A short time passed after the man’s appearance.
The pain that had been gnawing at his body vanished as if it had never existed.
"...My body... doesn’t hurt anymore."
"A body that’s good for you is bound to ache. Even vaccines hurt at first, but they ultimately make the body stronger."
"Vaccines..."
He clenched his fist.
CRAAAACK.
It felt completely different from when he had swung his sword earlier that day.
Along with the sensation of the bandages wrapped around his hand snapping, an incredible strength surged through him.
"...This is... power."
"Yes. It’s our power."
He lifted his head and looked at the man.
Wearing a mask and a loose-fitting coat, his build was impossible to make out.
"Even after joining your organization, you won’t show your face?"
"Once the true power of that pill reveals itself, you’ll join us too. But not yet."
"True power?"
"That’s right. It takes time to accept our power."
Time was needed?
He stared at the broken bandages.
This power... wasn’t complete?
"Until that power fully manifests, you’ll remain a member of the Academy, which fancies itself the protector of humanity."
"...I’ll do that."
"Good."
With those words, the mysterious man left.
True power, huh.
He had trained endlessly, yet strength had never come so easily before.
Laira stared at the spot where the man had disappeared, his emotions a tangled mess.
"You’ve gotten stronger, Laira. What in the world happened to you overnight...!"
The teacher watched Laira’s training in awe.
The force behind his sword swings was a far cry from the day before—intense and overwhelming.
"Hueup...!"
The sound of wind slicing through the air rang out crisply as the training dummies were cut down in an instant.
Wow, he’s gotten way stronger.
[You don’t need to worry about me. Hmph!]
"That’s exactly why I *am* worried."
Thankfully, it seemed the author hadn’t made any mistakes.
Looks like those guys really did power Laira up.
"By the way, Author-nim, how do you plan to handle the villain in the novel?"
[Huh? ...Well, doesn’t the protagonist kill them?]
"I suppose so..."
So he was doomed to die?
That didn’t sit right with him.
How should he even describe this feeling?
It reminded him of when he was a kid, playing simulation games.
There had been times when he’d felt guilty for sacrificing units—necessary as it was.
This felt... kind of similar.
But what choice did he have?
If the story was going to unfold the way the author wanted, sacrifices were inevitable.
Academy novels were always like that. Incidents and accidents never stopped.
Eventually, there’d be an attack on the Academy. Villains would try to overturn the world.
And since this was a world with magical beasts, they could invade at any moment.
The main appeal of Academy stories was watching the protagonist face trials and then triumphantly overcome them.
No, not just Academy novels—most web novels were like that.
To create those trials, you needed villains. He had simply been chosen for the role.
If he hadn’t been selected, some other character would’ve become the villain.
Besides, he was just a character in a novel.
All he had done was glimpse the life of the person the author had chosen as the villain before they were cast in that role.
And even then, there had been no real connection between them. He had only watched them swing a sword.
It’s a problem if I don’t select the villain myself.
In the end, the Author has to designate a villain, no matter who it is.
That much is certain. It’s necessary for the story’s progression.
If someone I don’t know is chosen as the villain, then someone will become the villain. And if the plot develops in an unexpected way, the damage will only grow.
What if I refuse to help the Author and instead block the story’s progression? What if the novel’s serialization gets canceled as a result?
Would the world end? Or would everything just… stop? I don’t know.
In the end, the best option is for me to assist the Author and confirm the villain’s actions right before my eyes.
They’re not even real people—they’re just characters in a story, right?
I don’t know.
Maybe I shouldn’t think about this. As always, I should just smile brightly and help the Author bring the world to its conclusion.
I don’t need to overcomplicate things. The Author will decide everything.
I’m just here to give advice.
Thinking about it only gives me a headache.
In the end, they’re just lifeless words on a page.
Puppets whose fates are determined by a single gesture from the Author.
"Alright, let’s wrap up today’s training and start the sparring. Laira, is there anyone you’d like to face?"
"That one."
"Arte? …You’re not still hung up on yesterday, are you, Laira?"
"No. I just… want to test my strength."
"She says so. Arte, what do you think? You can refuse if you want."
The teacher’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
I quickly turned my head and saw that Laira had apparently requested to spar with me.
Hmm…
I’d rather not, if I’m being honest.
But looking at that burning gaze of hers… I have no idea what might happen if I refuse.
No choice, then.
"Fine… How are we doing this?"
"A one-round match without using abilities."
"Get ready. We’ll start soon."
Wait, hold on—
If I don’t use my ability, I’m basically useless!
[Ah, dear reader, this is gonna be rough. Do your best!]
Author-nim?!
"…She’s gotten strangely strong?"
"Yeah. She’s way stronger than before. Even if it was just sparring, beating Arte that easily is no joke."
Yu Siwoo recalled the match from earlier that day.
The girl who had faced Arte.
Her name was definitely… Laira. Yeah, Laira.
"You know, that girl who uses a rapier?"
"Oh, you mean Laira?"
"How’d you know?"
"She’s famous. They call her a dead-last student. It’s weird that someone like that could get strong enough to beat Arte."
"…Huh? Dead-last?"
"You didn’t know? She trains every day, but her skills never improve. That’s why they call her a dead-last student."
Something’s off.
Yu Siwoo felt the same unease as before.
His intuition was ringing, even without any direct threat. It was too vivid to be a coincidence.
She’s a dead-last student?
That couldn’t be right.
She had been at the same level as the other students, hadn’t she?
…Dead-last?
Now that he thought about it, she had seemed unusually exhausted yesterday.
Was it not just bad condition?
"She was… definitely average before, right…?"
"What are you talking about? Average? She’s so bad she’s basically a legend. You really don’t pay attention to your surroundings, do you?"
"…Is that true?"
"Yeah. Try listening to rumors once in a while. You never know what might happen."
Yu Siwoo decided not to dwell on it for now.
Right, his intuition only warned him about physical threats. That’s what the test had confirmed.
The teacher in charge had said he had potential for growth, but the standards were extremely strict.
They say it’s hard to grow unless you feel your life is in danger.
I’d never experienced that before.
Even when I took down a Level 3 beast, I hadn’t been surrounded like that.
I must’ve been mistaken.
"Your swordsmanship seems worse than before… but your physical abilities look overwhelmingly stronger."
"So you traded technique for raw stats? Potions?"
"Potions?"
"Yeah. There’s this potion called a Berserk Potion. It massively boosts your stats, but your intelligence drops for a while, so you can’t use techniques properly."
A Berserk Potion, huh.
I’d heard of it.
But it didn’t seem to fit Laila’s current state.
"I’ve heard of it too, but she wasn’t going berserk like that. That potion makes you go completely wild—that’s why it’s called that."
"Hmm, then I don’t know either."
"No leads, then…"
"Well, there’s one thing. We now know there’s something out there we don’t know about that can make people stronger."
Sometimes, knowing what you don’t know is just as important.
Amelia said that with a smile.
"Knowing what you don’t know is important…"
"It is. Humans always fear the unknown. The fear of the uncharted."
"…I get that."
I knew that fear all too well.
A woman whose thoughts I couldn’t begin to fathom.
No matter how long I pondered, I couldn’t understand her.
Arte Isis—I felt fear toward her.
"Oh? So there’s something you’re afraid of. Did you figure it out?"
"No, not yet."
"Hmm… I’m not sure either, but they say the reason people fear death is also because of the fear of the unknown."
"…Really?"
"Yeah. What happens after we die? Is there really a heaven? Will we reincarnate? If there is a heaven, will I go there, or to hell? Ever thought about it?"
I’d never given it a second thought.
…What happens after death?
I had no idea.
"In the end, no one knows what happens after death. The afterlife is just something humans made up. It’s not like anyone’s died and come back to tell us, right?"
"…So that’s why people fear death?"
"Exactly. If we knew what happened after death, people wouldn’t be so terrified of it. Isn’t that interesting?"
Amelia’s grinning face was a little unexpected.
It felt like I’d caught a glimpse of a side of her I’d never seen before.
I’d always thought of her as just a spoiled, reckless noble girl.
But now, I’d seen a new side to her.
"I don’t know what you’re afraid of. But maybe you should try to find out?"
"Try to find out…"
"Yeah. You think it’s a snake, but it turns out to be a lid! …That kind of thing happens, right?"
Amelia was right.
What she’d shown me was terrifying.
But if I was going to stop Arte, I couldn’t afford to be afraid.
Just like I’d discovered a new side to Amelia…
Maybe I could discover a new side to Arte too.
"…Thanks, Amelia. That helped."
"Glad to hear it. Alright, let’s think about what to do next."
"Yeah."
Somehow, I felt a little braver.