Amidst this cold chaos, a person's figure unexpectedly emerged in Victoria's mind.
Greg Sass.
The former Duke's son who was once arrogant and foolish, but had now become unpredictable.
The man who had caused her trouble at the start of the term, yet saved Silvia in the dungeon and casually tossed the precious Reflection Gem to her.
Thinking of that gem, Victoria's left fingertips unconsciously brushed against the small pouch tucked under her hospital gown, hanging from her neck.
The cold outline of the crystal sent a clear sensation through the fabric.
This Reflection Gem was originally the key to her planned reversal of the match.
She had intended to dodge the Flame Burst, then use the moment of the violent explosion and the rising dust as cover to activate the Reflection Gem. Then, she would use the Mid-tier magic, Wind Pressure Cannon, to strike Lilith from an unexpected blind spot and secure final victory.
But the reality was that she hadn't even had the chance to use the gem.
The plan had utterly collapsed at the very first step.
At this thought, another complex emotion quietly took root in her heart.
Toward Greg, Victoria's feelings had always been clear—dislike.
She hated his past actions, his annoying face, and that gaze of his that seemed to see through everything.
Even after he saved Silvia and gave her the gem, the guard in her heart had never truly vanished.
But now...
She touched the gem at her neck.
Even knowing clearly that she disliked him, he had still entrusted the gem to her, yet she had failed that trust.
A sense of guilt that made her even more irritable wound around her like tiny thorns.
She hated this feeling, hated this emotion that was too complex to be summarized simply as dislike.
It made her feel even more pathetic, even more of a... failure.
Just as Victoria was being unsettled by these churning thoughts, a shout from the room next door suddenly interrupted her.
...
"Little Vi! Little Vi, what's wrong with you, Little Vi? You can't die! We've depended on each other, shared joys and sorrows for so many years! I've taught you and raised you like my own flesh and blood—I never thought I'd be the one burying you!"
Inside Room 303, Greg was hunched over the bedside in a state of complete disarray.
As for the source of this disarray, it was naturally thanks to his staggering negative ten points in Luck.
On the way to the hospital, he had first run into a patrolling teacher who mistook him for a suspicious character and fired several warning Fire Sparks at him.
While scrambling to evade the pursuit, he had accidentally disturbed a half-formed Wandering Evil Spirit, a mini-boss that wasn't supposed to appear until the end of the first chapter in the original story.
After a chaotic scramble, he finally managed to reach the hospital entrance alive.
This made him seriously doubt whether his efforts to avoid known death CG trigger points were truly meaningful.
Because with this cursed luck, it seemed he could unlock a brand-new way to die anytime, anywhere, as long as he set foot on the surface.
In short, after going through countless hardships to sneak into this room—which in his memory was the protagonist's exclusive hospital room—Greg had collapsed directly onto the patient on the bed, who was wrapped up like a mummy, and began to weep bitterly.
Although he didn't know the specific details of the Placement Exam, for Victoria to have actually lost and taken a Flame Burst head-on, ending up in such a half-dead state...
In an instant, Greg's heart was filled with a sense of shared dread.
Because if Victoria fell, who was going to save this godforsaken world for him?!
Was it going to be him, a man who could trigger a death CG at any moment just by being above ground?
Even without this ridiculous luck, he absolutely did not want to walk the grueling path of trials in the protagonist's stead!
"Hang in there, Victoria! You're a woman with the Hero's Protection! How can you fall to a mere fatal wound?!"
"I believe in you, so you should believe in yourself! You can do this!"
Just as Greg was frantically pouring on the motivational clichés, hoping the person on the bed would regain their vitality as soon as possible, the hospital room door creaked open.
Victoria, her arm wrapped in bandages, leaned against the doorframe. Her cold gaze, sharp as a blade, pierced into Greg's back.
"Hey," she said, her voice not loud but carrying a distinct chill. "What are you doing?"
"?"
Greg's body stiffened, and he slowly turned his head with a face full of confusion.
"You... you look remarkably like an old friend of mine!"
Victoria replied, "Did a monster in the dungeon eat your brain? I am the real Victoria!"
Greg stammered, "For real? You took a Flame Burst head-on—even if its mastery was only LV1—and you only took this much damage?"
Then he suddenly remembered that Victoria was blessed with the Hero's Protection. It seemed quite reasonable that she would only suffer minor injuries even after taking a Flame Burst directly.
"Since nothing much happened to you, then who the hell is this on the bed?"
Greg's gaze focused on the bed.
Through the gaps in the layers of bandages, he met a pair of eyes that were filled with bewilderment, terror, and complete unfamiliarity.
Greg: "..."
The mummy on the bed: "???"
Rate on N.U.
