[Evening Festival (2)]

T/N: This bonus chapter is sponsored by Soothsayer (10/10).

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First, let me clarify that there is no Evening Festival event in the original Hunting Festival of the game.

The Academy’s Hunting Festival was a final exam where students risked their lives hunting monsters in the forest dungeon adjacent to the Academy, then returned with their spoils to compete over who caught the strongest monsters or who caught the most monsters.

Since this evaluation test involved only Academy students entering the dungeon, some students would return severely injured, and although not every year, occasionally, there would be fatalities.

Therefore, originally, a celebration like an Evening Festival couldn’t exist after the Hunting Festival. After all, the friends or family of someone who lost their life in the Hunting Festival wouldn’t be able to fully enjoy such a celebration.

The only time an Evening Festival could happen after a Hunting Festival at Luminor Academy was exactly once—after this second-year, second-semester, Hunting Festival.

This was the day when members of the Hero’s party defeated a dangerous boss monster from the dungeon and saved other students who were in mortal danger.

Since the people they saved were important enough that diplomatic issues would arise if they weren’t rescued, there was sufficient justification for a celebration. 

Additionally, there was the excuse that they needed to consume the byproduct—’Giant Owlbear meat’—so today was the only night in Luminor Academy’s entire storyline where everyone shared alcohol and meat at an Evening Festival after the Hunting Festival.

So why were Ethan and I sitting at a table across from Lilia and Caraham at this evening festival? The reason was simple.

…They just said they wanted to come to our table and came without either Ethan or me specifically inviting them.

“…And then Senior Lilith told me! She said that any man who can’t be moved by such a passionate and touching confession must be impotent, so it’s better to give up!”

“No, Miss Lilia. I didn’t go that far…”

“That’s certainly… a point well made!”

“I-It was very helpful, Miss Lilia!”

“As expected, Senior Rosewood is truly a genius of seduction!”

“…”

Lilia had started praising me to other athletic female students who had gathered around our table.

The confession that I had expected to fail had somehow become the most passionate and fiery confession in Academy history, and this atmosphere, where I was treated as the pioneer who created this confession method, made my head spin.

Since getting together with Caraham, Lilia would mention my name at every opportunity, spreading this image of me as some kind of confession genius.

With Lilia’s loudspeaker voice, I couldn’t possibly stop this nonsensical title of me being a ‘Genius of Seduction’ from spreading.

…By the way, Agnes was also at this table until just a moment ago. She fled back to the table of the Hero’s party less than five minutes after Lilia and Caraham joined us, saying it was too noisy.

“Ah, Lady Rosewood! Would you like another drink?!”

“…No, thank you.”

“Ah! You must need more food! I’ll go get some, so please wait with Young Master Ethan!”

“No, it’s not that I’m not drinking because of a lack of food. This is originally something that I, as a maid, should do…”

“I’ll be right back!!”

“…But…”

Ever since Caraham heard that I had helped Lilia confess to him, he had become more respectful toward me than before, making it quite difficult to escape the attention of this muscle-brained couple these days.

‘They’re loud enough individually, but when they’re together, it’s like there’s some kind of synergy…’

In the end, I had unexpectedly become friends with Lilia, but I didn’t feel particularly bad about it.

After all, Lilia was a character I had romanced at least once in my previous life. Though opinions about her might be divided, by my standards, she was quite a beautiful woman with a healthy charm.

“…And also! Yesterday at the Hunting Festival, Senior Lilith…”

…Though now that we’ve become acquainted, her somewhat loud nature and excessive admiration are a bit burdensome.

But whatever. I’m satisfied as long as Lilia can be happy.

‘…Since things have turned out this way, why not help other heroines connect with different people, too?’

Though it wasn’t something I did with any particular purpose in mind, there were already two couples that had been connected by my hand, or at least had the possibility of connecting.

The first was obviously Lilia and Caraham, and the second was Agnes and Prince Antonio.

Of course, the second one was still only at the stage of mutual interest rather than a confirmed relationship, so I couldn’t really say they were connected yet. 

But since Agnes had no possibility of connecting with any other man besides Antonio anyway, I could just leave them be.

Also, as long as I didn’t interfere, Natalie would naturally end up with Thomas, her childhood friend, so there was no need to worry about her either. 

As for me… well, I was currently in a good relationship with Ethan.

With four couples already formed among the main and sub-heroines, the result was fairly satisfactory from my perspective.

As I’ve said before, a virgin who holds onto an impossible love for her entire life is no different from keeping a beautiful apple in storage until it rots.

While there was nothing I could do about the three main heroines at this point, other heroines still had plenty of opportunities to connect with normal loves other than the Hero, preferably with men who would love only them for their entire lives.

‘There’s no need to do any favors for someone who’s going to abandon all the heroines and leave anyway.’

Since the Hero’s party was already more or less complete, helping other heroines connect with others at this point wouldn’t cause any problems.

Having made my decision, I discreetly got up and headed toward where the Hero’s party was seated.

“Young Master Ethan, may I step out to pick some flowers?”

“Sure thing, I guess? We can head back if you’re tired.”

“Since Young Lord Caraham has inadvertently ended up running my errands, I should at least thank him before we leave. I’ll be back shortly, so please wait for me, Young Master Ethan.”

“Alright, go ahead, Lilith.”

Leaving behind Ethan, who didn’t suspect where I was heading and readily let me go, I pretended to head to the restroom but secretly walked toward the table where Gyeongmwajogyegigwat’s Hero party was seated.

…By this time, everyone except the Hero should be passed out, so it seemed like a perfect opportunity for a leisurely conversation.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

“Hey, Gyeongmwa.”

“Welcome, Lilith.”

As I walked toward the table of the Hero’s party, the main characters of this Hunting Festival, Gyeongmwajogyegigwat, the only survivor at the six-seat table, waved as if he had been expecting me.

Though I hadn’t seen it directly, the situation was predictable. Natalie was the type to get drunk after just one glass, so she would have passed out first, and her childhood friend, Thomas, would have smoothly taken her away.

Then, the busy Seraphine would have had to leave early, and Agnes, who had no real friends besides Seraphine (excluding me), would have naturally returned to the dormitory.

Seriste couldn’t even participate as this was her busiest time after the Hunting Festival, and the last member, the elf Selena…

“Mmmm… Th-This much alcohol for an elf… is just like juice…”

She was sprawled across the table with her face buried in her arms, next to Gyeongmwajogyegigwat.

“How much did she drink?”

“About four and a half glasses of fruit wine.”

“Then I don’t need to worry about being overheard.”

With that level of intoxication, she probably wouldn’t regain consciousness even if we took her to bed and undressed her, so she wouldn’t notice me and the Hero having a casual conversation beside her.

“You’ve become famous lately. Genius of Seduction, or Genius of Confession, was it? The whole Academy is talking about you.”

“…Mind your own business. I didn’t expect things to turn out this way, either.”

“Did you make Lilia and Caraham date?”

“While it ended up looking like I connected them, I didn’t deliberately try to bring them together with some behind-the-scenes manipulation. It just happened this way.”

“…Hmm, is that so?”

Gyeongmwajogyegigwat stroked his chin with a somewhat subtle expression after hearing my words. 

Seeing that, I felt somewhat guilty, as if I had done something wrong, and carefully asked:

“…Was that something I shouldn’t have done?”

“Huh? No, no. It doesn’t matter.”

“Right? That’s a relief.”

“You said you didn’t do it on purpose, anyway. So I have no reason to say anything to you. Besides, I never planned to take Lilia to my party anyway.”

“…”

I wondered how he would react if he heard that I was now ‘planning to deliberately connect other heroines with different men.’

One thing was certain: he wouldn’t be too pleased about it. Connecting heroines with other men before the ending appeared would be changing the original Luminor Academy storyline.

But due to my personal beliefs, I really wanted to pursue this if possible. Three heroines being abandoned due to his return to Earth was already more than enough.

“Hey, Gyeongmwa.”

“What?”

“No matter how many women have feelings for you and hang on to impossible loves, your stance on returning to Earth is… still valid, right?”

“…Yes.”

“And you also said you wouldn’t create situations you would be responsible for in this world?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Good. Then I’m going to do as I please from now on, so don’t complain about it.”

“…Huh? What are you planning to do now?”

“The heroines you plan to abandon—I’m going to personally connect them with rival characters as much as possible.”

“…”

“Living forever with the pain of unrequited love without properly receiving love in return is beautiful or whatever… I absolutely despise that kind of thing.”

Although I couldn’t move freely due to my status and position, I intended to do as much as I could within my capabilities.

Even if he didn’t particularly like my plan.