EP.76 21-2. Emotions Like a Launched Firework.
***
The Next Day – Magic Club Room
"Oh, Licht, you’re here too?"
"Hey, Helmet Guy!"
The entire club was gathered today.
Kainel and Ariel.
"Licht, hi."
"...Hello."
And, of course, Mardol.
Her Glass Armor shimmered in the sunlight, making her look like a massive crystal.
"So, are we really going with...?"
They continued chatting while rummaging through snacks.
I had arrived late, so I hadn’t heard the start of the conversation, but it was definitely about the festival.
"...A maid café?"
"Kai, I’m against it. Who would even enjoy that?!"
"Why not? I’d love to see you in a maid outfit—Ah, Ariel, put the Fireball away."
A maid café, huh?
It was a classic cliché in romance-fantasy academy stories.
The male members dressed as butlers, while the female members wore maid outfits.
Limited-time game event characters often had costumes like that.
If this were a game, a flashy banner would have popped up by now, telling me to spend money immediately.
"..."
For a brief moment, I imagined Mardol in a maid outfit.
I shouldn’t be doing this.
I had resisted the Archbishop of Lust without flinching—so why was this thought lingering in my mind?
"What’s wrong, Licht?"
"...It’s nothing."
Her body was... honestly unfair.
How could she have a better figure than a succubus?
That was probably why Masterpiece was designed as heavy armor.
But still—compared to our Saintess, she was lacking.
I needed to pull myself together.
Shaking my head furiously, I forced those unnecessary thoughts out of my mind.
"Mardol, do you have any other ideas?"
Ariel, who had just extinguished the fireball she was about to throw at Kainel, turned to Mardol and asked.
Then, in that characteristic buzzing voice, she muttered a single word.
"...Hell."
"What...? Mardol?"
Her short speech pattern was the problem.
Mardol, you can’t just say things like that.
Before the misunderstanding got any worse, I jumped in.
"Since it’s summer, why don’t we turn our booth into a horror attraction? Something like ‘A Glimpse of Hell!’"
"That’s right."
Once I rephrased it, Mardol crossed her arms and looked smug.
Why are you acting proud? I said it.
"Oh, that’s not bad."
"Licht, how exactly are we going to make it scary?"
"We’ll combine all three of your magic types."
The hero couple focused on me with interest.
Good, they were on board.
There was no way I was letting Mardol end up in a maid outfit.
"First, Mardol’s Glass Magic."
"Mm. Licht, I know."
The knight in shining Glass Armor nodded at my mention of her name.
Wait a second—was she only using longer sentences with me?
That sent a chill down my spine.
I quickly turned to the golden retriever sitting beside her.
"And Kainel, we’ll use your Holy Sword or Light Magic to create the maze."
"I can manage that. You’re planning to create illusions?"
"Yes, exactly."
Since he was the Hero of Light, he could handle this much at least.
He might not be able to use magic as efficiently as a mage, but he had the basics down.
"Then what about me, Helmet Guy? My magic isn’t really suited for this."
"Ariel, you’ll create non-burning hellfire to cover the ground."
"Ah, so you’re twisting the concept, like fireworks."
"Exactly."
As expected of experienced magic users, they understood immediately with just a hint.
In this world, everyone could use magic.
Everyone except me.
"So, what are you going to do, Helmet Guy?"
"I will..."
"Licht will give questions."
"Questions?"
You didn’t have to answer for me, Mardol.
Seeing Ariel’s puzzled expression, I continued.
"...I’ll be giving out simple riddles."
Jokes and puns, to be precise.
Our Saintess loves that kind of thing.
The image of her laughing was already clear in my mind.
"At intersections, if the participant answers correctly, they’ll be guided in the right direction..."
"And if they answer wrong, they fall into a trap."
"Yes, that’s exactly it, Mardol."
Had she always been like this?
I was starting to get uneasy about how much she was changing.
Swallowing hard, I briefly worried about what would happen when the royal invitation arrived.
"Any objections?"
"None. Licht, let’s start immediately."
Before anyone else could even respond, Mardol instantly agreed.
Hey, at least listen to everyone else first.
Her golden eyes remained locked onto mine.
Please, look somewhere else.
"I’m in! No maid café for me!"
"Then I’m in too. Guess I have no choice—though I really wanted to see Ariel in a maid outfit."
"W-WHAT?! Kai! Do you want to die?!"
Kainel nodded reluctantly, while Ariel, cheeks flushed red, had twin fireballs forming in her hands.
This golden retriever was truly clueless.
At this point, they might as well just start dating already.
Now that I thought about it, their affection level was still at 34%.
Once it hit 50%, they’d probably be officially together.
"Now, let’s decide on costumes."
I walked up to the blackboard and began writing down names.
Kainel was like a golden retriever, so something from the canine family would suit him.
"Kainel, how about Cerberus?"
"Oh, the three-headed one? I can just attach two extra heads!"
"That’s a good idea. You could probably buy something made from hound leather."
"With all that fur, it’ll look pretty real. A two-legged Cerberus, huh? That’s awesome."
He was already grinning, clearly more focused on teasing Ariel than anything else.
You’re going to have a tough time once you’re married, golden retriever.
"Ariel, do you have anything in mind?"
Since I wanted to help increase their affection level, I figured something feline would match Kainel’s theme.
"I want to be the Cheshire Cat!"
The purple cat from fairy tales?
She’d likely use her fire magic to vanish and reappear.
"...A red cat, then."
"Yep! I’ll pretend to disappear in flames and then pop up again!"
It was exactly like the nickname the community had given her.
Honestly, it suited her perfectly.
"Ariel, this makes us look like a couple. Can’t you pick something else?"
"Hmph, I’ve always wanted to do this! If you don’t like it, then you change yours!"
"But Cerberus is so cool... I can’t give up on my dream."
This was definitely the right choice.
Their conversation had the perfect clumsy romantic energy.
To seal the deal, I finalized their roles on the board.
"Alright. Kainel will be Cerberus, and Ariel will be a red Cheshire Cat."
"..."
Don’t even think about running.
Just embrace your pure love, Kainel.
Even though I made the decision alone, neither of them objected.
They obviously liked each other—so why hesitate?
With them settled, I turned to the last remaining person.
A knight as reflective as a mirror.
"Mardol..."
If she took off that Glass Armor, every guy at the academy would flood in.
She might not look like it, but she was still the main heroine of this installment.
‘Even someone as devoted to the Saintess Route as me is getting slightly tempted—she must be insanely popular.’
But I didn’t want to force her into something she disliked.
Even if I needed to lower her affection, there were limits.
‘Maybe I can add something on top of her Masterpiece armor instead.’
Ah.
There was something.
A mid-boss from Knight Heart—Cuere.
A towering, ancient tree monster.
I could replicate that look by attaching branches to her armor.
"You know the tree monster Cuere, right? What if we add branches to your armor and recreate that?"
I walked up and compared our heights.
She was roughly my height, but her knightly bulk had made me mistake her for someone much larger at first.
"If it’s your idea, Licht, I’ll follow it."
"...Understood."
I had expected her to reject it since she liked cute things.
But instead, she faced me directly and nodded immediately.
That threw me off a little.
"Now, that just leaves me. I’ll go with a Sphinx—"
Just as I was about to finalize it,
"...Dullahan."
"Huh? Dullahan?"
Her buzzing voice echoed through the room.
I had originally planned on blending a Judge of the Dead with a Sphinx.
But Mardol was firmly expressing her preference.
"Go as a Dullahan, Licht. I’ll use my Glass Magic to hide your head, and you just carry your helmet."
A flash of memory hit me like lightning.
This felt exactly like one of those game-locked choices.
‘In the game, if a choice was this dramatic, rejecting it was always a bad idea.’
It was the longest sentence she had ever spoken to me.
Ignoring it might lead to disaster.
And since this was a route I didn’t know, I had no idea what rejecting this would trigger.
"Mardol, you can say long sentences...?"
"Uh, um... It just makes sense, right? A Sphinx is feline, so it overlaps with Ariel."
Even the hero couple beside me looked shaken.
The entire mood was shifting.
I needed an excuse.
"You all know I can’t take off this helmet, right?"
"Licht, really?"
"Yes, it’s not that I won’t take it off—I can’t take it off."
I sighed.
Did Mardol not know?
Or did she just want to see my face?
‘If my face is the problem, I could lift the visor... but then everyone would see my burn scars.’
As I hesitated,
"You can just buy another helmet and carry that instead."
"Oh. That works."
Kainel provided the simplest, most obvious solution.
I felt both relief and slight embarrassment for not thinking of it myself.
Mardol, however, looked a bit displeased as she turned away, briefly glaring at Kainel.
"If Ariel adds her magic, we could make it burn constantly for a spooky effect!"
"Would blue flames look cool? Yeah, let’s do that!"
The Imperial Guard might barge in screaming, ‘How dare you offend the princess! Execution!’
"Wouldn’t it be scary if we threw the helmet at people, Ariel?"
"HIIIK?! KAI, WHAT ARE YOU EVEN SAYING?!"
"Haha, I mean, it’s just a helmet."
Completely oblivious to everything, the golden retriever kept joking with the red-haired mage.
They were laughing together, teasing each other.
Seeing them like that, I felt a small smile tug at my lips.
Good thing no one could see my face.
"Alright, let’s go buy materials. Kainel and Ariel, you two should go together. You both have animal-themed costumes."
If I wanted to boost their affection level, I needed to give them some alone time.
Just as I was wrapping things up—
"Helmet Guy, what about you? Going alone?"
Ariel flicked her red hair and tilted her head.
"Yes. I only need to stop by the blacksmith."
All I needed was some armor and an extra helmet for the Dullahan look.
No one would—
"Come with me, Licht."
"...Mardol?"
The Glass Knight had already grabbed my arm.
I had forgotten—the Dullahan choice was a locked route decision.
If I deviated now, something unpredictable might happen.
"...Fine. Let’s meet at the club room after we get our costumes. We need to see if it actually looks scary."
"Licht, don’t get too scared!"
"I’ll be looking forward to it."
At least this was better than interfering with the hero couple.
Besides, buying a helmet was a simple task—there was no way this could raise her affection level further.
"Alright, let’s go. The lumberyard should be our first stop."
"...Okay, Licht."
And so, the four of us split into two groups.