Free Web Novel"I'm sorry for changing the subject."
"It's nothing. I should have been the one to decline..."
As Reisir and Sveinn exchanged those words, the carriage gradually slowed before coming to a smooth stop.
We had arrived.
"Wow...! This is an incredibly famous restaurant! I heard the prices are outrageous, but the food is so good that reservations are booked out more than six months in advance!"
Pret stared up at the signboard with unconcealed admiration.
The description was oddly... no, blatantly explanatory.
Feeling a faint sense of dissonance, I stepped inside.
Empty chairs and tables filled the dining room.
Seeing that, Sveinn muttered to himself.
"For a place with a six-month waiting list, there isn't a single customer. Are they not open yet...?"
"We are very much open. The guests who reserved the entire restaurant for today have only just arrived."
"Ah! R-Right...!"
Had he not expected Princess Fjodora to answer his absent-minded remark?
Startled, Sveinn stammered before hastily bowing his head.
Just then, a neatly dressed employee appeared behind him.
"Welcome. We have been expecting you."
The employee bowed courteously, but the confidence in his bearing only made Sveinn's intimidated demeanor appear even more pitiful.
Come to think of it, Sveinn hadn't even been able to maintain proper eye contact with me during our conversation in the carriage.
"Sir, is there anything making you uncomfortable?"
"N-No... There isn't."
After politely confirming Sveinn's condition, the employee offered to escort us to our seats.
Every movement he made while guiding us was both graceful and disciplined.
As expected of a restaurant where nobles waited half a year for reservations. The staff's training was impeccable.
By the way, I don't know exactly when the proposal to establish a Special Class for the Awakened first came up, but at the earliest it couldn't have been more than two months ago...
Under normal circumstances, reserving an entire restaurant like this for a single day should have been virtually impossible.
Yet Fjodora had accomplished it as though it were nothing at all.
Was Author Senna trying to show readers that Fjodora's role is to shower the protagonist with the advantages of her wealth and influence?
It was a cliché that appeared in countless stories.
Like purchasing an item at an auction for far above its value, only to present it as a gift.
From a realistic standpoint, it was nothing but an absurd waste of money.
But that's precisely how stories demonstrated that someone possessed so much wealth that spending it recklessly didn't matter.
Viewed from that angle...
Pret's earlier stream of unnecessary trivia about this restaurant had probably been Author Senna speaking through him.
Sveinn's overly submissive attitude showed that he wasn't accustomed to interacting with people of high status.
At the same time...
It also served to highlight just how exceptionally trained the restaurant staff were.
In other words, both of their behaviors ultimately existed to elevate Fjodora's image.
But from the perspective of everyone whose reservations were canceled... isn't this completely outrageous?
Fjodora had undoubtedly compensated them financially.
Even so, time wasn't something money could replace.
They had probably spent six months eagerly counting down the days until their reservation.
Their opponent was royalty.
They couldn't even voice a complaint.
How frustrated and hollow they must have felt.
Unless the narration explicitly pointed it out, however, most readers would naturally see the situation from the protagonist's side, enjoying the luxurious treatment.
Only the less ordinary readers would imagine themselves in the shoes of those whose reservations had been canceled and complain about it in the comments.
So I don't think this scene does much to improve Fjodora's image...
Had Author Senna simply overlooked that?
Or had she realized it and written it anyway?
I tried to infer the author's intentions, then abandoned the attempt.
Without any supporting clues, the odds of arriving at the correct answer through pure speculation were vanishingly small.
And being confidently wrong was far worse than admitting I didn't know.
Still, there was one thing I could say with certainty.
Before long, we would be entering the Demon Realm.
The reason was—
"If we're going to become closer, wouldn't it be better to mix up the seating?"
—the person with the authority to control the situation was deliberately interfering with where everyone sat in order to encourage friendships.
Back in Chapter 182, she had connected that discussion to Sveinn's abilities and even talked about ways to incorporate my Sky Blue Ether into combat.
It seemed the original author was eager to throw us into desperate battles against monsters.
"The remaining members can sit between the second-year students."
Under Fjodora's direction, the seating arrangement became:
Yor, me, Sveinn, Reisir, Pret, and Ríolíkin.
Across from Yor sat the eagle familiar, Lausa.
Beside her were Fjodora, Vigdís, Lissy, and Helga.
Putting Sveinn next to Reisir is one thing, but seating him between Reisir and me of all people...? That's far too obvious.
Apparently, Fjodora still hadn't abandoned her strategy of turning me into Sveinn's Rainwater Shuttle.
But honestly...
Didn't she realize that forcing people to sit together and telling them to get along only bred resentment?
When I explained in the seminar room that trying to control us through authority wouldn't solve anything, Fjodora looked like she'd understood...
Had I imagined that?
Or...
Is Fjodora currently being controlled by Author Senna?
The thought suddenly occurred to me that supporting characters might be far more susceptible to the original author's influence than the protagonist himself.
The protagonist's inner thoughts were explored in detail throughout the story, giving his every word and action a convincing chain of reasoning.
Supporting characters didn't receive that luxury.
Their thought processes were skipped entirely, leaving only the final results.
Especially someone like Fjodora.
She possessed the authority to command others while carefully concealing her own thoughts and emotions.
She's the perfect tool for an author to manipulate the cast and steer events wherever she wants.
If my theory was correct...
Then it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Fjodora wasn't acting according to her own will right now.
She was acting as Author Senna's representative.
At the moment, she was merely meddling with the seating arrangement, so it was difficult to call it a serious problem.
But Fjodora's arbitrary decisions were dangerous.
One day, they would undoubtedly create a massive fracture within the Special Class for the Awakened.
Exactly the kind of despairing development Author Senna desired.
What would it take to free Fjodora from the original author's influence and let her think for herself...?
The first thing that came to mind was helping her stop hiding her true feelings.
I'd also have to free her from the burden of believing she alone was responsible for leading the Special Class.
But... how?
I knew the destination.
I simply had no idea how to get there.
It was like wanting to cook a particular dish while knowing neither the ingredients nor the recipe.
My thoughts stalled.
The Thought Acceleration effect granted by 【Character Analysis】—which I hadn't even noticed had activated—quietly faded away.
"This may be sudden, but I have an announcement."
Time resumed its normal flow as Fjodora's voice reached my ears.
For a brief moment, I tensed, convinced she was about to deliver some explosive declaration in accordance with the original author's script.
Fortunately, that concern proved unnecessary.
"During the carriage ride, Ms. Helga raised a concern. She said it would be unfair to provide personal training grounds free of charge only to the first-year students. After hearing her opinion, I realized she was right. Therefore, I have decided that every benefit originally intended only for the first years will instead be provided equally to everyone."
Although Djúpr's appointment as a professor would have increased the academy's income through his salary, apparently covering the personal training grounds for both Helga and Reisir had still been considered burdensome.
Well, whether it was or not, this issue had to be addressed.
This wasn't really about fairness.
We were being forced into the Demon Realm.
We had no choice but to train if we wanted to survive.
Making us pay for personal training facilities on top of that would have been absurd.
Could these really be called "benefits" in the first place?
If anything, weren't they closer to compensation?
Or reparations?
Fjodora continued listing additional measures.
The tuition and dormitory fees everyone had already paid would be fully refunded.
Any school uniforms or training uniforms damaged during combat or training in the Demon Realm would be replaced free of charge.
Yet no one thanked her.
Compared to the value of their own lives, none of those things felt particularly significant.
Perhaps sensing the atmosphere herself, Fjodora didn't wait for expressions of gratitude after finishing.
Instead, she smoothly changed the subject.
"By the way... what did you male students talk about during the carriage ride?"
I glanced around at everyone seated on my side of the table.
Reisir remained expressionless with his lips firmly sealed, clearly having no desire to answer.
Ríolíkin looked as though nothing at all was going through his head.
Sveinn furtively glanced at me.
The instant our eyes met, he hurriedly lowered his head.
Pret, meanwhile, looked at me expectantly, waiting to hear what I would say.
So I'm the one answering.
Normally, this was where the protagonist would take charge of the conversation.
Watching the protagonist of someone else's story remain completely silent was surprisingly admirable.
It was as though he stubbornly refused to become a puppet moving according to the author's wishes.
So I voluntarily recounted what had happened inside the carriage.
However—
"Junior Sveinn said he doesn't know when he'll be sent to the Demon Realm, so he'd like to improve his spear techniques as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, he feels the amount of instruction he can receive from the professors is too limited."
"Then wouldn't the problem be solved simply by approaching a professor after class and asking for additional instruction?"
"He's worried that doing so might inconvenience the professors."
—I adjusted the story where necessary instead of repeating it word for word.
I obviously couldn't mention how I'd deliberately interfered with Reisir and Sveinn getting closer.
Nor could I say that Sveinn hadn't even realized he could ask professors who weren't Awakened for instruction.
"I can understand that concern. The combat professors I appointed this time were chosen with great care. None of them would turn away a student eager to learn. Even so, few people welcome additional work without compensation."
"What if each student were assigned a faculty advisor, and those professors received a special stipend for the extra guidance?"
"An excellent suggestion."
As though it required no deliberation whatsoever, Fjodora immediately nodded and accepted my proposal.
