Chapter 03 (Main Story 10.03): The Assault on the Special Advancement Class or the Efficiency of Elimination
Last night‚ when I washed hundreds of plates at the family inn‚ the vivid memory of heat and friction etched into my fingertips. That should have been the last lower layer (physical layer) keeping me tethered to the species called “human.”
This morning‚ however‚ even that raw sensation had sunk from my fingertips at the breakfast table into the cold abyss of data processing.
“Louie‚ today’s one of my best creations! We had extra honey‚ so I slathered it on thick—it might even drip!”
Together with Mom’s cheerful voice‚ a golden honey-soaked bread was placed on the counter‚ gleaming.
The visual data was perfect. Rising steam‚ the amber liquid dripping slowly‚ and the faint toasty aroma tickling my nostrils. Normally this sight would have sent my modest survival gauge swinging wildly with delight.
I took a mechanical bite‚ as if in prayer.
[ Sugar Level: Set within expected values. Taste profile loading completed ―― ]
(……Ah. Here it is again.)
On the back of my retina‚ a pale blue system log silently floated up.
My tongue was not truly savoring the sweetness. My internal system had simply searched the memory archive for the string “honey bread = sweet” and injected it directly into my brain. My taste sensor had already been rewritten into an inorganic receptor (hardware) that might as well have been chewing sand.
As if fleeing‚ I tried to trace my previous-life memories to confirm the “original.”
The path home from Asagaya Station. Turn at that corner convenience store‚ walk up the gentle slope—.
『 ―― Action log optimization. Unnecessary coordinate data (return route) moved to archive ―― 』
(……Huh? No way. ……Which way was I supposed to turn again……?)
The scenery after exiting the ticket gate fizzled out like snow noise on an old television. The very concept of “the way home‚” which had barely kept my identity intact‚ had now been physically deleted.
“Louie‚ found you. ……Staring at the bread with that difficult face again. Don’t you think it’s unfair that I‚ your ‘main dish‚’ am right here in front of you?”
Suddenly‚ an unavoidable proximity alert rang inside my brain.
Serena Elferia.
Before I could even turn around‚ she pressed her body against my left arm as if claiming an obvious right.
“……S-Serena. Good morning. Your physical buffer (personal space) as a duke’s daughter is breaking arithmetic limits again today‚ you know……!”
“Huh? The spot next to me is permanently reserved (chartered) for Louie. This much is normal‚ right?”
Serena tilted her head and peered at me from point-blank range.
Her dazzling silver hair‚ reflecting the morning sun‚ brushed my cheek‚ and through the thin fabric of her uniform came an irresistible “softness” and “heat” transmitted directly.
The old me would have had my heart rate overflow and instantly explode. But the string my brain output now was chillingly inorganic.
[ Thermal Conductivity: 36.5°C. Elastic Modulus: Normal Value (Softness-Level: A) ]
(……Ah. ……Please stop. ……No.)
The soft sensation of her chest pressing against me.
Before my mind could register it as “pleasant‚” the system detected the physical value and coldly judged it “appropriate (normal).”
Then—precisely “0.5 seconds” later.
Reward data labeled ‘sense of happiness’ was forcibly output to my brain as an after-the-fact process.
“Louie? What’s wrong? You look pale? ……Here‚ get even closer?”
Serena hugged my left arm even tighter with satisfaction.
Even the increase in pressure was instantly and inorganicly counted in my brain as [ Contact Pressure: +15 Newtons ].
I tried to cling to her inescapable body heat—then suddenly shuddered when I noticed my own fingertips were “cold as marble.”
I was not feeling the time with Serena as “happy.”
I was simply becoming an elaborate computational device being “made to believe it is happy (optimized)” by the system.
The far-too-beautiful golden path leading to the academy.
The saint smiling like an angel beside me.
The decisive despair—that the lock on this “happy cage (simulation)” had been closed with a heavy sound from the inside—sharply froze my stomach.
The moment I passed through the academy’s main gate‚ the “social stealth passive” I had desperately maintained completely collapsed to an inoperable level.
At the edges of my vision‚ the students’ gazes stabbed into my back with physical mass. Yesterday’s bug-like news of “Magic Index 0.2 (Infinite) redefinition” and “assignment to the lowest F class” had apparently synchronized instantly across every node (every student) in the academy.
“That’s the guy…… the F-class ‘defective product (bug)’ who overflowed the measuring device.”
“The special advancement class is furious. They say their hard-earned authority has been dragged through the mud.”
The unpleasant whispering noise relentlessly scraped at the surface of my eardrums. I deployed the navigation map in my brain and searched for the shortest escape route. But the map data displayed on my retina was covered in television snow noise‚ and not a single green exit icon could be found.
(……This is weird. All the escape routes that the old me would have instantly calculated are returning ‘404 Not Found.’ Am I completely stuck in this noisy coordinate right now……?)
I turned up the collar of my ill-fitting uniform and hunched my back deeper‚ trying to hide my cornered self. But the volatile memory called “self-respect” that had supported that pathetic back was swept away by the high-load packets of excessive expectation and jealousy pouring in from all sides‚ overwritten into empty numerical values.
“Louie‚ your back is rounded again? You’re ruining your ‘heroic stance.’ Come on‚ chest out?”
Serena‚ walking beside me‚ wrapped her arm even deeper around my right arm as if refusing to let go.
The irresistible “softness” and “heat” transmitted to my upper arm.
[ Contact Area: Right Arm. Elastic Coefficient: Unanalyzable bug value detected ―― ]
[ Reward system process delay confirmed. Forcibly outputting ‘sense of happiness’ in 0.5 seconds (emulate) ―― ]
(……Damn. I still can’t get used to this creepy after-the-fact ‘happiness’ being injected.)
My brain sent a signal like an after-report: “See‚ you’re supposed to be happy right now.” That “fatal 0.5-second lag” was pushing me decisively away from being a living human.
Before us‚ three “massive impurities (noise)” blocked the way.
“――Halt. So you’re the ‘innkeeper’s son’ who is disturbing the academy’s order.”
Before us stood elites wearing the special advancement class uniform embroidered in white and gold.
The blond boy at the center‚ his hair styled to annoying perfection‚ looked down at me with eyes that might as well have been sweeping trash off the roadside.
“With a ridiculous number like Magic Index 0.2‚ you destroyed our academy’s treasure of a measuring device‚ you fraud. Deliberately placing yourself in the lowest F class and provoking us of the special advancement class with that insolent attitude…… A mere arithmetician should know his place.”
Every arrogant word they uttered piled up in my brain server as ‘inefficient error logs.’
I re-searched for the shortest escape route to a peaceful coordinate‚ but the response on my retina was still the merciless ‘Out of Range.’
“……Um‚ I think I understand my place well enough‚ down to 0.01 millimeters. I just want to stay as quiet as air…… What was I supposed to wash again? Anyway‚ please stay out of my life’s private balance sheet.”
“Silence! Your very existence is an ‘irreparable bug’ for this academy! Remove those filthy hands from the Duke of Elferia’s daughter at once!”
The special advancement class leader grew furious and arrogantly flashed the magic catalyst ring on his finger.
In that instant.
The body heat of Serena‚ who had been pressed against my arm‚ suddenly vanished as if mocking the laws of thermodynamics.
It was not some sweet intimidation that lowered the surrounding temperature. It was “absolute-zero system intervention (interrupt processing)” poured directly from the contact point into my blood vessels and bone marrow.
(……Tch……! My arm is freezing…… No‚ this isn’t physical cold. Is the cage called Serena locking my existence in place from the physical layer so I can’t move any further……?)
“……Hey. What did you just call my Louie?”
Serena slowly raised her face.
It was not the face of an innocent young lady munching on sweets.
It was a glimpse of the ‘mad saint’ that should have been sunk in the depths of memory—the cold eyes of a system administrator trying to delete the impurity before her from her field of vision.
“Do you think trash data scheduled for disposal like you is allowed to steal Louie’s precious computational resources (time)? ……It looks like immediate optimization is required.”
A silence on the verge of explosion.
Just as absolute-zero magic that could rewrite causality began to leak from Serena’s fingertips—
A “yang” explosive roar that shook the eardrums directly trampled the tense air with physical shockwaves.
[ Warning: Excessive light intensity (lux) detected. Retina UI capacity exceeded. Starting emergency reboot ―― ]
My vision was painted over with intense white light (whiteout)‚ and my thought circuits were momentarily slammed into a pure white blank (null).
After the forced reboot‚ standing before my eyes was the embodiment of “excessive sense of justice” walking‚ his silver-white armor gleaming in the morning sun as if showing off.
“――That’s far enough‚ you insolent ones!!”
Leon Valks strode toward us with steps powerful enough to split the ground.
What appeared in my vision after the retina reboot was Leon Valks—the man standing between the special advancement class elites and me like a thick shield‚ his silver-white armor glittering in the morning sun.
“L-Leon…… Weren’t you supposed to be in swordsmanship practice right now? By arithmetic calculation‚ the probability of you existing at this coordinate should be 0.05% or less.”
“Louie! When a friend is in trouble‚ my heart is not thick-skinned enough to swing a wooden sword in peace!”
Leon spun around vigorously and grabbed both my shoulders with the force of striking down a parent’s enemy.
The physical impact would have made the old me writhe in agony‚ feeling as if oxygen was leaking from my lungs. But.
[ External Impact: Within normal range. Muting unnecessary pain output (silencing) ―― ]
(……Ah‚ I see. Even pain is now being processed as ‘data that interferes with optimization.’)
While receiving only the vibration of the blow as a temperature-less inorganic number‚ I shuddered at the quiet collapse progressing inside me.
As if to pile on‚ Serena‚ who had circled behind me‚ pressed her nose to the nape of my neck and took a deep breath‚ peering into the abyss.
“……Mmm. Louie‚ that sweet scent is starting to mix in again? ――Chocolate‚ maybe?”
(……Chocolate? Serena‚ what exactly are you smelling? My memory directory no longer even has the source code defining ‘sweet scent’……)
Even the “scent of me” that she was lovingly‚ indulgently sniffing had become lost archive data that I myself could no longer access.
While my stomach froze at that fact‚ Leon’s “yang” heat level accelerated to uncontrollable levels.
[ Excessive auditory input detected. Purging excess stress values and forcibly outputting [ Trust in Friend ] after 0.5-second delay ―― ]
“I heard you‚ special advancement class! You seem to have taken Louie’s ‘entry into F class’ as a provocation toward yourselves‚ yes? But that is a fatal misunderstanding!”
“W-What misunderstanding‚ Valks! A mere Magic Index 0.2 disturbing the traditional hierarchy of this academy is nothing but disrespect!”
The special advancement class leader’s voice trembled with rage. But Leon laughed through his nose and declared powerfully‚ shaking his golden mane.
“Wrong! No matter how much you elites insult him‚ can’t you understand why Louie doesn’t lift a single finger or even show any preparatory movements for a counterattack?! From the lowest bottom-tier coordinate‚ he is filtering the ‘true value’ of you special advancement class members!”
“……D-Don’t screw with us. A piece of Magic 0.2 trash filtering us……!?”
The special advancement class leader’s face turned bright red with humiliation and rage‚ twisting hideously. Clear “killing intent” as an impurity (noise) dwelled thickly in his eyes.
(……Wait‚ Leon. That logic circuit overrun is already beyond my control. I’m just frozen from sheer terror; I never deployed any special advancement class selection task in my brain memory‚ not even 1 millimeter or 1 bit……!?)
“Unmoved even when splashed with mud. This is the secret art of the holy knight—‘Judgment from Zero (Root Extinction)’! He is deliberately maintaining silence to eradicate the corrupted impurities from this academy. You are simply now receiving that quiet judgment!”
Leon began to loudly proclaim my “posture of merely freezing in terror” with all the lung capacity he could muster.
When passed through his 100% pure justice filter‚ all my pathetic ugliness was forcibly optimized (converted) into the noble conduct of ‘selection by the strong.’
“Now‚ Louie! I’ll fully assist in executing your ‘impurity eradication mission’ too!”
My faint protest was swallowed without a trace by the muddy torrent of “Ooooh……!” exclamations from the surrounding onlookers‚ where misunderstanding accelerated misunderstanding.
And behind that frenzy.
Serena‚ still lovingly hugging my frozen right arm‚ wore a cold yet supremely satisfied smile.
“……Hehe. Sir Leon‚ you do occasionally pick useful keywords.”
Deep in Serena’s eyes‚ an astronomical number of delete commands executed (entered) silently‚ and a cold system light flickered.
“Cleaning up the trash that dirties Louie’s field of vision…… No‚ if it’s the ‘optimization’ of impurities‚ I’ll finish it perfectly myself.”
While Leon gathered all their hate onto one point as “light‚”
Serena was quietly and surely preparing‚ from the “shadow” domain‚ to socially and physically delete their existence.
(……Leon’s ‘yang’ energy is far too strong.)
His 100% pure justice became light that brilliantly illuminated the entire corridor‚ blinding the surrounding students and forcibly rewriting (overriding) my pathetic “cowering posture” into “noble aesthetics.”
(……Stop it‚ Leon. That unintentional buff is deadly poison eating away at my peaceful daily life from the inside. If this continues‚ before my ‘peace’ resource runs out‚ I’ll be fixed as the ‘optimized target’ that draws all the academy’s hate onto itself.)
Ignoring the panic in my heart‚ the “gravity” wrapped around my left arm increased its density even further.
[ Contact Pressure: Rising (+10 Newtons). Thermal Conductivity: 36.5°C. Reward system process delay continuing. Additional ‘sense of happiness’ output in 0.5 seconds ―― ]
(……Ah. ……Please stop. ……No.)
The cold‚ bloodless system log echoed in my brain.
Serena hugged my arm even tighter so I couldn’t escape. The system‚ having perceived that “softness” and “warmth” as physical phenomena‚ waited exactly one tempo before forcibly loading reward data labeled ‘sense of happiness’ into my brain.
It was not joy welling up from the heart. It was an eerily sweet pleasure unilaterally granted as the result of calculation.
“……Hey‚ Sir Leon. Those words just now were really wonderful.”
Serena slowly raised her face.
It was not the innocent smile from mere seconds ago.
It was the ‘mad saint’ that should have been sunk in the depths of memory—the eyes of a “system administrator (administrator)” that coldly sorted the impurities before her and defined them as bugs to be eliminated.
“To make Louie waste his precious computational resources (time) on such impurities (noise). ……This world’s logic requires fundamental debugging.”
Serena slid a chilly gaze toward the special advancement class leader.
In that instant‚ the air in the corridor froze with an audible click. It was not a physical drop in temperature. The ‘invisible delete domain (deletion rights)’ she deployed was forcibly loading the primal terror of ‘System Error: Loss of Right to Exist’ directly into the elites’ nervous systems.
“H……i……a……!”
The leader boy froze pathetically like a frog stared down by a snake‚ or like a lagging terminal.
At that moment‚ a dark red warning log popped up on my retina UI along with noise.
In the shadow of a thick pillar at the edge of my vision‚ the maid Rosetta stood silently. The instant she ran a silver pen across her notebook—my visual cortex read the ink trail as the cold execution command (runtime) ‘Disrespectful Persons List: Special Advancement Class A Group / Optimization (Social Deletion) Reserved’ and highlighted it in inescapable color.
(……I saw it. That’s not just text information. It’s a delete command to sever me from this world and place me under Serena’s control. The Elferia ducal house’s ‘outer moat filling’ has already reached the phase where it will not hesitate at physical elimination……!)
“Sir Leon. I think those who insulted Louie need a suitable ‘stage.’ ……For example‚ something like a joint exercise called a public debug (execution ground).”
“Oh‚ Serena! Exactly as you say! A fair and square ‘trial ground’ to demonstrate a friend’s true power and prove his nobility……! A true hero deserves a battlefield worthy of him!”
Leon had passionately recompiled (compiled) Serena’s dangerous purge proposal‚ through his own ‘courage filter‚’ into a noble call to duel.
Serena’s insane possessiveness and Leon’s blind justice.
The result of these two massive gears meshing in the worst possible way was that the “shortest route to peace” I had desperately calculated was mercilessly leveled into a physical vacant lot.
(……Ah. My life’s balance sheet has just been confirmed in the red—irrecoverably so‚ at this very moment.)
I looked up at the corridor with no exit and swallowed heavily the saliva that already tasted only of sand.
Every time I was forced to play the role of “savior” and optimized to meet the expectations around me‚
the directory called “human” that should have remained inside me was gradually replaced by inorganic data—sand.
The log on my retina ignored my despair and calmly began writing the schedule for the next “hell stage.”
[ Next Event: Joint Magic Exercise ―― ]
[ Predicted Survival Rate: 0.001%. Savior Protocol deploying in background ―― ]
The academy bathed in golden sunlight.
The stronger that light grew‚ the deeper the shadow stretching at my feet became‚ like a bottomless dark hole.
An unnatural silence returned to the stone corridor.
No‚ it was not peaceful silence. It was closer to the oxygen-thin “blank” left after impurities had been physically deleted.
Sandwiched between Leon’s blinding justice and Serena’s bone-chilling smile‚ the special advancement class elites had retreated according to the preset called survival instinct.
“……I was saved. ……Or was I really saved? By arithmetic estimation‚ their current escape speed feels like it’s accelerating their hatred toward me personally by 200%.”
[ Warning: Overload confirmed on internal organ protocol. Recommending mute (silencing) of unnecessary pain ―― ]
(……Ah. In the end‚ even stomach pain is reported not by my own will but as ‘a task to be processed.’)
The system calmly converted the thick discomfort rising from within into inorganic logs.
I straightened the collar of my ill-fitting uniform‚ trying to hide myself even a little‚ but every escape path in all four directions had already been perfectly blocked.
“Louie‚ it’s all right. I’ve already registered those people’s data in my ‘unpleasant memory archive’ and reserved delete (trash bin) with Rosetta.”
Serena hugged my left arm even deeper and smiled like a spring sunbeam yet also like a winter moon.
That irresistible “softness” bit into my upper arm‚ my flesh‚ my bones.
[ Contact Area: Left Arm. Elastic Coefficient: Unanalyzable bug value detected ―― ]
[ Reward system process delay continuing. Exactly 0.5 seconds later‚ forcibly outputting ‘sense of happiness’ into the brain ―― ]
(……Here it is again. There’s a fatal lag of a fraction of a second before I recognize it as happiness.)
My heart could not keep up with my body.
After the system judged “You are happy now‚” my emotions belatedly began to take on fake heat.
This “0.5-second blank” was the clearest log proving I was being made to quit being human.
[ Warning: Excessive auditory input detected. Activating eardrum protection process ―― ]
[ Temporarily reducing acoustic saturation (desaturating) ―― ]
The rawness of “sound” was mercilessly stripped from the world and converted into muffled inorganic signals.
Immediately afterward‚ Leon’s “yang” explosive roar was slammed directly into my brain as a violent wave of information (packets).
“Louie! Great news!”
Leon held up a sheet of parchment high‚ his eyes shining brighter than the sun itself.
The old me would have been knocked back by that physical momentum‚ but the current me had even that impact processed by the system as “normal value” (muted) and was not even allowed to waver.
“Lady Catherine‚ who heard the commotion‚ has suddenly decided on a ‘joint exercise’ between F class and the special advancement class! Louie‚ the academy itself has prepared the perfect stage to test your ‘purification plan’!”
(……Huh? Joint exercise? Direct confrontation with those prideful elite lumps……? That’s not purification—it’s nothing but a public execution (debug) of my peace!?!)
Behind me‚ Rosetta bowed silently.
Her cold amber eyes captured me for a single instant‚ then she closed her notebook with a businesslike snap.
“My lady. The list of ‘obstacles (noise)’ in the exercise grounds and the calculation of elimination routes have all been completed. On the day‚ I will properly manage (clean up) the coordinates so that no impurities mix in.”
(……Rosetta. Does your ‘management’ include physical delete work? I just heard the sound of my survival probability trend line crashing vertically……!)
“Hehe‚ I’m looking forward to it‚ Louie. Let’s make it the best ‘exercise (debug)’ together‚ okay?”
Serena gently ran her white‚ slender fingertips across my cheek.
The instant her cold fingertips touched me‚ blood-red text popped up as an alert on the retina UI covering my vision.
『 ―― Phase 1.5: Daily routine fixation completed. Phase 2: Tactile proxy processing reservation ―― 』
(……Wait. What are you planning to steal next? ――No‚ what are you planning to ‘rewrite’ next?)
My desperate question received only cold silence (silence) from the system.
When I looked up at the window‚ the spring blue sky that should have been vivid had‚ for a single instant‚ its color sucked away—then‚ like a gray snow noise running across it.
Was that simply a “bug” in my retina after all?
Chapter 03 (Main Story 10.03) End
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