Chapter 74
Chapter 75
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: The Aide's Choice (2)
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I looked at Marian.
What nonsense had that guy just spouted?
I replayed Marian's words in my mind.
"I get your position. You're childhood friends with Ruena, right? We must sound like lunatics saying this. It's hard to accept."
"Yeah. You know it."
"But trust me. The childhood friend you knew will change. ...In a fortnight, due to the coercive force I mentioned."
No matter how much I thought about it, it made no sense.
Ruena changing?
The girl I'd known for over ten years?
It wasn't easy to accept.
No, it was utter bullshit that I couldn't accept.
What the hell was this coercive force that it could change Ruena?
It was ridiculous.
It had to be ridiculous.
An unpleasant emotion crept up from the center of my chest.
Hot,
boiling,
making my fists clench involuntarily.
I bit my lip and gripped my fists tightly.
I felt my nails digging into my palms, but I didn't care.
Because damn House Noir's intuition was telling me.
Marian.
That his words weren't lies.
House Noir's blood, usually so useful, was pissing me off right now.
I'd have been better off not knowing.
I could have dismissed it as nonsense.
But—.
Everything about Marian was screaming it.
His eyes.
His expression.
His desperation.
All of it... even if not the facts, rang true.
House Noir's intuition had rarely betrayed me.
Right now,
I hated that fact.
'Annoying.'
A sigh escaped me.
For some reason, a bitter taste filled my mouth.
Denial.
Rebellion.
Those emotions faded,
and an inexplicable ominous foreboding began to wrap around my entire body.
'Calm down.'
I gently closed my eyes.
And took a steady deep breath.
This situation was shitty as hell, sure,
but denying shitty reality got me nowhere.
Even in the mud,
even in a pit of dust.
Finding the highest value and best choice—that's what House Noir does.
I opened my eyes and looked at the two of them.
Marian had his head bowed, wearing a pained expression.
Melissa, on the other hand...
She leaned against the wall, watching us, but her expression seemed a bit softer than before.
She must have judged that conversation was possible now.
Or—.
Maybe she'd given up intervening after Marian spilled the truth.
Either way, it was a relief from my perspective.
Having unpredictable Melissa butt in was worse than
questioning Marian, whom I'd observed for the past fortnight and whose true feelings I could glimpse.
I stared at Marian and carefully opened my mouth.
"Marian."
"Yeah."
"That coercive force... what exactly is it? You said an unavoidable moment comes no matter how you try to escape it. Does it create events? Or manipulate people?"
"Both."
"...Both?"
Marian nodded at me.
He thought for a moment, then pulled out a notepad from his bag.
And began drawing something on it.
What was drawn on the notepad
were two circles of similar size.
Soon, Marian labeled one circle "This World" and the other "My Original World."
"First, let me explain this world in detail."
"...Okay."
"As you can see from the diagram, I came from another world. Different from this one."
"Yeah."
"Originally, these two worlds were separate, but..."
Marian let out a small sigh.
Then, from the circle labeled "My Original World,"
he started drawing arrows pointing to the opposite circle labeled "This World."
"Like this diagram, a door-like thing appeared that allowed passage from my world to this one. In our language, it's called a gate."
"Gate?"
"Yeah. Usually, they have dungeons inside or monsters pop out... but this gate was different. It was a portal connected to another world."
Marian sighed again.
A longer sigh this time.
His face showed disgust just from recalling it.
Clutching the notepad tightly, Marian continued his explanation.
"As I said earlier, it was a very alien gate. Not monsters or dungeons popping out, but a world that looked very peaceful on the surface."
"...Yeah. Compared to those two, sure."
"Right. So some people, out of curiosity, entered this world through that portal. They even conducted research on it."
Marian's voice sank low.
He was just breathing steadily, as if organizing his thoughts.
A moment later—.
Marian drew more on the notepad.
Around the circle marked "This World," he drew several small circles.
And inside them, he wrote:
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
Side story game,
Fan game,
Novel, comic, etc.
After roughly finishing the drawing, Marian held up the notepad clearly again.
"The research revealed that this world is based on an otome game. It's a composite of all the works created from that otome game's IP."
"...Otome game... IP?"
"Yeah. The title's too long, so I'll skip it... It's a classic from long ago in our world, but it was hugely popular back then."
I didn't know what an otome game was.
But from the story, it seemed like multiple derivative works from one piece had all converged here.
I nodded slowly and listened to Marian's explanation.
How old the work was.
How much it had been milked after release.
How much he'd played the game to survive in this world.
Such trivial but important details.
After hearing the explanation—.
I clicked my tongue and said,
"Alright, I get the backstory. So what's the problem?"
"...The problem is..."
Marian bit his lower lip.
After a moment's hesitation, he pointed alternately at the arrows and the surrounding small circles.
"The problem arose from both of these."
"Yeah. Both would be problems. One's an invader, and the other shoved overly detailed settings into this world."
"Haha, invader. Right. From your perspective, that fits."
Marian smiled bitterly and continued.
"You're right, Celen. Because both mixed together, the world started twisting. Developments unlike what we knew popped up randomly."
"...Is that what you call variables?"
"Yes. Exactly. That's why clearing is getting tricky."
I roughly understood.
Plenty of questions remained, though.
After organizing the info in my head, I calmly spoke.
"But why Ruena?"
"......"
"Why is Ruena... the disaster that must be eliminated? Why are you so sure that killing her ends the regression?"
"That's..."
Marian pointed to a few parts.
Side story game.
Novel.
And the original big circle.
Gazing down at the notepad, Marian continued.
"First off, this game is an otome game. Otome game means... a bishoujo game..."
"...What's a bishoujo game?"
"Well... it's, uh, there are multiple characters, and the protagonist seduces them... with choices and events to raise affection levels and clear routes... something like that..."
"...So, simply put, lots of forced elements."
"Yes! Exactly! Celen! You're so smart!"
Smart, huh.
You explained it so poorly I had to peek into your heart.
I gave a wry smile, thinking of the cost of that glimpse.
Still—.
Thanks to that, I had a rough idea what the coercive force was.
After sorting my thoughts, I asked Marian,
"So, Ruena's the villain or something in it?"
"Yes. Exactly! Ruena is the main villainess in Part 1 and the crown prince's evil fiancée. A nasty, tyrannical noble lady. She bullies the protagonist just because the crown prince likes the heroine? A typical villainess role."
"How is that nasty or tyrannical? It's justified. Protecting her fiancé's dignity as the future king and their engagement—what's wrong with that?"
"...Uh, well, you're right. Sorry. ...Still, Ruena does act pretty vicious."
"It wouldn't have happened if the crown prince hadn't flirted with another woman while engaged."
Marian nodded slowly.
His expression was awkward, but he seemed to agree.
Tilting his head, Marian continued.
"Anyway, Ruena's character is really appealing? She was so popular that she kept appearing as an early retiree villain in sequels."
"Don't tell me she always gets her love stolen?"
"...Yeah."
"What did Ruena do wrong? Appeal or whatever, from her position, it's utterly vile—something you wouldn't do to a person."
"Uh, yeah... you're right..."
For some reason, Marian's voice trailed off smaller and smaller.
And...
A long sigh for no apparent reason.
Marian's gaze returned to the notepad.
Soon, he pointed to one with the pen tip.
Side story game.
"Actually, up to that point, it's not a big deal. The real problem is this."
"...What's this?"
"This... it fixed Ruena as this world's final boss."
Marian said that and bit his lip hard.