Evil Avalon
Homeroom teacher Murai-sensei, impeccably dressed in a neatly tailored suit, gave his closing ceremony speech from the podium with the same expressionless face as always.
"Summer vacation finally begins tomorrow. It's a long break, so make sure to stay safe and healthy."
After delivering the usual stock phrase, he continued in a businesslike tone:
"If you discover a Gate, your entire party will be promoted to a higher class. And if you're aiming for an even higher-ranked class, don't focus solely on dungeon exploration—make sure to keep up with your studies as well."
Having said that, he promptly left the classroom.
This would be the first summer vacation of our lives at Adventurer High School. During the break, a special incentive had been added: if a party discovered a new Gate, every member would be promoted to a higher class unconditionally.
My classmates were fired up, declaring that they would spend every day of the vacation searching and absolutely earn a promotion. But finding a Gate alone was extremely inefficient. The real challenge was deciding who to form a party with and how best to sell yourself as a valuable teammate. Serious negotiations had already begun throughout the classroom, with students subtly gathering information and reading one another's expressions.
However, class promotion at Adventurer School wasn't determined solely by dungeon performance evaluations. Academic examinations carried a surprisingly large weight as well. That was why Murai-sensei had warned us that anyone hoping to reach the higher classes would have a difficult time unless they studied diligently on a daily basis.
Since I had graduated from university in my previous world, my basic academic abilities were holding up for now—but the key phrase was "for now."
From what I'd heard, Adventurer School ranked among the most academically demanding high schools in Japan. Compared to the school I attended before, the difficulty level of the tests was on an entirely different level. Despite us only being first-year students, they casually expected us to solve entrance exam questions from elite universities. Just keeping up was exhausting.
Even if Butao had enrolled here because he wanted to attend the same school as his childhood friend, I had to give him credit for actually getting accepted. He must have worked incredibly hard. At the same time, it reminded me just how deeply he had cared about that childhood friend.
Putting that aside, the long-awaited summer vacation would finally begin tomorrow.
Back when I first enrolled, my plan had been simple. Reach Level 10 by this point, dive into dungeons, get close to a cute heroine—preferably Student Council President Sera-san—and, while forming a party together, enjoy some sweet romantic moments under the summer night sky.
Reality, however, had been nothing like that.
Kaworu, the heroine closest to me, looked at me with cold eyes. Triggering any sort of youthful romance event with the other heroines had proven completely impossible. Meanwhile, in this short period alone, I'd lost count of how many times I'd nearly died. Memories of my arm being blown off, holes being punched through my stomach, and countless life-or-death situations flashed through my mind like scenes from a funeral lantern.
If the environment had gradually become harsher as the game approached its final chapters, I could have accepted that.
Instead, barely after enrolling, crises that mocked the game's balance had come charging at me one after another. I wanted to grab whoever was responsible for this world and demand an explanation.
And on top of that, the game's story itself was beginning to go off the rails.
In DunEx, around this point—the start of the first summer vacation—an event was supposed to occur where E-Class and D-Class entered all-out war. Yet now, on the final day after school, there wasn't the slightest sign of them making a move.
Even Isamu Kariya, the leader of D-Class, had remained quiet the entire time.
Maybe the predetermined school events simply weren't going to happen anymore.
The original game had carefully arranged its events so that Akagi-kun and Pink-chan could grow step by step. If those events never occurred, they wouldn't develop properly. And if that happened, the brutal events waiting further down the line would become impossible to handle.
The future looked very bleak indeed.
How had things ended up like this?
I couldn't think of any explanation that completely satisfied me, but if I had to guess, a series of small incidents had snowballed through the butterfly effect into something far larger.
Another complication was that I wasn't the only player in this world.
Tsukishima was currently leaning against the wall by the window, chatting casually with classmates, but there was no telling what he might be plotting behind the scenes. If he happened to be doing anything suspicious with Sera-san, I would have to stop him immediately. I couldn't afford to let my guard down.
Still, the story diverging from the game's original path wasn't entirely a bad thing.
At the center of the classroom stood Satsuki, the braided-haired girl, smiling as she responded to the classmates gathered around her.
In the original story, she would have suffered severe oppression and violence from the upper classes. A few months later, even her own classmates would betray her, ultimately driving her out of school.
But now she had become someone capable of leading the entire class.
Risa was standing beside her.
And I was here too.
That tragedy would never happen again.
The future might become worse in some ways, but it could improve in others as well.
Maybe an incredible adventurer beyond even my expectations would emerge from this very E-Class.
With such thoughts in mind, I watched the lively classroom after school when a conversation among several girls looking at their wrist terminals caught my attention.
"Hey, look at this. He's ridiculously handsome."
"You're right. He might actually be my type. He's in E-Class too, so maybe we could form a party together—"
"No way. Even if he's a dropout, he's still a Viscount, you know?"
They were talking about a noble who had transferred into Second-Year E-Class just before summer vacation.
I'd heard rumors about him before, but I hadn't expected him to actually show up.
Transferring into Adventurer School midway through the year was supposed to be extremely difficult. Most likely, he had used noble privileges to force the issue.
Still, I had no knowledge of such a transfer event from the game.
Maybe it had happened behind the scenes in DunEx but simply wasn't relevant to the main story.
Either way, I had no intention of associating with some arrogant noble who used privilege to bend the rules. It had nothing to do with me.
As I yawned, tears forming in my eyes while feeling sorry for the students of Second-Year E-Class, two people approached.
Looking up, I saw Kaworu, my childhood friend, who had recently started offering me awkward but genuine smiles.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. It looks like they're ready now... Shall we go together?"
"Narumi, we'll be in your care today."
Behind her stood Naoto Tachigi, the strategist of the protagonist's party, adjusting his glasses with his middle finger as he greeted me.
The three of us had plans today.
Originally Akagi-kun and Pink-chan were supposed to come as well, but apparently they had urgent business at the Adventurers' Guild and couldn't make it.
Thinking I should at least stand up and return the greeting, I rose from my chair—
Only for a large male student to suddenly cut in between us.
It was Hiroto Majima.
Not only that, but his face was twisted with hostility.
No, hostility wasn't strong enough.
He looked ready to kill someone.
Before I could even ask what was wrong, he grabbed me by the collar.
"Hey, you. Come with me."
"Stop being so rough. If you have something to say, say it here."
Kaworu immediately stepped between us.
Ignoring her completely, Majima glared at me.
"You're coming with me. No excuses."
Then he walked out of the classroom.
The tense exchange drew the attention of everyone around us.
I had absolutely no idea what this was about, but ignoring him would only make things worse.
Resigning myself to my fate, I let out a huge sigh internally and started to say, "I'll be back in a bit," when someone stopped me.
"I'm coming too. I can't just stand by and watch violence happen."
"Then I'll come as well. I don't think I can honestly say this has nothing to do with me."
Kaworu's participation made sense—she hated conflict among friends.
But even Tachigi-kun was coming.
Judging from his expression, he seemed to have some idea what this was about.
I'd been looking forward to going out in a good mood today.
Things never seemed to go smoothly.
Following behind the long-striding Majima-kun, our little group trudged onward.
We turned several corners, left the school building, and continued walking.
Our destination turned out to be the rear side of Adventurer School.
Several old pipes protruded from the concrete walls, and even the voices coming from the athletic field had faded into distant whispers carried by the wind.
Coming all the way out here, where nobody was around, suggested this was something he didn't want anyone else overhearing.
Standing before us, Majima planted himself firmly on the ground with his arms crossed, looking down at me.
When he noticed Kaworu and Tachigi standing behind me, his eyebrow twitched and he clicked his tongue loudly.
His irritation only seemed to grow as he finally spoke.
"I'll get straight to the point. This is about the expedition party Omiya and Nitta are organizing. Fine, I can accept Hayase, Tachigi, Akagi, and the others being selected. But why the hell is a worthless pig like you included while I'm not?"
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