"Show me my progress."

[Prologue - Completed - 40% Clear Rate]

[Act 1 - In Progress]

Events - Pivotal Major Minor Secret Pending - 1 4 6 2 Completed - 0 0 1 0

"Start a Query. Explanation of event categories."

[Query Accepted. Event Categories are separated into four levels—Pivotal, Major, Minor, and Secret. Participating in an event increases chapter completion. The rate of success is determined by calculating variables. Two Queries Remaining.]

"I was hoping for more. Query: What calculating variables?"

[Query Denied. Two Queries Remaining.]

Lecil chewed on a nail. How was she supposed to pass an event if she didn't know the parameters? Typical shitty game mechanics. Winning was subjectively based on how well she handled herself. Supposedly, that is what the free route was all about. Weighing the free route against the time she was stuck eating moldy bread off the floor and choosing between dialogue prompts ended up being more evenly scaled than expected.

Tilting her head, she pondered more. The dialogue prompts were terrible, and they would have caused a Bad Ending by now, but it's likely an easier win would have presented itself. Then again, the dialogue prompts didn't give any leeway to correct mistakes. At least in the free route Lecil had a chance to smooth over relationships rather than suffer a permanent blow to her affection score.

"Why do I only get three Queries for clearing a minor event? And why was spending time on my crochet skills considered an event at all?"

Lecil's new event finder pointed her to the nearest event using an annoyingly animated purple arrow. The entirely too happy Pixar-esque HUD was grating on her sanity, but it allowed her to find the first event. It made little sense. The task was to spend an obscure amount of time stitching together a handkerchief. Pointless, but the reward was bountiful.

She received three [Queries] as a reward. Queries were like consulting a manual, except instead of combing through needless information and getting confused by future steps unrelated to your problem, Lecil could ask the system directly.

[Two Queries Remaining]

"I know. I know. Don't rush me. If I knew I'd get more, it would make picking a question easier."

The questions were precious, and she already wasted one on figuring out how specific the system would be with its answer. It also seemed that the system could reject any question it wanted to. Gaining more through minor events was paramount to learning the ins and outs of the system. Typically is she failed, Celia could just hit the restart button. Since that wasn't an option worth exploring, she'd have to make her first run perfect.

Which was already screwed up by not being allowed full access to her HUD in the Prologue.

Taking a deep breath, she mentally clicked on the dancing Cuphead wannabe and expanded the menu. It wasn't much.

[Event Finder: Active]

[Nearest Event: Within five miles]

[Nearest Event Category: Major]

"At the very least, I have a quest tracker. Still, I need to know the timing of the events. Can I complete all of them? Are they time-sensitive? Is Fast-Travel possible? In the game, I could just click on a romance interest's icon and I'd be whisked away. Why can't I have gotten that as a reward?"

[Two Queries Remaining]

"..."

The system didn't answer unless she stated her question was a query. There was zero chance she would waste a valuable reward after the Cleanse Soul incident. Kly was grateful, so much kinder, free-spoken, and fun.

What really pained Lecil was that she could have used it on the King. It would have been game over if she freed him.

Too late for regrets, she narrowed down the information that would be the most helpful.

"Query: Please define the significance and differences between each event category."

[Pending...]

[Query Accepted.]

Maybe it was because she said please, but the system had a lot to say.

[Pivotal Event: An Event that will change the scope of the game. Successfully completing this event will significantly change the next Act and final outcome. Failing this Event carries adverse results.]

[Major Event: An Event that will reveal new knowledge, bring about revelation, or introduce a new aspect to the game. Succeeding in a Major Event will make the game easier by providing new system functions and/or allies. Failing a Major event greatly increases the chance of a Bad Ending.]

[Minor Event: An Event that will grant the player a specific skill, a unique tool, an increase in affection rating, or a parcel of information, that will help when encountering other Events. Skipping a Minor Event may cause difficulty, or in rare cases, failure, when participating in linked events.]

[Secret Event: This event is a secret. It can be a Minor, Major, or Pivotal Event. Rewards and/or Punishments will vary accordingly. Please note that the Event Finder tool cannot locate a Secret Event.]

[One Query Remaining]

"Well, then."

That was a lot to digest.

In the Prologue, there were only three major events and five minor ones. The only major event she completed was getting in touch with Bellavarn. That had been a Secret Event in disguise, and it changed the course of the future. It made her wonder what other Major events she missed.

If she were to guess, stopping Irene the two-faced turncoat was the second Major Event. Maybe it had something to do with talking to her more or intercepting her before she tattled to the King. Irene tried blaming it on the "chains", but it was obvious to Lecil that Irene was just scared of crossing the King. Had they been secretly hoping for the plot to be stopped? Was there some part of them that was aware of what was going on? Either way, Lecil was once again down a maid since there was no way she could possibly trust Irene again.

There was blame on Lecil's part for being so lackadaisical and thinking everything would be fine. What really ground her gears was that she didn't even get to know how she failed.

Thinking of the five minor events, she tried accounting for them. The ones she surely passed included getting back in touch with Kly, befriending Anne, and an undetermined third event. It could have been a number of things like meeting with the information broker, getting Rain as her personal guard, or simply choosing the free route. It was highly likely that one of the missed events involved Tristan. He was still as mean as ever.

Of the other events, Lecil couldn't think of anything else that would be considered Major. There was the festival date with the Dukes, but there was no notification for that. Unless she failed without realizing it? There was the duel, but maybe that was tied to Bellavarn's event.

"If that wasn't a Pivotal event, how scared should I be?"

The thought was chilling.

"Oh, and also!"

Lecil put a fist on either hip and craned her head up at the clapper chandelier—the only survivor of two tantrums.

"You mean to tell me that I never made it past the Prologue on Earth? What the hell, Developers? There has to be a limit to difficulty in an otome game. This isn't Escape from Tarkov."

Oh no. She made herself sad. Celia missed video games.

Lecil shook her head and focused. Her life was a game. That would have to be good enough. The next item on her agenda was if she should use the last Query now or later. Would she get more? Did she have a good enough question? If she wasn't supposed to know, then the system would reject the question and give her another try. So, at least Lecil had that going for her.

"Query: Is it possible to get more Queries?"

[Query Denied]

"Query: What are the rewards for Act 1's Pivotal Event?"

[Query Denied]

"Query: Tell me the reward for Act 1's first Major Event."

[Pending...]

"Wait. I take that back. Cancel Query!"

[Query Cancelled. One Query Remaining.]

Did it make sense to ask to know the rewards ahead of time? Lecil planned to clear every event possible, anyway. To do that, though, she needed one irreplaceable thing. The problem was how to phrase the question correctly.

"System, I would like to perform a Query, but I am having trouble putting it into words. Can you interpret what I want once I start speaking?

[Pending...]

[Request Granted. Translation prepared. Speak when ready.]

Butterflies fluttered in her stomach. Her tone was hopeful as she spoke her desire.

"I am searching for a reward within the event system that will expand my HUD to include a timeframe or deadline of upcoming events. If this reward exists, I would like to know what event it is attached to and when the event is coming up. It's pivotal that I obtain this reward so that I can have a satisfactory playthrough."

That last bit was just sugar. Hopefully sucking up worked.

The system's answer came faster than she expected.

[Pending...]

[Request Accepted. 50% Success]

[Major Event Title: Lies in April]