Chapter 36
That had to be terribly humiliating for Roy.
Because Gilliam had accomplished all by himself what Roy had praised as a deed worthy of the heroes of myth.
IF Gilliam's deed = a deed of a mythological hero
THEN Gilliam = a mythological hero
LOGICAL.
“Gaaah!! That's not right!!!!”
Roy trembled all over. That delinquent womanizer, a hero of myth!?
“W-well… anyway, it's all over now, so shall we head back?”
Professor Silon stepped in to defuse the situation.
As the professor did, Silon exchanged glances with the other professors.
Because.
‘That just now… could've turned into a huge disaster, couldn't it?’
‘…Yes.’
‘A very, very dangerous situation.’
Most of the cadets still hadn't processed what had almost happened.
But the professors understood exactly.
If Gilliam hadn't suddenly handed out Bassis incense.
By now.
‘At least seven… eight?’
‘Maybe even a dozen or more….’
They would have died.
Without even being able to resist.
Eaten by that giant Void Entity just now.
‘That monster was at least three-star….’
‘Everchess just hit its weakness, but in terms of overall stats, it could even be four-star….’
‘Maybe even the professors with low resistance….’
That's why they wanted to return to the academy as quickly as possible.
If the cadets were going to panic, they should do it somewhere safe.
Thud….
“Huh?”
“Hm?”
Rumble…!
“Everyone, retreat the way we came!”
Gilliam shouted.
This time, every cadet and professor dashed away at once.
Especially Terry Marizia and Shupi Vallier, who'd ignored Gilliam's advice once and paid dearly for it.
“Aaaaaah!!”
“I'll do what you say this time!!!”
Before long, the ground began to cave in.
“A-an earthquake!?”
The plant-type Void Entity that had appeared out of nowhere had taken the lives of several cadets.
But it was impossible to erect a memorial there.
Perhaps because of the impact of the Void Entity's rampage, the ground collapsed, revealing some ruins.
The Empire rushed to excavate them.
At first, the Imperial Knights planned to handle it themselves.
But after a series of failures and casualties, they decided to bring in outside experts rather than send in their own people.
Yet even after a long time passed, there was no news of anyone successfully clearing the ruins.
Crack.
A fissure opened right at my feet, too.
‘Good. Just as planned.’
My real goal for this extermination exercise.
Was to take a look at the ruins that would appear below us.
To learn more about the main story and scenario quests of this world, <Astra Radius>.
I only intended to take a look and come back.
So I planned to fall naturally, then wait to be rescued right there. While staying in contact with everyone above.
‘I don't want to cause them any unnecessary worry.’
I'd prepared for the fall in advance, too.
All I had to do now was fall.
“Liam!!!”
Maron was running toward me.
‘Ah.’
I hadn't thought this through.
I should've considered Maron.
“No!!! Liam, hurry over here!!!”
Desperately.
With all her might.
Maron was running toward me.
Her scream, loud enough to tear her throat apart.
Her hand reaching out for me.
Her irises clouded with fear, turning a murky purple.
Our eyes met.
“I'm sorry.”
I really was.
Sorry.
Crack.
A weightless sensation.
I was falling.
“—!!”
To Maron, the sequence of events looked like this.
Gilliam had warned everyone to save them,
but he himself hadn't made it in time and was falling. He left a brief, calm apology: I'm sorry.
“Nooooooo!!!”
With a heartrending scream, Maron's body moved on its own.
She leaped toward the place where Gilliam had fallen.
‘Liam!!’
Was she thinking of saving him?
Or of dying with him?
She didn't know.
What was certain was that even if Maron had stopped to think carefully in that moment, she would have made the same choice.
Either save Liam and live with him,
or die alongside Liam.
A third option—
letting Liam fall to his death and living on alone—
was something Maron couldn't even imagine.
Their eyes met in midair.
Their hands touched—the hands that hadn't been able to meet while they were still on the ground.
‘Ah.’
That alone was enough for Maron.
‘We'll face our final moment holding hands.’
They would share the scariest moment of all.
Just her and Gilliam, without any other women.
A man and woman falling beneath the earth.
A wedding in a tomb.
A honeymoon home beneath the soil.
Princess Elettra, too.
Lucy-senpai, too.
And all the other women who'd fallen for Liam—the professors Kadisha and Silon, Professor Mella from the infirmary, the owner of the restaurant we went to yesterday, Lapin, and all the other women Liam goes around seducing—wait, why are there so many of them? This is supposed to be a touching scene, but that list is way too long!!
Anyway!
She would push all those women aside and be the one joined to Liam!
She had no regrets.
But.
If she had one little regret, it was that…
‘If possible, I would've liked us to live together—’
Pop!
A sound like a balloon inflating in an instant.
“Maron!!”
The hand Gilliam had grabbed was tugged, and he pulled her firmly into his arms.
‘L-L-Liam is hugging me!?’
W-well, that's fine! From now on, we'll be married souls!
“Curl up and clench your teeth!”
“!”
She did as he said, and the next moment!
Impact!
“Ugh…!?”
The shock traveled through her body.
But something beneath her absorbed the impact.
“Guh…!”
It still hurt, though!
Even with the impact absorbed, it still hurt!! Still, it was better than smashing into the ground and bursting apart!!
They tumbled over and over, then finally stopped when they hit an inner wall.
“O-ow, ow, ow….”
Maron opened her eyes, which she'd squeezed shut.
Gilliam's face was right in front of hers.
‘….’
Wow.
He really was so handsome, now that she thought about it.
If she married Liam and they slept in the same bed, would she get to see this every day? How wonderful would every morning be?
A voice came from somewhere above them.
“Mr. Everchess!! Miss Clearias!!!”
Gilliam answered.
“We're all right!!”
Careful not to get too close to the edge in case it collapsed, Professor Silon cautiously peered down.
“Why are you perfectly fine!?”
“We thought we might need it since we were going to the valley, so we got some fall-protection gear!”
“T-that's a relief…!”
Professor Kadisha cautiously peered down beside Silon, too.
“Are you safe!?”
“We're safe!”
“We'll send a rescue team soon, so wait there!”
“Yes, ma'am!”
The two professors' faces disappeared again.
Judging by their movements, they'd crawled over there on their stomachs, then crawled back the same way.
‘That is probably the safest way.’
It was kind of funny imagining the two professors wriggling along with their stomachs and chests pressed to the ground, though.
And.
My claim that we'd stay put had been a lie.
I lit a torch and looked around.
“Maron, get up quickly.”
“W-why?”
“Looks like there are ruins here.”
The torchlight revealed man-made architecture.
“…A temple?”
“Looks like it.”
A temple buried underground.
We'd fallen right at its entrance.
‘I wonder what this was like in the original game?’
If you entered the valley area, would a cutscene play showing the ground collapsing, then open with ‘New Dungeon: Some Temple’ or something?
【New Dungeon: Temple of the Water God〈Seia〉】
Why is this real?
‘So I really am being recognized as the protagonist of this world.’
Star Collector (集星者).
One who gathers stars.
Someone who can proceed through Fate Quests and Bond Quests.
‘Come to think of it, I need to progress Maron's LV.3 Bond Quest, too. Maybe I'll focus on that when we get back.’
There's Elettra's LV.3 Bond Quest and Lucy's LV.2 Bond Quest, too.
‘And there must be plenty of Fate Star holders I haven't found yet.’
Basically, I've been assuming Fate Star holders = characters scheduled to be added to the game.
If so, there couldn't possibly be only three of them.
Considering how many characters there are in subculture games.
‘Even right after launch, there'd be at least a dozen or so.’
But that's because the world expands with each update.
This world has already been fully expanded.
In game terms, all the updates have already been completed.
‘There are probably dozens scattered throughout the world.’
And all of them are women.
Because Fate Star holders are supposed to be exclusively female.
Though I don't know how many of them I might meet in the Empire, or at the academy.
“Sigh….”
“Why the sudden sigh?”
“I was just thinking about meeting all those women, and suddenly it felt overwhelming.”
“….”
【Warning】
〈Fate: <Villainess of Calamity> likelihood has increased by 3%〉
【87%→90%】
What was that all of a sudden!?
“M-Maron.”
“What is it, Gilliam Everchess?”
“Um… you won't turn into a bad woman or anything, right?”
“…Who knows?”
Maron looked up at me with a pout.
Just then.
The goddess statue at the front of the temple suddenly shone brightly.
‘?’
『After hundreds of years, the one who gathers the stars has finally arrived.』
What is this now?
『I shall grant you the right to take on the trials set forth in my temple.』
The massive stone doors opened.
‘…An instance dungeon?’
I guess those without the right qualifications couldn't even enter.
‘So that's why they couldn't clear it no matter how much manpower they threw at it in the original.’
They couldn't get inside without a Star Collector.
〈Next Compliment Recommendation (LV.2)〉
【Automatically identifies target→Water God Seia】
Wait.
This works on a god, of all people?
‘Would be nice if it did, but no way.’
As expected.
The usual Recommended/Not Recommended prompts that should've appeared immediately weren't showing up properly.
Recommended - ■■@#%■!@# you
Not recommended - ■%■!@■@## you
‘Right. Let's just solve the puzzles and beat the boss like normal.’
Bzzzt.
Bzzzzzt….
【Shop】
〈Category: Trait Support〉
- Next Compliment Recommendation (LV.3) (30000 points)
“?”
【Pay 30000 points to acquire Next Compliment Recommendation (LV.3)?】
【YES】
“????”
Did the system just force a purchase on me???
〈Next Compliment Recommendation (LV.3)〉
【Target: Water God Seia】
Apart from how absurd this was, I was curious.
At LV.1, it only gave me keywords.
At LV.2, it gave me recommendations and warnings.
So what exactly would it recommend as the next compliment at LV.3?
Recommended line:「Don't get all dramatic, you worthless bitch」
Tone: Intimidating and coercive
Target's traits: A ■■ woman who accidentally took on a ■■ that was ■■
“….”
No.
That isn't even a compliment to begin with.