Chapter 21 - True Ending

All five endings had been locked at once.

The bad endings and the true ending alike had been completely sealed off.

Amelia’s routes: wiped out.

It was a little odd that the princess was the easiest of the five heroines, but this was a resounding success.

I took Amelia to the library and kept watch outside the building. I planned to pass the time guarding her while checking the message windows that had popped up one after another.

I took a quick look at Amelia’s ending scripts. Endings 11 through 13 scrolled down, all describing happy conclusions for Laward and Amelia.

Sugary love stories.

Romantic, heart-wrenching tales.

I was reading with my eyes, but it felt like my teeth were rotting.

After checking Ending 11, I skimmed through 12, 13, and 14. I had no desire to get invested in someone else’s love life, especially stories that could no longer become reality.

There would be a chance to talk about the details someday.

Then I reached Ending 15.

Number 15. The true ending.

Ending (15) Locked – Amelia TRUE: Garden of Palace

Would the true ending be different somehow?

The fact that the title had deliberately been written in English was another thing that piqued my curiosity.

Garden of Palace.

The palace garden.

The title alone told me nothing about the story.

Maybe it was something like that. A wedding in the palace garden, or something along those lines.

I got the impression that dating sims usually ended with marriage.

Entertaining various possibilities, I opened Amelia’s true ending.

“Laward, this is the garden I take such pride in.”

“I’ve never seen such a huge flower garden. Amelia, what’s this flower called?”

“You have me before your eyes, yet you notice the plants? Come here.”

Amelia took Laward by the hand and led him into the greenery of the garden.

“I sent everyone in the palace away today.”

“Sent them away?”

“It means we have this vast place all to ourselves. We can do whatever we please. For instance... this.”

Amelia rose onto her toes and stole a kiss from Laward.

“Oh.”

I thought it would end with a single kiss, but Amelia pulled Laward closer...

“Oh...?”

Something was a little strange here...?

This was way too different from the other endings.

Was it really okay to keep reading?

“And... even this.”

Amelia laughed lightly, then ran a seductive hand along Laward’s jaw.

“Um... shouldn’t we stop now...? We’re still outside, after all...”

“That is what makes it so good. Push me away if you dislike it.”

Then Amelia playfully drew closer...

Time to stop.

It was abundantly clear where this was going. It had that tone of being right on the verge of doing the deed, hovering just short of crossing the line.

There was even a special CG at the end.

The other endings had CGs too, but this final one was different.

The linework, the colors, the composition, the detailed expressions.

This was an illustration the artist had poured their heart into, packing in every last ounce of their ability.

As for the all-important question of how explicit it was...

Let’s just say it was an illustration overflowing with fan service, a gift for players who had made it to the true ending.

Also, my junior had never answered whether the game was for adults. Now I had my answer.

Why they had poured so much effort into a game made by a college club for the experience remained a mystery.

“Hasgard, what are you staring into space for?”

Just then, the star of that CG emerged carrying books, and I hastily dismissed the message window.

Only I could see it anyway, but somehow I felt I had to.

“... I’m sorry.”

And somehow I felt I had to apologize...

“Hm?”

“I’m sorry. I saw it...”

“Hmm...? Saw what, exactly...?”

Amelia’s eyes darted about as she asked.

There was no way I could answer that.

I fudged a reply and headed to the teahouse with her.

“I know this is the second time I’ve asked, but are you certain this is all right?”

“Yes. It is fine. You have already rescued me, have you not?”

I couldn’t tell whether she was foolish or optimistic.

I walked beside her with a conflicted expression, and silence hung between us for a while.

Then she spoke.

“Hasgard.”

Amelia looked straight up at me.

“Yes?”

“Thank you.”

“You already thanked me earlier.”

“Thank you for saving me, and for indulging my stubbornness. Meeting you feels almost like a dream. I am fortunate today.”

Fortunate, huh.

I wasn’t sure that was something a kidnapping victim should be saying.

“I hope we can meet again.”

“Actually, I intend to visit the academy often.”

“The academy? The one I attend? Will you be coming as a teacher?”

“No.”

An academy teacher?

That genre had had its day.

“I’m simply making a few arrangements to provide scholarships to the students. I look forward to seeing you achieve good grades someday as well, Your Highness. I heard you declined the scholarship, but I hope you will at least accept the sentiment.”

“Ah, I have heard of that sponsor. I thought him an insolent fellow, but it was you.”

“Haha... apparently so.”

“Though I have not been producing... grades good enough to warrant such expectations...”

... So she was aware of it.

Aware that she didn’t look the part.

“Still... knowing that someone with your power has hopes for me... is rather pleasant to hear.”

Amelia gave a soft smile and looked up at me again.

“We can... keep seeing each other, then.”

It was the purest smile imaginable.

Though I could no longer look at her with innocent eyes...

With that face, in the true ending... well...

We reached the teahouse as we talked. Amelia settled onto the terrace with practiced familiarity and left the ordering to me.

After placing our order with the server, I opened the status window again.

There was something I hadn’t checked yet, thanks to Amelia’s sudden arrival.

Every time I cleared an ending, that insolent system had teased something.

Endings remaining until Stage 1 perks.

That was right.

It had promised a perk for clearing five endings.

By blocking all five of Amelia’s endings in one fell swoop, I had brought my total to eight.

That put me well past the five required for the Stage 1 perk.

Current Endings Cleared: 8

You have exceeded 5 endings cleared. Your Stage 1 perk will now be awarded.

The Coin Shop has been unlocked!

As though confirming my thoughts, a message popped up with a chime.

You can purchase items with coins earned by completing achievements.

[View Achievements]

A Coin Shop...

Naturally, I had never experienced it when I played the game. Forget five endings; I had only managed to clear one.

I might as well take a look.

[The Uneducated Archmage]

-Place first in the magic department’s final exams during your first year.

[They Say the Infirmary Is Haunted]

-Visit the infirmary during the break after third period on Wednesday.

[King of Snipers]

-Hit a bird in flight using a ranged weapon (magic).

[Save the cat]

-Shelter Veronica under your umbrella on the way home from school on a rainy day.

[Miracle Morning!]

-Encounter Lucia after she has slept soundly for an entire day.

[How Far Are You Going?]

-Kiss Amelia.

Wait.

What was that last one?

Had I misread it?

How was I supposed to clear that?

Was I even allowed to...?

Me, with someone XX years old...?

And those were only some of the achievements. There were eighty missions available in total.

Why had they gone this far for a game made as a hobby...?

It really was a mystery...

“Hah.”

A deep sigh escaped me before I knew it.

Anyway, it seemed I would receive a corresponding number of coins each time I completed one of those achievements, then save them up to purchase items in the shop.

But there was a problem.

Some achievements were impossible even to attempt.

“The Uneducated Archmage” required Laward to place first in the magic department, but he had already enrolled in the swordsmanship department.

He could double-major like Amelia, but that would be inefficient for his growth. I couldn’t start building him as a mage now.

In other words, I had already missed “The Uneducated Archmage.”

Clearing it would require a second playthrough.

Like other dating sims, it was forcing players into multiple playthroughs.

In my case, it would be a third.

Assuming I was given a third chance.

So, after excluding the ones I had already missed and those only Laward could complete, there were roughly fifty achievements I could attempt.

Collecting every coin available from achievements was impossible.

With a hard limit on my supply, I would have to be even more careful about spending coins in the shop.

Fortunately, clearing endings was also on the achievement list.

Fifty coins for each ending cleared.

Fifty times eight.

Coins Held: 400

The system had made the number official.

Though I would have to open the shop to find out what four hundred could buy.

“Here is your milk tea.”

The server snapped me out of my thoughts as I was busy tapping away at the system window.

I took the milk tea they set out and returned to Amelia. I had asked for plenty of syrup, just the way she liked it.

“Hasgard, if you have no other plans, would you care to sit beside me and read?” she asked without turning her head.

“Thank you for the offer, but I have something to do.”

I had shopping to do in the Coin Shop.

“Then let us talk for a moment. Spare me a little of your time.”

THUMP

Amelia put down the book she had been reading and pointed to the chair opposite her.

It occurred to me that she hadn’t been asking for my opinion in the first place.

“Who do you think is behind this?”

She brought it up as soon as I sat down.

Amelia seemed to have been thinking hard about it all this time. She had pretended to read, but of course it would weigh on her mind.

So I shared the information I had gathered with her. I told her most of it, naturally leaving out things like my return to the past and becoming Karma.

I had no warm, fuzzy intentions of easing her fear and anxiety.

I wanted to get the royal family involved.

“Hehe...”

When I finished, she suddenly laughed.

“I see... perhaps that is better...”

She nodded as she uttered those cryptic words.

What was funny, and what was better?

My curiosity flared, but...

“Hasgard, killing people is unlikely to be the Death God’s cult’s objective.”

Amelia returned straight to the subject, as though refusing to give me time to think.

“In that light, their targeting me is most suspicious. Think about it. If the Death God’s cult really is active, their true objective is not killing—”

She offered a new perspective.

“It is bringing people back to life.”

Perhaps something I had overlooked all this time.

“Had I died today, my elder brother, who cherishes me, would have been overcome with grief. His desire to bring me back would become desperate. Desperate enough to sell his soul to the devil.”

Amelia took a sip of milk tea and continued.

“Then a member of the royal family would bow before a necromancer. The royal family’s strongest swordsman would join the Death God’s cult to bring me back. So, Hasgard, perhaps you should reconsider as well.”

My thoughts were already racing without pause.

Every memory and experience I had was being reassembled, until my head hurt.

“Are you truly certain it was the second Hasgard son they were after?” she asked, her eyes serious.

“Their objective may not have been to kill one person, but to leave only one alive.”

Who had been the last survivor of House Hasgard?

Who had been left alone, longing for the family who had departed before him?

Thumb, index finger, middle finger.

The third, whose thread of life had been the longest.

It went without saying.

Daywin Hasgard.