Movent caught the corner of my eye.
I turned slightly.
Jelda stepped out of the girls’ dormitory.
Her long blue hair was tied loosely behind her back today, though a few strands had escaped around her face. She wore the academy uniform like usual, but there was sothing different about her now. The nervousness in her movents stood out imdiately.
She walked slower.
Like soone who kept expecting sothing bad to happen again.
We t eyes from across the street. She gave a small wave and a hesitant smile.
I returned the wave before sitting down on an empty wooden bench nearby. The wood creaked quietly under my weight as I leaned back and opened the system nu in front of .
The translucent interface flickered into existence.
I started browsing through quests absentmindedly. Most of them were either too far away or too annoying to bother with right now. A few combat-related ones caught my attention, but without stronger spells, diving into dangerous areas sounded stupid.
I still only had three usable abilities. Fireball. Heal. Shield of Aangr. Not exactly enough to survive getting stabbed by ten angry bandits.
"H-Hey."
I glanced left.
Jelda had walked over while I was distracted.
"Ace," she said softly.
I imdiately dismissed the system window before she could notice staring into empty air like a lunatic.
"Hey," I replied. "Jelda."
She stopped beside the bench, clasping her hands together awkwardly.
"I see you’re skipping school today," she said with a faint smile.
"Guess you could say that. What about you?" I asked. "You skipping too?"
She looked back toward the dormitory for a mont before crossing her arms loosely.
She smiled shyly. "I guess you could say that."
For a few seconds, neither of us spoke.
The blacksmith’s hamr rang in the distance. A cold breeze swept through the circular street. Then she looked at again.
"Thank you for the other day," she said quietly. "You helped calm down."
"It’s fine," I replied. "I’m just glad you’re okay."
"Mm." She fidgeted slightly with her fingers before asking carefully, "Are you really Ambly-blessed?"
I cleared my throat and shifted in my seat.
"Can you keep that secret?"
Jelda gave a tired look.
"After Professor Kroua announced it in front of half the courtyard?" she asked. "I don’t think it’s a secret anymore."
"Fair point."
I rubbed the back of my neck. This whole blessing thing was becoming a bigger problem every single day.
"Hey," I let out a quiet breath. "Hey, can I ask you sothing?"
"Sure."
"This morning," I said, "Null and that S-class student were arguing, right? What was that about?"
"You an Null and Eselin?" Jelda asked. "Yeah. Though it was mostly Eselin yelling while the student council president stood there listening."
"Eselin," I repeated. "That’s her na?"
"Mhm." She nodded. "She was accusing the student council president of covering sothing up. Well... not exactly him, but the boys’ dormitory."
I frowned. "The boys’ dormitory?"
"She thinks the person who attacked ca from there," Jelda explained.
"You said the attacker had so kind of history with you," I said. "Is there anyone in the dormitory who fits?"
Jelda hesitated before shaking her head. "I know a few people there, sure. But I don’t think it was any of them." She paused. "The attacker had a light beard and sounded... older, I think."
"Hmm."
So that was what the argunt had been about.
"That wasn’t the only reason, though," Jelda continued. "Eselin was also demanding more guards around this street. Especially this side of town."
"And Null refused?"
"Not exactly." She exhaled. "Null can’t make that decision alone. But if he brought it up to the headmaster, there was a chance sothing could change."
"Then why didn’t he?"
"Silver," she said simply. "More guards ans more money."
"Ah."
Only then did I notice she’d been standing the entire conversation while I sat there like an idiot.
"Oh. Hey," I said quickly. "You can sit down if you want, Jelda."
"No, no, I’m fine." She smiled faintly. "I should head back anyway. I still have howork."
"Alright." I nodded. "Goodbye, Jelda. Take care of yourself."
She started walking backward, giving a small wave. "You too, Ace. Bye."
I watched her head back toward the building. Just before disappearing inside, she glanced back and waved one last ti.
Once she was gone, the street finally fell quiet. Good. Now I could check the system again.
I still rembered the spell I’d seen in the Shop earlier. Buying it was probably the smartest move right now.
I focused, trying to summon the system but before the screen could appear, the sound of wheels echoed through the street. A carriage rolled to a stop directly in front of .
Shit. This had to be the carriage I was waiting for.
"Kid," the coachman called. He was an older man with a graying goatee. "You Ace?"
"I am, sir." I stood up quickly.
"Then get in." He jerked a thumb toward the carriage door. "We shouldn’t keep the Queen waiting. We’re headed to the Royal Place."
My stomach tightened.
"Y-yes..."
ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎
Holy shit... where even was I?
╔═══════════════╗
Location Discovered!
─────────────────
Na: Royal Palace
╠═══════════════╣
Region: Toakwood
Objective:
○ Find the phantom chest.
╠═══════════════╣
Gained EXP: 20
╚═══════════════╝
The carriage rolled up the final hill, and the view ahead made my brain completely blank for a second.
The royal estate stretched across the landscape like sothing torn straight out of a fantasy painting. Massive white walls surrounded the entire property, easily three tis taller than the city walls around the academy district. Gold-lined banners hung between the towers, swaying gently with the wind, each embroidered with the symbol of the kingdom, a silver crown wrapped in thorned vines.
The palace itself was enormous.
Tall ivory towers rose into the sky, their pointed rooftops covered in dark blue tiles that shimred under the sunlight. Huge windows lined the structure from top to bottom, each one frad with carved stone and colored glass that reflected light like crystals. So balconies curved outward from the upper floors, wrapped in black iron railings twisted into elegant patterns.
The entire building looked ancient but impossibly well-maintained.
Like history itself had money.
"Damn..." I muttered under my breath.
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