Ch.9696. What on Earth Do They Want?

“Ludion.”

I silently repeat his name to myself.

“Ludion. Ludion.”

Each time I say it, I feel my face flush and my heart beat faster.

For someone like me who reacts this strongly just to a name, what I witnessed earlier was truly shocking.

A demon from another timeline. And Ludion being brutally defeated by that demon.

Ludion is human after all. He gets hurt, and if it’s severe enough, he dies. I knew this fact, of course.

But… seeing it happen in reality was more shocking than I expected. Enough to completely freeze my thoughts for a moment.

There’s a huge difference between imagining something and experiencing it.

It’s the same with combat. In your head, you always believe you can make the optimal decisions in optimal situations, but reality is never that simple.

You can memorize the entire procedure for treating someone with a severed arm, but actually performing it when faced with a person whose arm has been cut off is an entirely different matter.

So right now, my heart is on the verge of collapse.

Of course, the Ludion from that timeline was less skilled than the one I know. Objectively speaking, he was so different that he could hardly be considered the same person as the current Ludion.

Nevertheless, that scene won’t leave my mind. No matter how hard I try to forget, it keeps coming back.

Because of this, my anxiety was unavoidable… and from that moment, there was no need to overthink things.

First, I sought comfort in Ludion’s embrace. A confused mind would only produce messy thoughts. And then…

‘I need more people to help.’

He’s a man who knows unusually many things.

Perhaps that’s why he often throws himself directly into danger. I can’t deny it, considering he single-handedly prevented destruction.

The important thing is that he’s been hurt in the process.

Judging by his condition then and his behavior until now, I wasn’t particularly confident that he would prioritize safety in his actions.

So… I needed additional support to help him.

Someone who could back him up if something unexpected happened when he jumped into danger again.

Although I’ve grown quite rapidly, it’s still far from enough to be more than a little help. So I need additional strength to fill this gap.

Fortunately, I suppose, there was already someone around who could help, so I didn’t need to rack my brain thinking about it.

‘Ms. Alkine.’

The only person besides me who has unlocked the Favorability System.

Only one… well, I don’t know for sure, but that’s probably the case.

I’m thoroughly familiar with the women who hover around him, so if there were others, I would have already… no, this isn’t the time for such thoughts.

Anyway. Although I’m not thrilled about her getting closer to Ludion, knowing that higher favorability helps with growth, I want her to raise her favorability quickly and become stronger.

‘It can’t be helped… but it still makes my chest feel tight.’

Having to wish for her favorability to increase for Ludion’s sake. It gave me a headache, but there was no alternative for now.

…My head already hurts, so why does this man keep trying to let go of me?

“Ludion. Stop being annoying and put some strength in your arms.”

“Of course.”

His compliance without protest quickly improved my mood.

After that, I was too lazy to speak, so I just pinched his side to express myself. I hope he sees this level of sulking as endearing. I’m in quite a vulnerable state right now.

Where was I in my thoughts… right, I needed to quickly raise Ms. Alkine’s favorability.

For that, well, umm… why does the Favorability System provoke my possessiveness and then give me such trials? I suddenly feel angry.

“I didn’t loosen my arms, so why are you pinching me?!”

“Just stay still!!”

“You’re the one pinching me, what are you… Argh! Hey, that hurts! Pinching really hurts!”

His exaggerated reaction made me laugh a little.

At the same time, I felt happy that despite his struggling, he didn’t release his arms from around me.

Yes, whatever happens, it’s better than him dying.

So this is… just a small sacrifice for happiness.

‘As long as he’s alive, there will be a next time.’

In the end, I’ll be the one by his side.

For now, I decided to steel my heart. So starting tomorrow, what I need to do is…

///

“…What do you want me to do?”

“Go on a date with Ms. Alkine, just the two of you.”

What on earth is she talking about all of a sudden?

“You’ve been quiet and low on energy all day, are you sick or something?”

“I’m fine. I feel a bit feverish, but I don’t actually have a fever.”

I really don’t understand what she’s saying. Does she even know what she’s talking about?

Look at Lilith passing by. She’s subtly stopping to eavesdrop, trying to confirm if what she just heard is true.

“You can just go.”

“I’d like to say ‘How can I leave when things are getting interesting?’ but seeing Celia’s condition today, it doesn’t seem like the right atmosphere. Whatever’s going on, hang in there.”

“Thanks…”

At least she read the room and left after offering some encouragement.

Now then… what exactly does Her Highness want?

She seemed somewhat quiet since morning, but it wasn’t significantly different from usual. Then suddenly she tells me to go on a date with Alkine?

When I carefully asked why she was saying this, she avoided my gaze with a blank expression and mumbled:

“I don’t really like it, but I need to help, and if it takes too long, it’ll be harder for me, so I just… want to get it over with quickly because if you’re going to hurt anyway, it’s obviously better mentally to hurt once really badly and end it quickly.”

Now she doesn’t even seem to know what she’s saying. Her sentences are completely jumbled. What’s wrong with her?

Since it seemed like no conversation would make sense right now, I took her to a nearby café.

I ordered her favorite strawberry milk and various desserts, then waited quietly for her to calm down.

After a while, after much mumbling and gulping, she seemed to have calmed down enough to finally start speaking normally.

“The menu items Ludion chooses are always perfect for me. It’s amazing how the desserts available here change every day. I’ve long realized that Ludion knows me well, but moments like this make me appreciate it anew. In the future, if I want to eat something Ludion picks out for me, I should deliberately talk nonsense.”

Is this really back to normal? She still seems to be rambling.

But at least she’s forming coherent sentences now, so I guess that’s good enough.

More importantly, I hope she doesn’t cause scenes like this whenever she wants to eat something.

“You have plenty of money. Can’t you just choose and buy whatever you want to eat?”

“What I buy myself and what Ludion buys for me are completely different things.”

“Is that so?”

I don’t really get it, but if she says so… I decided to move on and talk about what’s important right now.

“So. What exactly do you want?”

Telling me out of nowhere to go on a date with Alkine.

I honestly didn’t understand why she allowed Alkine’s confession attack, and now she’s taking it a step further, which is becoming ridiculous.

In response to my direct question, Celia smiled awkwardly and explained her thoughts.

And it wasn’t particularly complicated or difficult to understand.

“I told you yesterday that I saw Ludion die in another timeline. And that there are rewards when favorability increases.”

Celia had seen me die, and she knew about the favorability rewards.

“So I thought about raising Ms. Alkine’s favorability quickly to get the rewards. I thought it might help Ludion…”

That’s the conclusion she reached.

She wanted to maximize the strength of those around me to help in dangerous situations.

“I don’t just want you to avoid death; I don’t want you to get hurt at all. Of course, that might be selfish of me… but I’m allowed to be a little selfish, right?”

I couldn’t find the right words to respond to her touching yet somewhat foolish statement.

At most, I could only say “I see” and acknowledge her concern.

It would be good for me if Alkine grew as quickly as Celia had. It would make future incidents more stable and easier to resolve.

But…

‘Does she not realize she’s already plenty helpful?’

What is it, that cliché in comics where the protagonist doesn’t realize how strong they are and acts all timid? Celia was exactly like that right now.

Honestly, I wasn’t worried about future events. I already thought we were overpowered with our current strength.

I might be too complacent, but it’s ridiculous to expect more from her when she already has late-game specs in this early part, and Alkine is also more than enough help for any upcoming events unless things go completely insane.

So I hadn’t even thought about trying to boost anything… and here she is taking care of it for me.

Again, this was good for me.

“So Ludion, please go on a date with Ms. Alkine.”

If only what she suggested wasn’t this.

Her method of raising favorability is too blatant…

“I’ve planned the entire date course! Ludion just needs to follow this.”

She doesn’t even seem to want it to succeed.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have included things like “repair work on the Student Council building wall” in the date itinerary.

I appreciate the thought, but I still don’t understand what she’s trying to do. A woman’s heart is difficult to comprehend.