The main storyline of Soul Academy is divided into three major arcs.

First, there’s the storyline involving the evil god who’s currently trying to mess with me.

Long ago, a group of heroes, including my grandfather, succeeded in sealing the evil god, but of course, that seal wasn’t meant to last forever.

This story forms the foundation of Soul Academy's grand narrative, and if you fail to defeat the evil god within a certain time frame, it’s game over.

No matter what route you take or what concept you follow, if you want to see the game through to the end, you’ve got to deal with the evil god.

I think this is what that worthless god who gives me quests expects from me.

Considering how he overreacts when I compare him to the petty evil god, he clearly has a lot of resentment toward that side.

Well, it makes sense. If you’re one of the main gods, you wouldn’t exactly have fond feelings toward a faction that betrayed you and tried to monopolize power.

Another storyline involves the corrupt main church.

As you can see from Faybi’s case, that side isn’t exactly clean. If you dig deeper into that plot, you’re bound to uncover all sorts of ugly truths.

And the final main storyline is related to the kingdom where Soul Academy is set.

This story revolves around the struggle over who will claim the throne, and in this arc, the final boss is none other than the kingdom's First Prince.

He’s the one closest to inheriting the crown.

Rene Solaradin.

Yes, the same Rene Solaradin whom Lucy insulted, calling him a "creepy, loser prince" in that document I just read.

So, essentially, I’ve unknowingly picked a fight with the final boss of the main kingdom storyline.

Past Lucy was a lunatic who insulted the king to his face, calling him a "smelly pig."

Do you really think someone like that would have held back when facing the First Prince?

Of course not!

She probably hurled all kinds of insults at him to his face!

Ugh. As if dealing with this guy wasn’t going to be hard enough, now I’ve got to start off with him already at max hostility toward me.

This is making me feel sick.

I haven’t run into him yet since the academy's tutorial phase isn’t over, but once we’re in our second year, I’m bound to bump into him more often.

Ughh. It’s already hard enough trying to avoid Cecile whenever I see her around the academy, and now I’ll have to worry about Rene too...

This is a nightmare. Seriously.

<"My child."> ‘What is it, grandpa?’ <"I must apologize."> ‘Huh?’ <"It’s all my fault. I’ve committed far too many sins without considering your feelings. Could you ever forgive me for my mistakes?">

At first, I thought grandpa was just surprised by how different I was now compared to back then, but that wasn’t it.

He was outright mocking me.

It’s like he’d found his granddaughter’s old, embarrassing diary and was now laughing at it while reading through all the cringe-worthy entries.

You’d think someone as old as him would be more mature.

‘Do you really think I’m like that now?’

Still, grandpa, no matter what you say, I don’t really care, you know? After all, none of this was my doing.

Seeing how unaffected I was by his teasing, grandpa cleared his throat and continued.

<"Hmm. That’s true. People do change."> ‘But if you keep bothering me, I might revert back to that time.’ <"Haha. I’ll be careful, then.">

Seriously, though, how on earth did Lucy manage to survive all this time?

With all the messes she’s caused, even being the daughter of an earl shouldn’t have saved her from the guillotine.

From the looks of it, it seems like Benedict was the one who cleaned up most of Lucy’s problems. I wonder what that’s all about.

Maybe Alsatin knows something about that too.

‘Hey, Alsatin…’ “Hey, informant. Forget this for a second. I’ve got another question for you. What kind of person is our fool of a father?”

I mean, he smoothed things over when she insulted the king, covered up her insults toward the prince, and even dealt with the mess she caused at the church.

Normal people can’t do things like that.

So what kind of person is Benedict?

“…Lady Lucy, are you telling me you don’t know about Sir Benedict Alrn?”

Alsatin looked at me with an expression of shock, like he couldn’t believe the daughter of the Alrn family didn’t know who her father was.

Yeah, I know it’s weird. But, you know...

‘Why should I know that?’ “Why should I care about what kind of nonsense my fool of a father gets up to?”

Think about it logically.

If a lunatic who insults the king and prince can erase those events from her mind, why would she bother to remember anything about her father?

Using Lucy’s ironclad shield of spoiled brat logic, I watched as Alsatin hesitated, then slowly nodded in understanding, with a somewhat pitying look in his eyes.

What?

What’s with that reaction?

<"Poor Benedict..."> ‘Grandpa, why are you joining in too?!’ <"No matter how much of a troublemaker his daughter was, he always did his best to take care of her, and in return, she just says it’s none of her business.">

Looking back, yeah, that really is messed up.

No matter how trashy a person might be, if they’re your child, you’d do everything you could to save them, running around and fixing their messes. And here I am, the so-called daughter, responding with “Who cares what my father does?”

But I’m not Lucy!

I’m just a poor victim who got stuck in Lucy’s body thanks to that bastard who created Mesugaki mode!

How am I supposed to know anything about Benedict?!

He wasn’t even a character in the game!

I desperately tried to reassure myself that I wasn’t the problem, but it was a pointless effort.

These were just hollow cries that couldn’t be said aloud.

<"At least try to remember from now on. It seems like Benedict went through a lot for your sake. The least you could do is acknowledge that."> ‘...Fine.’

Grandpa was making too much sense for me to argue, so I had no choice but to nod.

This is so unfair. I didn’t do anything wrong, yet here I am feeling guilty.

“Sir Benedict Alrn is a hero who saved the kingdom.”

Without even needing to check his information, Alsatin began reciting the achievements of Benedict right in front of me.

He single-handedly repelled a dragon that had invaded the royal palace.

He led his knights to subdue an S-class dungeon that had threatened the country’s stability.

He stopped a conflict with another country just by the mention of his name.

There were several more legendary feats Benedict had accomplished during his prime.

<"I knew he was strong, but calling him a monster is more accurate.">

Even grandpa, who was once part of the hero party that saved the world, used the word "monster" to describe Benedict, so it wasn’t an exaggeration to call him a living legend.

While I was impressed by all of this, I couldn’t help but think something else.

All of these feats that Benedict achieved... they were supposed to belong to other characters, weren’t they?

The dragon-slaying achievement, for example, was supposed to be the kingdom’s knight commander’s accomplishment, meant to showcase the might of the kingdom’s greatest warrior.

And the S-class dungeon conquest? That wasn’t supposed to be handled by a single family. It was supposed to be a joint effort with the church, aimed at increasing their influence within the kingdom.

All of these other accomplishments as well…

They were originally meant to belong to other characters.

They were supposed to cause more damage and have greater consequences.

But Benedict handled them all.

So, of course, it makes sense that Lucy’s head is still attached to her body.

It’s not just because of Benedict’s achievements, but also because of the sheer military power that he and his family possess.

Benedict is famous for being a doting father.

Who in their right mind would dare to condemn Lucy Alrn in front of him?

What kind of small country would risk making an enemy of an earl’s family that could take them on single-handedly?

I knew the Alrn family was strong, but I didn’t realize it was this powerful.

“The reason Lady Lucy is safe is thanks to Sir Benedict.”

‘I get it.’ “Do you really think I couldn’t figure that out, informant? Don’t compare my intelligence to someone like you.”

“…I’m glad to hear you understand.”

But now I’m wondering how all these changes affected the main storyline…

I haven’t explored much beyond the academy and the Alrn family yet, but I’m sure there are plenty of things happening outside that I couldn’t have predicted.

For instance, Bishop Johan being part of the Alrn family wasn’t something that existed in the game.

This is the kind of chaos that comes from turning a game character into a real person.

It’s sad to think my game knowledge is becoming more and more useless as time goes on.

When that time comes, I guess I’ll just have to call out to grandpa for help again.

“Is there anything else you’d like to ask?”

‘Yes...’ “Yeah, informant. When are you going to bring me that thing I asked for? My patience with your incompetence has limits, you know. Useless informant.”

Not too long ago, after Faybi realized her truth, I asked Alsatin to fetch me a certain item.

“The Scroll of Silence, you mean?”

The Scroll of Silence. It’s created by the followers of the god of silence, Harpo, and its effect is simple.

It creates a room where conversations can’t be overheard.

Basically, it allows us to have secret talks without being eavesdropped on.

The conversations that Faybi and I need to have are dangerous enough that if others heard them, we’d be in serious trouble, so we can’t just chat anywhere.

That’s why I’m planning to bring Faybi to my room and use the Scroll of Silence to create a soundproof space.

No matter how rebellious our conversation might get, there’ll be no issues.

“I was just about to give it to you.”

Alsatin quickly took the scroll out of his coat and placed it in front of me.

Wow, that was fast. I thought it would take longer since it’s a high-demand item among the upper classes.

I’ve got to give him credit for being able to obtain it so quickly.

‘Thanks, Alsatin.’ “Hmph. Not bad for a worthless informant.” “Thank you, Lady Lucy.”

Now, it’s time to go and have a little chat with Faybi.

I wonder if I’ll be able to handle it well.