The Woman Who Assigned a Price

"Explain."

Serena took another step closer. Silver hair stirred in the morning alley.

I stood my ground. Yesterday I would have backed away from that distance. Now my feet stayed planted. This body could afford to stay planted.

"What would you have me explain?"

"I couldn't sleep last night."

She seemed startled by her own words. Her lips closed, then opened again.

"...No. I did sleep. I slept, and it still felt like I hadn't. When I closed my eyes I saw this alley, and when I opened them I was already here. I stood in front of the inn for three hours."

"Three hours."

"Don't laugh."

"I wasn't laughing."

"The corner of your mouth went up."

That was true.

Serena gripped her own forearm with a gloved hand. Not so much holding it as pinning it in place.

"None of the magic I know works like this. A charm leaves traces, and I can detect those. There's nothing."

"There wouldn't be. It isn't magic."

"Then what is it."

I had to sort what I couldn't say from what I could. Show this woman the status window as it was and she would not let me live. House Valentine does not try to understand the incomprehensible — they erase it. That line of dialogue came up about three times in the game.

"Yesterday, my lady, you assigned me a price."

"We're done with that."

"We're not. That's the answer."

Serena closed her mouth.

"People don't remember someone they've already priced for very long. But they remember someone they couldn't put a price on. Yesterday, my lady, you made a transaction that wouldn't take a number for the first time. That's what kept you up all night."

"Sophistry."

"If I'm wrong, you can go back right now."

Serena did not go back.

After a long while, she spoke.

"Last night was a contract. Not emotion."

"I agree."

"That was too fast."

"Is being quick a problem?"

She started to say something more, then stopped. Instead she drew an envelope from her coat and held it out. The wax seal bore the crest of House Valentine.

"The Academy's supplementary examination is today. You can't sit it without a sponsor's signature."

"Don't get the wrong idea."

Serena cut in before anything else could form.

"I'm doing this because you need to stay alive until you find the eleven. Nothing more."

I took the envelope. Our fingertips brushed for a moment, and she pulled her hand back first.

She had turned and gone about three steps when she stopped.

"Kael."

It was the first time she had used my name.

"Don't look at me like that after today."

"Like what, exactly?"

"If you don't know, that's fine."

The Royal Academy examination hall sat at the top of thirty-two marble steps.

I reached the top without losing my breath. Yesterday, this body would have folded at the tenth. So this was what a Strength of 38 felt like.

About twenty people stood in line at the reception desk. All of them wore silk or leather. I was the only one in washed-out hemp. A few gazes caught on me, then slid off.

My turn came.

"Name."

"Kael Arden."

The clerk scanned the register. Top to bottom once. Then again.

"You're not here."

"I have a sponsorship signature from House Valentine."

I held out the envelope. The clerk checked the seal, his expression tightening slightly, then looked at the register again.

"Not here."

"Please check again."

"I said you're not here."

Laughter came from behind me.

"Arden? That name still exists?"

I turned. A man in a navy academy uniform stood with his arms crossed, two more at his side. Memory supplied the rest. Cayden Lovell. Second son of a viscount. In the game he was a background character who didn't even get a name.

"His older brother died last year and the family records ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠were cleaned up. The registration should've been expunged."

Cayden tipped his chin ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠toward the clerk.

"I saw it in the archives yesterday. House Arden, baronial line — processed for erasure."

The clerk's face shifted into understanding.

"You heard him. You have no standing. Next."

"Who processed those documents?"

I asked.

Cayden snorted.

"I don't think I'm the one who should be answering questions. Looks like you chased Lady Valentine around just to scrape up a sponsor's signature — but a signature doesn't help if the person doesn't exist."

Low laughter circulated around us.

I let it wash over me.

Shout here and I would be thrown out. Throw a punch and it was prison. Memory was very clear on what happened in this world when a man with no status struck a man who had it.

So I spoke to the clerk again.

"The child of an expunged house may sit the examination as a commoner. Academy Charter, Article Four."

The clerk looked up.

"The commoner examination requires two sponsors and an immediate practical test. One is House Valentine. The other is Viscount Lovell's house."

"What?"

Cayden's arms uncrossed.

"Just now, Lord Lovell publicly testified that he accessed my family records. An access record is construed as intent to sponsor. Charter Article Four, Supplementary Clause Two."

"There's no such—"

"There is."

There was. It comes up in the Academy trial event in the late game. I have no idea why the developers put it in, but I watched that dialogue three times.

The clerk pulled a worn booklet from under the register and flipped through it. The sound of turning pages was unusually loud.

A long moment later, he looked at Cayden.

"There is."

Cayden's face went red.

"This is wordplay. I have no intention of—"

"Will you withdraw, then?"

I asked.

"Withdrawing sponsorship after declaring intent in public incurs a penalty. Twenty gold coins. That's in the Charter as well."

Cayden opened his mouth, then closed it.

I turned back to the clerk.

"I'll take the immediate practical examination."

The practical grounds were a circular yard spread with sand.

The examiner tossed me a wooden sword. My opponent was a third-year assistant. The standard was simple. Last thirty seconds and you pass.

"Don't expect me to go easy."

the assistant said.

The first exchange left my wrist ringing. The second caught my shoulder. Strength of 38 or not, I had never learned the sword.

From the stands, I heard Cayden laugh.

On the third exchange, I simply took the hit.

On purpose. I had seen this assistant's pattern in the game. No name, but I had fought him as a tutorial opponent maybe ten times. After three thrusts he always pivots a half-step to the left. Habit. And at the end of that half-step, his left flank is open.

Fourth exchange.

Thrust one. Two. Three. Then the half-step.

I threw myself in the direction he was turning. Not swordsmanship — just a body check. A frame carrying a Strength of 38 drove into the assistant's ribs.

He went down in the sand.

The yard went quiet.

I set the wooden sword against his throat and counted twenty-four seconds.

When the thirty seconds were up, I lifted the blade. Then I offered my hand.

The assistant looked at it for a moment, then took it and stood.

"What did you say your name was."

"Kael Arden."

"I'll remember ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it."

I didn't look toward the stands.

A window floated in front of my eyes.

Serena's laboratory was on the fourth floor of the West Tower.

The summons came as the sun was tilting down. A lower-year student thrust a slip of paper at me and fled. The note held a single word.

When I opened the door, the smell of herbs met me. Three walls were books. Experimental instruments sat on the desk by the window. Serena was seated at the desk.

"I heard you passed."

"Thanks to you."

"It wasn't thanks to me. Article Four of the Charter, I hear."

"Without your signature I wouldn't have made it past the reception desk."

Serena set down her pen.

"Sit."

I sat. She was silent for a while, then pushed a glass vial across the desk. The liquid inside glowed faintly.

"Mana attunement reagent. Dip your finger."

I dipped it.

The liquid turned a deep violet.

Serena's eyes widened. When someone who rarely shows emotion opens their eyes that wide, it is a fairly large event.

"If you'd done this yesterday, it wouldn't have changed color at all."

"I imagine not."

"Attunement can't climb like this overnight."

"I think the same."

Serena stood. She came around the desk and stopped in front of me.

"Something's wrong on my end, too."

She raised her right hand. Mana gathered at her fingertips, then scattered. The gathering was strangely slow.

"I dropped my sword three times in morning training. I haven't dropped a sword since I was twelve."

"I can't concentrate. Whatever I do, it goes back to yesterday."

Serena looked down at me. From this angle her eyes were unmistakably closer to gray. They only looked violet when the sunset came in through the window.

"I need to confirm it one more time."

"Confirm what?"

"Whether yesterday was an accident, or"

The words broke off. She chose a breath.

"whether the conditions hold."

"My lady."

"It's a contract."

Serena cut in.

"Not emotion. Verification. If the second result matches the first, it isn't coincidence — it's a law. I need to know the law before I can move."

Her ears were red. She didn't seem to know it.

"Don't misunderstand. I—"

"My lady."

I cut her off.

"Your hands are shaking."

Serena looked down at her own hands. Then she hid them behind her back. Not the sort of thing you'd expect from someone who hadn't dropped a sword since she was twelve.

"...Yesterday I set the terms."

"You did."

"Today you set them."

"Me?"

"You said a transaction takes both sides."

She lifted her eyes. Sunset came through the window, and the gray turned violet again.

I didn't know what to say, so I said the truth.

"I want to use your name."

Serena's shoulders went rigid.

"That's the condition?"

"Yes."

"That's all."

"It isn't 'all' to me."

She looked at me for a long time. Then she cleared the glass vial from the desk. She pushed the instruments aside, set the pen in the inkwell, and slid the chair in. The hands doing the tidying were slower than usual.

When everything was put away, she walked to the window and drew the curtain.

I said her name.

The hand on the curtain stopped.

"...Once more."

The sunset faded and the room went dark.

Serena moved first.

She came toward me and undid the buttons of my uniform jacket one by one. Her hands were trembling, faintly. Black underclothes came into view. Unlike yesterday, I didn't reach first. This was a verification she wanted.

Serena took my hand and brought it to her waist. Skin that had been cold was already flushed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠with heat. I gripped the waist of her skirt and drew it down slowly. Her undergarments showed. The center was already wet, darkened with a stain.

"Because it's verification."

Serena said, low. It sounded like she was talking to herself.

"It isn't emotion."

I didn't answer. Instead I pushed the crotch of her undergarments aside and slid a finger in. Hot, and slick. A short breath escaped her. Her hips tipped slightly forward.

"Hah..."

When I added a second finger, the inside tightened. Serena braced a hand on my shoulder for balance. Silver hair brushed my face. I moved my fingers slowly, exploring inward. Her response was faster than yesterday. Her body seemed to already remember.

Serena pulled my trousers down herself. When what had hardened came into view, she looked down at it for a while. Then she wrapped her hand around it and stroked slowly up and down. Her palm was hot.

"Today... I'll take the bottom."

She lay back on the bed first. She spread her legs and looked at me. Gray irises were stained violet in the afterglow. I moved between them and set the tip against her entrance.

I pushed in slowly.

Serena's back arched. Her lips parted and a thin moan slipped out. The inside took me more easily than yesterday. When I was fully in, her legs wrapped around my waist.

"Move."

It was a command. But her voice was shaking.

I drew my hips back and drove in deep again. Wet sounds filled the room. Serena clutched the sheets, trying to hold in her moans. When she couldn't, she bit her lip. I increased the pace, little by little. I could see her breasts swaying inside the uniform. I lifted a hand and gripped one over the fabric.

"Hah... Kael..."

She said my name. Different from yesterday. Serena pulled me in by the back, lifting her hips to take me deeper. The inside grew hotter, tighter.

I shifted, lifting one of her legs onto my shoulder. The change in angle made Serena's eyes go wide. The sensation of going deeper. She tried to keep her mouth shut and swallow the sound, but a thin cry broke out of her anyway.

"Ah—! There... that's too..."

I sped up. The sound of flesh meeting flesh grew louder. Serena's nails dug into my back. The inside suddenly began to contract violently. She twisted her hips as she peaked. Hot fluid spilled out, wetting where we were joined.

Feeling that clench, I thrust hard to the end. Serena's body shuddered once more, hard. I came deep inside her just like that. The sensation of heat pouring out. Serena buried her face in my shoulder and let out a long breath.

We stayed like that for a long while.

Serena's heartbeat came through against my chest, rapid. Silver hair, damp with sweat, clung to my skin. She slowly unwrapped her legs. As we separated, white fluid ran down her thigh.

"......Verification complete."

Her voice was hoarse.

"It still... isn't emotion."

I didn't answer. Serena gathered her clothes and dressed with her back turned. Her ears were still red.

By the time I came down the West Tower stairs, the night was well along.

I hadn't known the system reported things like that.

When I stepped off the last stair, something red moved at the far end of the corridor.

Hair.

Red hair, red eyes. A woman who had been leaning against the wall straightened when she saw me. Her uniform sleeves were rolled to the elbows, and a pattern like a burn scar lingered faintly on the bared forearm.

Lillian Hart.

The game's second heroine. A flame-magic genius, and Serena Valentine's childhood friend.

"You."

Lillian came closer.

"You just came out of Serena's lab."

"I did."

"You were in there three hours. I counted from outside."

She stopped in front of me. She was a full head shorter, and somehow it still didn't feel like she was looking up.

"Serena dropped her sword at the training grounds today. Three times."

"She hasn't done that once in ten years. Ten years."

Heat rose from Lillian's fingertips. The air in the corridor shimmered. The flames in the wall lanterns bent toward her.

"I don't know what you did."

Another step.

"Stay away from Serena."

"And if I refuse?"

The words were out before I could stop them.

Lillian's eyes narrowed.

"What?"

"Her ladyship summoned me. I didn't go looking for her. If you want someone to stay away, perhaps you should take that up with your childhood friend."

The corridor lanterns flared all at once.

Lillian's red eyes gleamed in the heat. She was smiling. The smile wasn't funny at all, and the back of my neck went cold.

"Name."

"Kael Arden."

"Kael Arden."

She chewed my name slowly.

"If I see you anywhere near Serena one more time."

The fire at her fingertips went out. The corridor went suddenly dark.