“Yerina, can you raise your hand?”
“Yeah······.”
Every breath I take releases a puff of white mist.
Honestly, it was freezing, but I didn’t let it show.
I knew how important this Ice Cave was to Yerina.
If I was going to confess, it absolutely had to be here.
Taking a small ring out from my pocket, I noticed tears welling up in Yerina’s eyes.
“I thought a lot about it. Our relationship hasn’t been smooth, but I reflected on it each time. Did I really do nothing wrong?”
Of course, I hadn’t done anything wrong.
All the troubles stemmed from Yerina’s paranoia.
I had no blame in this.
She kept surveilling me, thinking I might be seeing other women, and oh boy, checking my mana residue was exhausting.
“In the end, it all became about the burden we have to carry together. No matter what happens, I want to be with you for life, Yerina. Will you marry me?”
Sure, I did meet other women, but I couldn’t help the annoyance.
I made sure to be thorough in managing my alibis and keeping my movements under wraps.
How much effort did it take to get this far with a mental illness that suspected me without any evidence?
“Yeah! That’s awesome!”
Yerina was crying tears of joy as I slipped the ring onto her ring finger.
It fit perfectly on her slender, pale finger.
This was the 12th time, so there was no way I’d confuse the size.
A satisfied smile crept over my face.
The joy of the ring fitting perfectly was blissful, but Yerina wouldn’t know that.
As I stood up from my kneeling position, I found Yerina’s flushed face looking at me excitedly.
“······.”
She looked like she was about to say something but stopped.
We were so close to the end, but one slip of the tongue could freeze me solid.
Luckily, the atmosphere was good.
Oblivious to everything, Yerina closed her eyes and leaned in.
Good.
If her eyes were closed, I wouldn’t need to control my expression anymore.
Relaxing my tension, I stroked Yerina’s blank white cheeks and kissed her.
‘Done.’
At that moment, a bababum trumpet sound made time freeze in that area.
I left the Ice Cave, leaving a frozen Yerina behind.
Suddenly, a massive announcement appeared in the sky.
[Congratulations! You have cleared the game.]
[Escape Condition 1: All Heroine’s Completion Rates must exceed 95%.]
[Escape Condition 2: The Final Boss ‘Draken’ must be conquered.]
This was the 12th game-clear screen I had seen.
This time’s ending was Yerina’s route.
In other words, Yerina’s completion rate exceeded 100%, resulting in an automatic game clear.
But just because the game was cleared, it didn’t mean everything was over.
There were two escape conditions.
I needed to either exceed 95% completion with all main heroines or defeat the final boss.
One of those had to be achieved to exit into reality.
If I completed the game without meeting the escape conditions, I would have to start over from the moment I entered the game.
The path to defeating the final boss is tough and treacherous.
If luck is against me, I might die.
I’ve never confirmed what happens if I die in-game.
And I have no intention of checking.
I will clear the game and escape alive.
That determination led me to rewind through all heroines’ route endings, a remarkable 12 times.
Now was the moment when all that effort was about to bear fruit.
[Calculating results.]
[Number of Monsters you hunted: 821.]
[A-rank Boss: 1.]
[B-rank Boss: 0.]
[C-rank Boss: 15.]
[Hunting Score: 38825 points.]
[Heroine Completion Rates]
[Jill Diner: 96%.]
[Yulia Petenburg: 100%.]
······
So Yulia also reached 100%.
It looks like they hit 100% completion around the same time as Yerina.
Even when I wasn’t around, their completion rates went up.
As expected, among the notorious main heroines, Yulia is known for being the most lenient.
“Phew······.”
That’s it.
I finally succeeded.
There were many times when I contemplated whether to go after the final boss in anger, but I’m really glad I didn’t.
By not being reckless and persevering, I managed to return to reality unscathed.
I shed a single tear and opened my eyes.
[Yerina Frost: 93%.]
“Huh? What the hell?”
Yerina’s completion rate is 93%?
This can’t be right.
Just moments ago, I promised to marry her, and we kissed.
Wasn’t she completely devoted to me?
Missing the 100% completion is one thing, but how could she not surpass 95%?
This crazy severe paranoia again······!
[Failed to meet escape conditions.]
[Moving back to starting point in 10 seconds.]
“Ah······.”
12 times.
A whopping 12 times.
In terms of time, that’s at least 12 years.
With only three heroines to conquer, if rumors spread that I smashed the game 12 times, I’d get called an idiot.
But the difficulty in conquering the main heroines is the real problem.
Achieving the pure love route with just one is easy.
Two is slightly challenging, but usually, people succeed within 2-3 tries, or on a good day, even on the first try.
But the real headache is when trying to conquer all three heroines.
They all fall into paranoia and act out all sorts of insanity while I’m trying to juggle them, leading to a catastrophic breakdown of the game.
If I focus on Jill’s route, Yulia and Yerina’s rates plummet.
Trying to focus on Yulia yields the same result.
And even when I try my hardest with Yerina, she astonishingly ends up with the lowest completion rate among the three main heroines.
I can’t take this anymore.
I have to go back to the beginning and repeat the same old nonsense.
I’ll have to smile at those insane women again and recite cringe-worthy lines.
Will I be able to manage a natural smile again?
Can I act like a man thoroughly in love?
I don’t know.
My emotions are quite drained now.
I don’t want to spend any more feelings on those rotten women.
Even if I’m trying dozens more times just to return to Earth, if I turn into an emotionless husk, it’d be meaningless.
[Returning to the starting point.]
I’ve made my decision.
I’m not going after the heroines anymore.
I’m going to challenge the escape condition 2, defeating the final boss.
“Let’s give it a shot.”
I have no idea how dangerous it might be, but I have the entire game guide in my head.
How tough could it really be?
It can’t be harder than dating three crazy women, right?
