197 – Cooperation
I woke up on a bed in the club room. I gazed blankly at the clouds on the ceiling that moved freely, then I got up with my mind slowly waking up.
There was no one in the club room. The table, which should have been full of bottles and snacks that had not been cleaned, was neatly organized for some reason. I’ve never heard of a sleepwalker who cleans up while I’m asleep, so Estelle seems to have cleaned up while I was asleep. It was a surprising discovery that the guild leader of Modist was a snail.
With a strange feeling, I roughly swept her face once. Estelle is probably the shortest girl in Transcendence Academy. Although she was a year older, Estelle, whom she had always treated as a cute little sister for her small frame, felt like a sister for the first time last night.
I never expected that Estelle, a mesgaki position who always wants to feed me honey chestnuts, would sternly reprimand me for my mistakes and comfort me kindly, so the shock I feel may be greater. Perhaps this is like a gap between Mesgaki and her crush. She shook her head violently at her useless thoughts.
Looking at the wall clock in the club room, it was 11:00. It’s an ambiguous time. Last night, I had never promised to have a meal separately with the members. It is the weekend following the triathlon festival. Everyone will enjoy it on their own. Before thinking about what to do, I decided to wash.
I went back to the island, took a light shower, and changed back into my school uniform. Since another academy is going back next week, there was an order from the school to wear school uniforms even on weekends to distinguish students from outsiders.
It is relaxed. Perhaps this relaxation will continue until the end of the second semester. Now that the triathlon is over, all that remains is the paid exam. Still, I got an extra point thanks to the joint win, so as long as I don’t do stupid things, I don’t have to worry about being suspended.
Contemplating what to do then, I tried to open the door of the club room and go straight to the library as it popped into my head.
Knock-
Something heavy was placed in front of the door and the door did not open properly. It reminded me of the experience of a package sent by someone blocking the door, so let’s check through the crack in the door. Unusual orange curly hair caught my eye.
I was about to close the door again, but a white hand quickly came in through the crack in the door. I let go of the doorknob with a sigh, and Eunice, who was sitting on the hallway floor, opened the door.
Eunice met my gaze, cleared her throat once, and greeted me.
“Hello.”
“Yes, from morning… No, what’s going on in a corner like this where no one visits since early lunch. If possible, clarify the purpose of your visit in detail at once.”
Although the messiah club room is located in the main building of the academy, it is located in the hallway on the 2nd basement floor. There is even a small door at the end of the hallway, so inconspicuous as to be mistaken for a wall if you don’t look closely.
If it is not for the purpose of visiting the Messiah Club, this is a place that people cannot reach. I have never seen anyone with a unique adventurous spirit who comes to see what is at the end of this hallway out of curiosity.
Eunice lifted her chin slightly at my brusque answer.
“I have something to tell you. I have something to ask.”
It’s obvious what Eunice will say. It’s about the triathlon. I scratched my forehead and nodded at her.
“After the second game… i found out about you What was the fighting style like, how did you become the head of the combat department, how was the dueling match when you became the second in the first year…. So I evaluated you as you look. An arrogant noble with a dangerous and bold personality to the point of burning the island down for his own gain.”
That’s a wild guess. Needless to say, Eunice slowly shook her head as if denying her words.
“After the game, I recognized you again. This time, the focus is on your personal life. What was your usual academy life like, and how are your friendships? Only then did I know The evaluation I made was just the image you wanted to show. I mean I was hasty.”
Eunis smiled bitterly, mixed with self-deprecation.
“You weren’t even an arrogant noble. Because of the special admission, I was pointed at, and I was compared and ignored by my older brother. At first, I was evaluated as an inferior student, but after hard work, I rose to the position of chief of the combat department. Although burning the island is said to be an expedient, he became the head of the combat department by creating a record-breaking incident that will be recorded in Transcendence Academy. However, even after becoming the head of the combat department, he did not step out to repay the sorrow he had suffered in the past, and even though he was promoted to the second rank in the first year, he never showed off to others.”
To point out what Eunice said, I don’t have anyone to brag about. Speaking of my friendships, I didn’t have anyone with whom I could have a casual conversation except for the club members.
If I had to include it, would it be Nabie, whom I became close with through other things? That said, I won’t do anything embarrassing about showing off my pride to Navier. The comrades in the combat department had a rough relationship from the beginning because of what happened during the entrance ceremony, and there were no overlapping subjects with other departments, so there was nothing to do.
“Before you were eliminated in the last match, you dared to reveal to me that Roel is a Transcendentalist. If he had hidden Roel’s power and was aiming for the last thrilling come-from-behind victory, he wouldn’t have done that.”
I asked Eunice playfully.
“Because it was regrettable that I was eliminated as it was. It could have been an accidental act to ridicule you guys.”
Eunis raised both hands and stirred the air as if to thrust them into me. It’s like throwing something invisible.
“No, it can’t be accidental. Right before I was eliminated, you secretly raised your finger at me and pointed to the sky. The intention was to check the score floating in the sky. As it was, if Roel defeated the Kraken, Elasium would be the sole winner. If so, your plan to send Roel to Kraken alone was a failure, and the plans of other academies who were aiming for a joint championship must have also failed.”
Eunice, who spoke quickly like a detective explaining a reasoning, raised her index finger and pointed at my face with a determined expression.
“If you weren’t aware of our goal of winning a joint title, your actions don’t explain it. You created a common enemy from the start, diverted people’s attention to yourself, and worked behind the scenes on a plan to jointly win four academies. How about it, is my reasoning wrong?”
My lips twitched involuntarily at the sight of Eunice raising her head proudly and looking at me. Could this be Watson’s feeling as he listens to Sherlock Holmes’ reasoning? I’d like to clap my hands in admiration, but I’m not in a situation where I’m roommates with the orange-curly-haired Holmes yet. Now that this is the case, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to seek help from Holmes.
I pointed to the hallway.
“I was thinking of going to the library.”
At the words without context, Eunice tilted her head slightly and looked at the corridor my fingertips were pointing at.
“By the way?”
“I’ll give you a choice. One is to briefly hear the answer you want here. The other is stopping by the library together and helping me with my research. To receive lunch in return and a kind and truthful explanation from the person behind the plot.”
Eunis made a strange expression at my suggestion. As if trying to understand my intentions, he added to the slightly frowning look.
“Of course, I intend to answer the question sincerely. How is it?”
At my question, Eunice, full of freckles, smiled.
***
Even though the triathlon was over, the atmosphere of the festival was still going on outside the academy. There, today is the weekend. Even those who couldn’t watch the triathlon because they were busy with work had to make time for their families even if they were tired today.
Thanks to this, a large number of people gathered, and it was not enough to fill the temporary tent installed in the academy, so they waited for a long time. Just watching it makes me feel like something is going fast.
Fortunately, the library, far from the bustling atmosphere of the academy, was quieter than usual. Eunice, who occupied a seat at a table in the corner of the quiet library, looked at me and asked.
“So, what are you looking for?”
After organizing in my head what I wanted to explain to Eunice’s question, I answered.
“Hmm, how to break the curse that binds something? Or a way to get out of some restrictions.”
Eunice’s eyebrows furrowed at the plain answer.
“You have to explain it somewhat precisely so that you can find something similar.”
I couldn’t tell Eunice about everything right now. I was worried and explained as similarly as possible.
“It is a curse that activates restrictions when certain actions are performed on a certain person. The condition of restriction is fainting.”
After hearing my explanation, Eunice pondered for a while, then got up and went to find the book. On behalf of Eunice, who cannot use the Forbidden Books Area, she searched for the ring of oath using the librarian’s book in the Forbidden Books Area, but nothing came out. He narrowed his search and returned to the table for books on oaths and curses.
Eunice, who was sitting next to her and flipping through the pages as if she were speed-reading, stopped her hand and turned her head to me.
“According to most books, breaking the curse itself is quite difficult. There are many different methods depending on the type of curse, and the power is also different. Killing the cursed target or destroying the cursed item is one way, but… Rather, the curse becomes more powerful, or there is a risk of being subjected to an even more curse.”
At Eunice’s words, I scratched my forehead. After all, the expedient doesn’t work?
Eunice, who had turned her head and stared blankly at her book, said abruptly.
“Based on your words, I thought of it simply as a deduction method. If the assumption that the method of invoking the curse is a special condition of targeting a certain person is correct, then it might be possible to solve it in a way other than destroying it. It’s kind of an expedient, but….”
Soon, after hearing Eunice’s explanation, I involuntarily exclaimed without a filter. Eunice’s hypothesis had plenty of potential.
“You are a genius.”
Perhaps she felt embarrassed by my admiration, Eunice’s freckled face turned a little more red.
Where his int stats? He is dumb now wtf