A Stolen Card?

I was currently walking down the streets of the city centre, passing by numerous stalls and shops.

I had also just noticed that the many passerby people I walked past all stopped and did a second look at me, only to hurry on and walk faster.

"Hey, system, do you have any idea why so many people are looking at me?"

[It is due to the effects of [Monarch's Facade] that you had activated.]

"Huh? When the heck did I activate my skill?"

[Since the time you were looking at your status screen in 'Darkwood Forest'.]

"WAIT WHAT!? Why didn't you tell me to deactivate it?"

[Did you not consider why you were not attacked by monsters while walking through the forest?]

"Uh..."

[Did you not consider how easy it was to neutralise the guard who didn't let you pass?]

"Oh..."

[Did you not even co-]

"OKAY OKAY, I GET IT."

[Hmph. I hope you understand how much my decision has benefited you.]

"Ugh... Okay fine, thank you. Anyway, could you just deactivate the skill now?"

[All you have to do is repeat the skill name, and will for it to deactivate.]

"Do I have to say it aloud?"

[You can say it in your mind, or say it aloud. It doesn't really matter.]

"[Monarch's Facade]."

As soon as I said those words, I felt the air around me become a bit lighter and immediately noticed how people began to ignore me again.

It was then that I remembered something.

"System, I thought that the Dracyian Family was a rich noble family, shouldn't they be able to recognise that I am at least the son of the family?"

[Oh, you might not know this yet, but right now, people definitely won't recognise you.]

"???"

[Even if they did recognise you, you wouldn't be treated the best, and be looked upon as the failure of the family.]

I had a puzzled look on my face as I heard those words, but decided that ultimately, I was too hungry to care.

******

"Boss, I'll have a portion of noodles and some soda for the sides."

I was now sitting down in a small restaurant, which sold ramen and noodles. It was a quiet yellow corner shop, which didn't attract much attention or customers.

[Why did you decide to eat here? Just curious.]

'Oh, this place in the game had the best food for filling your hunger bar, while also being one of the more cheaper options.'

I had also discovered that I could telepathically chat with the system, and while it couldn't listen to thoughts that I didn't want it to, it was able to respond back in my mind.

This made it much easier to not stand out as much, as I would surely look like a madman if I was talking to myself in public.

"Here you go. Please pay before leaving."

I gave the server a slight smile, before digging into the food in front of me.

'Daaamn. This stuff is delicious. Underrated as hell, while filling you up immensely.'

[Are you not going to hurry up and train? I should remind you that you will still have to attend the academy selection competition in about a month. If you were to enter there in the pathetic state you are in right now, you will definitely be looked down upon.]

In the game, one started off playing while the character had already entered the 3rd year of the academy.

Oh, did I not tell you about the academy?

The Academy was a program recently created by the 'Atios Association' to nurture humans to reach their potential so that they could help out in fighting the invading Demon species.

As there were only 3 years until the demon invasion from now, the Association had quickly set this up, meaning the people in charge were nowhere near righteous enough to provide an equal learning environment for the students.

In the Academy, it was a situation where only the strongest survived, and the people at the top were given the best treatment.

Back to what I was talking about, in the game, the player started off in the Academy as a 3rd Year, where they usually were given more freedom to go out of the Academy and gained first-hand experience.

In the academy, there was a structure to how the students were nurtured.

The 1st Years were rarely allowed out of the academy, lived in personal dorm rooms, and learnt the basics of how to fight and utilise mana.

The 2nd Years were given just a bit more freedom to go out of the Academy to, for example, raid dungeons, and they fought in some friendly competitions. However, they were required to come back on a regular basis every week.

And the 3rd Years were allowed to leave whenever they wanted, however, their leave had to have been acknowledged by a professor. They were given full freedom and were usually supported fully by the Academy.

Right now, there were only going to be 1st years being taught in the academy, but in three years' time, just before the demon invasion, they would have held a few more competitions and recruited some more people to fill in the new 1st Year and 2nd Year roles.

Of course, if you were an 'F-' rank like me, there was no way you could survive the pressure of the Academy.

To be accepted into the Academy, the Association had set up a small competition, where only people who were 16 years old, could attend.

The Academy Selection competition was monitored by SS rank professors, who after deciding the game, would select 99 people based on how well they did.

Then, those 99 people were split into three classes, namely, Class A, Class B, and Class C.

The game had never actually gone through this academy selection program, as the main characters started off 1 year before the Demon invasion.

I just knew this because the previous owner of the body's parents had forcefully signed him up in his memories.

There was a slim chance of me getting accepted, but, I knew ways to improve someone's character that was in the future.

The most important thing that I have learnt from the game was that consequences are stemmed from choices, and I have seen every possible 'consequence' from the characters I was able to play.

'Don't worry, I know about every possible choice that the main characters will make, so all I have to do, is take that choice for myself...'

I had now finished eating and went to the counter to pay for the food.

"Boss, what is the total?"

"10AX please."

I went and pulled out a small black wallet from my pocket.

'System, do I just use the card that the previous body had?'

[Your balance has been transferred onto that card, so don't worry and use it.]

"Here, use this card."

I handed over my card to the waiter.

The card was a black debit card, with a personalised red accent around the top.

"Isn't this a Dracyian family card?"

'It is?'

[The Dracyian family gives a personalised card to all of their children, and the money that is in it is monitored by the family.]

'So, wouldn't they know that my balance has been transferred onto the card?'

[Hmmm, think of your carried balance as an overdraft facility. The money is technically not on the card, but when the balance reaches zero, you won't go into debt, and your balance will just stay at 0, making it look like you haven't bought anything.]

'And how much of my old balance was transferred?'

[£1000, or 500AX]

'Ohh... I see. That will be useful.'

"Yes, so please use this card."

The cashier stared at me for a bit, before reluctantly using the card.

"Are you sure you didn't steal this?"

"Steal?"