On the appointed Saturday, Alira was up early at the crack of dawn. Ever since she arrived here, this was the first weekend she’d woken up before the sun was burning onto her face.
She sneaked across the room—feet as light as a booted cat, which she was—toward Maria, who was still fast asleep. With an extra careful move with her tail tucked around her leg to not accidentally knock anything off, she placed the letter on the table beside Maria’s bed.
She took a final look at the letter and read:
Off to Astrail with Raine and Lillian to sightsee. I can’t bring you with me because Lillian is a bit...you know, too noble-minded. No need to worry about anything (you know how strong Raine is from the sword art class, alchemy class, magic class, and literally everything). Astrail is also basically Lillian’s second hometown, and everyone there knows her. So, I’m in good hands!
P.S. Lillian applied for permission for outing this weekend, but let the professors know if we aren’t back by Sunday midnight.
Unable to think of any other excuse for why she couldn’t bring Maria along, Alira pushed Lillian under the bus without blinking. While the Academy imposed equality among its students, most nobles still refused to see commoners as equals, especially the lower classes, like Maria, who was a laundry maid. At best, they’d treat them as air. Lillian could actually be considered one of those nobles who were on the more lenient side. Though it was likely thanks to Raine being a commoner.
Alira took one long glance at Maria and took out the pen she always carried with her, adding another line at the bottom: P.S.S. Don’t worry. Don’t overthink. Just a precaution; we’ll be fine!
The warm candlelight from the chandelier above clashed with a cooler light, a mix of sunlight and whatever last bit of moonlight from the departing moon. The light had crept in through the tall windows she had left open last night. Spring was approaching its end, and the nights were getting too hot and stuffy for someone who was used to sleeping with a fan blowing onto her face.
Alira exhaled and then inhaled deeply to hold her breath, steeling herself before finally sneaking out of their common bedroom.
A corridor that had become all too familiar greeted her outside. It looked even more haunted than usual, with the noble students still buried deep under their blankets inside the rooms on each side. Alira made her way down the stairs, heading straight to the teleportation chamber. From there, she took the teleportation circle to the reception building nearest to the Academy entrance gates.
A dewy gush of morning air blew her long hair behind as she stepped out of the building. Outside, the sky was still gloomy, with pale streetlights showering onto the cobblestone path leading to the gate. The walk didn’t last long before she spotted two figures in a similar cloak to hers. It was almost unnatural to see Lillian not wearing purple, while black adorned Raine perfectly as always, like he owned the color or something.
The two of them stood in silence, five steps apart. Alira sneered at Lillian for not taking her chance when she had alone time with Raine. Coward. No wonder she remained just an admirer to him until, well, she died.
The taller figure turned back, catching onto Alira’s hushed footsteps. “You’re late,” Raine said.
“At least I’m here. I considered taking a rain check, you know,” she replied with a grin.
Rain check, get it?
Raine didn’t bat an eye at that, but she could smell that he was pissed.
She didn’t actually think of ditching them, of course. She just couldn’t help poking at the protagonist. The more grumpy he acted, the more Alira wanted to give him a reason to. From the novel, her impression and understanding of him was that he was stoic and cold, but had a truly kind soul and good intentions, nonetheless.
Stoic, my feet.
He was just a typical impatient and cranky teenager whose face had people so mesmerized they didn’t notice his attitude. Alira was proud to be fully immune.
She caught sight of their ride to the town, a modest carriage stationed on the other side of the tall black structures that guarded the Academy, right outside its iron gates. She had last seen these gates almost two weeks ago.
Hard to believe I’ve been here for that long already... Time’s ticking down so fast.
Lillian got on the carriage first, with Raine following behind. Alira turned, taking in a final look at the Academy’s sky-poking buildings before she joined the two inside.
They could have taken alchemic transfer ports directly to the town, but their trip would have to be delayed until after lunch break, when the alchemist began their shift. That was fine with Alira—the cultist business was scheduled on Sunday’s first hours, so they had more than enough time to spare. Raine, however, for some reasons he refused to disclose, insisted on leaving early. Her educated guess was that he was planning to visit the Mycorrhiza branch in town.
In the Dual POV novel, most of Raine’s earlier days at the Academy had been a giant time skip until the test where he got his hand on the Hollowed Mirror. Either this had been offscreen, or things were already starting to deviate from the future she knew.
Alira decided she needed to escalate her act of being a prophet to level up her seer ability for a solid source of up-to-date information. No, it wasn’t an act anymore; she was a real, certified prophet now—her Judgement scroll was her advocate.
Until the next, next Monday, when she could use her shiny new aspect, she had to resort to her old act of being mysterious and seemingly all-knowing.
Alira tore her gaze away from the perpetual, endless blur of trees and rocks outside the carriage window. Lillian sat beside her, while Raine occupied the back-facing seat across from them. Both of them had their eyes shut—the former dozing lightly, the latter sitting too still, his breathing too steady for sleep. Arms crossed and back straight, Raine looked more lost in thought than resting.
Her gaze drifted from the top of his head, down to his pretty face, finally landing on his scarred hands.
She had a random thought of how young Raine looked. He was young. At this point in the story, he was supposedly around seventeen. While Alira was worrying about her GPA, part-time, and lack of a love life, he was dealing with the grief and mystery of his murdered mother, the hatred for his father who had abandoned them, and last but certainly not least, the foretold end of the world in his Role description.
The carriage jolted as its wheels hit something, shaking its passengers like pebbles in a tossed basket. Lillian groaned at the bump and leaned toward Alira’s side for support. Despite scooping as far away as she could until she bumped into the carriage wall, Alira couldn’t escape the fate of becoming her human pillow as Lillain nuzzled against her shoulder. She winced when the girl rubbed her face against her cloak, leaving streaks of white powder behind.
This girl....
Why hadn’t she sat next to Raine if she planned to get all cozy up? Raine, on the other hand, sat perfectly still—unbothered as always.
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Trying to distract herself, Alira mumbled for her Judgement scroll.
※
Character Name [Alira Ravon]
Will Favorability [Upper Gold]
Mana Affinity [Lower Bronze]
Soul Quality [Upper Silver]
Soul Corruption [ 2%]
Alchemist Ranking [9]
Alchemic Casts
Position Exchange (8)
Movement Bind (9)
Physical State Exchange (13)
On-Surface Substance Exchange (5)
Mage Ranking [2]
Elements []
Artifact Bound
Hollowed Mirror [Myth] {34%}
Role
Unreliable Narrator [Myth] (Unique)
You are the final wall of Staywes, the Filter of all its tales. Your lies are their Truth.
Role Aspects: [???], [Narrate], [Third-person omniscient], [Curtains down], [Mirror], [Acting Prophet]
※
“The harmonization value hasn’t gone up at all,” Alira sighed quietly to herself.
On the other hand, thanks to Maria's willingness to be her guinea pig after she promised the magic fanatic some guidance from ‘ancient text’, she managed to try out a few casts in practice during and after she’d prepared the textbook for Raine. That ancient text in question was, of course, none other than Xia, which was close enough.
Raine successfully ranked up to ten, to no one’s surprise. Lillian was apparently at rank eight as a mage, and she managed to reach rank two on yesterday’s alchemy practical test, where no one was allowed to leave before every single student in class successfully performed their first cast, On-Surface Substance Exchange.
To better understand her pseudo-student, Alira recalled from the novel regarding Raine’s stats at this point in the story. If nothing had changed, his scroll would be something along the lines of:
※
Character Name [Raine Ravon]
Will Favorability [Middle Prismatic]
Mana Affinity [Lower Prismatic]
Soul Quality [Upper Prismatic]
Role
Protagonist [Myth] (Unique)
You are the Protagonist, the heart of Staywes. You hold Staywes’s blood in your veins and Staywes’s fate within your palms.
Role Aspects
[Fated] You have a significantly larger chance to encounter artifacts and like.
[Beloved of Divinities] The Divinities of Staywes shall answer your Prayer {5% → 7% on their respective assigned day} [1/week]
[Divinities’ Bias] Divinities and alike shall favor you.
...
※
“Hm?” Alira hummed, frowning as she tapped her finger on her forehead in an attempt to stir up her memory.
She knew he had five aspects in total, but for some reason, her memories regarding the other two were misty, as if the details were shrouded under a lace veil. The words were there, but she couldn’t make them out. She couldn’t remember, no matter how hard she recalled. It was unusual, considering the sole reason for her academic success had been her ability to remember things well.
Well, that was unsettling. Not being able to remember made her feel kind of uneasy about it, but there was nothing she could do for now.
Alira noted to herself to subtly pester him about them later on when she had the opportunity to do so without giving away too much. With long, stiff hours remaining of the road trip and no form of entertainment, Alira forced herself to join Lillian in sleep to pass the time.
+++
The carriage screeched to a stop, shaking awake those fast asleep inside it.
Alira reopened her eyes with a groan, wiping her mouth with her sleeve in case she’d drooled in her sleep. Her body felt almost as sore as it was back when she was in the illegal hybrid-slave dungeon. Her shoulder, especially, felt numb when Lillian finally spared her.
Raine unlocked the carriage door, getting off without a care. Had it been any other noblewoman with him, they’d be cursing him out for his lack of manners. It was expected of a gentleman to escort ladies down, while a commoner needed to serve them. To everyone else, Raine was both. Only Alira knew that ‘he’ was neither a man nor a commoner.
Alira pulled her hood over as she climbed down, welcomed by a burst of lively noises and buzzing energy—something utterly foreign at the Academy, where even the air seemed heavy with exhaustion as half-zombified students dragged themselves to the next class.
The streets acted out a chaotic play: every other building was an inn, each with a promoter barking louder than the last. If not for the town guards, clad in polished armor and watchful eyes, their promotional tactics might’ve turned physical, with potential customers yanked by their sleeves. Street performers struck their instruments harder than they needed to, as if they were afraid to be outdone.
The carriage had dropped them off at the heart of the town, where they would have more than enough options to decide their night stay.
Alira caught a certain look on Lillian’s face for the briefest second as the purple-eyed girl glanced around, similar to one that Alira would show toward cockroaches.
“I still don’t understand why we can’t stay at my place...” Lillian grumbled. With her voice barely inaudible, Alira doubted it wasn’t like she couldn’t actually apprehend the reason. The young noble was simply not happy about it.
It wasn’t so simple for a commoner and a duke’s daughter to just show up at the county household, despite what a spoiled count’s daughter liked to believe. Not to mention the fact that they were here for matters that couldn’t be announced.
Raine turned a deaf ear to Lillian as Alira did. “Let’s book rooms for tonight. I have some personal business to take care of. I won’t be back until later in the evening.” He strolled toward the nearest inn the moment he finished speaking. Given his large strides, Alira was sure he’d have stormed off with a curt ‘I’ll go first; meet me here at six,’ had Lillian not been there.
Alira dragged him back by his sleeve. “You go first. We can’t just stay at a random inn. Lillian and I can look around by ourselves.”
Raine looked down at where Alira held him. “Will you two be alright on your own?” he asked without any real concern on his blank face.
Alira quickly let him go. “Why won’t we be? We can meet you at the town square. When will you be back?”
“Six,” Raine answered. He gave a short nod and was gone before Alira could change her mind.
Lillian blinked, still processing. As Raine fully disappeared into the crowd, she turned to Alira with a sharp twist of her neck. “Why did you two become so...close?”
Alira scoffed, her cloak shifting at a dismissive flick of her tail. “I’m as close to him as I’m to you, Lady Lillian.”
“Don’t lie to me,” Lillain spat, “We are not close or anything.”
“Exactly,” Alira said, picking a random direction away from where Raine disappeared, but their destination was the same. She planned to give him a surprise, after all. “Now, as the guide you promised to be, lead me to the Mycorrhiza guild. Surely you won’t go back on your words because Raine isn’t here?”
Lillian remained unmoved in her spot, crossing her arms. “Any reason I shouldn’t?”
“Hm,” Alira took a few steps before looking back at her. “I wonder. Has your letter about this little trip reached the count yet? Of course, that is, if you sent it.”
An angry stomp that shouldn’t come from a noblewoman drummed against the street once, adding a beat to the town’s music. Alira also caught a few sharp whispers that could, to the count’s dismay, have been curses from the young noblewoman’s mouth. Lillian joined Alira with hurried steps. “You’re already heading to the guild... Do you even actually need me to take you there?”
Oh?
Alira was pretty confident Raine was heading to the guild. So, it seemed that the sly protagonist took the longer path just so they wouldn’t be able to guess where he went if they wanted to. Perfect. This improved her chance to level up the prophet aspect since it made it more convincing about how they just so happened to meet again after splitting off.
