Side Character Who Became the Pseudo-Protagonist

Chapter 29: A Missing Twin

"Tch...shit."

Grant muttered angrily, his call once again going straight to voicemail. The guy almost threw his phone out onto the street if Aidan hadn’t stopped him before.

"Look," Aidan said sheepishly. "They can’t really get into the Mimir Database without authorization from Claire, right? Shouldn’t it be fine?"

"That’s the problem," Grant said through gritted teeth. "They’re probably wrecking the school as we speak, looking for Claire."

"Well, shouldn’t the school have some kind of safehouse?" I asked, but obviously I already knew the answer.

There were a few safehouses located around campus in cases of Dungeon Breaks or the school going under attack somehow.

However, most students would know the location of them. And someone like Tina Valentine, who’s a social butterfly, would know about them as well.

We just had to hope Claire reached one before Tina did.

"Wouldn’t the cadets and school forces be able to fight back?" Aidan asked unknowingly. "It’d be easy to take out a bunch of civilians, right?"

Well, he wasn’t wrong per se.

Operators were basically enhanced humans, and I survived many scenarios due to being Nolan Midgard and an Operator.

But well, a bullet in the head could still just about kill anyone.

Even an Operator.

They just had a better chance of stopping the bullet before it fired.

Grant shook his head grimly, already considering the possibility. "No, it’s dangerous if they fight against the invaders. And as we’ve seen, most of them are armed with Logos Jammers."

"So even if they were Operator cadets, not many would be able to fight back," he continued, frowning. "Most of the forces from our school that could fight went to Muspel...exactly what they wanted."

Aidan’s eyes widened as the implication settled in.

"Wait, then aren’t they just a bunch of—?"

"Sitting ducks."

***

Our fears were confirmed as we approached the academy.

A perimeter of caution tape had been set up around the academy by local law enforcement, along with some kind of magic device that formed a large veil-like barrier around the campus to keep the fighting contained.

A few civilians who were near the exit managed to escape outside.

But once again, the place was swarmed with reporters trying to get the scoop. It took us a while just to push through them all.

Grant approached one of the officers with ease. "What’s the situation looking like? Any progress or reports?"

It was strange seeing a student commanding an officer like a superior, but well, with Grant’s reputation, it wasn’t so far-fetched.

"Ahh, an infiltration was said to happen in the Wisdom tower. Reports say that the attackers were smuggled in through one of the trucks that deliver food and supplies to the school."

"A Trojan horse, huh?" Grant muttered to himself. "How the hell did they even get in?"

A nearby cadet approached us, adding on with details. "Apparently, it was at the behest of the Public Relations. The truck was supposed to contain pre-packaged meals for their upcoming ’joint charity event’."

"Tch..." Grant clicked his tongue in frustration. "They really targeted our lack of personnel...What zones have they taken over?"

The officer flinched but otherwise reported. "S—sir! They’re currently holding the Wisdom Tower, as well as much of the western side of campus, including the student dorms and—"

"Damn it!" Grant cut the guy off.

I stepped in between Grant and the officer, mostly so that the officer didn’t get hurt. "What about the professors?"

"Most of them are at the summit right now and probably won’t get back in time..."

’Makes sense. Most well-known Operators like Professor Irene were also necessary military assets.’

"Seems like it’s up to us then."

Almost as soon as the statement was made, Grant slowly walked to the barrier, pulled on it, and disappeared right after it closed again.

’Damn, that guy’s also way better as the pseudo-protagonist candidate...’

But regardless of my complaining, I had to enter as well.

I was scared and didn’t know what to expect, but there were two things keeping my legs moving, honestly.

(1) I absolutely did not want to fail and see that system penalty.

(2) What happens if the timeline deviates from the original game after I succeed? Would I be entering new territories of the plot?

Still, it’s not like I had much of a choice, really.

But before my foot could move even an inch, Aidan had placed a hand on my shoulder, causing me to turn around.

"Picked up a little something for you while we were in Muspel. Professor Irene told me I’d get a handsome delivery fee after all."

He shoved something into my chest, some kind of metallic suitcase that felt way heavier than I ever expected it to be.

"What? What even is this—?"

But as soon as my fingers touched the metal, I suddenly remembered what this was. My painstaking labor, my endurance of the heat and subsequent effort of taking down a Class-D Monster.

All for this one thing.

My holy grail and only way of becoming a relevant character.

I placed the box onto the pavement slowly, scared that scratching the outside of the box would somehow damage the inner contents.

Click! Click!

The two latches snapped open satisfyingly, and inside...was not what I expected.

A beautiful Gun-type Spell Driver in the shape of a pistol sat on the right of the suitcase, made with pure Lattice Silver which gleamed from the sunlight. The barrel’s bottom half was instead embedded and covered with dazzling sapphire-like crystals, matching my blue hair to a tee.

Just underneath it were a few magazines, which I assumed were used to store preloaded Spells and change them out on the fly.

Though the most important detail was obviously the back of the gun. Carved in the most eloquently written handwriting—

"Huginn."

But what caught my attention most wasn’t the Spell Driver itself, as perfect as it was.

It was the empty slot on the left. A slot clearly prepared for another Spell Driver of the same type.

A missing twin.

I looked up at Aidan with confusion on my face so obvious that he spoke before I could even ask my question.

"Don’t ask me about it. The guy told me that someone had apparently stolen the other one while he was working on it."

"What? How’s that possible?"

"Beats me. Told me that you’re not getting a refund or anything and to just live with it."

"What the...?"

Though I couldn’t complain too much. I was only expecting one anyway. And even if I had two, dual-wielding Spell Drivers sounded like something that came right out of a cringey anime.

Plus it’s not even my money...

But one can’t help but mourn about the circumstances and what could’ve been.

I’m only human after all.

Still, the moment my hand wrapped around the handle, I could feel like this was made to be mine and mine alone.

My immense Logos flowed into it easily, like it was a second battery that I could use at any time. And its weight gave me confidence that it was durable enough to handle a Spell like [Overload] easily.

I must’ve been smiling like a maniac, because even Aidan flinched.

"Let’s...go help the others."

"Yeah, let’s."

I couldn’t tell if I actually wanted to save the other cadets, or if I just wanted to test out my baby, my hard work incarnate.

Let’s say both.

Yeah...it’s both.

So with Spell Driver in hand, I followed Aidan into the veil.

And once we were inside, well...

It was chaos.