Entrance Ceremony (1)
Three days had passed since I began the communal dormitory life with Ethan and Isabel.
Unlike every other morning so far, I had woken up a little earlier than usual today and was already getting ready to head out.
Because today was the day of the academy's freshman entrance ceremony.
For the record, at Ethan's and Isabel's earnest insistence, we had agreed that I would change clothes in the servants' waiting room where Isabel stayed. Something about how the only thing that actually mattered was the sleeping arrangements, so there was no need to show them the rest of my getting-dressed routine as well.
It did seem like a reasonable point when I thought about it, so I accepted it without any real objection. It wasn't as though my changing clothes there would cramp Isabel's living space any more than it already was.
And besides, with me in a separate room, Ethan could change without feeling my eyes on his back.
"Today's your first day of school, isn't it, Lilith?"
"Yep."
"It feels like only yesterday we were working as junior maids together at the Blackwood estate, and now you're enrolling at the academy of all places…."
"Honestly, I can't quite believe it either."
Even I had never imagined that I—the person inhabiting Lilith's body—would end up enrolling at Luminor Academy, and in the Magic Department no less, the one that admitted only nobility.
Right after I transmigrated, I had thrown everything I had into nothing more than avoiding the bad endings, and now here I was, actually wearing the academy uniform. It stirred up a strange mix of feelings.
"Oh, by the way, Lilith?"
"Hmm?"
"That thing you're wearing—is that actually the academy uniform?"
"Why? Is something wrong with it?"
"Wrong isn't quite the word… it just looks a little different from the academy uniform, somehow."
Isabel offered her lukewarm verdict as she studied my outfit.
Well, I had worn it once and then made some adjustments, that much was true.
Not the cut-it-down-and-tailor-it approach a Korean middle or high schooler might take with a uniform, mind you—I'd modified it in a rather different way, adding a few elements instead. To the existing academy uniform, I had attached some white fabric with a distinctly maid-like feel, and wrapped a white corset belt around my waist.
"If I don't dress something like this, people might not be able to tell that I'm Master Ethan's exclusive maid."
"So you wanted to advertise that you're his maid? I mean, sure—anyone who looks at you will take one glance at that outfit and think 'maid.'"
"Then it's done its job. The academy doesn't punish you as long as you don't outright destroy the original uniform, so this much should slide."
"Personally, I don't see why you'd need to go that far just to emphasize that you're a maid… but hey, it's your choice, Lilith."
I let Isabel's worried parting remark slide right off me as I fastened my ever-present white headdress onto my head one last time.
Once I was dressed like this and glued to Ethan's side, anyone would recognize me at a glance as his personal maid. Which meant there wouldn't be a single ambiguous noble left willing to pick a fight with me over nothing but my baron's-daughter status.
In other words, I had done everything in my power to prepare.
"Then I'll be off to the entrance ceremony with Master Ethan. Since it's just the ceremony today, I might even be back a little early."
"Oh, right! Don't worry about me—you two take your time and have a good one!"
"…A good one?"
…Well, I suppose an academy entrance ceremony does count as a good time.
Brushing past Isabel's vaguely troubling words, I left the servants' waiting room and returned to the wide master bedroom.
There, already changed into his academy uniform, Ethan was waiting for me.
A white dress shirt and red tie, a navy uniform worn crisply from collar to hem. And the black cloak of House Blackwood draped over his shoulders announced his station beyond any doubt.
Perhaps because he'd always been a boy of black hair and black eyes, the darker palette genuinely suited him.
There were faint traces of a sleepless night under his eyes, though—had he tossed and turned for some reason last night?
"Are you finished preparing, Master Ethan?"
"…Yes, Lilith. You're later than— hm. Than I expected."
"What seems to be the matter, Master Ethan?"
"…Did you make that outfit yourself?"
"Yes. I added a few elements to the standard uniform in order to attach my own symbolism to it."
"…And you intend to walk in wearing that headdress and lace straps?"
"Without them, people might fail to recognize that I am your exclusive maid, Master Ethan. Surely you see the problem."
"……"
Ethan sank into a chair and gazed up at me, looking as though an entire speech were queuing up behind his teeth.
But he didn't say a word of reprimand. He simply rose from his seat and began readying himself to go out.
…If you have something to say, then say it. Why get worked up enough to start a sentence and then swallow it?
"Well… if it's what Lilith wants."
"The ceremony will be held in the First Grand Hall, Master Ethan."
"Yes, I heard as much yesterday."
"Have a safe trip, Master Ethan! And you too, Lilith!"
Leaving Isabel to see us off at the dormitory, we set out together for the First Grand Hall, where the entrance ceremony was to take place.
…This time, at last, I'll get a proper look.
At just how closely the story of Luminor Academy was still hewing to the original game.
For all its grand name, the academy's entrance ceremony wasn't any particularly special or spectacular event.
Its entire purpose was to announce who was entering which department, so that players could roughly extrapolate how the game's later story would unfold. That was more or less the whole of it.
After watching the endings of Luminor Academy five times through, I usually just held down the X button and skipped the cutscenes.
…Today, however, was different. This was one ceremony I genuinely needed to sit through with my full attention.
Since I hadn't been able to intervene in the other characters' pre-story arcs as the player this time around, I needed to confirm exactly where and how their storylines had gone off the rails.
If the person who transmigrated into the protagonist had made a habit of interfering in characters' backstories, it was fairly common for a few names on the valedictorian and salutatorian lists to shift at the entrance ceremony.
Say, for instance, using the protagonist's pre-story meddling to delay 'Thomas of the Wind Spear'—the spear department's valedictorian—by a full year of enrollment.
Or getting 'Silena the Divine Archer,' who under normal circumstances would never have left the Forest of the World Tree, to enroll as the marksmanship department's top student.
With enough preparation, you could steer whoever you wanted through the front gates and glide through the rest of the story on easy mode—or, just as easily, retire every character essential to the plot before they ever enrolled and crank the difficulty straight into hell.
All I could do was pray that the lunatic who'd saddled himself with the name Gehwa-joses-gigwat hadn't been only interested in trolling.
"The students I call now are the valedictorians and salutatorians of each department. Those named, please come up to the stage."
As those words rang through the hall, the emcee of the entrance ceremony began reading out the new students' names one by one.
The first student called, just as in the game, was the valedictorian of the Swordsmanship Department.
"Swordsmanship Department valedictorian, Gehwa-joses-gigwat Volt."
Well, that much I'd expected. If you transmigrated into the protagonist and enrolled in the Swordsmanship Department, taking the top spot was simply the baseline.
Either way, it meant the protagonist had a solid foundation of combat ability—not bad news, all things considered. …Though I was a little miffed that Ethan hadn't claimed the top rank.
"Salutatorian, Ethan Richard Blackwood."
"Congratulations, Master Ethan."
"…I'll be back."
With a strangely relieved look on his face at having his name called for the second slot, Ethan walked out onto the stage with his shoulders squared.
So judging from that expression, he really had been worried he might not even manage the salutatorian position.
Besides, I'd already confirmed some time ago that Nathalie and Caraham were enrolling in the Swordsmanship Department this year, so Ethan taking second place threw no wrench into my plans. Those three—including Ethan—were the only characters whose roles would meaningfully shape the story from within that department.
"Spear Department valedictorian, Thomas Jameson."
…So, no trolling, at least.
For the record, Thomas was, by the game's lore, the childhood friend of Nathalie—my absolute favorite character. Whatever sins I might have committed against the rest of the cast in my past life, I had racked up a decent body count against Thomas alone.
Deliberately using pre-story manipulation to keep him from enrolling in the same year as Nathalie, then filling the empty seat beside her during that lonely friendless year and winning her over—that was the core of the Nathalie route.
It was all in a past life, and if you wanted to split hairs, it all happened inside a game besides. No real reason to feel guilty about it.
"Marksmanship Department valedictorian, Silena Isolde."
"…Huh?"
Hold on. Silena?
If Silena was enrolling this year, that meant this Gehwa-joses-gigwat guy had detoured through the Forest of the World Tree during the prologue story.
It was honestly astonishing, in about seven different ways, that this Gehwa-whatever lunatic had been so remarkably diligent about getting around.
Is he seriously trying to complete the entire game? Or maybe Silena's just his favorite character and he brought her along for that reason….
She was the sole elf heroine of Luminor Academy, after all—among elf enthusiasts, she commanded an overwhelming, unassailable popularity.
Questions still lingered on every front, but the mere fact that Silena had enrolled was a thoroughly positive omen.
With her around, we could get through the Hunting Festival event in the middle of the second arc accepting only minimal casualties. Granted, the protagonist's own capabilities would factor into that too.
From that point on, the emcee on stage continued announcing the valedictorians and salutatorians of each department, one name after another.
And within that stream of names, I picked out the familiar faces of Luminor Academy one by one.
Seraphine, the 'Moon Shadow Princess,' enrolled as both the Martial Arts Department's valedictorian and the overall top student of her class. Agnes, 'Hellfire,' valedictorian of the Magic Department. Luke, Seraphine's shadow-guard knight, salutatorian of the Technical Department. And Lara, the 'Witch,' valedictorian of the Pharmacy Department.
Nothing had gone off the rails from the original story—if anything, everything so far was better than canon. I was in the middle of allowing myself a brief sigh of relief when—
A name from the Pharmacy Department's salutatorian slot snapped my hard-won peace of mind wide awake.
"Salutatorian, Lizzie Lyn Auguste."
…What.
No. Why are you here?