There’s this thing called Heinrich’s Law.
It’s the law that before any big event happens, there are always countless small events and signs, and it definitely seems to be true.
“Ha, what the hell is this…?”
I just experienced that small accident myself, so how could I say it didn’t happen?
I wake up to find a wall missing, and beyond it, a complete mess of a room.
Hmm, I’m a bit confused if this counts as a ‘small’ accident. But compared to the whole building collapsing, one wall is pretty minor, right?
Looking closer, I see a messy-looking guy buried under all sorts of lab equipment, fast asleep.
That lunatic… I knew he’d blow up the dormitory someday, but I didn’t expect him to cause this kind of accident in just one day.
I thought things wouldn’t stay quiet for long, but this is a bit much. What are we supposed to do if they suddenly make us share a room?
But seeing him sleeping so soundly, it seems he has no idea what happened, so I stomped over to his room to wake him up.
As I got closer and kicked away the flasks covering him, I could finally see what he looked like.
Spiky white hair and a skinny frame. Wearing a white lab coat, it’s clear that if he keeps this up, he’ll turn into the stereotypical mad scientist we all imagine.
Even though he’s young, he’s already got the makings of someone who could blow up the entire dormitory.
“Hey, wake up.”
“Ugh… who is it?”
He groggily wakes up and our eyes meet.
Still half-asleep, he stares at me blankly, then jumps back in shock.
“W-who are you! Don’t you dare set foot in Frank’s lab without permission!”
His name, as I just said, is Frank.
And his family name is Kenshtein.
Yeah. Frank Kenshtein. It’s a parody of that famous name.
No wonder he’s a mad scientist, even his name is a joke.
He doesn’t seem to realize what he’s done wrong, so I just point at the missing wall without saying a word.
My room, though still a bit messy, is much cleaner compared to his, and it’s now completely exposed.
“W-what? What the…?”
Frank freezes, as if his brain has stopped working, then suddenly flops down on the floor.
“I’m sorry! Can we keep this a secret, please?”
And then he starts begging like that.
How would the original Rudion have responded? I don’t know about that, but my answer was already set in stone.
“No.”
“Please! If you could just reconsider for a moment…!”
Frank starts desperately clinging to my firm response.
But my decision was unwavering.
“Wait, isn’t this Lord Rudion? What an honor to have such a distinguished person in the next room!”
He slowly starts to figure out who I am, even throwing in some flattery, trying his hardest to change my mind… but despite that, my decision remained firm.
No. I won’t change it. I have no intention of changing it. Go back quickly.
You think I’d just let this slide? No way. If I let this incident go unchecked, it’s bound to lead to a major disaster. In this case, the dormitory collapsing would be a sure thing.
To prevent that, this needed to be handled properly.
Luckily, I’m part of the Student Council, so I knew exactly what to do.
Report it to Alkiné, make it public, and convene the disciplinary committee again.
Then, just like yesterday with Seria, I’ll have Frank sit in the same spot and watch as the proceedings go more smoothly this time.
Since he hasn’t caused a major incident yet, he’ll probably just get some periodic surveillance or have his experimental tools confiscated as punishment.
“If I succeed in the future, I’ll give all the credit to you, Lord Rudion. And I’ll even let you use all the results of my work for free, so please, just this once…”
He probably has some idea of what’s coming, which is why he’s so desperate.
And seeing him like that made me think.
Is it really the right thing to block his experiments now?
No, if you stop guys like this, they just go even crazier. It might even lead to the dormitory collapsing faster. It’s definitely not because I’m tempted by his offer of glory and free access to his results.
…Honestly, I am tempted.
But listen, if I can use the results of a mad scientist that doesn’t even appear in the original work, how could I resist?
Before I knew it, my heart was leaning toward helping him.
So, what should I do?
After a brief moment of thought, the answer became clear.
“Hey, get ready for school.”
“There’s still about two hours until school starts… No, sir! I’ll get ready right away!”
Yeah, just follow along like that.
You know what they say, if you listen to the experienced players, even while sleeping, good things will come your way. Trust me and follow along.
After finishing the preparations and stepping outside the dormitory, it was eerily quiet and empty.
It’s still…
It was still way too early to head to school, so it made sense. Most people were probably still asleep.
Frank, who had been dragged out at such an ungodly hour, was hesitating but still managed to follow me closely.
I told him to just follow me since he’d figure it out when we got there, but he looked pretty anxious about it… Not like I planned to be nice to the guy who busted through my dorm wall, so I kept quiet.
The truth was, Frank’s shoddy and dangerous experiments in the dorm were a result of discrimination.
He was assigned to the lower class, and the lower class didn’t get proper research support.
Of course, it wasn’t the Academy’s fault. The real issue was that someone as serious as him ended up here instead of becoming a researcher.
In the end, the dorm collapse incident was a disaster caused by lower-class students not being given proper facilities.
So, if he got a proper place, he wouldn’t need to experiment in the dorm, and the dorm collapse issue would naturally disappear.
A perfect solution.
Now, all we needed was to find a proper place… The Academy’s vast grounds had quite a few unused spaces.
There were even a bunch of dummy buildings that were never used once until the game ended.
But that was just in the game. Now that it’s reality, someone might be using them, right?
So, we had to find a building that was definitely empty.
The place we were heading to now was exactly that.
A building tucked away in the deepest, most remote corner where no one ever set foot.
It looked like it had been abandoned halfway through construction, and I was sure no one lived there.
Of course, getting there meant memorizing the layout of the dense forest, so we’d probably get lost for a while… But honestly, there was no place more fitting for our current situation.
After walking for about 40 minutes, the building I was looking for finally came into view.
“We’re here.”
“…What is this place?”
A fairly large wooden cabin.
A mysterious structure that definitely existed in the game but had no interactions whatsoever.
As expected, there was no sign of anyone here.
Yeah, if anyone was here, it’d probably be a ghost.
…Now that I think about it, that’s kinda scary. I decided not to think about ghosts.
Frank, who had been looking around the random cabin, casually approached me and said something weird.
“Are you planning to bury me in the woods or something?”
“I wanted to.”
“What do you take me for?”
“With such good intentions, I even came to an empty house for you. And all I get in return is you thinking you were about to be killed.”
“But honestly, it wouldn’t be weird to think that way.”
“You messed up, got dragged out without being forgiven, and then taken deeper into a dark forest? For like 40 minutes?”
“Oh… now that I think about it, it’s a miracle I didn’t run away sooner.”
“But hey, in the end, I helped you find the house, so it’s all good, right? Now, do your experiments here instead of the dorm.”
When I said that, his eyes sparkled as he stared intently at the cabin.
“Um… can I go inside?”
“Sure.”
Curious about the interior myself, I told him to go ahead. It’s not like it’s my house anyway.
I was also curious, so I casually followed him in. I never got to go inside in the game.
Once we entered the cabin, it was cleaner than I expected.
Well, more like completely empty, so aside from the dust on the floor, there wasn’t much to make it messy.
Of course, I kept my mouth shut because who knows what would happen if I said that out loud.
While I was thinking that, Frank, who was looking around inside, started excitedly talking about how satisfied he was…
“With this much space, I can finally do the experiments I’ve only been planning! Over here, I’ll do this… and over there…”
He started mumbling to himself about what he’d do, so I didn’t really need to listen anymore.
I tapped Frank on the shoulder, who was lost in his own world.
“Got it, let’s head back. If we leave now, we’ll make it back in time for school.”
“You’re right. On the way back, I should mark a few spots. It probably won’t be easy to find this place again…”
“Do whatever.”
It’s not like anyone’s going to come here anyway.
Even if someone does find the marks and comes here, it’s Frank who’ll be in trouble, not me.
I just need to sit back and wait for him to finish whatever he’s doing. This is like an idle game.
