Chapter 1: A Clash With Destiny

The adventurer’s guild was, as always, filled with noise as it welcomed a new day.

Some drunk and making a ruckus.

Some wandering around looking for party members.

The sign in front of the quest board was crowded with people, leaving no room to even set foot.

A girl wearing a hood was also one of the people forming the crowd.

The sword hanging at her waist and the silver rank badge, symbolizing a veteran adventurer, shimmered.

Elice, a receptionist at the adventurer’s guild for five years, quickly scanned the girl’s attire and put on a business smile.

“Welcome, adventurer!

How may I help you?”

“Ah, it’s me.

Elice.”

As the hood came off, the surrounding gazes momentarily focused on the girl.

Despite being an adventurer and not properly groomed, her appearance was striking.

Silky, black hair that held a soft glow and eyes like well-cut amethysts.

A lovely face where maturity and cuteness coexisted, filled with a welcoming look.

“Oh my.

Sian, isn’t it?

Didn’t you say you wouldn’t be able to come for a while because of the gold badge promotion quest?”

“Yes.

I’m here for that.”

The receptionist felt the same way.

The expression of the receptionist, who was wearing a business smile, brightened slightly.

A smile akin to seeing one’s cute daughter.

Sian responded to the receptionist’s smile with a slight eye smile and rummaged through her bag.

“Here you go.”

Thud.

The devil’s horn, carefully brought from the north, landed on the counter with a heavy sound.

[Devil’s Horn]

[A baron-class devil’s horn.

It contains a large amount of mana and is used as a material for forging magical weapons.]

Sian dismissed the description window that only she could see and placed the lord’s certificate of authenticity along with the horn on the counter.

The receptionist’s eyes widened in surprise.

Enjoying the receptionist’s reaction, Sian asked.

“A devil’s horn and a certificate from the lord of the Erelim Viscounty.

Would this be enough proof of success for the gold badge adventurer promotion quest, the subjugation of a baron-class demon?”

“Of course. I knew Sian would succeed no matter what, so I prepared this in advance. Of course, I didn’t expect it to be this quick.”

The receptionist handed Sian a wooden box with a soft smile.

Inside, there was a single golden rank badge with an antique design.

Sian handed her silver badge to the receptionist and received the new rank badge.

A gold badge with a single line engraved in the center, symbolizing the top 5% of adventurers.

“Hehe…

Thank you, as always.”

“What are you thanking me for?

Our branch’s performance has improved a lot thanks to you, so it’s a win-win.”

“No.

I just got lucky.

The receptionist’s help was significant.”

Sian murmured, attaching the gold badge to her waist.

The receptionist looked at the back of Sian’s hand and asked.

“A gold badge adventurer and a Stigmata user at your age.

Could you possibly aim to be the youngest platinum badge adventurer?”

Stigmata was a concept similar to skills in the dating sim RPG game [Arcana Academy] that Sian had transmigrated into.

In true RPG fashion, it referred to the abilities used by heroines when they were recruited into the party after being successfully courted.

Stigmata, said to manifest only in a few individuals, allows the use of new abilities that cannot be realized with the existing magic system.

The location, appearance, and ability it manifests are random.

In Sian’s case, it appeared on the back of her hand as ‘Blink’.

It was an ability that allowed her to move within a range of about 10 meters up to five times in a row.

Sian smiled awkwardly, looking at the symbol of crossed swords.

“Ahaha…

I’m afraid that won’t be possible.

It seems I’ll have to quit being an adventurer now.”

“Are you planning to settle down now?

Well, a gold badge adventurer at your age, with just 1-2 more years of training, you could even join the Imperial Knights.”

“No.

I have no intention of joining a place like the Knights yet.”

Sian answered, looking up at the air.

Invisible to others, a translucent blue window was showing off its presence above the receptionist’s head.

[Main Quest – Chapter: 0]

[Enroll in Arcana Academy.]

-Reward: Main quest unlocked.

-Failure: Death

The word ‘death’ was particularly emphasized in red.

Sian frowned and dismissed the message window.

“It’s almost time for academy applications, you see.”

Sian remembered her past life five years ago.

A typical office worker from South Korea who spent thousands of hours on a game called [Arcana Academy] before being reincarnated.

Sian was a guy who only played male characters, but she thinks she was reincarnated on the day she created a female character for the first time while waiting for the release of Part 2.

Sian was so surprised when the memories of being a man came flooding back.

Was it around that time that the status window appeared before her eyes?

A quest to enroll in the Empire’s top academy fell upon an orphan who had nothing but knowledge of the original game’s Part 1 and the Stigmata engraved on the back of her hand.

An ordinary commoner, with no special background, needed a lot of money to enroll in the academy.

So, as soon as Sian regained the memories of her past life, she ran out of the slums and recklessly entered the adventurer’s guild.

To pick up the hidden pieces of the original work.

It took quite a long time for Sian, who was naturally a shut-in, to grow into a respectable adventurer.

“Still, thanks to that, I managed to secure the tuition fee within the deadline.”

Sitting in the academy’s auditorium, Sian sighed in relief and looked at the message window that appeared before her eyes.

[Main Quest – Chapter. ]

[Enroll in Arcana Academy.][Complete]

[Calculating rewards…]

“Therefore, students, be proud of the fact that you are students of the continent’s foremost academy…”

While the message window was calculating rewards, Sian slowly looked around.

Is it universally true that the principal’s speech is boring?

The eyes of the students, who had been sitting for an hour already, were dim.

“Sigh…”

And so was Sian’s, knowing how much longer this speech would last.

According to the in-game dialogue, there were still about two and a half hours of speeches from various directors left for the entrance ceremony.

Moreover, the main characters of the original work were not visible from this corner seat.

Sian thought she was confident in sitting through 12 years of primary and secondary education and 4 years of university, but she was slowly reaching her limit.

No.

Maybe it was because of the memories of her past life, where she used to devise all sorts of tricks to skip class.

“Excuse me, teacher…

May I go to the restroom for a moment?”

“Just don’t be too late.”

So, Sian made a suitable excuse, left the auditorium, and suppressed her presence.

To kill some time outside.

Being an adventurer was a perilous profession, consistently ranking first in mortality rates.

As someone who had survived in such a field for over five years, it was unlikely that the ordinary guards in front of the auditorium would detect Sian’s stealth.

The problem was that even the girl walking out from the opposite corner didn’t notice Sian’s presence.

And perhaps it was because Sian was preoccupied with the status window.

Without a moment to react, Sian’s body collided with the girl who was walking hastily.

“Kya?!”

“Oof?!”

Sian’s body fell backward due to inertia, and the girl’s body fell on top of her.

Soft silver hair wrapped around Sian like a curtain.

The pain came a beat late.

At the same time, the girl’s features gradually came into view.

“…”

Transparent eyes like beautifully crafted diamonds.

Delicate features and a somewhat cold impression.

A flawless uniform and the natural elegance typical of nobility.

The moment Sian confirmed the girl’s face, she forgot about the pain and stared at her blankly.

The girl who fell on top of her, with a bewildered expression, was a non-dateable heroine and Sian’s favorite character in [Arcana Academy].

The Grand Duchess of the North, Yelena Frost.

in.

“Uh, um…?”

Yelena Frost was a very popular character.

She captivated many gamers, including Sian.

Yet, she was a heroine who couldn’t be romanced.

Although she first appeared in the academy’s third-year storyline in the latter half of the game and didn’t appear many times.

She had a significant presence in the third-year storyline and produced top-tier illustrations every time she appeared.

The cold Grand Duchess of the North who maintained a poker face in any situation.

When an illustration of such Yelena with a faint smile was released, how excited the users were.

Therefore, if it were Sian in her past life.

She would have been thrilled to see the illustration of her favorite character on top of her.

“…”

The brief silence felt heavy.

The usual poker face returned.

Transparent eyes that were unreadable stared at Sian intently.

Silver hair that covered them like a curtain.

In this space, only Yelena was visible, but Sian couldn’t smile.

Right now, Sian was just a commoner orphan without parents who ran away because the entrance ceremony was boring and bumped into the Grand Duchess of the North.

It was said that social status differences were meaningless within the academy.

But like most academies, it was just a facade.

“I missed a new student’s presence…?”

“Huh?”

But Yelena just murmured in a small voice and slowly got up.

In Sian’s bewildered state, she tried to recall what Yelena had muttered, but Yelena didn’t add anything and just extended her hand to her.

“What are you looking at?”

Suddenly, Sian’s mind started racing.

The most normal response would probably be to bow her head and ask for forgiveness.

Even though Sian knew that, she took Yelena’s extended hand.

Yelena was a meritocrat who didn’t like to distinguish between nobles and commoners within the academy.

So, Sian should just be polite.

Forgetting that Sian, who had gone through an all-boys middle school, high school, engineering college, and the military, had no resistance to girls her age.

Especially very pretty ones.

Sian looked at Yelena and answered.

“Oh, I’m sorry.

I was just…

You’re so pretty.”

‘I’m sorry.

I’ll be careful from now on.’

It took a moment to realize that Sian’s thoughts and words came out backward.

Yelena’s hardened face turned slightly red.

Sian thought about how angry Yelena must be for her face to turn red and realized that her ordinary school life was over.

“…What?”

“Ah?

Oh, um…

I’m so sorry…!”

Looking at Yelena’s broken poker face, Sian couldn’t answer her and ran back to the auditorium.

“Wait, just…”

Leaving the stuttering Yelena behind.

Three days before the academy’s class placement exam.

A familiar name came out of Yelena Frost’s mouth.

“Temporary Class A, No. 13, Student Sian.”

Receiving sympathetic gazes from all around, Sian closed her eyes tightly.

The gazes of the students were piercing.

Was it because of what happened in the hallway yesterday?

Did Yelena really go as far as to find out Sian’s name?

Maybe Sian shouldn’t have just run away then.

Amidst a myriad of thoughts, Yelena’s cold eyes, looking down at Sian, shone.

“I challenge you to a duel.”

[Main Quest – Chapter: 1]

[Accept the duel challenge from the top student of the academy, ‘Yelena Frost’.]

-Reward: Status window function unlocked.

-Failure: Status window function deleted.

“Sigh…”

Looking at the status window that blocked even the last escape route of refusal, Sian let out a deep sigh.