As Luka awkwardly looked for a spot in the formation, weaving between rows of students mid-pushup, a hushed voice called out amid the rhythmic chants.
"Luka!"
"Huh?" He glanced around, confused.
"Over here!"
He turned toward the voice and finally spotted her—Charlotte, the Second Princess, doing pushups with perfect form and poise.
Her massive greatsword rested comfortably on her back, and sohow, she wasn't even sweating.
"Oh… it's you," Luka mumbled as he shuffled over and dropped beside her into the pushup position.
"So, what's up?" he asked in a quiet tone, glancing sideways.
"Nothing much. I just thought it'd be nice to do pushups with you. After all, we're in the sa faction." Charlotte gave a soft giggle.
"That's fine and all, but…" Luka flicked his eyes over his shoulder.
Her maids and knights were further back, giving her a wide berth.
Even the other students kept their distance, subtly creating a bubble around the Second Princess.
"What about them?" Luka asked.
Charlotte sighed between reps.
"Nobody wants to be next to , it seems. For so reason…"
Luka dipped down, speaking into the dirt.
"Well, to be fair, you are literal royalty. Nobody wants to risk getting on your bad side. With all due respect."
Coming up again, Charlotte frowned thoughtfully.
"That seems to be the case… which is a sha. At the Academy, everyone's supposed to be equal."
Luka gave a short laugh, pushing himself up.
"Yeah, but you and I both know that's bullshit."
Charlotte cracked a small smile. "Nobody ever said the world was fair."
Luka nodded silently, agreeing more than he'd admit out loud.
"Anyway," he said, changing the subject as he looked to his right instead of the ground, "how was the talk with the Saintess?"
"Actually… I wanted to talk to you about that," Charlotte replied, voice lowering just a little.
"It went well… too well. She was extrely pleased to see that there was soone so justice-driven in the Royalty Faction—sothing she didn't even see in the Noble Faction."
"That's… good?" Luka said, forcing a smile as he kept his pace.
In truth, it was pure luck.
He'd only acted on ego and pride, knowing deep down that the church wasn't going to punish him.
It wasn't so noble sacrifice or calculated risk—it just looked that way.
'Thank you, developers, for not following the cliché,' Luka thought to himself, internally facepalming at the mory.
"Indeed," Charlotte said.
"With the Saintess's support, we've regained so influence. We now hold sway over the faithful, which is a significant blow to the Noble Faction."
"Ah, so she officially joined?" Luka asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Not officially," Charlotte replied. "She hasn't announced it yet… but she will during her next public speech."
"I see…" Luka muttered.
Still, he was glad to know this.
As he knew…
In the ga, the Saintess joined the Royalty Faction eventually, but it happened way later.
Sohow, he had pushed that tiline forward.
That ant major perks.
After all, once the Saintess was on your side, she'd heal you for free.
No more expensive healing items or paying others after every fight—just walk up, click a few lines of dialogue, and boom: full health, restored stamina, status cleansed.
It was one of the best support boosts in the ga.
'Nice,' Luka thought. 'Free healing unlocked early. Score.'
But then a bitter sigh rose inside him.
'Still kinda sucks it didn't take any Fate away from the main character…'
He understood, of course.
The Saintess wasn't a heroine—just a top-tier NPC support unit.
That was Luka's opinion.
'She's practically a walking healing bot with limited dialogue. Helpful, yes. Ga-breaking? Not quite.'
Despite how good it sounded—
Free restores on all stats, no cooldown, no cost—it really wasn't exactly ga-breaking.
Most players never even bothered with the Saintess.
They were already filthy rich by that point, swimming in gold from grinding, abusing glitches, or just from how absurdly easy it was to farm coins in the ga.
Players were richer than even royalty, decked out in gear that made even made the highest level adventurers look like beggars.
Plus, you had to go back to the Capital to see her.
And that was an early-ga zone.
Low XP— Ect.
A total slog to return to once you started clearing out higher-level dungeons and unlocking higher-level zones.
No one wanted to backtrack just for a free heal when they could pay pocket change for a full restore wherever they were.
But Luka?
He liked free stuff.
Always had.
Even if he had more coins than he could count, he still appreciated a good freebie.
Not because he was greedy—he just hated wasting resources.
Efficiency mattered!
As Luka and Charlotte continued to talk to each other—
Soone wasn't very pleased…
Arthur, drenched in sweat, clenched his fists into the grass as his eyes stayed glued to the Second Princess—his future wife.
Or at least, that's what he had convinced himself.
'Damn bastard! He's ruining such a beautiful view!' he scread internally, glaring daggers.
His arms and legs were trembling from fatigue, but the irritation boiling in his chest kept him upright… barely.
He had stopped chanting so ti ago, too caught up in his jealousy, and unfortunately, one of the teachers had noticed.
"STOP!" A voice bood.
All the students dropped to their stomachs at once.
"I couldn't help but notice soone slacking off... not joining in our chant!" the teacher snapped, his gaze cutting across the rows like a blade before locking onto his target.
Arthur gulped, forcing a weak smile. 'Shit…'
Nike sighed, shaking her head in quiet disapproval.
She already knew who the teacher was talking about—she'd been watching her childhood friend the whole ti, and she'd seen exactly where his eyes had been.
'The mont he left the village, he turned into a complete idiot... Lustful, too.'
Nike's frown deepened as she averted her gaze, the subtle shift in her deanor.
Even though she hadn't fully realized it yet—
It was the first crack in their relationship.
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