Chapter 05: "The Saintess's Amulet or the Cruel Optimal Solution"
The day after the magic tournament.
The academy's courtyard was buzzing in an arithmetically unanalyzable manner due to the lingering effects of the "optimized spark" I unleashed yesterday.
"Did you see that spark? With magic power of 0.2‚ that kind of penetration power..."
"The structure was too beautiful; the examiner was apparently trembling."
The surrounding whispers accelerated my heartbeat by 1.2 times.
(……Ah‚ I want to go home. At the back entrance of the inn‚ without anyone noticing‚ I want to calculate the reflection angle of the water in the bucket. My self-esteem is the same as soap bubbles popping at the washing station. The more I stand out‚ the faster I disappear.)
I sighed while pressing my flank on a bench in the shade of the trees.
Under my clothes‚ the 'Imaginary Grimoire' that Zeno-san entrusted to me yesterday sat heavily like an inescapable reality.
Yesterday's "optimization" was my calculation error. The formula that should have led to failing and returning to the inn ironically pushed me up to the academy's "product (innovation)."
"Rui-kun‚ you're making such a dark face again. Even though I specially baked honey bread for you."
Suddenly‚ a sweet scent drifted from beside me.
Serina Elferia. The kingdom's treasure‚ and the sun that burns away my peace.
The bread she offered was baked even more precisely and obsessively than yesterday.
"……Serina‚ thank you. But right now‚ my stomach is contracting under 1.2 gigapascals of pressure. Just hearing that the royal palace investigation team is coming makes my brain computations keep spitting out errors."
"It's okay‚ Rui. No matter how much you pretend to be the 'weakest‚' I know your 'strongest' side."
Serina tightly grabbed my sleeve. The warmth of her fingertips physically sealed off my escape routes.
Her smile was part of the production to elevate me from "innkeeper's son" to "savior."
(……Tomorrow‚ my daily life will die. Probability‚ 99.99%.)
I gazed at the golden-glowing bread and thought of my own future‚ fleeting like bubbles.
The academy's special reception room.
It was not a space that someone like me‚ the "innkeeper's son‚" should step into.
Fluffy carpet‚ furnishings edged with magic gold.
The entire room formed a gravitational field named "power‚" and my brain computations were warning that the oxygen concentration had dropped by 0.5% due to tension.
"Have a seat‚ Rui Adel-kun. I'm not going to eat you or anything."
Sitting opposite was the leader of the royal palace investigation team‚ Catherine Belmont.
She spread thick documents on the desk and pierced me with her eyes behind the glasses.
That gaze was the coldness of a bureaucrat selecting prey for the dissection table.
"……Um‚ in my brain computations‚ this investigation only yields the solution 'waste of time.' Yesterday's spark was just good luck‚ or rather……"
"Luck? The probability of a human with a magic power index of 0.2 accidentally performing an 'optimization' that penetrates protective barriers is astronomically high."
Catherine thrust one sheet of the document right in front of my nose. There‚ the "0.3-degree correction" I had drawn on the blackboard was circled in red.
"Tell me honestly. Where and from whom did you learn this 'equation (system hack)'? As someone protecting the kingdom's magic interests‚ I cannot overlook this technology."
(Oh no…… She's the type who blocks escape routes with logic……!)
"I didn't learn it…… It's just common sense from life. It's the same as calculating how to remove oil stains in the shortest time while washing dishes at the inn…… If you think of magic power as 'detergent‚' even 0.2 is enough."
The moment Catherine leaned forward――
From behind flowed an "absolute-zero cold air" that froze the air.
"Catherine-sama. Rui's intellect is managed by the Elferia family. If the royal palace tries to forcibly expose its contents…… it will become a corresponding 'diplomatic issue‚' won't it?"
Serina's voice was beautiful like a bell.
But deep in her eyes dwelled a cold light that could "delete" the female bureaucrat district by district.
Catherine trembled her throat slightly for a moment and broke into cold sweat.
Serina's magic power is the highest in academy history. If angered‚ one district of the royal capital would disappear. She understood that fact.
Still‚ she did not abandon her bureaucratic "pride" and returned her gaze to Serina while keeping a bold smile pasted on.
"――Sorry to keep you waiting‚ Rui! I can't let the royal palace people do whatever they want with you!"
The heavy door of the reception room flew open with momentum that ignored physical laws.
The one who appeared was a man shining like the sun in silver armor――Leon Valks.
"Leon!? You‚ now is training time……"
"Rui‚ my heart isn't thick enough to swing a wooden sword when a friend is in distress! Catherine-dono‚ I'll testify too. About this man――Rui Adel's true value!"
(Stop it‚ Leon……! Your 100% pure justice arithmetically only accelerates my "conscription list entry probability" by 200%……!)
I covered my eyes in despair. Leon stared at Catherine and began recounting the story of when I became a "shield" to protect Serina‚ adding not just embellishments but fins and chest fins as well.
"He risked his body! Despite having no magic power‚ he deliberately continued to receive unprotected beatings to protect the duke's daughter! That was not a calculation for survival‚ but the radiance of the soul!"
"Leon‚ your voice is loud! That was simply because me getting hit caused less damage……"
"Don't be humble‚ Rui! Catherine-dono‚ measuring his 'vessel' with such a trivial number like magic power index is itself a mistake!"
Catherine listened and quietly nodded with a bureaucrat's cold face.
"Well said‚ Lord Valks. I'm convinced――that 'self-sacrificial shield' of his is exactly what is most needed now on the northern front."
"……Northern front?"
Serina's voice turned chillingly cold.
"Yes. The activation of magical beasts accompanying the empire's cold wave. With your 'optimization‚' the soldiers' survival probability would rise dramatically. This is by royal decree――it could become a case for forced conscription."
At that moment‚ the air froze.
And――Leon's expression wavered for the first time.
"……Conscription? Rui is…… going to wield that power on the battlefield……?"
In his eyes floated both the "pride" that his friend had been recognized by the nation and the "bewilderment" at exposing the friend he should protect to danger.
On the other hand‚ I felt the weight of the 'Imaginary Grimoire' on my flank and trembled as my life's worst-case scenario began converging as an equation.
Catherine did not miss that "gap" and coldly piled on words.
"Instead of returning to the inn‚ you will go to the 'giant dirty washing station' called the front lines. There‚ let's have you calculate wiping blood and mud for a lifetime."
(Ah…… It's over. My life's profit-and-loss statement has just been finalized in deep red deficit at this very moment.)
Catherine's breath touching my ear carried the "frequency of destruction." Her voice turned cold like flipping a switch the moment it smelled my hesitation.
"Hey‚ Rui-kun. Your walking posture‚ the center of gravity on the left side is always tilted by 0.5 degrees. It's an unnatural compensatory posture to protect the approximately 300 grams of foreign object hidden on your right flank."
My spine jumped. As an arithmetician‚ she had analyzed my body control using the same logic as me.
"Are you planning to be swallowed by the Elferia family's 'obsession' like this and end your life as her personal property? Come to the royal palace. In exchange for removing your name from the conscription list‚ provide that calculation ability to the royal palace."
(……A deal‚ huh. Becoming part of the huge system called the royal palace might have a higher survival rate than being locked in the "inescapable cage" named Serina.)
My brain computation circuit wavered.
But that momentary hesitation could not be overlooked by the "absolute-zero guardian" behind me.
"……Rui. If you're considering that impure proposal――"
The moment Serina's voice echoed‚ the air in the special reception room crystallized. Even the spring sunlight caressing the luxurious furnishings froze‚ and my exhaled breath falling to the floor shattered into white dust; absolute-zero silence dominated the room.
"I'll lock you in my mental landscape along with this tower right now. The scent of something like an 'impurity' like you on my Rui's shirt…… is not included in my calculations (production)."
A tense silence on the verge of explosion.
Only Leon alone had a bugged-like smile pasted on in this unknown battlefield of "women's passions." He was genuinely trying to lighten the mood‚ but his sincerity was now just painful.
"Ha‚ hah……! The discussion about Rui's talent is heating up……! This too…… must be because of the hero's vessel……!"
Catherine delivered the final blow.
"That's it for today. But Rui-kun――you should be able to calculate immediately which cage is better."
The moment she gently traced my fingertips‚ the carpet at Serina's feet shattered to pieces due to magic resonance.
After the investigation team left‚ in the room where only the slanting light of dusk remained‚ I sank into the sofa.
"……My lifespan shortened by about 100 years. As expected‚ the royal palace is a place I shouldn't get involved with."
Leon flew out saying "I'll go reconfirm Rui's goodness!" Inside the room‚ only me and Serina remained.
"……Rui. I want you to have this."
What she offered was a hand-sewn amulet. Each stitch was sewn with abnormal precision and obsession in a protective embroidery.
"Even when I'm not by your side‚ this will act as your substitute."
Serina pressed close. The sweet body temperature unique to a girl short-circuited my brain computations.
But at that moment――one "answer" was derived in my brain.
"Hey‚ Serina. This amulet…… I think it would be better to give it to Leon after all."
Serina's fingertips stopped abruptly.
"……What are you saying?"
"I calculated it. Raising Leon's survival probability by 1% on the front lines has the highest expected value for my peace. If Leon falls‚ there's a 20% probability that the wheat flour supply route to the family inn will be cut off. That's an unacceptable risk for my dishwashing life. ……I just did the correct calculation. I never thought it would hurt someone."
Serina forgot to blink as if time had stopped. I couldn't understand the meaning of that silence until the very end.
"Rui…… what do you think my heart is? Do you think it's just 'equipment (parts)' for managing the inn's inventory?"
"Eh‚ ah‚ no……"
"……Idiot. The worst. Despite being an arithmetician‚ you miscalculate the most important 'answer'."
Large tears overflowed from her eyes.
It was a drop too cruel‚ foretelling the future where she would be swallowed by "obsession" and her friend swallowed by "justice."
"I don't know anymore! I'll lock Rui in a cage along with the world!"
Serina ran away.
Left alone‚ I stood still feeling the weight of the amulet.
"……Why. In my calculations‚ this should have been the path where 'no one dies and the inn's profits are protected.'"
Outside the window‚ the academy's tower that was glowing golden was betrayed by the setting sunlight and swallowed into long shadows.
It was the very omen that the future I had calculated was being painted over into deep night (obsession).
My desired "return to the inn's back door" was being optimized further into a thorny path by the error called my own slip of the tongue.
Each time the sun sets‚ daily life quietly crumbles little by little. Only I remain unaware of that sound.
(Chapter 05 Complete)
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