Chapter 29: Ghost Story Hotel Escape (1)

Eventually, we had no choice but to leave the faculty office without even being able to establish the club.

A sigh escapes me.

“It’s been so long since we came to the academy, and yet we still haven’t managed to create a single club…”

“Huh? But the academy has only been open for two days, hasn’t it?”

“For you, maybe.”

Technically, it has only been two days, but the time I’ve experienced already feels like it’s right before midterms.

At this rate, by the time I graduate from the academy, I might as well be celebrating my sixtieth birthday— mentally, at least.

“Alright, enough complaining! Let’s think about what we should do from now on!”

Unlike me, already mentally exhausted, Elaine is still full of enthusiasm.

“Since all we need is to fill the required number of members, why don’t we just grab anyone and make them a ghost member? The actual club activities would just be the three of us anyway.”

At Elaine’s words, Rone energetically chimes in with her own suggestion.

Ah, youth— so full of energy.

Meanwhile, this teacher just wants to clock out and head straight to bed.

“No, that’s a bad idea. If we carelessly bring in someone who doesn’t know anything, they might get dragged into what we’re doing. I’d prefer our members to be proper active participants, not just placeholders to meet the quota. Besides, the club itself is just a means to make our activities easier— it’s not like we can’t work without one. Until we find the right members, we can just operate without an official club.”

“That makes sense. It might be a little inconvenient, but it’s not much different from how we’ve been doing things so far. There’s no need to force ourselves just for the sake of having a club name.”

“A-Actually, I was thinking the same thing in my head!”

So, I guess we’ve roughly settled on a direction.

“Then, from now on, our plan is to keep an eye out for potential members who would fit the Occult Investigation Club, but without rushing. Our top priority is solving mysteries— let’s not forget that.”

“Got it.”

“Yes!”

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After parting ways with those two, I headed to the snack bar, ordered black tea and madeleines, and calmly pondered who would be a good fit for the club members.

On the surface, it might seem like I’d only spent two days at the academy, but in reality, I’d already been here for over a month.

However, most of that time had been spent dealing with urban legends, so my actual knowledge about the academy wasn’t much better than that of a true second-day student.

Still, there were a few students who stood out to me.

Some were simply famous, and before coming to the academy, I had done some preliminary research on the key characters of this romance-fantasy world— or at least, that’s what I’d thought it was at the time.

First, the Saintess.

A remarkable girl with an extraordinary nickname, rumored to have been born with the gift of healing.

If those rumors were true, recruiting her would undoubtedly be the top priority.

Unfortunately, my investigation revealed that the rumors of her healing abilities were false.

In reality, her parents were using her as a shield to scam people by claiming she had such powers— she was nothing more than an accomplice in their fraud.

After all, gifts were merely extensions of ordinary talents, so the idea of an ability that could instantly heal wounds or illnesses with a poof couldn’t possibly exist.

Well, my case was a special exception, but still.

Anyway— rejected.

Second, the second prince of the Renia Kingdom.

A prince from the country I was born in, with both power and exceptional abilities, but…

Putting aside his personality, if it came to light that the communist revolution— which nearly overthrew the Renia Kingdom— was actually my doing, wouldn’t he try to kill me?

Rejected.

Third, the young lady of the marquis household, nicknamed the Ruby of High Society.

I’d heard she was incredibly dim-witted.

In her case, her fame came from her looks and background rather than any real ability, so unless this were a romance-fantasy genre, she’d be useless against urban legends.

Rejected.

A few other notable figures at the academy came to mind, but most were people I’d researched back when I mistakenly thought this world was a romance-fantasy.

Their value lay more in their lineage and reputation than in any abilities useful for dealing with urban legends.

Sigh.

Are there really no suitable candidates?

Ah.

I’d forgotten the most important one.

The protagonist was still an option.

If it’s the protagonist, they should at least be above average, right?

But the problem was that my memories from the romance-fantasy phase were nearly gone.

I didn’t even realize the title of this world until after I arrived underground— my memories were that faint.

Of course they would be.

This work is something I read almost 30 years ago, and the reason I read it wasn’t even because I liked romance fantasy— it was just famous for having an extreme case of “drift” in the story, so I picked it up out of curiosity.

Honestly, I should be grateful I even remember the title.

“Sigh.”

Still, the only possibility left is the protagonist.

Maybe I should recruit someone who seems like the main character.

First of all, the name of this world from my past life was The Abandoned Count’s Daughter of the Academy.

Since the title was The Abandoned Count’s Daughter, the protagonist must be the daughter of a count.

The fact that she was abandoned is a huge hint, but from what I remember, the protagonist being cast out by her family happened at least a bit later in the story.

Probably.

My memory’s fuzzy, so I can’t be sure, but logically, if she had been exiled from the start, she wouldn’t have been able to enroll in the academy in the first place.

So that makes sense.

…In the end, to find the protagonist, I’ll have to rely not on past-life knowledge but on piecing together the typical traits of a romance fantasy heroine and looking for the character that fits those clichés the most.

Typical traits of a romance fantasy heroine:

Highly concerned about women’s rights and gender equality, yet unironically affirms the class system and takes for granted the privileges that come with being part of the aristocracy.

For the same reason, she strings along multiple men, but in the end, she usually chooses the one with the highest status and wealth— a prince, crown prince, or hidden royal heir.

Naturally, given the genre, most marriages are “ascent marriages,” where the woman rises in status through marriage.

She presents herself as a strong, capable woman (a “girl crush”), but when crises hit, her go-to solution is often calling in a more capable, higher-status male character to fix things— an active yet passive approach.

She claims that people should be treated based on ability, not gender, yet somehow places great importance on social status— a double standard.

Her close friends are usually upper-class nobles, wealthy merchants, or clergy, all of whom have superior social standing.

Occasionally, she gets involved with someone of lower status, but that relationship is rarely equal— usually, they’re either blindly devoted followers or minor characters who envy her.

For now, these are the prejudices I hold against the romance fantasy genre…

Male-oriented genres are no different in terms of direction— just catering to different fantasies— but when you take a step back, isn’t it strange how stories are structured purely to pour in wish-fulfillment setups for readers?

“Come to think of it, why do they even like such women?”

Are all the male leads in romance fantasy bewitched by some kind of urban legend?

…Hmm.

Now that I think about it, the original protagonist…

“Do I even need to recruit her?”

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Several days had passed since then.

Surprisingly, absolutely nothing happened over those days.

Unlike when Rone was haunted by the ghost story, this time there were no strange phenomena happening unnoticed or brushed off as trivial— truly, nothing occurred at all.

And the same went for recruiting club members.

Since founding the club wasn’t an urgent matter, we didn’t compromise on various conditions, which naturally led to higher standards.

As a result, we couldn’t settle for just any candidate.

Thus, the days passed with no progress on founding the club and no ghostly attacks— an unbelievably ordinary routine.

Then, Lydia made a suggestion to me.

“Mr. Allen. Are you interested in a retreat?”

“A retreat? You mean the kind where everyone gathers and spends the night together?”

“Yes. Exactly! As expected of Mr. Allen!”

I didn’t think my answer was particularly praiseworthy.

More importantly, why a retreat all of a sudden?

“Actually, I was thinking it might be nice to create an opportunity for the students of Class A to bond. Would you be free this weekend?”

“……”

Why was this coming up now?

In the timeline before the regression, there was no such discussion at this point.

Ah.

Come to think of it, before the regression, around this time, we were caught up in the war with the delinquent group, so the situation didn’t allow for such a suggestion in the first place.

“Ah, of course, you can refuse! The students won’t be forced to participate, and since I brought it up so suddenly, you might have other plans!”

Interpreting my silence in her own way, Lydia hastily waved her hands and backed off.

Hmm. It’s not like I have anything pressing to do.

“If I don’t participate, what happens to the retreat? Will it be canceled?”

“No! Even if Mr. Allen doesn’t join, we still plan to go ahead with the retreat, so please don’t feel burdened!”

From what she said, it seemed she was genuinely planning to use her own funds to rent a place for the retreat, purely to foster camaraderie among the class students.

Even before the regression, I had vaguely sensed it, but she really is a dedicated teacher.

“No, I don’t have any particular plans. I’ll help out, Ms. Lydia. Having one more person to share the load would make things easier, wouldn’t it?”

“Ah! Really?!”

And right now, I’m a teacher too.

Since I don’t have any special plans for this weekend anyway, I might as well participate.

Originally, if it’s a group event for Class A, Elaine and Rone would likely join as well.

To prepare for any unforeseen incidents, it’s better to stay close rather than apart.

Even though there haven’t been any ghostly attacks these past few days, who knows when they might strike again?

“But Ms. Lydia, I have one question about the retreat…”

“Ask me anything!”

“It’s nothing major, but you mentioned you rented a place for the retreat, right? So where should I go on the day of the retreat?”

“Ah, that?”

At my question, Lydia smiled brightly and answered.

“Well, there’s an old, unused hotel that’s available right now. I managed to rent it cheaply. Rumor has it that among the students, it’s known as the ‘ghost hotel.’ Don’t you think it’d be fun to do something like a courage test after dinner?”

“…Ah.”

At her words, I instinctively clenched my eyes shut.

Cancel it.

Didn’t I just say that the ghosts might attack at any time?

Suddenly, I started to have a rough idea of when the next ghostly attack might come and what kind of ghost story it might be.

The next ghost story.

Escape from the Haunted Hotel.