I was reminded of the video game origins of the world I was reincarnated to when I started educating Control about Holfort's capital. As per standard with most fantasy settings, the capital itself was situated right in the middle of the country. For some ungodly reason, there was an ancient dungeon there that endlessly spawned monsters, which in turn got farmed for resources in a perpetuating cycle of violence and profit. Control asked me how irrigation was supposed to work for floating islands as several of them seemed to have endlessly flowing waterfalls that dumped out water, I had no answers to give.
Regardless, I managed to get enrolled without much issue. I accompanied my older brother Nicks and my older sister Jenna as they were going back to continue their education for the new term. My brother was a third-year in General Studies while my sister was a second-year in Higher Studies. Sadly, Jenna had the same twisted attitude that most girls her age did in this setting. I lamented that such a girl came from our mom.
The campus itself was way more spacious than I ever expected, with several buildings dotted throughout. My stomach dropped when I was informed that Higher Studies dorms were separate from General Studies dorms. The apologetic look that Nicks gave me as we split up part way did not make me feel better about the situation at all.
Three years. I had to deal with this place and the people inside for three years. Not to mention that I had to find a bride by the end of it. Argh!
Fascinating. The structure and furnishings don't seem that different from what humanity used to use.
An invisible Control spoke out after I let the new Stealth Drone body out of my bag. The sound from the AI's voice came from different parts of my new dorm room as it spoke. "I don't know what to tell you. A room is a room. A bed is a bed."
Thankfully, I didn't have to deal with a roommate either.
True. Though I had hoped for more noteworthy differences considering the liberal applications of magic everywhere else.
Unfortunately, I didn't have to wait long for my first dose of socializing with my peers. I was soon dragged out of my room by an upperclassman and was brought to a bar off campus along with the other first years. Control followed along and was more than happy to simply observe the proceedings in silence. The speech by one of the upperclassmen pretty much summarized the purpose of this get together: start building your networks and power bases but don't be assholes to each other.
I got some attention by virtue of being an Adventurer at my age, normally people wait to graduate before trying that career out. Apparently my accomplishments were more impressive than I expected as my reputation and feats seemed to have been making rounds among the nobility. My dad did warn me about that.
I did gain a couple of new friends out of the whole thing though. Daniel Fou Durland and Raymond Fou Arkin filled out the athletic and nerdy school friend stereotype respectively. We bonded over our mutual status as mobs in the eyes of nobility and our future struggles in trying to find a girl who wasn't horrible.
"Didn't you guys hear about the Special Scholarship Student that was enrolled this year too?" My ears perked up at the words of one of our upperclassmen. A commoner nobody from nowhere important. A girl with no accomplishments, no connections, and no support at all.
This was a girl who was the descendant of a special ancient bloodline and would help shape the future of this country. The girl who was going to be the target of the affections of the crown prince as well as four other sons of great houses. The main protagonist, Olivia.
"There has to be a reason why she was enrolled in Higher Studies despite her status. If you guys learn anything, let me know." Daniel and Raymond nodded but I just hummed in faux agreement.
Like hell I was going anywhere near that girl!
A few days later, the official entrance ceremony for new students was held. Of course, among them was the crown prince himself, Julius Rapha Holfort. Definitely fit the bill for a Prince Charming type with his shiny blue hair, handsome looks, and tall stature. Naturally, most of the girls in the auditorium focused in on him.
"Something wrong, Leon?" Raymond asked when I started looking around.
"I'm not sure…" I muttered. I felt my spine tingle for just a second and tried to find the source but all I could see were just more students.
"Did you already find a prospect?" Daniel asked with a smirk as he also tried to look around. No way, definitely not what he was thinking. If I'm lucky, it was just a fluke and I'd never have to deal with whatever that was again.
…
Several weeks into my enrollment at the Academy and I've finally gotten into the swing of things. Being a lowly mob, nothing really important happened to me. I mainly just did school stuff and hung out with Daniel and Raymond. This far into the game's timeline though, the main protagonist should have already met and started socializing with all her love interests. She'll probably pick the prince but the other four were probably viable too. A clash between her and her main antagonist may have already happened as well. I wasn't sure since I didn't really pay attention to the school gossip. I already did my time with this game before I was reborn, I wasn't going to let myself get dragged back in.
"So, who will you guys invite for your Tea Party?" Daniel asked, eliciting groans from Raymond and myself. There was a long holiday at the start of the following month and the men of the Higher Studies track were expected to invite a girl to an elaborate Tea Party in order to grow closer and check compatibility for possible marriage. In the game, it was just an excuse to have one-on-one events between the protagonist and the love interests. Here? It affected everyone else. As sons of lower ranked nobility, none of us really had any clout to be able to attract anyone of note. Even my status as Adventurer didn't matter. The girls looked at our families, not ourselves.
It got even worse as the Tea Parties needed to be financed by the students out-of-pocket individually. Since they weren't "Official" school events, then the school was not obligated to foot the bill. You couldn't even opt out of hosting Tea Parties as word would spread that you didn't even make the effort, then you really wouldn't get any attention from any of the girls no matter what you tried in the future.
"I don't have a lot of allowance, so I'll need to get creative on how to make things look good." Raymond explained. "I don't even care who attends, I just hope that someone shows up."
"Don't remind me. I have to go even further beyond for my Tea Party." I despaired at my friends. Because of my accomplishments and provisional title, the students already saw me as someone who had established affluence. I continue to suffer from my own success. Someone let slip the sheer amounts of wealth I had brought back to my family from my expedition. Looks like Control was right on the money when they said that Zola would find some other way to get me back for humiliating her.
Our discussion paused as Prince Julius walked past, followed by a gaggle of girls hoping to get his attention. Also accompanying him was one of the other love interests, the Prince's Best Friend, Jilk Fia Marmoria. His long green hair and matching gentle eyes gave him an impression of someone you can rely on in confidence.
"We can also thank those guys for upping the expectations when it comes to Tea Parties in general." I grumbled. How was I supposed to compete with guys who were literally designed to be appealing to teenage girls?!
My self loathing was brought to a halt when a certain girl suddenly walked right up to the prince, followed by her own entourage. Golden blonde hair that was tied in a bun, reminiscent of a famous character from my old life, piercing red eyes that showed strength, beautiful white skin with no flaws. Angelica Rapha Redgrave, the main antagonist of the game and the prince's betrothed. She and the prince started arguing about his Tea Party arrangements for a bit but were interrupted by a new arrival.
Short stature, long blonde hair, blue eyes, a dainty looking girl when compared to someone like Angelica. Her name was Marie Fou Lafan, a Viscount's daughter. She approached and got the prince's attention. "Your highness."
The contrast between his irritation towards Angelica and his relief towards Marie was obvious to anyone. It was obvious that the Redgrave daughter did not appreciate the interruption.
"Marie! I was looking for you." Prince Julius greeted the petite girl.
Oh man, Angelica really didn't like that.
Literally no one dared to move as the standoff continued. Even the three of us sitting on an out of the way bench were too intimidated to leave.
"I can't believe how close Marie got to the prince considering she slapped him one time." What? I turned to look at Raymond, who just spoke. "I know right? And the prince just laughed it off too."
"Well, I heard that she ate steak with some prominent nobleman and gobbled it up like a wild animal." Daniel added and got a weird look from Raymond.
A slap and a steak. That sounded familiar.
"The boys at school will start holding tea parties next month. I don't really like doing anything too elaborate so I plan on simply inviting a select few. I was hoping that you would grace me with your presence there as well." Prince Julius continued his conversation with Marie, completely ignoring Angelica in the process.
"Your highness, I must protest." Angelica pushed herself back into the conversation. "Someone of your standing should have a Tea Party befitting it."
"Enough! You may be my betrothed, but I make my own decisions here." The prince cut her off and Angelica apologized with a short bow.
Wait a minute! This was one of the main scenes from the game! Why was this happening without the main protagonist?!
"You guys see the Special Scholarship Student around?" Daniel and Raymond looked at each other when I asked.
"This isn't the time, man. Why would she even be here?" Daniel answered. Because she was supposed to be here! This was kind of an important moment from the Prince Julius Route!
Angelica backed off and left shortly afterwards and Marie was able to properly accept the prince's invitation. An invitation that was supposed to have gone to the main protagonist.
I shook my head. It was fine. If Marie snags Julius, that still leaves four other love interests that Olivia could get with. I put it out of my mind. I wasn't involved and I didn't want to get involved.
…
One of the stranger yet pleasant surprises I had during school was that I sort of, kind of, ended up getting a hobby. Absolutely ironically, it was making and serving tea. I thought it was extremely weird but Control was fully supportive of it and explained why.
Developing an interest that is completely divorced from the work you normally do is very important to winding down. Associating the activity with feelings of relaxation and comfort benefits your mental and emotional health.
So it was then that I began my path towards the mastery of tea.
The upside to my new hobby was that I gained a lot more confidence in hosting my own Tea Party. I secured a room in school and sent out an invitation to a Baron's second daughter, which should be good enough standing for the bride requirement. I was finishing up some last minute preparations, with Invisi-Control floating somewhere else in the room, when said girl walked into the room…followed by two other girls.
"Oh, welcome miss, umm..." I trailed off as I glanced between her and the other girls, who started snickering.
"They're my friends." the girl I invited said easily enough as she sat herself down on the table. Her friends quickly got their own chairs and positioned themselves so that I didn't have any room to sit. "We were invited to another tea party but had time to kill, so we'll be staying here for a bit."
Without any more preamble, the three girls started eating up the snacks I had laid out.
Doing my best to stay calm, I walked up and politely offered some tea. They barely acknowledged me and went back to chatting amongst themselves even as I poured them drinks. In the course of half an hour, I tried to insert myself into their conversation between refills but they just completely ignored me. They then just up and left without another word, leaving me with nothing.
"Why those stupid little–" my rising anger and rant was interrupted when I heard shouting just outside the room I was using.
"I don't care if you were invited, a commoner doesn't deserve to attend a tea party hosted by the heir of the Field Earldom!" with those words, several footsteps started to walk away. I made my way out of the room just to confirm if the commoner they were talking about was the same one I was expecting.
Light brown hair styled into a simple mid-length bob cut, blue eyes with a touch of green, and a gentle looking face. A complete girl-next-door look for an unassuming heroine. Cute, but definitely not in the same league as Angelica. Yep. I was definitely looking at the main protagonist, Olivia.
"You okay?" I called out as Olivia stared at the torn up invitation to another tea party on the floor. She looked up at me and her eyes widened in surprise.
"It's you…" she whispered, forgetting about the torn invitation and walking up to me. I suddenly felt my heartbeat quicken when she reached out and cupped my face. "...that pretty green light."
Excuse me?