Hero Friet.
I am the owner of the body that Kim Seung-woo, the narrator of the novel “I Became the Protagonist of an NTR Game,” got possessed by… and the protagonist of the game that serves as the background of that novel.
He possesses a hero’s sense of justice and duty, yet suffers from all kinds of disdain and mental pain due to his inadequate abilities, making him an unfortunate young man.
As the setting of the NTR game suggests, he was betrayed in the worst way by even the comrades he had given his heart to, leaving him a tragic hero with no one left by his side, whether he wins or loses in the end.
That was the image of Hero Friet that I knew.
Did I not know too little about it?
Well, that can’t be helped. The so-called “original game” is merely a fictional setting that appears in the novel.
The only opportunity I had to access information about the original game was whenever the novel’s Kim Seung-woo occasionally voice his complaints about it in monologues.
Totaling it all up, I might barely flip through three pages in the book.
The content is fragmented and not lengthy at all, and since it takes the form of monologues, it contains even Kim Seung-woo’s biases and subjectivity mixed in with the information.
It’s not like there was absolutely nothing to go off, so it could be used as reference material to some extent, but relying solely on such a small quantity of information is pathetically inadequate.
Of course, I had no intention of getting involved with the original characters in the first place, so I had never felt regret or dissatisfaction about the lack of information regarding the original.
“So… Friede, you were that Friet?”
The situation had changed a bit. A lot. It became so sudden that I could no longer turn my back or escape.
Irina and Imelia, whom I thought I would never meet again, came all the way to Hervor to drag me to him, smashing the only method I had for hiding.
It’s been over half a year since I fled, but seeing them try to capture me the moment they spotted me means… Gunther has no intention of giving up on ‘Brunhilde.’
So, it’s highly likely they would continue to chase me from now on. Perhaps Gunther himself might take action.
Luckily, thanks to Friede chasing those girls away, I managed to escape unscathed this time, but I can’t predict whether such luck will follow next time.
So now, I could no longer turn my back on the original story and live a quiet life as a commoner.
Even if I try to live quietly to avoid intertwining with the hero party, it will be meaningless if they come looking for me.
Moreover, the Friet who I thought was steadily getting stronger while Kim Seung-woo possessed his body was actually right beside me, not sticking to me at all.
Shockingly enough, instead of a soul swap like in the novel, it turned out to be a gender swap.
There was no way Kim Seung-woo was acting in this scenario.
Friede had gone through rigorous, logical, and scientific verification processes, leaving no room for even a hint of doubt.
Even a seasoned gambler like Go-nee would find it impossible not to flinch upon hearing such an insult in Korean.
Thus, the black-haired girl sitting right next to me, looking a bit anxious as she stared at me, must be Friet himself from the original game, not the character Kim Seung-woo from the novel.
Although her demeanor stood in stark contrast to the Friet I knew, making it still hard to believe.
“No, what I meant is, it’s true that Friede was originally… but only during her time in the Kingdom of Rhine, she changed into a man’s body… right?”
Even saying it out loud made me chuckle.
Seriously, Friede. What the heck are you talking about?
There’s a limit to absurdity. A human isn’t a clown fish that can change genders at will.
…I know I shouldn’t be talking since I only changed once and not multiple times myself.
To put it differently, instead of changing genders, I’m, in essence, a spirit inhabiting someone else’s body.
Possession and gender transformation. Both are extreme absurdities in the original world, but at least in this world, the latter is overwhelmingly absurd.
Because this is a world where ghosts actually roam. Though they’d be treated like undead monsters.
◆◆
Friede nodded to confirm my question and began explaining the details.
Specifically, it was about her Holy Sword, Nibelung.
A unique ability that grants the owner’s wishes just three times in a lifetime.
Friede explained that her transformation into a man probably resulted from that ability. Similarly, her return to being a woman would also be due to the same reason.
Truly, it was the capability worthy of being called a holy sword.
If one makes a wish that could help in battles against demons or demon kings, it would grant that wish as is. It could cause a catastrophe if misused.
Just look at Heid’s holy sword, Tirving.
The true power of Tirving is the ability to brainwash and subjugate the opponent.
Heid’s use of it to steal someone else’s girl makes it seem sinister, but the original purpose of the power was to brainwash the core forces of the demon king, causing mutual massacre among demons.
If demons stab and kill each other, humans can achieve a victory without shedding a drop of blood, making it a perfect situation.
For sure, it can indeed be called a holy sword. If used like Heid, it should honestly be referred to as a demon sword, though.
Anyway, it seems that Nibelung can also be an immense help if used wisely.
However, in the novel, when Kim Seung-woo first saw Nibelung, he deemed it unfit as a weapon against the demon king and merely used it as a passing weapon…
That was probably because Friet had already exhausted all three wishes before Kim Seung-woo possessed him.
“…It’s all used up?”
Just like now.
“Uh, well… yes. Unless a new master appears, there’s nothing I can do anymore…”
Did my inquiry come off as too pressing? Or perhaps it was a bit embarrassing for her too?
Friede lowered her head and fidgeted with her hands in denial, affirming that she had already wasted all Nibelung’s abilities before even facing a demon king.
If others had heard, it wouldn’t have been surprising for them to snicker at the useless hero.
“Hmm. Well… I guess it can’t be helped. Let’s set that aside for now.”
Of course, it wasn’t for me. After all, in the story, she had exhausted all the uses of her abilities, right?
Whether we should find something better to use… that’s something to think over some more. But, there’s no need to fixate on Nibelung, so I shouldn’t feel too upset.
A sword that grants wishes must be quite useful, but it is a tad frustrating that she can no longer use it…
‘That’s not the issue right now. Who cares about Nibelung’s power in this situation.’
Compared to the worries flooding my mind right now, that was something I could easily brush off as trivial.
“Y-Yes…? Is that really okay?”
Of course, it must have been a puzzling response for Friede, who knew nothing about my fifth holy sword.
“I mean, what’s done is done. Why bother nitpicking now?”
I sighed lightly, shaking off any lingering regrets and returning to discussing Friet’s identity.
“In any case, what you’re saying is… you are indeed Friet. That’s what’s most important. You’ve changed to the point of being unrecognizable, but that goes for me as well.”
Yeah. Honestly, that was the most crucial point.
I had thought about it on the way here, and Friet being here as Friede essentially means I’m in deep trouble.
I’m truly ruined.
Just think about it. Friet being here as Friede means the Kim Seung-woo who should originally be here might not even exist.
While he’s a person with a seriously flawed personality, he’s also the trustworthy protagonist in battles thanks to his knowledge of the original game.
What could that imply?
Everything Friet possessed should have been accomplished by Kim Seung-woo and what was actually done.
That means all the paths taken in the novel could very well cease to happen because that person who was supposed to undertake those tasks no longer exists.
I had been reassured all this time.
Even if I just lived like an ordinary adventurer, the world should be saved by Kim Seung-woo, just like it did in the novel.
Even though it was a serialized novel, so I couldn’t confirm the ending, to be blunt, there was no way the author would be insane enough to write a bad ending where the protagonist dies and all the heroines fall to monsters.
The original game was an adult game by genre, so perhaps such bad endings were possible, but the story I read featured the protagonist being active by being possessed into that world.
In a story where there could only be one conclusion, would it really end with “the protagonist dies and the heroines became the property of monsters~”?
That’s madness.
They say the infamous live long, but doing that might just give them an extra thousand years to live.
Even if I suddenly inserted an NTR development into a childhood friend’s pure love story, it would draw less ire than that.
…My thoughts have drifted a bit, but anyway, for that reason, I wasn’t worried about the future of this world at all.
To be precise, I should say I was avoiding it.
I believed that the world would naturally grow peaceful even if I didn’t step up or get involved with the original characters. I had turned a blind eye to that.
But now, Kim Seung-woo is gone?
Gone.
The hero, who should have been the personality-damaged protagonist that miraculously facilitated a happy ending without my intervention.
This place wasn’t the world of Kim Seung-woo’s protagonist novel. I was merely under that delusion.
So what is this place?
Is it a world where Hero Friet is the protagonist in the original game? Or is it a third world where Friede has taken the place of Friet?
I had no answers.
All I could speculate on… were two things.
First: Regardless of what kind of world this is, if a protagonist exists, it must be the hero who possesses Nibelung.
In other words, the girl blushing for some unknown reason while looking up at me is somehow this world’s savior.
Incredibly hard to believe.
And, my second, more crucial suspicion is…
‘…Isn’t this really bad?’
If this isn’t the world of the novel, then there’s no guarantee that the end it faces will be a happy one fitting a story.
Most adult RPGs tend to have one or two happy endings and focus on making dozens of loss endings.
Besides, even if the original game had a male protagonist, now Friede has turned into a proper girl.
A mature RPG game where the hero is a girl? Best not even go there.
There would surely be hundreds of endings where she loses to lowly monsters like slimes or goblins!
Such games are primarily played to enjoy and collect scenes of the protagonist’s losses.
…It was a truly chilling thought.
Especially since this revered hero had been doing anything but heroically gaining power, hiding her identity, and having fun as an adventurer before heading to become a runaway.
“Hah…”
I held my forehead tightly, exhaling a deeply troubled sigh. It was entirely possible we could head straight for ruin in an instant. At least, that’s how it looked to me.
No, perhaps we’re already half-set in a bad ending. Right now, I was running away, being a fugitive, contrary to the original story.
What would a bad ending be? If we get caught, that would be the bad ending right there.
What a ridiculous state this was.
Such a tangled situation. I didn’t even have a clue where to start untangling it.
“…Hilde. No, Brunhilde.”
Perhaps sensing my sighs and worries, Friede looked up at me with a strangely flushed face, calling my name in a lowered voice.
“So, does that mean you believe that I was actually Friet…?”
I was too overwhelmed with a headache to figure out what silly things she was on about.
“It’s hard to believe… but I have to believe it. Since you have Nibelung in your possession.”
I nodded. With solid evidence in hand, there was no doubt she was the hero Friet.
“T-Then!”
Friede suddenly jumped up and shouted.
The sudden movement and abrupt outburst surprised me, causing me to blink at her in shock.
What’s up with her? Is she anxious that I wouldn’t believe her?
“Wow! Why the sudden shout?”
“U-Um, so, I mean, you said before… about me. I mean…”
“What about me?”
I tilted my head in confusion, utterly failing to grasp what she wanted to say as she stammered more than usual.
“I-I, um, like, you said you liked me… even if I was the old me! So, um… somehow, that, even now, I’m, okay? Right?”
Oh.
My mouth fell open in shock, my worries evaporating.
“And, and also, it doesn’t matter about gender… you definitely said that, right…?”
Yes. I did say that.
Back when I was oblivious to Friede actually being Friet, I had to reject her confession with a polite excuse.
At that time, the reason I had cited was that I had feelings for a party member I was looking after like my former party’s disciple. Hence, it was difficult to accept her feelings.
What a madman. Choosing such an excuse!
Thinking of it now, it was utterly foolish. Confessing right in front of the actual person was tantamount to revealing that I did indeed have feelings for her.
“So, um… me being me now is fine, right? It’s okay…?”
Friede approached me with a flushed face, her anxious eyes searching mine.
I couldn’t answer, breaking out in a cold sweat as she cautiously placed her hand on my shoulder.
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