Episode 85

[Exclusive Effect: The Darkness Hanging Over the Academy]

– Increases resistance to mental-type magic.

– Increases amount of life force recovered.

– Makes it easier to distinguish devil’s magic.

‘Not bad?’

A simple but good ability.

The increased resistance to mental-type magic is probably because of Miros.

The increased amount of life force recovered is probably from Donovan.

And being able to see through devil’s magic more easily is likely inspired by Martin.

It seemed that the story’s completion granted power accordingly.

‘Yeah… A feature that simply boosts stats like this should exist, too. Until now, it always felt like there weren’t enough abilities.’

It was a pity that there were no exact numbers, but just having such additional effects appear pleased him.

‘It’s getting better and better. I’m looking forward to how much it’ll improve in the future.’

Compared to the beginning, there had been a remarkable leap in functionality.

Right now, the circumstances weren’t great so he couldn’t make full use of it, but in a month he’d be able to use it properly.

‘Abilities that reveal their power only when certain conditions are met must have been designed to match the setting that both gods and devils cannot freely display their power in the middle world.’

Currently, there is a barrier covering this continent that restricts authorities.

It was said to have been created in exchange for countless human sacrifices when devils ruled the continent in the past.

‘Gods too used their strength to stop the devils and couldn’t use their authority, right?’

So, special conditions like story completion would allow a power resembling authority to be used.

There is just one exception: the original protagonist.

From the outset, he can use a cheat-like power called ‘Save’.

He didn’t suffer the restrictions because he is an outsider brought from another world.

‘They brought the protagonist from another world as a countermeasure against Demons, and the god gave him the power of Save to transfer as much strength as possible through the loophole in the restrictions.’

There were no restrictions on the protagonist, but since the god giving him strength was restricted, that system was used.

‘Unless the power gap is ridiculously wide, it’s almost impossible to defeat the protagonist. So I should gather as much power as I can.’

A power—Save—that can absorb all force applied to him.

Of course, it’s not without restrictions, but at least for now it’s negligible.

‘Not fighting would be best, but you never know what might happen.’

Thinking so, Luca skimmed through his phone.

‘But why hasn’t this changed?’

Luca looked at a certain hint with a puzzled expression.

[The Undying Princess]

– The false identity of Brid Seteg Hernan, become friends with Milia Fille. (○)

– Save Milia Fille and Isella from danger. (○)

– Find the source of the darkness surrounding Milia Fille and Isella.

– ???

– ???

– ???

The Undying Princess.

There was no change at all in the hints regarding Milia.

‘Is the darkness in the academy and the darkness surrounding Milia completely unrelated? I thought they had something to do with each other, though.’

Strictly speaking, Theodore wasn’t controlled by Miros, so technically they were different domains.

‘Everything troublesome is just lumped under ‘darkness’, so it’s hard to tell them apart. Is it a translation issue? Or maybe everything is ultimately related to the Demons and so it all gets unified as darkness?’

Luca furrowed his brow at the ambiguous hints.

‘Well, fine. If I keep at it, something will work out.’

Frankly, despite the phone’s lackluster performance, things had gone well so far.

Just using it as a guide was helpful enough.

No need to overthink it.

‘So the hints I have now are about the devil hidden in the Mirror Circle, and… huh?’

Luca looked puzzled as he read another hint.

‘What’s up with this?’

[A Martial Artist’s, Imitator]

– This hint has lost all effect.

– No additional effects can be obtained.

– This hint has been replaced with an additional hint of the same grade.

The hint related to Kryphi had disappeared.

‘Since when?’

Actually, he hadn’t been paying much attention to the hint concerning Kryphi.

Since nothing particularly involving Kryphi had happened, he’d focused only on their master-disciple relationship.

‘Why has only the hint about Kryphi disappeared?’

Hints related to Milia or the Mirror Circle were still there, so only Kryphi’s hint vanishing felt meaningful.

Moreover, the statement that its effect was lost.

‘Come to think of it, something is odd. I’ve met quite a lot of characters by now. So why haven’t other hints been generated?’

He’d encountered several major characters with this incident.

Herote, Eltima, and even Zeritz.

All major figures from the original story.

Yet no new hints had appeared.

If so…

‘Do the characters that have had hints so far have a common trait?’

The only people individual hints had generated for were The Undying Princess and The Martial Artist’s Nightmare, Imitator.

‘Let’s think.’

What comes to mind with The Undying Princess and Imitator?

Without hesitation: ‘Villains.’

Villains strong enough to threaten the protagonist.

‘The three people I met this time are all allies of the protagonist. So, are hints generated only about villains?’

That more or less fits.

And it leads to a hypothesis about why Kryphi’s hint vanished.

‘Has the possibility of becoming a villain been completely erased?’

Lately, Kryphi had grown quite close to him.

Master and disciple.

It seemed that this student position meant a lot to Kryphi.

Earlier, Kryphi had fiercely opposed his own master Zeritz when he’d threatened him.

The very master who had saved him from the hell of the battlefield.

That showed how precious Luca had become to Kryphi.

‘So, since there’s no longer any chance of him becoming my enemy, the hint disappeared?’

But then a new issue arises.

‘Does that mean Milia still has a chance of becoming a villain?’

A truly dreadful woman.

He couldn’t for the life of him understand why Ottbo liked her.

‘It’s a shame I can’t get any additional effects from Kryphi, but… it doesn’t feel bad.’

Recalling ‘Darkness Cast Over the Academy,’ the additional effect from ‘Martial Artist’s Nightmare, Imitator’ was probably a power related to his eyes.

Not getting it was a pity, but having a true ally now made him happy.

‘But what’s with this “additional hint”?’

That “additional hint” phrase that had appeared in the notification just now and again here.

He felt like he’d seen it somewhere before but couldn’t recall where.

Then, he spotted a passage at the very bottom of the hint compilation.

*If you satisfy five more basic hint conditions, you will receive an additional hint.

‘…… Ah. This.’

It used to say that you’d get an additional hint if you satisfied two more basic hint conditions, but now it had increased.

Probably because he’d fulfilled the previous condition.

‘So the additional hint is… here it is.’

[Additional Hint List]

– Modified Auto Carriage Race

– Divine Banner Dominion

“……?”

The list felt distinctly mismatched in tone.

‘Divine Banner? Does that mean the flag of god?’

It felt quite different from Eltima’s divine spear.

‘But I’ve never seen anything called Divine Banner Dominion before… And the Modified Auto Carriage Race is new to me too…….’

It seemed that additional hints were of types that didn’t affect the main story.

Furthermore, in the case of substitute hints, it wasn’t only about people.

‘Even so, with “divine” in it, isn’t this some kind of divine artifact? Are they really giving me that information?’

Just then, he remembered the line from the hint about Imitator.

– This hint has been replaced with an additional hint of the same grade.

‘If it’s the same grade as Imitator… well… I guess that makes sense.’

The same grade of intel as Imitator, who killed Zeritz the Invincible Sword.

So, it wouldn’t be strange for it to include information about artifacts.

‘Might as well check it out?’

If it really was info about a divine artifact, that would be a huge gain.

Luca suppressed his excitement and pressed the Divine Banner Dominion entry.

[Divine Banner Dominion]

– The divine flag depicting an angel blowing a trumpet.

– Holds the great power to proclaim the territory of god.

– Currently, it is simply being used as someone’s blanket in a cold region.

“……?”

Luca vigorously scrolled through the screen.

But it didn’t go any further.

‘This is it?’

The information hardly seemed worthy of being called a hint.

Sighing, Luca tapped the entry for Modified Auto Carriage Race just in case.

[Modified Auto Carriage Race]

– In the southern region of the Hernan Empire, there is a domain holding illegal races with modified auto carriages.

– If you do well there, you might find an engine imbued with ancient drive magic?

“…… Pff.”

Luca sighed again.

Still, the details were deeper than for Dominion.

‘I mean, what am I supposed to do with an engine imbued with ancient drive magic? That’s something Ottbo would love.’

Luca heaved another deep sigh and put his phone face down.

‘Well, I figured it wouldn’t be anything special anyway.’

How good could information be if it didn’t affect the main story?

Still, he decided to place value on the fact that he’d obtained information.

‘If I keep searching, someday something good might come up.’

Of course, he didn’t expect much.

‘Still, this wasn’t without its rewards.’

The additional effects feature had been unlocked, and he’d learned more about hints.

‘Most importantly, I can trust Kryphi now.’

Kryphi, who cared about Luca so much that the chance of him becoming a villain was 0 percent.

Just learning that was a big gain.

‘And now I really need to do something about Milia.’

Milia, who still had the potential to become a villain.

He would have to take measures regarding her.

“Young master! I just finished my discharge process!”

At that moment, Bella entered the ward.

She was already back in her maid’s outfit.

“Already?”

Luca couldn’t hide his amazement at her speed.

Watching him, Bella smiled brightly.

“Yes! I’m all healthy now!”

“Then… bring me something to eat. I’m hungry.”

“Yes! Young master!”

Bella answered energetically and disappeared into the darkness.

Luca watched the spot she had left and chuckled.

“Not bad.”

Not a bad ending.

* * *

The fourth day of the festival dawned.

Archiond came to visit early in the morning.

“Luca! I became the year’s representative! I’ll be officially appointed starting next month, though!”

Archiond’s face was filled with excitement.

Seeing him, Luca immediately looked weary.

“Did you?”

“How did you do it? Was it professor Latik’s thing?”

“I just did it well.”

“You were the one who saved professor Latik? Amazing! I knew you were more suited for year representative!”

“Phew…”

Luca sighed at Archiond’s retriever-like manner.

“Well! Since I’ve been entrusted with it, I’ll give it my best!”

“Right. That’s admirable. Now will you leave?”

“Haha! So cold. But isn’t it boring to be stuck here all the time?”

“Not at all.”

“External guests have been coming since yesterday. There are crowds everywhere! So shouldn’t you go out and enjoy the festival too?”

“What does the arrival of outsiders have to do with me enjoying the festival?”

“It just means more people! When there are more people, it’s more fun!”

Archiond was the epitome of the extrovert archetype.

Luca sighed softly and looked at Bella.

“Bella. It seems Archiond wants to leave.”

“Yes!”

Bella put her hand under Archiond’s armpit and lifted him.

“Ahaha, S-stop, that tickles!”

“Yes~ Just bear with it for a bit~.”

As Bella shooed Archiond out, Luca sighed again.

“Truly dreadful. I bet others will drop by and ask me to go have fun too. Should I reject all visits again?”

“Hehe, everybody who likes you just wants to spend time with you, young master. Wouldn’t it be nice to give in a little?”

“…… Tsk.”

Luca clicked his tongue and turned his head away.

But he wasn’t in a bad mood.

“Huh? Young master, there’s an unexpected visitor asking for you.”

“Unexpected visitor?”

“Yes.”

Bella passed him a small magic stone panel listing the visitors.

After checking the name on it, Luca smacked his lips.

– Visitor: Pasmo Ti-e

“Well… Let her in for now.”

————-= Clacky’s Corner ————-=

What’s next?

There are a lot of option…

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

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