As the days passed, and I found myself living here for a month, I began to discover places where few people frequented. The tranquil park where I was sitting was one such place.
Despite the lively streets filled with the noise of the Summer Harvest Festival and the distant sound of laughter, only my senior and I occupied this spot.
The [Spirit of the Sword], with her pink-haired, childlike appearance, muttered something quietly.
"Wootaa—♪"
...
It was a meaningless babble.
But I could understand the sentiment.
Even if you're a remnant of a legendary [Saint], or just a working adult commuting back and forth, there are times when you feel like babbling out of the blue.
"Maybe she just felt like saying 'Dootyaa—' or something..."
I remembered hearing my boss mumbling to himself while smoking alone in my previous life. I, too, would occasionally babble to myself during late-night overtime.
People of the 21st century couldn’t live without occasionally babbling.
"Anyone who goes through life without babbling is a transcendent being with superhuman patience... or perhaps an alien."
Even if the hero Guan Yu from Romance of the Three Kingdoms were to return, he would probably babble to himself while stroking his beard.
Nodding in agreement with my own thoughts, I poured some tea into my cup.
Drip—
Amber liquid fell into the white porcelain cup.
"…"
Green grass, colorful summer flowers... It was the perfect setting to share a cup of tea and have a deep conversation.
I poured two cups of tea and cautiously broached the topic.
"Senior—☆ Could you please spoil everything that happened 1,500 years ago for me—☆ I’d love to quickly figure out that guy’s mindset and take a shortcut to victory—☆"
Right now, the relationship between me and ‘that guy’ was like that between the creator of a defense game and the player.
Without knowing everything about each other, there’s no way to strike first from the defensive side.
The identity of the creator. A person who is very likely the same as ‘my past self’—the 'Prophet Kang Jinsu.'
Judging by the words of Grafbolud and Offnir, his knowledge is based on the 'unchanged original story.' He likely assumes that his opponent crossed over as ‘a man, just like himself.’
This difference in perception had been the foundation of my continued victories so far.
"Hehe, I should spoil the original story ahead of time! > Changed." "If another person appears, they’d be a ‘transmigrator’ like me, right? > Wrong."
"I’ve managed to hold my ground so far due to this unintentional difference..."
But now, after being blindsided twice, it’s possible that his information has been updated.
He might even be considering the possibility of ‘possession.’ Or, he might be babbling to himself in confusion...
"…"
No... This is not the time for nonsense.
I refocused my mind, recalling Albite’s haggard face.
"If it were ‘me’..."
I imagined that I had been struck twice by mysterious changes in the original story. It was surprisingly easy to empathize.
"Would this be how my thought process would go?"
Start gathering information as soon as I notice the changes. Hesitate when planning to ambush <Central Prism Academy>. "It would hurt if I got blindsided again, wouldn’t it?" Track the changes in order from the original. Investigate Clara, Hilde, Freya, and Eir in that order. …
The problem started from here.
"To strike first, I need to know what abilities that guy has and what his objectives are."
As a man, ‘Kang Jinsu’ prefers to attack in areas where he’s confident. Despite his bravado, he tends to retreat when faced with uncertainty.
"…"
I could predict that much.
But...
"…"
But beyond that, I didn’t know anything more about him.
There were no records mentioning the existence of a 'Prophet.' The only hints I had came from [The Golden Witch] and [The Saint of Sacrifice].
"In the worst case... he could hide completely and switch to a defensive strategy."
The increasingly severe distortion of the World Tree caused by the [Dragon Lurking in the Abyss]. If he’s passively hoping for the world’s destruction by relying on that, then there’s really nothing I can do.
"If that happens, I’ll lose control of the narrative… and the academy city, this world, everything will be gone."
But the man, ‘Kang Jinsu,’ is true to himself. He wouldn’t be the kind of guy to just curse everything to ruin without reason.
"…"
Anyway...
That’s why I decided to ask my senior directly.
"Senior! Please tell me about the past—☆" "Tta, Wootaa—☆"
-I don’t know, I don’t know—☆
"…"
Damn it. This was the pink-haired passive.
Now that I think about it, Urd also had trouble remembering things. It’s probably some kind of penalty after going through a significant ordeal.
…Or maybe not.
"…Huu—☆"
I wanted to take a shortcut just once.
"…"
I calmed my burning frustration with a sip of tea. In the distance, I sensed the presence of guests from <Mimir Industrial High School> walking along the stream.
Two tall girls were leisurely strolling, carrying snacks.
Seeing them made me think of my junior.
"Kara’s probably finished fixing up those pseudo-elf girls' requests by now…"
Having finished my tea and with nothing more to discuss with my senior, I headed over to see Kara.
"…"
-It's okay if things don’t turn out the way you want... A drawing almost never goes as planned…!
Senior Frida’s words flashed through my mind.
"…"
As well as the fact that 'now'... I’m the only one who remembers her words.
Two tall girls from <Mimir Industrial High School>, who had come to enjoy the Summer Harvest Festival, were chatting by the stream. Their arms were full of snacks.
Among them was a particularly large plate. The wooden plate was piled high with sherbet topped with raspberries and fresh fruits. Since it wasn’t often that they could eat fresh, unfrozen fruit in the academy city, it was disappearing quickly.
As the snacks disappeared, They brought up new topics to keep the conversation lively. The friend sitting next to the girl with the horn-rimmed glasses started talking again.
"Horn-rimmed, have you heard that rumor?" "What... rumor?"
"Our first-year class. After one person transferred to <Central Prism Academy> at the beginning of the semester, the first-year class size was exactly 500, and the classes were assigned 10 students each, right?" "Yeah. Even the seniors were amazed at how perfectly it fit."
In response to Horn-rimmed’s answer, her friend continued.
"Do you remember how we always joked about being the ‘500 elite worker bees’ because of that?" "Yeah. Even when the elves attacked, we laughed, saying, 'We’re 500 elite soldiers— so it’s fine even if 50,000 of them come.'"
Nodding with a spoon in her mouth, the horn-rimmed glasses girl thought about the words her friend had suddenly brought up.
500 first-year students. At the beginning of the semester, one particularly troublesome first-year student transferred to <Central Prism Academy>, and the remaining new students at <Mimir Industrial High School> were praised for their strong unity.
"Our second-year seniors kept hosting parties and festivals, which naturally brought us closer…"
Thanks to that unity, they even performed well during the chaotic period when the Eastern Alliance attacked. Following the instructions of Maya-senpai from the Facilities Engineering Department, they moved in perfect coordination.
As a result, the first-year students at <Mimir Industrial High School> were known for being very close-knit. Close enough to come on a group trip this far together.
"Only 50 out of the first-years could come, so there was a fierce competition for tickets…"
Since they won the 10:1 rock-paper-scissors tournament, They were now enjoying snacks loaded with fresh fruit.
"But why bring this up all of a sudden?"
As the horn-rimmed glasses girl was thinking about their situation, her friend, who had just taken another spoonful of sherbet, continued the story.
"But during the summer break, when the administration conducted another survey, they found something strange: there was exactly one class with only 9 students. When they counted again, they found that there were a total of 499 first-year students."
"…" "Isn’t that odd? We kept saying 500, 500 all throughout the first semester… but it turns out there were only 499?"
"…" "An administration senior personally went to the class with 9 students and asked, ‘Has anyone in your class left the school?’… and?"
"And all nine of them answered, ‘No one in our class has left. We all like it here.’"
"…"
The nine girls were very close. They had spent half a year together in the same dormitory. They had become so close that they considered each other sisters. There was no way anyone could have been left out or ostracized.
"As proof, they showed the photos and records they had taken during that time…"
In the records capturing their happy school life, there was an empty spot in each image— a spot no one remembered.
Beside them was a rolling paper they had left for each other. There were 10 sheets in total.
With trembling hands, the administration senior pulled out the last one and began to read it.
One sheet... Another sheet...
Finally, they reached the last, the 10th page. One line at a time, each of the nine girls had written a message in their handwriting.
-Congratulations on the success of your research, □□! Who would have thought you’d get an idea during the event…! -□□, you worked so hard staying up all night! Now we can finally hang out together, right? -Who’s the ace among us? > Of course, it’s □□! -□□, I’m sure you’ll do great outside of here too… That’s real tech innovation… -The likely candidate for the next head of the Mechanical Engineering Department (my pick) is □□. -□□, make sure to cover yourself when you sleep… You’ll get sick. -□□! Are you planning to spend the second semester in the workshop too? -Hey, □□. I’ll give you the top spot in our class. -↑What are you talking about… If it weren’t for □□, you would have failed the practical exam.
Messages where the other person’s name had unnaturally disappeared.
And at the very bottom of the page, this was written.
-First Year, Class 11 of the Mechanical Engineering Department— Recording the friendship of our ‘ten members.’
The girls were seized by a sense of unease. Why did it take them until now to realize that there had been an empty spot?
"When they all suddenly looked at one corner of the workshop, there was a strange engine that someone had left behind. It was as if it had always been there… but none of them had noticed it before."
"…" "No matter how hard they thought about it… no one could remember who made it, so they just decided that there had always been nine of them."
"I see… So, what happened to the engine?"
In response to Horn-rimmed’s question, her friend tilted her head and answered.
"Well, I’m not sure about the details. It was different from the usual ether engine… it ran on some kind of oil? Because it was unfamiliar, the seniors collected it for safety reasons."
"I see." "…Yeah."
What started as an interesting story, Somehow gave them the chills, and they fell silent.
Her friend didn’t bother to tell Horn-rimmed about the rumors that spread afterward. Horn-rimmed didn’t want to hear any more scary stories either.
So, the two girls remained silent.
"…" "…"
Ssshhh—
The cold wind by the stream blew between the two silent girls. Goosebumps rose on their arms.
"…" "…"
Trying to shake off the awkward atmosphere, the two girls began a new topic in a deliberately cheerful tone.
"Horn-rimmed! Now that you mention it!" "Y-yeah…!"
The part of the rumor that the two girls didn’t mention went like this:
"If you go against [Fate], you won’t just be expelled from the academy city, but you might truly vanish without a trace."
This happy city… Might just be a fragile illusion.
That was the rumor.