Classes and Daily Life (3)
The original protagonist, Kyle Ivanstair, is a growth-type hero. He starts out deficient and inexperienced, causing all sorts of mishaps, but overcomes every obstacle with that unbeatable [Will].
His accident-prone nature stands out especially in the first act of the early game, and one prime example is the 'Ignatos Persio' episode from the initial arcs, which exposes all his shortcomings without mercy.
"Iri, so what exactly do we do with Peltus?"
"It's exactly what Professor Isabella said. You help someone, but they can't figure out it's you—that's the rule."
"Oh? Then I'm right here—mmph?!"
"It's a secret! How can you just blurt it out?!"
Kyle ends up in a position where he's looking out for someone, while simultaneously becoming a Reto himself, receiving aid from some nameless benefactor. The player knows it's Serin Anette helping Kyle, but even with clues scattered everywhere, Kyle never uncovers her identity—that's the key point.
"I need your help."
Meanwhile, Serin Anette, unsure how to assist Kyle, seeks advice from the player, who gets presented with choices. The outcomes branch slightly based on your decisions here, adding a bit of fun replay value.
In the end, Serin Anette slips up and half-reveals herself. But Kyle misses the whole scene, so it just slides by. It's one of the original's lighthearted gag episodes.
It was a pivotal event that lightened Arsen's somewhat gloomy mood after the dormitory ghost incident.
But now, that same Serin Anette has become my manito.
"Just in case there's any misunderstanding, I'm telling you first. There's an old saying: the thief's foot itches."
Serin left those words behind and bolted from her seat. I have no idea why.
In reality, with all its variables, anything could happen without it being weird. The surprising part was that I expected a manito switch to trigger as a random event, but it didn't.
This world apparently doesn't treat minor changes like manito swaps as random events. Meaning, it was a perfectly plausible situation.
Anyway, Serin Anette vanished down the stairs first. According to my memory, she'll have to come back up eventually. She's in the same combat class as me, so fate dictates we'll meet in the next lesson.
I quietly leaned against the wall and checked my watch, dismissing the still-hovering alert.
Someone is helping with your academy life.
Reveal your Peltus to receive extra points.
Message deleted.
All alarms OFF
Do Not Disturb mode set.
A certain phrase pops into my head—something Isabella said during first period.
"Cadets selected as 'Reto' must uncover who their 'Peltus' is."
"Succeed in identifying your Peltus, and you'll claim the points they would have earned instead. But you only get three chances to input a name."
In other words, if I turned on my watch right now and entered Serin Anette as a Peltus candidate, I could swipe all the points she was set to get.
But as I said, it doesn't mean much to me. Especially since I'll snag free points thanks to Iri anyway—no need to covet Serin Anette's.
If anything, it's better to let her keep them. She'll keep clashing with Kyle and the other leads, growing alongside them and creating positive synergies.
So I have to suppress my honed [Sense] and [Telescopic Vision] reactions with effort. Even if something nags at me, I grit my teeth, ignore it, and play dumb.
The problem is, alongside this manito event, a bunch of minor episodes pop off simultaneously. Like Serin Anette asking the player for advice, or Kyle fumbling while hunting his own Peltus and striking out at the crucial moment.
Right now, all those side episodes have been completely butterflied away.
I tossed my gaze out the window. Voices drifted up from below—it was about time.
"How can you forget that?!"
"Ah, sorry. Slipped my mind. I'll grab it now."
"You'll be late! Class starts any minute!"
Kyle Ivanstair and Elin Beonard below, bickering exactly as in the original.
Normally, Serin Anette should show up right here. As tensions peak, she swoops in, hands over the flyer she "happened to pick up," and defuses things.
Yeah, that's how it was supposed to go.
But with Serin Anette stalking me like a creeper now, Kyle's left high and dry like a duck egg on the Nakdong River.
Not good.
Of course not. The new semester just started—Kyle can't fall behind already. He's got mountains of work ahead.
He needs to butt heads with Rebecca's student council crew, confront Biern Professor and slowly unearth the malice lurking within him. By Act 3, team up with the other leads to block my father, Duke Esperand. And above all, he's the one who has to take down the final boss.
Manito's useless to me. Kyle needs it more. Though he's ended up as some other cadet's manito instead.
With Serin Anette—who was supposed to back him up—peeled off, someone has to fill the gap.
She's already my manito; backing out now would be lame.
Of all the rotten luck...
By process of elimination, I'm the only one left to help Kyle.
I sighed and ripped a page from my notebook.
In front of the flower bed.
"How can you forget that?!"
Standing before Kyle was Elin Beonard, yelling her head off as usual. Her flushed face looked like a ripe tomato.
Kyle, meanwhile, just awkwardly scratched the back of his head.
"Ah, sorry. Slipped my mind. I'll grab it now."
"You'll be late! Class starts any minute!"
"This is..."
Trouble. Kyle flashed an awkward grin. Elin snapped back, demanding if this was funny.
"Funny? This? It's the first class! What are you even doing?!"
"Ah, haha, hahaha..."
But he had nothing else to say. It wasn't unfair—upon reflection, yeah, he'd forgotten it. He'd swear he left it on his desk somewhere, but it was gone when he checked.
Elin Beonard had temporarily duoed up with Kyle Ivanstair. They'd promised to team for the upcoming evaluation, having already vetted each other's skills back at Titania Hall.
So this was supposed to be a trusty party for once.
"Driving me nuts, seriously."
"Tell me about it..."
Seemed they'd botched the first button. Still, they had to head to class. No time to backtrack to the classroom now, as Elin said.
"Let's just go in. That seems best."
At that moment, an odd breeze rustled from behind. Before turning, Kyle reflexively shot out his hand.
In the blink of an eye. His palm clutched whatever had flown at his back.
"...What the?"
"A paper plane?"
What he'd snatched on instinct wasn't a dart or pebble, but a neatly folded paper airplane.
"Outta nowhere?"
"Hold on..."
As Elin questioned, Kyle slowly unfolded it. The texture wasn't standard A4; the torn edge suggested it'd come from someone's notebook.
The instant he saw the contents, Kyle grimaced.
"Uh..."
Godawful handwriting. Like an abstract rendering of a worm crawling. Awkward, like a right-hander forcing their left.
As Kyle squinted to decipher it, Elin shook her head.
"Come on, let's go. We'll really be late."
"Yeah, got it."
Their hurried footsteps echoed faintly down the hall.
Sion Illeionhart, watching, only turned away once they were fully gone.
My first day at Arsen wrapped up decently enough. After classes, I headed to my lodgings.
Thud—I set my luggage down. The guest house door yawned wide open ahead, almost welcomingly, which rubbed me the wrong way.
On the day of Arsen's first classes, I'd hopped right back here like a swallow. Did my stars curse me with wanderlust? I couldn't stay put anywhere.
The dorm supervisor said to vacate again. Not even a week after moving from the guest house, I was back on the streets.
I get it, of course. Shanellia Hall's roof collapse wrecked part of the fourth floor. Top-floor cadets had to pack up for repairs.
Per the original, no further collapses should happen, but safety first or whatever.
The silver lining: Arsen loaned out part of the guest house for Shanellia 4th-floor cadets.
Even in the dorms, constant hammering would've kept anyone awake. Lower floors had noise-canceling magic, but you couldn't slap that on a construction zone.
My issue? Unlike the others, I'd already stayed here once.
Nothing to brag about, so I silently climbed the stairs.
Come to think of it, Sato—the instructor I met at Esperand—said something similar.
"Young master Shion, you're fated never to settle long in one place."
"You'll likely wander far and wide for a good while."
"Your departure for Arsen marks the start."
"You'll settle eventually, but the road there looks rough—I'm worried."
He'd heard his famous astrologer sister mention it, picked up some basics over her shoulder, or so he claimed. I'd dismissed it as horoscope fluff back then.
But apparently...
"Then, cadets, allow me to show you to your temporary rooms."
...that sister was one hell of a astrologer.