Causality

After meeting Lamine, I returned to the clubroom with Lacar and fell into deep thought.

How could Lacar’s older sister become Iron Blood?

Iron Blood was one of the villains created to fill the ranks of Confession, the cult leader’s direct unit.

Lacar’s sister being the top graduate of the academy’s combat department was something that didn’t exist in the novel or even in unofficial settings.

Could it be that she was created for the sake of causality? I’ve been backstabbed by the concept of causality a few times, so it was definitely a possibility.

But why would a third-year student who’s the top of the combat department become a member of the cult?

If the setting was created for the sake of causality, there should be a valid reason….

Lost in thought, I sat at my desk, stroking my chin. Luna, who was diligently walking around the clubroom as part of her rehabilitation exercise, moving her left arm, approached me.

“What’s bothering you…?”

Seeing Luna approach with a worried expression, I hurriedly managed my expression.

“No, I was just thinking about something.”

“If you have any worries, tell me anytime!”

At Luna’s words, I stroked my chin and shared a bit about my concerns.

“What would you do if you were destined to become a bad person in the future?”

I couldn’t say that Lamine would become a member of the cult, so I vaguely phrased it.

Luna, who had a troubled expression at my words, suddenly took a step closer and grabbed my arm.

“No, Ross….”

Seeing Luna’s tearful appearance, I hurriedly waved my hands.

“No, it’s not that I’m going to become like that…. I mean, what if someone else is destined to become a bad person?”

At my words, Luna seemed relieved that she had misunderstood and let out a small sigh of relief before answering.

“Then I’ll help them go down the right path by their side.”

“The right path?”

“Yeah. I think I can help change the future.”

I nodded at Luna’s words. From the start, I had resolved to work hard to change the tragic fate that would come in the future.

“Thank you, Luna. That was a big help.”

“Yeah! Tell me anytime you have any worries.”

Watching Luna walk around the clubroom diligently again, I decided to investigate Lacar’s sister in detail.

*

The next day. After class, I headed to Modiste to check the information I had purchased.

“The information?”

“Ah, well….”

Slightly embarrassed by the unexpected reaction, the woman replied as if making an excuse.

“It’s something from the past, so researching the data is taking longer than expected. There aren’t many records left, and I had to check the data in other information guilds as well.”

“Is that so…?”

In addition to guaranteeing customers’ complete confidentiality, the reason Modiste was so popular was that they never broke their deadlines.

Information was the kind of thing whose value changed over time, so it was one of the basic principles that Modiste valued.

Because of that, I was a little surprised that Modiste had broken their deadline.

“It seems like I need to investigate more deeply than I thought…. But I can promise you that it’s going to be incredible information.”

“Okay. Then when can I receive it?”

“I think the investigation will be finished by Friday.”

“Okay, then I’ll come on the weekend.”

Since I was planning to visit Rotten on the weekend anyway, it didn’t matter if it was a little late.

***

The next day, after class, I didn’t head to the clubroom. I started investigating Lacar’s sister, Lamine.

First, I met Roel and asked if he knew anything about Lamine.

“Ah, I know who you’re talking about. She’s a third-year combat department senior, right? Wasn’t her nickname Iron Blood?”

As expected of the top graduate of the third-year combat department, Roel knew Lamine.

“I fought her once before. She was super annoying. Especially the combination of spear and shield made it really tough.”

Seeing Roel slightly furrow his brow, I was once again convinced that Lamine was the future Iron Blood.

Even in the future, Iron Blood was the type to only engage in fights that were advantageous to her, to the point that the good-natured Roel would get annoyed. And she would run away as soon as she was in danger.

She had a style of poking and running away, and the weapon she used happened to be the Spear of Destruction. Unlike lightly poking, it contained the power to make people explode, so Roel had to be very wary of her.

“So, did you lose?”

I asked with a bit of anticipation at Roel’s words that it was very difficult.

“Huh? No, I got annoyed and broke her shield.”

Seeing Roel say it with an unconcerned expression, I thought that I should treat my older brother well in the future. After parting ways with Roel,

I went to see Lacar, who would know more about Lamine than anyone else.

As expected of Lacar, who lived according to his schedule, he was working out in the physical training room.

“Huh? You mean Luna?”

“No, not Luna. I mean your sister, Senior Lamine.”

“Ah~ My sister? My sister has been using a spear since before. That’s why I was able to give you advice about spears.”

Come to think of it, Lacar gave me good advice about spears even though he used a sword. Was that Lamine’s influence?

“There aren’t many people who use spears. My sister has been forcing me to use a spear since before…. The reason my sister was interested in you might have been because you use a spear too?”

I nodded at Lacar’s words. Certainly, there were only a handful of students in the academy who used spears.

If it was simply a place to train soldiers, spears might have been more popular than swords. But this was the academy where the talents of the continent gathered.

In a place where it was natural to use magic, artifacts, and magic swords, it was difficult to survive with just the advantages of a spear as a weapon.

After pondering, I cautiously asked Lacar.

“Um, does Senior Lamine have any religion or anything like that?”

At my words, Lacar, who was lifting a dumbbell, scoffed.

“My sister is a complete atheist.”

“What?”

I couldn’t help but be taken aback by Lacar’s words. Iron Blood was a villain who threw away her life for the cult leader and grabbed Roel’s ankle.

That Iron Blood was originally an atheist…? Could Lacar be mistaken?

“But… are you interested in my sister?”

I gave him a look that said, ‘What are you talking about?’ at Lacar’s sudden question.

“I don’t think it’s bad if you become part of our family….”

After telling Lacar that he was mistaken at his shy expression, I headed to the clubroom.

Aria led the club members to the snowy mountain to bake sweet potatoes, so the clubroom was quiet with only me.

I leaned back on the soft sofa and organized my thoughts about Lamine.

What on earth is the causality that would make the atheist Lamine become a member of the cult?

“If there’s anything I can help you with, tell me anytime. If anything happens to Lacar, be sure to come to me.”

The Lamine I met seemed to cherish Lacar very much.

Then is it related to Lacar? If it’s related to Lacar… could it be that?

The decisive reason why Lacar and I became friends was that he felt greatly grateful that Ilia-sunbae and I had the courage when the Ragged Chimera attacked the cafeteria.

Rumors were circulating that he was colluding with a black magician, but Lacar said he would believe what he saw and approached me first.

What if, as in the flow of the novel, Destin Village was massacred? And what if, on the Emperor’s birthday, a black magician attacked the academy and attacked the cafeteria where the ball was taking place?

Originally, the Ragged Chimera caused the most injuries and deaths in the ‘Transcendence Attack Incident’.

What if… Lacar was originally included among those deaths?

Then the causality would fit perfectly. Except for one thing….

It was an understandable development that Lacar died in the Ragged Chimera’s attack and Lamine fell into sorrow.

But Lamine suddenly becoming a member of the cult was a sudden event as if the intermediate process had disappeared.

The causality I’ve experienced so far was something that ‘plausibly’ packaged the flow.

In other words, the atheist Lamine going to the cult on her own accord while being immersed in sorrow was something that went against causality.

‘What the hell is missing?’

Stroking my chin, I looked around the clubroom and saw Kane’s personal table, which was dirty because it hadn’t been cleaned, and remembered the name of one person I had forgotten.

The professor in charge of herbal medicine. A spy of the cult who infiltrated the academy.

Professor Dwin.

I hurriedly left the clubroom and ran to the faculty office.

Arriving in front of the faculty office, I checked the list of professors on the wall one by one.

.

.

.

Basic Herbal Medicine – Professor Plana.

-Professor in charge of Alchemy Department [113].

Intermediate Herbal Medicine – Professor Dwin.

-Professor in charge of Combat Department [304].

The Combat Department [304] classroom that Professor Dwin was in charge of was where Lamine was.

“Found you. The culprit.”

Professor Dwin was the only person who had the causality to recruit Lamine, who was grieving over the loss of her younger brother, into the cult.

But Lacar didn’t die. The causality of Lamine being recruited by Dwin while being immersed in sorrow had disappeared.

Even the Spear of Destruction that killed Nelson was now in my hands.

The small butterfly effect brought about by the choice to save Destin Village turned into a huge storm. It eliminated one of the troublesome enemies that would be in the future.

With a sigh of relief, I took out a small notepad from my space warehouse.

.

.

.

Hellfire Ramos de Volo.

The Immortal Roman.

Saint Medea.

Iron Blood Rene.

At the very bottom of the kill list with the names of the people I have to kill in the future.

Ice Witch Emilia Dwin.

I crossed out Rene’s name with a line and wrote Dwin’s name.