The Protagonist’s Party is Too Diligent – 43
EP.43 The Early Bird (1)
…Alice had been reading my expressions more frequently these days.
No, it wasn’t just that. It had become a daily routine for her to read my face. In fact, it wasn’t all that long ago when she started to seriously decipher my expressions. Back when Alice viewed me as a sort of “rival,” she had little interest in reading my face. To be exact, she wasn’t interested in that at all. Even though she had some degree of interest in me, she’d never cared much about what I did personally.
But at some point, she started becoming more familiar with me on a personal level, and now, she had gotten to the point where she could read my expressions with ease.
If I had to pinpoint when exactly that change happened…
It must have been since that trilateral conference.
Before then, I had started to feel like we were growing closer. It made sense, in a way. No matter what else was true, I was the same age as Alice, and I was the only peer in the imperial palace that she could casually speak with. There were maids around Alice’s age, but they were still maids. To be a maid in the imperial palace, one had to at least come from a noble family of count rank or higher. These girls were acutely aware of the social distance between themselves and the princess, so becoming friends with her was out of the question. Alice hadn’t made much effort to act friendly with them either.
And most importantly, I had always been diplomatic towards Alice.
She was the main heroine of the game, after all. Having spent hours staring at her face—well, technically a polygonal version of it—while playing the game, I’d developed a sense of familiarity with her. That familiarity often bled through in the way I interacted with her.
Plus, I couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for her.
Claire, the person Alice had felt inferior to, was no longer around, but I had appeared to take her place. Though I didn’t tease Alice as actively as Claire did, my abilities were on par with hers. In fact, considering how the Emperor and the people around him viewed me, Alice might have seen me as a superior version of Claire. If I had mocked or looked down on Alice as well, her self-esteem might have crumbled completely.
Whether I was truly a mature person or not wasn’t important—I had no intention of tormenting a girl more than ten years younger than me. I’d tried to boost Alice’s confidence in various ways, even giving her space when needed. So, if Alice still felt distant from me, I would have been pretty hurt.
“Did you not sleep well last night?”
Alice asked, her expression full of concern.
“…”
How did she manage to read my expression so well? Especially when I’d made a conscious effort to ensure my face didn’t reveal anything before leaving the room this morning. I’d checked myself in the mirror, carefully making sure I didn’t look tired or worn out.
My neutral expression had been crafted meticulously. Not just a simple “blank face,” but a look I had refined over time, correcting it whenever someone pointed out anything noticeable. It was a perfected blankness, so much so that even I struggled to read my own face at times.
How did she know? No matter how much I thought about it, it didn’t make sense.
“Sylvia?”
Alice’s concerned voice pulled me from my thoughts. I debated how to respond. After all, she wasn’t wrong.
I had woken up at 4 a.m. today.
*
At my core, I was a full-blown otaku.
In the past, I tried hard to deny it. But no matter how much effort I put into avoiding my tendencies, my hobbies always reverted to their original state. If I stopped watching Japanese anime and manga, I’d switch to Japanese or American dramas. When I quit collecting figurines, I’d move on to assembling plastic model kits. And when I quit otaku games, I found myself diving into Western games instead.
In the end, it all came full circle. I’d start assembling military models, then Gundam, followed by cute girl figures, and ultimately return to collecting action figures and statues of anime characters. It was the same with movies. I’d buy a Blu-ray of a regular film, only to find myself purchasing anime movie Blu-rays, eventually leading me to buy series and OVA Blu-rays.
After repeating this cycle for about ten years from my late teens, I decided to accept my true nature by the time I turned thirty.
Honestly, I wasn’t even trying to escape for seven of those ten years. I was still playing Chronicles of Aetherna the whole time, so any attempt to break free wasn’t a serious one to begin with.
As a die-hard otaku, I also devoured light novels and web novels endlessly.
By now, I knew almost all the typical things that happen in stories about protagonists being reincarnated into another world.
There’s one cliche that came to mind—a character was reincarnated, but instead of becoming the protagonist, they ended up as a supporting character. Then, they swoop in to claim the protagonist’s destined treasures or fortuitous encounters, eventually becoming stronger and more important than the main character.
I didn’t really have any plans to do that.
I had affection for all the characters—Leo, Claire, Alice, Charlotte, even Mia Crowfield, and the others who hadn’t yet joined the main group. I wanted them all to have their shining moments.
My only real goal was to ensure that none of the party members ended up dead. That’s all.
The problem was—
“…So, you’re telling me the request has already been completed?”
“Ah, y-yes, Your Highness. I sincerely apologize…”
Well, it was not really your fault.
As the trembling officer stood before me, I turned my head to glance at the clock. The large, weight-driven, spring-powered clock showed it was 6 a.m.
Right. Six in the morning.
“As far as I’m aware, the working hours begin at 6 a.m.”
That was correct. The academy staff typically began their shifts at six in the morning.
Of course, not all staff started at the same time. From what I had heard, there was a separate early morning shift for some employees.
Then, there were roles like the dormitory guards, who worked through the night.
And today was Sunday. Yesterday and today were both rest days. Naturally, the students didn’t have any classes. While there were no formal lessons, some students still chose to participate in volunteer activities.
In this world, there are no common part-time jobs like the Adventurer’s Guild, which often appears in fantasy novels. The Empire was fundamentally a centralized nation ruled by an Emperor, and other kingdoms were similar. While there were a few noble republics, even they didn’t entrust law and order to organizations like an Adventurer’s Guild.
This era was the dawn of the concept of ‘nations.’ The argument Alice and Charlotte had after class on Friday reflected how such ideas were starting to influence young minds. And, of course, the best way to demonstrate the superiority of a nation was to show how good the living conditions were for the people. Public safety was a crucial part of that.
…Though, from my perspective as an orphan, the security wasn’t all that impressive. But for the middle class and above, it was probably a decent place to live, so I didn’t dwell on it.
Anyway, that’s why there were no Adventurer’s Guild. However, they couldn’t just remove the RPG staple of ‘quests’ entirely, so this world had its own version—the ‘volunteer service.’
The students admitted to the academy were strong, but the Empire’s security was still unstable in some areas. Not only in the nearby back alleys, but also on the roads between cities, there have been cases of human and material damages caused by beasts.
The volunteer service was meant to prevent and resolve such issues. But since it would be a bit much to offer no rewards at all, they’d come up with a system where people could offer gifts out of ‘goodwill’ in exchange for the services.
I had already received such a reward from Jennifer before. If it was a reward given directly by someone, I could expect it to end up in my hands more reliably.
“Ah, well…”
But then—
“I usually arrive around 5:30 to prepare for work. However…”
Here it comes.
“Well, there were some students already waiting by the door before that. I thought it was admirable…”
“…”
So, basically, at a place that officially started work at 6 a.m., these students had finished their quest early, parked themselves at the front, and then—
With impressive dedication, they caught the attention of the receptionist, who had arrived 30 minutes early to prepare for work, and received their reward before anyone else could.
Slowly, I raised my hand and pressed my fingers against the bridge of my nose.
It had been hard enough for me to get up at six, but these insane students had already completed their task and were waiting even earlier.
“Could you tell me the names of those students?”
At my question, the staff member hurriedly rummaged through the stack of documents on the desk.
Technically, revealing a student’s personal information just because someone asked wasn’t something a staff member should do. However, when the ‘Princess’ was standing in front of you with an unmistakably irritated expression, refusing her request wasn’t easy.
“Let’s see… Leo Grace and Claire Grace.”
“…”
Of course, it was them.
I took a deep breath and muttered quietly.
“…Again.”
“Excuse me?”
“I said again!”
*
Six in the morning.
Yes, six in the morning.
Which meant they had already finished their task and were waiting there even earlier. According to the staff, they arrived 30 minutes before, so they must have completed their task well before 5:30 a.m.
…Okay, to be fair, the official start time for the volunteer work was exactly 6 a.m. The person who posted the quest must have done so the previous evening, as part of their closing duties. They likely posted the requests just before finishing for the day.
The requests were complaints from residents and government agencies, selected to be manageable for students. So, if someone had tried to bend the rules, they could have started working on it from the night before.
But I didn’t think Leo and Claire would have tried to cut corners like that. After all, “Fair and Square” was the motto of the Grace family.
So, they must have started working as soon as the new day began.
Besides, no one in their right mind would stay up all night just to get ahead on a task like this. It was still early in the story. A side quest this early wouldn’t have a significant impact on the main storyline.
That’s why I decided to aim for 5 a.m.
The night before, I set my alarm for 4:30 a.m., planning to wake up early, get ready, and head out. I didn’t want to show up looking like a mess, half-asleep—it would ruin my image.
And then I failed to wake up.
I barely managed to wake up at 4:50 a.m. Grateful that I kept my hair short and not long, I rushed through getting ready, then bolted out of the dormitory and sprinted at full speed.
Only to realize something crucial.
It would take at least two hours to reach the quest location on foot.
In a game, you can just skip the travel time between zones, and time didn’t pass until you trigger the event. But reality was different.
The quest location was outside the capital, in a rural area, where they needed help dealing with troublesome beasts.
And, of course, the capital was absurdly large.
So, Leo and Claire must have gotten up even earlier, taken a carriage, and headed out to complete the quest.
…But why?