Mental Conditioning Gone Too Far!
Huh!? The mental conditioning went way too far!
The continent of Ripus revolves around three great powers, commonly known as the Three Kingdoms.
First is the Alphaz Kingdom, the earliest nation founded on the continent. The great chieftain of the Ab tribe, Baruka Toal, united the countless tribes of Ripus, and his son Lutton Toal established the kingdom itself.
Next is the Epios Empire, currently the strongest nation on the continent. It was founded by the Pelgia tribe, who refused to be absorbed into Alphaz and resisted their invasions to the bitter end.
Finally there is the Aios Federation, a grand alliance of nations that banded together to stand against the two superpowers.
Most other countries on the continent exist in some form of subordination to these three, and a few are outright colonies.
But there are exactly two exceptions—city-states that bow to none of the Three Kingdoms.
The first is Lyceum, the great city of magic.
The second is Bargan, the holy capital of the grand religious order.
Where Lyceum escaped the Three Kingdoms’ dominion through the Magic Association and its mighty mages, Bargan did so through the overwhelming presence of its Holy Swords and sacred relics.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Theus Year 1815, January 4th.
Inside the training grounds of the Holy Knights within Bargan’s Grand Cathedral, the clash of blades rang out like a rapid-fire opera.
“Hmph…!”
A beautiful red-haired girl pressed a towering old man whose sheer bulk alone was enough to cow most onlookers. Her movements were a dazzling dance; successive strikes rained down with blistering speed.
Kang! Kang! Kakang!
In the midst of the ongoing exchange she slipped in an off-beat flurry of blows. The old man’s greatsword was forced back, and the girl’s thin blade instantly pursued the opening.
The slender sword lunged in a flash. For a heartbeat the girl was certain of victory—yet the old man’s response was just as swift.
His thick left glove slapped the flat of her blade aside; at the same moment his right fist drove forward in a straight punch that sent her body skidding backward. The moment her knees hit the floor, his greatsword carved a cut far faster than her own blade could manage.
KRA-BOOM!
The training-ground floor shattered around the greatsword that had slammed down beside her. The old man approached the kneeling girl.
To any observer her defeat was absolute—yet she looked up at the approaching elder with a bright, almost joyful smile.
“I won.”
“That you did. You got me good.”
The old man laughed heartily and stroked his left hand. A thin trickle of blood seeped through the torn glove.
“You retrieved your sword and cut me while taking the punch, eh? Not bad. You planned that from the start?”
“Yes. A frontal assault would never have worked against you.”
“People claim fairness is a knight’s virtue, but that’s not virtue—it’s foolishness. A true knight finds a path to victory by any means necessary.”
Still laughing, he extended a hand to her.
“Congratulations on joining the order, Holy Swordswoman Chelrn Macadia.”
“Thank you, Vice-Captain Atinus.”
Destiny: Child of Fate.
By the time I died, that long-running mobile game had already stayed popular for roughly six years. In a barren market like Korea—where games lived or died by whether a single siege match or one weapon could swing the price of a house—Destiny’s success was nothing short of a sensation. Plenty of people also praised it for reviving the niche SRPG genre.
I myself had dropped it after a year, largely because of the sacrilegious abomination known as the bikini maid outfit, but I had still enjoyed Destiny in my own way.
“It really lives up to being one of the five great cities of the continent. Beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Yes. I never imagined a city like this could exist.”
Walking the very streets that had been the game’s main stage felt surprisingly fresh. Strolling the avenues the original protagonists had walked, popping into shops, tasting the food—all of it was genuinely enjoyable.
“Shall we head to the Academy soon?”
“Yes. If we leave now, the timing should be perfect.”
Two hours had already slipped by while I toured Lyceum with my lady. Not wearing a maid uniform was a shame, yet the time spent exploring with her had been more than worthwhile.
No matter how thoroughly the mental conditioning—the basic foundation of every maid—had rewritten my identity into that of a woman, I still needed to grow accustomed to other people’s gazes.
I define my maid aesthetic as perfection. Outwardly and inwardly I am a human being who approaches perfection as closely as possible. Every so often—truly, only every so often—I forget something completely unrelated to maid work, yet even then, from any objective standpoint, the person known as Blanc is unmistakably a perfect maid.
Naturally I keep my appearance as close to flawless as possible at all times, so of course people’s eyes gathered when I walked the streets in a school uniform. Those stares helped me grow used to the uniform far more quickly than the maid dress I normally wore.
My slightly awkward gait caused by the shorter skirt length had already become natural, and wandering the streets in school clothes no longer felt strange.
Now anyone who looked at me would see the most perfect female maid in this world.
Hawawa… Atashi, the super perfect☆maid-chan…
“Blanc, what are you thinking about this time?”
“Nothing of importance, my lady.”
Hmm… Once the entrance ceremony is over, I may need another round of mental conditioning. The conditioning is so strong that weird speech patterns keep trying to slip out without my noticing.
Huh!?
After my admission to the Academy was decided, I had taken time to organize the events and characters that appeared in the original story. Years had passed since I quit the game, so most of the details were gone, but the major plot points still stuck with me.
The Holy Swordswoman’s first appearance, for example, was a scene I could recall without any effort at all.
In the original, the protagonist first appears by rescuing an extra who has been caught up in a runaway magic tool…
“Hey! You there—white-haired girl! Look out!”
“Hm?”
Oh. While I had been spacing out and walking, I finally noticed the automatic carriage barreling toward me from behind. The driverless vehicle was tearing down the street as if it had gone berserk, exhaust pipes spitting fierce flames.
There was still enough distance to dodge, but I was wearing a school uniform. I couldn’t move recklessly. Walking in the uniform had become natural; violent motion had not. If I moved wrong, people might see the panties under my skirt.
No matter how used I had grown to showing the uniform itself, I had no intention of showing anyone my underwear. As the super perfect☆maid Blanc-chan, I must always maintain an elegant appearance.
“Bokja.”
“Blanc! Hurry and ge—huh?”
BOOM!
So I simply hid inside Bokja. Before the automatic carriage could hit me, I slipped into Bokja’s body and safely avoided the collision. The out-of-control vehicle tumbled across the ground for quite a distance, but since it was a magic tool manufactured in Lyceum, the driver would be fine. Surely the Association wouldn’t sell a product without any safety measures?
“Blanc, are you all right?”
“Yes, my lady. Thank you for your concern.”
My lady, who had been walking beside me, looked startled by the sudden accident, yet her voice remained relatively calm when she checked on me—she knew I would never be injured by something so trivial.
“That’s a relief. But… didn’t something else just go flying past, besides the carriage?”
“Pardon? Did it? I’m sorry, I didn’t notice.”
“Mm, never mind. If you didn’t see it, I must have imagined it. The Association staff will handle everything here anyway. No point getting more involved and risking being late for the entrance ceremony. Let’s just keep going.”
“Yes, my lady.”
Yet this scene feels familiar somehow…
An oddly familiar sense of déjà vu made me wonder whether I had experienced something like this before. No matter how hard I thought, however, this was the first time I had ever been through such an incident.
Mmm, must be my imagination!
Hawawa…
“Blanc?”
Huh!?
“Ow, ow, ow…”
Bargan’s Holy Swordswoman, Chelrn, rubbed her forehead that had been planted into a wall as she trudged along. The conspicuously swollen red mark on her brow and the dust covering her entire body made her look thoroughly miserable despite the Academy uniform she wore.
“Ugh… I shouldn’t have stuck my nose in…”
There was a sad reason she had knocked herself unconscious against a wall.
About twenty minutes earlier—
“Hey! You there—white-haired girl! Look out!”
While sightseeing near the Academy, Chelrn had happened to spot a runaway carriage-type magic tool. Flames belched from its exhaust as it charged down the street, and standing directly in its path was a beautiful girl with striking white hair.
The girl turned at Chelrn’s shout and finally noticed the oncoming vehicle—yet she simply stood frozen in place, staring at it. Panic, maybe?
“Miss! Hurry and ge—huh?”
If nothing was done, that girl would be badly hurt. Unable to let that happen, Chelrn threw herself toward her, intending to shove the girl out of the way and take the hit herself.
“Guh—!?”
But the girl she had meant to push vanished in an instant. Chelrn ended up diving into empty air and was sent flying by the carriage.
“Ah… life.”
Mortifying. So mortifying she wanted to run away somewhere right that second. So mortifying she wanted to go home, burrow under her blanket, and kick it in frustration. She had charged out alone to save a girl, only to get hit by the carriage and black out—all by herself.
If any of her comrades had seen it, Chelrn would have submitted her resignation on the spot and quit being a Holy Swordswoman.
“Still… at least I won’t be late for the entrance ceremony.”
She pulled a pocket watch from her coat and checked the time.
Nine-fifty.
Cutting it close, but she would still make it to the Academy’s entrance ceremony. Even if she had been caught up in an unfortunate incident, arriving late on the very first day would leave a terrible impression. Chelrn counted herself lucky that the worst had not come to pass and hurried toward the Academy.
…What she did not know was that the accident moments earlier had stopped her watch for roughly ten minutes.
The entrance ceremony had already begun.