[<You're welcome Amael.>]
"Amael?"
I tilted my head.
Why was she calling me Amael?
[<It's your name, right?>]
"No, I never said it was my name…"
[<It's written on your pendant.>]
"Hm?"
I looked at the pendant around my neck. It was Edward's mother's gift. A black coin was dangling on a fine thread around my neck. On the black coin was something engraved in golden but I couldn't read it. For me, it was just some stylish decoration.
"You can read that…?"
I asked, genuinely surprised.
[<Yes, it's written in an ancient language.>]
Cleenah nodded.
"It's written Amael?"
[<Yes>]
Was that some second name for me? But no one ever called me like that though…
[What are you going to do now, Edward?]
[<Who's that?>]
Cleenah finally noticed Jarvis.
"Jarvis, my useless system."
[I'm not a system.]
[<Then you what, Jarvis?>]
[...]
"Cat got your tongue?"
I sneered. So sometimes, he had nothing to reply, huh.
[I'm Edward's dietician.]
[<Pfff->]
Cleenah stifled her laugh but it was too late.
My smile vanished from my face.
It was really getting on my nerves.
Mocking on my physics…
"When the Academy starts?"
I asked.
[Twelve days.]
[<Oh, you are going to school?>]
"Yeah, you know what's that?"
I asked, surprised.
Do the Gods even have schools?
It was hard to imagine.
[<Of course! It was a little different but even us Gods need education.>]
"Then you probably skipped school, ain't you?"
[<H-How?>]
"From the way you are speaking, it's obvious."
[<It's rude!>]
"By the way, what are your powers?"
I ignored her whining and asked.
[<You are too weak to use it.>]
"So you are a useless goddess?"
[<I'm not useless>]
What damn luck.
A useless system and a useless Goddess.
[...]
[<...>]
They can't read my thoughts, right?
"W-Well, I have two weeks to train."
[Your family, Edward. They have probably been looking for you since two weeks ago…]
"Oh, yeah…"
I didn't even inform Belle, I felt guilty just for her, but for the others…
Edward's father, foster brother and younger sister…
"They aren't my family, Jarvis, how many times do I have to say that?"
[For them, you are.]
"It's not my problem."
[Understood but your aunt?]
"Belle, huhhhh…."
I thought about something and sighed.
"I will tell her in two weeks. I will train and see her after that before the entrance ceremony."
[She'll be angry.]
"I know, but I'm in the mood right now. I just want to turn the page about what happened two weeks ago and get a grip in this world."
[Copy that.]
Jarvis…
Whatever.
"Hey Cleenah, do you think two weeks is enough for you to teach me something?"
[<No chances.>]
"I see. I should have expected it from a useless Goddess."
[<I-I can obviously!>]
"Good."
I smirked inwardly.
She was too easy.
[<Then you are going to live here for two weeks?>]
"Yeah, you can keep me alive, right? I don't need to eat anything?"
I asked Cleenah.
No idea what she had done, but I survived without food and water for two weeks, so she could probably do it again, I thought.
[<For two more weeks I can, but Amael, it will be extremely painful>]
I shivered a little thinking about the two weeks of pain but shook my head.
"I will manage it."
I could go stealthily to a nearby town but I was afraid of getting caught. The news of me abandoning my status should have already spread everywhere in the Kingdom. The fact that I disappeared the same, might have created plenty of weird theories as well.
I was sure that I was currently the most wanted man in the Kingdom. I was still the son of Duke Falkrona after all. The Duke, who had the most powerful army of the kingdom. Even enemies of the Kingdom would be looking for me as I could be a precious hostage.
Fortunately, nobody had thought of looking in that desolate place. No one sane would come here in the first place, even evil guys…
I was probably the weird one.
Twelve days before the entrance ceremony of the Royal Eden Academy.
The [First Game] will start at the entrance ceremony.
I remembered the most important events and it seemed so far and surreal for me but it was going to happen eventually. I had to be there. Usually, people would avoid getting in the plot but I had to do it. My life was in danger more than ever and I felt a bad premonition as I changed the plot by leaving the Falkrona House a month earlier. I also had no intention of joining Ante-Eden.
Was that called the Butterfly effect?
Whatever. I had to be ready.
I looked around me. I have the whole place to train.
I don't think I can reach the main characters' strength in just two weeks, but I can at least be stronger than most of my future classmates. I hoped so. In the game, after Edward was disowned, he became the laughingstock of all the nobles. Most of them only mocked him with words since he was still the son of a Duke, but high-ranking noble students didn't have to worry about that. It was a true hell for Edward, it was just after that he joined Ante-Eden and became that…madman.
Anyway, this time, I was going to start school already disowned so I could imagine what I would have to face. Therefore, I needed the minimum strength to defend myself.
***
Darkness.
That strange place was filled with darkness, but in that dark place, a flash of green seemed to be moving. It looked like a figure, no. It was certainly a girl. She looked like a woman in her late teens or early twenties.
Her face seemed blurry but she was without a doubt a stunning woman.
"How long are you planning to hide and act like that, both of you?"
Her voice rang in the dark place, but no answer came.
"He's a good person, I am vouching for him. Well, a little rude against a Goddess…"
The woman sulked cutely before smiling.
"...but he has the talent and mentality. Do you understand what I mean?"
Still, no answer but the woman, Cleenah, knew that her words had gone through the concerned people.
Cleenah turned around and looked elsewhere. She seemed to look at the darkness but the truth was that she was looking at the person who brought her out of that cursed temple she had been imprisoned for countless centuries.
The grey-haired plump boy was running around the temple without taking a rest, for now, two hours.
Cleenah giggled seeing Edward complaining at Jarvis while running.
When she zoomed her eyes at Edward's face, her amused smile became a sad one upon seeing Edward's serious face.
Stroking Edward's face in her vision, she spoke.
"Will you, one day, Amael?"
Her smile vanished.
================================================================
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*Edward's reference illustration added in auxiliary chapter