The Girl Who Hacked The Magic System

I simply can't believe I'm feeling jealous of Yaci. It isn't like we're actually dating, right?

Also, I'm very close to Lovelace as well, and Yaci never showed any sign of being jealous about it.

Jealousy is a fucking shit of a feeling, crafted by insecurity and delivered by hormones. And my puberty has been making those hormones go crazy.

Thing is, I can acknowledge that this feeling exists without acting on it. Being jealous is normal; every person has their moments of weakness and insecurity.

In any case, this seems like a 'me' problem. One that I have to solve by myself.

:::

We are one month from the deadline of the marriage between uncle Jyllian and that fucking princess.

We've been working behind the scenes to make our position about the beastkin known, with public proclamations by the king and constant discourse by my mother as she adventures around the kingdom.

One key tweak is to equate the plight of the beastkin with the one of the commoners, who toil under the oppression of the conservative nobles and the Church.

Nothing brings people together more than trauma bonding, after all.

And my mother is the perfect banner for that discourse, as a human who was enslaved and lived with the beastkin, suffering the same and having the scars to show for it.

The Church have been voicing their discontent about it, of course. The Pontifex often comes to the palace to complain, to which king Halinard simply nods and smiles.

I've also been conducting some surveys, with the help of Shalia, the elf who works for my uncle. She has a wide net of informants throughout the kingdom, so I introduced to her the concept of structured surveys and statistics.

We've seen that there is a strong popular opinion in favor of the end of the slavery system. Even though the Church is still quite popular, my mother is more popular. And a significant majority would side with her in the case of a conflict between the two.

The Church has really taken a dip after the goddess went silent. I've been growing restless with the idea of her awakening in the middle of the war, but there's no helping it.

What makes me hopeful is the idea that she did the hero summoning because she was losing the war. And, to be honest, I fear no hero.

Not with Lovelace and Ingela at my side, plus all the years of training and experience under my belt. No greenhorn Earthling could be able to face us and win.

I feel some pity for them, actually. Like, just imagine. You are living your life on Earth normally when you get summoned to this world, only for the goddess to feed you honey-laced lies and say, 'well, we have a war, and we're losing. Those guys there are evil, so go and kill them.'

And 'those guys' are actually the people fighting against slavery and stuff. So you end up fighting on the wrong side, the one that defends stuff that you're against.

Yeah, it would suck to be them, not gonna lie.

:::

"So, tomorrow is the fateful day."

Yaci is eating a rainbow cake as she talks. Not exactly a woman of high etiquette, and I love her for it.

We're all having a different breakfast today, one that looks more like a feast. The last days we've been doing only the basic training exercises, so everyone can be rested when the war begins.

That's why we're all having cakes today.

"Yeah. My grandpa will publish the decree tomorrow morning."

"The one we drafted together, Aurea?"

"Yes, Yawarete, that one. It's the first piece of Wesgothian law that was mostly written by beastkin. You three did a wonderful job."

"I thought that it would only serve as a basis for the king to write his own law. I'm surprised that it will be published as is."

Yawarete's smile is going almost literally from ear to ear as she takes another spoonful of the cake.

"The king was very pleased with the one we delivered and said that he had nothing to add to it. You should also be proud of it, Aurea, as you were also a key piece of it."

"Ah, I barely did anything, Lovelace. I just helped them put what they wanted in the format of legislative texts. Nothing more than that."

"And that's not a small feat, Aurea."

"I agree with Lovelace and Kwarah there. I've also done that law elective class on the Academy, so I know how hard those texts are. To have a new law approved by the king without amendments is huge."

I can feel my cheeks burning, so I focus on the slice of cake in front of me. Even Ingela is complimenting me now... I can't deal with all that.

Gladly, Seufroy changed topics right after.

"So, who wants to place bets on how long it will take for the war to officially start after the law banning slavery is published?"

"Five hours!"

Yaci is the first to shout, immediately followed by Ingela and Kwarah.

"One hour!"

"Eight hours!"

The breakfast soon descends into chaos, as people keep shouting their bets, and poor Seufroy has a hard time in front of him, as he tries to take notes of everyone's bets.

"You won't bet yourself, Aurea?"

"Oh, I was just watching you all. Do you remember the time when we went to Amapytu to do the rescue, Yaci?"

"How could I forget?"

"It makes me remember that day. The butterflies in the stomach, the anxiety, the anticipation... And the feeling that I was born exactly for this moment."

"We've been through so much together since the day I found you under that tree, unconscious."

She takes my hand in hers, giving me a warm smile and pulling my cheek with the other hand.

"And we'll go through so much more together, and we'll remain together to the very end. This is a promise."

Yaci, you're such a gem shining in the dark!!! How could I even be jealous of you???

"This is a promise from me as well, Yaci. Together to the very end, whatever it might be."