Chapter 20

To say my first week was interesting would be putting it mildly. Though to be honest, once I got used to the course structure and how I fit into the classwork, everything became somewhat routine.

In the mornings I wake up for training with Lady Von’Graysing, where I focus on one particular set of skills and one associated Attribute to improve upon. Mostly I focus on learning the new skill Sneaking, and on improving my Dexterity beyond its current ‘C’ Rank.

From there I go to the basic level History, Mathematics, and Writing courses that everyone is forced to sit through.

Then we break for lunch, at which point I am sent to find Magister Carthwright, where I spend the first part of my class dual training with Rydel Drakerton, and then the rest focusing on my own points of improvement. Then go to chorus, where I am not supposed to stand out so much, even though I have a great voice. After which, I am sent back to my room so I can rinse and repeat.

There is of course one annoying thing about this whole process, and that is that while I only share one classroom with each of the love interests. I somehow managed to spend the entire morning core classes, History, Mathematics, and Writing with Princess Claudia.

This alone wouldn’t be so bad, but it is the fact that while the classrooms change, and thereby the people that we are exposed to change. There are three constants that never seem to change, and those are Claudia, her retainer Marie, and me.

What does this mean exactly?

Well, for starters, it means that I get to see Princess Claudia fumble through many of the dialog options with the different Princes. For starters she got the coat of arms incorrect, which is a way to get Priam to open up, as he loves explaining how the unicorn became the sacred symbol of his family. The only problem was that she did this to Prince Upsteel, who ironically has the only coat of arms that symbolizes the strongest order of Knights for the entire continent. Upsteel is also one of those emo characters that broods and hates the life of wealth and luxury that he was born with. Wishing instead to make a name as a Knight, but not because he is an Upsteel, but rather because he is a Knight with his own merits. Needless to say, he is a great tank for a party, taking on the role of main damage blocker and absorber, but his cut scenes are so boring.

Thus, when Claudia asked Prince Upsteel to go on about his coat of arms, it brought out the Prince’s emo side, making it so he didn’t want to speak at all.

Then to make matters worse, in Writing class, she once again flirted with Prince Galvis, despite having done the same to Prince Priam and Prince Upsteel earlier in the day.

Honestly, I thought Marie would have gone full Dark Saint mode right there. Or at least spoken out about the need for monogamy, but every time she looked like she was about to erupt, she stopped, paused to see that I was looking at her. I mean honestly, at this point I am just a spectator to these events, having seen them hundreds of times before. But never quite this poorly. At least I don’t think I ever did this poorly with the different princes.

Yet, whenever Marie looked like she was about to lose it, she would look back, lock gazes with me. Then as if finding an excuse to calm herself, she would breathe in, hold it for a moment. Then she exhaled and it was like she was suddenly calm again. She would even smile.

Well, she smiled at me, before waving to me. I of course would wave back as I really didn’t know what else to do. I knew I wanted to keep the Dark Saint on my side at all costs, thus this was the least I could do.

Seeing me, her face would redden for a second, before she would then turn back to her charge. Where she would watch her charge fail miserably in her other attempts to woo the princes that almost seemed oblivious to her attempts.

Honestly, if I didn’t know any better, I would swear that Marie was more interested in me than she was in her own charge, the person she was here to protect the chastity of. Though I didn’t quite know why.

Again, I feel that this might be an odd link of the world, where we were supposed to be friends as retainers that is now coming back. Or maybe there was always more there that I never saw from the gaze of Claudia, as Claudia was never concerned with the interaction of her two retainers. Retainers that worked best when they themselves never had a love interest fall for them.

Any time a love interest fell for Karen, that would spark her civil war events. And of course, any time a male sullied the pristine status of the Saint, she would instantly turn to a Dark Saint. Again, this was Claudia’s game and the rest of us were just here to witness it, apparently.

Which again, makes me wonder about the story behind my new life. The fact that I was able to both deviate from and come back to the main story so casually implies that there is still more here. Or maybe that is just my wishful thinking.

“All right class, I need you all to pair up for this next assignment.” The History teacher calls out.

With that Claudia gives a stern look to Marie, this is clearly the same look one would give to someone when you wanted them to leave you alone, but didn’t want to sound as rude as you looked.

Marie for her part just looked at Claudia and nodded.

Normally, at this point it would be pertinent for Marie to join with Prince Upsteel’s retainer. This way the two retainers could stay close and watch their charges, without directly interfering with their charges activities. However, Marie took one look at the male Upsteel retainer, a broad-shouldered youth who looked like they were clearly chosen due to their physical prowess over any other advantages they might offer.

Seeing him, Marie sneered ever so slightly, before quickly regaining her composure and all but ran up the stairs to get to my desk row that was towards the back of the lecture hall.

As soon as she got closer, Marie had a giant smile crest her lips as she asked excitedly, “can I join you?”

For a second, I paused, looking first to her, then towards the large male retainer who clearly looked lost at what he should be doing.

Then realizing that this could be a fun scenario that I had never seen in history class before, I decided to go with it.

“I would be honored.” I state, standing slightly and giving a mock bow, while gesturing to the seat next to me.

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Excitedly, I watched as Marie excitedly moved up and next to me, before sitting down.

Then before we knew it, an assistant went around providing one page of questions for each team to write down the answers to.

The questions and answers were simple, especially as they were related to the first year of history, which was a class I read the history of no less than nine times. I also took every class and lecture no less than twenty-five times as that was the only true way to keep your Valedictorian ranking, otherwise you would be given a random passing grade that might or might not be enough to let you keep your classroom ranking.

By taking the class and tests yourself, you guaranteed that you could ace the quizzes and tests, particularly as the answers never changed.

This proved to be the same as, I got the page, gave it a cursory glance and began filling out the answers as quickly as possible.

The first Saint’s Name: Saint Claudia Von’Arinau

Yes, in fact it was from the first Saint that Claudia Von’Roseblad got her name. She was also the one that established having a Von’ prefecture was a sign of nobility and respect.

From there the questions and answers became increasingly easier and easier to answer. Until finally I was done with the sheet before the person handing out the papers could get down the walkway.

“Now, you have all class to answer this, but know the group that answers the most questions the fastest will get a reward.” The teacher began.

Then seeing that I was almost done with the work, Marie all but jumped up excitedly. “Professor, professor!”

“Yes?” The professor asked, suddenly confused why a student would interrupt him while he was still giving out directions on what to do.

“We have finished, or rather the Valedictorian here has finished answering your questions.” Marie exclaimed excitedly, grabbing the parchment from my hands and waiving it about, even though the ink hadn’t fully dried on the page yet.

With that the Professor took in a deep calming breath before replying, “remember you will be graded on the number of questions you get correct, along with how quickly you complete the task. Given that most have not even opened their text books, it would be prudent to at least go over your answers.”

“That’s not necessary, I am certain that the Valedictorian here has all the correct answers.” Marie states, then all but beams at me.

With this, the assistant looks like he is going to come up and get the paper, but is quickly stopped by the Professor who all but storms angrily from the podium to us.

“Fine, in that case, I will not read out the correct answers, but realize that any and all questions that you get wrong will be told to the entire classroom.” The professor stated, as he finally made his way up the rows and to our desks. At which point Marie gave the answer sheet to the professor while smiling brightly.

The professor snatched the page away and began reading the questions, “The first saint’s name was…” Then he trailed off, as he realized that the correct answer was written there. Next he opened his mouth to begin reading off the next question, only to realize that the next answer was also correct. Then we watched as his eyes slowly tracked down the page and then came to a stop at the end.

“You knew all of these?” The professor began asking incredulously as he stared directly at me.

“Yes,” was my one word reply.

He paused, as he looked at me, then seemed to nod to himself.

“Okay, I am going to give you a second test to take, just to make sure.” The professor began as he took our answer sheet, then seeing as everyone was still staring at us, he waved his hands wildly. “What are you all waiting for, you can still try to get second place.”

With that the other students all looked down and began working feverishly.

The professor looked through his podium, before finding a large multi-page list of questions. At first, I was confused, or wondered if he somehow had a quiz with the same questions but posted in alternate orders. But no, nothing so simple.

Instead, the professor came forward and handed me the multi-page list of questions and then seeing both Marie’s and my own textbooks on the desks, he took them and said, “you have until the end of class to complete this.”

For a moment I was confused, but then opening the pamphlet, I saw that it was the midterm exam.

Almost giggling to myself, I began working on these answers as well.

“What is it?” Marie asked.

“Nothing, don’t worry about it.” I state as I once again take up my quill and begin writing down the answers as quickly as possible. Then once I am done, I take out my school plate and imprint the copper slate right where the name should be.

Marie quickly does the same.

Pausing for a moment, I ask her, “do you want to double check my work?”

Marie just stares into my eyes with an intensity that seems a bit too much for a school setting. Then apparently seeing something in them, she just shakes her head and then proceeds to call out to the professor once more.

“Monsieur, monsieur professor, we have completed the task as you requested.” Marie calls out eagerly.

The other students look at us in clear confusion, as we, or rather Marie, turns in our paper.

The professor for his part begins grading the form, but after a few minutes he begins to look up incredulously from the paper then to me.

Marie for her part is standing next to the professor, while I just stay at my seat. For my part, I know all the answers are correct. I have after all been part of this class for over a hundred playthroughs now. So, this is nothing. Well, nothing more than a mere formality at this time.

Finally, after the professor finishes grading the paper and clearly finding no faults with the works, he just stares at the paper then back to us.

“Okay, normally I would just give you all a free homework pass, but since you have turned in a perfect paper for the midterm exam, I will keep this as your test results. I’ll see you both in six weeks.” The History Professor stated.

And like that, both Marie and I found ourselves with an extra hour of time to ourselves each morning. At least that was what I was thinking to myself as I made my way out of the classroom.

I was of course quickly corrected of this thought when Marie was the one who caught me and then looking somewhat pleadingly at me asked.

“Um, can I ask you something?” Marie began, as she caught up to me. I was going to go to the open fields where I could practice on a few techniques that I still hadn’t mastered from this morning’s class with Lady Von’Graysing. I was close to learning, or likely had already learned the art of Sneaking, but now I needed to continue to practice the movements and the way that I steadied my heartbeat while doing so, in order to continue to improve. This was why, my meeting with Marie totally caught me off guard, at least at first.

“Sure, go ahead.” I replied, still making my way to the open area at the center of campus, where there were plenty of trees to provide shade and the plants looked like they were still in bloom from the summertime. A perfect area to practice blending in and moving about serenely.

“Can I ask you to teach me? I realize that we just got a huge boon by being able to do whatever we want during this hour. But I fear that I might be behind when next we return to class.” Marie stated, as she wrung her hands together nervously.

Seeing the look on her face, and realizing what had happened, I could completely understand. I had used my knowledge of the game to make it so I could effectively cheat, but by doing so, my actions would now directly impact Marie’s standings.

“Fine, I’ll teach you everything you need to know to pass, but we will meet out here during the standard class time.” I reply, indicating the open courtyard with several benches that were in different shady places.

“Really?” Marie exclaimed excitedly, as she lunged forward to grab my hands with hers, “thank you. Thank you and thank you.” She repeated excitedly.

Seeing her genuine warmth and joy at gaining my help, I couldn’t help but smile back.

“Not a problem,” I replied.

“Well in that case, can we begin our private lesson now?” Marie asked, gesturing towards a bench that looked particularly romantic. It was the one that sat under the giant flowering tree, where the bench looked to be made of impeccable rose stone.

Only once I sat down, did I realize one thing which I inquired about immediately.

“Did you plan for all of this to happen? Us to get let out of class so we could come and spend an hour here by ourselves?”

With that Marie just blushed slightly as she broke eye contact, giving me all the information I apparently needed.

***

By the time my morning classes were over, and it was time to receive my specialized training from Magister Carthwright, I was met with what had to be the second, or maybe third major plot shift of the day.

The first two were of Marie no longer watching Claudia like a hawk, and instead seeming to be okay with spending an hour with me, before she once again was forced to stay by Princess Claudia’s side for the rest of the day.

Honestly, I was okay with this, as it would hopefully give Marie a chance to decompress and hopefully avoid the Dark Saint route entirely. That was my rationale for working with Marie, also I did sort of make it so she was given the time to herself. The fact that I had someone actively wanting to spend time with me was only a bonus.

However it was Magister Carthwright that hit me with possibly the biggest plot deviation of the day.

“Good, now that you are here. I can give you all your homework for the weekend.” Magister Carthwright stated, a look of excitement filling his face, while Rydel Drakerton looked not quite tired, but resolved to his fate. Yes, he looked like he was resolved for what would happen.

“What homework?” I asked.

“Prince Drakerton here is in need of two things. First, he needs to go out and explore for not one but at least two new dungeon sites. Additionally, he cannot do so with any of his own personal retinue as they are all too high level to provide the training and self-reliance that are needed for his advanced studies.” Magister Carthwright stated.

I was already expecting some of this, as these were the exact reasons why Claudia was forced to team up with the other princes, so they could all get credits needed to advance in both classes and eventually be able to graduate entirely.

“Okay,” I responded.

“I have assigned him as a partner to you. But seeing as you are a junior female and will be by yourself in the woods with a young prince, I need you to identify a capable female who would be able to help support your team dynamics, while also being of unquestionable integrity.” Magister Carthwright began.

Hearing him speak, I couldn’t help but look him in the eyes and wonder if he was up to something. As there was only one person who came to mind, but she was clearly busy, wasn’t she?