If one were to ask which female character in 《Starspire》 left the deepest impression on Erich, aside from Lorraine, it would be the person right in front of him.
Isabella Grey.
On the surface, she was the daughter of an obscure minor noble. In reality, she was a princess of the demon race, sent to Morningstar Academy to scout the overall strength of humanity's new generation and recruit potential talents to serve the demons.
In the game, depending on the player's choices, Isabella's ending could go in completely different directions. If her favorability was high enough to trigger a specific storyline, she would betray her own race at the critical moment of the demon invasion, redeem herself, and join the protagonist's party. If the player took the other route, she would be an outright enemy, ultimately killed by the player-controlled Lorraine.
The reason Erich remembered this so clearly was that taking the route to kill Isabella rewarded a highly useful item. However, entering that route was incredibly difficult, with an outrageous number of prerequisites, including but not limited to choosing all ten correct options in a consecutive questline, making zero mistakes in two key battles, and surviving a damn time-limited labyrinth. It was one of the few storylines Erich had to look up a guide to beat before transmigrating.
Now, this very Isabella was sitting right next to him, smiling as she met his gaze.
Erich suddenly realized he had been staring at her.
“Do you like looking at me that much?”
Isabella's voice was light and airy, carrying a hint of playfulness.
Erich quickly averted his eyes and muttered, “Sorry.”
Isabella didn't press the matter. The smile on her face deepened as she turned her gaze toward the podium.
On the podium, their homeroom teacher, Morris, cleared his throat twice. The classroom gradually quieted down, and even Balin, who had been dozing in the front row, woke up.
“Very well,” Morris said, scanning the room. “Since everyone's attention is back, let me address the most important matter coming up. In two weeks, the academy will hold the Freshman Ranking Tournament.”
Whispers broke out across the classroom, but Morris ignored them and continued, “Within these two weeks, you need to learn at least one spell, and then prove your worth using magic in the tournament. The results of the ranking tournament will determine how many resources you receive moving forward. This includes, but is not limited to, library access, training grounds, potion quotas, and even one-on-one tutoring time with instructors.”
“For students who perform exceptionally well, transferring to a different class is not out of the question.”
As soon as these words were spoken, the room erupted. The students assigned to Morningstar Class F had originally resigned themselves to their fate; after all, it was the worst class in the entire academy, and it didn't sound good to mention it. Now that they heard there was a chance to transfer out, their eyes lit up one by one.
“Quiet.”
Morris's voice was still not loud, but the effect was instantaneous. He glanced toward the back of the classroom, his gaze sweeping over Erich's direction.
“However, only magic is permitted in the ranking tournament.”
Erich, of course, knew exactly who those words were directed at. The commotion caused by his sword strike during the Hunting Festival had been so massive that almost every teacher in the academy had probably watched the recording. His swordplay was indeed powerful—so powerful that the instructors had to join forces to erect a barrier to block it. However, Morningstar Academy was, in the end, a magic-focused institution and would not encourage such warrior methods.
Ultimately, in the understanding of most people in this world, the refinement of magic and the tempering of the physical body were mutually exclusive. An excessively strong physical body would lower the soul's sensitivity to mana. Therefore, even if mages used mana to strengthen their bodies, it was merely a temporary measure within a limited scope.
This was likely one of the reasons he had been placed in Class F.
After all, since his swordplay was so strong, his magic probably wouldn't be very impressive.
To this, Erich could only say: Do you even know what a status panel is? Do you know what an invincible transmigrator is? A bunch of otherworld hillbillies.
“Two weeks,” Morris said in conclusion. “It is not a lot of time, but it is not impossible either. Best of luck to you all.”
He wrapped up his speech and began to explain some details regarding the class schedule. Erich didn't listen closely and started spacing out again.
Time slipped by, and the bell finally rang, signaling the end of class.
Morris gathered his lesson plans and walked out of the classroom without looking back. The students also stood up, packing their things while discussing what to eat for lunch.
Just as Erich was about to stand up, a fair hand stretched out in front of him, a folded slip of paper pinched between its fingers.
“My contact info,” Isabella said, winking. “Feel free to reach out when you're free.”
With that, before Erich could respond, she stood up and left, quickly disappearing into the crowd at the classroom door.
Erich looked down at the slip of paper in his hand. It had a string of numbers written on it. He flipped it over; the back was blank.
What was this supposed to be?
As a penniless fellow, Erich had never even seen a communicator in this world, let alone known that this was a communicator number. Nevertheless, he folded the slip of paper and stuffed it into his pocket.
His reputation in the academy couldn't be called good; in fact, it was rather terrible. Under such circumstances, anyone who approached him of their own accord was either a fool or had ulterior motives.
Isabella was clearly not a fool.
Thus, the answer was simple: she was trying to win him over.
The demon princess wanted to recruit talent for her race, and Erich happened to be the one among all the freshmen who looked most like a villain, not to mention he was incredibly strong.
But would he, Erich, be that kind of person? Of course... he could be.
If the demon side offered a good price, he wouldn't mind playing along. In any case, his situation on the human side wasn't great to begin with, so having an extra escape route was always a good thing.
Of course, that was assuming Isabella actually intended to win him over and wasn't up to something else.
“What are you spacing out for?”
Balin's voice came from below. The dwarf was looking up at Erich with an impatient expression.
“Nothing,” Erich said. “Let's go. Time to eat.”
Balin cast a suspicious glance at him but didn't press further. Erich was prone to zoning out for no reason sometimes anyway, and his roommates had already gotten used to it.
Yser and Ragg were already waiting at the door.
“The cafeteria changed its menu today,” Yser said. “I heard there's roasted lamb chops.”
Ragg nodded.
“Then what are we waiting for?” Balin was the first to take a step. “If we're late, there'll be nothing left but bones.”
Erich quickened his pace to catch up to Balin, casually swatting the dwarf on the head.
“Are you looking to die??” Balin jumped up, trying to reach his shoulder.
Unfortunately, he couldn't reach.
Rate on N.U.
