Ascension Rebirth - The princess' debut

CHAPTER XXXIV

PART ONE

[Eternum Calendar 502]

Guten tag everyone! Liliana here!

It's been a while huh?

Today I'm here to introduce you to a brand new real estate! It has ten bedrooms, two master bedrooms, two bathrooms, and another in each room making it technically 14 functional bathrooms, three living rooms, two kitchens, a gigantic backyard full of flowers and fun, a veranda in each room and a recreational room!

This is all available to be yours for only 30 extra-mega-super-duper-hyper-ultra easy instalments of 999999999 gold!

So? What do you say?! Are you excited?!

I bet you're excited!

…

No?

Boo~ you party pooper.

Well, on a more serious note that house I just described is my new home for the next 10 years. That's right, I, Liliana Crow Xix Ariadyne - age 10, has successfully moved out from my parent's extravagant castle and is living alone! … with Soumee, Echo, Lucina, a new girl named Fionn and another girl named Lara.

So technically I'm not really living alone but still, whatever! Right?

So you may be wondering where I am or what has happened after all these years.

Well, to tell you the truth nothing major really ever happened, the countermeasure squad we created has been growing steadily and have been responding to threats in an orderly manner so there's not much left for me to do.

Even the so coveted [Ariadyne Battlecruiser] that I begged grandpa to get didn't even once fall into my control. I know, a pity right? Well, I know shame so I won't be so selfish, I'm an adult I can live with not getting a Battlecruiser for Christmas.

Anyway, the most exciting thing that happened was recently, by that I mean like a month ago, I moved into a new home.

'But Liliana! You were living in a castle why would you want to move out?'

You ask me with that hideous voice. No non-offense intended.

But good question! Why did I move out and relocate?

Well that's because here in this fantasy world when children reach the age of ten, at least the rich and noble ones with a few minor exceptions, start to attend an institution known as 'a skewl'.

That's how all da cool kidz call school so get with da tymes, old timer.

You may not be aware of what this mystical institution known as a 'school' does but that's why Professor Liliana is here. To explain to the unwashed masses what this miraculous institution does!

Now listen carefully as I will only explain once. A 'school' is a place of 'learning'. It's where all the rich and obnoxious children are gathered in a single concentrated piece of land in order to receive bragging rights, I mean an 'education'. This is so that they will be successful in whichever career that their parents have set upon them unreasonably.

Sarcasm aside, I'm actually really excited to be here~!

Why?

Because school is just another place for me to frolic around. Let's be honest here, I don't really need an education right? I mean I'm already… 39… years… old…

Ugh…

I think I just shot myself in the foot with that last comment.

Give me a second to recover please.

…

…

But! This is not just any old school! This is a school in a fantasy world! That means magic! Combat! Alchemy! Other such fun things from anime and manga too numerous to list!

"Liliana! What are you doing?"

From downstairs I could hear Lucina's loud voice. Speaking of which she's also 10 years old. Echo as well.

Soumee's… I don't know? Like 30? 35? 25? She has never actually visibly aged for the entire 10 years I've been with her. I would be more surprised if this world wasn't filled from head to toe in 'magic'.

"I'm unpacking my stuff, please wait for me!"

I shout back like an uncivilized monkey, I'm sure there's an easier way to communicate without having to raise the decibels of our voice to such an audacious level but I'm not seeing it right now.

Well, whatever. I'm 10 so they'll forgive me right? Teehee~? Wink wink~

The name of the school is [Ariadyne Panoptic Academy]. It's located in the largest city on [Eternis] known as the [Ariadyne Grand Capital]. It was located at the dead center of this continent and was a neutral zone, meaning not owned by any of the four major powers of this continent.

Incidentally you may be thinking I've been using [continent] and [country] interchangeably but that's not true at all. All four Ariadyne states are actually as big as countries.

To scale it was about as large as the United States and Canada combined in terms of land mass.

So it really is a continent.

But moving on~

Everyone one rich enough will send their children here to receive bragging rights for receiving education from such a prestigious academy. To be fair this school was actually the best. The best teachers, the best facilities and the most advanced trainings of the entire world.

So the new house I described was my new dorm. EXTRA special VIP members like 'moi' get an entire extravagant dorm all by myself and we are allowed to bring our servants and bodyguards to live there with us. As for Lucina she was here because she was my cousin and thus was placed with me, not that I mind.

Incidentally my sister, [Lyssa Crow Xix Ariadyne] and brother, [Leon Crow Xix Ariadyne] were also attending, well Lyssa was half way done with her courses here. They also have their own dorms similar to mine and is also fairly close to here as well.

Depending on the courses, the amount of years that a person attends this academy varies. Usually the shortest subjects will only go for 6 years, the longest will go for 10.

Things like politics and trade go for 6 years.

Other subjects like magic, combat, etc are the ones that usually go for 10 years, because they require more knowledge and mastery.

Interestingly that means Leon would actually graduate earlier than my sister.

Leon is taking political and trade related classes since he's expected to be the next Tetrarch and Lyssa is taking combat and strategy related courses since she's expected to be one of our West Ariadyne's field commanders.

As for me, I'm taking combat related classes so I'll be here for the next 10 years.

Actually another interesting thing to note is that because people are considered adults by the age of 15, there are actually some students who are married.

The school offers a wide range of freedom in that regard. I also heard most of the teachers and principal were fairly lax in terms of rules. Unless you did something completely amoral, like murder another student, the teachers wouldn't really step in.

You may think, 'But what if there is bullying?'

Certainly things like that may occur but students are expected to solve those kinds of issues with their own strengths. Since it will unlikely lead to murder, because of the aforementioned reason, the adults think that it's a good chance for character building.

I kind of agree? But not really? I'm really on the fence about that issue. I mean it's highly unlikely that I'll ever be bullied due to my sheer political invulnerability as the Tetrarch's direct descendant, but not everyone is as lucky to have that position.

If I see someone get bullied I'll probably step in lend a hand. That one's not because I'm arrogant but because it's something I deeply feel from within me.

I know what it's like to be bullied, I was the target of it myself in my previous life.

Hypothetical situations aside there is one more thing I heard before coming here.

It's that the principal's going to retire soon and a new one will take his place, I wasn't sure if that means there will be a change in rules too so I want you all to take whatever I said with a grain of salt since it may not be as applicable in the future.

In any case, I'm really excited to be here! In my previous life I never had friends so I never really got to enjoy my youth like I can now.

In this life I already have 5 marvelous friends! And I'm super rich so I have status as well! Or well my family does… regardless, yay!

PART TWO

Alright so~ you must be wondering what happened in general other than getting to attend school right? I mean in terms of my actual stat/level improvement and all that jazz right?

First things first.

It's about my mother. She… recovered! Yay~!

Yep, she made a full recovery thanks to the efforts of our great doctor [Nicholai]. She's healthy now but what's strange is that the it's unknown what she was even suffering from.

After a few months of being treated by Nicholai, one day she just emerged from her room with a big smile on her face saying that she's all better now. I still have my doubts, but when I checked directly using 21st century medical and scientific methods, that I learnt from watching dramas, she seemed to be genuinely cured.

Well, at least it's a good thing.

As for father, well I never really got to see him in the last 5 years. I understand that transportation in this world was incredibly undeveloped, the round trip from the west capital to the north capital itself would likely take a bit less than a year. So discounting the 2 years travel time he's most likely doing what we did in west Ariadyne, meaning building a task force to repel against the skirmishes happening on fringe locations of our countries.

Well, it's fine. Not like I have a grudge against him because he was never there to see my growth. I understand that he sincerely loves his family and that he's a busy person.

Grandpa's still in charge of West Ariadyne and it's been doing well so I don't think I have to worry about it too much.

Now then onto the more exciting parts!

My improvements in relations to my skills and stats.

Let me pull up my [status menu] for you.

[Status Menu]

Liliana Crow Xix Ariadyne. Level 32

ASSASSIN/ALCHEMIST

Strength: 19

Dexterity: 147

Intelligence: 5

Insight: 19

[Status point: 0]

I decided to dump everything into [Dexterity] for a while since it was my most important stat. I do intend to distribute it to my other stats as well in the future.

The thing that bothers me was a lack of items that boosts my stats. You know how in RPGs you usually have items that give [+15 strength] or something like that.

Apparently there wasn't that many in this world. Only 'enchanted' items give stats, whatever that means. Do I have to frolic around excavation sights to dig up ancient cursed artifacts? Is that it?!

Is that what you want me to do?!

Well, I'll do that later then.

As for my skills.

I'll give you the list of my improvements.

[Alchemist's wisdom] was now level 24

[Instincts of the Assassin] was now level 31

[Shadow dash] was now level 29

[Shadow Cloak] was now level 38

[Assassinate] was now level 50 (MAX)

[Blink] was now level 50 (MAX)

[Night vision] was now level 20

[Back stab] was now level 42

[Keen Mind] was now level 39

[Alchemic Potion Creation] was now level 37

[Magic Crystallization] was now level 40

[Material Synthesis] was now level 12

[Metal Conversion was now level 13

[Escape!] was now level 24

[Smokescreen] was now level 12

[Paralyzing Blow] was now level 28

Now it's time for the exciting new segment on our show! Tonight we unravel a list of new skills that I've managed to acquire!

All applause!

Clap, clap, clap

"Why did you start clapping?"

Lucina asks as she walks by my new room. We were in the middle of unpacking our luggage and I was caught acting stupid again.

"Ah, err, there was an insect here."

"Mmm. Well whatever."

She eyes me suspiciously and then leaves me to my own devices.

I really need to stop acting out my thoughts.

Anyway, as I was saying I acquired a few new tricks while I was gone.

The first was an [Assassin] skill called [Shadow Dagger].

Sounds neat doesn't it?

It's exactly what it sounds like; I can summon a dagger made from shadows. How exactly I can summon a dagger made by an ethereal shadow is beyond me but I just do, okay?

It has a wide variety of uses but the most common way I tend to use it is as a projectile attack. Combined with my enormous [dexterity] stat I can throw it pretty accurately and lethally.

Currently it was at level 12.

Another [Assassin] related skill that I managed to learn was a passive skill known as [Swift Node].

It passively increases my base movement speed. In layman's terms I can run faster, jump higher and… dodge better. Again, coupled with my high [Dexterity] stat if I max this out I'm fairly certain I can achieve an evasion rate of 99.9%.

You know what they say; the best defense is if you never get hit in the first place.

The final skill from the [Assassin] class that I managed to learn was a skill known as [Soft Landing]. Ordinarily in RPGs, and real life, falling from a great height is detrimental to one's continued existence, and that's where this skill comes in.

It's a passive skill that allows me to land 'softly' from a great height. Of course there's a limit on how high I can jump from and still be fine. Right now it's at level 5. Each level increases the maximum jump height by 2 meters. So right now I can jump from 10 meters and land perfectly.

Now I've only actually managed to attain one skill on the [Alchemy] department but it's a pretty nifty skill if I do say so myself.

Apologies in advance to all the blacksmiths of this world.

So as you may have guessed it has to do with weapon creation.

It's called [Weapon Transmutation]. Essentially it allows me to convert raw materials and transmute them; rearranging them to create any kind of weapon using the materials I've gathered.

I've made several dagger type weapons but that's about it. As an [Assassin] I've no real way of diversifying my weapon variety without starting to compromise my combat style.

The dagger that I made is called the [Phantasmal Edge]. It's a pure black obsidian dagger. It has no real magical properties, and I only used obsidian because it sounded cool.

I'm well aware that obsidian isn't exactly the strongest material so lay off, okay?

This skill is at level 3.

And that's about it!

"Young mistress Liliana, I have finished my assigned task, do you require any additional help?"

The one who entered my room was a new girl that joined my circle of friends, she was a young elf by the name of Fionn. This brown haired fair, elven maiden who for some reason acts and sometimes talk like she's an old man was actually 4 years my junior making her only 6. Technically she didn't reach the age where she would be attending school so she came here as my bodyguard.

Her friend, Lara came as my 'maid', just like my cute Echo.

Despite her looks she's incredibly strong. Actually she's stronger than me which was unbelievable.

Right now she's level 42. At her age I was barely level 20, which gives me reasons to believe that she was hiding something from me but I try not to pry into other people's business.

Well she did say something about having revenge and finding her 'young master'.

According to her, her young master was very reliable and mature from a young age and has accomplished many things.

Actually I've already enough reasons to believe that he's a reincarnated individual such as myself.

Why? Because there was a particular part in her story which wouldn't make any sense if he wasn't from my planet - Earth. Apparently he created a board game which is essentially what I know as 'Chess'. Even down to the name.

That alone makes me really want to meet this person.

I've always had an inclination to think that someone else was like me, reincarnated into this world. I mean I couldn't be the only one when we have approximately 7 billion people on Earth, right?

Someone from the same world as me. It would be nice if they turned out to be a nice person. Fionn told me that this young master - [Morgant Fallon] was always caring towards his family so I guess I don't have to worry about it too much.

Anyway I was getting off track. Fionn was waiting for me to reply.

"That's okay, I've already finished unpacking. Thanks anyway."

"It's no problem. I will be downstairs if you need me."

She's a nice girl but sometimes she's a bit too stiff, you know, she's the 'no nonsense' kind of person. Soumee is like that as well to some extent so I'm used to it.

PART THREE

We finally finished unpacking our luggage that we brought from home, and by the looks of it the others have just about finished as well. You know what that means!

That's right it's time to party-

Is what I wanted to say but I heard a knock on the door as soon as I was thinking it.

Am I cursed?

I'm cursed right?

It's definitely some kind of curse of misfortune.

Who was it that has a grudge against me?

Soumee and I decided to answer the door.

"Hello?"

I asked as I opened the large decorated door to my prestigious dorm.

"My, what a dusty smell."

I was immediately entertained with a snide remark.

Standing at the door was a young girl, about the same age as me. So I think it's safe to assume that she's also starting school this year as well.

She had blonde hair done up in such a way it resembles miniature cyclones attached to both sides of her face. I've seen it in anime and manga before but to see it in real life. Somehow it looks a lot less appealing.

Standing behind her was a butler? He looked fairly old, perhaps in his early 50s?

He had grey hair and wore a monocle on his right eye.

Judging by how she was acting she probably either doesn't know I'm the daughter of a Tetrarch or doesn't care. If I had to guess it'd be the latter.

"Can I help you?"

I asked meekly.

Right there! Right there kids! You should never do what I just did. When you're the daughter of such an influential person never act like you're weak. This was something I learnt from my previous life, but acting weak doesn't make you look cute, it makes you a target for bullying.

"Of course, I came here to greet you."

"Greet me? I'm sorry I'm not buying whatever you're selling so please leave."

I tried to close the door on her but she stopped it with her foot, which unfortunately for her my base stats were way higher than hers so the strength of my shutting of the doors was far greater than the sturdiness of her foot.

"Ouch!"

She screamed at a decibel that was 100 too many for the human ear.

"Milady, are you okay?!"

The butler panicked and tried to calm her down as she was on the verge of crying. I could see watery droplets starting to appear in her big crystal like eyes.

Who is she anyway?

[Emily Ra Lue Ariadyne].

Mmh?! I almost spat out the contents of my breakfast!

[Ra Lue Ariadyne]?! She's part of the Tetrarchy?!

Ah crap! Did I just involuntarily start a diplomatic war?!

Uhh!

I looked at Soumee with a pale expression but she only stared back. She understands social conventions but otherwise she's so socially inept! Gah!

"Ah! I'm sorry!"

I joined in trying to calm her down.

In panic took out a flask of [Regeneration Potion] that I kept stocked in my [inventory] and told her to drink. She looked at me with accusatory eyes but snatched the flask from my hands and gulped it down. I'm surprised she didn't think it was poison or something and rejected it outright.

After she drank the entire thing, the pained expression on her face started to disappear. In a few seconds she was back to normal.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hmph, next time make it taste like [Gmia]."

Incidentally, [Gmia] is a type of fruit that grows in this world, it very closely resembles the [strawberry] in terms of coloration and taste, although it looks like a watermelon…

Yeah, I don't get it either. Evolution took a strange path in this world.

"Sorry."

"Hmph, I'll forgive you because [Mii] said I should keep the people I want to use close."

Who was it that taught her such rubbish?!

Mii? Oh, I didn't have to guess I just looked at the butler's name and title and guessed.

[Mii. Level 34, Praetorian Guard].

So he's tripling as her butler, guard and guidance counsellor. Wonderful.

It was my turn to glare at him with accusatory eyes.

"Sorry."

I apologized again to Emily.

"Stop apologizing so much! You're part of the Tetrarchy too! You shouldn't lower your head so often."

"Sorry, you're absolutely right."

"Again!"

"Sorry."

"…"

"…"

"Whatever. I'm Emily Ra Lue Ariadyne, 2nd daughter to the Ra Lue Tetrarchy."

"Yeah, I know- I mean my name is Liliana Crow Xix Ariadyne."

"Mm! That's better."

She offered me a hand.

I stared at it for a while before realizing she was reaching out her hand for a handshake.

"Ah!"

I took it and shook her hand hastily.

And that's how my new life at school started. Thank god I didn't start some sort of international strife because of some comedy hijinks.

END REPORT

[Status Menu]

Liliana Crow Xix Ariadyne. Level 32

ASSASSIN/ALCHEMIST

Strength: 19

Dexterity: 147

Intelligence: 5

Insight: 19

[Status point: 0]

[Skill Menu]

(PASSIVE) [Alchemist's wisdom]: Level 24

(PASSIVE) [Instincts of the Assassin]: Level 31

(ACTIVE) [Shadow Dash]: Level 29

(ACTIVE) [Shadow Cloak]: Level 38

(ACTIVE) [Assassinate]: Level 50 (MAX)

(ACTIVE) [Blink]: Level 50 (MAX)

(PASSIVE) [Night Vision]: Level 20

(PASSIVE) [Back Stab]: Level 42

(PASSIVE) [Keen Mind]: Level 39

(PASSIVE) [Alchemic Potion Creation]: Level 37

(PASSIVE) [Magic Crystallization]: Level 40

(PASSIVE) [Material Synthesis]: Level 12

(PASSIVE) [Metal Conversion]: Level 13

(PASSIVE) [Escape!]: Level 24

(ACTIVE) [Smokescreen]: Level 12

(ACTIVE) [Paralyzing blow]: Level 28

(ACTIVE) [Shadow Dagger]: Level 12

(PASSIVE) [Swift Node]: Level 7

(PASSIVE) [Soft Landing]: Level 5

(ACTIVE) [Weapon Transmutation]: Level 3

(Yay for potential future plot threads! Now, I know how much you guys want to see Liliana and Morgant meet, so I decided to put it off a little longer. Anyway I'll move the focus back to Morgant.) :P