Stop Writing! [Magical Academy Litrpg]

Alec had always been an author at heart. Maybe because of his nature, maybe because of the amount of books he had read in his formative years, he had the habit of treating people as if they were characters in a book. At least that was how he treated people he didn’t know.

Most authors had a habit of writing expandable, one-dimensional characters. And Alec was no different. But, writing a one-dimensional character was an art on its own. Because such a character was more of a natural force rather than a human, they had to be written differently from one.

Alec had devised a simple strategy to write the most effective fodder characters, and that was to give them a singular emotion. If he needed a petty antagonist, he would fuel them with hate and watch them try to destroy everything that came their way. If he wanted a character that stood by the protagonist, he would give them an unending sense of loyalty.

Obviously, real humans had more than one emotion. Although they could act like mob characters in certain situations, that would be merely situational. But what if that wasn’t the case? What if there were people who were made up of a singular emotion?

This was what made Alec realize the dire situation they were in.

Memories are the essential building block of a human’s personality. What if people lost a huge amount of their memories, and only a handful amount of them remained? They would start losing their emotions and become hyper-focused, one-dimensional people.

‘And that’s how a mob character is born,’ Alec thought. As the people in the room kept staring at him for further explanation, he sighed deeply. ‘The more that thing devours memories and destroys personalities, the more people will become mob characters. Mere extras. So, this academy will start lining up with my assumptions of a generic magic academy.’

‘And what happens in a generic magical academy?’ he contemplated. There was going to be an award ceremony the day after, and if Alec managed to go through the award ceremony, he would be able to go to the second level of the library. Where he would presumably solve the mystery behind the academy. ‘There is no way the award ceremony is held without any problems. Even if my theory is wrong, that thing won’t let me go to the library without a fight.’

“Iris, do you have a list of the people I asked you to follow?” Alec asked. Iris nodded and searched through her bag for a few short moments before handing him a couple of papers.

“All are written there.”

“Great,” Alec answered as he browsed through. He then shifted his gaze toward the new disciplinary committee members.

These three hand-picked members were all CQC mages. To the left, trying to hide behind Evan timidly was a girl with short black hair. The funny thing was, she was taller than Evan by at least a head, placing her somewhere between 195 and 200 centimeters (6’ 4” – 6’ 5”). The girl was called Lea and had a rather muscular body, somewhat similar to that of Alec, albeit taller. Unlike Evan who focused mainly on magical gauntlets, she was a close-range spellcaster relying on her agility to quickly cast low-cost spells at point-blank range. However, she could still hold her own when it came to fistfighting because of her size.

The other guy was called Mark. He had brown hair and hazel eyes and was relatively short for a close combat mage. He was more of an assassin specialization with unarmed enhancement and anti-memetic spells.

The last one was named Archer and was the only one who used a weapon. He had a magical staff spear, both usable as a spear for close combat and as a spellcasting aid. Alec would be lying if he didn’t feel slightly jealous. Fortunately enough, he would be taking his revenge later by replicating the thing with The Author’s Pen.

“Thank you all for coming,” Alec thanked sincerely. Although these committee members didn’t trust him deeply or anything, he didn’t need such a thing from them. He was their boss after all. “Although this is a bit of a personal ordeal, I have some tasks for each of you.”

Seeing the three nod along, Alec started explaining.

“I have recently noticed some strange behavior from a group of students,” he said. “I suspect that they might be involved in some heinous plan. Although this is just an observation, it’s better to be prepared for what is to come.”

“Shouldn’t you report this to the Professors?” Archer asked with crossed arms. He was a bona-fide skepticist, who questioned pretty much anything.

Alec shook his head in answer and explained.

“No. Depending on the professor we go and talk to, we might alert the other side to our actions. They might be colliding with some of the teachers,” Alec said. After all, some of the professors could have also lost their memories and become mob characters. He didn’t know who the entity would mix into the situation. It was better to not alert the authorities. “I want all of you to be safe.”

“I see…” Archer muttered. Although he didn’t seem too convinced, he still accepted the explanation.

Asking for a few pages and a pen, Alec grouped some names and wrote them onto different papers before handing over the lists to the trio.

“I want you all to look into these students discreetly,” he said. “However, while looking into them, I want you to check into each other’s search every hour. No matter what happens. Even if you are about to learn something about your target, stop your operation and go look for each other.”

Seeing the trio’s confused expressions, Alec didn’t explain further but turned to Evan.

“Can you check on them, let’s say… Every three hours?” he asked. Evan nodded along. Seeing him agree, the trio seemed to relax a little bit.

“I am feeling a little bit ignored,” Edward suddenly said. He had a bitter smile on his face. He had been ripped away from his student council work after all. Switching his gaze toward the disciplinary committee for a short few seconds, Alec kindly asked them to leave the room and start the operations.

As they closed the door behind them, Alec’s expression became grim. This sudden change alerted both Edward and Douglas.

“I assume this isn’t as simple as you made it seem to them,” Douglas guessed. “How probable is a skirmish?”

“It seems so to me too. If needed, I’m ready to fight for this academy,” Edward chimed in. Alec’s brows rose in surprise. He was readying himself to convince the two by using some deception.

“You trust me?” Alec asked. The question was directed toward the two at the same time.

“Of course. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have made you the head of the disciplinary committee. It was created for exactly this type of situation after all,” Edward said. Alec used to think of him as a sly person, someone who controlled things from behind the scenes. Now, however, Edward had a blazing glint similar to that of a lion ready to fight for its life in his eyes. “When the authorities are occupied, distracted, or simply dysfunctional, it is the duty of the youth to take over. We might lack the power, but we compensate for it in fervor and chauvinism. Not to mention, I have also started feeling like something is going on in the academy.”

If Alec was actually as young as these people and was actually born in this world, he might have been impressed, or even motivated by these words.

‘This guy is the perfect leader,’ he thought. He then turned his head toward Douglas.

“Don’t look at me. I’m simply here for the fun. It seemed like I could find some new uses for some magic missiles,” Douglas simply commented, which destroyed the emotional atmosphere in the room.

“Great,” Alec said honestly. “Be ready to fight to the bitter end on the day of the award ceremony. Things might go haywire very quickly. Because of our lack of power, we will have to stick together and blitz through the battle if needed.”

“It’s that serious?” Edward asked. His brows furrowed. “Are you sure you can’t tell us more about it?”

Alec shook his head. Which Edward didn’t question further.

“That’s okay then,” he said. “I will mobilize some people who I find trustworthy. For now, I will go back to my student council work.”

“Thank you,” Alec said. Edward and Douglas exited the room, leaving Alec, his dorm mates, and Iris together. “I assume we too are exempt from this knowledge,” Alexei asked emotionlessly. Alec nodded hesitantly in answer. He couldn’t explain anything even if he wanted to.

“It’s okay. I’ll leave now,” Alexei continued. “This place makes my head feel weird.”

“Mm,” Alec nodded. After Alexei and Thomas left too, the tension in the room finally went down.

“Why do you think the professors haven’t noticed the situation yet?” Evan suddenly asked. Alec didn’t know if he was trying to change the topic or if he was genuinely curious. “You think they are actually working in tandem with the being?”

“No,” Alec answered. He had seen plenty of signs from a lot of professors that they were being influenced too. He specifically had doubts about Professor Isabel, who had become unreasonably aggressive lately. “My theory is, the being is exerting more energy to suppress the professors. That’s one of the reasons why we are currently capable of having this conversation.”

“I see…” Evan muttered. Then, a bitter smile appeared on his face. “It’s great that we three are together like the old times.”

“What?” Alec instinctively asked. He looked at Iris and noticed that she was also smiling similarly. “What ‘old times’? Didn’t you meet just today?”

“Oh…” Evan muttered. Then, he realized that something had happened to his memories once again. “You are right, it has always been us two,” he said to Alec with a chuckle.

“Yep…” Alec muttered. However, somewhere in his heart, he felt a deep sadness in that statement. “Just the two of us…”