Karma Thief

The Spell Card voting results!

Patreon: (Total: 17 votes) (Blue: 3) (Red: 14)

Discord: (Total: 19) (Blue: 11) (Red: 8)

Royal Road: (Total: 10) (Blue: 6) (Red: 4)

Scribble Hub: (Total: 13) (Blue: 3) (Red: 10)

Overall: (Total: 59 votes) (Blue: 23) (Red: 36)

Result: Red Wins! Classic style it is.

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Today was the day and Vivian started it with 5 hours of sleep followed by a hot relaxing bath. The thoughts in her head were awfully quiet and the plans on her mind were still and silent.

At 6 AM, she walked out of her bathtub and got covered in a big towel before getting her breakfast in her room earlier than anyone else.

"You woke Logan up?" Vivian asked.

"Yes, my Lady." Esmeralda replied.

"The carriage, the guards, and the horses?" Vivian asked again.

"All on standby in the back garden." Esmeralda replied again.

"Good. Let's not make mistakes today." Vivian said and dropped the towel that covered her from the chest to the knees.

"MY… lady…"

Esmeralda was having it hard with Vivian who kept showing off her body whenever the chance arose and turned her head down while gnashing her teeth from the reckless young miss.

At least no one was awake yet, and those who were were already gathered in the back garden. She hastily closed the curtains and prepared the dress Vivian asked for.

It was all too quick as the attire that was chosen by Vivian was not orthodox in the current general style among young Ladies. It looked like the same thing she wore during the auction but some details were added here and there to make it more formal with a color more suitable for morning events.

Vivian has indeed spent 200 SPs on customization for her attire to fit today's event. One thing she needed most was to be quick on her feet and draw as much attention as possible.

With that in mind, she headed down to the carriage and her small convoy moved at moderate speed for the first time towards the grand colosseum of young aristocrats, the First Royal Academy of Elgard.

Vivian was silent, Logan too didn't speak a word to her and rode a horse ahead of the carriage. Other knights could see that he prepared an extra sword on his horse and surprisingly, two flintlocks. He was taking his duties more seriously than ever and cast aside all shame of using firearms if needed.

The journey didn't take long but as the convoy reached the gates of the Academy, they headed on a straight line in what seemed to be an endless garden towards a fortified building.

The carriage didn't stop at the first building but rather slowed down and was allowed through a gate before being allowed out through another as a form of security protocol.

After that, Vivian noticed that only Logan was riding with her as all the knights weren't allowed into the academy past that point.

Logan was her guard then, Esmeralda was the attendant, and the carriage had a driver from the Academy. This indicated how sacred the Academy grounds are in the tradition of Elgard and how terrifying it would be to infiltrate or escape from such a place.

Finally, it all came to a halt.

"We've arrived." Logan's voice came as he opened the door to the carriage and personally assisted Vivian down. Moreover, Esmeralda came from the carriage as she seemed to have curled her large body too much just to fit in so when she stood next to the carriage, her height was a sight to behold.

Some servants, who walked from the nearby building, were instantly intimidated by Esmeralda and failed to notice that Vivian was waiting for them to get her luggage down. As they noticed her staring at them as they stared at Esmeralda, they hurriedly lowered their heads and started carrying the luggage.

"If only they were to figure out how timid she can be." In her heart, Vivian sighed since her Hulkling maid's personality wasn't as striking as her outer appearance.

Vivian then walked past the gate of the building and finally stepped back into the academy.

"Esmeralda, follow the servants to my chambers, familiarize yourself with it. I'll have a look around the place."

"But…"

"No need to worry, the Academy is relatively safe grounds." Vivian didn't wait for a reply and headed towards a certain direction.

As for Logan, he had to enroll in the security barracks near the academy's main building since he couldn't enter the chambers of the students without a summon and a justified reason.

Back to Vivan, who was walking in the empty halls with a set of directions in mind, she took out a book from her bag, found an empty place to sit around a certain quiet hallway, opened the book, and kept staring at a certain door.

She is here early… earlier than anyone else but most definitely earlier than a certain someone. She looked at her pocket watch, it was 06:58 AM. Two minutes remaining.

Tick, tock, tick, tock.

It hit 7 AM and the knob of the door twisted open as if it was endlessly waiting for the clock to turn. With the door sliding open, a person came out holding a stack of paper way larger than they should be able to. Once that person tried to turn and get the door closed, everything was already falling all over the place.

"No!"

With a feminine cry, that person, who was a member of the staff, watched the large tower of paper she carried crumble all around and was all messed up. It wasn't all, however, it was almost all of it but in moments of extreme need like these, a Heroine… Nay! A Villainess showed up.

Just like that, Vivian managed to catch a big patch of the falling paper and skillfully manipulated her body to balance the papers without causing them to fall down like the rest.

"Seven Saints! Thank you, young miss." The staff lady was overjoyed to see that half of the tower of paper was caught by someone and hurriedly attempted to help Vivian put those papers on a nearby mini table.

Every student in this academy is a high-class aristocrat and certainly, this young lady is such a person. While the staff member was a bit worried, Vivian's attitude was rather very friendly.

"Oh, no need, no need. You really overworked yourself there, madame." Vivian replied with a wide smile and turned to the papers on the ground, "Let me assist you."

"No way! How can this…" The staff lady was happy with Vivian's friendliness at first but now that she saw a lady crouching down to help, she became instantly worried.

"I insist!" Vivian said, "Plus, I'm only lending you a hand. Better put these papers in order."

"I am sorry, young lady." The staff lady was a bit inconvenienced by Vivian's actions yet the hand-eye coordination ability of Vivian helped greatly and the papers were collected in no time.

"Here you go." Vivian said as she stacked the papers in a second pile and handed them to the lady.

"Thank you so much, you were a lot of help, young miss." The lady was pleased and attempted to put this stack of documents with the one saved by Vivian yet before she could even do that, Vivian was already carrying the other stack.

"Come on, I'll help you deliver it." Vivian said with all smiles.

"Young miss, this is too much truly. I can't burden you like this." The staff lady felt hesitant but Vivian was chummier than ever.

"Oh, no need no need. I have a lot of free time on my hands." Vivian said and walked ahead.

"Saints smile upon you, young lady." The staff lady said and walked with Vivian.

"And upon you too, Madame." Vivian said, "I am Vivian by the way."

"And my name is Maisie, Lady Vivian." The woman replied.

"Oh, how nice!"

And Vivian started to converse with Maisie in the friendliest of ways until they reached a different office across the building. Right there, the two dropped off the documents and Maisie turned to thank Vivian.

"Lady Vivian, you were truly such a great help. I feel indebted already."

"Oh, no need no need." Vivian smiled then backed off slowly, "Now I must take my leave and go figure out where my exam will take place."

"Oh yes, I can't waste more of your time, Lady Vivian." Maisie saw Vivian off and as the latter was about to turn away, Maisie spoke, "By the way, young lady, are you enrolled in the third year?"

To her question, Vivian paused for a second before controlling her facial expressions and turning to meet Maisie.

"Oh indeed, I am." Vivian replied naturally.

"Ah…" Maisie made a careful face and approached Vivian slowly while trying to whisper something, "Just as a form of appreciation, let me tell you this. I've heard Professor Amos ask Professor Sterling about a few dates relating to the Concordat in Saint Athena that sparked the Holy War against the Eastern Dragons. It seemed like the most important part of the History exam this year… but you didn't hear that from me, young lady."

Hearing that, a smile appeared on Vivian's face.

"Thank you, Maisie." She said with a nod, "Until we meet again."

Maisie bowed slightly and saw Vivian off.

And that was it, Vivian made all sorts of mental memos about what Maisie said and started studying the dates in her head as she moved to the next destination.

That was something Vivian had been planning for a few nights. She knows the game very well and on the exam day, there were these sorts of secret events where the Heroine would help some people around the academy in order to gain hints about the exam's content. These events were usually these sort of mini-games that were quite recurring in the game but they more or less involved helping people.

That was the reason why Vivian had to arrive at the academy before most students. If she hadn't saved more than half of Maisie's documents before they fell off, it would have taken them ages to gather them again and the Heroine would have come and solved it, thus gaining the exam hints herself.

Vivian now had a head start and rather than letting Matilda have those hints, she would have them instead.

After helping Maisie, Vivian went ahead and helped an elderly professor go down the stairs, found a pet dog that belonged to a female professor, prevented an inkwell from spilling over the Provost's secretary, and advised the scatterbrained herbology teacher to watch out before burning her favorite herb pot.

Such things were all actions that would be one way or another handled by the Heroine. Maisie would spend a lot of time trying to organize the documents but one particular document would fly away and cause quite the search, the elderly professor would stand there for a long time and would be quite tired before getting someone to notice and escort him down, the pet dog would be taken by some underclassmen who would hand it to the guards who would keep it in their barracks at the other end of the academy, the dean's secretary would require a change of attire and would be too tricky to satisfy, and finally, the herbology teacher would be depressed would have her reseeded from one of the heroine's private plant collection.

A lot of mess was prevented today by Vivian and in exchange, she got various hints about the exam, something that would have gone to the Heroine.

With this knowledge, Vivian found herself a corner and started taking notes of all the hints she acquired before the exam started.

One thing to know about the exams at this academy is that one question of various deep points would be given to all students for a certain subject. While it may not seem like a very inclusive method for all subjects of one major, the question would include relations to many other subjects and majors that would put the entire mentality of a student to the test.

The game may have summed up the exam with a choices mini-game but the real deal is as scary as ever to the point where some students would deprive themselves of sleeping just to put all that knowledge together.

After a short while, the students started to flow through the halls of the Academy and gathered in packs and groups of social circles and the like. Whenever some of them would come to walk past Vivian, who was still focused on her studies, they would either avoid the hallway, walk as fast as they could, or if they were feeling exceptionally fearless, they would walk past her and whisper some words to each other while giving her various looks of scorn and gloat.

Being designated as an enemy of the Prince should at least bring this much annoyance. While Vivian would really love it if she started bashing heads and punching noses in situations like these, she had to keep a cool head and a confident appearance.

That lasted even when a certain heroine crossed her path and stood in front of her.

Matilda Ambrose, while not having the most unique name, the girl is a beauty even when she is still not mature, and she will probably ruin a nation with that beauty of hers. Shorter than Vivian by a head, Matilda had beautiful round eyes and rich hair. She looked like a delicious peach from her eye color and appearance, and it is what made her look very cute and endearing.

Eventually, she turned into the subject of romance for many male students and the subject of envy for the female ones. Wherever she goes, many eyes would follow her and she wouldn't pass unnoticed. So when she approached Vivian on her own, she wasn't the only one who approached, which made this quiet and remote hallway rather busier than usual.

"Lady Vivian, it's strange seeing you here." And Matilda spoke first to Vivian, who was keeping her eyes glued to her textbook.

Vivian looked up without moving her head and then looked back at the book again. With a sigh in her heart, she knew that the Heroine had come looking for trouble which she wouldn't find since Vivian had already taken care of everything.

Seeing the unresponsive Vivian, Matilda was somewhat bothered and started looking around Vivian and back and forth in the hallway.

"Quit moving around." Vivian finally showed some annoyed expressions at the frantic movements of Matilda.

"I'm sorry… excuse me, Lady Vivian." Matilda bowed slightly and then paused while looking at Vivian with strange eyes. Vivian began to lose focus and looked back at Matilda, this time while closing her book and fully giving her attention.

"Is everything alright?" Matilda asked.

"You're the one who's bothering me." Vivian sharply replied.

"No, I didn't mean to. But you seem… distressed." Matilda said with an apologetic tone that made Vivian's fuses almost flare up.

"And what gave it away? The fact that everyone is trying to bite off a piece of me, or the fact that I am having my graduation exam a few minutes from now?" Vivian asked.

"No… I didn't mean… I just felt…" Matilda replied in a thin voice and lowered her head with pitiful eyes.

Just felt what? Vivian would usually flare up at this kind of statement especially when it comes from Matilda but she could understand something when she heard it this time around. It was the Heroine's ability, her supernatural empathy that drew her to people in need.

But what's with that sense of tingling in this sort of place? By any chance, hasn't Vivian taken care of everything on her own?

"Tsk! Stupid game!" Vivian couldn't curse at the heroine out loud so she didn't cause a scene she just showed her dissatisfaction and looked away.

The game made it so that the Heroine was given that power so that she could be guided to people in distress and help them as a form of side quest. Usually, this was the method used to help people around the academy and gain useful tips on the exam.

Vivian sighed as she closed her book and looked around to notice the many eyes of the onlookers still gazing at her, anticipating her to bully Matilda and ready to step up. On the other hand, that sticky Heroine kept involving herself in every situation.

"I'm alright, Miss Matilda. I'm just having a hard time focusing on my studies." Vivian said.

"But is it really necessary? I heard Lady Vivian was no longer going to attend the academy and you were going to get…"

Just then, the Heroine spoke something very unpleasant and Vivian, who was barely keeping her mood in check and was returning to her book, suddenly slammed the book shut with one hand and glared at Matilda with a murderous glare.

"I'd be careful with what I say if I were you."

Vivian's words were cold and had one clear threat. Matilda immediately backed off from Vivian with teardrops forming at the edge of her eyes. The onlookers were already riled up and the scene attracted a circle of commentators who showed their clear hostility to Vivian.

It seemed that the Heroine had accomplished her objective and immediately ran away with tearful eyes.

While some people followed her and left the scene, some still kept their ground to intimidate Vivian. They seemed to be willing to pick on her in order to make her know her place now that she was no longer betrothed to the Heir Apparent.

But just as their criticism was getting louder, Vivian ran her eyes across them until she found prey.

"You there." She spoke to one of the onlookers, a boy with chestnut hair, "You're from the Windworth family. Your family's furniture workshop was called…"

"No… not me… I'm not."

The boy turned around and immediately darted off the place as fast as he could and even claimed he was not who she said he was.

Realizing where this was going, the gathered mob understood that Vivian wasn't just going to stand there and let it slide but she would even go as far as threatening people with their family businesses. If there is a thing known about House Moore, it is its involvement in everything that is business and how they can ruin an entire industry if they were really triggered.

Intentionally, Vivian stared at some random individuals within the crowd and without saying anything, they just dispersed.

Fear, it is quite easy to spread and control people with.

As Vivian felt a little bit of satisfaction, she immediately realized something regarding herself.

Just right now, she handled the situation like a pro villainess. Of course she is a killer and all but that's just the Nadia within her, yet in mere seconds, she switched to full Vivian and terrorized the shit out of those poor kids.

Now it feels twice as satisfying for some reason, she can't really explain it.

DING!!!

« You have interrupted the Heroine's System Quest! »

« Rewards will be given upon the Heroine's Failure! »

« New Quest triggered: Karmic Thief »

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Karmic Thief: <Emergency Quest> Prevent the Heroine from helping those in need by any means necessary.

Time: 4 days. Reward: Karma Sensor. Failure: Villainess Karma Loss.

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"Wai-wai-wai-wai-wai-wait… What?"

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