Conspiracy

Jana did some stretching, cracking the bones, and a light head-butting on the wall. It was quite barbaric, but that was just how Jana's morning routine worked.

The head-butting part was especially important. She could not have psychic abilities reconfiguring her mind after all. With her nasty childhood, Jana had seen quite a lot of things, and overly enthusiastic psychic kidnappers were not the last of them.

She was not paranoid, simply aware that being careful paid off. Though she had been head-butting the wall since she was 13 years old, Jana remained beautiful and smooth-headed.

If she were to go bald, she would become the envy of the métier druids, a monk organization, from the religious sects.

Not that she was planning to become one.

Quirky, sometimes violent, a bit of a conspiracist, and secretly in love with her sister— this was Jana in the nutshell.

After brushing her teeth and wearing her Heromaker-manufactured blouse, she immediately went to class. Arriving at the classroom, she counted 17 chairs… "Hmmm…" There were exactly 17 Ability-graders this year, so she could imagine who her classmates would be.

Jana idly waited, as she sat at the furthest back.

Quickly, the classroom was filled up. Alighting from the door was Merrick, a head professor. Jana's heart thumped. If she could remember correctly, Merrick was something like a senior to her elder sister.

Moreover, this Merrick character was strong. Too strong, says the rumors. Jana wanted to test the professor, she wanted to see if this guy was worthy of her elder sister's respect.

Activating her Special Ability, Jana summoned a piece of ice from Merrick's blind spot.

Swooosh… It struck silently.

But it didn't even hit Merrick. On the contrary, the piece of ice was teleported right back to the one who conjured it in the first place.

"Yowch," Jana cried as she was squarely hit in the forehead. "What the hell was that?" No one even paid attention to her as she drolly rubbed her hurting forehead.

After the roll call of the class attendance, it was only then that Jana realized the meatball guy was not there. 'Sad, I wanted to bully him.' She inwardly thought. It's not just that guy. Even Pierre and Cain were absent.

"Good morning class. My name is Merrick Wander, Head Professor. I will be your professor for the whole year. Work hard."

The class went quiet at the professor's demand. That was pretty straightforward and suggested a lot of danger.

"For now, self-study… There are things the academy must urgently attend to. The faculty meeting will take some time, so I expect all of you to behave."

Merrick left as quickly as he came.

Jana thought hard, why? Conspiracies started to form in her head. She heightened her hearing. There was nothing superhuman about it. It was just Jana being hungry for tasty gossip.

"Why did the prof leave so suddenly?"

"Hey, Rodney. Have any ideas?"

"I don't know. It's not like I have a connection with the faculty."

It was Rodney and his two other lackeys, nothing useful there… Jana ignored the trio who gossiped about... useless stuff.

"Hey, who would you bone?"

"Me? Definitely the princess..."

"That's lese majeste~ you dolt!"

"Then the green-haired airhead?"

"I prefer the ice beauty..."

"Nah, I like the pink head better..."

When the trio started whispering about who was the prettiest gal in the classroom, Jana secretly put ice with her Special Ability under the trio's chairs. 'Slip and die,' Jana secretly cursed the trio.

Moving her attention away from the trio, Jana sneakily eavesdropped on the others' conversation.

"Philip, what do you think?"

"Miss Zia, why ask me? With your intellect, you must've guessed it already…"

Jana frowned. Looks like these two people knew something, but they keep on evading the topic. The buzzing in the classroom became more evident as the professor didn't even return after an hour or so…

Suddenly, Lorie stood from her seat. And… left the classroom.

'What a delinquent. Playing hooky right at the first day of class…' Jana lambasted the princess in her mind.

After some time, Jana's curious heart could not take it anymore. She high-tailed out of the classroom. Catching the silhouette of Lorie from a far distance, Jana started her stalking. It was not that hard to follow Lorie, she merely asked the people she came across in the hallway.

Jana's impression of Lorie was bad. In her eyes, this princess is but a battle junkie woman that didn't even know manners. Ever since the group battle, when the two of them fought, Jana's opinion of Lorie took a continuous nosedive.

Even now, Jana was criticizing Lorie in her mind.

Jana was quite adept at tracking and stalking. Lorie had no experience with this kind of thing, while Jana can be considered somewhat of a veteran on this.

If you have an elder sister who was too slippery for her own good, you would find yourself quite in a predicament as you ground your stalking skills up a notch. Jean, Jana's elder sister, is not to be blamed though. If you have a freaky sister like Jana, you would also have no choice but to grind your stealth skills.

When Lorie reached the infirmary clinic's door, Jana thought that the young princess must have come here to take a rest.

'Hmmm… So she is feeling sick. I misjudged you princess. Maybe, it's that time of the month…' Jana seriously thought, Lorie's image in her mind improved by a little bit.

Lorie stood in front of the door but chose not to get inside. The imperial princess walked back in forth anxiously in front of the door.

'What's to be anxious about? Do you feel like pooping?' Jana sardonically said in her mind. Suddenly, Lorie rushed in her direction as the princess walked fast and in a hurry.

'Was I found out? No way.' Jana hid by the far corner of the wall. It was not a perfect hiding spot, but she managed to sneak on Lorie. As a veteran stalker, she won't let herself be found out.

Lorie hid in the place where Jana initially hid.

'Whaa~aaat?' Jana was confused. But when Deron came, she was immediately enlightened. Apparently, Deron also left class after Lorie did.

Lorie revealed herself from her hiding spot and called Deron

'So, it's a rendezvous. A peasant and of imperial blood… Is this perhaps, the legendary chance-meeting plot I've heard about?' Jana immediately thought of a love story in her head. Though she was miserably mistaken, there was no one around to wake her up from her fantasies.

Jana didn't follow Lorie inside the clinic but chose to idly wait instead.

When Lorie exited the clinic, Jana continued in her stalking. She thought that she already had her fill for today. But when she saw Lorie sneakily going to the academy's backyard, she changed her mind.

What she saw there, she would never ever forget. The image of the princess in her mind just rose a hundred notches. To think that the imperial princess was this diligent and good-hearted.

"E-excuse me, what are you doing?" Jana shyly asked.

"Hi-hiiik~"

'She looked surprised. Such a good princess. Maybe she wanted to make her good deeds a secret and never expected someone to be here. It's a long shot, but that explains why she is being sneaky.' Jana reasoned.

"Let me help!" She added, casually summoning a rapier from her own [Inventory Storage].

…

Lorie is super flabbergasted as she watched Jana pick off the trash with a rapier. It was too out of this world. 'Wait, won't my good deed's value decrease if this woman continues to help me? Ugh… Stop stealing my luck!!' She panicked.

Maybe it was showing too visibly on her face, Jana asked her "Miss Lorie, are you ok?"

"Uh… Yes." Lorie changed the topic fast. She recalled her recent visit to the infirmary clinic. Perhaps, does Jana shared a connection with Alfir?

Jana is a good fighter. Her forfeit in the tournament setup came as quite a surprise to many. As someone who fought Jana personally in the initial battle royale, Lorie knew how much of a fighter Jana actually is…

"Ummm…" Lorie contemplated whether she should say it or not. "It's about the clinic…"

Suddenly, Jana started blushing.

"What the…" crazy fuck… Lorie held her tongue before she said anything overly disrespectful. "Ahem…" Lorie faked a cough which was something she was getting better at just recently.

Lorie continued. "It's about Alfir. He got severely hospitalized. Can you tell me why did you forfeit your matchup with him? From how I see it, you are strong enough to beat him."

Jana scratched her head, expressing her confusion. "What's Alfir to do with getting hospitalized to me forfeiting?"

"Hmmm… Don't mind what I said… Just tell me, why did you forfeit?" Lorie overhauled her question entirely, never mind what she was trying to insinuate.

"I don't even know that he's hospitalized. If you are so curious why I forfeited, I can just tell you, you know? You don't have to be roundabout."

At Jana's scolding, Lorie chose to remain silent. Jana continued…

"Fine, I'll tell you… It's because that guy coveted my meatballs!!"

"???"

Utter confusion. Juuust what?