episode_0003

The Imperial Princess looked at me with such an arrogant posture.

Of course, I was perceiving her through mana, but I deliberately ignored it.

“So, why have you called for me?”

Although I could only perceive things vaguely, I thought continuously tapping my staff might upset her, so I lightly tapped the sofa instead, spreading my mana.

Listening quietly to my question, she seemed to be thinking about something.

After a long while, just as I was slowing my tapping on the sofa, her mouth opened.

“Do I really need to open my mouth and explain? You may lack sight, but you’re not brainless, are you? The Imperial Princess of the Eastern Continent has summoned you personally. Isn’t there only one answer?”

I merely smiled at her words.

I wasn’t a fool either, so I knew why she had called for me.

‘Well, she’s probably trying to recruit me, or get me to come to the Eastern Continent’s academy she attends…’

This event had happened to the protagonist a few times before.

If one showed outstanding movement and strength during the first academy exam, they could gain a connection with one of the sponsors.

However, that was also random, and I had never seen the Imperial Princess as the target during my gameplay.

“It’s tiresome to see you smirking. It seems your brain is a little slow, so I’ll make a direct proposal. Your talent is too precious to be in the Imperial Academy here. Moreover, the technique you just displayed is closer to our Eastern Continent’s techniques; it doesn’t suit this place.”

Of course, that’s true. It must be.

Just looking at the name of the technique, it’s [Heart Sword (心劍)].

It’s a technique that would appear in a martial arts game, specifically from the Eastern Continent, not a fantasy game.

However, I didn’t want to deliberately choose the hard difficulty, leaving behind the treasure trove overflowing with hidden pieces and various events.

Her continuously arrogant voice was starting to get on my nerves.

“I refuse.”

I said that and gripped my staff to stand up.

Clack.

However, someone grabbed my arm.

It was the same Imperial Princess who had been speaking so arrogantly to me just moments ago.

“Then you’ll regret it…?”

A slight shadow fell under her eyes, and she exuded an aura as if she would slaughter my family if I refused any further.

“Because I never give up what I want…”

The mana of the Imperial Princess, who spoke with a charismatic voice,

was trembling with fear.

‘?’

No matter how much I focused my mana in a narrow range to perceive her face in detail, all I saw was the terrifying sociopath who would eventually ascend to the emperor’s throne.

However, her true state was the exact opposite.

Her mana was continuously fluctuating as if she were an extremely anxious person.

Just in case, I tried to shake off her hand, and her gaze grew even darker.

But her mana fluctuated even more wildly.

‘What in the world…’

Startled by her intensely trembling mana, I tried to shake off her arm again, and this time she let go first.

“I will certainly remember today’s humiliation…”

She glared at me as she spoke, but her true feelings were entirely different.

It’s a bit hard to describe the feeling, but it was as if she was internally cursing, something like ‘I’m totally screwed’, kept circling in her mind.

‘What in the world is she doing… No, did I just misunderstand this person…? This is a bit like… not a sociopath, but someone *acting* like a sociopath…’

The image of her character and the emotional fluctuations she was displaying before me didn’t quite match, so I tilted my head in confusion and left the room.

Only the Imperial Princess remained in the room, her head bowed as if she had suffered heartbreak, staring at the floor.

A slight cold sweat ran down her forehead, and her face, as she stared at the floor, was drenched in tension.

“Your… Your Imperial Highness…?”

When the maid beside her spoke, the Imperial Princess returned to her arrogant posture and spoke as if she had never bowed her head or made a strange expression.

“That person.”

A fearful gasp… Y-yes…

The Imperial Princess commanded the maid in a low voice.

“I intend to stay here a little longer, so somehow, get that blind man to the Eastern Continent. He’s someone I want to introduce to Father-nim as a connection. It seems he’s the only one around here I can introduce as a connection. I’ve already dismissed everyone else.”

The Imperial Princess continued to speak in her noble tone.

“Think quickly about how to get that person out of here. If not, then for the third exam… was it? Have him receive an absurdly difficult request there to make him despair.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Highness.”

“And I wish to be alone for a bit, so everyone, please leave.”

The Imperial Princess spoke with an annoyed expression, clutching her head, and the maids all left, trembling in fear.

Thus, only the Imperial Princess remained in the room, clutching her head alone.

Slump.

As if she no longer had the strength to maintain her noble posture, she collapsed onto the sofa and mumbled.

“Ugh… I was scared… That old man was so scary to talk to, constantly scattering mana… And that person’s expression… it was chilling…”

The Imperial Princess’s voice was no longer the noble one from before.

She was mumbling in a slightly whiny, pathetic voice.

“H-h-h-sniff… Why isn’t anything going my way…? I tried to bring in the kid who was easy to talk to and talented… I guess this really wasn’t a place to come for fun…”

Her charismatic facade had already crumbled.

“I really can’t keep up this noble, sociopathic Imperial Princess act… Even though the maids listen well…”

The Imperial Princess, unlike her previous image, waved her arms in the air and complained.

“I just want to be friends… I even released all the kids I dragged away threatening to kill them… Why are there so many misunderstandings about me…?”

The Imperial Princess’s body had gone limp.

“H-h-h-sniff…”

She was a much more human Imperial Princess than I had imagined.

***

I was quietly walking down the hallway.

Walking almost as if observing something, I was able to discover a few new facts.

“So the Imperial Princess… is acting, huh?”

I looked into the empty air and let out a hollow laugh.

For the Imperial Princess, who had worn such a noble expression, to make such a pathetic face…

I couldn’t help but marvel at the immense disparity.

‘But it was definitely different when the Eastern Continent’s story progressed and the protagonist met the Imperial Princess… With this personality now, did she kill all her siblings and take the emperor’s throne? Something is strange.’

A question arose in my mind, but since it was something that wouldn’t happen as long as the current Emperor of the Eastern Continent was alive, I set that worry aside for a moment and decided to focus only on the second exam before me.

‘The Imperial Princess… I might be able to use that personality later…’

I returned to the lounge, smirking like a schemer.

***

“Alright! All first exams are over! Everyone, pay attention!”

As soon as I arrived at the lounge, the instructor I had seen at the training ground entrance was amplifying his voice with magic, announcing the end of the first exam.

The reactions of the various students who heard his words were diverse.

There were exhausted students who had just finished the first exam, students who had already rested sufficiently here watched the instructor with relaxed expressions, and students who had already formed groups were nudging each other and exchanging jokes.

“Alright! I will now announce the second exam! The second exam is similar yet different in nature from the first! Two people, whose family names, given names, and abilities you don’t know, will form a team and eliminate all other teams! At this time, the four of you will fight within a magically created field! I hope you will display your abilities to their fullest! For your information, the minimum number of eliminated participants in this exam is two, but even if you’re on a winning team, if you failed to properly display your abilities, that person will also be eliminated! You will need time to learn each other’s abilities and plan strategies, so I will give you one day! Now, unfold the paper with your name written on it. Teams have been formed completely randomly, so find your partners!”

At that moment, I felt a sense of helplessness.

While I could perceive and visualize someone writing, it was difficult to visualize letters written on such clean paper, even by flowing mana into them.

In the end, I had no choice but to seek someone’s help. I handed the paper to the person next to me, whose mana wasn’t cleanly spread, so I knew it was a woman but not who she was, and asked,

“Excuse me, could you tell me who is written here?”

As I handed it over, she quickly took it, then grabbed my hand and said,

“Hmm, you don’t have to do anything. I’ll take care of everything, so don’t worry and let’s do it.”

I hadn’t sent detailed mana to her, but I could tell from her gaze that she was looking at me with great pity.

‘But… this voice… I’ve heard it somewhere before…’

Curiosity piqued, I flowed detailed mana to her, and for a moment, I almost dropped my staff.

Friedrich Aris, one of the sub-heroines of this game, known as the Saintess in the game, was holding my hand with her eyes tightly closed.