Chapter 45 - They Were Getting in the Way, So I Was About to Cut Them All Down Today

The spear resting on my right shoulder passed over my head and touched my left shoulder.

The elder twin’s spear had made me a knight.

It wasn’t a royal sword, and I hadn’t even knelt on one knee. The entire ceremony was slapdash and improvised.

How would Amelia react if she learned that I’d actually gone through the ceremony naked?

Chiron was tight-lipped, so surely he wouldn’t tell her, even later.

“Prince Chiron.”

“... Yes.”

As Chiron raised his head, his helmet rose with it.

“The Death God’s cult will continue resurrecting war heroes.”

Now it was Chiron’s turn to get to work wearing my face. He would have to keep busy.

Putting a prince to work was a rather novel feeling.

“They’re obsessed with them... to an extraordinary degree.”

They had targeted House Hasgard, descendants of a war hero, and the royal family. The king was descended from the hero who had distinguished himself most of all.

Chiron’s situation and mine were very similar in many ways.

The obsession was pathological. Fanatical.

Even after her resurrection, the memory of defeat seemed to remain lodged within her. Those old war heroes had already become relics of history along with her, yet she acted like someone who had just woken from a nightmare and couldn’t distinguish it from reality.

Or like someone suffering from trauma.

“Even without those emotional reasons, resurrecting war heroes is convenient. It means turning your most troublesome enemies into allies before anything else.”

As I spoke, Chiron began folding down his fingers one by one.

“People from long ago... fanatics... and...”

He looked at the twin’s spear.

“People like those two...”

He seemed to be counting our potential enemies. By “people like those two,” he presumably meant that even he acknowledged how troublesome people like the twins were.

That left Chiron with three fingers folded down.

War heroes.

Fanatics.

Named enemies and officers.

“There are more.”

I pointed at his fourth finger.

“Monsters and demons.”

Amelia and Chiron both visibly started, particularly at the mention of demons.

“Humans aren’t the only things they can resurrect.”

“I see. Of course...”

Amelia nodded slowly.

“So there are already that many enemies we can expect to face...”

“On the bright side, it means there are plenty of opportunities left for us.”

“On the bright side, yes.”

There was the bad news that overwhelming numbers were one of a necromancer’s strengths, and the good news that we seemed to have stopped Chiron from turning to the dark side. I calmly kept both to myself.

“For the time being, keeping an eye on the war heroes’ graves should suffice. You needn’t go yourself. Just station trustworthy people there. Mercenaries will do. What matters is that Your Highness takes the initiative.”

“Yes, I shall have to spend some time poring over maps.”

“Of course, it would be best if you could deal with them personally.”

This time I addressed Chiron, who nodded confidently.

“I’ll also conduct a thorough investigation...”

To tell the truth, I wasn’t going to investigate anything.

“...and let you know if I discover any activity by the Death God’s cult.”

I simply intended to act as though I’d discovered something when the time was right.

“... Yes. Hasgard, we haven’t much time left to see each other so often.”

Amelia cautiously broached the subject, watching Chiron’s reaction. Apparently, she could no longer flirt so openly in front of her own brother.

“I shall have to leave the academy soon.”

That had been one of my goals from the start, but she made it sound like the part she was least happy about.

“I was growing tired of being treated like a poor student when I’m nothing of the sort...”

She stole another glance at Chiron.

“But this year, with you here...”

She glanced at him again. And again.

Chiron merely watched her without a word, but her face grew redder still.

If it embarrassed her that much, she could just tell me later.

“Not yet.”

“Hmm?”

“Of course, you’ll have to leave soon, but please stay at the academy a little longer.”

“Hmm...? Is that part of some plan as well...?”

“No. It’s simply what I want.”

“Ah, oh, I-I see.”

She started shooting glances at Chiron even faster, looking back and forth like a meerkat.

“To say such a thing all of a sudden, with an outsider watching...”

An outsider?

In her flustered state, Amelia had turned her own brother into an outsider in an instant.

She also seemed to have misunderstood something. By saying it was what I wanted, I hadn’t meant that I wanted to keep seeing her.

Her Bond Skill.

I hadn’t checked it yet.

045

I regretted letting Esther leave without even checking her affection, never mind her Bond Skill.

That was why I intended to let Amelia go only after checking her Bond Skill and Special Command.

Though she seemed to have taken my intentions entirely the wrong way.

Upgrading the [Affection Scouter] cost 300 coins.

I was exactly 100 short.

Let’s see.

Wasn’t the [King of Snipers] achievement for hitting a flying bird with a ranged attack worth 100 coins?

Every game had pointless achievements like that...

This world apparently had its own share of ridiculous hidden achievements and Easter eggs.

In any case, it wasn’t difficult. I’d clear it quickly and collect my 100 coins.

I walked toward the old school building and arrived at the flower garden Esther had worked so hard on.

Pigeons clustered around a bench by the fountain. Someone must have been feeding them regularly.

Whether in Korea or here, I really couldn’t stand the sight of them.

I adopted an effective pigeon-scaring stance, spreading both arms and raising one leg high, sending the pigeons fluttering into the air.

Choosing one that had taken flight in a shower of filthy feathers, I summoned a spirit.

I gave it the maximum of five accuracy buffs, then tossed it in the bird’s general direction.

THWACK!

The Goddess’s gift, wielded by only two people in this world, flew like a homing missile and knocked the pigeon out of the sky.

Hooray.

I’d caught a wild pigeon.

The [King of Snipers] achievement automatically cleared, depositing another 100 coins into an account whose entire balance had been 200.

A total of 300.

I had the coins for the upgrade.

“Esteemed mentor...?”

THUD.

Just then, a familiar voice came from behind me.

I turned around to find Laward, of course.

I didn’t know how long he’d been watching, but the sight must have shocked him terribly. He dropped the lunch bag he’d been holding.

“Why did you... kill the pigeon...?”

His eyes trembled like a heat haze.

He didn’t understand what he’d seen, but his gaze pleaded for there to be some reason for it.

I hadn’t given the spirit a movement speed buff, so the pigeon shouldn’t be dead.

Probably.

“I didn’t... kill it. It looked unwell, so I was going to examine it.”

I promptly lied.

“Oh... I see.”

I picked up the pigeon, whose eyes blinked stupidly at me.

“Hmm. It needs a little tending to.”

I cast all sorts of buffs on it.

Now it would be the ultimate pigeon, capable of winning a fight against an eagle.

It was a waste of mana, but I had an image to maintain.

First hurting it, then treating it. What was I even doing?

“Farewell, Jonathan.”

I even gave it a name on the spot.

Wait, hadn’t Jonathan been a seagull, not a pigeon?

“Goodbye, Jonathan!”

Laward beamed and waved.

“Whew, what a relief.”

“Yes, what a... relief.”

I wouldn’t have gone this far if someone hadn’t been watching.

“I always eat here, you see. Those things keep getting in the way while I’m eating, so I was just about to kill them all today...”

Huh?

“I’m so glad. I nearly hurt your Jonathan...! That would have been terrible!”

* * *

Time to upgrade the Scouter.

Two options appeared, just as before.

The first offered the effect I wanted: once a heroine’s affection reached its maximum, I could view her Bond Skill and Special Command.

The second would let me see magically concealed objects and puzzles.

I could handle the latter perfectly well by buffing a spirit, so I chose the first without hesitation.

Upgrade complete!

Upgrades remaining: 3

Still a long way to Stage 5.

As soon as I upgraded the Scouter, I headed to the cafeteria.

Even with her departure from the academy approaching, Amelia couldn’t find any spare time. We met during a meal, when she was at least relatively free.

“According to the chairman, it isn’t technically graduation, though.”

“Of course not. I’m not transferring to an institution of higher education.”

Dropping out was the correct term.

“It’s fine. Middle school graduate, high school graduate—things will work out somehow, won’t they? Quite a few successful businesspeople only finished middle school, I believe. Some even say you have to drop out first to succeed like them.”

“Hmm? I wasn’t particularly worried...”

Today, I joined her in having one of her favorite hamburgers.

To describe the taste from a modern person’s perspective, it was a little lacking in NTR.

Sodium, that is.

“Still, dormitory life was rather fun in its own way.”

Even after you’d been put in your place?

“Only now has Lucia surrendered the bottom bunk to me. These days, she refuses to leave my side. Yesterday morning, I woke to find her in my bed.”

“Oh, that’s happened to me—”

“You had better think for at least three seconds before saying another word.”

“—never, but I think I understand.”

“Well... it’s a little late now. I leave tomorrow. She used to sneak out every night, but lately she’s been clinging to me so much it’s a nuisance.”

“She moved into the dormitory because she wanted to sneak out of it... Don’t try to understand her.”

“Hmm, did she? Yes, that does sound like Lucia...”

Amelia nodded.

Apparently, her view of Lucia wasn’t very different from mine.

“In that case, it can’t have been much fun for her, never getting caught. Being too skilled has its drawbacks.”

“I see. Getting caught was part of the experience... Lucia must have a lot on her mind.”

Making memories was hard work.

Setting aside the banter I suspected I would miss a little—actually, quite a lot—I quietly gazed at Amelia.

“W-what is it? Staring at me so intently all of a sudden...”

What else?

I was testing the upgrade.

I activated the Scouter and stared at her. Her affection appeared, followed by her stats, and then...

[Bond Skill: Black Knight]

-Teleports you to Amelia’s location.

The previously locked Bond Skill was now visible.

I moved my finger to see what else was below it, but that was all.

There was no cooldown or limit on uses.

Unlimited.

I could go to Amelia’s side whenever I wanted.

This skill was ridiculously overpowered.

Perhaps because Bond Skills required maximum affection—meaning they could only be obtained very late in the game—their capabilities were downright merciless.

“Haha...”

“What in the world is the matter...?”

Perhaps because I was still staring at her face, Amelia huddled in on herself, her voice close to tears.

“One day I’ll appear out of nowhere with a ta-da, so don’t be startled.”