Chương 9: The Hooligan and Unfairly Admitted Student (3)
< The Hooligan and Unfairly Admitted Student (3) >
Today's student newspaper's front page was an article that thoroughly covered the eating and playing journey that Kleio and the boy had taken.
Kleio held his head where a migraine had taken hold.
The article was a big problem on two fronts.
1. He had no intention of spreading his notoriety this much. Whatever direction it went, he was against fame.
2. Why was that bastard Arthur Riognan?
All the events in <Albion Kingdom's Prince> happened with the protagonist in the middle. The people around him were swept up in the giant wave of history, whether they wanted to be or not.
That was the power of the central character who lead the narrative.
Kleio genuinely didn't want to even breathe in the same air as a guy like that. Now that he was here, he wanted to shake his finger at the author.
'You said, 'Even a picture of a young god wouldn't be as gorgeous as Arthur Riognan.'! God, what god! He doesn't even give the impression of a noble family's hooligan. Just a homeless vagrant style!'
He knew that the story was being rewritten, but he hadn't expected that Arthur would become like that.
'If I think about it, making the dagger sparkle was sword aura! He was checking if I would recognize it or not.'
Kleio fell into thought. Was it the author's intention to make him and Arthur meet? What was the plot they were pursing with that?
'What can I do when they don't tell me anything and carelessly roll out the plot?'
His head hurt.
In the middle of that, Behemoth, who had read the newspaper, ran around the entire bedroom as it burst in anger.
"How dare you go around guzzling alcohol like that, without even giving one glass to this cat?"
"Ah… hey… Is that the problem to you?"
"It is, that's exactly the problem! Not offering Budigala wine to this cat! There definitely should've been Bishop's Tower wine from 1875 in the professors' dorm's storeroom!"
"Geez, Master Moth is truly an expert."
"That's right, if it's alcohol, then this cat is an expert. If you had the key, then you should have promptly informed this cat!"
"You go around anywhere even without something like that."
"There's a temperature preserving barrier in the storeroom, so a marvelous lifeform like this cat cannot secretly go inside meeooow!"
While the headache was slowly getting worse, Nebo suddenly opened the door. It was a strangely stunned expression.
"Hey, Headmaster Zebedee is calling for you. For a consultation right now."
"Alright…"
"You're actually a really dumbfounding guy. Heh, how can you not go one week quietly?"
'I wasn't planning on that. I was just thinking of getting expelled with missed absences!"
.
.
.
Kleio arrived at the hallway in front of the headmaster's office with a torturous feeling. Maybe there was a previous guest, because in front of the closed headmaster's office door, he saw a student waiting for punishment, having come earlier.
It was obviously the remaining person who was called over for the same reason as Kleio.
Noticing Kleio's presence, the boy turned around to look.
Tall height, nicely wide shoulders, neatly smoothed thick blond hair. It was late in the afternoon, so the long rays of sunlight that came in through the hallway shone on the boy's blonde hair like a halo.
The eyes that looked so strong that they even looked fierce, in a face that could be said to be beautiful.
He sure did remember useless sentences well because of 'Promise''s 「Memory」. The sharpness that would bring souls to tears, or the blue-green that was like the boundary where the waters of the north sea and the west sea met…
"Were you called over, too? When Headmaster Zebedee starts preaching, it's about twenty minutes by default, so what should we do?"
'…The way he speaks is still the same.'
Kleio acknowledged the fact that he was faced with.
A Leo who had washed, cut his hair, and properly worn his uniform… was indeed 'that' Arthur.
Arthur 'Leonid' Riognan.
The protagonist of <Albion Kingdom's Prince>.
The kingdom's 3rd prince, who would become king someday.
'That kind of guy goes around catching birds, looking like a homeless person, so how could I tell!'
Kleio was furious.
"You, said you were Leo."
"I am Leo."
"Hah, crap."
"Kleio Asel. You told me you were Lei, too."
"You don't need to know something like my name at all."
"How can I turn back something I already know?"
"Then forget it. There, it was nasty to meet you, and let's never meet again."
"Even so, there should be some affection from drinking together for a week, but you're acting that chilly?"
Standing next to Arthur in the hallway outside of the headmaster's office, Kleio tried his hardest to look away from the boy who was staring piercingly at him.
'Author, I do not know what you are intending, but I completely refuse a development where I get involved with the protagonist. His destiny is too fierce. In the first place, why do I have to help you?'
Nervously thinking it over, Kleio immediately remembered 'Editor's Authority'.
'Alright, let's turn it back.'
It was regretful that he could only use it three times per chapter, but if he didn't use it in times like this, then when would he use it?
The greatest method to end an incident was to make it so it didn't begin.
Simply put, they just had to not meet from the start. Let's return to that cafeteria, no, the lecture room on Monday morning.
He didn't know if the author would listen to his suggestion or not, but it would be better than to not try. If his luck was good, the author's intentions could be conveyed, too. About exactly why they wanted him to do the revision 'together' with them.
'Though even if I know, I don't necessarily have any obligation to listen to that demand. Why do I have to do that?'
Kleio recalled the previous sensations, and brought up 'Editor's Authority' in his mind. The back of his hand became hot, as those gold strings of letters unfurled in front of his eyes.
[–You are using Inherent Skill: 'Editor's Authority'.(2/3)]
[–Remaining Time / Time Limit:
00:00:14 / 00:00:15]
Soon the manuscript bundle appeared.
When he went back two or so pages of the still dusty and ragged pages, Monday's cafeteria scene promptly appeared.
Kleio gripped the pen and drew a line, writing 'delete everything underneath'.
But what came back was a message different from before.
[–The author does not accept the editor's suggestion.]
[–'Editor's Authority' is not applied without the author's approval.]
The manuscript in his hands weakly disappeared.
Jungjin wasn't surprised. No matter how generously they acted, an author was an author.
There was no reason that hopelessly petulant singled-minded people would easily listen to other people's words.
Seeing Kleio fume with sweat beading on his forehead, Arthur took one step closer.
"Are you hurt somewhere? Why're you sweating so much?"
"Mind your own business."
Kleio didn't even turn around to look at Arthur, and invoked 'Editor's Authority' again.
'I have to block it now, and strike the iron while it's hot. I can't give up with just once. If it can't be turned back, then let's lower my importance.'
[–You are using Inherent Skill: 'Editor's Authority'.(3/3)
Caution: You have reached the limit for the usage in the relevant chapter.]
[–Remaining Time / Time Limit:
00:00:14 / 00:00:15]
15 seconds was short of a time to examine the contents. Kleio frantically rummaged through the manuscript.
There was a plausible sentence in the last written sentence. The description that Arthur was feeling curiosity and suspicion at the same time towards Kleio.
'Let's fix this.'
Striking through the original sentence, he scribbled in [Arthur grew tired of Kleio, who was losing his temper over receiving the headmaster's summons.].
Maybe because he had never written a line of fiction before except for cover letters, the sentence was extremely lousy.
'Can I help it? I have to live first! There, apply!'
Just then, he had a feeling like an intense gaze was piercing his back.
Turning around holding the pen, Kleio was faced with Arthur, who had come closer than before.
The boy's face with the smile washed off, was cold as a statue.
'…This guy, wouldn't have moved, right? No way?'
When he had used the skill before, Isiel and Nebo had stopped like a freeze frame. Even Behemoth hadn't realized that Kleio had used his skill.
But Arthur was different.
The boy's eyes closed, and difficulty and slowly, opened again.
The gazes of Kleio Asel, who was using 'Editor's Authority', and Arthur Riognan, who had become the skill application's target, met in the air again.
'How?!'
Light colored in a mixture of blue and gold burst out around the two boys, like an explosion.
[–Arthur Riognan is an existence deeply involved with the world's composition.
Through the user's insufficient level of narrative intervention, the user cannot exert influence.]
[–With the excessive revision attempt, the original text of <Albion Kingdom's Prince>, '□□□□'s Palimpsest'… is being scratched… plausibility… is… damage…]
The world that had been crumpled and breaking down, soon fit together piece by piece, back to how it originally was, like a mosaic.
In the midst of the shock of the background being reformed, Kleio bent at the hips. The fragments of shining letters embedded into his mind like they were being engraved there.
'S…Stop. Enough. Cancel skill!!!'
[–In <Albion Kingdom's Prince><Final Manuscript>, portions of the paragraphs before the amendment is mixed randomly.
–The narrative's internal consistency drops.]
A surging nosebleed dripped onto Kleio's knees.
Black blood slowly seeped out of the back of Arthur's hand, too.
As if he had gotten a deep wound.
"Kleio, exactly, what… did you…"
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