Hooray! Become a Noble Young Lady! Hooray! 7

The Arbentaine Family head’s office was quiet yet opulent.

Perhaps it was because Perdain had dismissed all his secretaries, employees, and attendants, leaving him alone with Alice, but the silence seemed amplified.

It was a common tactic used by those in high positions to psychologically pressure their subordinates.

They would summon someone, then act as if they were preoccupied, not speaking until much later, when they would finally address the psychologically intimidated subordinate with a grand, imposing voice.

It seemed Perdain was adopting this attitude quite naturally, but it wasn’t a method that would work on Alice.

After about ten minutes, Perdain finally spoke to Alice for the first time.

“At first, I doubted your existence and identity.”

“Oh, dear, where else would you find a student as kind and pure as me?”

Despite Alice’s nonsense, Perdain continued silently.

“So? You’re the one who wants to adopt me. Are you regretting it now?”

“Not regret, suspicion.”

With a gesture from Perdain, the document hologram installed in the room moved on its own, displaying Alice’s personal information in mid-air.

“Alice. A returnee girl who suddenly appeared in the Ark about six months ago. And, coincidentally, the first person to discover and protect you in the Ark, which has a population of billions, was First-Class Overseer Oriana Hailam.”

“What an amazing coincidence, isn’t it?”

“Surprisingly, the information I’ve gathered ends there. Your records after that consist only of today, when you enrolled in Ruincrest Academy. I even mobilized connections in the central administration to investigate you, but for the past six months, your records are not just clean, but bleached.”

Perdain glared sharply at Alice, but she simply shrugged and sprawled on the sofa.

“My theory is that returnees are inherently rootless, but you caught the eye of a First-Class Overseer, and as a result, you transferred to Ruincrest Academy.”

“So? What’s your point?”

“What I’m curious about is your bleached movements and records for the past six months.”

The hologram disappeared again.

Alice’s records and information had already been erased to the point of obliteration after passing through Rilstia and Theresa’s hands, so no matter how much Perdain tried to investigate, it was meaningless.

“Alice, my adopted daughter. Tell me, where have you been and what have you been doing for the past six months since you returned and caught the eye of a First-Class Overseer? Surely you don’t expect me to believe you’ve been cooped up at home, studying for the Academy entrance exams?”

“……”

“First-Class Overseers aren’t idle people. Each of them is said to hold the Ark’s survival and destiny in their hands. There’s no way they would have picked you up for no reason.”

For Perdain, Alice’s identity and movements were a critical issue. In fact, just having a First-Class Overseer as a patron made it highly likely that Alice was a spy.

Currently, Perdain and the Arbentaine were at the heart of a rebellion, planning to overthrow the Ark.

The rebellion against the Ark had to be carried out with the utmost secrecy. Even though Perdain criticized the central administration for being arrogant and incompetent, if the central intelligence agency were to receive a confirmed report about the rebellion at this unprepared stage, not only the Arbentaine Family but the entire Ruincrest layer would be destroyed.

And even apart from the rebellion, Perdain was the head of a meritorious family that managed the layer.

From his perspective, having experienced countless major and minor incidents and various pieces of information, he couldn’t help but be suspicious of Alice’s bleached records.

‘However, that little brat Alice defeated Dehite. That alone means she has the ability and talent to lead the Arbentaine Family. And it’s not strange that Oriana, a First-Class Overseer, would volunteer to be the patron of that little brat just because of her talent.’

Originally, Dehite also knew to some extent about the family’s cause and the rebellion that Perdain advocated.

The ‘knowledge injection’ classes at Ruincrest had unconsciously instilled dissatisfaction and critical thinking towards the central administration. The foolish Perdain had taken it at face value, and Dehite was becoming a successor with a strong rebellious spirit against the Ark, which the Arbentaine Family had been trying to cultivate.

The reason why Dehite’s position as successor was so solid, despite his reckless behavior and personality, was precisely because of this.

Given this situation, Perdain had many concerns.

‘But, if Alice’s background is certain… if it’s certain that she’s not a spy from the central administration, it would be good to have her as my successor and have her participate in the family’s cause.’

Leaving the successor’s seat vacant would not be good for the family, but if Alice were truly an infiltrator or an Overseer on a mission from the central administration, the family and his own destruction would be certain.

“Ahem, well, where should I start…”

Alice cleared her throat, trying to recall her memories.

“The first place I opened my eyes was in the outskirts called the Scrap Iron Forest. It was a day when rusty rain was falling.”

“The barrier zone located west of the Nine Dragons residential zone where commoners live.”

As Perdain began to listen to Alice, an administrative support AI drone began recording Alice’s words in mid-air.

“As soon as I woke up in the Scrap Iron Forest, I killed and absorbed a Scrap Iron Dragon that was trying to eat me.”

“Hmm?”

Well, yeah…

The Scrap Iron Dragon is a mutated dragon that averages an A-rank, but it’s not impossible to defeat.

Ordinary returnees fall into a state similar to that of a newborn infant immediately after returning, but it’s not uncommon for there to be unique and strong returnees, so defeating a Scrap Iron Dragon is not impossible.

“And I caught the eye of First-Class Overseer Oriana Hailam and became a Hunter? Oh, and during the ability assessment test at the barrier agency, the True Ancestor Virus suddenly manifested and attacked me.”

“What?”

The True Ancestor Virus appeared at the barrier agency?

What is this nonsense?

The True Ancestor Virus is at high risk of manifesting anywhere in the Ark, but why is it popping up at the barrier agency?

Even if that were true, there would be no reason for the central administration to conceal it, would there?

However, before Perdain could even express his doubts, Alice continued with even more unbelievable words.

“So I defeated the True Ancestor. Then a person named Fira Dunhill saw me and started squealing and asking me to marry her. Or was that not it? My memory is a bit hazy.”

“…Dunhill? Did you just say Dunhill?”

Even Perdain knew Fira Dunhill’s name.

It would be strange if he didn’t, since she was the commander-in-chief of the external expedition team and the Dunhill Family’s masterpiece.

“Wait, Alice. Stop. There’s no way I can believe such a ridiculous story…”

“Oh, and I went to the satellite city of Zain to build up my achievements as a Hunter? There’s a Saya Guild there, and they happened to be competing with Mega Corp Ernest Rail and Mega Corps Dawn, so the Saya Guild hired me.”

“What? Dawn, and Ernest Rail?”

Perdain was horrified.

Wasn’t Ernest Rail the Mega Corp whose members were all executed just recently for treason?

“The request I received from the Saya Guild was to disrupt and confuse the joint front of the two companies. But the joint front of the Mega Corps wasn’t much of anything, you know?”

“No, what…?”

What?

The joint front of the Mega Corps wasn’t much of anything…?

Alice may have taken it lightly, but Mega Corps are immense forces that control an entire layer in places where there are no meritorious families.

With their wealth, the number of Hunters they can hire alone could cover the horizon, and the various biological weapons and magical technologies they are secretly developing are at a level that Perdain can’t even imagine.

In fact, Perdain had also seen the possibility of rebellion by forming close ties with Mega Corps, hadn’t he?

In other words, Mega Corps had the same scale as the meritorious family Arbentaine.

And yet, she carried out a disruption operation between those Mega Corps?

Isn’t her life precious…? No, there’s no way this is true.

It’s an absurd story!

“Hehe, surprised?”

“……”

Alice shrugged and made a smug expression, and Perdain’s expression turned blank.

He seemed to have decided to watch and see how far this nonsense and delusion would go, rather than questioning the truth of the story.

“Of course, I carried out the disruption mission very well, but in the middle of it, a calamity called Gaia popped out, and the front lines of Dawn and Ernest Rail were completely shattered. In the midst of that, I defeated Gaia and collected evidence of Ernest Rail’s rebellion and reported it.”

“……”

Now a calamity is popping out.

For reference, Perdain had also heard of Gaia.

It was a newly discovered calamity with a relatively recent personality. It was known to be a monster close to a semi-spiritual body that descended to the ground based on the energy of a biological factory.

But a calamity happened to appear in Alice’s mission battlefield and collapsed the joint front of the two Mega Corps?

“Oh, Gaia said she liked me, so I backstabbed her and absorbed her. That’s why I’m strong and talented enough to kill your son in one shot~”

“……”

Gaia, who collapsed the joint front of the Mega Corps.

Alice herself defeated a calamity with a personality.

In the end, Perdain chuckled.

“Oh! The forces that Dawn and Ernest Rail were trying to drive out with their joint front were actually demons. I brought that demons to the Ark and had them pass the human integration test, and they’re living very well. But I guess I built up too many achievements at once? I wanted to take a break. So I returned to the Ark and went down to the lower layer. Oh, have you heard of the Grand Governor of the lower layer? That’s me.”

“…Ha.”

“Creating an Artificial Sun and arming the residents of the lower layer with a red ideology that sanctifies labor is currently in progress. Ah, before that, Fira suddenly dragged me away to catch someone from her family who had run away with the power of Blood Contamination…”

“Stop.”

Perdain, who had been listening to Alice, finally shouted as if he couldn’t bear to listen anymore.

“Hmph, I see. You wanted to play with me? Did you expect me to respond to this enumeration of absurd nonsense and delusions?”

“Ehh~ It’s true~”

Perdain sighed deeply at Alice’s playful smile.

It was ironic that even her annoyingly smiling face seemed like a masterpiece, but Perdain, who had to deal with Alice directly, was at his wit’s end.

“I suspected it from the moment I heard you killed 16 people in one day, but it seems your mental state has long since deviated from the normal range.”

Perdain added Alice’s mental state to the extremely abnormal category in his mind.

No, abnormality isn’t the problem.

Her mental state is that of a young child, with delusions of grandeur and an impulsive personality that doesn’t hesitate to kill or engage in Duel Trials.

However, she is confident in her own strength and possesses an intelligent side that thoroughly maintains the line that doesn’t cause problems for her.

“Aha, you don’t believe my story at all?”

“Believe that? Believe that you ruined two Mega Corps, personally hunted True Ancestors and Gaia, and that you’re the Grand Governor of the lower layer? And that someone like that killed my son on the first day you stormed into Ruincrest Academy and caught my eye?”

At Perdain’s words, Alice pondered her actions.

“Hmm, I wouldn’t believe it either if I were me? Kkya-ha-hat!”

So what?

It’s not like I brought it up for you to believe in the first place.

“Alice, this won’t do. We need a relationship of mutual trust.”

“What does it matter what my actions and records are? I came here to fill the void left by your son, and I’m just in a relationship where I receive financial support from you and the Arbentaine Family. It would be even stranger if there was trust, wouldn’t it?”

“Ha.”

Well, that’s true too.

In the first place, Alice was the one who killed the Arbentaine Family’s heir and caught Perdain’s eye.

“Okay, then I’ll lie about what I really did for half a year. Oriana, the Overseer who picked me up to enroll in Ruincrest Academy, gave me hellish training for half a year. I ate and slept in her personal training room, so I didn’t have any time to go outside.”

“Yes, that’s much more convincing.”

“Geez. It’s a problem even if I tell the truth.”

Only then did Perdain nod as if he understood.

Ruincrest Academy is a prestigious academy and an educational facility for the upper class.

If Alice, a returnee without a background, had developed the common sense, knowledge, and skills to pass the Academy and kill Dehite in a Duel Trial, it would be more accurate to say that she had undergone intense training from Oriana, a First-Class Overseer, for half a year.

The training of a First-Class Overseer is one thing, but the fact that she endured it and came to the Academy must be due to Alice’s talent and innate abilities.

“Then that’s enough about you.”

“Can I leave now?”

“No, wait.”

As Perdain said that, he snapped his fingers, and the holograms in the air all gathered together and became a thick book right in front of Alice.

“Alice, I don’t know if you have talent, but you’re still a returnee without a background. Of course, you wouldn’t know the etiquette or manners of the aristocracy.”

Alice glanced at the hologram book, which contained all sorts of stuffy upper-class etiquette books, including aristocratic etiquette, social dancing, table manners, and basic deportment.

“Is that the kind of person who looks for etiquette and manners, but leaves a bastard son who sticks his dick out at any woman he sees?”

“Dehite’s personality is not something I can interfere with. He was my biological son and the heir to the Arbentaine Family, so his usual behavior wasn’t really a problem. But you’re different.”

Alice frowned at those words.

Certainly, Dehite was the family’s heir and had enough ability and talent to become the successor, so that’s the end of it.

Dehite is a bastard who rapes all kinds of women?

It’s just a minor matter that can be buried with the influence of the Arbentaine Family.

But Alice’s case is different.

She has talent and ability, but she’s not a biological child and she’s the one who killed Dehite in a Duel Trial.

Alice sighed and closed her eyes.

“I can’t have you looking like a pig let loose in an art gallery, so learn this from today.”

“I’ve already learned it.”

“What?”

At the same time, Alice straightened her posture from sitting carelessly on the sofa.

Then, she gathered her legs, which had been spread apart like a back alley beggar, straightened her back, and puffed out her chest.

She tilted her head slightly and swept her hair back once, loosening it in a way that was neither excessive nor untidy.

“…!”

Perdain’s eyes widened as the back alley thug who didn’t know etiquette or manners became a demure aristocratic young lady in an instant.

Alice had downloaded the etiquette recorded in the hologram book and all the common sense of the upper class into the mainframe in an instant.

It’s not that she didn’t know etiquette, but Theresa had already given Alice appropriate feedback on her body, so now Alice could perfectly imitate an aristocratic young lady.

Even if that weren’t the case, it wouldn’t be a problem to just imitate Fira’s behavioral patterns to look like an aristocratic young lady.

“Try the basic steps of social dancing.”

“Ugh, how annoying.”

Alice got up and matched the beat with her own hands, stepping through the basic steps.

It was accurate.

Even without music, Alice’s elegant and graceful movements, without a single error, seemed as if she would have a perfect debut if she were wearing a dress.

“Manner of speaking.”

“Father, the grace of taking in this girl is a kindness and benevolence that I must engrave in my heart until the end of the sky. But we’re alone together, so why should this girl have to adhere to such shitty etiquette?”

“…Ha, except for the fact that you’re getting on my nerves, at least you won’t spout such nonsense in front of others.”

“Nonsense or whatever, etiquette basically comes from a heart of respect, but this girl doesn’t have the slightest intention of respecting our Father.”

After that, Perdain did several tests.

That included how to hold a teacup, how to address people, basic etiquette, posture, and gait.

The results were all passing grades.

Perdain raised the corner of his lips.

This is…

A monster.

Mastering over 500 pages of etiquette in less than a second?

“I think I understand why the First-Class Overseer volunteered to be a mere returnee’s guardian.”

“Oh, is that so? Are we done now? Ugh, this sucks.”

“I won’t ask for much. At least, in public situations, engrave the etiquette of a high-ranking noble in your body and mind.”

“Fuck off.”