"By the way, Edward, Lyra," Jayden said between bites, "do you know a guy wearing a black and gold masquerade mask and with red eyes?"
"Pfftt!"
Water shot out of my mouth in a perfect arc and splashed all over the back of some poor guy's blazer at the next table.
…Sorry, random dude.
Wrong place, wrong time.
"Edward, do you know him?" Milleia asked, frowning at my reaction.
"Not at all."
"Ah… I see…"
"Hmm. I don't know anyone like that either," Lyra said thoughtfully. "I mean, what kind of guy wears a masquerade mask outside like that? It's a bit creepy…"
Her expression twisted slightly.
"…"
I focused on drinking more water, as if I could drown the embarrassment.
'This is your fault, Jarvis!'
[I am not the one who selected the mask.]
'Your damn master, then.'
At this point, I was seriously starting to think the goal was to kill me via humiliation.
"Why are you asking about him?" Lyra asked curiously.
"That's…" Milleia trailed off, shoulders tensing.
She couldn't exactly say 'we got ambushed and nearly died' over lunch.
Her fingers began to tremble around her fork.
Jayden placed a hand gently on her arm.
"It's okay," he said quietly. "I'll explain."
He gave her a reassuring smile.
"Yes… thanks…" Milleia replied, cheeks faintly pink.
There it is.
The little skipped heartbeat.
The Protagonist buff was already active. Could you not build your harem right in front of me though? I've already suffered through it once in the game.
"Milleia's carriage was ambushed by bandits," Jayden said.
"Really?" Lyra leaned in, surprise flickering across her face.
"Yeah. I ran into them while cutting through the forest to reach the academy," Jayden continued. "We fought, but one of the bandits burned the carriage with the passengers still inside."
"And then?!" Lyra asked, genuinely invested now.
"Then someone wearing our academy uniform showed up and saved them," Jayden said. "He helped us finish off the bandits, and before we could ask who he was, he used some strange ability and disappeared."
"Yes… I wanted to thank him properly," Milleia added, sounding a little downcast.
I appreciated the sentiment, really. But I really didn't want 'Edward Falkrona has a second blessing and a weird mirror power' to become public knowledge.
Ante-Eden hearing about that would be an instant invitation for kidnapping, 'testing', and probably dissection. That's why I hadn't told Aunt Belle about Mary or Cleenah either. Sometimes, ignorance truly is safety.
'By the way, Cleenah, Aunt Belle didn't notice you?'
[
The 'other two' useless gods who refused to help when it actually mattered.
"Hmm. Did you see his tie? What color was it?" Lyra asked. The tie color would give away his year.
Fortunately, I'd appeared without one.
"He wasn't wearing a tie," Jayden said. "We only recognized the uniform."
"He didn't wear one…?" Lyra's eyes flicked to me or more specifically, to the red tie loosely curled around my neck.
I ignored her, shoveling food into my mouth. If you looked closely, you'd see sweat beading at my temple.
She wasn't stupid.
The only thing stopping her from pointing straight at me was that this kind of behavior didn't match the Edward she knew.
"Well, since he has some weird ability, you'll probably see him again during a class or a fight," I said, sounding bored.
"I hope so…" Milleia mumbled.
Why?
I stared at her.
She was excited at the idea of seeing the terrifying mirror-masked weirdo again.
This girl was too kind.
"Why? Do you have a crush on him?" Lyra asked bluntly.
"N-No!" Milleia spluttered, face going red. "But my mother always told me to thank and help the people who do the same for me…"
Her mother…
She was going to die soon. Illness. No cure. Milleia would fall apart until Jayden pulled her back together.
"Your mother?" Lyra asked gently. "You two are both from faraway towns, right?"
"Yes," Jayden said. "But not the same one."
"There's something I wanted to ask," Lyra said, tapping her fork against her plate. "How did you two, if I may be blunt, commoners get chosen by Eden Academy? Isn't that nearly impossible? Right, Edward?"
"You just need to be strong and talented like these two," I said, raising my cup slightly toward them.
"I'm not talented…" Milleia mumbled.
"Ehehe, thanks," Jayden scratched his nose, grinning.
Too easy to read, both of them.
"So you're talented," Lyra said, satisfied. "Good. That means we might actually have a shot at taking first place in the class ranking."
"You can forget that," I cut in immediately.
"What? You're so negative, Edward," Lyra complained, elbowing me.
"I'm just being realistic. Did you see the other classes? One has that idiot prince, another has that uptight princess, and the last one has those creepy Tarmias siblings."
Lyra burst out laughing.
"What in Eden's hell?" She gasped, smacking my shoulder. "You still talk about them like that. You really haven't changed, Edward."
She wiped tears from the corners of her eyes.
"Yeah, well, it doesn't change the fact the other classes are on another level," I said.
In Basilisk, the real combat power was basically: Jayden, Milleia, Lyra.
Me?
I wasn't sure how I stacked up yet. Those 'geniuses' in other classes were monsters.
They said the classes were 'balanced'.
Yeah. No.
Basilisk was without doubt the weakest by a wide margin.
"We shouldn't give up, Edward!" Jayden said.
He hated my defeatist tone. He was naturally competitive and couldn't stand quitting before the fight even started.
"I'm sure we can win if we all help each other," he said. "Right, Milleia?"
"Yes! I think so too!" Milleia nodded, clenching her fists adorably.
She looked determined.
And very cute.
Too bad reality didn't care about either.
"Help each other?" I asked dryly. "Like the guy from our class who helped you 'find' a table earlier?"
I watched both of them flinch as they remembered Teen.
This class was doomed… unless someone hit fast-forward on Jayden and Milleia awakening their bloodline and blessings.
Also, what class named after a snake ever went well?
Even in those famous wizard novels, the snake house got hated till the end.
Nobody likes snakes.
Total discrimination.
Phoenix, Dragon, Pegasus… and us?
Basilisk.
All of them had cool flying beasts!
And we got the one slithering in the dirt!
"That's…" Milleia's shoulders sagged.
"Hey! You'll never get a girl talking like that!" Lyra said. "No wonder Aurora and Miranda left you!"
"Shut up. I don't care about getting a girlfriend," I said. "The stuck-up princess and the goody two-shoes archer aren't my type anyway."
"That's rude, Edward. People would kill to have a chance with them," Lyra said, grinning.
I knew that.
For most nobles, they were unattainable goddesses.
Jayden, though?
He'd have a shot in a few months if he played well.
I'd make sure of it.
"So you prefer a girl like Layla?" Lyra added innocently.
What was this line of questioning?
I was not shopping for a girlfriend.
And absolutely not that crazy girl.
"No, thanks," I said. "I don't want to die the way Alfred surely will in a few months."
"You're right," Lyra laughed. We both knew Layla's brand of insanity.
Jayden and Milleia looked overwhelmed, probably because we were casually tossing around VIP names. Just sitting at the same table as me and Lyra was already unreal for them.
That's exactly why someone like Teen had been pissed. In his eyes, I was letting commoners act cocky around him.
"What about you, Milleia?" Lyra turned back with a mischievous gleam. "What's your type?"
Oh no.
[]
I wasn't talking to you, useless Goddess.
[
"My type?" Milleia stammered, face going red.
Damn.
She was just like in the game.
Pure, earnest, painfully honest.
A real 'young maiden'.
Jayden, of course, tilted his head like he wasn't listening, but every nerve in him was focused on her answer.
"Yes!" Lyra leaned in.
"I want someone kind…" Milleia said softly, twirling a blue lock of hair around her finger.
That little gesture was a critical hit, not just to Jayden, but to half the guys in our vicinity, nobles included.
"Someone who will support and take care of me…" She finished, face as red as a tomato.
Even I had to look down at my plate for a second.
I just needed some time. It was only the first day.
"Then it's definitely not Edward," Lyra said cheerfully.
"…"
Stray bullet.
"Hey!!"
I tugged her hair lightly and Lyra yelped.
"You've got a pretty nasty personality yourself," I said. "If it's hard for me to get a girl, it's impossible for you to get a guy."
I smirked.
I wanted to brag that in my previous life, I'd actually gotten the affection of the most beautiful girl in the world.
But I swallowed it.
That secret was staying buried.