Episode 24

The boy wearing sunglasses and holding calipers was Aidel.

He had just smashed the head of an android that was approaching from the opposite direction.

“Uh?”

It happened in the blink of an eye.

Rustila, who had been staring in shock, realized the gravity of the situation.

What Aidel had done was undoubtedly vandalism.

“You, you… what are you doing?”

“Removing the surveillance devices,” Aidel replied nonchalantly as he removed his sunglasses. He had damaged the android’s auditory system, extracted a small black box from inside it, and crushed it.

Rustila, with her keen insight, immediately understood Aidel’s intentions.

She knew he had done it to help her.

But it was too much.

“This is breaking someone else’s property. It’s property damage! You know that’s wrong…!”

“Even if it was your family’s property?”

“…”

“…Sorry, but this is just how I am,” Aidel said with indifference.

“I’ve lived like this my entire life.”

His golden eyes shone with resolve.

His demeanor suggested that his reputation was already tarnished, so committing such an act didn’t bother him in the slightest.

Rustila, who was about to protest, fell silent instead.

What was the point in arguing?

Aidel was a good person.

The stars forming the galaxy said so. The Constellations don’t lie.

“Good luck with your interview, Rustila.”

With those words, Aidel departed gracefully.

Looking around, Rustila noticed there were no CCTV cameras. To be precise, she was in a blind spot.

The android accompanying Aidel adjusted its appearance.

It was, indeed, the perfect crime.

They were no strangers to such acts.

It was then that Vega, the God of Purity and Persistence, spoke.

Rustila swallowed hard at that revelation.

Descartes Legion referred to the Outer Gods and their monstrous minions who slowly eroded human free will, turning individuals into puppets.

Among the Four Legions, this one was the most difficult to contend with, primarily because of its intangible nature.

Ultimately, the afflicted person had to endure it themselves. Rustila, with her compassionate heart, felt a deep sense of despair at her inability to help Aidel.

If Vega’s assessment was correct, it was fortunate that the violence manifested in the same way as before. At least there was no physical harm to others.

Aidel’s patience must be immense.

Being labeled a troublemaker alone indicated a significant level of tolerance.

Otherwise, he would have either lost his mind or ended up in prison long ago.

Rustila sighed. The past was unchangeable.

Since the eavesdropping android seemed to have disappeared, she could now proceed with her interviews with more ease.

Rustila saw this as an act of kindness from Aidel.

Accepting that kindness and focusing on her current goals was indeed the best course of action.

Three days earlier, when Rustila mentioned eavesdropping, I realized her parents had deceived her.

The evidence was in a passage from a novel I had read.

[…a gigantic beast swallowed Zelnya whole. Her lower half vanished without a trace.]

[Zelnya screamed until her death, but the walls of the building, often used for interviews, were exceptionally soundproof.]

[Nobody heard her dying screams…]

This part stood out vividly in a novel spanning over 1800 episodes.

Given such a description, it was highly likely that the story about Rustila’s parents sending an eavesdropping android was a lie.

The real bugging devices must have been installed elsewhere.

With this deduction, I had scouted the surrounding area the day before.

Finding the actual bugging devices wasn’t too difficult…

…Thanks to Cartesia’s assistance.

As long as I maintained my sanity, the Outer God could offer help beyond that of a Constellation. It was a high-risk, high-reward situation.

I had destroyed all the bugging devices the day before. They were cleverly concealed.

However, I surmised that this alone wouldn’t completely alleviate Rustila’s anxiety.

Therefore, I orchestrated an event.

I brought an obsolete 3rd generation android that had reached the end of its service life, timed its entrance perfectly, and then smashed its head. That was the event.

Rustila might not be pleased with my actions.

But if it could give her some peace of mind…

That was enough for me.

Rustila had to pass the interview at all costs.

That was the way to minimize anomalies.

I was contemplating this when…

“Whoa, who do we have here?”

A girl approached and initiated conversation.

“I’m here for my interview too; what a coincidence.”

Distracted by my thoughts, I slowly looked up.

Silver hair fluttered in the air.

Purple eyes.

A prominent forehead.

And that unmistakable, haughty demeanor.

Zelnya von Adelwein was standing over me, arms crossed, as I sat.

I looked away, pretending not to notice her.

Then, Zelnya sat down beside me.

“It seems you did well on the written test?”

She began to speak.

“Don’t assume you scored higher than me. When I did a preliminary scoring, I had a perfect score.”

“…”

“To be honest, this test was easier than the private one we took last time. It would have been more challenging if they had included college-level material… are you listening?”

“Ah, yes.”

Being approached by a beautiful girl wasn’t inherently bad.

But at the moment, it was uncomfortable.

Just being associated with her was discomforting.

Zelnya was the final boss of the ‘Surviving Outer Gods’ (SOG) college arc.

She excelled in every aspect and aspired to transcend humanity. Her ambition to become a god-like being was strong, but her heart was too corrupt to make a contract with the Constellations, so she turned to an Outer God and succumbed to madness.

Thus, Zelnya flawlessly completed the quests given by the Outer God for a time. As a result, Stellarium began to crumble from within, and by the time the protagonist arrived, it was internally shattered.

In the last chapter of the College Arc, Zelnya, as the student council president, confronted the protagonist.

And the outcome was…

‘Spa-spare me…’

The Outer God she had contracted with revealed that Zelnya was merely an ordinary human. Only then did she shed her arrogance, but by that time, it was too late for redemption.

While her fate was tragic, it was still uncertain whether Zelnya could be an ally.

Regardless of her awareness, Zelnya continued to speak without pause, her arrogance permeating her words.

“…Anyway, by that logic, I’m ranked first, and you’re second. I acknowledge that second place is an achievement. But in the end, the world only remembers the first. You should understand that. On the day of the entrance ceremony, it will be me who stands at the podium as the representative of the new students.”

Before I realized it, she had finished speaking and was looking at me expectantly.

“Be careful. Everything can change in an instant.”

She meant to warn me that despite a good performance on the written test, one could still fail miserably in the interview.

I responded with a smile.

“Sure.”

“Next, please come in.”

When it was my turn, I entered the interview room.

The interview process resembled that of graduate school admissions. First, you select a problem, then solve it. Next, you explain the solution to the interviewer and engage in a Q&A session.

After discussing the problem-solving, the interviewer inquires about your future plans or intentions after admission, evaluating your personality and ambition.

I had chosen a physics problem and finished explaining my solution.

One of the interviewers nodded and posed a question.

“Did you do any advanced studying, by any chance?”

“I did not,” I replied.

“Why not?”

“I chose to focus on mastering the basics instead.”

“Was there not enough time to study?”

“I made the most of every moment.”

I navigated the intense interview with ease.

While answering, I scrutinized each interviewer’s face, checking if any were prominent characters from the novel.

Of course, identifying them was not straightforward.

Then, one interviewer, with a neat hairstyle and thick eyebrows, laughed heartily.

“Haha, aren’t we putting too much pressure on the student?”

He appeared young and not like a typical ‘teacher.’ His attire and the gleam in his eyes suggested he was no ordinary person.

The interviewer shifted the conversation and asked, “Could you explain question number three using a method other than energy conservation?”

The question he referred to was about the principle of a light bulb lighting up in a simple circuit connected to a resistor. It was a basic concept that even a middle school student could explain as ‘the energy from the battery flows to the bulb.’

However, a more complex explanation would require knowledge of electromagnetism at the college level. It was certainly not a question for a high school entrance exam candidate.

Realizing this, I deduced the interviewer’s identity.

A small smile appeared on my lips.

“…Of course.”

It seemed I had found my second thesis advisor.