Night Festival (2)

First of all, let me make one thing clear-the Hunting Festival at Luminor Academy originally doesn’t have a Night Festival event.

The Hunting Festival at the academy is a final exam where students risk their lives hunting monsters in the forest dungeon attached to the academy, then return with their spoils to compete over who hunted stronger monsters or more of them.

Since it’s an evaluation test where only academy students enter the dungeon, there are always some who return seriously injured, and while it’s not an annual occurrence, fatalities do happen during Luminor Academy‘s Hunting Festival.

That’s why, under normal circumstances, a post-Hunting Festival celebration like the Night Festival couldn’t exist. After all, the friends or family of those who lost their lives during the festival wouldn’t be able to fully enjoy it.

The only time a Night Festival can happen after the Hunting Festival at Luminor Academy is this one occasion-right after the “Second Semester Final Hunting Festival for Second Years.”

This was the day when the members of the Hero Party defeated a dangerous boss monster emerging from the dungeon while rescuing other students who had narrowly escaped death in the process.

Since failing to save them would have caused diplomatic issues-given how highly esteemed these individuals were-there was more than enough justification for a festival. Additionally, the byproduct of that monster, “Giant Owl Bear meat,” had to be consumed one way or another, making tonight the only time in Luminor Academy‘s entire storyline where a Night Festival was held, with alcohol and meat shared among everyone.

So, why exactly were Ethan and I sitting across from Lilia and Karaham at this Night Festival? The reason was simple.

…They just wanted to come over to our table. Neither Ethan nor I had invited them.

“…Back then, Senior Lilith said this! ‘Any man who isn’t moved by such a passionate and touching confession must be impotent, so you’re better off giving up!'”

“No, Miss Lilia, I didn’t say it quite like that-“

“It… actually makes sense!”

“Th-thank you for the advice, Lilia!”

“As expected, Senior Rosewood is undoubtedly a genius of seduction!”

“……”

Lilia, who had somehow gathered a crowd of athletic female students around our table, had already begun singing my praises.

Despite the fact that I had orchestrated that confession expecting it to fail, it had somehow become the most passionate and intense confession in the academy’s history, and now I was being treated like some kind of pioneer of confession methods. It was dizzying.

Ever since Lilia started dating Karaham, she kept bringing up my name at every opportunity, spreading this absurd reputation of me as some kind of “confession genius.” With Lilia’s loudspeaker-like voice amplifying this nonsense, I couldn’t even bring myself to stop it.

…For the record, Agnes had been at this table too until recently. But she fled back to the Hero Party’s table within five minutes of Lilia and Karaham joining, complaining about the noise.

“Ah, Lady Rosewood! Would you like another drink?”

“…No, I’m fine.”

“Ah! Come to think of it, you must be running low on snacks! I’ll go get some, so please wait here with Prince Ethan!”

“No, it’s not that I’m not drinking because I’m out of snacks. That’s something a maid like me should be doing-“

“I’ll be right back!!”

“…But, uh…”

Ever since Karaham heard that Lilia had succeeded with my help, he had started treating me with even more respect than before. So lately, it had been difficult to escape the attention of this muscle-brained couple without causing a scene.

‘Individually, they’re already noisy enough, but when they’re together, it’s like some kind of synergy effect…’

In the end, I had unexpectedly grown closer to Lilia, and honestly, I didn’t feel too bad about it.

After all, Lilia was a character I had romanced at least once in a past life. Though opinions on her varied, by my standards, she was quite the beauty-a healthy, attractive woman.

“…And that’s not all! Senior Lilith also during yesterday’s Hunting Festival-“

…Sure, now that she was an acquaintance, her loudness and excessive admiration were a bit overwhelming.

But whatever. As long as Lilia was happy, I was satisfied.

‘…Now that things have turned out like this, maybe I should help the other heroines get paired up with other guys too.’

Though my actions hadn’t been driven by any particular goal, there were already two couples-or potential couples-that had formed thanks to me.

One was, of course, Lilia and Karaham. The other was Agnes and Prince Antonio.

Of course, the second pair was still in the flirting stage, so I couldn’t say for sure they were officially together. But given that Agnes had no real prospects with anyone else besides Antonio, I figured I could just leave them be.

And as long as Nataliya didn’t interfere, she would naturally end up with her childhood friend Thomas, so I didn’t need to worry about her. And as for me… well, I was doing fine with Ethan for now.

With four out of the main and sub-heroines already paired up, I was fairly satisfied with how things were going.

As I’ve said before, I believe that a maiden holding onto an unrequited love is no different from letting a beautiful apple rot in storage.

Even if the three main heroines were already beyond my reach, the other heroines still had a chance at normal love-preferably with men who would love only them for the rest of their lives.

‘It’s not like the guy who’s just going to abandon them deserves any favors anyway.’

Since the Hero Party was more or less complete by now, pairing up the remaining heroines wouldn’t cause any issues.

Having made up my mind, I quietly got up and headed toward the Hero Party’s table.

“Young Master Ethan, may I go pick some flowers for a moment?”

“Huh? Sure. If you’re tired, we can head back soon.”

“Since Prince Karaham ended up running an errand for me by accident, I should at least greet him before we leave. I’ll be back soon, so please wait for me, Young Master.”

“Alright, go ahead, Lilith.”

Leaving Ethan, who didn’t even question where I was going, I pretended to head to the restroom before stealthily making my way to the Hero Party’s table where Kyetmajosyegigot and the others were seated.

…By now, everyone except the Hero would probably be dozing off, making this the perfect opportunity for a relaxed conversation.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

“Hey, Kyetmwa.”

“Lilith, you’re here.”

When I moved to the table of the Hero Party-the stars of this Hunting Festival-Kyetmajosyegigot, the sole survivor at the six-seater table, waved at me as if he had been expecting me.

Though I hadn’t seen it firsthand, the situation was obvious. Nataliya gets drunk after just one drink, so she must have been the first to pass out, and her childhood friend Thomas must have smoothly taken her away.

Seraphine, who was busy with various things, would have left early, and Agnes-the closest thing to a friend I had besides Seraphine-would have no choice but to return to the dorm once Seraphine was gone.

Celista was too busy after the Hunting Festival to even attend, and the last one left, the elf Silena-

“Uuuhhn… Th-this much alcohol is… nothing to an elf…”

-was slumped over the table, face buried in it.

“How much did she drink?”

“About four and a half glasses of fruit wine.”

“Then we don’t have to worry about her overhearing us.”

At that level of drunkenness, she probably wouldn’t even notice if we carried her to bed and undressed her, let alone realize we were having a private conversation.

“You’ve gotten pretty famous lately. ‘Genius of Seduction’ or ‘Genius of Confessions,’ was it? The whole academy’s talking about you.”

“…Keep it down. I didn’t expect things to turn out like this either.”

“So you’re the one who got Lilia and Karaham together?”

“Well, in the end, it looks like I connected them, but it’s not like I schemed behind the scenes to make it happen. It just sort of worked out that way.”

“…Hmm, is that so?”

Kyetmajosyegigot stroked his chin with a strange expression, making me feel oddly guilty. I cautiously asked:

“…Was it something I shouldn’t have done?”

“Huh? No, no. Doesn’t matter to me.”

“Really? That’s a relief.”

“You said you didn’t do it on purpose, right? Then I’ve got no reason to complain. Besides, I wasn’t planning on bringing Lilia into the Hero Party anyway.”

“……”

I wondered how he would react if he heard I was planning to deliberately pair up other heroines with different guys from now on.

One thing was certain-he wouldn’t be too happy about it. After all, connecting heroines with other men before the ending was essentially altering the original Luminor Academy storyline.

But for the sake of my own beliefs, I wanted to push forward with it. Three heroines being abandoned by his return to Earth was already more than enough.

“Hey, Kyetmwa.”

“What?”

“No matter how many girls fall for you, no matter how many suffer from unrequited love, your stance on returning to Earth… still stands, right?”

“……Yeah.”

“And you said you’d avoid causing any trouble in this world that you’d have to take responsibility for?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Good. Then I’m going to do what I want from now on, so don’t complain about it.”

“…Huh? What are you planning?”

“The heroines you’re planning to abandon-I’m going to do my best to pair them up with rival characters myself.”

“……”

“That whole ‘eternal heartbreak is beautiful’ nonsense… I absolutely despise it.”

Even if my position and circumstances limited my freedom, I was determined to do as much as I could.

Even if this guy didn’t like my plan one bit.