Chapter 79: Eh? No Way
“Lady Elidranthia. I have a private message for you. We have detected an underground insurgency. They are likely to attack you. Please stay alert.”
A man in military uniform approached her just as she was out with Alicia.
Judging from his uniform, Eli surmised that he came from Bron Dukedom, but she couldn’t be sure. Military uniforms were cheap. They could be made anywhere. Some crestless ones were even sold as fashion items and worn by non-military noble heirs.
But before Eli could question him further, he was gone.
“That was weird.” Alicia frowned as she watched the man walk away and disappear into the crowd. Minding her own business, she went back to the cake full of sugar in front of her.
“Any ideas, Alicia? Is this event in the novel?”
“Nope. I don’t recall a coup ever happening in the novel.”
“Your knowledge has been subpar lately, Alicia. I thought you would be my most trusted confidante. I thought your knowledge would save me.” Eli sighed. The worst part was that Alicia’s predictions sometimes came true in a weird way. “Now that we have time, could you tell me everything about the book? Everything you can remember.”
Even when Eli came up with a method to interfere with fate, the predictions still came true, such as her engagement to Ludwin. She had already half given up on interfering with fate.
“I don’t have my phone with me. I don’t remember the entire story. And honestly, almost everything has gone awry.” Alicia then started to recall the events of the NovelPhoenix.
“Let’s begin. The starting events of the NovelPhoenix were similar. The difference was that I was reincarnated as Alicia. Alicia was a side character in the novel and she was not a reincarnator. The book’s protagonist was Sana, a girl who died from illness. She reincarnated as Elidranthia Shadowstep. In the web novel, Eli was granted a blessing from the Goddess of Death.”
“Oh? What blessing did she get?” Eli asked.
“It was vampiric powers. She gained power the more she sucked the blood of her dead enemies.” Alicia didn’t want Eli to start murdering people and animals, so she lied.
“Really? That’s quite cool!”
“Ahem. There are side effects. Please don’t worship the goddess of death. She is evil. Next is the magic measurement test. I had Fire affinity, and you had Darkness.”
“Eh? We didn’t have triple affinities in the book?”
“Nope. I was only supposed to have Rank 6 Fire affinity.”
“I see. Then, what about your father? Does the event with the bandit happen?”
“My father died in the book. This happened after that bandit tried to kidnap both of us.”
“You know the events of the book, but the Alicia in the novel didn’t, right?”
“Ah, Eli was the one who approached Alicia in the book. She was the one who wanted to befriend Alicia.”
Eli nodded. So, Eli in the novel had already been a good leader, trying to keep talent from leaving her territory. She then prompted Alicia to continue.
“What happened after that?”
“We came to the school, and Eli was having a good time there with her friends. Ah, in the book, I don’t recall there being separate mage, scholar, and noble courses. But there were mages there. Ah, maybe there were lessons for mages, but they definitely weren’t separated like this.” Alicia’s two brain cells fought hard to recall the details of the novel. She had forgotten about the knight course in the novel.
“Things were already different, huh? Then?”
“Several filler arcs, such as your brother’s marriage and so on. But the most important thing was that Eli joined the Reapers.”
“I did? Why?”
“Well, the Reapers were like an underground vigilante group. No, that’s not quite right. An underground intelligence organization? Like CIA or FBI or something. Anyway, they weren’t as bad as this kingdom portrays them. So, Eli spent several dozen chapters taking orders from them.”
“Hmm... I should have given them a chance when they contacted us,” Eli regretted being hostile to the reaper. “So, they were good guys?”
“Not really. In the book, they were quite fanatical. They could kill children as long as money was involved,” Alicia said.
“Ah. You said they were fine and morally gray! How could you say that after telling me they kill children?”
“Well, I mean, they were children of corrupt officials and probably rebels.” Alicia turned away. The gray morality in the NovelPhoenix was probably what made it more famous than this one.
“I see.”
“Hmm… There has been no news about the attack on Shadowstep, even though there should have been. That was one major event before Eli was invited to the capital and snuck a Reaper inside to prevent foreign spies from slipping into the castle.”
“Such events happened?” Eli asked.
“Yeah. They were all supposed to happen before Claire arrived.”
“Then, how does the book go? Especially with Claire? Did yesterday’s event happen in the book?”
“Hmm… Yes. Sort of… It shouldn’t have been that intense, though. Or maybe it was?” Alicia said, tilting her head. If it were not for her beautiful looks, she would be called stupid. Stupid and beautiful was a deadly combination. That was why she was tolerated in noble society.
“What was supposed to happen?”
“Eli had a meeting with Claire. Then they became allies.”
“Huh? It was that easy?” Eli looked at Alicia agape. She then wondered whether Claire was actually the good guy. Alicia was oversimplifying things, omitting how many times Eli had been tasked by the Reapers to kill Claire and how Claire apparently hated her.
“Was it that easy?”
“Ah. Claire was fighting a demonic invasion from an island in the north in the novel. That’s why she was quick to forge an alliance with Eli, who had received the gift of vampirism. She could even shrug off fatal wounds.”
“So?”
“The novel ended with Eli single-handedly fending off the entire demon horde by raising undead and vampires,” Alicia said.
“...” Eli blinked, then nodded. “So it was that kind of novel, huh?”
She had expected a more sophisticated novel, but it turned out to be just a power fantasy. Well, readers wanted to become powerful, of course. They wanted to matter to the world. How could they do that if not by saving the world?
Being a normal hero wouldn’t suffice anymore. Eli didn’t have any problems with killing criminals. She might even enjoy it. But nowadays, people’s sentiments had grown strange. Some said that criminals should be given a second chance, that punishments were merely revenge, or worse, that criminals should be given leniency. They argued that people should discover why criminals committed crimes instead of punishing them.
Deep down, Eli realized she was only jealous. If there was anyone who needed a second chance, it was her. Why can’t she get one? She had blood on her hands from a very tender age. She had killed people. Not by her choice.
Yet, she was never given such a chance. In the end, she died a dog’s death, killed by her own boss and discarded. She never received a normal life, love from her parents, or affection from those around her. Only Goddess Repeara saw her as a human being. Only she had given her this second chance, and Eli didn’t want to squander it.
“So, I assume we are now at the Claire event? Will there be a demonic army coming?”
“I don’t know. Claire didn’t seem to hate us or be in a rush. I am not sure what her goal is now. I have been asking around campus. She had some weird contacts, but there hasn’t been a peep about a demonic army or cultists. Everything seemed to be about independence and civil war.”
“Eh? That’s serious. We can’t have a coup now. What about our territory?” Eli was shocked. She realized she had been blind. She had paid too much attention to Ludwin and didn’t know how the masses had reacted.
It was on purpose, of course. The talk about insurgency stopped at the peasants. No nobles heard about it. But since Alicia was technically a peasant, her scholar friends talked about it in passing.
“Our territory is at the very edge of the kingdom. Even if there is a coup, as long as we can flee, we will be safe,” Alicia said calmly.
“Why didn’t you tell me? We could at least try to prevent it!” Eli almost raised her voice. She had almost praised Alicia for the information, yet all of that changed into frustration.
“Erm… There is no proof. Besides, there is no chance they will succeed. Most scholars agree that it is a pipe dream if there are no mages supporting them.” Alicia turned her eyes away. That was just an excuse. She simply didn’t want Eli to kill people. She was overprotective. She would rather see a city or two burn than allow Eli to fail a mission from Goddess Sistielle.
Alicia had been a lackluster person in her previous life. A mediocre college student, destined maybe to flip burgers or being a ddishwasher for the rest of her life. Her ideas were often rejected. She had died in the most ridiculous way, often becoming a laughingstock. Yet, Goddess Sistielle took her seriously. She even accepted Alicia’s idea of not killing Elidranthia.
Alicia wanted to prove that she was not a burden. Not a loser. She had been given cheat skills like these. She could wield a sword, and she had been given magic. There was no reason she would fail to protect Elidranthia.
How could she betray her own words after all the power and cheats the goddess had given her? She wanted to make a difference. She wanted that satisfaction.
“Alright. That’s it. Let’s find these traitors and detain them. I will call the guards.”
“Eh? Even though they haven’t done anything?”
“They are dangerous. You know this is just the beginning. They will spread, and unrest will follow. What if their influence reaches Shadowstep?” Eli said.
“As I said, most scholars think the call for independence will fail without mage support. Besides, during the last tea party, we gained Slane’s support, right? If a coup comes, then it comes. I hate Duke Luca. He was also evil in the book.”
“Ugh…” Eli nursed her head in frustration.
Then, a loud explosion rang out in the town hall. She turned her eyes toward the source of the explosion. The fountain had been destroyed!
The coup had started!