On the other side of the school grounds from where Ira was resting in his room, completely isolated from society, a meeting was taking place. In his mind, he could see the Second Prince's fiancée pacing in a large room to the sound of dramatic music. It was obvious she was going to do something stupid.
Or, more precisely, desperate.
Ira had absolutely no interest in her, but the image she was making was exactly like one of those melodramatic teen dramas you saw on tv, you know, the ones that didn't make any sense. And for all that Ira got nauseous at the bare hint of romance, watching that romance crash and burn was top quality material.
Priceless.
His Host was locked in her room, still in despair at how her plan had turned out.
Ira wasn't sure what she was so dissatisfied with, she had planned to get the guy's attention and now she had it. In a negative fashion, yes, but she still had it.
For the first time in literally months.
On his desk laid a piece of paper. It was the letter from his mother, confirming that they had accepted his marriage to Silas and there was no way out for him. Ira had no intention of trying to get out of it, there was absolutely no point.
Ira turned the page in his book and just when he was about to continue reading, a knock sounded on his door. Frowning, he set the book aside on his bedside table and stood up from his bed.
He opened the door and promptly cursed himself for not checking on who it was first.
Silas was on the other side, a smile playing on his lips and an air of satisfaction around him. "Hello, Bran."
Ira's face was blank. "Hello."
"I'm taking you out on a date." Silas said, with a serious look in his eyes that said he was not kidding around.
"No." Ira deadpanned and abruptly closed the door.
Well, he tried to, anyway. It was a very valiant attempt. If it wasn't due to the fact that Silas was physically stronger than Bran, it would have worked. As it was, he was leaning his weight on it and hoping it would snap closed. Ira could deal with a lot of things. He could agree to a marriage that was never going to happen, but a date? Now that was too sappy for him.
Ira was no teenager and he was no lovestruck fool. He didn't really want to get to know Silas. There was no reason for him to go on a date with the man.
Silas obviously disagreed with him, because he shoved the door open again and stepped into the room, forcing Ira to step back. "We are going to be married. Getting to know each other better is common sense."
Ira just shook his head. "No. Not happening."
Silas narrowed his eyes. "About twenty minutes away with a carriage away, there is a café that serves chocolate cake. It is supposed to be the best in the kingdom."
Ira's eyes went wide. When he put it like that, it was clear as day what his choice would be. Ira grabbed his coat and shoes and pushed his way past the man. "Well," he looked back at the man that still hadn't moved. "what are you waiting for?"
"Nothing. I was just thinking about how much I love you." Silas said and smiled.
"Love is nothing but an illusion." Ira objected.
Silas followed him out and Ira locked the door. As they were leaving, Ira thought of something and said, "You know, you should have started with the bit about the cake."
"I realize that now." Silas drawled.
Ira smiled before he could stop himself. Luckily, it seemed like Silas didn't notice.
He didn't want to give the man any ideas.
The date was far more pleasant than Ira thought it would be. He spent the trip there reading the book he automatically brought with him and ignoring the other man in the carriage with him. Once there, they were seated immediately, despite the fact that there was a line outside the door, several meters long.
The cake was, as promised, absolutely delicious. Ira even thanked the man for bringing him there.
That was how good the cake was.
Sadly, after squeezing down three whole pieces of cake, this body could no longer eat any more of it, and they finally left the café. Silas did the gentlemanly thing and paid for it all. When Ira saw the price, he almost spit out his water from how ridiculously expensive it was.
But he had more class than that, and so no such thing happened.
On the way back to the school, Ira fell asleep fairly soon after the carriage started moving. They had spent hours at the café and Ira had completely forgotten about his pain of a Host for a precious time. It was nice, to be treated like he mattered and wasn't just a servant there to do his Host's bidding. Funny, that was how all the Hosts saw systems. He didn't understand their narrow worldview, but he also didn't understand them at any other time either.
Regardless, he took advantage of his good mood and fell asleep easily, worried about nothing. The mission was already screwed and his Host's every action was still being automatically recorded. There was no reason for him to even think about it now.
The next few days passed uneventfully.
School was like school always was. His Host was again up to no good, though Ira didn't bother to find out what, the Second Prince was still studiously avoiding his Host and the prince's fiancée was (rightfully) suspicious that something had happened between the Second Prince and his Host.
Ira spent most of his days in the library, ignoring the drama that was going on around him, and reading letters upon letters from Bran's mother, complimenting him for his skills at seduction. He had no idea what she was talking about.
He was pretty sure he would know if he had seduced someone.
That wasn't really something you did accidentally.
Regardless, it was a time of peace and calm. For him, that was. His Host was desperate to find a way to fix he situation.
Not to mention their studies, which she was woefully behind on because all she had focused on was the prince.
As he was walking back to his dorms after leaving the library, his Host dragged him into an alleyway and pushed him up against the wall. She was using her magic to augment her strength, but Ira would't have gone through the trouble of avoiding her anyway. She would have just hunted him down later, even more furious.
She hissed out, "Give me a magic pill."
What? Did she think he was an apothecary? He had no pills nor did he condone the use of drugs for anything other then medical purposes.
"For what?" Ira asked her, honestly bewildered. He had taken his the status of the mission to mean that he didn't need to keep as close an eye on her. He had never been lectured for doing it before.
She narrowed her green eyes at him. "To increase my magic power, obviously. If I can't have him because of my beauty than I'll just use my other advantages."
Did she forget that the mission wasn't to marry him, but to fall in mutual love with him?
The Second Prince was handsome, powerful and had a guaranteed salary. It shouldn't be a hardship for her to fall in love with him. From what he had seen of previous Hosts, those were the most important things when considering a lover, much less a person to marry.
Ira leaned his had back on the wall he was shoved up against. "You don't have sufficient points to but any pills."
She frowned. "Aren't there beginner's packs?"
"No." Wherever had she gotten that idea?
"Can you increase my magic power or not?" she demanded.
Ira rose an eyebrow and calmly told her, "No."
"Why not?" she pushed him harder and growled at him.
Ira shrugged the best he could. "This is your first mission and it's in Tutorial Mode. You have absolutely no benefits other than the Tutorial Mode."
"Well, when will I get them, then?"
"Once you are a veteran Host and world-traveler. That is, in about 100'000 successful mission."
"WHAT?!" she stepped back and let go of Ira in her shock. "That many?! That's impossible! No-one could manage that many missions and succeed at every single one of them!"
Ira shrugged again. "It's been done before."
"No." she shook her head vigorously. "No way! It can't be done! You're just lying to me because you don't want to admit that you want me to fail! You've never been on my side since the very beginning!"
"Obviously." Ira deadpanned.
"Yo-you..." she stumbled back. "what's wrong with you?! Isn't this supposed to be your duty?! You should help me with whatever I need and make sure I succeed! Traveling through worlds with no benefits, cheats or help... nobody could do that! Never!"
Ira tilted his head. "It doesn't matter anyway. You've already failed this mission. You might as well let it go and relax during the time that's left."
"I haven't failed." she growled at him.
Ira just rolled his eyes in response. He had no patience to deal with her lack of sense. She could do what she pleased during the time that was left, it was all on her head anyway. Ira wouldn't take any part in whatever punishment she received. Of course, it was the Tutorial Mode, so she wasn't actually supposed to be punished at all. But the Boss had found that the Hosts didn't try hard enough when they knew there would be no punishment in the event of failure, so Ira's Hosts would be temporarily getting punished regardless of the Tutorial Mode.
He wasn't sure how long that was going to last or if it was going to become a permanent rule, it all depended on what the Boss thought of the results.
While she was in complete denial over the state of the mission, Ira left the alley and corrected his clothes out of habit. He didn't actually care about how he looked — it wasn't like it was his body — but being presentable in a school was simply common decency.
He left his Host behind as he returned to his room, intent on not bothering with her again. The form for a new Host had been left in and from earlier precedence, he already knew it would be accepted. Again, he had no idea why he was treated so well among the system, the very highest rank and a great deal of respect from the younger and lower ones. But he wasn't the sort of person that wouldn't take advantage of an opportunity presented on a silver platter.
That would just be rude.
On his way back to his dorms, he figured he could do his job, just a little bit, and checked in on the male protagonist. The Second Prince was in a meeting with the King, away from the school and if he was hearing correctly, they were talking about the Crown Prince. Whose identity Ira didn't know, because he couldn't be bothered to find out.
He had no reason to and so simply didn't bother with it.
Out of a sense of curiosity he couldn't place, he then checked up on Silas. Just for a moment, he saw as the man was seemingly in the middle of scheming with what looked like fairy strong nobles.
Then he had fulfilled his curiosity and had no reason to continue looking, and concentrated on what was physically in front of him again.
As his last duty, he checked up on the Second Prince's fiancée and found her to be sleeping with a satisfied smile on her face. If her sleep-talking was to be believed, she had killed his Host and was very happy about it.
Well, that gave away her plan.