episode_0124

Engaged in a struggle over whether to buy or not the book in the hands of the owner of the underground general store, I ended up leaving the general store empty-handed with no profit and coming up to the surface.

Unable to acquire ‘Understanding the Flow of Magic,’ I sat on a bench in the central park of the academy near the underground general store with a disappointed heart, feeling gloomy.

“Sigh… This is just how my life goes.”

Whenever I try to put effort into something, my luck in the single digits keeps tripping me up, causing a sense of injustice to well up in various ways.

With a luck stat of 1 or 2, a character like me, Lilith Rosewood, whose basic stat itself cannot be overcome through effort, was in a desperate situation.

Originally, as a character specializing in ‘support magic’ using only ‘auxiliary magic’ to assist the protagonist (or Ethan) meant that there was no need for a high luck stat symbolizing accuracy, but as someone who now needed to learn offensive magic, I had to seize every opportunity to raise my luck.

Having carelessly thrown away the ‘Hidden Book of the Secret General Store,’ which was the most easily usable element to increase luck, I was at a loss as to what to do now.

“What can I do with just a luck stat of 2?”

If I continued like this, I would ruin all the mid-term evaluations in subjects where accuracy was important, including various offensive magic spells I was currently learning.

If I couldn’t improve my luck stat by the end of the semester, I would likely fail or be in the lower ranks in the remaining subjects, and there was a possibility that my entire academy life could go completely awry.

As someone who had planned a curriculum for improving accuracy and luck from the first semester of the first year to the second semester of the fourth year in order to raise Lilith as a ‘specialized in offensive magic’ character, it was a desperate situation for me.

Thinking about the future that would only get more complicated from now on, it was natural that my mind became tangled.

“Should I ask Ethan to lend me some money? But no matter how much I think about it, he probably won’t easily lend me 10 gold coins… Or should I secretly approach the protagonist and ask him to buy it for me? But if I approach him out of the blue, he will definitely be suspicious. Besides, Ethan strictly warned me not to have any contact with the protagonist…”

Being a mere maid of the Jun Viscount family with a nonexistent status and unable to freely use money or act, it was a difficult situation.

Of course, laying out my miserable life like this wouldn’t make it any better, so I gathered my thoughts and was about to get up from the bench when suddenly, a young lady with long sky-blue hair approached me and greeted me warmly.

“Long time no see.”

“…Lizzie…Lin Auguste, Your Grace?”

Almost blurting out the name I had only called out in my mind out of habit, I quickly added her full name and title.

Sitting next to me on the bench, Lizzie, with her arrogant noble lady demeanor, raised her hand to her mouth and greeted me with a haughty expression.

“We met briefly at the underground general store earlier, Lilith, didn’t we?”

“How do you know my name…?”

“Hmm, are you planning to play dumb? Although it’s been over half a year, we did meet once at the masked ball on the princess’s birthday, didn’t we?”

“….”

“You seem to be wondering how I knew. Lilith, you seemed embarrassed to meet me and wanted to hide your identity, but unfortunately, I never forget the features of someone I’ve seen before. Even if you were wearing a mask, I could easily recognize you by your other features. I greeted you at the entrance ceremony as well, did you perhaps not see me?”

“No, I saw you. You didn’t respond because you didn’t know how to greet me.”

In many ways, this character named Rizi was a difficult character for me to predict.

After all, Rizi was supposed to have died due to a monster attack at this point in the story.

No matter how many times I cleared “Luminor Academy,” I couldn’t know the characteristics and personality of a character who didn’t appear in the main story.

“Excuse me, Rizi Lin Auguste Youngae-nim.”

“Well, I understand. If you’re Lily’s daughter, meeting me now might be a bit burdensome. Anyway, as the daughter of Viscount Youngae, you were the one who apologized to me, so you might have been afraid that I would retaliate when we meet again, right?”

“….”

“Of course, I don’t have any ill feelings towards Lily. I have a personality that likes to establish clear relationships.”

…If she had a personality that liked to establish clear relationships, she would have wanted to tear me apart.

Not only did I embarrass myself at the prestigious social event of Princess Seraphine’s birth, but I was also forcibly stripped of the jewelry I had.

As I was taken aback by Rizi’s incomprehensible logic, she continued to speak to me.

“I saw you had a brief argument with the owner of the general store earlier, is that correct?”

“I showed a shameful side of myself.”

“You wanted to buy something but didn’t have enough money, right? Even I thought 20 gold coins was a bit excessive. Well, with the wealth of the Auguste family, I could have paid for it somehow.”

“….”

“It must have been a burden for Lily, who is the daughter of Viscount Youngae and the exclusive maid of Blackwood Gongja.”

She suddenly appeared, and I wondered what her purpose was. Was it a sarcastic remark?

Well, Rizi wouldn’t have any good feelings towards me. It was a natural story when I thought back to that day.

Since I felt that digging deeper would only scratch the surface, as I was about to get up to leave, a book with a green cover was quietly pushed towards me.

“I’ll excuse myself first to carry out Eden-nim’s exclusive maid duties….”

“…Take this, Lily.”

“…This is….”

“I saw that you needed this book earlier, right?”

“….”

“Oh, was it something you didn’t need?”

“No, I do need it….”

A book on “Understanding the Flow of Magic” that unexpectedly came into my hands in an unexpected situation.

I should have sorted out my thoughts as I had managed to get my hands on this book that I wouldn’t have been able to obtain otherwise.

However, my mind was confused by the sudden kindness of this woman, and as if expecting my reaction, Rizi looked me in the eye and said.

“Think of this as compensation for the apology I owe you from last time.”

“What?”

“I accidentally spilled the drink I was holding at the masquerade ball on you. And then, I got angry and blamed you because I was more concerned about my dignity. Even now, I feel so embarrassed about what happened.”

“….”

“So please accept this as a substitute for the apology I should have given you back then. Of course, it’s a very belated apology for you.”

…What’s going on with her?

Did I accidentally eat something bad?

Is this the same Rizi who was freaking out at me at the masquerade ball?

Despite almost accepting her awkward kindness due to the natural flow of the conversation, I felt a sense of danger in Rizi’s attitude and rejected her kindness once.

“My apologies, I can’t accept such kindness without any compensation.”

“Your hand is shaking, Lily.”

“The price of that day was settled by receiving a favor that could protect my life, right? Here, I’m still using it well.”

“Yes, it seems like you’re still using it well. You even used that sword in the foolish duel with Raidenhart’s fourth son, right?”

“….”

“I know it’s suspicious, but please just accept it as a gesture of goodwill. It’s not like it’s worth more than five gold coins anyway.”

“Oh, no…. I can’t accept such a high-priced item… What did you just say…?”

…Just now, it felt like a statement that couldn’t be ignored passed by.

“I know it’s suspicious, but this is just a gesture of goodwill from me to you….”

“No, it’s not about the price of five gold coins….”

“Oh, that? That’s just because the owner of this underground general store is a spinster who gives discounts to handsome men.”

“…What?”

“I may be biased as a family member, but my younger brother, Karam, is quite a decent guy if he keeps his mouth shut. He has a good physique, a good family background, and is well-equipped in many ways to attract women. That’s why I bothered to bring him to this secret general store. I still don’t have an engagement partner like you.”

“….”

“If you had come with your fiancé, you probably wouldn’t have used the back alley. Was there a reason you had to keep it a secret from Blackwood Master?”

…How do I know about these unnecessary detailed settings attached to this extra-level NPC?

The setting of the underground general store owner being a spinster was truly a story I had never heard before.

Originally, during the game play, I only visited as the main character, so there was no comparison. That’s why the prices seemed unreasonably high.

“Five gold coins shouldn’t be such a burden for a junior viscount like you, right?”

“….”

“Or perhaps you think that even I, as a member of the Auguste family, would find it difficult to afford a gift worth five gold coins?”

“…No. Since you put it that way, I will gratefully accept it.”

Refusing any further would definitely be impolite, so Lizzie quietly accepted the book handed to her.

She looked at me and smiled slightly, extending her right hand as if to shake hands.

“Let’s get along from now on, Miss Lelise. Although we are in different departments, we might ‘accidentally’ run into each other quite often in the academy, right? The Magic Department building and the Pharmacy Department building are not that far apart.”

“…Understood, Lizzie Lin Auguste.”

“You can call me Lizzie. I will call you Lelise as well.”

“…I will address you as Miss Auguste.”

“…Well, call me whatever makes you comfortable.”

And so, the relationship between me and Lizzie that had started three weeks ago continued.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

And, three weeks later.

For some reason, I found myself spending time with her in a dessert cafe, sharing the same space.

Even more absurd was the fact that this lifestyle had been going on for almost three weeks.

Initially, we would randomly meet on campus and chat for 10-20 minutes, but at some point, it evolved into longer conversations lasting one or two hours.

Recently, meeting regularly had become a natural part of our routine during academy breaks, to the point where we would meet at the central square.

Every time I objectively thought about my current situation, I couldn’t help but feel a little bewildered.

‘How did we end up becoming like this…’

Anyway, at the moment, I had no reason to distance myself from Lizzie, and I also had a sense of obligation regarding the book I was reading. So, we were getting along well.

And occasionally meeting at the dessert cafe with Liz, the coffee was decent.

The coffee in this world was not something commoners could afford, and expensive food was certainly not the norm, but still, it was a bit of a burden to drink it every day like water, just like in my past life.

It was strange enough to brew coffee in the dormitory room I shared with Eden, so the caffeine I drank on these occasions was helpful in many ways.

Although my body belonged to Lillis, my soul was engraved with the features of a modern-day Korean.

“Lillis seems to really like coffee.”

“Yes. Since I had the opportunity to drink it thanks to Miss Auguste’s kindness, I’ve become quite fond of it.”

“We import and process beans steadily from the southern region at our company. That’s why we can also run a cafe that serves drinks made from these beans.”

“Is that so.”

“If Lillis is interested as well…”

And so, as Liz and I exchanged conversations little by little whenever our eyes met, and I continued reading magical books to increase my luck, amidst the somewhat lively reactions of other people, I could sense that an unexpected guest had entered the cafe.

With a subtle commotion, I could tell by their demeanor that another unexpected guest was approaching our table without hesitation.

“Oh my, what a coincidence to meet in a place like this, Miss Lillis. And the person in front of you is… Liz, the vice president of the pharmacy department?”

“…Princess Seraphine?”

Seraphine, the representative of the 1st year at Luminor Academy.

The Moonshadow Princess had appeared in front of Liz and me.

…So, where did this one suddenly pop up from?