Ch.3- Scammer.

Amy took a deep breath, straightening her posture as she abandoned her comfortable seat at the tea shop.
Well, here goes nothing.
She approached Crow’s table with slow steps, trying to project confidence she absolutely did not feel.
His body tensed slightly as he noticed her presence, and he made that trademark suspicious glare she’d criticized as “comically edgy” in at least three different blog posts… It felt weird describing him that way, since he was now no different from a real human being… albeit a very edgy one.
Just like old times, Amy. If someone knows how to act—for the good and the bad—it’s you…
“Excuse me.”
There was no response for a couple of seconds, making Amy wonder if she should have spoken louder. But as she prepared herself to call again, the boy turned.
Their gazes crossed. Amy stared at the “pure void eyes”—as they were described in the manga—and momentarily thought they really weren’t that special, before she caught herself; right now wasn’t the moment for this.
“I seem to have lost my way, so I came into this teashop intending to ask for directions.” Amy made sure to give a warm smile as she said the next words. “You are wearing an Academy uniform. Coincidentally, this is also where I wished to go.”
“The Academy?” Crow said while tilting his head and looking at Amy’s clothes. “Where is your uniform?”
“Oh, I’m not a student… yet.”
Crow raised an eyebrow, then nodded. “I see. Then you should probably know that registrations close within two hours, and it’s quite far from here. You’d never make it in time on your own.”
“Then I suppose I should hurry.”
Crow’s eyes narrowed for a second, but then he nodded again. “I’ll show you the way.”
Uh…? What? That easy?
“That would be appreciated.”
Crow tried to smile at her, but it ended up looking pretty awkward. So, he cleared his throat, stood up from the chair, and looked at the woman at the counter—specifically at the tea she was making, which Amy believed was for him—and pursed his lips.
Then, after telling the woman he had to go and giving her some coins, he began walking towards the exit, but not before staring fixedly at the book floating beside her.
Shit. Forgot manga-boy’s whole personality in the early chapters is ‘magical object nerd’.
“Curious?” Amy asked with a strained smile.
“Where did you find it?”
“Somewhere not far from here.”
[Nice deflection,] the book commented.
Silence stretched for a second. Then Crow nodded slowly, seemingly accepting this boundary. “We should leave now if you want to make the inscription deadline.” He paused for a second before adding, “I’m Crow.”
“Amy.”
With introductions done, he headed for the door without waiting to see if she would follow. Amy hurried after him, giving a small wave to the elderly woman at the counter, who smiled in return.
Outside, the sky was still bright, but the sun had moved somewhat. An agreeable warmth enveloped her as they walked.
“So,” Crow said after they’d been walking in silence for several minutes. “Is there a reason why you were in this teahouse? … It’s kind of weird for an Academy hopeful to be loitering in a place like that hours before the inscription deadline.”
Amy hesitated for half a second. She could go with something believable but vague, or she could test the waters and try to plant seeds of her non-existent seer powers. Actually, this was the perfect opportunity.
“I simply thought I could get directions there.”
Crow tilted his head, then frowned slightly. “You were not wrong. You could have asked the old woman, and she would have told you the way. However, you didn’t. Why?”
Damn! Is he perhaps a bit suspicious of me? Well, that works in my favor anyway.
“I could have,” Amy said with a practiced smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “But that wouldn’t have gotten me where I want to go.”
Amy could almost feel the question mark popping out over Crow’s head as he looked at her.
“I see.” He clearly didn’t see shit. “Then, are you currently going where you want to go, or did I misunderstand something?”
“You didn’t. We are going exactly where we should be heading.”
Crow’s eyes, which had been confused a moment ago, started turning a bit colder as they continued walking, and he thought about what she meant. It didn’t take him long to finally pick up the trail Amy had left.
Amy could tell he had reached a hypothesis—or rather a suspicion—of what she meant. His next words confirmed it.
“Were you specifically waiting for me?”
Amy only smiled but did not respond.
[Awww, so romantic.]
Amy resisted the urge to glare at the book and instead focused her gaze back on the boy.
Crow blinked at her, clearly thrown off. His steps faltered just slightly before he recovered, looking ahead once more.
“…I see,” he murmured. His tone was guarded, but Amy didn’t miss the way his fingers flexed at his sides like he was trying to work through something in his head.
Amy resisted the urge to grin. Despite the insane embarrassment she was currently feeling, at the very least she had Crow intrigued. Which she hoped meant that this conversation had to be included in the chapter, right?
The cobblestone streets grew more crowded as they moved deeper into the city. Now she could see teenagers of all races, from girls with cat ears to completely human boys, wearing the same uniform Crow wore, marching towards the same place. It was very peaceful.
They continued down the road, the path surrounded by trees. The Academy loomed in the distance: towering spires and shimmering wards against the blue sky. It looked like a castle, but on steroids.
“That book of yours,” Crow suddenly said. “It communicates with you.”
Amy stiffened, though she kept her expression neutral. Or at least she tried to, but some of her shock leaked through her facade. Just a little bit, but he still seemed to notice.
“I can feel faint, intermittent signals from it—” Crow’s eyes flicked to the floating tome, “—and it reminds me of something similar that happened to me not too long ago.”
He’s probably talking about his sentient sword.
During the last arc, Crow had gained this overpowered sword that could also talk and which only he could hear because of some lineage thing, and he’d decided to keep it a secret from everyone.
Still, I didn’t expect he could tell just like that… Whatever, as long as no one else notices…
“Yes, it does talk.”
Crow looked at her as if waiting for more of an explanation, but Amy had already said all she really knew, so she just stayed silent.
At some point, he seemed to catch the message and just turned his gaze ahead, occasionally giving her a side-eye, one that Amy felt came from suspicion.
[I’m actually impressed. You are very good at this.]
Amy sighed at the praise.
Indeed, unsurprisingly, she was quite good at this; before quitting school, she used to be pretty damn popular. Manipulation and hiding herself behind masks were her specialty, and to be honest, she wasn’t proud of it… before…
Ugh, no point in thinking about the past.
Crow was intrigued, and that was both good and bad. Good, because it meant she had his attention. Bad, because too much attention could get her into trouble. For example, she would rather not get branded as a villain by the readers.
Either way, it would soon be time to deliver the finishing blow; to make sure that he and the readers believed she could see the future, she needed to use her somewhat lacking knowledge of the manga. And she knew exactly what to use, though she would have to be careful about it since this was kind of a sensitive plot point. Moreover, she needed to wait for the right moment for dramatic purposes.
They walked in silence for a while, the Academy looming ever closer with every step. Many students were loitering around, some sitting on benches chatting, while others crossed the gates and entered the building. The surrounding air shimmered slightly, and the protective wards pulsed with energy. Amy felt a thrill of excitement—and anxiety—at the sight; it was truly impressive seeing it in real life.
“We are finally here.”
Amy nodded, trying to suppress her nerves. “Indeed. I suppose this is where we part ways.”
This was it; it was time. Once he turned to leave, she would say her piece. It was always like that in stories: the last words were the most important, so she should, of course, say her ultimatum at that moment. Once he turned…
Crow hesitated for a fraction of a second, turning around to leave, but suddenly deciding to speak again. “You’re… an odd one.”
She arched her brow at this.
Hey, you are killing my timing!
“Is that a compliment?” she responded without missing a beat.
“It’s an observation,” he said flatly. “But—” He paused as he considered saying something, his fingers flexing at his sides again. “Be careful in there. The Academy might like anomalies, but its enemies don’t.”
Enemies, huh…
He was most probably referring to the numerous antagonists of the story, specifically the Tribe of Onyx, whose objective was to resurrect an evil god. For this goal, they sometimes even teamed up with the Chaos creatures, whose objective was to destroy everything, and who were basically at war with the whole world.
Those Onyx guys… ugh, I always found them so damn cringe…
“I’ll keep that in mind…” she trailed off, wondering if her plan of saying her ultimatum at the last minute would work now. Looking at the flow of the conversation… Honestly, she should just say it right now.
Amy made the effort to smile slightly, as if remembering something amusing. “I suppose I’ll be seeing you again soon enough. Maybe even closer too.”
Ok, this is it…
Crow paused, then tilted his head. “What do you mean?”
It’s now or never. I have to make sure my power is well established. Can’t leave anything to luck.
“There is a golden key between our paths. That’s what I mean.”
Crow’s entire body language changed the instant the words left her mouth, and he was now staring at her with the gaze of someone ready for a fight.
Scary!!
[Now you’ve done it.]
“Who sent you?” he whispered in a low and super mega duper menacing tone.
Amy felt like she was about to shit her pants, but managed to project a calm atmosphere on the outside.
I need to get the timing right.
Amy waited and waited until Crow’s patience was running out, and only when she couldn’t stall any longer did she respond to his question.
“Fate did.”
[For the Goddess, someone get me out of here.]
Without another word, Amy turned and walked away, leaving Crow there while she fought the urge to just sprint; she could practically feel his scary gaze burning into her back.
As she passed through the Academy’s ward, a slight pressure settled over her skin, like walking through static. She continued walking towards the interior of the Academy. Once she was a safe distance away, she risked a glance back toward the entrance, only to freeze mid-step.
Oh shit. Aren’t those guys part of the main cast?
Her breath hitched slightly as she recognized them. Of course they were here. They were the ones Crow had stuck with throughout the early arcs of the story.
The first one Amy noticed was the—now that she saw her in real life—extremely beautiful noble lady named Lain Arkwright. She had pale eyes and white hair, as well as an air of coldness around her, which wasn’t really that surprising, as her ability was literally freezing stuff. Only Amy, her family, and the protagonist group knew that in reality she was just a timid girl who could barely hold a conversation.
Beside her was the second girl of the group, the one who Amy believed was actually Crow’s endgame ship: Lyra, a short girl with curled auburn hair and an energetic yet cowardly demeanor. The healer of the group and one of those ‘protect me’ kinds of girls.
And lastly, Ash: a guy with tan skin, cropped blonde hair, gold eyes, and crazy muscles. He acted as the group’s de facto moral compass and was Crow’s best friend; the two had grown up together in the same orphanage.
They were speaking with Crow right now.
Not wanting to be caught staring, Amy quickly turned away and finally entered the building.
The interior of the Academy was as grand as she’d imagined. This whole place basically looked like a castle.
Amy didn’t seem to be the only one shocked by the view, as several people around her age, who also looked like they wanted to enroll and were forming a line in front of several adults who looked like examiners, were as gagged by the view as she was.
Oh, thank god she wasn’t the only one who had arrived at the last second; that would’ve been embarrassing.
Alright, now the only thing left to do was to wait and see if she had done things correctly and received superpowers.
She wouldn’t join the line yet, and instead let other people pass. If everything fell into place, the chapter would update right before the time limit.
Hopefully, with some luck, everything would be alright.
 
-————-　■　-————-
 
“Final call for inscriptions,” a woman dressed as an official announced. “The wards will seal in one minute.”
“What the—! When are the superpowers supposed to arrive…!?” Amy muttered.
[The chapter hasn’t been released yet; it will arrive with some delay.]
“You have to be joking…! What the fuck do I do?” Amy hissed at the book.
Why couldn’t things just go right for once in her life?
Time was running out, or rather it was about to run out. If she didn’t return to the line now…
Ahhhhh! Fuck it!
Amy joined the line, which was now pretty much empty except for a few students who had been rejected and were begging to be let in.
“Is anybody left?” a female examiner called loudly, just as Amy got to the front.
She stared at her from head to toe with a somewhat annoyed expression. “Cutting it rather close, aren’t you?”
“I got lost.”
The woman narrowed her eyes but said nothing. Instead, her gaze shifted to Amy’s side. “Is that an artifact?”
Amy only smiled at the question.
[You know you don’t have to keep the mysterious act here, right? I doubt the author would include this part of the story.]
Amy thought the same, but she still wanted to do it just in case. Moreover, it was kind of fun…
The woman continued to stare at the book with a curious look. Eventually she opened her mouth. “And what does this artifact do?”
Crap.
It was just as she was trying to think of something that the book beside her started shining.
[Leave it to me. I’ve been waiting for a chance to show off.]
The book soon stopped shining, and it opened to a page where Amy and the woman’s entire conversation was shown in writing.
“A recorder?” the woman said, her eyes fairly shining. “When was the last time I saw one…? Incredible. You’re extremely lucky, missy.”
“Yeah…” Amy said with a slight frown. “I’m extremely lucky…”
[Did you just hesitate…?]
“I’m sure it is.” The woman grinned and then turned once again towards Amy. “What is your name, young lady?”
“Amy Stake.”
The official dipped an ornate quill into what looked like liquid and scratched Amy’s name onto a parchment.
“Do you possess a recommendation letter, Amy?”
Amy shook her head.
“I see. So, what is your special ability?”
This was it—the moment Amy had been dreading. When was that damn chapter going to be released!
Ughh, I guess this is now or never… I really hope they don’t have a lie detector of some kind…
“Foresight.”
The official’s violet eyes widened, her quill freezing mid-stroke. “You mean to tell me you are a seer?” The woman gazed at her with undisguised suspicion, which made Amy’s fist clench. “Do you realize how incredibly weird that gift is?”
“I’m aware.”
The woman kept staring at her for a few more seconds before silently putting down her quill and standing up.
I’m so fucked…
“Follow me, please.”
Amy reluctantly followed the woman past the table where she had been scribbling a second ago, towards a room behind it.
There, she saw two people, dressed just like the woman, talking to each other.
“Masters,” the woman called. “Apparently, we have a seer among us…” she continued while pointing at Amy.
They both shifted their gazes away from the woman and towards Amy, who suddenly felt very awkward.
“A Gaspard?” asked an old silver-haired man.
“Not a Gaspard,” Amy responded. “My name is Amy Stake, and I have no relation of any kind to that noble family.”
The second examiner—a woman with braids—looked at her while squinting her eyes.
“What kind of foresight do you possess?” she suddenly asked, freezing Amy’s mind completely.
[You need to stall. The chapter is coming, trust. Just keep the answers as vague as possible.]
“My ability is a bit more unorthodox than the others, as it sees points of convergence of futures specifically, rather than usual foresight.”
“Like a crossroads seer?” the man asked.
“Similar,” Amy replied, having no idea what the fuck that was. “But not quite, since mine differs in so many little details that I cannot possibly explain them to somebody not within the same area of expertise.”
[I already said it, but damn, you really are very good at making shit up.]
“A complex ability, isn’t it?” The silver-bearded man grunted. “Convenient that you arrived right at the end and left us so little time for preparation.”
I wanna go take a nap so bad…!
Amy smiled awkwardly at the man’s words, but in reality she was sweating like crazy.
The three adults looked at each other before the silver-haired man nodded and spoke. “Since time is limited, we will start with a simple exercise of rock paper scissors, but a bit more advanced.”
[That doesn’t sound good at all.]
“I’m afraid I know what you are thinking of doing, and I would like to clarify that my ability won’t work that way properly.”
“…What do you mean?” the man asked.
“Well, as I said, it’s quite an unorthodox kind of power. So it only works on jumps that are sometimes too negligible to measure in such a simple way.”
[I have no idea what you just said, but you are doing great… kind of…]
Definitely not…
If before the examiners’ gazes had been full of distrust, now they were cold. Amy could even swear she heard the braided woman say, “one excuse after another.”
Rude…
Yeah, she might be full of shit, but it still offended her.
Just as Amy was about to continue talking to buy more time, she was interrupted.
“Then if it’s such a problematic ability, we should maybe use the Veritas Mirror,” said the woman who had accompanied her.
It was then that the atmosphere of the room suddenly became ice cold.
[Stall!]
The book’s sudden voice brought Amy’s tension to its peak. “What exactly is this mirror?” she asked while trying to sound curious rather than terrified.
Nobody seemed to have heard her as they looked at each other.
“The Veritas Mirror? You can’t be serious,” said the silver-haired man.
“That artifact should only be reserved for exceptional cases,” added the braided woman. “To use it on her…” She pointed towards Amy in a very condescending way, something which stirred a bit of anger inside her.
The examiner who had accompanied her here looked at Amy for a few seconds before turning once again to the other two. “Masters, I genuinely believe this is exactly the kind of situation where that artifact should be used. Although highly improbable, the presence of a seer from outside the Gaspard line should, in theory, be justification enough for its utilization.”
The two examiners seemed to fall into deep contemplation at the woman’s words, but soon they nodded—a bit hesitantly, but they nodded nonetheless.
“Excuse me,” Amy called, this time a bit more strongly than before, making sure all eyes returned to her. “Is such an artifact really necess—”
“You’ve already refused our standard test,” the braided woman said, cutting her off. “Will you refuse this one too?”
“Or maybe you could simply leave,” the silver-bearded man said. “The inscription period is already over.”
Amy felt sweat beading at her temples as the silver-bearded man walked away towards a room and moments later brought a tall object covered by a dark velvet cloth into the corner of the room. The official with the silver-embroidered sleeves moved to unveil it.
[This is cutting it really close,] the book whispered, sounding almost nervous for the first time.
“Wait,” Amy said with a trembling voice despite her efforts.
The examiners looked at her with various degrees of annoyance, skepticism, and boredom.
“Now what?” the braided woman asked.
“I just wanted to say that my ability sometimes has unexpected results which can, or actually may, cause damage to whatever equipment it is being used on.”
The woman scoffed at her words and looked at her with an amused gaze. “Well, isn’t that inconvenient.”
“Indeed,” Amy rapidly agreed with a nod. “So instead of whatever you are—”
“The Veritas Mirror is heavily protected against any sort of magic deviation or ability impulses. So you have nothing to worry about. Now, should we continue?”
“Listen, girl.” The braided woman suddenly spoke. “This artifact is quite expensive to use. If you truly don’t have clairvoyance, just say it right now. You are risking a very expensive fine…”
“…” Amy only nodded in silence.
The woman looked at her for a few more seconds before sighing, then gesturing for her to come forward.
“Put your hand on its surface,” the silver-bearded man said.
This was it… She could say bye to her hopes of getting back home.
Maybe if she had done things differently… maybe if the Goddess hadn’t been such a petty loser…
Life truly sucks, does it not…?
Amy extended her hand toward the reflective surface of the mirror. Her hand got closer and closer and closer and soon was almost—no, it was now fully touching it… lamentably…
Just like she and everyone had expected, nothing happened.
She heard a chorus of groans and sighs beside her.
Amy just ignored them and kept staring at the mirror with a tired expression.
So much effort for nothing…
It was as she kept thinking this that she noticed a small light shining in her reflection’s eye.
[Wait, I think…]
Amy felt her vision change and felt almost as if she were out of her body. At some point, she was even floating in nothing but a dark space.
Weirdly enough, she did not feel agitated or scared; instead, all she felt was—
It was at that exact moment that Amy’s vision changed from dark to what looked like her old room, but cleaned up.
Amy looked left and right, confused, until her gaze fell onto the computer screen; there she saw various videos playing in a loop.
She saw Crow standing in a courtyard with Bloodedge in his hand; she saw multiple dark figures resembling blood mimics; she saw a golden key inside a box; she saw herself and the protagonist group in some kind of snowy landscape; and finally she saw Abaddon—Crow’s father—as he smiled at them with a sad expression while holding a sword.
Then, as if that hadn’t been enough, she saw how a file of the videos playing appeared on the screen, while a cursor moved on the screen alone and dragged it towards the trash, eliminating the videos forever.
What the fuckkkkkkkkkk!!!!!!??????
Amy suddenly came back to the real world, feeling slightly dizzy and with her head completely empty.
That shit was freaky as fuck, I almost had a heart attack!
“Will that be enough…?” she said softly. Not even she could comprehend how she had managed to keep her composure.
Every single one of the three adults, who had previously been looking at her with various degrees of doubt, now looked utterly shocked.
One by one, they woke up from their trance and, while keeping Amy in their gaze, began whispering to each other.
Amy just waited patiently while calming herself down. So many damn emotions just to get into the damn Academy. How was she going to survive this world?
“Girl,” the silver-bearded man called. “From now on, we may refer to you as Miss Stake, student of the Arcanum Academy and member of Class S. Congratulations.”
Amy only nodded without much enthusiasm.
Finally, it was over…
[I thought you were done for.]
I thought I was done for too…
The examiners once again began talking among themselves, passing papers and doing other annoying stuff.
Amy quickly lost interest and turned her gaze to the book. “Those readers and that damn Goddess better be enjoying the absolute shit out of the chapter, because I feel like my lifespan just got shortened…” she muttered.
[If you’re curious about the chapter and reader reactions, I can access the internet for you.]
Uh…?
[Surprised? How come? Wasn’t it obvious I have access to the internet? How else would I know when the next chapter updates?]
Before Amy could fully process the book’s words, the braided woman cleared her throat, earning her attention.
“Miss Stake, before anything, I would like to ask you to accompany me; there are many administrative procedures that require our attention.”
Amy straightened and nodded.
“Good, follow me then,” the woman said. “We’ll complete your registration. Then I’ll give you all the basic equipment for your academic year, as well as show you your room.”
Amy nodded while side-eying the book that floated beside her; she hadn’t forgotten about its previous words. Something the book seemed to notice somehow, as it spoke:
[We’ll talk about the chapter another day; for now, just try not to break a leg or something.]
“No promises…” Amy responded dryly.