Chapter 17
“….”
Lydia woke from her sleep.
To be precise,
she regained consciousness in a dream.
She was sitting on an old chair. At some point, her clothes had changed from pajamas into her academy uniform.
‘…A dream.’
Then she looked around.
It was the familiar ‘Library of Memories.’ The worn-out bookshelves and cheap furniture were still there.
But more than anything, it was a place she felt fond of.
It held precise records of her memories from her previous life as a man, ‘Lee Dae-yoon.’ Even things like the dramas, novels, and comics he’d seen in his previous life were organized there.
‘It was nice to read them now and then when I was bored.’
This time, Lydia didn’t get up.
Now that Morgan had joined them,
what mattered wasn’t the original story, but the variables in reality.
‘I’ll have to decide how to act based on how people around us respond after the Sun’s Sabbath. The story’s already been twisted beyond recognition, so unexpected variables might pop up….’
Besides, the original was a god-awful game where the antagonistic NPCs’ backstories changed completely depending on the heroine’s route. It had felt fresh as a game, but now that it was real, there was no way to tell which version was true.
In one route, they were just background characters.
In another, they were heroes.
In yet another, they were villains.
They were all stories about the same people.
There were four people like that.
Lydia sighed.
“…Phew.”
This was something that bothered her every time she thought about it. Just because Arti now loved Aria, she couldn’t be sure this world was the ‘Aria Route.’
Damn it, if only she could be sure!
‘They’re all dressed up as high-ranking nobles, so I need to confirm it first.’
If only she could be sure.
Lydia could simply choose the future villains and assassinate them herself. Even a Sword Master launching a surprise attack in the middle of the night could easily slice the head off most Black Temple villains.
Or…
She could assassinate the King of Gallia, who sided with the Black Temple in every route, and see how people reacted…
It would be terribly unfilial, but after being born as Lydia and only seeing him twice before he abandoned her, it was hard to think of him as her father. So she’d seriously considered assassinating him, too.
“….”
But she couldn’t do it. If she botched things and the villains went scurrying into their holes like a swarm of rats, it would be a disaster. They were like cockroaches laying eggs in the dark.
She’d have no face to show her knightly comrades who’d end up sacrificing themselves.
‘I asked Mirian to gather as much information as possible, but no decisive clues have turned up yet.’
There was only one option left.
Wait for the decisive moment.
“….”
It was frustrating.
It wasn’t an approach Lee Dae-yoon liked, nor was it one Lydia liked.
“….”
So she didn’t even open a book. She just sat there and tapped on the table, as if trying to shake off her impatience.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
As she did, she thought.
“….”
Since being reborn as ‘Lydia,’ she’d read <The Hero of the Sacred Sword> more than a hundred times. She could even remember how many characters each heroine’s long, final cry lasted during their erotic scenes.
Even so, whenever her memories grew a little hazy,
this dream kindly appeared, letting her read it again.
‘As if someone were telling me not to forget these memories.’
When she was little, it had made her anxious.
Not knowing how long she’d keep having this dream, she’d filled a notebook with notes on the common route and the hostile NPCs in each heroine’s route. Of course, she wrote them in Hangul instead of Gallian so no one could understand them.
‘My older brother teased me for pretending to write when I was five, but….’
“….”
But the dream kept coming.
So she burned the notebook. She had no interest in some foolish plot where a villain or comrade with the ability to decipher languages stumbled across it.
She must’ve been around seven.
It was probably the day before she joined the Ember Knights and resolved to save Leonard and Mirian. To be honest, she’d sensed that she was becoming more like ‘Lydia’ than ‘Lee Dae-yoon’ from that point on.
Her body,
and her heart.
Lydia gave a faint laugh.
“Heh.”
‘By then, calling someone “older brother” and speaking like a young lady in Gallian had become second nature.’
If she’d still been her former self, she would’ve insisted on calling Leonard ‘big bro’ to the very end. Gallian had a word for ‘big brother,’ too.
But she hadn’t chosen to.
Of her own free will, she’d decided to treat Leonard as her ‘older brother.’
‘Since he truly loved me as family, I decided to reach out to him just as sincerely.’
And then she lived Lydia’s life.
Born a princess—loving Mirian and Leonard as her family, learning the essential courtesies expected of royalty, watching her body grow more feminine, and experiencing the glances of men who peeked at her…
The traces of Lee Dae-yoon grew fainter and fainter. Sometimes she felt as if her previous life had been nothing but a long dream.
In the end,
she became Lydia.
Tap—
Lydia stopped her fingers.
“….”
No.
She wasn’t a complete ‘Princess Lydia.’
There were definitely ways she differed from ‘the original her.’
[I’m not the ‘incompetent princess’ from the original. I won’t offer up my body and become dependent like she did. I won’t let this world be controlled by the god-awful adult-game setting. I’ll normalize it.]
That was undoubtedly
something ‘Lee Dae-yoon’ would think.
Lydia clenched her fist.
“…And I’ll save the Kingdom of Gallia from its destined destruction. As a royal, I’ll reclaim their future.”
That was undoubtedly
something ‘Lydia’ would think.
The two thoughts coexisted.
Just as Lydia secretly called the original protagonist—Arti and his group—her ‘subordinates,’ yet could also regard them as ‘friends’ and feel proud as she watched them grow.
She thought both things at once.
That was the kind of person she was.
*
“Lydia?”
“?”
Lydia raised her head.
Arti and Mave, who had been sparring for a long while in the early morning, were looking at her with concern. Morgan, who’d been reading nearby, and Aria, who’d been worrying about Arti, were looking her way, too.
Arti asked cautiously,
“Is something wrong?”
“….”
Lydia shook her head.
“Nothing. I was just lost in thought.”
“I see….”
“Arti, your sparring has improved a lot. You can even deflect one of Mave’s strikes out of ten now.”
“Huh?! How did you know when you weren’t watching?”
“I can tell from the sound.”
“Wow….”
Arti scratched his sweaty forehead.
“Sometimes I wonder what level you’re really at, Lydia. You keep up with all the Swordsmanship Department’s physical training, you know so much about swordsmanship, and you explain how to handle mana in a way that’s really easy to understand….”
“….”
“Most of all, during the fight with the Skeletal Rider, you took them all out with your sword—‘Whoosh, crash!’”
“…That’s true.”
Mave tilted her head.
“Whoosh, crash…?”
“Yeah. Lydia swung her sword once—whoosh!—and all the skeletons up ahead came tumbling down—crash!”
“Um, uh… really?”
“Yeah.”
“….”
“…?”
“Hey, country bumpkin. Come here.”
Mave glanced at Lydia, then put an arm around Arti’s shoulders and whispered. Unfortunately, Lydia could hear every word.
“D-do you remember if Lydia’s sword shimmered or glowed faintly back then? Like, did she shout the name of a technique and make some really dazzling light…?”
“?”
“…Tell me honestly, country bumpkin. This could go down in history.”
“??”
Arti couldn’t figure out what she was getting at. So he simply answered honestly.
“No…? It was just an ordinary iron sword.”
“Then she’s at the very pinnacle of Flow. Well, I suppose I got carried away with my imagination. It couldn’t have been Ignition or Aurora…. Still, that level is extraordinary, too.”
“How extraordinary?”
“….”
Mave gulped.
“Do you remember Senior Lucian, the one we saw on the first day of the Sabbath?”
“Oh, that huge third-year who leads the nobles’ faction.”
“Don’t talk about a noble like that where anyone can hear you. …Anyway, he’s a genius swordsman known among the Kingdom of Gallia’s swordsmen as the ‘Golden Knight.’ He’s only on the verge of reaching Ignition, though.”
“Why are you making such a fuss? We’re at the same level of Flow….”
Mave lightly smacked Arti’s cheek.
“Idiot. If we were at the same level, would they call him that? Think about it.”
“Then what’s the difference?”
“The road of Flow is long, even after you awaken your Mana Heart. But if you keep practicing and pushing against your limits, mana gradually starts leaking from your sword. That’s the first sign of Ignition.”
“Wow….”
“At that stage, you can even hit enemies far away with a sword wave.”
“That’s pretty amazing.”
“It is. According to official records, the youngest genius swordsman to reach the highest level of Flow was twenty-one. He later became a Sword Master.”
“….”
The level the youngest genius in history had reached at the age of twenty-one.
Lucian was twenty now.
He was considered the most promising knight in the Kingdom of Gallia.
And…
Lydia was eighteen,
the same age as Arti and Mave.
“….”
“….”
They fell silent.
“….”
“….”
They all jumped in surprise and looked at Lydia.
“Gaaah—?!”
“Oh, Sun God—?!”
Aria jumped at the mention of the ‘Sun God,’ while Morgan, in the corner, glanced over as she licked her finger to turn a page.
Lydia thought for a moment, then spoke. She couldn’t keep being ‘somehow, inexplicably strong royalty’ forever. It seemed about time to establish her image once and for all.
“…You’ve been with me all this time. It’s rather strange that you’re only just realizing it.”
“A-are you really at the highest level of Flow, Lydia? Are you on the same level as that huge senior…?”
“I’m not inferior to Senior Lucian. He probably sensed it when he saw me on the street, too.”
“Incredible….”
A look of reverence settled over Arti’s face.
It seemed he was moved all over again by the very fact that he was with someone like this. He looked like an ordinary person who’d just spotted a celebrity or idol in real life.
Lydia stared at him, dumbfounded.
‘Even if no one’s recognized him yet, he’s the Hero of the Sacred Sword himself.’
“….”
In truth, Lydia was a Sword Master.
If that fact came to light, it wouldn’t just turn the academy upside down; the entire Southern Continent would be thrown into chaos. They’d rush to graduate the freshman Lydia, and every country would send her frantic offers.
‘With that much attention, I’d effectively be under constant surveillance… It would be best to remain a reasonably talented genius, at least.’
At least this level of ordinary genius(?) could be kept under wraps until she graduated from the academy. She’d attract some attention, but as a princess, she already got more than enough.
Mave was aghast.
“I-is it even fair to be this way?”
“?”
“You’re already beautiful, captivating, calm, rational, decisive, kind, considerate, and incredibly knowledgeable about swordsmanship. That’s more than enough…!”
“….”
“A-and now you’re a genius, too! I knew the Gallian royal family was great, but I never imagined they were this great!”
“…You’re making a fuss, Mave.”
Mave shook her head vigorously. Her sweat-soaked black hair swished wildly.
“No! This humble knight can guarantee that if the knights of the Kingdom of Gallia saw Your Highness’s noble bearing, virtuous character, and renowned skill…! They’d all gladly rip out their own hearts and offer them to you!”
“Thank you for thinking so highly of me as a friend. But that praise includes too much of your personal affection for me, so I can’t accept it at face value. I’ll accept the sentiment, though.”
“Ahh, ah! To think I’m friends with Your Highness Lydia—what an undeserved honor! But I don’t want to give it up…!”
Mave covered her face and shook her shoulders. It was the desperate writhing of someone who didn’t want to leave this happy reality.
Arti and Aria were each lost in thought.
“….”
“….”
Morgan watched them coldly and clicked her tongue. Her red eyes only warmed when she looked at Lydia.
“…Tsk.”
Lydia looked at Morgan.
“….”
Morgan had been licking her finger to turn the pages of a thick book for a while now. She’d joined them midway through the Sabbath, but hadn’t spoken to the others at all.
At first, Arti and Mave had been confused, but now they simply ignored her, as if she were there and not there. Even Aria quietly smiled and pretended not to notice.
Lydia looked at her with some concern.
“….”
More precisely,
at Morgan’s dried-out fingers.
‘This is… really bad. Are her fingers so dry that she can barely turn a page? It’s a classic symptom of malnutrition.’
Every time the petite Morgan opened her mouth, Lydia could see how badly chapped her lips were. There was even a little blood between her white teeth.
It was a sign of a seriously deteriorated state of health.
On top of that, her uniform was badly wrinkled and damp. There was a faint smell of sweat, so she didn’t seem to wash it often. She looked far from hygienic, too.
‘I couldn’t tell in the storeroom, but out here it’s clear she’s barely functioning. I knew the story said Morgan was ostracized and wandered around, running away from people and sleeping wherever she could….’
This was…
too serious.
This wasn’t something she could just brush off as a cute character trait. It was something the game had never shown.
“….”
Lydia made another decision.
Starting tomorrow, she’d make sure Morgan ate regularly,
and slept somewhere clean.
*
After their early-morning training ended,
Aria and Morgan returned to their respective departments.
Lydia walked toward the Swordsmanship Department training grounds with Arti and Mave behind her. They were even more emboldened than they’d been at dawn, walking with their chests out.
‘It’s reassuring to imagine that three of the academy’s few Flow users are walking together.’
Anyway.
What mattered wasn’t the reaction of her underlings and friends.
When Lydia’s group entered,
as expected, all the Swordsmanship Department freshmen turned to look at them.
There were very few commoners.
Most were from Gallian noble families.
‘And orthodox nobles’ faction families, at that….’
Sure enough,
the Swordsmanship Department freshmen had intense looks in their eyes.
“!”
“!”
“!”
They slowly stood up and approached.
Arti and Mave quietly stepped in front of Lydia.
Lydia braced herself.
The probing was over.
‘Normally, this is when the “beating up a commoner” event or the “noble intimidation” event targeting the easy mark, Arti, would happen. But now that Arti’s awakened the Sacred Sword, what kind of jealousy and hostility will they show…?’
Twenty-four men and women faced off against three.
“….”
“….”
“….”
One noble cadet stepped forward from the larger group.
It was Dominic, Lucian’s younger brother.
Dominic swallowed and spoke to Lydia in a trembling voice.
“P-Princess Lydia, it’s an honor….”
“?”
“I’ve wanted to speak with Your Highness for a long time. But I was worried about what my family would think….”
“…?”
“But I heard it’s all right now.”
People around them murmured in agreement.
“Me too….”
“I-I’ve wanted to talk to Your Highness since the very first day.”
“I’m glad we’ve finally been given permission.”
“The thought of training alongside royalty made my heart race….”
“You’re so beautiful.”
Lydia tilted her head.
“?”
What was this?
This reaction?