Side Character Who Became the Pseudo-Protagonist

Chapter 42: A World Without Canon

It had been a few days since everything went down.

I was currently inside the hospital, covered in so many bandages that one probably couldn’t differentiate me from a mummy.

Apparently, I had been sleeping the entire time and was told that my brain had undergone a load equivalent of a supercomputer running at max capacity.

Even the doctor was surprised that I somehow pulled through.

Jokes aside, as I woke up, a few people visited like Aidan, Lohan, Cecilia, Grant and Riley. They all brought their share of the story and what happened after the fact.

The entire incident was dubbed ’Red Smoke Incident’ , or more officially, the Asgard Academy Breach Incident.

Most of the blame was pinned on White Noise, which quelled the public outrage somewhat. But one uncomfortable fact remained:

That an Operator cadet from Astaron had caused much of the damage.

So, under the official justification of "rehabilitation and recovery," Astaron recalled nearly every one of its cadets from Asgard Academy.

Their princess was the sole exception, remaining behind as a "peace offering" of sorts.

Well, it was more likely that she was a hostage of sorts, not to deter Astaron from anything, but for the people of Ygg to have peace of mind.

Though if I had to point out a biggest "winner" and "loser" of the incident, it would be relatively obvious.

The biggest winner, and one that I wasn’t too particularly fond of...was House Midgard.

Between witness testimonies and the usual exaggerations that followed them, I was credited with most of the contributions in shutting down the attack.

Even if it was complete nonsense...well, political narratives tend not to have room for ensemble casts.

Not to mention the fact that Nathan Midgard had appeared swiftly on the scene, using [World Frame] to just barely save the Asgard cadets who were heavily injured.

Asgard Academy had luckily managed to dodge a bullet, that being the complaints of the noble parents over their (almost) dead children.

Which leads straight to who was identified as the biggest loser...

It was obviously Asgard Academy.

The institution was under heavy fire from pretty much all sides.

Some blamed Asgard for failing to properly integrate the Astaron cadets, arguing that years of discrimination had created the resentment White Noise exploited.

Others blamed the Academy for failing to neutralize the attack the moment it began.

Somehow, Asgard had managed to be accused of both provoking the perpetrators and not crushing them quickly enough.

Granted, when the incident was happening, a few fake "hits" had been targeted in other areas like the Ygg-Astaron summit. So security details, which mostly came from Asgard’s staff, had their hands tied.

However people, under their rage and confusion, only cared about a single thing: "Is Asgard Academy truly the safest place to send my child?"

Or, perhaps more damningly:

"How can Asgard promise them a safe environment when it has already failed to do so once before?"

Yet, all Asgard Academy could do was put on a practiced smile and accept all the criticisms. Because frankly, saying anything would do them more harm than good.

If Asgard wanted to prove it still deserved to be called the greatest Operator academy in the Empire, it would have to do so through action.

And that was exactly why...

Student Council President Claire Vanaris was currently sitting in the chair beside my hospital bed.

She looked like she had a lot on her mind, and even if she’d been in the room for about five minutes already, not a single word was exchanged.

So instead, I decided to ask first, getting the elephant in the room out of the way so that any confusion would be cleared up.

"Did...did you know?"

"..."

"Yeah."

"For how long?"

"During the heir announcement ceremony. My mother told me directly...and asked me to keep an eye out."

Claire’s gaze fell to her lap. "Until then, I’d always thought of her as one of my father’s mistakes. One that I’d never have to see or worry about."

Her fingers tightened against her skirt. "But then she walked into the Academy, and..."

"I just didn’t know what to do about her."

"Colette told me what happened," Claire continued. "I thought me denying her from the Student Council would be a way to protect her from all of this. That it would keep her out of the public eye for just a little longer."

She sighed. "Or...maybe it was just my attempt at keeping my family’s scandal from coming to light..."

"Either way, I didn’t know that was what had fueled her hatred more," her gaze remained on her lap. "And I didn’t know that she had been working with White Noise, even then."

"So what happened to her?" I asked gingerly, though I already knew a part of it from what the others had told me.

"Well," Claire began. "Due to her choosing to confess most of her crimes as well as provide information on White Noise...she’s been spared from being put in Valhalla."

’Thank god...even someone like her wouldn’t survive in there.’

A part of me wondered whether Tina might’ve wanted to go. After all, her father was one of the few people currently imprisoned there.

"Still," she continued. "Tina was put in a high-security prison within Nidavel. Which is a relatively light sentence due to the fact that Colette Astaron chose to vouch for her."

Claire tilted her head, like something didn’t add up. "The more I thought about it, the less it made sense."

"I get that Tina was meant to be an expendable part of White Noise’s plan. But there should’ve been no way for them to influence her so completely."

"After all," Claire tapped at her own head. "Those from House Vanaris, whether main or branch family, all have innate resistance to Neural Interference Spells."

"So you’re saying she wasn’t brainwashed? That it was all just her own actions?"

"No," she shook her head. "I’m saying it wasn’t a Spell that did it."

My stomach sank, as I already had a fairly good idea of what she was about to say. I considered whether revealing it to her was the best option or not, but decided to hold off for now.

"The physicians found traces of something in her blood," Claire continued. "Prolonged exposure to the drug as well as an overdose of it caused her body to become weak."

"How long?"

"Months. Possibly longer."

I leaned back in my bed, the realization finally catching up to me. The plot had finally made sense.

The drug had amplified Tina’s existing hatred, gradually wearing down whatever restraint might’ve stopped her from acting on it, allowing White Noise to swoop in.

She had been a target all along.

It felt like I was slowly peeling back layers of details that I never got to see within the game through Leon’s lens.

Wait, if Mimir was partially saved and Tina was no longer the future Seer of White Noise, then it effectively meant I changed the plot, no?

Maybe stabilizing "canon" wasn’t me having to keep the plot the same as Pink Flag’s.

But then this begged the question...

Who—or what—gets to decide what was "canon"?

And if so, was this the same world as the game I knew and loved anymore?

Yet the longer I thought about it, the more one conclusion came to my mind. The world was already changed the moment Leon died.

This was no longer the world I knew.

If I was the Pseudo-Protagonist, then perhaps this world was a Pseudo-World.

A copy...

No.

A branching timeline born from the world that I used to know.

Ahhh this is all too confusing, I wish I could just sit back and watch the events unfold.

I sighed softly, before turning back to Claire, who was now cutting an apple and carving it into some kind of shape.

She was surprisingly good at it.

"So...what now?"

Claire’s knife stopped halfway through.

"I don’t know."

That wasn’t exactly the answer I’d expected from the Student Council President.

"I spent years pretending she wasn’t my problem," she continued. "I don’t think I’m allowed to keep doing that..."

"You’re going to visit her?"

"Yeah...Colette asked me to come along."

"...That’s good and all, but I was asking what happens to Asgard."

"Oh."

Claire resumed cutting the apple. "Well the obvious thing is to restore the public’s confidence in us."

"And how exactly do we do that?"

"By winning."

Her knife came down, and with one final cut, the apple’s shape unfolded into place, revealing a majestic tree.

"The Seven Branches Tournament begins in three weeks."