Chapter 25 25: Exploitation of #Friendship

I had been brainstorming for a while with the Librarian, and the time was somewhere in the early hours of the morning―meaning those three should only read these letters in the morning when they wake, but that was fine. In fact, that might've been even better for me. If I sent the Protagonist a letter saying that we should meet up before class tomorrow for a group breakfast, I'm sure that overly-enthusiastic fucker would love that. So that's exactly what I did. The time was stated to be strictly six o'clock in the morning, and to arrive not one second later, with the specified location being a place outside of school grounds; a scenic pavilion I heard about from some of the other students. It was a place quite out of the way, so it was perfect, and it served meals throughout the day. If it was 6 AM, it was early enough to be before classes, during a time nobody else would even think of going, and I already knew the Protagonist was always awake at that time anyway, so it shouldn't be a problem even if he was up most of the night doing his little quest. From all the information-gathering I've done over the past two days, I could be confident that he wouldn't miss this meeting no matter how early it was stated to be. As for the others, well... they might also be awake at the same time, but that was fine. I sent the nerd girl and the other kid letters with the same contents as the Protagonist's letter so that, if some mistake occurs and they happen to run into each other for whatever reason, they wouldn't be suspicious. Of course, I didn't just copy-paste the same letter exactly, as that wouldn't solve anything; I stated the meet-up time for those two to be an hour later than the Protagonist. Naturally, I would've liked to invite them later than 7 AM, but since it takes a while to get to the location I specified in the letter, that would conflict with the school's schedule, which starts at eight. It also had to be breakfast―not any other meal time―because by the time the first lesson of the day started, those three were already practically conjoined at the hips. "...Alright. It's done." In order to not be late myself, I decided to stay awake for the remaining few hours until the meeting time. 'Maybe I'll just play something on my phone until it's time to move. Ah, that reminds me... Oh, it hasn't been long at all? Only a couple of hours...' By now, I had already spent the same amount of time here than I had in the first Contract, and yet barely any time seemed to have passed on Earth. It didn't really make things easier. 'I still don't want to be here any longer than necessary. The classes are mind-numbing too.' I was determined to finish things off as soon as possible. For that reason, I couldn't let him slip away. ❖─────★☆☆☆☆─────❖ When I arrived at the designated meeting place, fortunately, nobody else was there. I couldn't be having any uninvited visitors during this crucial moment, so with a sigh of relief, I took my seat. [Bear in mind to be cautious of magic, Enki!] Acknowledging the Librarian's disembodied warning, I scratched the back of my head and nodded. "I know. But, those classes were almost all convoluted theory, so I still don't really know anything about it. It's hard to prepare for something when you have no clue what it even is." Besides, the magic wasn't what I was most worried about. The letter I sent to the Protagonist, the letters I sent to his two friends―the one fear I had was that he might somehow contact them beforehand and mention the breakfast meet-up. Of course, now that the letters were sent off and I was here waiting, there was nothing I could do about such a possibility. At this point, if they all arrived together, I would just make sure they all go down together too. I had already taken all the actions to prevent that from occuring by stating separate meeting times in the letters, and I could only believe that he would arrive on time. Believe that, if they were to arrive, they would come just one second too late. You don't have the time to be contacting your friends before the meet-up, do you? After all, if you did that, you might wind up running late, and if you were late, they'd get mad, annoyed, even, so you'd better just hurry up and come to the specified location. You trust them like that, right? There's no reason to message them to make sure everything is correct... "Oh, Enki!" All of a sudden, my heart skipped a beat. Jumpscare―I forgot to breathe for a moment, but quickly recovered. Subtly clenching my fists, I put on a smile and turned to face that voice. "Will! I thought you might've been staying up too late to make it, but I'm glad you made it in time." Naturally, he grinned back. "Of course! I wouldn't miss a friend's request for anything!" Just as I expected. Then, the Protagonist tilted his head. "Enki, is something wrong? You look awfully tired. Look at those huge, dark circles around your eyes! Did you not get enough sleep...?" Of course I didn't. 'I stayed up all night because of you, you bastard.' "I woke up early to ensure I could make it in time, that's all." Not seeming to sense anything off, he looked around. "I see, that's very considerate of you! But, where are Amy and Jeremy? I suppose they must not have arrived yet...? I wanted to walk with them over here, but I just couldn't find them anywhere. I thought they might have already arrived..." Staring at him, who appeared like a lost puppy waiting for its owner, I couldn't help but feel a strange sense of enervation. Needless to say, I couldn't let that show. "Haha, really? Who knows, maybe they're still sleeping after being out late last night...?" "Oh, should we go wake them up then?! Otherwise, they might be late!" "Ah! No, wait, hold on a second." Before he could slip out from my grasp, I quickly stood up and snatched his arm, quickly sighing. Now that I've caught you, you aren't getting away now. "Let's just sit and wait. I'm sure they won't take long. You trust them to come, right?" "Wh-what are you saying... Of course I do." Following my instructions, he apprehensively took a seat, glancing repeatedly at the entrance to the pavilion. I didn't know why being away from his friends for only a brief period was giving such separation anxiety, like a trauma-struck pet, but that wouldn't matter for long. After all, too much time had passed by now for it to be confirmed that his friends didn't get the message. Regardless of how long he waited... 'No one's coming.' "So, while we wait, there's something I want to ask you." Speaking in as natural a voice I could muster, I circled around to his back inconspicuously. He turned his head over his right shoulder to face me, but there was still a blindspot on his left side. "What are you curious about?" He voiced sincerity, and I responded just the same. "Just a question about magic. There was something in yesterday's lesson I didn't understand." "Oh! If it's about that, you should ask Amy when she arrives; she's much smarter in that topic than me." "Ah, I guess I'll wait for her then." By that point, I was standing directly behind him. "...Aside from that, there's actually a new magic I learned that I wanted to share with you. Of course, I'll share it with the others, too, but do you want to see it first?" He must have been having a tough time making eye contact with me as he strained his neck up and over his shoulder to face me, but it was evident that he didn't suspect anything was up. Why would he? "New magic? What's that? I didn't know there was something like new magic..." At this close a distance, was it possible? "Look." In my right hand, which I had stretched out far enough for him to see clearly, a small, black knife appeared. Upon closer examination, its appearance was awfully ominous, matching the item's name and description perfectly, but that wasn't an issue for now. "Wow...! You summoned an object out of thin air, and with no incantation!? How is that--" The Protagonist widened his eyes in shock. Which part surprised him more, I wonder. "Kaghk...!" Splat. At that moment, he violently hacked out a splatter of blood. "Gh-... Huh...?" Mindlessly uttering a noise of raw confusion, all of a sudden, he would surely be feeling a sense of coldness. Thud! Once I slowly withdrew the absurdly lightweight, yet undeniably damaging Holy Sword, impaled to the utmost through the back of his stomach, he collapsed helplessly to the floor. "Hm. It might not have the Anti-Protagonist property, but it still seems to be getting the job done just fine..." I mumbled such a thing to myself, but it didn't really make a difference if the guy below me heard or not. "E-En-- Cough--! ―Ki...!!" However, because he was still failing to die, it seems a second strike would be required. The natural, dogged tenacity of a Protagonist―would it ever necessitate just a single blow? The first one was like this, too. To ensure his eternal demise, I deposited the Holy Sword into the Storage and decided to switch to the Villainous Blade; crouching down, I unhesitatingly jammed it in the back of his neck, just as I had done to the previous Hero. This time, it was in full conscience. "G-- A...h...!" As the Protagonist's pained, erratic, and frankly pitiable groans squeaked out from his blood-swamped mouth, it sure didn't take long for nature to take its course when there were two gaping holes in his throat and back. Even if he could use a bit of magic, he wasn't immune to physical harm, after all. In this Illusory World, it seemed like using magic could only be done through incantation―something I had already gleaned the first day of my time here. Similarly, although there were defensive spells and charms that veritably existed, it would have appeared to be the case that the former required a verbal invocation, and as for the latter, he simply didn't possess any such charms on his person. Perhaps there was some plot-related reason for it, but regardless, it was convenient. It was only a Contract of single-star Difficulty, so I suppose such a possibility was a needless concern in the first place. And, needless to say, there was nothing like divine power here. All I needed was such an opening, and there was nothing he could do once caught off guard. ――It didn't take long at all for the Chosen One's despairing writhes to cease at my feet. [The Protagonist, 'William Vance, Chosen One', has been dispatched.] [Contract complete.] Subsequently, the Librarian's cold, relieving voice echoed, like music to my ears.