November 1st. A few weeks after the mid-term incident. Also, a free day.
It had also been two weeks since I accepted Evelyn's feelings and chose to love her. Since then, classes had been relatively normal.
But although classes were relatively normal, that was only DURING class. Outside of them...
"I still can't believe it."
"How did a commoner ensnare the princess…?"
"He's openly courting her too!"
"Frostblade hasn't done anything...?"
...It was drama galore.
Well, it was to be expected though. After all, I was a very big nobody to the general population right now. Although it was getting better, I was probably around the level of that scholarship kid in university who transferred in from out of state and set the curve on the class.
In short, barely a blip in the consciousness of the school population.
Of course, now that I was actively dating Eve, that would change pretty soon...
> Your SP has gone up! Current SP: 2,300,000
> Note: It is recommended to utilize SP to create tools in case of unexpected situations.
> This is also a reminder to check your status at the earliest opportunity.
Yeah, yeah. Thanks for the reminder, but I knew what I was doing. And there was a reason I was saving all of those... But for now.
I pulled Evelyn close to my side and walked past our gossiping classmates, heading to the commercial part of campus.
Evelyn smiled as she leaned into me. But her ear twitched when we passed, clearly hearing what they said. She sighed and shook her head. "I am sorry for the constant scrutiny, Love..."
I kissed her cheek. "It's fine." I smiled and said, "I expected this much from choosing to love you."
Evelyn turned a bright red and then looked at me with a loving gaze. After that, she stopped and pulled me in for a proper kiss, gently pressing her lips against mine.
I felt my ears heat up a bit, but I just pulled her in for a hug and deepened the kiss.
But after a few moments, there was a pat on my left shoulder, followed by an amused voice. Roland walked up on my left and said, "You two have just completely given up on any pretenses of propriety, huh?"
I broke the kiss and smiled. Staring at Evelyn, who was breathless and blushing, I said, "Well. Life is short. And I want to fill Eve's life with as much love and happiness as I can to make up for all the time not being with her."
And for other things too...
But I didn't say that.
Evelyn's silver eyes teared up and she pulled me in for a tight hug. "I love you, Alex. So, so, so much."
I rubbed her back and whispered into her ear. "I love you too, Eve. Today and tomorrow. For now, and for always."
Marisa walked up beside Roland and huffed. She eyed him for a second before looking at me and saying, "I wish all men were like you, Alex."
Evelyn bristled a bit and subconsciously moved in front of me.
I smiled and patted her arm before looking at Marisa. "Well." I glanced at Roland and said, "Some men need a little persuasion, Mari. And some also need to be hit in the face with a hammer."
Like Roland. It wasn't so much that he was dense... Okay, he was pretty dense. But that wasn't the main problem. It was more that he couldn't accept a beautiful woman would be interested in the lowly son of a baron, especially the more accomplished ones.
Say, for example, like a certain heir to a Grand Sage with emerald hair.
It wasn't until certain events later that Roland would start realizing he was a decent catch... in fact, a great catch.
...Certain events including Evelyn's after confessing to him.
...Hm. Okay, this might be a problem... I might have to do some direct intervention here...
Roland nodded and said, "Yeah. Some men just don't know how to take no for an answer. Like Frostblade." He looked over and frown. "I heard he keeps bothering you, Alex. Everything alright with him?"
Okay. Considering Roland just completely ignored that very much pointed barb at him, definitely needed to do some active intervention before Marisa blows her lid and just jumps him.
...Hm. Actually, that could work too...
No. Let's not go full romcom.
But anyway, to Roland's question... "No. Everything's fine. I've already made contingencies to handle that guy."
Isaac Frostblade. The haughty, aristocratic antagonist who was meant to serve as Roland's foil for the first arc. He eventually got some character development, but he was pretty unlikeable as a person until then. A bundle of insecurity, self-entitlement, and the usual noble pride.
If I was Roland... at least, the Roland from 3D-ED, I would probably be having a hard time right now. That guy wasn't very skilled with his words until later, basically having min-maxed into swords and healing magic.
The Roland here was a bit different. Spending time with Marisa earlier than in the story, and also with me and Evelyn had changed his character up a bit to make him a little more aware and bold.
I was getting side-tracked though. Anyway, Isaac.
Since that guy loved... or thought he loved Evelyn. And since he felt he was entitled to it, his noble pride was undoubtedly ruffled by Evelyn deciding to choose me. In fact, his heart was probably green with envy seeing how loveydovey Evelyn was.
I was sure it was a side of her that Isaac hadn't seen. Because it was a side even I didn't know about until recently.
But anyway.
Due to my choice, I was pretty sure certain events would be sped up.
Isaac was meant to be approached by the Void Arbiters with a Demon Gem later to enhance his abilities. The intent was to create another Demon for them to control, but unlike Evelyn, the Frostblades had a unique constitution that let them accept and wield the dark and corrosive might of the Demon God without it taking them over.
Of course, it made Isaac critically vulnerable to the Demon God at the end of the story... but that was a whole other thing.
Long story short, odds were high that plot point was being punted upstream.
And the odds were even higher considering I hadn't seen head nor tail of the guy for a week now.
All things considered, the guy would probably go on a rampage at some point either before, during, or right after the Winter Solstice Ball.
And going by Murphy's Law of the worst things undoubtedly happening in fiction, and by how I had designed all the antagonists... Yes. That guy was going to go berserk likely the moment Eve did and things would hit the fan.
Which was why I was leading the main characters around today like a small JRPG party.
I could probably stretch the suspension of disbelief to stopping either Isaac or Evelyn, and I was choosing the latter. So, I was going to make sure Roland and Marisa could handle the former.
"If you say so..." Roland still looked a bit doubtful about Isaac. But he shrugged and laced his hands around his neck and looked over. "But in any case, why did you ask us to all meet today, Alex?" He glanced at Evelyn for a bit before looking back and saying, "If anything, I would have thought you would want to take our princess out on a date today."
Evelyn blushed. "R-Roland! That...! W-W-What are you suggesting?!"
Roland blinked. "Hm? Just that I thought you two would spend time together..."
Marisa let out a deep sigh and covered her face, muttering something that sounded a lot like, "Why do I even like this idiot...?"
I chuckled and said, "As much as I love spending time with Eve, I can't neglect my dear friends, can I?"
Besides, it was pretty much confirmed now that the progress on Roland and Marisa's romance had been next to nothing.
As their canon shipper, I couldn't let that be. Especially since I knew how good the two were for each other. So...
Roland was half-right. Today was date time... but it would be a double date.
Roland let out a genuine smile. He lowered his hands and then patted my shoulder. "You are a great friend, Alex. Truly. To think about spending time with us as well even though you have such a clingy lover-"
"Ahem." Evelyn narrowed her eyes.
Roland chuckled.
Marisa rolled her eyes and stomped ahead of us, grumbling.
I laughed and said, "Anyway... the plan is to head to a newly discovered Gate in the ruins south of here. It's an E-Ranked Dungeon, and Elio gave me the approval for it since I found it."
Roland's eyes widened. "A Gate?" Excitement sparkled in his blue eyes and he said, "No wonder you said to grab our equipment. I thought you just wanted to let off some steam or something."
Marisa grumbled and said, "I bet Alex and Evelyn let off enough stream already. Tch."
Evelyn blushed. "E-E-Excuse me?! M-Mari?! What are you saying?!"
"What?" Marisa blinked. "With how loveydovey you two are, I thought-"
I quickly interrupted. "Anyway!" I coughed and said, "I figured it'd be a good training trip. And since the final will probably be a party excursion, it'd also be a good chance to try working in a decent-sized group."
At least, that was how it went in 3D-ED. But we'd see where everything landed after the Winter Solstice Ball...
"Anyway," I continued. "That sound good for everyone? It should be fun, right? Since it's E-Ranked, the strongest monster should just be a Rank 3. Even a guy like me could handle it, so it should be a nice stroll."
And also a nice trip to pick some things up. Since the location of the mid-term had changed from 3D-ED, the
...I'd love to just have him unlock it completely, but considering that Roland's stats were still low, that was dangerous. As amazing as having an end-game skill and equipment to work with would be, it was also the same as painting a massive target.
And the bad guys in this world had guided orbital missile strikes.
Well, not really, but figuratively. If you extended the metaphor that far...
Hm. Okay, maybe I've been more stressed than I thought about Eve if I'm rambling in my head like this...
Marisa reached out and laced her fingers together, cracking them. After that, she smiled and said, "I'd love to head to a Gate." She eyed Roland and then said, "I have a lot of pent-up stress I need to release..."
Roland met Marisa's gaze and nodded. "Me too. Classes are killing me... Why do we need to write so many papers anyway? When is a Hero going to need to do all this paperwork? That's what a secretary is for, isn't it?"
I chuckled. "You'd be surprised, Roland."
Especially when the Guild Recruitment arc started...
Ah, crap. There was that to consider too... No, one thing at a time...
After that, we just chatted about random things until we arrived at the carriage rental area in the east side of campus.
I headed over to the closest attendant and reserved one, walking out with the carriage and a horse.
Evelyn's eyes widened. "You know how to drive a carriage, Alex?"
I hopped on the horse and started directing it towards the exit. Looking back, I smiled and said, "I am a man of many skills, Eve."
> [Jack-of-all-trades] activates!
> Your vast accumulated knowledge from years of miscellaneous study form the basis for [Jack-of-all-trades]!
> [Playwright] synergizes with [Jack-of-all-trades], perceiving it as a role.
> You are able to perform any skill with competence!
Oho? It seems like all the years spent mindlessly watching people do various skills was finally paying off... That and the meticulous research to make stories authentic.
...Man, the struggles of being an Author... Accumulating so much knowledge and info only for 1% of it to ever be used...
All the better for me now that I'm in my own story though.
The horse neighed and then stood at attention, waiting for commands.
...Honestly, I would have preferred a car, but those didn't quite exist yet. Maybe I could collaborate with Marisa and make something happen...