Chapter 10

Chapter 10

The Sea

“So your business was that woman...?”

“Th-that’s...”

“I said I’m hungry. Hurry up and let’s go.”

Before I could say anything to the stunned Yuri, Eisel kept pushing my back from behind.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but... should I call this a benefit?”

Yuri and I were not lovers, and we had to be considered nothing more and nothing less than friends who had just become close.

Wouldn’t she understand this much?

I had no proper excuse to give her anyway.

“Um... Then I’ll see you next time, Miss Yuri.”

I obediently let Eisel push me along and waved goodbye to Yuri.

When we had almost left the female dormitory, I glanced back, but Yuri’s figure had already disappeared.

“Why did you do that?”

“...Do what?”

Eisel played innocent as if nothing had happened.

The moment we left the female dormitory, she returned like a ghost to the cold tone she had used yesterday.

There were many things I needed to discuss with her.

Still, talking here was a bit...

“...Let’s move somewhere first.”

I said that and took the lead.

Eisel shrugged with an indifferent expression and followed me.

“I should return the badge first.”

I first headed toward where the guard had been.

The guard was cleaning nearby, and the moment he saw me, his eyes widened. Then, seeing Eisel behind me, he broke into a broad smile.

“Oh my~. Looks like you two made up in the end?”

“...It seems so. Thanks to you, I was able to resolve things well. Thank you.”

I expressed my thanks to the guard and held out the badge, and he pinned the badge back onto his own chest.

“No, no. It was nothing at all.”

The guard waved his hand as he said that, then glanced at Eisel behind me and whispered into my ear.

“But... is she really just a friend? Or...”

“She is just a friend.”

“Hohoho! Student! Why act so stiff? This is youth, youth!”

The guard patted my shoulder loudly and sniffed, wiping his nose once more.

“Then... have a good day.”

At this rate, even the atmosphere with Eisel, who must be listening from behind, would turn strange, so I quickly left the fussing guard behind.

“...”

“...”

We walked for a while without saying anything.

I was the first to break that long silence.

“...So why?”

“You looked like you were in trouble.”

“I was in trouble, yes...”

“Then that’s enough.”

Eisel tossed out her answers curtly.

She was somehow being prickly with me.

“You don’t ask anything. Aren’t you curious why I was there?”

I questioned myself in reverse as I asked Eisel.

It was purely because I was curious about her behavior.

“...I have secrets too. And it isn’t as if I don’t know you... There’s no way you would be an underwear thief sneaking into the female dormitory.”

“An underwear thief is a bit...”

Had a thought like that perhaps briefly passed through Yuri’s mind as well?

“Should I ask even now?”

“No, it’s fine.”

It was still difficult to answer, same as before.

If I had known things would turn out like this, I should have sneaked in at night.

“...In any case, thank you.”

“It was nothing.”

The conversation with Eisel was plain.

“I feel like the conversations I had with Eisel in the game were more vague and meaningful...”

The personalities of the other characters besides Eisel were exactly as I had encountered them in the game.

Amon was like that too, as were Edward, Reina, and Kaliman.

The one who was a little different was Yuri, but from what others said, it seemed she only treated me that way.

“But only Eisel... is different from the game.”

Since she was a regressor, something must have happened in a previous round, but I could not get any sense of what it might have been.

Possibilities.

I thought of the possibilities she might have as a regressor.

But there were far too many.

In the game, each character had a fixed amount of dialogue.

The scenarios that could appear were fixed.

But when this became reality, the limit on dialogue disappeared.

Then the scenarios that could appear also had to increase without number.

I did not try to predict every future.

From the start, I had no foolish thought that things would proceed smoothly exactly as the game’s story had.

The information I could possess as someone who had possessed this body.

The information Eisel could possess as a regressor.

With just these two sets of information, the future could twist in any number of ways.

It was what people commonly called the “butterfly effect.”

Even looking at the present right now, I had to say I was experiencing that butterfly effect quite clearly.

Because of Eisel’s unintended influence, Edward had been watching the class placement exam in a way completely different from my plans.

This was also closely related to the reason I was trying to become stronger.

Starting simply from the goal of saving Eisel, I needed enough martial strength to respond even if the future twisted and I encountered unexpected situations.

“I need to get stronger much faster than expected...”

The doubt creeping up from Eisel’s continuously sudden actions amplified this “reason.”

I would have to move up every schedule.

Even if I had to push my body hard.

“So where are we going right now? You do know the way, don’t you?”

At Eisel’s question from behind me, I emptied out my complicated head and answered.

“From the first day I entered this city, I wandered around here and there and memorized the city’s geography. If it’s a place I’ve visited even once, I don’t forget the way. It’s hard to call it a talent, but I have some confidence in memory through the senses.”

“...”

“Above all... didn’t you say you were hungry?”

Eisel nodded.

I had simply thrown the words out, but it seemed she really was hungry.

When I arrived in front of the shop, I deliberately looked around and sniffed. As if going through the process of confirming that I had come to the right place.

“...It seems this is the right place. It’s a shop I stopped by before. What do you think?”

It was a shop I had visited for a quest before the placement exam. For reference, it was a shop Eisel in the game had liked very much.

“Let’s go in.”

Once Eisel gave her permission, I opened the door and stepped inside, and the owner welcomed me.

“Oh, Zeto, you’re here. The face beside you is one I haven’t seen before.”

“Haha. Mr. Herald, I’m here to eat.”

Eisel and I took seats at a table in one corner of the shop.

“More importantly, Zeto, rumors about you are spreading among the people around here.”

“Rumors?”

“Well, it isn’t as if there were only a few people you helped. People were saying it, you know? That a ‘Blind Saint’ had appeared.”

Herald laughed as he said that, came to the table where we sat, and stood with his arms crossed.

“Ahaha...”

At the praise, far too excessive and embarrassing, I scratched the back of my head.

“No matter what, a Blind Saint? There’s a real ‘Saintess,’ so is it all right to say things like that so carelessly? I hope people don’t get arrested for blasphemy.”

“Kahahahaha! If the Saintess comes to arrest us, our Blind Saint will save us, right?”

At my joke, Herald laughed loudly.

The bald man had quite a hearty personality.

“So, should I give you what you had before?”

“Would you like to try the same menu as me? It’s curry, and it tastes pretty good.”

At Herald’s question, I recommended curry to Eisel, something she would probably like.

“Then I’ll have curry too.”

After taking our order, Herald entered the kitchen to cook.

In the game, I could often encounter Eisel in this shop, but now I was the one introducing the shop to her first.

It felt strange.

“There’s something I’m curious about...”

As I was drinking water, I tilted my head, telling her to go ahead.

“What did you do before coming to the academy?”

“What did I do...”

“I’m simply curious.”

“I learned from my master how to live well in the world despite not being able to see.”

In reality, it was uncertain whether Zeto before I possessed him had even existed in this world.

“How to live well in the world?”

“Among the things my master once taught me, there was this. When conversing with someone, it is good to look each other in the eyes.”

Eisel listened to my story with a face that seemed somewhat interested.

“But since the eyes I would do that with are covered, he told me to at least make it a habit to turn my head toward the other person each time. For example, like now.”

As I said that, I gazed at Eisel before me.

She also looked at me quietly.

Facing her from up close, her doll-like appearance stood out so much that it sent chills down my spine.

She was like that, and so were Yuri and the other women.

Was it because they were characters from a game?

It felt as if only women of remarkable beauty were gathered together.

“...Stop...”

“Yes?”

“...Ah, it’s just a little burdensome...”

Eisel turned her head away from me.

This way and that, close and then distant again.

The current Eisel was very difficult to figure out.

Even so, I continued speaking without minding it.

“My master taught me an ability called perception, which would become another set of eyes for me, who could not see. Without relying on anything, it allowed me to walk on my own feet, swing my own arms and sword, and protect my body by myself. She was a truly good person.”

“...”

“Now... she has become hard to meet anymore, though. Does that answer your question?”

After I had mentioned a master during the placement exam before, I had thought about it myself too.

A strong person from the past.

A mysterious path of life that would be convincing even if I attached all kinds of strange reasons to it.

And the person had to already be dead.

Death, in particular, was essential.

After all, I planned to put that person’s soul into the cursed blade.

Thinking of the effect of Demon Swordsmanship, that would leave no loose ends.

There was one person perfectly suited to be my “fake” master.

She had died alone in a place untouched by people while undergoing closed-door training.

No one knew when or why she died, so she was perfect as my master.

Moreover, she had been an outstanding swordswoman in life. In swordsmanship, she was one of the top two on the continent.

The first was the Sword Saint.

And the second was her.

“...Then until you entered the academy, you were with your master the entire time?”

Eisel’s question continued again.

Was it purely to keep the conversation going, or because she was truly curious?

For me, who was only spouting false information, it did not matter at all.

“My master wanted to show me a wider world. Show me... It was a funny expression to use for me, though.”

“Ah...”

“So we wandered all over the continent. Northsike, where the harsh winter wind was biting, Ishai of the East. We even went to the Yuri Desert.”

The countless bits of information about regions I had obtained through game knowledge were suitable for breathing life into my lies.

“...Then, what about the sea?”

For a moment, Eisel’s voice lowered slightly.

“The sea... if you say the sea... which sea? I have ridden a boat.”

“Veleschanas.”

“Ah... Veleschanas. I think I heard that place is famous for its beautiful beaches, but I don’t remember going that far.”

I cut it off appropriately at this point.

No matter what, I could not say I had visited every region.

Too much was as bad as too little.

After that question, Eisel no longer spoke to me.

Did she obtain what she wanted from my answer?

I could not clearly know her intention, but it was certain she was showing interest in me.

After a little waiting, the curry that could be said to raise Eisel’s affection appeared.

“Sorry for the wait. Here, curry’s out.”

Herald brought two curries and set them on the table.

Then Herald left, and our meal began.

Eisel’s spoon scooped up curry and soon entered her mouth.

“...”

There was no particular exclamation, but she did not look like she disliked it.

As if it were a nostalgic food she had not eaten in a long time, Eisel began hurriedly scooping curry into her mouth without saying a word, until her cheeks puffed up.

In truth, I did not particularly like curry.

Just watching Eisel made me feel full on its own, but leaving food in front of me and not even lifting a spoon was still impolite.

I also took a large spoonful and tried it.

“It was like this last time too, but... damn, it’s spicy.”