Volume 1
Epilogue
Translator : PolterGlast
The news that Bennett
Lohr had been expelled from the school after losing a <duel> quickly
spread throughout the school.
The fact that he
committed violent atrocities in what he called "C-rank hunting" and
that he was detained by the police because of suspicions of criminal acts in
the past were spread with various exaggerations and dramatizations.
What surprised the
students the most, however, was the statement that the Heiberg Academy sent to
various newspapers in response to the incident.
The school recognizes that the incident involving
Bennett Lohr was the result of a legitimate competition based on the rules
agreed upon by the students. While it is true that the students are being
detained because of past criminal activity, the school has no control over what
the students did prior to enrolling at the school. In addition, Bennett Lohr
has already been expelled from the school with his memory sealed, so it would
be extremely regrettable if the school were to be held responsible for his
actions.
There are some who say that the memory-sealing
measures implemented by Principal Jill Will Weiser's psychic abilities have
encouraged students to commit crimes, but we believe that there is absolutely
no basis for such claims.
In the first place, the school is a training institute
to produce excellent candidates for the <White Knights>, and at the same
time, it is a place of competition for the limited number of seats available.
The sealing of memories is not only a measure to prevent information leaks, but
also a compassionate measure so that students who lose in the competition will
not suffer emotional trauma for the rest of their lives.
Besides, the five former students who were expelled
from the school as a result of the <duel> against Bennett Lohr are now
almost all recovered with no after-effects that should be noted.
Therefore, we will not yield to any criticism from the
government, the judiciary, or the newspapers.
We declare that we will continue to encourage
<duel> and to seal the memories of those who have dropped out of the
school.
All students
understood the true nature of the school after reading this statement, which
was also posted on the information board in the classroom building at the
beginning of the week.
In fact, the day after
the statement was posted, four students voluntarily withdrew from the school.
In an abnormal world
where even a monster like Bennett is accepted, no one blames them for giving up
on their potential and leaving early.
Perhaps this trend
will accelerate further in the future.
Perhaps it is Nina
Stingray who is most perplexed by the increasingly chaotic state of the school.
It is because she and her accomplice, Jin, were the ones who led Bennett into
the trap that resulted in all this chaos.
Nevertheless, some
things have turned out for the better.
Her classmates began
to look at her with more respect compared to the uncontrollable monster they
once feared her to be. She is being talked to more and more often, and she
feels a little more comfortable in the classroom.
Jin, who is regarded
as having saved the C-rank students altogether, was surrounded by boys at the
front of the classroom in the morning. Jin, who is being bombarded with
questions from his curious classmates, looks unusually flustered.
As she watched this
scene with a smile on her face, Emma Licorice spoke to Nina with a sparkle in
her eyes.
"You're amazing,
Nina-chan. Looks like you've already become our savior."
Emma sat down next to
her, her orange-colored hair fluttering as she laughed lightly.
Although Nina felt
guilty that their victory was based on a lie, she couldn't let it show on her
face.
Nina spun the answer
she had prepared in advance.
"No, that's not
true. It was only possible because of Emma-san's cooperation."
"Eh~? I was just
handing out envelopes without really knowing what I was doing though."
"Everything was
possible because Emma-san is loved by everyone. On the contrary, I-......"
"You should be
more proud of yourself, Nina-chan. There are a lot of people who were saved by
you!"
Feeling embarrassed,
Nina involuntarily lowered her face.
When Nina thought
about it, she felt that Emma had been treating her with an attitude that had
not changed since she first enrolled at the school.
When did I
start to doubt people's good intentions?
When did I
become wary of people's good intentions instead of appreciative of them?
What fraudsters truly
despair of is when they realize that there is no one in this world whom they
can trust. Those were the words that Jin told her before.
Nina thought that she
might be able to change from now on.
Instead of enduring
the encroaching despair alone, she might finally have the strength to face it
with someone she could trust with all her heart.
"Emma-san, will
you ...... be my friend from now on?"
For the first time,
Nina was able to speak out her true feelings in this classroom.
"Ahaha, what are
you saying all of a sudden? We are already friends, aren't we?"
"I see, that's
right. Thank you ......."
It might be a fleeting
thing that will eventually be erased from either of their memories.
Even so, Nina wanted
to cherish this relationship.
After the last class
of the day, Nina made her way to the deserted fountain as usual.
Jin, who was sitting
on the bench, raised his face from the book he was reading.
"What's the
matter, Nina? You don't look so good. Is it food poisoning?"
"What else could
it be if not mental exhaustion? All this attention is making me feel like I
have a pit in my stomach. ......"
"I think you can
relieve it by pressing the acupressure points on the top of your head and under
your chin with both hands at the same time. I've heard it's even more effective
if you do it with your feet shoulder-width apart and with your hips
lowered."
"Well, let me try
....... -wait, doesn't that sound like a really dumb pose?"
"Try it. It'll
make all your worries seem ridiculous."
"I think another
serious problem might arise if I try it here......"
Jin was still a wicked
liar, spouting out information that was not known whether it was true or false.
Nevertheless, Nina had to continue to be his accomplice.
So she was going to
confirm that thing one last time.
"Jin, I can't
believe you are also a psychic."
"Hmm?"
"Could it be that
I'm the only one who is really just an ordinary person?"
Although she felt a
little lonely, Nina was actually not that angry.
She knew that Jin's
way of deceiving even his allies in order to achieve his goal, and moreover, he
could not defeat Bennett otherwise.
On the cobblestone
pavement, where no one else was around besides the two of them, Jin answered in
a hushed voice.
"A~, it's all a
lie. It was just a trick."
"............Huuh?"
"If I could use
such a ridiculous power to nullify other's psychic abilities, I'd have a much
better life."
"B-But how in the
world?"
Jin showed his
signature mischievous grin.
"Bennett's
psychic ability to create an inexhaustible fire monster was not invincible.
There was a real condition for activating it, apart from lighting the
match."
"What was
that?"
"There have been a
lot of hints dropped over the past month, you know."
Jin began to explain
everything with ease.
"For example,
Bennett was extremely averse to other students entering his room in the
dormitory. For example, Bennett's C-rank hunts were always held in tree-lined
areas not far from the dormitories. And whenever a <practical exam> was
held in the gymnasium, which was quite a distance from the dormitories, one of
the private restrooms nearby was always occupied."
"...... Hmm? I
don't understand what you're trying to say."
"One thing can be
deduced from those hints."
Jin raised his index
finger and continued.
"Bennett's
<Executioner of Immolation> can only be activated if some sort of
preparation is made in his room beforehand. In order to activate it away from
the dormitory, he would have to use a place where no one could find it instead.
A private bathroom would be the perfect place for that."
"...... Is that
why you realized that the activation condition wasn't about matches?"
"Actually, during
the second <chase tag>, I investigated from the adjacent private
bathroom, and there was no sign of anyone there at all. After Bennett had made
some preparations in that room, he tampered with the lock so that it could not
be opened from the outside. He then proceeded to the meeting place with a
nonchalant look on his face."
"Who would have
thought..."
"Of course,
that's not the only clue. Bennett's grandfather was a wealthy man who had made
his way up from being a humble candlemaker."
"Candlemaker
......"
"If we consider
that psychic abilities can be influenced by one's upbringing and traumas, we
can assume that the real condition for activation of the <Executioner of
Immolation> is [having a candle lit by oneself nearby.] The reason why the
place for the duel is always the tree-lined area is probably to avoid being too
far away from the dormitory where the candles are located."
"But that's just
a guess, right? It's dangerous to go into a duel with only that
information."
"Do you think I,
a skeptical man, didn't verify it thoroughly?"
Jin's eyes, which were
the same color as the night, flashed with a mysterious glint.
"The second time
I faced Bennett in the <Chase Tag>, I pulled a scam on him. Nina, do you
remember that time when you told Bennett that the matchboxes had been replaced?
Actually, that was a trap in and of itself."
"I've heard that
before. That was a deliberate attempt to catch Bennett off guard by making him
see through your scheme, right?"
"That's merely
the cover, Nina. A good lie will always have two or three layers of
trickery."
Forgetting to take a
breath, she found herself waiting for Jin's next words.
A truly elaborate lie
is a kind of art,── Nina secretly
recalled the words he had told her on one occasion.
"I didn't
actually replace his matchbox at that time. I reached into my pocket so Bennett
would notice, but in reality, I just put the matchbox back in its place once I
pulled it out."
"Ah......."
Nina began to see the
full extent of the trap that Jin had set.
She had spent her days
as his accomplice, and she had acquired the mindset of a liar.
"I didn't do
anything to the matchbox at all. And yet Bennett said some pretty crazy things.
He said things like, [Before this game started, I replaced the box with a spare
one], [While I was in the bathroom, I was testing it first], [Sure enough, when
I lit the match you replaced it with, it didn't trigger my ability], and so
on."
"So that's how
you became convinced that the activation condition was a complete lie."
"Yes, that was
really a careless statement on his part. If the condition was really to light
the match, there is no way that his psychic ability would not be
activated."
Jin's mouth contorted
into a vicious smile.
─The fraud is 90% successful once you have planted an
assumption in the other person's mind.
Nina remembered the
line Jin spoke when he showed her the lemon trick.
Just as the lemon had
long been planted in her bag by the time she was heading into town on the bus
that day, all the preparations had been completed long before he confronted
Bennett.
Even if Bennett had
been alerted to Jin's scheme after the fight had begun, it was all too late.
Jin was fighting a completely different board from the very beginning.
"The rest was
easy. On the day of the <duel>, I saw Bennett leave the dormitory, so I
snuck into his room and took a candle from there. I put it on a table in the
corner of the entrance and tied a string around it. Of course, I had a bucket
of water right under it."
"I see. When the
string was pulled, the candle would fall into the bucket and the fire would be
extinguished, huh?"
"Exactly. With
that many people gathered, no one would notice the thin string lying on the
floor. It's a pretty simple trick, isn't it?"
He reads his
opponent's aims and weaknesses from trivial information, weaves together a
number of tricks to steer his opponent's thinking, and makes sure that he pulls
off the final move.
The opponent does not
know where Jin's true aim lies, or on which side of the board he has been
deceived.
This is precisely what
makes Jin's skill as a fraudster so amazing.
He has truly defeated
a monster with power beyond human understanding with only lies and deception.
"......You really
have fooled the world."
"It's all thanks
to you, Nina. Without your extraordinary acting ability, this plan would not
have been possible."
The two looked at each
other and laughed in the most genuine way possible.
I've turned into an
outrageously villainous person, huh, Nina thought.
After deceiving so
many people and putting one student, albeit an evil one, through hell, she
laughed happily like this.
"Your smile looks
kind of wicked, you know. Nina, have you finally understood the charm of
lying?"
"Well, at least,
I'm beginning to look forward to your next grand scheme."
An insane game of
uncovering the lies that the Heiberg Academy, the <White Knights>, and
this empire have been covering up. A task of the highest difficulty that even a
legendary fraudster once failed to complete.
If it had been the
previous her who was waiting in the mansion for her end to come, she would have
definitely turned away from it.
And yet, now, Nina's
heart is filled with passionate emotions.
"But you see. If
anyone finds out that the Stingray family's young lady is trying to pick a
fight with the empire ......"
"It's okay as
long as no one finds out about it."
"Oh, you know
damn well."
"Besides,
elaborate lies are like an art, right?"
"Ha~, I guess
you're a villain, too, after all."
A world where
psychics are so prevalent is not a sane world, anyway.
Since that is
the case, it's okay to have an existence like us every once in a while.
We are like
poisons that fight against a great evil with malice and deceit.
"At first, it was
only a stroke of luck that led us to become an accomplice."
In the spring breeze
that blew through the air, Jin muttered with a serious expression on his face.
"If I were to
take advantage of your bad reputation throughout the school, it would make
things a lot easier for me."
"......
Yeah."
"But you were
different from all the other heretics I've seen in my life. You're a normal,
good person. The same goes for Emma, the two who put their bodies on the line
to get the evidence, and the 21 students who helped us out the other day. I
didn't want to make them into something that I could just exploit for my own
purposes. So, you know ...... I would like to express my gratitude."
"...... What? Is
your head alright? It's unbelievable that someone like you would say something
like that."
"......Of course
that's a lie."
Nina's sense of
mischief was stimulated when she saw Jin scratching his head in embarrassment.
"Could you say it
again? I couldn't quite hear you."
"I have a disease
where I can't say the same thing twice. Do you want me to have a seizure and
collapse?"
"Don't lie. Come
on!"
"I,
re-fu-se!"
Nina laughed heartily
at Jin, who seriously disliked the idea.
She is no longer
alone.
She now has an
accomplice who is willing to deceive the world with her.
She now has someone
she can truly trust, someone who has her back and who will stand up to the
darkness.
"Isn't it about
time we ended this idle chatter?" Jin nonchalantly said so, as if to cover
up his embarrassment of doing something he was not accustomed to. "I'll
tell you about our next plan."
Nina nodded with a
serious expression, but thought Jin's poor acting was amusing.
Just the fact that he
had come to reveal such a clumsy expression was enough to make her feel
positive about the past month's battle.
The sun was almost
setting, and a beautiful gradation of orange and purple was dyeing the world.
She will probably
never forget this moment.
A beautiful scene,
almost like a fake, was spread out before the two of them as they were about to
deceive a world filled with illusions.
This seems like a
well-crafted lie.
"Hey, before we
get down to business, can I tell you one thing?"
"Huh, what is
it?"
"Thank you,
Jin."
Under the sky, which
was so beautiful that it looked like a lie, Nina sensed that a new secret had
sprouted inside her.
Fortunately, she was
confident in her acting skills.
I must
definitely hide the feelings that have just sprouted inside me.
End of Epilogue
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