Memoirs of Your Local Small-time Villainess

The morning after the Providing Ceremony, Scarlett sat in the dining hall along with the others, eating breakfast. Even Evelyne was here today, the young woman seeming to be a bit more refreshed today than the day before.

"—and in the end I gathered quite the crowd," Rosa said, being in the middle of a conversation with Allyssa at the edge of the table. "I think even your aloof little friend here enjoyed himself."

"Wait, what? He actually stayed with you all the time?" Allyssa turned to stare at Shin, who was quietly eating his food. "I was sure he would just end up wasting away his time looking at books."

Rosa grinned. "I had a little chit-chat with him. We both came to the agreement that it would be oh-so dull if one didn't use such a beautiful day to do something more exciting. And it just so happens that exciting is my middle name. Right after breathtaking."

"You seem to remember that conversation differently from me," Shin said with an indifferent voice as he bit into a piece of bread.

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean," Rosa said, then turned her head to Scarlett. "Anyhow, after all that, we took the chance to also take a gander at the old Providing Ceremony. Can't say I've ever been a fan of listening to those priests drone on and on about how much money rich people have for hours—they couldn't put on a good show if it jumped up in front of them and flashed them its bottom—but that ending certainly was something. Our little resident baroness over here certainly knows how to make things interesting."

Scarlett glanced momentarily at the woman, but soon returned her attention to her own plate of food. "I suppose I cannot argue with you on that."

"Do you mind if I ask where you found a relic like that?" Shin asked, seeming interested. "In the last three centuries, only five of the other Chalices of Canon have been uncovered. Even though they're sacred treasures to the Followers, they're clearly not something easy to find."

Scarlett saw Evelyne's eyes turn to her at the question. Evelyne had doubted her at first, when she told her she knew where to find the chalice. But being able to find it so quickly probably lent a lot to making Evelyne more convinced of everything else she had told her.

"What's so hard about it?" Fynn suddenly asked. "You could sense it from miles away. And it wasn't particularly well hidden."

Everybody's attention turned to him.

"Wait...that's what you went away to do back then?" Allyssa exclaimed.

Scarlett held back a sigh. "Fynn. I believe we spoke briefly regarding speaking openly about matters such as these. While it is not a true issue in this particular circumstance, you should still be careful of what you say."

He moved his head back and forth as he seemed to realize everyone was looking at him. "Oh, r-right. I forgot about that. I thought you only meant that other stuff..."

She'd asked him to be more careful when it came to sharing things from his past and his abilities, and to ignore when she said things to others that he thought were lies. She knew he was a bit unaccustomed to things like that, though, so she had kind of been expecting him to not always remember it. But he also didn't know that much. At least not to the point where it was too much of a risk to let the others present know of it.

"I did not. I hope you will endeavor to be more careful of these things in the future, so long as you continue to be under my employ," she said. "It would also be good for you to keep in mind that not every person can sense these things the same way that you are capable of. To most, those ruins would have simply appeared as ordinary stone."

He knitted his forehead, almost as if he didn't quite believe her. Of course, he should be able to tell she was speaking the truth.

A knock sounded out from the dining hall door, and soon a female servant entered carrying what looked like a newspaper in her hands.

Scarlett glanced at Shin, before focusing her eyes on that newspaper. Shin would have to be content with not getting a full answer to his question for now, it seemed.

The servant walked over to Evelyne, who thanked the woman as she received the paper. Scarlett watched as Evelyne turned away from the conversation that had been ongoing and looked down at the paper, then froze.

She looked up at Scarlett with wide eyes.

Scarlett returned a small nod. She had told Evelyne that something big would happen in the empire soon.

"This can't be..." Evelyne mumbled as she read over the page in her hands. Everybody's attention turned to her.

"What? Does the Chronicle say anything special this week?" Allyssa asked.

Evelyne read on with a serious expression, then she looked up and handed the paper to Allyssa, peeking quite obviously at Scarlett.

"What?!" Allyssa cried out.

Shin frowned and leaned closer to her. "What is it?"

"The Tribe of Sin has attacked over a dozen different settlements all across the empire," Allyssa said, her voice trembling slightly. "They say some of the towns and villages have been completely demolished, and that they don't know how many people have died at the moment."

[Main questline has begun: Rising action]
{Conflicts are brewing as powerful factions have started moving on the continent of Tanrelia. The Tribute of Dominion stands as the focal point of these clashing designs, resting in the heart of the ruins of Beld Thylelion}
[Objective: Enter the ruins of Beld Thylelion before all others]
[Reward: Additional Skills Menu privileges]
[Failure: Demise]

Scarlett blinked as she stared at the wall of text that suddenly appeared in the air before her.

Was this a...quest? The system was actually giving her a real quest?

She had already been in this world for this long, but it hadn't decided to be more active until now?

It did align somewhat with when the main questline started in the game, but...

This wasn't the same main questline from the game. Like many of the smaller hidden quests she had finished previously, this was something completely different.

Her eyes read through the words in front of her, over and over again, as she digested what this meant.

In 'Chronicle of Realms', Beld Thylelion were ancient Zuverian ruins that played a major part in the main storyline. They housed several valuable artifacts, including the Tribute of Dominion: a MacGuffin-esque relic that the Hallowed Cabal wanted to get their hands on to advance their plans, and that many of the other factions wanted to either stop the Cabal from getting or acquire for themselves.

In the game, Beld Thylelion only opened up at the mid-point of the storyline. Time-wise, this was probably about ten or so months into the game, as there were several time skips during the later sections.

At this point, the player would often be around level fifty, so while they were far from being among the strongest, they were at least decently powerful.

The problem was that, when Beld Thylelion opened up, everybody that was aware of it came running. That meant the Hallowed Cabal, Tribe of Sin, Shields Guild, Rising Isle mages, Mage Towers, and more. And as far as Scarlett knew, there were no hidden entrances or anything like it that you could use to get there earlier.

Even though you always found the Tribute of Dominion first as the player, that was only because the game was set up so that the player would get there first. She couldn't be certain that, if she were to try and replicate that scenario in this world, it would play out the same. And considering all of the different powerful people that were present at that point, even being near the ruins when they opened up was a real risk.

Of course, the quest just wanted her to enter the ruins before others. Nothing more. But apparently, failing that led to 'demise'. What that meant, she wasn't completely sure about. It could mean that the system itself would kill her. Or maybe that this world would somehow be destroyed, if that was something that was within this system's powers.

But it could also refer to the consequences of her not reaching Beld Thylelion first. If, for example, her not getting there first means that the Hallowed Cabal arrived first, then the ultimate consequence of that would probably also be 'demise', as it'd mean they would get the Tribute of Dominion first. Although that didn't really fit with the whole 'enter before the others' part.

But honestly, while all of that was certainly on her mind, it wasn't what she had first thought about when seeing this. She wasn't thinking about how dangerous this quest sounded, but rather about how it was decided that this was the quest she should get at this point.

It was just too coincidental.

After all, she had already started putting plans into motion that would ensure she didn't have to care about who could enter the ruins first when they opened. If she succeeded, there was no question about whether she would be able to finish this quest or not. This had been one of the earliest goals she had started planning for when she arrived here, because she knew it was vital that the Cabal and others didn't get the Tribute of Dominion while she was still living in this world.

Was this just providence? The opening of Beld Thylelion was a pretty major event in the game. It could just be a coincidence that the main quest just so happened to fit her plans so well.

But she felt like she'd had a lot of such coincidences in this world. And just from reading the quest, it was more than clear that something had created it specifically for someone in her situation, just like many of the other quests she'd completed. There was a clear intelligence behind it.

And in the end, this was the world of a video game. Which of those came first—the game or this world—or how they related to each other weren't questions she knew the answer to. But it was clear that things like this didn't just happen randomly, so coincidences like these were also suspect.

Unfortunately, like usual, she didn't have anything real to go on in order to draw any conclusions. All she could do was come up with theories, none of which would help her solve these questions.

But this did help her with reaffirming her current goal, as well as providing some hope that she would be able to decipher what this system was and who was behind it sometime in the future.

Her eyes lingered on the reward section of the quest.

That also looked pretty interesting.

[Skills Menu:
Upgrades
[Greater Pyromancy] (10 points)
[Superior Pyrokinesis] (25 points)
[Hydromancy] (5 points)
[Superior Hydrokinesis] (25 points)
[Greater Mana Control] (10 points)
New skills
[LOCKED]]

If she were to guess, the 'additional skills menu privileges' meant that the New skills section would be unlocked. Which might mean that she could finally unlock some new skills other than those she had started with.

Considering some of the skills that had existed in the game, this was a very appealing prize. And as her only other choice was apparently 'demise', she was going to have to clear this quest no matter what.

In a way, she felt like this quest took away some of the burdens she'd had on her shoulders. She had felt a little bit uncertain about implementing some parts of the plans she had when it came to getting into Beld Thylelion, but now she didn't have much choice.

"—arlett?"

She turned away from the wall of text in front of her as Evelyne said her name. She now realized that everybody was looking at her.

"Yes, what is it?" she asked, trying to act normal.

"You weren't saying anything."

"...It was quite shocking news," she said, briefly looking at the wall of text before her and focusing on it so that it disappeared. "I was simply processing the ramifications this might have."

She would have to wait and see what further things she would learn about this system in the future, but for now, she would have to focus on the present.