Chapter 176: Consecutively
[A/N: At the end of every month, I’ll be mentioning the Top 3 Golden Ticket donators and the Top 5 Power Stone donators in the Author’s Note! Thank you all for the support! ❤️]
Right after that, the female students decided the order and went to take a bath.
The hot water had been prepared by Folia and the adventurers.
When the female students spotted the female adventurers, they crowded around them for a reunion after a long time, and the adventurers smiled with troubled faces.
Especially the two most popular adventurers were being led to the bath by the students, and I laughed when I saw it.
"’We’ve already gone in!’ ’You’ll overheat~!’" they had shouted, but since they weren’t rejecting it, I thought they might actually be enjoying it.
I wanted to know what it felt like to enter the men’s bath, so Roy and I went in.
When I muttered that it was too big for just two men, Roy nodded with a wry smile.
After soaking up to my shoulders and letting out a sigh of relief, Roy, sitting in the bath a bit apart on his own, suddenly asked,
"Raide-sensei, when you feel fear, how do you deal with it?"
"...It depends on the content of the fear. For the fear of possibly losing someone, I prepare myself. For the fear of fighting, I recall what I need to protect and deal with it. Everyone has their own way of dealing at the moment, so it’s hard to explain in words. Did something happen?"
"That... every time I feel the sensation of getting stronger, I think, ’Can I kill someone to protect them?’"
Roy pulled one hand out of the bath, looked at his palm, and smiled wryly while glancing at me sideways.
The event had started...
This event was originally something Groog would have consulted about, and the trigger condition was Roy and me entering the bath together.
It triggered when Roy’s longsword mastery exceeded 35. Depending on the answer, it could easily make you kill someone.
If that happened, your lovers’ affection would drop, and when you tried to persuade them not to kill, you couldn’t finish the enemy.
When you couldn’t finish the enemy, the revived enemy would steal your lover—that event would occur, so players were being persuaded to kill.
In the game, there were only about three choices, but here Roy had a heart in reality.
When I faced Roy and our eyes met, I spoke in the gentlest voice possible.
"I think I can handle any response to an enemy I’ve decided on."
"Then, after all..."
"But when deciding who is an enemy, I think carefully and make up my mind before judging them."
"Carefully, you say?"
"Yeah... For example, suppose Roy is suddenly attacked by someone you don’t know. What would you do?"
"I’ll probably... no, I’ll definitely counterattack."
"Even if they’re being controlled?"
"Eh, in that case I’ll run away."
"Then, someone else will be attacked instead?"
"That’s... impossible."
Roy crossed his arms and thought, and I smiled a little at him.
There was no answer to this question, but as someone who fought on the battlefield, everyone thought about it.
This was the situation I had when I was fighting ordinary people who were marionetted on the battlefield, and I was asking it to Roy.
At first I had resigned myself because I had to attack, but then I regretted it after hearing their last words.
If that happened, my heart would be exhausted and strength would leave my body, and especially in war I couldn’t stand on the battlefield anymore.
To comfort Roy as much as possible, I placed one hand on his shoulder and said,
"There is no answer to this problem. Everyone keeps thinking about it, and no one thinks it’s okay to kill. So you decide with resolve."
"...Resolve?"
"Yeah, a resolve that doesn’t shake you. You’re told not to regret, but there is no one who doesn’t regret. When you regret, you decide a resolve that doesn’t break you. That’s what I do."
"A resolve that doesn’t break..."
"To obtain that resolve, you accumulate knowledge. Knowledge only helps when judging enemies."
"Just knowledge... so I can grasp the situation?"
"Right. Maybe under certain situations you could even help the person who attacked you. Well, the best is to stay calm, but... hahaha, I couldn’t do that and got scolded by the captain a lot."
I laughed while saying that I had learned it while getting scolded by the captain and Taylor during the war, and Roy relaxed his shoulders and listened to me with a laugh.
I smiled and told him it was good to prepare for resolve even if there wasn’t an immediate answer, and Roy laughed wryly.
When Roy said, "Knowledge is also necessary to get stronger," I smiled and lightly patted his shoulder as a reply.
"If you can’t hold it anymore, rely on your lovers—they’ll happily support you."
"Yeah... I will."
Roy nodded several times, and the anxiety disappeared as he smiled with a clear expression.
After a while of casual talk with Roy, we left the bath and headed to the first floor of the Fiera Dormitory with him.
Well... maybe I should say it was a correct decision that male adventurers couldn’t enter...
The beautiful female students who had taken baths were relaxing on sofas or lying on the floor.
Roy smiled wryly, hid his body behind me so the female students couldn’t see, and I laughed when I saw that.
I wasn’t saying it, but since I would eventually build a harem, if Roy was embarrassed this much he wouldn’t last?
When I pointed to the back bar counter at Roy, he firmly nodded and tried to laugh again, but held it in.
If he laughed too much, Roy would feel sorry, and I couldn’t say anything about others either.
The reason was that in my peripheral vision I saw Erika and the three song princesses—Rinelle, Porth, and Porte—watching this way.
...Even if I wasn’t staring with narrowed eyes, I wasn’t trying to stretch my nose.
Letting out a small sigh, I walked with Roy toward the counter. Suddenly Roy was called by one of the female students.
Konru, a timid-looking female student with short brown hair.
Her training had been going well, and her fighting style using magic was wonderful.
Roy told me to go ahead, smiled, and began consulting with Konru.
...Hey hey, consecutive second event?
While Roy and Konru’s figures were in my peripheral vision, I sighed so no one would notice as I headed to the counter.
This event would last for three days. If Roy rejected Konru’s request, Konru would be found attacked a few days later.
Roy would lose confidence from regret and would not leave his lovers, but his affection would drop.
In the game there was no depiction of her being attacked, but the research team had examined parents’ stories of NPCs and Konru and concluded it was rape.
Conversely, depending on Roy’s choice, a lot of trust from his lovers would decrease.
But trust only decreased if Roy didn’t talk much to his lovers or left them alone, and looking at the current Roy and his lovers, it probably wouldn’t decrease.
In that case, this event was better for Roy to accept from Konru.
That’s why I hadn’t deliberately joined the conversation... and I hadn’t warned the twins either.
While sitting at the counter and watching Roy and Konru, I glanced sideways at the twins smiling happily with "kusu kusu."
The twins had long black hair reaching past their shoulders, with straight bangs cut evenly.
One had a cry-and-black mark under her right eye (Scon), and the other under her left eye (Micon).
Actually, this event was caused by the twins’ bad prank. If Roy helped Konru, the twins would be attacked.
This event wasn’t depicted in the game either, but after this the twins would develop a male phobia.
From lines like "No, I’m sorry!" and "Don’t come near me, I’m sorry!" the research team had concluded that instead of Konru they had been raped.
I thought an apology prank was necessary, but... attacking was overdoing it.
The maid of Erika at the back of the counter poured me wine, I took a sip from the glass, and set it down while thinking.
When I was wondering what to do, Roy came and sat beside me, and the maid served fruit juice. Roy told me Konru was troubled, so from tomorrow she would return home with his lovers.
Roy’s choice up to now was perfect, but what to do about the twins...
When I asked if he knew the culprit, thanks to the research team I had a general idea.
But... no, I should believe Roy.
Like when Renne, Roy had given an answer I hadn’t imagined at all.
When I looked sideways at Roy, he tilted his head with a puzzled look.
"Raide-sensei, what’s wrong?"
"No, it’s nothing. Roy, don’t stop thinking."
"Don’t stop thinking...?"
"It’s about the bath talk. If you stop thinking, fear will come and your heart will die. Understand?"
"...Yes."
I placed one hand on Roy’s shoulder as he nodded strongly, and when he nodded back we started casual talk.
While thinking about how to move from tomorrow...