Chapter 224: Six Days Until Lunatic
“Alright, cheers!”
Clink.
Karin lightly tapped her glass against Lapin's.
“Your turn, cheers!”
A moment later, my glass rang with the same sound.
“Even if it isn't alcohol.”
“So what? It's all about the atmosphere!”
After saying that, Karin tilted her glass.
Gulp, gulp.
She downed her blueberry juice before letting out a satisfied breath.
“Haa... So refreshing! You have no idea how much I missed this flavor. I kept thinking about it even back in my hometown.”
Late evening.
We were having dinner on the first floor of the Wonderful House.
Karin stopped halfway through lifting her fork and glanced at the empty seat.
“Isn't the Dorm Supervisor coming? I've barely had the chance to talk with him. Since we'll be seeing each other often from now on, I thought it'd be nice if we got closer.”
“Who knows. He must be busy.”
Manager had skipped dinner because of his patrol duties.
...At least, that was the reason he gave.
In reality, he had probably left on purpose because he thought he'd only get in the way if it was just students eating together.
Even if I insisted that it was fine and told him to join us, I already knew he'd refuse until the very end, so I didn't force him.
Well, just as Karin had said, we'd be seeing each other often from now on.
There was no need to rush.
We could gradually get to know each other.
“Hehehe...”
As though she'd suddenly remembered something, Karin looked at me with a meaningful smile.
“I never thought you'd want my totems that badly.”
I readily nodded.
“Yeah. I do want them. There's no one else in the academy who can make them as well as you. I've even heard that your craftsmanship alone is already at professor level.”
Moving into this house came with various benefits.
In return, however, each resident was assigned a role.
Karin's assigned role was 'Material Provider.'
To put it simply, she'd agreed to provide me with several totems whenever I needed them.
“R-Really? There were rumors like that? I had no idea...”
Karin looked momentarily flustered.
She quickly straightened her posture, puffed out her chest, and tried her best to suppress the corners of her lips from curling upward.
“A-Ahem! Well, I guess there probably isn't another student in this academy who makes them better than I do.
...Probably?”
She could've been a little more confident.
Karin's grades were average, but when it came to totems alone, she was a genuine genius.
With Karin around, I'd be able to secure high-quality totems that were nearly impossible to obtain anywhere else.
That was an enormous advantage.
“But what are you planning to do with my totems?”
Karin asked.
“Nothing special.”
The reason I wanted her to provide me with totems...
“There's something I want to confirm.”
“Confirm...? Ah, that, right? Your Spirit Creature friends.”
I nodded at Karin's question.
That's right.
...Spirit Creatures had reacted to totems.
'Back then, I thought my ability might belong to the field of Spiritology.'
My ability looked simple on the surface.
Yet it was actually incredibly complicated.
It didn't consume Magical Energy.
Nor was it even classified as magic.
'Then what exactly is this?'
An ability that stood completely outside the laws of magic.
A literal collection of bugs.
I never managed to uncover what secret it truly hid.
I didn't even have any proper clues.
Because of that, my current objective was to gather even the smallest clues I could find.
The problem was that even those 'small clues' were extremely rare.
Very few things actually affected Spirit Creatures.
I turned my gaze toward the wall.
A painting I'd once purchased at the Doradoz Auction House was hanging there.
<The Girl Left Alone>
One of the masterpieces by Darein, the artist and disciple of Gilley.
Your Animal Friends love this painting!
That painting was another clue pointing toward something that affected Spirit Creatures.
However...
“That fireworks display back then was incredible. Right?”
I recalled the moment during last year's school trip when I'd combined Karin's totem with my Spirit Creatures in a coordinated attack.
Thanks to the totem's influence, the Spirit Creatures' abilities had been noticeably amplified.
Thinking about it now, that had been astonishing.
It proved that Totemology, unlike magic, actually affected my Spirit Creatures.
'Is it because Totemology is closer to Spiritology than ordinary magic?'
I didn't know.
I still hadn't found any clear connection.
But it was definitely worth continuing my experiments.
...
By the time we finished eating.
It seemed Karin had decided to spend some time playing in Lapin's room.
“Don't stay up too late.”
“Yes, we know. We know~”
The two of them went into the room together, while I left the house.
My feet naturally carried me toward the Upgraded Livestock Shed's storage room.
Fwoosh!
As soon as I lit the lamp inside the storage room, the entire interior filled with warm golden light.
There were empty rooms available.
Yet there was a reason I insisted on coming here.
I clenched my hand toward empty space.
Six cards appeared in my grasp.
“Alright, everyone. You can come out now.”
Pyaak-!
Popong...
As magic circles appeared in the air, every one of my Spirit Creatures leapt out.
Bark!
Unable to hide his joy at being released, Shark sprinted around the storage room once before charging straight at me and licking my face.
I'd already conducted numerous experiments by repeatedly summoning my Spirit Creatures.
'It doesn't seem like simply summoning them is enough for the Witch to notice.'
Not once had the Witch ever come to my Upgraded Livestock Shed.
If she'd sensed the existence of my Spirit Creatures, she would've at least investigated the surrounding area.
Besides...
Manager was guarding the area around the Upgraded Livestock Shed.
'With someone that powerful protecting this place, even surveillance won't be easy.'
That was why I could comfortably summon my Spirit Creatures here.
Your bond with your Animal Friends has deepened!
Current Bond: 104 ⟶ 106
Whenever I let my Spirit Creatures roam freely and spent time with them, my Bond stat increased like this.
On top of that, thanks to the ring on my finger, the increase seemed to be even greater.
I looked down at the ring set with a crimson gemstone.
Last time, I'd embedded the Red Archive into the ring Professor Hilda had given me.
The Red Archive fit perfectly into the socket, as though it had originally belonged there.
It was so perfectly matched that it was almost unbelievable.
'...Come to think of it, I haven't seen any wild Spirit Creatures lately.'
I'd encountered Spirit Creatures all around Yggdrasil.
Huayo beneath the roadside trees.
Boogi in the mountain behind the academy.
And I'd even obtained Pau's egg from the sea surrounding the academy.
'During the first semester last year, I found roughly one Spirit Creature every month.'
There were countless species of Spirit Creatures.
If I remembered correctly, the game 《Animal Farm》 alone featured around nine hundred different species.
But ever since the second semester began, not a single Spirit Creature living around the academy had appeared.
Even Ramji and Inkgoma, whom I'd barely managed to recruit, had been encountered outside the academy.
...Why was that?
The answer wasn't difficult to guess.
'Right. A new person appeared at the academy starting in the second semester.'
Besides me...
There was one other person who knew that Spirit Creatures and their special abilities truly existed in this world.
'...The Witch.'
The monster who slaughtered fifty Spirit Creatures and modified them.
'Maybe this is her doing.'
Perhaps the Spirit Creatures realized they would die if they were caught by the Witch, so they all went into hiding.
Of course, it was only my speculation.
But it seemed highly possible.
'Or... have they all already been captured by the Witch?'
...No.
That absolutely couldn't be allowed to happen.
I'd rather believe they were simply hiding so well that even I couldn't find them.
'It would've been nice if I could discover another new Spirit Creature under these circumstances... What a shame.'
Right now, I had a much bigger problem staring me in the face.
'...Lunatic.'
Once before, an unexplained phenomenon had caused the game's difficulty to skyrocket.
It happened during the Succession War Incident.
By what could only be described as miraculous luck, I'd managed to defeat Verdi, the Knight Commander.
Looking back on it now, it had been an incredibly close call.
'No... I suppose it's still miraculous luck even now.'
It wasn't me who noticed Lunatic's appearance first.
It was MacGrim.
Had she not noticed it, I would've realized far later, leaving myself with far less time to prepare.
'At least it's fortunate that I found out at this point.'
According to the original storyline, MacGrim would've never spoken to Villed in the first place.
She would've had absolutely no reason to come all the way to the Upgraded Livestock Shed.
'But MacGrim noticed something strange about her classmate, and she looked deeply troubled.'
A variable.
One whose influence on the original storyline was completely unknown.
That was why I'd told MacGrim to leave everything to me.
I'd even gone as far as swearing it on my family.
'Judging by how much lighter her footsteps were when she left... she really seemed to trust me completely.'
At least now, MacGrim's state of mind should be stable.
'That only leaves my own problem.'
The Mock War Official Battle Episode.
According to the original story, it was simply a mock battle training exercise between the Schuler of the first-year students and the Schuler of the second-year students.
Since it was merely training, nothing especially dangerous occurred.
...But Lunatic Difficulty was different.
An uninvited outsider appeared.
That outsider was the 'Janitor,' one of Rahan's villainous companions.
The Janitor was powerful enough that his life's sole purpose was hunting down the former First Knight Commander to exact revenge.
'Weaker than the Witch.
But stronger than the current Rahan.'
Someone at that monstrous level infiltrated the academy disguised as a first-year student and barged into the Mock War.
His objective during the training exercise...
Was to assassinate Her Imperial Highness the Princess.
'Which means I absolutely have to stop him.'
Fortunately, there was one silver lining.
The Lunatic clear condition wasn't defeating the Janitor.
'I didn't even have to attack him.
As long as I endured, the Janitor eventually fled.'
The allotted time was only thirty seconds.
If I could survive for just thirty seconds, the Janitor would retreat on his own.
The reason was simple.
That was how long it took for the professors and other powerful figures to realize the Janitor's presence.
Since he'd infiltrated the academy disguised as a janitor, he fled before his identity could be exposed.
Even so...
Surviving the Janitor's attacks for thirty seconds was incredibly difficult.
'...This won't be easy.'
I'd fought the Janitor countless times in the game.
For thirty full seconds, he attacked relentlessly.
Not only did he target the player...
He also continuously attacked the Princess, who was being held hostage.
The player had to protect both themselves and the Princess.
With the constant pressure of never knowing where the next attack would come from, thirty seconds was by no means a short amount of time.
'...I can't guarantee that Ren or I, at our current level, can survive the Janitor's attacks.'
No one else could be entrusted with the hopeless difficulty known as Lunatic.
In the end...
This was a problem I had to solve myself.
Roughly six days remained.
Within that time, I had to find a guaranteed method of clearing this episode's Lunatic Difficulty.
'Of course, if I really put my mind to it, I'll find one.'
Yggdrasil Academy was filled with Hidden Pieces.
I'd have to gather useful materials hidden around the academy and forge new equipment.
...And then there was the ultimate weapon I'd been planning for quite some time.
'A handgun.'
Not an ordinary firearm.
A specially crafted handgun that fired 'special bullets.'
Last year, I'd already donated ten thousand gold to the Engineering Department.
Thanks to that, I could request the creation of nearly any machine.
'If I commission a handgun...
They should be able to finish it within three days at the latest.'
The head of the Engineering Department was highly trustworthy.
There was no reason to doubt the weapon's quality.
Finding the Hidden Pieces concealed throughout the academy.
Manufacturing equipment capable of standing against the Janitor.
I had to prepare all of it before the Official Battle began.