Chapter 18: The Train to the Academy Always Explodes. - 1
Cassian suddenly brought me a sword, calling it a gift.
The blade had a faint bluish hue, and a cold chill flowed from its edge.
[Cold Sword of the North]
A weapon crafted with painstaking care by a blacksmith of the Logres northern territory.
It has been enchanted with frost magic.
◈ Rank: Rare
◈ Attack Power: 75
◈ Additional Frost-Attribute Damage: 30
◈ Has a certain chance of slowing the enemy’s movements.
Attack Power: 75.
More than twice the attack power of the iron sword I owned.
Of course, it was no Carnwennan, but that dagger was the abnormal one.
With this much attack power, it was a high-grade weapon even among the return-tier weapons available early in the game.
And that was not all—it had additional ice-attribute damage, plus an option that could slow an enemy’s movements at a certain rate.
Carnwennan lacked nothing in either attack power or options, but because it was a dagger, its range was frustratingly short, making it awkward to use as a primary weapon.
This, though? I could use it well into the middle stages.
But.
Why give this to me?
"Brother, what on earth is this..."
"A gift for your enrollment."
Cassian answered as though he had simply happened to bring it along.
An enrollment gift...?
Was this guy originally that kind of character?
Cassian had not been this sort of person in Ian’s memories.
Sure, the Cassian I had seen in the game had been the greatest helper.
Before Dolnesia went to the academy, he had packed her all sorts of things as starter equipment, and if she found herself in danger in the north, Cassian was the character who would rush in to save her.
But that was because Dolnesia had been the female protagonist.
I was an extra with one line in the setting notes.
On top of that, I was his younger brother—a potential threat as a rival for the position of family head.
Of course, I had no interest in becoming family head, and Cassian was already all but confirmed for the role, so we would not be fighting over it.
Still, he had no reason to show me this kind of kindness.
He was giving me a fucking amazing sword as a gift?
Normally, instead of warm gifts like this going back and forth, we should be exchanging knife wounds, shouldn’t we?
Was he just telling me to take this and get lost?
"When one’s younger brother says he intends to pursue great ambitions, is it not only natural for an elder brother to want to place something in his hands?"
Cassian gave a faint smile as he spoke like a character out of a martial arts novel.
There had been no side of him like this in Ian’s memories, either.
In Ian’s memories, Cassian and I had neither a good nor bad relationship. We were simply that kind of distant.
I was fucking bewildered.
He was showing me this kindness, not Dolnesia.
"Ordinarily, it would be proper for me to go, but you and Dolnesia will be going in my place. Take this as a gift to make up for my regret, so do not give it another thought. I should have sent you off with something better, but this is all I can offer you immediately. If anything, I am the one who feels sorry."
Cassian placed a hand on my shoulder and lightly patted it.
Since I was larger than he was, he had to raise his hand a little to do so, but he did not care.
There was no force behind it, nor any mocking intent.
【Cassian de Logres】
◈ Level: 69
◈ The target feels apologetic.
He was simply patting me the way an older brother would pat his younger brother.
"Ah... thank you, Brother."
After hearing my dazed thanks, Cassian turned away as if his business was done and headed toward the family head’s office.
"Take care of yourself. I leave Dolnesia in your care."
Leaving those words behind, he disappeared down the end of the corridor.
Damn it, Cassian...! I like you...!
He was not a man who was only sweet to women. He was simply a young man who loved his family.
I’ll put this to good use, Brother.
Thanks to him, I had acquired a weapon I could milk until the middle stages.
I had needed to prepare for that fucking event which might or might not happen tomorrow, but now I no longer had to.
Now then, shall I check my chivalry rewards?
I opened my inventory.
When I opened it, a row of square slots unfurled before me.
Including this time, I had received two rewards.
As if to say just that, there were two square slots glowing gold.
The first was... some kind of ring.
An ordinary ring without any adornments whatsoever.
Yet, how should I put it? It felt warm.
The ring possessed a warmth that seemed impossible to erase even with the coldness of the sword Brother had given me.
[Holy Maiden’s Ring]
A ring crafted by the Holy Maiden’s knight, who poured his sacred power into it.
◈ Rank: ■■
◈ If damage exceeding current HP is taken, immediately restores HP to 100%.
◈ All stats of undead and demons within 10m in front of you: -10%
◈ 1/1
◈ Upon activation, it reverts to an ordinary ring.
Standing up to the Second Prince had definitely been worth it.
It had just given me an extra life.
The debuff to demons and undead was useful too, but compared to the first ability, it was an absurdly powerful effect that might as well have come with that as a bonus.
It was a shame that it would revert to an ordinary ring after activating, but...
If I thought of it as gaining an extra life... wanting more would be greedy.
Next.
[????’s Egg]
It was some kind of egg.
Just an egg without any description or pattern.
It was about the size of an ostrich egg.
Had they given this to me so I could fry it up and eat it?
Could this perhaps be something like that?
Dawnstar Academia did have eggs like these.
That was because there was a pet system, with pets that raised a character’s stats or fought alongside them.
A pet would not be bad.
It was similar to, but different in concept from, the spirits Dolnesia summoned.
With spirits, you needed to consume a resource like spirit power to summon them, as though using a skill. This little guy would not need that.
It was more like an item that simply toddled along behind the player wherever they went, and could be equipped or unequipped.
Its effects varied too. Simply having one with you could raise your character’s stats, increase item drop rates, or restore HP.
There were pets that fought alongside you as well.
But their attack power tended not to be very high, so their pick rate was quite low.
Since one had appeared anyway, I hoped it would be a pet that gave buffs.
How was I supposed to hatch this? Would it hatch if I just carried it around?
#
The train station was bustling from early morning.
Centered around a dark-gray magitech train in the shape of a steam locomotive, an enormous glass ceiling arched high overhead.
Warm sunlight streamed down through that transparent roof.
When we had gone to the banquet, I had been too busy focusing all my attention on the tuxedo to properly look around.
"This place is amazing no matter how often I come here."
Dawnstar Academia had a medieval setting.
But true to its premise that magitech—a fusion of magic and science—existed, the station felt as though it had stepped out of eighteenth-century Europe.
A medieval setting with the First Industrial Revolution.
Even as I thought what an absurd combination it was, seeing the scene before me naturally made the fact that I had transmigrated into a game feel real.
"I’ll check your tickets for a moment. Lady Dolnesia, Young Master Ian."
Before the train entrance, I handed two tickets to the burly elderly conductor checking them.
"Have a pleasant journey."
With his farewell, we entered the train and found our compartment.
Room 404.
Car Four, Compartment Four.
Of all things, it had two fours in it.
I had come prepared, but I was seriously worried that the event might truly occur.
Normally, we could have boarded Car One, the equivalent of modern-day first class, where nobles and wealthy merchants rode.
But the family head had booked Car Four, saying there was no need to flaunt our nobility just because we were going to the academy.
We had taken Car One when going to the banquet, but that fucking tuxedo had been so uncomfortable that I just wanted to arrive quickly, first class or not.
Still, as befitted first class, I had slept well.
"Four. Four. Four. Found it."
Having found Room 404, we entered the compartment.
Unlike Car One, which I remembered having all sorts of amenities, this one only had two long seats that could hold around two people each.
That was fine, though.
Because what I was wearing now was not that fucking tight tuxedo.
Unlike the fucking tight tuxedo, this time I would be wearing a properly tailored academy uniform.
Let us give a big round of applause to our dear Alfred, who immediately contacted the academy after personally witnessing the tuxedo disaster.
Bwaaaaaang—!!!
The moment we sat down in the compartment, the train hissed out black steam, as though signaling its departure.
Then, with a clattering sound, it pushed forward through the fierce snowstorm.
Our destination this time was Aether.
The banquet hall we had visited previously had been in Asteria, the imperial capital.
But Lumea Academy, our destination this time, was not in the capital. It was located in a city called Aether.
Aether.
A city that housed Lumea Academy, the continent’s largest and finest educational institution.
Thanks to the academy, countless people and diverse races gathered there from all over, and its standing did not fall behind Asteria, the imperial capital. It was called Astoria’s second capital.
There was plenty to see there, enough that tourists flocked to it, so I could make up for the disappointment of not having been able to properly explore the capital.
But the bigger issue was...
Whether that event would happen or not.
Please do not happen.
The academy’s first rule.
There is always a terrorist attack on the train to the academy.
This unwritten rule, etched in stone by the pen, had been adopted even in Dawnstar Academia, which advertised itself as an academy genre before it became romance fantasy.
An accident always occurred aboard the academy-bound train carrying the protagonist.
The train going to the banquet did not explode, but the train going to the academy always did. What unreasonable bullshit...!
Still, the good news was that unlike in Dawnstar Academia, where there had been only one protagonist, there were at least three and as many as four protagonists here.
But the odds were still too damn high.
One in four.
That meant there was a 25% chance the accident would definitely happen on this train.
"Ian, are you all right? You don’t look very well..."
Was it because tension had left me wearing such a fierce expression?
Dolnesia looked at me and spoke in a worried tone.
I shook my head and replied.
"I’m fine."
Yeah. Let us not worry over nothing.
It was only one in four, after all.
There might be a 25% chance of an explosion.
But conversely, that meant there was a 75% chance it would not explode.
I had not been especially lucky in my previous life, but when it came to drawings like choosing team leaders, I had never been picked even once.
I would trust my luck for once.
As I steeled myself, the train soon stopped at a station.
With a slide, the door to Room 404 opened.
The moment I saw the person who opened it, I froze.
I did not care if someone entered.
Usually, around four people sat in a compartment, so I had expected newcomers to come in.
The problem was...
"Oh, hello! Excuse us. I didn’t realize there would already be people here!"
"Ris, wait... You’re moving too fast...!"
Someone who absolutely should not have entered had come in.
A woman with striking blonde hair and sapphire-blue eyes.
The protagonist responsible for the healing-story genre in Dawnstar Academia.
Iris Floria.
The last protagonist—the only one I had not seen at the banquet—was standing before my eyes.
Fuck this!
The odds of getting attacked just rose to one in three!
#
Iris Floria.
The daughter of the rural Baron Floria family, possessing the talent to become the next saint.
As befitted the female protagonist of a healing story in a romance fantasy, she possessed what could only be called capybara-tier sociability.
"Oh, Lady Dolnesia! I saw you at the banquet! I wanted to talk with you, but there were just too many people... Still, we all meet here in the end!"
"Ah... yes."
Had Iris deployed some kind of domain? The color of the compartment was changing the instant she entered.
Truly, the incarnation of a capybara.
Even Dolnesia, who had growled at Isabella, was helpless before her.
"Ris...! It’s rude to suddenly do that!"
The woman beside her, trying to restrain the capybara with MAX-level sociability, was... what was it again? That, yeah. That.
In romance fantasy, the women with substantial roles are not limited to the protagonist and the villainess who opposes her.
There is also the female protagonist’s helper, who does not form a love triangle despite being a woman!
The one who sometimes ends up taking the route where she becomes a spare couple with the secondary male lead!
In other words, the protagonist’s friend—the secondary female lead!
Her name was Haede Mercedes, I think.
Iris’s childhood friend and the daughter of the Baron Mercedes family.
In any case, the four of us ended up heading to the academy, our shared destination, in the same compartment...
But Iris’s sociability was as vast as the sky.
At first, Dolnesia had been flustered and unsure of what to do, but perhaps she had been won over by Iris. Before long, the two were naturally sharing personal stories.
Me?
I was, naturally, on maximum alert.
With Iris joining us here, the odds of getting hit by a train terrorist attack had increased to one in three.
What was more, two protagonists who were bound to stand at the center of every kind of incident had gathered here.
At this point, it would be stranger if a terrorist attack did not happen here.
How had she ended up here? In the game, I had definitely never met Cassian on the train...
Was it because of the difference between a teacher and a student?
Then...
It was definitely going to happen here!
Oh, for fuck’s sake!
As I organized my thoughts for a moment, barely calming my heart that felt like it would burst from frustration—
"Ian, what is really wrong? Are you hurt somewhere?"
Dolnesia spoke to me again, concern in her voice.
Maybe my face had become really fierce from the tension.
That made sense, because Dolnesia was looking at me worriedly, while Iris...
"Ede? Why? Why are you covering my eyes?!"
Haede was covering her eyes with the firm hand of someone determined not to let her see something she should not see.
Hey, that hurts even me.
That was when it happened.
Ding!
[The Oath of Chivalry has been activated.]
[The Stars of Knights are watching you.]
A notification window suddenly appeared before my eyes.
The fact that this notification window had appeared before me now meant...
Fuck.
Kwwwaaaaaang—!!!!!
"Aaaaaah—!!!"
Not even three seconds after the notification window appeared, the train finally exploded.
A tremendous blast, like ten sticks of dynamite had been laid down, swept through the train.
The force of the explosion violently rocked the compartment.
Black smoke began to rise beyond the window.
It must have exploded in a fairly nearby car, because I could feel the heat all the way here.
It really exploded.
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