A Villainess by a Different Name

by YuriSalvation

Summary:

Yumiella Dorkness has found herself in a strange dream. She has woken up in the body of a Villainess of a different game, Claire Francois from another game Yumiella played, Revolution.

Except that it was actually no dream.

Without explanation, Yumiella has been dragged into another otome game world away from her family and her powers, but this time she doesn't have any of Claire's memories. To make matters even more confounding, the first thing that Yumiella wakes up to is the protagonist of Revolution declaring that she has fallen in love with the villainess.

Chapter 1: Dream

“Claire? Is that you?”

“Claaaaaaaaaaire”

 

Huh.

I was being stared at by a young girl sitting at her desk, who was seemingly calling out my name.

 

“Oh um.” I started flatly while feeling very groggy, as if I had just woken up despite me clearly standing. “Yes, hello.”

The girl looked equally dazed and started looking at her surroundings. Now that I had a chance to focus, it seems like I was back in the Royal Academy, but the uniforms looked slightly different than how I remembered. It was the same color palette as what I knew, but the style of clothing was slightly different. I also don’t remember this girl from Light Magic and the Hero, but it all looked very familiar to me. I just could not place my finger on it. The girl’s hair was short, it only went down to about the end of neck, hair and eyes were a deep black just like mine.

 

Or so I thought, until I noticed bits of blonde hair in my peripheral vision.

 

Huh, that’s not right.

 

However, now that feeling of familiarity is killing me even more, I should know what’s going on and I feel like I’ll facepalm from how obvious it was once I’m able to solve this feeling. 

 

“Miss Claire?” The familiar, black haired girl called out to me again, shaking me out of my frozen stupor. “Do you remember my name?”

 

“Oh...I think I recognize you…your family name is Taylor, yes?” 

 

Yes that was where I am at, the classroom in a different otome game that I played a few times, Revolution. It was a very similar game to Light Magic and Hero (HikaYuu for short), but I didn’t quite like it as much given it had a much higher focus on romance than the rpg battling that HikaYuu had. The girl in front of me was the protagonist of Revolution, a commoner who was able to be let into the Bauer Royal Academy because of the king’s new meritocratic policies as a talented student on a scholarship. The protagonist’s first name is something the player decides so I couldn’t really tell her what her name was. At least her family name was always set to Taylor, so I had that to go off of.

 

There was a problem however that I have now noticed, Claire is not my name, and I do not have blonde hair. My name is Yumiella and my hair was black like Taylor’s. 

Ah, I’ve figured out what’s happening. 

 

It seems I was reincarnated as the villainess and rival of the game, Claire Francois.

Once again a villainess.

 

sigh  

 

What an odd dream this is.

 

“Miss Claire!” Taylor suddenly stood up from her seat, with a seemingly newfound energy after I answered her inquiry. I never could have predicted her next words.

 

“I like you”

“Huh?”

 

“Miss Claire, I love you.”

Huh, I didn’t expect Taylor to be so friendly immediately, that is a nice change of pace. I love Alicia but we did not start on the right foot when we first met. Still, strangers being overly friendly with me was not something I was that comfortable with.

 

“It’s good to meet you too, Taylor.” I returned the kindness as best I could while feeling a little unnerved by Taylor’s forwardness. “However, we did just meet. I would like it if we could be a little more distant.”

“Oooh but Miss Claire, you’re so cute that I just couldn’t help but fall in love”

“ Wh..wh -what?!” I became completely nonplussed. It seems that Taylor was talking about something much deeper than what I was thinking.

This isn’t right either. Revolution never had a gay route or anything like that, so to hear Taylor say this about not only another woman, but also her noble rival, really threw me for a loop. I suppose that this is further proof that this is a dream, Alicia’s influence was affecting my sleep as well.

 

“I-I see, well I-” I slowly recovered from the shock but had to stop my words in my tracks before admitting that I was already married to another. While I do have no interest in acting like Claire Francois, I didn’t want to derail things like that by saying something that Claire herself could not have accomplished. I then reflexively employed my tactic from my HikaYuu academy days. “I’m only interested in those who are stronger than me.”

Taylor’s eyes began to go wide.

 

“Oooooooooh?” Taylor had a smug look on her face. “So you’re saying when I defeat you in combat, you’ll marry me?”

 

“That’s not happ-” I began to counter until I realized something that I did not think about until now, I was back to level 1 here. Well, Revolution didn’t have a leveling system so that was not quite accurate, but I was certainly not the level 100+ monster that I would normally be. Given that this is the body of Claire Francois, I would have fire magic instead of the dark magic I’m much more familiar with as well. 

 

So in essence

 

I really should not have said that

 

“Well-I mean…I only said I would be interested.” I flustered, trying to backpedal my mistake. “I never said that I would accept your proposal.”

 

“Awww.” Taylor slumped back into her chair. “But still, you’re so cute.”

“I don’t understand what I did to earn this affection.”

 

The commoner giggled a little bit

 

“Miss Claire, you hate me, right?”

 

Her latest question only deepened my confusion. I don’t think I have done anything that would come across as hateful I think?

 

I hope.

 

“N-no, Miss Taylor.” I regain my composure to politely correct her, perhaps a little too politely given our statuses. “I just don’t……understand you”

 

“That’s fine!” she beamed. “All I need is to be in your presence.”

 

“Let’s get this super-fun school life started, Miss Claire!” she exclaimed as she pumped her fist into the air.

 

What an exhausting dream.

The dream had kept going from there as I had to participate in the game’s classes. Thankfully it was the first day of the semester, so I was able to cruise through it with my game knowledge from another life. I may not be as much of a fanatic for this game as I am for HikaYuu, but I still 100%’ed Revolution, so I have a good amount of academic knowledge. 

 

-!-

 

“What is with that commoner?”

 

“She’s insane! How dare she speak that way to a noble such as yourself, Miss Claire.”

 

I was joined by two of Claire’s friends, Pepi Bariler and Loretta Kugret, for lunch. The former had pink hair that went a little down past her shoulders, while the latter had a boyish appearance with her short black hair. These two may have also been in the game, but they were minor npcs, so their names and faces were not in game. This means I had no idea what they looked like or what their names were. Luckily, they made it pretty clear they were my friends with how quickly they would defend me from the commoner, whose full name I have learned by now is Rae Taylor. The issue with the names was also resolved rather quickly when paying attention to the roll call in the classes that I thankfully shared with them. 

 

“While I appreciate your help with dealing with her, I feel that may be a bit much.” The two of them have been able to back me up today against Rae’s constant verbal advances, something I really do not have the strength in me to deal with right now. I’ve been having an awful headache.

 

“But she has been making a complete mockery of you!”

 

“Yeah! She has absolutely no sense of manners”

 

Okay well that second statement was true.

 

“Well I’m sure I can just teach the commoner on how to properly address a noble.” I suggested. If I had to deal with this girl in future days, which seemed like it would be a constant, I would like to befriend the protagonist to avoid my death in a bad ending. 

 

 “But isn’t that playing into her hands?!” Loretta objected.

 

“Maybe, but it’s not as if I want to be on bad terms with her. I think we just started on the wrong foot, in a very odd way in this case, but I believe that we can be friends”

 

“But why are you interested in befriending a commoner?” 

 

“Yeah why her?!” Pepi and Loretta stared at me in confusion, Loretta for some reason looks especially hurt by my desire to befriend the commoner.

 

“Well Rae isn’t just any commoner, she’s a commoner that was able to enroll in the Royal Academy. Even with His Majesty’s new policies, the commoners that were enrolled here would be those who show extremely promisable talent. Rae in particular happens to be at the top of her class as well, she shows promise to be a very reliable friend in the coming days.” I explained my thought process to my friends. While it wasn’t the real reason why I wish to befriend Rae, even if I didn’t have my game knowledge, it only makes logical sense after seeing how much of a prodigy she is. 

 

The two of them didn’t seem fully convinced by my explanation, but I can see the two of them back down, understanding the logic behind my actions.

 

“By the way, Miss Claire?” Pepi spoke up after a small silence

 

“Hmm?”

 

“Is there something else bothering you?” Pepi made a concerned face at me. “You have had a very…blank expression and mannerisms all day. I know you said that the commoner wasn’t deeply bothering you, but I’ve never seen you like this before so I’m getting quite worried about you.”

 

Oh has it been that obvious? Hmm, I was hoping that at least I would be able to fool everyone while also being a bit more passive in personality, but if I’m still as expressionless as I am in real life, then I suppose there’s nothing to be done. I suppose I’ll have to give them a half truth of an excuse for now.

 

“Oh I see, I’m deeply sorry to you two. I’ve had a pretty bad headache since we started classes today.” I put my hand to my head to further my point. It wasn’t necessarily wrong, I’ve been feeling a terrible headache all day, but I think I can attribute that more to having to remember a whole world of information again in a place of dubious lucidity. It was a good cover, however. 

 

“That’s awful!” Loretta exclaimed. “Why didn’t you tell us sooner!!”

 

“I did not think it was anything worth mentioning. It’s not that bad, it has just been making me feel a little off today”

 

“Well let’s hope it clears over by tomorrow!”

“Yeah, and you can tell us if something is bothering you!”

 

“Thank you, girls. I also hope this blasted headache subsides soon. I’m glad that I have friends like you” I could tell that my expression didn’t change much, but I believe that I was able to soothe the girls’ worries. I didn’t really know them before but they seem like good people at heart, which is nice. 

 

Lunch was over by then and I had to return to dealing with Rae’s advances. I partnered up with Rae during P.E and she squealed something like, “Oh so forward Miss Claire, first we’re partners in P.E, and soon we’ll be partners in love”. 

 

Truly a confounding individual.

 

I felt relieved that the classes were over for the day. Having to adapt on the fly like this compared to being prepared to deal with this new world stuff for a decade like I did in HikaYuu was much more of a pain. Usually I would head out for some monster hunting, but even if I could pull that off without arousing suspicions from my peers, I really didn’t have the energy for it this time. 

 

As I walked outside to my dorm, I saw a young woman with long, brown hair in a maid outfit waiting outside. That must be Lene, Claire’s personal maid and her closest friend. She’s been serving Claire since Claire was four. Given that, I wasn’t exactly enthused as I’m sure she’ll see something wrong with me if Pepi and Loretta were able to. 

 

“Good evening, Master Claire.” Lene greeted me as I got closer. “How was your first day of classes?”

 

“Fine.” Aside from the whole Rae situation, nothing really noteworthy happened, nothing really went wrong so I consider that a win in my circumstance. 

 

There was a bit of a stunned silence from Lene at my answer.

 

“...fine?”

 

“Yea?”

 

“...is that all?”

 

“Yes….???” I began to trail off questioningly. I guess I really do seem like a different person to her now. Well, that’s because I am, but I digress. “Is there something wrong, Lene?”

 

Lene’s face appeared puzzled for a few seconds, as if she herself was trying to figure out how to word her current feelings. After a small silence, she spoke up.

 

“It seems like you have become less…enthusiastic since I last spoke to you this morning. You were very excited this morning to finally be able to attend the royal academy, being given a chance to follow in your mother and father’s footsteps.”

 

Oh.

 

All my thoughts and focus had stopped when Lene had mentioned Claire’s parents. Of course, she may be a villainess, but, unlike me, she actually has parents in her life. Even if her mother was only around for her first five years, her impacts on Claire last even now given she’s the whole reason why she has her iconic drill hair. There’s even mentions in game that amount to saying that she’s a daddy’s girl, so she has a good relationship with her father too, despite everything. Which all in all, is the complete opposite of me, someone who has never given much thought to her parents, given that the second time her parents even looked at her was when she was level 99 and had to stare her parents down to stop them from trying to assassinate her. The parents in her first life at least never tried to kill her, but they never really gave much thought to her either, she felt the same about her parents in her first life, so she didn’t take any offense to it.

 

But now I was in the life of someone who actually has parental figures. There’s no way I can fake being someone’s daughter. I just have to hope that it nev-

 

“MASTER CLAIRE”

 

“AAAAAAH” I yelp after basically being shaken and yelled at by my maid. Goodness, I must have been really deep in thought for it to get that bad, or maybe it’s just the slight stress of everything making things worse.

 

“Oh thank the spirits.” Lene let me go and breathed a relieved sigh. “You weren’t reacting at all to me. I was worried that you had fainted somehow.”

 

“That bad, huh?” I dryly tried to laugh it off, but Lene simply furrowed her brow in response. I have to apologize. “I’m sorry, Lene. I’ll be better tomorrow, I’m just having an off day right now.”

 

“I understand.” Lene let out a heavy sigh but didn’t say anything else on the matter. “It’s getting late, we’ll need to head back to your dorms”

 

Lene was right, it looked like it was about to dusk soon. I don’t remember if this school enforces a curfew but I did not want to find out the hard way.

“So it would seem, lead the way.” I gestured…well about halfway through the motion I actually realized that the game never mentioned anything about where Claire’s dorm room was so I just held my arm up forward in front of me for a second before putting back down, not actually knowing where or what direction it was in. The whole thing felt wildly embarrassing, I turned my face away from Lene for a few seconds. I hoped that the exchange had amused Lene enough that she wouldn’t press on it. Hearing a muffled giggle gave a small hope that something was going right for me today. 

 

However it wouldn’t last long as we just stood there awkwardly for several seconds. 

 

Why?

She said that she saw me out this morning, right? Did I make an assumption on that part? Did she leave from her estate here first to the academy with Lene? But in that case wouldn’t she be the one to organi-

 

“So it’s like I thought.” Lene cleared her throat, which had interrupted my spiraling. I guess that was a test, then? Well there was no way I was gonna pass it then, haha. 

 

However, Lene then said something that send a chill down my spine

 

“Who are you?” she stared me down directly with her hazel eyes. It terrified me. I know it’s odd saying this when I’ve killed monsters way bigger than her, the demon lord, and even an alt universe version of myself, but I knew they weren’t good people (when I fought them at least, anyways). Lene is different, she’s a maid that’s just worried for her master that I would have basically killed if this was real life. 

 

I couldn’t hide the truth from her, it was impossible. I had to tell Lene basically as much as the truth as she could believe it.

 

“I have amnesia,” I told her firmly. Lene seemed quite surprised, and then gave me a skeptical but much less suspicious look. “I still have a bunch of memories, but a lot of them are missing and my feelings are a bit...disjointed.”

 

I then said something that I felt was about as close as I could get to the truth without revealing everything

“I feel like when I go back to my memories now, I just see them not as memories of myself but of someone who’s watching them like a theater performance. The actors are just people that are around me.”

 

It seems like this explanation softened Lene’s gaze into something that was more akin to sympathy than before. Clearly she was still confused, but I think she can tell that I’m just as confused as she is. She then pulls me in for a hug, I’m a bit surprised but when I regain my composure slightly, I’m able to give one back. 

 

“I suppose I must lead you to your dorm room, Master Claire.” Lene broke out of the hug “I do want to know what you are able to remember”

 

I give Lene a light nod in response as she leads me to my dorm room. 

 

Lene takes me to the girl’s dorm and leads me up to my room 

“Excuse me.” Lene addresses before grabbing the handle and opening the door. The room was similar to dorm rooms I attended in my Japanese life, except it was all less modern. It was a double sized room with two desks and a bunk bed for two. I looked around a bit more as the two of us entered the room, and it seemed like it was just the two of us. Which was very odd considering that everyone in the Royal Academy were assigned double rooms, regardless of family or financial status. This means that Claire should also have a roommate too, but it’s occurring to me that the game never mentioned Claire having a roommate so mayb-

 

“I know you’re shy Miss Catherine, but something important has come up that I need the both of you to be present for.” I was startled out of my thoughts by Lene speaking up. I turned around and saw that I missed the sound of her closing the door behind her earlier.

 

Wait

 

Who’s Catherine?

 

I wildly looked around the room to find who Lene was talking to when my heart jumped seeing a girl with wavy, light blond hair about my age seemingly materialize out of thin air laying on top bunk of the bed already in her bedwear, looking directly at me and Lene. Without thinking I took a step back after making an involuntary yelp..

 

“Claire? Did something happen?” My sudden actions caused my roommate(?) to be looking increasingly concerned. 

 

I recovered myself from my shock and prepared myself to give Catherine the same explanation I gave to Lene.

 

“Well, a lot has happened today. However, most importantly of all is that I seem to have gotten amnesia. I do remember my academics and a few people in my life, but I think a majority of my memory is hazy.” 

 

Catherine stared intently at me for a few seconds before shifting herself off the bed. It was then I noticed that Catherine only had one leg. 

 

“Can you come a bit closer?” Catherine requested me as she finally settled on the bottom bunk bed. I nodded and started to dart forward to Catherine. “Can you hand me my wand? It’s on my desk.“

 

I reached over to her desk and found the wand she was talking about and handed it to her. She started pointing it at me. I was a little nervous with a magic wand down my face, but I figured it would be fine in the end. Catherine started to concentrate and looked as though she casted a spell. She then stared at me, looking as if she was expecting a reaction out of me.

 

“Uh…what was that?” 

 

“So this isn’t the work of memory magic.” Catherine sighed.

 

“Huh? Memory magic?”

 

“My speciality is memory magic. It can be used to manipulate memories of people, such as making myself invisible to you and Lene here by erasing myself from you seeing me. I tried to cast a spell on you that would reverse any of that magic on you if you were being affected by it, but it seems like that’s not the case”

 

“Memory Magic? What element is that?” There was never anything like that in Revolution as far as I knew. I’m starting to have a very bad feeling right now.

 

“It’s wind magic”

 

“Huh, well that’s very interesting.” I simply remarked. “Well this has been a very eventful dream, but it’s about time I go back to real life right now.”

 

“A dream..?” Lene spoke up from behind

 

I ignored the confused looks of both girls as I commenced all my techniques to get myself out of a nightmare, making sudden movements to shake my body up from the bed I’m sure I was sleeping in.

 

Except none of them were working…

 

Uh oh.

 

In a last ditch effort I did the classic cliche of pinching my nose, but I knew that would be in vain.

 

Oh no.

 

This is not a dream. This is my reality now. Stuck in a land a world apart from my home once again. But this time it was even worse. I know the first time I was transported, no one cared about me. This time however, I had a family, and a group of friends that I really cared about and who loved me back too. And what’s more, I’m replacing a 15 year old girl who had plenty of loved ones already before I replaced her. 

 

I’m essentially a murde-

 

“Claire!” I got interrupted from my spiraling by a hug from Catherine. I also got a hug from behind from Lene. It was then I noticed that I was shaking, bad. I also noticed that I was crying. I don’t know what is going to happen now that I’m here in this world, but I’m very glad that I can have these two with me.

 

The three of us stood there like that for a whole, letting me sob out all my tears. After I had calmed down a bit, Lene and I sat down on the floor across from Catherine, who was sitting on the bottom bunk bed. I had told them that I had something to tell them and it would be a long story, so we were going to be here for a while.

 

“I want to make this clear first.” I took a deep breath and paused before I said this next sentence. Because it would forever change how they would look at me. “I am not Claire Francois”

 

Catherine looked completely shocked at this, while Lene’s expression was unreadable, just staring intently at me.

 

“Wh-what?” Catherine was flummoxed. 

 

“I’ll explain everything.” I tried to reassure her. “But both of you, please be quiet until I’m done.”

 

The two girls nodded.

 

So I began to regale my tale.

 

“I was born originally in the country of Japan. A country that is hundreds of years more advanced in civilization than Bauer in every respect. I died in Japan because of an accident with a high speed carriage running me over. I then woke up in a book story that I was extremely familiar with, Light Magic and the Hero, HikaYuu for short. I woke up in the body of a five year old noble named Yumiella Dorkness, the villainess rival of HikaYuu. She was a character who would bully the protagonist of the story, Alicia Ehnleit, the sole commoner invited to the Royal Academy, when the both of them enroll in the Royal Academy.”

 

“Yumiella is eventually killed at the end of the story by the protagonist and her three companions that she befriends throughout the story. Deciding that I did not want to deal with any of that, I decided to not worry about any of that and go do what I like to do best, hunting monsters in order to become stronger. In the world of HikaYuu, there are measurements of one’s strength called “Levels”, and you can increase your strength by increasing your level, which can only be done by slaying monsters. With the knowledge I had of HikaYuu from my Japanese life, I was able to level up to the maximum possible level, 99, before attending the Royal Academy.”

 

“When people found out about this, many people thought that I was a demon, or the lord of all demons. There are also two other factors that lead to people believing this. I had both the very rare magical element of dark magic, as well as black hair, traits that had a strong stigma to them because of the original demon lord having them. This caused a lot of trouble in my school life but eventually I was able to graduate and survive after defeating a revived demon lord.”

 

“It was after that I would date and soon marry the love of my life, Alicia Ehnleit .”

 

Catherine and Lene were mostly quiet during my explanation and were nodding along as I explained my past. However, when I said that I married a woman, they both had a flash of surprise on both of their faces. 

 

“So…are you gay?” Catherine hesitantly asked.

 

“I am.” I answered instantly. “I hope that doesn’t negatively affect how you see me.”

 

I would be in hot water if it did.

 

“Nonononono.” Catherine violently shook her head and hands. “It’s completely fine if you are. It’s just…”

 

Even I could tell that Catherine was choosing her next words extremely carefully.

 

“It’s weird seeing someone who looks and sounds exactly like my closest friend talk as a very different person.” 

 

“That’s understandable.” It can’t be easy to be in front of someone who took their closest friend away from her.  

 

Unintentionally or not, I killed her best friend.

 

“That’s why I must tell you that I am deeply sorry to the both of you.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Pardon?”

 

“Even if I had zero intention to wake up in this body, I did something unacceptable and killed your friend.”

 

The girls then both gave me a look before looking at each and then to me. I guess they haven’t forgiven me. Ah well, I suppose I do deserve punishment for mur-

 

Thwack

 

“Ah!” I yelped in pain as I got flicked in the head by Catherine’s finger.

 

“Jeeeez, that is not something you have to punish yourself over. This is clearly not your fault.” Catherine pouted.

 

“Huh?”

 

“Just to be clear, do you know how you got here?” Lene inquired.

 

I just gave a shrug. 

 

“I don’t know, one moment I was sleeping with my wife and the next I was sitting down in the Bauer Royal Academy classroom.”

 

“Then this is something that you don’t need to apologize for.” Lene gripped my shoulder. “I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t crushed that Master Claire is gone. However, I can tell that you’re a girl who’s very scared and confused.”

 

“Yeah!” Catherine beamed. “You’re just as much of a victim in this too!”

 

“I-I…thank you.” I stuttered as I could feel myself tearing up again. “I feel so…weak in this body. I used to be the strongest person in the world, but now I almost feel like I’m starting from scratch again.”

 

“Catherine and I will be there to help you in whatever way we can.” Lene assured.

 

I gave a small nod and a thumbs up, which Lene responds to with a cheery smile as she lets go of my shoulder. 

 

”soooooo, now what?” Catherine airs out after a small silence.

 

“Well I think I’ll need to write down everything I can remember of the story of Revolution, the name of the book that is the source of all my information that I knew of in this world before coming here.” I get up and look around my desk for something to write down on. It seems like Claire kept a diary with her, which is a convenient tool for me to be able to write down my plans. “I can write down everything and this, as well as my plans for having to deal with the future.”

 

“Just to clarify, what is the story of Revolution about?” Lene queried.

 

“Ah yes, I should explain that.” We got distracted by the reveal that I was gay that I forgot to mention why I only sorta know Claire’s life. 

 

“It’s a story similar to HikaYuu where a commoner protagonist enrolls into the Royal Academy and is targeted by a villainess’s bullying. The protagonist of the story is Rae Taylor, and the villainess is Claire Francois.”

 

The two girls blanched after I revealed that the villainess of Revolution was Claire, no doubt because they both knew what I was about to say next.

 

“Depending on what the reader does, Claire is either exiled for life or killed in some manner, including execution.”

 

“De-depending on what the reader does..?” Catherine was unsurprisingly quivering after hearing Claire’s cruel fate.

 

“Some books in Japan let the reader make decisions occasionally on where the story heads to next, which can change the ending of the story.” While I haven’t been exactly lying to them, this was the most truthful thing I have said to them all night, given the existence of choose your own adventure books. 

 

“The major appeal of Revolution is that the protagonist gets the opportunity to choose to date any of the three male characters in the story, those characters being the three Bauer princes.”

 

“Eeeeeehhhh?!” Catherine was audibly shocked by this information. I don’t blame her, it’s basically unheard of for a commoner to marry royalty. 

 

“Yes, and in order to avoid getting myself a tragic fate in Claire’s shoes, I would like to befriend both Rae and the three princes as soon as I can.” I explained a part of my plan to survive my new reality. “However, it appears on day one I have…overachieved on befriending the commoner.” 

 

“Oh?” Catherine leaned in, very curious about what I could mean by overachieving. 

 

I let out a sigh before I continued, remembering the ridiculousness from this morning. “The first thing that happened to me when I woke up in this new body was Rae Taylor calling out to me and giving me a love confession.”

 

“Oh good spirits!” Lene exclaimed.

 

Meanwhile Catherine was giving me a mischievous look. “Wowie wow, look at that. You already achieved one of your goals and you didn’t even need to do anything.”

 

“I don’t know about that, while it is good that she is being friendly with me, I would prefer to just be friends.”

 

“Did you tell her as much?”

 

“I turned her down and she said that she was expecting that and that she would be fine as long as she was hanging around with me, lover or not.”

 

“Hmmm.” Catherine began to ponder. “What an odd girl.”

 

“Was she ever like this at all in Revolution?” Lene posed.

 

“No, she was never this forward with anyone, much less gay with anyone in the story either.”

 

“Hmmm.” Now Lene began to ponder something.

 

“I suppose it’ll just be a part of my life now.” I resigned. “It’s true that she is on good terms with me, so I suppose that this is all satisfactory for now.”

 

Besides, I have a feeling that if I hang around with Rae, the three princes will also begin to hang around with us. I’m sure even this Rae has that protag luck. 

 

“Hey so…” Catherine queried. “Can we call you Yumiella in private? Obviously publicly we would have to call you Claire, but I was wondering if you would feel better if we called you by your real name.”

 

“Oh yes, that is an excellent idea, Miss Catherine. She is a different person from Claire after all.” Lene was in support of this idea.

 

Personally I was so stunned by their thoughtfulness that I clamped up. I really wasn’t expecting these two to be so supportive of me. I’ve never met anyone like this who was so immediately nice to me. I suppose it’s because the stigma for my black hair doesn’t exist here, but everyone I’ve ever met as Yumiella was on guard when I first met them, even if they eventually warmed up to me.

 

“I…I” I stampered, not really expecting this kindness. “I…would like…that. Yes.”

 

The two girls looked at each other and began to giggle to themselves at my sudden timidness. 

 

…

 

I’m really glad to have them in my life.

 

-!-

We realized that it was getting late, so Lene returned to her quarters while I sat at my desk, writing down both plans for what to do and also a timeline for the story of Revolution. 

 

“You’re still writing in that thing?” Catherine yawned out. 

 

“It’s a matter of life or death.” I flatly countered.

 

“Don’t be so grim. Nothing bad will happen as long as me and Lene have something to say about it.”

 

“I…suppose that was a bit dark. My apologies, Catherine”

 

“Eheh, you’re fine you’re fine. But you really should get some rest, it’s only day one and you said that the first big event is that exam that’s a week out from now.”

 

I took a moment to relax myself and I realized that my eyes were indeed feeling quite heavy. “You’re right, I already have my plans for the first few weeks of classes anyways so I suppose I should get some rest. I can’t be vigilant if I’m sleep deprived”

 

I was still in my school uniform when I got out of my chair. Thankfully Lene was able to teach me how to uncurl my hair drills before she left, so that won’t be a problem. However, she told me that I will have to meet with her in the morning to have her curl my hair back again. Having to do this every morning sounds like a pain that I would normally say is not at all worth the effort, but it’s meant to emulate her deceased mother’s hairstyle in honor of her, so I can understand why she keeps it up. 

 

“So what’s your near future plan looking like so far?” Catherine prodded curiously after I changed into my nightwear.

 

“Well the first step is to maintain a good relationship with Rae.” I explained as I settled into my bed. “I believe if I do that, then my relationships with other key figures like the princes will be in good shape for me as well.”

 

“She really is an odd girl from what you’ve told me about her.”

 

“Yeah, I can maybe explain her friendliness as possibly being someone she always was, so it would just be something that would naturally come out when dealing with the setting of her story in real life instead of a book. But I can’t possibly explain her specifically being gay for me.”

 

“Do you think that she’s like you?” Catherine suggested

 

Oh, I’ve never considered a second person being a reincarnate, but I suppose there’s no reason why it can’t be possible. However…

 

“Maybe, but I don’t want to jump the shark like that. It’s easily possible that there’s a much more reasonable explanation and trying to question her on if she’s from another world might just carelessly expose my secret.”

 

“Jump the shark?” Catherine repeated the saying, confused on what it could mean.

Oh, I guess they don’t have sharks around here.

 

 “It just means to start something too hastily.” I explained

 

“But what’s a shark?”

 

“It’s a predator fish that lives in the ocean.”

“Oh, I don’t really know much about the ocean. I don’t go outside very often, especially given my condition”

 

Right, her missing leg. I don’t know how she lost her leg, but it’s not something I’m gonna pry her about.

 

“I’m sure we can fix that.” I suggested earnestly. “I’m also someone who’s not huge on social interaction, but going outside will still be good for you.”

 

“I…suppose.” Catherine mumbled, clearly still not wholly convinced. 

Ah well, we can table this discussion for another time.

 

“Anywho,” I backtracked to our discussion of our plans. “The second step of my plan is to try to get stronger. I know that Claire is already a strong woman with her fire magic, but it’s not to my liking yet.” 

 

“Such high standards,” Catherine teasingly scoffed.

 

“I can’t help it.” I chuckled and flashed a dry smile. “I achieved the pinnacle of power when I was about 10, so I almost spent half my life being the strongest being in the world. Most likely longer since I doubt anyone else was close to my level once I was in the back half of my grinding.”

 

“And you got that monstrously strong at such a young age…for fun?” She chuckled a bit, probably at the absurdity of my actions for such a small reason.

 

“Yeah, and now I’m trying to get back to that level for different reasons. This time it’s only in part for selfish reasons.” I resolved

 

“Ooooh?” Catherine suddenly got much more interested. “What’s the other, non selfish reasons?”

 

“Oh…well,” I felt myself get a bit bashful, involuntarily looking a bit to the wall to my right. “You and Lene…you are…good friends of mine. So I want to make sure nothing bad happens to either of you”

 

“Aw, thank you.” I can practically hear Catherine’s smile from here. “Be sure to tell Lene that too.”

 

“..sure” I squeaked out, still feeling a little flustered.

 

“How are you going about that anyways? Didn’t you say that this world doesn’t have levels?”

 

“Yes, this world does not have levels, but there are still methods I can use here to get stronger. I was trained on sword play for a good few years in my past life, but that body was much more built for that than Claire’s is right now. I’ll need to train my body so that it can keep up with my sword techniques from back then.”

 

I stopped my explanation for a bit and took in a breath before I said this next sentence because I had a feeling that even Catherine would not like what my next step was.

 

“I also need to research if dark magic exists in this world and if it’s possible for me to obtain. My fire magic in this world is good but I still would much prefer having access to something I’m more comfortable with like dark magic.”

 

“Yumiella…” Catherine was clearly concerned for me, not that I blamed her. The stigma of dark magic probably exists in basically any magical world. However, it’s been my reliable friend for 15 years and I would like to find a way to reobtain that power if possible.

 

“...maybe the Francois manor here will have something to answer your question.” Catherine resigned with a sigh. I think she knows me enough by now that I won’t give up on trying to find a solution. “I’m aware that your father, Mr. Dole has a secret library, so maybe it contains some books that are unsavory to have in the public.”

 

Right. My father in this world was one of the most influential nobles in all of Bauer, most likely second only to royalty, so his library would most likely have a very large net of topics. I have my own…unsavory reservations about the man based on my knowledge of Revolution. However, I don’t want to open up that can of worms right now.

 

“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.” I concluded. “Good night, Catherine.”

 

“Good night, Yumiella.” Catherine said with a yawn.

 

I laid my head down on my pillow and after having to deal with a whirlwind of a day, I could finally get some good sleep in. 

Notes:

Got so inspired recently that I've started to write something for the first time. I wrote about three chapters of this, the other two chapters are both longer than this one, in the span of two weeks. However, I am also much busier than I was when I was first writing so don't expect updates that consistently.

I'll try to update this once a month or so? It might be faster than that but who knows.

Chapter 2: (Flaw)less Planning

“Good day, Miss Claire!”

 

“Good morning to you too, Rae”

 

It was the next morning and Rae caught me with Loretta and Pepi just past the school gates. My two friends then began to step up in front of me as if to try to shield from her. 

 

“Commoner, you don’t have the right to speak to someone like Miss Claire. You two live in different worlds!” Loretta started.

 

“Yeah, there are unfortunately many commoners around the school, I’m sure you can bother them instead.” Pepi nodded in agreement.

 

“Girls, it’s fine. Rae is my fri-“ I tried to tell them that it was alright but

 

“Move aside, I don’t have any interest in talking with Miss Claire’s minions.” Rae rudely interrupted. “Good day, Miss Claire.”

 

Minions? I mean I guess she’s not wrong at first glance but they’re people too if you get to know them. 

 

“Wha!?” Loretta was flabbergasted. “You ingrate! Who do you think I am!?”

 

“A member of House Kuguret, who’s been serving the Francois house for generations.” Rae swiftly answered without skipping a beat. “So in other words, a minion.”

 

“Mi-Miss Claire..” Loretta, teary-eyed, turned to me for help. I don’t feel very strongly about Loretta and Pepi, but I can’t just let Rae topple all over them.

 

“Can you please be nice to my friends?” I asked her directly.

 

“Aye aye!” She exclaimed with a small salute. She then took a small bow towards Loretta and Pepi. “I apologize for my earlier behavior, I hope that we can be friends in the near future. A friend of Claire will always be a friend of mine!”

 

Pepi then gave a pout, “at least you finally know your place, commoner. Now go back to all your other commoner friends and leave us be!”

 

“Pepi!” I chided her. “Rae is my friend too, she may have been out of line at first, but I would like you both to get along. The same goes to Loretta too.”

 

Pepi and Loretta seemed stunned by me defending the commoner while Rae herself had a hand to my mouth in surprise? 

 

“We’re friends, Miss Claire?!?” Rae gasped.

 

“Huh?” Did I say something odd?” I asked. I really hope that I wasn’t mistaking our relationship somehow. “If we weren’t before, then I would like us to be friends.” 

 

“Kyaaa! I’m moving up the Claire totem pole, rank #1 is within reach!” Ah that makes more sense, she was just trying to tease me. 

 

“Rae, what on earth are you doing???” A husky, mature voice called out to her. We all look over to see who it was and see a girl with long, pale blue hair walk over to us, looking a bit pale seeing this conversation play out. 

 

“Oh good morning, Misha.” Spoke plainly. “I was just playing Claire.”

 

“Don’t you mean playing with?” I corrected her.

 

“Oooh wow you’re even correcting my language. You care so much about me, I can partially hear the marriage bells.” Rae mused.

 

“Wha?!” I thought she made a mistake and was correcting her but she was able to even turn that into some kind of flirt. 

 

“Have you gone mad, Rae?” Misha pinched her nose. “There’s no way you should be talking like this to someone of the Francois family.”

 

“Well, for what it’s worth, I don’t particularly mind it.” I pointed out. “She may be a bit overbearing, but she is a nice girl at least.” Or at least she should be, given her role as a protagonist. 

 

“Seeee Misha, I can tease Miss Claire all I want!”

 

“That is NOT what she said!” 

 

“Eh, I’m sure it’ll be fine as long as you’re there to reign her in, Misha.” 

 

Yes, Misha Jur may have used to be a noble, but her family house fell to financial ruin and now she lives as a commoner. She and Rae are childhood friends so I’m sure she’s used to Rae’s antics.

 

“Miss Claire, why are you roping me into this?” Misha sighed. “Rae is not my pet.”

 

“But I’d love to be your pet, Miss Claire.”

 

“I don’t think a person can qualify to be a pet.” I countered.

 

“Oh do you want me to prove you wrong?” Rae cheekily asked. 

 

“That’s enough out of you.” Misha bonked her fist on Rae’s head.

 

I giggled a bit at that, which seemed to cause a few heads to turn my way. What? I understand it’s rare for me to express joy but I don’t see what the surprise here is. 

 

We then heard a soft voice say, “A bit early to be so deep into your comedy routine, isn’t it?”

 

“Master Yu…”

 

“Good morning Misha and good morning to you too, Claire.” This was the third born prince, Yu Bauer. He had soft curly blond hair and generally carried a very gentle princely aura, even if he was a bit sly at times. His route was my first as he seemed the most likable out of the three princes, and he still is to me.

 

“Good morning Master Yu.” I took a polite bow as I spoke. 

 

“Now now, there’s no need to be so formal. We’re all equals here at the academy.” 

 

“That’s good.” I relaxed. “I would like to be equals outside of the academy as well.” 

 

“So quick to switch on the dime!” Rae exclaimed.

 

Yu laughed at Rae’s outburst, “Rae Taylor, yes? I assumed that yoh would be a bookworm given your top of the marks in the incoming class, but you’re pretty funny too.”

 

“Thanks.” She replied curtly

 

“Rae, don’t be rude now!” Misha scolded. “I apologize about Rae. I’ll be sure to chastise her later.” 

 

“Like I said, it’s fine.” Yu laughed it off. “You yourself can stand to be a little less formal too, Misha.”

 

“I’ll…consider it.”

 

They seemed to have talked a bit more but I wasn’t really paying attention as Rae came up to me. 

 

“What do you think, Miss Claire? You think they’ve rekindled their love?” Rae whispered to me.

 

“Oh so you noticed that too, you’re quite sharp.” I remarked, feeling quite impressed. I personally didn’t pick up on it during the game’s route until Misha told me it directly in game near the end of the route. 

 

“That’s…not really that impressive.” Rae seemed disappointed that I somehow found that impressive. 

 

“Course it is! They’re very good at hiding it.” I countered.

 

Rae sighed after hearing that. “You really are dense, aren’t you Miss Claire.” 

 

I mean I guess she’s not wrong but it’s not my fault! Besides, little does she know that I have a wife that I’ve married for 4 years back hom-actually let’s stop thinking about that, I don’t want to get depressed this early in the morning. 

 

“Yo! Claire and Yu! Morning, everyone!” We heard a booming voice come in. 

 

“Good morning, Brother”

 

“Morning”

 

This lively youth with black spiky hair that came in to greet us is the first born prince, Rod Bauer.

 

“What’s going on here? Sounds interesting, I want in.” He came in sounding like a child who’s found a new sparkling toy. 

 

“Oh nothing much.” I shrugged, deciding to just drop all pretense after getting Yu’s permission to. “We’ve just been chatting.”

 

Despite the fact that I know Yu said that we could stand to be less formal, my casualness definitely gave a few eyebrow raises from my friends, especially from Rae.

 

“Didn’t you say we could stand to be less formal, Yu?” 

 

“Well yes I did,” Yu chuckled at my sudden frankness. “I just didn’t think you would drop formalities so suddenly. I think Rae is really starting to rub off on you.”

 

“Yeah, it’s even scaring me!” Rae looked distraught, but knowing her it was probably a joke. 

 

“Well it’s just nice sometimes to hang out with friends, no?” 

 

Rod, who had been staring at me, gave a hearty laugh to that. “Yeah….yeah you’re right, Claire! I just didn’t expect you of all people to say that.”

 

I didn’t really know what to say to that, so I just gave Rod a thumbs up and a nod. Which seemed to be the right call because Rod gave another good laugh from that.

 

Rae on the other hand looked fluxed for once.

 

“Oh deary me,” Rae cried out, eyes closed and her hand over her head like she was about to faint. “It seems I have corrupt my dearest Miss Claire. I’ll have to be punished for my wrongdoing!”

 

“I don’t think you need to do that.” I deadpanly retorted.

 

That seemed to have brought a smile on Rae’s face somehow. Rod, however, looked like he saw a fish jump out of its own tail.

 

“Oh right, you haven’t met her yet.” Yu chuckled. “This is Rae Taylor, she was at the top of the incoming students. She’s an interesting character.”

 

“Yeah she’s certainly amusing. Don’t think you’d ever see someone like that from the aristocrats. Seems like father’s policy is already going.”

 

The commoner merely responded to that with a “heh”

 

“Interesting reaction,” Rod stared at Rae intently. “Rae…I’ll remember that”

 

“Thanks.”

 

Rae! Please be respectful.” Misha chided her again. “Do you know how many girls would kill to be remembered by Master Rod.”

 

Hmm, this would be a problem. It seems like Rae is about as interested in dealing with Rod as I am, which means not at all. I was banking on her being much more friendly to him. I don’t exactly blame her at all though, loud arrogant types like Rod are the worst to deal with.

Still, it seems like Rod likes me well enough as I am so I suppose I’ll just have to bear with it.

 

“Hey Thane!” Rod called, “come join us!”

 

“I believe I’m good.” A silver-haired boy stood back aloof with a grumpy deposition.

 

“I don’t think he likes this stuff.” Rod smiled dryly.

 

“What stuff DOES he like?” Yu laughed a bit weakly.

 

That grumpy youth was the last of the princes, the second born prince, Thane Bauer. He was much more aloof and quiet compared to his other brothers. A large part of that has to do with his inferiority complex. While Thane is obviously no slouch, his skills unfortunately paled in comparison to his brothers’ talents. I never really ever had much of an opinion on him, I do pity the guy, but I never thought much about him while playing the game, even on his own route. 

 

“Why don’t you talk to him?” Rae’s suddenly requested.

 

“Hmm? Oh yeah, I guess I should.” He’s not ever going to engage with us, so one of us should be the one to interact first. “But why don’t we both talk to him?”

 

“I appreciate the offer my lady, but really you should do it yourself.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Well because you like him, right?” 

 

Oh right.

 

Claire had a crush on Thane. But obviously I don’t have any of those feelings, but it would be very suspicious if Claire suddenly didn’t have those feelings anymore. 

 

“We-well I…uuuuuh” I start stuttering. I didn’t know how to make it out of this situation, I really didn’t want to pretend to like a guy I had no interest in-wait a minute “Hey wait, how did you know that?”

 

“Because you just told me.” She smiled cheekily. 

 

“That’s not an answer.”

 

“Yeah it is. It’s what happened.”

 

“You would have to have had some idea that it was possible for you to say that was your reason.” 

 

“Oh…well let’s just say that I heard some rumors.”

 

Oh is that it? Hmm, if that’s the case then maybe I can turn all this around.

 

“Well the rumors aren’t true”

 

“Uh huh.” Rae clearly did not believe me, but I don’t really know what else to say to her, so I just let it go.

 

I decided that I would have to move over to Thane to at least establish a form of a relationship, I doubt it would hurt. 

 

“Good morning Master Thane,” I greeted him. “The name is Claire Francois, nice to meet you.”

 

“Nice to meet you too,” he responded.

 

“What do you plan on doing today?”

 

“Studying in the library.” 

 

“Oh I also plan to do so, do you think we study together ?” I actually did plan on going to the library today to study the types of magic that exist in the world. I really wanted to know if dark magic truly existed here. It’s good fortune that I can advance my friendship with Thane while I’m at it as well. 

 

“Hmm” he seemed to give the idea some thought. “Are you simply doing this to pity me?”

 

Oh brother. “No, I already made plans to research different types of magic.” I explained.

 

“Well if we’re both going to be there together anyways, then you’re free to do as you like.”

 

Well that’s a start at least.

 

I turn around to see the rest of my friends simply staring at us for some reason.

 

“Is there a problem?” I asked.

 

“Oh no, it’s nothing.” Yu smilied. “It’s just that you always were fond of brother Thane.”

 

Even I could tell what Yu meant by that.

 

“It’s not like that!” I huffed, giving an accusatory look at the commoner. “Did Rae tell you about those rumors?”

 

“Whaaa!” Rae gasped. “I would never snitch on my lady like that, it’s just improper!” 

 

“Yeah. Sorry Claire, but we all know that you've had a big crush on brother Thane.” Rod added in.

 

“I really don’t feel for him that way.” I tried to explain. “Pepi and Loretta, back me up here!” 

 

The two of them looked a bit awkward at each and then at me, which told me that I don’t think they’re on my side either. 

 

“Even you guys…” I felt hopeless here.

 

Finally, my unlikely savior in this situation, Thane spoke up to end this ridiculousness.

 

“We should get a move on.” Thane cleared his throat. “classes will be starting soon” 

 

“Yes! That’s right!” I desperately beamed, never before this excited for classes in my life. I stormed off quickly to classes, moving past everyone with a second thought. 

 

-!-

Classes had ended for the day, which means it was finally time for that study session that I had promised to have with Thane. Loretta mentioned that she wanted to come too, but I told her that it would be most comfortable for Thane to be alone with just me. For some reason I heard a small snicker from Rae after saying that, but even more strangely was Pepi and Rae agreeing with me that it would be for the best. I felt a bit bad turning Loretta down after the sad look she gave me, but I’m certainly glad that Pepi at least is getting along with the commoner. 

 

Entering the library, I found Thane fairly easily. He was off at a lone table with a few books and a quill and paper. I figured that I would go grab some backs of my own before meeting up with him. I was able to find a few books that talked about different forms of magic thanks to the guidance of the librarian. I doubt I’m gonna find what I’m looking for so easily but I’m never going to know until I try.

 

After grabbing four books, I went over to where Thane was sitting. 

 

“Excuse me,” I whispered, putting down my current selection next to the left of his. “Good evening, Master Thane.”

 

Thane looked up from his studies and gave a simple greeting back before returning to his books. It looks like he was currently brushing up on his history.  I have a feeling we aren’t going to talk much this evening, but that’s completely fine by me. I actually prefer it this way. It’ll be good if Thane can at least be comfortable around my presence. It’ll also let me focus on my hunt to regain my dark magic. 

 

I gave a thorough look into my books, but they didn’t really help me. One of the books I found did have a very well kept collection of the different kinds of spells in the world. I did see a bunch of stuff that I never ever saw in the game of Revolution, like the memory magic that Catherine had, but also there seems to be time magic too. I decided to look through the fire section in the event that my hopes of using dark magic are completely dashed and I’d be stuck with Claire’s fire magic. I’m not particularly surprised at the lack of dark magic in these books. Dark magic was never mentioned in the game, but this was a magical fantasy setting, surely it exists somewhere. I just needed to keep looking.

 

I felt a tap on my shoulder and I turned around to see that Thane has already packed up his studies and looks to be heading to his dorm. 

 

“It’s getting late, so I’ll be heading back.” he spoke quietly. “I appreciate the time we had this evening, even if we barely ever spoke.”

 

“Oh don’t you worry yourself about it, Master Thane.” I assured him. “As long as you enjoyed yourself. Have a good night.”

 

“Good night to you as well, Miss Claire.” I saw that he had a faint smile on his face before turning around to leave the library.

 

I gave myself a good stretch at the table. It was then that a yawn had escaped me, making me realize just how late it was outside. I believe I must have been in here for two to three hours.

 

I knew that I wouldn’t be able to immediately find a solution, but I still couldn’t but sigh after having no progress. No need to lose hope, Yumiella, it’s only day 2. I’m sure I’ll be able to find something that’ll make me stronger. After packing up my books and returning them to their rightful places, I walked down to my dorm room.

 

“I’m home.” I said as I opened my way inside the dorm. It seemed to get a giggle out of Catherine.

 

“Welcome home, Yumiella.” She teased back. “How was your second day of school?”

 

“It was fine.” I yawned. “I met the three princes today, they’re all about what I expected.”

 

“I see, I see.”

 

“I also was able to spend some time with Thane.”

 

“Oh?” Catherine perked up at this, she seemed much more interested in what I did with Thane. “What were you two doing?”

 

“Well he had plans to study in the library, and I happened to have plans today to research what kinds of magic exist in this world, so the two of us sat in the library in our studies together for about 3 hours. We didn’t really talk but he said that he enjoyed himself, so I would say mission accomplished.”

 

“Huh.” Catherine remarked, I think she might have expected a lot more to have happened. “Well, I hear Prince Thane is a quiet guy, so I guess it makes sense.”

 

“Yeah, it was quite pleasant for myself too.” I can feel a smile coming on. “I think I should invite Thane out again to the library some time later.”

 

“Hmm,” Catherine pondered a bit before saying her next words. “Well be a bit careful, I know you obviously don’t mean it, but people are definitely going to get the wrong idea about you two if you keep doing that.”

 

“Unfortunately it’s a bit late for that, all my friends have the idea that I have a crush on Thane.” I sighed. “Was Claire really that obvious about it?”

 

“She would talk about him a LOT.” Catherine emphasized "It also doesn’t help that you basically invited him to a date.”

 

“I…sure did huh.” As the realization dawned on me, I prayed that Thane also did not see it that way.

 

Realistically, even if he did, he most likely wouldn’t do anything about it because of his lack of self confidence. A grim thought, but I feel that it’s the most realistic situation.

 

“So you said that you were researching types of magic, did you find any clues to finding dark magic?” Catherine asked. 

 

“Sadly I did not, but I can’t say it was a complete waste of time. I found a number of magic types that weren’t in Revolution, like your memory magic. I also found a number of fire spells I did not know existed until now, so it’ll be a good backup in case dark magic really doesn’t exist.” 

 

“I see, that’s good then. We still have plenty of time for you to search.” Catherine assured me.

 

I gave her a thumbs up in response. “Now I just need to go back to working on my timeline.”

 

“Cool, don’t stay up too late.”

 

I gave her a simple hum of acknowledgement before getting to work. I still wasn’t done by the time it became dark, but that’ll be for another time. I thought as I lost myself in sleep, ending my second day here.

 

I then spent all my free time during the next day in the library. I didn’t see Thane there that day, not that I was planning on hanging out with him again that day. I did not want people to misunderstand things between us. I still haven’t found anything useful that day, I felt like I’ve hit a wall already. On my way back to my dorm, I thought about different topics that might lead me to dark magic. The first thing that came to mind are monsters. Generally a lot of monsters in the world of HikaYuu were associated with dark magic, such as skeletons and demons. 

 

It seems that this was the right call, as I managed to make a breakthrough in my research. Apparently demons did exist in the world of Revolution, they weren’t ever mentioned ingame. Probably because demons lived exclusively in a territory that sits next to the Nur empire, a country that borders Bauer. It seems that they can use dark magic too! This was huge for me, it means that dark magic really did exist in this world! I could feel a smile creep up on my face, today was a great day. 

 

Feeling elated, I rapidly went to tell Catherine of the great news.

 

“So they also come from demons here too…” Catherine was a bit wary. I suppose it was because dark magic would probably have a stigma attached to it if it was known more publicly that it was associated with demons.

 

“It’ll be fine, I already lived one lifetime where I was prejudiced for having dark magic.” I assured her. “I can live through it again.”

 

“I know that you know what you’re doing…” Catherine trailed off. “But it is still worrisome.”

 

“It’ll be fine, I won’t do anything very risky even if it’ll lead to obtaining dark magic.” It’s a very common trope to have someone lose their humanity or to hurt someone in some way to gain dark magic. I don’t want to throw away the life I have here, so if it ever has to come to that to gain dark magic, I won’t even bother. 

 

”Good,” Catherine gave a light nod.

 

“Yeah, I think I can put that stuff behind me for now and actually focus on my studies for now. I have that exam coming up, and while I’ve done it in game a good few times, I should give myself a refresher.”

 

“Oh yeah, that first big event that you mentioned before. How did that work in the game?”

 

The exam in question was an examination that new students would take on the 8th day of classes to evaluate their skills. The exam had three sections. The first section was Culture, which covered the history and literature of the Bauer Kingdom. The second section was Etiquette, students were judged on their formal mannerisms in the form of taking a formal meal. It went beyond simply knowing the right table manners, the judges also scored students based on their dress, how they greet others in the room, and where they looked during the meal. Finally, there was Magic. Unlike the last two tests, which heavily favored aristocrats due to knowledge of culture and etiquette being much more familiar to them compared to commoners, the magic test was the one section where commoners could stand a chance, since magic potential doesn’t have a bias between a noble or a commoner. The magic test was divided into two sections, one where students are scored for their magical aptitude, and another where students are measured based on their strength by seeing the strength of our magic bullets.

 

“Well for the culture section, it’s all a series of multiple choice questions. The etiquette section plays out the same, you are asked a series of multiple choice questions and have to choose the right ones to earn points. Finally, the magic test is done with a mini game, a small game within a game, that tests if you match the rhythm to the song that it plays.” I explained in detail.

 

“Okay,” Catherine nodded along. “So can you get a perfect score in every section of the exam?”

 

“Yes it is possible.”

 

“Then how well do you think the Rae of this world will do?”

 

That’s

A good question.

 

I know that Alicia did well as a student in my past life. Not top of the marks but she was very successful academically. A part of this was definitely thanks to the fact that she wanted to be on level with me, who was basically always near the top of the class because of my other world knowledge.

 

Oh wait.

 

I think that’s giving me an idea.

 

“Theoretically, the Rae of this world can also get top marks in every category. Every answer to the first two sections can be found by studying in the library, and I’m sure she can train well for the magical section…” I began to muse.

 

“What are you thinking?” Catherine asked. I think it was very clear on my face that I was crafting an idea in my head.

 

“I think I know how I can make Rae a more diligent person.”

 

“Oh really? You found a way to tame the beast?” Catherine teased.

 

“Something like that.” I chucked back.

 

Yes I think this will work, not only will it be a method to teach Rae more manners, but even if it fails, there won’t be any consequences.

 

It’s a flawless plan. 

 

Feeling very proud of myself, I choose to write down more plans for the future now that I’m satisfied for the moment about what I have learned in the library. I’ve already finished writing down a timeline of events in my book, so now I can focus on writing down goals for the near future.

“Good morning, Miss Claire!”

 

Thankfully I did not have to wait long to enact my master plan, as the commoner had come to greet me first thing in the morning.

 

“Ah, perfect timing. I have a challenge for you.”

 

“Oh?”

 

“You’re aware of the exams coming up in four days?”

 

“Of course.”

 

“Well I propose that if I somehow don’t beat you in these upcoming exams, then we can continue to be friends. If you lose, you are then punished to never be able to talk to me again unless spoken to.”

 

I thought this would be the perfect plan to motivate Rae to clean up her act, but she shot me with an instant rejection. “Eh? I don’t wanna.”

 

“Wha? Are you already throwing in the towel?”

 

“But if I lose, then I won’t be able to toy with Miss Claire anymore.”

 

“That’s IF you lose, don’t give up hope immediately.”

 

“Oooh wow, you really do care about me.” Rae put her hands to her face as if she was swooning and being embarrassed. “Oh how I love you so very much.”

 

“Well I don’t!” I burst out. Damn it! I keep falling for her tricks. Why do I get so angry when she does this? I was fairly immune to this sort of thing in my previous lives. “Are you taking the challenge or not? Or are you too much of a coward to try it?”

 

“Alright alright, you don’t have to be so pushy. I’ll do it.”

 

Oh thank god something is going right today.

 

I would spend the next few days studying for the exam. I already knew what the result would be, but it was good to keep up appearances that I actually tried in our competition. 

 

Rae on the other hand still kept trying to pester me. Whenever I suggested she should be focusing on her studies instead, she would simply respond with a “I don’t need to do that right now”. If it wasn’t exactly Rae saying this, I would have dignified this with a response telling the person that they shouldn’t cram, but knowing her she’ll probably say something infuriating in a heartbeat after that, so I just flatly ignored her. It helped end conversations with her quickly at least. I know I said I didn’t want to be on her bad side, but it seems she prefers me hating her for some reason, so I guess I’ll take my social battery respite whenever I need it. 

 

-!-

“Are you feeling nervous, Master Yumiella?” 

 

It was the morning of the exams and Lene was curling my hair while chatting. 

 

“Yes, I’ve always been like this with exams.” Even in my HikaYuu life, where I had an academic advantage, I’ve always been nervous whenever it was time for a test. “I know that I’ll do fine given my past life knowledge, especially since I’ve studied for it, but it doesn’t completely drive off the fear.”

 

“Did you ever have trouble with this in your past lives?”

 

“I was fairly on top of my grades in my HikaYuu days. It was in my Japanese life that I had a lot of trouble with tests and the like. I remember many restless nights of cram studying for exams. I wouldn’t even sleep on some days.”

 

Lene then gave me a concerned look, “I sure hope that you haven’t been doing that here.

 

“Don’t worry about Lene,” I can hear Catherine chime in with a giggle from her bed. “I’ve been making sure Yumiella hasn’t been causing too much trouble for herself.”

 

“Thank the spirits for that.“ Lene said with a smile.

 

Lene continued with the curls as I sat in contemplation. There’s something I’ve needed to talk about with Lene for a while. I should have had this talk with her since my first night, but I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the future this past week so it slipped my mind.

 

“Hey Lene,” I called out.

 

“Yes?”

 

“Tomorrow, after classes end for the day, I would like to have a private chat with you.” I got a bit quieter when I said this next part so that Catherine would not overhear. “I would like to talk about your secret.”

 

Lene tensed up when I said that, I think she knows what I want to discuss with her.

 

“Yes, of course,” Lene stated with a pained smile. “There’s no need for you to ask, Master Yumiella.”

 

“Lene, you a dear friend of mine.” I assured her.

 

I only got a hum of acknowledgement from her, and we all stayed silent during the rest of my morning prep. Definitely not the most graceful way for me to breach the subject, but we will need to have this conversation in order to prevent a future tragedy. 

 

For now however, I just need to focus on my exams today.

 

-!-

 

It was time for the exams, and the first thing to be done was the culture section. Many people try to use guides online to get the perfect scores on this section, however, since I had strove to get perfect marks on these exams, I knew the answers by heart. Now granted, I had an entire life between when I got that perfect score and now, but that was nothing a little studying couldn’t fix. Having to answer in written format instead of with all multiple choices may have had me take a bit more time with it, but I still felt confident that I finished it flawlessly. 

 

I put my exams down after finishing the last question and looked around to see that no one else had managed to finish their exams, except for Rae. It seems she actually did study well for these, I’m thankful that she listened to me. 

 

Next up was the Etiquette section. This will be the hardest section of the exams today. I will have to apply myself with actions instead of tapping the correct prompt like in the game. However, I’ve lived an entire life as a noble, longer than any student has in this academy, so I didn’t have much doubt that I also could not ace this. Luckily the culture between Bauer and the country of HikaYuu, the Varschein Kingdom, was not too different from one another in terms of dining manners, so I did little more than rely on my muscle memory.

 

I may not be as situational aware as I was when I was level 99, but I felt a presence other than the judges staring into me for some reason while I took my meal. 

 

Finally came the last section, the magic section. It’s sort of like the victory lap for myself since I was the most sure I would ace this section out of all the exams. The exam was taken outside and we were standing in line to have our magic aptitude assessed. I could hear some of the noble students sound dejected upon discussing their results. Magic aptitude was measured by a magical tool that measures what your magic was, fire, water, wind, and earth (maybe dark as well, but I doubt I would ever be able to test that), as well as your rank. There were five ranks for magical aptitude: none, low, medium, high, and super. It was a similar idea to the Varchein Royal Academy’s magical tool that measured one’s level that students would use at the start of the school year. 

 

Finally it was time for myself to get examined. I had placed my hand over the device and the result was exactly how I expected it to be, a high ranking in fire.

 

“Wow, that’s amazing Claire!”

 

“I can’t believe you got a high aptitude in fire!”

 

Pepi and Loretta were at my sides, singing my praises for my magical might. 

 

“Hahaha, of course.” I forced out a laugh. I was much less amazed by my results than they were. Obviously I’m not gonna scoff at being so magically talented at any element, but it served to remind me that I no longer had my dark magic, and how much I missed having it. However I obviously can’t express that publicly, so I tried to act proud of my results. “I’m a Francois, so this was always the expected result.” 

 

Then came the second half of the magic test, where we would use a magic wand to demonstrate our magical power by creating a magic bullet to hit a target. It reminded me a lot of the first magic assignment I had in Varchein, however this time the targets were much weaker, so destroying it wouldn’t be a completely inconceivable feat for a student. 

 

I never had to use a wand in HikaYuu, but it was easy enough to pick and learn to wield. Each wand had a magical stone attached to the end of it, which was the source of almost all magic in the world of Revolution. Unlike in my past life, magic generally cannot be used without the help of these magical stones, something that would take some time for me to get used to. 

 

Not having any need to hold back, I fired my first magic bullet to completely destroy my target, much to the amazement of the noble student spectators that had gathered around me. 

 

I decided to take a look at how Rae was doing and she was about to fire her own shot. Rae used a water element magic bullet, which bounced off the target, leaving it intact. However, there was something odd about it. I saw that she adjusted her wrist mid cast, which means that she purposefully missed the bullseye. A pang came over me at the realization that Rae was trying to hold back. If she was trying not to stand out as anything exceptional, I will have to apologize to her later for challenging her like this and taking her out of her comfort zone. 

 

At any rate, that was the end of the exams. I could finally release a sigh of relief that it was over. Honestly I had planned to give myself some rest for the rest of the day, however I was interrupted by a knock on my door right before I went to sleep.

 

It was Rae in her nightwear.

 

“I’m absolutely exhausted from all those exams.” Despite her words, the commoner looked like she was radiant with joy. Jumping to give me a hug. “So I’ve come here to recharge myself on Claircium!” 

 

Claircium? What am I? A portable charger?

 

Still I can’t exactly blame her, I also feel the same way.

 

“Well I suppose that’s understandable,” I resigned, returning the hug. “I was occasionally observing you during the exams and I know that you’ve been a good girl all day.”

 

For some reason this caused Rae to have an immense flush, causing her face to glow red. She broke out of the hug and stood a little bit back.

 

“Pl-please be more mindful with what you say.” Rae now with her head in hands. “People are gonna greatly misunderstand if you’re not careful.”

 

“I’m…sorry?” I was completely lost by this, I was just telling her that she did a good job in those exams. I was suppose to cheer her up but now she looks in a worse condition than before. “Do you want another hug?”

 

“NOPE, I’M GOOD, MISS CLAIRE!” She suddenly raised her voice. “GOOD NIGHT!”

 

And just as suddenly as she appeared, she fled into the darkness of the hallway. At this point I could hear Catherine behind me break out in a full out cry laugh. 

 

“Wow, Yumiella,” Catherine said as she was wiping off tears. “You are unbelievably dense.”

 

“I am…aware of that at least.” I hung my head down. I can’t count the amount of times that I’ve been told something to that effect in all my lives. I hope I can at least apologize to Rae tomorrow.

 

-!-

 

”Good morning, Miss Claire! And good morning to you too, Miss Pepi and Miss Loretta”

 

“Good morning…commoner”

 

“Hmph, good morning.”

 

“Good morning, Rae.”

 

Thankfully my time to apologize came early, Me, Loretta, and Pepi were on our way to class when Rae had caught up to us. Rae had been making an effort to be more friendly to my friends, even being able to remember their names. However, the two of them still haven’t been as respectful back to Rae. They seemed to have given up on retaliating against the commoner’s antics, but they still aren’t on friendly terms yet. 

 

“I think I owe you an apology, Rae.” 

 

“Huh?”

 

“Miss Claire?!”

 

“You don’t need to apologize to this commoner!”

 

Pepi and Loretta went wide eyed at the idea that I had something to apologize for to a commoner, and even Rae herself was taken a little bit aback by it.

 

“Last night, you had asked me to comfor-“

 

“Woah hey hey hey hey,” Rae interrupted me, her cheeks having a touch of red once again. “You do not need to apologize for that. It’s fine.I don’t blame you. You are able to fulfill my request. Trust me.”

 

“Excuse me, commoner,” Loretta spoke with venom in her voice. “What were you two up to last night?”

 

“Oh it was nothing. Rae was tired after the exams, so she wanted me to comfort her. However, I seemed to have said something wrong then because she seemed really uncomfortable and then sprinted out of my dorm room.” 

 

“You let her in your DORM room?!” Loretta looked appalled at me before staring daggers at Rae. Pepi wasn’t much better, but Loretta seemed especially spiteful towards Rae, does she really hate commoners that much? It’s a little concerning.

 

“Loretta, regardless of her status, Rae is my friend. There’s really no reason you shouldn’t be treating her with the same respect as me or Pepi.”

 

“Eh?!” Loretta looked back at me, looking like she was betrayed. “That’s not it!” 

 

“Okay then what is it?” I asked directly

 

“Well…ummm.” Loretta started to fidget with her hands, and was unable to look me in the eye.

 

“If you are unable to give a reason, then you should drop it.”

 

Loretta grimaced in pain at that. I feel sorry for her, but this behavior was unbecoming of her, she really should drop it.

 

“Miss Claire…” Rae sighed. “You really should be more thoughtful.”

 

“Rae…?” Why was she defending the girl that hates her? “I don’t wish to be mad at Loretta, but this behavior is unbecoming of her.”

 

“I do agree, but I can’t exactly blame her.”

 

“…why?” It seems like this was another thing that was going over my head, frustratingly.

 

“If you don’t know the reason, Miss Claire.” Pepi spoke up. “Then please do not worry about it.”

 

So all my friends know what’s happening except me? I really wish I could get people. 

 

I looked back at Loretta, who still looked pained, and figured I should at least make it up to her.

 

“I’m sorry for being so hard on you, Loretta. I don’t know what is happening but I don’t wish for my friends to be fighting with each other.”

 

“Nah, it’s fine,” Loretta said back at me with a pained smile. “I don’t really blame you.”

 

Well if she says so, I can't really push the subject anymore if I don’t know what’s happening. Just in time too I suppose, classes were about to start. 

 

-!-

It was the evening after classes ended, which means that it was time to have the talk with Lene. Given that this is a chat I wanted to have exclusively with Lene, I couldn’t use my dorm room with Catherine in there, and I don’t think I can ask her to leave the room. 

 

Lene had suggested taking us to the Francois manor, which I found to be a good idea. It would both serve as both an introduction to the manor for me, since I’m not familiar with it, and I’m sure we would have the privacy.

 

The two of us took a carriage to the manor. My father in this life, Dole Francois, was apparently out for business today. This was a bit of a stroke of luck for me, as I wasn’t exactly prepared to meet my new father as of now. 

 

Before we had our talk, Lene gave me a tour of the residence as per my request. It was certainly the house of a high ranking noble, much too expensive and extravagant for my taste.

 

The tour had ended at the location that we agreed on for our long chat, my bedroom. It was significantly bigger than the dorm room at the academy, maybe even bigger than the room I had as a Dolkness. There was a large closet dresser next to the window on the wall to my right. Across the room from that was a queen sized bed. There was even a jewelry stand standing in front of the back wall.

 

“So Lene…” I sat down on the bedside, while Lene had brought a stool to sit herself down. “Let me be clear here. I do not and will not judge any differently for this. You are a wonderful friend, I trust your judgment completely.” 

 

I know that Lene was trying to put on a brave face during the tour, however, even I can tell how tense she was all evening. Right now she looked like a kid that was tensing up for a punishment or harsh scolding from their parents. 

 

“If my understanding is correct, you and your brother wish to be in a romantic relationship with each other.” Yes, Lene’s secret is that she and her brother, Lambert Aurousseau, wish to engage in a romantic relationship with one another. In my personal opinion, I’m not really a fan of this type of thing, however, I will simply just leave it to the individuals if it’s truly their prerogative. 

 

Lene simply gave a nod. She has loosen up a little bit, but she still seems fidgety.

 

“Now like I said, I personally don’t have a problem with this. However, I do have a problem when it hurts others.”

 

This caused a very surprised look to appear on Lene’s face. She croaked out a “what?”, still being very tense while also being curious about what I meant, before I explained myself.

 

“During the student festival at the academy, you and your brother are persuaded to cause a commoner riot in front of the school by burning a student alive and shifting the blame on a noble. Your brother then releases a chimera on school grounds to cause further damage to the nobility. You do all of this so you can move to another country with different names in order for you to be legally married.” 

 

This whole explanation must have horrified Lene, as had looked quite pale when I finished my explanation.

 

“Wh…what happens after that.” Lene asked weakly.

 

“In the game of Revolution, the main character tags along with the love interest that has the most affection with you to defeat the chimera and to catch you two. You are then put to death for your crimes.”

 

Lene clutched her hands tightly while shaking after hearing that, like she knew that was going to be what I said but was still terrified that it was what will happen.

 

“I am telling you this because I consider you as a very good friend to me. You were willing to accept me despite only knowing me for less than a day at that point. I am not judging you for your interests, I will judge you, however, if it causes harm to others.” Lene was silently nodding along in silent acknowledgment until I said this, “It does also makes me worried about you causing harm to yourself

 

“Ha-harm to myself?”

 

“Yes, you may be a commoner but you are the eldest daughter of the Aurousseau family, the wealthiest merchant family in all of Bauer. I am aware that I am being extremely selfish when I say this, but as I said earlier , there are very dangerous consequences to something like this being found out. Know that I will not tell anyone about this if you don’t want me to, nor will I try to stop your relationship if you try to go through with it, but you are one of my dearest friends, and a good friend to Catherine too, I know that we would both miss you dearly if you were gone.”

 

Lene began to look teary eyed when I had finished my explanation, so I gave her a hug to comfort her. She returned the hug as I could hear her take long, deep breaths. Eventually Lene broke the hug and took a deep breath before she finally spoke up.

 

“Can I please think about this for a few days.” She requested

 

“Of course, I don’t know when you are given that offer but the festival is a long while off, you have plenty of time.”

 

“Thank you, Master Yumiella. You truly are kind.”

 

“No no, you’re the one who took me in despite me not being your original master, I am eternally grateful for your help. Do you believe you will need to take a break while you think it over?”

 

“No, I believe I will be fine. Thank you for your generosity, however.” Lene gave me a slight smile at that. “Shall we return to the academy dorms? It may be late but I think we can still make it.”

 

“Yes we should. I don’t want to make Catherine worried.”

 

Lene gave a simple hum of acknowledgment, taking me back to our carriage and riding it to the dorms. We didn’t speak at all during the ride, not that I could blame her. She clearly has a lot on her mind right now, and her love for her brother is something that I don’t think I will ever understand. However, that’s fine, even lovers aren’t able to fully understand each other all the time, that’s what makes us unique from each other. 

 

-!-

It’s been three days since the exams, which means that the results of which will be posted on the wall that us students have gathered around. 

 

“How well do you think you did on the exams, Rae?” I asked Rae as we waited for the results to be posted, I already was 95% sure what they would be, but I just wanted to try to make small talk.

 

“I would say pretty well, but I can’t be sure until the results come.” She simply gave a shrug

 

“Have you already given up?” 

 

“Hey like I said, anything could happen.” 

 

“I believe it’s pretty set in stone.”

 

“Heh heh, you two seem to be having fun already.” Yu butted into the conversation with Rod next to him. I could see Thane come in as well, however it seems that he was much further back than his brothers were. “How are you feeling about your results, Rae?”

 

“I think I’ll do good.”

 

“I see, I see. Misha? What about you?”

 

“I did my best.” It seems Misha was still a bit awkward around Yu, I suppose that makes sense, they haven’t talked since Misha’s family fell into ruin until they both came to the academy.

 

“I’m excited to see who number two is going to be.” Rod spoke up, already believing that he will be number one. He really does always annoy me.

 

“If I had to guess, it would most likely be you, Rod.” I retorted.

 

My bold statement gets the stares of all my friends. Misha looked distressed, Rae gave me a soft smile as if she’s enjoying herself watching this play out and Yu looks very intrigued by my retort.

 

“Oh really? Who do you think is going to be number one?” Rod sneered, he looked very surprised that someone had decided to challenge.

 

“Myself, of course.” I said like it was the most obvious thing in the world as I pointed to myself. 

 

This caused a hearty laugh from Rod. “Man and I thought Rae was interesting. You Claire seemed to have become a lot more interesting yourself.”

 

“That’s nice.” I curtly gave a flat response. If it weren’t for the fact that he was a love interest, I would have long ignored him by now.

 

We had to endure a long silence as we waited for the results to be posted. Finally, we saw a teacher with a collection of papers walk up to the wall, that must be the test results. I was glad to know that my confidence was not unfounded as the first of the test results, the culture test, was hung on the wall.

 

Culture Test Results

1st Claire Francois (100 points)

1st Rod Bauer (100 points)

3rd Rae Taylor (98 points)

3rd Yu Bauer (98 points) 

…

…

7th Misha Bur (90 points)

…

…

10th Thane Bauer (87 points)

…

 

“Wahoo!” I softly exclaimed at my flawless results. I knew that I have both otherworldly knowledge and studied, but this section was the most anxious about seeing the results of, even if I knew for sure it wouldn't go bad. 

 

“Well well well, it seems that you weren’t just bluffing Claire, and the commoner is not bad herself either.” Said Rod with a grin.

 

“Yeah, good job you two.”

 

“Thank you very much.” The two of us responded.

 

It seems my flawless plan with Rae is paying off too! I thought warmly to myself.

 

Next was the Etiquette results 

 

Etiquette Test Results

1st Claire Francois (100 points)

1st Yu Bauer (100 points)

3rd Rod Bauer (98 points)

4th Thane Bauer (96 points)

…

…

8th Misha Jur (90 points)

…

…

22nd Rae Taylor (75 points)

…

 

“Hmmm” I hummed, looking at the results. “You’ve done well for a commoner.” I meant that genuinely, to get 75/100 in something that I’m sure she has never done before in her life was just further proof that the fruits of my machinations were borne ripe.

 

“Yes, you’re quite right.” She chuckled, scratching the back of her head. “But look at you, you got another 100!”

 

“Well I’ll be, I think you might have a shot beating me,” said Rod.

 

“I never thought I would see the day,” Yu chimed in.

 

“It seems like Rae is going to lose,” said Misha.

 

“Let’s not get too hasty, they haven’t posted the magic test results,” Rae confidently countered.

 

Said magic test results finally were posted.

 

Magic Test Results

1st Rae Taylor (Immeasurable)

2nd Misha Jur (98 points)

…

…

6th Claire Francois (92 points)

…

8th Thane Bauer (90 points)

9th Rod Bauer (88 points)

9th Yu Bauer (88 points)

 

“Im-imeasurable?!” I shouted, feigning shock, hiding that I knew that this was the expected result. 

 

In the game, the protagonist is always scripted to be a dual caster of both Earth and Water. Not only that, but she was ranked “super” in both elements. With her protagonist privilege, it was fated that she would land in first.

 

Finally the overall test results were pinned

 

Overall Results

1st Claire Francois (292 points)

2nd Rod Bauer (286 points)

2nd Yu Bauer (286 points)

…

…

8th Misha Jur (278 points)

…

…

10th Thane Bauer (272 points)

…

 

* Note, due to the unprecedented results obtained by Rae Taylor, her score will be handed separately. The academy will review its methods of evaluation going forward.

 

There it is.

 

My flawless plan

 

Mission complete.

 

“Hmmm.” I pretended to contemplate, however, before I could say to Rae what I wanted to say, Pepi and Loretta had rushed to my side.

 

“Woaaaaah, you managed to beat the princes! That’s amazing!”

 

“Yeah! Regardless of the commoner’s strange ranking, we knew you could do it, Miss Claire!”

 

“Oh-uh…yes I sure did.” Honestly I didn’t really care what my score was, but I did want to see if I could get as much of a perfect score as I could as Claire. 

 

However, Rae’s score of “Immeasurable” has gotten her some attention from the princes.

 

“Immeasurable, huh? You just keep on surprising me, Rae Taylor.” Rod said with a wide smile.

 

“How does that even happen? Does Rae’s magic ranking go even further beyond Super?” Yu wondered.

 

“Can’t be. In that case, the magical device would break, wouldn’t it? But instead it got an “unknown” result. I personally think that it got multiple readings and that’s why the magical device couldn’t give a straight answer.”

 

“So you’re saying she’s a dual caster?”

 

All eyes turned to Rae after Yu said that. She got bombarded with questions left to right: what elements can you cast, how did you get so lucky, are you secretly a foreign noble in disguise. I can tell that Rae was not comfortable with the experience, even as she was trying to answer the students’ bombarding questions. It reminded me a lot of when my level was revealed in my last academy days, causing me intense feelings of sympathy for the commoner. My sympathy was then accompanied by guilt when I remembered that she was trying to hold back during the exams. She must have been trying to avoid attention, but both a combination of this and my contest seemed to have crushed those hopes. 

 

I couldn’t watch this go on, I have to make it up to her for this. I pushed my way through the crowd of students, grabbed her wrist, said a simple “excuse me” and then dragged Rae with me out of the hallway, much to the bewilderment of the crowd.

 

I had dragged Rae until we were at the base of some stairs until I found it to be a suitable time to let go. When I finally looked back at her, she looked completely astonished. 

 

“I have to apologize to you once again, Rae,” I took a deep bow. 

 

“Wha?!” Rae did not seem to have expected a Francois to be this apologetic to a commoner like herself.

 

“I saw you holding back during the magic test. I know now that you did not want to have much attention towards you. I know very much what it’s like to have to be forced into the spotlight. It seems I have caused this through the contest that I have set up, it was never my intention for things to turn out like this.”

 

“Hey wait no, it’s fine. It’s not your fault. At all.” Rae assured me. “I think my magic result would have caused this anyways. Besides I never told you that I didn’t want much attention aside from you, so it’s really not your fault.”

 

I returned up from my bow, “still it was only my intention to help you learn to become a more proper individual.”

 

“Hehe, aww thanks, you’re so sweet,” Rae chuckled. “Now I can be even more fit to be your bride!”

 

“Wh-what?!” I staggered back. “Are you still intending to be like this even when you know how to be a proper noble?!”

 

“Yep! It wouldn’t be right to lie about my feelings to you.” My flawless plan… “Besides, didn’t you want this to happen anyways?” 

 

“No I didn’t!” I firmly declined. 

 

“There was no reason for me to accept your challenge, I’ve never cared about whatever or not you like me. You know this as well, so the only reason why you would offer me such a challenge is because you want to be my friend.”

 

“I-well…I mean-“ I was struggling to form a counter argument to that as she so thoroughly picked apart the motivations behind my challenge. “If that was the case, why would I have the lose condition be set so that you can’t talk to me if you lost when I as a noble had such an advantage?”

 

“Well you could easily just say you turn back on your word because the bet said I could speak to you if you wanted me to,” She instantly countered. “You might even tutor me in that event.”

 

Ughh, I felt my face scrunch up as she even figured out my back plan in case my sure fire gamble somehow failed, to which I saw Rae flash me a wide grin, like she’s enjoying my reactions. 

 

“Fine, you’re exactly right,” I gave a big sigh as I confessed. “I do wish to be your friend, but I really wish that you would stop with your…flirting.

 

“Well that’s just how I am, unfortunately.” Rae swayed her head with her hands behind her it. “I’m really happy to be here with you. Besides, I’m perfectly fine to be just friends with you.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Would you rather be lovers?”

 

“NO! Friends is good…”

 

“I do have one condition, however.”

 

“Are you really in the position to bargain here?”

 

“Didn’t you say once that I deserved a reward for doing so well in the exams?”

 

I…did say that, I guess it would be rude to go back on my word.

 

“Very well, name your reward,” I resigned. 

 

“I want you to swear to god that you will never give up, no matter how bad things get.” She got very serious when she said that. It was the most serious I have ever seen her.

 

I was expecting Rae to ask something ridiculous, but this request seems really…benign? Swearing to god is a form of promise that’s said to bring you misfortune for life if you ever break it. I’m not a religious person, but it holds a ton of power as a social construct. I would socially be in a lot of trouble if I ever broke, not that I ever would break a promise that I had already resolved to do.

 

“Is that all? Very well then. I swear to god that I will never give up, no matter how bad things get!” I declared. I then extended my hand to Rae. “It’s a pleasure to be your friend, Rae.”

 

Rae returned the gesture in turn, firmly taking my hand in hers. “A pleasure to be your friend too, Miss Claire.” 

Notes:

"Man I wish I could have gotten chapter 1 to be longer. Ah well, guess I'll just keep going at the pace I set in chapter 1."

>accidentally writes a 10K word chapter

I really did want to have the exam stuff done by the end of this so I just kept writing until I finished it, lol

Chapter 3: How We Express Love

“Hey, Rae. Are you listening?” 

 

“Oh I’m sorry, I was distracted.”

 

“Heh, that’s pretty funny. It’s alright, I forgive you.”

 

I was looking at a scene of Rod attempting to make talk with Rae. One of the early romance triggers for Rod’s route was doing well on the exams. Achieving a high score got Rod’s attention and he would begin to flirt with the player. As most people should look up the answers online, this made Rod’s route the easiest to achieve, and was a part of why he was the most popular of the three princes. 

 

It seems as though Rod is trying to do that right now, much to the jealousy of the other noble girls around us. However none of them had the courage to approach the prince himself. Personally I didn’t want to approach either, but I felt that I had to since I don’t want to get on a love interest’s bad side as the game’s villainess, so I came over to greet the pair.

 

“Hello Rae and Rod.”

 

“Oh, Miss Claire!” I could hear Rae perk up, her mood a lot more bright after seeing me. 

 

“How are you two?” I attempted to start a conversation.

 

“Much better now that you’re here!” Rae beamed

 

“Just chatting with Rae. I’ve never seen anyone like her, especially not a commoner like her.” 

 

“That teasing of yours is a bad habit, Rod,” Yu joined in with us. The exam results were not a trigger for his route, so his behavior has remained unchanged. “Rae, you do not have to indulge him.” 

 

“I think she could stand to respect the royal family a little bit more.” Misha spoke while studying quietly in another seat. 

 

“I do respect the royal family,” Rae said. “It’s just that my love for Claire goes far beyond my respect.”

 

“What do you think of that, Claire?”

 

“Well I-“ Her affections towards me still didn’t quite make sense to me, and also a little bit uncomfortable given my life with Ali-no, I can’t think about that here.

 

“She can think what she wants.” I huffed, pushing the tears that I could feel well up back down. 

 

“You are so cute,” Rae teased.

 

“Am not!” I retorted.

 

Seeing Rae and I up to your usual antics got a laugh out of Rod. “Ha, you two really are funny!”

 

I could see Rae scrunch up a little in response to that.

 

“Master Rod,” she spoke with absolute certainty.

 

“What is it?”

 

“I am only interested in Miss Claire.”

 

“Sure seems that way.”

 

“So, I would appreciate it if you would please leave me be.”

 

“Rae!” Misha spoke up in a panicked voice. “Master Rod, I am deeply sorry for Rae’s behavior. She still hasn’t been taught how to conduct herself around royalty yet.”

 

“Well wait a minute,” I interrupted. “If you want to get your feelings across, leaving it up to no uncertain terms is the best way to do that.” Sure it might come off as a little rude, but being frank is the right call. Besides, I doubt being a little awkward with friends isn’t grounds to damage a relationship, at least that’s what I believe anyways.

 

“Miss Claire?” Misha was probably confused by me standing up for the commoner.

 

“Hmmm,” Rod began to contemplate. “I understand your feelings, Misha, but this is the Academy and we are all just students here.”

 

“I…understand, Master Rod.” Misha said. “I thank you for your forgiveness.”

 

“It’s no problem.” Rod chuckled.

 

“Rae,” I called out to her.

 

“Hm? What is it, Miss Claire?” 

 

“My deepest condolences to you.” I whispered to her so the others wouldn’t hear. “Rod can be a…stubbornly persistent man.” 

 

“Hehe, it’s no biggie. As long as I have my Clairuim on hand, nothing could take me down!” She exclaimed quietly.

 

“That’s…good.”

 

”All that said, I would happily let Miss Claire be my teacher,” Rae grinned, back to a normal volume. “She can even teach me some…extracurricular activities.”

 

“Oh really? Like what?” Misha blanched for some reason in response to Rae’s statement, but I was simply curious what she meant by that.

 

“Oh well…” Rae trailed off, it seems she didn’t expect me to ask that? She’s the one who made the offer. She should be sticking to what she says. “Miss Claire can…roughen me up if she wants…”

 

“Roughen you up…?” I didn’t really understand what she meant by that for a second until it hit me like a lightning bolt. 

 

“Oh! Yes! Do you really mean that?! It would be quite good for me!” I perked up. Back in EikaYuu, I was trained on how to wield a sword by my friend, Patrick for a few years, in the event that I could not use my magic for some reason. I have been trying to get into the swing of things a few days since I woke up here, to get the rust off. However, training is much more effective with a living partner instead of a test dummy, so I’m very happy to have a willing partner come fall into my lap like this.

 

“I…oh…um…what???” For some reason, my enthusiasm for the sword has caused Rae’s grin to vanish completely from her face, being replaced by a deep blush of red. Meanwhile, everyone else looked at me with a mix of deep confusion and horror.

 

“? I’ll have you know that I am quite good. However I am a bit rusty, so I’ve been sorely missing a partner to practice with.” This explanation did not seem to help, in fact it only seemed to worsen their expressions. 

 

“Do you all really think that a noble lady like myself cannot wield a sword?” I huffed.

 

“Huh?? A sword??”

 

“Yes? You said that you would like me to ‘roughen you up’. You said that you would like for me to a sparring partner, yes?” 

 

It was then that all the weird tension of the room had vanished as quickly and strangely as it had appeared. I could hear Misha give a large sigh as I saw her place a hand on her head. The boys were both laughing hard. Finally, Rae exhaled a large sigh of relief, her face gone back to only a slight shade of pink.

 

“No…that was not what I meant…” 

 

“Then di-“

 

“NONONONONONOPE!” Rae quickly interrupted me, putting a finger to my lips. “Do. Not. Worry. About it.”

 

“I’m sorry.” I bowed to apologize, despite not knowing what I did wrong. “It seems I have misunderstood something again.”

 

That got a slightly awkward chuckle out of Rae, “like I said, don’t worry about it. It’s actually kind of cute.”

 

“That’s nic-“ I felt my chest hurt. She used to tell me that all the time. I can’t think of her right now. Just calm yourself down.

 

“Claire…? Are you okay?” 

 

I took a deep breath, “yeah I’m good, don’t worry about me. So anyways, do you think you can spar with me, Rae?”

 

“I would love to, but I don’t know anyone about sword play so I don’t know if I can help with that…”

 

“So there is something you can’t do,” Rod chuckled. Rae looked like she was about to make a retort to that, but decided against it. Simply only giving him a glare instead.

 

“If you want to learn swordplay, I can teach you,” Rod offered. That’s right, Rod is actually quite proficient with a sword. 

 

“Sure, that would be lovely.” I already needed to establish a connection to him regardless, so this worked out nice. “You’re free after classes, right?” 

 

“Sure thing!” Rod beamed.

 

-!-

It was the evening after classes had ended. Rod and I agreed to spar in the clearing where we held our magic exam. I was doing some practice swings while waiting for Rod to show up.

 

“Yo!” I hear the man call out. “Sorry for holding you up. I was being held up by some nobles wanting my attention.”

 

“It’s no problem.” I look over to Rod and notice that he has a good number of noble spectators. 

 

“Seems like that hasn’t stopped you from amassing quite the crowd.” I joked flatly

 

“Ha, yeah, being popular certainly does that. I’m sure you’ve got no shortage of fans either.” 

 

“Hmmm, not particularly…” Now that I think about it, I’ve never talked with anyone that wasn’t already a friend or a teacher. I wonder if game mechanics are getting in the way of my life again.

 

“Really? Hmph, shame on them.”

 

Rod pulled out one of the school’s practice swords. It was a wooden short sword. I was also practicing with the same kind. My preferred weapon of choice is a katana, but, despite being in a Japanese made game setting, this is a European setting, so I’ll have to make due with what I can get. 

 

I also drew out my sword and the two of us stepped into position, standing a few meters apart from each other. 

 

I decided to observe Rod and let him attack first, however it seems he had the same idea. We were both standing still, tensed up for the first blow, until Rod finally made the move to rush in. It took me by surprise how fast he came at me, I was still used to my level 100+ reaction speeds. I did see in time that he was going for a diagonal slash just within reach so that a miss doesn’t open him up. I dodge out of the way by taking a small hop back.

 

I then retaliate with a hop forward and a horizontal swipe from my left. Rod quickly pulls up his sword to block the attack, and then I quickly go for another swipe from my right., which Rod also blocks. 

 

Rod breaks away my sword and goes for a forward stab. I dodge out of the way and then go for a swipe at Rod’s side, but he quickly blocks that attack too. 

 

Our sparing went on like that for a few minutes: he would go for an attack, I would dodge it, I would retaliate, he would block it. It seems that while my eyes don’t quite react to movement as quickly as I did at level 100+, my previous combat experience and training has given me the muscle memory and instinct to react to movement that I should not be able to react to. For example, at one point Rod when for a flurry of attacks, and instead of blocking all of them, I instinctively was able to dodge every one of his blows. 

 

There was still a problem, however. While my mental capabilities have carried over to this body, my physical capabilities have not. While Claire herself is a lot more physically apt than I had originally thought (I was told by Lene that Claire took self defense lessons), I fear that I will exhaust myself before Rod does. If my strength over Rod was my strong gut instincts, I think I can win if I am able to bait Rod into a losing position. 

 

I took a gamble and charged forward to go for a reckless stab, which Rod dodged. Then, I blindly diagonally swiped up from my right with all my remaining strength to defect whatever Rod was doing, trusting my gut that he would go for a vertical slash down. My blade managed to catch Rod’s as I had hoped, but then, as our blades had crossed, I heard a large crunch sound.

 

My sword was broken in half by Rod’s, I guess because even with all my experience, my body as it is now cannot overpower Rod. I was trying to catch Rod off guard and slash his sword out of his hands. 

 

I heard Rod whistle, “wow Claire, when you said you wanted a sparring partner, I had assumed that you were more of a beginner.” He sounded out of breath, a small victory for me at least. “But you were able to keep up with me amazingly well.”

 

“My apologies, I know that this was meant to be a sparring match, but I want to test my abilities. However, I suppose even with everything I’ve studied, I still wasn’t able to beat you.”

 

“Hey come on now,” Rod gave me a pat on the shoulder. “You were doing great. I’ve been training in sword play since I could pick up a sword, don’t beat yourself over not being able to beat a veteran like me.”

 

“I suppose…” I sighed.

 

“You wanna go for another round? We can go grab a new sword.”

 

“I feel like we should apologize to the teacher for breaking it…” I remember when Alica would break a training sword by accident and that she told me that she got in a bit of trouble whenever it happened. It stopped being a problem when she started to train with a sliver sword. 

 

“Nah I’m sure it’s fine!”

 

“Well I’ll be blaming you if we do end up in trouble,” I deadpanned.

 

Rod gave a chuckle as we both walked out to grab another practice sword. The crowd that had amassed earlier thankfully let us go through to not bother us. 

 

We spared for a while more, however the two of us did get chewed out by a teacher when they found out that we had gotten a sword broken. I gracefully apologize, but I still gave Rod a brief side eye glare that hopefully told him, “I told you so.” Meanwhile Rod gave an awkward laugh at his error.

“Hiya Miss Claire!”

 

“Seriously…”

 

Today was the day that the Francois family would hire a second maid to work for me at the academy. Students at the academy were allowed to bring a maximum of two servants with them, however, I have been insisting that this was highly unnecessary. In fact, I believed that any maids were not something I needed. Lene is a friend first to me first, maid second. 

 

In my HikaYuu days, I never felt that I needed to have a maid attending me when I was to have enough autonomy to live and study for myself. Yet my deadbeat parents in that life had hired a maid to spy on me. Eventually I was able to cut off my parents and inherit the Dolkness family wealth for myself. My maid still served me after that as I had saved the life of her sister, which she explained made her feel indebted to me for life. 

 

Back to the issue at hand, Rae Taylor was sitting in front of me in the interview room. Normally I would not be attending the interview, the process would be solely left to the senior maid that was currently sitting beside myself. However, Rae had informed me in advance that she would applying to become my maid.

 

“I believe I said that we can just be friends, Rae.” I had told her at the time. “You don’t have to do this.”

 

“You sure did, but this is still something that I want to do. Besides, you’ll know that I’ll be the one if I pass regardless.” Rae had told me.

 

The protagonist of Revolution is able to take up a number of part time jobs while attending the academy. Her scholarship may allow her to be exempt from tuition costs, there were plenty of other expenses that she would need to cover. However, I know for sure that a maid was not one of the in-game jobs.

 

And yet somehow, Rae had made it to the final stage of the interview. 

 

“Do we have to do this?” I asked the senior maid beside me.

 

“Miss Claire, this commoner has exceptional skills. I believe that she would be a very welcome addition to our staff.”

 

“Perhaps…” I grumbled. Rae was a remarkable girl. Her education in both academics and etiquette were far above the average commoner, also her potent magic would be useful as protection. However…

 

“I believe I said before that I do not need a maid to follow me,” I had explained once again. “I am well able to take care of myself.”

 

“You are quite strong Master Claire. However, a noble like yourself cannot do everything. What would happen if Lene was unable to serve you?”

 

“Nothing would change. Lene is my friend, not just a maid.”

 

“Would it really? How would you be able to curl your hair?”

 

“I…” I did not have a counter to this. I would like to say that I did not want to put down my curls. However, I cannot do that, both because it would be a very suspicious change, but also because I did not wish to disrespect Claire more than I have had by taking her life. 

 

“I would do it myself.” I clenched my fists, desperately trying to worm my way into a victory.

 

“Do you know how?”

 

“I will learn how to do it myself.”

 

The senior maid did not seem convinced by this, however. It seemed my odd stubbornness was causing the maid to be concerned.

 

“Master Claire,” she spoke hesitantly. “I do not know why you are so insistent on not wanting a maid. However, this Rae Taylor is already a student of the Academy, no? You would already be around with her during your school days regardless of if she was hired or not. I believe there is then no reason for her not to accompany you if her skills are more than sufficient for your needs.”

 

I grimaced at that. There was zero arguing against that. She would always be at my side regardless of if she was hired here. All the work she would do as a maid would be a strain on her, and not myself, so advocating for her not to be my maid doesn’t logically make much sense. 

 

“Very well,” I resigned with a sigh. “If you truly believe she is qualified, then I suppose there’s no harm in her being my maid.”

 

“Wahooo!” Rae beamed, raising a fist up into the air. 

 

“You will be starting your work tomorrow morning,” the senior maid explained.

 

Rae gave a nod to that, but then she spoke up.

 

“Excuse me, is it possible for me to have an audience with Master Dole Francois?”

 

Dole Francois was the name of my father in this life. Given his family status, he is practically the most influential man in all of Bauer, second only to the king. However, why did Rae want to speak to him?

 

When I asked her as much, she simply said this, “oh I just wish to meet my employer. I am working for Master Claire, but Master Dole is the one who will be paying me, no?”

 

“Well,” the senior maid spoke up. “I do not believe that will be possible.”

 

“Why not?” I asked. 

 

“Well to have a commoner speak with the head of Francois family is…”

 

“And if I took her with me to talk?” 

 

“Master Claire?” The senior maid yelped with a small amount of shock.

 

“It’s an innocuous request, I don’t see the problem with it.”

 

The maid had briefly looked down before resigning, “very well, if that is what Master Claire wishes. Your father should be in his work room as of this moment.”

 

I took a turn back to Rae, who was patiently sitting in her chair this whole time. I wordlessly motioned for her to follow me, and she got up and followed suit. I was thankful that Lene gave me that tour, so I wouldn’t be lost guiding someone in my own home. 

 

We eventually arrived at my father’s room. I was admittedly nervous about this, even if I would be there to briefly introduce my new maid to my father, this would be the first time that I, Yumiella, will have spoken to him. 

 

I gave a knock on his door, “excuse me, father, may I have a moment of your time?” 

 

After a few seconds, the doors to his room opened up. Standing in front of us was a older man with slicked back, gray hair and a very aristocratic mustache accompanying his face. 

 

“Hello Claire, what do you need?” I saw that he spoke with a warm smile, but that warmth for some reason had dimmed a little when he looked at me.

 

“My newly hired maid here,” I had motioned to the commoner, prompting a bow from her. “She wishes to speak with you.”

 

This causes the man to raise an eyebrow, now putting his attention onto Rae. 

 

“Very well then, if Claire has decided to hire you then I suppose I will hear you out.” He spoke after contemplating for a small bit. My father always did have a soft spot for his daughter. ”Come on in you two.”

 

“I thank you for your time, Master Dole.” Rae gave another slight bow. “However, I would please request that this conversation be a private matter between you and me.”

 

This caused my father to look at Rae with a bit of scrutiny, “you may be Claire’s maid, but I do not believe you are in position to request such a thing.”

 

“Excuse me,” I spoke up. “I was already planning on leaving it to the two of you, so it’s no problem for me personally.” 

 

“Oh! Well isn’t that perfect!” Rae beamed.

 

My father now gave me the same look he gave to Rae, but he quickly decided to let that go. “Very well, if that is your wish, then I will speak to Rae alone.” 

 

“Good day to you both.” I gave them a bow and went off to go back to the academy. I believe that I had shown Rae enough of the manor that she can make it back on her own, so I saw no need to waste my time on waiting for her. I could spend that time practicing my magic, I had borrowed that book full of magic spells and wanted to see them be put into action.

 

-!-

 

“Good morning, Catherine.”

 

“Hm?….morning, Yumiella.”

 

It was the early morning after Rae was hired as my maid, it wouldn’t be for a bit until Lene and Rae would come in for my morning routine. I wanted to at least just talk with Catherine for a little bit, if only so I could preserve the small time I had as Yumiella, given that Rae does not know that I’m not actually Claire. 

 

“Today‘s the day that I’ll have to start dealing with my new maid now.”

 

“Oh yeah,” Catherine, still very sleepy, gave a bit of a stretch before straightening up. “Guess we won’t be able to talk about as much as we used to be able to.”

 

“Yes, sadly,” I was a little saddened by this. It was a part of why I didn’t want a second maid, but that would have been impossible to explain. “You’ll have to call me Claire a lot more now.”

 

“Well I’m only going to be there when it’s us and Lene, so there’s no need to worry about that.”

 

I frowned a bit when she said that. Catherine was a lot like myself in a few ways, we both weren’t very social people. Given my status as Claire Francois, I’ve had to mask this aspect of myself, but Catherine had no such obligations. It’s why I can’t blame her for not wanting to interact with Rae, but it does sadden me a little that our time together will be cut short.

 

“I won’t push it, because I do get that socializing is hard. However, Rae is a friend of mine, I believe that it would be nice if you could be friends as well.” 

 

The last thing I heard from Catherine before she disappeared was a simple hum of acknowledgment as I heard footsteps approaching the door. 

 

-!-

“Miss Claire, did you hear that Broumet has a new dessert?”

 

“No, tell me more.”

 

“Apparently it’s called Chocolate. It’s sweet with a dark bitterness to it from what I hear.”

 

I was socializing with Loretta and Pepi after classes ended for the day. I was then informed of a very interesting discovery. Bourmet was a restaurant that was popular with the nobles. That much was already established within the game of Revolution. However, what was not in the game of Revolution was chocolate. 

 

“That’s amazing, do you know who made the recipe?” I perked up. Chocolate was something that was commonplace in my world of Japan, but was a rarity in Varschein. 

 

“Well all of Bourmet’s recipes are a secret. It’s a part of why they’re such a dominant business.”

 

“I see…” I began to ponder. I’ve read a number of stories about isekai characters making a profit off of introducing shampoo and conditioner to the world, which I could do given that they don’t presently exist, however I have no idea how to make it so that was a no go. However, the introduction of chocolate does give me some ideas on what I can do-

 

“Miss Claire!” I heard my name called, shaking me out of my thoughts.

 

“Hm?”

 

“Miss Claire…” I noticed now that it was Loretta who called me out worryingly. “It’s not really my place to say, but are you sure you want someone like this to always be by your side?”

 

Loretta had gestured to Rae, who was standing by and accompanying us as my maid. Normally Lene would also be here, however she had informed me this morning after my routine that, while she believes she has made up her mind about our private discussion, she still needs to talk to someone before telling me her choice. It doesn’t take a genius to know she’s talking about her brother. 

 

“Well it was never my choice in the matter to have a maid. However, Rae is my friend, so I suppose if I must have maids follow me, it would be much more convenient if I was accompanied by close company.” 

 

“But she has…ulterior motives…” Loretta trailed off.

 

“Nope!” Rae exclaimed, making an x symbol with her arms. “All my love for Miss Claire is pure and true!”

 

I shifted a little in my seat. I myself was not admittedly fully comfortable with the flirting. “Have you ever reconsidered if you see me as a friend or love interest? We’ve only known each other for about two weeks.”

 

“I suppose that’s what it looks like from your perspective .”

 

“…have we met before?”

 

“You could say that, haha.” Rae gave a chuckle.

 

I guess that must have been before I killed Claire. “Well I apologize for being such a disappointment.” I admitted in self deprecation. After all, I’m a completely different person.

 

“Don’t be like that Miss Claire! Sure you may have been a bit more…quiet than I expected, but I think your modesty is quite cute.”

 

“Uh-um…yeah!” Loretta hesitantly agreed with Rae. She also looked a bit flustered when she said this. Is it really so hard to get along with her? 

 

“You’re also at the top of the entire school!” Pepi piped in. “And I heard that you are on par with Master Rod in terms of swordsmanship!”

 

“I just have…very high standards for myself.” I was the strongest person in the world of HikaYuu for most of my life. Not having that power makes me feel…uncomfortable. I curse this world for not having levels to make me stronger.

 

“Whatever high standards you have,” Rae assured me. “As your maid, I’ll be there to help you each step of the way.”

 

“I will…remember that, Rae. Thank you.” I know that she has no earthly idea of the heights that I want to go or even the lengths I will go for them, however I was still very touched by the sentiment. I give Rae a faint smile, which she returns with one of her own.

 

I can only hope that she will hold up to her promise when it really counts.

 

-!-

It was evening when Lene had returned from her business. She had told Rae that she wished to have a private discussion with me and Catherine, so Rae was sent away for the night to her dorm room. When it was clear that Rae was long gone, Lene closed our dorm room and let out a deep breath. 

 

“So you wanted something to tell the both of us?” Catherine had reappeared on the bed after Rae left. 

 

“Yes I do,” Lene began to explain. “I want to tell you both about the private conversation Master Yumiella and I had a few days ago, and my response to what she told me.”

 

Catherine and I both gave a nod as we began to listen intently. 

 

“The truth is that I was in love with my brother, Lambert, and Master Yumiella had warned me about my possible demise that would come as a result of that.”

 

Catherine did not say anything, but her surprise was very clear on her face. However, I was more fixated on the way that Lene had phrased that. 

 

“Was?”

 

“Yes, Master Yumiella informing me of my possible demise led me to rethink everything about our relationship, including if it was worth it to keep holding on to it. In conclusion, while I still hold much respect for my brother, I felt that the risk and consequences of the exposure of our relationship was not worth indulging in the feelings I have for him. My life is not the only one at stake here. Me and my brother are members of an immensely wealthy family business, for commoners at least, all of that would be taken away from both us, and our family members who don’t deserve to be punished by our actions. However, most important of all, our exposure would led to losing out on two of my closest friends.”

 

Lene gave both Catherine and I a smile when she made that last point. 

 

“Oh…Lene…” I can see Catherine tear up a little, clearly touched by Lene’s words. I myself was also quite touched by her words.

 

“So did you talk to Lambert about this?” I asked

 

“I did so earlier today. He was a little distraught by my decision, however, I was able to convince him that we should not have our selfishness hurt others that do not have any part in this.”

 

“I see, I really appreciate that you wish to be with us, I also hold the same sentiment with you.” I smiled 

 

“Same here,” Catherine had climbed down from the top bunk of the bed and leaned into Lene to give her a hug. “I’m really glad that you and Yumiella are here.” 

 

“Catherine…” Lene spoke softly.

 

I also joined in the hug, Lene eventually returning the hug. We all stood there for a while. It felt very nice, a warm feeling began welling up in my body, and even after we all had to break the hug to sleep, the warm feeling was still lingering. 

 

-!-

“Hmm? That sound.” I pondered aloud.

 

“Yes, I hear it too.” Lene said.

 

I was invited to a tea party by a noble lady who was an ally to House Francois when I heard a distinct melody. It was a bit distant but it sounded very familiar. 

 

“Ah…” Rae appeared to have put something together before I could, and had quickly grabbed my hand. “This way, Miss Claire.” 

 

“Huh?” I was a bit dazed by the sudden movement. “But what of the tea party? It wouldn’t do to stand them up.”

 

Rae didn’t respond to my protests, simply silently dragging me off to…somewhere. As we got closer to the sound, it dawned on me where I had heard this melody before and where my destination would be.

 

We were located in the academy’s central courtyard near an arbor that was next to a pond. Sitting there was the lone prince Thane, playing a tune with his harp.

 

One aspect of Thane that shone far above either of his brothers was his musical talent. One of the in-game bonding events with Thane was the protagonist happening to overhear the prince practicing his harp and giving him praise for it, which helped a bit with his self esteem. I suppose Rae was able to figure out where the music was coming from before I could. 

 

I’m actually not sure of the relationship between Rae and Thane. I know that she, like myself, was not fond of Rod and his doting on her. She had been pestered by Rod to have a match of Chess with her since the exam results came out, and the one time she did, it seemed that she was holding back in order to make herself less interesting to Rod. The attempt was unsuccessful as Rod was able to catch on to her doing this, making the issue even worse. Rae was much more friendly with Yu, I suppose Rae must also think that Yu’s less bombastic attitude compared to his brother was preferable. However, Rae and Thane have not ever spoken with one another as far as I knew. I suppose it has to deal with Thane not wanting to talk with someone very talented like Rae, because of his self esteem issues.

 

“My…what an amazing sound.” I heard Lene whisper behind me.

 

“It’s nice.” I whispered. I’m not much of a music expert, but the melody was very nice. I can tell that Thane really is good at his craft.

 

 Given that the best results for this event were to wait until he had finished his song, I decided that it would be best to do so as well. I wasn’t trying to romance him, but I would still like to be his friend. He seems like a nice guy, but all my attempts to speak with him have come up short, all that would be had is a simple greeting. I suppose that’s what happens when two socially distant people try to start a conversation with each other. This time I believe we can bond over something at least. I suppose Rae must also feel the same way as myself if she dragged us out here. 

 

The three of us sat there in silence as we listened to the melody. Once it was done and Thane was putting away his harp, I finally took my chance to step out and compliment his skills. 

 

“Hello, Thane, that was a lovely melody.” 

 

Thane tensed up a bit upon realizing he was being watched. “Oh…hello Claire, how long have you been there?”

 

“Apologies for the intrusion, however we heard your song and were curious where it was coming.” Lene stepped in. “You have a real talent, Master Thane.”

 

Rae followed up behind Lene as well, but for some reason she looked a bit annoyed, muttering something to Lene but Lene responded with a head shake. 

 

“Please, you don’t have to pretend. This is just me merely goofing off.” He put himself down as he packed away his harp.

 

“What’s wrong with having fun?” I argued.

 

“It’s unbecoming of a king.”

 

“Just because you’re royalty doesn’t mean you can’t have a hobby. Even a king should be able to enjoy himself.”

 

“Even so…I don’t have the talent to play in front of others.”

 

“Then play for yourself.” 

 

“…play for myself?” Thane pondered aloud, sounding confused about being given advice to do something he was already doing.

 

“Yes, if you don’t feel confident playing in front of others, then play for your own enjoyment. Besides, you want to improve, yes? Then keep playing and having fun, and if you ever feel confident doing it in front of others, then go for it.” I knew that Thane obviously could easily play in front of others and be more than fine. However, I knew exactly what it was like to have extremely high standards for oneself, as I feel that way myself. It would be simple to say that he has the talent to be able to play for others. However, this is supposed to be a hobby, so he should be having fun with it. There’s nothing wrong with going at his own pace with it. 

 

“Hmmm…I see. Yes, it is indeed how you say.” Thane spoke with a smirk on his face. “I suppose one day I’ll have to show you the fruits of my labor.” 

 

“That would be nice.” I could feel a faint smile of my own creep up. 

 

“Um…excuse me?” I could hear Rae clear her throat.

 

“Oh…you’re Rae Taylor. Claire’s new maid, yes?” 

 

“Yes, that would be me. I figured that while we were all here we could play a ga-AHOWOWOW!” Rae was interrupted by Lene pulling on Rae’s ear. 

 

“As I’ve told you earlier, Rae,” Lene scolded Rae while speaking directly into her ear. “We will not be doing that.”

 

“Ow ow ow!” Rae yelped in pain. “Okay okay! Just let me go!”

 

With a smug “hmph”, Lene let go of her ear and then took a bow towards Thane. “I apologize for the unsightly behavior, but I had to stop Rae from committing to a foolish endeavor.” 

 

“Ahaha,” Thane laughed dryly. “It’s fine, Rae certainly is an interesting woman.”

 

“I would much prefer it if you focused on Claire.” I heard Rae quietly grumble, rubbing on the tip of her ear as she was recovering from the pain. 

 

“Thanks.” Rae then spoke in her usual curtness towards the princes. 

 

Thane gave a hum of amusement

 

“I’m going home.” He said, “have a good day.”

 

The three of us saw Thane walk out of the ardor. When Thane was out of sight, Lene gave Rae a glare, and Rae gave back a sigh. 

 

What in the world was Rae trying to do?

 

-!-

“Rae, are you what they call gay?”

 

Me, Lene, and Rae were eating lunch with Misha when she decided to be upfront with Rae. 

 

“I…” I hear Lene choke.” I don’t think this is something you should be asking publicly. 

 

Meanwhile I didn’t give any kind of reaction, I felt that the answer here was fairly obvious. 

 

“I don’t mind,” Rae said. “Do you want to hear my answer?”

 

“As your best friend, yes,” Misha said.

 

“Hmm…Well I can’t be totally sure, but I’m probably gay. I’ve never had any special feelings for a guy,” she spoke with complete indifference. 

 

“I see,” Lene said. “Well gender doesn’t really matter, love is still love. It just happens that Rae fancies girls.”

 

“Nope!” Rae countered.

 

“Huh?” 

 

“Wha?” I spoke up for the first time.

 

“Gender IS important!” Rae corrected.

 

“Re-really?” 

 

“What do you mean by that?” I asked, now very curious in what Rae has to say.

 

“The idea that love is blind is another misconception about homosexuals. For example, I only like women, which means that gender is very important for me as I do not like men, and it’s vice versa for men who only like men.” Rae explained.

 

Oh…I did not think about it like that. Despite being in a gay relationship in my previous life, I too was under the belief that gender was not really all that important. However, now that I thought about it, it seems fairly obvious. Ali- She (can’t be thinking of her right now in front of Rae and Misha) was always more comfortable around women, so she probably considers gender to be important as well. 

 

“I see. I suppose I don’t really know much about these things,” Lene remarked.

 

“Well that’s normal. There isn’t much opportunity to learn.” 

 

“Even so,” I spoke up. “I apologized. In retrospect this feels like something that should have been extremely obvious.” 

 

As a homosexual myself, I felt quite shameful that I also fell into a misunderstanding.

 

“It’s really nothing, Miss Claire. As I said, nobody here really knows much about queerness.” 

 

I suppose that is true…I was never a homosexual until my second life where there was much less information about the subject. 

 

“Is there any other behavior that I ought to change?” Lene asked.

 

“No, not really. I’m just happy to dote on Claire every day.”

 

“Even if…” I trailed off.

 

“Even if I was never loved in turn, yes!” Rae completed my thought with a weak smile.

 

“I was wondering about that,” Lene said. “You told me earlier about how you wanted to play a game between me, you, Master Claire, and Master Thane to get Master Claire and Master Thane closer together.”

 

“Wait huh?” I spat out. Was that what Rae was trying to do in the ardor?

 

“I sure did!” Rae confirmed, “I wish to make my beloved as happy as she can be, which also includes helping her be with her love.”

 

“I don’t feel that way.” I snapped, probably raising my voice a bit higher than I had intended, but I was very tired of her pushing this. “If you truly want me to be happy then you would stop forcing a romance onto me.”

 

Rae looked like she was taken aback by this. She looked as if she wanted to say something but held her tongue. I think she’s finally gotten the picture, thank god.

 

“Well my point was this,” Lene continued. “Why are you trying to push for your crush to be with someone else? Did you give up on Claire?”

 

“Well…I guess I did, but this was more something I’ve already known from the beginning, so I wouldn’t say I ever gave up on her.” Rae answered bleakly.

 

“And that is?” 

 

“The fact is that Miss Claire is straight, which means there’s no way for her to reciprocate my love for her.”

 

“That’s-“ I wanted to counter that but quickly stopped myself, as if I was punching my own gut to give myself more time to think about my next words. Rae is right, Claire Francois is straight. However, would the two in front of me know that for sure? Rae is a commoner, which means that despite all her tales of infatuation, she could not have met me very often. Misha makes this more troubling, she used to be a noble so it’s possible that Claire and Misha have met in the past, but her house fell into ruin seven years ago which means she’s probably also only met me when I was 8 at the latest. They wouldn’t get suspicious if I came out…right? But how would Rae take it? She believes that she has no shot, so would she feel worse if-

 

“Master Claire!” I could feel a set of hands shaking my body out of my spiraling. 

 

“Wha-“ I look around, dazed. All three of my friends were looking at me in concern, especially Lene, whom I’m certain knew why I was so deep into my thoughts. “I’m sorry, I was just thinking…”

 

I exhaled a deep breath. “I would not say that being straight is the reason why I cannot reciprocate your love.” 

 

Rae and Misha both got a little wide eyed at my statement, meanwhile I could hear a sharp gasp from Lene, who I assume might know where I’m about to go with this.

 

“I simply don’t believe I am currently in the mood to fall in love with anyone as of now.”

 

“Oh-I see, I’m deeply sorry for before then.” Rae apologized in a very rare moment of seriousness. 

 

“No it’s fine, you couldn’t have known.”

 

“How long have you felt this way?” 

 

“Oh..well I think it was after we met…” I tried to think of a good cover story for why I felt this way. “I started to give a lot of thought to what you said to me that day and I didn’t feel like I could really find myself falling in love with someone.” 

 

“Miss Claire, please don’t misguide yourself into thinking you have to love the way I do,” Rae tried to assure me. “There are many different forms of affection, it’s all up to you.”

 

“Oh I’m sorry,” I apologized since I could feel a misunderstanding coming. “I just don’t find myself being with someone romantically.” 

 

“Oh I get it,” Rae said with certainty. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”

 

“…really?” 

 

“Yeah of course not, there are people who don’t find themselves attaching sexually or romantically to anyone. People like that generally label themselves as asexual or aromantic respectively, ace and aro for short.”

 

“ Waitnothat’snotitiamgayit’sjustthatIdon’twanttothinkaboutloverightnow .” I blurted out, desperately wanting to clear the misunderstanding that I could see coming, without really thinking about what I just said.

 

As soon as it began to dawn on all of us what I just blurted out, I could feel my temperature drop dramatically. Rae and Misha looked dumbfounded at this revolution, I saw Lene take hold of my hand and squeezed it in an attempt to comfort me. 

 

“Well-I…” Rae was slowly recovering from her staggered state. “Well you can be both gay and ace or aro…”

 

“No…” I argued weakly, still feeling tense after I accidentally came out. “No, I’m sure I will find someone…a girl probably…I just don’t want to think about it right now.”

 

“I see,” Rae nodded. I was afraid that Rae would say I’ll be her destined soulmate or something like that, but she was being uncharacteristically very quiet right now. 

 

“Are you not upset?” 

 

“Nah, this doesn’t really change anything. You still aren’t going to reciprocate my love back, plus even if you’re gay, you’ll probably find a woman other than me to love.” She gave a weak smile. I didn’t know if it was my anxiety affecting my thoughts, but her expression seemed to be the most hurt I’ve ever seen her. 

 

I could feel myself tear up as I gave Lene’s hand a squeeze of my own. As a Francois, I cannot be crying in a moment like this. I was able to shallow in my sorrows when Misha finally took her chance to speak up.

 

“So what does that mean in terms of…your family?” Misha asked cautiously.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Well you are about the age to find a suitable family to married off to. I’m concerned how that will go if you’re not interested in men.”

 

“Well I’m unsure if I actually am uninterested in men, but I’m not going to marry someone I don’t love.” I spoke coldly.

 

“Is your father okay with that?” 

 

Right, Claire’s father. He’s absolutely going to one day court me off to another noble family. It’s what happened in my previous life. Last time I was able to deal with my parents because I was far stronger than anyone else, so they were completely unable to force me to do anything. However, Claire Francois is hardly that strong, so I can absolutely still be forced into an arranged marriage.

 

“I  have not told him any of this-please do not tell him, or anyone else for that matter, about this,” I quickly begged my friends, who all nodded in agreement. “However, I do think that he will still try to set me off for an arranged marriage given that I am the solo child of the Francois family.” 

 

“I think I will just have to prepare for when that time comes,” I said grimly. However, I now have a new reason to become stronger, and that’s to overpower my Father’s influence in order to gain myself complete autonomy. “Rest assured, I am not going to be twiddling my thumbs as my father tries to send me off. I won’t be assigned off to some snob I have zero interest in.” I quickly added with resolve as I noticed that my friends were looking grim at my first statement.

 

“Yeah! That’s my Claire!” Rae cheered, seemingly feeling a lot better than before and was trying to lighten up the mood. 

 

“If there’s anything we can do for you Miss Claire, please do not hesitate to let us know.” Misha said.

 

“Yes, we are all your friends and we all wish for your best life,” Lene was now gently squeezing my hand with both of her’s. “Regardless of who you are.”

 

I felt a tang of warmth as that statement held a special meaning when it came from Lene, who truly cherishes me as a friend even though she knows that I’m an imposter wearing the skin of her old friend. 

 

“Thank you, everyone.” I softly spoke, feeling a warm smile settle onto my face. 

 

We had a nice silence for a few seconds before we heard someone’s stomach start to rumble profusely.

 

“Ahaha, whoops,” Rae chuckled. “All these serious topics got me seriously hungry. I’ll be right back, I’m sure there’s still a beef bowl out there with my name on it!” She joked as she dashed off to grab some more food.

 

Which left me and Lene alone with Rae’s childhood friend, which gave me the opportunity to ask something I’ve been wanting to ask for a while.

 

“Say Misha, what was Rae like before she entered the Academy.” It seemed like she was much more of an expert on queerness than I initially thought. I first believed that she fell in love with me upon either first sight or upon a few select times that she could have ever seen Claire Francois. However, she was using terms I have never heard of before, not that I was a very good measurement for a knowledge queer, but it still begged the question of how she knew so much. 

 

“Before the Academy?” Misha began to ponder. “She was a lot different before she met you, Claire.” 

 

“And when was that?” 

 

“The first day of the semester.” 

 

“Are you sure?” 

 

“As far as I know…yes…” Misha pondered, “I know it seems a bit strange that she’s been so infatuated with someone she’s barely known, but Rae has been acting odd ever since the school term started.”

 

“That is true, but Rae told me that we’ve met before the Academy.” 

 

“Huh??” Misha looked confused. “I’m fairly certain you two have not met before the academy. Do you remember meeting Rae before the academy?” 

 

“No…I don’t think so.” For all I know I easily could have met Rae some time in the past, but I wouldn’t know that because that would have been a memory of Claire’s, not mine. “Maybe if you told me what she was like?”

 

“Well…honestly she is a lot like how you are.” 

 

“…really?” 

 

“Yeah she was a quiet kid, didn’t hang out much with people. I couldn’t really tell what she was thinking a lot of

the time, but I do know she was kind.”

 

“I see.” It is certainly an angle to take with a protagonist of a game that isn’t controlled by a player.

 

“I actually think I saw a lot more of her old personality earlier. So I suppose I’m relieved that my old friend is still there.”

 

That is nice, but it still begs the question of how long she’s been gay.

 

“Do you know if she was gay before the Academy?“

 

Misha simply shook her head.

 

“Are you sure? Can you think of any signs?” 

 

“Hmmm…I don’t know where I would even look in terms of that…” 

 

“I suppose that makes sense, but also it makes things much more confusing…”

 

We didn’t really have much more time to wonder about Rae’s mysterious behavior as the aforementioned girl walked in with a beef bowl in hand. 

 

“Sorry girls, turns out there was still a bit of a line for these things,” she chucked, trying to go back to her usual self. 

 

We went on to have some small talk for the rest of the meal. However, I noticed that Rae wasn’t doing her usual flirting with me, which is something that I appreciated a lot from her after such a heavy discussion, especially one where I had revealed some of my vulnerabilities.

 

-!-

“Hey Claire,” Rae called out, with a tone that was rarely serious for her. “I know that you’ve rejected my feelings, but even so, it’ll be hard for me to let go of them so…”

 

“Our relationship as it is is fine,” I responded. “I know that you want to respect my wishes. Besides, it would be suspicious if you had a sudden change in attitude towards me. I would like to keep my attitude towards love a secret between us.”

 

“Oh. Yeah okay that makes sense. Thank you.”

 

“No problem, we are friends after all.”

 

“Yea…friends.” The lonely look on her face had hurt me, however, there was nothing I could do about it. She needs someone who’s good for her after all. 

 

 

Notes:

Right so two things with this chapter:

Firstly, the thing with Lene. I was never a fan of how Lene's character turned out after the end of the first light novel, so I did want to change it in this. However, the thing with her brother is a major plot element of the story, so in a story that's supposed to be the same (for the most part) except that Yumiella has reincarnated as Claire, it didn't feel right to just not include it at all in the story. I feel that I was about to come up with a reasonable and graceful compromise for the whole thing.

Secondly, I was originally going to end the chapter with the adoption of Ralaire, but I realized that I already hit almost 9K words with the last scene so I figured that the slime stuff would drag the chapter for way too long.

Chapter 4: A Dangerous Showcase

Today was the day that we would be learning about magic. The class was standing in a field just outside of the Academy, next to a nearby forest. Here we were being taught about the world’s magic, as well as magical stones. As someone who has played the game of Revolution dozens of times, it was like having to go through a long, unskippable tutorial. In other words, I was bored out of my mind. 

 

“Miss Claire! Miss Claire!” Eventually I could hear my name be repeated, waking out of whatever daydream I was having to drive away the agonizing boredom. 

 

“Huh? Yes?” 

 

“Miss Claire…” a stern voice chided me. “Just because you are at the top of your class, does not mean that you can ignore class instructions.” 

 

“Sorry sir.”

 

“Miss Claire, could you please create a magic bullet and use it on that target.” The teacher pointed to a wooden target a small distance away, it was similar to the ones used in the magic exams except these were much thicker.

 

“Oh! Yeah sure!” I manifested a large, bright crimson bullet with my wand and fired my magic bullet at the target, which was instantly destroyed on hit. 

 

That display had awarded me with a couple of applauds. Claire’s natural talent was a boon in this case as I was able to use my full power without scrutiny, though I wished I could have zero attention whatsoever from the peanut gallery. 

 

“Miss Claire…” I could hear Rae state in awe.

 

“Yes?”

 

You’re so cool! Please marry me.”

 

“I don’t think I can do that.” I deadpanned, which proceeded to get a giggle out of Rae.

 

The boring tutorial would continue on from there. After he had finished however, he told us to practice what he showed off during the tutorial. 

 

It was then that I decided to look around my surroundings, I was searching for Thane’s location. As expected, I found him along with all the other wind students that were instructed to speak with our teacher about using their magic. Something I had neglected to mention about our teacher, Mr. Torrid, was the fact that he was the game’s only Tri Caster, wielding fire, water, and earth. He was able to teach the class about the first three types of magic visually because of this fact, however, he needed some help from students to do the same with wind magic since he himself cannot use it. 

 

“Hey Rae. Hey Claire”

 

“Good morning.”

 

Princes Yu and Rod approached us.

 

“You sure didn’t pull your punches on that target, just as we expected.”

 

“We’re not so great with magic so we’re a bit jealous.”

 

I must have missed it while I was spacing out, but Rae must have done well with the magic bullet demonstration as well given the princes’ praise. However, Rae immediately turned to me, “Miss Claire?”

 

“What is it?”

 

“Don’t you have any praise for me?”

 

Oh curse my spacing out. “That was pretty impressive, Rae. However, don’t push yourself if you don’t want to.” I improvised. Given her other achievements, I don't think this could be much off the mark. It’s no secret that she doesn’t like much attention from anyone but me. 

 

“Oh please don’t worry, I can take much more than that as long as it’s from you…”

 

“I don’t think you could survive my full power.” I spoke bluntly. If I really was at full power, I could easily overtake the entire school if I wanted to.

 

“Ooooh? Is that a challenge? I remember you saying on the first day that you only dated people who were stronger than you, wanna see if I can meet that threshold?”

 

“I said interested in dating!” 

 

Rod chuckled at our interaction. “You guys are close, huh.”

 

“Yeah!” Rae and I said in unison, getting a laugh out of all of us. 

 

That was when we heard the scream from a nearby student. It was finally time for the main event.

 

Emerging from the nearby forest was a 30 foot tall transparent blob of gelatin that is generally known as a slime. Inside of its center was a mana stone. This was a scripted event in the game where the player was attacked by a water slime during a lesson and would be the player’s combat tutorial. However, here this was no different than live combat, so I immediately sprung into action.

 

“Thane!” I quickly scanned the area for his location and I quickly found him by our teacher. “Thane, I need your help to kill this water slime.”

 

“Absolutely not!” Our teacher moved in front of us with his wand in hand to fire slabs of earth into the slime. They weren’t having much of an effect but he kept firing, keeping its attention to him. “You students need to get away from here.”

 

“Mr. Torrid, you can’t use wind magic, correct? That means you’re at a disadvantage against this water slime.”

 

“Even so, I must hold it back.”

 

“Don’t underestimate us!” I could hear Rae running over to us and casting a spell of her own. Generating walls of earth that surrounded the slime at all turns. 

 

Impressive… I thought to myself. Normally it would take the player until mid game to be able to summon large stabs of earth like that. 

 

I quickly put my thoughts back to the battle. “Mr. Torrid, have the other students fire at the slime.” I commanded. 

 

“O-oh, yes!” Mr. Torrid called out to the other students to attack with us. 

 

It was then that a volley of various magic spells came raining onto the water slime, eventually causing a large cloud of dust to pick up, obscuring the beast from view. 

 

This is good, that should damage the slime to the point where we can for sure take it out with just Thane and myself. 

 

“Thane, please be on your guard,“ I warned him, staying close to him. “It’s about to use Hateful Cry.” All I got in return was a nod as he was tensing himself up in anticipation of the monster’s retaliation. 

 

“GAAAAAAH” 

 

A horrid screech rang out across the field, the sound causing shockwaves that cleared out the dust cloud. This was Hateful Cry, a loud roar that monsters can use to inflict Stun to paralyze their victims through fear.

 

The monster had also broken down Rae’s walls and started to create tendrils off its body to grab a number of students. A few of them aimed themselves at me and Thane, but were both able to dodge them. Hateful Cry is a move that’s much less effective on prepared opponents, so both my warning to Thane and my previous years of combat experience rendered the move ineffective. 

 

The same could not be said about everyone else. A majority of the other students were immobilized by the cry, leaving a number of students defenseless from the Slime’s onslaught. 

 

“Miss Claire! Save us!”

 

I heard my name be called out. I looked frantically around until I could see that Rae was also taken hold by the slime. Rae might have an immense talent for magic, but I know she had basically no combat experience. 

 

“I’ll get you out of there!” I yelled back. 

 

I then turned to Thane. 

 

“I need you to assist me with taking down this monster. Use「Enchant Wind」 on my 「Flame Lance」 , it should give me the boost I need to take down the water slime at its core in one fell swoop.” I commanded him. Usually fire magic would be greatly ineffective to a water creature, especially one of this size. However, 「Enchant Wind」from someone like Thane should give my fire attacks enough of a boost to override that resistance. plus it comes with wind damage as well, hitting the monster’s weakness.

 

“Understood.” Thane prepared his wand for his spell, as I did with mine.

 

“「Flame Lance」”

 

“「Enchant Wind」”

 

The both of us aimed our wands at the slime. A large mass of flames in the shape of a spear came spiraling out of my wand, surrounded by a whirl of wind magic sourced from Thane’s wand. The resulting combination landed a direct hit on the water slime’s mana core, destroying the beast instantly. The several students that were caught by the slime had fallen down after their suspension was cut short, thankfully no one hurt seemed seriously injured from the fall. 

 

“Wow! That was incredible, Miss Claire!” I could hear a number of students approaching us, praising me for destroying that monster. 

 

“Please, I couldn't have done it without Prince Thane. He deserves just as much praise as myself.” I told them as I began to run across the field. I could hear students calling out my name, but I had a more important matter to attend to right now. 

 

I began my search by entering the forest. I was worried that my search would take a while since my target was very small. However, I found what I came here for very quickly, as well as a surprise guest.

 

“…Rae?” 

 

“Bwuh? Miss Claire?” 

 

I saw Rae crouched down, looking at something around the ground. It wasn’t until she turned at the tune of my voice did I see what she was looking at.

 

There on the tip of Rae’s finger was a water slime about as tall as a fingernail. This water slime is the child of the water slime that attacked us. The mother attacked us because she was hit by a misplaced fire arrow when passing by with her child. 

 

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

 

“I could ask you the same thing!”

 

“I asked first.”

 

“Well I noticed this little guy in the woods, I think she was the child of that slime that we killed. I was actually going to tame it before you came in. Would you please let me, Miss Claire?”

 

Well that saves me the time of having to convince Rae to tame the slime. I would have done it myself, however in order to tame a monster, you must share an element with it. 

 

“Very well. However, only on the condition that I name her.”

 

“Sure thing! What do you have in mind?”

 

I already had a very easy answer for this one, it was the name I decided on ever since I thought of my plans with the water slime. 

 

“Mizu!”

 

“Nope, veto!” Rae rapidly declined my name while crossing her arms to make an X shape. “Please pick a different name.”

 

“Whaaaa? But it’s a good name!” I protested. Mizu is the Japanese word for water, which just makes it a perfect name for a water slime. It’s not like anyone else would know the name’s origins, so I don’t see why Rae was so against it. 

 

“Please think of something better…I can’t change it once I name it.” 

 

“Didn’t you say that you were going to let me decide?”

 

“I’m telling you this as a warning for your sake, Miss Claire,” Rae spoke sternly.

 

“…very well then.” 

 

Mizu Mizu Mizu… I thought to myself to try to think of alternative names.

 

Mizu…ri? Like the American state, Missouri? No, that would be ridiculous. 

 

Mizu Mizu Mizu…Mizutsune…? My second thought went to the name of a video game monster I remembered from my first life. It’s a bit too long…it needs to be shorter than-wait I got it!

 

“How about Mizutsune!” 

 

“Hmmm…” Rae began to ponder. “Personally I think it’s a bit long. It would be better if you were to shorten it-hey wait a minute. You’re just going to give her Mizu as a nickname!”

 

“No!” I protested, my voice unintentionally cracking a bit. Crap, I don’t think she’s going to buy that after speaking like that .

 

 Rae’s “uh huh” look that she was giving me confirmed my suspicions.

 

Well if that’s not going to work, I guess I’ll have to work off something else…but what? I’m not good at coming up with things on the spot. Maybe I should try to pull from another person’s name.

 

…

 

Yeah I think that might work.

 

“What about Ralaire?” I finally decided.

 

This suggestion had nonplussed Rae. I was expecting her to veto this suggestion like she did before,

 

“I like it! It’s a good name, Miss Claire.” She instead flashed me a smile and then turned to Ralaire, “okay little gal, your name is going to be Ralarie from now on.” 

 

Rae then touched the magic stone at the slime’s core and fed a bit of her magic into it, turning the core from blue to gold. 

 

“I’m so sorry about your mom. But it’s okay, Claire and I will be your moms now,” Rae spoked as she gently stroked the top of the slime. Ralaire quivered, seemingly the best approximation of what it could do as a response. 

 

-!-

 

It was the next morning on my way to class that I heard a scream from one of the school girls. 

 

“What’s the matter?” I ran up to the girl to see what the issue was, but the girl began to stagger backwards.

 

“A mo-mo-mon-monster…” I could hear the girl quivering, pointing towards my general direction.

 

“A monster!?” I quickly scanned the area, but I couldn’t see any monsters. Did it flee after the scream?

 

The commotion had grabbed the attention of a couple other students, who all showed a similar reaction. I could even see a few of them pulling out their wands. 

 

“Miss Claire…” one of the students with their wand out began to aim in the same direction as the girl from earlier. “The monster is on your shoulder.”

 

My shoulder? I quickly took a survey of both my shoulders. All I could find was Ralaire, who I got permission from Rae to take with me today. Did it disappear?

 

“Ahem…” I hear Rae awkwardly cough while walking up to me. 

 

“Ah Rae, be careful. There’s a monster in the area. I can’t find it myself but keep your guard up regardless.”

 

“Um…the monster is on your left shoulder.”

 

Really? But the only thing there is-oh.

 

“I’ve figured it out,” I sighed heavily. “Turns out that they were scared of our child.”

 

“Our…child?!” Rae’s face became a blush of crimson at this. While normally I would congratulate myself on a job well done for being able to catch her off guard, I have never been able to do it intentionally, or learn why it happened.

 

“Yes, our child, we’re both responsible for her after all. Regardless, I didn’t expect so much of the student body to not be fond of animals.”

 

“I think they’re just not used to a slime being on school grounds.” Rae said regaining her composure slightly with a weak laugh.

 

“Well I’m sure her cuteness will make her popular in the academy.”

 

“Good morning Miss Clai-“ I could hear another student approach me, I turned around to see it’s Loretta alongside Pepi, before hearing an audible gasp.

 

“Miss Claire!” Oh not her too “There’s a monster on your shoulder! I’ll take care of it.”

 

“Stay your hand, that’s my child you’re talking about.” 

 

“Huh?????” Both Loretta and Pepi yelled while their mouths were agape. 

 

“Yep yep,” Rae chimed in. “Don’t worry, as the father in this case, I oversaw Claire’s entire birthing process myself.” Rae said father with an air quotes gesture.

 

“Huh Bwuh you…huh???” Loretta was a jumbled mess of shock, confusion, and fury. Meanwhile Pepi was giving Rae both a glare and a scowl, the joke doing the opposite of amusement for her. 

 

“I think that was a bit too far, Rae.” I spoke up.

 

“My apologies.”

 

Besides, would I be the one giving birth? I guess between the two of us, I would never be topping Rae so the responsibility would be on me to birth the child. No, I don’t think that’s relevant. Even if I was the top, I would insist on birthing the child, I wouldn’t trust anyone else to raise them. Wait what am I even thinking??? The two of us are just friends! 

 

“Miss Claire…” Misha pulled out of my strange daydreaming. “Do you even have permission to take that with you?” 

 

“Yes I do. I asked Mr. Torrid if I could bring it to school and he said that it was fine.” 

 

Misha let out a pained sigh, still looking at Ralaire with some hesitation. “Well…I guess she does look kind of cute…”

 

“Oh so you agree?” I perk up a bit. So Misha is a fellow animal lover. “She’s quite adorable.” I began to pet Ralaire with an index finger. 

 

“But not as cute as moi , right?” Rae said.

 

“Hm…” I pondered a bit, “I really don’t think the two of you are really comparable.”

 

“Oh please, you don’t need to sugarcoat it. I can take the brutal honesty.” 

 

“Well if I were to be honest, you’re a dashing young lass. I’m sure a girl will come to you eventually.” 

 

“But I already have the perfect angel right in front of me!” 

 

“I meant someone you would meet later.”

 

“Oh so after class?” Rae grinned sheepishly.

 

“I wouldn’t bet on it, but who knows what the future holds.” Is there something Rae isn’t telling me?

 

“Alright! See you after class, my future soulmate.” Rae spoke with a salute and giggled before running off.

 

“Wait!” I yelled, running after her when realizing that I was being played again. “I clearly meant someone other than me!”

 

-!-

It was later that night that I would employ a plan that required Ralaire’s assistance, a major reason for why I wanted to tame the water slime. I was in the library of the academy near the back in front of a locked door. Facing me was the entrance to the restricted section, where only those with special permission or faculty could enter. 

 

I took Ralaire out of my pocket. I had asked Rae if she could sleep with me for the night, and she seemed happy enough to oblige thankfully. 

 

“Alright Ralaire, can you please unlock this for me?” I whispered. Water slimes have the ability to transform into any object they could see, it helps them with surviving from predators, but in this case it’s the thing I need for easy lock picking. 

 

The water slime timidly crawled up my palm and onto my finger. She looked at the keyhole and then back to me before quivering. I believe this to be a warning to me. I suppose I am committing a crime, but I’m sure it’ll be fine.

 

“It’s fine, Ralaire.” I tried to reassure her, “If anything happens then I will be the one to take the blame.”

 

Ralaire then gave a close approximation of a nod and faced back to the keyhole. She moved inside of it and I watched her slowly mold to the shape of the key necessary to open the door. It took a little bit, but soon I heard a click noise and the door was unlocked. I let Ralaire re enter my pocket before cautiously opening the door.

 

The room was about the size of a break room they had at my college library. There were two shelves of books on the walls, one across the room in front of me and one to my left. There was also a small table in the room’s center. 

 

I closed the door behind me and had Ralaire relock the door just in case. Then I began to give a quick scan of the book titles to see if I could find anything that looked like it could have useful information. A lot of it is political reports on various families and happenings in Bauer, but I’m interested in that. There are three types of topics that I’ve planned to start my research with, anything to do with magic, anything to do with monsters, and finally anything to do with the Nur Empire, as demon territory appears to be closest to the empire.

 

I find a few books that match my search conditions, however I only pull out one book at a time so that I can be sure to place them exactly back as they were beforehand in order to make my presence inside unnoticeable afterwards. 

 

After some time of reading, I’ve found myself learning quite a bit of less than pleasant things. There was a book I found that listed the application of magic in assassination attempts, a few detailing less than savory experiments to test out magic spells, as well as books that go into detail about the tragedies of the kingdoms that fall under foot of the empire’s conquests. Sadly, I’m nowhere closer to finding access to dark magic than I was before.

 

After giving another scan of the shelves, I see a title of a report that catches my eye. It’s titled, “Collection of Magical Experimentation and the Connection between Magic and an Individual’s Blood.” Given the contents of other readings I have found here, I was hoping that maybe they found a way to artificially produce magic potential. 

 

I opened up the report and found that my hopes were on the right track. According to the report, a group of researchers had hypothesized that magic potential was linked to one’s blood. The report then goes on to list a number of human experiments where one magical user would donate their blood to another. In most cases, this led to a number of negative reactions such as back pain, chills, an increase of dizziness and fainting, and running a fever. However in rare cases, the subjects would be completely unscathed by the event. None of the subjects involved were able to obtain more magic than they did before the experiments, but the researchers were able to deduce that the blood of certain individuals were compatible with each other.

 

Huh, I guess they’re learning about blood types, I thought as I was flipping through the pages. That was until my hands stopped at a page that caused my whole body to tense up. It was another set of experiments that were primarily conducted within the Nur Empire about a decade ago. The title being the reason why my previous thoughts were stopped completely, “The Relationships Between Demon Blood and the Potential of Dark Magic.” 

 

This could be it. I had hoped as I began to read through the pages of this report, praying this would be my breakthrough.

 

It reads as follows:

 

Recently we have learned of the existence of half demons. They are creatures that look like humans with the exception of having small demon-like features, such as small wings in the back, as well as a small tail. Another key difference is that half demons are just as capable of using dark magic as normal demons are. We hypothesize that the answer as to how they are capable of wielding dark magic is through their blood, which seems to be black instead of the normal red blood that other creatures have. We are aware that experiments involving blood transfers to seek out if magic is tied to blood were proven to be unsuccessful, however we hypothesize that demon blood has special properties, given half demon half human breeds can wield it just as well as demons can. Our plan is to capture a demon to extract their blood and test its effects on a few animals.

 

Next entry:

 

We have successfully captured a demon. Our team managed to render it asleep and then place it in a cage that seals off all magic. We will be shortly conducting experiments to test the effects of demon blood. 

 

The report then explains that they first inject demon blood into a group of rats. The effects of which became quickly apparent, the rats began to grow in mass, grow demon wings, and their eye colors had changed to be yellow. It rapidly had morphed into a monster without the use of a mana stone, the subject was quickly killed off. This process had repeated a few more times until the researchers were conclusive that these results were consistent. Even if the features the rats had grown weren’t consistent, one thing that was consistent was that they all became monsters. 

 

The entry after these conclusive results caused me to tense up upon reading it.

 

They had collected a number of orphan children to experiment inject demon blood into them. Their logic for doing so was that if they had turned into monsters, it would be much easier to kill a child than otherwise, and they believed that no one would miss them if they were killed. 

 

Reading that made me feel like my stomach was caving in from disgust, but I kept on reading. 

 

They found that they needed significantly more blood to produce the results they wanted. In order to not kill their captured demon from blood loss, they could only experiment on one kid a day. It took a few days before passable results were found. Beforehand, the blood injections would only cause rejection symptoms similar to ones that were described in previous blood experiments. 

 

Once they had injected a child with about 50% of the demon’s blood into them, a number of their features began to change. The child’s left eye changed from a black color to a yellow color, they began to be able  to achieve feats of strength that were previously impossible for them, and most importantly they were able to wield dark magic with the help of a wand. 

 

We were finally able to get a child to be able to use dark magic. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that she is a lost child of the Spirit that she’s so magically compatible. We had to use a significant amount of the demon’s blood in order to achieve this result so we will have to wait for the demon to recover before moving. For now I suppose we can test out the abilities of the spirit child. 

 

That appeared to be the final entry, however. There was one final note at the end of the report. 

 

The researchers that were involved in these experiments were caught and then promptly executed for their crimes. The demon that was caught was promptly killed and all the subjects except for the so-called “lost child of the Spirit” were recovered and returned to proper society in the empire. The orphans are now to recover with the help of the church to heal both the mental scars and the bodily effects of the experiments while under their roof. These notes remain intact to serve as a cautionary tale for the people of our future to not repeat. 

 

I couldn’t help but slump in my seat after reading that, it was a lot to digest. Still, a cautionary tale, huh? It’s greatly unfortunate what those orphans had to go through, but this was the breakthrough I needed. 

 

I’ll have to find a way to get into the empire and convince someone to give me a blood transfusion with a demon, much easier said than that. There were ideas I had that I believe could make it work, however. 

 

I wonder what they meant by lost child of the Spirit? I wondered. Maybe I could look into that another time. It was getting late, and I already had enough information to plan out my next moves, no need to overstay my welcome.

 

I returned the report back and after scanning the area to make sure nothing was out of place since I arrived, I had motioned Ralaire to unlock and relock the door for me on the way back to my dorm. 

 

-!-

 

I was unsure of how late it was, but given how dark the sky was, I knew that almost everyone was asleep. I had to be quiet to sneak into the dorms and into my own room. When I walked up to the door, I opened the door as quiet and subtly as I could. 

 

“You’re back, Yumiella.” I could see Catherine stir on top of her bed.

 

“Did I wake you up?” 

 

“Nah, I was already somewhat awake anyways. What were you doing out so late anyways?”

 

I had already told Catherine before that I would be out late today, but I never told her why.

 

“Well I wanted to get the assistance of Ralaire.” I retrieved my child from my pocket, showing her off to Catherine. 

 

“Oh yes, your pet slime.” Catherine leaned over from her bed to observe Ralaire, the two of them have yet to meet, so I handed her over to Catherine. Ralaire was a bit nervous at first, but she shortly warmed up to Catherine.

 

“Ralaire, huh?” Catherine giggled as she was petting my child, “Rae really is a bold one.”

 

“?..I’m the one who picked this name.”

 

“You did? Seriously?”

 

“Yes..? Do you also think I’m not good with giving names?”

 

“What? No, that was not what I was confused about.” Catherine’s face turned into one of concern, “I don’t mean to be thoughtless, but is calling a pet a combination of two of your names really something you should do with a friend?”

 

“Huh? Why not? She’s our child, so it would make sense to combine our names. I didn’t have a better idea for a name either.”

 

“You…“ Catherine was pitching the bridge of her nose before letting out a sigh. “if I didn’t know you better I would think you were doing this on purpose.” 

 

“Oh…I’m sorry,” I apologized but I didn’t know what I was apologizing for exactly.

 

“My point is that wouldn’t this be something you would do with a loved one?”

 

“Would it!?” Upon realizing my mistake I had raised my voice to be a bit louder than I intended. 

 

“That’s how I think most people would see it.”

 

I could only groan as I put my head in my hands at the embarrassment.

 

“Do you think you could change it?” Catherine asked.

 

“Nope,” I said, the sound muffled by my hands. “Once you’ve named a tamed monster, you can’t change the name back.” 

 

“I see…” Catherine let out a pitiful laugh as I had to wallow in my embarrassment.

 

“Anyways,” Catherine spoke after a bit of silence. “Why did you need to take Ralaire with you?”

 

“Ah yes,” I brought my head back up. “I needed her to sneak into the academy library’s restricted area.” 

 

Catherine was giving me a look, as if she was about to chide me for doing something careless. 

 

“Yumiella…you do realize that’s a crime, right?”

 

“It’s fine, I made sure to check that everything was the same that I found it, no one should even know that I was there.” 

 

“…well if you say so. Did you find anything useful there?”

 

“I think I know how I can get dark magic.”

 

“Oh really? How?” Catherine looked a lot more attentive now.

 

“I found a report that said that they were able to have a person gain dark magic by injecting demon blood into them, so I suppose I’m going to have to find a demon and kill it.”

 

“That’s…” Catherine paused for a moment. “I don’t know much about demons, but I remember you saying that they were strong monsters when you were telling me more of your world. If they’re anything like that-“

 

“I’ll be fine,” I interrupted her. “I can only find one if I go over to the Nur Empire, so it’s not like I can fight a demon anytime soon. I’ll have plenty of time to prepare to kill one.” 

 

“Well…just be sure to not do anything reckless,” I could still sense some hesitation in her voice. “I know you well enough that I don’t think I can stop you.”

 

She would be right , I thought

 

“Just please don’t keep your burdens to yourself,” Catherine said. “You obviously have me and Lene, but I’m sure Rae would help you at any time.”

 

“Yeah, she probably would.” I hummed in agreement. 

 

“Oh one other thing, Catherine.” I remembered before preparing myself for bed. “Do you know what a lost child of the Spirit is?”

 

“You mean like the legend?” 

 

“Not quite, but still tell me about it.” 

 

“According to an old legend, they were people who would appear out of nowhere with special powers.” Catherine explained, “they say that they are children that are blessed by the Spirits.”

 

That…sounds vaguely familiar.

 

“Rae might have been a child of the Spirit now that I think about it.” 

 

“Oh really?”

 

“Yeah, I know that Rae was adopted, and I believe something like that was mentioned as a possible reason why her magic was so strong.” 

 

“Well, why did you ask?”

 

“The report said that they were successfully able to give a child dark magic, and they mentioned that it might have been possible because they were a child of the Spirit.” 

 

“…do you think Rae was that child?” 

 

“No that’s impossible.”

 

“Are you sure about that? There’s already been a number of discrepancies between your game world and-“

 

“No, I’m sure. The document mentioned that one of the child’s eyes had become yellow after the experiment.”

 

“Oh…I suppose then it can’t have been her.”

 

Unless eye contacts have been invented in this world. But I don’t think that has happened yet. 

 

“I’ll still keep it in mind, however. Thank you, Catherine, and good night.” I spoke as I prepared myself for bed.

 

“No problem, Yumiella, and good night to you.”

 

-!-

 

“And so, the Academy Knights selection test will be held again this year for those who are interested.” 

 

It was a Saturday morning, we were in the lecture listening to the current Academy Knights commander, Lorek Kugret, brother of Loretta Kugret. The Academy Knights that he mentioned earlier are a group of elite students that have the same authority as teachers and have the responsibility to protect the school if needed. 

 

“You already know that I’ll be taking that test.” Rod predictably being the first to volunteer. 

 

“I’ll take it too.” Yu volunteered shortly after. He may not be at Rod’s level, but Yu happens to be a considerably strong fighter in the academy.

 

“Come on, Thane, you’re taking it too.”

 

“Fine…if I must…” at Rod’s urging, Thane also volunteered himself. He’s not the type that would enjoy these activities, but he unfortunately has a responsibility to uphold as a prince. 

 

“I appreciate your assistance, princes. Anyone else?” Lorek said.

 

“I’ll be taking the test.” I raised my hand. For all intents and purposes, the Academy Knights were a glorified student council, which I have never been interested in. But much like Thane, I had a responsibility to uphold as a Francois to become a knight. 

 

“Miss Claire, huh? Are you sure? This test might be too much for a-.”

 

“I got number one in the beginning exams. I’ll be fine.” I flatly interrupted him. 

 

Lorek still hesitated for a moment but he saw reason and gave him approval.

 

And where I go, another must follow. 

 

“Oh in that case, I’d like to take the test too!” Said Rae from my side. 

 

“You’re only wasting your time.” I warned her. As I’ve said before, Academy Knight work is ultimately a chore that she can avoid since she has no responsibility to do them. Besides, there was a chance in game for Rae to be a member of the Knights without taking the test. Given Rae’s achievements up until now, I wouldn’t be surprised if that happened. 

 

“Oh really? You do realize I was able to keep up with you in subjects that weren’t etiquette, no?”

 

“Exactly. If you can keep up with the number one student, then there’s no need to take these tests.”

 

“Oh my, I’m flattered, but I don’t want to miss out on playing you, Claire.”

 

“It’s your funeral.” I deadpanned.

 

“Hehe, we’ll see.” Rae giggled. 

 

A number of other students also raised their hands, including Misha. Lorek wrote down all their names. “The test will begin tomorrow morning. There will be two tests, clerical work and magic. Now, please excuse me.”

 

After that, he left the room. 

 

“Alright! With you three joining us, this is going to be a blast,” Rod said.

 

“Let’s do our best, Thane.” Yu said.

 

“I don’t care about how well I do.” Thane spoke apathetically.

 

The three princes came over.

 

“Hey Claire, we should have another competition!” Rae cheered. “Winner makes the loser do one thing!.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because it’ll be fun!”

 

“What would we even be competing for?”

 

“How about this? if I pass I win, if I fail you lose.”

 

“Alright sur-wait this is another trick.” I caught myself before falling into another of Rae’s tricks. 

 

“Haha, guess I can’t win that easily. Let’s say that if I fail, you win, if I pass I win.” 

 

“That’s too easy, you would just win automatically.”

 

“Seriously? You really do have so much faith in me. You might as well marry me if you love me this much.”

 

“I’m just speaking factually…” 

 

“Hey, I have a suggestion,” Rod came forward. “I’m not technically allowed to tell you this, but it’s going to happen tomorrow morning anyways and I think it would move forward with your bet. The magic test is actually a test where two students are pitted against each other in a duel. I think you girls should bet on whatever or not you win that.” 

 

Right, all members of the royal family have all joined the academy knights, so it makes sense that Rod would have an idea of what to expect. Of course I already knew what the rest would be like, but Claire shouldn’t know so I would have to thank Rod for the assist.

 

“Thank you, Rod,” I felt the slight twitch of a smile. Truthfully I’ve been itching to show off the magical skills that I’ve been cultivating these past few weeks, and hopefully I can fight Rae for the best results. “I believe this will make things more interesting, no?” 

 

“Yeah! May the best girl win!”

 

-!-

 

“It seems that luck favors me today, Rae,” I chuckled. “I’m not forced to hold back anymore. The barrier will stop me from hurting you too badly, after all.”

 

We were at the academy’s training ground. Rae and I had expectedly breezed past the first test. Now we’re in the second test, the mock battle, and I happened to be Rae’s opponent. 

 

“I doubt it’ll come to that, but let’s try and have fun anyways!” Rae boosted.

 

“Combatants, are you ready?” I could hear from Lorek outside of the barrier.

 

“Ready.”

 

“Yes. 

 

“Then let the final match…begin!” 

 

As soon as the match started I sprinted forward towards Rae. Rae was a mage first and foremost, meaning that she was much less offensive in close range. I too am primarily a mage, but I do have an option for close range that I’ve been wanting to put in practice for a while now. 

 

“「Enchant Blade」”

 

A thin source of flames began to pour out of my wand, forming the shape of a katana. Then, gripping my wand like a sword handle, I began my swing at Rae.

 

“Woah crap!” Rae shouted in surprise before frantically dodging out of the way of my swing by rolling right. For once I have intentionally completely broken down Rae’s guard.

 

「Enchant Blade」is a technique that is based on a technique I learned from my previous life, where one could imbue their blade with an element. Since spells in this world can begin out of the tip of the wand, I figured that I could pour flames from my sword and make my wand a makeshift handle. This both allowed me to make a stronger sword than I could probably buy on the market, and also let me make the specific weapon I wanted, a katana. It was my weapon of choice in my previous life, and the school didn’t have any on hand to practice with so this was a good substitute. 

 

“Woah, I’ve never seen something like that before.” Rae remarked.

 

“I’ve been experimenting with my magic.” 

 

“Noooo kidding.”

 

 Rae then shot out small earth projectiles at me, coming out from both sides of Rae and curving into me. Their direction prevented me from moving in so I had to slash them away, which gave time for Rae to dash back.

 

“「Enclose」” Before I could close the distance between us, Rae gave a flick of her wand and I was suddenly trapped in a cone of rock.

 

 I used my flame katana to slice open the cage from the inside. I then pushed off the loose rock and hopped out. 

 

Annoyingly, Rae was now a much further distance away than before. I have to turn up the pressure if I want to close the distance. I raised my sword up and a mass of flame began to form out of it, turning into the shape of a lance. 

 

“「Flame Lance」 ” I chanted before throwing my arm to throw the lance, like I was physically throwing it, at Rae. I then shortly dashed behind it. In the event that Rae tries to block this attack with 「Earth Wall」or dodge out of the way, I will be able to follow up in close range. 

 

“「Earth Wall」 ” I heard her cast. I think that this is my time to have the advantage until I stop myself in my tracks when my 「Flame Lance」fizzles out after contact with the wall. 

 

Upon closer inspection, this is not a normal 「Earth Wall」. Instead of being made out of normal earth, it was made out of a dark gray material, similar to steel. 

 

Is that…tungsten carbide?! Where on earth did she get that??? 

 

Tungsten carbide was a metal that I knew about from my Japanese days, it was twice as strong as steel and had a melting point of 28,800 degrees celsius. In comparison, the melting point of the normal rock is 1,200 degrees celsius at most, which made Rae being able to make walls out of them troubling. 

 

Thankfully I had ways around this. 

 

”「Flame Lance」” I gave a flick of my wand, blinding attack Rae from behind the wall.

 

“Ah! What the!?” I could hear a pained Rae from behind the wall. My plan was to use 「Flame Lance」from behind to pin Rae to her own wall, given the fact that the lances could not melt it. Signaling that my plan worked, I saw Rae’s tungsten wall dematerialize, freeing her from being pinned. However, that gave me the chance to close in on her. I rushed in to take a swing at her.

 

“「Pitfall」” 

 

Rae created a hole in the ground below her in order to duck under my swing, swiftly patching up on the hole before she could fall in. She then rolled away on the ground before standing up. 

 

“You really do have it out for me, Miss Claire,” Rae teased before sending a volley of tungsten bullets. 

 

“You told me to never give up, Rae.” I blocked off Rae’s bullets with my blade.

 

“Haha…guess that means I’ll have to get a bit more serious too,” Rae chuckled. “「Enclose」”

 

Rae had enclosed me with the same spell as before, but this time it was with tungsten instead. I could make it out of this cage by blasting open a hole on the ground below me, however there was a much faster and more clean cut method that I’ve been wanting to use anyways. 

 

I began to channel more fire magic into my blade. I did so until the fire in my blade turned into a bright blue. I then stabbed my blade through the wall, making a circle before I kicked down the wall. I’ve always wondered if concentrating more fire magic into a spell would increase the power and its heat, so this was something else I had found while experimenting with my magic prior to this.

 

“Ho-how did you do that?” I saw that Rae was slack jawed when I walked out of the cage, but then her gaze was much more attentive when she looked down to see that my sword had become a different color.

 

“Just something I discovered recently,” I brushed off the dust on my uniform. “Is this enough to get you to take me seriously, Rae?”

 

Rae tensed up, “so you’ve noticed.”

 

“Yes, you’ve been holding back on me this entire time.” The only spells that Rae has used this whole match were earth spells, which were weak to my fire magic. Rae has access to water magic as well, which has an advantage over fire magic. 

 

“Aww jeez,” Rae sighed. “I don’t get the chance to play you like this often, so I really wanted to savor my time here.”

 

“Sadly for you, I’m not one to play games.” 

 

“Yes, you’re far too serious about things, but that’s cute in its own right. However, you’re right, I should do my beloved some justice and give her all I got.” Rae then flicked her wrist as a multitude of water orbs had appeared on the field like a minefield. I suspect that Rae was holding onto this spell while I was imprisoned in the cage from early. I don’t know what’s contained in these bubbles, but I suspect nothing good will come out of contact with them. 

 

I began to hold my wand steady, and then after a flick up from my wrist, all of the bubbles in the area began to freeze as the temperature of the arena began to chill down. The frozen bubbles then fell down to the ground, like a puppet with its strings cut. I’ve discovered recently that being able to manipulate heat with my fire magic lets me freeze things much the same way as water magic users can by transferring the heat’s location, letting the transferred heat be collected into a red orb that floats by my right shoulder for later usage.

 

Rae was once again flummoxed by magic. But I did not give her the time to stare, as I was coming in to rush again. Rae also quickly realized this and summoned a flood of ice to the ground to impede my movement. I reacted by casting a volley of fireballs her way, which she responded with a volley of her own ice. In order to counter my attack, she had to stop focusing on creating her ice floor, which gave me the time to rush in. This time Rae was more prepared as she conjured a「Water Barrier」 to block whenever I went in for a slash with my blade. 

 

Even with blue flames, the resistance to fire magic meant my sword could not penetrate through the water. I might be able to outlast Rae in a war of attrition as I’m the one in control of the fight, but that can be easily reversed if I can’t clear away Rae’s barrier. 

 

I conjured a ring of fire around Rae’s general position to buy time for myself. I held my blade still in front of myself, my free palm hovering over where the fire meets the wand. 

 

“「Enchant Blade」” My hand hovered from one end of the blade to the next. And to the right of wherever my hand moved, the blue flames were being pushed out and were replaced by blue ice as the air that my flames were occupying began to freeze. The transferred flames were then added to my orb, changing its color from red to blue. 

 

I could hear the sound of fire being put out as I look back at Rae being done dozing my flames with her water. She then wasted no time conjuring an 「Ice Spear」at me. I ducked out of the way as I ran towards her. She summoned an ice pillar to protect her, but my ice was stronger than hers, being able to cut it with ease. 

 

“「Earth Wall」” Rae made another tungsten wall. This time she moved the wall forward as it began to bend, her plan seemingly being to trap me again. I was quick enough on my feet to move out of the way, but what I heard from Rae next caused me to tense up.

 

“「Judecca」” A cold fog began to surround me.

 

Shit. She’s going to end this now.

 

Normally this spell would normally only slow down my movements and obscure my vision. However, if Rae knew to use a certain spell and she casts it successfully, I would lose instantly.

 

To not take any risks, I decided to go all out on my final attack. 

 

“「Nova Burst」！ ” I cried out as I launched my flame orb at Rae. The mass of fire hurled towards Rae as she was preparing to cast a spell. She had quickly pivoted to casting 「Water Barrier」. 

 

But I was not aiming for a direct hit on Rae

 

I was aiming for the ground.

 

The mass of fire exploded when it made contact with the ground about a little less than 2 meters from Rae. 「Water Barrier」may be a protection spell, but it only protects a user from fire attacks. Rae had zero protection against released force from the explosion in front of her. The resulting force had knocked me, who was much farther from it than Rae, off my feet and landed onto my back. Meanwhile, I heard a loud thud, presumably the sound of Rae hitting the arena’s border, followed soon later by a softer thud. 

 

“RAE!” I heard Misha yell as I heard the sound of the barrier disabling and the sounds of several footsteps rushing over to Rae. I could hear two pairs of footsteps rushing over to my side as well.

 

“Are you okay? Miss Claire?” Pepi asked me as Loretta offered to give me a hand. 

 

“Yeah we should be fine.” I spoke calmly as I grabbed Loretta’s hand and she pulled me up to my feet. “The effects of the barrier means that we couldn’t be killed with a magical attack.“ 

 

Pepi and Loretta didn’t look wholly convinced that I was right as they looked onto the fallen commoner and the assortment of people that had gathered around her, that being the princes, Misha, and Lorek. Seeing the effects myself, I first noticed that my attack had created a sizable crater in the ground. I ran over to Rae in order to check if she was still conscious or not. 

 

As I said before, the barrier should mean that Rae would be alright in the end. There’s also the fact that Rae has plenty of people by her side so she really doesn’t need my help. However, I both wanted to assess the damage myself, and tell her that I had a good match with her. 

 

“Stop.”  I halted in my tracks when I heard Misha with a spew of venom in her voice. “What do you think you’re doing?”

 

Misha was giving me a glare that made me shutter. 

 

“Rae is okay…right?” A bit of anxiety crept out of my voice. I had a terrible feeling that might have been wrong about the barrier. “The arena barrier should have prevented anything lethal.” 

 

“She will be fine after a few days of rest,” Lorek came over to join Misha. His words would normally cause me some relief, but while he wasn’t giving me the same venom as Misha, Lorek was certainly giving me a look of disapproval. “However, that doesn’t justify what you did.”

 

“But Rae was going to cast a spell that would have done the same damage to me.” I quickly explained. I did not need everyone to be treating me like the villainess now . “This situation could have easily been reversed.” 

 

But that did not seem to convince anyone, their grim expressions unchanged. This only made the horrible pit I had in my stomach feel even worse. However, Rod was still focusing his gaze on Rae with his fist clenched. 

 

“No, don’t blame Claire,” Rod unexpectedly backed me up. “I’m the one who encouraged them to fight like this.” 

 

“Oh hush now, Rod.” Yu said, “there was no way you could have known that this would happen.” 

 

“Even so…”

 

“It’s…fine guys”

 

We heard a series of coughs from Rae, who we  previously thought was unconscious, as she tried to lift herself up even slightly. 

 

“No! Rae you should be resting,” Misha rushed to Rae’s side. 

 

“I-It’s…like Miss Claire…said. This situation…almost happened…to her instead.” 

 

“But still…”

 

“Please…don’t blame…her.” Rae struggled to get out before losing consciousness, presumably using the last of her energy to have us stop fighting. 

 

Rae…

 

Even though I know she would be alright, that my reasoning is correct, and that the fact that Rae agrees with me, meaning that her friends should forgive me eventually, I still had an awful feeling in my stomach seeing the state that she was in.

Notes:

Hey we finally got to the academy knight test, I've been wanting to write this scene for a while in order to showcase how Yumiella has done some creative thinking with her magic. It was very fun for me to think about and write. However, that could also be said for a lot of what's to come for a while. Definitely either next chapter or the chapter after that is when I can get to some more things I've been really itching to write.

Chapter 5: Responsibility

Notes:

Hey so I figured out how to have stuff in italics and bold font so I edited the past few chapters to have those changed (I imagine you can especially tell the difference in chapter 4).

“I’m coming in.” 

 

I opened the door to the Academy Knights board room, all of its members sat at its table.

 

All except for Rae. 

 

Of the people who applied for the Academy Knights test, only six of us had passed, those six being the princes, Misha, myself, and Rae. Despite the accident, it was undeniably that Rae and I exceeded the qualifications. 

 

Rae was currently being treated by the school medics that Lambert had called in after my match with her. 「Water Barrier」 had protected Rae from any burns from 「Nova Burst」, but hitting a wall that hard was doubtless to cause many bruises. 

 

All heads turned to me when I made my entrance. Despite the fact that I was mostly forgiven for my actions, there was still an uneasy tension in the air. Plus I don’t think Misha has truly forgotten me yet. 

 

“Aren’t you going to see Rae?” Rod asked.

 

“There’s no need. I have faith that Rae will be alright, and it would be no good to waste time,” I explained. “I have a long day ahead of me.”

 

“Don’t you mean we?”

 

“No, I will be handling all of today’s Academy Knight work myself.”

 

This had caused a bit of a stir between the other knights.

 

“Miss Claire…I know you’re a top student, but this is not something you can do on your own,” Lorek said.

 

“It’s not a matter of can’t, it’s a matter of shouldn’t.”

 

“…huh?” 

 

“Having to take so much work on my own is not advisable for my health, but it’s a start towards my atonement for yesterday,” I clarified.

 

“Miss Claire…” Misha was suspicious of me but couldn’t hide her tone of curiosity. “What do you think you’re doing?“

 

“I’m making up for what I did to Rae during the mock battle.”

 

“You really think doing busywork is going to get me to forgive you?”

 

“It’s not just about owning up to you and Rae. As a noble, I have a responsibility to hold, especially towards the lower class. While the incident was not entirely my fault, however, from the perspective of everyone besides Rae and I, my actions towards the commoner were cruelly unjustified. I know that doing busy work is a lousy way to atone, but it was the best I could think of. Besides, Rae and I could have easily been in the reverse position right now. And had that happened, I don’t have any doubts that Rae would try something similar to me.”

 

“But…” Misha had opened her mouth, looking like she wanted to object to that. But I could hear her grumble to herself in defeat while slowly admitting that Rae would try to do the same as me.

 

“Well you heard the girl,” Rod pulled himself out of his seat. “Let’s get a move on.”

 

“I certainly am not complaining,” Thane said.

 

“Just tell us if it gets too much,” Yu said. 

 

“I’ll be fine.”

 

Yu gave me a smile before turning to his friend, “Let’s go, Misha.”

 

“Oh…right,” Misha had her head a bit in the clouds before Yu spoke to her.

 

The four of them walked out of the room, leaving me with just Lorek and Lambert.

 

There was a moment of silence between the three of us.

 

…

“Everything you need is in the desk drawers.” Lambert said, pointing to the desk that was at the back at the room.

 

“Wha-“ Lorek looked shocked.

 

“Lorek, if Claire is anything like my sister says she is, she’s not going to back down no matter what we tell her, so let’s just her do what she wants.”

 

“But-“

 

“Hey,” Lambert puts his hand on Lorek’s shoulder. “Worse case scenario, we can just pick up the slack for Claire’s recklessness.“

 

“So little faith in me,” I deadpanned. 

 

That got a chuckle from Lambert, “yeah who am I kidding. You’ll be fine.” 

 

“…yeah, I guess so,” Lorek was still a bit nonplussed, but with a bit of hesitation, he followed suit with Lambert and left the room together with him.

 

That just left me with all the Academy Knight work.

 

“Here goes nothing I suppose.”

 

As I said before, the Academy Knights were a glorified student council, meaning that the majority of their work was to assist the student body with whatever small task they needed done. I took the papers out of the drawers and sat down to get to work. 

 

A large number of these requests were a number of lost item requests. I took a look around and saw the lost & found bin in a corner of the room, filled with an assortment of items piled up. I walked over to grab the bin and move it to my desk for more easy access. I took each item and crossed examined them with the reports that were written to me to see if I could find a match with any of them. Once I looked through each item, I took a notepad along with an ink well and pen and wrote down all the items I found and next to them who their owners’ were as well as their dorm number. Once I was finished with that, I grabbed a few items and went off to the dorms.

 

The Academy Knights have an archive of each student name and what dorm room they lived in, so it was simple to find each student’s dorm and give it a brief knock. Given that it was still a bit into the afternoon, not many students were in their room, the few ones that were in their room being all commoners. There was a mix assortment of reactions these people had to seeing my sudden arrival ranging from surprise to nervousness to bitterness blanked by a thin layer of politeness. It was much like my Varschein academy days, so I was unfazed by this. 

 

 For the students that were not in their dorms, I took their items to the mailroom and dropped them off into their assigned mailbox. Along with the item, I also put in a note in the form of a paper scrap that simply stated: 

 

“From Academy Knight’s lost & found

 

-From,

Claire Francois“

 

Each Academy Knight has the same authority as a faculty member in the school, meaning they had access to keys for all the school faculties, which allowed me access to all the student mailboxes. 

 

Incidentally, I also had keys to the library’s restricted room…which made my sneak in a bit embarrassing now that it was completely unnecessary days later. 

 

Ah well, it’s not like there were any consequences for sneaking in so all’s well that ends well.

 

Anyways 

 

Once I made enough trips to deliver all the items that matched the reports, I then moved on to ask around the school about a “concerning” rumor that has been a concern that’s been requested frequently lately. 

 

There have been multiple reports of ghost sightings in the girls’ dormitory at night. There were a number of other requests too, but this one with the most intriguing as it was an event that never occurred in the game, nor is there ever a real sighting of a real ghost in game. This has led to me questioning witnesses. 

 

“Where did you see it?” I asked a girl student.

 

“My friend said she saw it between the second and third floors, but I saw it in the kitchen.”

 

“And when did this happen?”

 

“It was the night before yesterday.”

 

I scribble down some notes, “what did it look like?”

 

“Well…I didn’t think it was a ghost at first, but then it got closer and splashed water on me.”

 

“Water?”

 

“Yes. I think it’s the ghost of the girl who drowned in the Academy’s river.”

 

“…I see. Thank you for your information,” I told the witness as I wrote down another note.

 

“Please get rid of it!” The girl said before leaving.

 

The kitchen, huh. Well I already happened to have business there at night anyways, so I suppose this is a stroke of divine luck for me.  

 

-!-

 

Once it was midnight, I took to the kitchen to investigate. 

 

“There’s nothing here.”

 

“It would appear so.” I had also brought Lene with me to both help investigate as well as assist me in another matter. 

 

“Let the witnesses have also mentioned they were splashed with water so let’s check for that. I can look around the entrance and you can look in the back.”

 

“Understood.”

 

The two of us rummaged through the kitchen for a bit until I noticed a stain on the floor.

 

“This is…” It was a gel-like, blue substance. It looked very…familiar. 

 

“What is it, Yumiella?” Lene came over to where I was after hearing my murmurs. Recently I have told Lene to drop the master honorific for when it’s just with me or Catherine. I see Lene as a friend far more than I see her as a maid. 

 

“I think I’ve seen this gel somewhere before…” I trailed off. I opened up the bag that I was carrying with me, in which Ralaire had leapt out from. Ralaire had grown too big to fit in in a pocket, so me and Rae carried her around in a bag nowadays. 

 

Ralaire motioned over to the floor stain and then looked back at us to quiver, almost to say that it was sorry.

 

I think I got the message loud and clear.

 

“I think the ‘water’ from the ghost was Ralaire.” I concluded.

 

“Seriously?” Lene scoffed. “Wait…doesn’t that mean…”

 

“Yes.” Ralaire was not too young to be out of either Rae and I’s supervision yet, and the most recent reports of the ghost sightings were the day before yesterday. Which means,

 

“Rae must be the ghost figure in the reports.”

 

“I see…” Lene chuckled a little. “I’m honestly disappointed it wasn’t something more interesting.”

 

“I feel the same way,” I was really hoping I would see a real ghost . I sighed as I stood back up. “But getting that out of the way quickly means more time to get for our other business.”

 

“Oh right, you mentioned that you specifically needed my help?”

 

“Yes…I want you to help me with cooking.”

 

“Oh…” Lene was a bit surprised by the request. “Master Claire definitely had no experience in the kitchen. Do you have any experience yourself, Yumiella?” 

 

“I have some from when I was living with her in my past life.” I had rushed through my response so as to not linger on the past, now’s not the time to be crying. 

 

Lene looked a bit concerned at my quicken mannerisms, but I swiftly got to my point before she could speak up. “However, I want to teach you about a dish from my Japanese life.” 

 

“Oh I see, that sounds fun.”

 

“Unfortunately I was even less of a cook in my first life than I was in my second life, so that, plus the fact that there’s not as much of a variety of ingredients I could use, means I’m very limited on what I can cook.” I explained. “However, this is something that I do know the ingredients of as well as how to make it…generally.”

 

“Generally?”

 

“Well truthfully I’ve never cooked something like this from scratch before. I have the feeling I’m going to mess up somewhere.”

 

“Is that where I come in?” 

 

“Yep! I was hoping that your seasoned eyes would be able to make up for whatever I mess up.” 

 

“I understand,” Lene flashed me a smile. “Well, show me the way.” 

 

“Right, let me get the ingredients first.” I had asked for permission to use the ingredients, though I did get an odd look from the staff. Is it not normal to ask for permission? 

 

Anyways I managed to grab a few ingredients including, bread dough, tomatoes, and cheese. 

 

“Today we’ll be making pizza,” I explained as I began to grab the cooking utensils I needed. “It’s a flat bread topped with tomato sauce and cheese.” 

 

“Oh is that all?”

 

“Like I said, it’s a simple recipe. Really the closest thing to complexity is making the tomato sauce.

 

“The Francois actually have their own recipe for that, I could show you how if you’d like.”

 

“Please do,” I felt myself relax. The part I was most afraid of was messing up the tomato sauce. 

 

Lene gave me a nod before she began grabbing more ingredients. Lene then gave a rundown and a showcase of the Francois recipe. Meanwhile, I showed Lene how to form bread dough into a pizza shape. For the cheese, I took out a knife and began to cut the block of cheese I took to dice into shredded cheese. 

 

Lene was observing me intently during this.

 

“You did well, Yumiella.” Lene complimented me after I finished cutting the cheese.

 

“Yeah I learned it from… her .” I spoke quietly, putting the knife down and gritting my teeth. My emotions were welling up again. My hands tensed up while gripping the edge of the counter, unable to move my body aside from my tense shaking. I know why but it’s impossible for me to think about her without feeling like I’m about to break down crying. 

 

I felt a pair of arms wrap around me from behind. The presence of another holding me was able to stop my shaking at least. 

 

“Yumiella,” Lene spoke softly near my ear as she rested her chin on my shoulder. “You can cry if you want.”

 

“I…I-I…!” I stutter. I could feel the tears coming. More and more the emotional dam began to break down. But even so, “it-it’s ha…hard.” 

 

I can count the amount of times that I’ve cried on my hands, and I mean really cried. As far as I remember, I never even came close to it during my first life. I would always hear people online talk about crying, either tears of joy or sadness, whenever they watch something, but whenever I do it, I feel nothing. I felt envious of them, horribly so. They were able to express grand emotions that I could never achieve. 

 

The most I would ever cry was after I married her . I would sometimes keep myself up at night thinking, “am I good enough for her?” She was an angel of a human being, she was nice, bubbly, and god she had an adorable laugh, I can still hear it echo beautifully in my mind. 

 

But she can stand up on her own too, both physically and mentally. She was the perfect partner for me. And what am I? A girl who can barely hold a conversation most times and can barely even emote, why the hell did someone think I was worthy of love? I don’t deserve her…

 

And yet…When I think about the idea that I’m gone from her life, that I’ll never see her again.

 

Not even that could get me to cry.

 

I try and try, put all my energy into forcing every emotion that I’ve tried to force down in my body to come out.

 

She was the best thing to ever happen to me and I can’t even shed tears at her loss…maybe they were right…

 

Maybe I am a demon…

 

…

 

Lene continued her embrace as I began to ease up. At this point I have given up on crying, instead trying to clear my mind with deep breaths. Slowly my breathing becomes stabilized. I can feel the tension in my body evaporate. I let go of the counter and put my hands over Lene’s.

 

“Feel better now?” Lene asked.

 

“Much.” I spoke firmly while giving her hands a small squeeze. “Thank you, Lene.”

 

“Anytime, Yumiella.”

 

I hummed as I let go of Lene’s hands and motioned her to let go of me. “We should finish up this pizza.”

 

“Right.” Lene nodded

 

I showed Lene the process of spreading the sauce and cheese evenly across the disc shaped dough. I had made a much smaller portion of dough than normal as this was purely testing the recipe. The sample we were testing on was about 15 centimeters in diameter. I took the sample and placed it onto the stove and lit the fire. Since there were no timers in this world, the two of us would have to eye when it was the best time to take the pizza out of the stove.

 

So the two of us sat there for a bit. 

 

…

 

…

 

…

 

“Can I ask you something about your previous life?” Lene broke the silence, I think she was still cautious of bringing up memories of that life.

 

“Hmm? Yeah sure…I feel much calmer now.” 

 

“Okay, good. Did you do something like this in your previous life?”

 

“Like what?”

 

“Like making food from your first life.”

 

“Oh. No I didn’t. I don’t ever think about that back then.”

 

“So what made you do it now?”

 

“Well…” I hesitated. I was still a little afraid I would be scolded for this, but it went fine with Catherine, surely it’ll be fine with Lene. “I got this idea from Bourmet’s latest items.”

 

“Bourmet?”

 

“Yeah, they introduced a bunch of sweets recently like chocolate and donuts, right?”

 

“Yes…oh” The realization of where I was going with this dawned on Lene. “Were they sweets that already existed in your world?” 

 

“Yes. It has given me the idea to sell what ideas from my past life that I can realize in this world.”

 

“…to sell?” Lene looked at me puzzled. “You do remember that you’re one of the richest nobles in the kingdom, no?”

 

“Well yes…but all that money belongs to my father.” I spat bitterly. “And it would be best if I could have pocket money of my own to use for…future plans.”

 

“What future plans?” Lene raised an eyebrow.

 

“Well I have mentioned before that Claire can be executed in Revolution.” I began as I took a glance at the pizza on the stove before continuing, I believe it will probably be done when I finish my explanation. “In one of the routes where Claire is executed, she’s executed because the commoners lead a…well… Revolution that overthrew the government and led to a number of casualties. The leader of the Revolution was the protagonist.”

 

“And you believe that this Revolution will happen in the future?” 

 

“Given that it occurs when you show no romantic feelings for any of the princes, it’s sure to happen. And I don’t want to borrow from my father because it would draw suspicion.” 

 

“Would Claire’s monthly allowance not suffice for that?”

 

I jutted my head to face Lene. “She has one of those?” I stated blankly, but not hiding my shock.

 

“Yes,” Lene giggled, amused by my bemusement. “Master Dole lends a fraction of gold to myself for your personal use.”

 

Right…of course he does. 

 

“Anyways, I still think this is a good investment,” I turn back to look at the pizza on the stove, which I think still needs some time to cook. ”It’ll be good to have more immediate profits.” 

 

“Immediate…?” I see Lene raise an eyebrow.

 

“I plan to go to the Nur Empire in the near future. The sooner I can get there, the better.”

 

“Wha?!” For a split second Lene seemed like she was about to yell before instantly shutting her mouth and lowering her volume to a loud whisper when she remembered where she was. “For what purpose?”

 

“I have found that the secret to obtaining dark magic is through extraction of demon blood. Demons are found closest to the empire. Therefore I’ll need money to be able to stay for a few days at the empire while on my search for a demon.”

 

“By yourself..?” Lene was giving me a worried look.

 

“Of course, no one else needs to come with me for this.”

 

“Yumiella…” Lene sighed. “You’re not invincible here, you can’t be shouldering everything on your own.” 

 

“I suppose…”

 

“If nothing else,” Lene wrapped her two hands around one of my own. “Would you please at least let me help you on your journey by taking me with you.”

 

“Sure, I think that’ll be fine,” I conceded. “Thank you, Lene. I’m glad to be in your care.”

 

“It’s no problem, you’re just as much of a close friend to me as Claire was.” Lene gave me a smile and I could feel myself smile faintly back at her.

 

“Oh I think it’s done.” I shifted my eyes a bit to the stove to see that the pizza was cooked to a proper crisp look. Even with this small pie, just looking at it made me feel like my stomach was moments from growling. 

 

I turned off the fire and went to grab a spatula to take the pizza out of the stove, place the pizza on a plate that I had grabbed earlier. I then took a knife out and sliced the pizza into two, one for myself and one for Lene to try. I was the one to take the first bite, also showing Lene that you eat pizza with your hands. 

 

The taste felt divine. 

 

The combination of cheese, dough, and sauce are always a delight to have. I hear a surprised ‘hmph’ come from Lene. I looked up to see that she too was absolutely beaming from the pizza as well.

 

“I think we did good,” I made a humbling remark as I finished the rest of my slice.

 

“I can’t imagine what a success would be if this wasn’t it,” Lene giggled. 

 

“Now we just need to figure out ingredient ratios for different sizes.”

 

“Different sizes?” 

 

“Yeah, pizzas are generally known to be something you eat with others, so we’ll need to have recipes for different pizza sizes depending on the needs of the number of customers.” 

 

“Oh I see, that certainly sounds like it would be a hit with the aristocracy.” 

 

“Another good reason for why I’m doing this,” I explained. “Now let me get a ruler.”

 

From there Lene and I cooked a pizza that was more to the average size that I would have in Japan. Unfortunately we couldn’t make any more after that since we had no way to store excess pizza and the only other person we could safely share this with currently would be Catherine. So Lene wrote down the recipe for what we’ve made and agreed to turn in our achievements to Bourmet. 

 

I decided to take a slice to give to Catherine as well, who I think also greatly appreciated the late night snack. 

 

-!-

 

It was the next day and I found myself working on Academy Knight business again, by myself of course. I was looking through the current checklist I had in the Academy Knight boardroom when I heard a knock on the door.

 

“Come in,” I said as I was collecting the papers that I’ve already gone through today and putting them in a neat pile.

 

The door swung wide apart as a very familiar face popped into the room.

 

“Heya Miss Claire, did ya miss me?”

 

“Rae!” I shouted, rising quickly from my seat and nearly dropping the papers I was holding. “Should you be up already?” 

 

“Yeah I’m a okay. Healing magic is pretty miraculous,” Rae stretched out her shoulders. “What about you? I hear that you’ve been keeping yourself in this room all day today and yesterday.”

 

“It’s just some light work. Should be done by the end of the day,” I explained as I went back to my business. “You should take this time to catch up with friends.”

 

“That’s what I’m doing right now!”

 

“…well I’m currently busy right now. Besides, as you’re heard, I've done nothing but work for the past two days.”

 

“Well then I suppose I gotta help you out,” Rae sprang to my side. “It would be no good to leave a maiden in distress.”

 

“I’m doing fine. Besides, it would hardly be a punishment if I had help.”

 

“Punishment? For what?” 

 

“For how I injured you during the combat test.”

 

“Ugh, seriously?” Rae quickly scratched the back of her head. “We both know that was not your fault at all, we were both fighting on equal footing. If anything, I should also be punished.” 

 

“I agree. However, given that I am noble, I have an image to uphold, especially to the other commoners.”

 

“You really can be stubborn, Miss Claire.”

 

“Don’t worry, it’ll be over by the end of today. You just need to be a good girl and wait it out until then.”

 

Rae tensed up and I could see a flush of pink on her cheeks.

 

“You have to be doing this on purpose now.” Rae accused me.

 

“Tiny bit, I just know that it shuts you up.”

 

“You really need to be more aware of what you’re saying.”

 

“Maybe I’d get it help if you would just explain it to me.”

 

Rae had opened her mouth but no words came out. Instead she just shut her mouth and looked away, the flush on her cheeks deepening to a red. 

 

“Very well, you win. But I’ll get you for this.” Rae said as she waved and went out the door.

 

I know her enough to have expected this, but she should really just stick to her guns to fix the problem if she wants to accuse me of being oblivious.

 

Ah well , I thought as my mind went back to focusing on my Academy Knight work. 

 

-!-

 

“To the 143rd generation of recruits to the Academy Knights! Cheers!”

 

“Cheers!”

 

The sound of clinking glasses filled the room. We were in the Academy Knights board room. The papers that would be lined with paperwork have been filed away and replaced with an array of food platters. We were supposed to have this party the day we got our results, but Rod insisted on delaying it until Rae got better, insisting that it wouldn’t be the same without her.

 

Speaking of, me and the commoner had beelined to the fine selection of food on display after the initial toast and are currently filling our plates. It wasn't the best I’ve seen in this world, but it would be like comparing a 9 to a 10 on a 10 point scale. 

 

I took a glance at Rae’s plate and she was getting herself a variety of breads, beef, and vegetables, meanwhile, while I also elected to grab a good amount of bread, my plate had a variety of sweets stacked onto it. I also gave Ralaire a biscuit to nibble on while she was atop my head. 

 

“Mmmmmph.” I hummed as I bit into a biscuit of my own. “I could never tire myself of bread.” 

 

“Haha yeah, Commander Lorek really pulled out all the stops.” Rod came over with the other two princes while holding a plate chalk full of meat. Honestly…has he even tried any of the bread? 

 

“Congratulations on joining the Academy Knights, your royal highnesses,” Lorek came over to the group of us. “And you three as well, Claire, Rae, Misha. I speak for all of us knights when I say we’re quite thrilled to have you.”

 

“Especially Claire and Rae,” Lorek gave a chuckle. “You two have certainly been an entertaining duo.” 

 

“Lorek…” Misha had recoiled a bit, I think she’s still not over what happened, not that I blame her. 

 

“Hey like I told you before, Misha,” Rae said in between bites. “It’s water under the bridge.”

 

Misha opened her as if to argue against her, but she just resigned herself to merely a sigh and a pinch of her nose.

 

“Speaking of…what WAS up with that mock battle?” Rod asked. “I’ve never seen Rae look that intense.” 

 

“I understand that the two of you had a competition between each other, but even in those, Rae is usually much more reserved.” 

 

They do make a good point. Rae’s been trying to avoid standing out all semester, from avoiding all of Rod’s advances to even purposefully losing to all of the princes during the rare moments they get to play chess with her (try all she might to deny it). 

 

“Oh that? Well if I had to name a reason,”Rae stopped eating, seemingly pondering whether or not how much she should say. “I would say it’s because Claire was smiling”

 

“I was?” I tilted my head to the left slightly. 

 

“Yeah, I’ve never seen you be that happy before. So I just really wanted to continue that for you!” Rae beamed.

 

…

 

What was this feeling…?  

 

I could feel a flush of heat enter my body. It’s not like this world has air conditioning, so how did the room suddenly heat up? Whatever it is, it's not an… unpleasant feeling. I just wish I could cool down, especially for my face. I just focused back on my food, hoping to mask whatever I was feeling from my friends and Rae, not that I could see now if they noticed anything. 

 

“But that’s enough questions for me,” Rae said. “What I want to know is what you’ve been doing, Miss Claire.”

 

“Oh yeah!” Rod exclaimed, “I’ve got a million questions for you, Claire.” 

 

“Huh?” I brought my face back up from my meal, breaking myself out of the stupor I was in. Never thought I would ever see Rae and Rod be on the same wavelength. “Oh sure, I can explain for you.”

 

“I believe it would be prudent to ask questions in order of least surprising to most surprising,” Thane spoke up. “For example, I was wondering about your sword technique.” 

 

“Well I can’t always rely on my magic,” I explained. “I need to be able to do something else in the event I can’t use my magic.”

 

“…I was actually referring to the spell you made to make your own sword, but I appreciate the insight.”

 

“Oh. that. Well I figured that since a number of spells expel magic from the tip of the wand, I could send out magical energy to form a blade and turn my wand into a makeshift handle.” 

 

“Hm, interesting, I never thought of it like that. How does it keep its shape?”

 

“It’s akin to setting a fire down. I set the tip of my wand ablaze and I’m able to maintain its shape without any extra use of mana.”

 

“Speaking of shapes,” Rod butted in. “I’m interested in where you got the idea for that specific shape you made. I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

 

Figures that the sword master would be curious about that . “I found it in a book I was reading. It’s called a Katana, a type of sword that has its origins from an eastern country. I decided to try using it with the magic method, because none of the shops around us were carrying any. After a bit of practice, I’ve found that I prefer this type of weapon, so I decided to keep using my magic like that.” 

 

“What was the name of that country?” Rae prodded me. 

 

I simply gave a shrug, “the book I found never said the name of the country itself.” 

 

“Do you remember what book you found this in?” 

 

“Oh…hmmmm,” I pondered a bit. “Sorry, I can’t think of it off the top of my head.” 

 

“Hmm…I see,” Rae simply gave a light nod as I saw her get lost in thought.

 

really my explanation was only a half truth. There actually was a place in this world that was analogous with Japan, but it’s also true that the book that gave me this info did not give me a name. What was a lie was the fact that I never found anything resembling a katana in those books, but given that Japan exists here, I’m sure that a katana is not a new concept in this world. 

 

“Did those studies you did ever tell you how you were able to make those blue flames you made?” Yu asked.

 

“No, that’s something I figured out on my own,” I explained. “I was curious what would happen to a spell if I had continued to pour more of my magic into it. The color difference seems to be a signifier that the fire is significantly hotter.” 

 

“Are there any other colors?” 

 

“I haven’t put it into practice yet, but yes I did manage to make a white flame.”

 

“I personally would not want to see the day where you ever need to use something that hot.” Rae gave a dry chuckle, “your blue flames were already bad enough.”

 

“It’s always good to have options,” I said. “I’ve been spending the semester so far expanding my options.” 

 

“Ha, yeah, speaking of options, how on earth did you learn how to use ice magic?” Rod asked. “You were definitely just a fire user when the semester started, otherwise the magical analyzer from the magic tests would have detected you as a dual caster.” 

 

“That was all fire magic.” I explained.

 

“…you used fire magic to create ice?” Rod looked bewildered, sharing similar looks to our friends. Rae herself was looking very intrigued by what I have to say next.

 

Hmmm, how do I explain this to them? Obviously the science in this world has not reached the point where they understand the idea that energy, therefore heat, is always transferred. I took a moment to choose my next words carefully.

 

“Think about it like this,” I began, slowly figuring out what to say. “Where does heat naturally come from?”

 

“Naturally…?” Thane pondered, “do you mean without the use of magic?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“It’s warmer when the sun is out, so it comes from the sun, right?”

 

“Correct. And what would happen, hypothetically, if the sun moved far enough away from us that it no longer affects our world?”

 

“If that happened…then the world would become much colder and darker, no?”

 

“Yes, that's right. On a smaller scale, that is what I’ve done.” I put down my plate and made a demonstration with my hand. I closed my fist in the air as if I was grabbing something, then I dragged my hand to the left. “I used magic to move heat out of the air.”

 

“Oh!” Yu exclaimed as he understood what I was saying. “Since you dragged the heat out of the air, it froze that air solid, which would create ice.” 

 

“However, the heat would have to end up somewhere else if it was being dragged,” Rae said. “Which is why you had that flame orb grow behind you whenever you froze anything…amazing…”

 

“Does that mean that I could use ice magic to create fire?” Yu asked.

 

“Hmmm, no I don’t think so,” I shook my head. “Think back to what I said earlier. If moving away a source of heat lowers the temperature of something, then what does that say about coldness?” 

 

“Well…it would mean that coldness is the lack of heat, right?” 

 

“Yes. Would you then say that there’s no such thing as the cold?” 

 

“That’s…” Yu seemed to want to argue against that, but couldn’t find the words. 

 

“What do you make of ice magic then, Claire?” Yu seemed skeptical still. 

 

“I suppose it would be as if one was pushing away heat to drive its target into a frozen state. This is opposed to fire magic that draws out heat instead. In the case of the former, it would be impossible to control the excess former as opposed to the excess of fire magic.” 

 

“Are you asserting that ice magic cannot create fire because the process repels all heat away, while fire magic can create ice magic because ice follows in the shadow of heat?” Rae concluded. 

 

“Yes, exactly!” I exclaimed, “there are always consequences that follow actions, I simply took advantage of the consequences of moving heat into my fight.” 

 

“Fascinating…truly fascinating…” Rod pondered. “You know I always found Rae to be an interesting person, but you’ve been pretty interesting yourself, Claire.”

 

I heard Rae audibly blanch at that, “Rod, please do not start hitting on Claire.”

 

“As if you have any right to protest that!” Misha chided Rae.

 

“Hey, it's different for me. Claire is mine, which means it’s okay for me to hit on her.” Rae said with a sheepish grin.

 

“It’s fine, Rae,” I chuckled. “I don’t think the princes can see me in that light.” The capture targets are meant to be for Rae. Even if Rae captures one prince, it’s not like any of the others go for Claire.

 

There was a bit of a silence accompanied by a few titled heads in confusion and a sigh from Misha.

 

“…what?” I tilted my own head in confusion of the sudden silence. 

 

I heard Rae giggled a bit.

 

“Oh it’s nothing,” she said, smiling at me. “You’re cute when you’re like this, very cute even!” 

 

“Oh…I see.” I really wish there was some AC in this world. 

 

“Well then…excuse me!” I forced out. “There’s some delectable bread that has my name on it.” 

 

I then practically skipped over to the selection of bread to focus on eating instead of…whatever that was.

 

Maybe I should drink more water. 

 

-!-

 

“Miss Claire…there’s something that’s been bothering me.”

 

“Oh? Do tell.” 

 

I was in the middle of a tea party with Pepi and Loretta when the former had broached me with a question, a look of perplexity on her face. 

 

“There’s something that I’ve noticed you doing recently...whenever a door has a handle knob, you open the door by turning the handle up instead of down.” 

 

Oh right, it’s been so ingrained into me that I forgot that it would seem strange.  

 

“Eh? Really?” Loretta exclaimed. “Since when?” 

 

“Well I can’t say for sure, but I noticed it after this semester started,” Pepi said. “Rae I’m sure you’ve noticed this as well. Isn't it a bit strange?” 

 

“I don’t think it’s that strange,” Rae said. “However, I always thought it was something she always did. I was unaware that this was a sudden change.”

 

“Well…” I spoke between taking bites out of a donut (another recent addition from Broumet). “The door to my dorm was broken. It was broken in a way where I had to turn the handle up instead of down.” 

 

“It was…?” Rae asked, “when was it fixed?”

 

“About a week after the semester started.”

 

“And you still do it?” Pepi raised an eyebrow.

 

“Yeah, guess I just stuck to it.” 

 

Pepi sighed before taking a bit out of a donut of her own, “you can be stubborn about the oddest things.”

 

“So I’ve been told.” I deadpanned. 

 

Truthfully this habit of mine came about due to the fact that the door handle to the door entrance of Alicia’s place required one to move the handle up. But as I said, I just stuck to it, not that I could tell anyone why I did. 

 

“Anyways, do you two mind if I bring over Catherine next time for an evening outing?” 

 

…

 

“Who?”

 

There was a bit of a pause between the two girls. They both looked at each other as if to gauge if the other knew something they didn’t. They both shook their heads at each before looking to me for answers.

 

“Oh did I…not ever tell you about her?” I asked. I suppose Catherine is a recluse but really?

 

“No, I don’t think so,” Pepi said. “What family is she from?” 

 

“Why does that matter?” 

 

“Wh-“ Pepi seemed taken slightly off guard by my response. 

 

“It doesn’t matter at all! If Claire trusts her then I’m sure it’s fine!” Loretta exclaimed.

 

I saw a flash of a frown appear on Pepi’s face before she regained her composure, “I suppose you’re right, Loretta. A friend of Claire is a friend of ours.” 

 

“Thank you, you two,” I tell them. Now that I think about it, I don’t actually know what Catherine’s last name is.

 

…

 

Ah well. Claire trusted her to be her friend, I’m sure that Catherine is trustworthy too. Besides, I’ve never been one to care about family responsibilities. 

 

-!-

 

It was the morning of a new day. I gave myself a stretch before looking over to Catherine, who still looked as if she was asleep, however I knew otherwise.

 

“Good morning, Catherine.”

 

“Hmmm?” Catherine flopped over on her bed to face me before yawning, “good morning, Yumiella. Did you sleep well?”

 

“Fine enough,” I said. “What about yourself?”

 

“I’ll live,” Catherine yawned as she stretched herself out.

 

“Well that’s good,” I deadpanned. “You’ll need to be when we go out for dinner.”

 

Catherine’s body stiffened in response, “…we?” She sounded confused. She put emphasis on the word we to clarify if that is what I said.

 

“Yes, we.” I confirmed. “During the evening, the two of us will be meeting up with my friends, Pepi and Loretta, to have some dinner. I want you to meet my friends too, Catherine.” 

 

“No thank you.” She politely declined, “I believe I’m good here.” 

 

“That wasn’t an offer.” I told her sharply, however I quickly backpedaled when I saw Catherine flinch at my tone. “Sorry, I’m really am-but I really do want you to make some more friends.“

 

The introvert in me was practically screaming at me for dropping plans for a social event onto someone the day of the event, but I really don’t want you to be lonely in life. I can’t guarantee that me or Lene will always be there for her. I’m well aware that this is not a great idea but I couldn’t think of a better way to do it. I just hope that she can forgive me.

 

Catherine let out a sigh, decompressing a bit, “I appreciate it, but there’s more the problem of us being seen together publicly.”

 

“…why’s that?”

 

“Because our families don’t get along.”

 

“But we do.” 

 

“And before you say anything-“ I quickly add in before Catherine responds, “I’m well aware about how important families and social statuses are. I just don’t care. I believe we don’t need to be held down by them.” 

 

There was a bit of a pause from Catherine before she sighed again, “you’re not going to let this go, are you?”

 

“Nope.“

 

…

 

…

 

…

 

“Can you at least bring some licorice with you?” Catherine said after some silence.

 

“Already had planned on it,” Licorice happened to be a favorite snack of Catherine’s, she even has a bowl of it in her room. The bowl was currently getting to be about empty, however. “The main dish for tonight is going to be pizza.”

 

“That’s publicly available now?” I could see Catherine gulp a little, the taste of pizza she had from the leftovers of Lene and I’s cooking experiments still seem to linger fresh in her mind. 

 

“Yep, it should be as of today.” 

 

“…Well I guess we’ll have a good meal at least.” Catherine chucked.

 

We hear a knock on our door, “Wakey Wakey, Miss Claire, your ever so beautiful servant has arrived.”

 

Ah, looks like Rae and Lene are here .

 

I go over to the door before taking a look over to Catherine, she was still fully visible. 

 

“Go ahead,” she said, giving me a light nod. 

 

I felt a flush of happiness fill my body as I realized what that acceptance meant while I let Rae and Lene inside. 

 

“Good morning Master Clair-oh.” Lene had stopped herself when she noticed a stark difference in the room.

 

Catherine was still fully visible.

 

“He-hey.” Catherine gave a nervous wave. “Good morning.” 

 

“Good morning to you, Catherine,” Lene smiled.

 

“Oh so you’re Catherine…” Rae was being similarly nervous, an emotion I’ve never seen from her before. “Good morning…it’s uh…nice to meet you.” 

 

“Yeah…likewise.” Catherine returned.

 

I myself couldn’t help but smile at the scene unfolding before me.

 

I think today is going to be a good day.

 

-!-

 

Catherine and I, alongside Lene and Rae, are waiting at our usual hang spot to have tea by the time evening comes. 

 

I looked at Catherine and she seemed a bit stiff waiting out in the open, I don’t comment on it as I know the feeling. Though she was snacking on a few licorice in the bowl that sat on the table.

 

“Please don’t eat too much,” I told her. “You still need to eat dinner.”

 

“I’ll be fiiine.” Catherine said in between bites. “I have an extra stomach for licorice.” 

 

What an odd quirk. 

 

“I just think it would be a waste if any of the good food that’s about to be served were to go to waste.“ 

 

“Oh I agree…” I could see Catherine on the verge of drooling again. 

 

Thankfully Pepi and Loretta arrive before long.

 

“Good evening Miss Claire!” Loretta beamed. Her face had changed to one of curiosity when she noticed my seat mate. “Hello there, my name is Loretta Kugret.”

 

“I’m Pepi Bailer,” Pepi gave a wave to Catherine. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” 

 

“Hello. I’m Catherine Achard. Pleasure to meet you too.” Catherine stood up to make the best of a curtsy she could, with one hand gripping the table for balancing. Her voice felt forced, still feeling a bit nervous about the whole thing. 

 

“...Archard…” Pepi repeated to herself. The name had caused a reaction from her. It does sound familiar, mayhaps I should brush up on my politics a little. 

 

“Oh are you Kristoff’s sister?” Loretta asked. Right, that’s why it sounded familiar, Kristoff Archard was Loretta’s fiancé I believe. 

 

“Yes, that would be me.”

 

“Huh, small world.”

 

“Does that make you both sisters?” I asked.

 

“I suppose so,” Catherine said.

 

“I don’t really see it that way.” Loretta said soberly. 

 

“No offense to you, Miss Catherine, my apologies.” Loretta quickly added in.

 

“None taken.” Catherine tilted her head a little, “but I am curious on why you think that.”

 

“Well…” Loretta pondered a bit as she took a seat, Pepi taking a seat next to her. She looked like she was hesitant on how much she wanted to say on the subject. “It’s just that I don’t know if I really want to marry this guy. I want to focus on my music, but I can’t really do that if I’m married to someone.” 

 

Right, Loretta had mentioned that she had been working on being a musician for a few years now. 

 

Loretta gave a sigh, “At best I would be committed to my military work, which while I don’t dislike the exercise, it’s not my main passion.” 

 

“Ah, I get it,” I nodded. “Responsibilities are certainly a pain.” I wish I was strong enough to free myself from mine. 

 

“Well besides all that, I want to be with someone that I truly love.”

 

“I hope that day will come.”

 

“Ahaha, yeah. Would be nice…” Loretta sighed wistfully.

 

Loretta…I’m sure you can one day find someone for you. I managed to find one myself. Is what I wanted to tell her, but I was unsure how to phrase it without revealing my past.

 

As I pondered that, I could hear footsteps and the smell of our delicious meal brought my attention elsewhere.

 

“I believe it’s about time for dinner,” Lene said. She was carrying 4 rectangular boxes on a platter, and laid them out across the table. 

 

“This is…” I heard Rae mutter with a hitched breath. 

 

“This…is pizza!” I spoke with pride as I opened up one of the boxes. “The newest item from Broumet.” 

 

The smell is just as good as I remembered it when I was cooking with Lene. The gold shine of the cheese made it even more delectable. I could see Rae, Loretta, and Pepi huddle around me, looking at the food in amazement.

 

“Pizza…” Rae muttered to herself. “But it’s too early for that.”

 

“Early? What are you talking about?” I tilted my head. “I would say that Lene had impeccable timing.” 

 

“Bwuh?” Rae recoiled. I guess she didn’t expect me to hear her. “Oh-yeah I guess you are right. Haha, My bad.” 

 

“You should sit down, there’s enough and then some for all six of us.” I said.

 

“And look,” I pointed to the pizza slices. “All of the slices have been pre cut. Thank you, Lene.”

 

“It’s no problem.” Lene said before taking a bite. 

 

“…well if Lene is joining in,” Rae said with some hesitancy. “I suppose there’s no reason for me not to join in.”

 

“Maybe I’d be more motivated if you fed me,” Rae said with a snicker.

 

“Don’t push your luck,” I deadpanned.

 

Rae put her hands in defeat but still wore her smile before taking a seat, “fair enough, you win this time, Miss Claire.”

 

A small giggle escapes me, which prompts Rae to respond with her own before she takes a slice of pizza. 

 

I take a look at how Catherine’s doing, and even if she doesn’t look fully comfortable, she does seem to be warming up to Pepi and Loretta. They seem to be able to hold a conversation with each other well enough. The good mood of the evening continues to the end of our meal. Loretta and I ate a whole box worth of pizza, double than what any other individual here had tonight. 

 

I’ll probably regret eating that much, ah well, at least it was good in the moment. 

 

All in all, it was a good night. I think I can get Catherine to have some new friends.

 

As much as I wish we could live our lives like this every day, we cannot. However, I think now that even if the worst is to happen…things are going to be alright.

 

They all will be able to live on. 

Notes:

Sadly could only get out a shorter chapter, figured that this was the best time to end the chapter without over bloat. Probably going to also have to be the case for the next two chapters but alas. I'm excited to get to writing the next chapter. Unfortunately classes are going to start for me in about three weeks so updates might be even slower, but I still want to at least get in one chapter every month.

Edit: I decided to make a Bluesky for WataOshi posting and also I'll post whenever I update this on there.

Maybe I will post about other series but I have not seen a soul on bluesky post about villainess level 99 so who knows.

Chapter 6: The More Things Change…

Notes:

I decided to make a Bluesky for WataOshi posting and also I'll post whenever I update this on there.

Maybe I will post about other series but I have not seen a soul on bluesky post about villainess level 99 so who knows.

“Miss Claire?”

 

“What is it?”

 

It was morning, Rae was styling my hair for the day after Lene believed that Rae could do it herself. Her hands feel very nice. I don’t know if she learned from watching Lene or if she’s naturally talented, but she’s good. 

 

I wonder if it would be too much to ask her to headpa-

 

“Why do you keep your eyes closed in the morning?” Rae asked.

 

My body shifted very slightly, my elation dimming out. I can feel that my expression is still neutral but only barely, just barely enough to not deviate into a slight frown. 

 

“Because I want to.” I lied. It would be hard to explain my feelings to Rae without exposing my identity. 

 

“Am I not doing a good job?” 

 

“No, you’re doing a perfect job, Rae.”

 

“How can that be if you’re never looked in a mirror?”

 

“That’s because no one has commented on it, so it must be fine.” 

 

I’ve been trying to avoid any reflection of my current body. The less that I have to see it, the better. I want to avoid that feeling—the feeling of disconnect in a body that isn’t mine. The less I have to look at myself, the more I can forget about it—the more I can pretend I look like myself. This wasn’t as bad the first time given that I had already looked like Yumiella in my Japanese life. But now I look like a completely different person. 

 

…

 

“Do you not like it?” Rae asked.

 

“Don’t worry about that. If the people have no complaints, then it’s fine.”

 

“But what do you want?” 

 

“Irrelevant. We Nobles have an image to maintain.”

 

“Claire…” Rae started, but then she simply let out a sigh.

 

…

 

More silence.

 

…

 

“Claire, I understand why you believe you must upkeep the Francois image,” Lene said, who I assume has been silently observing Rae do her work. “However, it’s my belief that you should not be held down by family beliefs if it’s to your own detriment.” 

 

I clinched my fists…I know what Lene is saying…

 

You don’t need to be Claire Francois. 

 

But…

 

“Wouldn’t that be suspicious…?” I said. “To change myself so suddenly…” 

 

I paused—giving myself a second to breathe.

 

“I don’t want to be shunned by friends…”  I said weakly.

 

“And you won’t be.” Rae stopped her brushing, I could hear the sound of a brush being placed down on a desk. I could then feel her grip on my shoulders. “And if anyone does, then that’s their loss! You choose how you want to be, don’t let anyone else decide.”

 

“…right.” It does feel a bit silly, I would have never cared about this beforehand but still, “I’m not sure if the changes I want are even possible.”

 

“You sure about that? You would be surprised with what I can make work.”

 

She is the protagonist I suppose…maybe I can take advantage of her being a miracle worker again. 

 

“Well I've been thinking of going with a different hair and eye color…” I stumbled out. I still feel awkward airing this out.

 

“Black to be exact.” I quickly added.

 

“Hmm…” To be honest, I was bracing myself for Rae to say something like, ‘oh you want to match with me? You’re quite the romantic, Miss Claire’. But instead I could hear Rae pondering, making a mental note of what I said I think. “I’ll see what I can do.”

 

“Right, thank you.” I can see hair dye already being a thing in this thing, however I don’t have much hope in having eye contacts to change my eye color. Ah well, mayhaps the blue eyes can be a good look, they would give a good contrast with my soon to be hair. 

 

“Anything else you would want?” Rae asked.

 

“Well I would also want to wear my hair straight,” unlike Claire, the drills were never a particular preference I had. The set up too makes even less worth the time, makes me understand less why she kept this up. “However I think we should wait on that until we can do as many of the changes as possible.” 

 

There was a pause from Rae

 

…

 

“…right, I see…”

 

…

 

“Okay! I’ll finish this up for the day and I’ll look into getting your color changes.” She let go of my shoulders and I could hear her grab something off the desk, presumably the brush, and she went back to the finishing touches on my hair. 

 

“Yeah. Thank you, Rae…for everything.” 

 

“It’s no problem, I’m not letting someone be stuck as someone they’re not.” Rae spoke with a grave tone. It was a tone that makes me think that she had some baggage on the topic, but I didn’t feel the need to pry. 

 

I was more focused on the feeling of excitement in my heart. 

 

-!-

 

Intermission

Lene

 

“Hmmmm”

 

“What is it, Lene?” 

 

Rae and I were accompanying Yumiella alongside Misha in the dormitory kitchen. We were coming up with recipes for the upcoming Founding Day festival, which was a school event that celebrated the founding day of the Royal Academy. Each class would present an event to show off, and guests from outside the school were welcome to join in the festivities. The Academy Knights elected to set up a crossdressing cafe—a cafe where the boys would serve as maids and the girls serve as butlers—at Rod’s suggestion. I had thought it was a novel idea, but I remember Yumiella muttering something about a cliche when Rod suggested the idea.

 

“This flavor…” I pondered after I took a bite of Rae’s egg salad sandwich. “I think I’ve tasted it before.” 

 

“Have I cooked for you before, Lene?” Rae asked.

 

“No, I don’t think so. It’s just that the sauce here reminds me of something…” 

 

“Are you talking about the mayonnaise?” Yumiella asked. She was tasting a sandwich of her own…or well…more like stuffing her face with it. 

 

“You know what this is, Miss Claire?” Misha asked.

 

“Yeah, it’s a recent sauce they announced at Broumet. It’s pretty good.”

 

“But then how would Rae know how to make something like that?”

 

I saw Rae stiffen a little. “Ehehe…well you see, I think I just made something similar is all,” Rae flustered. 

 

“You don’t have to humble yourself,” Yumiella said. “I’m well aware that you’re a great cook. It’s not a surprise that you can do this.” 

 

“You think much too highly of me, Miss Claire.” Rae desperately deflected. “Try out some of my other sandwiches.” 

 

Rae had then fixed a number of other sandwiches, which Yumiella and Misha seemed to enjoy quite well.

 

However, I wasn’t paying much attention to that. That feeling I had earlier was still bothering me. 

 

If what my gut feeling is telling me is right…

 

“Claire, may I borrow Rae for a minute?” I call out to Yumiella.

 

“Huh..?” She was in the process of chewing something but quickly swallowed her bite. “Yeah sure…I don’t mind.” 

 

“Is something the matter, Lene?” Rae asked.

 

“I need to speak with you, come with me.” 

 

I dragged Rae out of the kitchen.

 

“The new recipes from Broumet are from you, aren’t they?” 

 

“What? Of course not. I told you that the mayonnaise  was a coincidence.” 

 

“It’s not just the mayonnaise, a number of other items taste extremely similar to the dishes you would find in Broumet.”

 

“You’re imagining things.”

 

Oh is that how you’re going to play things? You’re not getting off the hook.

 

“The way that you cut eggs is precise, but you’re sloppy when it comes to the vegetables.”

 

“What’s wrong with that?”

 

“The way you rush through things versus the things you spend time on are the exact same as in the Broumet recipes.”

 

Rae was certainly putting up a front, but I could see cracks of nervousness form as I interrogated her. I believe I’m close to victory.

 

“And those roast beef sandwiches. Roast beef is primarily cooked all the way through, but you only cooked them to be rare, no?”

 

“That’s not rare. It’s called pink. When it’s freshly cooked, it’s a light pink, but as time passes, the hemoglobin changes the color of the meat.”

 

“You don’t say? Well yes you’re right, but the average person would never know something like that.” I smiled

 

“O-oh…” Rae slumped her shoulders in a rare moment of complete defeat after realizing she fell for the trap I laid out. 

 

To use a word I had learned from Yumiella:

 

Jackpot.

 

“Do you mind if I ask why you’re hiding this?” I released the tension I was holding with a sigh—I basically had my suspicions confirmed. “Normally one would be proud of being an exceptional chief at a place like Broumet.” 

 

“You act as if I did cook for Broumet.”

 

“You did.” I correct swiftly.

 

“…yeah alright. I admit that I’ve been giving Broumet recipes. But please do not tell anyone about this.”

 

“Why?” I asked, titling my head in confusement.

 

“It’s for Miss Claire’s sake. Trust me.” 

 

“For Claire’s sake…” I mused to myself. Well if this is something that she wants to keep especially away from Yumiella, then that would be an issue, I was hoping I could pass on Rae’s recipes to Yumiella. “That doesn’t really answer my question.”

 

“I have secrets, much like you do.”

 

“Wha…” I muttered before I took a sharp gasp when it hit me, “how do you know that?”

 

How do you know about my—recently former—crush on my brother. Is what I wanted to say, but didn’t want to risk spilling in the case I was wrong. 

 

“I wonder?” She brushed off my question, but she looked serious. However, it doesn’t appear as though she has plans to tell anyone, so that’s a relief.

 

But how could she have known that…unless…

 

It was a bit of a long shot, but given the reports of her personality being outside of both Yumiella and Misha’s expectations, was Rae…similar to Yumiella? Was Rae also a player of Revolution? 

 

If that was the case, then it would also explain how she was so skilled in magic. Like Yumeilla, Rae most likely knows everything at the protagonist’s disposal. There’s also to consider that a lot of the times where Rae has been fazed is because of Yumiella’s actions…

 

“Lene?” Rae shook me out of my thinking, “is something the matter?”

 

“Oh…I was just thinking that I wanted to learn your recipes, but I also made an agreement with Claire to teach her to cook. And I believe it would be tough to teach her these recipes and be able to hide that they came from you.” I explained on the spot. 

 

It was a valid concern I had, however. There’s also the fact that Yumiella and I hide outside of the kitchen every night to wait for Rae to leave before we cook ourselves. That wouldn’t be possible if I had to meet up with Rae. 

 

“She’s learning to cook?” Rae arched an eyebrow. 

 

”It's going a lot better than you would think. She’s a bit slow right now, but she can at least make her own sandwiches.” 

 

“That’s a start at least…” Rae began to contemplate for a few seconds.

 

“Well given that Claire wasn’t any suspicious of me being able to make mayo,” Rae said. “I suppose we could get away with doing that without her knowing.” 

 

“Thank you! We can meet back in the kitchen tonight.” 

 

“Heh heh, can’t wait.”

 

-!-

 

“Now Miss Claire, will you be able to stay awake?” Rae said.

 

“It’ll be fine, I’ve been doing late night cooking myself anyways.” Yumiella said, giving a bit of a stretch. 

 

“You have?” Rae looked slightly puzzled, “but I…”

 

“We started this the day after the knights exam,” I clarified. “After you recovered, Claire and I would hide outside and come into the kitchen after you left.”

 

“That does explain why Miss Claire seemed more drowsy lately,” Rae mused. 

 

Try as Yumiella might to hide it, she has been slightly less responsive as of late. It hasn’t been too noticeable, but one could definitely sense a shift.

 

The same could be said for myself as I’ve always been at my lady’s side, but I’m more used to late night labor, so I’ve been doing fine for now. 

 

“I’ve learned the hard way how important sleep is,” Yumiella sighed, as if she was recalling a troubling event. “I’ve been trying to take a small nap every day to make up for it, but I hope that starting these together can help alleviate that.“

 

“Really you should have just told me sooner,” Rae said.

 

“We didn’t want to be a bother,” Yumiella lied. The real reason was because Yumiella was telling me about other world recipes, she was teaching me how to make a burrito last night. 

 

“Miss Claire,” Rae scratched her cheek with a finger. “You are far too humble. I am merely your servant.” 

 

“No.” Yumiella jumped forward and grabbed Rae’s hand with both her own, a strong sense of determination in her voice. “You are my friend. You are much stronger than you could possibly think. I know you’ll be doing great things, so stand tall and proud.” 

 

“I…right,” Rae flustered. 

 

After a moment of pause, Rae ripped free from Yumiella’s grip, “so what are you girls thinking we should start with.”

 

“I’m good with whatever,” Yumiella shrugged.

 

“I think we should start with sweets, those always do well with nobles,” I suggested. 

 

“Sure!” Rae recovered her composure, “we can start off with crème brûlée. Lene, you can make pudding, right?”

 

“Yes I can. Claire, what about you?”

 

“I cannot.”

 

“I see,” Rae nodded. “Well then pay close attention, Miss Claire, the process for this shouldn’t be too dissimilar.” 

 

Rae then showed us the process of cooking a crème brûlée. I was taking notes through the whole process. The process did seem to be similar to making pudding, albeit with some different ingredients. 

 

Rae herself served to be an excellent teacher. I could tell that she was taking the occasional observational glance to make sure we were understanding her instructions. 

 

“Just before serving, sprinkle super over the top and add a little liquor. The liquor proof should be as high as possible,” Rae demonstrated.

 

Next she took out a match, lit it, then moved it closer to the brûlée, catching it on fire. 

 

“Woah!” Yumiella yelped, staggeringly back slightly.

 

Rae chuckled a bit, “this is a cooking technique called Flambé. It’s better if you let it cool, light it again, then have it cool…and it’s ready.“

 

Rae then presented us with one of the ramekins she poured the sweet into. 

 

“Now Miss Claire. Lene. How about a taste from you both?”

 

“Thank you,” Yumiella and I both said before we took a spoon. The top seemed to be a bit harder than I expected but it wasn’t difficult to take a bite and try out the treat.

 

“Mmph!”

 

“It’s delicious! It’s really good, Rae!” 

 

“Oh I’m glad,” Rae said. She took a bite for herself, and from the expression on her face, she seemed proud of her work. 

 

“Yeah it’s good, there’s a nice crunch too.” Yumiella said.

 

“Truly delectable. There’s also that last part too…Flambé, right? Quite eye-catching.” I said in amazement. 

 

“You could use your fire magic to light it, Miss Claire.”

 

“I’m…good.” 

 

One thing I’ve noticed about Yumiella is that she is an incredibly diligent person when she tries, even more so than Master Claire. Whenever we do our cooking sessions, she has a look of intense concentration that I’ve never seen her wear otherwise. She asks plenty of questions for clarity, and she rigorously sticks to the instructions I give her. I believe that she doesn’t want to burn something with her fire magic, even though I’m sure she can control it at her skill level. 

 

“Did you two get everything?” Rae asked.

 

“I believe so,” Yumiella nodded. “However, I would like to take a look at Lene’s notes just in case.”

 

“That’s fine, Claire. I made sure to write everything down. Thanks, Rae.” 

 

“Good, there is one more thing,” Rae took my hand and dragged me out of earshot from Yumiella. “You can have this.” 

 

“This is-!” I nearly jumped when I looked at the paper that Rae had handed me. It was a recipe for Mayonnaise.

 

“Shhh. Don’t let Miss Claire hear you.”

 

“Are you sure?”

 

“Mh-hmm. But please wait until I say it’s okay to make it.”

 

“Huh?” I tilted my head slightly.

 

“This is insurance.”

 

“Insurance?”

 

“You’ll understand.”

 

With words as vague as that, I suppose this has to be related to my previous fate. I remember Yumiella saying that my brother released a chimera in the school for my sake. It sounded like I was involved too, so I can’t imagine my fate after such an event was very pretty. I appreciate that Rae is looking out for me too.

 

“I see…I’ll take good care of it.”

 

“If possible, please memorize and destroy the paper.”

 

“Understood. And thanks again.”

 

“It’s no problem, really.”

 

I couldn’t help but frown at that. Yumiella was also like this too, far too humble for her own good. Are all reincarnates like this? I’m aware that she downplays herself a lot on purpose to avoid attention, I’ve seen it as much whenever Rod forces Rae into a chess match only for Rae to lose on purpose. Maybe that’s what’s happening here too, but this feels different. I think it must have to do with their previous life. 

 

Yumiella explained to me that she was the equivalent of a commoner in her first life (if such a system had still existed in her world). This may be assuming a lot on my part, but I have the feeling that Rae is the same. Maybe they both feel that they’re merely doing what comes naturally to someone in their world. Yumiella is a bit of a special case where she had also lived the life of a high ranking noble, however I have the feeling that she would be an average girl were it not for that previous life experience. Rae on the other hand…

 

“For what it’s worth, Rae, I think the ability to create dishes without the use of a recipe makes you quite the experienced chef. You should have more faith in yourself.” I told her.

 

“…I do appreciate that,” Rae said, but she didn’t sound fully convinced. 

 

I could hear Yumiella’s footsteps as she walked over to us.

 

“Excuse me,” she cleared her throat. “Do you think we could make another batch?”

 

“Master Claire, eating too many sweets at this time of night will make you fat.” I warned her.

 

“It’s fine,” Rae said. “We can do night time exercises in Miss Claire’s room after this.” 

 

“That is not necessary, I just do it outside.”

 

“In public?! How scandalous…” 

 

“How is that……never mind.” The gears looked like they were turning in her head. Yumiella was definitely learning when Rae was teasing her…but sadly she has yet to figure out what they mean yet as Yumiella sighs in defeat.

 

Rae and I went through the process of making the crème brûlée again, I was cooking this time. We decided that I could teach Yumiella at a later point since we could not handle a third batch. I was able to replicate the recipe well enough to have impressed Rae, but I did get a little burnt when trying the flambé. 

 

“Let me fix that for you,” Rae said.

 

“Please, it’s fine, this is nothing. I have ointment for this.”

 

“No.” Rae forcibly grabbed my hand. “I want to fix it.” 

 

“Thank you.”

 

“Don’t thank me, I can’t allow a woman to have a burn on her finger.” Rae focused her water magic to heal the burn.

 

“You two are close…”

 

“Oh?! Are you jealous mayhaps? You’re jealous, aren’t you Miss Claire?!” Rae teased.

 

“Oh no, quite the opposite. I’m just very happy for you two.” Yumiella smiled.

 

There was something about that fleeting expression she wore that bothered me at the time. She was smiling, but eyes looked vacant…like she was thinking of something else, something beyond Rae and I. 

 

It wouldn’t be until much later that I would find out the cause of my unrest, and how much I wish I could have confronted her about it then. 

 

-!-

 

Intermission

Rae

 

“Starting now and until the Foundation Day Fair, please call me Ms. Lene.”

 

A few days before the Foundation Day Festival, I had brought in Lene to teach the Academy Knights about service—it was Rod’s idea. I suppose it made sense, aside from Lene and I, none of us here have served anyone before.

 

“Alright, Ms. Lene, what are you teaching us first?” Misha asked.

 

“Firstly I’ll be teaching you all how to mentally prepare yourself. Now what mindset do you think is required to follow the Way of the Maid?” 

 

“The Way of the Maid?” Claire repeated.

 

Lene took a look at her—deadly serious now. “Yes, that is what I am here to teach you.” Lene still maintained her soft smile, but there was something different here. Her eyes looked more similar to Claire's icy serious look whenever she put her full attention on something. To be blunt, it scared me. Even Ralaire was quivering on top of Claire’s head. “There is great depth to this discipline. Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible to master it in a mere week.” 

 

“I see,” Claire started. “Tell me mo-“

 

“However!” Lene interrupted, her voice becoming concerningly more impassioned. “It is my wish to share the spirit of dedication and service to all of you—to both nobles and commoners. For that reason alone, I stand before you today.”

 

It was like she was possessed by something as her tone grew ever more feverish, “the spirit of dedication and service is essential to the Way of the Maid. You are likely unfamiliar with the concept for now, but know that it is important and that it brings peace to the world.”

 

None of us could stop her as she became ever more grandiose.

 

-!-

 

Yumiella’s POV

 

Lene had given us a lecture for an entire hour. I was absolutely terrified what would happen if my attention was to twindle, so I kept myself steady out of pure fear the whole time. 

 

“Now then, I think that should give you an idea of what the Way of the Maid is.”

 

“Yes, Ms. Lene.”

 

“A very good response, Misha. Let’s review. What is the essence of the Way of the Maid?” 

 

“Dedication and service, Ms. Lene.”

 

“That’s right. Well done.”

 

“Thank you very much, Ms. Lene.” Her voice sounded robotic and flat, her features looked as if they lost all life. In fact, the same could be everyone but myself and Rae. 

 

“Now Master Rod, where do the basics of the Way of the Maid begin?”

 

“With a greeting, Ms. Lene.”

 

“Good. Let us try that together.”

 

“Welcome home, Master!” We all shouted.

 

“Louder, please!”

 

“Welcome home, Master!”

 

“Good, I believe you are starting to get it. Your teacher is very proud,” Lene still held that terrifying smile. 

 

“Um, Lene?” Rae called out with caution.

 

“ Ms. Lene.”

 

“Ms. Lene, aren’t you taking this a bit far?”

 

“Not at all, I would just like everyone to understand the beauty of the Way of the Maid.”

 

“I…see.”

 

“Now you, Rae. Welcome home, Master?” 

 

“Wel-welcome home…Master…” Rae sounded just as unnerved as I was. 

 

“What are the basics of the Way of the Maid?”

 

“Dedication and Service!”

 

“And a strong greeting?”

 

“Welcome home, Master!”

 

Mental note: Do not cross Lene.

 

-!-

 

“That was the scariest moment of my life” I declared as I returned to my room.

 

“Hehe…I apologize. I got a bit carried away.” 

 

“Well I understand that feeling.” Is this how it feels on the other side of my leveling sessions? 

 

“I didn’t think that you had it in you,” Rae commented.

 

“It’s not a side I have the chance to bring out often.”

 

Feeling myself drained, I flopped onto the bed.”

 

“Master Claire, you need to take a bath and change first,” Lene said.

 

“Too tired…let me sleep,” my voice was muffled by the pillow I laid my face into.

 

“No, please get up.”

 

“Don’t wanna…”

 

“ Get up .”

 

“Yes, Ms. Lene!” I shot up on reflex. 

 

“Seems like Lene’s lecture had led to some unforeseen side effects,” Catherine chuckled. 

 

Maybe this is why people found me to be so scary.

 

-!-

 

“Miss Claire? I have something for you.”

 

We were in my dorm room the day before the Foundation Day Festival. We knights had been handling prep for both our booth and the booths for the other classes for the past week. It has definitely been a busy couple of days. 

 

“Oh? What is it, Rae?” 

 

Rae then took out a case with two differently colored circles attached to each other and a number of black bottles out of a bag she was carrying.

 

“This,” Rae pointed at the bottle, “is a bottle of black hair dye.” 

 

“And this,” Rae pointed to the circular case, “is a pair of black eye contacts.” 

 

I blinked slowly, taking a moment to process what she just said.

 

“…really?” I said, still not fully convinced I heard right.

 

“Yeah, look at this,” Rae pointed to the circular case again. “They’re labeled for which one goes into which eye.”

 

I opened the cases. There was a circular disc inside each case. 

 

“You take these and place them on top of each eye,” Rae explained.

 

I followed Rae’s instructions. I was a bit scared that I would poke my eye, but the contacts went in no problem.

 

“Now, take a look at the mirror,” Rae said.

 

I turned myself around and felt my breath hitch. There I was…my eyes were the exact color I had in my previous life. It looked like I had dyed my hair blonde instead of it being natural. 

 

“Just…how?” I was still amazed. I didn’t think this could have happened. 

 

“Well the hair dye was just something I bought off the store. The eye contacts on the other hand…I had to make that myself.” 

 

“How did you manage that?”

 

“Rae’s secret!” Rae sheepishly put a finger to her lips. “Now do you want me to undo your locks before applying the dye?”

 

“Oh right, yes I should do that.” I straightened out my hair before Rae got the hair dye ready. Rae then instructed me throughout the process, so that I could reapply it myself later. When the process was done,

 

“This is…” I look exactly like I did in my past life.

 

“You look stunning, Miss Claire,” Rae said.

 

“Is this satisfactory, Master Claire?” Lene asked. 

 

“More than that,” I saw myself grin in the mirror. “It’s perfect. I could never thank you enough, Rae.”

 

“It’s no problem, you just want to be your ideal self. I could never ignore that.” That last sentence felt a bit more charged than usual, like there was a history behind that statement. “Just let me know if you need anything else done.”

 

“I’m good,” I nodded.

 

Rae has always been an enigma. Maybe it’s because she’s the one major character I know the least. I know that she’s a skilled commoner and that she grew up with Misha, but other than that, not much is known about her. The game never told us much about her childhood, nor was she given much of a personality outside of dialogue choices. Maybe I should get to know Rae more, it’s the least I could do for her. 

 

-!-

 

“So is that what you looked like before, Yumiella?” 

 

“Yeah…it’s stunning how exact it looks.”

 

It was some hours after my makeover, Rae and Lene had left my dorm room, and Catherine and I were hanging out in bed. 

 

“You know I bet she could make a real profit off of those ‘eye contacts’,” Catherine said. “And yet she made it just for you. Odd girl.”

 

“Sure is.” I nodded.

 

But that’s what makes her interesting.

 

Still, I have to wonder if she always had those. 

 

…

 

“But anyways,” I rapidly changed subjects. “Tomorrow is the day for Loretta’s concert—“

 

“No thanks,” Catherine interrupted me. 

 

“This is significantly different from a private tea party,” she spoke before I could get another word in. “It’s going to be hard to walk around in a public place.”

 

“Oh I’ve prepared for that,” I said as I brought over and unfolded an object that I left in a corner of the room in front of Catherine. “This was something that was in my Japanese life, it’s called a wheelchair.”

 

“This was something I had commissioned a smith to make a bit ago. Typically they just use wheels, but Lambert suggested installing wind attribute magic stones to have it levitate slightly.”

 

It’s ingenious really, it eliminates the problem of having to deal with stairs, which is an especially big problem in a place that’s not thoughtful of wheelchairs. It even has wheels still attached so it only needs to use magic if necessary. I have to admit that I didn’t really think much of Lambert before, but he was very helpful throughout the making process. 

 

“So will you come to the recital with me, now?” 

 

Catherine started wildly at the wheelchair, at a loss for words, when she then started to laugh, “ha ha…”

 

“Eh?” 

 

“Ha ha…ha ha ha!”

 

“Catherine…? Is something wrong?”

 

“Yumiella,you really are a blockhead.”

 

“Eh?! Did I do something wrong?! If so I’m so sor-“ I frantically tired to apologize, but

 

“I mean…why else would anyone go so far for a broken girl?”

 

“Oh.” I saw tears well up in her eyes. What on earth happened in her childhood…  

 

“I’ll go,” Catherine said.

 

“Really? Great!” I pumped my fist. I then folded the wheelchair back in place and fell into bed, feeling like I was on cloud nine. 

 

“So how much did the wheel—“

 

“Don’t worry about it.” 

 

“But—“

 

“You are my friend. It’s the least I could do for you accepting me.”

 

“Haha…I figured you would say something like that.”

 

“Hmph…I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

 

“Me too.”

 

Between this and my new makeover, tomorrow will be the best day I’ve had in my new life. 

 

-!-

 

It was the morning after. I was sitting at the desk in the Academy Knights conference room, already changed into my butler clothes. Given that my morning routine was much shorter now that I no longer needed my hair to be curled, I already went out to prepare myself for my shift at the cafe—we elected to go with the name Cavalier (which apparently was what the Academy Knights used to go by)—not even waiting for my maids to arrive. 

 

Given how early I was, I was alone with nothing to do, so I was reading a book to pass the time. The book was called Princess Emerald and Sophia, a story about a commoner becoming friends with a princess. It’s been a good read so far. I’m not too far in—I have yet to meet the main love interest (which I’m sure will be somewhere since I found this in the romance section of the library)—but I’ve been enjoying the relationship between the two girls.

 

“Excuse me,” I hear a voice from outside the room as I hear the door open. I close my book shut and look to the source.

 

“Oh hello Thane. Punctual as usual, I see.” Strangely the prince was looking a bit nonplused as he entered the room. Strange…was I too casual? No, I've been like this around him before. Maybe he’s surprised at how prepared I am? “Is something the matter?” 

 

“I’m sorry, but this room is for Academy Knights only.” 

 

“But I am an Academy Knight,” I titled my head.

 

Thane squinted his eyes a bit and started to analyze me, scanning my appearance from top to down.

 

“My apologies, but…I do not recognize you,” he finally said. “What is your name?”

 

Oh so that’s happening. I can’t lie and say that becoming unrecognizable doesn’t bring me joy. A small giggle escapes me as I realize Thane’s current struggle.

 

“Oh you know, it’s me, Cla-“

 

“Miss Claaaaire!” I hear a voice shout out, interrupting me. “There you are, I can’t believe you stood me up, how cruel.”

 

“We were going to meet each other here anyways. I didn’t have anything to do in my room, so I figured I would come here and wait for our shift to start.” I flatly responded. 

 

“How long have you been in here?” 

 

“Only like a half hour I would say.”

 

“Seriously? What have you been doing?”

 

“Oh just reading this—“

 

“Pardon me,” Thane interrupted, clearing his throat. “Are you…Claire Francois?”

 

“That would be me, yes. My apologies for forgetting about you.” I gave a slight bow.

 

“No it’s fine just…you look good.”

 

“Oh thank you very much, that means a lot,” I smiled. More than you could ever know.

 

“By the by, what were you reading?” Rae asked.

 

“Oh this?” I brought the book into view so they could see it. “It’s called Princess Emerald and Sophia. It’s a story about a princess becoming friends with a commoner. Not far in, but it’s been good so far.”

 

“Oh that’s neat,” Rae said. “Would you mind if I took a read when you’re done?” 

 

“Yea sure, I think you would like it…Thane? Are you alright?”

 

I looked over at Thane to see that he still looked nonplussed, but this time it felt like it was for a different reason.

 

“Claire…Rae…do neither of you know anything about this story?”

 

“Nope. Never heard of it.”

 

“Not before reading it”

 

“Well…I suppose then I shouldn’t spoil anything for you.” Thane took a moment before speaking.

 

It wasn’t until much later that I would find out the meaning behind his words. And much to my embarrassment, I would learn that the main love interest had already been introduced much earlier than I had thought. 

 

-!-

 

Finally I can relax a bit, I thought as I sat down in a chair in the neighboring break room to Cavalier, letting the toll of exhaustion rest over me like a wave. I sat there for a second before resolving to stand up. I placed my book on a table in the room, so I was going to pick that up, but then I noticed that there was another presence in the room.

 

“Ah hello, Yu.”

 

“Oh! Hello Claire.” He seemed a bit out of it. Come to think of it, I’ve never really hung out with Yu like I have with the other princes yet. A bit ironic, considering he was my favorite capture target. 

 

“Did I interrupt something?” 

 

“Oh no, not at all,” Yu tried to wave off. “I was just…looking in the mirror. Not very often that I wear a dress.” 

 

“That is true. It’s been a long while since I’ve worn pants.”

 

“You’ve crossdressed before?”

 

Ah, slip of the tongue . “No, not that. I tried to wear pants when I was a child.” 

 

“Ahhaha,” Yu giggled. “I imagined that your parents didn’t take that well.” 

 

“No, they really were quite cross. They told me that a noble lady could never wear something like that.” I lied. I did try to wear pants as a noble child, but it was in my past life. Even then, it took years until Rita spoke up about the problem. 

 

“Anyways, I hope that you’re having fun,” I said.

 

“Yea!” Yu beamed. “It’s quite a novel time.”

 

“Yeah that is true,” I stared at the mirror, reflecting the smile on Yu’s face with my own. 

 

I saw Yu in the reflection begin to stare a bit at me, he looked to be analyzing something. 

 

“Why did you change your hair? It did seem a bit sudden.” Yu asked, a curious glint in his eyes. 

 

“Well,“ I guess I could tell him. Out of the three princes, he seemed like he would be the most accepting. 

 

“This may sound odd,” I started. “But one day—I think it was on the first or second day of the semester—I felt like I was born in the wrong body. The longer I could go without seeing myself, the more I could pretend I looked like my ideal self. I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror without feeling sick. All I could see was ‘Claire’, but not ‘me’. 

 

It was made even worse by the fact that I wanted to honor my mother’s memory with my appearance since I was five years old. I felt trapped. I no longer wanted to be instead this shell I created a decade ago, but if I destroyed it, I felt that I would be also dishonoring my mother’s spirit. 

 

Rae took notice and told me that ‘you should be held down by family beliefs if it’s to your own detriment’. Rae then helped me with a makeover. She got me some hair dyes and made these things called eye contacts, you put them in your eye to change your eye colors.” 

 

As I had explained my feelings, Yu’s face became a bit more sunken, it looked full of pity. 

 

Yu then gave a slight chuckle and beamed me a smile, “You’re quite lucky, Claire.”

 

Me? Lucky? I feel like being snatched away from my world is fair grounds for being very unlucky. 

 

“How so?” I tilted my head. 

 

“Well you’re surrounded by a group of friends that accept you for who you want to be. You don’t have to fear what people think when you betray the world’s expectations.” 

 

“That includes you too, Yu,” you talk like you’re not my friend either. 

 

“Oh of course,” Yu nodded and patted me on the back. “And if that feeling ever comes back again, you can talk to me. I know the feeling well, so I can help with comforting you if you need it.”

 

“You do?”

 

“Yeah it’s not something I can talk freely about, but—“

 

”Master Yu, break time for you is over,” Lene came into the break room.

 

“Understood, Ms. Lene,” Yu shot up before leaning into me to give me a whisper. “Let’s talk again later, Claire.”

 

“Oh, yeah sure Yu.” 

 

”See you later, Claire!” Yu waved off as he left out the door.

 

…

 

…

 

…

 

I was transfixed in place after hearing Yu’s words, uncertain thoughts sticking within my mind.

 

“I know the feeling well.”

 

Those words, Yu are you also from another world?

 

-!-

 

My Cavalier shift of the day had ended, which means it was time to visit the concert with Catherine. She was awestruck by the scenery before us as we entered the concert hall. 

 

“Whoa, this place is incredible.”

 

“Yeah it’s cool.” 

 

The concert hall had five auditoriums of varying sizes, which in total made up the size of a fourth of the academy. Catherine’s gaze was all over the place as she oohed and aahed at the surroundings as we entered the auditorium. I personally felt that it was a bit over elaborate and gaudy, however what was more important than my enjoyment here was Catherine’s. 

 

“Aren’t you glad you came?”

 

“Yeah. Thank you, Claire.”

 

Catherine smiled, and I gave a soft smile back. Things were going well until,  

 

“Ladies, I ask that you refrain from getting too carried away, my master wishes Lady Catherine to maintain a low profile.” 

 

Our uninvited guest chimed in to rain on our parade. This was Catherine’s maid, Emma, a tall, older woman with brown eyes and black hair, pulled into a bun. 

 

“Sorry Emma. But look at this building! Isn’t it all amazing?” Catherine asked.

 

“Objectively speaking it is an impressive feat of architecture. I am more concerned, however, as to the attention you are bringing,” face still stone cold, she looked down towards Catherine’s wheelchair.

 

It was true that there was a number of attention drawn towards us, it would be impossible to not notice the stares and whispers. But so what? Catherine just so happens to be using a technological marvel. Everyone else just needs to get used to it.

 

“Oh don’t be such a wet blanket, Emma. Not after all the effort Claire put into making this for me.” 

 

“It would have been more appropriate if she had consulted me beforehand. I fear what my master will say when he hears you were given such a thing without his knowledge.” Emma sighed as she briefly pinched her nose. I was unfamiliar with the life of House Achard, but I could tell that this maid seems more concerned about her employer than her lady—similar to how Rita was to me prior to her assassination attempt on me. How annoyingly troublesome.

 

“I don’t see what trouble Catherine could bring to Master Clement just for being out and about.” I said, stopping us in place.

 

“Claire, it’s fine. Please don’t worry about me,” Catherine said.

 

“It is not fine,” I insisted.

 

“I apologize if I have displeased you, but this is a matter that concerns House Achard. Not even you, Miss Francois , have any right to interfere in our affairs.” Emma said with a disapproving frown. 

 

“Catherine is my friend, which means that her problems are my problems,” I countered. “Wherever Catherine does and goes is solely her business, and her father has no right to—“

 

“Alright that’s enough. Emma, drop it. That’s an order. And Claire, please leave it at that. I don’t want to ruin such a wonderful day.” Catherine’s pleading tone betrayed the calming smile she was giving. 

 

I didn’t say anything. I just turned back towards our destination, still heated. I had a lot more to say to Emma, but this outing was for Catherine. I can’t be doing anything that would hurt her, so I very reluctantly relented. 

 

“Thank you, Claire.” Catherine said as we walked over to our seats .

 

-!-

 

“That was amazing…”

 

“Indeed.” 

 

Catherine and I were buzzing over Loretta’s performance after leaving the auditorium. Catherine was telling me about it right before her show started that the composition that Loretta chose to play was The Dead Maestro’s Solo Exhibition . A series of 10 songs and 5 intrudes created by a famous composer from the north. It was often arranged to be played by an orchestra, but Loretta excellently did it all herself using her piano—a testament to her skill. 

 

“How about we share our impressions over some tea, Catherine?” 

 

“Oh that sounds—“

 

“Absolutely not,” Emma interrupted. “The goal for today’s outing was met, we will return to your room at once.”

 

“No, we’re going to have some tea,” I countered, angry that she’s once again interrupting our fun. “Catherine wants to do it, so that’s what we will do. Your job as a maid is to assist your la-“

 

“Claire, it’s fine—“ 

 

“No, it’s not, Catherine. You shouldn’t have to be putting up with this. You should be able to make your own decisions, regardless of what others think.”

 

“Okay. Well then it’s my decision to return to my room.”

 

“Catherine..!” My resolve wavered a bit. I’m trying to do this for her own good, and I can’t just let her be tossed around by her—and this might be me projecting a bit—lousy excuse of a father. But if Catherine is not going to be happy to come with me…

 

“You still want to see Loretta, right? I’ll go back to my room and we can meet up later there. Let’s go, Emma.”

 

“Yes, my lady. I bid you a good day, Miss Claire.”

 

“Catherine…” I could do nothing as the pair swiftly left out of my sight. I clutched my fists.

 

Damn it. Is this because I was too weak? I would never say that Claire herself was weak, but it’s not enough. I need to get back to where I was before I came here as soon as possible, then I can have people listen to me. I can give my close friend the freedom that she deserves. I may not get politics, but I know that I can be too powerful to ignore. 

 

I’m not giving up on you, Catherine. No matter how many times you push me back.

 

I’m a stubborn woman after all.

 

-!-

 

“Table there, order up.”

 

“New customers seated at table five.”

 

“Table one, check.” 

 

“Your total comes to 1,480 gold.”

 

A multitude of lively voices echoed throughout the cafe. Much like yesterday it was a busy day, all the tables were full and there was a notable queue outside. This cross dressing cafe was much more of a success than I had anticipated. 

 

“Hey, have you seen Miss Claire? I heard that she was serving here today.” 

 

“Nope, no one has seen her since the Foundation Day Festival started. I wonder where she went.”

 

“Ah that’s a shame, I would have loved to see that selfish brat welcome customers.”  

 

“Are you ready to order?” I asked the two girls at the table.

 

“Oh right, we would like the egg sandwiches“

 

“Very well, then. Your meal will come shortly.” 

 

“Thank you!”

 

“The pleasure is mine.” I said with the smile that Ms. Lene had drilled into me for hours before walking away.

 

“Who was that?”

 

“I don’t know, but I think that was the so-called lady in black that everyone was talking about yesterday.”

 

“Lady in black?”

 

“Yeah, no one knows where she came from, but she’s been here since yesterday.”

 

“Should have asked for her name, I hope she comes around soon. She’s a real handsome one.”

 

Little did they know that I’m the so-called “Self brat” that the two of them spoke of. I was forcing a smile earlier when serving the two, but now a real one was showing itself. 

 

Still, a brat? Surely I’ve not been a villainess here, right? I suppose Claire’s reputation still precedes me, even after all these weeks. 

 

After registering the order with Lorek—who we found worked better in the kitchen as opposed to as a maid—I couldn’t help but overhear a customer that Rae was dealing with. 

 

“I’m very sorry. Unfortunately, we do not have anything with dodo bird.”

 

“This is extremely disrespectful. Prince Marcel has placed his order. You must fulfill it.”

 

Rae was speaking with two foreign men, one of which looked to be royalty. Rae was seemingly having a disagreement with the non royal noble man. 

 

“Please forgive me. The dodo bird is rare and not easy to source in the Bauer Kingdom.”

 

“This is what he wants. You will do something about it.”

 

Now I remember, this is an in game event too. A pair of nobles make an unreasonable order and whoever prince was closer to the protagonist would come in to save her from the trouble.

 

Wait, shit ! 

 

Isn’t this also a romance trigger flag? But Rae doesn’t want to romance anyone—as far as I know. Without a moment to lose, I stepped in the conversation myself. 

 

“Excuse me sirs for the interruption, we are unable to prepare the dodo bird that Your Highness enjoys, however I am sure that royalty such as yourself would enjoy the new ingredients that Bauer has to offer.” I politely stated, giving the sweetest smile I could, which seemed to be a shock to Rae. 

 

“Are you saying you can serve His Highness with something else that could satisfy him?” The other noble man had arched his eyebrow.

 

“I guarantee you will enjoy it.” I said with the utmost confidence. Our menu has rocked the socks off of every other customer here, it will be no different here.

 

“Very well then,” the man sat down. “I leave it up to you.”

 

 “Thank you very much.” 

 

In the end, we managed to satisfy the pair with a mayonnaise shrimp dish, all courtesy of Rae’s wondrous cooking. 

 

Thank goodness I managed to stop the romance flag right in its tracks. I need to be able to make it up to Rae for everything she has done for me somehow, even if she doesn’t know it .

 

-!-

 

“Wooo, glad that’s done with.” I began to stretch myself out as I entered the break room, shift over for the day. I was nervous at first at how well I would do as a butler, given my absolute lack of customer service experience. However I’ve been doing quite well, there’s even been quite the talk about the dashing “Lady in Black” that made today’s shift a lot busier today than yesterday. Seems like my new look is going well with everyone. 

 

My social battery was absolutely drained, however. I wish there was a couch here I could lay down on for at least a few minutes. For now I suppose I would have to change back and take a nap in my dorm.

 

“Oh heya Miss Claire,” I shot up from my half tired daze to see Rae mid changing her clothes. “Are you on break too?”

 

“Something like that.”

 

“You seem tired.”

 

“I don’t know how one couldn’t be. It’s absolutely exhausting having to serve so many people.” 

 

“But you were really good at it. I was quite surprised."

 

“Only because I’ve spent years dealing with nobles. It’s my unfortunate duty as a duke to do so.” Memories of my meetings with nobles after my ascension to the Dolkness throne reared its ugly head back. “But even so, I’ve never had to deal with people for this long.” 

 

“Well I prefer when you’re not putting up a front. You're much cuter that way.” 

 

“Hey! That’s–“ I snapped and gave Rae a glare.

 

“Heheh sorry, my love kinda overflowed there.” Rae backed off a little, looking slightly guilty as she scratched the back of her head.  

 

“No it’s fine—just—I’m tired,” I sighed and rubbed my eyes a bit. I began changing myself post haste. “I wanted to explore the school, but I’ll need some rest beforehand.”

 

“Well then in that case,” she said after a moment, “would you allow me to be your escort?” 

 

I looked back at Rae to see her fully in the butler uniform again, kneeling down on one knee with your white gloved hand reaching out to me. I couldn’t help but smile a little as I felt—well something warm spark inside me (I could not put a name to what it was)—in that moment as I graciously took Rae’s hand.

 

“Maybe we can explore a little bit.”

 

-!-

 

“Where shall we go?“

 

“We should check out the food.”

 

“Yes ma’am!”

 

The two of us were exploring the festive campus. Apparently their year’s festival landed both on a holiday and was open to commoners this year, leading to a record high attendance for the school. I could see people everywhere.

 

“How about here, then?” Rae pointed to a food stall that was set up. “Says here that they were serving takoyaki.”

 

“ Takoyaki?” I repeated, I expressed myself being more shocked than I wanted—I hope that Rae didn’t know that. I didn’t want to come off as surprised about the existence of takoyaki here, given that my first instinct was that I did not think many people would know about it in the first place.

 

“Yeah, it’s bits of octopus wrapped inside of a ball of flour based batter. Apparently the recipe came from a group of foreigners from a group of eastern islands.” Rae explained.

 

Ah that makes sense. It seems that there is an equivalent of Japan in this world. It’s odd that I never heard about it before in game, but maybe it’s in some NPC dialogue that I never did. 

 

“Well, let's try it.” I said, hiding the anticipation of having takoyaki for the first time in a lifetime. 

 

“Aye aye!” Rae took forth to wait in line. After a few minutes of waiting, she came back with two boxes. “Here you go, Miss Claire. Be careful, it’s hot.”

 

The boxes were lined with a series of the balls that Rae had described to me earlier, they also seemed to be glazed with black and white sauces. They looked delectable and I had to stop myself short of drooling. Normally takoyaki was served with chop sticks, but in this instance, they were served with sticks stabbed into them for an easy way to pick them up. 

 

I took no time waiting once we sat down to eat. Taking a ball into my mouth. An explosion of heat flared up into my mouth—nothing I couldn’t handle, it’s just been a while since I’ve had to—but the flavor that I’ve missed out on for 15 years was euphoric. 

 

“Wooo. Huff huff. Yep. Definitely hot,” I could see Rae fan herself with her free hand. “Are you okay, Miss Claire?”

 

“Yeah I’m fine. Obviously it’s hot, but it’s nothing too serious,” I gave a thumbs up. “It’s quite good.” 

 

“Some pretty impressive fortitude, usually I see people get worked up over burning their mouths on their first go.” Rae gave me a smirk.

 

“A sign of my strength.” I deadpanned as I ate another ball. 

 

“Heh heh, yeah no kidding,” Rae chuckled. 

 

We then went around a number of different food stalls, trying out the various dishes that they served. I was having a great time eating the delicious food they served, working at a cafe today had given me a substantial appetite. 

 

“Hey, what about this?” 

 

“Hm?”

 

Rae pointed to a classroom decorated in creepy decorations, “It’s a haunted house!”

 

“Eh, doesn’t seem that interesting.” I can’t imagine this being anything interesting given what I’ve seen in the past. Unless they had a real ghost in there, but my Academy Knights investigation from a few days ago taught me not to have my expectations high for that kind of thing.

 

“Oh don’t be such a wet blanket,” Rae teased. “Are you afraid of ghosts?”

 

“Not really, it’s just that I think it would be boring.”

 

“Aw come on, let’s just give it a try,” Rae dragged me by my hand. Ordering two tickets. “Miss Claire, feel free to hold me if you get scared.”

 

“I appreciate the offer, but I’ll be fine.”

 

And as it turns out, I was completely fine. Nothing in there fazed me as much as anything I’ve seen in a dungeon. However, I did feel Rae cling on to me occasionally upon being startled. It was amusing to see Rae being the one to be scared. 

 

“So what was that about clinging to you if I was scared?” I asked smugly.

 

“Hey! Those jumpscares would have startled anyone!” Rae protested.

 

“Not me.”

 

“Well that’s because you’re amazing, Miss Claire.”

 

“Uh huh.” I said, unamused. “Anyways, I think I need something to drink.” The two of us had moved over to a break area in the courtyard after going through the haunted house. 

 

“Right away, ma’am!” Rae gave me a salute and walked off.

 

I sat down near the fence, exhaustion suddenly washed over my body when I took a moment to rest. 

 

Oh, I really need some rest. I thought to myself as I looked to the ground. Maybe I should just take a small nap while I wait. 

 

I laid myself down on the stone ground and closed my eyes to rest. Despite the noise of the people around us, I was able to tune them out as I laid myself down, feeling myself succumbing to sleep.

 

I laid there for what felt like a few minutes.

 

…

 

…

 

…

 

“…ey..”

 

“Hey are you good?” 

 

I heard a voice drift me back to the land of the waking. My eyes slowly open to see a boy with short spiky hair face down at me. 

 

“Oh, hello.” I started slowly, “I was just taking a nap.” 

 

“There are better places to take a nap than on the ground, you know.” The boy grinned as he extended a hand towards me. 

 

“Ah, sorry. I’m a bit tired. I would prefer to be down there,” I politely declined.

 

“Heh, suit yourself,” he chuckled before bending down to his knees and handing me a leaflet. “Are you interested in the commoners’ movement? My name is Matt Monte.” 

 

I grabbed the leaflet and blinked slowly as I processed what he said. “Commoners’ movement?”

 

“Yeah! We’re aiming for equality between commoners and the nobility. We’re always looking for more members.”

 

“Oh that’s,” wait a minute, isn’t this just like in the game? But that shouldn’t be the case if Lene resolved the matter with her brother—

 

“Miss Claire?! What are you doing down there?!” I heard a familiar voice shout in the distance. I lifted myself up to look over to the source of the sound. I saw that it was Rae rushing over to me and Matt, placing down the two drinks on the ledge next to the fence. 

 

“Oh I was just taking a nap.” I explained as Rae carried me up. 

 

“Seriously? Didn’t you say that you wanted to take a nap earlier? Why didn’t you do that then?”

 

“Well I didn’t want to turn you down, figured I could push it a little.” 

 

“Excuse me,” I heard Matt clear his throat after he stood back up. “Did you say Miss Claire? Are you Claire Francois?” 

 

“That would be me, yeah,” I nodded. 

 

“Wha–then—“ he seemed pretty flustered when he realized who was, then snatched the leaflet out of my hands, “whatever, forget about it.” 

 

The boy then stomped off away into the distance.

 

“Ooookay…?” I tilted my head. That was odd. 

 

“Yeah I wouldn’t be worrying about that. They were bothering me about joining the commoners’ movement too on my back—was part of what took me so long.” Rae explained as I took my drink, which had a nice citrus flavor to it. That bad feeling I had hearing about the commoners’ movement still being around irked me, but I pushed it aside under the assumption that this was most likely inevitable given the state of affairs in Bauer currently.

 

“What do you think of it?”

 

“Hmmmm,” Rae pondered a bit. “While I think it’s a good cause, I don’t really care much as long as I’m with you, Miss Claire.” 

 

“Which does remind me,” Rae said while grabbing something in her pocket. “Here you go.”

 

Rae showed me a silver necklace with a magic stone as its center. I grabbed the object and began to observe it curiously in my hands.

 

“I wanted to give me a small gift as thanks for letting me serve you.” Rae explained sheepishly.

 

“Give me thanks?” I blinked. 

 

“You’re the one I should be thanking. You’re the one who saved my life, I owe you a lot.” I said while giving me hair a bit of a twirl to point out what I meant. “So thank you, for being my friend.”

 

“Yeah, glad I could save you.” Rae smiled with a somewhat somber tone, like she was profoundly proud of her accomplishment. 

 

“But why did you go this far for me?” I asked. It was clearly both from the rumors I’ve heard through the semester, and most recently Matt’s behavior, that I had a reputation for not being a pleasant person to be around. There was no reason for Rae to approach me, and even more so, to be this nice towards me. I don’t even think the protagonist was like this to anyone in Revolution. 

 

“Like I said, you may not remember it, but you did save my life. And I’ll be forever grateful to you for that.” 

 

“Right, you did mention that.” Rae mentioned that we have met before and that I didn’t remember it. I suppose it’s maybe possible we did, Rae and Claire did have a home in the same town. But then why did that never come up in Revolution? Maybe it’s an event that was filled in by the world outside of the game, much like how Catherine was. “Even so, I feel like you are wasted on me.”

 

“Eh? What do you mean?”

 

“You should be with someone who loves you, it’s not right for your kindness to be wasted on someone like me.” I pocketed the necklace.

 

“Don’t say that, Miss Claire! You’re a wonderful person, and you’ll always be the one for me.”

 

“Even if I don’t feel the same?”

 

“Yea uh.”

 

“Is that really wise?”

 

“Your concern is very touching, but as I said, my one wish is to be in your presence.” 

 

I blinked again before realizing that it was becoming hard to keep my eyes open. Oh I really should retire early for the day, a shame.  

 

I suppose the festival would still be on for today, I had thought at the time. But life seemed to have other plans for me.

 

BOOM

 

I heard the sound of an explosion followed up with a number of screams and foot steps

 

“What in the—“ I yelped as the sudden sounds shook me out of my stupor. I quickly sprang forth to the source, I could hear Rae just behind me too.

 

We pushed through the notable crowd that I saw pile up in the courtyard and found a gruesome scene. On the ground laid a student that was horrifically burnt. I could feel my eyes widen at the site. Because I knew what was happening here, and despair had kicked in when the realization had hit me.

 

It seems that the wheels of fate were against me in this world too. 

Notes:

Hey remember when I said that I thought this chapter would be short? haha...

Not going to say with confidence how long this next one will be, but I fear it's going to end up like this again. I'm aiming for a very specific ending for a chapter and I'm unsure if I will be able to split the next one in half and still achieve that.

Some other things to note

1. Yes I did give Rae a brief pov sequence just to compared Lene during her maid lecture to how Yumiella is during her leveling lectures. It's a funny thing I thought I could point out. Rae will get her full time soon.

2. Yes at this point Yumiella does now just look herself now but in the Bauer Royal Academy Uniform. This was one of the things I've been most excited to write about. I even have Rae her Light Novel hair and eye colors so that they could match.

Chapter 7: …The More They Stay The Same

Notes:

Whoops, I wrote a new chapter about a week after the last one. I really did get the inspiration bug for a bit there.

I promise that the next chapter will not be coming out this quickly, classes are actually starting now and I got a lot of work to do.

I also have chapter titles up now. I may not always do them immediately but I do have a plan for the new few chapter titles, so have fun with those.

It was the morning after the incident in the courtyard had occurred. Me, Rae, Misha, and Lene were waiting near the door to meet the victim of the incident, Matt, in the infirmary. Witnesses to the event stated that there was a disagreement between Matt and Dede Murray, a noble who was also Yu’s attendant, and Dede had used fire magic to attack Matt. The four of us were on our way to listen to his side of the story while Yu and Lambert were off to do the same with Dede.

 

The four of us didn’t have much to talk about as we waited until we heard the crack of a door open.

 

“Um…Ladies?” A red eyed, silver haired nun poked her head out of the door, slightly nervous. “Sorry for the wait, Lily has finished treating his wounds.” 

 

Lily had directed us to come inside, and what we found there was not a pretty sight. Matt’s body was covered head to toe in bandages lying down inside of the bed. I could only grimace at what laid before me.

 

“I am Rae Taylor. What’s your name?” Rae said, giving herself a seat at one of the room’s stools.

 

“Matt. Matt Monde.” 

 

“Hi Matt, we’re here on behalf of the Academy Knights to hear what happened to you. I know you must be in pain, but would you lend us a few minutes of your time?”

 

“I refuse.” Matt spat out. “The Academy Knights are on the side of the aristocracy. I have nothing to say to you.”

 

“The Knights are on the side of the students.” Misha said calmly.

 

“Spare me your official stance. Leave me alone.” 

 

“Matt, you were clearly hurt. It would be better if you were to share your problems so that this injustice could be avoided again in the future.” I said firmly. 

There were a few moments of silence before Matt spoke again, “it just started as an argument.”

 

Matt then explained that he had tried to recruit Yu to support the commoners’ movement before being declined. He said that it was frustrating, but he tried to brush it off. That was until the day of the incident where he was approached by Dede—telling Matt to stay away from Yu. The two of them then got into a heated debate about the existence of commoners and aristocrats. 

 

“The whole thing made me so angry, and then I said it. I said that the nobility was a parasite, preying on the commoners to survive.”

 

My body had stifled slightly, but I didn’t say anything. Given how Bauer’s political climate currently is, I couldn’t exactly refute that perspective. In fact, given the game’s revolution ending, he may even be correct. I shifted my gaze over to Rae to gauge her reaction, but her face didn’t show any shifts, she simply went on to press for more info.

 

“And then? What did Dede do?” 

 

“He looked upset before, but when I made that comment about the nobility, he lost it and brought out his wand. Before I knew it, I was engulfed in flames. Next thing I knew, I woke up here.” Matt shuttered a bit, his hands clutching the sheets tightly as he relived the awful memory.  

 

“I see,” I nodded. “Thank you very much for speaking with us, Matt. We still have to hear Dede’s side of the story, however I’ll see to it that your voice isn’t silenced by the powers that be.”

 

Matt then turned over to look at me. His eyes may have been covered by bandages, but I could tell that he was looking at me with a hint of scrutiny.

 

“You’re Claire Francois, right?”

 

“I am.”

 

“In that case—if you really aren’t doing this out of obligation as a Knight—then why? A noble shouldn’t care about a commoner like me, especially one of your stature.” 

 

“You’re right, I don’t.” I spoke flatly.

 

“Miss Clair-“ Rae firmly protested.

 

“I’m not done,” I swiftly interrupted. “The two of us only met yesterday, and even then you only spoke to me for a few seconds. We are no more than strangers, and once this is all over, I will most likely not give you any more thought.”

 

“Then why are you—“

 

“Because this incident threatens the well being of my friends. Therefore I must see to it that this unrest is settled for the wellbeing of those friends.”

 

“Right,” Matt scoffed. “Somehow I forgot that nobles only look out for themselves.”

 

“That’s not it. All of those dearest to me are either commoners, or those who couldn’t care less about status like myself.” This applies both here and in Varschein. “I would say the exact same thing even if you were royalty.”

 

My declaration had stunned those around me—with the exception of Lene. Matt looked like he was mulling something over.

 

“Miss Claire, are you—do you believe in equality between nobles and commoners?” Matt asked.

 

“I worry for the well being of my friends first and foremost. The world comes second.” I said as I walked out of the room, feeling that I’ve said my piece. My friends soon followed suit.

 

-!-

 

“This is bad,” Rod groaned.

 

“They’re blocking the doors today too. The Academy won’t be able to function at this pace.” Lambert said bitterly.

 

News about the incident had spread outside of the Academy, and now furious crowds were protesting outside the walls. It’s only a matter of time before things escalate if left unchecked.

 

“Dede’s excuse wasn’t much help either,” Thane sighed.

 

From what Yu and Lambert told us, Dede had only intended to use the wand to intimidate Matt—never intending to cast any magic. However, there were far too many eye witnesses for anyone to deny that Dede had attacked Matt with magic.

 

“Did we find any evidence of tampering Dede’s wand?” I asked.

 

“No,” Lambert shook his head. “I couldn’t find any evidence of malfunction or tampering.”

 

“Just what is going on?” Yu groaned in frustration.

 

Right. That feeling I had has not gone away. There has been a sinking despair in my heart the moment that I saw Matt’s charred body. In fact, it has only gotten worse over these past few days. 

 

I discreetly moved over to Lene, “we need to have a talk, alone.” 

 

Lene silently nodded as I turned around to the others to give an excuse, “Lene and I will talk with the other noble students to calm them down.”

 

“Yu, Thane, and I will help out with that. Hopefully a few words from their future king will calm them down.” Rod said, crossing his arms. “Misha and Rae, you two talk to the commoners to convince them that we’ve taken charge of the situation. Let’s make sure this doesn’t escalate any further. 

 

“Right,” Misha.

 

“Aww man,” Rae moaned. “I would rather be with Miss Claire.”

 

“It’ll be fine,” I softly patted Rae’s head—it was something Alicia would do for me when I was stressed. “We just have to make it through this crisis.”

 

I could feel Rae shutter at first under my hand, but then she was grinning from ear to ear.

 

“Hell yeah we will!” Rae pumped both her arms in the air as high as she could. 

 

“You’re unbelievable…” Misha let out an exasperated sigh.

 

-!-

 

Lene and I secluded ourselves to an empty classroom—we made sure that no one was following us. Once the two of us sat down at a desk, Lene was the first one to speak up.

 

“This is about my brother, isn’t it?”

 

“Correct. Everything that’s been happening right now has been exactly as it has been in the game. In the game, your brother tampered with a noble’s wand in order to cause great damage to a commoner. All in order to stroke the flames of revolution and cause a riot at the Academy.”

 

“Right,” Lene’s gaze shifted down, even I could tell that she was not taking the news that her brother was a prime suspect well. “I’ve been asking my brother recently what he’s been doing lately, but I haven’t noticed anything suspicious yet. However, that might be because I can’t really get specific with my questions or else he’ll get suspicious of my knowledge.” 

 

“Well it is still possible that he’s completely innocent.”

 

“Truly?” 

 

“Well it’s possible that this was all caused by Fate.”

 

“Fate?” Lene repeated, tilting her head.

 

“Yes. In the Varschein Kingdom, there was a force that would compel people to do things that they wouldn’t normally do in response to my existence changing the normal plot line. For example, after Alicia and I killed the demon lord, Fate triggered and Alicia was possessed to kill me because we had activated the conditions for my boss fight in the game. 

 

We were able to break that curse, but the point is that the accident really could have been accidental. It’s entirely possible that Dede or Lambert were possessed in order to make sure these events still occurred.”

 

“Hmmm,” Lene pondered over this information for a few seconds. “That’s still not very encouraging. If it’s like you said, there’s no real proof that we could show that proves they were being controlled.”

 

“Right, yeah,” I sighed in lament. “We’ll just have to be vigilant and keep an eye out on Lambert. If the events stay on script, then things should begin to escalate the day they give out Dede’s sentence.”

 

“Alright, I’ll keep an eye out on things. Let’s hope we're wrong and things don’t actually escalate.”

 

I have the feeling that’s absolutely not going to be the case.

 

-!-

 

Over the course of the next week, we had done everything we could to mitigate tensions at the Academy. Rod had managed to calm down the nobles, but Rae and Misha’s attempts were unsuccessful as the commoners’ rage was still present. It wasn’t helped by the fact that protests were still continuing daily outside the school.

 

It came about time for Dede’s sentence to be announced. A number of students were crowded in the hallway to await its announcement.

 

The sentence was as bad as I feared.

 

—Notice—

The accused, Dede Murray, will be suspended and put on house arrest for one week.

 

A multitude of shouts and screams were heard in the hallway. I felt Lene tug at my sleeve, “Miss Claire, we need to leave.”

 

“Ye-yeah. Right.” I scarcely nodded. Mentally preparing myself for what’s to come as we headed to the Academy Knight boardroom.

 

-!-

 

“I just got directives from the administration. Obviously the school will have to suspend activities for a while. And to provide protection until the protests calm down, the kingdom will be sending in the army.” Rod announced to the rest of the Knights as we all sat in silence. Stewing over the news of the sentence.

“This is ridiculous,” I muttered.

 

“You’d be hard pressed to find someone here who doesn’t think that,” Rae gave a forced chuckle.

 

“It still doesn’t make sense,” Thane pondered. “There’s no way one couldn’t foresee a light sentence causing the situation to become worse.”

 

“About that. It seems that some nobles had requested for Dede’s light sentence.” Lambert said bitterly.

 

Rod frowned a bit at this. “Damn. And I thought the nobles were quiet because we calmed them down. Instead they found a solution that made things worse.”

 

“It also seems that the church also has a hand in this.” Lambert added.

 

“The Church?” Misha blinked. “I thought they would be on the side of the Commoners’ Movement, given their ‘all equal under the spirits' philosophy. 

 

“That’s what they want you to think,” Rod scoffed. “In reality, they want to supersede the royal family.”

 

“They support the Commoners' Movement in public and the nobility behind the scenes. They hope to swoop in when they’re both weakened to rise on top.” Yu added in.

 

“A power struggle,” Thane said bitterly.

 

It’s always grim things like this that make me despise politics. 

 

“Well there’s nothing we can do about it now.” Rae injected, easing the tension that hung onto all of us. “We just have to focus on what’s happening here on campus.”

 

“Yeah you’re right, Rae,” Rod relaxed himself. “We gotta focus on what we Knights can do.”

 

-!-

 

It was the beginning of dusk when Rae, Lene, and I were returning to our dorms for the night. 

 

“Miss Claire, I have a favor to ask of you.” Rae spoke up.

 

“What is it?”

 

“When you return to your dorms for the night, please do not leave until tomorrow morning.”

 

Huh?” 

 

“Miss Claire, please do this for me.”

 

“What on earth is this about?” 

 

“Please, just listen to me.” Rae looked as if she was pleading. 

 

“Well I will not. We’re in a moment of crisis right now, we both will need to remain vigilant tonight.”  

 

Rae then put her hands on her hips and let out a large sigh, “very well then. Sorry, I did not want to do this but.” 

 

Rae then flicked out her wand. In the second it took for me to process that, 

 

“Miss Claire, look out!” I heard Lene yell out behind me as I was shoved out of the way. I heard the sound of a spell go off as I hit the floor. I looked back as I recovered to the sight of an unconscious Lene being held up by Rae.

 

“Well that’s a problem,” I heard Rae mutter. 

 

“What did you do?!” I shouted, panic and worry in my voice. 

 

“It was just a sleeping spell, she should be awake by tomorrow.” Rae spoke as she handed Lene’s body over to me. “It was meant for you, but I suppose you’ll just have to take care of her for the night.”

 

“Rae, what are you doing?”

 

“I have business to take care of tonight,” Rae spoke grimly. “Tonight the protesters are going to break down the front gates. I want you two to go to your dorms and do not leave until the shouting, screaming, and roaring dies down.”

 

“Wha-“ I blinked. “Rae, what are you tal-“

 

“Miss Claire.” Rae interrupted me. “Do you love Lene?” 

 

“Yes of course I do. Lene is a dear friend of mine.”

 

Rae then gave me a smile, “then I trust you to do the right thing.” 

 

“See ya in the morning!” Rae shouted as she waved back to me while running off. 

 

“Rae…” I stood stuck in place, with Lene in my arms. I was still processing what Rae had said.

 

Tonight the protesters are going to break downg the front gates.

 

How did she know that…? That’s indeed what happens in-game, but then…

 

I took a moment to connect the dots and think through what just happened and for what purpose. 

 

…oh shit—FUCK!

 

It hit me like a thunder bolt as I quickly got up and dashed in the hallway—carrying Lene by her back and legs—to try to reach the dorms as fast as possible. 

 

I have to find a safe place for her…I hope I’m not too late.

 

-!-

 

Intermission

Rae

 

I heard footsteps approach and stop in front of a door. Then followed by the sound of a lock being unlocked accompanied by a door being opened. A garbed figure entered the room and headed towards the back. Their hand pressed against a safe as they put in the combination to open its door. 

 

“Good evening, Mr. Lambert, were you about to take advantage of this opportunity?” I asked.

 

Lambert then froze stiff before turning on the lights, “Rae Taylor.”

 

The two of us were in a laboratory that was owned by the Academy’s research department. I had picked the lock and snuck in. 

 

“What are you doing here?” Lambert feigned innocence.

 

“I’m here to stop you.”

 

“Stop me for what? I came here to check on my tools during the chao-“

 

“You tampered with Dede’s magical wand prior to the courtyard incident, didn’t you? As the resident specialist, you were ideally positioned to make adjustments to people's magical tools. You fixed Dede’s wand so that it would explode.”

 

Lambert narrowed his eyes, “what are you talking about? We examined that wand and we found no foul play.” 

 

“The only one to testify that was you.”

 

“So do you have proof of this?”

 

“Nope, but I do know everything.”

 

All that I know came from the fact that I played Revolution, so I didn’t have any evidence with me. Originally in the game, Lambert uses a monster bell to command a chimera to assault the school, which is stopped by the protagonist and your closest capture target. However, I hope to be able to stop the chimera’s assault on the school before it even starts. 

 

“Everything?” Lambert echoed back.

 

“I know you don’t care about the Commoners’ Movement.” 

 

“Really? Then what motivation could I have to disrupt the school?”

 

“You’re doing it for Lene’s sake.”

 

“Listen here, Lene is an important person to me, but to commit a crime against the nobility—risking everything my family has built—just for my sister seems far-fetched.” He looked calm but there was a certain edge to his voice.

 

“If she were only your sister.”

 

Lambert stiffened a bit, eyes widened. He could never have expected I knew what I was implying.

 

“Just what are you implying?” He barked back, though I suspected that he already knew what I would say. 

 

“You and Lene wish to live out as a family, not as a couple of siblings—but as lovers. To that end you were offered a plan to escape to a foreign land under new names to live your dream life in exchange for causing all this damage.” 

 

He was silent for a moment before I saw his expression grimace between melancholy and anguish.

 

 “Heh…Lene and I, huh. If only that was the case,” I heard him mutter.

 

“What was that?” I blinked. I thought I misheard him.

 

“My love for Lene is only one sided.” 

 

What??

 

“Mr. Lambert, there’s no need to defend your sister’s hono-“

 

“No.” Lambert interrupted. “Near the start of the semester, Lene informed me that we should return to being siblings. Informed me that she doesn’t feel that her love for me as a man isn’t worth the potential ruin that could come to our family.” 

 

Huh…well this is unprecedented. I guess I got in too deep in my assumptions based on my game experience…again—first with Claire and her preferences and now this. I hope that this doesn’t set a precedent, my future knowledge is my strongest weapon here. I’m a nobody without it.

 

“And I understand her reasons, but even so,” Lambert clutched his fist and slammed it onto the wall. “I still love her, damn it!!” 

 

His voice roared out in a level of anguish that I never expected from the man. 

 

“If society is the reason why we can’t be together, very well then. I’ll make it so we disappear from society so that no one can bother our love,” his voice sounded raw as he faced back to me. It was like he was finally unraveling a knot that was mentally tying him. “Surely you would understand that? Society is holding you back as well, for you—a commoner—wish to woo Claire Francois—one of the strongest nobles in the kingdom. Not only that, but you’re both women too. Gay marriage isn’t legal, unless you can change society, Claire is going to marry someone else. You want that change too, yes? We’re the same, you and I.” 

 

I would be lying if I said that I didn’t pity the man. In fact, I know exactly how he feels right now, to be rejected by your crush but still feel the same overwhelming feeling as before. But even so,

 

“No. There is one difference between us.” I spoke firmly. ”All that I’m doing is for Claire’s happiness. While you’re simply acting out on your selfish desires.”

 

Lambert clicked his tongue, “Whatever. You have zero evidence to prove your claims anyways.” 

 

“I know that you have the bell. That’s all the evidence that I’ll need.”

 

“It’s not here.”

 

“Yeah sure.”

 

“It’s not.” Lambert furrowed his brows. “As you said, I came here to get it, but it’s not in the safe that I put it in.”

 

“Eh? Did Lene take it?” 

 

“No, I never told her about this plan.” 

 

So then…where on earth is it?

 

As I gathered my thoughts, the laboratory doors flew open again. The two of us turned over to our surprise visitor, someone I could not have expected appeared before us. 

 

“Lambert, your plans end here.” I saw Claire stand in place with her hands on her hips. It was hard to tell when looking at her, but I think she looked proud of herself. 

 

“I thought I told you to stay in your ro—“ I tried to tell her

 

“I happened to have that piece of evidence you mentioned earlier.” Claire said, pulling out a fragment of a bell. 

 

“Wha—“ Lambert stumbled, “how do you have that!?”

 

“Rae isn’t the only one who suspected you. I had a feeling that you may have had a hand in Matt’s burning, so I decided to investigate you specifically.“ Claire explained. “I discovered this bell last night and took it for myself.” 

 

“But I was sure that I wasn’t being followed. You can’t have taken that bell without knowing the safe combination. How did you figure that out?” 

 

“I used light magic, which happens to be an offshoot of fire magic. I was able to manipulate the light of my surroundings to cloak myself to become invisible.” Claire explained. 

 

Huh. I was aware that Claire could use the spell, 「Magic Ray」—a beam of intense light that eradicates any foes it hits—, but I don’t think I’ve seen Claire use any other light magic before. I suppose it makes sense that she could use other forms of light magic.

 

Interrupting my thoughts, I saw a shadow move towards Claire. Before I could react however, Claire had given her would-be attacker a back hand quicker than I could even track. A quick smack causing the shadow to quickly move back.

 

“Well I’ll be damned, looks like little miss Francois has a bit more fight in her than I thought,” The intruder chuckled. They were wrapped in a black coat alongside a mask, concealing any form of an identity that I could glean from them. Who was this? This guy was never in the game. 

 

“I’ve been training.” Claire spoke dryly.

 

“Ha! A funny one too!” The masked figure chuckled like he was completely unaffected by the tension in the air.

 

“Who are you?” I questioned.

 

“Oh nobody much, just here to make sure this guy does his work right.” He pointed at Lambert. “Good thing I did come over, seems like you’re going to need my help.”

 

“Help? Without the magic bell, there’s nothing that can be done.”

 

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Now Miss Claire, if you would be a dear and hand me all of the bell fragments.” 

 

“No.”

 

“Oh you will, unless you want me to cause some damage myself.” The figure gave a devilish smirk as he casually threatened the lives of others. “My mission here is simply to cause some noble deaths. How I do it doesn’t matter much.”

 

“Not under my watch!” I charged forward to prepare for my counterattack.

 

“Oh you’re sure you can handle it? I happened to douse my blades in a new poison with no antidote. One slice and my victim drops dead. Are you sure you can protect everyone and yourself from any damage?” 

 

“A new poison…” I mused. I know a number of poisons that exist in this world, so I suppose I could possibly cure it. But given how much has already changed, how much stock could I put into my knowledge when the risk is lethal. 

 

But before I could deliberate more, I saw Claire making her way towards the masked figure. Her hand opened out with fragments of the bell.

 

“Miss Claire!” I called out.

 

“Sorry, I would rather deal with a known quantity than an unknown one.” Claire said. 

 

“But before I do,” Claire hesitated for a moment. “Lambert, have you been fully cognizant during this entire plan?—be honest.”

 

Lambert seemed puzzled by the question, but he gave it thought for some time.

 

“Yes…I truly believe that I was fully cognizant during this process.”

 

“I see.” Claire sounded disappointed before giving the fragments to the masked figure.

 

“Thank you very much~!” The masked figure cheered as they took the fragments from Claire. They then approached Lambert as they hovered their free hand over the fragments, “「Rewind」”. 

 

My eyes then widened as I saw the fragments come back together, as if time was being reversed. 

 

“Shit, time magic.” I heard Claire mutter. There’s time magic?!

 

“This should do it, yes?” The figure said as they handed Lambert the reformed bell. 

 

“Yeah…” Lambert accepted the bell in amazement.

 

“No way!” I whipped out my wand, but it was too late as I heard the bell toll.

 

-!-

 

Yumiella’s POV

 

Well this is bad.

 

I managed to convince Lambert and Rae how I knew about Lambert’s plans and how I took the bell. The truth was that I actually snuck into this laboratory last night with Ralaire’s help. Then I opened the safe by having Ralaire inform me when I hit a correct number while finding the correct combination. While the bit about light magic was a lie, it is theoretically possible since Claire could use the light spell, 「Magic Ray」, but I haven’t tested that by using any other light magic yet. 

 

However, now there’s a new problem, this masked figure. They were never at the school during the game event, however, I suppose it makes logical sense to have someone overlook a plan like this to make sure it worked. 

 

Anyways, the masked figure forced my hand in giving them the bell I destroyed—I would rather deal with the knowable defeatable monster than an unknown poison (even if I’ve already suspected what it could be)—so now it seems Rae and I will have to still take down the beast.

 

Once the bell finished ringing, the monster manifested inside of the laboratory. It had a lion head, goat torso, a viper for a tail, and bat wings.

 

“Miss Claire, we have to run. Leave it to the army.” Rae told me, taking me by surprise.

 

“What? No, we’re taking this monster.” 

 

“Miss Claire,” Rae gripped my arm and gave me a serious look. “We are two school girls. This is not our responsibility.”

 

“Rae. Trust me when I say we can handle this,” I broke free of Rae’s grasp and looked down directly at the chimera. “Besides,”

 

“It’s been far too long since I’ve fought a powerful beast like this.” I couldn’t stop myself from grinning. I’ve found some monsters to fight in Bauer, but never anything as strong as this. I thought it was a shame that I had to destroy the bell—I figured it would be good to do as an insurance—but I was hoping to have it fixed after this was all over to fight the monster myself. However, this works too even if there is a risk of school damage now. 

 

“Since when were you such a meathead,” I heard Rae give an exasperated sigh, but she stood her ground. “Very well then. In sickness and in health, we’ll always be together.”

 

“Glad to have you on board, Rae,” I flashed her a smile and a thumbs up. This earned me a giggle from Rae.

 

“You’re unbelievable,” Rae said, still holding onto her smile.

 

“Did I do it again?” I asked.

 

“Hey! You’re learning!” Rae chuckled as she patted me on the back.

 

“It’s just pattern recognition. Still don’t know what it means, however.”

 

“Alright Let me stop your fun right there, ladies.” The masked figure interrupted us. “Mr. Lambert, stop moping and getting moving!” 

 

“Right,” Lambert tensed himself before ringing the bell again. “Charge. Terminate the Nobility.”

 

In response to the command, the chimera let out a ghastly roar. It was the same 「Hateful Cry」that the slime let out.

 

“Miss Claire, can you move?”

 

“Of course I can.”

 

「Hateful Cry」has no effect on prepared opponents.

 

“Are you aware of a Chimera’s attributes?”

 

“Of course.” The lion’s head was fire, the goat torso was earth, and the viper tail was water.

 

I took my wand and took aim with a 「Flame Spear」. But the chimera swiped away with its tail and an alarming speed.

 

“It’s fast,” I remarked.

 

“Then what about this?” Rae generated stone arrows from behind, her aim being Lambert. The arrows were quickly dissolved by a 「Wind Barrier」that the masked figure threw up.

 

“Going after the controller is smart, but man you didn’t even hesitate to go after the guy who was your friend. How ruthless,” The figure chuckled. 

 

All Rae responded with was a click of her tongue before her eyes widened in response to the chimera opening its jaws. 

 

“Miss Claire!” She shouted out before hugging me and erecting a 「Water Barrier」. The next moment we were engulfed in flames.

 

“Woah, thanks Rae.”

 

“No problem.”

 

We came out unharmed, however, the rest of the lab was burnt to a crisp. Even the brick walls were somewhat melted. Given the instability of the room currently, as well as being an improper fighting arena regardless—we had to move out.

 

“Rae, we need to lead this thing to the rear schoolyard.” I whispered to Rae so the others couldn’t hear.

 

“No need to tell me twice.”

 

I threw a 「Flame Bomb」at the door to make a hole for our escape. 

 

“Don’t let Claire Francois get away” I heard the masked figure yell from behind us. 

 

I then heard the sound of the chimera ring the bell and heard its steps approaching us from behind before hearing sounds of the laboratory collapsing in on itself.

 

“「Inverse Freeze」!” I casted as we entered the courtyard, freezing the beast in place. However, it didn’t stay still for long as the beast was already beginning to thaw out with its fire magic.

 

“Tch. It would be too troublesome to freeze it to the core, plus there’s that water tail that resists it,” I contemplated for a moment before hatching my next plan. ”Rae, I need you to aggro the monster so I can cast my strongest spell.” 

 

“You got it!” Rae gave me a thumbs up just as the beast completely broke out of the ice. 

 

Rae then casted a volley of earth arrows at it. 

 

“Over here, dummy!” Rae taunted, catching the beast’s attention as it chased Rae around the courtyard.

 

Meanwhile, I began casted the strongest spell in my arsenal, 「Magic Ray」. 

 

Just as the beast began to open its jaw for another 「Chimera Breath」, Rae had launched a 「Freeze」spell of her own. Thankfully that bought me enough time for my spell to be ready.

 

“「Magic Ray」!” I yelled.

 

Four beams of light flew in from behind me and skewered the beast, stopping it in its place. The beast collapsed and no longer showed signs for breathing. We had slayed the beast. 

 

“We did it…” I was out of breath, but I could still feel myself smiling as the pride of slaying a strong beast coursed through my body.

 

“That’s my Claire!” Rae cheered with a small handclap. 

 

Though I couldn’t relax just yet, as my survival instincts from fighting Assassin Shadows in the Dolkness dungeon for years kick in again. I quickly turned around to find that masked figure approaching me again but with a knife aimed at me.

 

“You’ve got good instincts, shame that it’s not going to save you.”

 

My feet were stuck in place as I used too much mana already from the chimera fight. I braced myself for the impact before someone else got in the way of the blow. 

 

“Thane!”

 

“Looks like I just made it.” Blood was dripping down his arm from blocking the knife, but Thane didn’t pay it any mind.

 

“Well well well, if it isn’t the runt of the princes.” The masked figure taunted.

 

Thane paid them no mind as he rushed in with a wind powered fist. The masked figure tried to dodge it, but the attack was a feint as Thane went in with his other fist, slamming right into the masked figure’s face. The blow had cracked open the mask, revealing a bit of their face. However, All I could make out in this darkness was a red eye.

 

“Well I’ll be damned,” they remarked while hiding their face. “You’re a lot better than I thought.” 

 

“Surrender now.” Thane ignored them. “The army will be here soon.”

 

“Oh really?” They chuckled. “Thanks for the warning, but I think I can manage.”

 

“You think you can escape?” 

 

“Can you?”

 

“Wha—“ Thane looked puzzled before he suddenly collapsed to one knee. 

 

“I only came here to kill a few nobles,” the masked figure laughed as they ran off. “But looks like something much better fell into my lap.”

 

“Right! The poison!” I yelped as I ran over to the now collapsed Thane.

 

He looked like an absolute mess. His breathing was ragged as I saw black spots formed on his skin. The silver lining to this is that I could tell what poison this was, but we didn’t have much time. “Rae I need yo—“

 

“I know.” Rae firmly interrupted. “I can heal this.”

 

“Oh, okay” I backed off. The poison was, as I suspected earlier, Cantarella. A poison created in the Nur Empire that the protagonist eventually figured out how to cure. It seems like this Rae also knew how to cure the poison—thank god. 

 

The black spots began to fade as Rae worked her magic. Thane was still unconscious but his breathing had steadied. 

 

“So, it was poison from the Nur Empire.” Rae said.

 

“The Nur Empire, huh? What on earth are they doing here?” 

 

“No idea, but we can think about that later.” Rae said as she looked up. “For now, we need to clean up this mess.” 

 

I also looked up to our surroundings to find that the military had finally arrived, carrying out the monster corpse and taking Lambert away in handcuffs. 

 

And that was the end of the Commoners’ Movement.

 

-!-

 

Once the truth behind the Commoners’ Movement came to light, the movement lost its support. Not to say that dissatisfaction for the nobility died out, but there were no more protests. 

 

Rae and I were sitting in the waiting room of the Royal Palace. The two of us were summoned by the king for both stopping the chimera and for Rae saving Thane’s life. I could see Rae pacing around the room, I suppose she’s not used to visiting royalty like I am. 

 

“It would be better if you sat down.” I told her.

 

“Right,” Rae gave a nervous chuckle as she sat down in the chair opposite to me. “Sorry, it’s just I was thinking about how grand this place is.”

 

“Naturally, it is the royal palace.” Not that I really cared that much about its quality.

 

“But anyways, thanks for the clothes.” 

 

“Don’t be, it was purely Catherine’s idea.” Rae and I had planned to see the king in our school uniforms. But when I told Catherine of this, she panicked a bit and quickly told me that we would have to wear something more appropriate. Apparently there’s a dress code here for visiting royalty in Bauer. It did strike me as strange, I had also visited the Varschein royal palace in my school uniform. Ah well, culture shock I suppose. 

 

Rae was wearing a black pantsuit with long sleeves, meanwhile I was in a black dress that covered most of my skin alongside an ankle length skirt. I was also wearing the necklace that Rae gave me since I figured it would be a waste not to.

 

Eventually an attendant came to fetch us. We walked down the palace corridor before coming to face the large, ceremonial doors. 

 

“Presenting Claire Francois and Rae Taylor!”

 

The doors opened when the attendant announced our arrival. We stepped into the room, heads hung low as we dropped to our knees. On the throne ahead of us sat King L’Ausseil and his queen, Riche. Surrounded on both sides by guards. 

 

“Let me see your faces.” His Majesty’s voice echoed throughout the chamber.

 

Rae and I moved our heads back up, letting us have a clear view of the king and queen. King L’Ausseil looked like an older Rod, with the same black, spiky hair but accompanied by a beard. Queen Riche on the other hand had long, golden hair and blue eyes. It wouldn’t take long to see that Yu was the one who took the most genes from his mother. 

 

“I am told that the two of you took charge in resolving the situation at the Royal Academy, you have done well,” the king said. “I am also told that you saved the life of my son, Thane. And for that I cannot thank you enough. I shall grant a boon onto you. No reward is too much to ask. So tell me, what is it that you seek?”

 

“Your majesty, it is of great honor to be granted an audience with you on this joyous occasion. If your Majesty is offering then I’d like to avail myself of receiving this boon,” I started with my offer. “However, this request requires absolute secrecy, so I must humbly request an audience with the two of us alone.”

 

A stir ran through the room at my words.

 

“Silence,” His Majesty ordered, and the room fell silent.

 

The king himself was silent for a few moments before speaking again, “Very well then. Claire Francois, you will follow me to my room.” 

 

I could tell that everyone other than us and Rae were holding their tongues after hearing the king’s invitation, held down only by His Majesty's very recent order of silence.

 

“Thank you, Your Majesty.” I took a bow, ignoring the stares of the guards, before following him into the king’s bedroom. 

 

It didn’t take long before the two of us had arrived, I took a seat in the chair in front of a wooden desk as His Majesty shut the door behind us, taking a seat in a chair of his own.

 

“Not a word that is spoken in this room will leave this place, I swear to god.” The king said.

 

“I cannot thank you enough,” I bowed my head a tad again before speaking. “My request is to pardon the lives of the Aurousseau family, specifically of Lene Aurousseau.”

 

“You mean the ones that caused this incident?”

 

“Yes, Lambert Aurousseau was the one who caused the incident. In fact, you could say that Lene Aurousseau was just as much a victim of this incident as the nobility was.” 

 

“A victim, you say?” The king massaged his beard thoughtfully, waiting for my explanation.

 

“Yes Your Majesty, for you see.” I then explained to him the circumstances behind Lambert’s actions. As well as Lene’s desire to back out of the relationship many months ago. Of course I left out the part where she did this because I told her about future events, but I did tell the king the rest of her reasoning for backing out. 

 

“And it’s for keeping that relationship a secret that I had requested to speak with you in private,” I finished.

 

The king then sat in silence for a few moments, processing what I told him, before speaking again. “I understand where you are coming from, but it would be unbecoming of me to show favoritism. The best I can offer is exile for the family.”

 

“That’s perfectly fine, I have a plan. Formally, the Aurousseau family will be under exile. Lene will return back as a commoner student of the Royal Academy under a new name. I personally will take responsibility for her and her actions if anything is to go wrong.” I explained. I had come up with this plan with Rae and she had prepared a set of new colored eye contacts and a few bottles of hair dye to complete the new identity.

 

I saw the king arched an eyebrow in response to my plan. I had a slight worry that I would be rejected until he started chuckling to himself, which turned into a hearty laugh. 

 

“My boys were right about you, Claire.” He said as his laughter had reached past its crescendo. “You sure are a stubborn woman.”

 

“Do you mean the princes?” I asked.

 

“Of course, you’ve definitely caught their interest and I can see why. You do realize the risks of something like this if you’re caught?” 

 

“Of course. If you had rejected this proposal, I would have simply proposed to go with Lene in exile.” 

 

“You would have given up the Francois name for this girl?” The king seemed taken aback.

 

“I’ve never cared much for my family status. Besides, unlike my friends, I’m not needed at the Academy. My friends have each other, but Lene would be on her own.”

 

“Does she mean that much to you?” 

 

“Of course, it would be the least I could do for her service.”

 

“Hmmm.” The king pondered for a bit, analyzing me before standing up. “Very well then, I’ll do as you say and exile the Aurousseau family, how you handle her new identity is something I’ll leave entirely up to you, including the consequences.”

 

“Thank you very much for your kindness, Your Majesty.” I bowed again.

 

“Some word of advice before we go, Claire.”

 

“Yes, Your Majesty?” I tilted my head.

 

“Claire. My boys all have a high opinion of you, I hear that you’re the top of your class at the Royal Academy. You have a great many achievements already. Yet you seem to have a very low opinion of yourself.”

 

“Personally I would say that most others have an overly high opinion of me.” 

 

“Right,” he scoffed. “Well I think it would do you good to reevaluate how others see, I’m sure your friends will have plenty of words to share about how much you mean to them.”

 

“I’ll…keep that in mind, Your Majesty.” I nodded.

 

The king then gave me a faint smile and led out back to the throne. Whispers dying out as soon as the king made his way into the room and back onto his throne. Meanwhile I returned back to Rae’s side.

 

“I have made my decision,” the king announced. “The Aurousseaus will be exiled.” 

 

I could hear Rae give out a sigh of relief.

 

“Your Majesty, with all due respect—“

 

“Salas, I have spoken.” 

 

“Understood,” the chancellor—a man with silver hair and red eyes—hesitantly fell back in line. 

 

“Claire Francois, Rae Taylor. You are excused.”

 

“Yes.”

 

Rae and I left the room.

 

We stayed silent for a while. But once we got past the gates, I couldn’t hold it in anymore.

 

“Wahoo!”

 

“Hurrah!”

 

Rae and I pumped our fists in the air. 

 

“High five!” I shouted as I put my hands up.

 

“High five!” Rae returned my gesture in kind.

 

We went to the dorms in high spirits that day.

 

-!-

 

On the day of the Aurousseaus’ banishment, Rae and I went to see them off at Bauer’s border to the Alpes—the mountainous region that the family will be sent to exile to.

 

“You think they’ll do fine?“ Rae asked.

 

”Probably.” I said nonchalantly. The family was stripped of all but the bare essentials for their move to the Alpes. But the region is known to have fertile land, so I can’t imagine starting over will be too terribly hard. 

 

“Looks like their inspection is over.” Rae and I had to wait for their possessions to be fully checked before we could fully see them off. 

 

“Lene!” I called out as we approached the iron fence. 

 

“Ah Miss Claire,” Lene approached from the other side. “I hope that you’ve been doing well.”

 

“We’ve been doing alright. And I think you can just call me Claire by this point. You don’t work for the Francois’s anymore.” 

 

“Hmm, I suppose so. But I still want to honor my memory of being in the Francois’s service for all these years.” Lene smiled melancholily. 

 

“Right, I understand.” I nodded, returning a faint smile. “Catherine couldn’t make it here unfortunately—apparently she has to attend some family business—but she told me to tell you that she’ll miss you.”

 

“Aww, tell her that I said that I’m honored.” 

 

“Lene, take this with you.” Rae handed her a small bag. “It should have everything you need for the coming weeks.” 

 

Rae had created a new set of colored eye contacts and hair dye in order to complete the disguise Lene will need to return to Bauer.

 

“Thank you—to the both of you—-for allowing this opportunity.” 

 

“It’s the least we could for all you’ve done, my friend.” I said.

 

“Besides,” Lambert came over to join. His face had a mixture of pain and acceptance to it. “You were dragged here because of my selfishness. You don’t deserve to be dragged in here with me.” 

 

Lene could only nod solemnly to that. Lambert—and to an extent Lene—would mostly likely be disowned by his family by the time they settled into the Alpes. If Lene agreed to this plan to sneak back into Bauer, then that means that Lambert would have to survive by his lonesome. Of course, we told the two of them about this and the implications, and the two of them had still agreed to it. Lambert declared that he would help Lene with academics in preparation for Lene’s move to the Royal Academy. 

 

“Rae, be careful. Don’t let anyone use the feelings you have for Miss Claire.” Lambert said.

 

“I won’t.”

 

“It’s funny,” Lambert let out a weak chuckle. “I said at the time that I was fully cognizant during that time. But I’ve been thinking lately that I’m not sure about that anymore. They say that love is blind, and I think I might have fallen in for that.”

 

“It doesn’t matter now anyways,” I said. “What matters is what you do now to make up for it. Owning up to your mistakes is what makes you human.” 

 

“Awwww,” Rae pitched her tone in a teasing voice. “My lil’ Miss Claire is becoming all grown up.”

 

“We’re the same age.” I deadpanned. At least in this world we are.

 

“Lambert, Lene. It’s time to go!” We heard someone from the family call. 

 

“I suppose this is goodbye.” I said.

 

“I suppose so, for now at least. Goodbye Rae, Miss Claire.” Lene said.

 

“Goodbye,” Lambert said. “I do not know if I’ll meet you again, but I do hope that you two will live well.” 

 

“Of course we will, Lambert.” Rae said. “If anyone wants to get in the way of Miss Claire, they’ll have to go through me!” 

 

“And I wouldn’t have it any other way.” I smiled. The feeling of pride I had for being Rae’s friend shifted to worry about her as I couldn’t help but notice the slight twitch and reddening of her checks in response to that. 

 

It’s probably nothing, I mentally waved it off. 

 

The two of us went up the hill that overlooked the gate as we watched the Aurousseau family go off into the distance—until they were but a speck in the horizon.

 

It was then that I noticed the beautiful weather. Clear skies, a nice breeze filled the air. It’s been a while since I’ve done this. 

 

“Miss Claire?” Rae questioned me as I laid myself down on the ground. The grass felt excellent on my skin.

 

“You should lie down,” I said with my eyes closed. “The grass feels nice.” 

 

Rae said nothing at first, but then heard the sounds of shifting grass as I felt another presence lay down besides me.

 

“I just hope you don’t completely doze off again.” Rae joked. “We can’t have you be making a habit of sleeping on the floor.” 

 

“Oh that was one time,” I barked back. “I just want to feel the wind on my face.”

 

And so we laid out for the bit. Letting the wind brush past us like waves of water tidaling over the shoreline.  I couldn’t help but feel this sense of warmth taking over my body. The intense nostalgia I felt almost put me to tears as I could myself grinning from ear to ear.

 

I think I can afford to cry here—if I can. I thought to myself.

 

I never did shed tears that day, but I would like to think that I did at that moment.

 

-!-

 

It was a quiet day in the dormitory that day. Catherine was still dealing with her family business, and Rae said that she was stuck with errands for the rest of the day. So for the first time, I was all alone in the dormitory. 

 

A lot has happened. I thought to myself as I laid down in bed. I thought about the incident involving the chimera attack again, and while it did work out this time, things did not go as planned.

 

Just who on earth was that masked figure? They were using a poison that shouldn’t have shown up until the second half of the game when Nur Empire becomes more involved in the plot. I suppose this too is just another plot detail that was filled in that wasn’t filled in by the game.

 

Regardless, despite everything I did, I ended up playing right into their hands. If only I had my dark magic, maybe then things could have gone better—wait a minute. I lift myself out of bed as I hit a realization.

 

Things are on the down low currently. I thought to myself. 

The Academy is still on break due to the school needing to be repaired, Rae isn’t going to be here until the next day, and I’ve noticed that people still don’t recognize me as Claire Francois. 

 

I contemplated things to myself before coming to a decision. I got myself out of bed and grabbed a traveling bag I’ve prepared for the moment that I decided to take this trip. 

 

It’s time for me to reclaim what I’ve lost.

 

-!-

Intermission

Rae

 

“Aaaaaaaaah” I sighed loudly to myself. I had my day yesterday filled with writing reports over what happened at the Academy and writing letters for future appointments after Claire and I gave our goodbyes to Lene and Lambert. I hadn't had a chance to be near my beloved for almost 24 hours now—truly agony, amirite? 

 

Anyways I finally got my chance to refill my claircium as I walked to Claire’s room and knocked on the door. For a split second I grew worried as the door took a bit longer than usual for it to open. However, before that worry could linger for long, the door was opened by Catherine—holding herself up with her crutches.

 

“Ra-Rae?” Catherine looked shocked to see me.

 

“Is something wrong?”

 

“It’s just,” Catherine’s look of shock quickly turned into one of concern. “I thought that you were with Claire.”

 

“Oh I wish,” I chuckled as I put my hands on my hips. “It’s been almost 24 hours since I’ve last seen Claire.”

 

Catherine shifted more to something of frustration as she sighed. 

 

“Damn it, Claire,” she muttered. “Why did you have to go by yourself…”

 

“Huh? Did something happen to Miss Claire?” I couldn’t lie and say that I didn’t feel slightly panicked right now, and that feeling did not subside when Catherine gave me a letter that she grabbed from the desk. 

 

“When I came back to my dorm yesterday, I found this in my room,” Catherine explained. “I was hoping that either she would be back before tomorrow or that you would be with her. It seems that neither was true.”

 

I am currently out on that very important errand right now. I should only be gone for a little bit, so do not worry about me. I will return better than ever!

 

“Th-this—this is!” I gripped the letter tightly before looking back to Catherine. “Do you know where she could be?”

 

“Well…” Catherine hesitated for a moment before answering. “I think it’s most likely that Claire has gone to the Nur Empire.” 

 

“What?!?” My eyes widened. The worry I had for Claire before has intensified even more now. 

 

What on earth are you doing in the Nur Empire, Miss Claire??? I thought to myself, bewildered. 

 

Notes:

“The limited is lifted.
We will leave the paved road and split into the Beast Road. During the month of September, we plan to stay in the realm of the Beast Road, but beyond that, we may venture out into the great wilderness, a place that has never been explored before.” —Shirakura-P on Avataro Sentai Donbrothers reaching its second half (8/29/2022).

Follow my Bluesky!

Chapter 8: The Beast Road

Notes:

Hi, sorry for the delay. Irl stuff has been kicking my butt. I was actually going to upload a Sen no Kiseki 3 fic almost two months ago-I even had a planner complete-but it's going to have to go to the wayside while I finish this arc before the year ends. January 2026 is going to crazy.

Anyways I hope you enjoy.

So Rae is from another world too, huh?”

 

I began thinking to myself as I was riding a carriage I hired as one of a few I would be riding to the Nur empire. 

 

It was easy enough to find a ride with the day still being young. No one gave me any questions about the disguise I was wearing either—a brown jacket overtop my gray shirt alongside a pair of baggy brown pants. I was also wearing a hat that concealed my long hair. The long travel time to the empire gives me time to reflect on the hectic events of the past few days. 

 

It certainly explains a lot of Rae was another reincarnate. 

 

I never ever thought of the possibility of there being another person like myself. However, it explains a lot of the strange inconsistencies that have occurred in contrast to the Revolution. 

 

For one thing, it explains her odd behavior around others—particularly with the princes and I. Rae has been actively trying to avoid their attention all semester while sticking to me like a dog, even becoming my maid of all things to stay by my side—a complete contrast to how she is in Revolution. There’s also her cooking skills to take into account. I had thought previously that her talents came with her being a protagonist, but now I’m thinking it’s much more likely experience she had from the modern world. It explains all of the more modern cuisine that kept popping up. It’s funny, I had came up with the idea of making modern recipes here with my limited cooking experience because of me seeing more modern dishes, and it seems that Rae had the same idea as myself. I was just unintentionally inspired by Rae. Even so, she must have been quite the cook in her past life to make those recipes from scratch, it’s certainly still impressive.

 

It’s no question either that she has a good grasp on the events of Revolution like I do—given everything I heard from her when she was confronting Lambert. It would also explain all those times she mentioned that we met before. She was most likely talking playing the ga—

 

I interrupted my own thoughts as I shot myself up straight as an arrow in my seat when a thought had entered my brain that caused me a blast of shock. 

 

Was I Rae’s waifu?! I began to slump back down as the thought gave a twisted feeling in my stomach. Oh good heavens I totally was.

 

Thinking back on it, that first day of the semester must have also been when she transferred over into this life—the same time as myself. What was she feeling at the time? She must have been extremely happy to see the woman of her dreams in front of her. In a game world that she was very familiar with—it sounds like a dream come true.

 

Or it would have been, if I didn’t take that away from her. I grimaced as I balled up fists, feeling my fingers digging into my palms. I know that Lene and Catherine told me that it was never my fault, but Claire had a life here. She had friends, hopes and dreams, admirers and even people she admired. Sure she was doomed for a bad end in Revolution, but I know that Rae would have changed that. She could have reversed fate and lived a happy life with her beloved. 

 

But Claire is dead.

 

Killed by my hands.

 

And now she’s stuck with me, someone who can’t even return her feelings back. 

 

Someone like Rae. Someone who can brighten the mood with her mere presence. Someone as devoted as her. Someone as talented as her. Someone as beautiful as her.

 

Someone as wonderful as her truly deserves someone better than myself. I hope the day will come where she can find someone who loves her the way she loves. It’s only fair for her. 

 

I couldn’t help myself be stuck in a depressive fugue for a bit before shaking myself out of it. 

 

I shouldn’t be thinking of these things, I should be thinking more about what’s to come. I thought to myself as I shook myself out of my slump. Clapping both of my cheeks with one hand each. I have more immediate things to worry about.

 

-!-

 

I didn’t arrive at the Nur Empire until late in the evening. The sun had already gone down so the capital city, Ruhm, that I arrived in was lightened up by several street lights that were lined up around the city. Even at this hour, I could still see a number of people walking around. It felt far closer to a city in Japan than I expected to see in this life. 

 

My goal for the rest of the night was to locate an inn to rest and begin the search for the tools I’ll need in preparation for the upcoming demon hunt I’ll be doing. 

 

I began to walk around in search of such a place, but I felt a person slam their way into my backside—knocking me off balance and onto my knees. When I turned around to see the culprit, who also happened to have fallen over from the collision, I saw a young girl with blond hair and red eyes. When she recovered from the shock of the impact, she went a bit wide eyed and looked back behind her momentarily before shooting up and grabbing my hand

 

“What are you-“ I yelped in surprise 

 

“Shhh, just help me out for only a bit. I need your help to hide.” The girl put a finger to my lips as she flipped up the hood that she was wearing.

 

I then heard the gallop of a horse in the distance. I turned around to see what I would assume is an imperial soldier riding a horse alongside other troops. They looked to be in a hurry as they sprinted past me and were turning their gaze in all sorts of directions. It seems like they were looking for something.

 

Once they had long past us, I heard my sudden companion let out a sigh of relief.

 

“What was that about?” I asked.

 

“Oh, well,” my companion hesitated a bit. “I’m currently on the run right now. Sorry."

 

“Oh I see, do you need any help?”

 

“Oh no I’m fine, don’t worry yourself,” She sounded apologetic. “I have some personal funds for myself, so I should be fine.”

 

“Do you know where you’re going? I would assume you’ll need to find a place to sleep at this time of night.” I asked, hoping for some directions for a place to stay.

 

“Oh, well….no.” She awkwardly admitted. “This is my first time in the city, so I don’t really know where I’m going.”

 

Ah drat.

 

“Well it looks like we’re in the same boat then,” I chuckled. “It might be good to stick together. Two pairs of eyes are better than one.”

 

“Eh?” She blinked in surprise. “Together? You’re just going to go along with a stranger, just like that?”

 

“Well it seems like you need some help. I wouldn’t feel any good if there was someone that I could help and I didn’t do it.” 

 

“Oh I see. Thank you so much…what’s your name?”

 

Oh yeah I never gave her my name. I don’t know how much people here know about nobles from a different country, but it would probably be safer if I went under an alias while I was here. Just in case there are people here who would recognize me. 

 

“My name is Yumi Sato,” I said, giving the girl my first name from my Japanese life. “What about you?”

 

The girl thought about it for a moment before nodding, as if she was trying to land on an answer. “Elise. Elise Macdowell.” 

 

“I see. Well there is something we should do first before going anywhere.” I nodded before taking Elise down a nearby alleyway. 

 

Once the two of us walked far enough down to find a dead end, I opened up my bag to take out an extra set of clothing and a hair dye bottle that I had brought with me.

 

“What’s that?” Elise asked, pointing to the bottle. 

 

“It’s hair dye. It’ll make things easier if you don’t have to put up a hood any time you’re out. Plus my extra clothes will throw off any chance of someone recognizing you as you snuck out.”

 

“Oh I see, thank yo-“ Elise looked thankful before freezing up, a blush coming onto her face. “Are you telling me to change here?

 

“Yes. I can keep a lookout in case anyone is coming over, so you'll be fine.” I reassured her.

 

“Right…okay. Please do that.” 

 

“Righto!” I exclaimed, patting her on the shoulder before standing up to go. “Let me know when you’re done.”

 

I leaned onto a corner of the hallway leading up to the dead end Elise was changing in as I heard the sound of fabric being taken off and thrown onto the floor.

 

“This is…girl’s underwear?” I heard Elise remark in confusion. “Did you say that these were your clothes, Yumi?” 

 

“Yeah of course they’re mine.”

 

“Oh.” Elise sounded surprised. “Sorry, I just didn’t think you were a girl.” 

 

“Wha-of course I’m a gi-“ I whipped my head around for a half second before blitzing it back away from Elise when I remembered that she was changing. “Of course I’m a girl. What made you think otherwise?”

 

“Sorry,” she giggled. “I just didn’t expect a girl to be wearing pants. Your short hair didn’t really help either.”

 

“Oh that? Most of my hair is just hidden under my hat.”

 

“Really? Are you…also on the run?” 

 

“Not quite. I just have an errand to complete here and then I can return home. It would be inconvenient for someone to recognize me here.” 

 

“Oh? How long will that take?” 

 

“Most likely a week at most. Sorry that our time together can’t be longer.” 

 

“No, it’s fine.” I heard footsteps from behind. It sounds like Elise had finished changing.

 

I felt the tap of a hand on my shoulder. “Could you show me how to use this?” Elise asked me as I turned around and saw her with the bottle in hand. 

 

“Sure thing.” I told her, showing her the same process that Rae showed me before.

 

Thankfully it did not take long for us to find an inn after we were all set to go. The process of renting a room went smoothly as well, no questions were asked. However, I did notice that Elise froze up a bit and started breathing a bit heavier when I undressed enough to sleep comfortably—couldn’t really understand why—but we slept fine enough.

 

-!-

 

“So Yumi, what should we look for first?”

 

It was the next morning and the two of us were walking out of the inn.

 

“Well we can explore the town a bit and see what catches our interest for later.” I suggested.

 

Elise nodded enthusiastically with a cheery hum and we set out sights to whatever we could find on our walk through the city. Mostly we found a number of stores along our path, which was unfortunate because neither of us could really afford to take any of it given how we were supposed to be inconspicuous. 

 

We did see a number of places to grab some food along the way. I noted them all down mentally for the next time we go out. Because there’s one spot that currently has all of Elise’s attention as of now.

 

“Pizza?” Elise ruminated on the word—testing its mouth feel as she gets used to the new word she has become aware of. “It says here that it’s a brand new recipe.”

 

Really? Huh, I didn’t expect someone else to invent pizza separately. Does that mean that there’s a third reinca—no. Ocram’s Razor—the simplest answer is the correct one—given how more advanced this place is than Bauer, it’s much more likely that someone here naturally came up with the recipe. 

 

Something I’ve come to learn while I’ve been both in this world is that this world feels much more alive—for lack of a better word—than it did in game. Of course this makes sense, obviously it’s not feasible to code an entire world in a game, and this was a lesson I learned in Varschein too. However, this world strangely feels much more aligned with the world of Japan than the world Varschein did. 

 

“Can we check it out?” I was brought out of my thoughts by Elise’s voice and found myself face to face with her eyes filled with wonder. 

 

“Huh? Oh yeah. Sure. I am a bit hungry.” 

 

“Then let’s go!” Elise enthusiastically took my hand as we both entered the restaurant. 

 

We both took our seats at a nearby table. Before long, a nearby waiter came over to us with menus and glasses of water in hand.

“Thank you, however we already know what we want.” I politely reminded the menus.

 

“And what would that be?” The waiter asked.

 

“Pizza!” Elise gave an enthusiastic response.

 

“Ah, I see.” The waiter gave a knowing smile. “Would you like to share one?”

 

“Yes please.” I told her. 

 

“Very well,” she nodded. “Your order will be here momentarily.”

 

I gave my thanks as I watched her walk off. While we were waiting, Elise was looking around the place, taking in the new sights. Meanwhile, my mind had wondered back to my thoughts previously of how more similar this world felt to my first world. I know that there is a Japan equivalent here, so does that mean there are other country equivalents here? Maybe once the coming Bauer revolution is over, I can travel the world to see for myself. 

 

Can I invent a plane? Should I? I suppose it’s probably going to happen eventually anyways with how well off the Nur Empire is currently. I don’t know any of the science behind planes but I suppose if I know the idea then I can eventually have it built with enough trial and error. Oh god is this how those inventors felt in the 1900s?! Never thought I would be the one in that position. 

 

Before long enough that I would have got deep into my thoughts about theorizing about if wind magic stones would make flight easier, I heard a number of footsteps approach our table. I perked up as I could smell the fresh pizza even from where I was sitting. I could see that Elsie too had a similar reaction—eyes full of wonder and excitement at just the smell. 

 

“Thank you very much,” I told the waiter as she had placed the pizza onto our table.

 

“Have a pleasant meal,” the waiter smiled before heading off.

 

Elise for her own part was staring at our plate in complete silence. I doubt she paid much attention to the exchange between the waiter and I. Not that I could blame her. It took a great deal of composure to stop myself from drooling.

 

The slices themselves were pre split into 1/8s so it was simply a matter of grabbing a slice with my hand, and showing Elise—who was looking intently—the proper way to eat a pizza slice. Once I had taken my first bite, which was a juicy mix of sauce and cheese that I’ve come to expect, I motioned Elise to do the same. It took her a bit longer for her to take her first bite than me.

 

However when she did, the look of delight on her face was adorable—I felt a small smile come to my own features from just looking at her enjoying the meal.

 

“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself,” I told her. 

 

“Mmmhp!” Elise hummed as she finished up her current slice. “How about you? Did you like it?”

 

“Oh of course,” I nodded. “This pizza is absolutely heavenly.

 

“Yeah, yeah! I never knew something like this could exist.” Elise said in between bites of another slice.

 

Imagine her reaction if she ever learned that invented this stuff a while ago already. I chuckled internally in amusement as I watched Elise have a grand time with her meal.

 

-!-

 

After we paid for the meal, we went off to continue exploring, but didn’t really find anything noteworthy until Elise had suddenly grabbed my wrist.

 

“Hey what’s that?” Elise had pointed to our left. 

 

My eyes followed to where she was pointing at until I had recognized what she was looking at. 

 

“Oh that’s a playground.”

 

“A playground?” Elise repeated.

 

“Yeah, it’s a play where children go out to play together.” 

 

On one end I saw a set of platforms connected by bridges with their own underpasses for children to run under. There were slides connected to the ends of two of the platforms for children to slide down too. There was a second collection of platforms just like it over to the side, but this one was more elaborate—with multiple floors that were connected via stairs—and a slide that went all down from the top floor. Sprinkled around were a few of those pop ups that you would ride to move back and forth on. 

 

“Heh, it’s a shame I didn’t come out here sooner then,” Elise chuckled wryly. “I’m a bit too old to be playing around here now.”

 

“No, I think we can still have fun. Why don’t we play tag?” 

 

“Tag?” She repeated, head tilting to the left in confusion.”

 

“Have you…never heard of tag?” 

 

“I’m not familiar, no.”

 

Seriously?! Okay I know I was sheltered, but even I knew what tag was! Well…okay that might have been only because I had internet access in my first life, but my point still stands.

 

“Well it’s a game where one person chases the other,” I explain. “The chaser is referred to as being ‘it’ and chases the other person around until they've been touched. Once that happens, the roles between the two people are reversed.” 

 

“And when does the game end?” Elise asked.

 

“It doesn’t. It only ends when we feel like it.” 

 

“Re-really?” Elise looked confused. “Then…what’s the point?” 

 

“The point is just to have fun. You’ll have fun in the moment and that’ll make it all worth it.”

 

“Oh I see. I’m really new to interacting with others, so I’ll have to take your word on that.” 

 

I hummed in acknowledgement, “you’ll see the appeal very soon. Just start counting for say…7 seconds so I can start with some distance.” 

 

“Alright,” Elise nodded. 

 

“One…two…three…” I heard her begin to count as I made my distance before the great chase would begin.

 

-!-

 

“Woo..gasp…woo.” Elise was panting as we both took a rest on the playground bench.

 

“Here. Have some water,” I offered her a drink that I had brought with us. 

 

“Oh thank you, you’re a lifesaver,” Elise quickly took the drink and began to chug a significant amount of the bottle. 

 

We had been playing for what felt like a while. By which point the two of us were thoroughly worn out. 

 

By this point I have figured out that Elise was a shut-in kid who escaped their home—most likely a noble based on the soldiers I’ve seen that seem to be on patrol for her, so I feared that I would have too overwhelming of an advantage over her. 

 

However, Elise surprisingly was to catch up to me and our game of tag was more of an even back and forth. There was even one point where Elise managed to cut me off while I went down a slide to tag me.

 

“Wow, that was quite fun,” Elise said after giving herself a moment to breathe. “I can certainly see the appeal now, thank you.”

 

“It’s no problem. Though you did surprise me with how much you were able to keep up with me.”  

 

“What? Did you think I’ve been lazing around my whole life?” Elise pouted while giving a side eye with a bit of contempt. 

 

“Uhh, yes?” I awkwardly admitted.

 

There was a moment of silence between us where Elise looked like a deer between headlights. 

 

“Pff…hehe…hahaha,” She erupted in a series of giggles before breaking up in full blown laughter. 

 

“El-Elsie?” 

 

“Oh sorry,” she apologized while getting a tear out of her eye. “You have such a way with words.”

 

“Thank you?” I titled my head, not really sure if she was complimenting me. 

 

“Hehe, it’s a compliment I promise.” She reassured me, sensing where my confusion was coming from. 

 

“Oh. Okay. That’s good.” 

 

My eyes began to shift away as I noticed something in the corner of my eye.

 

“Hey Elise,” I said as I stood up from the bench. “Let’s go swinging.”

 

“Let’s go what?” She looked at me in confusion before turning around to where my gaze was pointing at. A set of swings that hung by the back of the playground. 

 

“Yeah I can show you how to use them,” I told Elise as I walked to the swing set, motioning Elise to follow. 

 

“Sit down on that.” I pointed to one of the seats as the two of us approached the swing set. Elise nodded and sat her down. “Make sure you hold onto the chains on each side.”

 

Elise nodded and then grabbed onto each chain. Then I moved behind her.

 

“Alright, I’m going to give a bit of a push for a head start,” I explained to her. “After that I want you to hold your legs out straight when moving forward, and then bend your legs inwards when moving back.”

 

“Forward…legs out…backwards…bend in…” I heard Elise mutter to herself as she practiced with her legs. “Got it!” 

 

“Righto,” I nodded before grabbing onto her shoulders to push her forward. 

 

I quickly stepped away from her to not be in the way as the momentum started to carry her backwards. Elise didn’t immediately get the momentum, so I had to push her a few times. Once she did get the hang of it, I settled myself by leaning on one of the support pillars of the swing set—arms crossed—and watched her experience the joys of a swing set. 

 

“Wahooooo!!! Wheeeeeeeeeee!!!” Elise let out as she approached the peak of her swings.

 

“Having fun?” I asked.

 

“Yeah!” Elise exclaimed. “This is great!”

 

“Great to hear,” I said as I sat down on the other swing. 

 

“You can actually get things going by yourself if you kick yourself off the ground.” I explained as I went through the process of building up my own momentum. 

 

“Oh wow, that’s good,” Elise said in awe. 

 

Eventually the both of us reached the crescendo of our arcs and wow have I missed this feeling. There were no swing sets back in Varschein, and the last time I rode one of these must have been back when I was in middle school. The gust of wind that flies by me every time I swing forward feels exhilarating, and the sinking feeling I have whenever I move back—while sounding unpleasant—is also an important aspect to this that I’ve missed sorely.

 

I wonder if there’s anything like this back in Bau—ah.

 

I felt a noticeable lack of something from my head, and in exchange, a flow of hair climbing down my backside as if a dam had just broken down. My hat must have flown off while I was in the air. I stopped myself from swinging and put my foot down once I was low enough to the ground. Hopping off the seat and grabbing my hat off the ground. 

 

Once I had stuffed my hair back into my hat and put the hat on, I looked over to Elise—who had also stopped swinging. Elise looked…mesmerized? She was definitely staring at something in awe, her cheeks were a bit more pinkish too, but—I checked my surroundings to make sure I wasn’t missing something—I couldn’t figure out what it was.

 

“Elise, is something wrong?” I tilted my head in conclusion. 

 

“Wha! Oh! Sorry! My love was just overflowing.” She snapped out of daze into a light chuckle.

 

Well I’m glad that I made a friend so quickly here. Even if it’s temporary, the company is good.

 

I took a glance at the sky and noticed that the sky was slowly turning into night.

 

“Hey it’s getting late out, we should head back,” I told Elise.

 

“Oh sure, good idea.” Elise nodded as she hopped off the swing set and we headed back to our inn.

 

-!-

 

Once we had returned to the Inn, the sun had long been set. However, my work today has yet to be finished.

 

I was walking outside. I had told Elise that I wanted to walk out a bit more before heading to bed, which earned me a glare of skepticism, but she let me go anyway. The only light that could be seen were the ones cast by the city’s street lamps. Given that I trained in my previous life to be able to see in the dark—which thankfully still carried over into this life—this was more than enough for me to be able to explore the city streets.

 

My first order of business is to find a place where I could find medical supplies—I didn’t bring any with me because I didn’t want them to be checked when I crossed the border. I imagine I would need a few syringes and cups to be able to transfer the blood from a demon and then into myself.

 

I didn’t see many people out and about given it was the dead of night, but I did make sure to get out of the way of the lights when exploring to avoid possible confrontation. A benefit to both my disguise and an incidental benefit with my black hair, I’m able to blend in within the darkness of the night. I’m also able to see people much farther than they can see me due to my training. 

 

I had a mostly uneventful time. A lot of the buildings blend together when they’re all closed and it’s pitch black outside. I decided to take my time trying to find the more underworld parts of the city—places where the law would be more dubiously enforced—and I did eventually find something of note. It appeared to be a pharmaceutical store. It was closed tonight, so I would have to wait until tomorrow to see if this place would help me. That was fine, however, I’ve been here for a day really. There’s no need to rush. 

 

I walked back to the inn. I wasn’t sure how long I had been out, but walking around—especially with the game of tag I played with Elise earlier—all day had definitely taken its toll on me. I think I’ll have to rest in and take a bit longer before going out tomorrow—as unfortunate as that is for Elise. 

 

I quietly went through the doors of both the inn and the door of our room before undressing and taking my overdue rest in the comfort of my bed. 

 

-!-

 

The next morning was—as I feared—not pleasant. I had been woken up by the gleam of natural sunlight coming through the window. I tried to ignore it by covering myself up with my blanket. However, I was dragged into the world of reality by a greeting from my roommate.

 

“Good—gwaaaah—-morning, Yumi,” I hear Elise groggily yawn out.

 

“I need to sleep more. Give it about an hour or two. I responded. “I didn’t sleep well last night.”

 

“And whose fault is that?” Elise sarcastically remarked.

 

I didn’t dignify that with a response. I was hoping to move on to get my extra sleep as soon as possible.

 

There was a few seconds of silence before I heard a sigh in resignation. 

 

“I’ll go get breakfast myself then,” Elise definitely sounded a little annoyed—sorry—as she got up. I could hear the sounds of her getting changed and leaving the room. 

 

I then laid in bed and dozed off for a bit. Paying back the interest on the debt of sleep that I accumulated last night. 

 

Eventually I heard the door open again and that was my cue to get myself out of bed.

 

“Are you awake now?” Elise asked with her hands on her hips.

 

“I think I’ve gotten as much sleep as I could.” 

 

“I see,” Elise took in a breath before speaking. “Then can we talk about last night?”

 

“What about last night?” I blinked.

 

“You know what I’m talking about,” Elise scoffed. “That ‘walk’ you were doing.”

 

“Ah.” Guess I wasn’t as quiet as I thought. “I apologize for waking you up.”

 

“That is not my problem. You were out for way too long for that to be a simple walk.”

 

“I was out exploring.” 

 

Elise squinted her eyes, “you seriously expect me to buy that? You were out for hours in the middle of the night? What if something happened to you?”

 

“Well I understand the risks well enough, that’s why I went by myself.”

 

“Do you not trust me to take care of myself?” Elise sounded annoyed.

 

“It’s not that. It would just be a shame if something happened to you.”

 

“And you think going out there alone is any better?” Elise raised an eyebrow.

 

“It is. Unlike with you, I am well aware of the value of my life, so I know it is of no consequence if something tragic happens to me.” I explained plainly. 

 

“Wha?!” This explanation threw Elise for a loop. I saw her stagger a bit before sitting down on her bed. She recovered herself before speaking again. 

 

“I have only known you for a few hours, but you are a very important person to me. This sounds a bit forward but I love having you around in my life. It would be awful if something happened to you.” 

 

“Really? Why are yo—“ I tilted my head before a realization hit me. “Oh. Oh I get it. I’m the one with all the money, so it would be inconvenient if something happened to me. You would have to be stranded by yourself.” 

 

“Well I’m sorry,” I scratched my cheek in awkwardness. “I guess I’m going to have to get you involved in all this.” 

 

“That’s not what I—sigh. Yeah sure, let’s go with that.” Elise looked exasperated before letting out a sigh of resignation and softening up. “What are you exploring for?”

 

“I’m looking for something,” I explain to her my plans to find the medical supplies I need and the reasons why I need them—the demon hunting and acquiring the dark magic. Elise is going to have to come with me, so I might as well lay it out all bare.

 

“Dark magic?” Elise repeated. “For what reason have you come over here to go seek that out?” 

 

“I need power.” I said.

 

Elise didn’t say anything, but she did give me a look of understanding, so I continued on. 

 

“I have felt that I have been too weak to live lately. Whenever I walk around, whenever I wave my wand, whenever I swing my sword, there’s something missing. I have a selfishly high standard for myself, and if I don’t fulfill that standard then I can’t say that I’m alive. I don’t feel like I’m in my own body when there’s a distinction between who I currently am and who I should be.”

 

It wasn’t really about being able to protect my friends. It is a nice benefit, however I am not that selfish. I know that deep down, being without my level 99 strength—something that I’ve lived with for years—has left me feeling like I'm still living in a dream. A nightmare where my body won’t listen to the way that I want it to. I am well aware of how selfish it is to want to have overwhelming power in a world where that doesn’t seem feasible or even necessary. But power is an undeniable part of who Yumiella is. At the very least, I am not myself anymore without my dark magic. 

 

Elise looked to be in thought before speaking again. “So what do we do now? Do we head over to that pharmaceutical store you mentioned before?” 

 

I shook my head. “No. Let’s wait until later in the day before heading in there. There’ll be less people around and less attention on us that way.”

 

“For now let’s continue to explore the city like yesterday,” I continued. “I believe I saw an ice cream stand yesterday that we could go to.”

 

“Oh that sounds exciting! Let’s go!” Elise had a glow of excitement in her eyes as she shot up straight. If she had a tail, it would absolutely be standing up straight before it would start wagging right about now. 

 

-!-

 

“So which flavor are you going to get?” Elise asked as we stood in front of the ice cream. Scanning over the available flavors.

 

The stand had all the usual suspects—vanilla, chocolate, mint, strawberry—what I was looking for was any of the more unique flavors that not every stand would have. Finally after a bit of searching, my eyes landed on something very exciting.

 

“May I have the sea salt ice cream?” I asked.

 

“Sure thing,” The server nodded before turning to Elise. “What about you, Miss?”

 

“Hmmm, I think I’ll take—“ Elise hesitated for a second. “I’ll take the super scoop.” 

 

“Right away.” The two of us watched as the server took two scoops, one for us each. 

 

“Thank you!” Elise exclaimed as we grabbed our cones.

 

“I thought you were going to also get sea salt ice cream,” I said as the two of us started walking away, nibbling down on our treats.

 

“Haha. Well I was thinking,” Elise said—with a bit of blush? “Maybe we could take a bite out of each other's scoops. It would give us a better range for next time.” 

 

“Oh I see,” she must be flustered because of the risk of spreading germs. “Well it’s fine, one bite won’t kill us.”

 

I put my arm out towards her mouth as Elise leaned in for a bite. 

 

“Hmmm,” she exclaimed while chewing. “It’s salty…but also sweet!” 

 

“Haha. Yeah it really puts the salt in sea salt ice cream,” I chuckled. “Do you mind if I have a taste of yours?”

 

“Sure!” Elise beamed as she extended her arm out to me. 

 

The swirl of bright red, cyan, and yellow stood a little over a half dozen centimeters away from my face. I took in a bit and could taste the mixture of flavors—cherry, blue raspberry, and lemon as I had suspected. 

 

“Yeah that’s pretty good, next time I should get that flavor,” I said.

 

“I guess we could swap our choices next time,” Elise giggled. 

 

We had continued walking as we ate our ice cream before we eventually walked up to a clearing that oversaw a chunk of the city that was below us, giving us a clear view of the sky. We had finished our ice cream so we put them into a trash can before sitting down on a bench that gave us a good view of the horizon. My bet would be that this place would look incredible during the sunset. 

 

I was about to make a comment as such to Elise, but she spoke out first.

 

“Say Yumi,” she started with a tone more serious than usual. “Would it be possible for me to also gain dark magic?” 

 

“Wha-huh?!” If I were drinking something I would have a spit take right about now. 

 

“Well…I guess you could, but it’s way too risky!” I protested.

 

“Yumi.” Elise stared at me seriously. “What did I tell you before about how it’s no less safe for me than it is for me.”

 

“I’m aware of that,” I can’t help but look away. “But even so…I don’t want you to get hurt. It would be terrible if something happened to you because of me.

 

“Yumi, I chose to do this. It’s not your fault if I get hurt.” 

 

“But it would be!” I turn to face Elise to protest again. “It would never have happened if I wasn’t here. I was the one who gave you this idea.” 

 

Elise shook her head, “Yumi, not everything that happens is your fault. What I do is my own business, and the consequences that I face have nothing to do with you, I swear to god.”

 

“Al-alright,” I slowly relented. “But why do you even need this?”

 

“You said that you needed to be strong, right?” 

 

I nodded

 

“Well that makes two of us. I also am in desperate need of power.” 

 

“Eh? Really?” 

 

Elise then looked out to the horizon, a contemplative look in her eyes, before she sighed and then nodded as if she settled onto a decision. 

 

“Let me tell you a story from my childhood, Yumi.”

 

“My mother and I don’t talk much, it’s been like that for years. So when she invited me out somewhere, I as a child was incredibly excited for some family time given that my father is completely absent.”

 

“What I didn’t know then was that I was being taken to an execution. I don’t remember what the man was saying. I just remember that he spoke out against the empire until the bitter end as I saw him get decapitated. I remember the blood that I saw as crimson as the day that I saw it.”

 

“I clung to my mother out of fear. However, all I received from her were words that still haunt me to this day.”

 

“All who defy the empire meet this end. Does that scare you?”

 

“I was too terrified to answer. I was completely and utterly mortified. But not because of what befelled the man. I was terrified of my mother.”

 

Elise started to clutch her hand into a fist.

 

“For years I’ve been terrified of my mother. All of that time I was suffocating in the shadow that she casts on my home.”

 

“That’s why I’ve run away from home. I need refuge from that sickening chokehold for even a few days. Just so I can see what the empire that I call home looks like.”

 

“And then I met you,” Elise turned to look at me, even more intently than before, as she grasped a hand of mine into both of hers—clutching it tightly. “Not only did you show me the refuge I was seeking, but you’ve opened up a new path that leads out into both freedom and salvation from my mother’s icy grip. I am eternally grateful towards you.” 

 

“So I’ll go down this road with you, Yumi. Because you and I are the same. We both are in desperate search for power that we disregard danger to reach our desirable ends. We would die standing rather than live kneeling. The two of us will plunge into the darkness and either be spat out dead or washed with strength unlike anything the world has seen.”

 

“I…” I stuttered for a bit. I was taken aback by Elise’s story. After a moment, I took a breath and regained my composure. “I am not particularly fond of my father.”

 

“I cannot go against him because he is a very powerful noble. There are many things in this world that I wish to do, but I know that he will stand in my way.” 

 

“Therefore,” I clutched Elise’s hand back as well as with my other hand too. “I will seek power so that no one can stop me. Only I will be in control of my life. I won’t stand to have anyone else in my way.” 

 

“Me neither!” Elise beamed a smile at me.

 

Elise and I were more similar than I ever could have predicted. We both feel shackled by our predecessors, and we feel that our only way out is by overpowering anyone who stands in our path. We’re desperate for freedom so we’ll throw away our lives for a chance. It may be reckless, but it’s better than the alternative of wasting away in metaphorical chains. 

 

In that aspect, the two of us are so alike that it’s fruitless for me to worry about her going down the path of darkness. Because this was simply inevitable. 

 

I felt a smile creep up on my face as I thought about the solidarity between us, “I think it’s about time we make our preparations.”

 

Elise gave an enthusiastic hum and nod before we set off from the bench. 

 

-!-

 

Intermission

 

Kris

 

It was another boring shift at the pharmaceutical counter that day. That was until the evening when I saw two girls, one with black eyes and one with red eyes, with matching outfits—maybe sisters?—walk into my store.

 

“What can I do for you?” I asked as they approached the counter.

 

“We were looking to see if you have any syringes for extracting blood,” the black eyed girl said, her voice flat.

 

“Syringes?” I repeated with an eyebrow raised. “What are you extracting blood for?”

 

“For research. We’re hunting monsters.” The red eyed girl clarified. 

 

“You two can fight?” I asked—not that I assumed that they can’t, but I wanted to make sure.

 

“We can,” The black eyed girl nodded before taking out a gold coin in her bag. “We have plenty to pay with, so you don’t have to worry about us. We’ll be out of your hair as soon as we get what we want.”

 

“Oi, what do you take me for? I’m not heartless!” I retorted. “I’m going to worry when two girls walk up to me and say they’re going to extract monster blood.”

 

The girls grimaced a bit at that before looking at each other. 

 

“Maybe we can find another place?” I heard one of them mutter.

 

“Hopefully.” The other responded as they started to turn their backs around.

 

“Wait hold on!” I shouted, grabbing the two girls’ attention. “I never said I was going to refuse your request. I just want you two to be careful.” 

 

“Oh. Thank you very much! We’ll be good!” I saw the black eyed girl have a shine in her eyes. If she had a dog tail and ears, they would be standing up right about now and then her tail would be wagging. 

 

“Let me get those syringes for you.” I said as I headed off to the supply in the back, still not completely convinced that it’ll be okay.

 

I really hope this won’t be a mistake.

Notes:

Sadly I was struggling a little to fill this chapter up. I imagine that this and the next chapter will be short ones but we'll see.

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