Chapter 65: Act 1 – The Burning City
A brief stopping sound from the car’s wheels.
In a mansion located not too far from the city, a luxurious black vehicle stands in front of a small fountain.
This beautiful mansion, adorned with a small flower bed and a blue roof, blends perfectly with the high-end vehicle.
A scene painted like a landscape.
At that moment, the driver’s door opened.
Click.
The driver, dressed in a neat black suit, stepped out and approached the back door, opening it with a click as he spoke.
“We have arrived, Miss.”
“Okay.”
Stepping out of the car was an elf girl with striking pink hair, Helena Luspind.
Helena then began to walk toward the mansion, her footsteps echoing naturally.
As if welcoming her arrival, the doors of the Luspind family mansion swung open.
“Did you have a good outing, Miss?”
“Yeah, Amy.”
The first to greet Helena upon her arrival home was always the maid, Amy.
Amy skillfully received the young mistress’s belongings and asked.
“How was it? Did you feel you did well on the exam today?”
“Not really…”
Helena’s expression didn’t look very good.
Noticing this, Amy inquired in a worried tone.
“It seems you’re not very satisfied.”
“…”
At Amy’s words, Helena paused her steps as if struck by a dart.
She turned to look back at Amy.
Seeing a slight tremor in Helena’s gaze, Amy stepped a little closer and quietly asked.
“What happened during the exam?”
“I ran out of time… in magic class.”
“Oh dear.”
It was truly unfortunate.
Thinking about how hard Helena had studied for the magic subject made it even more regrettable.
“Of all places, magic…!”
Struggling to contain her frustration, Helena clenched her fist, shaking slightly.
In reality, she had merely had to guess one question due to lack of time.
However, that was a significant blunder for Helena.
After all, magic was a subject where Luke always scored full marks no matter what happened.
Thus, she had to achieve full marks as well.
If she got even a single question wrong, she wouldn’t be able to surpass Luke.
But the time had run out.
Due to her habit of writing structured answers at the top of the answer sheet, she avoided the unfortunate incident of not writing down answers for high-score questions, but still, her uncertainty about her own answers remained, and she couldn’t guarantee a perfect score.
Most likely, she got it wrong.
“Ugh…”
Hearing Helena mumble in frustration, Amy hugged her and gently patted her shoulder.
She felt her apron getting slightly damp.
Was it really that annoying to get even one child’s exam question wrong?
Recently, Helena had been enthusiastic, saying a rival had appeared, and perhaps that was part of it.
Helena naturally had a strong desire to win, and was strict with herself.
Seeing a child like that cry, despite the employer-employee relationship being rooted in money, emotions couldn’t help but arise.
Whether it was maternal affection or just simple sympathy, Amy couldn’t say.
But regardless, Amy knew what to do in that moment.
As she gently stroked Helena’s head, she spoke softly.
“Let’s take a bath first, Miss. To clear your mind. I’ll prepare it in advance.”
“…Okay.”
Helena weakly nodded her head.
——-
After finishing her bath and changing into her pajamas, Helena opened the door to her room.
The first thing that caught her eye was a large canopy bed adorned with pink curtains.
On top lay the gray rabbit plushie, Alice, which her father had given her long ago, waiting for her.
Helena threw herself directly onto the bed without hesitation.
Her body bounced slightly on the cushions, then sank into the soft texture of the bed.
“…”
Helena lay quietly with her face buried in the pillow, and when it became difficult to breathe, she turned her head to the side.
There was Alice, lying still and gazing at the ceiling.
“Alice, comfort me a bit.”
Helena hugged the rabbit plushie.
The size of the plushie was just right for her to hold, providing a comforting feeling every time she embraced it.
However, today felt somehow lacking.
Helena stared blankly at her palm.
Then, the sensation left on her palm began to resurface.
The sensation of the fur was incredibly soft, smooth, fluffy, and warm.
The feeling of fur brushing between her fingers was akin to cutting through perfectly warmed bath water, and the structure within was firm yet squishy, like pressing a solid jelly.
The sensation of stroking Luke’s tail lingered in her hand.
In fact, the reason Helena had run out of time on the exam was because of that.
Human memory is quite strange; one can clearly remember the songs heard while studying but somehow fail to recall things that need to be remembered.
Similarly, the feeling of stroking Luke’s tail while studying on the roof resurfaced every time she encountered a question, making it impossible for her to concentrate on the test.
That was the cause of her failing to manage her pace, which led to the time shortage.
Helena was brought to tears.
It felt unjust that she made a mistake in the exam because of just that tail’s sensation.
Thinking perhaps it was Luke’s sabotage to lower her grades made her grit her teeth.
Yet even as tears streamed down her face, the image of Luke’s soft platinum tail kept fluttering before her eyes.
It seemed she was going mad.
“It’s really strange…”
Luke was a girl, so she definitely didn’t like Luke.
“Alice, what’s happening to my head?”
Naturally, Alice didn’t answer.
————-
At that moment, Luke was walking down the street with Shirud.
Shirud spoke with a hint of excitement in his voice.
“That was so epic! How did you think to use the totem in that moment?”
“Of course, at that time, there was no other choice.”
Luke simply found the optimal move for the situation.
At that time, the totem was laid near the enemy, his skill range fit, and the enemy’s attacks were already being directed toward him, so Luke’s options were narrowed down to one.
“Did you predict all of that?”
“Most of it, yes. At that time, I was aware that the enemy archer had an ultimate skill and thought it would definitely come out in that situation, so I prepared for it. Being conscious of that, I set up my space and placed the totem in advance, which allowed me the chance to evade that technique, and naturally, that also led to a successful counterattack.”
“That’s amazing! I’ve never seen anyone play in the Super Magic League like that!”
Somehow, Luke’s placement of the totem seemed a bit out of the blue, but it turned out every movement was calculated!
The antics Luke had shown all this time in the game were all foundational actions for the team’s victory.
“By the way, it seems Luke Kamoshi has gotten weaker. The damage output is nowhere near what it used to be.”
“Oh, that. It’s been adjusted recently. The reduction in magic missile skill damage has been decreased when it hits.”
“I see.”
Luke nodded his head.
The already frustratingly weak mage had somehow gotten weaker.
From Luke’s perspective, who solely used Luke Kamoshi, it was indeed lamentable.
Shirud watched Luke’s expression and laughed.
“Playing with Luke is just so much fun.”
Whether Luke liked girls or boys, it didn’t matter.
Just playing with Luke itself was enjoyable.
Isn’t that enough?
What if they couldn’t be girlfriends?
Thinking that made Shirud feel ashamed of having avoided Luke all this time.
“…Hmph.”
Luke also smiled faintly at Shirud’s bright expression.
He felt that the somewhat awkward relationship with Shirud had returned to what it once was.
Certainly, engaging with children, then and now, was best achieved through playing together.
When working toward a common goal, people open their hearts quickly.
Moreover, playing the same game creates the same conversation topics.
In many ways, nothing beats games for getting closer.
Luke, having exchanged a few more words about the recent game with Shirud, suddenly remembered something and asked.
“Hey, Shirud, by the way.”
“Yeah?”
“What exactly does ‘hackster’ mean?”
“Huh? Hackster? Who called you that?”
How?
Luke had set up a block on the entire chat in the settings before starting the game, so it shouldn’t have been possible for him to hear such things.
“After the last game ended, I received a friend request, so I accepted it.”
“…Oh.”
It’s unavoidable that in-game chat block doesn’t account for direct messages through friend requests once they are accepted.
It seems Luke unknowingly accepted a friend request.
Luke continued speaking.
“They said, ‘You filthy hackster, orphan without parents, how does it feel to hack?’ I was a bit surprised by the ‘orphan without parents’ part. Is it possible for other players to look into someone’s personal life in this game?”
“Umm…”
Hearing the content of the direct message, Shirud broke into a cold sweat at the intensity of the insults.
Calling someone an orphan without parents…
It was unfortunate that Luke actually didn’t have parents, so he must have been sensitive about that.
“That’s just some trash talk. They probably didn’t really know your background.”
“Hmm, is that so? That’s a relief.”
It seemed Luke was seriously pondering whether he should sue the game company for possibly violating the ‘personal information handling agreement’ because he thought it might be true…
Although honestly, it was hard to fathom what that meant.
“But what exactly does ‘hackster’ refer to? Is it a term that’s trending among people lately?”
At Luke’s question, Shirud pondered how to explain hacking to Luke, realizing he himself wasn’t really sure about explaining it well and answered.
“Hackster means… well… it means you’re really good at the game. It’s like a compliment, so don’t worry about it.”
“Oh, is that so? It’s strange how they combine curses with compliments; there are some really weird people out there.”
Luke tilted his head in puzzlement but eventually nodded as if he understood.
“…Well, don’t accept such friend requests in the future.”
“I guess I’ll have to do that. I can’t believe the ‘friend’ system can be abused like this.”
As Luke’s expression turned subtle, Shirud let out a deep sigh.
After all, winning ten games in a row with a newly created account was a bit over the top.
He should take it easy.
