As long as the stars shine in the sky of my heart, there is no way to lose my way.

Even if someone’s schemes and conspiracies cast shadows, even if the interests of each faction are tangled in complexity and hard to grasp, if the priorities are clear, there is no wandering.

Silently, I will push forward with what I must do, and that is all.

“From the left, entering is the most renowned knight, the shield of the goddess! The paladin of the Goddess Church, Nubel—!!”

The cardinal faction’s Nubel.

Thud, thud—! Clank.

With the grandeur of a walking fortress, the paladin clad in thick iron armor stepped into the arena. He stood over two meters tall, effortlessly holding a massive shield larger than himself in his left arm.

In his right hand, he wielded a standard-sized mace. Given the knight’s size, the weapon appeared almost dainty in comparison. But its power would be anything but.

According to internal information, Nubel has yet to reach the realm of legends. The defensive strategy he prepared might be a precaution against other legendary awakeners.

Or perhaps he had the disqualified fire mage ‘Krabellin Render,’ one of the favorites to win, in mind. To withstand his fire magic, a strong defense would be necessary.

Blocking with shield and armor, striking with a short-range mace. It was clear he intended to endure and win.

And opposing him was—

“From the right, entering is the young swordsman of the Goddess Church, escorting the saint! Bennet Hilton—?!”

She stepped forth, illuminated by light. She entered the arena, where the interests of each party clashed with blades. The tournament of the ‘Unchanging,’ and this was the round of 32.

There was but one goal— to crush the schemes of the Goddess Church and save Tara.

To do that, I must easily overcome the obstacles before me. The trials blocking my path are hardly this trivial.

Clang, clang.

Bennet gripped her weapon tightly.

The announcer couldn’t hide his surprise as he reported. Her equipment was far from what had been previously described.

“Bennet Hilton is known as a swordsman, but what she’s holding is… an unusual weapon! Is that a scythe… connected to a chain?!”

“I understand your main weapon is a longsword, Bennet. Though we may have split into different factions, we serve the same goddess. Please treat me with sincerity, not as an insult. Otherwise—”

Clang, clang.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. I’m not looking down on you, Nouvel. But if I want to win the tournament… this is the only way.”

“In the end. So, even if it’s not my main weapon, you believe I can overcome something like that. Is that what you’re saying, Bennett?”

Crack.

Boom, boom, boom──!!

The sound of teeth grinding echoed from the helmet of Knight Nouvel. Then, slowly spinning his mace, he charged at Bennett like an onrushing tank.

“That’s exactly what it means to look down on someone──!!”

“Even if it seems that way, I have nothing to say…!!”

Clang, clang, clang!

The chain scythe writhed like a snake.

Why had Bennett left behind his fable, “Howon,” and come to the arena wielding a strange weapon he had never used in his life? To understand the backstory, one would have to go back a week.

Everything began with the mad sorcerer’s scheme.

——–

After witnessing the dirty tricks of both factions, I spent most of my time living as a tournament spectator. I literally sat in the arena’s viewing seats all day long.

As a result, I became friends with the wealthy brat who was obsessed with dueling and the farmer who, seeing that the harvest was poor, decided to just enjoy life for a year.

I watched and analyzed the pathetic fights they had, and after the matches, we would go to the tavern, arm in arm, to play versus games.

“Weren’t they just messing around?”

“No, they weren’t!”

They worked hard. No matter how much I claimed to have the masterpieces of the best works in my head, I couldn’t neglect listening to others’ ideas.

As a result of that effort, I was able to grasp the general flow of the tournament. It was a brutal turbulence. It was so rough that flying through it normally was impossible.

A response was needed.

I immediately summoned Bennett’s party and held a strategy meeting.

“Finally, it’s our turn…! I thought everything would be resolved without us lifting a finger. What kind of trick did you use with the northern duke in the royal family?”

[Um, I want to express my gratitude, Professor. Thank you for helping so much. I feel like we are getting very close to saving Tara.]

“Are we finally going to participate in the tournament? Or do we have another plan?”

It was nice to see them coming in all at once.

Bennett was dressed like a hero, and his previously gloomy expression had brightened a bit, which was pleasant to see. It seemed he was enjoying a happy harem life.

Tara still maintained her striking outfit, which was shocking no matter when you saw her. It would be rude to look at someone else’s heroine like that, so out of courtesy, I activated a filter on my cornea to mosaic her out.

Niore wore her hood pulled down deeply, giving her a sinister appearance. Beneath the shadow of the hood, her eyes quietly revealed a presence, with a faint pattern shimmering alongside her affection for Bennett.

Overall, the atmosphere of Bennett’s party was slightly elevated. They weren’t overly optimistic, but there was a fluttering excitement in their hearts as if light was shining ahead.

I understood. A magnificent and capable sorcerer had appeared and turned the tide. But this was not the time to be slightly relaxed!

I spoke seriously.

“Would you believe there is a transformative ability that affects the entire city?”

“⋯⋯⋯⋯?”

The transformation of the Red Flavor Duke, ‘The Lantern of Prophecy.’

It possesses the ability to spread misfortune around it in proportion to the amount of information it has acquired beforehand, and its range is speculated to be close to infinite.

The countermeasures that have been revealed so far are either distortion of information or overexertion. During the battle between Sisell and the doll, I managed to block the lantern by some means, and I thought a similar effect could be achieved with an information bomb.

Surely, the lantern’s influence would extend to the Bennett party as well. These three have been active in the ‘Reformist’ movement for a long time, and thus their abilities and information are likely known to the outside world.

We need to break through this absurdity.

“⋯⋯I felt the match was strange. But I never thought there would be a transformation that manipulates ‘fate’ without the movement of magical power.”

“How could you expect that, Bennett? If someone said that, you’d first ask if they were mentally ill, right? It’s as bizarre as saying there’s a transformation that suddenly turns a man into a woman.”

[But the professor has no reason to speak empty words… It’s difficult. How should we cope with fate?]

The Bennett party murmured. They were flustered by the world-class cheating ability. But I was here. I sternly and gravely imparted the wisdom of the ancient sages to them.

“To confront the ability itself is amateurish. What we should aim for is not the arrow that has left the bowstring, but the bow before it is drawn.”

“So you mean we should target the activation conditions of the transformative ability.”

“Yes. That’s exactly it! We need to contaminate the information and pour in new information to make it incomprehensible.”

“But how do we do that? Even if we spread false rumors about us, the Redburn Duke will surely cross-verify and filter what he hears. It’s tight on time to prepare disinformation that can’t be seen through.”

That’s the truth.

And breaking the truth is a bold move.

“First, let’s overhaul our combat style.”

“⋯⋯⋯⋯?”

“Every round, we’ll use strange weapons that the enemy has never seen before. Bennett, since you’ve ascended the tower, you must know this. Chain scythes, martial arts, gun kata⋯⋯.”

“Wait, that’s just theoretical. It takes time for a person to get accustomed to any set of weapons, and even more so to fight and win against fierce competitors with them. It’s impossible.”

You’re right. It’s a matter of time.

If there were plenty of time, we could simply spread disinformation comfortably.

──But what if we utilize the power of simulation and time acceleration?

“⋯⋯Are you saying you want to throw us into another world once more to win the tournament?”

“⋯⋯⋯⋯.”

[⋯⋯⋯⋯.]

The faces of the Bennett party turned pale. It seemed the image of the tentacled monster and the fanatics from the Cthulhu session lingered in their minds.

Their goal is to save Tara.

—

But while claiming to save Tara, if her heart were to be crushed, that would be a complete reversal of intent. It seemed he was troubled by this.

Of course, all of this was a misunderstanding. I had no intention of raising their weapon proficiency while throwing them into another trial with a side session. If they had already seen the happy ending, they should be living well.

“It will be as comfortable as the Tower of Trials.”

“That wasn’t particularly comfortable either… If it’s a structure where only battles repeat, then surely, I could train to the point of defeating opponents weaker than me.”

[Are we going to climb together again this time? It doesn’t quite fit the situation, but I’m a little excited. It was really fun back then.]

This is Operation Number One.

Using weapon switching to disrupt the ‘Prophetic Lantern.’

And.

“Saint Tara is exempt. I have something to do separately with her. Hehehe…”

“…Huh? Are you saying you want to leave just Bennett and Niolette alone? How sneaky!”

Is that what’s bothering you?

[Don’t worry, Tara, I’ll only pull back a little.]

“Right, I’ll only go a little further, so you don’t need to be anxious.”

“…Anyway, you’re still going out, Bennett!!”

“It’s only a matter of time anyway, so is there really a need to rush? You’ll reach it too. Trust me and wait.”

As Bennett fiddled with Tara’s ear and said that, Tara’s turmoil was instantly quelled. Watching that scene, I wanted to ask what he meant by ‘reaching’ and how he could make such a judgment.

But if I were to say, ‘I also want to be a harem master like Bennett,’ my image would be ruined.

Still, I noted this secret sauce in my mental notebook. If a similar situation arises, I’ll follow it exactly. Thank you, Bennett…!

“So, why did you call me out separately… Professor?”

“Up to this point, it was a response to the Red Flavor Duke. We’ll need to prepare countermeasures for the Cardinal faction’s schemes as well… and you are the right person for that.”

“Me?”

“Yes. There is someone who wishes to meet you. A high-ranking individual, so please cleanse yourself and prepare your mind. By the way, it’s a woman.”

As Tara looked at me with suspicion, I hurriedly added the character’s gender. I intended to introduce her to ‘Heart,’ the goddess’s agent and an angel.

I judged that it would be easier to unfold the story that way.

I hadn’t yet revealed to Bennett’s party the truth that ‘the goddess is a machine and is being manipulated by the Cardinal faction.’ I was worried about Tara. She harbored hatred for the goddess.

If I revealed the truth that it was an incident caused not by the goddess of machinery, but by greedy humans, Tara would want to tear the Cardinal faction to shreds tenfold. That part was fine.

But anger is painful.

The more one internalizes anger, the more it spreads rather than dissipates. Given that she had already awakened to a fable about how her arm was cut off because of me, I didn’t want to add more stress. So.

I wanted to provide a bit of… mental care. To feel anger, but not let it become the goal.

“…Well, I understand. Until when and where do I need to go?”

—

“He will be looking for you. The higher up you are, the better, if possible.”

This is Operation No. 2.

Deliberately raising a saint to disrupt the cardinal faction.

——–

And there is still the unfinished Operation No. 3. This is to counter the goddess’s “Gears.”

There is something, an intangible force, that envelops this holy city. I have discerned its existence through careful observation.

It is similar to the prophetic lanterns in effect. The candidates chosen by the cardinal faction gain luck, while their counterparts suffer misfortune. Perhaps other effects could be applied as well, but it seemed they restrained themselves to avoid being too obvious.

Since it is a power manifested by manipulating the deity, it would be superior to the prophetic lanterns, but the ones handling it seem to be coding amateurs who spread bugs, so the balance appears to hold.

However, the output was always consistent, and I still had not figured out ‘in what situations’ it occurs.

Yes. I have yet to find the trigger. But I could make some guesses.

The goddess is close to a mechanism. And the current goddess operates in a rather simple manner. Perhaps the “Gears” function as conditional statements.

‘If A, then B.’

Since the applicable effects are luck and misfortune, it seems likely.

‘If A, then luck follows.’

‘If B, then misfortune follows.’

Could it be that there are two types like this?

From noble mtl dot come

What kind of conditional statement it is could be definitively known by testing it once more in the “Divine Punishment,” but even without that, there were ways to figure it out.

Right, it’s manual labor.

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick—!

Hundreds of holograms are lined up in attention in a narrow underground warehouse. Their forms are all hearts. Because, after all, a gloomy basic model doesn’t make work feel rewarding.

They repeat every action a human can do. This way, I should be able to uncover all the conditional statements that apply to their movements.

“I’ll take care of the holograms on the left based on this central line, so you control the right and start with the basic sitting posture.”

“…Why aren’t you calling for the little one?”

“Yuna can’t do precise operations because she’s a baby. We have to save her.”

“Can’t I be saved at least once a year, you b*stard?”

Seeing that.

I began the manual labor.