One Line

Like the saying, “Words without feet travel a thousand *ri*,” rumors about me spread through the academy in an instant.

The rumor that Roel’s younger brother couldn’t even wield a spear and fainted from a single blow was so widespread that it felt like someone was deliberately spreading it; there wasn’t a student in the academy who didn’t know about it.

Adding to that, the undeniable fact that I wouldn’t have been able to attend the academy if it weren’t for my brother.

There weren’t many options for the person at the center of the rumors. Either ignore the blatant contemptuous gazes or pretend not to notice the ridicule directed at me and walk past.

Whether it was thanks to Roel or because I was still an adult over 20 years old, I wasn’t ostracized because of this incident.

It was just that, despite being Roel’s younger brother, they concluded that I wasn’t worth befriending.

Thanks to that, no one approached me after the sparring match. I was alone in the classroom, alone in the cafeteria.

If I happened to sit next to someone, they would glance at me as if a plague-ridden patient had approached, then move their seat or completely ignore my existence.

Just as I was getting used to that treatment, an unwelcome face came to find me while I was eating alone in a corner of the cafeteria.

It seemed the rumors about me that had spread through the academy had reached his ears; Roel sat down across from me with a worried expression, without even asking for my permission.

The cafeteria tables were open seating, so permission wasn’t really necessary, but my inferiority complex acted up for no reason. I frowned and found another point of comparison.

Roel’s tray was full of delicious fried shrimp. I only got two. Looking at the tray of someone passing by, they had three. Discriminating with food? I think that’s the worst kind of discrimination.

Just as I was feeling the inferiority complex wriggling at the bottom of my emotions, Roel looked at me with a worried face and asked.

, “Hey, Ross. How’s academy life going?”

“…So-so.”

“Really?”

A suffocatingly heavy silence fell between us. It seemed the kind older brother who was worried about his younger sibling didn’t have the courage to confirm whether the rumors were true without hurting my feelings.

Scraping the bottom of my potato soup with a spoon, I said nonchalantly.

“The rumors you heard are true. A failure who couldn’t even wield a spear and collapsed from a single blow. That’s your brother.”

At my natural self-deprecation, Roel gave an awkward smile and scratched his cheek, then asked in a cautious voice.

“It’s okay. You’ve never really done sparring or anything like that before. You’ll be able to catch up quickly with a little training. The academy’s professors are all amazing. Ah, if you ever think about learning swordsmanship from me, I’ll work hard-“

“No, it’s okay.”

I cut Roel off. If I heard any more, I felt like I wouldn’t be able to hold back my inferiority complex and would show a nervous reaction.

I knew that there was no faster growth than receiving help from the protagonist. But I had planned to use a spear as my main weapon, not a sword. That was why I obtained Patouga’s grimoire.

In fact, I also didn’t want to learn anything from Roel, who I felt inferior to. My long-standing inferiority complex wouldn’t allow it.

“Could it be that you’re not learning because of your pride~?”

An unfamiliar voice suddenly interrupted the conversation. The girl sitting next to Roel crossed her arms and glared at me fiercely. It was clearly our first meeting, but with her striking appearance, I immediately recognized the girl’s identity.

With golden hair that looked like it was spun from gold thread, clear green eyes, and a way of speaking and expressions that made people angry, yet a face that made you feel cuteness rather than displeasure, there could only be one person like that in the academy.

Roel’s heroine and the top student of the second-year magic department. And ‘Flavia’, who played the mage position in the hero’s party.

“If it were me, I would have swallowed my pride and begged my brother to teach me swordsmanship, even if it meant kneeling, just because I was embarrassed by the rumors spreading through the academy~”

“Flavia.”

Roel called her name as if telling her not to, at the voice full of obvious sarcasm, Flavia smiled sweetly and said to me.

“Oh, did I make you feel bad? Sorry, I’m just a bit direct.”

Just like in the novel, I couldn’t help but chuckle at Flavia’s rude attitude towards anyone who wasn’t Roel.

It had been several weeks, but I still felt unfamiliar with the fact that I had possessed the world inside the novel. Especially when the characters I had imagined appeared before my eyes.

Flavia narrowed her eyes, as if she had interpreted my laughter in a bad way.

“It’s amazing that you have pride when you don’t even have the skills~”

“Flavia, stop it.”

Only then did Flavia realize that Roel was angry at Roel’s cold voice, and she made excuses with a flustered face.

“No, I was just… worried about Roel’s younger brother. There’s nothing more regrettable than wasting your life because of unnecessary pride. It was a bit harsh, but I don’t think my advice was wrong.”

It was clear that her goal was to release her own emotions, but Flavia also packaged it well. As the author who created this world in my imagination, I wasn’t particularly upset about what kind of person Flavia was. Flavia was originally like that.

“Ross probably has his own thoughts. So don’t push him from the side.”

“Okay. I understand~”

Flavia, who was smiling and answering Roel’s words, was about to say something to me with her mouth in a way that Roel couldn’t see, but my gaze inadvertently went to the girl who had once again taken Roel’s side.

Silver hair that reached her waist, red eyes that seemed to burn.

And an emotionless face that seemed to reject the approach of others.

I immediately realized that the girl was Ilia, the Grand Duchess of the North and the most popular of Roel’s heroines.

Ilia, who had a setting of being indifferent to the point of being defenseless and defenseless towards Roel, stared at me with her mouth tightly shut, then quickly lost interest and fixed her gaze on Roel.

I had finished my meal, so I thought it would be okay to get up soon. As I grabbed my empty tray and stood up, Roel, who was sharing his fried shrimp with the lovers on either side of him, said urgently.

“Ross, if you’re having a hard time, tell me anytime. I’ll definitely help you with anything.”

At Roel’s voice full of sincerity, I nodded vaguely and left my seat.

It was because the gazes of the people around me were focused on me, and Roel’s appearance of eating with two beautiful lovers on either side of him was compared to my appearance of eating alone in the corner, and I could no longer bear the inferiority complex.

*

I escaped the cafeteria as if running away and walked around the campus. Just as I was about to return to the combat department dormitory because I had nothing to do, someone blocked my path.

“Hello! You’re Ross, right?”

The girl who blocked my path with a bright voice had pink hair that was not commonly seen even in the academy. With the characteristic of having a voluptuous body, I could immediately tell who the girl in front of me was.

It was Rosalyn, the top student of the second-year alchemy department and Roel’s heroine who would have originally become the owner of Patouga’s grimoire.

Since Rosalyn boasted the most outstanding chest size among the heroines, I couldn’t help but swallow hard when I saw her chest, which was larger than her head, in front of my eyes. So this body is actually possible.

“Hello.”

“Yes! Hello. I’m Rosalyn, the top student of the second-year alchemy department. I’m Roel’s best friend at the academy.”

The latter part is a lie. Rosalyn wasn’t her best friend, but a heroine who was more like a serious stalker. Since they weren’t dating yet, it was right to call her a heroine-to-be.

I could guess why Rosalyn suddenly approached me without even hearing it. She was clearly trying to get information about Roel from me. As expected, Rosalyn revealed her true intentions as soon as her introduction was over.

“Do you happen to know Roel’s habits or anything he particularly likes? If I know in advance, it seems like it will be helpful when I give him a surprise gift later. Hehe.”

Most people would have let their guard down at Rosalyn’s harmless smile and big breasts. But I’m different. I know better than anyone what kind of person Rosalyn is.

The Rosalyn I know is a *yandere*-like heroine who writes down even the smallest things related to Roel in a notebook and feels a sense of satisfaction in a strange place, saying, ‘I know Roel better than Roel does!’

In the first place, it’s a contradiction that the best friend at the academy is preparing a surprise gift and asking about her friend’s habits.

Judging that getting involved would be a pain in the ass, I tried to slip past Rosalyn to the side, but Rosalyn hurriedly blocked my path, pushing her chest forward.

“W-wait a minute! If you give me information about Roel, I can give you enough compensation!”

…Roel, Roel.

My suppressed inferiority complex finally exploded at the name I was tired of hearing.

“…Roel likes women with mustaches.”

“What…?”

Her big eyes got even bigger. Looking at Rosalyn’s face, which was looking at me with an unbelievable expression, I felt the inferiority complex that had been making my chest stuffy disappear for some reason.

Does Ross have a hobby of tormenting others? Or maybe it’s just because I relieved my inferiority complex. Whatever it was, I felt much better.

“Th-that’s a lie, right?”

Looking at Rosalyn, who was looking at me with disbelieving eyes, I shrugged with a nonchalant expression.

“It’s true. My brother is crazy about hair. He likes leg hair and armpit hair very much. This is a secret, but… he also has a hobby of collecting the hair of women in the village in a box.”

The more I list slander and lies about Roel, the more the inferiority complex that seemed to be pressing down on me is relieved little by little. I felt a coolness as if I had been feeling extremely thirsty and drank cold water. I feel like I’m going to get addicted to this soon if I’m not careful.

“N-no way…! Roel wouldn’t, wouldn’t do that!”

“If you don’t believe me, you can ask Roel directly. Or should I ask?”

“N-no! Y-you don’t have to go that far…”

Rosalyn flinched, startled by my confident appearance. Because of that, I could clearly see her chest swaying.

It was, of course, a lie that Roel liked hair. But I knew that Rosalyn wouldn’t be able to ask Roel directly if he liked hair. So I lied confidently.

Because someone who was sneaking around and digging into other people’s secrets wouldn’t be able to confidently ask if the secret was true.

Even if Rosalyn suddenly grew a mustache and showed off her leg hair and armpit hair, the kind-hearted Roel wouldn’t show that he didn’t like it. But he would definitely be troubled.

I bit my lip tightly because I thought I would burst out laughing for no reason, and pretending to be nonchalant, I passed Rosalyn, who was making a shocked expression, and headed to the dormitory.

This is the petty revenge of a lump of inferiority complex.

***

Ignoring the noise of my roommates, who were gathered on one bed and talking loudly as if they had already become close, I sat on the edge of the bed and checked Patouga’s grimoire.

Formulas related to space magic were densely written on each page. Because I didn’t have any magical knowledge, I was stuck from the first page. Still, I was glad that basic magic wasn’t too difficult.

Because I was born with little magical power, it was impossible to use the magic written in Patouga’s grimoire right away.

Of course, it wasn’t that there weren’t elixirs or artifacts that increased magical power, but they weren’t things that a commoner like me could obtain. There were also no lucky encounters related to increasing magical power among the lucky encounters that appeared in the novel.

This was because when I first decided on the settings for the hero and heroines, I started with the minimum magical power of the heroines set at 8 for easy development. Thanks to this, there was no reason to increase magical power, so lucky encounters related to increasing magical power did not appear.

However, it wasn’t that there was no way to increase magical power at all. Even though it was a shortcut, it would be of great help if used properly. The only slight problem was that the thing was outside the academy.

To increase magical power, I had to leave the academy. While worrying about whether there was a suitable excuse, checking the setting book, I was able to find out what would happen tonight in an article organized by readers by chance.

One mutant orc, born from a black magician’s experiment, attacks the village, and all the villagers die.

After that, the mutant orc’s village attack continues, and the protagonist Roel, who is accidentally caught up in the attack, kills the orc, which becomes an opportunity to confront the black magician.

There was nothing I could do now. I didn’t have the ability to kill the mutant orc, and I didn’t even know exactly which village it was because the novel only mentioned that the orc had destroyed several villages.

I can’t help it. But Ross’s, neurasthenia was getting on my nerves. The people who would continue to die to the mutant orc kept popping up in my head.

Let’s not think about it, there’s nothing I can do. Even if I repeated that, I couldn’t stand being bothered.

Even though I was just a dummy who couldn’t even appear in the novel, I couldn’t fall asleep all night thanks to neurasthenia.

The next day. After finishing breakfast, I returned to the classroom and naturally sat in the farthest corner. It was my own reserved seat where no one sat around.

“Haaam…”

Was it because I couldn’t sleep last night? A long yawn came out to the point where tears came out. Just as I was thinking about closing my eyes for a while before class started, Professor Lycan opened the classroom door and entered at the right timing.

“Today, instead of class, I’m going to show you reality. By special order of the principal, all first-year students of the academy will go to help clean up the village located under Moonlight Mountain.”

At the sudden announcement, one of the students who usually liked to step forward raised his hand and asked.

“Are we helping to clean up the village?”

At that question, Lycan gave an eerie smile. For some reason, I felt ominous at that smile. It wasn’t just me, as I could see other students shrinking their shoulders.

“No, it’s corpse cleanup. After the imperial investigation team finishes their investigation, our first-year combat department will be in charge of cleaning up the corpses.”

The classroom was filled with buzzing noise at Lycan’s words.

At the words “corpse cleanup of the village,” I naturally thought of the mutant orc that I had thought of last night. I felt like I was being weighed down by unnecessary guilt.

“This is a special class to show the new students the reality that is currently happening in the empire with their own eyes. So everyone must attend without exception. A portal will open in the basement of the academy, so everyone go down to the basement and wait within 10 minutes!”

Was it because of neurasthenia? My head ached as if it would break at Lycan’s shout.

***

I experienced a portal for the first time. It felt like experiencing the suffering of getting motion sickness from taking a bus for a long time in an instant. Calming my nauseous stomach, I waited in a line by class at the entrance of the village as instructed.

“The imperial investigation team has finished their investigation. Classes 101 to 103 will enter the forest according to the instructions of the professor in charge and bring back trees. Classes 104 to 106 will collect the corpses on the outskirts of the village and bring them to the entrance. Classes 107 to 109 will bring the corpses inside the village to the entrance.”

The students swallowed at Lycan’s shout. Everyone felt an unknown ominousness at the bloodstains visible from the entrance of the village and the black smoke coming out of the village.

Someone couldn’t stand the disgusting smell of internal organs that stimulated the sense of smell and vomited. Lycan frowned at the sight and shouted.

“You may be shocked to see a corpse for the first time. But today will be the most important experience in your lives. Some will be intimidated by today’s memories and give up fighting, but some will work harder to prevent things like today from happening.”

Lycan, who was looking at the students’ expressions with a cold gaze, continued.

“You must collect everything without missing a single thing, whether it’s ears, fingers, or eyeballs. Unless you like the corpses of imperial citizens being eaten by rats or monsters.”

At Lycan’s words, the students looked at the village with fearful eyes.

“Okay, each class will follow the professor in charge and depart!”

The students couldn’t take a step even at Lycan’s shout. I started to hyperventilate because of neurasthenia. But thanks to someone pushing my back roughly from behind, telling me to move quickly, I was able to follow the line by force.

I tried to catch my breath as much as possible and entered the village. The smell of burning meat and the foul smell of internal organs were mixed together, and most people were covering their noses with their hands. Some were moving their steps calmly with familiar faces.

“Our class 107 will completely collect the corpses in each assigned area and return here to wait until there are instructions.”

The students answered forcefully at Lycan’s words. The students standing in front were assigned areas one by one and scattered. Finally, when it was my turn, Lycan glanced at my face and turned his head to point to a certain place.

“You are in charge of the house with the red roof over there.”

“…I understand.”

I moved my heavy steps to the house that Lycan pointed to with his finger. The blood that had not yet dried on the floor was mixed with the soil, forming a quagmire.

I arrived at the house with the red roof. I grabbed the doorknob and took a breath without even realizing it. My stomach churned at the stench flowing out from between the door gaps, but I endured the vomiting and turned the doorknob to enter.

The house was a mess. The wallpaper was full of bloodstains, and what appeared to be fingernail marks remained on the door.

Carefully looking around the inside, I was finally able to find the corpse I had to collect in a small room that appeared to be a child’s room.

As if trying to protect the child until the end, the corpse of what was presumed to be the mother, whose head had exploded, and the appearance of a small child with a broken neck and a long tongue sticking out from inside the corpse’s arms came into view.

It was as if someone had put a large stone in my throat, and I couldn’t breathe.

Old memories popped up in my head at will.

“We need to introduce a villain soon.”

A line of text written with the intention of showing the reader how strong and cruel the newly appeared enemy, the mutant orc, was.

– The mutant orc created by the black magician has attacked and killed countless villages.

That was unfolding in front of my eyes as reality. Not as writing, but as vivid reality.

My heart reacts violently to the sight of the corpses holding hands tightly until the end. Neurasthenia has reached its peak.

My vision blurred, and my whole body trembled as if I was having convulsions. Everything felt like it was all my fault.

If I, if I… hadn’t written those words, they wouldn’t have died.

Those thoughts endlessly pop up in my head. Inferiority complex and neurasthenia are mixed together, endlessly hating and belittling myself, and writhing in guilt.

“Kkeuaaaaaaaak…!!!”

In the end, I couldn’t hold back any longer and fainted with a scream.