After that, I spent a fairly diligent week.
My daily routine had become quite familiar. I'd wake up, come down from the attic, clean the rundown chapel, and sit by the window to have breakfast with hard bread.
Knock, knock.
And right as breakfast ended, without fail, a guest would arrive.
A white bird would perch on the windowsill, staring at me intently with its shimmering golden eyes.
"You're here? You're quite the early riser yourself."
This bird had been visiting me at the same time every day without fail, ever since it first came and handed me that handkerchief.
Well, there was no place in the academy as deserted as this, so it probably made for a peaceful rest spot from its perspective too.
"Rest easy."
I placed the last crumbs of bread on the windowsill.
I gave the bird's beak one final stroke and stood up.
It was about time for morning mass to end, when the worshippers would start arriving.
As Priest Lowen had said, with the saintess candidate absent, the cathedral's operations were paralyzed, so quite a few parishioners came here for simple prayers or confessions.
But not as many as I'd expected.
"Well, it's falling apart, after all."
Compared to the overwhelming grandeur of the cathedral, this place was as shabby as a hole-in-the-wall shop.
And its remote location made accessibility the worst.
Though there were more visitors than before, it was still just a dozen or so a day at best.
Lucky, in a way.
"Haha, Priest Leo. You seem to have a real knack for winning people over."
Priest Lowen picked up a few copper coins from the offering box, looking quite satisfied.
Not many parishioners came, but the devout academy students always tossed in some pocket change.
It wasn't much, but it was enough to keep food on the table.
"Priest Leo, how about a beer down in the village tonight?"
"Sounds good to me."
Apparently, the cathedral didn't care much about the offerings from this chapel, so with Priest Lowen's tacit approval, I could skim off as much as I wanted.
The beer was nothing special, but it tasted extraordinary to me.
"Damn, this hits the spot."
"Heh heh, you. Keep that vulgar talk to yourself."
Priest Lowen chuckled and refilled my mug.
How long had it been since I'd last had a drink?
When I first arrived at the orphanage, I'd survived three days on a single shriveled bread crumb. This was real progress.
"Oh, Priest Leo."
Then, Priest Lowen set down his mug and lowered his voice.
"This is just between us, but about the saintess candidate."
"...The saintess candidate? Something happen?"
"You know about it, right? She's been under house arrest by order of the archbishop."
"Yeah. About a week now."
Priest Lowen nodded and continued.
"But word among the maids at Ophelia Hall is..."
"Hm?"
"...that the saintess candidate's condition is... rather peculiar."
"Peculiar how?"
I asked, feeling a strange unease.
The saintess candidate was one of this world's protagonists.
If something went wrong with her, the original scenario could twist out of shape.
"The one being punished... well, she's smiling every day. All alone. Gazing out the window with a serene smile."
"...Is that a problem?"
"Well, as you say, it's not necessarily bad. But... it's completely different from how the saintess candidate used to be. That's got the maids worried."
"Different how?"
"Until recently, the saintess candidate was... how should I put it... extremely strict with herself, and quite innocent. But now..."
Priest Lowen paused to choose his words, then nodded.
"...they say she's transcendentally detached."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Something's off with the young lady.
Helena, a maid at Ophelia Hall, realized this on the third day of house arrest.
"Miss Helena, that wine you brought last time was delicious."
"Y-yes..."
"Could you bring another bottle today? My mouth's feeling a bit dry."
Elise's voice was languid, yet seductive.
Helena swallowed dryly without realizing it. Sneaking alcohol to the saintess candidate under house arrest was a clear violation of the rules.
"...B-but if the archbishop finds out..."
"He can't do anything about it. At most, he'd extend the punishment period, but he can't drag it out forever. The cathedral needs me, the saintess candidate, for its operations. Right?"
"...I-I don't know anything."
Elise smiled brightly, as if she couldn't care less.
"Exactly. So, please, Miss Helena. Wine is the blood of the Lord. For a saintess candidate like me to receive that blood—isn't that hardly blasphemy?"
With doctrine thrown in, there was no room left for argument.
Helena bowed her head in assent.
'She's definitely strange...'
This wasn't the young lady Helena had known, crushed by sorrow and duty. If anything, Elise seemed to be enjoying the house arrest.
And rightly so—no trace of the sadness or remorse she should have shown.
The wine was the same. Normally, aside from the mass wine during Eucharist, Elise never touched alcohol. Yet now she was requesting it herself.
'...Is her heartbreak that deep?'
But she seemed far too composed for that. She even looked like she was having fun with everything.
Right now, she was perched on the windowsill in a slouched posture she'd never shown before, smiling at the view outside.
Chirp, chirp.
As if on cue, a white sparrow flew in and landed on Elise's hand.
"Good bird. Such a good girl."
The bird opened its beak, dropping a piece of bread inside.
To Helena, it looked like a shriveled crumb, but Elise received it like a holy relic.
She then wrapped it gently in holy power from her fingertips. That bread would never rot now.
"Hoo..."
Elise let out a satisfied sigh and turned to Helena.
"So, Miss Helena, about that wine?"
Beneath that serene smile, Helena sensed something deeper growing.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The world I'm in isn't some ordinary game world.
It's the world of Throne of the Academy, a game with hardcore difficulty and countless branching paths that spawned dozens of strategy posts and analyses in the gallery every day.
And right now, at the start of the new semester, it's when Act 1's story kicks off.
If I didn't want to die screaming, I had to stay sharp.
Especially after that meaningful story from my supervising priest, Lowen.
"The saintess is acting strange..."
In my memory, Elise officially joins the party around the main event of Act 1. Her actions before that aren't detailed.
So even I couldn't tell if the rumors about her now were canon or some butterfly effect variable I'd caused.
All I could do was make the most of the info I had.
"Act 1's main event... the Full Moon Festival."
Exactly one month from now, the academy's founding festival, the Full Moon Festival, begins.
It's Erebos Royal Academy's grandest event, lasting three days and nights.
While everyone's lost in the festivities, the first disaster strikes.
"The Shadow assault."
There's a dark organization called the Shadows in the kingdom.
They reach into the academy, launching a terrorist attack timed with the festival.
They summon otherworldly beings called Shades, killing or injuring many students. Faculty too.
At this point, Elise and the other main characters from the original story meet, team up, and exterminate the Shades—that's Act 1's core plot.
"Alright. Time to lay low."
I had zero intention of getting involved.
I'd hole up in the chapel like a mouse.
The Shades wouldn't bother with a remote spot like this.
To pull that off, I just had to faithfully perform my duties as the priest assigned here.
Having assisted the orphanage director priest before, running simple masses or prayers was no big deal.
After mass, the only task left was confessions, and those weren't much either.
"Father, I cheated on my last exam..."
"I see. You must have wanted that score badly. Having passion like that is a good thing."
"Huh?"
This was the academy. The students coming here were just kids barely out of their teens.
A bit of life advice and sending them off was easy.
"I got jealous when my friend got praised by the professor and ended up badmouthing her behind her back."
"That shows how much you care about her. Channel that interest positively, and you'll surely become good friends."
"I told the dorm supervisor I was studying, but... I actually stayed up reading romance novels last night."
"You have rich emotions. That's a fine talent for understanding the world deeply. Why not confess honestly to the supervisor? I'm sure she'll understand."
Most confessions were like that.
Cheating, friend fights, little white lies, etc.
Answering was simple—they were all in my mental manual.
'But... is this really how confessions are supposed to go?'
There had to be some procedure or whatever.
Who knows. The academy students coming here probably just wanted to confess, feel relieved, and leave.
I just gave some advice and sent them on their way.
How grave could the sins of kids that age be?
Even that first girl who came sounded like she'd given up on life, but when you peeled it back, it probably wasn't anything huge.
"Father, I'm a traitor."
...That's what I used to think.
"My family plotted rebellion against the kingdom. They were all executed, and I'm lingering on with my filthy blood. Is there any meaning in me continuing to live?"
"...Uh, um..."
'Shit.'
Looks like a real high treason criminal had found her way to me.