IDEAS LIKE GOOD AND EVIL are relative and differ based on point of view.
Ordinarily, such philosophical pretension never crossed my mind, but I was
beyond exhausted. Mentally, I was wiped. Emotionally, let's just say that my
face had been devoid of all expression for hours.
What I really wanted to do was flop down on my bed and spend the rest of
my meager time on Earth immersed in my favorite manga. Or maybe an anime.
Playing a game wouldn't have been bad either, so long as it was one made for a
male audience, i.e., me.
Unfortunately, I—a full-time employee and functioning member of Japanese
society—was playing an otome game instead, my eyes dead-fish glazed. These
dating sims were made principally for women. They featured female main
characters with a bevy of male love interests to pursue. The opposite of these
were galge—dating sim games targeted at men.
That's right. A man like me had no business spending his precious afternoon
off on a game like this. Maybe if I genuinely liked otome games it would be a
different story, but I exclusively preferred galge.
"Uggghhh, why do I have to spend my whole freaking day trying to rack up
affection points with a bunch of dudes?"
The blushing man on-screen did absolutely nothing for me.
Of course, most of the characters in this game were some kind of gorgeous. A
popular artist had done the character designs and sprites, and the cast was
voiced by famous actors. If this were a galge and these were all female
characters, I would have been crying with joy. But what was I supposed to do
with this guy's husky voice?!
I wasn't playing this game for pleasure, so I was using a guide on my phone to
clear it quickly. My eyes flitted between the game and the walkthrough as I
made my selections. A cheery little sound echoed, indicating I had successfully
raised my affection points with the idiot love interest I was currently pursuing.
The character's 3D model struck a pose, his cheeks flushed as he pushed his hair
back.
"You're not like all the other women," he said. "Tell me your name."
This man was some kind of prince, and he was oh-so-popular at the academy.
The protagonist had encountered him by chance, and since she didn't know his
true identity (gasp), she was treating him just like a normal person (gasp!) in
this scene.
"What a load of bull," I couldn't help grousing. I'd already completed my first
playthrough and this encounter was old news to me. "She's lying. We've been
through this before. She totally knows who the prince is. I'm telling you, this
protag is calculating. Conniving, even."
But no matter how I warned him, the prince was completely oblivious to her
scheming.
"Acting all happy, blushing like a fool," I grumbled at my screen. "This guy
really has no taste."
Work had been such a nightmare lately that it was my first weekend off in
ages, and here I was throwing it all away playing this excruciating game. It was
already Sunday afternoon. Seriously, why?
My phone chirped with an incoming message. When I checked it, I found a
message from my sister with a picture attached: I'm enjoying my time abroad
with my friends!
The photo showed her and her friends having the time of their lives on some
hotel beach. Her smiling face made my blood boil.
I immediately replied: I call BS! You're making me play this game for you
because you said you were too busy to do it yourself!
The otome game presently sucking out my life force actually belonged to my
little sister. She was a university student living at home with our parents, while I
lived by myself. She had dropped by Saturday morning. I knew something was
off the second I saw her, and lo and behold, she hadn't come for the pleasure of
my company.
All smiles, she said, "I'm sure you've got nothing better to do… How about full
clearing this game for me?"
Full clear. In other words, complete 100 percent of the content in the game.
Collect all the illustrated moments, animations, and scenes, so they could be
viewed later through the menu. She was asking me to play through the entire
game.
What I really wanted to tell her was, Enough of your crap! Do it yourself!
My phone dinged again with my sister's reply: What the hell? You sure you
want to take that attitude with me? Maybe when I come back I won't sort out
that whole misunderstanding with Mom. Come on, I'll buy you a souvenir, just
full clear the game for me, okay? Please? (FYI, if I get back and you haven't done
it, I'm going to leave even more naughty stuff in your room) ~ Sincerely, your
cute little sister.
I had to suppress the urge to chuck my phone to the ground. "Damn her!"
I wanted to refuse her request, really I did. The problem was, my sister had
surreptitiously stored some of her more dubious reading material at my place,
since she still lived with our parents. Namely, the kind of books hardcore nerd
girl fujoshi are into. She didn't even tell me she'd done it. When my mom came
to clean my apartment and found all that racy, homoerotic content carefully
tucked away, she assumed it belonged to me. I tried clearing things up with her,
but the harder I defended my real taste the more it sounded like I was trying to
hide the truth.
It was a nightmare. Both because of the misunderstanding with my mom and
because now I knew way too much about what my little sister was into.
To make matters worse, my parents believed my sister's lies over my protests.
She was pretty, talented, and always got good grades. People often praised her
for being kind and considerate. In reality, she was just really good at wearing a
mask, as I learned the hard way time and time again.
If you couldn't tell by now, my sister's personality sucked.
She made my life hell in order to hide her hobbies, and no matter how much I
might try to convince our parents otherwise, they would never take my word
over hers. When my mom first called about it, worried, I almost felt like crying. I
vowed then and there that I would have revenge on my sister.
I swallowed my anger and the need to throw things, and set my phone aside. I
reached for the controller again and tried to focus on completing the game so I
could clear my good name.
There was only one path left to me: I had to see this game through to the end.
Frustrating as it was, my sister had a way with words. When she showed up
Saturday morning, she not only twisted my arm into playing her game for her,
she also talked me into giving her extra cash for her trip. I felt pathetic for
letting myself be blackmailed.
It was clear I didn't stand a chance of winning against her if I played fairly. I
would have my revenge, though. And as I continued farming affection points in
the game, I began concocting a plan.
"I'm going to make her regret pissing me off."
My little sister had always been cunning. She knew she was cute, and she
knew how to use that to her advantage—the complete opposite of me. Her only
weakness was probably this hobby she'd hidden from the rest of the world.
I stewed in frustration as I kept playing. My brows furrowed. "I keep getting
stuck at this same spot…"
The creator of the game had clearly poured a lot of money into making this
series, hoping it would be a hit. My sister was so enthralled with the artist and
voice actors that she bought the first-press limited edition of the game the
second preorders went up. But the game had a slight problem: there were
roleplaying and strategy elements. The developers had only made games
targeting men in the past, so this one was (unsurprisingly) missing the mark a
little for their new, largely female audience.
The setting for the game was a whimsical fantasy world with swordplay and
magic. Characters lived on chunks of land that floated in the air. You might think
the civilization wasn't very advanced given the existence of royalty, but actually,
people flew around in airships, and knights fought in mobile suits called
"Armor."
The protagonist was attending the nobles' academy, although she was just a
commoner. She was a plain girl from the countryside who'd received a
scholarship. High-ranking noblewomen bullied her for her special status, and
she had to contend with various other challenges as well.
And of course, the world in this otome game showed incredible favoritism
toward women.
My little sister initially intended to clear the game herself but gave up when
she couldn't best the strategy elements that originated in other game genres.
Thus, I was suffering in her place.
"You're always playing these kinds of games," she'd said. "It should be a piece
of cake for you."
True, I did enjoy video games, but even I found myself annoyed with the
difficulty here.
"Who would even want these kinds of elements in an otome game anyway?" I
grumbled as I worked the controller.
Airships were lined up on the screen, shaped like rugby balls, standing across
from one another on the hexagonal grid of a battlefield. Each side would fire
cannons at the other in a turn-based system, and then the knights, in their
mobile suits, would fly in and charge the enemy.
"Shit! Why the hell does the enemy use its skill right then?! Makes it insanely
hard to win." I glared at the screen. "They should have made it so players can
speed through this stupid stuff."
My allies suffered enormous damage even when they attacked, due to the
enemy's special abilities. Then, when it was the enemy's turn to go on the
offensive, my units lacked sufficient defense. I got wiped out every time. Even if
my units had superior skills, a lot of random elements (hit chance, crit chance,
etc.) still made winning difficult. I could make all the right moves, account for
the best field positioning and terrain, and those pure RNG elements would still
take me out.
No wonder my sister threw in the towel.
"Ah, crap," I groaned. One of the conditions for winning this map was to keep
the prince alive, and the airship he was in had just gone down. The words Game
Over popped up on the screen.
"Seriously, again?! How the hell can I lose when I'm following the
walkthrough?"
I really wanted to tell my sister to give up on completing this. I wanted to tell
her to download someone else's full-comp save files from the internet. But…the
game had a certain feature where the characters would actually say aloud
whatever you'd named the protagonist. My sister had used her own name—
something about wanting to hear those famous voice actors whispering as if to
her. Ergo, downloading someone else's data wasn't going to get her what she
wanted. I had no choice.
"I'm so sick of this! The prince keeps dying!" A thought occurred to me. "Is
that what the developers want? Are they trying to coerce me into
microtransactions, is that it? You want my money that bad?!"
For an offline game, this one had a wide selection of extra paid content.
Players could purchase special items to make the battles easier to get through. I
wasn't sure if it was to placate complaints that the game was impossible to beat
or if the developers were just being calculating.
I didn't want to spend more money than I already had for my stupid sister,
but there was no denying that the strategy elements were sucking up all my
time. Everything else was the same as any galge. As long as I followed the guide
and got all the right answers, I'd have no problems clearing it.
I took a break from playing to look at the paid content—which was plentiful.
Most of the stuff sold for about a hundred yen a piece, but the battle items,
such as the airships and mobile suits, were more like three to five hundred yen,
some even as high as eight hundred.
"These extra fees are precisely what killed this company's reputation," I
noted. It had been a heavily anticipated release, but players soon criticized the
game for being unbeatable without paid items. The outrage prompted the
company to lower prices in their online store within a month of its release. I still
thought the items were expensive, though.
As I browsed, I noticed one of the items was a men's swimsuit. Exasperating.
"No thanks, I don't wanna see a dude in a Speedo."
Granted, if this were a galge, I'd probably buy every single item just to see all
the girls in their swimwear.
"Guess there's not much difference between men and women, huh?" I
chuckled weakly, feeling drained.
It was personally way uncomfortable to think about female players enjoying
guys waiting on them half-naked. But really, games and anime had a lot of
situations like that. If it was a male character surrounded by a bunch of women,
it was called a harem; if it was a female character surrounded by a bunch of
men, it was a reverse harem.
"Wonder if girls feel the same way about harems as I do about reverse
harems?" The fact that I was even giving such a thought serious consideration
was proof I was utterly beat.
"Eh, not like it matters." I needed to focus on finishing up this game. "Okay, so
what do I need to buy to beat this thing?"
All the paid content items were powerful. There were exclusive weapons for
the male characters and equipment for the protagonist. Personally, I wanted
something that would serve me well in battle; cosmetics could suck it. As long
as I could beat the game, I didn't give a crap how it looked.
"Oh, how about this?"
My eyes landed on the most expensive item of the bunch: a battleship. It
didn't require resupplying and it ignored all of those annoying RNG battle
elements. Most importantly, it was a super strong unit.
"Although it looks more like a spaceship than an airship," I mused.
Its metallic exterior had a completely different aesthetic than the other
airships in the game. It was enormously powerful, living up to its thousand-yen
price tag. I gave the description a brief glimpse and saw it was an ancient blah
blah blah… TL;DR: It was a prodigiously powerful spaceship.
"Wait, so it really is a spaceship? That has to be a typo, right?"
Had someone messed up when they wrote the item description? Frankly, it
didn't matter as long as I was able to clear the game. At this point, I'd buy
whatever just to get through.
Next, I checked out the Armor for sale. Well, that's what they were called.
They didn't look like regular armor, more like giant robots. Even so, the men
who donned Armor to fight were known as knights.
Did women really enjoy watching men fight for them?
Well, can't hurt to purchase this, too.
The black armor almost looked like an enemy unit, it was so imposing, but
that didn't bother me. Being the dark hero was badass. Come to think of it, this
was actually a pretty cool design for something in an otome game. And it was
going to have so much more combat utility than those stupid love interests.
Like, one was a swordsman who was amazing in duels but possessed no longrange
weapons; another was a guy who thought it was weak to rely on anything
but pure skill, so all of his equipment was outdated and flimsy; and a third was
skilled magic user who was about a total glass cannon that would shatter the
second an enemy unit so much as sneezed in his direction.
These pointless jerks had been the cause of a long, long series of Game Overs.
"Ugh. I've gotta do it. I've gotta finish this game." I'd lost enough of my sweet,
sweet weekend as it was. I broke down and purchased the spaceship and the
dark Armor.
After equipping them and restarting the entire adventure sequence, I hit the
ninety-percent-completion mark by that evening. I was a master of efficiency,
racking up affection points and blazing through the daily events with each love
interest. I sold all the gifts they gave me to the secondhand shop right away,
and I did it while the dude in question was still in my party. Sure, selling a gift
right in front of the guy who gave it made me a jerk too, but it was a game, so
who cared?
Of course, if this were a galge, I'd totally go out of my way to make sure the
girl was off my team before I got rid of her gift. Game or not, I couldn't be a
douche when it came to girls.
But this was my sister's otome game. All that mattered was clearing all the
content. Now all that was left was getting the ending where the protagonist
dated the whole cast of male characters at once. This was the game's true
storyline, the canonical true ending.
I didn't give a crap what they called it. When I finally achieved the reverseharem
ending, I felt two things: joy at being released from my servitude and
hollow from how much time I'd wasted. I watched the final video play and
simmered with anger…then sadness.
"That's two whole days of my life I'll never get back."
I saved the data, having kept my promise to my little sister, then collapsed on
my bed. When I glanced at the clock, I realized it was a little soon to be going to
sleep. I had no desire to move whatsoever, but with the freedom that came
from finishing the game, I realized I was hungry. I pressed a hand over my
stomach. Breakfast was the last thing I'd eaten.
"And there's nothing in my fridge." I'd originally planned to spend the day
restocking groceries, but instead I'd prioritized that stupid game. "Guess I can
hit up a diner."
I double-checked the time on my phone and noticed a message from my little
sister: Today was so much fun. I'm beat! I'll be back home in a few days, so
make sure to clear the game by then. If you don't take me seriously, you'll be a
pervert in our parents' eyes forever! lol
"She really is a piece of work." Making me do her grunt work while she went
out of her way to emphasize how much she was enjoying herself.
Speaking of, one little thing bothered me about all that.
"How'd she get the money to go on a trip?"
The little bit of spare change she extorted out of me wouldn't have been
enough to cover the whole thing. And no way did she have any kind of parttime
job. She couldn't stay out late for work anyway, since our parents gave her
a curfew. Plus, she'd whined about not wanting to work. She had too much
pride to do anything illegal for cash.
Then I recalled what Mom had told me not too long ago, and a light bulb
turned on in my head. "She said my sister needed money for a class to earn her
license."
My parents had assumed she meant a driver's license and given her the funds
without question. That had to be what she was using to finance her overseas
adventure.
I immediately copied her texts and the pictures she'd sent me, then sat down
at my laptop and sent a message to our mom, attaching the evidence.
"That idiot. This is what she gets for blackmailing me."
What would my parents think when they saw the truth and realized she'd not
only blackmailed me but used their money to go overseas without permission?
She couldn't weasel her way out of this now. I'd ripped the sheepskin off the
wolf.
I grinned triumphantly…until I goddamn realized.
"Wait. So I could have exposed her from the very beginning without wasting
all that time on her stupid game?! Ugh, just kill me now."
Disgusted at myself and still hungry, I stood, reaching for my wallet. The
whole business with my little sister could be put on hold until I had a chance to
eat. At any rate, I didn't need to worry about that godawful otome game
anymore.
I stepped out the front door feeling strangely light, almost as if I were floating.
It was the same kind of happiness you might get leaving work after a hard day.
"I think I'll splurge a little tonight. Really treat myself."
I made my way along an oddly empty road, streetlights flickering eerily, then
started down a set of stairs. That was when the dizziness hit.
"Aw, crap." I grabbed for a railing. "This isn't good."
I fell.
It was like I was a marionette, and all my strings had been cut. My strength
was gone. I watched helplessly as the ground came closer, anticipating the pain
of hurtling down the stairs…and all I could think of was how I'd lost my precious
weekend to my sister, and now I was probably going to die.
God, I was pissed.
Right then, my vision shifted. Was my life flashing before me? But no…I'd
never seen anything like this before.
A land floating over ocean. Airships soaring above me. Blue skies and white
clouds. My own hand reaching out toward the sun.
"It'd be too…pathetic…to die like…this…"
And then my consciousness faded.
***
The gentle embankment was blanketed with long green grass. I could hear it
rustle as it moved, smell it as I drew in a breath.
I, Leon Fou Bartfort, was sprawled out across said embankment with a hand
raised up toward the sun. My heart thundered furiously in my chest, and I was
covered in a cold sweat. My chest ached; I felt sick.
"Wh-what the hell was that?"
I sat up so fast I ripped blades of grass right out of the ground. The wind was
strong, blowing leaves and grass all around, and then a shadow crept over me,
blocking out the sun.
It was an airship. A square wooden box flying high above me. Normally, I
would have viewed it with disinterest—they periodically visited our territory—
but today I couldn't contain my shock as my eyes widened in disbelief. It was
like I was seeing one for the very first time.
I slapped a hand over my chest as my heart continued to pound. My breath
was still coming in gasps. I stood, my eyes following the airship as it zipped
across the open ocean.
Something about the ocean seemed…off.
"What the…? What is…?"
I tried to move forward but my legs tangled beneath me and sent me back to
the ground. Glancing over myself, I had the odd idea that my legs and hands
were strangely…small. I had no doubt this was my body, but it seemed to have…
shrunk?
Some things are too much to think about. Instead, I decided to investigate
what I'd noticed a moment ago. I stood and walked slowly toward the ocean
with my child-sized legs, my heart humming with unease.
A fence prevented anyone from falling over the edge, but the sight from there
was the same as always. I was standing on a mass of land that drifted over a
salty body of water.
"That's right," I reminded myself. "Our island is floating."
I wasn't sure whether to be happy or sad once I remembered that this was
"normal." Were islands supposed to float?
Had I somehow forgotten? Was that why I felt… I didn't know. Something had
felt strange since the moment I caught myself lifting my hand up toward the
sun. In that split second, it had felt like my whole life—or rather, another
person's life—had flashed before my eyes. There was nothing particularly
special about it, but he had seemed happy. And it had felt too vivid, too raw for
it to just be a dream. Yet I couldn't even remember his name.
I cradled my head in my hands. The memories were still so pristine. …Except
for the name.
I was only five years old, yet I knew I had experienced something far beyond
my years.
I sank down onto my butt as the memories from my current life and the
memories I had just recalled seemed to merge together in my head. I pressed
my back against the fence and gazed up at the sky.
"What…happened to me?"
I didn't even know who I was asking.
***
The sun was beginning to set, so I headed back to my house. I remembered
disliking the place, which was why I'd run off to the embankment in the first
place. Still, I wanted to return before dark. I steeled myself before walking into
the entrance hall. My dad was waiting just inside the entrance, his arms crossed
and his legs spread out wide beneath him.
"Idiot boy!" He smacked me over the head with his enormous fist.
Tears sprang to my eyes and I slapped my hands over my head. Behind me,
the front door swung open. I looked back to see my mom walk inside behind
me.
"So you've finally come back," she said. "Why must you run away like this on
a day when the mistress is set to return?"
My dad, Balcus, was a liege lord—a baron. When I thought of nobles, my mind
summoned the image of extravagant clothing on a slender form. Or maybe
someone more…rotund? But my dad was neither; he was all muscle with a
bearded jawline. His clothing consisted of a simple shirt, brown trousers, and
boots. He didn't look the part at all.
My mom, his lover, was named Luce. She was a daughter of one of the knight
families that owed allegiance to Bartfort House. Like my father, she wore the
type of working attire you might expect of a villager, rather than the dress of a
lady.
The mistress she spoke of was my father's official wife.
"I-I'm…sorry."
My parents eyed me, as if realizing something had changed in their son. But
before they could say anything—or drag me off where I belonged—the door to
the front door swung open again, and a woman wearing a dress adorned with
jewels entered the manor.
The mistress, Zola Fia Bartfort.
At the sight of me, her gaze turned chilly. Her two children, Rutart (the oldest
son of the house) and Merce (the oldest daughter) were close behind her. They
also wore expensive outfits, unlike me. Last to follow was a tall, beautiful man
in a suit. He had long, pointed ears and seemed to sneer at us.
"Honestly," the mistress said. "Children with no proper education are little
better than beasts." With her narrowed eyes and her hair pulled back in a tight
bun, she perfectly fit my archetypal image of a noblewoman.
My mom apologized, and my dad hauled me outside immediately. As he
manhandled me toward the storage shed out back, his lips drew taut, but he
didn't say more until we reached it. "Think about what you've done," he told
me at last. "I'll see that your food is brought by later."
I could only nod.
Someone else was already inside the shed: the second oldest brother of the
family, Nicks. He was two years my senior and wore the same kind of outfit as I
did. He was reading by lantern light.
When my dad and I came inside, Nicks regarded me with exasperation. "You
really are an idiot. Just bear with it a few days and they'll be gone." His eyes
turned back to his book.
My dad pressed a hand to his head. "Nicks, help Leon study."
Nicks gave him a perturbed look but cleared off space at the desk and carried
another chair over. Once I took my seat, he warned me, "If you doze off, I'll
smack you."
My dad waited until I nodded in agreement, then he left.
Once it was just the two of us, Nicks sat across from me, picked out a book he
thought I could read, and passed it over. Its pages had seen so much use it was
nearly falling apart, but I opened it anyway. Scribbles decorated the interior.
It was a strange feeling to be trying to read in a storage shed, swatting away
bugs that gathered around the lantern.
As I tried to study, some language I didn't know flitted through my head, its
writing system completely different from what was on the page in front of me.
In fact, that other tongue seemed somehow easier to parse.
I puzzled over this, until my brother seemed to decide I was stuck on an
unfamiliar word. "Try thinking about it by yourself first," he said. "If you can't
figure it out on your own, then I'll help you."
Silence lapsed between us. The insects buzzing around the lantern were a
distracting annoyance.
"Hey, bro?"
He seemed startled. "Did you just say 'bro'? You were calling me Nicks just
this morning."
Flustered, I tried to correct myself, but he beat me to the punch. "Trying to
act more grown up now, huh? Eh, it's fine. What did you need help with?"
I shook my head and tried to figure out how to say what was on my mind. I
was beginning to have doubts about all the things that had seemed so normal
to me before: like how Nicks and I were being treated. I understood why the
heir to our family was given special regard, but why were we being shooed off
to the storage shed? We had other siblings—older and younger sisters. Why
weren't any of them out here with us? They weren't legitimate children, either.
"Why are we the only ones out here in this damn shed?" I asked finally.
My brother mumbled to himself, something about how I usually spoke with
more reserve. But he put his book down on the table and stared up at the
ceiling. "Because the mistress hates us, that's why," he said at last.
"Because we're Mom's—uh, Mother's kids?"
Nicks folded his hands behind his head, leaning back in his chair. "You think
there's any other reason? Even though our sisters are illegitimate, she still
hesitated to force them out here. But for boys like us? This is just how it is."
Even at seven years old, my brother apparently had a lot to be dissatisfied
with. He proceeded to explain—really, complain about—our house's
circumstances.
The Bartforts weren't a true noble family, but they did technically hold their
own territory: this floating island. Formerly, they had been a knight family, a
baronet actually, just a step below a baron, and they had lived in relative
harmony. Vassal families cultivated the land and welcomed knights without a
lord to protect them. As a result, the population expanded, and the number of
fields that required tending increased. Likewise, the number of people the land
could support also grew…which was decidedly not a good thing, according to
Nicks.
During our grandpa's time, an agent from Holfort Kingdom came to our
territory and decided it was large enough to be recognized as a barony. When
they informed my grandpa they would be elevating his rank, he panicked.
Knowledge from my previous life caused me to question this reaction. Wasn't
becoming a baron something to be happy about? Elevating someone's noble
rank was basically like a promotion. But shouldn't it be based on some sort of
achievement, like exploits on the battlefield? Could you really be rewarded just
for the size of your land and the number of people in it?
"Why didn't he want a higher status?" I asked.
Nicks seemed a bit unsure himself, but he said he could tell by our dad's tone
when he told the tale that it wasn't something to be happy about. "Grandpa
complained that it was too sudden. Plus, your offerings to the crown have to be
proportionate to your rank. That's why we're so poor."
More knowledge from my previous life filled in the gaps in my understanding.
Some houses barely managed to reach the level necessary to be recognized as
baronies, while others easily surpassed the minimum requirements. The latter
had no issue paying their taxes to the kingdom, but the former strained to meet
the mark.
A lot of baronets who could very well be regarded as a barony for their size
and population kept their mouths shut to avoid notice.
At any rate, our isolated island in the countryside had become a barony. The
position demanded that our house conduct itself in a way appropriate for its
new title, and so my dad was forced to marry a woman of high standing.
"Dad and the mistress are married, right?" I said. "How come she doesn't stay
here with us?" She and her two children only came to visit occasionally.
"That's pretty normal for any lady born to a family of higher rank than baron,"
Nicks said. "Sucks, doesn't it? If you're going to get stuck with a wife, it would
be better to marry someone from a baronet house or lower. Well, then again,
women from higher ranking houses wouldn't even look twice at us."
"So that's normal?" I clarified.
"You'd better study while you can. If you can't get hitched while you're at the
academy, you'll be a late bloomer and get stuck marrying some older lady. You
don't want to be single when you're twenty, right?"
I couldn't hide my surprise. I knew about the academy, of course, but hearing
late bloomer as something derogatory toward men? Normally women were the
ones who were told that if they didn't end up married by a certain age, they'd
be a spinster.
I paused. "Nicks?"
"'Bro' is fine, I don't care. What is it?"
"What do you mean when you say we could get stuck with some older
woman?"
He cocked his head at me. "Exactly what I said. You'll get married to a widow,
someone who couldn't get married in the first place, or someone whose man
ran out on her. A lover isn't going to cut it. It's not honorable. That's why a lot
of young guys get shipped off to grandmas."
My brother was frightfully mature for his age.
"But isn't it usually the opposite?" I pressed. "Aren't men usually at the top of
society?" The memories of my past life insisted that men were dominant—
something something patriarchy? Apparently that was wrong.
"Come on, all you have to do is look at our dad to know women are on top.
You saw it for yourself. He can't even stand up to that wench—err, the
mistress." Clearly Nicks found her unpleasant. "You know, you're acting kinda
strange today."
I forced a smile before returning my attention to the book on the table. Cold
sweat beaded my forehead. The bizarre memories of my past life continued to
insist that something was off about this one.
This is weird. This world is straight-up weird.
For a while, I read in silence, but I was mulling over what Nicks had told me. It
felt like I'd heard his story somewhere before.
"Academy… Holfort Kingdom? And the mistress's servant was an elf? Wait a
minute. Don't tell me…"
My brother chastised me. "What are you muttering about?"
"U-um, that dude in the suit. That elf—he was the mistress chick's lover,
wasn't he?" The manner of speech from my memories slipped out.
Nicks didn't seem to care. Actually, he seemed exasperated. "Quit asking
stupid questions and get back to studying."
She had a demi-human—an elf—as her servant/lover… I knew this setup. In
fact, I remembered it vividly.
I slumped over, my forehead smacking the top of the desk. "This is that stupid
otome game."
My memories, which had seemed muddled and murky before, suddenly felt
sharp and clear. This was the world of that fluffy, romantic dating sim.
Nicks slapped me over the head with his open palm. "Don't sleep! Seriously,
what's wrong with you today? Did you hit your head?"
I lifted my chin and gave him a forced smile, my lips stretched over my teeth.
He recoiled with surprise. "Wh-what is it?"
"This world is completely insane."
"Uh, yeah, I guess so?" He seemed at a loss for how to respond. Perhaps to
avoid talking any further, he turned back to his book.
I never dreamed I would experience reincarnating in another world. Sure,
fantasy and magic and swordsmanship didn't sound so bad, but it had a
matriarchal society? I couldn't have been reincarnated into a more normal
civilization?
I cradled my head in my hands. "This suuuuuuucks!"
"What the heck is wrong with you!" Nicks fussed. "Shut up already!"
I, Leon Fou Bartfort, was a Japanese man reincarnated into the world of an
otome game. Give me a freakin' break!
Chapter 1:
A Reason to Fight
TEN YEARS PASSED in the blink of an eye after I regained my memories. I spent
my days fuming that such a lighthearted otome game was actually a world full
of wickedness, and it had become my reality.
Well, it wasn't like I could stay angry all the time. Though it was another
world, it still had its own daily rhythm.
We were indeed nobles, but we were poor countryside stock. We often toiled
in the fields ourselves, and naturally, I helped out. Manual labor toned my body
over the years. My face grew more masculine as well, and it once again
resembled the one I'd had in my previous life.
At fifteen, with black hair and black eyes, I was no stud, but I wasn't an ugly
gremlin either. Sadly, this was an otome game world. Dreamy guys swarmed
the place, and I was just one of the masses. A background character. A mob.
My older brother Nicks had moved to the continent—the main area of the
kingdom—to enroll in the academy and live in the dormitory. As soon as he left
the cramped storage shed we shared, the sixth youngest of the family (the
fourth son), Colin, took his place.
Currently I was in my room reading a letter Nicks sent me. We were close like
that (or at least, I thought we were close). Looking for a bride is tough, he
noted.
In this world, a man who couldn't get married by the time he graduated the
academy was considered deeply flawed. Still single by the age of twenty? You
were second-rate goods. Society came down especially hard on the sons of
noble families. Commoners might be given a pass, but noblemen who didn't
marry young were treated like pariahs. As I read his letter, I prayed Nicks would
find a wife quickly. For men, this world was ridiculously harsh.
If you couldn't get married, it affected employment, like your prospects for
promotion. This held true even among the nobles. Second and third sons and
onward had to leave the house and strike out on their own. They were merely
spares, anyway, in case the heir failed to continue the family name. And once
the heir inherited the family titles and produced a male child of their own,
those spares became useless.
When that happened, our jobs were already predetermined: we either
entered the military or became government officials. There were some
exceptions, such as men who became doctors or something else that would
benefit the country and the people in it. All other forms of employment were
treated with disdain.
The men who couldn't marry were forever no better than a servant class.
They had no hope of climbing a career ladder and would never be given any
significant responsibility. Society didn't trust those who couldn't marry.
Therefore, marriage was critical for men, especially those of rank.
"This world truly is despicable," I muttered as I read Nicks's letter.
Conflict defined our era—wars, squabbles, air pirates, monsters—and the
death rate for knights and other men in the military was high. Noble houses like
mine produced so many children because a lot of them inevitably died during
war. And yet, while fighting was a man's job—all while holding down a paying
job, come on!—women held all the authority. Men put their lives on the line
and died in combat but were still garbage in the eyes of society. It was twisted
and warped.
I hoped there was a reason for it. If this world only allowed women to get
away with all this crap because of some developer's offhand decision to make
the game's society matriarchal, I'd cry.
Why did I have to reincarnate here? There wasn't a day I didn't wonder that.
Wait, no, there were some days. A lot, actually. I was so busy that I often
forgot to begrudge my situation. After all, it had been ten years since I regained
the memories of my previous life. You get used to things.
Inside our little storage shed, my younger brother Colin sprawled out on his
bed, sleeping soundly. He had such an innocent face. From the game's
standpoint, he and I were nothing more than useless background characters. If
we even got names, they would be Character A, Character B…
I'd never even heard of Bartfort House in the game.
"So I'm a background character." I sighed. "I guess it does kinda fit me."
I didn't want to accept it, but part of me did anyway. It wasn't like I held any
grand aspirations or wanted to move up in the world or do anything worthy of
note. If I was just a background character, then a background character I would
be.
More importantly, I would be enrolling in the academy next year. One of the
few perks of this world for men (and trust me, there were very few) was that all
nobles could join the academy. I was a little apprehensive about the idea of the
game's story becoming real life for me, but I was grateful for the opportunity to
study so I could advance in the paths available to me. With so few opportunities
to leave your family's territory, this was a precious chance. If you didn't leave,
you were likely to be forced into an engagement with some thirty-or forty-yearold
has-been. No laughing matter.
"When you think about that, enrolling in the academy sounds pretty great."
I watched my little brother sleep, relieved I'd be escaping soon.
***
"A…a marriage interview? What in the world?!"
Just after supper, I was in my dad's office, and the mistress, Zola Fia Bartfort,
revealed her intent to marry me off. My dad sat in his usual chair, grimacing.
I gaped at the personal information sheet he'd just given me. It listed the
details of my potential marriage partner, complete with a portrait of her.
"Zola prepared the engagement." My dad looked uneasy as he glanced
between the mistress and me. "The woman is an acquaintance of hers, looking
for a new husband."
Zola sipped at her tea, the highest quality our house stocked. "Hmmph. Cheap
tea leaves simply don't suit my taste," she muttered.
"No." I would not concede on this. "This is ridiculous!"
The woman in question was horrendous. According to the information sheet,
she was the daughter of a baron in name only (she had no house to inherit), she
had been married seven times now (a big red flag!), and she was over fifty. All
of her children were older than me.
Zola slammed her cup down and pinned me with a glare. "She has always
looked after me with utmost care and diligence. Furthermore, she's a young
lady of a noble family of the court, one that has faithfully served the crown for
many years. What could you possibly be dissatisfied with?"
What could I possibly be dissatisfied with?! Maybe Zola really was a moron.
Anyway, what part of fifty years old meant young lady?
"I haven't even enrolled in the academy yet," I argued, "so why is marriage
even coming up?"
Nobles generally married right after they graduated. If anyone tried to get
married during school—or forewent it altogether—they were seen as juvenile
and immature. The only exceptions were political marriages or weddings that,
for whatever reason, had to be sped up. Still, most people didn't move past
engagement until after graduation.
"I can accept enrolling a second son in the academy, but there's no point in
doing that for a third!" Zola hissed furiously. "Even if you stay here, you'd end
up costing us money."
I sneered at her.
"I feel bad it's come to this," my dad began apologetically, "but she's right
that our house is low on funds. Still, you could always marry after enrollment."
He sneaked a glance at her, but I knew she wouldn't listen to him no matter
what he said.
Zola leaned back in her seat. "I'm sure he wouldn't get any notable work even
if he did happen to graduate. It's only right for you to marry for the sake of your
family. You should be grateful I've set you up with a partner. I even worked it
out so you'll have a job in the military. You'd best put in some effort."
That was when I realized…
She intends for me to die in battle.
A pension was paid out to the families of men who fell in combat. For
commoners, that came in the form of a lump sum, but for nobles it went a bit
different. They earned honors for defending their country, and their family
received a yearly compensation. On her information sheet, Zola's friend proudly
listed all seven of her previous husbands as having died an Honorable Death in
the Line of Duty.
This engagement was a setup for me to die in the military so she could earn
more glory and keep up a steady flow of cash.
"No way," I said. "I refuse."
Zola slapped her hand on the table and stood. "Enough! A lowly brat like you
has no right to mouth off to me! If you're truly a man, work for your family!"
This from a woman who spent most of her days in a manor my dad had set up
for her in the royal capital, complete with a hefty allowance. She hailed from
one of the noble families that worked in the palace and didn't want to leave the
capital. That's right. Even though things were tight at home financially, my dad
still sent her money, and she had the audacity to act like this. It would damage
my dad's reputation if he were to cut her off, however. He couldn't divorce her
even if he wanted to.
I racked my brain for a way to get out of this.
Come on, remember? I've got extra knowledge about this world! I was always
beat after a day's work and so never really tried to use my knowledge of the
game to affect my life, but it was clearly time for that to change.
"So as long as I have money," I began slowly, "you have no complaints?"
Zola snorted. "Oh? That's an awfully arrogant attitude for a parasite who's
never earned a coin in his life."
I wanted to shake her. A woman who leeched off Bartfort House while she
lived the high life in the capital had no right to call me a parasite.
"We can't refuse," Zola went on, "it would offend her. If you think earning
enough to cover your academy enrollment fees will cover it, you're being
naive."
My dad looked unsure. An engagement you couldn't refuse was out of the
ordinary, even for a matriarchal society. Still, he couldn't be too assertive with
Zola. "Leon is still young. There's no reason to rush—"
"I don't want to hear any more! No one is going to want him once he's older
than twenty. You should be thanking me for finding him a partner while he's
still young. Instead, you want to whine and quibble over details." Zola turned to
me. "This is exactly why I hate countryside brats like you!"
Come now, the countryside didn't do anything to you.
I tried to protest, but my dad intervened. "Try to think of this from Leon's
perspective. No one would want their first wife to be over fifty. That's an almost
forty-year age gap." He breathed a sigh. "If he's able to get the money, will you
agree to drop this engagement?"
Zola sank back down into her seat, crossed her legs, and shot me a mocking
look. "Oh? You never told me he was resourceful enough to make that kind of
money. If that's the case, I'd love for you to increase the allowance you send
me."
I won't say I'm convinced all the women in this world are like her, but man,
does she try a person's patience.
My image of the women in this world, particularly the noblewomen, was
absolutely horrible.
My dad scrubbed his face with his hand. He looked down at the ground and
seemed to squeeze out the words. "Give us a little bit of time. We'll get the
money."
I felt guilty he was overextending himself on my account. He was so
miserable.
This world truly was despicable.
***
After Zola left the room, it was just my dad and me. And I exploded.
"She made us send a ship to fetch her for something as stupid as this? How
long does she think it took us to make all the preparations for her to stay here?"
A regular service airship ran back and forth between our island and the capital,
but for her to visit, we had to arrange her meals and accommodations and pay
her travel fees. "Dad, why did you marry that…thing?"
He was too timid. Although there was a reason for that.
"Don't get mad. I had to. The other nobles wouldn't treat us with the proper
respect otherwise, and that's not something to take lightly."
From my dad's point of view, it was incredible that Zola had even agreed to
marry into a house on the fringes of the kingdom—on an outlying island, no
less. Noble ladies born on the outer edge usually found spouses in the capital
they so yearned to live in. A few women weren't quite so picky, but men tended
to quarrel over who got their hand. Thus, just as Zola thought herself gracious
for being willing to marry my dad, my dad likewise felt grateful for her
generosity.
That just went to show the importance of a marriage partner. If a baron
couldn't snag a high-status wife, he as good as declared his house socially
impotent. Other noblemen would look down on him, and some might even
start a war with his house. Everyone would treat him as if he were undeserving
of his rank. He would be ostracized.
"Dad… Do we really not have the money for the academy?" I asked.
The answer seemed obvious when my dad pulled a face. "It'll be rough. We
have debts to pay, too. Trying to squeeze out any more will put us further in the
hole. But why did she bring this up all of a sudden?" Dad seemed as puzzled as
me.
"Yeah…why didn't she didn't bring it up with Nicks?"
My dad tilted his head, considering. "Well, both you and Nicks have far too
much of an age gap with Zola's friend regardless…but it is still strange. It's
almost like she doesn't want you to go to the academy at all."
The whole thing bothered me, so I wrote up a letter to my brother to check
with him and see if he knew anything. Basically, There's all this engagement talk
here at home, are things all right there?
His answer was a surprise I could never have anticipated.
***
A week later, I was in the storage shed, taking out the weapons stashed
inside. These were also a part of my family's assets, so when my dad saw me
trying (and struggling) to use them years ago, he'd gotten angry with me. No
one could stop me now.
I found an old-style rifle with a magazine that held five rounds. I took the
most functional-looking pieces out of the bunch and began disassembling them
for maintenance. I also took down a sword that had been hung as a decorative
piece to test its durability and gathered various other things necessary for my
mission.
Dad watched with unease. "Here now, what are you planning?"
After Nicks's letter arrived, I resolved myself. Originally, I'd had the rather
optimistic idea to use my knowledge of the game to earn some extra coin, but
now that I knew the reality of my situation, I couldn't be so lackadaisical about
it.
"Before she sells me to that perverted hag, I'm going to do whatever I can to
earn some cash!" I said. "There's no way I'm getting married. No way in hell!"
Behind Dad, Mom watched with tears in her eyes.
The house Zola wanted to sell me into apparently had a horrible reputation. It
was a group of old bats called the Ladies of the Forest who held conferences
and talked about how men were slaves, so you could use them however you
wanted. And they really did act as if their men were slaves, treating them even
more horribly than their demi-human servants. They enjoyed seeing how much
they could use a man until they broke him completely.
Scumbags.
On top of that, they only gathered noblemen of high status and sent the ones
they couldn't use to die in battle, or so the rumors went. However, some
people wondered if the women weren't killing the men themselves and playing
it off like they died in the line of duty.
And what made this all worse? Zola was involved with them. She wasn't
technically a part of their group, but she profited from selling off third and
fourth sons that were just taking up space at home. A sane individual would
never associate with that sort of thing. Most women—good women—would be
disgusted.
Zola hadn't offered the same proposal to Nicks because a second son would
draw too much attention. The Ladies of the Forest enjoyed gathering up young
boys like me who didn't know any better. Furthermore, as long as we weren't
students of the academy, it was easy to lie to us about the terms of
engagement. Zola had tried to force the engagement before I went off to school
and got wise to her game.
"Why do perverts like that have to come mess with a simple background
character like me?!" I exclaimed. "A calm, peaceful life with no ups or downs
would be so much better!"
"Honey…" My mom seemed troubled "…I have no idea what Leon is saying."
"Yeah, me neither. Say, Leon… What are you planning on doing with all these
weapons, anyway?" he asked, concerned. "Don't tell me you plan to storm the
capital? You better put that thought right out of your head."
Oh man, I would love to march in there and wipe them all off the face of the
planet, I thought as I cleaned the weapons, but there's no way I can do that with
my current abilities.
There were armed knights in the royal capital. If I really did charge in there,
they would either arrest me, or the buffed-up demi-human servants all the
noble ladies kept would beat me to a pulp before I could get close.
"If I'm gonna get rich quick, the best way to do that is to become an
adventurer," I said instead.
My parents exchanged looks.
"Adventurer" was actually among the acceptable occupations in this world. Or
rather, an occupation that society had no choice but to recognize. After all, the
nobles of this kingdom were descendants of the adventurers who had
discovered this new land, accumulated its wealth, and made the region their
home. And of course, adventure led to wealth. This was why, even at the
academy, nobles became adventurers.
Or at least, that was the game's rationale. Really, it was an excuse to have the
love interests fawn over the female protagonist when they went into dungeons,
where she would farm affection points with them. Nonetheless, it was now an
angle I could use to save my own skin.
Dad shook his head. "You should give up on that. Dungeons aren't the sort of
challenge you can face by yourself. Plus, it will take some time before you're
skilled enough to earn money."
Mom agreed. "He's right, you know. And it's incredibly difficult to find a new
floating island these days. You won't be able to make that much for the effort."
The quickest way to make bank for adventuring was to claim an undiscovered
island. Some were perfectly suited to human habitation and could be cultivated,
and others were full of precious resources that could be harvested. If you found
an island, the rights to it were automatically yours. You could even establish
your own territory and become independent. Of course, all the islands near the
continent had been claimed. There were none left…
Except for the one I knew of.
"Sorry," I said. "I've made my decision, and I'm going."
If I were the only one at risk, I could just run away and forget the whole mess,
but my little brother, Colin, was only nine. I couldn't stand by and watch him be
sold to that gaggle of perverts.
My dad seemed to sense my resolve. "Do you need anything?"
I didn't hesitate to rattle off a list of everything I wanted. I knew I was
demanding the impossible, but this was a life-or-death mission. If doing nothing
meant becoming a plaything for a bunch of handsy old murder-hags, then I'd
rather take my chances adventuring, even if my chances of survival were low.
"I don't care if it's shaped like a rowboat, I need an airship," I told him. "I'd
also like some bullets. The special-made ones."
Dad raised his eyebrows. "What in the world are you planning to do with all
that? Are you really going to charge into a dungeon? You'd be better off taking
the regular service airship."
"The regular service one won't take me where I want to go."
I held up the rifle in my hands. It was a bit odd for a weapon like this to exist
in a fantasy world of magic and swords, but then again, the airships fired
cannons at each other. It followed that guns for people existed, too. When I
pulled the trigger, a metallic clank signaled the weapon's attempt to fire with
no ammo.
There were some things even a background character couldn't concede on. I
didn't want to live the rest of my life as someone's toy. I was going to fight
back. I'd show them how stubborn a mob could be.
"All right." Dad gave in. "I'll try to get something ready for you as quickly as I
can. But you have to come back. If you don't promise me that…you get
nothing."
It's not like I don't want to come back, but I know I'm putting my life on the
line.
"I swear it. I'll come back," I lied. I wanted with all the hell in me to protect
myself, save my brother, and outwit Zola. And I wanted my revenge on that
witch for trying to sell me. I just couldn't guarantee I'd get it.
I resumed my preparations, letting my anger smolder inside of me.
***
"I can't believe I'm really going to have to do this…"
It wasn't like I'd never considered using my knowledge of the game to mow
down enemies before. I was just usually too busy…living. Modest meals with my
family, training with my dad, then farm work. Before I knew it, the sun would be
setting and I'd have to get back home for my studies.
As a border barony, we were poor. At least, compared to those on the
mainland or in the capital. In my estimation, we were further impoverished due
to Zola. Without our rank, and without her, we would've had more.
If only, if only.
As I walked to the edge of Bartfort House's floating island, I ran into a creepy
flying-fish creature. I raised my bolt-action rifle, pulling the trigger. These were
the kinds of monsters in this game's frivolous story. They were pure, absolute
evil, so I didn't hesitate to dispatch them. I didn't even need to feel remorse for
ending a living creature's existence—the moment you beat them, their bodies
just dissolved. And of course they were hostile and attacked people on sight, so
it was better to finish them off.
Plus, defeating them meant you earned invisible experience points.
"Crap! I missed."
I loaded the next shot, readied my weapon, and aimed. My target was about
one meter wide. And each bullet was expensive.
In the game, the best course of action was to draw the monster closer before
shooting. Unfortunately, if you got locked in close combat, the worst-case
scenario was death, which was one thing with a virtual body and another thing
entirely with a real one.
The monster pressed close, cracking its jaws open to take a chunk out of me. I
could see lines of sharp, jagged teeth inside, and a ripple of fear ran through
me.
But if I ran away from this, my life was basically forfeit.
Up until this point, I'd told myself I would eventually go out and farm
experience points. I would eventually become an adventurer, search for an
island, go exploring… I would eventually earn money. Yeah, eventually. The idle
thoughts of an idle kid.
Now, I didn't have any more time to procrastinate.
I pulled the trigger, and the bullet ripped through the monster's mouth,
blasting out through the back of its skull. The beast lost momentum just short of
where I stood and collapsed.
I watched its body fall over the edge of the island then disappear in a puff of
black smoke before it hit the ocean's surface.
"That should have given me experience, right?" I glanced at my left hand, but
I didn't feel like anything had changed. Maybe reality wasn't the same as the
game. Still, that didn't mean I could quit. For now, I needed to improve my
marksmanship.
Besides working with my rifle, I also had to learn how to maneuver the airship
I was going to travel in. I wouldn't be able to reach my destination otherwise.
My plan was to retrieve what was, in game terms, a cheat item. It would be
nice if the in-game items I'd paid real money for were there as well, but
regardless, I would be locating the stockpile of treasures intended for the
protagonist's use. I felt bad depriving the main character like this, but my life
was on the line. She was going to have to share.
I shifted my rifle in both hands. "It'll work out. According to my calculations,
she and I will be in the same year at the academy. I'll find some way to pay her
back, and then we'll be even."
I still felt guilty, but my desire to be free was stronger than my guilt. My
chastity was in danger here.
"Is this how young girls who get married off to perverted old dudes feel?
Damn! This world is insane." I scowled, surveying the area for monsters. I had a
very limited time frame to work with. "I should have put in some effort sooner."
***
One month later, I was off.
Though tiny, the ship was surprisingly solid. A propeller engine was attached
to it, which made it easy to steer. I stood on the deck, the sun's rays so strong I
pulled the hood of my robe over my head.
"Dad really pushed himself getting all of this together."
It wasn't just the ship—he found me a rifle, sword, and other miscellaneous
things as well. I had water, food, and weapons, enough to last a single person a
while. No amount of gratitude would repay what my parents had done for me;
they had really pushed themselves financially. The ship we already owned, but
Dad added the propeller engine—a substantial expense for an impoverished
noble house like ours.
The ship also had electricity and gas, which made me wonder again what the
hell kind of fantasy world this was.
I sat with my rifle drawn up against me and took in my surroundings through
binoculars. I set them down, took my map in hand, and fished out my compass.
"Now this is fantasy."
Two hands split the compass's face, one for my current direction and another
set to a specific destination. It was rather convenient, a compass equipped with
a dial you could set to point wherever you wanted to go.
My knowledge of the game had faded over the last ten years, but fortunately,
right after I regained the memories of my past life, I recorded the coordinates
for the treasure hoard on a piece of paper. Past me really was looking out for
present me! And/or past me had fantasies about using cheat items to wreak
havoc and got too distracted by his rigorous country lifestyle to pursue any of
them, tomato, to-mah-to.
"I really should have put more effort into finding these things sooner."
It was human nature to recognize what you should be doing and still not do it.
You could call me a perfect example of that. I'd mumbled the same refrain
numerous times and lamented endlessly, but still never taken any action. I'd
just dragged myself through each day until this crisis finally lit a fire under my
butt.
But I could justify my inaction with the fact that my life in this world was far
harsher than it had been in Japan. Work on the farm was really rough, and I'd
spent all my extra hours studying for the academy. I spent every day exhausted.
I didn't even have the extra strength to train on my own, nor did I possess any
unique intelligence or skills. Where were my special reincarnation perks, huh?
What about super smarts I could use to cheat and manipulate domestic affairs?
Nope, nada, and often as not I found world knowledge from my previous life
just didn't apply in the game world.
I watched boulders float in the sky around me as I sailed on.
"The sky is blue, the ocean is blue… Everything is the same boring color.
Except the occasional cloud."
I wondered how close I was to losing my mind. I could just use my gun to end
it all here. Maybe a better life waited for me after this one—my previous one
hadn't been nearly this bad.
I entertained that thought for a moment but shook my head vigorously. I had
to endure.
"My death isn't going to solve anything. Those hags will just take Colin as their
victim instead."
I talked to myself a lot more in this life, that was for sure.
I lifted my head. The sun was blindingly bright.
I miss Japan.
I'd thought numerous times about abandoning everything and running away,
but this world was more dangerous than my old home. There were monsters
and pirates. The risk of death was everywhere. Even if I did escape, how would I
find work in the kingdom? "This world is tough for background characters."
If I ran into an air pirate now, it would be all over. I surveyed my surroundings
warily.
Suddenly, the wind picked up, and my map flapped about wildly. I set my
compass on it to keep it from flying away, which was when I noticed the needle
—the one that was supposed to be pointing to my destination—spinning
uncontrollably.
"What's going on?"
I stood, and the gusts grew stronger. I had to brace myself to keep from
falling. I gripped the railing and looked overboard, but the ocean was
completely calm. The clouds were floating at their usual languid pace. It didn't
look like a storm was picking up.
A shadow began to block the sun.
"So it's above me?"
When I glanced up, all I saw was a white cloud. A large cloud. My left hand,
which shielded my face, curled into a fist.
Below, then?
When I looked down at the ocean again, part of it was glowing green. I
slumped over, pressing my forehead to the railing, and stifled the laughter
bubbling up from my throat.
"So that's it. Of all things I could get, I'm getting this! Is it because I paid real
money in my past life? Or did it exist in this world to begin with? Well, not that
it matters either way. This is the jackpot. The ultimate jackpot!" I howled,
looking up at the sky and throwing my arms open wide.
I had hoped it would be here, but I hadn't been able to invest too much faith
in the idea for fear of disappointment. I just came out this way to check—and
sure enough, bingo!
"Hold on, I haven't gotten my hands on it yet," I cautioned myself.
I regained my composure and moved the ship closer to the water, heading
straight for the glowing marker. Tremors ran through the vessel, creaking under
the strain.
"Come on, don't fail me now."
I got the ship over the marker, and then I was no longer steering it—that was
all the marker. The ship jolted upward, the momentum so fierce I couldn't even
stay on my feet. All I could do was sink to my knees and grit my teeth. My boat
hurtled through the air, up into the clouds, until everything around me was a
stark white. My body was cold, and my clothes were damp.
I wrapped my robe around my rifle to safeguard it, then tried to navigate my
boat through the dense cloud. A stiff breeze tried to deter me from pressing
farther, so I steered myself into the headwind. As I plunged higher, still
completely blind, violent gusts buffeted my ship.
I pushed the electricity in the engine until it was at capacity, emitting
gruesome sounds. Even that was drowned out by the roar of the wind, so loud I
couldn't hear the engine despite standing right beside it.
The compass was completely useless. Both needles spun frantically. I had no
idea where I was. All I could do was continue into the headwind. Freezing, my
clothes growing heavier as more water seeped in, I fought hopelessly against
the headwind, alone.
"Please, I've only got this one chance!"
I wasn't sure if minutes or hours had passed when the abused engine
suddenly erupted in flames.
"No! Hold on! Just hold on for me!"
In the next moment, the engine exploded. Flames danced around the edges
of the propeller as it spun several more times, then flew off into the clouds.
Naturally, the fire began to spread along the wooden ship. Violent tremors
shook my vessel as it hurled itself out of the cloud—and toward a floating
island, enveloped in misty white.
I stared wide-eyed at the sight hurtling toward me. I'd seen this place
numerous times in the game, but it looked enormous in person. The island was
covered with giant trees, their roots jutting up from the ground. Plant life
draped from its edges.
"Amazing…"
Then, realizing my grave danger, I panicked and moved to the propeller to
steer—but it had been blown off during the explosion, and there was nothing I
could do.
"You gotta be kidding me!"
The ground getting closer with every second, I scrambled for my baggage and
tried to calculate the best timing—then jumped overboard. I dropped
everything in my hands and tumbled to the ground, slamming to a stop when
my back hit one of the giant tree roots. My ship rammed into the ground some
ways from me, shattering into pieces upon impact and sending the remaining
supplies on board scattering.
I forced myself up, aching everywhere, and wiped the sweat of sheer panic
from my brow. "Crap, that was close. Guess it was dangerous to head here on a
boat after all."
The trip would have been easier on a larger airship, but that would have
required money. And my parents didn't exactly have the means.
"Ah well, still managed to get here."
Black spots yet haunted my vision. I put a hand on my aching head and quickly
moved to retrieve my most important supplies. Some had caught fire and were
a lost cause, but I could make do with what was left. I gathered all of my things
in one area, including some charred wood scraps from my boat.
I'd managed to make it to my destination, but I'd lost my ship in the process.
Now there really was no escape. As long as I collected the thing sleeping here
on the island, I would be fine. If it wasn't here, then, well, I would never be able
to escape this place.
When I finally plopped myself down to rest, quite a bit of time had passed. It
was starting to get dark.
Rummaging through my supplies, I selected some food and water. The only
rations I could find were dried bread, which I washed down quickly with the
water. The bread was made more with sustenance in mind than flavor.
Tomorrow's gonna be a busy day.
"If I came all this way and there's nothing here, I'm going to feel like an idiot."
I used the shattered pieces of my boat to start a campfire and warm my chilled
body. After that, I checked my rifle and the other supplies for damage.
"Looks like everything is in working order. I'm just glad this was okay."
In the light of the campfire, I started counting out my ammo and filling the
magazine of my rifle. These were some of the special bullets I'd had my dad
prepare, each one etched with a small lightning bolt.
It had cost about three to five thousand in-game currency per bullet for the
game's standard ammo. These, on the other hand, were magic bullets, standard
stuff you'd see in a fantasy game; a direct hit could light things on fire or freeze
them. Subsequently, they easily ran over ten thousand for a single bullet. I felt
nothing but gratitude toward my parents, since they'd acquired so many for
me.
"If I make it back alive, I'm really going to have to be a more dutiful son. Huh…
Come to think of it, I was never very dutiful in my previous life."
Especially considering I died before my parents. That was about the most
unfilial act imaginable.
"Wonder what happened to my little sister? Wish I could have smacked her
once."
I still remembered the day when I woke up in this world—or rather, the day I
recalled my previous life. The memory of how my sister made me play her
otome game was faint, almost bittersweet now.
It's thanks to her I have any knowledge of the game to take advantage of.
Maybe I should be grateful, I thought. Then again, if she never forced that game
on me in the first place, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have died and ended up here.
Or maybe I would have?
After I finished checking the bullets, I set the rifle aside. Then I leaned my
back against the tree root, giving my weary body some rest. It felt like forever
since I last walked on solid ground. It was calming to lie down.
"Ugh, why did I reincarnate into an otome game…? I wish I could have
reincarnated into a normal fantasy world." I paused. "Well, no, my original
world would have been ideal. Yeah, Japan would have been the best, if I had my
choice."
No monsters, no air pirates… Japan seemed like paradise.
I closed my eyes. "Tomorrow…I'm gonna have to…work hard…"
My life was riding on this gamble—and the results were in sight, waiting for
me.