Chapter 1
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So how did things end up like this?
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House Campbell is a minor noble family whose barony lies in a tiny fief on the Empire’s frontier.
Was it barely mentioned in a single sentence in the main story of Sera?
It doesn’t even have dungeons crawling with the magical beasts found all over the Empire. Its main industry is the quiet business of dairy farming. The lord and his family are basically just friendly neighbors.
It was probably inevitable that the Campbell Barony would become the kind of place where even the tiniest incident caused a commotion, as if the world were turning upside down.
In other words,
when the lord’s son gets into the Imperial Academy, it’s a huge event that sends every last resident sobbing like their world is ending.
“You’re finally leaving, Dowd.”
“Yes, Father.”
Baron Armin Campbell, a middle-aged man radiating the vibe of a hearty, kindhearted neighborly uncle, wiped away his glistening tears and hugged me.
“You’re the pride of our fief. Please take care of yourself and graduate safely.”
“Of course. Don’t worry.”
I gave him a reassuring, five-star smile and pushed him away.
No, he may not look it, but that’s all muscle. He’s rock-hard up close.
Dairy farming and agriculture are brutally hard work, so your body gets trained whether you like it or not.
“But you must never get involved in any disputes. The Imperial Academy is where the distinguished children of the Empire’s great houses gather. For a barony like ours, it’s best to avoid attracting attention as much as possible...”
“I told you, don’t worry.”
I doubled the reassuring factor in my smile and cut off lecture number 1,823,718,029,837.
Well, it’s not like he has no reason to worry. Just think about how the main story of Savior Rising unfolds.
Events where weak noble houses get caught up in all sorts of power struggles and are wiped out completely happened all the time. There’s no shortage of powerful, eccentric people among the high nobility.
Fortunately, I have no intention of going against my father’s advice—not even by a speck.
< Status Info >
「Dowd Campbell」
Strength: F
Agility: F
Endurance: F
Luck: F
Influence: F
< Skill Info >
[ No skills currently possessed ]
< Mastery Info >
[ No specialized proficiencies currently possessed ]
< Special Gift >
[ Locked ]
“...”
Now that’s a status screen so clean it hurts my eyes.
All stats at F is an unprecedentedly trash starting point that had never once come up in all the time I’d poured into Sera.
‘Still, this is a little dangerous...’
I gave a bitter smile and turned my gaze to the tiny window beside my status screen.
[ Main Quest ]
[ Enroll in the academy and get assigned to a class! ]
I’d seen this window plenty of times in the game, so it was nice to see it again. But the very existence of a ‘quest window’ was a problem.
The existence of a main quest meant there was a scenario I had to clear. Which meant the academy I was about to attend was destined to become a den of iniquity, swirling with the schemes of all kinds of villains.
‘It’s not like I can just skip the main quest...’
Given how the game system works, I’d probably get a ‘Game Over’ the moment I didn’t do it.
And I can’t imagine that would have a positive effect on me.
At the very least, something equivalent to death would be waiting for me.
‘But it’s not like I can clear the quest myself, either.’
In the first place, my number-one rule for how to act is ‘Never do anything that puts my survival at risk.’
I have no idea why I got stuck here, but I need to make it through in one piece until the happy ending where the world is saved, don’t I?
From that perspective, getting directly involved in the main events—with these trash stats, when deadly incidents that could kill me with a single brush past happen as naturally as breathing—would be insane.
At least there’s that Special Gift category that hasn’t unlocked yet, but I can’t exactly pin my hopes on it.
I haven’t even found a clue about how to unlock it since I got possessed by this game.
‘I’m sure each character had a unique ability that unlocked automatically after they performed some special action...’
I might know if I were a player character, but there’s no way I’d know the conditions for unlocking the Gift of some extra like this.
So what’s the best thing I can do in this situation?
Stay true to my role as an extra.
Never stand out, never show off, and keep my head down while doing just enough to take care of myself.
Then the protagonist can take care of everything anyway, right?
“Don’t worry, Father!”
Yeah. Now that I think about it, my father’s advice suddenly sounds so wise.
I shouldn’t be calling it nagging or anything, should I?
“I’ll do my best to keep to the sidelines and never attract attention at the academy!”
“...Uh, no, I wasn’t asking you to go that far...”
“So don’t worry, I won’t harbor any useless ambitions about bringing honor to our fief!”
“...Well, I wasn’t hoping for that, exactly...”
After an exchange along those lines, I set off from the fief.
My father and the residents seeing me off looked a little odd compared to before, but no harm done.
The grand opening of my academy life as a self-proclaimed loner who would never attract attention starts now!
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I used to think that, too.
I had such a hopeful future in mind.
Ah, the days when I was full of dreams.
“Do you need a doctor? You don’t look well.”
“No, I’m fine.”
The truth is, I’m not fine.
To someone who’d made up his mind to stay true to his role as an extra, the person in front of me was stressful enough just to encounter.
“...”
I sneak a glance at the person sipping tea while reading a newspaper with an expressionless face.
Elnore Erinarize La Tristan.
The most likely candidate among the final bosses.
‘How did I end up sharing a train compartment with someone like her?’
I sigh to myself as I think that.
The train bound for Elphante, the Imperial Academy, has compartments designed for two people.
There’s no helping that the students sharing a compartment are chosen completely at random, but if my assigned companion is someone this terrifying, I think I’m entitled to complain a little.
My luck is so unbelievably bad.
‘In the first place, why would the daughter of a duke ride in a cheap compartment like the ones even backwater baronies use?’
As I wondered about that, an answer suddenly came from across the compartment.
Her gaze remained fixed on the newspaper.
“House Tristan cares a great deal about its public image. Rather than have a noble young lady ride first class, they’ve calculated that it’s better to focus on cultivating an approachable image.”
“...”
“Don’t worry. I haven’t made the foolish mistake of voicing my thoughts aloud. Your expression is amusing.”
The student council president said that one thing after another, then gave a faint laugh.
“Everyone who shares a compartment with me thinks much the same thing. You were simply giving off the same air as the rest of them.”
“...Is that so?”
She seemed to have been put through quite a lot of this sort of thing.
Well, the daughter of Duke Tristan was practically as famous as royalty. Plenty of people would feel pressured just sitting beside her.
“You needn’t worry. You won’t suffer any particular harm just because you’re associated with me. I’m sorry for making you uneasy.”
“...”
But did the person making you feel that way usually go out of their way to be so considerate?
‘This is a little different from what I remember.’
In the game, she seemed like the kind of person who barely paid any attention to anyone else.
A meritocrat who judged everyone by their worth. A perfectionist who would never tolerate a flaw. And an overbearing air that always placed everyone else beneath her.
Those were the keywords I remembered for Elnore.
So what was this almost excessively thoughtful side she was showing me now?
Even if I assumed it was image-making, like she said, it was still a surprising sight.
“You don’t seem convinced. Is there something else you’re curious about?”
“No. I just thought you seemed like a surprisingly nice person.”
For the first time, Elnore’s gaze left the newspaper.
Her eyes narrowed slightly, as if she found something puzzling.
“Surprisingly?”
“Pardon?”
“Have you heard something bad about me? Have we met before?”
“...”
Well, from my perspective, I know she’s one of the candidates who could destroy the world.
But she doesn’t really start turning into a villain until after she meets the protagonist. Everything starts to unravel when she develops an inferiority complex toward the protagonist, whose talent surpasses even her own—the person she’d believed to be perfect in every way.
Of course, you might think, ‘How could the world end just because someone has an inferiority complex?’ But the problem is the ‘curse’ she carries.
‘The Gray Demon.’
I think of the name of the being housed within House Tristan—and within her—and smile bitterly to myself.
The worst of the ‘demons,’ the ultimate villains of this world, powerful enough to appear in the creation myth itself.
The moment it’s unleashed, this world is as good as finished. The trigger is the moment her ‘personality collapses.’
She clashes with the protagonist throughout the scenario until her mental state crumbles and the demon takes over Elnore’s body. After that, well...
The world goes straight to its destruction. No one in the entire world can stop it—not unless the protagonist has reached their final level of growth.
“...”
And I’d just said something like, ‘I thought you’d have a terrible personality, but you’re not like that?’ to someone carrying something like that.
What the hell is wrong with me?
“...I’d only heard that you were strict.”
Perhaps my spur-of-the-moment excuse hadn’t gone over all that well. Elnore stared me down for quite a while before letting out a soft sigh.
“You’re a strange person.”
“Yes, well. I hear that a lot.”
I covered it with an awkward laugh and turned my gaze to the window.
I’d rather not keep this conversation going any further, either.
At any rate, my goal is to foist the main quest on the protagonist. There’s no good in getting entangled with people who keep showing up in the scenario.
My goal is a peaceful, quiet academy life, so for now I’ll calm down by watching the scenery slide past outside the window.
The scenery of spring in full bloom was a feast for the eyes. It felt as if everything in sight were steeped in the fragrant scent of flowers.
The flower buds blooming there, the greenery stretching along the earth, the wide fields, and even the enormous boulder hurtling straight toward the compartment window all carried the freshness of spring—
“...”
What the hell was that last one?
“Student Council President.”
“Hmm?”
“Excuse me for a moment.”
No sooner had I finished speaking than I threw myself into Elnore’s arms.
“...?!”
I caught Elnore’s eyes widening in shock.
Apparently, even someone like her couldn’t help being taken aback when a person came charging at her out of nowhere like this.
Whether fortunately or unfortunately, the situation immediately continued without me needing to explain myself.
-!
-!!
-!!!!!!!
A boulder the size of a house came crashing into the compartment, tearing away most of the train car.
The train rocked violently from the impact as it hurtled along. Then the car derailed and tilted at a terrifying angle.
-!
-!!!
-!!!!!!!!!!!
The entire train rolled over and over, sending everything into a few more rounds of utter chaos.
Screams rang out from every direction, but they were soon drowned out by the deafening crash that followed.
That must have been the sound of the entire train slamming into the ground.
And throughout all of this, Elnore and I were unharmed.
It wasn’t because we were particularly lucky, but because of the faint blue barrier surrounding her right now.
Target-recognition defensive gear made from the bones of a saint.
‘I only survived because I knew she always carried this around...’
I sighed in relief, cold sweat pouring down my back.
If I’d been hit by that thing alone and unprotected, I’d have died instantly. With my stats, I wouldn’t stand a chance.
“...Are you all right?”
“What? Oh, yes. I’m fine.”
“Then would you mind getting off me? You’re starting to feel a little heavy.”
It was only when I heard Elnore mutter that in an emotionless voice from beneath me that I realized I was wrapped around her with my entire body.
“...”
The position was more compromising than I’d expected, so I hurriedly got up. A moment later, the student council president rose smoothly to her feet as well.
She brushed her tousled hair and uniform back into place, then looked down at the floor. Maybe it was just my imagination, but her face and the back of her neck seemed a little red.
Well, um...
I should probably apologize first, right?
“I’m sor—”
“It’s all right. You were trying to save me, weren’t you?”
What?
“I’ve never had such close physical contact with a man before, but thank you. I understand your intentions, so there’s no need to apologize.”
“...”
She interpreted it that way?
I only threw myself at her because I knew she had a protective barrier and wanted to benefit from it.
From Elnore’s perspective, it must have looked like I was protecting her from the impact.
Well, she had no way of guessing that I already knew about the barrier.
As I thought about it, Elnore spoke to me again.
“What’s your name?”
Huh.
Wasn’t asking someone’s name, according to her character settings, something she only did when she was interested in them?
I had a feeling that if I answered her here, I’d keep getting involved with her from now on.
“...What’s your name?”
Still, I couldn’t very well say, ‘What do you need it for?’ to someone staring at me with her bright, sparkling eyes.
That would be an even worse choice.
“Dowd Campbell.”
“Dowd, Dowd. Campbell, Campbell.”
Elnore closed her eyes and rolled my name around on her tongue a few times, then nodded.
“Understood. I’ll make sure I never forget it. I’ll repay you properly someday.”
No, you can just forget it.
Could we please avoid getting involved as much as possible?
As I thought that with an awkward smile, a window suddenly appeared in front of me.
<System Message>
[ You have earned a villain’s favor! ]
[ Special Gift unlock conditions met! ]
[ Skills ‘Dire Straits’ and ‘Fatal Charm’ have been granted! ]
...What the fuck?
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