The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent

Chapter 43

...Alice has been reading my expressions more frequently.

No, at this point, it’s not just that it’s increasing—she’s practically reading my expressions as part of her daily routine.

To be fair, it hasn't been that long since she started doing this in earnest. When Alice saw me as a kind of “competitor,” she wasn’t particularly good at reading my facial cues. To be precise, it wasn’t that she couldn’t—it was more that she just didn’t care. Even if she was interested in me, she never showed much curiosity about what I did on a personal level.

But at some point, she began to warm up to me. Now, she could even read my expressions with surprising accuracy.

If I had to pinpoint exactly when that “moment” was...

It must have been during that three-way meeting.

I already had a feeling we were growing closer before that. Maybe it was inevitable. After all, regardless of anything else, Alice and I are the same age, and I was the only peer she could really talk to in the palace.

Some of the maids were around Alice’s age, but... well, they were still just maids. And to be a maid in the palace, you had to be from at least an earl’s family or higher. These kids knew all too well how far removed they were from a princess. Getting close to her as a friend? That was never going to happen.

Alice herself didn’t go out of her way to be friendly either.

And more than anything, I always took a very gentle approach with Alice.

She’s a major heroine in the game, and since I spent the entire time playing looking at her face—well, her face was technically a mass of polygons, but still—I felt a certain familiarity toward her. That attitude showed in how I treated her.

Plus, I kind of felt bad for her.

Even though Claire, the person Alice always felt inferior to, was gone, I had popped up in her place. I didn’t tease her like Claire did, but my abilities were nearly the same as Claire’s. Actually, considering how the emperor and others viewed me, Alice might even have seen me as an upgraded version of Claire.

If I also started teasing and looking down on her, it might have crushed Alice’s spirit.

Whether or not I’m truly mature is beside the point. I just didn’t feel the urge to bully a girl who’s over ten years younger than me.

I tried to boost Alice’s confidence in little ways here and there. If she still felt distanced from me, that would’ve been quite upsetting.

Well, maybe not that upsetting, but...

“Did you not sleep well last night?”

“...”

How is she reading my expression so accurately while asking me that with such a concerned face?

It’s strange, really, because I had checked my reflection in the mirror this morning, making sure I didn’t look tired or worn out.

I had perfected my neutral expression—this wasn’t just some face I pulled out of habit. I had refined it over time, adjusting based on feedback from others until I had perfected an expressionless look.

In other words, even I couldn’t recognize my own expression sometimes, that’s how neutral it was.

So, how on earth is she reading me?

“Sylvia?”

Alice’s worried tone brought me back to the moment, and I wondered how I should respond.

Her observation wasn’t wrong.

I had, after all, woken up at four this morning.@@@@

I’m a die-hard nerd at heart.

In the past, I tried hard to deny it, but no matter how much I resisted, my hobbies always ended up reverting back to their original state.

When I quit Japanese manga and anime, I moved on to Japanese and American dramas. When I stopped collecting figures, I started assembling plastic models. Even when I tried to avoid nerdy games, I found myself buying and playing Western games.

And eventually, I came full circle. I started with military models, then Gundam models, then finally back to collecting figurines and statues of anime characters. The same went for movies—whenever I bought Blu-rays, I somehow ended up buying animated movies, and then, before I knew it, I was purchasing TV and OVA anime Blu-rays.

After living like this for about ten years, by the time I was thirty, I just gave up and accepted my true nature.

Not to mention, I spent seven of those ten years playing the Azerna Chronicles, so it’s fair to say I never truly tried to escape in the first place.

Being a nerd, of course, I spent countless hours reading light novels and web novels.

So, they were here even before the 6 AM shift started.

They completed the request and sat there, waiting.

The diligent receptionist, who had arrived 30 minutes early to prepare for her shift, saw them and processed their reward.

I slowly raised my hand and pressed my fingers to the bridge of my nose.

It had been hard enough for me to wake up at 6 AM. But those crazy students had completed the task before that.

“Could you possibly tell me the names of the students?”

The receptionist hurriedly began rummaging through the pile of documents on her desk.

Technically, it’s against protocol for her to reveal the personal information of students just because someone asks. But when a princess, clearly displeased, makes such a request, it’s hard to say no.

“Well... it was Leo Grace and Claire Grace.”

“...”

Of course.

I let out a quiet breath.

“...Again.”

“Pardon?”

“Again!”

Six in the morning.

Right. Six in the morning.

That means they had already completed the task and were waiting before then.

The receptionist said they arrived 30 minutes early, so they must have finished the task before 5:30 AM.

Sure, the volunteer service activities were supposed to start precisely today. The person who posted the request on the bulletin board must have done it last night during their shift. They probably pinned the request right before leaving.

The requests were based on reports from citizens and government agencies, carefully selected to match what students could handle. So, if they wanted to bend the rules, they could have started last night.

But I didn’t think Leo and Claire would have gone so far as to cheat the system.

Isn’t “fair and square” the motto of the Grace family?

I was certain they had waited until the date changed before they started.

And, honestly, it wasn’t like the quest was urgent enough to stay up all night waiting for it. This is still the beginning of the main story. Side quests this early wouldn’t affect the main plot too much.

So, I had set my alarm for 5 AM.

I went to bed early, set my alarm for 4:30 AM, woke up, prepared, and headed out. After all, I didn’t want to ruin my image by looking disheveled after just waking up.

But I failed to wake up.

By the time I managed to crawl out of bed, it was already 4:50 AM. I was grateful that I kept my hair short, or else it would’ve been even worse. I washed up as quickly as I could and sprinted out of the dormitory at full speed.

Then I realized.

The quest location was a good two hours away on foot.

In the game, traveling between locations gets skipped over, and time doesn’t pass unless an event is triggered. But in reality, things were different.

The quest was located outside the city, where wild beasts were causing trouble.

And of course, the capital city is enormous.

Leo and Claire had gotten up at the crack of dawn, hired a carriage, and completed the quest.

...Why?