The Academy’s Doomed Young Lord Dies Ten Thousand Times

Chapter 45 - The Calm Before the Storm

A month passed since then. During that month, I lived a normal academy life without any particular incidents or accidents.

It was a story of spending my days like an ordinary student, attending classes and slowly growing.

To the point where the breathless moments and the pain I had experienced so far felt like a lie.

But that absolutely did not mean I was living lazily or slacking off.

As there were fewer other things to worry about, I could focus more on training.

《 Stats 》

[ Strength : D ]

[ Agility : C+ ]

[ Stamina : D ]

[ Intellect : B ]

[ Mana : F+ ]

[ Dexterity : B+ ]

And as a result of that training, my strength and stamina finally left D- and reached D.

In other words, I now possessed the average level of strength and stamina for an academy student.

Of course, compared to the main characters or enemies, it was a pitifully low stat… but, well, I decided to find meaning in the fact that I had grown.

‘As expected, training diligently without stress does build muscle.’

Certainly, compared to the past when I had to be tense and on edge about various things, my recent life was peaceful. I had been so busy right after regressing.

It felt even more so as I went over them one by one. Overcoming an assassination attempt, the entrance examination, the practical test, manufacturing a magitech weapon, and the subjugation of Judgment.

While doing all that, I also trained and studied diligently in between, and put effort into my relationships…….

Even I felt that I had gone through a lot. That's why the recent peaceful daily life resonated with me more.

But if you were to ask if this ordinary and peaceful life would continue, the answer was of course no.

‘Because the first main scenario is approaching.’

Yes, the scenario that would become the starting point of 's hopeless development—『Prelude to Ruin』—was approaching.

I had previously described 's story as 'miserable' and 'despair-inducing', but in fact, the very early parts of tended to develop in a fairly bright atmosphere.

The daily life chapters showed the personalities of the main character and the main cast. It was an excellent device for immersing oneself in the characters.

Then, through the social chapters that showed the chemistry between the characters, and other academy-like sub-missions, it showed the essence of a fantasy school story in many ways.

『Prelude to Ruin』, which occurred amidst the peaceful atmosphere of the early part, was a monumental scenario in . In the sense that the situation began to fall into a quagmire.

Parts like the entrance examination were essentially the intro, and it felt like the true charm of was revealed only after going through this scenario.

Of course, the overall atmosphere didn't immediately get thrown into the gutter due to the influence of this incident.

The severity of what happened was also relatively low, and it was just dismissed as an unsettling situation.

But the spark that occurred in this scenario would soon grow uncontrollably, and the setting of , the Arche continent, would be placed in a precarious situation.

In other words, 『Prelude to Ruin』 was a story that had meaning as such a turning point.

The biggest feature of 『Prelude to Ruin』 was that the result of 'victory' could not be derived by any means at the end of the story.

In other words, it could be called a guaranteed defeat event.

This might raise a question. No, Serene and Arien possess powerful strength at the top of the world even now, and the other main characters of the academy, except for Yuna, also have considerable strength?

But after hearing the content of the story, you would nod your head in understanding.

That's because, out of the seven key figures of the final boss's organization, 'Ad Astra', as many as three appear as enemies in this story.

To put it simply, guys that you can barely defeat in the final stages appear in a group.

Of course, since it's the early part, those enemies haven't fully unleashed their original power, but anyway.

On the other hand, the player's side was rather weak. Regardless of player or non-player, Elwin was fixed, and if you chose Elwin, the accompanying character was random.

In other words, only two of all the playable characters participated.

Due to this asymmetric power balance, the key objective in 『Prelude to Ruin』 was retreat.

It was about shaking off the pursuers who were trying to leave no witnesses.

Anyway, for that reason, the result of this scenario was defeat no matter what method was used.

Because the opponent's goal was to seize the artifact hidden in that building, and in terms of power, it was impossible to stop them.

And among the artifacts seized here, the 『Key of the Apex』 played the role of bringing the final boss, who currently cannot interfere with this world, into this world.

The other artifacts were merely a smokescreen to hide the fact that this key was the goal.

What was infuriating was that even those artifacts that were just a smokescreen would later be brought by enemy figures of Ad Astra to torment the player.

Anyway, 『Prelude to Ruin』 contained such unsettling content in many ways.

Not only were the artifacts seized, but some on-duty guards and academic staff were also killed.

So what should I do?

The answer was simple. I had to protect the artifacts and the people.

In addition to that, I had to deal with the ones who needed to be dealt with.

***

The fundamental cause of defeat in 『Prelude to Ruin』 was the asymmetry of power; the enemy was just too strong, and our side was weak.

‘Of course, it's not to say that our side's strength was weak by absolute standards.’

The character who was obligatorily involved in this story, whether playable or not, Elwin Van Cardenas, was the third strongest among the playable characters even at this point.

In other words, excluding the abnormally strong Serene and Arien, the strongest Elwin, and the protagonist controlled by the player, participated.

A powerful lineup like Serene-Elwin or Elwin-Arien could have been formed, but…….

The opponents were executives of the mastermind faction who would appear time and again, and there were three of them, so it was literally a case of being outnumbered.

Therefore, the first step for me to turn the predetermined defeat in 『Prelude to Ruin』 into a victory was to supplement our forces.

It meant that I had to gather as much power as possible to the building that would become the battlefield, the 'Ailton Hall' of the Magic Department.

The problem was how and whom to bring in… but I had thought about that as well.

First, the ones I would bring in as forces were, of course, the playable characters—the main characters.

Elwin, I had never met, and he was originally involved in this story in any route, so I could just leave him be, but the rest were the problem.

Well, I had thought of a way for all of them. And for that method, I first had to lay the groundwork.

Because if I suddenly approached them on the day of and said, ‘There will be an intruder tonight~’, it wouldn’t be credible.

Even before the credibility issue, it was a situation where I would be suspected of where I got that information after the incident was over.

‘Even if the main characters don't press the issue, it will leak out during the post-incident processing.’

For this reason, I had to naturally keep the guys I would bring into this incident in a position where they could notice the intrusion, and for a late hour. The intrusion would happen late at night.

And the only pretext that could satisfy all of the above conditions was training. The training grounds were open until midnight, so it would be fine to stay a little late.

‘Noticing the anomaly while training together and heading to Ailton Hall—that would be natural.’

But I thought that suddenly proposing to train on the day of would also look suspicious after the event, so I decided to propose periodically training together about two weeks before the incident.

The first targets were Khan and Yuna, and it was easy because we met quite often in lectures thanks to having the same supervising professor.

First, in Khan's case. At Archenia Academy, there were two mandatory lectures to be taken from one's supervising professor, so I made the suggestion after that lecture ended.

Since he basically had an easygoing personality, I thought I could succeed in persuading him easily.

“Training with others, you say? Training……. Good. Please let me know the date and time. I will keep it free.”

And sure enough. As expected of a guy who was crazy about training in the original work, he agreed without even properly listening to the details.

And in Yuna's case, I suggested it while having lunch together after a lecture we took together…….

“Huh? With other people? I don’t mind. But I’ve gotten a lot! stronger, so I don’t know if that’s okay?”

She said, puffing out her chest with a confident smile.

Well, she had indeed gotten stronger. There were the stats pumped up by drinking the Mandragora Extract, and her talent was originally unparalleled in the world.

“Hehe, I’ll take care of you one way or another, so just leave it to me. Just like you made me roll, I should make you roll too…… hehe.”

……Unlike the original work, it was good that she had gained confidence by getting stronger early on.

‘Her recent conceited attitude is a bit much, though.’

She must know what kind of people I've been hanging out with lately, so what's with the confidence?

‘I knew it, but she's a bit of a scatterbrain…….’

Well, that smugness wouldn't last long. She'd quickly lose her nerve when she saw the last person I was going to invite to train…….

With that sense of pity, I pushed an egg tart that came out for dessert toward her.

“Oh, thanks. I like these.”

“You should eat a lot.”

“……What’s with that tone.”

You'll see when you see.

Anyway, through that process, I was able to get Yuna to join the late-night training session.

Of course, it didn't end there. Another person, the emerald-eyed girl with golden hair, Serene, was also a target of invitation.

The strongest cadet in the academy at this point, and the one who becomes the strongest in the world by the ending.

“……With your friends, Mr. Rain…… is it?”

Inviting Serene wasn't that difficult either. We were already on terms where we would occasionally train together and chat.

And I brought up the topic right at the end of that training session.

“Mr. Rain’s friends……. I’m looking forward to it. Fufu.”

After hearing my proposal, Serene smiled with a strangely pleased expression as she wiped away the sweat from her training.

‘It’s good that she’s kind, but that expression like a mother watching her son make friends is a bit much for a classmate.’

“Alright. I wanted to meet them too, and it sounds like it would be beneficial.”

Anyway, with Serene's answer, the late-night training session was complete.

In other words, I had definitively made four of the five main playable characters from the academy part of participate in 『Prelude to Ruin』.

Elwin was already set to participate anyway.

The only problem in that successful process was that there was nothing I could do about Arien.

“Training…… is it. Ah, with other people.”

First, just like I did with the other main characters of , I tried to invite her to train together, but…….

“I appreciate the invitation, but I must refuse. As you know, I am in the Magic Department. I believe there will be limits to training with those from the Combat Department.”

“……Is that so.”

“Unless it was just the two of us.”

“…….”

That was the flow. I still didn't know why she was so favorable only to me……. but that wasn't important right now.

Anyway, after that method failed, I couldn't think of a way to lure her to Ailton Hall.

‘Well, we have enough power already.’

Originally, only two main characters appeared in 『Prelude to Ruin』. But this time, as many as four main characters, plus me, would be participating… so we had more than enough power.

Besides, well, maybe Arien would come on her own. Just like when you chose Arien as the player character.

Yes, the preparations were solid. Only one process remained.

To take the first step in overturning the miserable story of this wretched .