Why Are You Here?

When I came to and opened my eyes, a red-haired woman was prostrating herself on the floor in front of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me as if she had been waiting there all along.

Her hair and clothes were nothing you would see on an ordinary street — and then there were the horns rising from her head.

This woman isn't human.

You couldn't write it off as a costume, either. Something that looked like a tail twitched at her hips, moving as if it were genuinely, unmistakably alive.

"Who are you?"

At the question, the woman lifted her head and looked at me.

The face she raised was thick with disappointment, as if she were asking how I could possibly not know her.

"I am Reina, Master's faithful creation."

Reina?

There was one thing that snagged, even as I told myself I had never heard the name. But that was impossible. Because she was—

"I am a creation who received Master's command to play the role of the Demon King, and I have been faithfully carrying it out."

Not a person. She was an NPC I had designed inside a game.

"Do you remember me?"

Reina's voice trembled badly. The way she looked at me, pleading to be recognized, was almost pitiful.

"Yeah. I remember. But why are you here?"

I looked around. This was not the room I had been in a moment ago.

"No — more importantly, why am I in a place like this?"

She didn't answer. She rose from the floor and came toward me.

"Master... I finally found you."

Then she took both of my hands in hers and smiled.

"You're saying you brought me here?"

"That's right. It cost a great many sacrifices and a great deal of time to meet you, but I summoned you from your world."

"What are you talking about?"

The game Babylon Fantasy is a fantasy title built around a Hero and a Demon King. In the simplest terms, you gather companions as the Hero and fight the Demon King. What makes it interesting is that players can rewrite every character who appears in the game, along with some of its events — a Hero, a Demon King, and supporting cast tailored entirely to your own tastes. What starts as a simple fantasy game becomes a world of your own making.

I had played through it enough times that I had created and edited quite a few NPCs myself. Reina, standing right in front of me, was one of them: the Demon King who stood against this world's Hero.

I hadn't recognized her at a glance, but I knew her well. Yes. I knew her very well. I also knew that, by any reasonable standard, the two of us should never have been able to meet like this.

"I wandered for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so long, searching for you."

The hands holding mine began to tremble.

"So many offerings were consumed, too."

Only now did I take in the scene around us. The air was thick with the smell of blood, and a great many people lay unconscious on the ground.

Are they dead?

Thump, thump—

Maybe it was the situation finally sinking in. My heart started pounding faster and faster.

"But it's all right now. Master is here! Heehee."

She pulled me into a tight embrace.

"Nnh.... haah..."

Then she drank in my scent and whispered against my ear.

"Because Master isn't going to leave me."

A chill ran from the crown of my head to the tips of my toes, the way prey feels standing before a predator. She was speaking to me now as if we were close, but in the game she had been a Demon King more cruel than anyone alive. There was no telling what she might do to me next.

Did she have any idea what I was thinking? Meanwhile she nuzzled her face against me like a puppy welcoming its owner, looking perfectly at peace. She looked happy.

A sudden kidnapping, and a declaration that I could never leave. Was I going to end up bound here like a doll?

Boom—

Just as despair was settling over me, a wall of light sprang up between Reina and me. The barrier swelled, growing larger and larger, and began to push the two of us apart. She tried to resist it, but we only drifted farther and farther from each other. The farther she was forced from me, the harder her expression grew.

A quiet, crystalline voice rang out.

A small radiance like a sun appeared in the sky, then slowly descended until it hung in the air above the barrier standing between Reina and me.

Magic-circle patterns bloomed beneath our feet and began to wrap around us both.

"NO!!!!!"

She screamed, her voice tearing with despair.

"This can't be... this can't be... this can't be... I won't let this happen!!!"

Crimson tears of blood began to spill from her eyes. She poured every ounce of her strength into shattering the magic circle, but the light only grew stronger.

Reina sank to her knees.

"Please forgive me, Master. I only wanted to meet you. I only wanted to see you..."

Was it because I was her creator — the one who had made her? The fear I had felt toward her melted away, and looking at her like this, so pitiful she seemed about to break, something in my chest started to ache.

"I'm sorry I acted on my own. I won't force you ever again. I'll follow your will, Master. So please..."

Reina couldn't finish. She bowed her head.

I had created her, but I didn't really know her. To be precise, I knew the rough information — her settings — but I knew nothing about the life she had lived as Reina, here in this world.

Every time I had started a new playthrough, she had greeted me with that same stern ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠expression. I had faced her as an enemy, but as the one who made her, I had always carried a deep affection for Reina. I had thought of her as nothing more and nothing less than an NPC. But now she was alive and breathing right in front of me, looking so wretched that I found myself wanting to know. I wanted to know why she had chosen to do this, and why she was this desperate.

But with every passing second, the light of the magic circle grew brighter, until it rivaled the radiance hovering above me. I didn't know what the circle meant, but I had a feeling that once this moment passed, I would never be able to see her again.

"Reina, I want to know more about you!"

That was why I wanted to talk to her again, even once more.

"What you've been through, and how you brought me here."

"Let's talk about each other. So we can get to a place where we're both happy."

She stared at me blankly when she heard that.

"All right. I will faithfully carry out the role you gave me, Master. So please... come find me again."

But time was not on our side. It seemed no more time would be granted to us.

Her smile was the last thing I saw.

Then I lost consciousness.

The front between the Demon King's army and the Allied Forces looked like a stalemate, but in truth the Allies were being pushed back. For reasons no one could name, the Demon King had recently taken to the front in person and begun slaughtering her way across the battlefield.

Sensing the crisis, the Allied Forces resolved to summon a Hero using magic handed down from ancient times. Among the candidate sites, the Agnes Magic Kingdom — the place chosen for the summoning — was the heart of magic itself, a nation that had produced countless mages. As a site for the ritual, it could not have been more ideal.

It was called a magic kingdom, but it was not a nation of mages alone. Among its houses was one that had steadily produced knights in great number: the Gilbert Ducal Family. They were known as the Shield of the Kingdom.

In prestige they stood second to none in the magic kingdom — but they had one problem. Rumor had it that the eldest son of this illustrious ducal house was a good-for-nothing. The eldest son of House Gilbert, a family called the very heart of knighthood — and he wasn't even walking the path of a knight.

The Duke had done everything he could to set his only son and heir on the right path. He had failed. Everyone had given up on him. A hopeless degenerate.

That degenerate was me.

"I transmigrate and this is what I wake up to."

At first I couldn't accept it. But between what had happened before the transmigration and the previous owner's memories slowly surfacing, I didn't have much choice.

I have to accept it.

I looked around. This seemed to be my room. When I had first seen the family crest in here, I had been pleased. This was the Gilbert Ducal Estate, in the Agnes Magic Kingdom — the very place that would summon the Hero. I had thought being transmigrated into a family this prestigious meant everything would go smoothly from here. Instead, the previous me had taken a massive dump on this life and vanished.

As things stood, not a single person in the family trusted me. Only the attendants assigned to me still followed my orders, and that was solely because I was the eldest son. Inside the house, my voice carried next to no weight.

It was the kind of moment that made me miss the cigarettes I had quit.

"But there's nothing I can do about it. What's done is done."

All I could do was hope my future would be as peaceful as the view beyond the window.

Knock, knock—

A knock sounded at the door, and then it opened. Three maids stepped inside and bowed their heads in unison.

"Young master, have ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you risen?"

The maid in the middle approached me.

"It is time for breakfast. The Duke and the Duchess have already begun their meal."

The words carried a clear implication: what are you still doing here? Even among the handful of attendants I had, I wasn't treated well.

"I'll be right there."

But first, there was something I wanted to test.

Maybe because this had once been a game world, I could pull up information on myself. Being able to look at myself more objectively was a huge advantage.

This body had spent its whole life turning its back on training. It was pathetically weak. The one lifeline I had been given was the skill Relation Point. I would have to build a lot of relationships, survive through them, and achieve my goals.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem to apply to everyone. I didn't know yet who the "specific targets" were, but I would find out in time.

Can I check other people with this too?

If I could view other people's information, it would be a massive help in using the skill. I decided to try it immediately on the maid standing in front of me.

A target I could gain Relation Points from?

What are the conditions, exactly?

The fact that she was a valid target for the skill piqued my curiosity, and I started going through her information more carefully.

Wait.

"Faran...?"

The joy of discovering I could check other people's information lasted all of a second.

What the hell is this...?

"Yes."

The maid Faran tilted her head at my call. There was something unreadable in her expression, as if the life had been drained from it.

She was an NPC I had created.

Why are you here?!