Lex's POV
Leon and I decided to host a tea party together when he came, and cried for help.
He had found a girl who said she would attend his only if she could bring her sister, so invited me so we could double date.
So we sent out an invitation for the May tea party, and after receiving an affirmative response, we borrowed a room from the school and began making preparations.
A number of special rooms were made available at the school, and it was common for students to borrow them to entertain guests.
I might have preferred a more appropriate venue for my new art, but given the constraints of the tradition, I settled for the on-campus site.
After consulting with Leon's master, we assembled a tea set, tea leaves, and hors d'oeuvres for the party, Plus a two weak Tea mandatory training camp, that I couldn't talk myself out of.
Then we set about cleaning the room and setting everything meticulously in place. All that remained was to wait for my guest to arrive.
Luxion and Jarvis floated in the middle of the room, examining ourwork.
Luxion instigated Leon.
"You really put effort into this. Hard to believe you're the same person who was plotting to send in a professional to handle it for you just a five weeks ago."
"Put a cork in it, tincan"
"Hey Jarvis, If you see anything amiss, let me know." I said as I ran a final check over everything, before slipping out my pocket watch to check the time.
The ladies finally arrived
Leon had invited the second and third daughters of a baron.
"I truly cannot comprehend you new humans," Luxion said. "Couldn't you just examine gene compatibility and pick the most appropriate partner that way?"
But Jarvis responded to him
"Yes that might be more efficient, but the product they want is emotional connection not, the increase in quality of the next generation, plus it's kind of hard to do when no one here can examine people's genes."
"Then I have nothing more to say."
Just then, the lady walked in. "Heya."
"Greetings, miss, welcome to…uh?"
Her attitude was so casual, but that wasn't what threw me; one girl not hadn't been invited followed behind the two, tittering.
"She's our friend," the baron's daughter said breezily. "We figured we'd kill some time together. We're invited to a huge tea party by the heir of the Field earldom, but we still have some time before we have to leave."
The heirs of the elite families hosted tea parties that were utterly massive compared to what the rest of us were doing, complete with carriages to ferry their guests.
"O-oh, I didn't realize. Well then, what time will you be leaving?" I asked.
"In about thirty minutes. We were bored out of our minds when I suddenly remembered I'd accepted an invitation from you."
The tagalong dragged over her own chair, then plopped down and started chowing down on the hors d'oeuvres.
"Have some tea as well," I offered.
With the three of them crowded around the table, there was now only one open sit.
They chatted animatedly among themselves about the upcoming party. We were forcebly subjected to acting as their servant, filling tea cups and hauling out more sweets.
In exactly half an hour, they stood up from their mess and started toward the door.
"Well, see ya," the baron's daughter said. "The snacks were okay, but if you can't afford anything better than that, girls aren't going to like you. Be more careful next time, 'kay?"
As if she'd done me some great service with this "advice," she left with her friend and sister, babbling as they headed for the Field heir's party.
They didn't even thank us for my hospitality.
"I had these snacks prepared fresh today from a really good store. It cost me a mint, and they want me to spend even more?" Leon's shoulders slumped, as he said that about to cry.
He stared down at the table covered in dirty plates and cups, then gazed up at the ceiling. "Master, the path to tea mastery seems to be a long and treacherous one."
"Go close the door so we can clean this mess up" I said as I began clearing the table.
Leon's POV
I set about to close the door, tears of frustration pricking my eyes.
Suddenly, I heard voices outside…like a number of female students bickering.
"You don't deserve to attend!"
"B-but I received an invitation—" "That was merely courtesy. Have some sense, commoner!"
The echo of a dozen footsteps faded as one of the ladies admonished her companions,
"The Field heir's party will start without us if we don't hurry."
Could this "commoner" be the game's protagonist? I peeked out my door.
I anticipated a beauty with an impressive aura, not unlike Angelica, but the girl sitting on the floor in the middle of the hallway betrayed all my expectations.
Her blondish-brown hair was cropped in a mid-length bob. There was nothing charismatic or commanding about her. Her eyes were blue mixed with green, and she had soft facial features. The complete opposite of her programmed rival.
I mean, she was pretty. But she was…ordinary.
"Maybe she's the type that needs a little work to truly shine?" I muttered to myself. "Still, she's way more subdued than I thought she'd be."
She was staring at a shredded invitation on the floor.
Luxion, who'd pretended to be mere decor as he watched what transpired at our tea party, hovered over my shoulder. "This is what you humans refer to as bullying, yes? A scholarship student who's not a noble… No doubt many students are displeased to have a commoner in their midst."
"Seems that way."
The dejected girl started collecting the pieces of her torn-up invitation.
I glanced over my shoulder, peering back inside the room. "I guess we still have the supplies for one more guest."
I just couldn't leave the girl alone, you know? Not when she looked so devastated.
"Hey, you! Up for some tea?" I asked casually, like some player trying to pick up girls.
The protagonist lifted her face and stared at me in surprise.
This time, it actually felt like a tea party.
"Huh, so you got invited to the Field heir's party, too."
"Yes," she replied. "He said it might be interesting to talk to a scholarship student and invited me along, but everyone else said I have no business showing up…since I'm a commoner."
I popped one of the sweets into my mouth, enjoying the fragrance of the tea as we chatted, Lex was sitting besides us seamlessly having a snack.
It had taken a little coaxing to get the protagonist—her name was Olivia—to try anything. But now as she ate, her face lit up and all traces of sadness vanished. My mood brightened knowing my efforts hadn't been entirely in vain.
She hesitated when she looked at the tea. "This is really expensive, isn't it? Are you sure it's okay for me to drink this?"
Her modesty gave me pause.
"Just quietly drink the tea, he enjoys making it. So you're doing him a favor by drinking it," Lex assured her.
"Anyway, it sounds like you're having a really tough time."I spoke drawing her attention back to me.
I wasn't exactly planning on getting involved with her—the opposite, in fact—but I was curious about which love interest she was pursuing. It wouldn't hurt to know what route the protagonist was going down.
Whoever she hooked up with would have some level of impact on my life…maybe.
Yeah, actually, none whatsoever.
So what? I was curious who she was going to end up with. Sue me.
"I was really excited about being invited to the Field heir's party but I guess there's no hope, is there?" She looked depressed.
Brad Fou Field would inherit an earldom at the edge of the kingdom.
Thanks to his long purple hair, the arrogant jerk stood out in a crowd. As one of the elite nobles, his family owned a vast spread of land with an enormous manor —suffice to say, they oozed wealth. Bartfort House couldn't compare.
Brad did more as a strategist than a frontline soldier. An advisor, you might say, someone intelligent, with the brains to lead military forces. In the game, I thought of him as the magic-obsessed narcissistic prick with an inferiority complex.
While Brad excelled in magic, his comparative lack of skill in close combat shamed him,though I don't know what he does in this new world.
Regional lords loved to brag about their prowess in martial arts, and Graces.
They preferred brawn to brains, and they measured themselves by their skill in piloting Armor. Brad came from a regional lordship and was self-conscious about his lack of physical ability. If someone brought it up, he exploded with rage.
More simply put, he was a pain in the ass.
Actually, wait. Now that I thought about, all of the love interests were annoying douchebags.
Olivia's face clouded over, and she gazed down at her lap. "Do you think maybe I should never have come here? I'm trying my best, really, but I'm only barely managing to keep up with everyone else. I don't even know why I was allowed to attend."
Oh yeah, at the beginning of the game, her stats were low and she really struggled at the academy.
Prince Julius and the rest of the love interest pricks helped cover for her in the game, but right now, Olivia seemed basically on her own. But why was still fending for herself at this point in the timeline? Even if she hadn't triggered anything with other love interests, Prince Julius should have been looking out for her. Were things unfolding differently here in reality?
I shared no classes with Olivia, so the two of us had never really interacted, and I had no idea what was going on. I just assumed life was running smoothly for her, as it had in the game. Even if she didn't end up with Prince Julius for whatever reason, she would be fine as long as she got close with one of the other love interests.
But judging from what Olivia described, she'd been alone for almost a month now. Her situation was even more miserable than mine. Forget looking for a marriage partner, she didn't even have a friend. That had to be isolating.
The men from the elite families ignored her for her common status, and guys like me, desperately hunting for brides, didn't have time to waste associating with someone like her.
The only reason the love interests bothered interacting with Olivia in the game was because they all already had fiancées (and man, I was envious).
As for the other girls, they likely didn't understand why a commoner had even been allowed to attend the academy and begrudged her for it. Olivia was in a tough spot.
But something was odd about this. Olivia really should have met all of the love interests by now. The introduction events were compulsory; you couldn't even skip them in gameplay.
Then, for some reason, I remembered Marie…and that eerie smirk I'd glimpsed on her face.
"Uh, um…" Olivia seemed flustered at my silence. "I-I'm sorry if I spoke inappropriately!"
Honestly, I wished the other girls at the academy would learn from her example. She was a goddess.
"Hey Lex"
"Yes Leon"
"Yes I'm seeing it, I'm just working on believing it, girls like this actually exists I almost forgot, what it feels like to lay my eyes on them" he said while wiping away a tear from his eye.