I Became the Mid-Boss Who Kidnaps Heroines (3)
Of course, I knew every single female character in this game who could become a heroine. After playing through it 999 times, how could I not? And if you included that final 100% clear, it was a full thousand playthroughs.
Heroines with individual endings. Heroines with their own harem endings. Heroines who helped the protagonist and met tragic deaths in the end. If we're talking pure visual novel-style heroines who end up with the protagonist, it's no exaggeration to say there were over a hundred. That's because, if the protagonist really put his mind to it, he could even romance a 37-year-old widow running a café at the academy—someone who was the mother of an actual heroine.
So, I wanted to redefine what I meant by heroine. Not the original game's heroines tied to the protagonist. No, I meant the angels who could awaken as harbingers of the Apocalypse—God's apostles who could save the world or seeds of disaster who could destroy it entirely.
I need to narrow it down to just those with individual endings.
The ones officially nailed down by the developers as the "OOO Route." There were exactly 16 of those heroines. Sure, things got complicated with sub-branches, but officially, there were 16 main ones. And none of those 16 angel heroines shared any blood relation with the protagonist—not even distant family. Same went for the non-angel supporting female characters without personal routes. Classmates, childhood friends, seniors, big sis types, gyaru types, researchers, sheltered ojous, princesses, even the thief guild master misunderstood as non-virgin... but no incest.
At least there's no incest.
Among the 16 angel heroines and hundreds of non-angel side female characters, not a single one was truly bound to the protagonist by blood. Even considering the protagonist's backstory, it held true.
Though some people do whine about that 'cowardly incest' thing.
The protagonist was an adopted son into a certain noble house. And that house had a younger sister character who was both in the little sister position and one of the heroines (an angel candidate).
-It's not incest if there's no blood relation!
For the die-hard incest fans who spouted that garbage while coughing up blood, some people countered with:
-Isn't it tastier when the little sister, who's harbored feelings for her 'blood-related' big bro, realizes midway through the story that they're not actually related and goes full throttle?
Anyway, back on track—there's one other character who hangs around that little sister character and is also a heroine.
"Seia."
"Yes, Oppa?"
A girl who was only five years old. With daisy-white hair and a doll-like appearance, she was the very picture of a future beauty whose potential everyone raved about.
"What do you think about our family's tradition?"
Regiph Hapsderk, who had possessed this body at age seven, asked his two-years-younger sister, five-year-old Seia Hapsderk.
"Our family's tradition?"
"Yeah... about family members marrying each other."
The Hapsderk Count family. The name evoked certain words, but me, Regiph's sister Seia, and even our currently living parents—we were all exceptionally good-looking. No twisted noses, jutting jaws, or excessive bleeding. No physical—or more precisely, genetic—defects at all.
Which made it hard to understand.
"I heard that if family members marry and have kids, the children end up in danger in all sorts of ways."
"Who said that?"
"...A dream told me."
"Really? But our ancestors never had that problem."
As Seia said, the Hapsderk family had upheld this tradition for over a dozen generations since their forebears, and no one had ever been born with defects.
"Mother said it. Keeping our great bloodline from leaking out by mixing it within the family—that's what truly honors our house."
"Do you even know what 'bloodline' means?"
"Nope."
"Then why are you so eager to follow Mother's words?"
"Because I'm Mother's daughter, and you're Mother's son? She said we're the children she bore from her own body, so carrying on the family tradition someday would be the most wonderful thing."
I wanted to scream Mother!!, but I was just a seven-year-old kid. Changing a tradition handed down for generations was too much for one child. In real history, European noble houses did the same to avoid "tainting" their noble blood with outsiders'. If genetics weren't an issue, it made a twisted kind of sense. And up to my generation, no genetic issues had surfaced.
Has common sense gone out the window?
Was this deliberate? Did the game devs know I'd possess Regiph and tie his backstory to Seia—one of the heroines—to force some Haps on me?
"Seia."
"Yes, Oppa?"
"You're too young to understand yet, but siblings marrying each other isn't normal."
Seia might think I was jumping the gun—like offering rice cakes when no one even mentioned them. But this was a serious, crucial issue for me.
"Is that so?"
"Yeah."
"Oh, I see."
She was still young, so some re-education was needed. But then...
"Then Oppa has to marry Mother and have kids to continue the family line?"
"What are you talking about, Seia?"
"It's fine. Even when Oppa grows up, Mother will only be in her late thirties. She said it'd be possible right at twenty."
"I said, what are you talking about?"
"I dunno. I heard the maids saying it."
This family environment was undeniably—definitely—terrible for Seia's development. I could say that with certainty. Seia was the heroine who cheered hardest for the protagonist's little sister when she fell for him, even believing they shared blood.
Now I get it.
Seia gets kidnapped by Regiph too. But across my 999 playthroughs—over a thousand deaths including game overs—I never once saw him use an aphrodisiac on her, even though he kidnapped her. Some heroines occasionally escaped the aphrodisiac in certain routes, but who knew there was this backstory.
"Seia."
"Yes, Oppa?"
"No matter how pretty and cute you are, I have no intention of marrying you."
"...Then."
Seia looked up at me with teary eyes.
"Who do I have to marry and have kids with?"
"Seia, listen..."
"Mom and Dad said it's a noble's duty to marry, have kids, and continue the line. Are you saying that's wrong?"
"You're right, but...!"
"No way."
Seia stopped crying abruptly, glaring at me with a hardened expression.
"Oppa isn't suggesting we mix our Hapsderk blood with some 'filthy, unclean outsider blood,' is he...?"
"Seia."
"No. I won't allow it. Oppa has to marry me."
"......."
Should I just become a commoner and call it a day?
"...Fine, I get it. I get it."
"Promise."
"Yeah, okay. I promise."
It was just a promise with a five-year-old. When she grew up and I explained...
-You crazy bastard! Shut your damn mouth! When the hell did I say I'd marry you?! Get out!!!
She'd scream and curse up a storm. Yeah.
"Promise."
I hooked pinkies with Seia, who had stopped crying.
Lying on my bed in my room, staring at the ceiling, I finished my thoughts.
As for Regiph's backstory, I'd already concluded he was a fallen noble. And now, at the point where the count's family hadn't fallen yet, only one path made sense.
It feels like they're doomed to fall.
The family photos lining the hallway, portraits of past Hapsderk counts and countesses, made it even clearer. Husband and wife bore siblings, and those siblings...
Eugh.
Even thinking about it turned my stomach, but I swallowed the nausea and sorted my thoughts.
The Hapsderk family. Whatever their traditions, the original story's setting was the academy.
Esdinas Academy.
The game's title itself was the name of its main stage, the academy. Later revelations unlocked a hidden name, but publicly, it was the Esdinas Continental United Academy. Not tied to any single kingdom, it was a central hub where students from every nation and faction across the continent gathered to mingle and learn. Pass the entrance exam, and anyone could enroll.
The problem is, Regiph entered as a commoner, but I'd never heard anything about the Hapsderk family behind him.
Neither Regiph nor Seia showed any traces of Hapsderk. Hell, even in the original game, I'd never heard of this family.
So, only one conclusion remained.
They were thoroughly erased.
Regiph and Seia must have suppressed even mentioning their surname as fallen nobles pretending to be commoners.
And Seia never even acknowledged Regiph as her brother—
Was that because Regiph changed so much?
I glanced at the mirror on my bed. Gone was the mid-boss with tanned blond skin who'd yell "Uhyo clothes WWW." In his place was a platinum blond pretty boy with doll-like white skin.
How does this face turn into that netorare gold sun?
Scary. What hardships turned him into that? What catastrophe hit this family to make him suffer so much and end up as commoner Regiph?
What the hell happened in the ten years between the original game and now—
"......Ah."
"......What."
At least 70 major events.
In those ten years, at least 70 big incidents explode, any of which could topple the Hapsderks without raising eyebrows.
"......."
Could I even survive?
Me.
"...I have to."
No matter what, I had to survive.
Survive somehow, escape this world, return to reality, and claim that 200 billion prize.
To do that, lay the foundations over the next ten years. A base that could handle any situation.
Therefore.
"I need to learn magic."
First, make Regiph the mid-boss's talents fully mine. Hypnosis. Brainwashing. And... aphrodisiacs.
"......Maybe start with offensive magic."