Settlement Time
"Hmm."
Blue windows flickered at the edges of his vision.
Just one practical run. He'd lost count of how many quests he'd cleared.
'Then again... I'd been dealing with two calamities at once.'
The First Calamity. Lacquered Night.
The event that should have been this practical's main showcase. An unknown barrier closes in. Monster variants pour through. The Red Knight descends into the chaos. Players and isolated students combine forces and push back. That was how it was supposed to go, the original story, the way the First Calamity was meant to be overcome.
'Of course.'
He had cleared it in a completely different way.
Ding!
[Main Quest cleared!]
-Title: Lacquered Night
-Objective: Defeat boss monster 'The Red Knight.'
[You have stopped one of the Seven Calamities!]
-Special rewards will be provided. Please check your inventory.
Ding!
[Emergency Quest cleared!]
-Title: WelcometoWonderland.
-Objective: Stop the runaway Nightmarification of 'Alice.'
[You have remarkably completed the quest without killing the host!]
-Special rewards will be distributed. Please check your inventory.
The Third Calamity. Wonderland.
The moment Lacquered Night began, he'd played dead and slipped away. Partly to clear the surrounding area, but more than that, to drive the situation toward something far more extreme.
Ranne and Alice left alone together. And even then, Ranne had taken enough damage to be effectively out of commission.
Alice realized there was no escape. She gave up.
That helplessness was the opening the Nightmare needed. It went berserk, and Wonderland manifested across the entire forest.
'The Red Knight got caught in it and was killed...'
Even among calamities, there were tiers.
Alice's Wonderland sat at the very top. Its destructive potential rivaled even the Sixth and Seventh Calamities combined. Small wonder it was called the end of the world.
'Two birds, one stone.'
Lacquered Night had summoned Wonderland. Wonderland had ended Lacquered Night.
'Well... Wonderland does have particularly good synergy with me.'
Wonderland he could sweep away with a few bug clicks. The Red Knight, on the other hand, was the kind of enemy you had to wear down through accumulated damage. No reliable bugs applied to it. A genuinely troublesome opponent from every angle.
That was why he'd gotten the idea to summon Wonderland in the first place, and just let the two calamities tear each other apart.
The plan had worked perfectly.
'Not bad.'
He moved his fingers and started checking rewards. A few digs through the inventory, and new items surfaced.
Ding!
[Main Quest 'Lacquered Night' completed.]
[Item 'Calamity Shard (S)' obtained.]
Ding!
[Emergency Quest 'WelcometoWonderland.' completed.]
[Item 'Broken Crown (A-)' obtained.]
Two items materialized in the air before him.
The shard caught his eye first. It had taken the shape of a heavy tome, radiating a distinctly ominous energy.
Ding!
[Calamity Shard]
-Category: ???
-Grade: S
-Status: Incomplete (1/6)
-Description: A fragment of an unknown calamity. If the remaining shards are found and combined, something terrible may come to pass.
The Calamity Shard.
An item that had to be collected as part of the main story. Clear each calamity, and you received the corresponding shard. Fail to assemble all six, and a happy ending was off the table. The Seventh Calamity would ensure the world ended.
'Need to keep this safe.'
He tucked the shard back into the inventory and turned to the next item.
True to its name, it looked exactly like a broken crown. Black, cracked and chipped all over.
It drifted up to the tips of his fingers.
Ding!
[Broken Crown]
-Category: Accessory
-Grade: A-
-Status: Destroyed
-Description: The crown worn by the Black Queen, sovereign of the Nightmare. Now destroyed, only her remnants remain. Can be worn for up to 5 minutes per day. When equipped, the skill 'Nightmarification' becomes available.
[Skill Name: Nightmarification]
-The user's body assimilates with the Nightmare.
-While the skill is active, the user is treated as 'Invincible.'
-Unrestricted flight becomes possible, and the user is freed from all physical forces.
"Oh."
So this was what an A-rank drop looked like.
Quite a decent item. Five full minutes of invincibility and flight, and not a one-time use, either. Once per day, every day.
'I hadn't expected much from this one...'
Strictly speaking, Wonderland was still an unresolved calamity. What he'd done this time was only what the emergency quest had asked: stop the rampage. The Black Queen at the heart of it, he hadn't killed.
A mediocre drop would have been perfectly understandable.
'I got something way too good.'
The corner of his mouth twitched on its own.
Two quests, both paying off nicely. He swallowed a hum of contentment and checked the rest.
Ding!
[Hidden Quest completed.]
-Title: Queen Slayer
-Objective: Defeat boss monsters 'Heart Queen,' 'Red Queen,' and 'White Queen,' who reign over Wonderland.
[Through remarkable performance, you have annihilated all three Queens!]
-Special rewards will be distributed. Please check your status window.
Ding!
[Sub Quest cleared!]
-Title: If You're Going to Do It, Do It Right!
-Objective: Achieve a ranking of 3rd or higher in the practical.
[Through remarkable performance, you have claimed 1st place in the practical!]
-In addition to the base reward, a bonus reward will be provided.
One hidden, one sub.
Both cleared not so much by plan as by accident. He'd just been working through his own goals, and somewhere along the way they'd quietly finished themselves.
Ding!
[Hidden Quest 'Queen Slayer' completed.]
[Title 'Executioner' obtained.]
[Executioner]
-Category: Title
-Grade: A
-Description: You have cut down the queens of the Nightmare without mercy. Courage toward the unknown is now yours. When this title is equipped, damage dealt against Ghost-type enemies increases by 500%, and critical hit rate increases by 500%.
'This one's useful too...'
Looking at the story ahead, the enemies he'd be facing broke down into three groups: the Cultists, the New Kingdom vampires, and the remaining six calamities. Ghost-types accounted for roughly 20% of the total.
'Especially on the Cultist side, Ghost-type creatures come out in droves.'
A guaranteed upper hand against one in every five enemies from here on out. Swap the title in when it mattered.
The next reward came right on its heels.
Ding!
[Sub Quest 'If You're Going to Do It, Do It Right!' completed.]
[Item 'Supremely Covert Necktie (B)' obtained.]
[Supremely Covert Necktie]
-Category: Accessory
-Grade: B
-Status: Clean
-Description: A necktie once treasured like a priceless relic by a legendary petty thief. Can be worn at all times. When equipped, the skill 'Secretly, Greatly' becomes available. This skill has a 72-hour cooldown.
[Skill Name: Secretly, Greatly]
-While the skill is active, the user's presence vanishes entirely.
-The effect lasts for 1 hour, and the concealed presence cannot be read by anyone.
-All sounds originating from the user (heartbeat, footsteps, breathing, etc.) are silenced.
Made for moving without being detected. The cooldown was a bit long, but used with care, it would pull its weight.
'This is the upgraded reward.'
The reward for finishing the practical in first place. In the original, this item was considerably weaker.
He pulled up the original reward for comparison.
[Reward: Consumable item 'Supremely Covert Necktie (B-)']
Originally consumable. One use and done.
The upgraded version could be used again and again.
'Good. Good.'
He equipped the necktie right then and there.
With everything confirmed, he pulled up his full status window.
――――
[Status Window]
Name: Viktor
Title: Collector of Windfalls
Items equipped: Evil God's Mask, Evil God's Robe, Supremely Covert Necktie
Active set effect: The World as ■■■ Sees It.
.
.
Titles held: Collector of Windfalls, Saint, Executioner
――――
"Ahh, I'm stuffed."
Satisfying just to look at.
He hadn't eaten since yesterday, and yet this felt like a feast.
"Joasu."
A thoroughly productive settlement.
***
The next day.
He and his group were called in by the faculty, a full account of what had happened during the practical, two days prior.
'Fair enough.'
To the Academy, it was nothing short of a major incident. No one had been seriously injured, but an outside intrusion had essentially been allowed through their defenses. The reputational damage had them rattled. Throughout their stay in the infirmary, the three of them were treated like visiting dignitaries.
Alice, mentally spent, and Ranne, fairly badly injured, were one thing. But even Viktor, without a scratch on him, had been ordered to rest in the infirmary until further notice.
'The nurses were tripping over themselves too...'
He decided to cooperate, if nothing else out of respect for the effort.
His assigned investigator was, naturally, Javert.
The red-haired woman stood at one end of the large infirmary room, a sheaf of documents in hand. Viktor sat on the bed across from her, watching her green eyes with a blank expression.
"The student hunting grounds have been closed for the time being. Faculty have been stationed throughout the area, and an investigation is underway following the traces left at the scene..."
"Mm, I see."
She was delivering updates like a formal briefing. As one of the people directly caught in the incident, she'd said, he had a right to know the situation. Nothing to lose by listening, so he did.
Before long, she turned to her questions.
"According to the information gathered thus far, an Apostle of the Evil God appeared within the barrier. It was active for approximately thirty minutes before disappearing abruptly, without a trace. Is that correct?"
"A giant in scarlet armor. Looked to be about ten meters tall."
"Consistent with the previous two testimonies. Confirmed."
The part about the Red Knight, he and Alice had already aligned their stories. Ranne had been unconscious at the time, so the two of them only needed their accounts to match.
The story they'd agreed on: it had driven them relentlessly into a corner, then vanished for reasons unknown.
"Strange. Just disappeared like that."
"We were lucky. If it hadn't, we'd all be dead."
"Yes... certainly fortunate. We'll look further into that aspect on our end."
Javert nodded.
A questionable story, but nothing she could press him on. She turned a page and leaned forward, moving on.
"Viktor."
"Yes."
"You don't appear to have a single injury. That's somewhat inconsistent with Ranne's account."
"Hmm?"
"According to her testimony, you were crushed under the Apostle's enormous foot. She said she confirmed your body with her own eyes. And yet, when she woke up in the infirmary, you were apparently standing there perfectly fine, greeting her."
"Strange, isn't it."
Ranne's testimony.
He had deliberately left this part unaligned. More than that, he'd specifically asked her to testify to exactly what she'd seen.
The only thing he'd wanted to hide was the truth about Alice and the Nightmare. The parts that cast suspicion on himself, no need to scrub those.
'Better to drip them in, actually.'
He responded without missing a beat.
"Any theories?"
"Hmm."
"Nothing?"
"Ranne might have been hallucinating. I was right there beside her the entire time, alive and well. They say prolonged exposure to dark mana can cause hallucinations, auditory disturbances, that sort of thing. Maybe it was one of those."
"Hallucinations..."
Javert's eyes narrowed.
He smiled as if to ask whether something was wrong.
'Javert Droit.'
The woman who suspected him of the unauthorized solo raid on Purgatory Floor 70. Every move he made was probably snagging on something in her mind.
She was silent for a moment, then changed subject. That flat, unreadable gaze of hers flickered.
"The faculty currently suspects the presence of an internal informant. A foreign substance was discovered in Hunting Ground A, the area at the center of the incident. Buried in the soil beneath the thick undergrowth. Based on the nature of the dark mana detected, it has been identified as the energy source that formed the barrier across the entirety of Area A."
"Oh?"
"That area had been sealed off for several days leading up to the practical. Entry was blocked entirely. Someone breached that lockdown and planted something there. Anyone capable of doing that so easily would almost certainly have to be an insider."
"I see."
He asked pleasantly.
"And?"
"......"
What she couldn't quite bring herself to say was: I suspect that insider is you.
She simply watched him in silence, expressionless.
"...I simply thought you should know."
Her position didn't allow her to push further. Viktor was plainly a victim, and the atmosphere wasn't right for an interrogation. If he got upset, the Academy would be the ones holding the fallout.
'Of course.'
Javert wasn't the type to care about that.
The reason she was pulling back now was simpler: protocol. Not antagonizing a victim, as the manual instructed.
That was the kind of person she was.
Rules.
She lived entirely within them. Could only live within them.
"I think we can wrap up here. Thank you for your cooperation today."
"Not at all. Happy to help however I could."
A brief bow, and Javert left the infirmary.
He watched her back until it disappeared through the door.
Then he settled against the headboard, turning her words over quietly.
"An internal informant..."
A traitor inside Grandia Academy. Someone in contact with the Cultists.
He tapped a finger against the mask for a moment, then let a thin smile curl at his lips.
"Guess it's about time I got started."
Sorry, professors.
No matter how long you search, you won't find who you're after.
Ding!
[Sub Quest]
-Title: Finish What You Started!
-Objective: Apprehend the informant hiding within Grandia Academy.
-Failure penalty: None
-Reward: A clue regarding ■■■
[Time Limit: 23 hours 59 minutes 56 seconds]
"Because I'm getting to them first."
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter