“Sorry for changing my mind.”
“Not at all. I should have been the one to refuse on my own…”
As Reysir and Svein exchanged those words, the carriage slowly decelerated before coming to a smooth stop. They had reached their destination.
“Wow…! This is a very famous restaurant! According to what I’ve heard, even though the prices are insanely high, the food is so excellent that reservations are backed up for over half a year!”
Pret let out a cry of admiration the moment he saw the restaurant’s sign. His explanation felt less like natural chatter and more like blatant exposition.
Thinking that it felt quite unnatural, I stepped inside the shop, only for empty chairs and tables to fill my vision. Seeing this, Svein muttered an inquisitive monologue to himself.
“There isn’t a single customer for a place with such a backlog? Is it not business hours yet…?”
“They are perfectly open for business. It is simply that the guests who rented out this entire place for the day have only just arrived.”
“Ah! I—I see…!”
Had he not expected the Imperial Princess, Fjodra, to answer his private mumblings? Startled, Svein even began to stutter as he bowed his head low.
It was exactly at that moment that a sharp-looking employee appeared from behind him.
“Welcome. We have been expecting you.”
Despite the polite bow, the employee’s confident demeanor made the shrunken Svein look even more pathetic by comparison. Come to think of it, Svein couldn’t even meet my eyes properly when we were talking inside the carriage.
“Guest? Is there something making you uncomfortable?”
“No…! Not at all.”
After checking on Svein’s condition with a courteous attitude, the employee stated he would lead us to our seats. The movements of the employee walking ahead were not only sophisticated but also radiated a sense of discipline. As expected of a restaurant that nobles wait six months to visit, the staff training was excellent.
‘By the way, I don’t know when the idea of creating the Awakened Special Class first came up, but at the earliest, it must have been two months ago.’
Renting out this entire place for the day should have been practically impossible. Yet, by showing Fjodra accomplishing this and treating it as no big deal, was the original author trying to give the readers a realization? Something like, ‘Fjodra is the character who uses power and wealth to bring benefits to the protagonist!’
‘It’s a cliché scene that’s easy to find in many works.’
Similar examples included things like ‘buying an item at an auction for far more than its value to give as a gift.’ Thinking realistically, it was nothing but a crazy waste of money, but it served to show that they had so much money it didn’t even matter.
In that sense, Pret’s earlier rambling of trivia about this restaurant was likely behavior reflecting the author Senna’s intent. Svein’s servile attitude served to show he wasn’t used to dealing with high-ranking individuals, while simultaneously serving as a staging device to showcase the quality of the staff’s training.
Therefore, the attitudes of these two individuals were linked to raising Fjodra’s perceived value.
‘But isn’t this an absolute outrage from the perspective of the existing reservation holders…?’
Fjodra would have obviously given them compensation, but the value of time wasn’t something that could be converted into money. They would have been counting down the days for half a year with fluttering hearts. Since the other party was royalty, they couldn’t even complain, and they must have felt incredibly wronged and hollow.
Unless the author pointed this out through narration, most readers would look at the situation from the perspective of the protagonist’s party receiving royal treatment. However, the readers who weren’t ‘most readers’ would think from the perspective of those whose reservations were canceled and leave comments about it.
‘So, I don’t think this situation is particularly helpful for rehabilitating Fjodra’s image…’
Did Senna overlook this? Or did she write it knowing full well? I tried to gauge the original author’s intentions in my head but eventually gave up. In a situation where no hints were given, the probability of the conclusion I reached on my own being correct was incredibly low. Having a false conviction was worse than not thinking at all.
Still, if there was one thing I could be sure of right now, it was that we would be entering a Demonic Realm before long. The reason I reached such a conclusion was—
“It would be better to sit mixed together if we want to get close, wouldn’t it?”
—because an individual with the power to dominate the situation was interfering with the seating, inducing us to become close. In chapter 182, they discussed ways to utilize my sky-blue Aether in battle by linking it with Svein’s abilities. It seemed the original author was eager to see us engaged in a life-and-death struggle with monsters as soon as possible.
“The rest of the members can sit between the second-years.”
The seating arrangement decided under Fjodra’s leadership was as follows.
Yohr, me, Svein, Reysir, Pret, and Liolikin sat in order in one row. Opposite Yohr sat the eagle familiar, Lausa. Beside it sat Fjodra, Vigdis, Risi, and Hailga.
‘I can understand putting Svein next to Reysir, but of all places, between Reysir and me… Isn’t the seating arrangement too blatant?’
Fjodra seemingly hadn’t given up on the strategy of using me as Svein’s ‘rainwater shuttle.’ But even so, didn’t she know that forcing people to sit together like this would only cause rejection?
‘When I explained in the seminar room that dominating us with power wouldn’t lead to anything good, Fjodra definitely looked like she had realized something…!’
Was that just my delusion? Or…
‘Is Fjodra being controlled by the author Senna right now…?’
The thought suddenly occurred to me that ‘supporting characters’ might be more easily swayed by the author’s will than the ‘protagonist’ Reysir. Since the protagonist’s psychology is described in detail within the work, every word and action flows according to probability.
However, since that isn’t the case for supporting characters, the process of their thoughts is omitted, and only the results are revealed. Especially a character like Fjodra, who has the authority to coerce others while keeping her own thoughts and feelings tightly hidden…
‘She’s the perfect tool to control the characters in the story so that things flow in the direction the author wants!’
If my guess was correct, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Fjodra was moving as Senna’s proxy rather than by her own self-awareness. Right now, it was just a matter of interfering with the seating, which was ambiguous to even call a problem, but Fjodra’s dogmatism was quite dangerous. This would eventually create a massive rift in the Awakened Special Class.
And it would be in the form that Senna, who desired a miserable development, wanted.
‘What do I have to do to make Fjodra break free from the author’s will and think freely…?’
The thing that came to mind immediately was helping Fjodra be honest without hiding her inner feelings. And I would have to make her put down the responsibility of having to lead the students of the Special Class.
‘But, how?’
I knew what needed to be done, but I didn’t know the method. To use a metaphor, it was like having a dish I wanted to make but not knowing the ingredients or the cooking process. Because of that, my mind went blank, and the **[Character Analysis]**’s Mental Acceleration effect, which I hadn’t even realized was active, disappeared—
“It’s sudden, but I have an announcement to make.”
—and as time began to flow normally again, I heard Fjodra’s voice.
Perhaps she was about to drop a bombshell according to the author’s will. For a moment, that thought crossed my mind, and I unconsciously tensed up, but to state the conclusion first, it was a needless worry.
“Miss Hailga said something like this inside the carriage. She said that providing private training halls for free only to the freshmen was unfair. Hearing it, it seemed like a valid point. Thus, I have decided to provide all the benefits intended for the freshmen to all of you equally.”
Even though Dyuf would have an additional income now that he was appointed as a professor, it must have been a burden to pay the rental fees for two private training halls for Hailga and Reysir.
‘Well, even if that wasn’t the case, it was a matter that definitely had to be addressed!’
This wasn’t a matter of whether there was ‘equity’ or not. They were in a situation where they were being forced into a Demonic Realm and had to train against their will just to survive. Paying rental fees for a private training hall on top of that would be too unjust.
In the first place, I wondered if it was even appropriate to call this a ‘benefit.’ If it had to be defined, it would be closer to ‘compensation’ or ‘restitution.’
Fjodra listed various other benefits, such as how the tuition and dormitory fees already paid were scheduled to be fully refunded, and that if school uniforms or training clothes were damaged during battle or training in the Demonic Realm, they would be replaced for free.
However, no one went out of their way to say thank you. Perhaps it was because they felt it wasn’t anything special compared to the value of their lives. Having read the atmosphere, Fjodra shifted the topic slightly instead of demanding gratitude after finishing her explanation.
“Anyway, what did the gentlemen talk about in the carriage on the way here?”
I turned my head and scanned the expressions of those sitting in the same row. First, Reysir kept his mouth shut with an expressionless face, as if he didn’t particularly want to say anything, and Liolikin just looked like he had no thoughts at all.
While Svein stole glances at me and bowed his head as soon as our eyes met, Pret was staring at me with an expression of anticipation for what I would say.
‘I see, I’m the one who has to answer…?’
Usually, in times like this, the protagonist is supposed to step up and lead the conversation. Thinking that, seeing the protagonist of another person’s novel keeping his mouth shut felt quite admirable. It felt like he was standing firm in his subjectivity without moving as the original author wished.
That was why I willingly spoke of what happened inside the carriage. However—
“Since Junior Svein doesn’t know when we’ll enter the Demonic Realm, he said he wanted to improve his spearmanship as quickly as possible, but it was a shame that the time he could train under a professor’s guidance was too short.”
“Then isn’t it a problem that can be solved by seeking out a professor after the lecture and asking for guidance?”
“It seems he was worried about inconveniencing the professors.”
I didn’t tell it exactly as it was; I moderately omitted and modified things. After all, I couldn’t exactly say things like how I interfered with Reysir and Svein getting close, or how Svein didn’t know he could ask for guidance from a professor who wasn’t an Awakened.
“I suppose that could be the case. The combat-type professors I replaced this time are individuals I carefully selected, so none of them would be cold-hearted enough to turn away a student who wants to learn. Still, no one welcomes unpaid extra labor.”
“How about assigning a guidance professor to each individual student and paying those professors an additional special stipend?”
“That is an excellent idea.”
As if it wasn’t a difficult task at all, Fjodra nodded and readily accepted my opinion.