In the servants' wing of the Noctis Residence, the morning air always felt heavier, weighed down by an invisible hierarchy. For Eris, every second ticking on the silver wall clock was a threat metric. Her hands moved deftly, measuring the black coffee powder with precision.
This was strange. Extremely strange.
'Black coffee. No sugar. Time: three hundred seconds,' Eris thought, repeating her master's instructions in her head.
Veyr Noctis never ordered anything simple. Usually, her master would demand rare herbal tea brewed at a specific temperature, only to find an excuse to spill it on the floor and punish Eris for perceived incompetence. This morning's order was too... efficient. Too rational. There was no gap for an emotional trap.
"I have to hurry... the time limit is almost up," Eris murmured quietly. Her eyes glanced anxiously around the scullery.
From the corner of the room, another social anomaly occurred. The sound of whispers, deliberately calibrated to be heard by her.
"How pitiful, having to serve Master Veyr this early in the morning," said a black-haired maid with an asymmetrical, condescending smile.
"Lucky for us Master Veyr prefers tormenting her instead of us," chimed in a senior maid, stirring her tea at a leisurely rhythm.
Eris's jaw tightened, but she lowered her gaze. Her survival instinct took over. 'Ignore them. They are merely disruptive variables.' The thick black coffee was ready. Eris placed the porcelain cup on a silver tray, measured its balance, and hurried toward the exit.
However, her route perimeter was not secure. Just as she passed the center table, the black-haired maid stuck out her leg, cutting off Eris's trajectory.
Thud! Crash!
Gravity pulled Eris down violently. Her knees hit the stone floor. The silver tray was thrown aside, and the porcelain cup shattered into fragments. Hot coffee splashed onto the back of her hand, creating an instant scalding sensation.
The heat stung, but the fear freezing in her chest was far more lethal. The three hundred seconds had been exceeded. Data fragments from the past forced their way into her head.
The same pattern had occurred last month. Eris was late because a senior maid blocked her path. Veyr did not care about her reasons. Her master slapped her until the corner of her lip split open, then pulled her hair and whispered about cutting off her fingers. Illogical cruelty, driven purely by arrogance.
Eris stared at the shattered cup fragments with ragged breath. She looked up, glaring at the black-haired maid. "You... you know what will happen to me!"
The maid merely crossed her arms. "That's an occupational hazard, Fallen Noble Lady."
However, the room's dynamics changed drastically in an instant. The sound of high-heeled shoes echoed in the corridor. The knocks were regular, heavy, and swift—signifying absolute authority. An adult woman with jet-black hair and sharp violet eyes strode in. Selena Noctis.
"Can you not operate without causing a ruckus?" Selena's voice cut through the air like a scalpel.
Eris flinched and hurriedly knelt, trying to gather the porcelain shards with trembling hands. "M-My apologies, Young Miss. I tripped."
Selena stepped closer. Her eyes swept the floor, scanning the shattered cup, the spilled black coffee, and finally stopping on Eris's figure. As someone trained in noble household management, Selena immediately noticed the fading bruise on Eris's collar and the fresh redness on the back of her hand. Old wounds from Veyr, new wounds from sabotage.
"Eris," Selena called, her tone dropping an octave. "Did that wretched boy give you another unreasonable instruction?"
"N-No. He only asked for black coffee," Eris said. The sentence sounded strange even to her own ears.
Selena scoffed roughly. Her eyes shifted to the black-haired maid, who was now frozen with a pale face. "Get out of my perimeter. Now."
No second threat was needed. The maids dispersed immediately.
Selena crouched down slowly, disregarding her expensive dress touching the dirty floor. Her index finger touched Eris's chin, lifting the girl's face gently. "You don't need to worry. I will discipline him. Follow me to his room."
---
Meanwhile, inside my dim room, I was mapping out the timeline in my head.
"Operational deadline: ten days," I murmured into the silence, tapping my temple rhythmically. "Only ten days remain before the departure schedule for Lumina Academy."
Ten days was an extremely narrow logistical timeframe to restructure a body suffering from chronic damage. At the academy, I would not be surrounded by servants I could intimidate, but by noble factions and protagonists protected by the world's narrative. If I took the wrong position on the board, my head would become the Emperor's execution target.
"Current magical inventory: zero. Early progression cannot depend on physical leveling, because Black Reflux will destroy my organs before the enemy does," I thought. "I must acquire assets from within my own family structure."
According to the narrative database I possessed, the Noctis family household had an underground archive sector. There, items categorized as 'failed products' were stored. One of them was an artifact that would eventually become the Protagonist's absolute instrument: the Codex Ignis. An Artifact of Knowledge.
"System," I called out in silence. "Extract memory archives regarding the specific location and access parameters of the Codex Ignis in this residence."
A red visual warning immediately covered my field of vision.
[SYSTEM WARNING: Forcing the System to extract Mythic-Tier artifact data from narrative memory will trigger excessive computational load (Cognitive Overload) on the host brain. Reflux Risk: 98%.]
[Proceed with Execution? Y/N]
I evaluated the warning. A 98% risk of internal damage. However, the return was a strategic weapon capable of overturning fate. In risk management, if the cost of damage still leaves enough life to operate, then it is a valid investment.
"Execute."
The next second, an invisible electrical surge slammed into my skull. The sensation was equivalent to running high voltage through a thin copper wire. My brain felt like it was being roasted.
[ACCESSING ARCHIVE... COGNITIVE OVERLOAD]
Item: Codex Ignis (Status: Dormant)
Location: Underground Sector, West Wing.
Mechanism: Converts absolute understanding of causality/matter laws into energy manifestation without mana.
[WARNING: DATA SYNCHRONIZATION EXCEEDS HOST CAPACITY...]
"Ugh—!"
My physical tolerance limit was breached. My stomach contracted brutally. The sensation of rusted metal tore through my throat, and I vomited a clump of thick black fluid onto the wooden floor. My breath came in gasps. The two hundred percent pain amplification made every nerve ending scream, demanding the system be halted.
[DATA TRANSFER HALTED. EMERGENCY PROTOCOL ACTIVE.]
I propped myself up on both hands, letting the remnants of black blood drip. "A reasonable cost," I hissed hoarsely, wiping my lips. I had obtained the raw data. The location was in the West Wing. I would search for a security gap tonight.
Suddenly, my auditory sensors detected an anomaly. Swift, heavy footsteps, laden with aggression, approaching from the outer corridor. No attempt to conceal their existence.
Before I could erase the black stain on the floor, my door was forced open, its hinges screeching loudly.
Bam!
A black-haired woman with violet eyes radiating a high threat level stepped in. Selena Noctis. Behind her, Eris stood in a defensive posture, clutching the hem of her dress.
I immediately scanned Selena. Veyr's older sister. Narrative status: Disciplined, holder of the household's operational control, possessing physical and magical strength far exceeding my current body. In Veyr's memories, interactions with Selena always ended with Veyr cowering, sulking, or arguing without any logical basis.
"Oi, Veyr! What did you order this girl to do?!" Selena snapped. Her vocal waves and posture indicated she was ready for physical aggression.
I did not lower my head. Nor did I offer a defensive excuse. I adjusted my sitting posture, crossed my legs, and stared directly into Selena's violet eyes. The Emotional Lock suppressed every residue of Veyr's panic left in this body, leaving behind a completely hollow, calculative gaze.
"Selena," I said with a flat intonation.
That single word triggered an escalation. "What did you just say?! I am your elder sister! Call me Sister Selena, you scoundrel!"
Eris retreated a step at the threshold, her eyes widening at my refusal to avert my gaze.
"You were secretly tormenting her again this morning, weren't you? Are you never satisfied being a burden to the family?!" Selena pressed.
"She failed to bring my black coffee within the deadline. I have yet to touch her, let alone torment her," I answered concisely, reporting facts without emotion. "Her current physical condition is the result of external variables outside my instruction."
Selena was briefly stunned. Instead of hearing a foolish alibi or whining, she was met with an arrangement of sentences that were too cold. However, that confusion was quickly replaced by impulsive anger. "Oh? Now you have the nerve to look me in the eye and string together nonsense?!"
Selena stepped forward. Her hand rose, and with a speed unavoidable by my D-rank Agility attribute, a hard slap struck my left cheek.
Smack!
Its kinetic impulse was strong. My head was thrown to the side. The curse's amplification kicked in immediately; the pain felt like hot iron pressed against my face. My jaw muscles tensed, holding back the Reflux that was ready to rise again. I swallowed saliva that tasted of iron.
Damage assessment: Epidermal tissue bruised, no bone fractures. Fatal threat: Zero.
I slowly returned my head to its original position. No groan. No hand cradling my cheek. I stared straight back into Selena's eyes with the exact same expression as before she slapped me. I rendered her attack as though it held no statistical value whatsoever.
Selena froze. Her eyes widened, registering the absence of reaction from this body that would usually immediately curl up in pain. The hand that had slapped me slowly lowered. She promptly let out a long sigh, attempting to cover her mental disturbance with an authoritarian posture.
"You... you will be entering Lumina Academy shortly," Selena said, her voice losing its high pitch, replaced by weariness. "That is not our family's safe zone. Stop acting like an absolute ruler, or other factions will behead you before the first exam is over."
I remained silent, recording her information. My analysis concluded that Selena did not hate me. Her slap was not a killing intent, but a brutal attempt to correct an anomaly within her family's system. She was useful.
Selena pulled Eris forward. The blue-eyed girl looked pale. "And one more thing. Eris will be assigned as your support attendant at the Academy. She possesses top-tier observational talent and will be enrolled in the support division. Do not destroy this valuable asset, Veyr."
Hearing that, a new logistical pathway opened in my head. This observer will enter the Academy with me? Interesting. I do need a scout piece capable of monitoring blind spots while I maneuver.
"Acknowledged," I replied curtly. "I will ensure she remains functional."
Selena narrowed her eyes, clearly uncomfortable with my choice of vocabulary. "Do you actually understand, you idiot boy?!"
I turned my gaze away toward the window. The perimeter evaluation was complete. This interaction held no additional value. "Finish your nagging outside, Selena. I need space for recovery."
Selena's jaw tightened. She turned and walked out with stomping steps. "Come down for dinner, or I will drag you down myself!" she threatened, then vanished into the corridor.
Now, only Eris and I remained.
The maid girl still stood at the threshold. She bowed respectfully, preparing to close the door. However, before she did, her eyes swept the room.
Her blue gaze stopped on my cheek, reddened from the slap. No tears, no anger. Then, her gaze dropped and locked onto the stain of thick black fluid on the wooden floor, right beside the tip of my shoe. Finally, her eyes rose, colliding with my gaze that had been analyzing her all along.
I saw her gears turning. Eris was recording data. Her master did not explode in rage when his coffee was destroyed. Her master ignored the pain of a physical slap. And her master casually bled black.
For Eris, this was no longer fear of an impulsive monster. This was terror of something utterly alien and calculative.
I did not smile. I did not offer any threatening gesture. I merely let the door be closed by her slowly, locking the girl with her own logical conclusion: that the old Veyr Noctis had been erased from this world's database.