Shattered Quest Window

"Thank you for your hard work, Lord Leopold. It was a wonderful speech."

Leopold gave a single nod, accepting my greeting.

"Mm, thank you, Sophia. By the way..."

Leopold glanced around briefly before leaning in to whisper quietly.

"Among the freshmen, I caught sight of Sophia's older brother. That is, Arwen."

"Oh my, is that so?"

Of course, I already knew without him telling me. After all, the siblings had even engaged in a rather friendly snowball fight with their eyes. And this idiot was spouting some truly pathetic nonsense.

"I feel bad saying this about Sophia's brother, but I really have to doubt whether he's the womanizer you described. That scrawny body that looks like it couldn't even grip a sword properly, and that delicate, almost girlish face... Haha."

Leopold let out a stupid laugh as he walked past me. I stared at the back of his head with icy eyes.

'You really felt that way after seeing Arwen? As expected, you have terrible judgment when it comes to people.'

It seemed Leopold hadn't noticed the warrior's fighting spirit hidden in Arwen's eyes—or rather, the emperor's ambition. The exchange we'd shared in the auditorium had been nothing more than a brief meeting of gazes, but I had seen it clearly. The Arwen I remembered from before leaving the mansion and the Arwen who had enrolled in the academy were completely different people. He'd grown dull while cooped up in the Reinhardt Mansion, but breaking through Mother and Masha's meticulously laid plans to come to the academy couldn't have been a mere coincidence. I didn't know what had triggered it, but there had clearly been a massive change in Arwen's personality and abilities.

'Still, there's nothing to worry about. In the end, the one who wins is me.'

"Lady Sophia, shall we get going? Lord Alberto will be waiting."

Thanks to Tania's voice calling me, I had to set aside my thoughts about Arwen for now.

"Alright. I'm coming."

I instantly smoothed out my sharpened expression and answered Tania.

"What were you thinking about so deeply, Vice President?"

Tania asked with a curious look.

"Hehe, it's a secret."

I smiled at the puzzled Tania and left the auditorium together with my student council colleagues.

* * *

It was only a short while after leaving Friedrich Palace and settling into the carriage headed for the dormitory that we arrived. The dormitory where I would be staying was called Astrea Hall. It was named after a knight famous for swordsmanship, just like Arwen's ancestor Reinhardt. The setting was that Astrea Hall housed students who had scored highly in the swordsmanship portion of the entrance exam. Perhaps because of that, both male and female students with bulging muscles were scattered throughout the entrance. Not exactly my type.

Unexpectedly, I also spotted Josef, the one I'd briefly spoken with earlier. Despite his bookish, model-student mage appearance, it seemed he had some talent for swordsmanship after all.

'Well, I'm hardly in a position to judge anyone. To others, a skinny guy like me would probably look even stranger than Josef.'

My body was scrawny and I had zero skills related to swords. If others found out, they'd definitely suspect irregular admission. Just then, Josef must have noticed me—his ears twitched. It was obvious at a glance that he found me uncomfortable. Well, I was the one who made it that way. I quietly ignored Josef and entered the dormitory.

Astrea Hall was a dormitory in name only. Inside and out, it felt more like a European castle renovated into a five-star hotel. The four-story building was divided into the East Wing and West Wing. The East Wing was for men, the West Wing for women. My room was 207 in the East Wing.

'Too bad. If it were next to the girls' rooms, I could've had some refined exchanges with the noble ladies.'

In a place full of hot-blooded youths, it would be strange not to have some mischief. Of course, it was precisely because of students with such impure thoughts that the male and female buildings were separated.

All dormitory rooms were single occupancy. When I opened the door to my assigned room, it was a bit smaller than the one I'd used at the mansion, but it was still tastefully filled with expensive-looking furniture. On the glossy brown wooden desk sat the bag I'd handed to the staff earlier. The bottles containing Masha and Raibel's love juices were still safely inside.

Seeing the bottles brought back the dizzying memories from earlier.

"Hoo... Thank God."

I offered a prayer of gratitude to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the divine for successfully smuggling women's love juices into the school dormitory without any trouble. Though whether prayers from this world would be answered was questionable.

According to the dormitory staff's explanation, breakfast would be delivered directly to the room based on the student's preference. If cleaning was requested the day before, the mansion's maids would thoroughly clean the room the next morning while the student was in class. Unlike the old days when I had to desperately hide my lewd items every single day because I never knew when someone might enter, this was on a completely different level of comfort.

"Haaam~ I'm tired... Damn it, my whole body aches like I went wrestling."

I threw my exhausted body onto the bed covered with a silky quilt. After the long carriage journey, my pathetic body with only 14 strength points had already reached its limit long ago. The moment I lay down on the soft bed, all the tension melted away. Today, I wanted to savor this fluffy feeling and just fall into a deep, comfortable sleep right like this.

* * *

"11:30! Professor Helena's one-handed sword practical class is about to begin. New students wishing to observe, please come this way!"

"Professor Veridot's horsemanship class! This is a prerequisite for the monster riding class that will be held in the second semester. Those interested, please write your name on this list!"

"The lecture on the fundamentals of mana projectiles by Betelgeuse, chief mage of the Tower of Magic, is about to begin! It will be held in a classroom on the second floor of Reinhardt Palace. Very few seats remain. Those wishing to register, please hurry!"

It was a peaceful morning with the sun high in the sky, yet the atmosphere at the academy was anything but peaceful. The central plaza was so bustling with energetic solicitation that it felt like a marketplace. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠The people enthusiastically promoting classes to students in the academy's signature white uniforms were, naturally, not the professors themselves. Professors were creatures overflowing with pride in their own abilities. There was no way such people would personally solicit wet-behind-the-ears students to attend their classes.

The ones working hard to promote classes to the freshmen were upperclassmen from a few years ahead—commonly called apprentice instructors. In simple terms, apprentice instructors were like the teaching assistants or graduate students we're all familiar with. Our poor graduate students—no, apprentice instructors—were diligently recruiting freshmen on behalf of the professors they served. Seeing them all looking haggard, it seemed that suffering as a grad student was the same whether in the modern world or a fantasy one.

They were nobles who had dreamed of becoming professors and entered under their wings, only to end up doing all sorts of menial tasks. Of course, I had no intention of mocking them. It was simply a poor choice on their part. In any case, while those pitiful people were desperately promoting classes, I was in the comfortable position of choosing freely.

I had woken up leisurely around 8 a.m., enjoyed a breakfast worthy of a five-star hotel that the maid had brought, then took the carriage prepared by the dormitory to come here. With a light heart, I was browsing various classes for observation. In the short three hours since arriving at the plaza, I had already signed up for four classes.

Freshmen in their first semester at the academy could take a total of five classes. Among them, humanities and history were mandatory for all students. The faith class run by the empire's state religion, the Elysia Church, was nominally optional, but unless one was a clueless fool, everyone signed up. In a place where one's political enemies might be watching, there wasn't a single stupid noble who would openly declare themselves a non-believer who didn't believe in Elysia. Knowing this, I had already registered for humanities, history, the Elysia Church faith class, and Professor Helena's one-handed sword theory and practical class. I'd carefully arranged my schedule to have some personal time between classes.

I never imagined the timetable-planning skills I'd picked up during my pathetic university days of just wasting tuition would shine here. I had only one class slot left. There were countless options, but I already had one half-decided in my mind. It was the magic class I'd just observed—Professor Betelgeuse's Fundamentals of Projectiles. It was a class where I could learn offensive magic using projectiles.

While I did want to learn magic, the biggest advantage of taking this class was that it would increase my chances of meeting Aries, Arwen's childhood friend and a heroine. Even while observing the class, my eyes had been drawn more to Aries's back in the distance than to Betelgeuse's drooping beard. Her straight black hair, glossy like silk under the ceiling lights, and the pink flower-shaped ornament decorating it. It was definitely the back of Aries, who had conquered countless dungeons alongside Arwen. And right now, before clashing with Sophia in earnest, I was attempting to make contact with Aries to gain an ally.

As soon as Professor Betelgeuse's observation class ended, I caught Aries as she was about to leave the classroom.

"Excuse me, miss. Could I speak with you for a moment?"

I endured the cringing feeling from the unfamiliar line and spoke as politely as possible. Hearing my voice, Aries turned around and looked at me.

"Yes?... Wait, Arwen. It's Arwen, right?"

A refreshing smile bloomed on Aries's face as she recognized her childhood friend's features. In a soft voice that matched her smile, she said,

"It's been a while, Arwen. It's been five years since Lady Isabel's birthday party at the mansion, hasn't it?"

"Has it really been that long already? It's been a while, Aries. I missed you."

I smoothly continued from her words. Even though it was just a casual greeting between friends saying I'd missed her, a faint blush spread across Aries's cheeks. And of course, I didn't miss it.

'This... is off to a good start, isn't it?'

From the very first meeting in the game, Aries's favorability toward Arwen had started at a certain point or higher. That's why she was one of the easier heroines to capture. And it seemed that trait carried over perfectly into this world of the adult game.

"You'll be taking classes with me this time too, right?"

Aries said, taking a step closer to me.

'This time too? Did the two of them learn something together in the past?'

It was the first I'd heard of it, but I didn't know every detail of Arwen's life. In the end, I figured it must be backstory that didn't appear in the game and nodded to Aries.

"That's right. I was just about to register for Professor Betelgeuse's class."

At that, Aries hugged the book she was holding tightly to her chest with a look of relief. The book with a complex magic circle on its cover sank deeply into her voluptuous breasts, which couldn't be hidden even by her school uniform. What an enviable book.

"Hehe, that's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠great. I was hoping I'd get to meet Arwen once I came to the academy. For that wish to actually come true—I should thank the gods."

"Really? Haha..."

With a line straight out of a shoujo manga that raised every possible flag, Aries closed the remaining distance until there was barely a single step between us. Her soft, moist-looking lips captured my gaze. Aries gave a farewell to me as I stood there dazed, captivated by her beauty.

"Sorry, Arwen. I was the one who held you up when I need to hurry and register. We'll definitely meet again in class tomorrow, okay?"

"Y-yeah? Sure. Let's continue our unfinished conversation tomorrow. I have a lot I want to tell you, Aries."

"Hehe, I'll be looking forward to it, Arwen."

With one last captivating smile, Aries walked away with light steps. She disappeared from my sight along with the two girls who had been watching us with silly grins the entire time.

The moment Aries vanished from view, my first quest at the academy finally arrived.

"...What the hell is this?"

My voice rose as I checked the broken quest window that had appeared before me. It was only natural that the gazes of those around me would turn toward the man suddenly shouting into thin air in the middle of the hallway. In the end, I had to move to the end of an empty corridor to escape the strange looks.

There, I summoned the shattered quest window once again. Sure enough, the text was broken as if struck by an invisible hammer. It looked exactly like when a bug occurs in a game and the text gets corrupted.

"Don't tell me there's a bug even in reality?"

The developers of our Elysia Story weren't gods of coding. Naturally, bugs were bound to appear once or twice while playing the game. I could understand that much. But damn it, did I really have to suffer from bugs even after possessing the game? Couldn't they just let me enjoy a comfortable sex life in peace?

On top of that, the failure penalty—which might be the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠most important thing in the current situation—wasn't displaying properly either. The failure penalty was a rule that had existed since the prologue, after leaving the mansion and entering the academy chapter. If you failed to complete the quest within the time limit, the character would receive a penalty. In some cases, it permanently lowered stats or applied special debuff effects. But the failure penalty for Aries's quest was just [Unknown] [Unknown] [Unknown]. No matter how I tried to read it, it only showed as three squares.

'Fuck, what the hell is this! At least show me one letter so I can try to guess!'

The moment I glared at the bizarre quest window riddled with holes like a CIA classified document and exploded internally—

"Student Arwen, do you have a moment?"

"Y-yes?"

My neck muscles tensed sharply when my name was suddenly called from behind. I turned my stiff head without even thinking to pick up the class registration form I'd dropped in surprise. The owner of the voice who had called me was a woman wearing a robe that dragged along the floor.