The Day Before the Exam (1)
Today, the maid's hands felt unusually heavy as she worked through my hair.
Normally she styled it for my comfort, but today it seemed she was making a display piece—something meant to be flaunted at everyone around me.
It genuinely felt like she was sculpting a work of art out of my hair.
Miss Maid...
"Hopeless maid. Why are you showing off your pathetic little handiwork with my hair?"
"My apologies if it displeases you, my lady! But this is the Academy, after all."
What does that have to do with anything?
"And so what if it is?"
"Because one cannot afford to be looked down upon in a place where so many nobles gather."
So if I didn't look fancy, the other nobles would give me the side-eye?
Come to think of it, there was a line in the game where the characters sneered at nobles who couldn't keep up with fashion.
That's really why you're doing this?
"All this fuss over that?"
"'That'? My lady, this is—"
Do it the way you always do.
"Do it like you always do, hopeless maid."
Whether she went through all this tiresome nonsense or not, Lucy's reputation wasn't going to change either way.
Flashiness helps you maintain a decent standing among people, but it can't drag a reputation that's already sunk to the bottom back up.
Dress modestly and you're a country bumpkin; dress lavishly and you're a wastrel flaunting your wealth.
Rather than jumping through hoops only to earn a bad name anyway, I'd sooner be comfortable in my own clothes.
Honestly, wasting every morning on this kind of theatrics was far less useful than spending that time on a run.
"But, my lady."
This girl used to tremble at my every word, and lately she just says whatever's on her mind.
I let out a sigh, plucked the ornaments from my hair, and set them down on my vanity.
That's an order. I don't need this stuff.
"That's an order. Put everything back. Did you seriously think I'd fall behind everyone else just because I lack these pathetic trinkets?"
The maid paused at my words for a moment, then bowed deeply from behind me.
The message got a little mangled in translation, but the point came across, so it was fine.
Over the past six months, I had done everything in my power to raise my specs.
Running every day, sparring, grinding skill proficiency.
I was proud to say I had done everything within my means.
And thanks to that effort, I had achieved what I set out to do.
Raising every proficiency as high as it could go at Level 10.
Stamina. Blunt weapon proficiency. Shield proficiency.
With all three maxed out, I was now incomparably stronger than I had ever been before.
By the standards of the Academy entrance exam—the trial that comes even before Soul Academy's tutorial—my current abilities were sheer, absolute overkill.
Setting the shortest clear record in the exam dungeon would be as easy as taunting a goblin.
So I knew there was nothing to worry about, and yet somehow, I couldn't let go of that taut string of tension in my chest.
Carl...
"Hopeless knight. Is it really all right to be wandering around like this? Wouldn't it be better to just head back?"
"My lady, you know perfectly well that managing your condition before an important event is of the utmost importance."
«The knight speaks true. Before a great trial, rest is the finest preparation.»
I knew both the girl and the mace had a point.
Did I really think pushing my body now would improve anything? Of course not.
But every time I tried to relax, that creeping anxiety welled up in me and refused to let go.
This world was a game—and yet not a game.
It was a world where anything I took for granted from the game could be twisted beyond recognition.
How many times had I trusted my knowledge, only to be caught off guard?
True, I had accounted for every variable that could arise in the exam dungeon. But whenever I looked back over it, some overlooked detail seemed to lurk in the margins, and it frightened me.
No. This won't do.
I should head back to the inn and run through everything one more time.
"My lady! Look, an airship!"
At the maid's excitable cry, I lifted my head.
An airship was carving through the clouds, sailing across the sky.
Judging by her wide-eyed, child-seeing-the-ocean reaction, this was her first time seeing one with her own eyes?
Riding that thing is a total waste, let me tell you.
The airship boasted the single worst cost-efficiency of any transport in the game.
It cost nearly as much as teleportation magic, but unlike teleportation—which deposits you at your destination in an instant—this thing required days of drifting through the sky before you arrived.
Truly the pinnacle of luxury: a way to squander both time and money at once.
That's why I never spared the airship so much as a glance back when I played.
The same applied now that Soul Academy was reality.
I had no intention of boarding a piece of garbage that was all style and no substance.
The moment I lowered my gaze from the sky, I finally pulled free of my worries and properly took in the city before me.
Soul Academy bore the name "Academy," but it was far more than a mere school.
This was where the children of nobility flocked, and the wealthy among them spent money like water.
Merchants, catching the scent of thoughtless noble gold, naturally drifted toward the area in droves.
Beneath them came the commoners, seeking whatever work they could find, and they too set foot into Soul Academy's bounds.
And so, centered on the Academy itself, the place had grown into a sprawling city.
The cityscape before my eyes was, in a word, a chorus woven from human lives.
The footsteps of countless people.
Merchants bellowing at the top of their lungs to sell their wares.
Young women chattering away on one corner.
Layered over it all: the clear song of birds, laughter drifting from somewhere, someone shouting.
And into the very heart of that symphony, my own breathing joined in.
In that moment, reality became tangible.
I could feel that I had arrived at a place I had only ever glimpsed through a monitor screen.
And once I felt that, all the worries that had gripped me moments ago suddenly seemed meaningless.
Head back to the inn? Back from what?
I came all the way to the main stage of Soul Academy, and I'd leave without seeing a single thing?
And you call yourself a Soul Academy veteran?!
"Hehehe."
Muttering the street's BGM under my breath—a melody so familiar I could hum it in my sleep—I started walking.
There were so many places I wanted to see.
So many I was certain a single day wouldn't be enough to cover them all.
I had to visit the restaurant where the stoic heroine once gasped in admiration.
The bakery the airheaded noble girl loved so much.
The bridge that gave birth to so many of the story's most iconic scenes.
The back alley where the protagonist parted from a friend in heartbreak.
The more I thought, the longer the list grew.
Come to think of it, I also needed to go farm the hidden pieces I could grab right now.
Not enough time.
If I'd known I'd be this pressed, I would have skipped sleep entirely to sightsee.
I cursed the version of me who took a carriage here last evening, whined about being tired, and flopped straight into bed.
Fine. Time to make a plan, starting now.
Where to first?
We skipped breakfast on the way out, so how about the restaurant—food first?
"My lady?"
Miss Maid. Carl—
"You two hopeless things over there. We're going to go eat. I'll feed you a meal that'll have hopeless nobodies like you moaning the moment it touches your tongue, so look forward to it."
That restaurant was expensive, sure—but that was no problem for me whatsoever.
Because I had a fat pouch of gold coins Benedict had pressed into my hands!
Smiling at the weight of the coins in my pocket, I remembered Benedict seeing me off on my way to the Academy.
That troll dabbing his eyes with a handkerchief, fussing over me to travel safely—honestly, it was grotesque.
I'd heard men's hormones shift with age; had that time already come for Benedict?
Even in hindsight, that reaction was way over the top.
After the exam, I'd return to the territory anyway and simply wait for the acceptance letter.
And he cried like he'd never see me again for years.
If I actually enrolled in Soul Academy someday, I was genuinely scared he might wail himself unconscious.
"Oh my. If it isn't Lady Arln."
I was in the middle of imagining Benedict fainting mid-sob when a woman called my name.
She planted herself in my path and looked down at me with sharp, sky-blue eyes, a smile curling across her lips.
Uh...
Who are you?
"What kind of nobody talks to me like that?"
At the mesugaki tone, the woman's smile stiffened.
Mesugaki skill, not you too—what's wrong with you today?
Flustered, I scanned my surroundings.
Two more women stood behind the first.
Their clothes looked expensive enough that they were probably noble daughters—but what business could they possibly have with me?
"We met at a society gathering recently, remember?"
"Merrill. With that tiny little head of hers, I suppose Lady Arln has trouble remembering faces."
"Ah, so that's how it is."
The naked hostility dripping from their tones told me everything I needed to know.
They came to pick a fight.
Why? wasn't a question worth asking. The answer was painfully obvious.
Those society gatherings Lucy saw in her nightmares must have contained more than a grain of truth.
Still, I hadn't expected them to openly pick a fight like this—Lucy was, after all, a count's daughter.
Aren't you girls afraid of Benedict?
Do any of you actually think you could handle that man when he's angry?
Got some kind of backing, do you?
They certainly didn't look like anything special.
If they'd been characters of any real consequence, I would have remembered their faces.
"Lady Arln. You've come to take the Academy exam, haven't you?"
That's right.
"Then why?"
"Why bother taking the exam at all, when you're going to fail regardless?"
At the blue-eyed woman's words, her companions tittered.
Hmm. So they're betting on me failing the exam.
Well, fair enough—if all they'd ever seen was the Lucy from before my possession, they'd think exactly that.
Which meant if I showed off something impressive in the entrance exam's sparring or dungeon crawl, the reactions would be delicious.
Just as a known villain suddenly doing good deeds turns heads, a formerly incompetent girl showing sudden competence would command all the attention in the world.
Perfect.
I'll turn that booing into a standing ovation.
Was that all you wanted to say?
"That's all you had to say? Then I'm off. I don't have time to waste on scraps like you."
I had no intention of wasting precious minutes on weightless extras.
My to-do list was already overloaded as it was.
The moment I turned my back, the woman let out a snarl like she was grinding her teeth.
"Running away, are we?!"
Yes. Running. I'm a coward, you see—I hate fighting.
"How shameful, a noble girl who can't even keep up with fashion!"
That's right. I don't know what's in fashion. Don't care to, either.
"Ha! A disgrace to House Arln, through and through!"
At those words, I froze solid.
I never dreamed I'd hear that said to my face.
As Carl bristled at the insult to her master, I held her back with one hand, then turned on my heel and planted myself in front of the woman again.
"Wh-what do you want?!"
"Scared? That's you, isn't it?♡ You trash-tier noble♡ If you're a scrappy little nobody, then scrunch up like one♡ Baring your claws because you're scared doesn't make you scary, it just makes you cute♡"
You absolute bitch.
There are things you say, and things you don't.
Lucy's reputation was already circling the drain, and I'd been planning to laugh this off before it plunged any further—but this I could not let slide.
Fine, you wenches. Bring it.
I'm about to ruin you.