Chapter: 98
Was it ever mentioned that there are plenty of unhappy characters in the Soul Academy?
To be more precise, there are fewer main characters who aren’t unhappy.
Each of them carries some form of misfortune, no matter how big or small, and dealing with or overcoming these struggles is what character quests in Soul Academy are all about.
Just take a look at the characters I’ve encountered so far.
Poor Prince Arthur Soladin is haunted by the obsession of having to be perfect after losing his mother.
Then there’s Frey Kent, the guy who’s out there gambling his life away because he can’t even feel emotions.
And Faye-Bee? She’s a walking disaster packed with a series of unfortunate events.
That’s why I think of Joy as my favorite character.
Among all these characters, Joy doesn’t seem to be linked with misfortune at all.
Her family is perfectly fine, her personality’s alright, and her biggest worry is just having trouble making real friends. Plus, her clumsy antics are just so cute!
Just this morning, I couldn’t help but laugh when she desperately tried to keep up with Frey and ended up collapsing on the ground, completely wiped out.
It’s hilarious to watch her act all silly, but then she gets back up, looking all cold like the villainous Young Lady she is, which is amusing in its own way.
Anyway, given the situation, it’s no surprise that even the inferior noble has his share of misfortune.
His abilities may be mediocre, but he’s still one of the main NPCs.
After all, there are achievements related to tackling Jacal.
Jacal Burrow’s misfortune revolves around his inferiority complex compared to his older brother.
His brother, who was incredibly talented, was expected to lead the Burrow family to greatness someday.
His brother had an overwhelming presence that kept Jacal permanently cast in shadow.
He even threw himself into danger to save others in a tragic incident.
Jacal Burrow couldn’t escape that shadow even after his brother’s death.
His parents are still struggling to recover from the loss, comparing Jacal to his deceased brother.
Even the family members belittle him while making comparisons to the brother who’s no longer alive.
And he himself constantly compares his worth to his brother’s, pushing himself into a pit of despair.
Originally, Jacal was just a fun-loving kid, but there’s a reason he’s now desperately trying to become the best.
“You got that stuff how?”
And the necklace I’m currently holding out to him? That belonged to his brother, Zyle Burrow.
It’s the necklace Zyle always wore around his neck.
It was originally meant to go to Jacal as per his brother’s dying wish.
The reason I have this item is simple.
When Zyle sacrificed himself for the lives of others, someone swiped the necklace and sold it as stolen goods.
The dead don’t speak, you see.
“By pure coincidence…”
“I randomly found it. The Burrow family emblem stuck out to me.”
Jacal can’t possibly not recognize it.
He’s been following in his brother’s footsteps since childhood and is still living in his shadow.
Just the sight of something that belonged to his brother would be vivid in his mind.
If the story progresses as it does in the game, then Jacal will demand this item from me.
As soon as he touches the necklace, the magic embedded within will activate, and a quest will pop up.
Once we solve that task together, Jacal’s heart will surely open up!
After that, all I have to do is wait and see what that pathetic god will give me!
While picturing a bright future, I waited for Jacal’s response, but I sensed something was off on his face.
“So, what’s the deal?”
Jacal, who had been staring at the necklace, slowly lifted his head.
In his eyes burned a hatred as deep as the color of his hair.
“I ask again. What’s your point?”
Those words coming from Jacal in the Soul Academy game weren’t supposed to be like this.
In the game, Jacal would insist that such a necklace wasn’t something I’d even be able to hold onto.
“Were you planning to trade that necklace with me? Too bad—I’m not interested in it.”
‘Liar.’
“Lord Inferior Noble. Are you trying to deceive yourself? What a pathetic thought.”
My words slipped out carelessly, but they translated into the language of Mesugaki and seeped into Jacal’s ears.
He didn’t frown.
He didn’t throw a fit.
He simply stood up without uttering a single word.
His heavy demeanor as he left with his book made it impossible for me to stop him.
It wasn’t until long after Jacal walked out of the library that I found my wits about me.
How did this happen…?
Why did Jacal, after seeing his necklace, just leave it behind?
Why on earth?
*
Jacal Burrow remembered his brother.
The person he thought never understood the meaning of inadequacy.
The brother who was expected to bring glory to the Burrow family one day.
The brother who had such brilliance that it kept Jacal locked away in shadow.
The brother who sacrificed himself to save others in a moment of recklessness.
It made sense.
Ever since that day, the clock of the Burrow family had stilled, unable to move forward without the cog that was Zyle.
Jacal despised that.
He hated seeing his mother cry every day while searching for her lost son.
He loathed how his father would drink himself into a stupor and rage at him daily.
He couldn’t stand the family members who had fallen into silence, their eyes glazed as they thought of his brother.
None of it sat right with him.
That’s why Jacal tried to break free from that day.
He strained to become a proud son.
He began to train hard instead of playing games.
He held onto books and complained about why he even had to read these.
He gritted his teeth to embody the nobility expected of him.
To fill the slot his brother left behind.
To become the cog of the Burrow family.
To start moving the clock forward.
But no matter how hard he struggled, nothing changed.
No matter how exceptional his grades were, his parents never looked his way.
The family members merely praised him on the surface while they secretly belittled him compared to his brother.
He was left alone in a world that had gone still around him.
The only thing Jacal could do was resentfully blame his brother who had left him behind.
So when Lucy Alrn showed him the necklace, he realized immediately what it was.
He remembers the last time his brother had greeted him before dying, and there’s no way he could forget that necklace draped around Zyle’s neck.
Why the hell does Lucy Alrn have that?
Unable to grasp why, when Jacal brought it up, Lucy Alrn flashed her annoyingly smug smile.
“I found it by coincidence.”
Coincidence, huh?
She claims it was a lucky find.
That was an astonishing coincidence for Jacal, one that felt so out of place.
The necklace, that should be representative of his brother’s legacy, was with the very girl who kept reminding him of his own inferiority.
Jacal despised Lucy Alrn.
There wasn’t any particularly grand reason.
He simply despised her for being better than him.
In terms of academics, Lucy Alrn was a force to be reckoned with.
Her results from the academy entrance exams were nothing short of legendary.
Jacal couldn’t even dream of catching up to her now.
Combat?
He had seen Lucy absolutely toy with Frey Kent during a previous tournament.
The gap between them was simply wide.
But that didn’t mean she lacked other traits.
Far from it.
The only thing Lucy Alrn lacked was one thing.
Her attitude. No matter if you were above or below her, her haughty and arrogant nature overshadowed everything else.
That single trait was what made her unwelcome in the academy.
In the past, that might have been excusable, but now Lucy Alrn wouldn’t fail to notice Jacal.
She certainly knew that if she put on a front of humility now, she could win people over.
There was no way a fool could get first place in the entrance exams.
To Jacal, that haughtiness was merely a declaration that she wouldn’t bow her head to anyone.
It was a commitment to follow her own path, regardless of what others thought.
Jacal loathed that commitment.
He couldn’t afford to hold such a firm stance.
He had to live based on the will of everyone around him, conforming to their expectations.
Even if he wanted to stand firm, he would ultimately fold under pressure.
His longing for a firmness he could never achieve irritated him.
That’s why when he looked at the necklace.
And gazed up at Lucy Alrn’s infuriating grin, he recalled his brother.
He remembered that his brother was loved even when he lived without caring about everyone around him.
So he yelled that he had no interest in the necklace.
He claimed he didn’t even think about his brother.
If he admitted he needed the necklace, it felt like wrestling with the shadow of his brother.
“Inferior Noble. Do you want to deceive yourself? That’s a pathetic thought.”
In that moment.
Lucy Alrn smiled as though she had sensed his inferiority complex.
The sight of her smile made Jacal leap to his feet.
Rude? Disrespectful?
He paid no mind to such things.
He felt he could no longer endure talking to Lucy Alrn.
That’s how he left the library, wandering aimlessly outside, taking in the cloudy sky and striking it with his hand against the academy’s white walls.
“Inferior? Me?”
Lucy Alrn. That wretched girl.
*
I never once thought that Jacal would reject the necklace, and my head was spinning as a result.
What gives? Why did he just leave the necklace behind?
With his shocked expression when he saw it, he clearly recognized what it was.
But this was an event that had never occurred in the game, making it utterly unfathomable.
I can’t make heads or tails of what variable could have come into play.
Agh. Damn.
With this, my plan to raise Jacal’s favorability and complete that quest given by the pathetic god is headed for the bin.
If I knew what was wrong, I could try to resolve it, but without a clue about the issue, I have no means of addressing it.
Maybe I need to spin it around some other way.
If I hit a dead end with raising Arthur or Frey’s favorability, maybe I should consider alternative methods.
I could manage that. There are countless ways to approach it.
Still, it’s disappointing. What I thought would be an easy matter has turned into a struggle.
Why the hell does nothing go my way since I fell into this world?
Is Agra involved in this too, perhaps?
Frowning in contemplation, I lifted my head at a feeling of presence nearby.
There it was—the dessert of the day that I had ordered from the academy.
Parfait!
It arrived surprisingly quickly!
I scooped a spoonful and popped the ice cream on top into my mouth, waving my hand at the sweet, creamy, and refreshing taste.
Sweetness is the remedy when your head aches.
Lucky that this is medieval fantasy; if it were a true medieval setting, I’d never dream of such luxury.
Smiling at the sweet sensation filling my mouth, I took another spoonful and let my thoughts continue.
Switching plans is not difficult at all.
Once I manage to get the Crow’s Seal and use the Newman family name, my options will widen immensely.
For now, all I can do is wait for Kurze Newman to hurry up and find that elixir.
“Yum.”
Until then, I guess I’ll be grinding with Joy and Frey!
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