“To think you’d cry that hard…”

“Aaaaaaaahk!”

The bastard practically punched my mouth shut. He shouted right into my ear, making my eardrums ring.

Struggling to maintain composure, I spoke gently.

“Calm down, Philip. You spilled all the cola too.”

“H-H-How could I forget…!”

“You forgot about that…? Amazing.”

“……”

Philip clutched the back of his neck.

Judging by the color of his face, it wouldn’t be strange if he passed out right now.

I feel bad.

Just then, struck by a sudden thought, I shot up from my seat.

“Wait here. I’ll be right back.”

“What? Hey!”

I warped to the dormitory and yanked the covers off my bed.

Pai, who had been sleeping sprawled out, lifted his head sharply.

“Pai.”

“Hm?”

“Sorry to wake you, but could you quickly cast concealment magic and follow me?”

“Uwoooh…” (Groan)

He’s practically a bear.

He’s never been like this before; he must be really sleepy this time.

Grabbing a cloth to wipe the cola, I warped back next to Philip with Pai perched on my shoulder.

“Wipe it.”

“Ah, uh… Thanks.”

The cloth is an excuse; I have another objective.

Using Divine Power, I spoke to Pai.

— “Pai. Can you see if anyone is watching us from here?”

Having infused Pai with Divine Power before warping, he quickly regained his energy, his eyes becoming bright and alert.

“Someone watching~?”

— “Yeah.”

I answered, looking down at Philip’s puffy face.

Honestly, I didn’t come here calculating this, but it seems I can utilize this scene now.

‘The investigation into the Adelbert incident needs to start now.’

Narce predicted this matter would turn unfavorable for me.

He must have used Foresight, but the future depends on my actions.

‘If it seems likely to turn unfavorable, then I should try deducing the culprit first.’

There’s no rule that only the visibly harmed person is the target.

In other words, Adelbert collapsing might not have been intended to harm Adelbert, but could be a crime designed to attack me socially.

‘Adelbert’s emotions were heightened at the time. And I frequented his room in that situation….’

Adelbert becomes the optimal means.

Of course, this is just a possibility; there’s no evidence to confirm who the target was and who the means was.

What’s important now is that the culprit will likely move again soon.

Having failed to achieve their goal, whoever the target was, the criminal will either cause another incident to achieve their objective or try to completely remove themselves from the list of suspects.

If the goal was to naturally induce Vitriol in Adelbert, now is almost the only chance. Everyone knows he’s weakened mentally and physically.

However, if the target isn’t Adelbert…

Circumstantially, Philip, who has had trouble with me, will likely face problems.

To be precise, only Philip.

‘How will you play this out?’

Of course, if they don’t make another move, I can just consider all possible scenarios and proceed.

‘Let’s see who wins.’

Before that, let’s focus on building Favorability for now. Smiling, I draped my arm over the backrest.

“That’s not the only thing I found unexpected, Philip.”

“…What else…”

“Usually, when you focus Magic Power on your senses, you can figure out what’s just inside a wall or door, right? But to be able to grasp an entire floor of a building like this, I didn’t know you had such an ability.”

“…It’s partly because my senses are naturally keen.”

“Right, whatever the case, it’s true that it’s a great help in saving time.”

As I finished speaking with a smile, a pop-up window appeared near Philip.

Favorability +1

‘…Hmm~’

That must make it +1.

My stomach churns a bit, but thanks.

Saying that, I raised the trait by another level.

Since only the application probability increased, I immediately poured points into it up to level 5.

Charm Lv.5

― Applied with 50% probability to individuals with 0 or lower Favorability, applied with 5% probability to individuals with 1 or higher Favorability

― ‘I want to be friends!’ 5 points increase in Favorability

― ‘If you say so, it must be right.’ 40% increase in persuasiveness

‘With 40%, they’d believe me even if I spout bullshit, wouldn’t they?’

Should I test how far they’d accept it?

While I was marveling at the 5 Favorability points and 40% persuasiveness, the bastard mumbled and opened his mouth.

***

“You…”

As Philip trailed off, Lucas tilted his head and replied.

“Yeah, right.”

At that kind tone, Philip clamped his mouth shut.

He’d been feeling it for a while now, but subtly, the fear was diminishing.

No, to be precise, he was still afraid, but in a different way. Until now, he was afraid of being killed off somewhere secretly, but now…

‘…Why?’

He couldn’t lift his head out of human decency.

Because he felt sorry? Because he was embarrassed?

The change was so drastic even to himself that he couldn’t understand what on earth it was.

However, there was one thing that came to mind.

He wouldn’t have acted like Lucas.

If he were Lucas, he would have used every means possible to torment him. Lucas’s magic skills, his family background – wasn’t it all an environment that made that possible?

“Philip. Why aren’t you talking?”

“…Why aren’t you doing anything?”

“What do you mean? You mean why aren’t I messing you up so badly you can’t show your face, like you would?”

What? How the fuck does this guy know?

Could it be?

Philip’s face turned ashen as he replied.

“Huh? Well… well, that’s what I meant.”

“Philip.”

A smile spread across Lucas’s indifferent expression.

“Do you think I’m you?”

“…What’s wrong with me…”

“Are you serious?”

Philip’s mouth snapped shut.

“Of course, I’m not okay. I remember everything you did to me. But…”

As Lucas brought his hand closer to Philip’s shoulder, Philip flinched violently and moved away.

“Just like you’re avoiding me out of fear, if I can’t control my desire for revenge, it hinders mission accomplishment. Right?”

“…Right.”

“It’s true there was discord that could be a hindrance. Honestly, the memory of you bullying me is still vivid. It would be a lie to say I’m not angry.”

Philip unknowingly bit his lip.

“Still, I’m trying to approach at least the exam without emotions. So, shouldn’t you try to cooperate a bit?”

“Then after the exam is over…”

To the question mustered with desperate courage, Lucas burst out laughing.

“If you just keep acting like you are now, I won’t tell my family, Philip.”

“Like I am now?”

Lucas didn’t answer, just saying what he wanted to say.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect you’d be this scared of me. I always thought I showed you mercy. For example, the notes. You raised your grades a lot, so I thought it helped you greatly, but perhaps I was mistaken…”

‘What bullshit is this.’

Is there really someone who talks about showing mercy with their own mouth?

Philip closed his eyes, feeling like shedding tears of blood.

He felt like he couldn’t live, his arm muscles aching every day from frantically making lecture notes from morning to afternoon for a whole semester. On days with fast-talking professors, his vision just went dark from the morning.

‘…But…’

Come to think of it, it was kind of true.

It was true that thanks to Lucas’s leniency, he hadn’t gone to the disciplinary committee and could attend school.

It was also true that his rank had risen a bit because he took notes.

“Think carefully, Philip. To me, you weren’t worth expelling. I thought it would be better to do something mutually beneficial. How diligent is a life of perfect attendance, diligently taking notes from 1st to 8th period? I wanted to rehabilitate you a bit, but that point didn’t seem to get across.”

Rehabilitate?

Wasn’t the goal to snatch the lecture notes from the start?

‘But… I’m persuaded.’

Why does it sound particularly right?

Philip listened intently to Lucas’s words for a long time.

“…So if you focus on your work, I basically have no interest in you whatsoever. In fact, I was just thinking of asking you to coordinate schedules even after entering university?”

“To make lecture notes?”

“Yeah. No AI, so it can’t be helped. I’m counting on you in university too.”

“…Alright…”

The bastard said that and fell into deep thought.

It’s fascinating how seriously he’s thinking despite me just rambling and answering randomly.

Soon, he nodded as if he understood.

“Come to think of it, I’ve benefited from you in more ways than one. You were always considerate of me, but I wasn’t even conscious of it and just assumed you’d act like me…”

‘The effect is real.’

He just talked about AI, can he really answer so properly?

Suppressing my surprise, I smiled.

“Hmm, no. Philip, then you won’t get startled like before, right?”

“…I’ll try.”

I spewed bullshit the whole time because I was lazy, but the conclusion turned out well.

Is this the power of 40% persuasiveness? It’s definitely an ability politicians would have.

As such, it’s a rather scary ability.

Since the opponent was who he was, I just used it recklessly, but I need to be careful using it on other students.

Suddenly, white text appeared before my eyes.

Tiring—!

Favorability +1

I opened the bastard’s Favorability window again.

Philip Göring

Favorability +3 [(Stage 2/5)]

‘His value is the same as Tsheringen’s now.’

When looking at Tsheringen’s or Adelbert’s values, I just felt satisfied, but seeing +3 from this guy makes my stomach churn slightly.

Thus, night fell, and the promised training time arrived.

I thought only our team had booked this time slot, but now I see other teams were out practicing too.

Beep—

[Exam concluded.]

When the announcement sounded, our team members turned to look where Philip and I were.

After Mimesis shut down, I lightly extended my hand to Philip standing next to me.

Philip hesitated for a moment, then slapped my hand away with a wry smile.

‘…Saved.’

Though I didn’t show it outwardly, I cheered inwardly.

As long as no one else causes problems here, our team’s teamwork is saved.

The bastard still flinched whenever he saw me, but he didn’t scream or jump like before.

Tsheringen must have noticed the change too, as he came over and whispered.

“Lucas, how did you do it?”

Cheating with traits….

Since I couldn’t answer like that, I gave a vague reply.

“Just had a serious talk. Maybe because his grade was on the line too, he understood quickly.”

“Really? Your conversation skills are amazing.”

Tsheringen smiled with satisfaction.

“Ah, Lucas. What do you think about moving up the second-year joint training schedule?”

“Why move it up?”

“Thought it might be good to observe the skills of other teams and study them. Other teams also suggested adjusting the schedule.”

“Hmm, okay.”

It doesn’t matter to me.

Honestly, skills don’t change dramatically in two weeks.

The two-week preparation period isn’t for improving skills, but for enhancing teamwork.

Only a day has passed since the second phase began, but the outlines are already emerging, so everyone seems eager to see the other teams’ skills quickly.

And, that suggestion was accepted that very day.

Looking around my room, which had become a gathering spot for friends, I listened to Leo’s words.

“The school moved up all the exam schedules. It must be because they heard the news that Pleroma changed their drug.”

“So the joint training is next Monday too?”

“Yeah.”

Neither Narce nor Leo looked particularly happy.

Well, naturally.

If the drug changed and became more dangerous, they should stop thinking about deploying students even more, not think about finishing them earlier to send them out sooner. Is that something a school should think?

‘I should probably add another exam stage.’

If I add it in Bavaria, Prussia will follow, so the school will likely move similarly soon.

But, more than that right now….

“What’s wrong, Eli.”

I asked, looking at Elias, who had his head drooping like a corpse, bowed low.

Elias lifted his head a beat later.

“Huhh?”

“…What?”

Even Leo, who usually doesn’t ask about Elias’s well-being, asked with a dry laugh.

Elias’s face was incredibly cold. It might have been due to the dark circles under his eyes, which he normally didn’t have.

‘Scary.’

Seeing this, I can strongly feel why the other students and Pai are scared of Elias.

Elias opened his mouth, his voice chilling.

“Guys, you know what?”

“What?”

“Things that don’t open by hand, if you grab them with your molars and pull, they open.”

“Were you born just now?”

Leo blurted out instinctively, then quickly came to his senses.

He asked in a gentle tone he rarely used.

“Is something wrong? Why are you like this all of a sudden.”

“Uh uh uhhhng…” (Whining sound)

Instead of answering, Elias just made crying noises and slumped over.

Even without words, I could intuitively tell.

‘Teamwork fell apart?’

I didn’t expect even that Elias would struggle like this from the very first day.

There are probably quite a few students like this right now.

If I could, I’d want to switch teams for him myself.

Although my team has two bastards like Philip and an Ainsidel family guy, it wouldn’t be a problem at all for Elias.

Most importantly, the Ainsidel guy didn’t seem particularly interested in his teammates.

Now Narce seemed to have roughly figured it out too and started comforting Elias.

Knock knock—

Just then, someone knocked on the door from outside.

Since normally no one looks for me, all my friends’ gazes turned towards me.

[Lucas.]

‘…Hmm?’

Just as I thought he wasn’t interested?

The voice from outside the door belonged to the Class 1 Ainsidel.

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