Title: Abandoned Plots

Summary: A couple of ideas I had written in 2024 and forgotten about. No specific theme.

Title: Min-Max (Strength)

Summary: Balanced builds are for noobs. Real gamers min-max.

I had approached the girl to ask her for directions to the auditorium. My flight had been delayed, and the staff here had been dismissive of me due to my status as a commoner. She was the first person I have seen since I started wandering the walkways.

Come to think of it, if she was here too, she was probably just as lost as I was. Well, it was an opportunity to make a new friend at the very least.

Or so I thought.

The little gremlin started berating me and saying how she hated girls like me. I found it rude that she disliked me for being a commoner, but I suppose I should have expected that since every I have met here so far has disliked me for being a commoner.

Then she pushed me unsuccessfully.

What was it Mama said to do in these types of situations again?

Flashback

"Remember, Livia. Treat others the way you want to be treated."

"Flashback?" the girl asked with a confused look.

I was confused for a different reason. She wanted me to push her? Well, I suppose my Daddy's romance novels must have been based on something. I never expected that noblewomen were into masochism though. I just thought the author was into making them submissive.

"Hello?" the girl said to interrupt my thoughts.

I just placed one hand on her shoulder.

"Huh?"

I then pushed her with one percent of my strength. She was soon screaming as she went hurtling out into the distance.

"Are we friends?" I asked loudly.

I was met with a more faint scream.

Oh yeah, we were besties now.

But now I was alone and lost again. I sighed.

As I turned to continue on, someone else bumped into me.

"Watch where you are going," the boy said rudely.

I guess Mama's romance novels also had a point I thought to myself as I placed my hand on his shoulder.

It was official, all nobles were masochists. There had yet been a day during which I was left alone. I think it had to do with the fact that I was willing to treat people the way they wanted to be treated. I guess, out of propriety, they couldn't do it for each other. Though I don't get why the boys didn't just give the girls what they wanted. A good spanking probably would have made everyone happy.

In any case, the last batch ground my gears. They had torn up my invitation to Brad's tea party. I had been looking forward to it since it seemed like a chance for a normal friendship.

Or it could be a situation like with Julius.

I looked up at the roof in frustration. The girls were dangling from the ceiling.

"Are you satisfied now?"

When I heard a door open, I saw a boy look at me. He looked down at the floor and looked back at me.

"Bad day?"

"You could say that."

"I'm assuming you can't go to the tea party with your invitation ripped up."

"Probably."

"... Care for some tea?" he asked while opening the door slightly.

That was different.

Leon proved my point that nobles were masochists. He wasn't one a few months ago, and he was the most normal person I had met since coming here. I attributed it to the fact that he was raised to be a commoner like me.

He was downright sweet with how passionately he tried to pamper me with tea and sweets. Maybe I should make him some sweets. Actually, maybe he would prefer something more substantial since he was a guy.

A steak? No, it was too expensive and wouldn't be on the same level of thoughtfulness that Leon had obviously put forward with his tea party. Perhaps it would be better to get him some fresh game. Put in some real effort.

A bear should do it. Or maybe something a tad more rare would do. I'll need to figure out what I can hunt around the capital.

Title: Leona

Summary: On one hand, I was part of the privileged sex. On the other hand, I was a man on the inside.

I stared at the Lost Item I had picked up from the dungeon. I had to get special permission to enter the dungeon early. A surprisingly simple affair since nobles of my rank were a dime a dozen. My death wouldn't even register for them.

Haaa, this sucked. I was giving up a fairly valuable Lost Item. The school had not even started, and I was already forced to kowtow to some girl here. Jenna had informed me that we were required to offer tribute to the most influential girl here. Something about showing respect.

More like brown nosing.

The fact that neither Zola nor Merce saw fit to inform me underlined how important and unavoidable this event was. Assholes would revel in any of my shortcomings.

I guess even the girls here had their own problems. I still think the boys have a much worse time here. Their suffering was perpetual.

In my lamentations, I walked into someone's back and fell.

"Ow," I groaned as I landed on my ass.

"A student? Ah, you must be an upperclassman," said a male voice above me.

"Doubtful since I'm a freshman, could you give me a hand?"

"Ah, apologies," he said before a hand came into view.

Grasping the hand, I was roughly lifted.

"You could have been more gentle," I growled before seeing who I was talking to.

Julius had a look of wry amusement. No doubt my sudden shift in attitude had been entertaining if only because someone was shitting themselves in front of him.

Though he was somewhat on point, my attitude had more to do with the potential that I was derailing the plot. I needed to get out of here fast. As it was, I was getting in the way of the protagonist meeting the crown prince.

I just needed to relax. Show the proper deference, and he'll leave me be as nothing more than a passing face. Do not attract his attention. Just be another noble woman.

"Apologies, Your Highness. I did not mean to be so rude," I frantically said with a bow.

Julius chuckled. "No need for that. I should have been gentler. Though, might I ask, what are you doing here? It is the day of the entrance ceremony, and all freshmen are expected to be gathering at the auditorium."

Small talk. Easy to fumble. Just give bare minimum answers and don't ask him why he is here. He won't take interest in me so long as I don't show interest in why he was here.

"Ah, yes. I was just on my way to my room to get dressed for the ceremony."

Julius gave me a once over. Ick.

"About that, I was wondering why you were dressed in adventuring gear. Freshmen aren't allowed to enter the dungeons until we've had our first spelunking class."

Crap. That would be an interesting topic. Gotta grin and bear it.

"Ah, girls are expected to present a tribute to the most influential girl of our year. I've the misfortune of having little in the way of money and needed to find something suitable. I wasn't too sure how valuable an item I needed to find, considering that the tribute is meant for Lady Angelica."

"Might I take a look?" Julius asked in curiosity.

Reluctantly, I proffered the Lost Item in question. Julius's eyes twinkled as he ginger brushed his fingers on the item.

Julius mumbled, "It's positively brimming with magic. How far did you have to go to find such a thing?"

"Uh, pardon. I really must be heading off to my room if I am to make it to the welcoming ceremony," I nervously said as I eyed the area.

"Ah, yes. My apologies. It is probably best you secure this," Julius said graciously before letting go.

Taking a moment, I hastily bade him farewell. Hopefully my interaction was only mildly interesting at best.

Yet, I could not shake the feeling that he was watching me walk away.

I was beside myself when two noble boys kowtowed before me. Daniel and Raymond were on their knees before me. They had just extended invitations to me. While I could sympathize with their plights, I was a man on the inside.

My proclivities aside, I also found their reasoning a tad shallow. Turns out that being chosen as the pretty one was not in fact an endearing reason to be courted. It came off as incredibly shallow. Which sucked since anything more than looks being a reasoning felt stalkerish. Argh, why was dating so obtuse at times?

I suppose I'll just have to look at the silver lining. At least it was more flattering than being told I was being courted for money or my family, an annoyingly common reasoning of this world.

In any case, I did not feel like these two were worth settling for. If I was forced to be engaged to a man, I at least want to be in a scenario in which I could live a fairly lavish lifestyle. A satisfactory compensation to go against my taste.

Was it hypocritical of me to look down on the other girls for wanting the same thing? Absolutely not. I did not expect nor want my future husband to shell out money so I could cuck him and get dicked by a demihuman.

I, however, was willing to have said husband shell out money for a female demihuman. I'd even let him enjoy his purchase. Anything in order to get dicked less.

A niggling thought kept raising its ugly head in the back of my mind. Had I overwritten the plot by crashing into Julius so early on? While I had successfully avoided any of the initial flag events with the other four romance options, I had a few close brushes with them.

Brad had already invited me to his tea party with the reasoning being that he had heard about me from Julius. While not the academic driven interest he should have for the protagonist, it was worrying he had specified me in particular and cited Julius's passing interest.

Greg had sat by me in the cafeteria at one point. I restrained myself and ate as daintily as possible since the reason he took an interest in the protagonist was supposedly due to her hearty appetite. He did seem interested in my adventuring capabilities as the only one to have practical experience before the Academy, but he eventually peeled off after one meal and hadn't bothered me since.

Jilk had questioned me at one point or another regarding the artifact I had found. After casually mentioning that it was now in Angelica's possession, he easily stepped back. I, however, could not shake the feeling that he kept his eye on me since. I couldn't prove it, but I could swear the bastard was keeping an eye on me. This was concerning since he would only do so if something about me was likely to involve the prince... such as his interest.

Chris was the only one I have yet to meet. This was the sole reason I had any hope of not being involved with the plot. As long as he did not take an interest in me, I could rest knowing that five guys wouldn't be trying to dogpile me.

It still did not assure me that the protagonist had met the love interests. After all, I didn't know if she met any of the five.

As such, I found it necessary to sit in the quad and wait to see if a certain cutscene would play. If things were playing out as they should, Julius should be getting in a confrontation with Angelica and subsequently invite the protagonist.

As I sat under the gazebo, I saw Julius and Jilk wander into the plaza with an entourage of girls crying out for an invitation to his tea party.

Soon after, Angelica entered the scene with her own entourage. Right on cue.

"Your Highness, we need to discuss your upcoming tea party. Would now be an opportune moment for you?"

Now that I thought about it, I didn't actually know about this interaction. I only knew that Julius had appeared upset with Angelica before noticing the protagonist. It was somewhat interesting to witness the prior events.

... Ah shit... Julius noticed me.

AN

1) As mentioned above, these ideas were in my backlog that I completely forgot about.

2) Min-max initially was going to have more parts in which Olivia maxed different stats, but I stopped caring. Perhaps I'll pick up a different attribute later.

3) Do note, Olivia is stronger than Marie... the girl that can rip monsters appart with her bare hands.

4) Leona was definitely unifinished in that I only got the setup done before abandoning. Honestly, I think my attempt where Leon is reborn as Olivia works better than trying to genderbend Leon.

5) Random tangent: I'm going to say it. After rereading Vol 1-5 of Mobuseka and Vol 1-3 of Anoseka, the snooty noble girls are not entirely wrong for being dismissive of the boys. The girls are still shit, but my god, the rural boys are their own worst enemy half the time.

Review Response

dawnwatch: I was responding to a comment that stated that Angelica became sexually attracted to Olivia from the brief interaction I wrote. Angelica wasn't even particularly friendly in the chapter. I was basically saying that two girls interacting cordially with each other is not remotely the basis for yuri, especially since Olivia very adamantly stated her intentions of sleeping with Leon. I was not referring to Angelica/Leon shipping.

reality deviant: No. I said in my notes that I was done with Ano-anoseka. I wrote the fluffy romance I wanted and anything else is up to others to pick up. Anything left unfinished is to give other writers something to start with if they do decide to pick up the plot.

Ominous442: No, Leon does not have a double reincarnation thing going on. He collected the bracelet from the dungeons and found the grudge. Ann then informed him of his ancestry. This is why he is willing to marry Olivia as doing so won't doom the world. Everything will work out as the plot demands... except for the fact that Olivia is traumatized by the relics.

Sarcasm Sage 626: I wouldn't say Leon is dense in Ano-anoseka. He just doesn't feel worthy, and worries about the plot. His acceptance has more to do with him learning about his ancestry.

rjca1405: Maybe after I get my hands on Anoseka Vol 4.