Elena’s vision was blurry as she tried to open her eyes. Her figure swayed as she was sitting on the bed but she quickly fixed herself as well as grabbed her aching head. Her thoughts were messy as she tried to open her eyes again. She couldn’t see clearly but there was a girl with long pinkish hair standing in front of her as if waiting to get some of Elena’s attention. As Elena looked at her - the girl started talking.

“Hey, you should stop survey the wall already. Homeroom will start soon so I’m going. Taker-san too don’t be late.” and after saying these words girl left the room.

“Huh?” As Elena’s mind was still in mess she couldn’t clearly understand what was said to her. She blinked a few times to adjust her vision as she tried to understand where she is right now. Her vision was still a bit blurry and full of black dots but Elena could clearly understand that she was sitting on the bed in the unfamiliar room. Or was it actually familiar? Elena wasn't sure.

“I need to wash up my face and wake up.” with this thought she weakly got up. Even if this room seemed unfamiliar for some reason Elena had no problem in finding the door to the bathroom as she quickly washed her face with cold water. As she felt more refreshed she finally raised her head and looked at the mirror.

There was someone unfamiliar in front of her. Some face features were similar, but this girl had brown shoulder length hair and amber eyes. She wore a school uniform with a strange design that left her left shoulder uncovered as there was a tattoo with a number 1 on it. But at the same time, this girl’s features seemed familiar, and as it looked like a cosplay of a character Elena knew. After a little delay, two words left her mouth.

“Elena Taker…” at that moment a memory of a huge icicle falling down right on her flashed in Elena’s mind as she grabbed her head. A new wave of headache appears as Elena drops to her knees. She grabbed her hair and it looked like she could pull it out with a scalp as her head was full of random thoughts.

“What? Why do I…? Why Elena Taker? What the hell? Am I…?” the pain in her head was almost unbearable as she started to bang her head on the ceramic floor. “What the hell is going on? Aaagh my head hurts. I need to think. Why am I here and what’s happening? Shit! I need to think straight! I need a clear mind!!”

The moment she thought the words ‘clear mind’ mixed with her desire to calm down Elena’s hands suddenly emitted a dim light as a spell was cast on her head that she was holding.

“Oh, yes, there was a spell like that.”

In the game ‘clear mind’ was a simple spell whose purpose was to increase accuracy. But right now it worked exactly as the name suggested it to be. It clears the mind and helps organize thoughts. As Elena calmed down and her headache gradually faded, she sat more comfortable on the floor as she looked at the ceiling while thinking.

The girl just now was Lina Flanstorm. She is Elena Taker’s roommate who will become her friend as the story progresses. She is a cheerful and slightly silly girl with a positive attitude who first appears cold but later will help the heroine with some sort of advice on the game. As she was the only useful character on the campus, Elena usually read her dialogs as she sometimes could mention something about the hidden weakness of a certain monster or about some hidden dungeon in a random location. Sadly most of her advice was something related to capturing main targets but still, she was useful regardless.

And the scene where Lina said that it is homeroom time was a starting scene after you choose a ‘new game’ option and read a few pages of the lore. And then the question appears. Why is Elena in the game right now? As that she couldn’t understand. But still, she decided to go to the homeroom. Even if it’s a dream, if it continues for more than a few days then Elena doesn’t want to have any random problems like not appearing in her first and last homeroom. As if the fact that she is now a heroine of an Otome game - she simply accepted it. ‘Clear mind’ was surely a powerful spell to ease your mind.

Before going out Elena once again looked at the mirror where she again saw a figure of Elena Taker. But this time her hair was messy and there was a huge red mark on her forehead as she was bumping on the floor. As looking at this Elena decided to test both her memory and skills as she was remembering her starting set from the beginning.

“Let's see. When I’ve done ‘clear mind’ I used the spell name as well as wanting to clear my mind. So if I try to want to clean myself and then...cleanse!” as she said the keyword her hands again flashed with light as her appearance became tidy and clean. Same as ‘clear mind’, ‘cleanse’ was a simple debuff remover in the game but right now it would actually help to clean yourself that was useful. But the mark on her forehead left untouched. “And then...heal!” With these words, she touched her forehead as her hand emitted a green light. As expected - her forehead was completely healed! And it also gave Elena a favorable impression of being in this world right now. In the game, you could cast spells only on the field or in the battle while going through the magic menu. And casting spells just because you can cast them feels refreshing. And with this refreshing feeling, Elena left her room.

Gladly, as the game asked a player to go around the campus in search of events a lot, Elena simply memorized a layout of it long ago when she just played a game. And as her memories were still fresh she simply went in the direction of her class while thinking. Even if she’ll hear it once again soon she remembered the content of that homeroom as it was both the first and last one in the game as well as in the academy. As the name implies - Battle Academy was a place where students will polish their battle skills. But less than the teaching facility it was more of a self study facility. Students are free to choose what they want to do - study the sword, study the history, go on hunting and so on as long as the student will fill the report of their daily activities at the end of a day. In the game, these reports were used as a statistics screen after finishing the day and Elena wondered if she’ll need to fill these kinds of reports for herself from now on.

In the campus corridors there weren't a lot of students walking. As most of the first years were already in the class waiting for a homeroom second and third were doing their business. Be it lessons, adventuring or still sleeping. So Elena didn’t pay a lot of attention to her surroundings and that's why, as she walked, she bumped into another airhead.

“Oh, sorry.”

“Ooh, isn't it Elena? How are you in this new environment?” said a person she bumped to with a loud and cheerful male voice.

“Geh!” was Elena’s reaction.

“Why ‘geh’? Is it how you greet your childhood friend?”

The one who stood in front of Elena was Edward Rulemaker - Elena Taker’s childhood friend and the only capture target whose route was finished, though it was unintentional. He is a kinda musclebrain character who was also a trusted friend who’ll never leave you in trouble. With his short crimson hair and green eyes his design was similar to a typical fantasy hero who will slay the demon lord and get the princess. But as of now his flashy appearance in real life seemed out of place for Elena. As she looked at him he wore the same uniform as her but with pants instead of a skirt and his left shoulder was also exposed with the same number 1 tattooed on it. As in adventuring he was a leather-armored sword wielder with average stats. But at the same time he was an all-round character who can be useful in most situations that's why Elena always used him in game.

“Aah, yeah. S-sure. Hello, Ed.” answered Elena a bit nervously.

“Are you okay? You seem a little bit different than usual.” Edward gave her a worried look.

“Oh crap.” as of now Elena had no desire to stand out as she didn’t know what to do overall. But still for now she had a need to be Elena Taker, but it wasn't an easy task. While Elena was average she still was a talkative and active person, while Elena Taker had a ‘little kitten’ personality. She was timid and always afraid of things that wasn't really to Elena’s liking as well as it wasn’t comparable with her playstyle. But still, she needed to end this conversation somehow so she quickly recalled the dialog window from the beginning of the game as she chose a random answer.

“A-aren’t you also going to the homeroom?”

“Oh yeah, I’m going! Just want to check a few things. This campus is huge and there are so many interesting things in it!” answered Edward cheerfully.

“O-oh. Good. Then I’m going…”

“You seem really nervous. Are you okay?” but again the crimson haired boy gave Elena a worried look.

“I am. Just uuh...a little bit nervous.”

“Don’t worry! If anything happens I’m here to protect you! So be at ease.” as he said so he gently patted Elena’s head.

Elena simply closed her eyes as she tried to understand what she felt about this sudden action. As gentle as he was it just reeked with unnecessary sweetness. And as it looked like he had no intention to stop Elena simply took a step back.

“Well, I’ll be going then.” as quickly as she said so Elena turned around and walked in the direction of the class with a fast pace leaving a bit stupefied Edward behind.

As Elena was walking through the hallway she was making a sour face. This kind of too gentle and sweet action was a bit too alien to her. Of course, she had a lot of interactions with the opposite gender but it all was more ‘bro’-like interactions. As she never had any romantic interest in anyone she also never wanted them. As if when she was searching for a boyfriend she always looked for someone calmer in these romantic-like interactions. You wanna hug? Sure, why not. You wanna stay like that for a long time? Dude what the hell.

While storming her head with random thoughts Elena continued walking through the hallway as a person appeared behind the corner. While halting her steps a girl looked at the person in front of her. It was a dark skinned boy with shoulder length black hair and eyes of a magenta color. As he wore the same uniform the number on his shoulder was 19. As his and Elena’s eyes met she remembered who he was. Zig Taker, Elena Taker’s step-brother and one of the capture targets. 17 years ago, when Elena was yet to be born, her father suddenly found a newborn in the forest and together with his wife decided to keep and raise him. 2 years later Elena was born and so Zig was taking the role of an older brother. They were really close until Zig went to the battle school as there his unusual dark skin was a reason for other children to poke at him. As a result, he began to conceal his emotions as he worked hard on his battle skills to show off. As a result, he was picked up by the Battle Academy and so for two years Elena Taker had almost no contact with him. If you proceed with his story you’d know that he is actually a huge sister-con as well as a bastard child of a king of a faraway country. His story was filled with detective elements and some unique dungeons that overall was popular in the game's community. But as for Elena she got only two impressions on him and they were ‘who the hell uses a cane as their weapon?’ and ‘where the hell is your damage?’. She didn’t know any of it.

So as Elena looked at him she simply smiled and gave him a nod, which also was an option in the game, and continued walking. As she didn’t know is that when she left - Zig, after confirming that nobody was around, covered his face with a stupid smile and chuckled, simply being happy that his beloved sister also made it into the Academy.

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After two first encounters with capture targets, Elena finally arrived at the class. Most of the first years are already gathered here so she simply took a random sit and waited for the teacher. As she remembers, all that left from the main characters from the first year was a first prince and a villainess. The prince never appeared in the homeroom while the villainess was sitting on the opposite side of the class and so Elena could finally let out a sigh and calm down a little. As time passed a few more students came into the room as well as Edward, who attempted to sit near the heroine. Sadly for him, Elena picked up a place where all the surroundings were already taken so Edward got nothing left but to dejectedly sit where was free.

A moment later a teacher came and so the classroom went silent. As it wasn't surprising - the teacher was also a capture target. With short black hair, a gentle face and brown eyes Ulfric Moton was a young teacher in the Battle Academy. The same as his face he was gentle and always helpful for all the students as he was willing to help even the most legless runners as well as the most handless sword wielders. He was wearing a special teacher's uniform that still left his left shoulder exposed as the number on his tattoo was 32.

As Ulfric started to talk about how the Academy works, Elena thought about these tattoos that were on everyone’s shoulders. In this world, a concept of levels exists. If you look at it from the side it would seem to be added just to justify some game moments with battle elements. When children at the age of 15 finish the battle school they will choose their profession and then a magic tattoo will be engraved on their left shoulder. Its color would depend on what profession was taken. For example, a blacksmith will be red, a merchant will be gold and a mercenary would be violet. Elena and all the others in this academy had a black colored tattoo that was a color for shield. As a shield implies it’s a profession to those who protect. Their work would be similar to mercenaries as their level will go up as they go to the field and defeat monsters, but as mercenaries were free - shields had an obligation to protect their kingdom in the face of danger when it's needed. It would be similar to the knight order of sorts. But not like in knights order - all nobles are shields. That is why Battle Academy was first considered as a part of noble society, as nobles were not born as shields. They were raised as shields from their childhood. But as for shield what was more important is power rather than blood, every year academy will pick up children with exceptional results who aimed to be a mercenary into the Battle Academy to become shields. And as Elena Taker was not just exceptional, but exceptional in support magic, that was a rare and helpful type in battles, she got extra attention.

That is also the reason for the fact that for nobles there was no concept of arranged marriages or saving a noble bloodline. Power was important and the more shields will protect the kingdom - the better. That is why it was more welcoming for a noble to marry a talented commoner than another noble. Still, as it was decided that children should choose themselves, they were all sent to the same academy in hope that they will be able to find a partner. And most of the time it was just another noble.

Still, the level itself was important so people showed it off as much as they could. And the number 32 on Ulfric’s shoulder showed that he was a level 32 and so, considerably strong. In the game, Elena picked him up first as she could just use him to power level other characters, but then she left him in the team as his skillset with a spear was rather comfortable to play with.

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As the lecture ended all the students started to leave the classroom. Elena also got up but had no way to just simply leave.

“Elena Taker! And also Edward Rulemaker! Can you two please come for a talk.” loudly called Ulfric.

“Oh yeah, sure, still not done with the first encounter.” sadly thought Elena as she needed to listen for another talk she knew.

As she both with Edward came clother to the teacher he first looked at them as if evaluating. Then with a satisfied nod he started talking.

“You both are the only commoners in this first year. It may be unusual at first, but I hope you two will be strong enough to fit here as well as find some friends. Especially you, Elena Taker. Don't be shy to ask if you need any help. I also can go on a field with you as I feel a little bit rusty sitting at the academy.” he gave a little chuckle in the end as he was looking at the girl in front of him.

“Don’t worry, Sensei, I will protect Elena with all I can!” suddenly exclaimed Edward as he hit his chest with one hand and patted Elena’s head with another.

“Uugh...again.” Elena wasn’t happy about this.

“Then I can rest assured. I also have high hopes for you, Edward.”

“Buy the way, Sensei, I heard that you’re rather strong with a sword, is it true?” Edward asked excitedly.

“Well I’m more proficient with a spear but I can still give you a few pointers…”

As they started talking Elena hasty retired from the classroom. But the same moment she appeared in the hallway a loud voice interrupted her from behind.

“Ara! Isn’t that a common supporter that I heard so much about?”

“As if there were not enough bothersome things - another one appears!” thought Elena as she turned back.

In front of her stood a girl with blue eyes and gorgeous blond hair that was long enough to reach her waist and was ending with drills. A classic villainess design as the one who stood in front of Elena was indeed - a villainess noble girl Veronica Alexandros. Being the daughter of a duke she went to the academy first to find herself a husband. That is why seeing an exceptional commoner who should be a sweet target for all the other high nobles was a hindrance for her. That is why she was always picking a fight or trying to bully the heroine in order for her to leave the academy. As she wore the same uniform as the other students, her shoulder actually was not exposed. For some reason, high ranking nobles considered bad manners to expose their shoulders like most of the others do. Not exposing one was like a sign of high status. But at the same time, as they wanted to show off their level they had a special embroidery on their shoulder with a number. And the embroidery on Veronica’s shoulder was number 10. Being a level 10 at age of 15 even for a noble was quite a feat and it was considered not possible for a high ranked noble to lie as if it was exposed there would be a severe punishment without regard for status. That is why being a high ranked noble as well as level 10 Veronica had enough influence to bully one commoner girl.

But as it always goes in Otome games - Villainess must face her fall. And her fall was always the same. And as Elena recalled the real number behind this embroidery she gave out a small laugh.

“Heh.”

“You dare laugh at me just like that?” as Elena laughed, Veronica’s face darkened. With a few steps villainess came closer to the heroine and slapped her face with the back of her hand.

“Eh…?” Elena was astounded. First because of sudden and unexpected pain and second - this never happened in the game’s event. But also, in the first encounter with a villainess, there was no option to laugh.

“Oh well. First of all...heal.”

As a green light healed the aching cheek Veronica showed a surprised face, that then darkened back.

“I see, showing off on your first day aren’t you a nasty commoner? But well, let’s see if you can continue with this attitude.” Veronica showed an annoyed expression and hid her face behind the fan. “I’ll be sure that your life in the academy will be plenty of fun, just you wait.”

As she finished talking she turned and left.

Same as her Elena turned and went the opposite direction. As she scratched her cheek she smiled a bit while recalling the event right now as she knows what awaits the villainess much better than Veronica does.

Milk.Milkan

Actually, i wanted to introduce all the 'capture targets' in the first chapter but then i was like "Holy shit 3700 words already give me a break!"

So yeah, here is a 1st chapter while a 2nd one will be part2.

Ill try to write a 2nd chap the next week and then do some Bloodstained Snow.

Peace!