T/N: This bonus chapter is sponsored by Kaden K. (11/14) See my Ko-fi if you want more bonus chapters.

The Palace Invasion Incident.

It was a historic event that greatly contributed to the setting of Luminor Academy.

That’s because this incident brought about three major changes to the entire story of the game.

One of them, as previously mentioned, was that it became an opportunity for the Imperial Family to sense a crisis due to the demons’ attacks.

As a result, in order to respond not only to wars between nations but also to wars with demons, the academy’s enrollment capacity was increased, and new students were admitted based on their skills rather than whether they were of nobility.

Due to this change in the academy’s recruitment guidelines, the existing 80-20 ratio of nobles to commoners changed to a ratio closer to 60-40 among new students, and as the years went by, it led to a future that changed the overall atmosphere of the academy.

The second incident was when ‘Moonlight Shadow Princess Seraphine’ rescued ‘Hellfire Agnes’ who almost lost her life in the monster wave.

Just as Orion had appeared in the evening Rose Hall earlier, he must have searched for useful personnel among the nobles and responded to the monster wave in the original history as well.

Agnes must have also participated in the operation to fend off the monster wave in response to Orion’s call, just like in this world.

However, no matter how skilled he was, it would have been difficult to easily predict which area and how many monsters would rush in.

Although he blocked the northern gate of the palace, which was expected to have the largest influx of monsters, unexpectedly, even more monsters rushed to the western gate of the palace, as I recall.

Of course, since it’s a story that is only part of the plot, it may not be accurate. After all, it wasn’t an incident that the protagonist directly experienced.

Anyway, the second incident is Seraphine saving Agnes, who was cornered at the western gate of the palace, from a crisis.

As a result, it became an opportunity for Agnes to pledge her loyalty to Seraphine, and in the true ending, it also led to the history of the Elizabeth family becoming subordinate to the Imperial Family.

 

“…”

“Ah, ah, ah…”

 

The last incident is the death of Lizzy Lynn August, who is right in front of me.

Due to her death in this monster wave, the August family felt betrayed by the Imperial Family, which became the decisive trigger for Caraham to initiate the “Seraphine Kidnapping Incident” in his 3rd year.

Of course, since this Palace Invasion was orchestrated by the demons and not the Imperial Family, it may not make sense for the August family to join hands with the demons who ultimately killed Lizzy.

However, the August family had sufficient reasons to feel betrayed by the Imperial Family in their own way.

That’s because Lizzy also had a future where she “didn’t die that day,” depending on Seraphine’s choice.

‘Moonlight Shadow Princess Seraphine’ was a character who could use various powers related to the moon, as befitting her title.

One of those abilities was the power of future vision, which allowed her to see the near future, limited to the “days when the full moon rises.”

In other words, it meant that Seraphine made the choice not to save Lizzy even though she knew Lizzy would die.

 

‘To be precise, it’s not that she didn’t save her, but rather that she couldn’t save her.’

 

That’s because Seraphine only had one body, and at that time, she had to give up on Lizzy in order to save Agnes.

Someone might wonder that if she saw the future where Agnes and Lizzy were being attacked with her future sight, couldn’t she have simply not invited those people to the party in the first place?

However, the future sight that Seraphine possessed wasn’t a cheat-like ability that could be used in such an omnipotent way.

The first constraint was that her future vision couldn’t selectively show the future one wanted to see but simply showed what it showed.

The second constraint was that the vision shown to Seraphine always forced her to make a “choice.”

The process of Seraphine’s future sight being triggered was that it would appear blurry at first and gradually become more concrete in her mind as time passed.

By the time the scene became clear enough to understand the situation, it was already a moment where she had no choice but to choose one of the two futures she saw.

One of the two contents Seraphine saw with her future sight in the “Palace Invasion Incident” was the future where she saved Lizzy Lynn August.

The other was the future where she saved Agnes Elizabeth Blaze, as mentioned earlier.

 

‘And at that crossroads, Seraphine chose the future where she saved Agnes.’

 

I don’t know why she chose the future of saving Agnes instead of saving Lizzy. That part wasn’t revealed in the game.

Anyway, the important thing was that at the crossroads of that moment, Seraphine chose the young lady of the Blaze Viscount family over the young lady of the August Margraviate.

As a result, Lizzy met her death amidst a horde of monsters without Seraphine’s help.

 

‘Later on, the August family learning about the crossroads of the future Seraphine saw became the decisive trigger for their betrayal.’

 

The August family was margravial *1, which had defended the western part of the empire for nearly 300 years.

On the other hand, Agnes’ family, the Blaze family, was merely a family of a viscount that branched off from the Elizabeth family.

From the August family’s perspective, despite their loyalty to the empire for three centuries, they must have felt that the life of a viscountess was prioritized over the life of their family’s successor.

It was only natural that this led to a sense of betrayal towards the Argentian Empire itself.

Of course, if one looked far into the future, Agnes’ survival would be more beneficial to humanity than Lizzy’s.

Thanks to her survival, she was able to prevent many dangerous incidents that occurred at the academy from escalating, and in the Demon King subjugation in the future, her considerable contributions allowed for victory.

However, that was a separate issue from the August family’s anger and betrayal of the empire.

Especially since the August family had been loyal to the Argentian Empire for several generations, their sense of betrayal had an even more fatal impact. They say it’s scarier when a fan turns into an anti-fan.

The reason Seraphine was so easily subdued by Caraham in the “Seraphine Kidnapping Incident” was also because of this background.

…Anyway.

The introduction ended up being long, but what I want to say is this.

In this “Palace Invasion Incident,” Lizzy was originally supposed to lose her life after being caught in the monster wave.

But that same Lizzy is currently in this shelter.

In other words, it meant that this shelter was also highly likely to be attacked by monsters before long.

As soon as I saw Lizzy’s face, a brief impression flashed through my mind.

 

‘…We’re fucked.’

 

Yeah, come to think of it, there were a few other nobles who died or were injured in the original story besides Lizzy.

In the first place, there was no way that mindless monsters would target Lizzy to kill her.

It would be more plausible to say that Lizzy Lynn August was just one of the people who died after being caught in the attack.

In other words, this “shelter” will soon fail to fend off the monster wave, and monsters will rush in.

In that process, there is a high probability that Lizzy will get caught up and die.

Apart from everything else, it also meant that my life was in danger. If monsters entered this space, it would turn into a chaotic mess due to the noble children who would only be concerned about their own survival.

On top of that, the current me was a shoddy maid with garbage combat power, and I didn’t even have a dagger. It would be quite challenging to protect myself.

 

‘Of all things, Orion had to take all the useful combat personnel with him…’

 

The personnel in this shelter alone cannot repel the attack that will come later.

Still, since most of them are nobles, they should be able to use beginner-level magic to some extent, but it would be difficult to expect the panicking noble children to cooperate in the first place.

Even Caraham wasn’t here, so it seemed he was also recruited to fend off the monster wave.

As I was feeling suffocated, naturally imagining what would happen next as soon as I saw Lizzy’s face…

I heard her voice cautiously calling out to me, having noticed each other.

 

“Um, um, um, you’re Lord Ethan’s fiancée… right…?”

“…Yes. We meet again, Miss Lizzy.”

“Ah, I’m truly sorry about earlier… I didn’t even realize you were Lord Ethan’s fiancée…”

“…No, well, anyone can make mistakes.”

“I-I won’t commit the same rudeness as before again!”

 

…Why is she being so bothersome?

Ignoring Lizzy, who was bowing her head and apologizing again for something that had already passed.

I seriously pondered how I could fully preserve my life and Lizzy’s life in this situation.

Still, she was a character with a significant role in “Luminor Academy,” so it would feel a bit unpleasant if she died right in front of me.

Above all, if I saved Lizzy, it would probably be of considerable help in the future of this world as well.

 

‘If I can do that, at least I can prevent a future where the August family betrays overnight.’

 

Since, in the world of “Luminor Academy,” the betrayal of the August family dealt a significant blow to the empire.

In case of any misunderstandings, let me say this in advance. My goal isn’t to see the ending of Luminor Academy.

That’s something for the protagonist, the “Hero,” and other main characters to do, and I never wanted to enter that main story.

What I desire is simply a peaceful and stable daily life in the Argentian Empire.

I just hope it doesn’t become an empire where I wake up one day to find an entire village devastated by a monster attack, or a city becomes occupied by demons, forcing me to join a refugee procession.

That way, I can also stably engage in adventurer activities while staying one step away from the story.

If I can protect this one girl and make the August family’s betrayal as if it never happened, that alone would be enough.

 

‘At times like this, it would have been much easier if Ethan or Caraham were here.’

 

With their skills, protecting two girls while fighting wouldn’t be much of a problem, but they were already recruited to fend off the monster wave, so neither of them were here.

In the end, excluding the palace guards, the only meaningful combat force in this place was me alone.

…No, honestly, it’s a bit ambiguous to even call myself a combat force.

I am currently only Level 6. I am slightly stronger than a new soldier of the Blackwood Estate Guards.

If we’re talking about monsters, I could put up a good fight against a Level 7 Black Rabbit.

I don’t know the level and scale of the monsters that attacked the palace in the “Palace Invasion Incident,” but it was certain that the 10-20 palace guards here couldn’t fend them off.

That means they weren’t weak monsters that could be killed with a single Magic Arrow or Shockwave.

The only technique I could reliably deal effective damage with was “Mana Blast”…

 

‘This… can’t be used recklessly.’

 

There were many problems with combat relying solely on that one technique that had no backup once used.

In the first place, if I used a large-scale magic like Mana Blast in front of so many people, I would inevitably draw attention.

Above all, if the monster attack continued even after using Mana Blast, it would lead to a situation where I couldn’t do anything at all.

At best, a dagger would be the only means to somehow protect my life and Lizzy’s while avoiding being noticed as much as possible.

Even if it were near the kitchen, there was no way a weapon equivalent to a dagger could be found in this main hall…

 

‘…Ah.’

 

No, maybe I could find one.

If I do well, even in this situation, I might be able to obtain a weapon equivalent to a dagger that Lilith could wield.

In “Luminor Academy,” the range of “daggers” that Lilith could equip was quite broad.

What were considered as “daggers” included not only variant weapons of daggers, like kukris and machetes, but even frying pans and ladles.

As long as it had a handle and a blade of a certain length, any weapon could play the role of a “dagger” that could receive synergy with Lilith’s stat boosts.

Perhaps even Lizzy might have one.

Perhaps she has a weapon that Lilith could use in combat, equivalent to a “dagger.”

 

“Miss Lizzy.”

“Y-Yes!”

“Do you happen to have a knife?”

“…Pardon?”

 

No matter how much of a fantasy world where swordsmanship and magic ran rampant…

A noble young lady would conceal a self-defense sword in her bosom, right?

T/N

1. A margravial family (noble rank: Margrave) guards one of the border territories of an empire, such as the western side mentioned earlier.

Hello! Axiomatic here.

My prediction really is coming closer and closer to reality. I better see Ethan and Lilith fighting together soon, as with the cover, otherwise, I’ll riot.

Thanks for reading, see you tomorrow for Bonus Chapter 68!