༺ Secret of the Central Entrance ༻
I was in my room, which had been prepared by the family for my long-awaited return. The maid left, saying she’d call when the meal was ready.
I wasn’t expecting a warm welcome, but the response was as cold as the north itself.
“Whoo.”
The cold breath coming out of my mouth vanished due to the heating in the room.
“It’s the coldest time of year.”
February, when the infamous Crystal Chill began in Norseweden.
It was a time when the cold could not pass over the high mountain ranges to the north and was therefore confined.
During the months of February and March, the ground froze, making it impossible to farm.
I returned at the worst possible time. Despite the fact that I didn’t intend to.
The room itself was neatly organized, as if they had known of my coming.
I walked over to the desk and chair set up as an office to use for fief management.
The chair enveloped me comfortably.
I closed my eyes for a moment, my back tilted, and thought.
The game I was currently in was called [Retry]. It simply meant that I had to keep trying, but it wasn’t that simple.
It was about the ending of the game.
The only ending to this game was a bad ending.
At least that was the case for the first round.
In this game, one had to progress to the ‘second round’ to reach the proper ending.
I recalled that it was heavily criticized as a ploy by the game’s company to forcefully increase the playtime.
‘The main point is, I’m in such a game.’
And there were no second rounds when it came to life.
In the end, the only possible ending for this world was the bad ending.
To remedy this, I forced myself to head to Loberne Academy, where the game was set, but was dismissed after three months of getting the job due to the tricks of my fiancée, Erica Bright.
‘The plan has changed quite a bit.’
Erica was also an important character in the story’s development. She was someone who assisted the protagonist enrolling this year.
A compassionate, caring and loving woman.
‘That same Erica betrayed me.’
The expression of disgust she showed me until the very end was more deeply etched in my heart than I thought.
I trusted her wholeheartedly as the girl I saw in the game didn’t seem to be the type to betray someone.
‘Should I not think of it as just a game?’
Having learned a bone-crushing lesson, I shut my eyes and calmly clasped my hands.
It couldn’t be helped if I was unable to help the protagonist at the Academy by being beside her.
I needed to assist her from the outside and make sure she reached the ending.
To avert the end of the world, I needed to do it twice. But, there was no such thing as a second round in real life.
I, who knew everything, must act accordingly to prevent the end of this world.
“There are multiple ways to help from the outside.”
As the game progressed towards the latter half, there were many external activities that were similar to activities at the Academy.
Even when I first heard about my dismissal, I thought it was a good thing.
It was hard to wake up late every morning because of the ghosts at the Academy.
‘That was the problem.’
That was the reason I was expelled from the Academy.
Because I could see ghosts, the actions I took to pacify them or keep the evil spirits at bay seemed bizarre to the Academy.
As the professors testified that I was a pagan or that I was worshiping the Devil and the complaints from the students grew, I was eventually dismissed.
‘It couldn’t be helped.’
I couldn’t stand still when I saw evil spirits harassing the people in the Academy right before my eyes.
It’s because the Academy couldn’t be ruined before the main character enrolled.
And seeing students suffering from evil spirits reminded me of the old me.
I had been fighting evil spirits in my own way for them.
And this was the result.
Lunatic.
Pagan.
Devil Worshipper.
That didn’t have much of an impact on me either.
It was actually rather boring because I’d heard them all at least once during my school days.
Even if the world changed, in the end, people’s thoughts remained the same.
“It’s kind of weird when you think about it.”
Anyway, even if I didn’t do that, the protagonist would enter the Academy and do well.
Because that’s what happened in the game.
There was also a brief episode related to evil spirits, but it was insignificant.
There were too many ghosts to just pass by, but on the contrary, I was the only one who saw them.
I laughed at the thought that I made a fuss for no reason and ended up with this result.
“The meal is ready.”
My thoughts were interrupted by the voice of the maid outside the door.
I was about to head straight to the dining room, but the door opened and a maid pushed a food cart in.
“What is the meaning of this?”
Bringing food here meant I had to eat separately in this place, not together in the dining room.
When I asked with a frown in my eyes, the maid answered with her head bowed in fright.
“T-The L-Lord has instructed us to do this. Young Master Deus has to stay and live in this room from now on.”
“My brother did?”
Both my parents had passed away, and my brother, Darius Verdi, was now the Head of the Household.
“Additionally, from now on, Young Master Deus is prohibited from contacting the outside world.”
I couldn’t help but click my tongue as I watched the maid bow her head again.
‘The rumors have already reached here.’
Rumors that the second son of the Verdi Household, who was dismissed from the Academy, was a Devil Worshipper seemed to have reached as far north as Norseweden.
“Where is my brother? I’ll talk to him in person.”
Since I didn’t want to live in confinement, I wanted to protest immediately, but it was not possible.
“T-The Lord is dispatching troops because of the barbarians crossing over the Norseweden Mountain Range.”
As my eyebrows narrowed even more, the maid hurriedly spoke with fluster and surprise.
“Young Master, I’ll clean up the tableware after you’re done eating!”
The maid left. As I took steady steps and placed my hand on the doorknob, I felt an intense amount of mana.
I could feel Darius’ strong will to keep me locked up in here.
Did he intend to imprison his ignorant younger brother, before he could become a thorn to the Verdi Household?
I respected his choice as the Head of the Household. In a situation where the entire Household could be framed as Devil Worshippers, he quickly secluded his younger brother and rectified the situation.
‘But I can’t stay still.’
The protagonist would enter the Academy this year.
Because of that, I had to quickly lay the groundwork, to be able to help her one day.
Leaving the food behind, I walked toward the window with my hands behind my back.
It was a day when the ever-white and blue bitter winds of Norseweden blew viciously.
* * *
“Professor Verdi was dismissed due to inappropriate behavior and remarks. Hence, the lectures he was supposed to teach have been canceled, so students who applied for those lectures should head to the Academic Affairs Support Team as soon as possible.”
“Huh?”
“The name of the lecture is-”
Meirin, who was surprised by the sudden broadcast, couldn’t help but be startled.
Because Professor Verdi was in charge of the ‘Mana Harmony Propensity’ and the ‘Connection Between the Soul and Mana’ lectures that she had applied for.
“Wait, what? And what? Dismissed?”
It’s not just an expulsion, it seemed like a fairly serious level of dismissal.
“Shit! I’ve already drawn up the timetable, so what’s going on!”
Meirin was annoyed as she tousled her purple hair.
It was only a day earlier that the second-year smiled contentedly at her timetable, which she had carefully planned out, unlike in her freshman year.
But why was this happening to her now?
“So fucking annoying.”
She had heard strange rumors about Professor Verdi.
At dawn, he walked through the Academy hallways and spoke to someone.
He stuck strange pieces of paper on the wall and prayed.
He warned the students to be careful because there was something strange attached to their backs.
She knew that rumors of him being a pagan were widespread, but she did not expect that he would be dismissed so abruptly.
“Ha! This is annoying!”
Spitting out harsh words, Meirin shoved her hand into her robe pocket.
‘Should I be relieved as the semester hasn’t started yet?’
Even though it was time for vacation, she didn’t go back home and stayed back in the dormitory, so she was lucky to hear the news quickly.
“Academic Affairs Support Team……”
Knowing that it was on the first floor, Meirin walked down the stairs with a strained stride.
‘Don’t you dare put me in some random lecture that had spots to spare.’
It remained to be seen as to what the Academy would do. In this case, shouldn’t they arrange for another lecture at the same time to replace it?
‘They better not put me in some weird class because they don’t have any space.’
A person who came down the central staircase to the first floor in a fit caught Meirin’s eye.
“Hmm?”
A man stood tall at the Central Entrance.
He was the very embodiment of the word hideous.
A dark navy blue energy was circulating around the man, and even the air around him was warped.
But the thing that stood out the most was…
‘No right hand?’
Even so, him wearing a sword on the left side of his waist was very strange.
It would be very inconvenient to draw the sword like that.
Instinctively, Meirin realized that he was far from ordinary.
The moment she tried to look around to see if there was anyone else…
Tukkk.
Meirin’s feet touched the hallway on the first floor.
[!]
The man who was facing her with his back, immediately twisted his body and rushed toward Meirin.
Kki! Kki-gi-gi-gi ggi gik!
A strong wind blew.
Meirin unwittingly stepped back, falling down on her buttocks.
After the man, who had drawn his sword, confirmed her action, slowly sheathed it back and returned to his original position.
If the man was wearing the sword on his right side instead of his left and it didn’t take him time to draw it out, she definitely would have been killed.
Meirin was sure of this. But more importantly…
“S-Skull?”
In place of the man’s face was a skull, void of any skin and only flame-like blue eyes to adorn his features.
An Undead in the Academy?
Meirin, who was breaking out in a cold sweat, gradually got redder. After realizing that it wasn’t just cold sweat trickling out, she covered her face with her hands.
