After steadying himself, Roxwell handed over a slip of paper.
“Truth be told, I came here to give you this.”
An address was written on it.
When Ex looked up as if to ask what it was, Roxwell explained.
“It’s an orphanage I sponsor. A trustworthy man runs the place, and he takes good care of children orphaned by the war. If you go there, I’m sure the director will find work for you.”
“…So you still intend to have me expelled.”
“After hearing all that, I have even more reason to get you out of here. Besides, I can’t stop it anymore. Your expulsion has already been decided.”
Ex hadn’t expected otherwise.
There was something else he was worried about.
‘Lola…’
“What are you going to do about the student who’s still here?”
“I’ll drag her out myself, even if I have to beat some sense into her.”
“And after that? What are you going to do about the Revolutionary Front?”
“Why ask when you already know? I’m going to crush them.”
Resolve hardened in Roxwell’s eyes.
This man truly was a good person.
Ex could trust him with the truth.
“Professor Roxwell, I need you to remember every word I’m about to say. You can think I’m insane if you want, but you must remember all of it. And you can’t tell anyone what you hear in this room.”
“…Go on. No matter what you say, I’ll believe you.”
Ex was about to reveal every scenario he knew.
“I’ve seen the future.”
“…I’m sorry. That’s rather difficult to believe.”
That reaction was expected.
Once the scenarios began unfolding, Roxwell would act if only to survive.
This was merely groundwork for that moment.
Ex was just about to begin the explanation he had carefully organized when—
“Pardon the interruption.”
The door to the hospital room opened, and someone stepped inside.
He was an elderly man with the gentle air of a kindly scholar.
His curly white hair and beard were both wildly unkempt.
“Oho, you’re awake, Student Ex.”
Of all the times for him to appear.
Ex immediately closed his mouth.
Roxwell noticed his reaction as well.
They both turned toward the unexpected visitor.
Roxwell apparently knew who he was, because he promptly greeted him.
“Headmaster Elnedor. You’ve come.”
“Oho, Professor Roxwell, the boy’s faculty advisor, is here as well. Excellent. Very excellent. That saves me the trouble of wandering all over the academy.”
The kindly old man, Elnedor, examined Ex from head to toe.
“I heard you suffered quite a severe Rebound. How are you feeling?”
“Not particularly well.”
“Goodness. How unfortunate. I’m told you cast a third-tier spell despite being only first-tier yourself. An impressive feat. Your future is remarkably bright. Allowing yourself to suffer Rebound was somewhat reckless, but at your age, one ought to cause an accident or two.”
“Uh… thank you?”
“Unfortunately, I’m sure you’re aware that your disciplinary committee has already been scheduled. It will convene tomorrow afternoon.”
It was exactly the sort of thing one would expect the Headmaster to say.
But there was no chance he had come all this way just to tell Ex that.
Elnedor’s expression grew noticeably more serious.
“As Headmaster, I have decided to place you under temporary ‘protective custody’ until the disciplinary committee convenes.”
“…What? Hold on, that’s—”
“The decision has already been made.”
Members of the Academy Guard immediately entered the room.
Roxwell tried to stop them, visibly flustered, but Elnedor cut him off.
“Professor Roxwell. Cease this pointless resistance.”
“Headmaster, the academy has never detained a student like this before their disciplinary hearing!”
“These are exceptional circumstances. All you need to know is that the Chairman is in a truly terrible mood. Apparently, he suffered quite the humiliation in front of the Imperial Princess.”
‘The Chairman…’
Of all the people it could have been, it had to be him.
The timing couldn’t have been worse.
They intended to lock Ex away so he couldn’t interfere with anything.
‘But there’s nothing I can do.’
If only he’d had a little more time.
Roxwell’s troubled expression showed that he, too, realized there were things he should have heard but hadn’t.
And just like that, the Academy Guard dragged Ex away.
***
The room contained nothing but the bare minimum: a healing magic circle and a handful of medical devices.
It couldn’t have been more desolate.
Apparently, they had decided he wasn’t worth treating with even the slightest dignity. The room was in a disgraceful state.
The only difference between this place and a prison cell was the lack of iron bars.
He had already spent an entire day there.
Sunday sunlight shone beyond the glass window.
‘I couldn’t do anything.’
The miserable surroundings weren’t the real problem.
The disciplinary committee would convene that afternoon anyway.
Once it did, he would be expelled and thrown out of the academy.
‘I never got to tell Roxwell.’
That was the problem.
He had needed to tell him somehow.
‘Escaping is impossible.’
His body was in ruins.
The damage had come from Rebound, which made the injuries even more severe.
His recovery was painfully slow. He would need a great deal more time to heal.
‘And there’s no one I can ask for help.’
His Mana Phone had been confiscated.
The door was locked from the outside, so he couldn’t leave.
From what he’d heard, Roxwell had also been confined to his private quarters.
This was the worst possible situation.
‘At the very least, if Lola could come…’
No. Knowing Lola, she was probably already outside making a scene, crying and demanding that they let her see him.
The Chairman had likely barred her from visiting as a petty act of revenge.
“Haa…”
On the off chance that it might work, Ex had attempted to use Setting Edit to arrange a meeting with Roxwell, but he was nowhere near having enough points.
His stomach was just beginning to twist with frustration when a guard stationed outside spoke.
“You have a visitor.”
Someone stepped through the open door.
‘Did Lola finally get through?’
But the person who entered wasn’t anyone he could call particularly close.
“…Circe.”
Circe’s eyes were filled with indescribable confusion.
Her straight violet hair fluttered behind her as she approached.
She stopped beside the bed and stared down at Ex with a complicated expression.
“So you’re alive.”
“Barely. Couldn’t quite manage to die. If you came here to laugh at me, get lost. You’re the weakling who lost our duel.”
“…I’d win if we fought again.”
“Nope~ Not happening~ I don’t fight weaklings~”
“Grr…!”
He had no idea why she had come.
Probably to get one last bit of revenge before he was expelled.
In that case, he might as well mock her to his heart’s content.
“…I apologized.”
Instead, Circe said something completely unexpected.
She looked away, mumbling under her breath.
“I said I apologized to her.”
“…Oh?”
Ex was genuinely surprised.
He hadn’t expected the current Circe to do anything of the sort.
He knew exactly what state of mind she was in at this point in the original story.
She had sacrificed everything in her previous life to save the world—
Only to reincarnate alone into a world so pathetic it barely seemed worth saving.
Because she knew the Demon King hadn’t truly died, she did everything she could to prepare for his return.
But saving the entire world alone was nearly impossible.
The emptiness and loneliness had continued eating away at her heart.
That was why she had become so aggressive and sensitive.
And yet, despite all of that, she had lowered her head and apologized to a young student.
Honestly, Ex had expected absolutely nothing from her, so he couldn’t help being impressed.
‘Did losing once actually make her grow as a person?’
When he gave her a look that said exactly that, Circe narrowed her eyes.
“What? Is it that strange that I apologized?”
“Yeah.”
“…It was the winner’s demand. That’s the only reason I did it.”
“Sure. Let’s go with that.”
“She accepted my apology. In exchange, she asked me to come see you. She was pacing around by the entrance like she was about to lose her mind.”
So she really had been out there.
For someone with such a mouth on her, Lola was surprisingly affectionate.
Or perhaps she had always been kind, and it was only the way she spoke that made her seem otherwise.
‘Still… I’m glad Circe apologized.’
He had made the demand purely to spite her, but all was well that ended well.
He still didn’t understand her, but he decided to accept it.
The situation quickly became awkward.
Neither of them seemed eager to speak.
Ex wasn’t the one who finally broke the silence.
“You.”
Circe spoke first.
She clenched the fabric of her clothes, her eyes trembling faintly.
Then, with considerable effort, she forced the words out.
“How did you know?”
“Know what?”
“That I was going to use grand magic.”
Her suspicion was only natural.
The incident had been significant enough to trigger a Plausibility Penalty.
Fortunately, Ex had already prepared an excuse.
“I didn’t.”
“…What? Then why did you destroy the Ice Arrow?”
“It was in my way, so I broke it.”
He decided to brazen it out.
They would never see each other again anyway.
There was no reason to reveal any more of his secrets.
Circe, however, found his answer completely unconvincing.
“Don’t play dumb! Do you think I couldn’t tell you destroyed it on purpose? You blocked my vision with Flame, then shattered the Ice Arrow—the catalyst for my grand magic—while I was preparing the spell!”
“I did? Guess I got lucky.”
“And that’s not all! The instant my grand magic failed, you threw a Fireball to block my vision! You knew that as soon as I realized the spell had failed, I’d respond immediately! You used that opening to escape my detection and get behind me!”
“Wow. Lucky again.”
“Most importantly, the Physical Reflection Magic I had cast in advance suddenly disappeared at the very end! No one knew about that spell. No one. It was my final move, the last insurance I had kept hidden! There’s only one way you could have countered every single thing I did…!”
Circe’s lips moved soundlessly before she finally managed to say it.
“It would have been impossible unless you already knew.”
“Like I said, I was just lucky—”
“You already knew how I would fight. It was as if you knew everything about me. Every move you made was designed to counter mine. There is no possible way to dismiss all of that as mere luck.”
Circe pressed him desperately.
She needed an answer she could accept.
Faced with her frantic questioning, Ex replied with complete indifference.
“I told you. I just got lucky.”
“You’re still going to—!”
“Sorry, but I can’t give you the answer you want. So give up and leave. It’s not like we’ll ever see each other again.”
His apathetic response left Circe at a loss for words.
No matter how much further she pressed him, Ex wouldn’t tell her anything.
She would learn nothing from him here.
The moment she became certain of that, Circe made up her mind.
“…Fine. I understand.”
Circe’s eyes became clear and focused.
Her gaze seemed to pierce straight through Ex.
A translucent barrier suddenly formed around them.
It was a soundproofing spell.
The instant the barrier was complete, Circe began to speak.
“One hundred years ago, I was the mage who traveled with the Hero’s party. I am the rightful owner of the ‘Eye of Akasha’ and the only mage who entered into a covenant with the Hero Protego immediately before the final battle against the Demon King.”
Within this space, where only Circe and Ex remained—
“I am the reincarnated sage of the present era, [Aerial]. That is my true identity.”
Circe revealed who she truly was.
“I swear upon mana that not a single word I have spoken is false.”
She even took a Mana Oath, which would leave her a powerless wreck incapable of wielding magic if she broke it.
A trace of fear entered Circe’s eyes.
“Are you… the reincarnation of the Hero Protego?”
At that moment, Ex realized he had arrived at an enormous branching point.
‘I can’t pretend I didn’t hear that.’
She had taken a Mana Oath in front of him.
If she didn’t get an answer, she would never leave.
He had been forced into one of two choices.
‘First, tell her the truth—that I’m not the Hero.’
It was an unbelievably stupid option.
It wouldn’t resolve his current situation, and it would turn Circe into a complete enemy.
She might even kill him here and now to silence the only person who knew her identity.
In the worst case, he might also receive a Plausibility Penalty.
‘Second, lie and say I’m the Hero.’
If he claimed to be the Hero, Circe would almost certainly believe him.
She could become the decisive factor in resolving this hopeless situation.
He would be recruiting one of the members of the Hero’s party.
She could become the one wild card capable of overturning everything.
The decision was monumental.
He had almost no time.
Yet, ironically, the conclusion was painfully obvious.
There had only ever been one answer.
“…I’m not the Hero Protego.”
He told her the truth.
There was no other choice.
He had nearly deceived someone who knew nothing, intending to manipulate her like a pawn.
Worse, he had considered exploiting the most precious feelings she possessed.
The mere fact that the thought had crossed his mind made him sick with himself.
‘…Come to think of it, I was about to do the same thing to Roxwell. What the hell am I doing? You stupid bastard…’
Every excuse he had was rooted in his own circumstances.
He had nearly dragged other people into hell for his own sake.
The end of the world was coming, this was the only way to save everyone, and so on.
In the end, wasn’t it all because he wanted to survive?
His self-loathing reached its peak.
‘They’re only characters in a book? Can I really still think that after meeting Lola?’
The irony was almost laughable.
The reason he had finally begun to accept this world as a real place rather than a mere novel was that little girl who had never been given a role in the story at all.
‘Still, I’ll leave her a clue or two. The penalty can go to hell. The system’s going to disappear soon anyway.’
Ex looked Circe directly in the eyes.
“I don’t know whether you really are the Reincarnated Sage Aerial… but I can say one thing for certain. ‘I’ am not the Hero Protego.”
At his answer, Circe’s eyes shook violently.
After a moment, the turmoil slowly faded.
“…I see. Understood.”
The final trace of hope died in her eyes.
Seeing her like this, Ex finally understood a little of what she must have felt.
‘Reincarnating after a hundred years, only to discover that everyone else is dead and you’re the only one left… Yeah. Anyone would go insane.’
Still, he had given her a clue, and she hadn’t noticed it.
Perhaps, despite being called a sage, she truly wasn’t very wise about anything outside of combat.
“I think I know someone who might be the Hero. You know—the famous guy who’s handsome, talented, and actually has a decent personality.”
“…What?”
“If one of this year’s freshmen is destined to become the Hero… wouldn’t it be ‘Leon Brave’?”
“…Leon Brave? The Freshman Representative?”
“Either way, ‘I’ am not the Hero Protego.”
Ex checked the system one more time.
『Required Points to [Remove ‘Author Points’]: 5,100』
‘Still safe. Giving her any more hints would be dangerous…’
『Required Points to [Remove ‘Author Points’]: 5,500』
The number suddenly changed.
‘…What?’
It was a subtle increase.
And yet, no Plausibility Penalty occurred.
‘Did Circe realize something?’
“…I’m leaving.”
It didn’t seem that way.
Her eyes had already returned to the way they had looked before.
She appeared fully convinced that Ex wasn’t Protego.
‘Is there some other condition that makes the required points rise…?’
There was no way to know right now.
Then Ex suddenly remembered something.
“Ah, wait…”
He had abandoned the idea of manipulating people like pieces on a board.
But that didn’t change the fact that they were all heading toward destruction.
If there was even the slightest possibility of preventing it, he needed to leave behind some clues.
“There’s a notebook in my dorm room. Could you tell Lola to give it to Professor Roxwell? I’ll give you the key. Make sure she knows it has to reach him before the disciplinary committee convenes.”
“…A notebook? Fine.”
Thankfully, Circe accepted the request without much resistance.
Ex quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
‘Lola won’t understand the notebook even if she reads it, so she’s safe as a courier. And even if she somehow does understand, she isn’t a character from the original story, so it shouldn’t trigger a penalty.’
He handed Circe the key.
She took it without much interest and headed for the door.
Just before opening it, Circe spoke one last time.
“Then who are you, really?”
The question went straight to the heart of the matter, catching Ex off guard.
At the very least, she had realized that he wasn’t an ordinary person.
‘Is that why the required points went up?’
Ex answered.
“I’m not even a student anymore. I’m just an outsider—an Extra.”
“…For now, I’ll accept that answer.”
The door closed.
Ex was left alone in the room.
His mind was a tangled mess of everything that awaited him.
The disciplinary committee would convene at six, roughly one hour from now.
Unless a miracle occurred, his expulsion was certain.
What he needed to decide now was what he would do afterward.
‘How can I keep growing stronger once the system is gone…?’
He closed his eyes and sank into thought.
Unlike before, no easy answer came to him.
‘Circe isn’t going to steal the notebook, is she?’
That wasn’t the sort of thing she would do.
Probably.
***
‘Why did he ask her instead of me?’
Circe was lost in thought as she made her way toward Lola’s dormitory.
For some reason, she felt strangely annoyed.
She had no idea why.
‘He could have entrusted it to me.’
All she had to do was retrieve a notebook and deliver it to a professor.
She was perfectly capable of handling that much.
‘I know you’re not Protego, but…’
Being around that boy gave her a strange feeling.
It felt as though he could see through everything about her.
‘…How irritating. Predicting whatever he pleases.’
In that case, she wouldn’t do as he had predicted.
She turned away from the path leading to Lola’s room.
Instead, she headed toward Ex’s dormitory.
She already knew where it was.
It was where the lowest-ranked student lived.
One building stood out for being especially filthy.
‘…He lives in a place like this?’
She didn’t think much about it.
The notebook was what mattered.
She opened the door and stepped inside.
There was a desk, and a notebook lay on top of it.
‘What did he write that was so important he needed a professor to see it…?’
She reached out, intending to examine the notebook’s contents.
Dong— Dong— Dong—
The academy bells rang out, announcing the hour.
Circe glanced at the clock in the room.
It was five.
‘He said it had to be delivered before the disciplinary committee convened.’
There wasn’t quite enough time to read it properly and then deliver it.
‘Well, I can just copy it.’
The Book of Eibon began to glow, and light seeped into the notebook.
The radiance shifted to the side, forming an exact duplicate.
It was a spell that temporarily copied the physical form of an object.
If it worked correctly, the writing inside the notebook should have been copied as well.
Circe tucked the duplicate into her clothes.
‘I’ll make sure the original is delivered.’
She picked up the notebook and headed outside.
Her steps felt unusually light at the thought that she had ruined Ex’s plan.
‘Considering I told him I’m the Reincarnated Sage, this is a small price to pay.’
Unfortunately for Ex, a notebook containing the truths of the world had fallen into the hands of a sage whose next move no one could predict.
–TL Notes–
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