Whose Hand Will the Goddess of Victory Grasp? #1
I had been kicked out of the student council dormitory, so the first order of business was solving my housing problem.
Shelter, food, clothing. All three were important, but on Ludens, where night fell quickly, securing a place to stay was the highest priority.
Fortunately, the benevolent gods who created Ludens had prepared an abundance of dormitory facilities for students.
Ordinary residents of Ludens Island might not qualify, but as a student, I had the right to stay in relatively better and cheaper dormitories.
“Dormitory? Victor, are you seriously asking me if there’s a room available in the regular student dorms?”
“That is correct.”
“Pfft.”
Laughter erupted from every direction.
The students working at the regular dormitory’s management office seemed to find it incredibly amusing that I had shown up asking for a room.
“Did you guys hear that? The guy who used to stand as stiff as an iron rod is now bowing his head in front of us.”
“Correction. I have not bowed my head.”
When I stared at him with a blunt expression, the chubby student who had been mocking me flinched in surprise.
“I-I just meant it that way. But unfortunately, there’s no room for you, Victor. None of us here are going to give you a room.”
What? The dormitory was talking back?
I had no choice but to ask for the reason.
“Why is that?”
“Because no one wants to share a room with you. Unlike the exclusive student council dorms, we use four-person rooms. You know that, right? So just leave.”
A four-person room, huh.
I recalled scenes of the protagonist Luke living in the dorms during the semester. The roommates changed with every playthrough, didn’t they?
But once a roommate was assigned, they stayed together for over four years until graduation.
That was why some players would reset the game repeatedly until they collected roommates they liked. It was called roommate rerolling.
It was similar to collecting desired neighbors in Animal Crossing, or so I’d heard. I had tried roommate rerolling a few times myself, but it wasn’t particularly fun.
Anyway, that wasn’t important right now. The important thing was the protagonist Luke’s story.
Luke was a transfer student. On his very first day, he got into a fight with disciplinary committee member Victor and received a massive amount of penalty points, yet he still managed to secure a room without being assigned to the dorms.
What made that possible was the student council law.
“Any person residing on Ludens shall enjoy the freedom of residence. Dormitories are buildings constructed for the convenience and housing of students, and no one may refuse or prohibit their use.”
“W-what are you even saying right now?”
“It is Article 3, Section 22 of the student council laws. Read it for yourself.”
The chubby student whose face was glistening with oil looked extremely flustered. Should I push him a little more?
“The reasons you are giving are purely personal. They do not constitute a valid excuse to deny me entry into the dormitory. Although I have been demoted, I am still a student here. I have the right to enter the dormitory.”
“Ugh…!”
“If you refuse, the student council’s disciplinary committee members will come. In that case, several new positions for dormitory management staff might open up. You would be removed from your comfortable posts, and that fat on your faces would probably disappear.”
At my firm declaration, the dormitory management students began glancing nervously at one another.
“What should we do? Is Victor right? Is there really such a clause?”
“I don’t know. More importantly, why is Victor acting so strict even though he’s not on the committee anymore? I thought he’d be completely broken, but he’s no different from before.”
“No, he’s actually worse now. He used to be a bit more quiet. I think I preferred him back then!”
“…But doesn’t he look a little more handsome? What’s with the ring on his left hand? I heard he broke up with Lady Arclight. Could the rumor that he’s found another woman be true…?”
“I can hear everything.”
When I warned them, the students cleared their throats awkwardly.
Soon after, one of them opened the incredibly thick student council law book, read through it, and muttered, “It really is there. Article 3, Section 22.” The atmosphere finally settled.
“Fine, we’ll give you a room. It’s not because we’re scared of you or anything, ahem, we’re just following the rules, so don’t misunderstand. Now pay the dormitory fee in advance.”
“In advance?”
“Two million Rene for six months.”
Where would I have that kind of money right now?
It seemed the oily management student had noticed as much.
“What, you don’t have any money? This is a dormitory rule. There’s an official clause. If it were anyone else, we might have shown some flexibility and let them pay later. But since you’re the type who strictly follows the rules, you wouldn’t tolerate such loopholes, right?”
Ouch.
He had hit the nail on the head.
I wanted to say, “It doesn’t matter. Do the same for me,” but my stomach began to throb painfully and cold sweat broke out, making it impossible to open my mouth.
“……”
Victor, who had grown accustomed to catching others off guard by exploiting rules, was now being struck by the very need to follow them.
Tsk. It really was a double-edged sword.
At this rate, I wouldn’t be able to use any of the loophole routes to make money.
It was late at night, almost ten o’clock.
When I stepped out onto the street, I was reminded once again how cold the nights could be, even as spring approached.
It would probably get even colder at dawn.
“I hope this key proves useful.”
I jingled the key Enio had given me.
I had hoped it might be the key to some lodging Enio had prepared.
But since I had no idea where that place was, even if that were true, it was completely useless to me right now.
I should have asked more forcefully what the key was for.
“I’m screwed.”
Because I had used such undignified language, my stomach began to hurt again.
It felt as if Victor was scolding me, saying, ‘Such words go against my principles.’ But I didn’t care.
Victor, you bastard. If you had just been a little more flexible, I wouldn’t have to sleep on the streets tonight.
You have way too many rules, man.
The one silver lining was that I, Ha Seungri, had some experience with homelessness.
It wasn’t exactly something to brag about, but I had plenty of experience sleeping and lying down anywhere.
And this was Ludens Academy.
I knew several quiet, secluded spots within the academy grounds.
The first option was an old shed near the dormitory.
It was a place used to gather miscellaneous ‘straw.’
When I creaked the door open and stepped inside, several students had already claimed spots.
Were there always people here?
No, there weren’t in the game.
This place was originally a quiet location with no NPCs at all.
“What are you looking at? Get lost. All the spots are taken!”
“I see.”
Their appearances were far too menacing to belong to ordinary students.
It seemed there were quite a few people like me who couldn’t get into the dorms and had to sleep rough.
In real life, homeless people often had their own unspoken territories, and it looked like Ludens was the same.
I tried moving to several other locations afterward, but most were similar to the first.
“Why are there so many homeless people?”
Ludens Island had a population of one hundred thousand.
Of those, roughly thirty thousand were students, so it wasn’t strange for some to be homeless. But the number was far higher than I had imagined.
Why were there so many poor people?
It hadn’t been this bad in the original story.
“It can’t be helped.”
I decided to leave the densely built area full of dormitories and other buildings.
My destination was the outskirts.
Sleeping in an empty lot would have been fine, but there were too many eyes watching. Victor’s reputation was around –30, which meant a high chance of being ambushed.
It was best to go somewhere as secluded as possible.
Fortunately, I knew of one such place. It was the lifestyle content field that opened after the ending: Forest of the Divine Tree.
Sleeping in a forest.
I would have preferred not to, if possible.
After all, forests had lots of mosquitoes. And bugs.
But I wasn’t in a position to be picky, so I headed toward the location I remembered.
“Come again next time.”
Jingle.
I stopped by the 24-hour snack bar club visible nearby, rummaged through my pockets, and bought a single bottle of water with my only one thousand Rene. Having my entire fortune reduced to one bottle of water was rather funny, but I had been in worse situations before.
“This looks somewhat useful.”
Common
A pot. It looks like it could be used if cleaned properly.
I picked up a pot that had been discarded in the pile of miscellaneous items. After using a bit of water to clean it thoroughly, it seemed quite serviceable in many ways.
“A pot can be used for all sorts of things.”
It could serve as cooking equipment, and in emergencies, it could block bladed weapons during an ambush or act as a warming tool. If you filled it with water and brought it to a boil, the area around it would become reasonably warm.
Were there any other useful items?
While searching for various things and walking, I eventually reached the outskirts of the forest, far from the student residential area.
In the main story, this was one of the places rumored to be haunted by ghosts, so no one wanted to enter.
That was why it was counted among Ludens’ Seven Great Mysteries. In reality, there were no ghosts—just ordinary animals like rabbits and squirrels.
There were indeed no signs of people. Not even footprints.
“This matches the setting perfectly.”
Once I entered the forest, I found an insect-repelling herb right at the entrance. Its maple-like shape was identical to the one in the game, so I recognized it immediately.
“Does the performance match as well?”
If the same gathering items that appeared in the game grew in this forest, they could prove quite helpful.
After carefully gathering some medicinal herbs, I moved deeper into the forest and settled in a relatively flat spot.
“First, I should start a fire.”
I obviously didn’t have a lighter.
But Victor possessed steel-like stamina.
If I rubbed dry twigs together vigorously, I should be able to make a fire.
From my past experience, I knew I had to rub them a lot.
Extremely hard.
In the game, repeatedly mashing the button would eventually start a fire, and after doing it several times, you would sometimes learn a skill depending on your luck.
Scrape, scrape, scrape, scrape, scrape, scrape, scrape, scrape, scrape, scrape.
Whoosh—.
You have acquired the skill: 《Campfire Lighting》
It actually worked.
I even got the skill.
“Acquiring it in one go. I’m lucky.”
Realizing that the skill acquisition method was the same as in the game made me feel good despite the situation. Maybe I could learn all the other skills this way too?
In that case, paying off my debt might happen sooner than expected.
Crackle, crackle.
As the fire burned, warmth enveloped my body.
In the pitch-black darkness where nothing had been visible, the appearance of flames brought considerable peace of mind.
I didn’t forget to toss the insect-repelling herb into the campfire as well.
Smoke rose.
The smell was quite strong and pungent, but bearable.
“Not bad. Even in this situation, it feels like I’m on a trip.”
If I thought of it as staying here for just one night, it was actually a decent spot.
In my normal life, I had never had the luxury to travel because I was always busy paying off debts. Being in this place made me feel like I was actually traveling, and I felt a strange sense of excitement.
Why?
Because this wasn’t the cold floor of a train station—it was inside a game.
Even though I was homeless, there was far more hope here than in my original life.
“Plus, my stamina is excellent.”
With this body’s stamina, I could probably go a day without sleep. Having a healthy body was truly a great asset. I felt like I could do anything.
I was organizing my future plans with that mindset when it happened.
Rustle.
The bushes shook.
“……”
Wondering if a rabbit had appeared, I paid close attention. Could rabbits be eaten? I knew the recipe for roasted rabbit from the game, at least.
Maybe I could learn a cooking skill just like the campfire lighting skill?
Rustle, rustle.
Watching the bushes shake even more violently, I picked up a nearby stone just in case. The moment I gripped it and threw with all my strength—
Whoosh—Thud!
The stone flew into the bushes and hit something. But the scream that followed was far too strange to be the cry of a rabbit.
I grabbed a burning branch and quickly ran over, pushing the bushes aside. Something strange was lying on the ground. A figure wearing rags…
“Who are you? Why are you in this forest?”
“…That’s my line! Throwing rocks out of nowhere! Ow, it hurts… I think I’m bleeding…”
It was a person clutching the top of their head with their palm, apparently in pain.
Because they were wearing a ragged hood pulled down low, I couldn’t see their face. From the soft voice, it seemed to be a woman.
I didn’t know who she was, but the thought that I had hit a person with the rock I threw made me feel incredibly guilty.
“I’m sorry. I thought you were a rabbit. I never imagined there would be a person in this forest.”
“This is the first time I’ve seen a person enter this forest too… Ah…! More importantly, you’re Victor!”
“Do you know me?”
I didn’t know this shabby-looking girl.
She hadn’t been in the story either.
When I expressed my confusion, the unfamiliar female student suddenly flared up. “After doing something like that, you don’t even recognize me!?” She yanked off the hood that had been covering her head.
Wild, unkempt pink hair spilled out. Her bangs were so messy they completely covered her face, making her look rather unkempt.
More importantly, pink hair?
How could a person’s hair be pink?
If I had seen hair like this in the game, there was no way I would have forgotten it.
Then one thing suddenly came to mind.
The DLC.
I had bought the DLC that was released simultaneously with the remaster of D&A.
The DLC had included additional story, new characters, and various extra content.
The poster girl featured on the DLC cover was a heroine with pink twin tails.
“You… could it be…”
“That’s right!”
The girl raised her hand energetically. Thanks to that, I caught a glimpse of her emerald eyes sparkling brilliantly between the messy strands of pink hair.
It was exactly like the illustration.
A heroine I had never seen before, even after sinking 24,000 hours into the game.
A situation I was experiencing for the first time.
“I’m Nike Mokemoke from the Reshguard Forest!”
Her name was Nike Mokemoke!