Evil Avalon
“Souta~ Kaworu-chan is here to pick you up~”
As I slipped my uniform over my thickened… arms and tightened the belt around a stomach that had swollen far more than I’d imagined, I heard my mom calling up to me from downstairs. Looks like she’d come to get me.
Lately, Kaworu had often gone off to practice early in the mornings, but today she’d contacted me to say we could go to school together for the first time in a while. Even though it’s less than a ten-minute walk to school if you take it easy, walking alongside a beautiful childhood friend is enough to make anyone’s heart flutter.
I can’t say for sure whether this feeling belongs to “me,” or to the “you” within me—but either way, it’s something precious. I’ve been going through some harsh times lately, so enjoying a little bit of peace probably isn’t a sin.
After a quick check of my bedhead in a hand mirror, I thudded down the creaking stairs. In the entryway, my childhood friend stood in her uniform with a sports bag slung over her shoulder, chatting cheerfully with my mom. I’d heard she’d been training late into the night and worried she might be overdoing it, but she didn’t look worn out at all—if anything, she looked full of energy.
As I studied her complexion like that, Kaworu, too, glanced over at me, staring as if to confirm my presence. She quickly looked away, though.
“Then, Auntie, we’re heading out.”
“Take care~ (Souta, make sure you escort her properly, okay?)”
My mom stifled a laugh and whispered “Do your best.” Kaworu’s a good kid, and as a parent she probably wants to support us—but the reality is, I’m doing my best just to avoid being disliked any further, let alone escorting her. It’d be cruel to share that harsh truth, so I simply replied with a cheerful “We’re off,” and stepped outside.
July was in full swing, with blazing sunlight pouring down relentlessly. Even though it was still morning, the air was humid, there was no wind, and the heat index was outrageous. I often see articles saying the Earth has gone crazy lately, and I couldn’t agree more.
As I reached into my pocket to pull out a handkerchief and wipe away the sweat, Kaworu, who’d been walking ahead of me, slowed down and came to walk beside me. When I turned to see what was up, her well-shaped face was right there, so close it made my heart skip.
“How have you been lately?”
“…So-so. I’ve had too much of an appetite and gained a bit of weight.”
Yes—I’d gotten fat. After nearly killing myself to lose weight in Tokyo, I’d gone right back in a single day. No, I’d gained even more.
But I have no regrets. I fulfilled my dream of stuffing myself with top-grade meat, and every dish—dessert included—made by Tenma’s personal chef was exquisite. I’d rescued countless cuts of meat from the clutches of Kano and Kuga, devouring them to my heart’s content. That satisfaction was more than enough to soothe a mind that had nearly died from stress.
Still, could anyone really gain thirty kilograms in a single day, no matter how much they ate? This body is just too strange. In fact, Kano and Kuga, who’d eaten just as recklessly as I had, only ended up with bloated stomachs and didn’t gain weight at all. So it has to be that skill… that one… causing trouble again—
But now’s not the time for pointless thoughts. My time walking to school with Kaworu is precious. If I’m going to rope Akagi-kun in and entrust him to Kurosaki-san, I’ll need Kaworu’s cooperation. Let’s try some subtle information gathering.
“How about you? I heard you’ve been doing some pretty intense special training late into the night—are you okay?”
“No problems at all.”
Kaworu answered with a cool expression. I’d heard she was being coached by Tachibana Sakon, the former head of the First Swordsmanship Club, and thanks to that, not only Akagi-kun’s party but even the classmates participating in the same training had improved dramatically. This wasn’t something that existed in the game’s scenario.
In the original storyline, this would be about the time Akagi-kun joins the Fourth Swordsmanship Club—formed by upperclassmen from Class E—and clashes fiercely with the Second and Third Swordsmanship Clubs leading up to summer vacation. But with the scenario altered this much, it’s unlikely any swordsmanship-club-related events will happen at all.
In other words, not only Akagi-kun, but even Kaworu has had her opportunities for growth taken away. To prevent that, I’d distanced myself from her with a heavy heart… though lamenting it now won’t make anything better.
As we strolled slowly along the sidewalk of the busy downtown district, I was thinking of my next question when Kaworu suddenly asked one of her own.
“By the way, Souta—you’ve been acting together with Omiya-san and Nitta-san, right? …Are you really able to keep up with them?”
She asked while stealing a glance at my expression. I’d just recently gotten into a bit of a skirmish with the Holy Empire alongside those two, but from the perspective of our classmates, it probably looked like they were teaming up with me out of pity. I’d assumed Kaworu thought the same—but maybe she was sensing something off.
“They’re helping me with my sword. I mean, I enrolled in the Adventurer School—I’m not the same as I used to be. I can do a little now, you know?”
I jumped forward lightly and made a quick show of slashing a cross in the air. Kaworu tilted her head and, unexpectedly, watched me closely, as if carefully observing. I’d only done it on a whim, so I hoped she wouldn’t take it too seriously.
“…You really are trying hard, aren’t you? In that case, want to join our party after school today? I think changing environments once in a while can be refreshing.”
“Me, joining the protagonist… Akagi-kun’s party?”
I never expected her to invite me. Come to think of it, lately Kaworu’s attitude of keeping her distance had faded. Instead, she’d started walking beside me like this, striking up conversations more often.
Maybe this was the result of all the care I’d taken not to trigger her wariness. Kaworu’s kind by nature, and she has the generosity to qualify as an Explorer heroine. If I don’t force the distance and fix my attitude, she’ll gradually open her heart like this. Or else—
(She might be suspicious of how much I’ve changed.)
However, Butao hadn’t become a completely different person by swapping personalities with me. Through coexistence and then fusion, he had become a “New Butao.” As long as I carried myself confidently, a little suspicion wouldn’t matter. More importantly, if I could join the protagonist’s party, I wanted to use the opportunity to scout things out—how strong Akagi-kun and Kaworu really were at this point, and what kind of training they usually did. With that in mind, there was no reason to refuse.
“Then I guess I’ll try joining you for a bit.”
“Sure. I’ll let Yuma know. Bring your own rubber sword and protective gear. I’ll send you the training details and meeting place by mail… anything else?”
As we approached the entrance to the Adventurer School, I noticed a crowd of people in the distance. It was coming from the direction of the plaza in front of the Adventurer Guild. That area was always busy, but today it looked as packed as if there were a festival going on.
I stretched up on my toes, trying to peek farther ahead, but Kaworu didn’t join me. Leaving behind a quick “If we dawdle, we’ll be late,” she walked on ahead. With no choice, I hurried after her toward the classroom.
When we arrived at the E-Class classroom, Kaworu rejoined Akagi-kun—who was waiting with a bright smile—returning that same smile to him. It was an expression she never showed me, and it made my chest sting just a little. Shaking it off, I quietly made my way to the seat at the very back of the room.
Satsuki, who’d been chatting with classmates, glanced my way and widened her eyes in surprise. I nodded lightly in greeting. She was probably shocked by how round I’d gotten in just one day. Fair enough—I was still shocked myself.
I hung my bag on the side of the desk, leaned back against the chair with a creak, and took a deep breath to steady myself. Maybe it was because I’d gone through hell multiple times over the weekend, but even the trouble-prone E-Class classroom felt strangely calming.
As I was praising my own improved mental fortitude, excited chatter from my classmates reached my ears. Listening more closely, it was all about the plaza in front of the Adventurer Guild.
“Did you see them? As expected of a super large-scale raid clan—crazy-good gear.”
“Huh? Were there famous adventurers there?”
“Apparently there were several Rakshashas. Man, I should’ve taken photos. Think they’d sign autographs if you asked?”
What I kept hearing were the words “large-scale raid clan” and “Rakshasha.” Japan had several large-scale raid clans, but the only one with Rakshashas as an official rank was the Ten Rakshashas. Plenty of students dreamed of joining a famous clan rather than going on to Adventurer University, and the Ten Rakshashas were especially admired.
That said, large-scale raid clans were full of lunatics, so interacting with them required caution. Especially the executive-level members—some reached level 30 without ever using a gate, others made a habit of killing each other regularly. They were dangerous people straight out of a textbook. I’d like to loudly declare that you should never get close to them.
Come to think of it, Rokurogi Shigure was also an executive of the Ten Rakshashas. Since she doubled as an Adventurer Guild officer, she was probably running herself ragged cleaning up after Tokyo right about now. There was no way she had time to be doing something in the plaza. It must’ve been other Rakshashas—but as long as they weren’t causing trouble, it wasn’t worth worrying about.
“By the way, did you hear? A noble from second year is coming back to school.”
“Yeah, I heard. They’re starting in E-Class, right?”
“A noble in E-Class? That sounds like it could get messy.”
While most of the class was talking about the plaza, a group of girls in the center of the room had shifted to a different topic. Apparently, a noble was transferring into second-year E-Class. An E-Class full of commoners mixed with a prideful noble sounded like a nightmare. I felt a little sorry for them—but since it didn’t involve my class, it was still someone else’s problem. Though… it felt like I was forgetting something. Huh?
“—You’re back to how you were again. Are you okay?”
As I lay face-down on my desk, rummaging through my memory, a skirt fluttered into view in front of me. Judging by the size of those hips, it wasn’t Kuga-san. When I looked up to confirm, Lisa was smiling warmly, sunlight glinting off her glasses.
“I just ate too much yesterday. What about you—are you feeling better now?”
“Thanks to you. I even overate again this morning.”
She pressed a hand to her cheek and added, “When you start feeling better, you get hungry again, don’t you?” In my case, though, my weight gain was the result of willingly throwing myself into a meat-grabbing battle, so it was entirely my own fault. Still, it was good that we were both healthy. That aside—
“I sent you a mail yesterday. Did you read it?”
“The one about training him, right~? Personally, I think Tenma-san’s quest could wait a bit longer~.”
Lisa already knew about the curse-lifting event we’d discussed at the celebration. Arthur and I thought we should hurry Tenma-san’s curse-removal quest, but Lisa preferred caution, since there was no strict time limit. Her concern—that bringing an unprepared Akagi-kun before a great spirit and failing would ruin everything—was perfectly reasonable.
Still, when I suggested entrusting Akagi-kun to Kurosaki-san first and observing how things went, Lisa seemed to have something else on her mind.
“About that maid—have you heard about what happened at the plaza~?”
“Yeah. Something about the Ten Rakshashas showing up.”
“Right—and the one leading them was—”
Lisa explained that students from the same dorm had been making a fuss since early morning, so she’d gone to check out the plaza with them. Just then, a massive group of adventurers was entering a dungeon.
At the very front was a girl wearing a mask, dressed in Gothic Lolita fashion. I’d met a woman wearing Goth-Loli clothes back in Tokyo—could it be the same person? And at the center of the group, leading them all, was a “maid” Lisa recognized.
“It was from far away, so I might be mistaken—but I’m pretty sure it was Tenma-san’s maid.”
“Kurosaki-san? She wouldn’t just leave her master and dive into a dungeon on her own.”
That maid was the kind of person who followed Tenma-san all the way to school, waiting near the classroom so she could support her at any moment. Leaving her master behind to lead the Ten Rakshashas into a dungeon was unthinkable. It had to be someone else—but the fact that she looked similar enough to fool Lisa bothered me.
She said she’d recorded a video, so I had her send it over and opened it on my wrist terminal right away…
…Hmm?
The footage clearly showed a long–black-haired maid wearing a headband, walking toward the dungeon entrance with a group of burly adventurers gathered around her. Since it had been filmed from a distance, her face was too blurry to make out even when zoomed in—but not just the maid outfit, her flawless posture, her manner of walking, even the way she carried herself looked exactly like Kurosaki-san. A relative…? No—could they be twins?
If that were the case, I could just ask Kurosaki-san directly the next time I saw her—or so I’d like to think. But in Explorer, Kurosaki-san had a painful past: she’d been hunted by an organization, wounded and on the run, before Tenma-san took her in. It was possible that this “organization” had been the Ten Rakshashas, and that something connected her to the maid in the video.
However, Kurosaki-san was now openly protected by the Tenma household as a close attendant. Even the Ten Rakshashas couldn’t touch her lightly—and if they were going to, they would’ve done so already. It was safer to assume the danger had passed. Besides, digging into the relationship between that maid and Kurosaki-san might only stir up trouble.
“The maid world probably has its own complicated circumstances. If it doesn’t interfere with the current situation, it’s best to let it slide. I want Kurosaki-san to stay in a good mood, too.”
“That’s true~… But isn’t it also a problem that we don’t really have much information on the Ten Rakshashas? And honestly, I don’t know much about Tenma-san either.”
In Explorer, the only large-scale raid clan that really appeared in the story was Colors; the Ten Rakshashas barely showed up at all. As a result, even players only really knew Rokurogi and the clan leader, Takamura Kaede. We had no grasp of what kind of people made up the rest of the clan, or what sort of background they had.
On top of that, Lisa didn’t know much about Tenma-san or Kurosaki-san either. The reason was simple: she’d only ever played female characters, so she wasn’t familiar with the heroine events in Explorer. It was the same as how I knew nothing about hero events involving Pink-chan or Tachiki-kun. This was something we really should share information on properly.
“Either way, it looks like the dungeons are going to get a bit noisy… And also—we might need to keep an eye on him too.”
“…Ggh.”
As I worried about the Ten Rakshashas’ movements, an infuriating sight slipped into my field of view, scraping at my nerves and making my face tense. Lisa noticed, turned around to see what I was reacting to, and let out a sigh.
“We’re at the classroom. Hey—break it up already.”
“Ahh… how regrettable. Then, at lunchtime… I’ll be waiting for you, darling♪”
As she released the arm she’d been clinging to, the silver-haired beauty lowered her brows sadly, her deep violet eyes shimmering with tears. Sera Kikyo—the current student council president. A descendant of the Saintess’s bloodline and the daughter of a noble house holding a marquis title… but honestly, none of that mattered.
She’d been my absolute favorite heroine. So why was she giving that look to Tsukishima of all people? And Tsukishima, in turn, treated Sera-san’s affection with careless indifference, which only made me angrier. I’d resigned myself to entrusting her—heartbreaking as it was—to Akagi-kun, the Explorer protagonist… but this? This was unacceptable.
To make matters worse, I’d heard he was still hanging around with Suo Koki from B-Class. That guy wasn’t just another student—he was a high-ranking noble and a boss-class character in the game’s story, making him extremely dangerous. He’d sworn to me after our duel that he’d “behave himself from now on,” but believing he wasn’t plotting something would be naïve. I really should’ve—back then—
“Honestly. I’ll subtly look into Tsukishima-kun myself, so is it okay if I leave Akagi-kun to you, Souta~?”
“…All right. Actually, I’m planning to party up with Akagi-kun after school. I’ll see for myself what he’s really like.”
Even as I grew sick of imagining how many more infuriating scenes I’d have to witness, I forced myself to refocus—on making sure Akagi-kun could be safely entrusted to Kurosaki-san.
The protagonist’s party was packed with key figures from Explorer. Their growth didn’t just affect the curse-lifting event—it directly determined the success or failure of many other events, and by extension, our future.
Up until now, I’d avoided contact to keep my distance from Kaworu. But now—even if only temporarily—she trusted me enough to invite me into the party. On top of that, the game’s story had gone completely off the rails, leaving me no choice but to change course.
This was my chance to step in more deeply.
I would see for myself whether Akagi-kun could withstand the curse-lifting event—and whether he truly had it in him to make Kaworu as happy as she was in Explorer.
And if—by some chance—he couldn’t meet those conditions, then I would—
Thanks for chapter!
ReplyDeleteRegarding the TL note, I think it was pretty obvious from the beginning of the story that it was what was happening personality wise.
For the eating I think the gluttony skill is also involved Lisa had an hard time with hers too.
Hopefully one day his og personality takes full control.
Thank you for translating!
ReplyDeleteI wish Akagi should just stay offscreen and not be involved in Tenma's curse breaking scenario. Next chapter is probably a Kaworu POV again.