The next afternoon, Eugene gathered all the people involved in the situation and headed to the club room.
[First Emergency Meeting of Ivan Petrovich Yermov]
After finishing the scribbles on the blackboard, Eugene scanned the audience with a serious face.
The cramped club room was filled with an incongruous crowd. A total of nine people, including the six members of the Isabelle’s hero party and the “three possessors”, looked at each other with serious faces.
“Alright, everyone please focus.” (Eugene)
All eyes in the audience turned to Eugene at his words. Eugene cleared his throat and spoke.
“I have been granted authority by the God. I can quantitatively measure how much affection one person has for another.” (Eugene)
At these words, Elpheira raised her hand. Eugene ignored her and continued speaking.
“It’s not magic. It’s the authority granted by the God. If you want to argue, come at it with theology, not magic.” (Eugene)
Elpheira quietly lowered her hand. Unfortunately, there was no priest present at this gathering.
Just as Eugene, the only priest in this club room, was about to speak again, Ecdysis raised her hand.
“What is it?” (Eugene)
“Is it not just talk, but really ‘quantitative’? How do you quantitatively judge human emotions? How reliable is that?” (Ecdysis)
“As much as I believe in the existence of the God. Any other questions?” (Eugene)
Ecdysis’s sharp rebuttal was frustrated. Eugene nodded his head and continued speaking.
“Now, let me show you some solid evidence. Isabelle, please?” (Eugene)
“Yes?” (Isabelle)
“Congratulations! 91 points. Extremely favorable.” (Eugene)
“Oh my goodness!! Out of 100 points? Does Uncle really like me that much?” (Isabelle)
“No, Isabelle. This is your favorability toward Big Brother.” (Eugene)
“Then what does that mean exactly…?” (Isabelle)
Isabelle sat back down with a strange expression on her face.
“If there’s good news, it’s that Isabelle has the highest score. Ah, this is about his emotions towards Isabelle.” (Isabelle)
“Oh my goodness!! How many points?! I knew it would be like this. You believe in God’s existence? Hallelujah!! Don’t you all believe in God? Atheists?” (Isabelle)
“27 points ‘neutral.’” (Eugene)
“God is dead.” (Isabelle)
The ecstatic Isabelle, who had stood up, sank back down, lost in Nietzschean philosophy. Eugene, scanning the increasingly gloomy audience, pointed to each person one by one.
“Ecdysis, 26 points.” (Eugene)
“Out of 30?!” (Ecdysis)
“Out of 100.” (Eugene)
“Wait! Wait wait wait!! Like this, about people’s hearts? Isn’t it a bit, a bit inappropriate to just say it without permission? I, I’m not prepared to hear it. Unlike humans, elves have delicate sensibilities…” (Elpheira)
“Elpheira, 25 points.” (Eugene)
“Aaahhh—!!” (Elpheira)
With the shrieks of high school students checking their report cards, the three collapsed.
So, after a round, the time for publicizing grades continued for a while.
“By the way, I am 21 points. Fortunately, you all have higher scores than me. By the way, less than 20 points is ‘hostile.’” (Eugene)
“So does that mean Ivan is on the verge of being hostile towards me and Oswald…?” (Yuri)
“Let’s be thankful it’s not hostile. There was a time when he was almost antagonistic toward me as well. It’s rare to find anyone who has a truly adversarial relationship with Big Brother.” (Eugene)
“Why?” (Yuri)
“Because they’re all dead. I almost died within 3 seconds too.” (Eugene)
“Oh….”
That’s not a person, it’s almost like a beast, and a fierce one at that… Yuri muttered in fear.
Oscar, scanning the Hero’s party engulfed in frustration, asked calmly as if they were pathetic.
“So what’s the point of all this? As long as it’s not hostile, isn’t it irrelevant?”
“No, it becomes a problem the moment you realize there is someone ‘he truly likes.’”
“W, who, who is it? Who is that person! Is it even a demon?”
“I doubt it. They’re all human, and if there’s one commonality…”
Eugene paused for a moment. He wanted to explain as kindly as possible, but it wasn’t easy.
“It’s the fact that they’re all deceased. Everyone.”
“…Everyone?”
“Everyone… ‘Almost’ everyone. Those who had a certain level of affection have almost all died. All the ones who were ‘liked’ in his heart.”
The possessors and the facets of the hero party were momentarily lost for words.
They had spent almost a lifetime on the battlefield. And not just any battlefield, but in the cruel fight known as the last war of humanity, where half the continent burned.
How many humans lost their lives during the war? It was a war that literally ‘erased’ half of the Allied Kingdom. Those who lost their parents were common, and those who lost their siblings were even more common.
In the midst of that, if Ivan spent decades on the battlefield, how many people did he lose?
How could someone endure that? After all the people who had even a penny’s worth of goodwill were dead, what kind of life would they lead?
Was that what human life meant? What would a person living through such a moment feel day by day?
Isabelle suddenly bit her lip.
The curse he received when slhe killed Dragon General. The wicked curse that suppressed emotions in a person’s heart came to mind. Perhaps her father was in a situation similar to Ivan’s.
But even then, Ivan occasionally laughed and sometimes shed tears. Even though all those moments were only when eating hometown food. On the contrary, that might mean there was still hope.
The chance for him to live a better life. The chance to give him a better life.
Perhaps, and surely.
“Yes. That’s the problem, I think we can all agree, is that he’s fundamentally a little… a lot… broken.”
“So?”
“If he truly had no interest in anyone, we would all have scored 20 points.”
Eugene said confidently, tapping the blackboard.
“Look at Isabelle’s score of 27 points. According to her actions, that score can go up! Our goal from now on is 50 points… in other words, to raise our affinity to the level of ‘friendly’!”
“Friendly…!”
A subtly insignificant score?
Elpheira murmured with a slight frown.
Ignoring the elf’s words, Eugene concluded.
“If we can quantitatively confirm emotions, we can also understand what actions can gain or lose his favor! By using this, we will become important figures to him and restore his mental well-being!”
“Wow!!”
“You’re a hero!”
Ecdysis and Isabelle cheered.
Lucia, who had been quietly listening to the conversation, raised her hand.
“So what’s the plan? I mean, I get that he’s in that state… but is there any solution other than just showering him with gifts like to that ‘state’? Especially when we hardly have any time to meet separately?” (Lucia)
“Hehe, that answer isn’t my job. Oswald?”
“Well, it’s my turn now. Please pay attention.”
Oswald stood up and approached the blackboard. He erased all the scribbles and began to write with elegant strokes.
[Everyone can do it. 1-on-1 Date]
“Can I go home now?”
Oscar nodded with a neat smile. Alright, let’s just get away from these lunatics for now. And with that.
His opinion was naturally drowned out by the cheers of the hero party members. (As soon as they erupted in cheers, they looked at each other with skeptical expressions and sat back down.)
Oscar stood up, then hesitated, sat back down, and let out a sigh. By the principle of majority rule, the opposition was overruled.
In this way, democracy cannot always be the solution.
*
“Big Brother believes there’s a spy in this university. Not just believes, but is actively investigating.”
“So?”
“The three of us will assist in the search for the spy. For that… “
*
After class, Ivan noticed three people watching him among the students who were hastily fleeing as usual.
The trio of possessors approached stealthily with sinister smiles.
Leading the way, Eugene rubbed his hands together with a wicked smile.
“Big Brother, I have a solution.”
“Hmm?”
“Why, um. Weren’t you looking for a spy? You said they would definitely be in this class.”
“And you haven’t found one.”
Ivan is someone who understands opportunity cost. It means there’s no need to try the same method again in the same way after it’s failed once.
Even in Ivan’s chilly words, Eugene continued to speak with a sly smile.
“Alone, that’s true. But what if the three of us are together? Like, you know, the Three Sovereigns trio did a lot of things together, didn’t they?”
Spoiling the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Liu Bei ultimately lost to Cao Cao. Despite Ivan’s skeptical gaze, Eugene continued without being discouraged.
“If I want to confirm someone’s information, shouldn’t we become close first?”
“And?”
“And we have an expert in ‘becoming close’ right here.”
He gestured towards Oswald.
“Trying separately didn’t work. If Oswald uses ‘becoming close’ to make the ‘suspect’ and me ‘friendly,’ the status window will reveal information.”
“I happen to play the role of kidnapping the suspect.”
“How’s that?”
“…Fairly.”
For these guys’ standards, it was a pretty useful method. Even as a possessor, their taste was to exploit the loophole in the status window.
As Ivan nodded silently, Eugene whispered with a sly smile.
“But you know, it’s just common sense. There must be a spy in the academy, right?”
“Hmm.”
“But usually, the spy is exposed by the protagonist, and in the process, the academy is once threatened by the spy’s conspiracy, right?”
“…That’s not wrong.”
“So, once we find the spy among ourselves and wait and see, then naturally lead the protagonists there, won’t ‘stage clear’ according to your words proceed smoothly?”
Oh.
Ivan was somewhat impressed. It had been a long time, really, a very long time since he had seen someone discussing common sense.
As Ivan nodded quietly, a smile spread across Eugene’s lips.
“Let’s tackle it one part at a time. Divide the students by their countries of origin. While we search for the spy among them, sir, you can take out the protagonists from those countries separately and buy some time.”
Eugene opened his notebook and started scribbling secretively.
Tylesse – Isabelle, Oscar.
Drovian – Ecdysis.
Kalion – Elpheira.
Krasilov – Lucia…
*
In the club room, while listening to Eugene’s explanation, Rundis suddenly exclaimed.
“Wait a minute! Why am I not included in the Ivan’s date course?!”
“Uh… Rundis, you’ve already had a date with Big Brother during the vacation.”
“No!! That’s different from this! This is cheating! I can’t accept this!”
“Let’s ignore the dwarf. Keep going. Sounds plausible, right?”
“Please exclude me. I’m satisfied with just training with Yermov.”
—
Ivan nodded heavily and looked at Eugene.
“Would it be okay without me? Searching for the intelligence agent of the enemy county is a somewhat difficult operation for a novice.”
“Haha, Big Brother, you’re too much. Are we novices? With Mind Sorcery and the status window, we’re invincible.”
“To be honest, we seem more capable than most agents in the Counterintelligence Command. Mr. Ivan.”
“…That’s not wrong.”
Ivan nodded heavily. Although these three hadn’t completed the exact ‘training,’ frankly, this guy was useful depending on how you used him.
All three were strong enough to detect spies to some extent. Plus, they possessed an ability beyond the standard, the status window.
Yuri possessed a striking swordsmanship skill, even higher than Isabelle’s practical scores, while Oswald was the top among his peers in the Mind Sorcery faction.
Indeed, they were impeccable as companions.
Ivan nodded reliably.
“Then let’s proceed according to your plan.”
Supporting someone else’s plan is a rare thing, but it’s not a bad instinct. After all, one can’t handle everything alone.
—
In the club room, Isabelle, who was listening to Eugene’s explanation, raised her hand and asked.
“But what if a real spy appears? Then won’t uncle go crazy and say, ‘I must kill that guy’?”
“Ehehe.”
In response to Isabelle’s question, Eugene wiped his hands together and chuckled slyly.
“Would that really happen?”
Logically, with the Counterintelligence Command monitoring around the clock, and the princess sitting directly in the school’s principal seat, not to mention that the university had been recently exposed to terrorism.
In such a place, a spy, especially a ‘demonic spy,’ would hardly exist.
That’s what we call common sense. It’s a matter of course.
—
“Why is this really happening?!”
This was the scream Eugene let out on the second day of implementing the operation “Anyone can do it, 1-on-1 date.”
