Chapter 23: Raid, Part 1

A merchant’s day begins early.

Most goods were procured in the morning, and many merchants catered to adventurers setting out at dawn.

Even near the academy, in the heart of the capital, mornings were bustling.

Despite the infrequent monster subjugation requests and the relatively low traffic of adventurers.

This was due to the academy students.

Some students purchased supplies before heading to class, but the main reason for the early morning activity was students taking on part-time adventurer work between classes.

Commoner students struggling with tuition fees, or noble and royal students driven by a strong sense of justice.

While Lucia came from a commoner background, she was sponsored by the kingdom as a hero candidate, so she didn’t have financial concerns.

Her presence on the bench near the academy entrance at this early hour stemmed from a different reason.

[Part 2, Act 2: Academy Attack!]

The softly glowing window before her eyes foretold an imminent attack.

It didn’t make sense.

The Royal Academy boasted highly skilled instructors and students.

Many possessed divinity, some even having awakened it, and several were veterans of the front lines.

An attack on such a fortified location seemed absurd.

The perpetrators would undoubtedly face the wrath of the academy and the kingdom’s knights. How audacious could they be?

However, if this cursed window predicted it, it would happen, regardless of how improbable it seemed. She had to be prepared.

But Lucia’s vigilance wouldn’t change anything.

The vague warning, lacking specifics about the time or location, offered no guidance, leaving her only with a sense of dread and heightened alertness.

Even with her exceptional skills, among the top students in the academy, Lucia couldn’t single-handedly defend against a large-scale attack.

She would need help, but who would believe her claims of an impending attack?

And even if they did, how would she explain the source of her information?

It was a dilemma.

Another concern was the jump from the prologue directly to Act 2.

Part 1 had followed a more conventional structure: prologue, Act 1, then Act 2.

Lost in thought, Lucia sat with her sword in her lap, staring blankly at the academy entrance.

The sounds of the bustling market drifted on the gentle breeze.

The market was located just outside the academy gates, but the noise was steadily increasing.

The student council members guarding the entrance rose from their seats. Someone was arriving.

A girl with short black hair and striking gold eyes entered.

Her neatly pressed academy uniform and the student council armband proudly displayed on her arm proclaimed her status.

While there was no need to wear the armband outside the academy, only one student insisted on doing so.

“Did the president… wear the armband again…?”

“Of course. Everyone needs to know I’m the student council president.”

The girl with countless nicknames, ranging from “madwoman” to “airhead.”

Charlotte Linen, the student council president.

Three years Lucia’s senior, Charlotte had often sought out Lucia, the highly publicized new student, for private conversations.

Lucia didn’t have a favorable opinion of the president.

While acknowledging that Charlotte wasn’t a bad person, Lucia found her… bothersome.

“Isn’t your armband crooked? The student council should set a good example.”

“Yes, yes.”

Charlotte, a stickler for rules, often targeted Lucia, an irregularity among irregularities.

Whenever Lucia arrived at the academy with her uniform damaged from an incident, Charlotte would hound her, questioning her attire and even suggesting she was an outsider.

Her relentless pursuit of rule-breakers was notorious.

Fortunately, the vice-president, who seemed to have a soft spot for Lucia, always intervened, preventing any physical altercations.

If Charlotte hadn’t been both beautiful and exceptionally skilled, she likely wouldn’t have been elected president, despite her competence in handling student council affairs.

“But President… your armband is upside down…”

Her occasional clumsiness, however, earned her the nickname “rule-obsessed airhead” among the Amadeus players.

Despite her personality, she had a dedicated fanbase.

Usually, after such blunders, Charlotte would try to save face with various excuses. Lucia expected the same this time and returned to examining her status window, hoping for more information about the impending attack.

“Ahem… thank you for pointing that out… Rachel.”

“Huh…?”

“I appreciate your hard work as my subordinate.”

“What…?”

But Charlotte’s response was unexpected.

The student council president, offering praise with a smile and direct eye contact, was unprecedented. The student council member, Rachel, stared at her, speechless.

Rachel had always admired the president, drawn to her strength and unwavering adherence to rules.

“I look forward to working with you.”

“Y-yes…!”

Flustered by the president’s sudden display of familiarity, Rachel blushed and lowered her head.

The other student council members were equally surprised.

“President, are you feeling alright?”

“Perfectly fine.”

The male student council member standing to Charlotte’s left asked cautiously, but she simply brushed it off.

While the student council members were understandably confused by the president’s uncharacteristic behavior, Lucia simply shrugged it off.

Her status window remained unchanged, so she assumed the president wasn’t involved in the upcoming attack.

“Then, I’ll be going now.”

“…Yes…!”

Rachel, still blushing, bowed deeply as Charlotte walked away.

Charlotte’s footsteps echoed as she walked towards the entrance. Her eyes met Lucia’s.

She smiled at Lucia and continued on her path.

The smile… it felt strangely familiar. Lucia felt a flicker of curiosity, but a voice from behind her made her stand up.

“Lucia?”

“Ah, Your Highness.”

“Just call me Carmel. We’ve known each other for years…”

Unable to continue her surveillance, Lucia pushed aside her unsettling thoughts and followed Carmel towards the academy classrooms.

“I apologize for yesterday. Lena… well, she was suddenly found…”

“The Third Princess? Is she alright?”

“Yes. Safe and unharmed.”

Listening to Carmel’s apology for her sudden departure yesterday, Lucia recalled her schedule.

Today was a practice run for the end-of-term practical exam, held on academy grounds.

“Everyone… sigh… Has anyone seen my armband…?”

“President? Didn’t you just walk in…?”

“What…? What are you talking about…?”

Unaware of the commotion behind her, Lucia quietly closed her status window.

“Hello, President!”

“Hello there,” I replied, waving to the student council member who greeted me.

Whenever I waved and greeted them, the student council members would freeze, staring at me with a mixture of confusion and awe.

Was it that strange for me to greet them?

I pondered as I strolled through the academy grounds, enjoying the gentle breeze.

The academy looked exactly as it did in the game.

However, unlike the pixelated world of the game, this was real. I could feel the rough texture of the ground beneath my feet, smell the grass carried on the wind.

It was a surreal experience.

Unlike before, when people regarded me with suspicion and hostility, their gazes now held a mixture of awe and… annoyance.

“Levi, your Authority is quite useful.”

Is that so?

I hadn’t expected Leviathan’s Authority, a source of frustration and countless retries in the game, to be so helpful now that it was on my side.

The contracted Leviathan in the game had shed its demonic nature, losing access to its Authority, so I hadn’t experienced its true potential.

While all magic was temporarily nullified upon entering the academy grounds, Authority was a different kind of power, allowing me to bypass the magical barriers undetected.

Infiltrating the academy would have been a headache otherwise.

I’d rendered the student council president unconscious, so it would take her some time to recover.

I couldn’t retrieve the Mask of Anonymity immediately because I didn’t know how to open the vault, and its location changed daily.

This visit was purely for reconnaissance.

I’d return during the next exhibition. It was time to leave.

“President. There you are.”

“…Vice-president?”

A female voice stopped me as I turned to leave.

I turned around, annoyed, and saw the Royal Academy’s vice-president, Hanaki Haru, with her distinctive cherry-blossom-colored hair.

One of the few characters with an Eastern aesthetic in the game, she perpetually wore a tired expression due to the president’s antics.

However, unlike other student council members who suffered because of Charlotte’s incompetence, Haru’s exhaustion stemmed from the president’s overzealousness.

I wondered why she’d called out to me, then I remembered I was currently disguised as the student council president, thanks to Leviathan’s Authority.

That meant…

“I see you’ve completed your patrol. Then, let’s move on to the next task.”

…she wanted to discuss student council duties.

I’d been planning to relocate to a different safe house and relax, but it seemed my plans were thwarted.

“You seem… displeased. Is something the matter?”

“No, nothing at all.”