going? I was getting a seriously bad feeling about this.

“According to recent statistics, fifty-five percent of academy students lose their virginity during their school years.”

“Leaving aside whether those statistics even exist, why are you looking them up, Commander?”

“They most certainly exist. The figure has risen by five percent compared to five years ago.”

“Yes, and?”

“The remaining forty-five percent probably aren’t abstaining by choice, so that means most students capable of finding a partner give up their chastity!”

Blash wasn’t just saying dangerous things now. He was being cruel, too... Area attacks hadn’t been his specialty before...

“Only that forty-five percent are potential recruits for the Church, so I always check those survey results. I make sure to consult them every New Year.”

“Ah, yes. Truly vital information.”

“In that respect, Miss Esther is an exceptional prospect, Lord Daywin. Surely she could have found a partner if she wished, yet she has kept her chastity in accordance with the Goddess’s will.”

Well... Pretty as she was, Esther hadn’t abstained by choice, either. More precisely, it had been Laward’s choice.

Whatever. Could we please stop talking about this...?

“Anyway.”

I deliberately raised my voice a little.

“The commander seems to have high hopes for you, Esther.”

“Th... Thank you...”

Esther bowed her head politely.

“Hmm, there’s no need to thank me! If anything, I should be thanking you.”

THUMP

Blash closed Esther’s school record with an audible snap.

“Though nothing is settled yet.”

“Nothing... is settled?”

“Hmm. I think it would be best for Lord Daywin to explain this part himself.”

He passed the baton to me midspeech. I hadn’t expected it, but if he was handing it over, I would have to continue.

“Esther, the commander and I have just come from a meeting with the chairman.”

We had discussed her future in advance. Of course, I was the one who knew that future more accurately. Especially now that I had gained the ability to examine it in detail. I had been the one to bring up the matter in the first place.

Esther’s fourth and fifth True Endings could be reached in the second and third years, respectively.

I kept coming back to intent, but this, too, was the developer’s intent. Since Esther was the first heroine, a player who decided to pursue her would no longer need to bother with the others. That was why her True Ending had been placed in the third year: to let players meet the other heroines and hear their stories, too.

Of course, that approach made perfect sense for someone playing a game. But not now. From my current position, no longer a player, it was simply a waste of time. It only dragged things out.

Now that I knew sending a heroine away from the school—making it physically impossible for them to meet—was the surest way to clear an ending...

[“Early graduation... you say?”]

I had gone to see the chairman.

[“School regulations permit it if the student is moving on to a higher educational institution. A magic university or a knightly order, for instance. The paladin order, the royal knights, any of those. Besides...”]

The chairman continued, looking pleased.

[“Esther has become the academy’s hero. If she hadn’t been there... The very thought is horrifying. There wouldn’t have been a faculty member left who wouldn’t have had to leave the academy. She saved the students and us alike. Me? Naturally, I would have resigned. Oh, of course, I’ll be firing the teacher responsible for the first-years today. I’ll make sure they’re properly punished, too. Apparently, they left everything to the guide and went off for a nap. Honestly.”]

His attitude was markedly different from that day in the first semester when he had dismissed Esther.

[“However, Commander Blash... When we announce Esther’s early graduation, would you permit us to use the phrase ‘chosen by the commander of the paladin order’...? A few words may seem insignificant, but they would be an enormous help to the academy...”]

Leaving aside the chairman’s motives, which were as transparent as ever, the important thing was that I had obtained definite confirmation about the early graduation system.

“Esther.”

That was why I spoke up once more.

“There’s nothing more for you to learn here.”