The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent

Roti is a hybrid-type character.

She primarily uses firearms. True to her quiet, reserved image, she wields a rifle, providing support from behind the party while staying safe. She's the kind of character who handles firepower support from the backline.

However, she’s not limited to firearms. Since she has a talent for magic, her magic skills are quite impressive. While she’s not quite as dedicated to magic as Mia Crowfield, who focuses solely on it, Roti is versatile enough to contribute with physical attacks as well as magic-based support. Because of this, Roti was often a useful character in the party.

And the other commoner character who follows Roti into the party is someone who exclusively uses firearms.

Still, after dealing with Rena, I wasn’t really concerned about my character overlapping with hers.

Roti and I have completely different images. At first, I was a little worried, but in the end, a cool and collected character in love isn’t the same as a cool beauty character.

The next commoner character who enters is very energetic by nature, so it’s not like she’d be an issue either.

“E-excuse me...!”

Even though she’s an energetic character, I didn’t expect her to come charging forward like that.

*

Alice thought of me as a sister, and Claire felt the same, but that didn’t mean we were always together.

I liked to have some alone time, and both of them had enough sense to notice when I wanted to be by myself.

Especially after the whirlwind of vacation, when I’d lost the remaining days of break entirely, I often found myself lying on the bed in my room after school started again, doing nothing but staring into space.

Neither Alice nor Claire would have expected me to be lying around in bed, but they’d surely noticed that I enjoyed being in my room with the door closed.

So, even now, I was alone. Alice was having a chat with Charlotte, and Mia Crowfield was still in her room.

Rena had gone upstairs to do another round of firearm checks. Maybe buying new bullets had sparked her interest.

Sophia had tried to speak to me but was quickly grabbed by Claire and dragged away. I really appreciated that she respected my desire for alone time.

“Well, I’ll go back to my room for a bit.”

“Oh, okay.”

When I got up to leave, Alice nodded.

“If anything comes up, just call me.”

There was a guest phone near the lounge. It wasn’t connected across the sea, but it was enough to connect to rooms within the hotel.

...Though, I kind of wish they had wireless communication technology.

Well, it’s not like smartphones would exist, but still.

As I walked away from those random thoughts, I passed someone on the way to the elevator.

“Ah...”

It was a familiar face.

This character appeared as a party member in the original story. However, their role wasn’t particularly large. It seemed like a character added to match the setting of "an academy that includes both nobles and commoners."

Still, she was a character you could pursue in the game. While she didn’t have a major role in the main quest, she did have her own side quests and relationship events.

But at this point in the story, this was our first time meeting, so there was no need for us to be overly familiar with each other.

At least, that’s what I thought.

“E-excuse me...!”

As I walked past her, she called out to me.

Ah, I see.

I was a bit surprised.

No, I wasn’t thinking that she was rude. It’s just that, with how the world’s social class system worked, the way people interact with each other, I was more surprised that she could recognize me and call out like this.

“Is something wrong?”

When I turned to face her, she immediately seemed flustered.

Her dark brown hair was neatly tied up at the back of her head. True to the heroine type, she had a well-developed figure. Her skin was pale.

She wore round glasses, which were a ‘beauty seal’ for her character—though, some people later regretted when she took them off in the later parts of the story.

Her eyes under the glasses were slightly droopy, and her pupils were a deep brown, matching her hair color.

She definitely had the atmosphere of a ‘class president.’

Of course, in the academy, there was no official class president. That would only apply to the student council president, maybe.

In the nobility class, trying to appoint a class president would probably lead to political struggles.

Separately, there were ‘class president-like’ figures whom the homeroachers trusted.

This girl was one of them.

“Ah, um...”

She tried to continue speaking but took a step back, startled.

Was there a tiger behind me? I almost turned around, but it seemed like that wasn’t the case.

I didn’t hear any other footsteps in the hallway.

“P-please, Your Highness!”

She awkwardly grabbed the hem of her skirt and bowed her head deeply, looking uncomfortable with the formality.

You know the type of character I’m talking about.

She’d be a perfect ‘commoner character’ in a romance novel. She thought of herself as ordinary and insignificant, and in fact, her family had nothing notable about them, but she’d made it this far solely through her academic ability. The ‘commoner character’ drawn in a picture like that.

Unlike some other classmates who came from commoner families but had some connections with the nobility, it seemed that she had had no interactions with them.

She didn’t even seem to know how to avoid appearing clueless by speaking to me out of the blue.

Well, it didn’t matter much. I was already somewhat fond of her.

She was a character I liked in the original story.

“Is something wrong?”

The polite speech seemed to make her more flustered as she was caught off guard.

“I-I’m... Lily Baker...”

When I spoke a second time, she stubbornly introduced herself, probably having heard somewhere that she should introduce herself to a noble before speaking.

She probably hadn’t heard about things like “you should approach slowly from the other side of the room, so the other person has time to respond” or “if the other person cuts to the point, introductions are unnecessary,” but that wasn’t too surprising since even among nobles, following all the formalities wasn’t common.

“Miss Baker.”

I nodded, and Lily finally got to the point.

“Is... Roti... doing okay?”

Hmm.

If my gender were male, this would be the perfect moment to head straight into a romance route.

I wasn’t disappointed, though. I’ve always believed that the heroine should end up with the protagonist. If she got closer to me, I’d end up feeling like I was the NTR (Netorare) character, and I wouldn’t have been comfortable with that.

“She’s doing fine.”

In fact, compared to when she was in the commoner class, the hostility she used to feel has greatly diminished. At least, within our group, no one would discriminate against Roti because of her skin color.

“Ah...”

She seemed worried about Roti but hadn’t really thought about how to continue the conversation afterward.

“No, I mean... um...”

I stared at her for a moment before slowly speaking.

“Is Roti not getting along well in her class?”

I brought up a topic Jake would be interested in.

“Uh...”

Lily hesitated and couldn’t give a proper answer, but just that hesitation told me that Roti wasn’t doing well in her class.

I decided not to pry further.

“What kind of weapon do you use?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, what kind of weapon do you use during practical training?”

“...I use a Winterfield rifle.”

It was a rifle made by the Winterfield arsenal, which was based on an Austrian design. Unlike other bolt-action rifles, it had a feature where you could just pull the bolt handle straight back to reload, which made it memorable.

“I see.”

I nodded.

If this were Earth, the ammunition probably wouldn’t be compatible, but since it was the same empire-made firearm, it would likely work together. Even if we were in the same party, I didn’t think there would be any big issues.

“Then, how about you come and see it in person?”

“...Huh?”

“I think it’s better for you to see the situation firsthand rather than just have me explain it.”

“...Y-yes!?”

Her reaction was as surprised as you’d expect from a scene in a Japanese manga.

It was nice to see that again after a long time.