Chapter 1429 Cloudy Night Sky: Unreliable Look Part 1

Five days after that particular incident.

I had finished my Final Exam without being able to log in to ShanFro’s world even once…… And for reason whatever, I was called to the faculty office by Oosuka Makiko-sensei, the English teacher who happened to be really sensitive about the morality of her students.

「Ah…… Hizutome-kun. I do believe that you understand why I called you here?]

「Ahh…… Umm, well, yes. For the most part.]

I happened to be called by a Japanese history teacher this morning about that matter.

「Yes, that’s right…… I must say, that this kind of thing is…… it is no good. This time around, Hizutome-kun’s test scores are…… Well, it’s bad. Really bad.]

「…… Does that mean I failed all of them?]

「No…… Well, it’s not like you failed any of them, but…… Your scores are low. Really low. Did something happen?]

Something…… You say?

Well, if I am being completely honest, then on the first day of the test…… Well, I was in a really bad state. If I were to sum it up somehow, I did not even had the amount of concentration needed to pull the thread through the eye of the needle even if my life depended on it.

Later on, when I learned about the contents of the new Update and the specifications and changes, I even kicked the trash can out of pure anger and frustration. And I knew that no matter what I would try to do here, there was no way I would be able to recover my lost equipment, even if I tried. I must say, the moment I have read those news in the magazine on that day it was really shocking indeed…… But since the exams were starting tomorrow, I decided to call it a day and just leave it at that for the time being and go to bed instead. I really needed that mental restart.

「No, I must say, there really WAS something that happened to me, but now that matter is pretty much resolved…… I just couldn’t concentrate on the first day of the exams all that much……]

「Hmm…… Alright, I understand. Hizutome-kun, you wish to go to the Taka University, is that right? If your grades keep on being this low, this might be a really tall order, but…… If you manage to keep your grades on your usual level, then I guess there won’t be any problem! Yes, I’m sure of it!]

「I’m glad to hear that you think that way, Sensei. Well them, if you’d please excuse me……]

「Yes, that would be all. Oh, but before you go,]

Hmm?

「About the last problem, which was an essay…… There was a spelling mistake. But overall it was really good. The Sentence and the Hook were all there…… But I really liked the conclusion. But if it wasn’t for that essay part…… You would have failed that one for sure.]

「That is because I’m that kind of a man who burns with “indignation” at all times.]

As for the composition part, I have submitted a piece that I managed to memorize in advance, with one extra sentence added by myself just for the heck of it. There was a spelling mistake there, but it would seem that it managed to get the job done alright.

─── In conclusion…… We must first win over ourselves if we ever hope to be able to control ourselves.

I don’t usually write essay questions from with answers coming from the bottom of my heart, but I think that’s exactly the case this time around.

First of all, I have to beat the absolute crap out of myself.

* * *

It’s been five days since I last logged in. I don’t feel the usual freshness about logging in, because it’s a cloudy night tonight. The Player’s eyes are able to see in the dark with a slight visual correction, but the darkness slightly in front of me seems to be so thick that I can’t really see ahead all that well.

「…… Master.]

「Ohh, hey there, Sigma…… What happened after I left?]

「Report: I managed to overdrive several armed points and at the time when the re-storage was needed, I managed to transport the two target Goldunines as well as Wimp to the frontline base and the cafe “Snake’s Apple”.]

「Great work. I knew you could do it.]

「But I happened to be re-stored right there……]

I don’t really know what happened after that.

Hmm, I see, I get it…… If you’ve reached the Snake’s Apple, then it’s only natural that you wouldn’t know what exactly transpired on the battlefield.

While I was on my way from the save point on board of the Leviathan towards the “Snake’s Apple”, I checked the results of that disastrous battle.

First of all, the things I was equipped with at that time of my death were all lost…… My mask, the Scorpion’s Gauntlets, Levin Trigger / Disaster Hand…… Well, to be perfectly honest, I was kind of prepared to suffer that loss…… Although I should have been used to the pain of loss after all of that time in Bakumatsu Online, there are some things that make it especially tough when you lose them like that. But I guess that there is no point in lamenting what was lost and couldn’t be recovered anymore. Sure, I am going to be pretty salty about that for the time being, but other than that I will need to move on from that loss.

「Alright, let’s switch the mood, shall we?]

「Hmm?]

「I’m talking about this.]

For the time being, the next time around I see that fucking Player Killer woman, I’m going to beat the living shit out of her. I don’t know if she specializes in one-hit kill assassinations, but it was a playstyle that was well suited for someone well-versed in Round Table Online. But on the other hand, if she would go and try Bakumatsu Online, she wouldn’t be able to survive even a single day in there.

I had a lot of work that still needed to be done cut out for me for the time being, but I guess that the past me got the order of doing things all messed up. I was only realizing that fact now, but everything was more or less fine until we went to find those Miner Dwarves.

The Reverse Position of the “Fool” Arcana is a wedge that pierces the heart of the character called “Sanraku”, and leaving it alone without doing anything about it was the biggest mistake here.

Up until now the entire premise of my build has been resting upon the benefits of the “Fool” Arcana, but because of its reverse performance I was unable to perform nearly as optimally as I used to. I guess that my downfall began the moment I thought it would be okay to leave it at that for the time being, since I could very well compensate for it all with the use of Levin Trigger / Disaster Hand and other accessories. Just how big of a fool can you get, huh?