Wait, Who Are You?

Amid this cold turmoil, someone's figure gradually surfaced in Victoria's mind at a most unwelcome moment.

Greg Sass.

The former duke's son who had once been arrogant and foolish, but had now become impossible to read.

The man who had caused her trouble at the start of term, yet saved Sylvia in the Dungeon and casually tossed her a precious Reflection Gem.

At the thought of that Gem, the fingertips of Victoria's left hand unconsciously brushed the little pouch hanging around her neck, hidden beneath her hospital gown.

She could clearly feel the outline of the cold crystal through the fabric.

This Reflection Gem had originally been the key to turning the battle around in her plan.

She had intended to dodge the Flame Explosion, then activate the Reflection Gem the instant the violent blast sent dust billowing into the air, using the smoke and chaos as cover. Then she would cast the intermediate spell Wind Pressure Cannon to strike Lilith from an unexpected blind spot and secure her victory.

But in reality, she had never even had a chance to use the Gem.

Her plan had fallen apart at the very first step.

At that thought, another complicated emotion quietly took root in her heart.

Victoria's feelings toward Greg had always been clear-she hated him.

She hated what he had done in the past, hated his repulsive face, hated that gaze of his that seemed to see through everything.

Even after he had saved Sylvia and given her the Gem, her wariness had never truly faded.

But now...

She touched the Gem at her neck.

Even though he had known she hated him, he had still given her the Gem, yet she had let him down.

A sense of guilt that only irritated her further wound around her like tiny thorns.

She hated this feeling, hated these emotions too complicated to sum up as simple loathing.

They made her feel even more wretched, even more... like a failure.

Just as these roiling thoughts left Victoria restless, shouting from the next room suddenly broke her train of thought.

"Vicky! Vicky, what's wrong with you? Vicky, you can't die! We've depended on each other through thick and thin all these years! I've always raised you and taught you like my own flesh and blood. I never thought I'd live to bury my own child!"

Inside room 303, a thoroughly disheveled Greg threw himself against the bedside.

Naturally, he had his Luck stat of minus 10 to thank for his sorry state.

On the way to the hospital, he had first run into a teacher on night patrol, who had mistaken him for a suspicious intruder and fired several warning Flameflow Bullets straight at him.

While frantically dodging the pursuit, he had happened to disturb an incompletely formed Wandering Evil Spirit roaming the outskirts of the Academy-a minor boss that was only supposed to appear toward the end of the original story's first chapter.

After a frantic scramble, he had finally made it to the hospital entrance alive.

It made him seriously question whether there was any point in desperately avoiding all the known death CG triggers.

With this damned Luck stat, it seemed he could unlock a brand-new way to die anytime, anywhere, as long as he set foot aboveground.

In any case, after enduring countless hardships to sneak into the private hospital room he remembered as belonging to the protagonist, Greg had thrown himself straight onto the patient wrapped like a mummy on the bed and burst into tears.

Although he didn't know the details of the class placement assessment, Victoria had actually lost, taken a Flame Explosion head-on, and ended up half-dead like this...

In an instant, Greg was filled with the bleak grief of someone witnessing another's fate and fearing his own.

Because if Victoria went down, who was going to save this goddamned world for him?!

Him, the guy who could trigger a death CG at any moment after setting foot aboveground?

Even without this absurd luck, he had absolutely no desire to take the protagonist's place on a pilgrimage through eighty-one trials!

"Come on, Victoria! You're a woman with the Hero's Blessing! How can you go down just because of a measly fatal injury?!"

"I believe in you, and you should believe in yourself too! You can do it!"

Just as Greg was furiously feeding the person on the bed inspirational platitudes, fervently hoping they would regain their vitality soon, the door to the room creaked open.

Victoria leaned against the doorframe with her arm wrapped in bandages, her icy gaze stabbing into Greg's back like a tangible blade.

"Hey." Her voice was quiet, but carried a chill. "What are you doing?"

"Huh?"

Greg stiffened, then slowly turned his head, utterly bewildered.

"You... look remarkably like an old acquaintance of mine!"

Victoria said, "Did the Monsters in the Dungeon eat your brain? I am the real Victoria!"

Greg said, "Seriously? You took a Flame Explosion head-on, and this is all the damage you suffered? Sure, its proficiency was only LV1, but still!"

Then he suddenly remembered that Victoria had the protection of the Hero's Blessing, so it actually seemed fairly reasonable that she had suffered so little damage even after taking a Flame Explosion head-on.

"If you're more or less fine, then who the hell is this in the bed?"

Greg focused his gaze on the hospital bed.

Through the gaps between layers of bandages, he met a pair of utterly unfamiliar eyes filled with confusion and terror.

Greg: "..."

The bandaged person on the bed: "???"