Chapter 7
Nothing mattered more to Laura Crown than money and her own life.
She had a goal, and she needed money to achieve it.
And of course, her life mattered too.
That was why Laura Crown could always speak confidently in front of others.
She always made the most rational choice.
But even her confidence had its limits.
Eyes that seemed to see through everything met hers.
“...”
For a moment, Laura was at a loss for words.
This time, she’d made the wrong choice.
She should’ve run when she heard the rumors.
Requests to identify someone came to Laura Crown so often they were practically a daily occurrence.
People who still clung to their pathetic noble pride, even now that the world had fallen apart.
Or just idle gossips who found all this amusing.
Of course, thanks to them, Laura was still able to earn money.
But this man was different.
-Clink!
Her coins clinked together at her waist, ringing out.
Her Stigma, <Money>.
In exchange for spending the money in her possession, she could use all sorts of little abilities.
Attack, defense, support—she could manage a bit of everything with the power of money, even if she wasn’t perfect at any of it.
And the thing she was most confident in was information warfare.
Or so it should have been.
<Unreadable.>
Someone whispered inside her head.
One of the abilities granted by Laura Crown’s Stigma: Buyout.
Just as it sounded, she could pay money to read a target’s abilities.
She couldn’t read him?
Laura could feel her hands and feet trembling.
By reading countless people and taking on requests, she’d learned to use her ability better than anyone.
And she knew its limits clearly.
Whenever Buyout failed to read someone, there was always a condition attached.
They were either of a higher caliber or had exceptional mental fortitude.
Those of a higher caliber included the former saintess and the current knight commander, who was holding back the traitors on the front lines.
There was also Headmaster Gildar, the only person at this school she couldn’t read.
And what about those with exceptional mental fortitude?
Laura hadn’t even considered that possibility.
Unless someone’s mental fortitude was extraordinarily high, she’d never failed to read them.
Only one person had ever resisted Laura’s Buyout through sheer mental fortitude.
The Guardian of the World Tree, who stood on the brink of death.
There was no way a mere human could have the same mental fortitude as the Guardian of the World Tree, who had lived for hundreds of years. Especially not a man around her own age.
Then, by process of elimination, only one conclusion remained.
This man was—
“I said to get your face out of my way.”
The man’s voice rang out in her head again.
“Hic!”
Trembling with fear, Laura fled, unable even to stop herself from hiccuping.
She couldn’t get involved with him. It might sting her pride, but she absolutely couldn’t get involved with a monster like that.
*
Contrary to her grand entrance, Laura Crown just hiccupped a few times in front of me before disappearing as soon as I told her to get lost.
Thank goodness. Otherwise, she’d have been a real headache.
Laura Crown.
She was a party member, and a surprisingly—no, blatantly—capable character.
She was something like a support, except she was the kind of support who could do everything.
From attack boosts, healing, and buffs to debuffs, there was nothing she couldn’t do.
She was popular with players, too. If their party needed another member, they’d even consider bringing Laura along.
But if it were that easy, it wouldn’t be <Dark Fantasy Saga>.
First, she fought by spending money.
In other words, my money went up in smoke.
Laura would blow through the resources I’d scraped together with blood, sweat, and tears.
The difficulty went down, but it caused problems with managing my finances.
But there was an even bigger problem.
She turned into a boss in Chapter 2. Just like Lydia.
Sure, she returned her gear, but watching a character you’d raised with blood, sweat, and tears suddenly become a boss was enough to make you weep tears of blood.
A lot of players, myself included, had been captivated by her blonde hair and looks. We’d looked everywhere, hoping there might be some way to save her, but so far, there wasn’t.
If that was how it was going to be, they shouldn’t have made the characters so appealing. Why did they always kill off the ones they’d done such a good job creating?
And after she became a boss, she had infuriating attack patterns and a grotesque appearance...
“...”
I feel sick.
Before I knew it, my expression had darkened,
and at the same time, strange sounds began coming from the classroom.
“Ugh...”
“Grrk...”
“Make it stop...”
It wasn’t because of me, was it?
Still, what a relief.
I turned my gaze away from Professor Albert as he walked in through the door and sank into thought.
At least I’d somehow dealt with the biggest problem: my death.
But from here on out, I was in uncharted territory.
There was a year left before the protagonist enrolled, and during that time, all I could do was piece together the information that had been hinted at in the story.
But if I looked at it another way, this was good news.
In the year after Aiden Starfive died, all sorts of incidents would break out.
That was why the original protagonist spent more time dealing with the aftermath of incidents than solving them.
If I stopped those incidents ahead of time, things could be in much better shape by the time the protagonist arrived.
And if the protagonist turned out to be useful enough, I could leave everything to him and retire.
Right. One year.
I’d work myself to the bone for exactly one year and lay the groundwork.
I wasn’t even hoping to defeat the final boss. No, I didn’t want to defeat it.
There was only one thing I wanted.
For the protagonist to defeat the boss and go straight through to the ending, while I escaped my inevitable bad ending and either returned to my original world after seeing this one reach a happy ending, or lived happily ever after.
All right, now I finally have something of a plan.
I smiled at the thought.
Somewhere, I heard someone gasping for breath, but at least that wasn’t my fault.
Ignoring Professor Albert, I opened my notebook and started writing down the story.
Until now, I’d been far too busy avoiding death in the tutorial.
First up, there was...
I wrote down, <A traitor appears within the academy>.
Right. They’d said a traitor appeared within the academy.
I pulled up the flavor text and conversations between characters from my memory.
<A few days after Aiden’s death, a traitor appeared within the academy. Not long after, a mysterious mass-death incident occurred, and the atmosphere grew increasingly bleak.>
Since it said “a few days after,” there might be a little time to prepare.
It had been a day since the incident, so at least it wouldn’t happen today.
That meant I had a little time left.
The traitor incident would paralyze the academy’s systems, and then incidents would break out one after another.
In other words, even if other incidents happened later, things would be much easier to handle if I stopped this one.
But the problem was, I didn’t know where it would happen...
“...”
Was my only option to look all around campus?
There was a way to handle this.
As soon as class ended, I spoke up.
“You there.”
“Yes!”
Lydia Straw replied as if she’d been waiting for me to call on her.
Maybe she was getting used to the way I spoke to her. I didn’t even have to use her name—I could just say you, woman, or hey you, and she knew I meant her.
“Look around and see if you can find anything strange.”
“Look around?”
Lydia tilted her head, then looked at me as if she’d figured it out. “Oh!”
“Don’t worry! I’ll take care of it!”
“Good.”
Just as I thought. She understood exactly what I meant and was going to look for suspicious people. I’d expect good results.
Lydia Straw strode confidently out of the classroom.
Since yesterday’s incident, fewer people had been bullying Lydia Straw.
Maybe it was because she’d been hanging around me—and, more than anything, because I’d killed Benjamin yesterday. People seemed to have stopped bullying her.
This Stigma really comes in handy at times like this.
Though it was a little lonely.
I’d left the scouting to Lydia, so I could look around the area myself, too.
Thinking that, I stepped out of the classroom.
As always, everyone’s eyes turned toward me, and they all edged away as if they’d planned it together.
I walked down the hallway and stood in the academy courtyard, where the warm sunlight poured down.
Man, this is nice.
Feels like my health is regenerating.
I closed my eyes, soaking in the sunlight as I thought.
I’d pushed my body too hard and used my head too much since coming here.
People needed to take a break now and then, but I couldn’t remember getting a proper rest since I’d arrived.
No. Just a little more effort, and I’d be fine.
Maybe I should move around a bit more.
Just as I thought that and opened my eyes to start walking,
-Crash!
I heard something collapse,
-Aaaah!
and people screaming.
What the—
What is it now?
I hurriedly drew my sword.
What kind of disaster had happened this time?
“A traitor!”
“A traitor! Why?!”
“Get a professor!”
Students came rushing out through the door in a panic.
A traitor?
A day after the last incident?
A flood of students poured out.
As if on cue, students burst through the academy’s narrow entrance.
Everyone ran out in a panic, and someone fell to the ground and was trampled where they lay.
At this rate, people would die just trying to run away.
I had to stop them.
I raised my voice.
Everyone, line up and run!
What the hell? Why couldn’t I speak?
It was as if someone had glued my mouth shut. Not a word would come out.
I could only stand there and watch the people.
And the aura radiating from my body began to grow heavier.
It grew so intense I wondered if I’d ever released this much aura before.
Then, once the people came outside and met my eyes,
“Aaaah!”
“Aaaah! Help me!”
“No! I don’t want to die!”
Some people screamed and turned around, running toward where the traitor was, while others fled diagonally.
No, what if those people run over there?
Are they that desperate to die?
I panicked and raised my voice without meaning to.
Everyone, be careful! If you don’t run from the traitor, you’ll die!
“Run and you’ll die!”
“Aaaah!”
“Aaaaaah!!!”
The people moved around in an even greater panic.
[Your threat to kill them causes their Awe to rise!]
[Awe: 29%]
"..."
I felt like I was going to go insane from frustration.
Some avoided me, some ran back the way they’d come, and others sat down where they were and screamed themselves hoarse like madmen.
Whatever the case, the path parted again like the Red Sea.
At this rate, it wouldn’t take long to reach the traitor.
-Krrrraaaah!!!
A sound came from far away.
A traitor had appeared inside the academy.
Well, that was convenient. I wouldn’t have to struggle to get through a crowd.
Right. Good. This was a good thing. It wasn’t sad at all.
I kept walking, my brow furrowed involuntarily.
At the same time, I heard footsteps following behind me.
Wait, not just one person?
I turned around and saw Lydia, drenched in sweat and breathing hard.
“Huff, huff... Haaah...!”
Beside her, Laura was struggling, overcome with fear.
“I brought her!”
Lydia met my eyes, dragged Laura over, then smiled at me with a look that asked, “I did good, right?” The moment Laura’s eyes met mine, she bowed her head.
What do you mean, you brought her?