Chapter 56: Real Fake?

Chapter 56: Real Fake?

Natan stepped up to take the test.

Incidentally, he was also the last one to take part in this test. My eyes narrowed slightly as I saw him go up. One thing I knew for sure, was that this wasn't Nathan. At least not him in his usual state.

However, depending on this person's magical prowess, I can determine if they are blatantly just pretending to be them and just have an incredibly good disguise.

Charlotte hesitated, but spoke up.

"Y-You better do well, commoner! Don't disgrace the prestige of Class A."

Natan turned to her and gave a thumbs up.

"I'll try my best!"

He held out his finger. Unlike how it was normally with Nathan, there was no clear awkwardness in his expression. After roughly a minute, he finished.

And a fireball that was over fifty centimeters wide appeared in front of him. Many people sucked in cold breaths one after another, and this time people couldn't hold back their voices. n))O-(V-(E./l)(b(-I(/n

"What? How did he do it that fast?"

"Isn't that... the biggest fireball we've seen so far?"

"B-But that should be impossible!"

My eyelid twitched.

Whoever this was, their magical aptitude was probably very similar to Nathan's. However, I could tell this was far different from normal. The time he took wasn't too strange, as this wasn't far off what he usually took.

However, that fireball was nothing compared to the massive flamethrower I saw before. If this guy wanted to, he could destroy the entirety of the target. That I was pretty sure of. Not to mention, he definitely did not have this level of control before.

Natan thought for a little while with the giant fireball in his hands before flicking it a little awkwardly. It went at a weird angle and landed to the left of the target, which nobody had done yet.

With a massive explosion, the side of the ice target broke away.

Harold gave a few nods after seeing that.

"I see you've lowered your power to make it easier to control, which is the right idea. However, don't forget that you will have to control high volumes of mana in the future, so don't neglect it entirely."

Natan gave a salute to the teacher.

"Yes sir!"

Harold took a second glance at Natan. It looked like he realized something was strange too but brushed it off quickly after.

Strange.

This was strange.

Was someone simply possessing Nathan's body?

Or could it be that Nathan himself actually did end up transmigrating again somehow and left me alone here?

Now that I think about it, the personality he has now is incredibly similar to the protagonist of the shitty dating game. Could it be that it's actually him? Wait, what if there were two people with Natan's body just running around then?

My mind went back to what Nathan had told me earlier. Despite not doing anything, Charlotte came out of nowhere and displayed a large amount of affection for him. I didn't think about it too much then, but it appeared like I had to face the reality now.

At this point, class was over, so we were all guided back to the classroom to greet some math.

Karin, the teacher, would usually pick on either me or Nathan to give a 'hard' question just to see if we could solve it. Though at first, it was probably a bit out of malice, now she just seemed curious about the limits of our abilities.

And that was when Karin casually called Natan.

"Natan, how fast can you answer this question?"

On the board, was-

10 - 5 x 8

And upon seeing it, Natan noticeably panicked. His eyes darted to the left and right rather quickly. He brought his hands together and clasped them together almost like he was about to start begging for alms.

It was at this point I could confirm with complete certainty that this definitely wasn't Nathan, at least not mentally. He wouldn't have had trouble with this question at all.

But while that was true, I had a strange nagging feeling from the back of my head. It made me feel like I shouldn't purposefully make whoever this was have a harder life. That was also kinda common sense, as if Nathan really did transmigrate without me, then I would have to work with the hero, Natan.

Yet, I was pretty sure this nagging feeling was unrelated.

Deciding to follow my instincts, I raised my hand.

"Teacher, I believe Natan is currently exhausted. He had spent a very long time trying to manage a new business he was creating. Although he looks fine right now, I'm sure he's just barely keeping his eyes open."

As though to go against my words, Natan looked at me gratefully with wide and bright eyes.

...Couldn't this guy at least try to go along with my story? He didn't look exhausted at all.

Karin furrowed her brows after hearing what I had said. Probably because Natan did not look tired in the slightest. In fact, he seemed to have the most energy out of everyone here.

However, she decided not to question that part.

"He has attempted to start a business? I can't imagine that going very well. Most businesses need a large sum of starting capital to take off."

I waved my hand dismissively.

"It's fine, he's found something rather unique, meaning he doesn't need the starting capital to start this business."

Karin raised an eyebrow.

"...I suppose that is interesting. While I won't interfere with personal matters, understand that whether or not you are running a business won't change how we grade you at this school. If you wish to stay, then keep up with your studies."

Natan awkwardly scratched the back of his head with a wide smile on his face. He gave several small bows.

"Alright, alright!"

Karin smiled awkwardly before turning to me.

"Then why don't you answer the question?"

With a wave of a hand, I said the answer.

"Negative thirty."

Sam immediately let out a chuckle right after I had said that.

"It appeared like you rushed that, the real answer is forty!"

Although the others in the class didn't say anything, they looked at me as though looking in pity. It appeared they also thought it was forty. On the other hand, Karin let out a disappointed sigh.

"Did I not teach you all this on the third day?"

Sam huffed.

"It appears someone hasn't been listening to the teacher because of their arrogance!"

Karin nodded.

"Yes, that's true. The correct answer is negative thirty. Did you all seriously forget the lesson about order? Multiplication happens before subtraction!"

Sam's confident expression immediately fell.

As for me, I just let out a soft sigh, feeling a bit of pity for how low the level of math was here. After reprimanding Sam, she continued to show various examples and emphasized the importance of remembering the proper order in math.

Of course, this was all stuff you learn in elementary school.

Instead, I focused my gaze on Natan, who was listening to the lecture with a stiff smile. He scratched his hair in frustration several times within the class, clearly paying attention. But also clearly not understanding anything.

Soon enough class had ended, leading us to go to the cafeteria. I wondered what Natan was going to do, but he ended up sitting at the same table as me. Along with us, Arianne, Raisa, and Charlotte joined in.

Though the moment Charlotte had sat down, she began pestering Natan.

"Hey! It's respectable to start a new business, but you can't be overworking yourself!"

Natan let out a laugh and nodded a few times.

"Ah, okay, of course."

Charlotte reached out a hand to cover his forehead, trying to feel for a fever and also an excuse to touch him.

"Hmm... it doesn't look like you're sick, but that doesn't mean you can keep pushing yourself!"

Natan shot her a bright smile.

"Haha, thank you for looking out for me."

In response, Charlotte puffed up her cheeks.

"W-What? It's not like I'm looking out for a commoner, idiot! I'm just... trying to see if your business is worth investing in!"

While their conversation was happening, I just had my eyes on Natan. He seemed to get a little uncomfortable because of it and looked at me with a somewhat perplexed expression.

"Is something wrong?"

I chuckled before waving.

"Ah, nothing like that. I was just wondering how the business you started up was doing."

It wouldn't be strange of him to be able to flub his way through an answer as basically all of the aristocracy knew about it, but I just wanted to see if he knew at least this. In response, Natan smiled rather brightly.

"Oh! It went pretty well. There were some problems, but they were all dealt with. We were able to get a bit more than fifty gold on the first day! It could've been more, but Edward was starting to make weird sounds and said that he wanted a break."

My eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

This information felt... quite specific. It wasn't exactly secret, but most people wouldn't care to investigate things like this.

"So... how many did you sell?"

He tilted his head to the side and hummed.

"I think... I heard one hundred? But we also used some money to buy an animal to be prepared for you."

Heard one hundred?

That was a strange detail.

A possibility gradually formed in my mind, but if it was true then that would also have bad implications for me. As my worry grew, I noticed that Charlotte was shamelessly snuggling against him, and even rubbing the side of her face against his.

Natan simply giggled.

"Hey! That tickles!"

Charlotte pouted.

"A-Ah, sorry."

She then pulled her face away from him. This scene was actually one that was supposed to happen a little far off into the future. It wasn't anything special, but I was still reminded of it. It was at this point I felt that my thoughts were definitely confirmed.

This was Natan. As in, the actual protagonist of this shitty game. And from the looks of things, he had always been 'conscious' in a certain way. At least, enough for him to be able to observe what Nathan had been doing while he was in control.

From the sounds of his relationship with Charlotte, it appeared like the actual Natan had taken control of the body and talked with others without Nathan's knowledge. My hands grasped onto my own chin as I thought about that.

I wasn't all that concerned about Natan, as he at least wouldn't intentionally cause any trouble.

But what about Bryson?

It appeared that the main villain of the story still existed, and I was now sharing a body with him.