The Tale of Hero Alice’s Social Death

Chapter 122: Were You the One Who Lured the Hero Here?

Since enrolling, Alice had been attending classes for two weeks already, and she had gradually started to adapt to the life of studying at the March Academy.

Originally, Alice had been a little worried that the nobles would come to bug her. However, things turned out much better than she expected. Because classes in Groups A and C were located far apart, most noble students didn't even have the opportunity to come and harass Alice.

After all, classes in Group A consisted of students who weren't focused on magical studies. In contrast, classes in Group C consisted of students focused on their magical studies and practical combat. Even if some nobles skipped class to come and find Alice, they would only be greeted by the shut doors of Class C04.

These nobles probably thought that Her Highness Alice would be similar to them and wouldn't take her studies seriously. Unfortunately, the princess was serious about studying magic, so these nobles received the cold shoulder.

Alice didn't have to worry about nobles approaching her outside of class, either. After all, her maid Luna wasn't a decoration. Whenever nobles tried to invade Alice's personal space, even after she had politely refused their attempts to strike up a conversation, Luna would throw both the nobles and their servants and bodyguards back to wherever they came from. These nobles wouldn't dare to get angry, either, due to Alice's identity as the princess. In the end, these nobles could only walk away gloomily and cease their thoughts of getting close to Alice.

Contrasting the nobles, the commoner students got along quite well with Alice. After realizing that the princess wasn't as hard to get along with as the rumors made her out to be, they gradually plucked up the courage to talk to her. Some would often ask her questions about magic even. As a result of these interactions, Alice became a familiar face among the various classes in Group C.

It couldn't be helped. Alice's dainty face was simply too likable. Thus, she had a much easier time racking up favorability points when interacting with others.

Meanwhile, Alice did not let down Zauna's expectations, either. Just like the Loli Goddess had said, Alice's talent for learning magic was comparable to the Hero and the Demon King. On the first few days of classes, Alice had been the one asking other students for help on her magical studies. However, Alice quickly caught up to her classmates' progress, and she had even started learning higher grade studies already.

It'd be great if I had such a brain before I transmigrated.

This was the first time Alice had experienced what it felt like to be a genius, and she found the experience wonderful. Of course, she didn't forget her main goal in attending the March Academy. After accumulating enough basic knowledge on magic, she promptly started trying her hand at learning taboos.

Contrary to popular belief, the underlying principles of taboos weren't particularly complicated. The factors limiting their use were their high requirement toward mana volume and mana control. The average person simply didn't have the mana required to cast a taboo by themselves. And even if a person injected a huge amount of mana into their body at the risk of crippling themselves, they wouldn't have the necessary control required to precisely manipulate all that mana to complete a taboo's complex magic formula.

However, that wasn't the case for the Hero. Although Alice wasn't the Hero, she had talent rivaling the Hero. After studying and training for many hours these past two weeks, Alice had already cultivated a respectable amount of mana in her body. Her control toward mana had also become a lot more proficient.

Thinking of it this way, Alice was quite grateful to the Loli Goddess for creating a new body for her. If she had remained with her original body, even if she managed to survive the hidden injuries she suffered when transmigrating, there was no saying whether her body could cultivate mana in this world.

"What book are you reading?"

It was currently recess, yet Alice remained in her seat reading a book that clearly wasn't part of the curriculum. So, Lalu, Alice's deskmate, naturally grew curious and leaned over to check out the book Alice was reading.

After two weeks of interaction, the loli elf had already grown quite familiar with Alice. As a result, she no longer behaved in the same elegant and lofty manner when she first met Alice. Now, apart from the occasional arrogant moments, Lalu behaved mostly like a very enthusiastic kid, taking on the role of the liveliest student in Class C04.

Honestly, Alice had a hard time believing that this lively loli was actually an elf.

"Divide the mana in a ratio of 1:2:5:7, disperse the mana particles with a volume of 10 and arrange them into the shape of a satellite, prepare a weight roughly the mass of 59 seas of consciousness, then proceed with a uniform motion of roughly 10 kilometers per hour..."

Lalu frowned in confusion when she read the contents of Alice's book. She had no trouble understanding the book's content. The book's content was so easy that anyone with even a little bit of magic knowledge could understand it. Rather than the book's content, what puzzled her was whether mortals could accomplish the precise conditions mentioned in the book.

Holding such thoughts, Lalu moved Alice's hand away and lifted the book's cover to take a look. Although her action was somewhat rude, she knew that Alice wouldn't get angry over such a small matter. Meanwhile, after lifting the cover, Lalu also got to see this book's title:

Galaxy Made of Flames Casting and Principle Analysis of "Burning Star"

"Isn't this a taboo spell?!"

Lalu instantly recognized the spell named Burning Star for what it was. Of course, that wasn't because she had read about this taboo spell before. Instead, it was because the cover of this book was labeled with the word "Taboo."

"I know that you've been making significant progress in your studies, but isn't it a little crazy that you're reading up on taboos already?" Lalu asked. While books on taboo weren't considered dangerous objects since the average person couldn't cast a taboo by themselves, she couldn't understand why Alice would be holding onto a book for a taboo during class.

"I'm just reading about its underlying principles. I'm not actually trying to learn it," Alice said, chuckling. Nobody could guess that she was actually the Hero, anyway, so it wouldn't matter even if she openly studied taboos. At most, people would assume that she was reading it as a reference book. "Setting this aside, have you asked about the matter I asked you before?"

"You mean the Seed of Nature? I did ask about it, but the patriarch and elders haven't given me an answer yet. They're probably still discussing it," Lalu said, shaking her head. "Although the elves share friendly relations with the Gryffin Kingdom, the Seed of Nature is incredibly precious and has many uses. We typically split one Seed of Nature for multiple uses, yet you are asking for an entire seed, so it is quite a troubling request. If not for your status as royalty, the patriarch and the elders would've long since rejected the request already."

"Is that so"

Alice nodded to express her understanding. In reality, she had thought about using her identity as the Hero to request for a Seed of Nature. If it was the Hero's request, the elves should be more willing to hand one over.

After all, once the Demon King began waging war, the human and demon realms wouldn't be the only ones embroiled in war. The Elven Forest, the various beastkin tribes, and other small tribal races would also get dragged into the war. As a race seeking to live in peace, the elves would naturally support the Hero.

If it was when Alice had first transmigrated to this world, she would've probably revealed her identity to the elves without hesitation. However, Alice dared not casually do so right now.

It couldn't be helped. After seeing how many spies were operating in both the human and demon realms, Alice dared not guarantee that there wouldn't be any spies operating in the Elven Forest. If she revealed her identity to the elves, there was a high chance that it would get exposed to the public immediately.

"But not all hope is lost." Noticing the look of disappointment on Alice's face, Lalu leaned closer and whispered into Alice's ear, "I heard that the school trip's destination this time is most likely the Elven Forest. Once we reach the forest, I can take you to meet with the patriarch and elders, and you can talk it out with them."