Chapter 103: The Hero's Sword is Misbehaving Again

The March Royal School of Magic was quite some distance outside Holl City. So, even though Alice and Luna had set off for the magic academy in the morning, it was already noon when they reached it.

As a well-known academy for nobles, the March Royal School of Magic occupied a huge plot of land almost the size of a town, and it held facilities to teach students from grade school to university.

It made sense when Alice thought about it. Since noble families were sending their children here to have them "plated in gold," bribes in the name of sponsorship would be involved. Meanwhile, since the academy had received so much funding, it was only natural that the academy would become such a luxurious place.

Of course, the March Royal School of Magic didn't just look exquisite on the surface. The academy's teaching faculty and research results were also the best in the Gryffin Kingdom. Even the previous generation's Hero had come here to study. It was also why despite being a school for nobility, countless ordinary students still wished to join the academy.

Taking advantage of this renown, the March Royal School of Magic would charge exorbitant fees from nobles and offer scholarships to excellent students, creating a positive cycle that ensured the academy with a constant influx of both funding and talent.

"It sure looks imposing."

When Alice got out of the car, the first thing that entered her sight was the March Royal School of Magic's huge and gorgeous school gate. The next thing she noticed was the fence extending from the gate and covering the entire town-sized campus. Every iron bar used to form this fence had magic patterns engraved on them, and these magic patterns functioned to prevent those with malicious intent from harming the academy's students.

There was also a huge device that functioned like a detector hovering above the academy entrance, scanning the direction of the gate. Anyone who entered the academy without a student ID or entrance pass would get caught immediately.

At first glance, anyone who arrived in front of the March Royal School of Magic's entrance would get the feeling that the magic academy was extremely wealthy. After all, it wasn't cheap to engrave iron bars with defensive magic patterns. Magic patterns that come with offensive capabilities were even more expensive. Yet, the March Academy[1] engraved every iron bar surrounding the massive school campus with such magic patterns. The expenditure involved was far beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

"Many noble students are attending the academy, after all. Without these security measures in place, the consequences would be dire if someone plotted an attack against the academy."

After parking the car, Luna also stepped down from the driver's seat. Since she had already left the hospital, she had naturally changed into a brand new maid outfit again, looking the same as when Alice first met her. Unlike when they first met, though, Luna was now Alice's maid.

"The entrance is surprisingly deserted. If it was in the past, there should be many noble children arriving at the academy right about now," Luna commented as she looked around the entrance.

"That's because they are already inside waiting for me," Alice said, massaging her temples. Just thinking about what awaited her gave her a headache.

Originally, Alice had planned to start researching taboos as soon as she arrived at the academy. However, when she considered that many noble students were most likely going to annoy her for some time, she felt that she might have to delay her plans. Only after getting rid of those nobles could she do her things with peace of mind.

Fortunately, because of the lack of people at the academy's entrance, Alice's arrival did not cause an uproar.

Alice's new identity was currently the most trending topic on the internet. Not only was she the Gryffin Kingdom's princess, but she even had an incredibly cute appearance befitting of that identity. If she chose to become an idol instead of a Hero, she would probably be swimming in money in no time.

Alice even found that some people had started writing romance novels involving the Hero and the princess when browsing the internet. It was an incredibly strange experience seeing these novels…

"We should report to the dean's office first before anyone notices you," Luna said as she helped Alice with her luggage. "If someone notices that you've arrived, it will most definitely lead to a huge uproar… Those nobles have never managed to find a good way to get in His Majesty's favor and acquire political information from him. Your appearance is like a breakthrough for them, so those nobles will definitely flock to you like sharks that have smelled blood."

"Okay, let's go and report in to the dean, then."

Alice nodded in agreement. Through her adventures on the internet these past two days, she knew how big of a commotion she had caused in the kingdom. So, she dared not spend too much time standing out in the open and quickly followed Luna to the school gate.

Though, curiously enough, Alice hadn't seen Chris again after Catherine had arranged her fake identity as Chris's illegitimate daughter for her. She couldn't help but wonder what kind of mood Chris was currently in.

While spitefully guessing Chris's mental state, Alice quickly walked past the school gate. Alice's student ID and Luna's admission pass were engraved with magic patterns containing a specific type of mana. So, the two of them successfully walked past the detection device suspended above the school gate.

Much like outside the gate, the area beyond the gate was also void of people. It was noon, so everyone was either having lunch or resting somewhere. Thus, the huge plaza Alice arrived in after walking past the gate looked a little bleak.

When Luna was about to continue leading the way, Alice suddenly stopped, extended a hand into her pocket, and pulled out her phone.

"Huh?"

Alice was stunned when she looked at her phone. However, it wasn't because something had changed with her phone. On the contrary, it was because her phone was motionless that she was surprised.

The reason why Alice had stopped walking was because she felt something on her body vibrating. She had initially thought it was her phone, but that didn't seem to be the case after seeing no incoming calls or texts. There were no app notifications, either. The phone was in the same state as when she last checked it before getting out of the car.

Moreover, even after taking out her phone, Alice could still feel something vibrating on her body. After focusing more on sensing the vibrations, she discovered that the vibrations came from the small pouch tied to her waist.

Besides the three pairs of panties Alice had swiped from the Loli Goddess, the only other thing the pouch stored was the weapon storage holding the Hero's Sword.

Thinking up to this point, Alice quickly untied the pouch from her waist and opened it. Then, she stretched her hand into the pouch and retrieved the small weapon storage. —Sure enough, the vibrations originated from the weapon storage. Even after Alice took it out, the small wooden box continued vibrating incessantly in her hand like a phone set to vibrate.

However, the weapon storage itself was merely a cheap storage unit. Apart from having a tiny bit of spatial magic, nothing else was special about it. The mana it carried was so weak that it couldn't vibrate even if a mana surge happened nearby.

So, the vibrations shouldn't come from the weapon storage itself but the item stored inside it instead.

Alice frowned when she realized this point. Then, after looking around and making sure that nobody was around, she opened the weapon storage. Immediately afterward, the Hero's Sword radiating golden light flew out from the storage box and hovered in front of Alice.

…

TL Notes:

[1]I will be using "March Academy" to refer to the "March Royal School of Magic" outside of official settings since "March Royal School of Magic" is a mouthful.