The Golden Goose's New World
Before entering this world, my job had been everyone's dream: a NEET. The only downside was that my bank account was a little light. I was a "rice-eating" youth who had long surpassed the level of a mere slacker.
Among all that, there was one golden goose that brought in the most satisfying profits.
Arcadium Academy
Unlike other games that gave you a few thousand won for a hundred million or pocket change for ten thousand gold, this one was on an entirely different level.
The exchange rate here was a miraculous one-to-one. One berry in the game equaled one won in reality.
How could I resist that?
But even this seemingly perfect game had a fatal flaw.
"Damn it… Is this difficulty even real?"
An academy happy fantasy wearing the mask of dark fantasy. It barely paid out any money, yet the difficulty easily surpassed hellish Korea. One wrong move with your finger and you'd be treated to a dead scene.
At first I considered cashing out everything and running, but the moment I checked the pending settlement amount, I dropped to my knees.
"Aigoo, my golden goose. I almost slit your belly."
Days, months, and years passed like that.
"Whoa… I actually cleared it."
I even achieved the first kill on the final boss.
Yeah, this is it. Praise me more.
After savoring the afterglow of the clear and watching the ending credits all the way through, I turned off the game.
Thud.
"Haa…"
Honestly, I thought I'd feel empty. After achieving my goal, all that remained were countless comments.
But fortunately, reality was completely different.
"Nice!"
God, please forgive this vulgar cheer just for today.
"Fuck yeah, sex!"
After throwing a fit on the bed, only I remained. The blanket and pillow had all been launched to the floor, but the dopamine showed no signs of stopping.
"I wonder how much it'll be if I sell everything…"
My tiresome one-room life was finally coming to an end. I'd buy an apartment, seduce a pretty wife, and hehehe…
With a brilliant future in mind, I closed my eyes. After tossing and turning for a while, I finally fell asleep.
Thud!
"Huh…?"
"What 'huh.' Hurry up and move forward."
When I opened my eyes, I was in the middle of a long line.
*
Whether this was a dream or reality, I followed the instructor's instructions for now and sat in a chair to think. The judgment didn't take long.
'Shit.'
Swallowing the curse that had risen to the top of my throat, I swept my bangs back. That wasn't enough, so I even rubbed my face dry.
"Ha… I was so nervous thinking I'd fail…"
"Academy…"
"Hoho~ You have such an interesting way of speaking."
Different voices could be heard around me. Dust floating in the light coming through the window. Various perfume scents. And the feel of my own hand on my face.
Four of my five senses told me this was reality.
Maybe it was because I hadn't thought this hard in a long time. I furrowed my brows and pressed my forehead.
'Ow, my head.'
Gently biting my lower lip, I quickly organized the situation.
First of all, if I wasn't crazy, I had entered the game. I didn't know why, but the fact that my name was Isaac and that I was a commoner was stuck in my head.
That was it.
Magic, swordsmanship—nothing was in my head. Even—
'Status window! Damn it, status window! Visible mode! On off!'
Even the status window, which was supposedly essential in otherworld stories these days, wasn't responding.
So to sum up the current situation in one phrase—
'I'm fucked.'
That was the most accurate expression.
But I ended my self-pity there.
"Nothing changes anyway."
No matter how shitty it was, if I didn't act, nothing would change.
"Huu…"
Taking a deep breath, I calmed my racing heart. I calmly looked around.
People I'd never seen before. Among them, one or two familiar supporting characters. My head throbbed at the thought of raising favorability from scratch again, but it was still fortunate.
What they liked. What they disliked.
I could proudly say I knew that better than anyone.
Why raise favorability? Because it's easier to get involved with strong people than to become strong myself.
'First…'
While quickly setting priorities and making plans—
"I'll just slip in for a moment~"
At the voice coming from beside me, I straightened my posture, leaning forward.
"Ah, yes, go ahead…"
My mind, which had been recalling what they liked, stopped. I scrapped the plan I'd been carefully building and started over.
"Thanks~"
A gentle voice that drew out the end of her words. Wearing a small pointed hat over her purple hair, the girl with an overwhelming amount of mana sat down next to me—
'… It's definitely her.'
The moment my top priority target changed.
*
Arcadium Academy. The game's greatest strength and weakness. There was no gacha.
To become stronger, you had to push through the story and become friends with characters by raising favorability. And if the story got stuck, you had to overcome it with good items, good potions, and good controls.
Arcadium Academy was a game you could never clear if even one of those four went wrong.
Among them, raising favorability was by far the most efficient method. And the person known to be the most difficult—
"Hi~ What's your name?"
—was the girl sitting next to me, waving her hand gently.
"My name is Isaac. And you, my lady…"
"I'm Beatrice~ Nice to meet you~"
Beatrice Magia. One of the empire's ducal families and the mage receiving the most attention in the empire.
The reason was simple. Her overwhelming talent that would make even the Magic Tower's archmages cry.
"You can speak casually, Isaac~"
Having grown up receiving much attention and love, she wanted for nothing. To raise the favorability of someone who was difficult to even approach in the first place, she had to feel interested in me.
But… what? Why was she talking to me first?
This wasn't her character.
'How unexpected.'
But that was all. I couldn't miss this opportunity.
"Sure, Bera."
"Bera~?"
"Beatrice is too long, so Bera. That okay?"
"… Ooh~"
Her lazily closed eyelids opened slightly. Then they quickly returned to their original position.
'… Huh?'
I must have seen wrong. It looked like the favorability increase event had started, but it was only for a split second, so I couldn't tell if I'd seen it properly or if it was just my wishful thinking.
Staring blankly at Beatrice, I blinked a few times.
"What's wrong, Isaac~?"
"Nothing. It's nothing."
A delusion, probably. There was nothing else. Yeah, there was no way her favorability would rise that easily. Just exchanging names was already something to be grateful for.
"Isaac, Isaac~"
"Hm? Why?"
"Just wanted to call you~"
"Oh, okay."
"Isaac, Isaac~"
"… Why?"
"Just~"
It was supposed to be like that. What? Why was this happening? This kind of teasing should only start after favorability had built up a bit. Had I done something to raise favorability?
'No. Geniuses just understand things differently, right?'
Those born with overwhelming talent lived in their own world. Beatrice was no exception. You shouldn't try to understand her. You just had to accept it. I could just enjoy the easy favorability boost.
"Isaac~"
"Yeah?"
"Looks like the entrance ceremony is starting~"
I thought she'd say "just" again, but her unexpectedly normal answer almost made me flustered instead.
-Ahem. Greetings, everyone. We will now begin the entrance ceremony for the 120th class of Arcadium Academy.
And just as she said, the entrance ceremony began.
Ah, it's been so long since the entrance ceremony that I'd forgotten.
-May you all survive well.
There was an event for that.
Thud!
Dust rose from the wall of the ceremony hall.
"W-what was that?" "Suddenly?"
"I think I heard something…"
Time to prepare… Oh. Come to think of it—
Thud! No need for that.
I didn't know who had assigned the seats, but I was really grateful. Boom! For placing me right next to a strategic nuke.
A loud explosion. Acrid powder from the scattered debris spread everywhere. Students jumped up from their seats. Among them, I—
"Huh? Isaac~ What's that~?"
"It was just in my pocket."
Crunch crunch.
For some reason, I took out the caramel popcorn that was apparently the starting item for Arcadium Academy and placed a few in Beatrice's hand as well.
"Mm~ It's sweet~"
Beatrice expressed her satisfaction in her gentle tone. Turning my head from her, I looked at the collapsed wall.
Though it had arms and legs like a human, the wings sprouting from its back and its bat-like face clearly proved it was a monster.
'So it's this guy this time.'
Unlike me, who nodded and popped a caramel popcorn into my mouth, the other students pointed at the monster with wide eyes.
"A-a gargoyle!"
"Kyaaaah!"
"S-save meee!"
While some students fainted and ran away—
"Everyone, gather together!"
"Kgh… I've never seen a gargoyle before…!"
—there were also those who fought back. And though very few, there were also those who just watched.
More precisely—
"Bera. Want more?"
"Give me more~"
"Here."
It was just me and Beatrice. If our bus driver wanted more, I could give as much as she wanted. The ones with lots of caramel on them… well, those were mine.
Placing a few more heavily caramel-coated pieces of popcorn on top, I counted the time in my head.
'About five minutes left now, I guess.'
But shouldn't I at least show a good side once? Not really. Whether you dealt with the most monsters or just ran and survived to the end, the reward given to both was the same.
Admission to the Academy.
That was the second reason there was no need to waste energy here. The biggest reason was different.
'I'm a baby who doesn't know how to fight.'
Magic. How do you even use that? Sword. I don't have one. So instead of stepping forward and sinking the bus, let's just fasten our seatbelts properly.
"Here, have some more."
Plus, I could raise the bus driver's favorability a bit while I'm at it.