"At any rate, it's fortunate that the Carriage Waiting Area and the dormitory weren't affected by the anomaly."

As the carriage began moving, Vigdís gazed out the window and spoke.

Just as she said, the scenery beyond the glass remained peaceful and unchanged.

That was because the range of the Demon Realm Transformation had been limited to the graduation ceremony hall and the surrounding area.

Compared to the Demon Realms that would appear in the future, this one was actually quite small.

"I-I think so too. Thanks to that, the things in my r-room are safe, and the horses and carriages weren't harmed either..."

"It's also a relief that none of the buildings besides the ceremony hall were damaged! At least the Academy won't suddenly shut down or delay the start of the semester."

Ríolíkin's comment was so obvious that it hardly needed mentioning.

Helga's, on the other hand—now that she had discarded her innocent façade—was unexpectedly earnest.

Wouldn't most students be disappointed that their vacation wasn't extended...?

Especially Helga.

Maintaining her carefully crafted image and constantly managing her relationships had to be exhausting.

Come to think of it, she had friends close enough to introduce Vigdís to me.

Perhaps she genuinely enjoyed spending time with them.

Or perhaps she simply couldn't afford to neglect her studies if she wanted to succeed.

Well, either way, it's none of my business.

I deliberately discarded the thought.

Just as I was about to relax, pet Yor, and enjoy the passing scenery—

"More than anything, I think the luckiest thing is that nobody died despite so many students being gathered in one place. And that's thanks to Karvaldr's quick judgment."

The Protagonist of someone else's novel suddenly praised me.

"Kar, I think you're incredible. No—seriously incredible! I was so scared and confused that my mind completely blanked out... but you gave instructions to me and Ríolíkin so precisely and immediately did everything you could..."

"Th-that's right! You were really amazing! A-and cool! A-and then... you said I was the only one you could t-trust...! I-I was really m-moved...!"

The sudden flood of praise made me want to bury myself underground.

Fortunately, Ríolíkin's proud boasting allowed me to barely maintain my composure.

However—

"Karvaldr, you really must have been desperate. To think you'd voluntarily tell someone you trusted them."

Reisir deliberately pointed out something that could easily have been ignored.

As a result, my embarrassment only intensified.

"Tsundere... no, Young Master Karvaldr. Thank you again. I'd only ever seen you looking flustered and embarrassed before, so I never realized you could be so calm and rational."

Just as expected from someone who had grown up under the same roof as Reisir.

Helga joined in by bringing up another topic that made me want to disappear.

The praise was already bad enough.

Did they really need to remind everyone that I was always getting embarrassed?

"..."

I stubbornly kept my mouth shut.

As originally planned, I focused on petting Yor and looking out the window.

After all, saying thank you for the compliment would not suit Karvaldr.

And more importantly—

I wasn't grateful at all.

"Ah! Right! Come to think of it, I can see it too now! Ray, that thing you mentioned before... the glass-window thing with my information written on it!"

"...!"

I immediately snapped my head back.

The person who had spoken was Helga.

And the "glass-window thing" she described was obviously the Awakened Status Window.

Helga awakened too...?

Well.

Actually, that wasn't surprising.

In the original novel's Academy arc, Helga had been the protagonist's only friend and one of the strongest heroine candidates.

Had Author Senna not become fed up with the flood of Heroine Must Die comments and killed her off—

Helga would have fought beside Reisir as one of his comrades.

Viewed that way, it was perfectly natural that the Helga who survived had Awakened.

"Ah! I saw that too. It disappeared after a while, so I'd forgotten about it..."

"I-I saw it too. W-were those my stats...? I couldn't read them properly earlier. W-what a shame... Ah! I-it appeared again...!"

"I want to see it again too... Ah, there it is!"

"Y-you can only see your own?! That's amazing!!"

Unlike Helga, who already knew about Status Windows through Reisir, Vigdís and Ríolíkin were utterly fascinated.

They immediately caused an uproar.

Ríolíkin was so excited that he even seemed to forget he was supposed to avoid stuttering.

Apparently enjoying their reactions, Helga grinned mischievously.

"And you can do this too."

She opened her Inventory, pulled out a suitcase, then immediately stored it again.

"Wow...!"

The exclamation escaped Vigdís and Ríolíkin simultaneously.

"No wonder...! Helga said she needed to pack first, but when she came out of her room she wasn't carrying anything. I thought she'd already sent everything to her family's estate and only kept a few valuables behind..."

"H-how do you do that?! I-I want to learn too!"

The carriage instantly became lively.

I quietly watched them experimenting with their Inventories, taking random objects in and out while Helga explained how it worked.

Then—

"Karvaldr. Can you not see anything, by any chance?"

As expected.

Reisir had assumed I felt left out because I was the only one who hadn't Awakened.

The others immediately glanced my way and fell silent.

The noisy carriage became quiet in an instant.

"...I can see it too. I simply didn't see any reason to make a fuss about it."

"Really? You're not just pretending because you don't want to ruin the mood?"

I stared at Reisir and let out a long sigh.

Then, to prove I wasn't lying, I stored a dagger in my Inventory.

Only then did the carriage return to life.

"Reisir... h-have you been seeing this stuff for a l-long time?"

"Yeah. Ten years now."

He smiled faintly.

"It's such a famous incident that I thought everyone knew about it. The disaster in the Daudabiner Earldom."

"O-oh... that's the same thing as t-today's..."

"That's right. The same phenomenon that occurred at the graduation ceremony today. The only difference is that the scale was far larger. It swallowed an entire territory, and the monsters were far more numerous and much stronger."

"U-um... was it really...?"

Ríolíkin's eyes darted about anxiously.

It was obvious he felt he'd asked something insensitive.

Perhaps noticing that, Reisir smiled bitterly and answered the original question instead.

"Anyway, that's when I gained this ability. Though I didn't realize I could store objects until much later."

"..."

"Oh, right. You can also use it to see your Ether Skills and acquired techniques. Try opening your Skill List."

Apparently hoping to lighten the mood, Reisir introduced a new topic.

The effect was immediate.

The others eagerly began examining their Skill Windows.

"Wow...! My skill has such a cool name! It's called 【Iron Blood Steel Body】! All this time I've just been calling my Earth Attribute Ability 'Getting Harder'!"

"M-mine is 【Armor of Protection】!"

"My skill is called 【Thunder Dominance】."

"Mine says 【Flame Control】?"

This was the moment Helga's Ether Attribute Ability—which had never once been mentioned in the original work—was finally revealed.

I unconsciously looked into her eyes.

They were the color of ripe cherries.

A red-based Ether affinity with a fire attribute...

If the original author had intended to kill her from the beginning at the graduation ceremony, her eye color and Ether Attribute Ability would never have matched so perfectly.

As expected.

She truly had been a heroine candidate.

Had she not angered the readers, she undoubtedly would have fought alongside Reisir.

In that case, will Helga eventually leave the Academy and follow the protagonist's original path...?

It was none of my business.

And yet—

The thought that she might walk straight toward her death after all the effort I had spent saving her left an unpleasant feeling in my chest.

"Karvaldr, what about you? What's your skill called?"

Originally, I had intended to examine my Skill Window later, after passing through the gate, together with Yor.

I had no desire to discuss it now.

But given Reisir's persistence, refusing would only attract attention.

Knowing that, I immediately opened my Skill Window.

According to the original novel's settings, the background color matched the user's Ether affinity.

My buff skills were listed against a purple background.

The weather-related skills and Thought Acceleration Skill occupied the sky-blue section.

And techniques unrelated to Ether, such as whip techniques, appeared in a colorless area.

The purple section immediately drew my attention.

I already knew the names of my buff skills.

I was about to switch to the sky-blue section to check my Ether abilities—

When an unfamiliar name caught my eye.

"...!"

Besides 【Exaltation】, there was another skill.

【Encouragement】.

The original Karvaldr had never possessed such a skill.

I involuntarily froze.

Just as I was about to touch the skill name and read its detailed description—

"What's with that reaction? What kind of skill is it?"

Reisir's voice snapped me back to reality.

Pretending I was merely adjusting Yor in my arms, I casually lowered my hand.

Then I answered with the name of the basic buff skill displayed at the top of the window.

"First, the name of my buff skill is 【Exaltation】."

"No way. How can a buff skill be called 【Cat】?"

"It's not 'Cat.' It's 【Exaltation】! A word meaning elevated emotions or heightened spirits!"

"Wow... Karvaldr, even your skill name is a cat."

"I'm telling you, it's not a cat, it's 【Exaltation】...!"

"Yeah, yeah. I understand. It's a cat."

Even though I had deliberately enunciated the second time—

Reisir sat there with a ridiculous grin and continued saying "cat."

He had understood perfectly.

He was simply teasing me.

"...I haven't checked the name of my sky-blue Ether skill yet."

"Oh? Then hurry up and tell us that one too."

"I refuse. I'll check it later after we've gone our separate ways."

"...Huh?"

"..."

"Wait. Are you sulking because I didn't say the skill's name properly?"

"Hmph."

In any case, this was the last time I would be seeing the original protagonist.

And if he even attempted to remove his eyepatch—

I was fully prepared to poke him in the eye.

Which meant that no matter how curious I made him by refusing to answer, there was no chance he could sneak a look at my Skill Window.

"You really should have stopped teasing him sooner."

"Exactly."

"Reisir, h-hurry up and apologize properly to Lord Karvaldr."

"With sincerity."

Listening to the three of them scold Reisir somehow improved my mood a little.