章 6: Survive [Ch-5]
'Is it even possible to survive?'
Though a short while had passed, this question continued to plague me. It was just minutes ago that I had learned of the fate that would actually befall me—that I was to be the sacrifice that summons the literal Final Boss of the game.
If this were truly the case, what would be the point of even attempting to survive? Was it even possible? Regardless of what I did, knowing this demon's capabilities, it would likely end up being a futile struggle against the inevitable.
'But... I have to at least try.'
Unfortunately for me, giving up was no longer an option. For the first time in my life, I had actually found a reason—a reason to go on living—my new family. I had no choice but to at least try to survive despite the large probability of it being pointless, just for them.
Honestly speaking, if I didn't like this family as much as I began to do so, I would proclaim without a doubt that they had a screw loose. Just by sending this child, a cursed human, to the academy, they were taking an incomprehensibly big risk, just to keep him safe.
The academy was a place that placed a large emphasis on security. Despite the fact that various members of royalties across the globe attended this academy, it had always stated that security was paramount for children, regardless of their origin, to grow as well as for faculties to further their fields.
Though this statement would fall under heavy scrutiny in the future, at least now they were acclaimed as a safe environment for the talents of the world to gather and grow. That was likely why this family was sending this child here; they wanted to keep him safe, especially given that their household had been infiltrated by traitors from the Demonic Cult.
It was apparent from what I had heard that they did not know how far this traitorous root had penetrated; thus, they had sent this child to the academy, even if it was a year early, to keep him safe from any follow-up attacks by said traitors aiming to hasten the curse's progression.
This, however, was a double-edged sword; this safety came with risks, such as this condition, that was now mine, being discovered.
It was obvious when you thought about it: if a person exuding demonic energy was caught with the confines of the academy, it would not end well for them, even if it was a student. From my recollection of the very, very few cases that minutely happened within the game, the person with said demonic energy would be quickly captured, then confined, and at worst, executed.
Of course the family of this person wouldn't exactly escape punishment either; since royalties of all fashions attended the academy, it was highly likely that the family behind the student would also be stripped of their title and sentenced against the crime of treason.
It was a scary premise to consider, and despite this premise... they simply didn't seem to care. From my limited interaction, this family truly just cared for this child's wellbeing. Even the explanation and rules that they presented, though they appeared restricting, were only out there out of goodwill and made to ensure the child's safety.
'Honestly, how troublesome.'
Now that I was in this child's body, following these restrictions was something that I couldn't avoid. Especially since I knew the fate that would befall me and this new family of mine if I got caught with this curse affecting me, but in the end all this did was further complicated matters.
The most surefire method of surviving this academy was, as I mentioned before, to befriend the MC and supporting characters. By gaining their trust, I could manipulate them using their strengths and weaknesses and overall use them to inadvertently protect me.
Certain characters were especially important if I wanted to prevent this curse from reaching fruition. Though I wanted to rely on my new family members to cure me, utilizing the strengths of certain characters would give me a far better and faster chance of finding the cure.
But now, given these extenuating circumstances, forget befriending the characters—I likely had to live like a church mouse with the academy, avoiding faculty and students alike, living in anxiety of my condition being discovered or turning into a demon and beginning to rampage.
Thinking about such an uncertain and obviously stressful life, I recalled the entries I had seen in this child's diary; it finally began to make sense to me.
The premise of walking a tightrope between getting caught or not, the possibility of becoming a literal Demon through that god-awful and painful phenomenon of ⸢True Demonization⸥, and the worst premise for a child who loved his family—the repercussions of what would happen to them in either of the two aforementioned cases came to fruition.
Though I wasn't completely sure about it, it was highly likely that this upcoming situation of attending the academy had caused him enough stress to try and avoid attending this academy and also made him vent his depressive thoughts into his diary.
'How pitiful you were, child.'
The child must have felt trapped, unable to say no to his family by refusing to attend Fyrthorn Academy, and at the same time terrified of the heinous possibilities that lay ahead if he had gone to the academy. Truly a situation in which you couldn't win. I did feel bad for him.
But me? I had experienced many such situations and had always managed to come out on top. This situation was also no exception; though currently, due to these constraints of non-interaction, I couldn't move around as freely, I knew of a method that would likely help me circumvent at least the first two restrictions and hence would allow me to start moving around freely within the academy.
'...I need 'that' artifact.'
Like my blindfold, there existed artifacts within the game that could either be manufactured by professionals like the mother of this body or found throughout the game as drops or treasures in different locations.
Regardless of their origin, artifacts were well sought after in the game by the players and shops alike; this was due to the fact that artifacts were valuable devices that gave you a plethora of benefits; be it making it possible to use otherwise unobtainable skills or introduce new traits, these were just some of the capabilities of artifacts, not to mention their monetary value.
'But that artifact was 'trash'.'
There was a certain 'optional' artifact present in the tutorial prologue of the game that was used to introduce the concept of artifacts but did nothing more than that. It had a very useless and obscure ability with regards to the MC's powers and barely had any resale value, and thus, even when the player discovered it, it usually just ended up just sitting in the MC's inventory eternally.
Honestly, it would most definitely be useless to a majority of the characters within the game, but it was a different matter when it came to me. Amongst all the characters, given my unique situation, I was the only one who could get proper use of said artifact. At least that was what I hoped for given it's item description, which, as I recall, was:
---
⸢Plain Abandoned Ring⸥
A silver ring that's shows scars from it's battle with time, formerly used by a now extinct (?) nefarious organization, you can still feel a distinct energy looming around it.
- When in prolonged contact with Demonic Energy, it is consumed.
- [Locked] Upon consumption of the required amount of Demonic Energy, a new [Skill] is provided.
---
Though this description was enticing, no matter how long you used this artifact or how many demonic beasts and demons you fought with this equipped, this elusive skill was never unlocked. Hence, the artifact came to be known as 'Trash'.
But I wasn't really interested in unlocking this skill but rather the part that talks about demonic energy being consumed. Though it was a longshot hoping that it would work, currently that was my best bet.
But regardless of whether it would work or not, I needed to obtain it first. It would, hopefully, only be till then that I had to avoid detection from my well-known peers and faculty members at the academy. And given how early I could obtain it, I wouldn't have to play possum for long.
In the meantime, though it was assuming that the artifact would work as I intended, I could further plan out what I should do afterwards. Besides this, I needed to plan contingencies, worry about not altering the story as much, and, of course, most importantly, adapt to life in this world.
'How exhausting.'
Just imagining what all I needed to do was beginning to make me feel tired, and this was before I had even reached the academy-
"Young Master! Please look outside! We're about to arrive at the harbor!"
The still puffy-eyed, gray-haired butler pointed outside as he pointed outside the window like an energetic child.
Able to move my body with minimal discomfort now, I slowly turned my head to look outside the window as a bustling scene, akin to a festival, graced my view.
The gigantic island certainly was a defining presence, but the bustling crowds below attracted the most attention.
Though the harbor had been cordoned off to cater to students and their families that were spending their final few moments together for quite a while, it didn't stop the hordes of people from gathering around the harbor.
There was an air of celebration in the air as people danced and laughed in the crowded streets; even I could tell that this was not a regular occurrence. These suspicions of mine were conformed by Greaves' reaction.
"Another celebration about his children? When will Lord Rosenthal learn...?"
He sighed as he looked around, rather enviously for some reason, at the alarmingly large amount of people enjoying themselves as they quite literally partied in the streets outside the harbor walls.
'Ah... That's it...'
The twins of the Imperial Crown were also joining the academy this year and would contribute to the reason this batch of students would end up being called 'Generation of Monsters'.
And this must be something of a going away present by the Imperial family for their children, and given Greeves words, a regular occurrence from what anyone would assume to be overprotective and clingy parents.
Thankfully, despite the festivities, the streets had been cordoned off; otherwise, reaching the entry to the harbor would have been a true nightmare. But now, the journey was smooth, and before long, we had navigated through the hubbub of the crowds and reached the entry point of the harbor.
- Screech!
With a swift halt, the carriage stopped moving as we waited, only to see a young guardsman to teeter outside the guard post near the entry and walk up briskly to the carriage.
"M-May I ask to c-check your documentation?"
The guardsman meekly asked Greeves for a few documents after glancing at the crest laden on the side of the carriage.
"Of course! Here you go child... You don't have to be so nervous; we're humans too, just like you."
Rolling down the window of the carriage, Greeves handed over a few documents to nervous guardsmen alongside his unknowingly snide comment that was likely meant as goodwill.
But it would seem that my concern was unnecessary since the guardsmen turned slightly red, with a slight smile, as he received the documents and hurried back to the guards post only to return with an even more sense of urgency and hand the documents back to Greeves.
"H-House of Eliziere!! Y-Your identity had been confirmed! P-Please wait until you have been cleared for entry!"
With those words, the nervous guardsmen pressed a button on a device present on his wrist, causing a drone smaller than my fingernails to pop out of it. The drone hovered up until it was right above the carriage and scanned the carriage in a similar manner to the holographic device, but this time from the outside.
Returning to the device present on the stuttering guardsman's wrist, the drone reattached itself, and soon the device's screen turned green. Upon observing this, the young guardsmen held up a thumbs-up sign above his head, and soon the gate in front of the carriage began to open.
"Y-You have been cleared for entry! P-Please Proceed!"
"Thank you, child."
With an oddly harmonious and gratuitous response that caused the young guardsman to freeze up with eyes that screamed, 'He thanked me!!' Greeves rolled up the windows and tapped at the tablet device that was docked within the carriage, causing the carriage to start moving again.
It would appear that, contrary to my opinion, Greeves might have been a person of considerable power and following, especially given what I had just observed throughout that interaction. It would appear that, only to me and the family, did he appear like this:
"I apologize, Young Master. I tried, but it would appear that I can't accompany you till you enter the academy... Unfortunately, the academy only permits blood relatives to accompany the student after the 'Drop-Off Point'."
Once again emotional, he was complaining about not being able to accompany me till the moment I had entered the academy. Though it was annoying, oddly, I didn't hate it.
"Truly how rude of them! Not allowing me to accompany the Second Young Master into the harbor-"
'Thank goodness for that.'
As the clingy butler grumbled on, I observed the excited but anxious children interact with their families and each other as they mingled amongst themselves. It was a situation I thought I would never have to face again—a situation of relative rue and envy for me.
Throughout my childhood, I had experienced this sensation many times: happy children moving about with their family, with parents that came to see them despite their busy schedules, just to make this day special for their children, filling that day with indescribable joy or glee for them.
'But not once was I able to experience that happiness.'
Throughout primary, middle, and high school and even college, not once for any of the events I had ever participated in had any semblance of my family showing up. It had caused me so much misery that I had eventually become numb to it-
- Ksssh!
- Psssh!
Interrupting my pity party, the carriage came to a halt at its destination, the aforementioned Drop-Off Point. A multitude of carriages were present as students and family members departed and scuttled about hurriedly as they headed towards their designated entry points into the academy.
- Click!
An attendant opened the door of the carriage, causing Greeves to return to his stoic expression and posture.
"Good morning, Student Raziel Eliziere! Please depart immediately and follow me; also, just to remind you, only direct family members can accompany you."
He spoke as he shot a fruitive glance at Greeves. It would appear that Greeves had attempted to do something stupid and ultimately failed. Regardless of what had happened, this glance seemed to be pissing Greeves off since cracks were appearing on his stoic persona.
'What did you do?'
I thought as I looked at Greeves; though I was curious, I didn't have much time since I could hear more carriages arrive behind ours.
Grabbing the suitcase full of my apparent necessities, I began shimmieing towards the door that the attendant was holding open.
"Young Master!"
The sudden words caused my frail body to flinch and sit back down directly opposite to Greeves. Taking the opportunity, he gently took my hands in his and spoke through his stoic demeanor in a soft and gentle tone, with an odd sense of genuineness.
"I know... The entire household knows how difficult this experience is going to be for you... but this was the best option to keep you safe! A-And please know that, if not for your condition, on which the entire family is working hard to resolve, they would have undoubtedly accompanied you here!"
His stoic expression was now beginning to crack as it continued to fall apart, but regardless, he continued with his words.
"They all truly wanted to be here but had to stay back, I can only hope that you understand why... Still, I hope my being here gives you at least some comfort.. since even though you might not consider me the same, I consider you my family, Young Master."
The crybaby butler had finally emerged from that stoic mold as tears started to emerge for the umptieth time.
'...'
I patted the butler's shoulder as I grabbed my bag and got off of the carriage. Immediately afterwards, as the attendant closed the door, on pure emotion, I turned around and spoke genuine words for the first time in my two lives while looking at the sobbing butler.
"You have honestly given more comfort than you can ever know, Greeves."
As I spoke those words, the attendant pressed some buttons on the outside of the carriage, causing it to start up again. Getting it moving, he turned towards me and began to guide me towards-
"HEY! LET ME OFF! THE YOUNG MASTER CONSIDERS ME FAMILY AS WELL! I CAN ACCOMPANY HIM NOW! RIGHT?!"
Greeves' all too familiar voice broke through the oddly sentimental atmosphere I had managed to build up. Though I didn't want to, I looked back, hoping, no, praying that I had hallucinated it.
'Damn it, Greeves.'
What did I even expect? The man had his upper half of the torso completely outside the window as he waved back at me, with even more tears running down his face.
'How embarrassing.'
Though part of me did envy others when their families saw them off—no matter how cliché it may sound—this was the only part I did not envy, the overtly emotional farewells. And somehow, it was the only part I had received.
Still, though I was embarrassed, I must admit a small part of me was also happy. So I did was what I thought best in this unprecedented scenario; with an unexpected smile on my face, I waved back to Greeves calmly as his whiny voice got farther and farther away.
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