Chapter 45 45: The APS Guarantee

Lucretia rested her mind in a cool silence on the Royal Academy's garden bench. Meanwhile, even after all the questions I had already asked, I still had a separate concern to address. 'Librarian. Is there still no way to find out the time distortion between here and Earth? You said it wasn't possible before, but...' [Certainly, fret not! Now that you have an enhanced Authority, it should be plenty possible to figure out that much! Erm, allow me to do the calculations!] Since there were yet a few weeks, as well as the entirety of Christmas Break, I had plenty of time if it came down to it, but I still wanted to get a good idea of how much time is passing on Earth while I'm here. I had to be back by the start of second semester for a meeting regarding the finalisation of my decision to drop out. As of the date I accepted the Contract, the 18th of November, there were roughly nine weeks until the second semester started on the 20th of January. Hopefully, the flow of time would be slower here than on Earth, giving me even more time to do stuff during Christmas Break after my return, but two months was a lot even on its own. Honestly, I didn't think the Protagonist this time would take that long to kill, but it really all hinged on how quickly I was able to uncover her hidden power, which I currently had no idea what it might even be. Still, as long as I find that out, I'll know exactly what it'll take to take her down, and it'll swiftly be over from there. Most of all, though, I could only pray that the flow of time wasn't faster than Earth, like how the previous Contract turned a matter of hours into days. 'If that were the case, I'd really be fucked.' Even if this Contract didn't take something like many days or even weeks to complete, I knew for a fact it would last longer than any of the previous three, perhaps even combined. Maybe that was another factor that contributed to the Difficulty. I had a lot of time, that's true, but I needed to be confident that I wouldn't take too long to return. Fortunately, the Librarian soon got back to me with an answer. [I've returned! It appears the time differential between Earth and this Illusory World is... Ahem, the decimal is rather long, so I'll round it to three places...!] There was a brief pause, allowing my anticipation to build even higher before she continued. [――1.548! Erm, this means that, for each one second that passes on Earth, approximately 1.548 seconds pass in this Illusory World!] [Conversely, you can measure the time dilation rate from the perspective of this Illusory World to be 0.646, again rounded to three places for convenience. R-rather, I'm not all that great at mathematics or calculations that don't concern magic, so do keep in mind that there is some margin for error with these numbers...] I let out a quiet sigh at the announcement―one of relief more so than disappointment. 'No, don't worry. Even if it's only an estimate, that's still great... Really.' I might've sounded like I was only saying it to console her, but I was genuinely relieved. That nine week limitation had suddenly turned into about fourteen. Fourteen weeks, or just over three months――I had to kill the Protagonist within that time frame. It wasn't that long of a distortion if you were to compare it to some of the previous Contracts, particularly the last one, but the most important thing was that it meant I had plenty of time without worrying about being gone from Earth for too long. Besides, ~50% was a pretty great increase even on its own. For that reason, even if it was disrespectful. "Sorry, can I ask something?" I interrupted Lucretia's respite. "Speak." Thankfully, she didn't seem too upset, conversing with her eyes remaining shut. However, that too didn't last long. "Are there any major events happening in the next three months?" Following my question, Lucretia's eyes slid half-open, her narrow pupils landing on me quietly. "What are you thinking...?" Tilting her face ever-so-slightly, perhaps to catch my expression, she let out such a puzzled mutter before subtly shaking her head. "...Indeed, there is an event one could consider 'major', and in fact, it shall take place in precisely three month's time. As an outsider, I'm curious how you found out about it..." "Is it not something I'm supposed to know about?" She shook her head again. "It's acceptable only because it's you. However, let it be known that this is an event with details revealed to only a select few individuals, including myself. If there happened to be a leak of information somewhere..." "Oh, no, it's nothing like that. Don't worry, that's not why." Unlike what Lucretia might have thought, I didn't find out about this event due to something like a leak of secret information. Of course I didn't; I had only been here for less than a day, so how could I have done that? No, I'd simply made an educated guess, and well... the preciseness of three months was purely a coincidence. Since the setting of the game is in an academy for nobles, it wasn't hard to imagine that there would be a few big events held throughout the year―parties, fancy balls, prom, or the like. Understanding that much, it was easy to make the guess that the Protagonist would be involved in at least one of those events since, well, they're the main character. Considering the overarching theme of the story, of which the primary genre is #Romance, I'd go ahead and make the further claim that the event in question is probably something along the lines of an end-of-year prom, ball, or some other kind of social gathering. I'd say it's pretty straightforward logic when you think about it. This seemed to be the sort of game where that kind of event would happen, at least, and judging by Lucretia's eyebrow-raised reaction, I was probably right. Explaining my reasoning loosely while leaving out the part about genres and game settings, she faintly nodded. "...Your supposition is impressive, Enki. Though it isn't entirely correct. Indeed, in three months, a ball will be held, but it is for my own coming-of-age ceremony, not a mere ball held for some school event. Assuming unwanted things we shall not speak of for the moment do not obstruct the procedures, it is on that day that the engagement between myself and the crown prince will be officially announced, as we will then both be of age." "I see." 'Well, it's not a school-sanctioned event, but I was close enough. Either way, there will definitely be some major 「scenes」 that occur... And that'll probably be my last chance at success before the clock runs out.' Unfortunately, said 「scenes」 were exactly what Lucretia meant by 'unwanted things'. I'm sure she would hate for her own birthday to be disrupted by something unpleasant, and I wanted to prevent that if at all possible, but if it couldn't be helped, it couldn't be helped. "Enki. If I may make a request of you." Interrupting my thoughts, she suddenly said that, and I instinctively replied. "Does an archduchess usually need to make a request of her attendant?" As far as I was aware, there was only one factor that warranted her concern, but that went without saying. "No. This is not a request made as the archduchess of the north, nor as daughter of the Archduke of Christina-Rasa, but as the individual, Lucretia." Regardless of what she's worried might happen, everything would be over by the time of that ball, anyway. 'If not, I'll make sure things come to an end on that day.' "If you can... I would like you to make a guarantee to me." In that case, even if there are any such 'unwanted things' that try to ruin that celebration of hers, the Protagonist's death would undoubtedly be enough of a positive to offset that. "A guarantee?" "Yes. I want you, as Enki the individual, to guarantee me, Lucretia the individual, one thing." "It's not that I don't want to, but I'll tell you if it's a guarantee I can make or not once I hear it." If I were to put it simply, I'd just be doing the same as before, right? "I want you to guarantee to me that, in the next three months, with the day of my coming-of-age ceremony as the deadline..." However, put another way. "...Ayla Tichá will be dead." It could be said that I've been given three months to grant the Antagonist a 'happy birthday'.