episode_0003

“Elfin Princess.”

“… Haa, okay. That’s better. What about you?”

Princess Elphin sighs and gives up before trying to say something more to my answer. That’s understandable, because when she arrived at the entrance ceremony, she had tried to ‘call them nicknames’ to build a sense of intimacy with her fellow students as part of her ‘making lots of friends’ pledge while at the palace, but had failed miserably.

“Ain… My name is Ain Frostgarm.”

“If it’s Frostgarm… he’s a baron from the northern border. I remember you saying he was a trustworthy subordinate of the Count.”

Elfin spoke to me like that because the background setting I chose when I created my character, ‘Baron who protects the northern border’, was properly reflected. However, I still don’t understand why the Elfin princess approached me first and spoke to me. In Academy Story 2, unless you approach her, it’s rare for someone to speak to you first unless it’s an event, unless your intimacy level is extremely high.

“Yes. …Why did you talk to me…”

Elfin, who had been pursed with a sour expression on her face (I couldn’t see it because my head was down), answered pointedly to my question mixed with doubt.

“Is it weird for freshmen to greet each other?”

Oops, I was so nervous that I said something that seemed a bit too pushy. I had forgotten that, despite her overbearing and fierce appearance, the Elfin princess is a typical strong-on-the-outside type who is meticulous and easily hurt, and she is easily upset if you act sharply.

But think about it. If a beautiful, sharp, nice-bodied beauty suddenly comes up to talk to any man, he would be nervous. This is especially true for a man whose wife died shortly after the birth of his son, and whose son is about to get married.

“I apologize if my words caused any trouble.”

As I apologized, stuttering a little, Elfin’s sigh grew louder. If it were the Elfin princess I knew, this would not be a sigh from my actions, but a sigh of self-reproach, realizing that she was being too sensitive.

“No, I was a little sensitive. Anyway, nice to meet you, Ain.”

The Elfin princess, who had said so, placed her hand on her chest, took one foot back slightly, bowed her head, and returned to where her guards were. After confirming that she had returned to her seat, I let out a small sigh and sat down to call up the game menu.

As with Academy Story 2, the VR remake version allows players to access menus such as the status screen, inventory, and quest screen at any time. Now that we’ve gotten this far, it’s become a habit to save.

“Huh?”

But there is no save in the menu. Is it real-time save? If I turn it off, it saves? But there is no save, no load, and no exit game. No exit game?

I panicked and searched through the game menu. Still, it wasn’t there. Even mumbling the force quit command, which is a basic function of the VR device (a safety function that allows you to immediately shut down the VR and exit the game by saying “Exit game”), it didn’t budge.

“… … …No, why won’t the game end?”

After saving and quitting, I was trying to voice chat with my usual friend, ‘Duck’, to share my impressions, but I was embarrassed when the game wouldn’t turn off. Duck had clearly said that ‘it can be linked with voice chat programs’, but the menu linking to voice chat also disappeared along with the game quitting.

“What the heck is this…?”

Is something broken or a bug? In this case, there is only one way. Since the game is running while the VR is connected to the computer, a forced shutdown due to low battery will not work, so if the game is played for more than 24 hours, the only way to ensure the user’s health and safety is to wait for the timing of the forced shutdown.

I roughly scratched the back of my head and then got up from my seat.

“What kind of situation is this? Why aren’t there any community posts about this bug?”

This was my first VR game, and I had no choice but to accept reality after experiencing some ridiculous bugs. I tried to leave the entrance ceremony hall to continue playing the game, but… I ran into it again.

“You’re a freshman, right? You look quite handsome.”

Short uniform skirt and pearl-colored high heels. Sleek ankles with black patterns. When I look up, a slender beauty with a stylishly remodeled academy uniform is looking at me with her hands on her waist and fiery red eyes.

“Lulu… Meet the Marquis Anastasia Youngae…”

As if the princess wasn’t enough, the representative heroine, Marquis Lulu Anastasia, was blocking the spacious entrance to the entrance ceremony hall and looking me up and down.

Lulu, a female tiger race with classic red drill hair that hangs down to her shoulders, blocks my path like a bandit blocking a merchant passing by on a mountain path. And her sticky gaze that seems to be judging. It’s not strange since Academy Story 2 is about women judging and seducing men. Even more so when they are below the rank of Marquis Youngae, the second-highest of the five ranks (Duke, Marquis, Count, Viscount, and Baron) and Baron Youngsik, the lowest.

‘Oh, Lulu is a type of character that I find a bit difficult.’

A genius talent, an arrogant personality that comes with it, and a personality that will claim and indiscriminately attack anyone with just a little intimacy if the main character is a male, are all aggressive personalities that I find very difficult to deal with. In addition, although her performance as a companion is very good, she is so busy that she calls players to do things she needs to do (even asks them to play with her because she is bored), and when she actually needs a player, she is usually busy like the daughter of a duke, so it will probably do more harm than good.

“Hmm, your voice sounds like a rolling jade bead… I guess it’s not lacking to have you by my side. What did the Elfin princess say?”

Have you already entered the restraint phase? Lulu asks, glancing at the back of the Elfin Princess’s voluminous hair.

“I just said that we were freshmen in the same class so let’s get along well.”

“Tch, you’re the princess, and you’re already trying to take everything first. But I’m your senior, so you wouldn’t ignore what your senior says, right? ”

Lulu frowned her pretty face and glared at the back of the Elfin Princess’s head with even stronger eyes. Then, seeing her appeal to the fact that she was a third-year senior, I was taken aback by the fact that she was already showing a reaction that normally only comes when you build up a certain level of favorability.

“That’s…no, Marquis Anastasia.”

“It’s a hassle, so call me Senior Lulu.”

“…Yes, senior.”

“That sounds much better. Please call that hateful princess by her name, Her Highness the Fourth Princess Erpeion Le Perion, every time.”

She, who had been making ridiculous demands, now lifted my chin while I was politely bowing my head, and began to examine my face from all angles. It was quite rude, but she could do it. The Anastasia Duchess was the most powerful duchess in the Perion Empire, aside from the royal family.

“Wow, the fur is like black pearls, and the eyes are like emeralds crafted by the best craftsman. I also really like how the corners of the eyes are downturned and innocent… Hehe, how cute is the snout.”

She turned her chin this way and that to fully enjoy my face, then took her hand away and took two steps back to begin to look at the whole picture.

“Ahem, you’re cute and small now, but your frame… You’re going to grow quite tall. Not bad. I like taller males than me. ”

As she said that, the Marquis Youngae seemed to be starting to imagine something wild while looking at my pants, but a cheerful and neat beautiful voice flew behind her.

“Lulu, are you harassing the male again because you like him?”

Lulu Marquis Youngae turned around, and I looked over her shoulder to see a white-furred female dragon. I was startled and had no choice but to bow my head again and say hello.

“Meet the Duke of Ion Moratium, Young Ae.”

“Oh, I guess I know that too? You know more than I thought, junior.”

I lowered my head and desperately held back a sigh. If you’ve played Academy Story 2 even a little bit, you’ve probably already seen three of the Madame heroines who are so unwilling to give up on you. I’m not a newbie, and I’ve been playing for 30 years, but who would have thought I’d be forced to play as the main heroine, who is considered a newbie?

“Don’t worry, Ion. I’m already desperate.”

Lulu’s barbed words make Ion burst into hearty laughter.

“Puhat, that’s why you don’t have any males. What male would like to be so rough?”

As the Duke of Ion’s daughter says, the Marquis Lulu Anastasia has a tendency to act rudely towards men. Although opinions are divided, players tend to like this kind of Lulu’s boldness, but most male characters in the game dislike her.

However, the reason is simple: Lulu has a hard time handling embarrassment, so she acts out like that. That’s why players who like Lulu claim that she’s cute.

She is also a female, so she would want to show interest in the male she is interested in and show off her cool appearance. However, she cannot stand the shame of doing such things, so she just rushes to express it rudely.

That’s why I didn’t feel bad when Lulu lifted my chin and looked at my face or criticized it. I also kind of like the character Lulu Anastasia.

“Baron Frostgarm Youngsik, I apologize on behalf of my friend for his rudeness.”

As she said that, Duke Ion lifted my right hand and kissed it lightly. This is why I feel burdened by Ion too.

If Lulu is rude to male players, it’s because Ion is overly polite to male players, as if she’s treating them like a god. That’s why I prefer safe assets. They generally try to treat players as friends.

“That’s… okay. Thank you, Duke Moratium’s daughter.”

“Ah, I’m fine with Senior Ion too. You can call me whatever you want.”

“…Yes, senior.”

I didn’t really care about Lulu’s rudeness or Ion’s excessiveness when I was watching them in front of the computer, but when I see a living, breathing person like this in front of me, it becomes burdensome. After all, it’s not easy for a modern person to be dropped into a medieval setting and have to hear and practice manners that you would normally only see on TV.

…I even felt a suspicious gaze from behind me, so I glanced back and saw that the Elfin Princess was also looking at us. Oh my, even if I had maxed out my charm status in mode, this kind of chaos wouldn’t have happened.

“Lulu, stop bothering your juniors and go now. The entrance ceremony will start soon.”

“Damn, I had a few more males in mind.”

Even because of these three, my time was wasted and my plan to work on intimacy with the safe assets went down the drain.

As the two young ladies left the entrance ceremony hall, arguing, I had no choice but to quietly put my plans aside and return to my seat. My eyes met with the Elfin princess’s, and because her gaze was so intense, I lowered my head to the floor like a criminal who had committed a crime I had not committed, and hurriedly sat down in my seat.