Chapter 24 24: #Friendship

Somehow, with resolved self-restraint, I managed to hold on until the lesson ended. To be honest, it wasn't as bad as I made it out to be, and I admit I was being a bit melodramatic. I was able to endure hours of gruelling training that was more akin to torture when I was hunting the Hero, so a single three-hour class was nothing in comparison. Of course, I didn't understand a word that was being said, but so long as I didn't get picked on by the professor, no problems would occur. At the end of it all, I didn't hesitate to approach the Protagonist. "Excuse me. Do you guys mind if I join you?" "Hey, we don't mind! We were just going to go for an early lunch. Want to come along?" "? Alright, sure." For some reason, he accepted my company straight away, with absolutely zero doubt or indecision. If it was the Hero, he might have spouted verbal abuse and called me a dirty peasant dog for a few minutes straight, or worse, his "Little Knight". 'Is this what #Friendship means? It's pretty convenient.' At this time, I didn't think much more of it than that. Of the Protagonist's two best friends, one of them turned out to be that nerd girl from earlier, the other being some other random from class who spoke up once or twice but was quite forgettable. I thought it wouldn't be bad to get close to the group members other than the Protagonist himself, so I said something nice with a smile. "By the way, your explanation earlier was very well-articulated. You know a lot." The girl, introducing herself as Amy, flashed a small smile at me. "Oh, that was nothing. But thanks." Thereafter, tagging alongside the Protagonist's merry trio, I began to make a mental note of their habits. Since I only needed to catch the Protagonist alone a single time, I didn't think I'd need it, but just in case, I thought it might be useful to find out their schedules too. Well, it didn't take long for me to realise that it was a complete waste of time. Not only did they all share the exact same timetable, but they also seemed to spend every waking hour together, even outside of classes, for some reason. At the end of the day, when they finally said they were going to part ways and sleep, the Protagonist mentioned something about working on a problem overnight. I thought it was the perfect situation to help him out because he would finally be alone, but suddenly, the other two bastards randomly decided not to go to bed and help out too. "Because otherwise he would be lonely, and besides, he might need our help." Bullshit. Anyway, I begrudgingly went along with them at first, but nothing important ever came of it. We ended up meeting the ghost of some girl who yapped for a while about her cursed fiancé or something or other, thus garnering the Protagonist's sympathy. Admittedly, I felt awfully confused in the moment since it felt so random and abrupt, rather out of nowhere, but thinking back on it, it must have been some kind of main plot event for the story, so there was probably some earlier context that I missed. Regardless, the key issue of the matter was that the three of them were stuck together like glue. If they were ordinary students just one or two years younger than me, I would have just summoned the Holy Sword from the Storage and cut the Protagonist down where he stood... But things are, unfortunately, not that simple. When everyone is capable of casting magic I know nothing about, I couldn't just risk attacking the Protagonist in a situation like that. I couldn't jeopardise myself by taking an unnecessary risk like that when, chances are, something would go wrong. So. "Sorry guys, I'm exhausted." I gave up. "I'll see you all tomorrow. Good luck with your investigation!" Eventually, I just left the others to it and went to bed. ❖─────★☆☆☆☆─────❖ It was far more important at this stage to ensure my own healthy body and mind than to put myself at a disadvantage purely for an infinitesimal chance at success. At the very least, such was the logic behind my capitulation. "Damn it." I woke up the next day, went to class, and the situation was the exact same. "What do I do...?" Throughout the entire day I had spent with them, had there been even a second where the Protagonist was left to his own devices? I sincerely doubted it. It simply didn't make sense for this to happen. Even best friends who have been together for decades wouldn't be sucking each other off to this degree, right? Hell, even romantic partners―a married couple would have more personal time than these guys. Are they really this codependent or was I the crazy one here? The answer was obviously the former, but I certainly couldn't deny that sitting still in this situation made me feel like I was going insane. Waiting for classes to end, I proceeded to follow them around for the second day. So long as I monitored him for every moment of the sun in the sky, and even beyond that, I would eventually find an opportunity to strike the Protagonist down. Undoubtedly. Whether it was with the Villainous Blade, the Holy Sword, or my bare hands, I would definitely, absolutely do it. "―Jeremy. Amy. Enki... Will you guys help me discover the truth of this incident? I know this is selfish to ask of you, but... that poor girl... I want to help reunite her with her poor fiancé, no matter what." "Sure, man! Let's do it!" "We're with you every step of the way, Will." "...Yep." It turned out at the end of the second day that they were all going together on a quest of sorts throughout the academy's precarious nightlife wonderance. Although I said I would tag along, I made sure to sneak away at the first opportunity presented to me; I wasn't going to waste my time with that main story nonsense. I might've been able to exploit a chink in the Protagonist's armour of friendship if I followed them and he happened to find himself in a moment of weakness during a high-tension part of the plot... but, I didn't think that was very realistic to hope for. No matter what happens, the Protagonist isn't going to die due to the plot. That's an absolute law so long as I'm out of the picture. Needless to say, if he did die without my intervention, that would be fantastic, but I just wasn't convinced it was going to flow so conveniently. Of course, there was a possibility for me to intervene during such a critical moment, but again, it simply didn't feel effective enough. I needed something concrete, something not based on mere chance. It's not like I was out of ideas entirely, of course. The plot wouldn't kill the Protagonist, and for that reason, I had to create a plot of my own that would get the job done. #Friendship was the problem here. Since I didn't actually know what sorts of magic existed in this Illusory World, it was far too risky for me to make a move when those two bastard watchdogs―Jeremy and Amy―were around. But you know what? There can't be #Friendship without friends. Using that logic, I considered killing the other two first, then targeting the Protagonist after he was forcibly made to be alone, but that strategy was also risky. In fact, that was even riskier than just going after the Protagonist by himself. Let alone the fact that they were innocent in all this, and, although I didn't particularly care about the innocence of fictional characters, it was impossible to predict just what kind of mess might arise out of it. It would probably result in just dragging a whole load of other strange, possibly even powerful wizards into the picture before a suitable time arrived to kill the Protagonist, and his guard would also be heavily raised afterwards. Most of all, I doubted that catching either of them alone would be any easier than catching the Protagonist alone. I couldn't even sneak into his room at night and assassinate him like that because all the student dorm rooms had magic locks on them that I didn't understand, either. There was no getting him drunk like the Hero, either, due to his age. In order to discover a path to success, a change in my perspective was necessary. Fortunately, with the Librarian's assistance, it didn't take long for an idea to emerge. "There's an in-house messaging system...?" [Correct! Do you see that outbox on the wall? If my information is indeed accurate, you should be able to put letters in there and they will be delivered right to the recipient's box through magic!] Spinning my head, I laid eyes on that strange cubbyhole with the tray on the wall of my room. I did think it was strange before, but I quickly forgot about it after that. 'So that's what it's used for... I guess they don't have phones here?' But, something about her words put me off. "Is there a reason why your information wouldn't be accurate?" [Certainly! My pool of information is based on what you see and hear, Enki! Using data and knowledge you've been collecting subconsciously through fellow students, I pulled this together!] What the Librarian was effectively saying was that everything picked up by my senses―limited to sight, hearing, and smell, that is―was transferred to her, whether I remembered or properly perceived it or not... At least, that's how I understood it, but it might not be entirely correct. Anyway, because of that, assuming that the students' gossiping was correct, her information would also be correct. "Alright... Well, nothing to lose by trying it out. But, if it doesn't work I'm blaming you, okay?" [D-don't say something cruel, I ask!] Writing three brief letters, I placed them in the outbox, upon which they promptly vanished.