Today, there’s an event happening.
When Aster heads to the library, he has a meeting with the librarian and receives some information from them.
It’s not that the information itself is important, but the meeting is unique, leading to a close relationship with the librarian.
It’s what you’d commonly refer to as raising affinity levels.
Since the librarian continues to provide various forms of assistance afterwards, all players naturally head to the library.
……Because they know about the event where you meet the librarian.
Being a player means knowing information that Aster Evans, in his position, would absolutely not know.
Etius is a game that no one has ever completed.
……The current Aster Evans would never follow such a route.
It’s the optimized route that has been built up through the sharing of information by many people and countless retries.
Even if miracles happened five times, the unknowing Aster wouldn’t follow it.
Despite having played as Aster so many times it’s uncountable.
I know nothing about Aster.
Aster Evans, when not played by a player. Where he might head to, I had no way of knowing.
“There’s nothing I can do about it.”
The initial plan was simply to grow myself and become a comrade of Aster’s.
While Aster would grow well on his own, I intended to learn in my own way to become an asset to Aster’s power.
Since Frondier wasn’t originally part of Aster’s comrades, me joining as a stronger ally would undoubtedly be a net gain, even by simple calculation.
However, plans have changed.
Aster here doesn’t grow ‘on his own’ as well as I expected.
He doesn’t follow the path of the veterans.
Right now, it might seem trivial, like missing out on a librarian’s information, but moving forward, he would miss out on experiences and various weapons and artifacts that could enhance his abilities.
No one has successfully completed this game, but I can’t imagine completing it without Aster.
So, what I need to do now is subtly guide Aster to follow the veteran’s path.
We can’t get everything.
It’s okay to skip some characters who only help with gathering information, like the librarian. After all, I have most of the information needed.
But essential events must be experienced.
It will be much more work since I’m not moving directly.
Still, I have to somehow make it work, make Aster strong. At the same time, I have to grow stronger myself.
…Oh, right. I have to rank within the top 10 of our grade by the end of this year.
That too.
…Oh, right. Aster just skipped the library event.
“…Sigh.”
I sighed.
A doomed game.
“…That too.”
Everything Aster misses,
I have no choice but to pick up.
* * *
I opened the door to the library.
There weren’t many people, and as befitting the place, a quiet and relaxed air filled the space.
Some students widened their eyes and avoided me when they saw my face.
Frondier and the library seem like quite the mismatch.
In fact, there’s nowhere in Constel that suits a Frondier.
Being institutions for improving skills and gaining knowledge, they obviously wouldn’t appeal to a Frondier who doesn’t want to do anything.
I quickly looked around and found the librarian.
The librarian was silently working at her station.
Brown hair, round glasses, a plain face. In contrast, a glamorous figure and a beauty mark under her left eye.
The first time you see her, you think she’s exactly what a librarian should be, but then you see her figure and the occasional sultry expression, and that thought disappears.
Librarian, teacher Ainen.
Building a rapport with this teacher can give access to the latest news and miscellaneous information within the school.
It might not seem like much, but since the game is filled with unfriendliness and absurdity, every piece of information is precious to a beginner.
…Well, to a beginner, that is.
In reality, she’s more important to Aster than to me.
But since Aster missed this event, I couldn’t just pass it by.
“I doubt my arrival will trigger the event.”
Since it’s come to this, I’ll gather all the information Aster missed.
If the opportunity arises, I might share some of it with Aster.
Now, what to do.
My reputation must be well-known among the teachers.
Ainen probably knows about Frondier too. Meaning, I have to become friendly starting from a negative impression.
“You’re a Frondier, right?”
Then, Ainen spoke to me first.
Ainen gestures me over, as if to say, “Come here,” just by looking at my face.
…What’s this?
I approach, clueless.
“I didn’t expect you to come here. What brings you?”
“…I’m looking for a certain book.”
That’s not true.
But I can’t exactly say, “My real purpose is you.”
“Hmm. Good timing. Want to take a look at this?”
Ainen pulls something from under the desk. It’s a newspaper.
I want to ask what I’m supposed to look at with just a newspaper in hand,
but as soon as I see where to look, I understand.
The content on the front page of the newspaper captures my attention.
[A party discovers a divine object. Location: Dungeon Near Solgitop Territory?]
Accompanying the headline, there was a photo.
In the photo, a branch was enclosed in a transparent case.
A branch. Its shape looks familiar.
“Everyone’s calling this ‘Mistilteinn.'”
That’s right.
When I first entered the world of Etius.
A branch shown to me by a teacher through a Wizard View.
It looked exactly the same.
“You said to Jane that this wasn’t Mistilteinn?”
So the teacher’s name was Jane.
I quietly nodded.
Ainen seemed to be testing me, subtly asking.
“How about it? It’s in the newspaper, and soon it will be on the news through Wizard View. Everyone who sees this calls it Mistilteinn. They say the Empire is buzzing with the discovery of a divine object that’s hard to come across even once in a lifetime.”
That would be the case.
An item used by a god holds significant value, no matter how trivial it might seem.
Moreover, Mistilteinn is by no means a trivial thing.
Baldr, who was called the “perfect god” in Norse mythology.
The mistletoe branch that killed him. That is what Mistilteinn is.
Its value cannot be measured by money, and there are only a few divine objects that can stand against it.
Someone has found the Mistilteinn as everyone knows it,
And I said, “Mistilteinn did not look like that.”
In other words, Ainen is now asking me.
Can you still push through your opinion given the situation?
Can you say again that what you said was not just bravado or nonsense?
Between Ainen’s smiling face, I can see a faint hint of mischief.
She probably thinks I will back down. Or evade, deny my words, or stutter. Either way, she is expecting to see me flustered.
However.
“My opinion remains unchanged.”
“……”
My assertive words wipe the smile off Ainen’s face.
“Mistilteinn did not look like that.”
I know. Not just what Mistilteinn looks like,
But also the identity of the ‘fake Mistilteinn’ encased in a clear container, featured in the newspaper.
‘…But this, I can use.’
I’ve been pondering how I could naturally approach Aster. This could be the solution.
Aster would definitely be most interested in the news about this content.
Because the target of Aster’s divine power is Baldr himself.
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