Side Character Who Became the Pseudo-Protagonist

Chapter 15: The Beginning of Another Problem

Standing inside the Academy-affiliated Monster Processing Facility with a gas mask on my face was definitely a strange experience.

Though it was something I asked for, my stomach could barely hold itself back from emptying my lunch, and there was no way I was doing that inside my mask.

I wasn’t too much of a fan of gore, but seeing all these innards and blood, was...Well, let’s just say it wasn’t something I’d do again.

"You really want the metal on its spine?"

Professor Irene said from my side, undoubtedly seeing my nauseous expression and how pale I was.

"Urgh...yeah. I just wanted something as a trophy. To...commemorate my first cleared Gate."

She simply stared at me, before looking back at the corpse on the other side of the glass.

"Out of everything you’d want on a Class-D Variant’s body, you specifically want the unidentified silver deposits on its spine?"

"..."

Damn it, she’s sharp.

"Well, if possible, I’d want them to go to my group members. After all, it wasn’t just me who killed the thing."

"So if you think about it, wasn’t me just taking that part justified?" I scooted a bit further away, just in case my expression betrayed me.

"I mean, it’s just some useless metal anyway. Probably makes a damn good trophy though..."

The professor didn’t answer, reaching over to her side and pulling out a piece of paper before handing it to me.

’What’s this about?’

But as soon as I read the first line, I knew I’d been busted.

Professor Irene stared at me with an amused look. "This unidentified material has been temporarily named Lattice Silver. A material with unusually high Logos retention and almost no observable degradation."

Gulp...

I scratched the back of my head, trying to play it off. "Oh...wow. I had no idea it could do that? I guess...I could—Ahem, make my trophy shiny!"

"You know...I’ve had a few interactions with the Midgards. Both Lord Midgard and Nora, who studied with me for a few years."

Professor Irene looked back at the glass screen. "I always thought the Midgards were upright people, straightforward and unyielding. The kind of people who would sooner break through a wall than to look for a hidden door."

Finally, she turned to face me. "But...it seems like they’re capable of raising a fox as well?"

So much sweat poured down my forehead that I could’ve easily filled an Olympic-sized pool in it.

"I—I don’t know what you’re talking about."

"Ha!" she snorted softly to herself. "Relax...you’ll get what you want. And besides, you’re probably the only person who could use this to its full potential right now."

I didn’t know what she meant by that, but the more I thought about it, not in game terms but in the reality of it all. Things actually made sense.

Lattice Silver was too good at holding Logos, leaving residual Logos instructions. So when a normal Operator uses it, the old sequences don’t fully clear before the next spell is loaded.

This would inevitably cause spells to be delayed, misfire, jam, contaminate the sequence, or anything in between.

It was similar to putting an ultra-high-capacity crystal into a system that has no way to clear its cache.

But it was different for me, Nolan Midgard, who possesses EX-Rank Storage.

The large amount of Storage in my Logos Cortex probably acted like a buffer zone. So even if fragments remain, they could be stored in my Logos Cortex, preventing the old sequence data from interfering with the next cast.

Then those sequences will be dissolved and returned to raw Logos before dispersing back into the world.

’Huh...Seems like I can get lucky, after all?’

"Besides, your Gun-type Driver shattered because it couldn’t handle the sequence load," Professor Irene smirked. "And this material holds Logos better than anything we’ve ever tested."

"It doesn’t take a genius to see the connection, you know?"

"..."

"But what I want to know is this," she continued. "That Spell Driver could easily handle Tier-2 Spells, and according to public information, you didn’t inherit the Midgards’ [World Frame]."

"So...what Spell did you cast?"

"I...I’d like to exercise my right to remain silent."

"Oh come on, don’t be like that," Professor Irene nudged me with her elbow. "Look, how about we make a deal?"

"I’ll find you an engineer that’s able to use this material at all, and it’ll be free of charge. How does that sound?"

Ugh...even if that deal sounded way too good. Revealing what I used could cause complications that I’m not willing to deal with right now.

"No."

"I expected that answer."

"What? Then why ask?"

"Because I’m willing to swear a pact."

Professor Irene raised one hand, and a small blue sequence circle formed above her palm.

[Confidentiality Oath Sequence]

"I, Irene Hayes, swear not to disclose, record, transmit, hint at, or indirectly reveal anything Nolan Midgard says beyond this point under this agreement. If I violate it, my Logos Cortex will reject the action before information can be released."

"...You’re going that far?"

She shrugged casually. "Well, a professor’s gotta keep her word, right?"

Damn it...if I refuse here, she would definitely get more suspicious. And knowing her character well, she’d haunt me like a ghost until I revealed it to her.

"Fine," I said carefully. "I’m only telling you the spell, not where I learned it."

"That’s acceptable."

[Oath Sealed.]

[Consent Confirmed.]

"...It was [Overload]."

Yet the moment I said it, I already regretted it. Professor Irene’s face took a sharp turn toward a serious expression.

"...Overload?"

"It’s a Structural Disruption Type," I continued, keeping my voice steady. "It forces excess Logos data into the target’s—"

"I know what it does."

"You...do?"

"It’s an old spell. Almost extinct, but not unknown."

Ah...that’s not good.

"An Innate Spell developed by the Founder of House Leavista...your mother’s lineage."

What? How’s that possible?

Nolan, as a character, never had any Innate Spells. I bought it from the [Archive] because it was one of the Innate Spells Leon had access to.

Wait, then...

Why the hell would someone like Leon have access to an Innate Spell from the Leavistas?

Was there maybe some connection that I wasn’t aware of?

"Well, it makes sense," the Professor’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

"The ’talentless’ middle-child of the Midgards who failed to inherit [World Frame], ended up getting another Innate Spell from his mother instead."

She had it all wrong, completely wrong. But well...it worked out in my favor. There’s no need to correct her.

I cleared my throat, forcing myself to recover. "Ahem...now that the cat’s out of the bag, I assume you’re gonna keep your end of the bargain?"

Professor Irene’s serious expression shook off immediately, snorting to herself.

"You really are shameless!"

She reached into the pocket of her coat and pulled out a small black business card.

At first glance, it looked plain, but the moment she handed it to me, thin silver lines lit up along the surface.

[Licensed Spell Driver Engineer]

[Marion Muspel]

[Gulon’s Workshop]

’Muspel...not a named character but still one of the Nine Great Houses.’

"You sure about this?"

Instead of answering, Professor Irene reached down into her belt and took out what looked like a black fountain pen.

But I already knew what it was, one of the strongest Wand-type Spell Drivers obtainable in the game.

"Trust me," she said, tapping the pen against her palm. "He made my Redline after all. Yours will probably come out great as well."

The word "probably" was doing a lot of work here.

Still, a Spell Driver engineer from one of the Nine and personally recommended by the owner of Redline...

In any other situation, I would be jumping for joy.

Free things were never free, not from professors who figured out my crafted plan in one go.

"I’ll have the material sent to him after processing is complete, you can pop by whenever to talk to him."

I carefully slipped the card into my pocket, turning to leave the facility. "Alright then, I’ll come by when I’m free..."

"Nolan."

Professor Irene’s voice rang out, causing me to pause and turn around.

"For what it’s worth..."

"Congratulations, Nolan Midgard," she continued with a firm voice. "As of today, you are officially recognized as an Operator Cadet under Asgard Academy."

"..."

I didn’t really know how to respond.

This was the main stage of the game and where Leon Hart was supposed to be. And now, somehow, I was the one walking through its doors instead.

"Thank you..."

But as I stepped out of the processing facility, the business card in my pocket felt strangely heavy.

It was that or the million different things that could go wrong in this Act. For some reason, becoming a real cadet didn’t really feel like the end of the problem.

I took a glance across the street, only to spot Colette sitting by the window of a small restaurant.

She was talking to someone I didn’t recognize, a man in a plain coat and sunglasses obscuring his face.

Sigh...

It really was the beginning of another one instead.