episode_0113

“Cha Seok, Rizie Lin August.”

The familiar name that suddenly rang in my ears made my momentarily distracted mind snap back into focus.

Rizie Lin August.

At our first meeting, I couldn’t remember her clearly, but now she was a woman with a memorable relationship that I could recall with certainty.

She was the eldest daughter of the August family and the middle boss of the third division, Kara’s sister.

“…Wait, how did she get admitted?!”

As far as I knew, Rizie was a woman with vague aptitude for magic.

She had taken the Academy’s magic department exam last year, but I heard she failed to achieve a decent score and was disqualified.

So, I had practically thought that I would never meet that woman again at the Academy, and even if I did, I never imagined meeting her at the Academy.

I couldn’t help but feel momentarily flustered seeing her openly admitted to the Academy. And seeing her admitted to the pharmacy department instead of the magic department made it even more surprising.

“Should I consider this a good sign…?”

The fact that she was able to rank second in the pharmacy department meant that she was a capable woman in her own right, so it was safe to say that the Academy’s overall strength had increased.

Of course, the pharmacy department was a non-combat department, so unless she had the skills of a top student like Lara, it wouldn’t make much of a difference.

Even though it was an unbelievable reality that she was indeed the same person, the voice that eventually reached my ears completely denied that last possibility.

“Sister! Indeed, you are the one! You have elevated the honor of the August family in my place…”

“Stop making a fuss and wait quietly…!”

Hearing the voices of the August siblings from a distance, I could only acknowledge it with certainty.

In the end, it seemed that I had caused a change in the Luminor Academy student pool with my actions during the Huang Palace attack.

At least in Ethan’s case, things had clearly changed for the better, so it was better to think of Rizie’s situation in a similar light.

With that thought in mind, I absentmindedly gazed at the dais, where a girl with sky-blue hair began to ascend.

As I absentmindedly followed Rizie’s path with my eyes, I suddenly felt a strange sensation as if our eyes had met.

-Twitch.

“…?”

…Did she just wink at me?

Nah, she probably just exchanged greetings with someone else she knew nearby.

After all, I was dressed differently from that day, and on the day I met Rizie, I was even wearing a mask that covered my eyes.

No matter how polite and engaging our conversation might have been, it was nearly impossible for Rizie to recognize me at a glance.

So, as I looked at other things, I soon heard my name being called out by the top students of the theology and pharmacy departments as well.

Seeing the ascent of the top student in the theology department, ‘Fake Saint Cerista,’ I could finally be sure that the story was progressing properly in the remaining parts.

“Fortunately, it seems Cerista is being taken seriously as a saint.”

One of the most important factors determining the difficulty level in the prologue story was whether Cerista was recognized as a saint or not.

If she was believed to be a real saint, the difficulty level would be lowered, but if it was revealed that she was a fake saint, the difficulty level would increase.

The principle behind the lower difficulty level was simple. Cerista, who felt favorably towards the protagonist who saved her from a scandal, would become the protagonist’s loyal healer and follow him on his journey.

Moreover, after this event, Cerista would become somewhat like the protagonist’s sidekick, so she wouldn’t even count towards the maximum number of party members.

If a healer who could perform wide-area healing and buffs was added to the existing difficulty level, the game strategy difficulty would naturally decrease significantly.

“Seeing that Cerista is being saved, it seems like they are really serious about the strategy.”

I might need to revise my evaluation of the situation that was in my mind.

Even if bringing in Sirena was a coincidence, making Cerista a saint or exposing her as a fake saint was one of the common mistakes made by first-time players.

By the time the discussion of whether to expose or save Cerista came up, the real saint, Lelis, had already lost her qualifications as a saint after receiving all sorts of abuse from Ethan.

Whether to expose or save Cerista was a story that would come up around the time when the real saint, Lelis, had lost her qualifications as a saint.

If I couldn’t take the release to the saint, it was definitely more profitable to take Cerista.

A healer character who exceeds her abilities is rarely seen in the late game, and objectively speaking, Cerista Awakening was quite a good character in terms of performance.

‘If the protagonist really intends to seriously conquer this game, maybe I should have a proper conversation with him.’

With that thought in mind, I looked up at the podium and listened to the speech of Seraphine, the top student of the freshmen.

I quietly waited for the rest of the entrance ceremony to pass, listening to her speech and thinking about how to have a private conversation with the guy named Kettmujoshegiwat Voltra.

***

The hero of Luminoir Academy, Kettmujoshegiwat Volt.

He glanced around at the faces of the top students and second students who attended the entrance ceremony, confirming the overall appearance of the freshmen.

‘I’ve been living near the academy for a few days, so I know the freshmen, but there are definitely differences from the original game’s story.’

He was reincarnated as the protagonist of Luminoir Academy about three years ago.

It was a past story that he became reincarnated when he was about to delete the character created by his cousin’s younger brother who came to his house during the holidays to play Luminoir Academy.

Even though he entered the game world with a strange name that his cousin’s younger brother had made up, he was diligently working on the game strategy.

He had already grasped the rough storyline as he had played Luminoir Academy several times in his previous life, and he was well aware of the overall strategy by reading the walkthrough of ‘Lilgel’ on LuaGal.

Not to ruin Cerista and trust her, to meet Sirena in the Elven Forest and enter the academy, to handle the enemies that should be dealt with in the prologue in advance, and not to interfere with the entrance of rival characters just to conquer the heroine.

Although he had a strange name like Kettmujoshegiwat, his goal was only ‘safe clearing.’

In order to return to his original world, he had to clear the game and see the true ending, which was a condition set by someone who had him reincarnated in this world.

…The problem was that the world he was reincarnated into was flowing slightly differently from the original story of Luminoir Academy.

‘No matter how you compare it, there are definitely several differences.’

The pink-haired girl Changbu in the Silverwood Territory, who briefly visited for monster subjugation, was not a girl, but a girl with thick brown hair resembling Eria.

There was also the name of a woman who was suspected to be the saint Lilith on the list of magic department passers looking for Agnes.

Even Liz, who should have died in the palace attack incident, suddenly entered the pharmacy department as a second student.

Each of these incidents was a sufficient turning point to confuse Kettmujoshe… the hero, but the most surprising was undoubtedly the absurd reversal of the pig philosopher Edan.

‘Who would say that he looks like a pig philosopher.’

At first, he thought that someone other than Edan had come up to the podium instead of Edan.

No matter how much he thought about it, the appearance and atmosphere that conveyed a level of appearance and atmosphere that was unreasonable to recognize as Edan, and there were only a few common points with Edan he knew from his previous world.

Even now, looking at him standing next to him as a second student, who is now the top student of the swordsmanship department, Kettmujoshegiwat could not help but concentrate on him, still unable to believe him.

‘No matter how you look at it, it seems that this guy is really Edan.’

The pair of swords hanging on both sides of his waist, the black double-headed eagle with the emblem of the Blackwood family engraved on the sword and cloak, even if someone who had never met Edan saw him, they would think of the Blackwood family when they saw him.

Even the black hair and eyes unique to the Blackwood family were decisive evidence that he was Edan Richard Blackwood.

Faced with a reality that he could not believe, the hero could not help but experience a moment of confusion.

After thinking alone for a while, he came to the most plausible conclusion in his mind.

‘For now, this Edan guy definitely seems to be someone with something.’

Not sure if he came from the same world as himself, but at least the Ethan in front of him was a different person from the ‘Pig Confucius Ethan’ he knew.

And the fact that all the changes in the future so far were related to Ethan made his credibility high.

Sending Aeria, who stole his mother’s heirloom, to the exile of Silverwood, recognizing the talented magician Lillith and using means to get her admitted to the academy, it must all be his doings.

Moreover, there were rumors that he played a significant role in the Hwangung Palace attack, to the extent that it was heard that he might have intervened to prevent Riji’s death.

‘I’m not sure exactly what this guy wants… but… it seems like our general goals are similar.’

Seeing him act as if he knows the future, he didn’t know if he had overlapped with someone from another world like himself, or if he had returned from a different future in this world to live a new life.

Of course, as a basic villain, he couldn’t reveal the fact that he was an overlapped person hastily, but at least it was necessary to confirm his identity once.

Even as Seraphine’s speech was heard, he was only waiting for the entrance ceremony to end as soon as possible, just to have a chance to talk alone with Ethan Richard Blackwood by his side.