This Novel is not my Novel

"Why is he lying around out here when his room is right upstairs?"

Had he heard Helga?

The protagonist of someone else's novel slowly pushed himself upright.

His haggard complexion was one thing, but even his clothes were in tatters. He looked dreadful.

He already looked pretty rough when I saw him at lunch, but I don't remember him being this bad....

Since my dear readers may be wondering how the protagonist of someone else's novel ended up in such a state, I shall briefly recount what Reisir later told us of his own accord.

Unlike Professor Skati, who had sent us off with gentle concern that we might fall ill...

Bjorn had apparently driven Reisir mercilessly, telling him that since they would be resting after dinner, they should squeeze out every last drop of strength he had left.

During the final hour in particular, they had supposedly continued sparring without so much as a moment to catch their breath, regardless of who won or lost.

"I couldn't face climbing the stairs right away, so I was resting for a moment...."

Perhaps the sight of her childhood friend saying this while looking as though even his soul had been wrung dry was too pitiful for Helga to bear.

"Lord Karvaldr...."

She called the name of my possessed body and pointed at Reisir.

Her words and gesture contained an implicit request for me to use a buff on him too.

"Tsk. I was already planning to. Having someone that filthy near an area where food is being prepared cannot possibly be hygienic."

Clicking my tongue, I activated 【Exhortation】.

Only then did "my acquaintance" rise completely from the sofa, looking as though he had finally come back to life, and thank me.

After witnessing this, Helga offered the following observation.

"Ray, I guess even you aren't invincible."

"Why are you stating the obvious? I still have a long way to go compared to the professors...."

A mere student compared his abilities to those of the professors and smiled bitterly.

He called it obvious, but apparently found it difficult to accept in his heart.

He must have sparred several times with professors seeking the incentive by now.

Judging from his belated reaction, Bjorn might have beaten him one-sidedly without allowing him to land a single proper counterattack.

Or perhaps he was simply overwhelmed because, unlike him, who had been left too exhausted to function after their repeated bouts, Bjorn remained perfectly fine.

Reisir had yet to say anything about it, but I had a reason for reaching that conclusion.

Bjorn's Endurance stat, as revealed in the original work, exceeded a staggering 200.

According to the setting of 《NaSE》, anyone whose physical stats surpassed 200 was considered superhuman.

Bjorn did not appear in the pre-remake original work until much later than the present point in time.

His stats might therefore be lower now than they were then, but they were undoubtedly still far higher than Reisir's.

"That's true. We're still students, after all."

Voicing her agreement, Helga lightly patted her childhood friend's shoulder as though encouraging him.

She then told him they should hurry and wash up, eat dinner, and get plenty of rest before slipping into the passage leading to the women's dormitory.

It should be fine if I... say nothing, right?

By the standards of my possessed body, merely buffing him was already more kindness than necessary.

Offering any additional words of encouragement would constitute a blatant collapse in characterization.

Furthermore, the protagonist of someone else's novel had been acting excessively arrogant of late, so part of me thought he needed to taste bitter defeat at least once.

And if that defeat came during a sparring session with a professor rather than in actual combat, so much the better.

That was why, even upon seeing Reisir so dejected, I felt no need to tell him to cheer up.

Without a word, I spun around and headed toward the men's dormitory.

"Wait, let me come with you!"

Reisir hurried after me, but remained silent as we climbed the stairs.

Normally, he would have chattered away about one thing or another all by himself.

The fact that he kept his mouth firmly shut meant he truly was exhausted.

"Karvaldr, wait."

The protagonist of someone else's novel finally spoke once we reached the fifth floor, where our dormitory rooms were located.

He could have asked to talk during or after dinner.

Yet he had chosen this particular moment....

"I hope you are not about to say that you will visit my room after dinner."

"Am I not allowed?"

"My buff skill may have improved your condition slightly for the moment, but its effect is only temporary. If you do not rest properly today, tomorrow will be exceedingly difficult. And since you may misunderstand, let me add that I am saying this out of concern for myself, not for you. I am only managing to remain on my feet because of the buff as well."

"Oh, I see...?"

The corners of the protagonist of someone else's novel's mouth twitched upward.

He clearly mistook my words for an excuse made because I was worried about him but too embarrassed to admit how I truly felt.

Even though I had explicitly told him not to make that mistake.

However, expending more energy on a lengthy explanation to correct his misunderstanding would contradict what I had just said.

I glared at the protagonist of someone else's novel once, then resumed walking.

Or rather, I tried to. I would have succeeded if I had not heard what he said next.

"I wanted to consult you about the skill I obtained yesterday...."

"Did we not finish discussing that yesterday?"

"This is about something else."

Since it concerned a skill, I could not simply ignore him.

The academy had been swallowed by the Demon Realm only yesterday, and we were scheduled to remain inside it until the closure ended.

We would therefore have no occasion to face actual combat for a while.

So postponing the conversation for a few days probably wouldn't come back to bite us....

The problem was my damned curiosity.

After wavering briefly, I chose not to turn away coldly. Instead, I leaned my back against the wall, folded my arms, and spoke.

"I have no intention of discussing it with you in depth right now, but I shall hear you out. Explain as briefly as possible."

"While I was training with Professor Bjorn on the mountain behind the academy earlier, it suddenly occurred to me that this skill might be able to discover hidden traps too. After all, it's a skill that 'sees through' things that are concealed, right? But...."

"You failed to discover anything even after using the skill?"

"Yes. Even though a trap had been installed there."

I decided not to ask how he knew that.

The answer was painfully obvious.

He must know because the trap activated while he was standing there and put him through hell.

In any case, my curiosity had been satisfied.

By way of analogy, Reisir had only just learned how to roll over and was seeking advice because he could not yet run.

In other words, the problem would resolve itself naturally once he improved his proficiency with the skill.

"Could I have been mistaken?"

"No, I believe your approach itself was correct. You simply have not reached the necessary level yet. You managed to pinpoint the location of the 'magic core' inside the Boss Monster with that skill yesterday, but your Ether Attribute Ability had been enhanced by my buff skill at the time. And surely it is only natural that an 'energy aggregate' would be easier to detect than an ordinary object containing no energy whatsoever?"

"Ah.... That's true too...?"

I deliberately adopted a disdainful expression and stared steadily at the protagonist of someone else's novel.

He gave an awkward laugh, looking mortified.

It did not repay him for every time he had treated me like a tsundere, but I felt quite satisfied at having achieved this small measure of revenge.

Come to think of it, I intended merely to hear him out and save the actual discussion for later....

The problem had been so trivial that I had inadvertently resolved his question on the spot.

I felt needlessly embarrassed, as though my words and actions had contradicted each other, but the protagonist of someone else's novel had not noticed yet. I decided to move on without letting it show.

I unfolded my arms and pushed away from the wall, signaling through my actions that I intended to return to my room.

"Karvaldr. Once you've grown accustomed to the training and have some stamina to spare, could you make time to visit the mountain behind the academy with me? I want to check in advance whether I can detect traps with my skill if you use 【Encouragement】 on me."

Having already shaken off his embarrassment, Reisir made his request.

Since Pret, a trap installation expert, belonged to the special Awakened class, the matter did not strike me as particularly urgent.

However, the protagonist of someone else's novel apparently wanted to verify it as soon as possible—preferably before the academy reopened.

After all, he still did not trust Pret.

Perhaps Pret's proficiency with traps was itself a source of anxiety for Reisir.

"Well... all right. It is hardly a difficult request."

At the time, I answered without giving it much thought, but I was wrong.

Judging by the outcome alone, the protagonist of someone else's novel had made an exceedingly difficult request.

For the record, the reason my narration has diverged so sharply from my dialogue will be revealed in the next episode.

Three days later, before dawn.

For the aforementioned reason, Yor and I headed toward the mountain behind the academy with the protagonist of someone else's novel.

"Walking in silence is boring, so why don't I tell you what I wanted to discuss in your room a few days ago but never got the chance to?"

As we walked through the cold March air before sunrise, Reisir opened the conversation by bringing up what had happened in Episode 326.

If it was something we absolutely had to discuss anyway, doing so now was more efficient than setting aside time for it later.

I therefore had no intention of refusing, but....

Wanting to test whether he can find traps with 【Truth-Reading Eye】 after receiving help from my buff skill is merely an excuse. Could it be that he simply wanted to walk quietly with me and talk?

The thought flashed through my mind.

But if I asked only for him to deny it, the embarrassment would be unbearable, so I decided to bury the question.

"Hmph. Do as you please."

"Pfft! Thanks."

That was neither the attitude nor the tone of someone genuinely grateful.

I had no idea why he was laughing in the first place.

"So what exactly do you wish to discuss?"

"The way you treat Sveinn."

"......"

I had known Reisir would raise the subject eventually.

I had once told him not to view Fjodora unconditionally in a negative light, explaining that we needed to distinguish clearly between enemies and allies.

Even after discovering that Pret belonged to the Information Guild, I had not been particularly wary of him.

Viewed from that perspective...

The fact that the protagonist of someone else's novel was only bringing this up now made him extremely late.

His judgment had probably been clouded by his absurd misconception that I was jealous of him becoming friends with Sveinn.

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