Chapter 5 – The Traitor Is Nearby (05)

A temple installed in the middle area of ​​​​​​the circle where the 3rd level area, 2nd level area, and 1st level area meet.

Its role in the game was a facility where students went to heal when they were injured and recovered when they were cursed or poisoned, and it was a place where characters with a priest profession often appeared.

Originally, a new priest would be dispatched in March when the new semester begins, but the facility was destroyed due to the second battle, so a one-month repair period was required.

Entry to outsiders was prohibited as no priest in charge of internal cleaning had been dispatched yet, but it was a suitable place to attempt to assassinate someone inside the academy.

Kyaang!

‘What? Was there always this much?’

Originally, it was not a very difficult battle because it was the second battle and an advanced part of the tutorial battle.

Even though he was an assassin, his abilities were not that strong, and it was a battle where all you had to do was control Ophelia step by step against three assassins and survive for 6 turns.

There are only five assassins that I can see right now… They were not actively trying to kill Ophelia, but were blocking the escape route, so if you listen to the loud metal sound coming from inside, it means that the actual number of Assassins are higher.

After 6 turns, the battle ended with the assassin escaping as the teachers who had heard the commotion of the battle arrived and it didn’t seem like it would be cleared that way.

‘Originally, I was supposed to barge in while they were dealing with the assassins with weapons, but since I don’t have any weapons…’

Currently, due to Marian’s bug incident, there were no weapons, so the number of assassins could not be reduced, and it seemed like this was what happened.

Fortunately, seeing the loud crashing sound inside and the flinching of the assassins blocking the escape route, Ofelia had not yet collapsed and seemed to be holding on by dodging with her bare hands.

There was no need for me to step forward in the first battle of the tutorial.

But now, it was time to use my skills in the original game.

My character is a commander.

The character’s abilities his were hopelessly low, and he was so weak that even a single enemy mob approaching him would result in game over after the mid-game, but the ability his friends his evaluated was not his combat ability his, but his commanding ability his.

This is because it is an RPG game where you look at the map and place your characters, but the important thing now was whether the ability could actually be used.

‘I have no doubt’

If there is a system, and if this world is structured the same as the game.

“Ophelia.”

My voice always reaches you.

Even if it was at the end of the battlefield, there was never a case where that voice did not reach.

“Right now, run towards the level 3 area.”

After saying that, I rushed towards the assassin who was concentrating on the internal situation.

“…!”

The assassination battle taking place inside seemed to be quite intense, and the assassin, who was concentrating on the internal situation, only turned around when I had almost approached.

He thought he was going to attack him, so he raised his weapon and took a defensive stance. According to the original story, the attack itself was fake, so he ran inside and joined Ofelia.

I wasn’t just an assassin, I struck the pillar of the temple next to him.

Wow!!

With an indescribably loud sound, the pillars of the temple, which was not an ordinary stone building but was strengthened by divine power and was almost indestructible, were snapped in half.

‘Is this happening?’

– Old wooden sword +99999 –

– Indestructible –

– Aren exclusive weapon –

– Attack power 1+99999 –

“…!”

Even the assassin blocking the path looked at the scene I had created and was looking back at me and the broken pillar in confusion. Meanwhile, someone with red hair came out from behind and tripped the assassin’s leg, knocking him down.

Poop!

Then, he struck the assassin’s head with his knee in a connecting movement, knocking him unconscious, and then joined Naese.

“Aren! Why did you come here!”

Instead of speaking in a bright tone like usual, the first thing he said was blaming me for coming to a dangerous place.

“Look at your condition and tell me!”

Originally, the second battle began in a slightly exhausted state, but now Ophelia’s left arm was hanging limply, as if her left arm had been injured, her civilian clothes were torn in several places, and her body her her her was already covered in sweat from exhaustion.

Moreover, just looking at the vitality value displayed next to his face her her her, his vitality his his, which was originally over 70, had now decreased to below 30. If he had been a little late, he would have been caught by the assassins.

‘I can do it’

In a turn-based game, there is no physical limit as long as you fill up the life force, but Ophelia’s legs were shaking and she was extremely exhausted, so she could no longer fight.

But if I had this wooden sword, I could have taken on the assassins alone.

If it’s a wooden sword that can damage even a pillar with a single blow, there’s no way for a human to block it.

“What’s the fuss!”

I don’t know if the timing of my arrival was messed up due to a bug, or if the teacher had already made enough of a fuss and was coming, but I heard a man yelling from the direction leading to the level 1 area.

A loud battle sound was heard inside the temple, and Ophelia immediately grabbed my hand.

“This place is dangerous. Let’s get out of here quickly!”

It was a sign that the second battle had ended.

‘Now that I think about it, I didn’t know it during the first episode, but this voice…’

For some reason, I wondered how the teacher arrived at the perfect timing at the assassination site, where no one visits.

When I heard this voice, I realized that it was not a teacher, but the voice of a confidant dispatched by the duke to protect Ophelia.

‘Ha… It was something like that’

I thought the Duke family simply wanted to keep quiet and silenced the teacher who helped them, but it turned out that the Duke family also took care of the assassination attempt.

Somehow, assassins appeared and this chaos broke out, but there were no special rumors inside the academy.

“Aren. It’s dangerous here right now, so let’s get out of here quickly, okay?”

I had mixed feelings as I looked at Ophelia’s expression, pulling my arm with an urgent expression, but no matter how strong my weapon was, my stats were at a miserable level, and I could have been in a dangerous situation if the assassins risked their lives to attack us.

I held Ophelia’s hand tightly and started running away together.

*

The final day of the tutorial, the 7th, has dawned.

Originally, it was a busy day right before the semester started, so students who returned from home during vacation were arriving one after another, so if there was a character you wanted, you had to reveal it now.

She couldn’t escape because Ophelia came to her in the morning with one of her arms bandaged.

If the original bug had not occurred, if Ophelia had contacted the henchman, heard the news, and moved with her weapon, these injuries would not have occurred.

‘Ha… In the end, it’s my fault. I installed adult mode for no reason…’

If it had been just a little bit later, Ophelia would have died and the game would have been over.

In the first place, Ophelia should not be left to die until she declares her rebellion and independence.

“Starting tomorrow, I won’t be able to wake you up in the next room, right?”

Currently, we are temporarily staying in the guest room, but starting tomorrow, classes will begin in earnest, so we will move to the men’s and women’s dormitories, respectively.

Ophelia approached me while we were having a normal conversation, but I was so bothered by the sight of her bandaged left arm that I couldn’t look at her like I usually do.

“Is your arm okay?”

“Oh, this? It’ll get better soon. I’m keeping it closed because I had a little strain yesterday, so I’m planning on releasing it in the evening.”

Ophelia, who was saying that, approached me with a sly expression and asked.

“Aren, are you worried?”

“I didn’t do it.”

Actually, I wasn’t that worried.

‘Tonight, my confidant will bring me the finest hi-potion and let me heal you.’

In fact, at the beginning of the 7th day, Ophelia appears injured according to the results of the second battle, but she completely heals before class begins. So she wasn’t particularly worried about Ophelia’s loss of use of her arm or her injured condition her her her her her.

… Not being worried rationally and showing up with bandages oozing blood here and there are two different things, but she said she wasn’t worried anyway.

“Huh~ I guess I wasn’t worried…”

Ophelia asked me with a bright smile on her face as if she was teasing me on purpose, but when I glanced at her, I saw that her healthy right finger was hidden behind her body with her index and middle fingers crossed.

‘I guess that means I’m lying.’

In Western countries, when you lie to someone, you show that finger.

Normally, she acts carelessly when lying to others, but if you look closely, even in the first episode, if Ophelia needed to lie to Aren, she would make a sign like that with her finger.

Because it was an overt foreshadowing, I noticed it in the first episode before she declared her treason, but in the second episode, it just seemed like a device to show her situation openly, so my heart felt a little heavy.

“I’m glad you weren’t really hurt.”

“Yes. Is it okay?”

“I didn’t get hurt.”

If you had delivered a blow strong enough to break a huge stone pillar, your hand would have exploded from the recoil, but the recoil felt only like that of swinging a flyswatter, as if this wooden sword was a fraud.

“Aren.”

“Huh?”

“By any chance… You don’t know anything about what happened yesterday, right?”

“I’m not sure what the question is.”

In the first place, the current situation itself was a pattern that occurred when I suddenly visited and talked to Ophelia, who was injured and was wandering around to clean up after her, but she came to my room as soon as I woke up in the morning, so it was not an ordinary situation.

Ophelia, who was trying to get out a few more words, asked me with her usual smile again.

“Aren’t lying to me, is he?”

Is it because this is the second episode that he says this line? Or is it because a bug occurred and the situation changed?

She was asking questions she hadn’t originally asked.

‘What… Should I do?’

She seemed to think she was acting in her own way, but her red eyes were filled with moisture and she looked like she was about to cry.

“That’s…”

Of course I tried to deny it, but I was momentarily speechless.

It was because I knew her identity and her future, but I was really lying and pretending not to know.

‘How… Should I answer this?’

To put it bluntly, you don’t have to worry. I was planning to proceed with the academy route anyway for safety reasons, and if that happens, no matter how close I am to Ophelia, I will become hostile towards her.

However, in her head … Even if she thought so, she could not bear to casually lie to Ophelia right in front of her.

It wasn’t a question of ability, whether I could do it or not. It was a question that bothered me even if I could do it.

But fortunately, Ophelia turned her body before I could respond.

“Excuse me now. I’m going to be a little busy today, so I think I should go now.”

– Ofelia’s favorability has reached the ‘best friend’ level –

In the first round, her favorability actually decreased after the second battle.

In the second battle, I was wondering if it would be a game over even though it was a tutorial, so I used the basic strategy I thought of, throwing the unhelpful body of the main character as bait, using it as a human shield, attacking with Ophelia, and if unlucky enough the main character dies, I load it. Because I broke it, my favorability actually went down.

However, this time, because he succeeded without any injuries, Ophelia’s favorability level increased slightly and he entered the stage of being her best friend.

‘Did you say that the standard strategy is to use Ofelia as bait until she dies and protect the main character from getting hurt…’

Using Ophelia as a shield and holding out for her her her her her 6 turns her is the standard strategy and increases your favorability.

“Really… The developers are also malicious…”

If you go down the treason route by blatantly pushing it in front of your nose like a true heroine, it will hit you in the back with extreme difficulty.

If I had been enjoying the game in general, it would have been the second time and Ophelia would have been on my mind, so I would have done the treason route, but my life was on the line here as well.

If you go through the academy route, if you are at least a best friend, you will join the war right away and at the friend level depending on your choice, but if you follow Ophelia and choose rebellion, you will reach the lover and best friend level, and in the case of male characters, you cannot become a lover due to the system, so you have to reach the maximum best friend level. Since you only join at certain times, it was inevitable that the difficulty level would increase to extreme level.

No matter how powerful Ophelia received as the game progressed, it was nothing compared to the number of companions she could make in the academy route.

‘Wouldn’t it be nice to have a convenience mode? Or, if you use another of the adult mode functions…’

I hit my head with my fist because I had strange thoughts.

“Dude, it’s definitely not a treason route… !”