Chapter 18: Illusions and Realities

The Empire’s royal family is descended from the bloodline of the Hero, but no Hero has ever arisen from the royal family since then.

Long ago, they used to claim, “We are the rightful heirs of the Hero’s bloodline,” but as Heroes continued to emerge from other noble families, their claim lost its strength.

The Hero from 200 years ago came from a Baron’s family.

After that, no one who could truly be called a ‘Hero’ appeared, until just yesterday, when I drew the Holy Sword.

“Your name is Lila, right?”

That’s me.

I had thought I had managed to avoid the typical clichés so far.

I’d gotten along well with the protagonist, never betrayed them, and had no intention to, not to mention, I’ve been doing my best to communicate openly.

“For someone from the countryside, you have quite a beautiful face. Very attractive.”

Most of all, I’m relieved I don’t have any of that “intentional foolishness” going on.

Of course, I know those are just empty compliments.

“If you grew your hair out, I bet you’d be really popular.”

It’s not that I don’t look feminine; it’s just that my hair never seemed worth growing long, and I’d rather keep it short for comfort.

Hmm.

Thinking back, maybe the Goddess chose me with the intention of preventing some idiot Hero from making a mess of things in my past life.

Of course, I had no intention of continuing that path.

But if the Goddess thought of that, she probably had planned it all in advance before choosing me.

“By the way, those earrings suit you really well.”

“Oh, these?”

I was pondering how to respond when I caught onto the hint in his words about the earrings.

“They were a gift from someone when I was young.”

My party members, as well as Lady Blackwood and the Princess, who had been looking at me, immediately turned their heads to look at the Prince.

Even the party members who had followed Lady Blackwood seemed to glare at the Prince with disdain.

I may be oblivious, but I could still understand what that look meant.

It seemed they were interpreting it as the Prince trying to make a move on someone who was already taken.

From the time we were staying at the inn back in my hometown to when new party members joined, everyone kept misinterpreting things, so I knew by now that others saw Siwoo and me as being like a couple.

I guess if Siwoo ever heard that, he’d probably feel a little uncomfortable, but at least I understood how people saw it.

“R-Really?”

Even the knights who had followed the Prince turned to look at him with disapproving stares.

The Prince, noticing their reaction, looked visibly flustered.

No matter how much I tried, I couldn’t actually claim we were lovers, but I could at least use the atmosphere to my advantage.

“Heh…”

Siwoo, who seemed to understand why I’d said that, smiled awkwardly, looking a bit uncomfortable.

I’ll have to apologize properly later.

“Hey, hey, do royal families have a habit of pursuing other people’s women?”

“I heard about it from about five generations ago…”

“Hey, what are you talking about?! I haven’t said anything yet! I just complimented her appearance, that’s all!?”

The Prince snapped back, clearly agitated after hearing Lady Blackwood and the Princess whispering next to him.

“And my great-grandfather did not steal anyone’s woman! He married a woman he had been previously engaged to!”

So, isn’t that just an admission that the engagement was broken off because of someone else?

I began to understand why people were misinterpreting things.

“Even if the person is common, still…”

“Yeah, and on top of that, she’s a Hero…”

But Lady Blackwood and the Princess didn’t stop whispering.

It was so loud I could hear every word.

“Oh, my God, that poor soul…”

“W-What…!?”

Even Chloe, who had been watching the situation unfold, began to clasp her hands together and pray, causing the Prince’s face to turn bright red from embarrassment.

But the Prince didn’t have time to defend himself.

Bang!

Something suddenly flew into the classroom window, causing a loud crash.

“Meow!?”

Sasha, who hadn’t spoken a word since the Prince arrived, screamed in terror.

The window cracked, followed by the loud sound of glass shattering, sending shards of glass flying through the room.

“What’s that?!”

“Could it be a monster?”

Lady Blackwood and the Princess murmured.

The Princess of Arnburrow sprang to her feet, reaching for her waist where her weapon should be, but her expression quickly changed to one of realization.

No matter how much she wanted to, she couldn’t carry a weapon inside the classroom.

I, too, had left my usual sword, the one I received from the Academy, and even the Holy Sword back in the dormitory.

However—

“Heh, seems like the Princess can’t even fight without a sword.”

Lady Blackwood smirked, extending her claws.

Just because she was a beastkin, it wasn’t that her hands were beast-like, nor were her claws particularly different from a human’s.

However, their hardness was often comparable to that of beasts.

In fact, Lady Blackwood had let her nails grow longer than usual.

They weren’t sharpened, but that seemed to be enough for her.

“Tch.”

The Princess seemed a little embarrassed, letting out a soft sound as she lowered her head.

Bang!

Bang!

It wasn’t just the shattered window; other windows had monsters crawling up them as well.

One by one, the glass broke as dark, writhing figures began to crawl inside.

“Harpies!?”

“How are those things here?!”

The black masses that had risen from the ground took shape, revealing their true forms.

They had wings on their arms, and their bodies were covered in feathers, all of them wearing sinister smiles.

It was the familiar “Harpies,” a well-known monster.

“Your Highness, please step back.”

“Ah, understood.”

The Prince, like me, was unarmed, but his knights were another matter.

The knights immediately took a defensive stance, positioning themselves in front of the Prince to shield him.

LFLF!

Kweh!

Just like Lady Blackwood, both Sasha and Narya, who were beastkin, sprang into action and immediately positioned themselves between the Princess and me.

“We’ll handle this! You should stay back since you don’t have any weapons!”

Both Sasha and Narya raised their hands and assumed a stance similar to Lady Blackwood’s, prepared for the fight.

I turned to look at Siwoo.

Like me, Siwoo had an expression that showed no signs of panic.

Now, what should we do?

He had said that if I needed the Holy Sword, I could simply call for it.

According to the headmaster, the Holy Sword would always appear in my hand, no matter how far away it was, as long as I truly needed it.

So, if I really thought I needed the Holy Sword to fight these “monsters,” I could probably call it to my hand and use it.

However…

I sighed deeply and patted Narya’s back, who was awkwardly wedged between Sasha, the Princess, and me.

LF?

Kweh?

“Don’t worry, just stay seated.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? The monsters are…”

“Think about it. Monsters suddenly appearing right in the middle of the city, with no forest nearby? In the heart of the capital, of all places?”

Well, if I didn’t know anything, I might have panicked too.

But I have Siwoo.

I turned to look, and Siwoo was stopping Chloe, who was trying to create something with her divine power.

“This is a place with security as strong as the Imperial Palace.”

“Still…?”

Chloe tilted her head with a confused expression at Siwoo’s words.

“Look over there.”

Siwoo spoke quietly and pointed to a corner of the classroom.

There, a few elves were sitting.

Some were looking this way, but most of them didn’t seem too interested.

“Even the elves are staying still. Elves are masters of illusion magic. If this was really a monster, the elves wouldn’t just sit by.”

“Does that mean this is an illusion?”

“Not exactly… It’s something similar.”

Siwoo looked a bit uncertain as he answered Chloe’s question.

It’s not an illusion.

It’s something close, but these things have a real physical presence.

Sasha and Narya’s ears were still perked up, but it seemed like they had begun to realize the situation was strange after hearing Siwoo’s words.

And while we were talking, someone had already charged at the monsters.

“Ha!”

With a loud yell, Blackwood, the young lady, rushed toward the harpies and swung her hand.

At first, I thought she was going to slice them with her claws, but upon closer inspection, it seemed like she was just swiping with her hand.

Was she that confident in her strength?

However…

Smack!

Of course, the “monster” wasn’t real, and its form immediately shattered.

“Huh?”

It wasn’t just Blackwood; her party members followed with a similar attitude.

The harpies, however many there were, were scattered in an instant by a single strike.

They left behind a sticky, viscous substance on the floor, but compared to their previous presence, it was barely noticeable.

“Real…?”

Sasha mumbled, looking slightly dazed after witnessing the situation.

Well…

That’s how it is.

It’s an academy cliché.

And because of this incident, I was once again convinced that this world isn’t based on a game, but a web novel.

Accidents on the first day of school, or situations where people pretend to be attacked just to observe the reactions of the Hero Candidates…

I smiled at Siwoo and tapped his arm.

Siwoo returned my smile with a refreshing grin.

Blackwood and her group were flustered, the Prince was still hiding behind his knights, and the elves didn’t even blink.

By the way, Chloe, the princess, was staring at us intently.

Clap, clap, clap.

The sound of applause echoed.

“Well done, everyone.”

Through the door that the Prince and his knights had opened, an elven man walked in.

That’s welcoming… no, the person who had prepared the magical energy earlier.

“Truly, all of you seem to have the qualities of a hero. Not a single one of you is frightened.”

Especially that elven man—he was likely the professor for our first class, Understanding Magical Energy—was staring directly at me.

Ah, why, again…