The Early Bird (1)

...... Alice was reading my expressions more and more often.

Actually, it was no longer just happening more often. By now, she simply read my face as a matter of course.

In truth, it hadn't been that long since she'd started reading me so openly. Alice, who had regarded me as a kind of 'rival,' hadn't been particularly skilled at reading my expressions. To be precise, perhaps it would be more accurate to say she'd had no interest whatsoever. Even if she was interested in me, she'd never really shown much concern for what I did personally.

But from some point, it seemed she'd started to feel a personal closeness to me, and now she'd even reached the stage of guessing my expressions.

If I had to pinpoint when that 'some point' was......

I supposed it had all started with that Trilateral Summit.

Even before that, I'd gotten the feeling that we were gradually 'becoming closer.' Perhaps that had been natural. Regardless of what I was on the inside, I was the same age as Alice, and I was the only peer she could speak openly with inside the Imperial Palace.

There were maids around Alice's age, but they were 'maids' after all. To serve as a maid inside the Imperial Palace, one had to be from a noble family of at least count status. They were children keenly aware of how far removed they were from the Princess, so they would never have become close like friends.

It probably also helped that Alice herself hadn't actively tried to act chummy.

And, more than anything, my own stance toward Alice had been remarkably conciliatory.

Because she was one of the game's main heroines, and because I'd seen her face—admittedly, a collection of polygons, not a real face—throughout the game, I felt a certain internal familiarity with her, and that attitude showed whenever I dealt with Alice.

Besides, I'd felt a little sorry for her.

Claire, the rival Alice had felt inferior to, had disappeared, but then I'd popped up right next to her. Even if I didn't actively tease her the way Claire did, my abilities themselves were nearly identical. Or rather, considering how the Emperor and those around him viewed me, from her perspective I might even be seen as an upgraded version.

On top of that, if I'd joined in teasing and belittling Alice, I thought it might genuinely ruin her character.

Whether I was actually a mature person or not was beside the point; I had no desire to bully a kid over ten years younger than me that harshly anyway.

In my own way, I'd even loosened up while doing this and that to boost Alice's confidence, so if Alice had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠felt a wall between us after all that, I would've been incredibly disappointed.

I would have been disappointed.......

"Did you not sleep well last night?"

"......."

When she spoke to me like that with a look of genuine concern, I couldn't help but wonder how she could read my expressions.

And with good reason, because I'd meticulously checked my face in the mirror before coming out this morning. How to not look tired, how to not look worn out.

And my expressionless look was a fairly successfully crafted one at that. It wasn't just a matter of thinking, 'I'm sure I have no expression,' and leaving it at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that. Whenever someone pointed out my face, I would find a way to see my reflection as it appeared to others and make adjustments, refining it until the expressionless look was complete.

In other words, my expressionless look was so blank even I couldn't read it.

No matter how much I thought about it, it was strange how she could see through it.

"Sylvia?"

Looking at Alice, who asked that with what sounded like worry, I pondered how to answer.

Because what Alice said was definitely true.

I'd woken up at four o'clock this morning, you see.

*

My true nature was that of a hopeless geek.

I'd tried my best to deny it in the past, but no matter how hard I tried, my hobbies always returned to their original form in the end.

If I quit Japanese manga or anime, my interests shifted to Japanese and American dramas. If I gave up collecting figures, I'd find myself buying and assembling plastic models. Even if I quit geeky games, I'd just be collecting and playing Western games.

What's more, I'd come full circle. Starting with military plastic models, moving on to Gundam models, then back to bishoujo plastic models, and ultimately reverting to the hobby of collecting bishoujo action figures and statues. The same went for movies. While buying film Blu-rays, I'd unconsciously find myself buying theatrical anime Blu-rays, and eventually, TV and OVA series Blu-rays.

After repeating that cycle for about ten years, from my late teens onward, by the time I hit thirty I finally just gave up and accepted my true nature.

What's more, for seven of those ten years I'd been playing the Aetherna Chronicles, so you could argue that the escape attempt had never really been properly made from the start.

In any case, being ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that kind of hopeless geek, it was only natural that I'd read light novels and web novels day and night.

And I knew the clichés of a possession-story protagonist like the back of my hand.

You know the type. The protagonist becomes a minor supporting character with little narrative weight, then monopolizes the lucky encounters or items that the original protagonist was supposed to get, ultimately becoming a far stronger and more important figure than the protagonist.

I had no particular intention of going that far.

Leo, Claire. Alice, Charlotte, even Mia Crowfield or the other characters who hadn't joined the protagonist's party yet. I held a certain affection for all of them in my own way.

I had no intention of stealing all the cool scenes from those characters.

I was only ever meant to be a safeguard, ensuring that no one among the protagonist's party died. That was all I'd ever considered myself.

The problem was—

"...... Do you mean to say that the request has already been completed?"

"Ah, yes. I-I'm sorry, Your Highness......."

Well, no, that wasn't exactly something you needed to apologize for.

Leaving the receptionist standing and trembling before me, I turned my head to look at the clock.

The large, weight-driven mechanical clock announced that the time was now six in the morning.

Yes. Six in the morning.

"......I was under the impression that working hours began at six in the morning."

That was right. The Academy's internal staff basically started work at six in the morning.

Of course, not all staff started at that hour. I'd heard they had a separate morning shift.

And some jobs, like the dormitory security, worked all through the night.

Today was Sunday.

Yesterday and today were days off. Naturally, none of the students had classes.

There were no classes, but there was voluntary service available.

In this world, there was no such thing as an adventurer's guild, that common part-time job often found in fantasy novels. The Empire was fundamentally a centralized state ruled by the Emperor, and the other kingdoms were similar. There were places like aristocratic republics, but even they didn't entrust public safety to anything like an adventurer's guild.

The modern era was a time when the concept of the 'nation' was gradually budding. The argument between Alice and Charlotte after school on Friday was evidence that children influenced by such ideas were beginning to appear.

And naturally, the best way to prove the superiority of one's 'nation' was to demonstrate just how livable the country where that nation gathered was.

Public safety fell under that umbrella.

...... By my standards, having grown up in an orphanage, the public safety wasn't exactly outstanding, but well, I'd let it pass, since it was supposedly a fine country to live in if you were middle class or above.

Anyway, that was why there was no adventurer's guild. But still, you couldn't omit the signature feature of any RPG, the 'quest' function.

So the system that existed in this setting was precisely 'voluntary service.'

The students who entered the Academy were strong, and there were still places in the Empire where public safety was unstable. Not just the nearby back alleys, but occasionally, beasts appearing on the roads between cities caused human and material damage.

Voluntary service was about preventing and resolving such damage...... but since giving absolutely no reward for a quest felt a bit off, they'd set up a compensation plan of sorts, where the people requesting the service gave gifts as a gesture of 'good will.'

I'd already received compensation from Jennifer once before. A reward given that openly would certainly end up even more securely in my hands.

"Ah, that is......."

However.

"I usually come out around five-thirty to prepare for work. But......."

However, you see.

"Well, there were students waiting outside the door first, and thinking it was praiseworthy......."

"......."

In other words, at a place that started work at the ungodly hour of six in the morning.

They'd completed the requests beforehand and had been loitering and waiting.

And so diligently, they'd caught the eye of the receptionist who came to work thirty minutes early to prepare, completed their requests, and taken the rewards.

I slowly raised my hand and firmly pressed the bridge of my nose.

I'd nearly died just trying to get up at six in the morning, while those insane students had been out working even earlier than that.

"Could I, perhaps, know the names of those students?"

At my words, the staff member hurriedly rummaged through the pile of papers on the desk.

Strictly speaking, giving out a student's personal information just because someone asked like this wasn't something a staff member should do. But with a 'Princess' standing right before her eyes, wearing an expression of displeasure anyone could plainly see, it wouldn't be easy to refuse.

"It was...... Leo Grace and Miss Claire Grace."

"......."

So that was how it was.

I inhaled slightly with a hsss and muttered quietly.

"...... Again."

"Pardon?"

"Again!"

*

Six in the morning.

Right, I said six in the morning.

Which meant they'd already finished the work and had been waiting before that.

According to the staff member, they'd been waiting since thirty minutes prior. That meant they'd actually finished the work before five-thirty in the morning.

...... Yes, strictly speaking, the voluntary service opening date had been from exactly midnight today. The person who posted the request on the board had probably been the one working yesterday evening. Since it started at midnight, they'd likely put it up in advance and gone home.

The requests were selected from complaints filed by residents and government agencies, picking out tasks students could manage to resolve. So, to be honest, if someone had tried a workaround, they could have started the work as early as yesterday evening.

But I was fairly sure Leo and Claire wouldn't have tried to jump the queue like that.

Wasn't 'Fair and Square' supposedly the Grace family motto?

So, those kids had definitely started moving only after the date had changed.

And no matter what, it wasn't the kind of job you'd stay up all night waiting to do. It was still early days. The main story had just begun; there was no way a subquest could affect the main storyline.

So the time I'd chosen was five in the morning.

The plan the night before had been to set my alarm for four-thirty, get up early, get ready, and then head out. Otherwise I'd look pathetic, just having crawled out of bed. I didn't want my image ruined.

And I'd failed to get up.

I'd barely managed to wake up, but by then it was already four-fifty. Thankful that I'd insisted on keeping my hair in a short cut rather than long, straight locks, I washed and got ready as fast as I could, then bolted out of the dormitory and ran at full speed.

And then I realized.

It took a good two hours to walk to the planned quest site.

In the game, the process of moving from one zone to another was skipped, and time didn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pass until you initiated a specific event. But reality was different.

The quest site was on the highway outside the imperial capital. The task was hunting troublesome beasts there.

...... And naturally, the imperial capital was absurdly vast.

So that meant Leo and Claire had gotten up at this ungodly hour, taken a stagecoach, and headed out to handle the quest.

...... Why?