The Protagonist Already Knows

Chapter 21: Deviations

Uncapping the water bottle and holding it above her lips, I sighed as water flowed into her mouth.

"You know, the first day of our advisory exam is tomorrow. You’ll be exhausted."

Pausing in between massive gulps of water, Lily answered.

"Who cares!? Do you even understand what I’ve just made!? Also, slower! slower!"

Indeed, with Lily’s invention, low-ranked heroes from E to D could easily cast spells far above their current power levels.

You could hand the metal armband to a hero who had just completed their trial within a gate, and they would already be a formidable force against Dregs.

Shrugging my shoulders, I dropped the now empty water bottle on the ground and leaned back in my stool.

"How could I not understand it? I fixed it."

Ignoring her glare, I continued.

"What do you plan on doing with it?"

Clicking her tongue, Lily simply responded.

"What does it matter to you?"

Curious to see if she would do the exact same thing as she did in the novel, I pushed.

"I’m just curious."

After a few moments of silence, she finally answered.

"Probably...just sell the blueprints to ’The Grove.’ "

Indeed, she was going to hand the invention to her father just l-

Interrupting me mid-thought, Lily burst into a fit of laughter, her body weakly trembling as she giggled like a psychopath.

"Ha! Do you even know how much money I could make if I manufactured and sold these!? I wouldn’t have to work in this shitty lab anymore; I could fund my own experiments! He’d be furious!"

Pausing for a moment, I met her eyes.

When she had completed the mechanical armband in the original timeline, she was likely more mature and on better terms with her father, which led her to sell it to the Grove.

Unexpectedly, though, even as Lily declared a different intent from the novel, no chaotic thoughts flooded through my head about the potential butterfly effect consequences.

It was proof, wasn’t it?

Proof that my actions could change the world. Proof that I could actually prevent tragedies that happened in the origina novel from happening.

Anyway, whether she commercialized the mechanical arm or sold blueprints to The Grove, heroes would get their hands on them much sooner than in the novel, saving millions of lives.

My goal was thus complete.

Her pupils locked onto my figure, she added, a malicious grin still on her face.

"I don’t suppose you’re expecting a cut..?"

Turning away, I stood up and responded, ignoring her shocked expression.

"I’ll be alright."

"..."

I’d have plenty of opportunities in the future to make money, and I would prefer not to get too close to any of the main characters.

Especially, with the first event of the school year on the horizon, I would prefer to avoid Lily to prevent any unnecessary suspicion from falling onto me.

Recalling Ren’s gaze back in the classroom, I shivered and approached the laboratory door, picking up my mini-mechanical armband on the way out.

Grabbing a pair of keys sitting near the exit, I looked backward at Lily lying on the ground and shouted.

"I’ll lock the door, so no one can come in."

Without waiting for her response, I left the laboratory and returned to my room, exhaustedly collapsing on my bed without even bothering to change out of my bloody uniform.

[5:00 AM]

"Ah...the things I do."

...

...

...

Her head pressed against the cold white-tile floor, Lily managed to tilt her head, gazing at the now locked laboratory door.

"...what is it with him?"

For no reason whatsoever, he had walked into the laboratory and helped her figure out how to make her mechanical armband work.

Despite her attempts to cut off her arm and feed him torturous potions, he didn’t falter.

She had expected him to want some sort of cut, of course, of the profit stemming from the product, but the boy...was indifferent.

"It’s Ash, and I didn’t intend to join a guild, anyway."

Recalling the boy’s odd introduction, Lily raised her limp right arm and quickly searched the academy database on her smartwatch.

[Ash Fell / Rank: #99 / Element: ???]

"Fell...like the Arrow Hero?"

Attempting to come up with some sort of rationale for the boy’s mysterious actions, Lily continued searching for information on the boy’s family, but nothing came up.

Except...an interesting document.

Her father, the head of The Grove, naturally had access to confidential information and databases.

And, naturally, Lily had hacked her father’s computer, stealing access to that information.

Searching the legal database system, which contained information about petitions and court trials, Lily stumbled upon an interesting legal document.

[Petition to remove last name: Ash Fell. Petioner: Tristan Fell]

The article was crossed out, signaling it had been discarded.

"A family political battle...?"

Was he trying to gain her favor, so she could help him in this "last name" political battle?

Certainly, if she, with her background, endorsed Ash, no members of the Fell family would be able to stand against him.

Surely, that was it, right?

But then... why did he nonchalantly bring up that his family didn’t want him?

Sighing, Lily realized she was wasting her precious thoughts on useless things and closed her eyes.

However, like chalk scraping across a blackboard, Ash’s voice sounded in her ears.

"You’re doing it wrong."

"You’re doing it wrong."

Like a choir, Ash’s multiple voices synchronized together in her ears.

But...how did he know?

How did he know how to capture intent...? Was he a scientist?

There was no way he had come up with the method on the spot...right?

So then, why had he told her this instead of going to some corperation and selling the information?

How did he know she needed that piece of information...Lily made sure her experiments were secretive.

Finally succumbing to an overwhelming sense of exhaustion with those lingering thoughts, Lily slowly drifted off to sleep on the laboratory floor, definitely not for the first or last time.