Chapter 25 - All the Others Are Land Mines

Her stats weren't the only things getting a boost. Her mood was, too.

Power up, energy up.

So this was the true nature of Lucia's unique trait... No, hold on.

Since when had she been sleeping next to me?

First, I needed to get her off me. I grabbed her slender waist to toss her off the side of the bed, but for some reason, she held firm. Even when I pushed with all my strength, she wouldn't budge.

Oh, right. She was stronger now, too.

"Let's go for a walk!"

This time, she threw herself into my arms and rubbed her cheek against mine.

This was an affection level of 40...?

What on earth would happen at 99?

I was starting to doubt the Affection Scouter's accuracy. Did I really need to upgrade it again?

"A walk... Why a walk?"

"Because the weather's lovely! Because I can smell flowers!"

"Hmm... Right..."

Honestly, I didn't understand at all, but I gave in and rested a hand on the back of her head. The only ways I could think of to settle Lucia down while she had the zoomies were knocking her out or sedating her.

I stroked her hair this way and that. I might as well surrender.

What was going on...?

As far as I knew, a good night's sleep raised all of Lucia's stats. Did her [Intelligence] actually drop instead?

Should I cast a buff on her, even if it was only temporary? As a paladin, that was the best prescription I could offer.

"Waking up in the morning is wonderful! I finally feel like I'm living like a human being!"

"Yes, yes. Then act like a sensible human being. Get off the bed."

"But it's too late! I've been snuggled up to you since last night! Hehehe!"

"Without my knowledge."

I was sure I'd locked the door.

"I have my ways!"

"... Fine. Now move."

"You're going for a walk with me, right?"

"Yes."

TAP

Lucia landed lightly on the floor.

025

After fending off Lucia's offers to help me wash, I finally finished getting ready. Our destination was a park near the academy.

"They usually hold a festival here every summer, but apparently they're skipping this year."

"A festival?"

"Yes, a summer festival! There's a night market, performances, and fireworks, too."

That sounded awfully Japanese, all of a sudden. Was it inevitable, given that the original game was a school-based dating sim...?

No, even so, this was a fantasy world with magic!

"I wish we could've gone together. Let's go together next year!"

Searching my memory, I vaguely recalled an event like that. Had Laward been in his second year, or his third? As usual, I'd skipped it, so I didn't really remember.

Once we reached the park, Lucia bounded along the path, darting ahead of me and falling behind like a puppy on its first walk in ages.

I hadn't expected her to walk quietly at my side, but the stares were embarrassing. I felt like protesting to everyone passing by.

She isn't normally like this. She's usually calm and coolheaded, I swear. She never says more than a couple of words, and she's quiet, too.

"Look at those flowers! The colors are so vivid!"

"Yes, they're red."

"I can hear birds, too! They're so cute. So round! Do you know what kind they are?"

"Yes, they're noisy."

Maybe that bird was called a Lucia.

"Oh my, Lord Karma! You think I'm that cute?"

Apparently, none of my responses were even registering. Whatever I said, she took it positively.

Was exhaustion really this frightening? If stress was the root of all illness, exhaustion was the root of all evil.

Which of these was the real Lucia?

"Lucia, catch."

To bring us back to our senses, I pulled a red matchbox from inside my clothes and tossed it to her.

SMACK

Lucia deftly snatched it out of the air.

"What's this? Matches?"

"A communication magic item. It's for Houndry."

While she turned the matchbox over in her hands, I explained the essentials.

"Black is for me, red is for you lot. Light a red match and it'll connect to me."

"Why are you giving me this all of a sudden?"

"You need to distribute them to the Houndry members and teach them how to use them. Pick forty people. The most useful ones, including the members we recently absorbed from other guilds."

"Oh, come on! Are you really talking about work when we're out here? You have no sense of occasion!"

"We can't just talk about pointless things forever. Besides, am I supposed to worry about your mood?"

"Hmm, I wonder! Isn't that why you came all the way out here with me? You can pretend otherwise, but I know what you're really like, Lord Karma."

I had no idea what Lucia was really like, but apparently the reverse wasn't true.

"You barely know me."

"Time isn't everything! I didn't suddenly ask you for a walk just because I wanted to go out. I wanted you to rest, too... Oh, a butterfly!"

WHOOSH!

Her figure blurred the instant she finished speaking. Before the sound of her cutting through the air could even reach my ears, I blinked, and she was already crouching by a flower bed about ten paces away.

"I caught it! Look!"

Beaming, she held out her cupped hands. I assumed she'd crushed it to a pulp, snatching it at that speed—but she slowly opened her palms, and a blue butterfly fluttered up without a scratch.

Despite moving at that incredible speed, she'd enclosed it in her hands without touching it at all.

This wasn't just a power boost. Her speed, her precision—those movements were beyond human.

Lucia gazed blankly after the departing butterfly, then spoke out of nowhere.

"Am I included in those forty?"

She'd looked distracted by the butterfly, but apparently she'd been thinking about that the whole time.

"No," I said without hesitation. "I have no intention of using you that way."

She was a more valuable piece than that to me. She was a heroine, after all.

"... See? I told you."

Apparently pleased by my answer, Lucia smiled softly and tucked the matchbox carefully into her pocket.

Before we knew it, we'd reached the academy. The dormitory buildings stood just beyond the wall.

"Lord Karma, why are you staring so hard at the girls' dormitory?"

"I was just thinking. I... didn't know it was the girls' dormitory."

"The girls' dormitory is nice because it's close to the park. Of course, that means more bugs get in, too!"

"How would you know? You don't even live there."

"I'm an academy student, too, you know. Of course I know that much. Do you think all I do is sleep?"

"All you do is sleep. Why did you even enroll if that was all you were going to do?"

For the first time today, Lucia's expression looked like her usual self.

"Because everyone else does."

She'd climbed onto the wall before I knew it, and continued as she walked lightly along its top.

"Everyone my age goes to school. They wake up in the morning, put on their uniforms, go to school, take classes... It's a special, precious time that's over in a flash. Hmm... How do I put it? Anyway, I wanted to be there."

She spun around and looked down at me. Her sky-blue eyes shone clear in the sunlight.

I supposed she meant that what was ordinary for others was special to her. Though in her case, the reverse would also be true.

"Then I'm sorry. I have no intention of letting you leave Houndry. Not yet."

"I meant that's how I felt in my first year. The Lucia of today has her own, different thoughts. I'm human. I change."

Then she glanced toward the dormitory.

"So I'm thinking of spending my last semester in the dorms!"

"How did you reach that conclusion?"

"With graduation approaching, I feel like I haven't enjoyed academy life to the fullest?"

"What about your sisters?"

"There's the scholarship you gave me. Couldn't I hire a nanny with that?"

"It's your money to spend, but..."

"And I'll sneak out of the dorms about five times a week."

"Then there's no point moving in."

"Sneaking out is part of the dream of dorm life! You'll give me permission, won't you?"

"As long as it doesn't affect your nighttime work."

"Hehehe. Now you're calling it that, too, Lord Karma."

"Must've picked it up from someone. Then today will be your last chance to sleep properly."

"Yes, I suppose so. In the end, I'll still be busy day and night. The only thing that's changed in my life is one particular person, right here."

Lucia looked into my eyes and smiled.

"... Now I'm suddenly embarrassed, so I'm going to take a look at the dorms!"

WHOOSH!

She leaped down from the wall toward the dormitory. Today, there was almost no gap between Lucia's thoughts and actions.

... Was she gone?

"Haaah..."

I was so drained I nearly sank to the ground. I glanced sharply this way and that.

Sweet freedom, however brief. After making absolutely sure Lucia was gone, I opened the shop window.

I'd already seen the notification that I was one ending away from the Stage 2 perk, and I'd earned the 500 coins I'd been aiming for, yet only now had I finally found the chance.

All right, then. Time to spend those 500 coins as planned.

I pressed the button.

[Ending Preview]

-You can review the endings you have cleared so far.

-You can preview ending requirements and scripts.

I pressed again.

Would you like to purchase the [Ending Preview] item?

-Coins required: 500

-Coins held: 500

Yes, my entire fortune. All in.

You have purchased the [Ending Preview] item!

Coins remaining: 0

The [Ending Preview] feature has been unlocked!

A new book icon appeared beside the [Shop] icon in the system window. I immediately tapped it, and the [Ending Collection] screen appeared first.

So this was the review feature.

To test it, I tapped the ending I'd locked most recently: Ending 7, Sun and Moon.

Its clear requirements appeared in detail below. Until now, I'd often had no idea why an ending had been cleared, even after it happened. Now the system kindly explained.

Ending 7 requirements:

First, Lucia gets a good night's sleep (affection level 40 or higher).

Second, visit Veronica at least (1) time.

... Laward wasn't included in the ending's clear requirements.

Odd as that struck me, I was also shocked by how merciless the requirements were. I'd only just managed to meet the conditions for Ending 7. Lucia's affection had been exactly 40, and my chance visit to the magic-item shop to look for Veronica had fulfilled the other requirement.

So it was going to be that strict.

I'd definitely made the right choice buying this item. Without the preview, I would have missed countless endings going forward. It looked like it would be well worth the 500 coins, at least.

With a swipe, I left the ending review screen and moved to the preview.

This was the feature's real value, its real purpose: seeing the requirements for endings that hadn't yet been opened or closed.

The titles alone gave me some idea of what the endings involved, but now I could see the scripts and requirements, too. I couldn't ask for more. They would provide useful clues, signposts for making firmer plans.

I scrolled through the translucent window, looking over Endings 1 through 31. Then my finger stopped dead at one spot.

"... Huh?"

Endings 26 through 30. The section listing the harem routes. That was where I'd frozen.

The harem-route titles were ominous.

Ending (26) – Who Awoke the Queen of the Night?

Ending (27) - Declaration of War

Ending (28) – Only Rebecca

Ending (29) – Esther Hellfire

Ending (30) - Paradise

"... Uh."

Some of those titles were downright chilling. Especially number 28.

Why was that one alone written in such ominous boldface? Anyone could tell that was an ending where Rebecca turned yandere.

It had been strange to have five harem routes in the first place. Ending 30, Paradise, was the ending Laward had achieved in my previous life. If there was already an ending where he married all five heroines, why were there four more?

But now I was starting to understand.

All the others were land mines. Traps.

Four of the five harem routes were traps. There were routes where the heroines mentally unraveled.

They looked like endings triggered by ending up with an awkward number of heroines—two or three, rather than all five. Maximum affection for the chosen heroines, minimum for the rest. Was that the condition?

Or choosing everyone but one.

In short, an ending where a heroine turned dark and took revenge.

Either pursue just one, or win over every last one of them. If a heroine was left out or betrayed, it triggered an ending of destruction.

"Now that really is..."

A bad ending.

I hadn't checked the requirements yet, but the titles alone gave me a rough idea of the scenarios. Just as you were happily enjoying a harem route with several heroines, the one you hadn't chosen would barge in and kill everyone.

That was the horrific ending I imagined.

... Perhaps it was even a route where she joined forces with the mastermind.

Take number 29, for example. [Esther Hellfire] brought to mind an image of her unleashing her mana at full power, firing off flame spells without a care for what happened around her.

Hell itself.

"Ha, haha..."

A hollow laugh escaped me. I'd thought everything was going according to plan, and now here was an unexpected variable.

How the hell had the Laward from my previous life cleared a harem route? On his first try, no less?

Ah, he hadn't just been a woman-crazy bastard. He'd been a cautious, meticulous crazy bastard.

In a way, was it fortunate I'd found out about these endings early? Looking on the bright side, it wasn't all bad. It also meant the heroines could grow strong enough to take revenge on Laward.

My plan to strengthen not just the protagonist, but the heroines as well, wasn't wrong.

As long as we didn't go down those routes.

I swallowed hard and tapped Ending 29.

[Ending (29)]

[Esther Hellfire]

At twenty, it was hell.

People are burning. Villages are burning. Cities, nations are burning.

No screams can be heard anymore. Everything capable of making a sound on its own has turned to ash.

Esther burned hundreds of thousands of people. She burned them alive.

Of the five, she was the only one 'I' gave up on, and the Death God's cult made her a witch.

This is because I gave up. I am the one who burned those innocent people to death.

"Ghh, aaaaaah!"

Guilt and helplessness come crashing over me. All I can do is scream.

I, who have not yet turned to ash. I, who will soon become ash.

I look at Esther, standing in the heart of hell. Only now do I look at her.

After never meeting her eyes during our three years at the academy, only now did I look at her properly.

She looked down at me with icy eyes. There was no trace of the sunny expression she'd worn during our school days. Those shining eyes no longer followed me.

Instead, she knelt before one of the Death God's cult's Five Lamps. She bowed her head to the man who had recognized her talent.

"Did I... do well...? Am I... useful now, too...?"

"Of course. You did very well, Esther."

The man stroked Esther's head.

"Laward."

His eyes, however, were on me.

"Lift your head. You can't avert your eyes from the results of your own actions. Or are you regretting turning your back on Esther?"

Yes. I regret it. Enough to say it over and over again.

"You did well, too."

The man strode toward me. As he drew closer, I could clearly see the flames reflected in his eyes. It was as though both eyes were burning.

"So I suppose I owe you a word of thanks as well."

Then his red eyes and faded blond hair came into view. He was smiling, the corners of his lips drawn up like a fox's.

"Laward, thanks to you abandoning Esther, I've been able to prepare an offering for Him. Now He will bring back my family, my brothers."

House Hasgard.

Once more.

He will bring them back.