The Crown Prince Who Raises Alt Characters

#Chapter 291 Cat Pago (4) - Hi Pago! Tell me the formula to go down the stairs! Infiltrating the school was a task that required considerable effort. Even though there wasn't any barbed wire fence installed, the height of the wall at about 2 meters was itself a major obstacle. If you had some athletic ability and stamina, you could climb over it even if you had to struggle hanging on, but it was work that consumed considerable time and stamina. Even though it was nighttime, since it was the middle of the city, there was also the risk of being spotted by someone. In that sense, Popuri's response was somewhat novel. Because she ran back a short distance as if taking a running start, then used the subtle curves of the wall to propel herself up, and used her palm touching the top of the wall as a pivot to get over in one swift motion. Pago, who had been planning to advise stepping on the abandoned air conditioner unit in that corner where it couldn't be seen well, blinked his eyes. Even more so because he knew that the ability she had just demonstrated wasn't the result of any kind of mana or magical intervention. "Did you perhaps have some other mascot besides me?" "What are you suddenly talking about?" "I was wondering if you might be a magical girl disguised as a high school student." "...I just learned parkour because of some incident in the past." In technical terms, it was a technique called a Wall Run or a Vault. She didn't mention why an ordinary high school girl had acquired parkour skills. A girl with a heart as delicate as glass deserved the right to remain silent about her dark past. "More importantly, do magical girls really exist?" "Since supernatural entities can be anything, they might exist. Roughly four people with attributes like love, justice, happiness, and courage would do, wouldn't they?" "And do they help people?" "They pretend to help, then become corrupted into monsters of hatred, despair, greed, and anger and devour people." "That's a story you shouldn't tell children." While exchanging idle chatter, Popuri's feet had somehow reached the 5th floor. The stairs going down to the 4th floor illuminated by the flashlight were quite ordinary, but to Popuri's 'eyes', some strange distortion was visible. Phew. After taking a deep breath, Popuri took out a thread ball about the size of a thick kitchen towel from her bag and tied it to the railing part of the stairs. Pago said as if dumbfounded. "If you're going to do that, why not prepare something like rope and tie it to your body? That would be less likely to break and more reliable." "I don't have money because a certain cat who lives somewhere kept demanding cat supplies he doesn't even use." In modern society, there are few things you can't get if you have money. Reversely, without money, no matter how abundant modern civilization is, it's difficult to receive those benefits. Moreover, sturdy ropes capable of securing a human body, like those used for mountain climbing or glacier exploration, were quite expensive. Even cheap ones cost around 150,000 won, while expensive ones cost over 300,000 won. In comparison, if you buy about 1kg of thread sold for textile machines, you can cover over 3000m while the price is around 20,000 won. There wasn't even room for consideration. "Hmm, well, the mystical meaning is important for this kind of thing. Thread doesn't seem bad either. The story of escaping a maze where monsters roam is famous, isn't it? Rising from a mere high school girl to a princess - I can't help but congratulate you." When Popuri glared sharply at Pago, Pago went "meow, meow" and suddenly pretended to forget human speech. He was truly a detestable beast. Without realizing that the tension that had built up in her shoulders had been released thanks to this, Popuri began the incantation. "One." Each time you go down the stairs, count the number of that stair. "Two." At first, there was no particular change. An ordinary person would probably only see the normal appearance of the 4th floor. But as the numbers got larger, Popuri's eyes could see the misty, blurred scenery gradually becoming clearer. By the time she counted eight, the real landscape and the otherworldly landscape overlapped with similar image quality, and by around twelve, the original world appeared only as blurred shadows. "Thirteen." Popuri looked down at her feet. This should have been the moment when she should have already reached the 4th floor. Indeed, she could see her own shoes stepping on the 4th floor corridor in the pale shadow-like scenery. On the other hand, she could also see herself stepping on the still-continuing stairs. This was the last chance to turn back. If it were the usual Popuri, who would avoid dangerous things and try not to get involved if possible, she would have turned back immediately. Nevertheless, Popuri stepped forward. Not because of any great belief or reason, but to help a friend she cared about. Without seeing the cat beside her, whose face looked strangely excited, Popuri stepped forward and shouted. "Fourteen!" Swaah! Her vision changed. The traces of the normal school had disappeared without even remaining as faint illusions, and instead only the appearance of long stairs could be seen. Looking back was the same. There was only endless darkness. But when Popuri pulled the thread, she could feel the taut sensation of the thread extending into the darkness. It was just as Pago had said. The struggle against supernatural entities is a battle of perception, images, and rules. And thread balls have very strong symbolism as tools for escaping from spaces whose full extent cannot be known. Popuri energetically went down. "Twenty-three" Just how long are these stairs? There's no end in sight. "■■■." My legs hurt. It's hard. My throat is dry. I think I have quite a bit of stamina, but my body is strangely exhausted. "■■■!" Is there even an end to this place? Wouldn't it be better to jump off the side of the stairs so I could reach the bottom instantly? Yes, I need to act quickly to save Hinosaka. Let's quickly jump off the stairs. Jumping off is the right choice. Jump off. Jump off. Jump off. Jump off Jump off. Jump off. Jump off. Jump off. Jump right now and fall to the ground and have your head crushed and brain matter scattered and die— "Hey." "Ow!" Popuri was startled by the pain she felt on her cheek. When she reflexively touched her cheek, blood was flowing down. Beside her was a cat with its claws extended. "You heinous monster!! You've finally shown your true colors!!" "You're the one who threw off the mask of a quiet, timid girl, active violent girl. That's enough, so take a step back right now." Step back? Popuri, who had been wondering what that meant, looked down at her feet and was horrified. Dangerous stairs with no railings or handholds. She had been preparing at the edge, as if she would jump off at any moment. The fact that she didn't stumble and misstep while panicking was thanks to her experience with such phenomena. Excessive reactions are naturally incompatible with stealth action mystery genres. "From the middle onward, you just walked without answering even when I spoke to you, with eyes like you were possessed by something. Then you were about to jump off, so I scratched you. Got any complaints?" "...No, I mean, thank you." She would have preferred it if he had done it somewhere other than her face, but that would be like complaining about him not saving her phone after pulling her out of the water. Popuri was a girl who knew shame. "Mental interference. This is. I thought I had more resistance than others, though." "Maybe having it halfheartedly made it more dangerous. I thought you might wake up if I left you alone, so I was just trying to send you off early." The emotion Popuri felt at those words was closer to relief than eeriness. If she was a special case, didn't that mean that at least Hinosaka hadn't been subjected to this kind of dynamic suicide compulsion? "How many steps did I count?" "From the middle on, it wasn't human language but some kind of strange sound that I couldn't understand. Besides, you started giving half-hearted responses to me at twenty-four, and started uttering something other than human language at thirty-four. This place is forty-four now." "So numbers ending with 4 is dangerous." "Well, it's a typical case. 4, 13. Those are representative numbers that come to mind for unlucky things, aren't they?" "Then if we go down without counting numbers..." Hmm, Popuri's body trembled. She couldn't step forward. No matter how much strength she put into her body, she couldn't move to the next stair as if something was holding her back. As if counting numbers itself was the rule for moving forward. "...Should we just count while going? If I try to do something strange again, Pago-san can wake me up." "I don't really want to recommend that. Look at that." Saying that, Pago gestured upward with his chin. When Popuri looked up at his words, there was suddenly a sign hanging conspicuously in the air. The letters written there were bizarre characters that Popuri didn't know, but as she looked closely, the content changed into something Popuri could understand. [Currently 44/4444 stairs.] Looking at those letters dripping with blood, Popuri let out a groan. "They have no intention of letting us through properly." "If we assume the mental attack gets stronger every time we say 4, it's hopeless in many ways. By around 444, wouldn't you be smiling while doing a bungee jump without a cord?" Additionally, Popuri hated such extreme sports. Why did the social prejudice that people with good athletic ability would also like such things even arise? Popuri racked her brain. "On stairs where you must count numbers to go down, telling us to reach 4444 without saying 4, what kind of nonsense is this..." "It's not impossible." "What?" At Pago's words, Popuri tilted her head. Pago stepped on the step they were currently standing on with his cat paw and asked. "What step do you think this is?" "You said it was step 44?" "You could also say it's step 230." (E/N: You fcking monster. Why not count in binary while we are at it!) "What are you talking about?" "If you don't understand, it's important to try it first. Try going down while saying 231." Popuri frowned but tried doing as instructed. And she realized. "Huh?" She could go down. The pressure she felt earlier, like her body was being forcibly held back, wasn't felt. No, to be precise, there was some pressure, but it was about the level of walking with your ankles submerged in shallow water, so it wasn't that difficult. "How did you do that?" "There's not just one way to count numbers in the world - the decimal system. 44 in binary is 101100, in ternary it's 1122, and in quaternary system it's 230. Additionally, quaternary system uses 0, 1, 2, 3, so no matter what you do, you'll never have to pronounce 4." At Pago's words that he could do binary or ternary too but chose quaternary system to make it easier to pronounce, Popuri gaped in amazement. Does that... work? No, it does work. It worked, so that's why she could go down. "Then we can keep going down with this!" "Well. It's possible, but a bit troublesome. After all, we still have to count one by one while going down." Isn't that obvious? Popuri thought so, but Pago seemed to think differently. "Once we know that number tricks work, there's no need to laboriously go down one by one. We just need regularity. First count normally from 1 to 45, then a rule that can skip to 4444. This should work." Pago scratched some kind of formula on the stairs with his front paw claws. Popuri, faithful to her duty as a female student, frowned with instinctive disgust as soon as she saw the formula. f(n) = n + { 4398 / 45! } × (n-1)(n-2)(n-3)···(n-45) (E/N: Oh no. Not factorial. Please, spare me, math god...) "...Is this supernatural sorcery?" (E/N: For the fortunate ones to have escaped math hell that have trouble understanding: for n between 1 to 45, f(n)=n. But, f(46) = 4444) "It's a future that you might have to learn if you evolve into a science student, blackie. If you don't understand, I'll just call out each pronunciation for you, so recite it as is while stepping forward." Popuri did as instructed. Honestly, it felt like outputting what she heard through her ears directly through her mouth without going through her brain, but it was effective. The more she recited that strange incantation(?), the more her feet stepped toward the next stairs. Not only that, despite the fact that they were clearly in the same place, they even felt like the surrounding scenery was rapidly passing by. The space filled entirely with darkness disappeared, and the appearance of the school - ceiling, walls, windows - appeared. Finally, at the moment Popuri finished reciting the formula, her feet touched the corridor. It looked exactly like Popuri's school. But it was a space where everything was faded like a black and white photograph. Among the students and teachers whose eye sockets were hollowly pierced where their eyeballs should have been, Hinosaka could be seen walking blankly through the corridor with hazy eyes, still maintaining the colors of this world. Grooooooh! Was it angry at Popuri for entering using a shortcut? A monster that seemed to be in the position of a PE teacher approached Popuri while shouting something intimidating... ---------------------------------------------- "Why is this baseball bat so cheap?" "They say it's a masterpiece." "What?" "A retired baseball player held it once and said it was a masterpiece. A talent who should have been a blacksmith in fantasy was rotting away as a scrap dealer in modern times, he said. But then he also said it's no good for baseball. Using something like this would be perfect for crippling your arms, he said. But what can you do." "I'll buy it." ---------------------------------------------- Peoooork! The master craftsman's 5-star baseball bat, born in the wrong era and environment, trembled with joy at finding a good owner in the hands of the angry high school girl. While the supernatural PE teacher with a crushed head fell backward, Popuri declared. "I hate fighting, so get out of the way."