Arc 3 Chapter 1 : Scenario

[Alisha PoV]

The night after the Saint candidates' welcoming ceremony, Leon and I hurried to the Temple of Goddess Diana here in the city, hoping to see Ana before she departed for the Holy City of Notredame to undergo her Trials.

Arriving at the temple, countless armored knights stood guard throughout the grounds. We had to go through several checks before being allowed inside.

"Sister Alisha! Leon!"

I spotted a beautiful girl with shoulder-length gray hair waving at me.

She was my beloved little sister, Anastasia. She looked noticeably more mature now, dressed in Priest robes. Having not seen her for several months, I found myself missing her innocent smile.

"Heee~ Look at my little sister now, she's already got fans in a foreign land," I said, teasing her a bit.

"It's honestly a little uncomfortable ..." Ana said, pouting slightly. "I'm not used to being the center of attention like you are."

"Don't worry, Ana... you'll get used to it," I said, stroking her soft hair.

It was true — Ana had never been particularly comfortable with state functions or regional visits back home. Whenever the Tsardom of Slavia's monarchy made an appearance, I'd always been the one to attend if Father couldn't make it.

"So, what about you, Sister?" Ana asked, giving me a mischievous smile. "Is your future husband a handsome man? Is he as strong as Leon? Or... is he actually a terrible person?"

Hearing all of Ana's questions, I smiled gently at her. She seemed genuinely curious about my life here in this nation. I supposed that made sense — with Leon and I gone to the Empire, she'd probably felt a little lonely back home.

"I can tell you he's not a bad man, Ana."

"Leon, you have to always protect Sister, okay?" Ana said, looking at Leon seriously.

She was so adorable...

"Of course, Your Highness," Leon answered earnestly. "As long as I still draw breath, I won't let any danger come near Princess Alisha."

After some small talk, I asked Ana about the state of the Tsardom of Slavia since we'd left it these past few months.

She told me that, thanks to the funding and investment provided by Duke Alvaro, the economy, which had crashed due to the monster attacks, was gradually starting to recover.

Every production facility for goods and food had begun operating again, reducing unemployment caused by the earlier destruction of people's workplaces.

It seemed forming that agreement with Duke Alvaro had truly been the right decision on our part.

"Ana, what kind of activities will you be doing once you reach the Holy City of Notredame?" I asked her.

"Once we arrive, we'll go through three Trials before the Selection Ritual on the Night of Blessing," Ana answered.

The Night of Blessing was when one of the candidates would be chosen as Saint through the Chosen Miracle ritual.

Legend had it that when the first Saint was chosen, Goddess Diana herself descended to this world to bless her. That woman was Saint Yeriel, considered the purest of all pure women, so much so that the Goddess herself descended to name her as her representative in this world.

I had no idea what awaited Ana during the Trials, but I was certain none of it would be easy.

Ana was a gentle woman, kind-hearted and naive toward others. I understood why she'd been named a Saint candidate. Still, I wasn't sure whether she could truly withstand the pressure of the trials awaiting her.

[Ariel PoV]

A few days after welcoming the Saint candidates, academy life resumed as usual. With so many new students now and the seniors having graduated, the atmosphere at the academy felt noticeably different.

"Hey, isn't that Senior Brian?"

"Yeah... he's the leader of the Swordmaster club, and yesterday he showed us some really cool techniques!"

We overheard the new students talking about the blond man sitting beside me.

Right now, Brian, Valeria, Geralt, and I were at the academy cafeteria after classes had ended.

"Quite the celebrity now, aren't you, hero?" Geralt said, teasing Brian.

"He went overboard demonstrating sword techniques during the club showcase for the new students," Valeria remarked sarcastically.

Hearing his friends' teasing, Brian just laughed sheepishly.

He seemed noticeably more cheerful now than before. It was a relief, seeing him like this instead of the gloomy, listless version of himself from the past few days.

"We're starting the field practicum next month, right?" Geralt said, bringing up a new topic.

"That's right. Every student will be assigned to troubled regions across the Empire," Valeria continued, explaining further. "The idea behind this program is to make sure every student has real experience before graduating."

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"But shouldn't this activity normally start mid-year?" I asked Valeria.

If I remembered correctly, last year's seniors hadn't started their field practicum right away. So why was this year's schedule different?

"Actually, plenty of locations are short-staffed now that the seniors have finished their terms," Valeria answered. "So they're asking us to fill the posts they left behind as soon as possible."

"In that case, moving up the schedule makes sense," Brian said. "We should head there right away to help them out."

What Brian said was true. But last year alone, six students died participating in this program. That alone showed just how dangerous field practicum could be.

"The northeastern region of the Empire, specifically near the Montana mountains and Callisto Forest, is currently the most short-staffed area," Valeria revealed. "That's because it has an extremely high concentration of monster activity and is considered the most dangerous region in the Empire."

That matched what I'd heard from the seniors last year too. The northeastern region truly was extremely dangerous. Of the six students who died during that program, four had been stationed in the northeast.

This world truly is a dangerous place...

I hadn't fully realized it before, having grown too comfortable living somewhere as safe as the capital. But for those forced to live at the Empire's edge, where security was scarce, this world could genuinely be called hell.

What must it feel like for the people suffering and living in fear there, watching us city folk enjoy happiness and safety, free from any fear of monster attacks or bandits?

Jealousy, and the feeling of being ignored.

I hoped the Empire would address this soon. Everyone deserved to feel happiness and safety equally, not just those in the central regions, but every corner of this nation.

[Raul PoV]

Several days had passed since I officially became a member of The Masquerade. Still, they hadn't called on me for a mission yet.

In the game, The Masquerade had originally formed to protect and shelter the Cursed Children — kids possessing terrifyingly powerful abilities.

The Temple's authorities hunted them because these Cursed Children couldn't control the power they possessed. A single emotional instability in one of them could level an entire city.

Actually, the Temple's authorities had initially taken a gentler approach toward the Cursed Children, quarantining and studying their powers. But this project had failed — they couldn't teach the Cursed Children to control their abilities.

In the end, the Temple's authorities decided to eliminate them before they could cause destruction to the areas where they lived.

At that point, children showing signs of being Cursed Children were immediately abducted, and once confirmed, the child would be killed.

Their parents were left to weep tears of blood, watching their innocent children taken away by the Inquisitors — a special unit of the Temple's authority tasked with eradicating heretics and anything opposing the Temple's teachings.

Sick of the Temple's authority's cruel practices, someone founded a group to protect the Cursed Children and resist the Temple's authority. He named this group The Masquerade.

The Masquerade was divided into three branches: Sitters, who cared for the Cursed Children. Second were Tracers, tasked with finding and detecting where Cursed Children were, so they could be brought in.

And finally, the Performers, of which there were only seven members total. Only Performers wore masks to conceal their identities. That's because they were the ones who fought against the Inquisitors and Holy Knights hunting the Cursed Children, so their identities had to remain secret.

They also carried out dangerous missions, such as assassinating important Temple officials deemed too dangerous a threat to the group.

I hoped my first mission wouldn't put me face-to-face with a Holy Knight. My current strength still wasn't enough to fight them.

A single mistake fighting someone that powerful, and it'd be over... game over.

Right now, I was heading to the Student Council building for a meeting discussing the upcoming field practicum next month.

There was one more matter weighing on my mind: Ariel.

There was only one way to give Ariel a real chance of being personally chosen by the Goddess to become Saint.

There were three Trials the Saint candidates would go through.

The purpose of these Trials was to forge the candidates, physically, mentally, and in resolve, to become the new Saint.

None of these three Trials were easy — there were even cases of unselected candidates suffering trauma after completing the process.

After the Trials, a Ritual would take place to determine which candidate was most deserving.

I intended to sabotage their selection process by having the Goddess choose Ariel before the Temple's officials could formally designate their Saint. But this plan depended almost entirely on Ariel herself.

She'd need to awaken her Codex before the selection took place. I planned to replicate the same Trials the Temple's officials conducted, for Ariel to undergo during the field practicum. But this plan was far easier said than actually done.

There were several factors that needed to align perfectly, timing being chief among them. I needed to predict and craft a scenario suited for Ariel to awaken her Codex, after putting her through the same Trials the other Saint candidates would face.

After walking a while longer, I finally arrived at the Student Council building and stepped into the meeting room, already packed with members.

"You're late, Raul," Elena said, looking displeased. "We were just about to discuss student placements."

"Sorry, President. Something urgent came up that I needed to handle," I told her, offering an excuse.

I took my seat and began listening to the explanation from the Student Council Secretary, Sarah Volkswagen.

There were ten designated locations where students would carry out their field practicum. With roughly 190 third-year students total, twenty students would be assigned to each location, with each site receiving exactly ten students.

Within each group of twenty, there needed to be at least two or three Priestesses, four or five mages, and twelve to fourteen fighters.

These students would assist local security forces in dealing with monster threats and bandit activity plaguing their assigned regions.

"The most dangerous regions currently are the Margraviate of Cataluna and the Duchy of Menorca," Sarah revealed, reading from the report in her hands. "There have been a dozen or so disappearances recently in the Margraviate of Cataluna. The cause hasn't been confirmed yet, but it's likely due to goblin activity."

No, what was actually happening there wasn't goblin activity causing the disappearances, but demons searching for Brian. At least, that's what happened in the game.

"In the Duchy of Menorca, patrol officers have reported discovering forbidden magical experiments in several villages," Sarah continued. "It's highly likely the Devil Cult is active in that area."

Okay... this was something new. I didn't recall any storyline like this existing in the game. Plenty of events occurring in this world simply weren't fully depicted in the game, since it only followed Brian's perspective as protagonist.

"Alright, now we all understand the situation. Both locations lie in the Empire's northeastern region," Elena said, rising from her seat. "So, I'll ask now — who among you is willing to lead students to one of these two dangerous regions?"

Silence fell. Not a single hand went up.

I supposed that reaction was understandable. None of them wanted an assignment where they could easily get themselves killed. This wasn't a survival exam — it was real work.

But Elena's gaze met mine. That's because she noticed I'd raised my hand.

"Raul, you want to lead students to one of these locations?" Elena asked, confirming.

"I'll take the disciplinary committee members to the Margraviate of Cataluna," I answered her. "But I'd like Ariel de Lusignan assigned as one of the Priestesses in the group I'll be leading."

"Alright, I'll prepare the draft afterward," Elena said.

"One more thing, President," I added, not yet finished. "If Brian questions this decision, tell him to come speak with me directly."

Elena's expression turned suspicious after I said that. Still, she nodded and agreed to it.