Chapter 61: On Maria (Thanks to the Patron 'Komi-san Victory')

Morning, waking up just a little bit before the sunrise, washing up, working out, and then taking a shower.
Setting off in a pleasant mood to complete commissions and moonlight in geological research.
At noon, if she can make it back, she will definitely have lunch with everyone. If not, she will simply boil a pot of soup to tide herself over, occasionally feeling slightly nauseated by the fishy smell of simple seafood soup.
Upon returning to the manor, she checks the town to see if anyone needs help, then teams up with the cat Ignaros to finalize the evening menu with the cook and go grocery shopping together.
After dinner, she goes out with G and the others to complete a gathering quest.
At night, she checks the clockwork cat dens to ensure these chubby creatures won't get frostbite. At the same time, she checks whether Louisa, Catherina, G, Sonia, and the cat Ignaros are inside the manor, and then locks the manor gates securely.
She begins writing articles, occasionally having late-night conversations with bewildered banshees.
This is everything Maria does in the course of a single day.
Thinking about it this way, although this person, much like Sonia, would vanish for periods of time from time to time, she was always present everywhere, like some, oh, friendly ghost?
She wasn't that important every single moment.
Yet every day, she felt like an irreplaceable figure.

Melina multi-tasked, writing her own report while keeping an eye on Maria. Her strategy was to use her own erudition to attract the other person closer to her, thereby understanding her bit by bit.
Achieving this was not easy; it required Melina's achievements and knowledge in geology to be at least no lower than Maria's.
Could she do it?
As an all-around talent, Melina felt she should be able to manage it.
She wasn't a generalist in the ordinary sense—not the kind where you go to school and ask around, and someone who scores 90 in math, 90 in Chinese, 90 in geography, and 90 in social studies is considered a generalist. Melina was not that kind of generalist.
As a mathematician, she could solve millennia-old mysteries.
As a linguist, she could master over a hundred niche languages and dozens of popular ones.
As a scientist, she maintained a record of original and groundbreaking major inventions every year.
Even when moonlighting as an architect and engineer, she could create startling and reliable buildings and mega-projects.
Even if she were asked to be a manga artist, film director, or writer, she could easily secure high sales—whether she won awards was uncertain, but the sales would definitely be high enough. After all, artistic evaluations often did not strictly require high sales, much like how some mindless commentators select the MVP without actually choosing the most valuable player on the field.
Melina was that kind of generalist—a generalist with the ability to become the so-called "GOAT" in any industry she chose, namely, "The Time," the "Greatest of All Time." With this level of all-around talent, conquering Maria through her own academic prowess was entirely feasible.
Melina thought to herself.

At this moment, Maria also deeply realized this young girl's talent.
Simply like a god who had fallen into the mortal world... Maria thought, feeling no particular jealousy in her heart, but certainly harboring a trace of envy for this talent that bordered on omniscience.
"Maria, where are you from?"
Feeling the atmosphere was just right for an advance, Melina made her move.
"Me?"
"Yeah, I want to understand you a bit better."
"Understand me better? Is there any ne—never mind, if I don't tell you anything at this point, it would make me look too cold-hearted, wouldn't it?" With a hint of melancholy, Maria began to speak of her family from her past life.
Although Melina had asked about her family in this current life, seeing her answer with such a sorrowful expression, Melina felt too embarrassed to say, "That's not what I asked."
In Maria's past life, although she had family, it wasn't a happy household.
Her father cheated on her mother when she was eleven.
Her mother was also an absolute piece of trash.
However, both her paternal grandparents and maternal grandparents cherished her dearly, which served as a sort of remedy in that sorrowful and unfortunate life.
"Sometimes,"
Maria's sunny smile completely vanished, replaced by a dazed and detached expression:
"I can't even figure out whether I should be miserable or happy about crossing over to this side."
"What does leaving my old days behind actually feel like? It's your turn, Mel, tell me about yours."
"Me..."
If Melina wanted to, fabricating a reasonable and convincing past wasn't beyond her, but she still recalled earnestly:
"Family? Harmonious. My parents, brothers, and sisters all took good care of me. Um, I often skipped school because the English homework was too easy, so I tried challenging myself to write essays entirely using famous quotes in English. Also, in junior and senior high, I achieved a six-consecutive-term championship in urban middle school Go tournaments."
"Whoa, what a Mary Sue persona."
"Mm-hmm, totally a Mary Sue." Melina crossed her arms and reminisced. Although her life after coming to this world had been rather colorless, her past life was a bit more 'red'—red, as in the tragic, blood-stained red of other challengers.
"I was also a badminton champion; if I wanted to win, I'd already won major prizes in amateur competitions."
"When it comes to poker, I've never lost."
"My life hasn't had much passion, nor has it ever felt unbearable. Victory is practically an old friend of mine, and I entertain her every single day."
Maria's expression held a startling disgust as she muttered:
"That's why I hate life-winners the most..."
Before Melina could say anything, Maria suddenly added:
"Anyway, I'm sorry for making you remember all that."
"Sorry for what?"
"Sorry for exposing the fact that you used to be a life-winner. Speaking of transmigration, if a good-for-nothing like me who just eats and waits to die transmigrates, the positive emotional feedback is definitely going to be much better, right?" She said, "If someone fails in the real world, going to a new world naturally makes them yearn for success. That's a matter-of-course process full of positive feedback."
"You're quite the philosopher."
"Even an artist." Maria seemed a bit more relaxed, letting out a "ha" and flashing that reassuring smile of hers. "So I'm sorry. If you were originally a winner, coming to this world must give you that suffocating feeling of 'my maxed-out account got deleted and I have to start all over again,' right?"
There was a little bit of that.
Melina wouldn't admit it out loud. Her eyes rolled like those of an expensive cat, full of mischief:
"Not really."
"Not really?"
"Because even in this world, I am still a winner."
At this point, Melina had a new thought regarding the matter that had once brought her the greatest sense of frustration.
She had been filled with anger over her inability to become an explorer.
This anger had transformed into jealousy.
And this jealousy would burn everything down the moment she found a way to become an explorer.
Melina was grateful to Sonia for turning her into an explorer. Perhaps, as a price, dying for her was somewhat justifiable? Though that would be taking herself far too lightly.
She almost laughed out loud.

Meanwhile, Maria pouted: "Alright, alright, I know you're amazing. But who would have thought, your past life really was exactly like your current one, brimming with an absurd, heaven-defying talent. Tell me, if you hadn't crossed over into this world, could you have invented a time machine?"
"A time machine is a paradox."
"Ooh, a genius's explanation?"
"..." Melina lifted her chin and glared at her. "The paradox lies in the fact that if I invented a time machine, by the nature of the person who invents it, I would go to meet my past self. Yet my life has never featured a future version of myself, so it's impossible for me to invent a time machine. Can you understand a paradox like that?"
"Got it, the prophet paradox, right?" Old Ma waved her hand and said with a chuckle, "Thinking about it, it really is pretty unlikely..."
Melina fell into deep thought.
The image of that woman in the black dress surfaced in her mind.
The other person had a tear mole just like her, wore a black dress, and her figure... the other person looked almost like herself, just nearly thirty centimeters taller. Although her hair wasn't silver, silver hair could evolve into a black-haired banshee later in life...
Could that woman...
Had she truly never seen her future self?
Setting aside thoughts that grew increasingly terrifying the more one pondered them, Melina asked:
"Senior Maria, you know so much. Do you love reading books?"
"I do. When I was little, I used to believe in the Bermuda Triangle..."
"The Bermuda Triangle exists," Melina puffed out her cheeks.
"Uh, even a genius like you..."
"It just exists!"
"Fine, fine." Maria shrugged, then lowered her head to shower praise on Melina's report.
"What's your favorite book?"
Maria closed the report, raised her head, and thought for a moment:
"Hmm, my favorite? *One Hundred Years of Solitude*, and as for plays, I like *Waiting for Godot*."
A literary maiden.
Melina began to feel a sense of yearning. In her past life, although quite a few girls were trapped by the persona of a literary maiden, most of them didn't actually read much, and when they did read, it was just to pose at Starbucks cafes. Yet here, there were actually three people who loved literature! (Sonia's acting skills were quite high.)
When the time came, they could go hold a Transmigrator Literary Society! (Sonia wouldn't like that.)
However, amidst her happiness, Melina didn't forget her main objective:
"If you like books, how about I ask Sonia to build a bookstore? As it happens, we both have a demand for magazines and books, and quite a few banshees and banshee explorers are starting to frequent this place. A bookstore is an urgent necessity!"
Maria's eyes lit up.
Yet this blonde older sister twirled a lock of hair and muttered:
"Won't that cause trouble for Suo-suo?"
"When she scolds you as an XGP exclusive player, do you think she considers whether she's causing trouble for you? And when Suo-suo's gamers demand game exclusives, do they ever think about causing trouble for you guys?"
Melina didn't understand single-player gaming, but she understood journalism.
Although saying so was a bit shameless, she retained some memories of all sorts of flame-war journalism, hoping this would awaken Maria's wrath.
Sure enough, Maria's expression turned serious.
"We've got to find a way to cause her some big trouble! This gal dragged me away from the comfortable royal capital to this place, and she nags me about being an XGP player every single day. Damn it, how is XGP so Sony-dog-like!"
Provoked by Melina, Maria resolved to demand an oversized bookstore and insisted on having at least three convenience stores built, otherwise it would be "mutual destruction, I'm leaving tonight."
It wasn't that Maria was so greedy; rather, Melina had secretly fanned the flames:
"Even for a latecomer like me, she satisfied my requests to build a big bridge, pave roads, and set up an alchemy shop. If she's being this stingy with you, ugh."
Meow, I forgot to thank you for the big meal expense yesterday, meow-嗷!
(End of this chapter)