Ch.396396 – I Want to See You

<396 – I Want to Meet You>

Jona was a soft-hearted butler.

Though he possessed strength that could kill anyone in the world, his heart was merely as rigid as steel.

In the face of trials that couldn’t be overcome with strength, he trembled pitifully like a steel bar about to break because it couldn’t bend.

“Stop this. If you turn back now, we can pretend this never happened.”

“If I stop. I’ll be saying goodbye to you forever, won’t I?”

“Nothing will change even if you don’t stop.”

“Then I was right after all. At least now, I can spend my final moments with you.”

“What exactly are you dissatisfied with!”

Jona burst out in anger.

“Your parents sold you to the Foundation for a few silver coins. You could have been dragged to a brothel, but you were chosen by a butler and set foot in the world’s finest educational institution. You received an education beyond your station and gained quality knowledge that could change your life even in the lower classes. Can’t you be satisfied with that?”

“Jona. You’re right. My parents were poor, so they sold their child, and you, as a butler, valued my talent and granted me opportunities beyond my station.”

“If you know that, then why!”

“That’s why I’ve always wondered. You, the most skilled among the butlers. Among the Foundation’s butlers, you had the right to choose a ‘Young Lady’ before anyone else, yet why did you choose me instead of Charlotte?”

“…!”

“I don’t know the reason. If you don’t tell me, I’ll never know. But because I realized your kindness, I came to think this way.”

Jona’s first Young Lady.

The Second Mad Hatter confessed with a sorrowful smile.

“I wanted to think of you as my father.”

“!!!”

“So I don’t regret it. Because at least my second father didn’t abandon me. Because I can confirm that fact with my own eyes and feel it in my heart.”

Still, she felt sorry for the butler.

The Foundation’s policy.

Because she wasn’t someone who didn’t know those cruel procedures.

“I’m prepared. Please do what you must.”

The Young Lady closing her eyes and exposing herself defenseless.

The fragile Young Lady whose neck could be snapped with just a reach of his hand.

The pitiful Young Lady who relied on Jona, calling him father.

He would dispose of such a Young Lady.

With his own hands.

“…”

His arms, trained to withstand weights worth millions, became slower as they raised.

Because the enemy his hands should be twisting wasn’t such a fragile Young Lady.

Nevertheless, Jona’s arm slowly rose.

Grasp.

And he grabbed.

The Young Lady’s neck.

The fragile weakness that would break with just one application of force.

Below that, the chest that would easily crumple with a punch anywhere.

The collar of the coat that covered it all.

“The wind is cold. Fasten your collar tightly.”

“Jona…?”

Tears welled up in the Young Lady’s eyes.

“You shouldn’t do this.”

“It was the Young Lady who acted spoiled.”

“But how could you indulge me? I only chose the place where I would die.”

“You will be punished. Suffer by thinking about what risks the butler will take because of your childishness. That is my punishment for you.”

“Jona…”

“Take this. It’s a scroll that allows your consciousness to dwell in objects, abandoning your physical body, away from the scholarship students’ eyes.”

Jona looked down at the Young Lady with stern eyes.

“Don’t use it with an easy resolve. Souls trapped in objects without physical bodies, unable to communicate with anyone for a lifetime, are numerous. It might bring a result worse than dying now.”

“Then kill me now. If it’s by Jona’s hands, I can gladly accept it. Please.”

The Young Lady grabbed Jona’s rough hand and placed it on her neck. But no strength entered that hand.

That was their last meeting.

Returning to the Academy alone.

She concealed herself with a wall-passing spell while the second-year students were practicing the <Pass Wall> spell.

People thought she was an unfortunate first-year who died trying to imitate an advanced technique, but they didn’t ponder what the torn scroll fragment meant.

Thus, Jona’s first Young Lady, Alice, lost her physical body but managed to hide her consciousness in the Academy.

Waiting for Jona’s next Young Lady to come to the Academy someday, believing that a reunion with Jona would be possible.

* * *

“Waaah! That’s so sad!”

As I shed tears like Titosoga, the Second Mad Hatter lowered her hat brim and wiped my tears.

“Aren’t you silly? Crying over something like this.”

“But the Second Mad Hatter never did anything wrong enough to lose her body.”

“It was just a matter of time. As soon as I returned to the Academy after Jona left, the next directive arrived.”

“What kind of directive…?”

“To capture and kill a second-year student practicing the <Wall Pass> spell, preventing them from escaping.”

“No way!”

“It was actually for the best. Since I failed the directive and was perceived to have died naturally, the Foundation probably didn’t blame Jona.”

The Foundation pushed the back of someone who wanted to die.

Even if she had carried out the directive, survival afterward would have been difficult.

Second-year and first-year.

Which would be more proficient in the wall-passing spell?

The probability of an accident is higher for a first-year.

“I’ll avenge you!”

“Against whom?”

“The person who gave the Second Mad Hatter the directive!”

“Don’t bother.”

“Don’t you want revenge?”

“Could you take revenge even if that person was your Papa?”

“…!”

“This is all in the past now. Who knows who gave the directive. The person who issued it probably doesn’t even remember such a trivial matter. I was just a lowly scholarship student used for Charlotte’s growth.”

The Second Mad Hatter was accustomed to resignation.

Abandoned by her parents, abandoned by the Foundation.

Even her own body had abandoned her.

Abandoning and being abandoned.

That was the very essence of the Second Mad Hatter’s life.

“Then we should find the Foundation person who’s watching over Charlotte! The person favorable to Charlotte must be the one who tormented the Second Mad Hatter!”

“…”

“What’s wrong? Don’t you want revenge?”

Strange.

I told her how to find the culprit.

Yet the Second Mad Hatter didn’t seem happy at all.

“Charlotte isn’t a bad child.”

“Really?”

“I’ve never had a direct conversation with her, but I’ve observed her daily life at the Academy. I wanted to see what kind of child my life was being sacrificed for.”

Ah.

A budding stalker even in her previous life!

[Your understanding of character <Alice> has increased.]

━━━

Alice’s Understanding

Good Person (Understanding 20) – She doesn’t know how to resent others.

The Runaway (Understanding 40) – Since being abandoned by her parents, she wishes for relationships to end before they deepen, to avoid the pain of abandonment.

Stalker (Understanding 60) – Cautious as she is, she begins observing individuals she’s interested in. Of course, she never gets the subject’s consent in the process.

━━━

[Your understanding of character <Alice> has exceeded 20.]

[You receive the 1st special benefit <Birds of a Feather>.]

[Your heart gradually moves closer to goodness as you stay near a good person.]

[The possibility of improving relationships and favorability with good-aligned characters increases by 10 each week.]

[Your understanding of character <Alice> has exceeded 40.]

[You receive the 2nd special benefit <Deep Relationship>.]

[The rate of favorability increase for character <Alice> rises.]

[Your understanding of character <Alice> has exceeded 60.]

[You receive the 3rd special benefit <Foundation’s Young Lady>.]

[She who always took a passive stance one step behind finally opens her heart. Alice begins to offer advice for you without reservation.]

[The detection probability of individuals, objects, and events related to the Foundation increases significantly.]

As my understanding deepens, I can vaguely imagine the human appearance of the Young Lady who is now just a hat.

Outwardly a good child.

Inwardly a deeply wounded child.

A small animal-like Young Lady who hides and observes people she wants to get close to, or those trying to get close to her, fearing deeper wounds.

‘An unlucky Young Lady version of Titosoga!’

I understand enough about Jona’s first Young Lady.

Could I have been different from her if I were a newbie without any abilities or future knowledge?

I might have been more talented than her.

But there’s a clear limit to the power one can build in a blank state without accumulated ending collection rewards or encyclopedia collection bonuses.

Even if I had risen to match or slightly surpass Charlotte, who was raised as the Foundation’s core talent, I would have ended up being manipulated according to the Foundation’s will.

It seems Papa is capable but not exactly a kind adult.

“Still, I want to meet this senior Charlotte.”

“Do you really have to?”

“I’m sorry to the Second Mad Hatter, but Jona is my butler now. I at least want to see the face of the person who made my butler sad!”

“…If you call me Alice.”

“Senior Alice!”

“The class I entered the Academy with was the 978th. If I had been promoted normally each year, I could have been a senior by now.”

“What year is Charlotte in now?”

“Third year. And she’s on leave.”

“Is she working as an instructor?”

“If she were, I could have watched her too. Charlotte is somewhere my eyes can’t reach.”

A realm beyond the barrier where one cannot reach through adjacent ground, even within the Academy premises.

“The area for students on leave. A place where only students on leave from the Academy can set foot.”

“You can’t earn points through normal Academy activities there. Being an instructor would at least earn points, so why did she dangerously go there?”

No matter how dysfunctional Gift Academy is, there are a few things it prohibits.

Taking another’s life and points without consent is a prime example.

But what if they’re not enrolled students protected by school rules?

“She’s probably trying to earn points through abnormal methods.”

In that extraterritorial zone exposed to unlimited violence, the abyss awaits those who would commit any cruelty to gather points for promotion.