There are unforgettable memories.
Everyday life that passes by, countless memories, and among all the sights I’ve seen in my lifetime, there’s a scene that sticks like a thorn, impossible to forget.
“What the… is this?”
Thick smoke rises. A massive fortress, ordinary homes, well-maintained roads, and the corpses of those who were once human.
All burn equally. Everything in sight is consumed by flames.
… No, that’s wrong.
It’s not dying; it’s already all dead.
I’ve arrived after the lives of those who lived in this kingdom have ended.
The setting sun casts its dying light, with only the sun rising beyond the mountains looking down at it all equally.
And there was someone watching all of it.
A familiar figure from behind.
“… Adam? Adam Keynes?”
“… Ah.”
“W-Why is the Finance Director here…?”
An unexpected scene, a sudden meeting, and a figure I wondered why was here.
Not even a year after I graduated from Grandis Academy, it collapsed.
I heard that the Headmistress died and Adam left for somewhere.
I hadn’t heard from him in years and hadn’t met him…… so why is he here?
“Long time no see, Ruth. How long has it been?”
“Well, it’s been over three years since I graduated, I guess.”
A conversation that couldn’t be more ordinary in the face of a landscape filled with flames and death.
Perhaps because of the gap between reality and the calmness of Adam’s voice, I felt a chill.
Why is Adam.
Calmly looking at that hellfire?
“What happened, Finance Director…?”
“Isn’t it fascinating?”
“W-What do you mean?”
“I’m smoking a much stronger drug than ever before, and now there’s no one to take away the side effects and toxicity, but my mind is clearer than ever. Am I dying, or am I coming back to life?”
An unknowable riddle.
Perhaps he didn’t expect an answer, as Adam muttered before casually continuing.
“It’s not a big deal. I just burned it all down.”
“Uh, what?”
“It wasn’t hard. The fire caught on faster than I thought. It burned brightly, just like that day in the academy.”
Thud.
From atop the hill, Adam looked down at the burning kingdom.
As if to mix the rising smoke from there with his own cigarette smoke, he waved his hand.
It was an incomprehensible action, and unlike during the academy days, Adam turned quietly with eyes that didn’t show any fatigue.
“You wouldn’t know, but there’s a saying about catching bugs and burning down the house.”
“Huh? What do you mean…?”
“It means that someone is foolish enough to burn their house while trying to catch bugs. But it suddenly occurred to me. At least if I did it this way, I could surely eradicate the bugs.”
It had been three years since I last met Adam, and he had changed in some way.
His bleached hair, worn robes, and even his cigarette were all the same.
But he no longer spoke formally.
No longer looked tired.
And the cigarette smoke was much more potent than before.
Most importantly.
“So I did. That’s all.”
“… Finance Director.”
“Sorry, just call me by my name.”
“Huh?”
“The only person who could call me Finance Director is gone now.”
Those eyes. They seemed not so different from three years ago.
But after graduating from the academy, while searching for the ‘Dark Sword,’ I realized.
The madness lurking deep within his eyes. Those were the eyes of those obsessed with the Dark Sword.
Only those who are desperately driven mad can have those eyes.
“Ad-… Finance Director. I can’t believe it, but you’re now obsessed with the Dark Sword. I don’t know how you came into contact with that sword, but I can help you…”
“Ah, I see. It could look that way.”
“… What?”
“I did come into contact with it. I cleared the academy part, but I accidentally saw the location and acquisition method for the Dark Sword in a walkthrough I stumbled upon.”
“No, huh? What?”
The academy part? A walkthrough? Accidentally?
Watching Adam mumble something, I was convinced.
The Adam I see now is crazy. He’s gone mad from the Dark Sword, and because of that, he burned down this small kingdom in the outskirts.
‘Crimes cannot be erased.’
Having known Adam from our time together at the academy, I aimed to help him atone for his sins and return him to how he was back in the day.
“But I couldn’t hold onto rank 1. That’s really disappointing… Ah, it’s about time.”
“Hold on, Adam. Right now—”
“Let’s start.”
Saying that, Adam, who didn’t even care about me holding my sword, spoke to the sun beyond the mountains.
I thought it was clearly the behavior of a madman.
“Drop it, Chloe.”
“… Cl, Chloe?”
KABOOM!!!
As soon as Adam’s small voice finished, the sun beyond the mountain moved.
… No, that wasn’t the sun. It was just so enormous that I mistook it for the sun.
A massive Fireball that could engulf an entire mountain, dimming even the light of the real sun behind it.
A powerful magic that surpassed even the level of rank 7, only comparable to an imperial archmage.
It falls.
And.
“I’m done, Adam.”
“Thanks, Chloe.”
“Don’t mention it, we’re on the same side. But who is this…?”
“Don’t you remember? Ruth Spero. The one who was always last.”
“The one you always fussed about back in the academy? You’re not still worrying about him, are you?”
“Well, it’s true I did back then…”
──PERO!
“Not anymore.”
──Ruth!
“… It doesn’t matter anymore.”
──SPERO!
“Ruth Spero!!”
“….”
“Ruth Spero! This is the last warning, drop your sword!”
In that moment, my consciousness returned to reality. The vivid memories I couldn’t forget flew to the back of my mind.
The scent of burning bodies and buildings, the sun and sunset falling down, the drastically changed Adam, and Chloe protecting his side.
Even if I were to return to the past, I could never forget those things.
How long was I captivated by those memories?
It was already too late. The exam supervisor and several professors had completely surrounded us. Even though the opponent was a student, they showed no signs of letting their guard down, being rank 6.
“… Adam.”
And at the tip of the sword extended before me stands Adam Keynes.
The one who approached and helped me when I was struggling and being mocked as the eternal last place. The one I thought of as a benefactor.
Yet he had ultimately become the destroyer of the world.
Even after that ‘memory,’ Adam and Chloe traveled everywhere, causing numerous massacres and deaths. I desperately pursued them, but it was as if they knew how I would move, and I couldn’t catch them.
In the end, using the rank 8 monsters from the western wilderness of the empire, they crushed the dominant empire.
In this shattered world.
After killing Chloe, at last, I met Adam…
Clink!
“… I’m sorry; my head is spinning; it’s hard to tell what’s what.”
“Phew… I understand for now. I’ll retrieve the sword for the time being.”
“What should we do about Ruth Spero?”
“According to the familiar’s records, it says Kaern Deste came at him unprovoked. Ruth Spero was naturally acting in self-defense.”
After dropping the sword, I could hear the conversation of the relieved exam supervisor and professors.
Millia and Beatrice approached me, sitting down on the dirt ground.
“Ruth, are you okay?”
“Ruth, are you all right…?”
“… I’m fine. I’m sorry.”
“No, the fault lies with the youngest knight who acted so recklessly…”
“Y-Yeah, it seems the evaluation of being half-crazed might be correct.”
Beatrice and Millia were saying something to me, but I couldn’t hear them. The chilling murderous intent from behind Adam affected only me, and I ignored it completely.
I simply.
Gazed at Adam Keynes, as if still not understanding the situation.
*
What’s with that look? Why is he glaring at me like that? Did I do something?
I briefly watched Ruth being led away by a plain female student before turning my head. After hearing the circumstances, it seemed this time it wasn’t the protagonist’s fault.
Instead, I called out to a familiar figure behind me.
“Princess Beatrice?”
“… Th-That’s Adam.”
“What are you doing? Are you okay…?”
“D-Don’t come any closer!”
“Huh?”
“Y-You’re all dirty, and you haven’t even washed properly…”
Ah, I can’t blame her. It’s been three days stranded on a deserted island; I wouldn’t want to show such a state to someone I know either.
To consider Beatrice hiding behind a tree, I turned my gaze elsewhere.
“Anyway, are you feeling alright?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“That’s a relief. The exam will resume shortly, so for now, take a break.”
“Y-Yes…”
I left Beatrice like this and gestured to the Headmistress, who was about to rush in when Ruth pointed his sword at me to stop.
I looked down at the full plate armor as I was sternly dragged by the exam supervisor and professors.
“Are you Kaern Deste?”
“Yes.”
“Do you acknowledge that you broke the rules during the exam and used your power?”
“Of course! Knights don’t lie!”
“Then you can surely uphold your pride as a knight.”
“I certainly can!”
Good.
Did you just say that with your own mouth?
“Headmistress, please.”
“I understand, Finance Director.”
“W-Wait, Headmistress!?”
“Headmistress! Have you come in person?”
“The exam supervisor and professors, please organize the area. I will speak to Kaern Deste.”
“Yes!”
The supervisors and professors, who didn’t want to be next to the Headmistress, hurriedly moved.
For some reason, as soon as Kirke saw the Headmistress, he looked terrified, even as I stopped him from running straight out.
Why did they act that way, thinking she would be horrifying? Did something happen afterward?
Well, whatever happened is none of my business.
As the Headmistress approached Kaern, who seemed to be in a bad mood possibly because of Ruth, he trembled all over.
If that was a chill or a surge of pride, I could acknowledge it.
But judging by the way his teeth clattered, it seems more like fear. A fake madness.
“Kaern Deste.”
“Y-Yes!”
“You’ve done a good job, haven’t you? From the report, it seems you disregarded the rules entirely and even struck Ruth Spero with a slash mimicking Sword Aura, is that true?”
“N-No, it’s not!”
Hey, you said knights don’t lie.
Surprised by the lie he blurted out without a moment’s hesitation, the Headmistress was momentarily taken aback, but she furrowed her brow at the professor from the field of magic, who had operated the familiar.
“How shameless you are with your lies.”
“I’m sorry! I’ll take full responsibility!”
“Responsibility, then that means you’ll have to compensate, right?”
“Y-Yes? But, according to the rules, damages within the academy…”
“Does Kaern Deste see this place as the academy?”
“Ah.”
He knew that, and yet he was so boldly saying he would take responsibility.
The youngest knight, Kaern Deste, was a character like that even in Dark Kingdom. Rather than a stout knight, he was quite cunning; his speech was always lively.
However, before the angered Headmistress, it seemed even his loud mouth would fall silent.
“I own these islands of the Ruftlagina Archipelago. Naturally, this is not the academy.”
“….”
“If you’ve turned the center of the island into a mess and removed many trees, how much would the compensation be?”
At the Headmistress’s words, Kaern’s face turned pale.
Money is Kaern’s greatest weakness.
Coming from a baron’s family, Kaern Deste hoards the sponsorships and funds that come in. It’s to raise his family’s status to that of a baron.
Thus, he had a miserly trait even in the game, but if he pays compensation now, his balance will be wiped out, and it would be impossible for him to cover it.
… Of course, this was a part I had worked out with the Headmistress beforehand.
‘I’m seriously taking care of an island that would have just been ignored.’
Compensation? The previous Headmistress wouldn’t have cared at all. Had it not been for me, this archipelago wouldn’t even have been used at an academy level.
Not that I was planning on causing an accident to extort compensation, either. No matter how much I needed to secure finances, a headmistress who fundamentally cares for students wouldn’t allow that method.
I just intended to lower the midterm exam costs, but I never expected to catch such a ‘big fish.’
The youngest knight, Kaern Deste, was also one of the targets I had my sights set on. So I was watching from various angles, but I never imagined I’d get wrapped up like this.
Thus, from the moment I heard the report from the supervisor that it looked like Kaern was responsible, I contacted the Headmistress in advance.
‘It’s true that the protagonist suddenly pointed a sword at me, which almost made the Headmistress blow up, but…’
Anyway, by chance, things turned out this way.
The Headmistress said to the trembling Kaern what we had agreed upon beforehand.
“But no matter how promising a prospect you are, called the youngest knight, it would be difficult to bear the compensation alone.”
“Y-Yes! I’m very sorry!”
“Then you should talk to your guardian, right?”
“… Huh?”
I’m not talking about Kaern’s parents. Those two have already passed away from sickness.
I’m not trying to say anything mean either; for Kaern now, talking about a guardian means one person.
“The one who appointed you as a knight, Lord Julius.”
“…!!!”
“Wow, that little kid is now the captain of the royal knights; that’s surprising. But since he appointed you as a knight, he must take on his share of responsibility.”
“I-Headmistress!”
“Anyway, since Kaern is disqualified, once you return to the port city, send a letter to that Julius guy immediately.”
──To come to Grandis Academy as soon as possible.
“That will be enough.”
“Ah…”
“And one more thing. I care for and take consideration of all students at the academy equally.”
But.
“Students who break the rules as they wish, and even try to exploit those very rules.”
“….”
“Well, they might be disliked a little.”
Kaern’s expression fell as if the world had crumbled.
As Kirke saw the Headmistress’s smile, he trembled all over as well.
I quietly recalled Lord Julius.
‘Lord Julius. A rank 7 swordsman, disciple of Count Claudia. The current captain of the royal knights and…’
Even as a knight, he has significantly more money than most merchants or nobles.
One of the richest individuals in the kingdom.
‘A treasure chest… No, Lord Julius.’
Now.
I’m going to meet him.
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