Protagonist And Final Boss

Having safely advanced to their fourth year, Rudel and the others were discussing their plans for the future in the academy cafeteria. Seated around the round table were Luecke, Unias, and Izumi… and joining the usual group this time was Aleist.

Since it was already a little past lunchtime, there were few people in the cafeteria. In that quiet setting, Aleist muttered complaints under his breath while eating the cakes spread across the table.

“Why did you have to call me here too? I was supposed to make myself look cool in the tournament! And I’ve only grown even more distant from Milia since Valentine’s Day… Haah.”

“Valentine’s? Was that chocolate-giving thing some kind of festival?”

Sipping his tea, Luecke completely ignored Aleist’s complaints and latched onto only the word “Valentine’s.”

“That was the thing you did at the end of third year, right? Rudel and Izumi made chocolate together and exchanged it… So what kind of festival is it?”

Unias likewise ignored Aleist’s complaints and demanded an explanation of Valentine’s Day.

“…I’m not telling you.”

Aleist looked away from the two and attempted a small act of resistance.

“Apparently, you give chocolate to someone you like. Aleist and the others were working so hard making chocolate that I got curious and asked them, and that was what they told me… So I gave some to Izumi too.”

Rudel answered without a hint of embarrassment.

(Actually, it’s supposed to be women giving chocolate to men… Why were we taking the chocolate-making so seriously in the first place? Before I knew it, a bunch of girls gathered around, ate half of it while sampling, and I never even managed to give any to Milia. Should I teach them about White Day while I’m at it?)

Aleist’s little act of resistance meant nothing in the face of Rudel. As he listened to Rudel speak, Aleist debated whether he should tell them the truth.

Luecke interrupted the conversation and moved on to the real subject.

“Well, none of that matters. The issue is how we’re going to spend the next two years. Rudel, that muscle-brain over there, and I can choose freely, but what are you two going to do?”

“If I manage to earn my knight qualification without any problems, I intend to immediately take the Senior Knight examination.”

Izumi lowered her gaze slightly as she answered Luecke’s question. Yes—at this rate, Izumi and Rudel would graduate from the academy two years from now and likely drift apart. The thought made Izumi feel a little lonely.

Aleist, on the other hand, smiled as he thought about enjoying his remaining two years. At the same time, he remembered how this period had played out in the game.

(If I remember right… this was the part of the middle game with the most freedom. You could get close to girls who enrolled around this time too. Most of the other girls’ routes were already pretty far along, but if you didn’t do all sorts of things during this period, things got rough after graduation. The war event was a nightmare otherwise…!?)

Aleist suddenly went pale and shot out of his chair. The other four stared at him as though asking what was wrong, but Aleist failed to notice and began muttering to himself before finally declaring loudly,

“Th-This is seriously bad if things keep going like this… Th-Then I’m the only one who can do it!”

“I don’t know what this is about, but that’s the spirit, Aleist.”

Rudel cheered him on without understanding a thing.

“I’m going to a temple on the frontier. I need to class-change from Magic Swordsman into an ultimate class there.”

“R-Right… Well, good luck.”

Unias had no idea how to respond to Aleist confidently throwing around terms like “class change” and “ultimate class,” so he gave an awkward answer, while Luecke pressed his fingers to his temples and closed his eyes in thought.

(Sometimes I simply cannot understand what Aleist is talking about. He has to go to the frontier to change from a Magic Swordsman into something else? …No, I don’t understand at all. Wouldn’t he simply be learning some new technique? Or is there some hermit living out on the frontier?)

Izumi was equally unsure what to say and decided to ask Rudel for his opinion. Perhaps it was some unusual custom absent from the East, she thought, but when she looked toward Rudel… his eyes were sparkling as he stared at Aleist.

“You can get stronger by going to the frontier?”

“Of course. I became a Magic Swordsman at that temple five years ago, so there’s no doubt about it.”

Seeing Aleist state that with complete certainty, Rudel began seriously considering it.

Rudel himself understood that, at this rate, he would hit his limits before long. It was not as though he neglected his daily training. However, after fighting Luecke, Unias, Aleist, and the others at the academy… he had also realized that he lacked talent.

Given those circumstances, Rudel believed that challenging himself with something new was a good idea if he wanted to become stronger.

“…Then I’m going too.”

“R-Rudel?”

“Hey, get a grip!”

“Don’t do anything rash! This is just Aleist’s usual illness!”

Ignoring Izumi and the others as they tried to stop him, Rudel and Aleist’s journey to the frontier temple was decided then and there.

The Gaia Empire—in the game, it was a nation that existed solely to turn the protagonist into a hero and was never explored in much detail. Inside one room within the Empire, Mies, who had failed her mission and leaked state secrets, had been summoned by a certain individual. Even Mies Licorice’s specialty—or rather, her in-game skill, “Successful Escape”—had been unable to help her flee responsibility, and she had been placed under house arrest.

The Licorice Family had lost considerable political influence because of the incident. All that remained to them were the experimental results and research materials from the monster enhancement project that seemed almost as though it had been developed specifically to entrap them…

The person who had summoned Mies finally entered the room where she was waiting.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

He appeared to be in his late twenties. A man with long, wavy golden hair entered the room wearing expensive clothes in a deliberately loose fashion, and Mies bowed politely. He was tall, with a well-trained physique, and even the way he carried himself gave the impression that he was no ordinary man.

“No, it was no trouble, Your Highness.”

“Don’t be so formal. Call me Askewell or Al, whichever you prefer. From now on, you’re going to be an important collaborator of mine.”

Askewell Gaia… He was the Third Prince of the Empire as well as a general in the Imperial Army. Still smiling, Askewell invited Mies to sit, then began reading the documents he had received in advance. His expression became completely serious.

“Is everything written here true?”

“…Yes.”

Mies told Askewell the truth. As she did, the prince’s initially stern expression gradually transformed into a smile.

“Splendid. Powerful soldiers capable of perfect coordination… I cannot understand why the fools above would scrap this project.”

His words made Mies feel slightly afraid of the prince. However, she told herself this was necessary if the Licorice Family was ever going to regain its political power.

“It wasn’t perfect. And they were completely helpless against a dragon.”

“That is irrelevant. Even Courtois cannot maintain dragons in such great numbers. However… if monsters such as ogres and orcs were enhanced in large quantities and used as soldiers, the troops of Courtois would stand no chance against them.”

Mies honestly knew very little about military affairs. Feeling that she ought to say something, she jokingly mentioned how much food would be required to maintain enhanced ogres and similar monsters.

“They’re certainly easier to maintain than dragons, but enhanced ogres eat far more than ordinary ones. You’d have to expect them to consume at least twice as much.”

Even after hearing that, Prince Askewell’s smile did not change. But Mies found that smile increasingly frightening.

“I already told you that isn’t a problem. There will be plenty of food wherever we invade.”

“Huh?”

“You don’t understand? Or are you deliberately trying not to think about it?… No matter. Humans. Once we invade, there will be plenty of them available. And even if we lose, it won’t be citizens of the Empire who die. It will only be monsters.”

Askewell continued speaking to the confused Mies.

“I’ve prepared a research facility. Start by producing around twenty Enhanced Ogres there. I’ve also secured a location for the experiment… There’s no need to worry. Monsters attacking humans is only natural. Enhanced or not, a monster is still a monster… You have no reason to concern yourself with it.”

This was Askewell Gaia—the final boss of the game.