Kristine woke up in a soft bed.
An interesting fact, considering she hadn't fallen asleep in one. Someone considerate must've carried her up to her room. Probably the teacher, she could see Thors paying a premium for the best instructors in the country.
She for one, was satisfied, and considered her taxes well spent. Not that she paid any as a minor. But her father must've paid plenty.
Come to think of it, Osborne was also on the side that took taxes.
Hm…
This must've been what previous her would've called a 'life hack."
She got up and decided to get ready for school. Her classmates would've gotten to know each other yesterday. So she was late to the party.
Not much she can do about that but tough out the awkwardness. Granted considering her last name, it was bound to be awkward no matter what. Thors was a prestigious school for both nobles and commoners alike. But Erebonia society was still skewed in favor of nobles in most things. In their eyes, people like her father were upstarts seeking to topple them and take their positions.
Granted, that was in fact what the chancellor was doing. He wasn't even trying to mask it.
Which was fine and dandy for him, since he was untouchable. But for her, it was a different story. She could already imagine the arrogant young masters and two-faced villainesses that were a stable of her previous self's stories.
She was almost looking forward to it.
Kristine made sure to be the first one in the classroom that morning. Few things were more embarrassing than being the last person to arrive in a room. Feeling the entire room's eyes on you was unpleasant.
Though that wasn't something she minded, since she glared back.
Since she was here, she should probably make some friends. If not for her own sake, then for her ability.
{Envy} seemed to be an ability that defied reason, but she managed to figure out some of its rules.
One, her ability seemed to center around something called a 'party.' With it, she can summon copies of other people as clones. These clones only hold a fraction of the power and durability of their real selves but are otherwise perfect copies.
Two, some degree of trust is needed to turn someone into a party member. Whether it be transactional or emotional, theoretically, this means as long they had a deal, even someone who hated her could join her party.
Three, once a party member no longer has a goal that coincides with hers, they leave the party. For example, many of the passengers yesterday gave extremely favorable descriptions of her 'heroics' in interviews. They clearly still trusted and appreciated her, even though none of them knew her name, yet no one remained in her party. Simply because they no longer shared the same goal of repelling the highwaymen.
Kristine was looking to test out her ability while she remained a student at Thors. Of course, she wasn't looking to stack her party with random teenagers to make an army. She simply looked to better understand the conditions to make someone a party member.
Basically, she was looking to manipulate a bunch of school kids into trusting her in as many creative ways as possible. This school was full of personalities from basically every class of person in Erebonia. Which gave her plenty of targets to practice on.
With her goals decided, she realized that students had arrived in the classroom while she was thinking. They sat in desks arranged in organized rows but seemed far away from her as they either looked towards her curiously or ignored her existence.
Wasn't this a small class? Kristine was hoping for a bigger pool of test subjects.
As she thought this, a green-haired boy in glasses approached her desk.
"Excuse me, are you the student the instructor said missed orientation yesterday due to special circumstances?" His voice was a bit haughty, like he was a kid trying to sound professional. "My name is Machias Regnitz, I'm the vice president of Class VII." He pushed up his glasses and continued. "If you'd like I can catch you up on everything you missed yesterday. But first, may I ask… are you a noble?"
"You can not be serious." A cold, disproving voice came from the other side of the room. A blonde boy put down the book he was reading and gave Machias a sideways glare. "It's only the second day and you're pulling this song and dance again. Do you also question your glasses before you put them on every morning?"
"Oh, have I offended you? I was only making sure I know whether I should bow or bend my knee today." Machias responded, his tone sarcastic.
"When why not ask for a name like a normal person?"
"As if I know every obscure noble house that exists in Erebonia. The only ones who keep up with that are hedonists with too much free time on their hands!"
The blonde-haired boy was about to respond when a voice interrupted him. "It's not a bad idea to keep in mind the names of powerful people, no matter how you personally feel about them."
The words came from Kristine, who looked much more interested in socializing than before. Her bangs were pushed aside and her dark piercing eyes were shown in full view.
Machias turned with a frown on his face. "What's the use when their so-called power comes only some meanless title they happened to be born into? The sooner they are left to history, the sooner the rest of us can move on to the people who really deserve to lead."
"I would like to interject." A blue-haired girl with a ponytail stood up from her seat. "While it's true that nobles are born into power, it is also up to every noble to live up to the weight their title carries. Every noble title carries the will of all who came before them, to leave them behind is to neglect the influence our history has on us."
She raised her eyes to look directly at Machias. "And doesn't that also mean our own actions won't carry into the future as well?"
Machias looked shaken, "Um… uh-"
Kristine took this time to interject. "There's no requirement that you have to be a noble to carry the past into the future. Martial art culture is one that doesn't discriminate between birth, only ability, and it has survived from the beginning of Erebonia until now just fine. What's to say that a noble title or a similar position of power can't be the same?"
The other girl paused in thought. "Hm… you raise a good point. However, the passage of duty from parent to child has a special meaning that I can't quite describe. The fact that I'm my father's daughter makes me feel that I can tackle any obstacle, if that makes sense."
Kristine nodded, conceding the point. "Family bonds do strengthen a sense of unity. Not to mention, having a good start to education as a child with a role model close at hand is very useful for producing exceptional people. Better than hoping a genius would spring up from the masses."
"A good point." She looked at Machias. "What do you think?"
"Huh?" Machias looked caught off guard.
She looked over to the blonde-haired boy. "What about you?"
He stared at her for a moment before looking away.
"I see, then this debate has ended." She looked over the rest of the class. "This class is more interesting than I thought."
"Ah, to answer your question." She looked back to Machias. "I'm not a noble, my name is Kristine Osborne."
She continued as the whole class stared at her in surprise. "I'm really no one important."
Kristine wasn't really expecting any of her classmates to talk to her after that introduction. But Thors, or rather, Class VII was full of surprises. What surprised her even more was who decided to sit at her table in the dining hall.
Machias, the boy whose first conversation with her got turned into a mock debate. And the weeaboo from yesterday.
Who, to be fair, was just an outlet for her vexations and really did nothing to her personally. Something she should theoretically consider apologizing for.
Still, it was surprising that he accompanied Machias to join her for lunch.
When you call someone a weeb unprompted, that bridge is typically burnt.
"Allow me to say this first," Machias said, after having stared at his food for a few minutes, not touching it. "While I'm aware of the working relationship between our fathers, I am only here as a classmate nothing more."
"I know how it may look given that I was just praising the chancellor's policies earlier." He looked a bit put on the spot as he said those words. "But, well… argh basically I'm not here to suck up to you like some noble's lackey, that what I want to say."
The weeb looked slightly amused at his awkwardness.
"Noted, we should just treat each other as equals. This Thors after all." She replied.
"Exactly. This is how us commoners should be, we don't need pointless frivolous words just to speak our mind." Machias looked much more relaxed at that suggestion.
Kristine nodded and finally moved to take the sandwich that had been sitting in front of her all this time.
"That's why I'm so ashamed of my behavior earlier." Machias continued as Kristine put her food back on her plate in disappointment. "The conversation you had with Laura made Jusis and I look like bickering children. No, that's what we were. I realized I was never interested in actually proving him wrong, I just wanted to be right."
"And that might be business as usual for a pompous noble like him, but I'm different." He pushed up his glasses. "Thank you for helping me realize that, that's why you spoke up, right?"
…What is this guy talking about? She just wanted to instigate an argument to bait out any arrogant young masters.
"Of course." She lied to his face with no shame. "I can tell you carry yourself to a certain standard, Machias. And I didn't want you to fall short of it."
The weeb raised an eyebrow at that.
"Well…thanks." Machias stood up. "I think I understand now. Even if I'm against everything the nobility stands for, I can't offer any real solutions without knowing more about what needs fixing. Without that, I may as well be shouting at clouds. People who think the same as me won't take me seriously like that, let alone some stuck-up nobles."
"The first step to fixing that, well I guess I can do what you suggested." Machias grinned. "I'm going to memorize the names of every noble house in Erebonia! Know your enemy and all that."
This guy has way too much free time. "Sure, that's a good place to start as any." She once again reached for her sandwich.
"All right, I've got a lot of studying to do so I will leave you to it," Machias said as he walked away. "See you in class!"
"You as well."
She only got as far as opening her mouth for her first taste of the Thors dining hall food when the other boy spoke up.
"Was it ok… lying to him like that?" He at least had the decency to look apologetic as she put down her food once again with a glare.
"You could tell I was lying?" She asked.
"Yeah, you could say I sensed it. That you had no idea what Machias was talking about earlier I mean."
Sense it? Aidios, he was such a f*cking weeb.
"And what's wrong with that? He seemed to have found some truth to my words, even if it was unintended."
"It's not that I think it's wrong…" He trailed off. "But I don't think it's the best way either. Though I'm not one to talk, considering I've also lied to him."
"I do feel guilty about it though. I just… want there to be a better way of dealing with something so sensitive, other than hiding the truth behind white lies." He said. His eyes were full of doubt. "Sorry, I'm just projecting my situation onto you, you don't have to take me seriously."
She frowned at that. 'Whether I take something with thought is up to me. And if you are that fixated on it, why don't we put some pressure on you to find a solution?"
He looked up as she pointed a finger at him. "A kind lie is better than a harsh truth. Reality does not matter if someone can find true inspiration in falsehood. That's my argument to you, find a counterpoint to that and I will consider your perspective."
"Am I also a target of your tutoring now?" He smiled. 'Thanks. I don't know if I can find an answer you will be happy with, but I will try my best not to turn in a blank paper."
"Just treat it as homework and work on it… um…"
"Rean Schwarzer." He offered.
Right, that was his name.
Now, back to her sandwich.
"Oh right, I did come with Machias to ask you something."
Was he doing this on purpose?
"The other day, you called me something. I've never heard a word like that before so I wanted to know its meaning." He looked at her with curiosity. "I want to ask, what a weeaboo?"
"...it's someone who appreciates Eastern culture."
"Oh, I see! Well, I guess that's a pretty good description. I suppose I am a bit of a weeaboo as you say."
…
See… wasn't a kind lie better than the harsh truth?
Gunther Barkhorn was an enjoyer of the simple pleasures in life.
Sometimes all you needed after flying across the country was a nice mug of cold beer.
And if it was the famed Celdic rye beer, then even better!
"Barkhorn, you old goat! When was the last time you showed your face around here?" The owner of the inn laughed as she walked over to his table.
"Hmm… it must've been a few years back. But it's hard to tell." He replied, cracking a smile. "Since you don't seem to have changed at all, Margot."
"Ha! You old flirt. If you think you can get a discount out of me, then think again."
"Not even a few mira off for an old friend?"
"Not one coin. So, will you have the usual?"
"Haha! If my purse can still handle it."
"Oh, you'll live," Margot called towards the kitchen. "Three mugs of rye beer!"
"C-coming."
At her call, a small pink-haired girl almost stumbled out of the kitchen. Carrying three big mugs of beer with her wavering hands. With some struggle, she managed to make it to Barkhorn's table without spilling a single drop.
"Um… here you go, sir."
"Thank you, miss." He nodded at her, watching her scurry back into the kitchen.
"You hiring waitresses now? I thought you always said you wanted to keep the business in the family." He said to Margot.
"What do you mean? That's my daughter isn't she?"
"Ah, you adopted a kid then."
"No. She's my own, raised her since she could barely crawl."
He paused at that. "Strange, I've never met her before."
"Huh, now that I think about it that is odd. I don't think I've mentioned her to you before either."
At those words, Barkhorn caught the scent of a familiar smell.
Demonic energy.
His stigma activated without a thought and a surprised scream came from the direction of the kitchen.
His eyes focused on the pink-haired girl who had just served him. She had just fallen on the ground, looking at him with trembling eyes.
"Uh… I'm s-sorry." She managed to say with quivering lips.
A child? With traces of demonic power?
It can't be.
He rose from his seat. His duty as a Gralsritter dictated that he must isolate the demon, determine its properties, before disposing of it.
But first, his duty as a human being demanded that he reach out a hand to a crying child.
However before he could approach her, a firm hand shoved him back in his seat.
"Seriously, Barkhorn. I know my beer is good but how could you get drunk so quickly?" Margot sighed as she forced him to sit. "Now hold on there while I get you some water to sober up."'
He turned to the three still full mugs on his table before realizing something.
He quickly turned back to the girl, but a crowd of people gathered between him and her.
"Don't worry Margot, we'll make sure he stays out of trouble. We owe him a lot after all."
"Hey, old coot! Why don't you tell us some new stories of your travels?"
"Mister, you're back! I have a new book, can you read it with me?"
With all these people blocking his way, Barkhorn knew he lost the child. He turned to Margot.
"Wait wait, first can you tell me more about that daughter of yours?"
Any clue would do at this point.
However, Margot turned to him with an odd look. "You must be really drunk. Since when did I have a daughter?"
Next Chapter: Lust
There will be a time skip to the Nord field study next chapter. Everything that was skipped happened exactly like canon. As Kristine was part of group B both times.