Ch.106Smart College Life (6)

In the Golden Zone, as is typical for such areas, the Sanctum is prime real estate.

No, don’t you understand that external gods have no power here?

Looking at the entire galaxy, it’s scattered garbage land where nothing can be done, but anyway, if you’re stuck here, you’re safe!

Makes my mouth water.

I paid about 20 billion including acquisition tax, and voilà, I have a house in my name. The Southern Sanctum is now mine. I can use it however I want.

Actually, that’s a lie. My conscience got to me, so I put it in my sister’s name.

And the result.

[Seti: You crazy bastard]

[Do you really want to die]

[You have the brains to develop Aether Belt restoration tech but what the fuck]

[200 billion wasted on completely useless land you insane idiot]

[F-uck my m-oney]

[We’ll have to pay taxes when selling this too]

[You’re such an a-ss]

A text message bomb scarier than health insurance bills came flying in from my little sister.

But I, Eidel von Rheinland, have lived with Seti for almost two years now. I can tell whether my sister is really angry or not.

I can say with certainty that Seti wasn’t that angry. If she were really pissed, she would have come to beat me up in person without hesitation.

So this is implicit consent, a deal.

Alright, little sister. I’ll help you reach the family head position you so desperately want, using this land as capital.

In return, you need to earn lots of money for your brother’s research, understand?

Now that our agreement is settled, I should get to my work.

“I’ll now begin the seminar.”

“?”

“Ahem.”

After clearing my throat, I make eye contact with my student.

Look at those bright, attentive eyes of our protagonist. She’s well-prepared for the lesson. Her upright posture shows discipline.

I spent the entire week preparing a presentation for a non-major. As I projected it onto the board through the beam projector, large text appeared.

[On Quantum Gravity and Resonator Theory]

[Subtitle: Simple Enough for Even a Fool to Understand]

“I am currently collaborating with Professor Kallis Stranov. The subject is as written on the PPT.”

“What the…”

“Excellent question. What is this, you ask? It’s technology that makes external gods look stupid.”

I explained everything I could to Ireh. I also did a bit of self-promotion.

“I laid the foundation for this resonator theory over two weeks by myself. See this formula? It’s called the FR model, which I created first.”

Rather than telling the protagonist struggling with external gods “I’m on your side,” this approach is much more effective. At least that’s what I believe.

“You there, suffering from external gods! As soon as the prototype of this resonator is made, I’ll give you the opportunity to use it. I was originally planning to charge 1 billion credits per use, you know? But for the first customer, specially, up to five times! I’ll do it for free.”

“What on earth…”

“How about it? Good conditions, right?”

My form is incredible. With this eloquence, I could be a shopping channel host.

But contrary to my expectations, the response was lukewarm. Far from smiling broadly, Ireh wore a deadpan expression.

[— The external god ‘Steel Flowing Like Earth’ lets out a terrible scream.]

It seems others are more enthusiastic.

***

After raging for a while, spewing profanities like “That bastard ruins everything!!!”, Sapaul finally regained his senses amid the restraint of fellow external gods.

[“We must stop that guy.”]

There was no time to waste now.

Eidel von Rheinland.

Before it’s too late, he must be killed.

As long as the host was in the Sanctum, escape was impossible, and time reversal, a characteristic of Maxwell’s forces, was difficult due to the high Aether density. They needed to find another way.

So the external gods gathered around a table, putting their tentacles together.

[“…”]

No matter how much they thought, they couldn’t come up with even a mediocre plan, let alone a good one.

In the end, they had to resort to the worst option.

[“…Someone must be sacrificed.”]

Their final conclusion was to sacrifice one comrade to take control of Ireh Hazlen’s body.

[“Do we really have to go that far?”]

[“There’s no choice. Without <Great Explosion>, controlling a water body in a place like this is nearly impossible. Unless Cartesia’s father comes.”]

Even black holes have lifespans.

The death of an external god begins with voluntarily stopping the activity of the black hole to which they belong.

[“One of you needs to give up all the energy of your black hole. Then, for a very brief moment, I can control that girl as I wish.”]

[“…”]

[“Well, any volunteers?”]

Naturally, no one stepped forward.

At that moment, a Darwin’s Legion external god approached, dragging its head. It was a monster shaped like a withered, twisted mushroom standing on its head.

[“We created this hideout and joined forces beyond our different legions to prevent the ‘end.’ But Sapaul, what you’re doing now seems perfect for causing division.”]

[“What are you saying?”]

[“I’m asking if sacrificing the small for the greater good is right. From my perspective, you’re making hasty decisions for your own glory.”]

Sapaul found that rebuttal extremely unpleasant.

[“That’s right. Perhaps we should just observe the situation?”]

[“Who knows. The girl might leave the Sanctum before the resonator is built. Or she might die first.”]

[“It doesn’t make sense for one of us to die.”]

Sapaul observed the characteristics of the external gods who agreed with this sentiment.

They were weak.

At least within this cluster, they were the ones with cramped black holes.

They were undoubtedly afraid of being designated.

Sapaul quietly nodded while harboring different thoughts.

Wondering who to sacrifice.

***

“Here, try this apple pie made by our house’s maid android. It’s premium quality, made with apples and honey from Kentark orchards. By the way, there’s the Western Physics Association on planet Kentark, and I recently had an interview with the professors there…”

“…”

“I’ll explain what you learned in calculus class this week. Now, let’s look at an applied example that includes partial derivatives. Wow, this is an extremely important equation that you absolutely must know.”

“…”

“We’ll have the 5th week resonator development seminar. Based on last week’s research results, I’ll present and take time to hear the student’s opinions. Before we start, are there any questions we didn’t get to last week?”

“…”

Restrained in a straitjacket, having my basic needs and bodily functions managed, locked in solitary confinement, and the only thing happening is lewd and obscene acts— bull crap.

I’m going to lose my mind.

“Tonight’s special is fried dumplings.”

“Kill me, please.”

I admit it now. The current Eidel is clearly different from previous iterations.

He’s become even more insane.

If he were just mindlessly sexually harassing me, I would have bitten my tongue and died, or if my hands were free, I would have killed him immediately.

But this is neither here nor there, making it even more maddening.

“Today’s side dish is glazed carrots. Very good for eye health.”

“No, I don’t want it.”

“Come on, don’t be picky. Listen while you eat. Finding materials for the resonator is most important. But it seems we can’t make it with just naturally occurring substances, so our research team is trying to create…”

Finally, Ireh exploded.

“Stop it!! I’m going to lose my mind—!!”

Mentally exhausted, yet paradoxically, her Pron levels had decreased. Thanks to Eidel’s presentations being filled with more hopeful content than expected.

“Just sexually harass me instead! Say something obscene!”

“No.”

“Why, why!”

Then I could at least commit suicide with peace of mind…!

I have lingering attachments. What if this worldline is the ‘happy ending’ worldline I’ve been longing for? What if I never get another chance once I pass it by?

Ireh was that suspicious. Through hundreds of thousands of iterations, how many times had she been killed by villains who outwardly showed kindness?

That’s why she learned the lesson to ‘go alone.’

Not depending on anyone, not listening to anyone. Only collecting constellations and affinities, running toward the ideal of a happy ending.

That had become Ireh’s life principle at some point. But now…

“Me, harassing you? Why? That’s a crime.”

“And keeping me tied up like this isn’t…?”

“That’s because your head is full of demons.”

“…”

“That’s why I told you there are government officials waiting outside. You weren’t listening properly when I explained this the week before last.”

That single phrase—it’s legal—completely flips Ireh’s composure.

“So where was I? Ah, the Ricci tensor is…”

“This is just physics perversion─!!”

Ireh shouted loudly, feeling like she was coughing up blood.

Hearing those words, Eidel’s expression changed completely.

“…Finally, you’re seeing me properly?”

His face looked more perverted than at any other time in this iteration.

***

Meanwhile, around that time.

Rustila was boarding a shuttle headed for the Southern Sanctum.

The reason was that Eidel hadn’t been reading any of her messages for the past few days.