Chapter Three: As Expected, Multiple Choices Are Possible

After understanding his own situation, Louis surveyed his surroundings and noticed that there were three rooms adjacent to the living room. One belonged to Auxicris, another seemed to be Helen’s, and the last was the washroom.

Louis’s expression turned a bit odd as his gaze fell upon the items on the table—books, a water cup, a pouch, a wand—all of which belonged to Helen. He quickly took a piece of clothing and wiped Helen’s cup, only to realize the clothing was, in fact, Helen’s school uniform.

Louis rubbed his face, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

At that moment, he suddenly noticed a small room next to the washroom. The door to this room looked peculiar—hazy and indistinct, as if it did not quite exist. Louis suspected this room was originally meant for Granny Stia.

When he approached the door, it became clearer, and a small sign appeared with “Louis” written on it.

Opening the door, he discovered a simple bedroom, about fifteen square meters, furnished sparsely. On the bed lay his apprentice wizard school uniform, wand, and other belongings. There was also a “stretch pouch” commonly used by wizards—a small bag, but with as much space as a suitcase.

Louis hurriedly changed his clothes, neatly folded the shirt and trousers from another era that he’d been wearing under the uniform, and stuffed them into the stretch pouch.

Once finished, he circled the room with a puzzled look.

He was certain this must be his room, yet originally, the storybook had prepared it for Granny Stia.

“But I’m not Granny Stia. Why have I been set up as the person living with Auxicris?”

Puzzled, Louis paged through “A Tale of Fantastic Journeys,” hoping to find some background information about himself. But he discovered there were still many blank areas in his own character’s background.

“It seems this matter of Granny Stia has become a bug… And I myself am a bug as well… With an existence value of only 0.2, does that mean I could disappear at any moment?”

Shaking his head, Louis set the book aside and pondered his current situation.

He had passed the first challenge of entering this world, but now he seemed nothing more than a background character.

According to the story, Auxicris might have to leave after today’s assessment. If the protagonist of the storybook swapped to another scenario, her supporting students might be written out as well.

“So, do I only have one day of scenes?”

[It seems Louis has realized a problem—he must now stick close to the protagonist and try to appear in more scenes, or else this side character will be “forgotten” by the world…]

[Perhaps he should have chosen to be Granny Stia, following Auxicris to the Dragon’s Nest City…]

Louis automatically ignored that last thought. He would never practice the Sunflower Manual.

“Now there are two things I need to do. First, I must find a way to fill in the blanks of my background in the book—those missing details might be the reason for my low sense of existence.”

“Second, I need to help Auxicris get through today’s ordeal and keep her at the academy. With my current ‘existence,’ I probably shouldn’t stray too far from her.”

“But someone who hasn’t cast a spell in six years suddenly passing the wizard’s assessment… That’s hard to explain.”

Louis felt a headache coming on. This second challenge seemed a bit tough.

A noise came from outside the door, and Louis quickly left his room for the living area. He found Miss Helen already there, tidying up her things. When she picked up her cup, she shot Louis a peculiar look.

“Helen, I was just practicing the ‘Quickly Fill’ spell with your cup,” Louis said, a bit embarrassed. “You know, the exam is coming up.”

“I know, I know,” Helen replied with a sunny smile, tossing the cup into the trash bin. “I believe you.”

[Helen’s favorability -2]

“By the way, Louis,” Helen continued, smiling brightly, “could you please return my school uniform?”

“…”

Louis slapped his forehead, quickly retrieved Helen’s uniform from his pouch, and handed it over. Helen threw the uniform into the trash as well.

[Helen’s favorability -3]

“That’s a bit much…” Louis muttered, touching his nose. He didn’t argue further, instead growing curious about the memories of Helen and Auxicris.

Just then, Auxicris emerged. Although she nodded politely at Louis, he could see her expression was not pleasant. “Let’s go, Louis,” she said, heading downstairs.

[It seems your identity has been accepted by this world, but everyone’s impression of this ‘gentleman’ is rather mediocre—perhaps it isn’t the first time Louis has snuck into someone else’s room to do something odd.]

“How am I being slandered for no reason?” Louis was baffled.

[That’s right, he always says—how could a scholar do anything ‘sneaky’?]

Louis rubbed his face hard, realizing this must be a side effect of his “self-settings.”

“But in any case, my identity as a transmigrator seems to be concealed.”

On the way, Auxicris spoke to Louis, first pointing out that he needed to change certain habits. In the academy, he should not address her as “Your Highness”—“Miss” would suffice.

“What do you usually call your mentors where you’re from?”

Louis paused, recalling his “exchange student” persona. “Um… boss?”

“Oh, right.” Auxicris’s expression turned a bit strange. “The wizards of the Forbidden Sanctuary do like to be unconventional…”

Louis’s face also became odd, as he noticed his background had suddenly gained more detail—there were now more descriptions regarding the Forbidden Sanctuary.

Auxicris continued, saying that although she was only a few years older, as his mentor she had the duty of a guardian. Louis should treat her as an elder and avoid any strange behavior.

She spoke at length in the tone of a senior, earnestly advising him.

But instead of feeling embarrassed or upset, Louis was delighted, for he realized that as he interacted with Auxicris, the storybook’s description of him was gradually being filled in.

Perhaps noticing his pleased expression, Auxicris suddenly halted, trembling all over, unable to suppress her anger any longer. She shouted,

“Louis, the most important thing for a wizard is character. You’ve become more and more outrageous lately—if I catch you hiding under my bed again, you can go back to wherever you came from!”

Helen also gave Louis a look of the same sort.

[It seems the two ladies are recalling more…]

[But something still feels off to them…]

Suddenly, Louis noticed that a few new pages had appeared at the front of the storybook, before the first page!

The storybook now began with his sudden appearance in the room, and these new pages detailed events that occurred when Louis entered the bedroom.

At present, these pages were blank but were gradually being filled in with the “memories” or “imaginations” of Auxicris and Helen.

Louis suddenly realized the storybook was correcting the bug between Granny Stia and himself!

He decided to take a chance and said loudly, “Miss Auxicris, I think you may indeed have forgotten something—do you remember what you said to me when I was under the bed?”

Auxicris felt a buzz in her head, and Helen also rubbed her temples.

Their memories did not quite match—one recalled Louis always being under the bed, the other remembered entering the room with him.

The scene around them became surreal. The book once again appeared before Louis, its pages flipping rapidly as text began to fill in the events in the bedroom before Louis’s appearance.

“Your Highness, you asked me to clean the room. After I finished, I said, ‘Your Highness, I’ve cleaned under the bed. Do you have any other instructions?’ Don’t you remember? Then you sent me to find Helen, and she and I entered the room together.”

As Louis spoke, he saw the new pages in the storybook fill up with words.

Meanwhile, the fabric of space and time around them seemed to be strung with harp-like strings, which snapped and reformed in rhythm with the writing in the storybook.

[The strings of fate have been affected by the Book of Destiny; the world is fundamentally changed…]

Suddenly, the memories of Auxicris and Helen aligned, becoming consistent. They recalled more details.

At the same time, Louis saw a tiny fairy fly out from behind Auxicris. She gave him a polite bow, waved her wand at him, and then vanished.

Throughout, neither Auxicris nor Helen noticed the little fairy. After she left, Louis found a small leaf in his hand, painted with the fairy’s likeness.

[Granny Stia’s Identity Card +1]

Louis was momentarily stunned by the leaf. After a moment’s thought, he handed it to Auxicris. “By the way, Your Highness, I also found this under the bed.”

“Found under the bed?” Auxicris took the leaf, her expression surprised, and then she froze. Tears welled in her eyes.

Yes—Granny Stia was real. She had always been quietly protecting her, not merely a figment of her dreams.

Auxicris recalled that she had dreamt of someone last night—a tall, handsome figure with short, neat gray hair, three years younger than herself…

Suddenly, Auxicris glanced up at the dazed Louis, her expression turning awkward. “In my dream last night, I actually imagined Louis as that person…”

She flushed, rubbing her forehead, thinking, “Good heavens, how could I dream about my own student…”

Louis couldn’t hear her thoughts; he was staring blankly at a passage of narration before him.

[Auxicris has grown up. Granny Stia feels it’s time to return…]

[What Louis didn’t tell Auxicris is that the identity card was not found under the bed, but was entrusted to him by Granny Stia to give to Auxicris.]

[Additionally, there were some small gifts Granny Stia left for Louis via the Book of Destiny…]

[Master-level Fairy Lore *1]

[Strength +1]

“So there really are multiple choices! But what’s the truth about Granny Stia? Was she real?”

Louis stood frozen, lost in thought.

[Just like Granny Stia, Louis too is truly real.]

[Existence +3]

…