After the cultural festival rampage incident caused by Ariah, people complained of an inexplicable sense of déjà vu.
“What is this? I feel like something happened during the cultural festival…”
“Isn’t that your imagination?”
“Maybe… it is.”
Kail realized the absurdity of Ariah’s abilities when even Sera, presumed to be a player character, lost her memory.
The fact that her memories could be erased while being organically connected to Earth meant that Sera had essentially already experienced a game over once.
Not to mention, although she currently couldn’t use her abilities on beings above the Master level, in just two years, she would become an absurd character capable of controlling even Master-level ability users.
‘It’s fortunate she went berserk now.’
With a sigh of relief, Kail focused on his usual classes. Having rested during the cultural festival, the Knight Department instructor began pushing the cadets even harder than before.
As the training became over 10% harsher than usual, the cadets who were just getting used to it were panting and sticking out their tongues. That’s when Arthur approached cautiously.
“Uh, Kail…”
“Hmm, what is it?”
“I have something to ask…”
She glanced around at the others before carefully leaning in to whisper into his ear.
“—Do you remember anything from the cultural festival?”
Hearing her words, Kail stared blankly at her. Wait, how does she know about that?
At the time, everyone inside the Academy was under Ariah’s control. Everyone except the Masters had fallen under her domination and thus lost their memories.
Sure, there might have been traces like torn clothes or a bit of blood, but since no one died or got injured, everything could be quietly swept under the rug as if nothing happened…
“Arthur.”
“Yes?”
“Let’s talk later. The instructor is watching.”
“Oh…”
Realizing that Kail also retained some memories, Arthur smiled in relief and then moved away to prepare for the next training session.
Watching Arthur’s retreating figure, Kail sniffed the lingering scent she left behind.
* * *
After school, meeting Arthur alone at a café, I started listening to her story first. Though she mentioned the cultural festival incident, it could have been a different event from the one I knew.
“So? What happened during the cultural festival?”
“Hmm… I don’t know if you’ll believe me—but suddenly, people started attacking each other…”
“Okay, stop right there.”
After two verifications, I realized that the cultural festival incident Arthur knew about was indeed the same one we had concealed. I pondered how she could possibly know about it.
Had Arthur already reached the Master level? No way. She hadn’t even reached the Expert level yet, meaning she couldn’t infuse aura into objects other than herself.
‘Ah, I see.’
I realized why she had escaped Ariah’s mental domination—she possessed the heart of a dragon.
Her heart continuously generated an immeasurable amount of energy resources every minute, and as an aura user, she converted that energy into aura.
Thus, she could use aura in ways unimaginable for a regular aura user, and the amount didn’t fall short of my own, despite being a Master.
“For now, how much do you know?”
“Huh?”
“I’ll explain, but I don’t want to do it twice—it’s tiring. So, what do you know?”
“Just that on the last day of the cultural festival, people suddenly went crazy, and after that day, no one remembers it?”
She revealed that realizing no one remembered wasn’t due to directly asking others.
Instead, her unique intuition as a half-human, half-dragon with a transplanted dragon heart made her notice something was off about people’s reactions, leading her to deduce that their memories had vanished.
“Your deduction is correct.”
“Then…!”
“We decided to cover up that incident for certain reasons, Arthur. Do you understand? We covered it up.”
Upon hearing this, Arthur flinched and cautiously looked at me. I silently continued to meet her gaze.
“No, wait… Kail…”
“But I never expected my abilities wouldn’t work on you. There’s nothing we can do about that.”
“W-Wait a moment. There are many people here—”
“Arthur, you—”
Arthur tightly shut her eyes and braced herself, shrinking back as if expecting something. Watching her, I tilted my head, wondering what she was doing.
Taptap—I nudged her, and a cute squeal—something I’d never heard from her male form—escaped her lips.
“…Arthur? What are you doing?”
“D-Don’t tell me you’re going to kill me to keep me quiet…?”
“Kill you? What nonsense is that?”
Considering all the trouble we went through to ensure no one died, why would we suddenly silence anyone by killing them now?
Arthur must have heard some strange stories about nobles, leading to her misguided preconceptions. Seeing this, I let out a deep sigh.
“Do you know why we erased everyone’s memories?”
“What, what is it?”
“Because no one died. Some were injured, but the clerics could handle that easily.”
When someone dies, it becomes a problem that can’t simply be solved by erasing memories. When a person is born, it’s recorded for administrative processing, and taxes are collected accordingly.
If someone were killed and no one could know about it, not only would the memories of everyone involved need to be erased, but documents deep within the Empire’s core would have to be manipulated, along with the memories of anyone who had come across those documents.
It would almost be easier to kill everyone involved—making someone’s death disappear was that difficult.
“Arthur, I told you to watch your words in front of others. Don’t go around saying unnecessary things and act like nothing happened.”
“I-I see. Haha—I guess I got scared for no reason.”
“Yeah, that’s right. Honestly, you were pretty scared earlier.”
Still wearing a worried expression, Arthur looked at me as I gave a bland smile. Seriously, I’m not going to kill you!
‘By the way—’
Just like Arthur’s unexpected case, someone else might have nullified Ariah’s force abilities with their own force.
Although which cadets in the Academy had force abilities was confidential, there was one person I knew about.
Princess Hela.
A member of the Noblesse Club and the one who tried to use an unidentified ability on me. She remained.
* * *
Kail immediately reported this matter to the headmaster. Among the students with force abilities, there might be some whom Ariah’s powers didn’t affect.
Of course, Arthur’s story was omitted from this process. Thus, the headmaster didn’t share a list of force ability users, but he didn’t stop Kail from approaching those he personally knew either.
Having received the headmaster’s tacit approval, Kail headed straight for Princess Hela’s residence. If she had been living in the dormitory, it would have been quite challenging to visit her, but fortunately, she lived in one of the mansions prepared within the Academy grounds.
“Is this it?”
Arriving at Princess Hela’s mansion, Kail confidently rang the doorbell, summoning the servants inside. The swiftly arriving servants noticed Kail’s uniform and seemed to realize immediately that he was a guest of their young mistress.
The maids led Kail inside and seated him in the reception room, serving tea while cautiously asking,
“—My lady has no appointments today… May I ask your name?”
“Tell her it’s Kail, whom she met at the ball.”
“Please wait a moment.”
The maids excused themselves, leaving Kail alone in the reception room. He sipped his tea while waiting for Princess Hela to come down.
A short while later, the reception room door opened, and a small girl peeked her head in.
“…Why are you here?”
“I came to see you.”
“W-What are you planning to do to me?”
“I’m not going to do anything.”
Kail looked at Princess Hela, wondering why she kept acting this way. Meeting his gaze, Princess Hela let out a startled cry and hid behind the door.
From behind the door, where her face couldn’t be seen, Princess Hela finally sighed in relief and cautiously spoke.
“L-Let’s talk like this.”
“As you wish. The other day—on the last day of the cultural festival. Where were you and what were you doing?”
“…I was at home.”
“You didn’t leave the house?”
“That’s right. Is there a problem with that?”
Hearing Princess Hela’s words, Kail nodded, thinking such a situation was plausible. Talking to her confirmed that she had indeed stayed indoors throughout the third day.
In that case, there was no need to check whether her memory had been erased. After all, she hadn’t witnessed anything.
Clank—placing the teacup down, Kail stood up and asked,
“Ah, this is a personal curiosity. What is your ability?”
“D-Do I really have to say?”
“No, it’s just personal curiosity. You don’t have to tell me. But I will take more interest in you.”
“I-If I tell you, promise not to come near me ever again…”
Swallowing hard, Princess Hela hesitated.
“M-My ability is—to see information about others. I call it a status window…”
And so, a rather interesting story unfolded.
