NoveLight ™
Reira Academy, Research Lecture Building, Lecture Hall 3
Murmurs.
Groups of students gathered together, chatting away in their own cliques.
I squeezed past the academy students and found a corner, pulling out a chair to sit down.
Thud.
I slumped over the desk.
I'm so tired...
As the director of the most popular game on the continent and someone tasked with defending against extra-dimensional attacks, it's hard to believe I still have to attend academy classes.
After fiddling with game development all through the night, I barely managed to drag myself out of bed in the morning, and now my body just can’t keep up.
I’m probably one of the richest people on the continent... Surely, I shouldn’t have to attend academy classes.
So, I told the Constellation I’d drop out of the academy and focus on game development.
[The Dreamteller admonishes you with a stern voice and a frown, saying you’ll be branded for life if you drop out and people will mock you.]
Apparently, it's a terrible idea.
Even though academy classes aren’t helping me at all, and I don’t care about things like credentials or face, the Constellation was vehemently opposed to it.
“It's fine if commoners don’t graduate, but a commoner who drops out? People will look down on you,” they said. “I won’t let my apostle be disrespected like that.”
Honestly, I couldn’t care less about that...
It felt a little like being scolded by my mom.
But as an apostle, I couldn’t simply ignore the Constellation’s orders.
So, although I wasn’t attending the classes properly, I was still showing up.
“Hey, did you pull the Demon King?”
“Yeah. I rolled ten times trying to get a four-star character, and it popped right out. Such a waste of the stacks.”
“Dude, you’re bragging about it like it’s nothing.”
“This story made me cry…”
“Yeah, it was so sad…”
“Poor Lina, what should we do...!”
“Lina-chan is so cute and strong! I’m rooting for her!”
“Have you seen the new dungeon with the enhancement stones?”
“I couldn’t finish it as a knight. Should I really pull the Demon King?”
“Yeah, you should. How is a demon not pulling the Demon King?”
“Wait, did you just make a race-related comment?”
“I’ve hit the weekly boss so many times, but I still don’t get the pattern.”
“Then just keep getting hit.”
“I’m getting hit and still don’t get it... sigh. When am I going to clear this? I need to clear the boss to enhance the Demon King.”
Flinch!
I tried to nap with my head on the desk, but the constant chatter about [Akashic Archive] from all around me kept me awake.
As the only developer and director of the game, as well as the owner of the company, I had to listen to my customers’ stories, so there was no way I could sleep.
[The Sacrifice Who Overcame Indolence nods, saying that your game is very popular, as expected.]
Part of it was the fault of the goddess, who was floating beside me in her spectral form, guarding me.
[The Sacrifice Who Overcame Indolence is puzzled as to why their story, along with their companions’, has been diminished.]
I responded to her, still slumped on the desk, putting my thoughts into words.
[The Sacrifice Who Overcame Indolence looks shocked, saying, "Has it ended...?"]
When a new character rises with story significance and fanfare, it's natural that the older characters are somewhat forgotten.
Thanks to the usefulness of [Knight Ren] as a single-target dealer in the weekly boss battles, the Demon King almost got overshadowed, but with the additional events and content, people's attention shifted entirely to [Demon King Perlerina].
It wasn’t surprising that people were only talking about the Demon King.
[The Sacrifice Who Overcame Indolence comments that they’ve heard many gods from the heavens want to appear as characters in your game.]
[The Sacrifice Who Overcame Indolence’s eyes sparkle as they ask if you plan to recreate their stories.]
If it weren’t for her, the [Akashic Archive] Dream Story project might have flopped from the very start.
In a way, she’s like a lifelong partner.
...Most importantly, there’s the possibility of selling the same story format as an event once again.
[The Sacrifice Who Overcame Indolence beams, exclaiming, "Only you could pull that off!"]
I was startled as the goddess wrapped her spectral form around me, and I reflexively jerked upright.
Even though she wasn’t in her true form, but a soul avatar, the soft sensation and warmth of her embrace caught me off guard, and I acted without thinking.
Despite my desire to quietly let the class go by, I couldn’t help but glance around nervously, worried that the attention was now on me.
“What did you just say?”
Luckily, there was a bigger attention-grabber in the room.
A male student sitting a few rows ahead of me suddenly stood up, pushing his chair roughly aside.
He was a handsome guy with glasses, looking intellectual.
He addressed the female students sitting next to him, all of whom were still talking about the Demon King.
“Are you really cheering for Demon King Perlerina? Are you serious?”
He pushed his glasses up with a cold expression, causing the girls to shrink back.
...Now that I think about it, those girls were the ones who were talking about how sad Demon King Lina’s story was earlier.
“Unbelievable. Did you even watch the story properly?”
His voice rang through the lecture hall, drawing everyone’s attention.
“Demon King Perlerina is an undeniable mass murderer. No matter what justification there is about breaking the chain of hatred, the lava sea she created resulted in the deaths of countless people. That’s a fact and history, and it can’t be denied.”
"Who’s that?"
"Don’t you know? He’s the Apostle of [Wisdom]."
"The Apostle of the God of Wisdom?"
"Ugh, those girls must have stepped in it. Of all the people, they’re getting scolded by the Apostle of Wisdom..."
The Apostle of Wisdom?
I overheard the students gossiping and turned to the goddess beside me.
[The Sacrifice Who Overcame Indolence nods, acknowledging, "Ah, that’s his apostle."]
[The Sacrifice Who Overcame Indolence replies that they don’t know him personally but have heard stories here and there.]
It made sense. The goddess had been living like a hermit, so there was no way she’d know him.
[The Sacrifice Who Overcame Indolence tilts their head, saying they just felt a very rude divine presence.]
The God of Wisdom.
I remembered that he was a deity who valued debate and praised the pursuit of knowledge and experience.
“If the Demon King’s great achievement was obstructed, she would prevent the massacre in exchange for allowing the chain of hatred to remain. If she helped with the great cause, she would stop the chain but unleash an unwarranted massacre. A truly intriguing dilemma, isn’t it?”
[The Sacrifice Who Overcame Indolence describes that the Apostles of Wisdom are known for their constant debates, picking up arguments with anyone, and their thorough, logical approach that makes them very difficult to deal with.]
Looking at him now, I wouldn’t want to get involved with him either.
Even if I talked about the game I made, I’d be torn apart.
“You all ignore the fascinating dilemma presented by the game’s creators and only cheer for her life because she lived a difficult one? No matter how much she overcame hatred and lived a self-sacrificial life, this is not the kind of logic an academy student should display.”
I appreciated the praise, but that wasn’t the point I was trying to make.
“Can you refute this?”
At his question, no one in the lecture hall spoke up.
“Looks like my argument was too perfect. What a shame. I thought there would be a fun debate, but everyone’s just talking about [Akashic Archive].”
Maybe that’s why the Apostles of Wisdom are so disliked.
“Of course, there are parts of the game that are hard to explain. Like the fact that the [Akashic Archive] curator is forced to choose the correct answer despite presenting such a dilemma. I think it’s a piece of bait the game developers left. After all, [Akashic Archive] has been about restoring the original history from the very beginning.”
He caught onto the bait I planted perfectly.
Is he a loyal customer? I’ll have to check if he’s spent a lot on the game later.
“Ultimately, since the curator died, it’s impossible to predict what will happen next in the story.”
At that moment…
Crash!
“He’s not dead.”
A female student slammed her desk and stood up.
What now?
“He’s not dead.”
The girl glared at the Apostle of Wisdom with a strong animosity.
“Ah, so you want to debate the curator’s life and death? Interesting. I didn’t think we’d end up discussing this topic.”
The two students, a boy and a girl, faced each other slowly.
“The curator was pierced by the [Abyssal Assassin] at the end of Act 2 of [Akashic Archive]. And he died in the player’s arms. The scene where the curator used the Cube’s power to create the battlefield was impressive. But everything about that scene suggested that the curator had died. What basis do you have to claim he’s not dead?”
The boy adjusted his glasses and asked the girl.
...What is this feeling?
Seeing others discuss the future of a story I created was... strange.
It was kind of fun.
This is why writers watch their readers’ reactions.
[The Sacrifice Who Overcame Indolence asks, “I’m just curious… did the curator really die?”]
The curator was a character modeled after my past life.
Even though I tried to avoid making a self-insert character, I wasn’t going to just throw away ‘another version of me’ who led the story.
The curator is alive.
But the breadcrumb to prove this is buried in a side quest that’s virtually impossible to find.
And it’s difficult to base this on the worldview of the people in this world, so it’s not something they could easily comprehend.
So, I found myself paying more attention to the girl.
Her keen eye for the subtle clues I’d hidden away...
I was curious how she figured it out.
“How do you justify your claim? There’s plenty of evidence that suggests the curator is dead. But there’s no basis to claim he’s alive. What’s your evidence?”
The boy’s question continued.
How would the girl answer?
Would she use the clues I’d hidden away?
It would be hard for anyone who hadn’t done the side quest to understand. Even if they did, it’d be a tough pill to swallow.
It’s going to take time and be boring and academic.
That’s why I’m curious about her answer.
“Well then...”
She raised her hand and placed it above the boy’s head.
?
“What is this?”
“...Die.”
Crash!
The next moment, the girl grabbed the boy’s head and slammed it forcefully onto the desk.
Shiny
Through the commotion, I caught a glimpse of something.
The badge on the girl’s jacket, hanging inside her coat...
It was a bizarre badge with the curator and a male prospective curator drawn on it, with a heart between them.