Simon and Lorraine walked down the academic building’s corridor together.
"You want to team up with me?" Lorraine asked, her expression laced with suspicion.
"Yeah. Just for one game, if you’re willing."
"I don’t mind, but..." She tucked a strand of her night-sky black hair behind her ear. "This isn’t like you. What’s the reason?"
"Oh, just..." Simon offered a strained smile. "I wanted to talk to you."
Lorraine lowered her long eyelashes. Without another word, she gave a slight nod and started walking.
With her consent secured, they began searching the building. Their method was simple: they walked the halls, and whenever a classroom gave them a "feeling," they went inside to check desks and drawers. The Kizen campus, however, was teeming with students lying in ambush.
"Wahaha! If you wish to pass, you must first get through—!" a student guarding an alleyway began to shout, then froze. "!"
Seeing Simon and Lorraine together, he immediately dropped his aggressive stance.
"—you can just pass! Please, go right ahead!"
As he scrambled out of their way, Lorraine gave a slight raise of her hand in acknowledgment and continued on. Simon followed without a word.
’I-I almost got myself killed,’ the ambusher thought, sweat dripping down his forehead. ’Those two are working together? Are they hunting the Student Council President or something?’ This place was too dangerous. He fled the building.
"Ah, found one!" Simon called out, pointing to a yellow card stuck to a wall.
Lorraine shook her head.
"Not that one. I already have a yellow card."
It seemed she was also trying to collect seven different colors. Simon pulled his glasses from his subspace and put them on.
"Leave it to me. What colors do you have?"
"Indigo and yellow."
Simon had indigo and orange, so they just needed to find colors that didn’t overlap. Through the glasses, the entire building glowed with a yellow hue, meaning only yellow cards could be found there. He immediately led Lorraine out of the building and into one that was tinted blue.
"There are plenty here," he noted.
They moved through empty classrooms, searching for cards. He’d recently discovered that even within a single color-coded area, there were lighter and darker shades. The probability of finding a card was significantly higher in the darker sections. ’What would I do without these glasses?’
He quickly found two cards in a desk drawer, but they had entry conditions they couldn’t meet.
"Simon."
Lorraine, who had been searching the other side of the room, pointed to a card on the floor.
"How about this one?"
[Difficulty: Medium]
[Entry Capacity: 2 people]
[Entry Condition: Must be entered by one male and one female student.]
"Not bad." It was a two-person card with a reasonable difficulty. The oddly specific entry condition was a little strange, but it worked for them.
"Let’s do this one."
"Okay."
Lorraine stepped onto the card first and was pulled in. Simon followed right behind her.
[Entering a new game.]
Simon was reminded of a line from a fairy tale Anna used to read to him as a child.
"All animals that walk on two legs are great," the Pig Princess declared.’
He had loved the Pig Princess when he was young. She was bold and decisive, always triumphing over the wicked.
"Mom, what about the animals that walk on four legs?" he had asked.’
"They were considered livestock, dear."
"That’s strange. Why would a pig look down on other pigs? The only difference is how many legs they walk on."
"It must have been very important to them. That’s why the four-legged pigs tried so hard to learn to walk on two."
As the memory faded, Simon opened his eyes. He understood why it had surfaced: the world inside this card was like a scene straight out of that fairy tale. All around him, animals in suits and dresses stood on two legs, sipping wine at a lavish party.
’Hmm.’
He scanned the opulent banquet hall. Dogs, rabbits, goats, and sheep mingled and conversed. He had half-expected them to be making animal noises, but they were speaking the continental language with perfect pronunciation. They stood on two legs with an effortless grace, holding their wine glasses with their front paws as if they were hands, the gesture so natural it seemed this was their intended purpose all along.
’A world this well-crafted...’ He was beginning to understand why Endolas Bordeville’s power was considered one of the continent’s ten great mysteries, on par with Nephthys herself.
"Simon."
He turned. The sight of Lorraine in a dress made a hot flush creep up his neck.
’Ugh.’
The gown was shockingly revealing, with bare shoulders and a plunging neckline. The skirt was so short it barely offered any coverage. To top it all off, she was wearing an animal-ear headband. It was a mortifying outfit for a student.
’Is this Endolas Bordeville’s personal taste?’ The thought made him feel vaguely ill, as if he’d stumbled upon some middle-aged man’s strange fantasy.
Lorraine seemed just as uncomfortable, tugging at the hem of her short skirt.
"It’s black again," she muttered in annoyance.
’Is that really the main problem here?’ Simon thought with a wry smile.
His own party attire was a tuxedo, but it was plain and simple compared to Lorraine’s elaborate design. ’Still, making the shirt under the tuxedo black is a bit much.’ And, just like Lorraine, he had a matching animal-ear headband.
"Pfft."
A horse in a suit trotting past them let out a derisive snort.
"Four ears. What a hideous creature."
"Humans," its companion sighed. "Honestly."
It was becoming clear they were not welcome guests at this particular banquet.
Simon tugged at the ridiculous animal-ear headband, but it was stuck fast to his head.
"Simon." Lorraine approached, a matching pair of ears twitching on her own head.
Simon’s face burned. It wasn’t just the costume; the contrast between her effortlessly composed expression and the flapping of those absurd ears was utterly jarring.
"What are we supposed to do here?" he asked.
"I’m not sure either."
Just then, a new message shimmered into existence before them.
[You are ’Knights’.]
[Knight’s Objective: Protect the Pig Princess until the time limit expires.]
’Knights?’ So their roles and mission were set.
Lorraine scanned their surroundings. "Then there must be others with different roles," she murmured.
As if on cue, another message appeared.
[An ’Assassin’ is hiding among the animals.]
[Assassin’s Objective: Assassinate the Pig Princess before the party ends.]
[There are two Assassins.]
[The Assassins are animals participating in the party. They cannot be distinguished by appearance.]
’Aha.’ Now it all made sense. This world, created by Endolas Bordeville, was clearly based on ’Animal Kingdom’, the famous fairy tale Anna used to read to him. That meant two of the animals at this party were Kizen students, and they were here to kill the Pig Princess.
"They must have figured out we’re the knights right away," Simon noted.
"Right." Their appearances hadn't changed; they were still human. It was safest to assume the assassins were watching their every move.
"Then where is the Pig Princess?"
Their eyes darted around the ballroom. Among the dozens of animal pairs, there wasn’t a single pig in sight. Nor were there any animals wearing a gown glamorous enough for royalty.
"Let’s start by gathering information," Simon suggested.
"Okay."
They decided to split up and question the other guests.
"Excuse me," Simon began, approaching an old wolf in a tailored suit. "Where might the Pig Princess be?"
The wolf just waved a dismissive hand, clearly annoyed.
"Ma’am, may I have a word?" he tried again, this time with a goat in an elegant dress. She simply snorted and turned her back on him.
’Ugh, this is going to be difficult.’ He’d hoped to subtly probe them, to see if he could identify the Kizen students while gathering intel, but the animals were actively avoiding both him and Lorraine.
"Looking for the princess?" a voice drawled. A fox, lounging languidly on a sofa, chuckled. "The princess hasn’t made her appearance yet. The star of the show always arrives last, you know."
The fox was a surprisingly smooth talker. He hopped off the sofa and sauntered over to Simon.
"How curious." He leaned in, examining Simon’s face from every angle. "I never would have guessed, but a real human has graced us with their presence."
"...Are humans not allowed here?"
"Well, you walk on two legs, so there’s no reason you can’t come. You’re not ’livestock’, after all." The fox grinned, a flash of white teeth in the dim light. "Still, for such a shameful, hairless animal to come all this way... my, my. Try not to cause any trouble for the Pig Princess."
With a flick of his tail, he turned and walked away. Simon watched him go, his expression serious.
’He’s not an assassin, is he?’ His behavior was a little suspicious, but the casual way he rattled off information about this world suggested he wasn’t a Kizen student. Simon mentally crossed the fox off his list of suspects and continued observing the other animals.
’Whoever they are, they’re good actors.’ He’d expected at least one of them to betray a hint of panic in such a bizarre situation, but every animal in the banquet hall was behaving perfectly naturally. If anyone had been hiding in a corner, darting anxious glances around, or reacting strangely, he would have pegged them as an assassin. But there wasn’t a single one.
’The Pig Princess hasn’t arrived yet, so let’s not rush things.’
After a while, Simon and Lorraine reconvened at a small table with plates of cake and dessert. It seemed she’d received the same cold shoulder from the other guests. They pooled their information, which amounted to the following:
1. The Pig Princess is the host of this party and will make her appearance at the very end.
2. Humans are considered the lowest class here.
3. The animals revere the act of walking on two legs. This is so fundamental that even humans, whom they despise, are permitted entry to the party on this basis alone.
4. They detest animals that walk on four legs, viewing them as mere livestock.
"The theme for this game is a fairy tale called ’Animal Kingdom’," Simon explained. "Getting a feel for it?"
"Not really. I’m not very familiar with fairy tales or nursery rhymes."
"Really?" Simon gave her a brief summary of the plot. It wasn’t a particularly complex story. The animals on a farm staged a rebellion, drove out the humans, and founded their own kingdom. Initially, it was an equal society, but one day, a pig performed the bizarre feat of standing on two legs.
It then declared, ’I am a superior, more evolved being than you,’ and sought to rule over the others. It began calling itself the ’Pig Princess’. Envious, many other animals tried to stand on two legs as well. The Pig Princess found this endearing, and soon a rigid class system formed. The bipedal animals wore lavish clothes and ate expensive food.
After living as a tyrant, the Pig Princess one day looked in a mirror and realized she had become just like the humans she so despised. She then hanged herself.
"What kind of ending is that?" Lorraine, who had been listening intently, furrowed her brow. "What kind of fairy tale is that? One of those grim ones?"
"The children’s version ends with the Pig Princess realizing her mistake, returning to all fours, and living happily ever after," Simon clarified. "Anyway, here’s my plan."
He laid out his strategy, and Lorraine nodded in agreement. With that settled, they had a little time to kill before the princess’s arrival.
"By the way, Simon," Lorraine said, "you mentioned you wanted to talk to me about something."
"Ah." He’d been so focused on the game that he’d completely forgotten. He had, after all, approached her with another purpose in mind. "It’s about Professor Silage," he began casually.
Lorraine looked at him, puzzled.
"What kind of mission was so important that he had to suddenly quit his post at Kizen?"
Lorraine blinked. "Why are you so curious about that?"
Simon’s mind raced. "O-Of course I’m curious! He was one of my favorite professors last semester, and then he just vanished without a word."
"Hmm." Lorraine closed her eyes for a moment, thinking. When she opened them, her voice was low. "This is confidential, so don’t tell anyone."
"Yes! Of course."
Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "Professor Silage went into a dungeon."

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