CHAPTER 14 - THE FIRST DAY 6

Aegis stopped mentally slapping herself for messing up with Liora and got her head in the game. She had work to do.

[Right. Day-one exclusive items. Lovely.]

There was a wide selection of items Aegis could only grab today that would shape the rest of her school year. A lot of them gave her personally no benefit, being items for combat-oriented player characters or more artistic player characters. But, she could think of three specifically that did.

[Can't save scum, can't reload. One shot at these babies. Let's do this!]

First target: the Starbloom Petal. This item was currently sitting unguarded in the library's staff-only section (where all the good books were kept) because Professor Whittles was too busy bragging about his son's test scores to set up the detection ward. On any other day than today, the area would be inaccessible due to this ward.

Aegis spotted a maid pushing a cleaning cart down the hall. Young, exhausted, probably counting the minutes until her shift ended.

[Exactly the NPC I was looking for. Not that she's an NPC now, but- whatever, just go, Aegis.]

"Hey!" Aegis jogged over, putting on her best sympathetic smile. "Rough day?"

The maid blinked.

"I... yes, miss. Always is."

"Tell you what." Aegis leaned in with a conspiratorial smile. "Lend me that uniform for half an hour. I'll finish your rounds, you go take a nap in the gardens. Deal?"

"W-What? But if someone catches me—"

"They won't. Trust me. And if they do, tell them a pushy scholarship student bullied you into it. Which is technically true."

Aegis gave her a big wink.

She considered it.

[Come on...]

"Half an hour?"

Aegis nodded.

"Promise."

A solid ten minutes later, with the sun going down, Aegis was adjusting the maid outfit and grabbing the cart. The fabric stretched awkwardly across her chest, being way too small for her... assets, but it'd do.

[Time to commit some light theft.]

The library at night was a different beast. Floating candles cast dancing shadows between towering shelves. The main desk sat empty. Even librarians had to sleep sometimes, and, after all, the librarian was incorrectly assuming that there was a ward guarding the good stuff. Which, of course, there wasn't.

Aegis pushed her cart past rows of study tables, humming tunelessly. Just a maid doing her job. Nothing suspicious about cleaning the restricted section at midnight.

The staff door stood slightly ajar. No magical shimmer, no warning tingles.

[God bless parental pride and administrative incompetence.]

Inside, the restricted section smelled like old paper. Shelves stretched to the ceiling, packed with books that probably contained knowledge mortals weren't meant to have. But Aegis only cared about one thing.

There. Third alcove, hidden behind a false panel she'd only know about from doing the librarian's secret quest line. The Starbloom Petal, a crystal flower, sat on a silver pedestal, glowing softly.

[Yoink!]

She pocketed the crystal flower just as footsteps echoed from the main library.

"Who's in there?" A senior librarian's voice, sharp with suspicion.

Aegis grabbed a random book and started dusting aggressively. The librarian appeared in the doorway, squinting.

"Maid service doesn't cover the restricted section."

"Special request from Professor Whittles." Aegis didn't look up from her dusting. "Said his son might visit tomorrow. Wants everything perfect."

"His son isn't authorized for—"

"You want to explain that to Professor Whittles?" Aegis finally met his eyes. "The man who spent three hours at dinner describing his boy's 'unprecedented magical potential'?"

The librarian's face went through several expressions before settling on exhausted acceptance.

"Just... be careful with the artifacts." He deflated.

"Of course, sir."

He shuffled away. Aegis actively had to keep herself from grinning.

Aegis waited thirty seconds, then bolted.

[ITEM ACQUIRED: Starbloom Petal]

[Effect: +15% Magical Potency (Permanent)]

One down.

Next up were Ruby and Sapphire. The only early-game weapons that scaled with Charisma. With her maxed stat, they'd turn her from helpless to terrifying overnight. So, Aegis got her clothes back from that maid, giving her back her clothes in return, and went to go grab them.

The guest wing storage room was supposed to be empty. The assassin, sent here to kill an unsuspecting noble lady as part of an ongoing war between two minor houses, wouldn't arrive to retrieve his hidden weapons for another hour, according to the game timeline. Plenty of time to—

"Looking for something?"

Aegis froze, hand halfway to the loose floorboard. A man in servant's clothes stood in the doorway, but his eyes... They were too sharp. And, he looked borderline amused.

[Fuck. He's earlier than he's supposed to be.]

"Just checking for mice." Aegis straightened slowly. "Lady Roseheart complained about scratching sounds."

"Funny." The assassin stepped inside, closing the door. "I heard the same thing. Must be big mice to hide under floorboards."

He moved fast. Steel pressed against Aegis's throat before she could blink.

"Now then. Who told you about my insurance policy?"

Things went from "relaxed little scavenger hunt" to "I'm so fucked" in an instant for Aegis, but she tried to stay calm.

"The same person who told me about the trap." Aegis kept her voice steady. She narrowed her eyes, looking confident. No, defiant. "Lady Roseheart knows you're coming. Guards in every shadow. You walk into that room, you're dead."

The blade pressed harder. He looked surprised.

"Elaborate. How?"

"How else?" Aegis smirked, even as the blade drew a drop of red from her neck. "Your employer hired a second killer. You were meant to be nothing but a distraction while they do the real job."

Total bullshit, but confidently-delivered bullshit.

And, it was working. So, Aegis pressed harder.

"Check for yourself if you don't believe me. Southeast corner, behind the tapestry. You'll see two guards with crossbows."

The assassin's breathing changed. Just slightly.

"You're lying."

"Maybe." Aegis smiled. "But can you afford to be wrong?"

As much as she liked messing with this guy, Aegis did try to think of what she could actually do to get out of this pickle. She thought about it as she watched the gears behind the assassin's forehead work.

[Uh... Come on... Think...]

She got it.

[Wait. He should be on patrol at this time, no?]

She'd have to bet on it.

So, three heartbeats of silence. Then—

"ASSASSIN!" Aegis screamed. "HELP! MURDER!"

The man cursed, spinning toward the door. Footsteps immediately thundered down the hall.

The doors exploded inwards.

Commander Korvo charged through like an angry bull. The assassin met him with drawn steel, and suddenly the small room became a whirlwind of violence. Korvo took one look at Aegis and then focused firmly on the enemy.

"Get out!" Korvo roared, parrying a thrust that would've taken his good eye.

But, Aegis couldn't do that quite yet.

Instead, Aegis dove for the floorboard. Beneath a loose part were two daggers wrapped in oiled cloth. She glanced back. Both men were too focused on trying to decapitate each other to see what she was doing.

[Thank God for that Commoner's Locket].

Aegis scrambled between them, daggers clutched to her chest. A blade whistled past her ear. She rolled forward clumsily and came up running, and didn't stop until she'd put three hallways between her and the fight.

"OH, OH CHRIST!" She dry-heaved. "My... stamina... is non... non-existent... Fuck."

[ITEMS ACQUIRED: Ruby & Sapphire]

[Type: Charisma-Scaling Weapons]

[Current Damage: 100 (Base 1 x Charisma 100)]

Her HUD lit up with reputation gains.

[REPUTATION GAINED: Academy Guards +10]

[REPUTATION GAINED: Commander Korvo +5]

[REPUTATION GAINED: House Roseheart +25]

[Life Saved: Lady Roseheart]

[Two down. One to go. Time for the main event.]

---

The Moonlight Veil waited in the academy crypts. The catch? It only appeared when moonlight hit a specific statue at exactly the right angle. That angle happened once per century, and just so happened to be on the first day of class.

[No pressure or anything.]

The crypt entrance was technically forbidden to students, but the lock was older than some kingdoms. Aegis's hairpin made quick work of it.

Stone steps descended into a thick darkness. The air grew cold, heavy with the weight of centuries. Dead headmasters and forgotten heroes slept in elaborate tombs, their names worn smooth by time.

Aegis navigated by memory, imagining this place as being 2D and her perspective as being from above, following the game's precise directions. Left at the warrior's tomb. Right at the scholar's. Straight past the lovers who died together.

The innermost chamber opened into a circular room. Moonlight leaked through cracks in the ceiling, painting silver lines across the stone. And there, Queen Rosanna's statue, first monarch of unified Valdria, arms spread wide in eternal welcome.

[Just need the moon to shift another few degrees...]

Aegis waited, watching the light crawl across stone. Almost there. The Veil would manifest around the statue's neck the moment moonlight touched her fingers. Thirty seconds, maybe less—

Movement in the shadows behind the statue.

Aegis tensed, hand going to her new daggers. But what stepped into the moonlight wasn't a guard or a ghost.

Professor Nazraya emerged from the darkness, black hair shining.

But something was wrong. Dark energy crackled between her fingers. Not the refined magic she taught in class, but something older. Hungrier.

Their eyes met across the chamber. Nazraya's red gaze widened slightly. Aegis's blood turned to ice.

[Uh...] She swallowed. [This... This wasn't in the game.]