Ch.299299. A Perfect Happy Ending

“Exam is over!”

Elenoa Luden Griffin was dancing around the laboratory, holding exam papers in both hands. Jumping up and down like she was performing some traditional dance, her exam paper had an A+ written on it.

I’d heard she studied hard, but seeing her prove it with results like this, she would have lived comfortably even if she hadn’t been a princess.

“Deus! How is it? Praise me! Praise me!”

Elenoa approached me, jumping around like a child in good spirits. Since exams were over and vacation had started, she was now Princess Elenoa, not student Elenoa.

It was only proper to show appropriate respect.

“That’s impressive.”

“Hehehe! Head! Pat my head too!”

I knew how disrespectful it was to pat a royal’s head, but Elenoa wouldn’t back down even if I mentioned it.

Rustle rustle.

As I absentmindedly patted her head, Elenoa naturally leaned her head against my chest.

“Hey!”

Aria, who had also been spinning around with Elenoa holding her exam paper, burst in angrily. She ran up to me and positioned herself right beside me, presenting her head, but…

“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to.”

I was only following royal orders; I had no particular interest in patting female students’ heads. I wonder if there are even professors who engage in such physical contact with students.

“Y-you’re too mean! That’s unfair!”

Aria pouted and grumbled, while Elenoa raised her nose proudly.

“This is the power of a class society. Using nonsensical, fishy bloodlines to determine people’s status, and once you’re branded as lowly, you can never rise up until you die!”

Elenoa was now grinning while rubbing her cheek against me with her hands around my waist.

“Y-you…!”

With Aria trembling with envy before us, Elenoa went even further by wrapping her leg around my thigh.

“Ah! Power is the best! It’s thrilling! Always fresh! I’m glad I was born a princess! This is why people strive so hard to climb up!”

“Eek! Eek!”

“I’m so fortunate to be born well! I’ve lived as royalty, suffering since childhood and always minding others’ eyes, but I deserve this much compensation. Ah, even if they offered me a castle made of pure gold, I wouldn’t give up this moment. I’m really glad I was born well! It’s fortunate to be honored as noble just because of bloodline!”

Wondering how long she would continue, I looked down at Elenoa, who carefully raised her head to meet my eyes and asked:

“C-can I go further?”

She’s not some hostess with a customer. The slight drool at the corner of her mouth completed the picture perfectly.

“I cannot do anything more for you.”

“Tch.”

Though disappointed, Elenoa seemed satisfied for now and continued rubbing her cheek against me.

I was slightly afraid that this might continue in the carriage back to Greyford.

“……”

Beside us, Aria’s eyes were slightly moist as she glared at Elenoa and me, clutching her exam paper so tightly it was crumpling.

Seeing her genuinely upset, I finally sighed and reached out to pat her head, but…

Thwack.

Elenoa’s hand shot out to catch my wrist and pulled it toward herself.

“No.”

“……”

“It’s disappointing that I can’t do more, but I won’t let you do the same thing to another woman that you did with me.”

Elenoa stuck out her tongue and exuded her own kind of charisma. I was honestly a bit surprised, but…

“You damn bitch!”

Was it all an act until now? Aria finally exploded and lunged at Elenoa.

“That! That crossed the line! We agreed to cooperate!”

“Your acting was so pathetic that I couldn’t… Hey! Don’t pull! Stop pulling!”

Aria finally managed to separate Elenoa from me. When I subtly stepped back to help Aria, Elenoa’s expression turned ashen.

“Deus?”

“Ahem.”

I quietly turned my body and returned to the people who had been waiting for me.

Since we were in the laboratory, Professor Per Petra was naturally there, and Erika was waiting with him.

“Ha, haha.”

Per Petra scratched his cheek awkwardly, and…

“……”

Erika crossed her arms and glared at me sharply.

“It’s just kids playing around.”

I unnecessarily explained to Erika, who snorted in response.

“Do you really think so?”

“……”

“Are you making excuses to me when you don’t even believe it yourself?”

Erika approached me stealthily and collapsed into my chest.

“Oh my, oh my!”

Per Petra watched us with surprised eyes from behind. I too was momentarily frozen by Erika’s bold action.

“You smell like Elenoa.”

“Get off.”

“Me too.”

Erika peeked up at me, her eyes meeting mine exactly. Her breath tickled my Adam’s apple, and our chests pressed together felt unusually hot.

“Treat me like I’m playing around too.”

“Proper adults don’t play like this.”

“You’re mean.”

Burying her face in my chest again, Erika whispered quietly.

“Then it’s not playing.”

“Oh my, oh my.”

Per Petra kept adding commentary from behind like some audience member. I carefully grabbed Erika’s arms and tried to push her back, but she was using force, making it harder than expected.

‘This is troublesome.’

I’d reached the point where it was difficult to overpower an adult woman without using mana to enhance my body. I knew my body had been damaged from the start, but this was evidence of how much it had accumulated from all the incidents.

“Deus?”

Erika too…

She seemed to notice something and looked up at me with surprised eyes. The emotion in her eyes was a kind of fear.

But…

“Ah! Professor Erika, what are you doing?!”

“That’s so unfair! When are you breaking off the engagement?!”

Elenoa and Aria jumped in, allowing us to naturally move past the moment.

The little ones rushed to both sides and started chattering.

“Why are you still bringing up an old fiancée? Give her the breakup papers. I’ll officiate the breakup ceremony.”

“Then I’ll be the person clapping from the groom’s side saying ‘good riddance’!”

As Elenoa and Aria started acting up again, Erika separated from me and began scolding the two.

Though they appeared to be fighting on the surface, I could see that the three had formed a close bond while I was away.

[Are you a pillow or something, getting hugged from here and there?]

The Dark Spiritmaster, who had been watching this whole scene, crossed her arms and complained.

Despite suffering the blow from Fluffy to Puffy, the Dark Spiritmaster was showing her usual self. She must have overcome it in her own way.

[This is when it’s good to be a ghost.]

Stella smiled brightly and stuck herself to my back. After receiving hugs from Elenoa and Erika, this half-bodied embrace felt somewhat lighter.

[No one can see me doing this.]

Stella hugging me tightly from behind.

[Hasn’t the junior been a bit impudent lately?]

Normally, the Dark Spiritmaster would have rushed in shouting, but today was different.

She was still annoyed, but she was looking at Stella with cold eyes.

“I’m not sure about impudence, but I agree she has changed.”

[Do you know why she’s like this? She used to live as a Saintess who was conscious of others’ eyes, but now that no one but you and I can see her, she’s let loose.]

[I won’t deny it.]

The former Saintess couldn’t even pronounce properly as she buried her face in my back.

Having shed her ascetic life, she was becoming more worldly.

[This needs some discipline.]

Snap!

At that moment.

When the Dark Spiritmaster snapped her fingers, Stella’s body gradually began to take on color and became more visible than before.

“Huh?”

“What’s this?”

“……”

“Oh my, oh my!”

The eyes of the other four people in the laboratory turned toward Stella.

[…Eh?]

Stella, who had been enjoying my back, looked at me with a bewildered expression at the stares directed at her.

Her eyes questioned if this was my doing, but I shook my head and looked at the Dark Spiritmaster.

[What use is a master who can’t do what their disciple can?]

The Dark Spiritmaster shrugged proudly, having somehow stolen the magic I use.

She seemed to have mastered the magic that makes souls visible to others in her own way.

“Saintess Stella?”

“Ah, so that’s the former Saintess before Lucia.”

“What… is…”

“Oh my, oh my!”

[Ah, ah… no, that’s…]

Stella’s face turned bright red like she was broken, unable to say anything. I thought she had changed to not feel embarrassment, but it was just because no one could see her.

[Senior, I hate you!]

Stella flew through the wall and disappeared.

[Phew, I’ve defeated the Saintess.]

The Dark Spiritmaster puffed up proudly.

* * *

With exams over and summer vacation beginning, it was time to return to Greyford, the capital where the royal family resided.

I was supposed to ride in the carriage that came to pick up Elenoa, but before that…

I was reviewing the information about Wellington Trading Company that Erika had given me.

What was surprising was…

Even without the maid Findenai, my daily routine hadn’t changed at all.

It showed how useless she had been as a maid.

I was alone in the laboratory to organize my thoughts, but…

Creak.

The door opened carefully, and a black-haired girl entered.

“Professor, do you have a moment?”

It was Aria Rius, composed and fresh-faced, completely opposite from when she was fighting with Elenoa earlier.

“What is it?”

I thought we had finished everything earlier, but I put down the documents Erika had given me and asked.

Aria’s expression was shy yet somewhat serious.

“I wanted to ask you something.”

“Speak.”

The current Aria was not a student, but someone with a different presence.

Like a battle-hardened veteran who had withdrawn from the battlefield.

There must be a reason she came at this time, when exams were over and she was no longer a student.

“About the first cycle.”

The topic was heavy from the start.

But I listened without changing my expression. In truth, I had expected her to ask this question someday.

“In my fourth year, I killed Luanes Luden Griffin, the head of Dante, and the continent was destroyed.”

The boundary between life and death collapsed, and souls roamed the continent. The living lost their land to the dead.

That was the ending Aria experienced in the first cycle.

But that wasn’t a bad ending leading to the second cycle.

It wasn’t an ending but a game over.

It meant the game ended because of a wrong choice in the middle, not because she had seen the complete ending.

In the game, Aria stays at the Academy for a total of 5 years.

And Aria seemed to have noticed this aspect.

“In the first cycle, you didn’t say Dante and its leader were the end. I think there must have been more to do afterward.”

“Correct.”

I didn’t deny it.

We thwarted Dante and Luanes’s plans and saved the continent.

But in fact…

There was still more to the story in the game.

“Is there still an enemy we need to defeat?”

“……”

She could misunderstand that way.

I could say yes or no, but…

If I had to name the strongest boss in the game, it would be Luanes.

There’s no story after this about defeating a boss or taking down a final villain.

“……”

Previously, I had used Aria as a tool.

For a happy ending, to save the continent.

For that, Aria Rius’s mental strength was most important. What she felt through her regressions was crucial.

The reason I made her follow me obsessively in the first cycle. Making her trust and follow me like she was half-brainwashed, turning her into a tool.

All of that was for the ending that would soon come to us, but…

There was no place for Aria Rius there.

I slowly stood up and placed my hand on Aria’s head.

I couldn’t do it earlier, but looking at her now, this small girl seemed truly admirable.

“You’ve already reached the ending.”

“Professor.”

“So don’t worry about the future.”

I know she can’t help but worry.

I’ve told her this many times before.

But still, I…

Tell her again.

“Just live happily.”

The ending of the first cycle ultimately results in Aria’s death and the continent’s destruction.

Then what about the second cycle?

The second cycle.

The perfect happy ending…

Is completed with this girl’s suicide.