The game mostly unfolds from Leo’s perspective, but there are certain aspects that are hard to showcase just from the first-person point of view. Boom!
That’s why the game often features cutscenes where villains conspire and characters engage in separate dialogues.
Although, cutscenes don’t exactly differ from the usual dialogue scenes in the game.
This time, the characters featured in the cutscene were Sylvia and Charlotte.
[Don’t worry too much.]
Sylvia said this to Charlotte, who looked a bit troubled.
Sylvia seemed to have a serious expression, or perhaps she was just indifferent.
…Actually, the expressions of the game characters weren’t that varied, and Sylvia usually kept a blank face, so it was likely just my feelings.
[I’ll do what I can to solve this.]
[And what can you do?]
Charlotte asked with a hint of reproach in her voice.
It’s understandable since, with the war looming, she was overly worried. There was practically no way for the Kingdom to defeat the Empire in an outright war.
[Isn’t it you who’s been saying that the next Emperor will be Alice?]
[…….]
[…….]
When Sylvia didn’t answer at all, Charlotte let out a small sigh and placed her hands on her forehead.
[I’m sorry. I’m just so on edge.]
[It’s okay. Reacting like that in this situation isn’t strange.]
Sylvia said this and turned away.
[Sylvia—]
Charlotte called out to Sylvia, but Sylvia simply walked ahead without replying.
Charlotte closed her eyes and sighed.
Then, as the scene changed, it was the next day’s class.
[Where’s Sister?]
[Huh? Didn’t she come here first?]
When Claire asked Alice, Alice seemed a bit flustered and replied.
[I haven’t seen her. The class is about to start….]
[…….]
Charlotte was staring blankly out the window while listening to their conversation. She didn’t seem interested in discussing her chat with those two yesterday.
And—
[Huh…?]
A sound slipped from Charlotte’s lips.
[Charlotte?]
Alice looked at Charlotte,
Thud.
It wasn’t a huge sound, but it felt like the kind of sound you hear from afar.
[Is that a battleship…?]
Charlotte murmured as she stood up. The other students in the classroom followed her gaze and looked out the window.
Bam!
The battleship that was emitting black smoke exploded once again.
The imposing Dreadnought-class battleship that had always hovered in the skies of the Imperial Capital was now exploding in mid-air.
With massive flames erupting.
Shudder, shudder
The window rattled. Though it was a considerable distance away, the impact reached here.
[What on earth is happening…?]
The battleship fell downwards.
The ship, which had tilted vertically toward the ground, exploded upon crashing.
Screams erupted from the surrounding students.
I could see a student trembling, kneeling on the floor with their hands over their mouth.
[What about the people…?]
Someone muttered, but no one responded.
[……Sylvia…….]
Charlotte murmured softly—
Thunk.
The screen faded to black with a sound, and the episode ended.
“……”
“……”
And I was receiving the gazes of the two people with me.
“……The battleship I exploded didn’t blow up in reality.”
“Really? You mean to tell me you never blew up a single battleship while turning back time so many times?”
“The fact that you can’t remember means I really never did it. The goddess’s power doesn’t really reach here.”
[Isn’t that getting a bit too immersed? LOL]
[Were they real characters? LOL]
[They do resemble each other, though. LOL]
Well, all three of us knew that was true.
“But the fact that you thought that is just so like you.”
“……What kind of image do you have of me in your mind?”
Still, I can’t completely deny it since I have a history in this.
*
After wrapping up the session adequately and logging off from the game, we got ready carefully.
We pushed the table against the wall and spread our blankets on the floor. Luckily, there was plenty of room for all three of us to lie down side by side. I did choose quite a spacious room, after all. While there wasn’t an elevator and the building seemed to be over 30 years old, if I had ended up in one of those tiny, newly-built studios, the three of us couldn’t have spent the night together like this.
“Wow, Sis, check this out!”
As we spread out the bedding and got ready to lie down, Claire beamed as she held her smartphone in front of my face.
The view count for the video of Claire singing skyrocketed in an instant.
Moreover, the comments were filled with stuff about ‘cosplay’ and whatnot.
When Claire selected another tab on her browser to show us, it had a heated discussion about the identities of the three of us.
Yeah, it seems that the viewer count kept increasing throughout the game. Our story was gaining traction, mostly in the otaku community.
…Also, there was a screenshot of the three of us with our assembled figures placed in front of us, without skirts.
[LOL]
[Looks like she has exhibitionist tendencies by stripping herself!]
[There’s my bride!]
There’s someone here cracking jokes about marriage too.
It’s quite bold to say such things while staring at a real person’s photo.
…Well, for now, I was out of money, so I didn’t have the luxury to go into a lawsuit.
“Aren’t we getting quite famous?”
Seeing Claire laugh and say that made me smirk briefly—
Wait, hold on.
Suddenly remembering something, I turned my body.
I recalled the artifact I had kept in the drawer.
The more famous we got in this world, and the more links there were suggesting it was strange for us to be here, the power of the artifact would return.
So, by now, wouldn’t some power have accumulated to be usable at least once?
“Ah!”
And the artifact I took out of the drawer was indeed shining brightly.
Seeing the blue glow of that artifact, Alice and Claire had complicated expressions on their faces.
“Does this mean we can go back?”
“Maybe so.”
I carefully held the artifact and said.
“……What will you do?”
I asked, looking at Claire and Alice.
If the artifact had glowed at this point where we hadn’t even been here for a week, I probably wouldn’t have needed to ask. Both of them wouldn’t know much about this world.
But, now it was a bit different. They had both been enjoying this world in their own way. Especially since Alice could let go of her duties as the Crown Princess.
So I thought there might be someone who wanted to stay here—
“If there’s a chance, we should go right away. It’s a shame, but I don’t want to spend my life never seeing my family again.”
“Yeah, right. There’s a ton of stuff left for us to do. What happened here will just be a memory.”
“Sounds good.”
I said with a serious face.
“Then let’s get ready to pack up. We can’t tell how long this power will last.”
Upon my words, Alice and Claire nodded and began to gather their things.
*
A few minutes later.
All three of us had changed into the tidiest clothes we could manage and were gathered in the middle of the room with all our belongings.
There were quite a lot of items to take along.
In fact, I felt much regret. I hadn’t been able to meet my family in this world and hadn’t been able to print all the photos on my phone. Surely once I get back and the battery dies, those photos would be useless.
Maybe I could try taking pictures using Azernar’s camera through my smartphone’s screen.
…Well, that was something to think about once I returned.
“Everyone, gather around here.”
When I extended the artifact, the two of them reached out to touch it.
“……What now?”
Alice asked.
“I’ll try to do it like I did when I first came here.”
At those words, Alice and I exchanged glances and nodded.
“Then I’ll leave it to you.”
“Please do.”
“Okay, I’ll leave it to you.”
Claire closed her eyes with a serious expression. We followed suit and closed our eyes.
And,
“……”
After a brief silence—
Silence followed—
——
“……U-Um.”
A familiar voice was heard.
“Sylvia…?”
It was Charlotte’s voice.
Could it be that they were still investigating around the place we left?
What’s the first thing I should say? “I’m back!”?
I slowly opened my eyes.
And confirmed that the three of us were still in my studio room.
Yeah, something felt solid beneath me.
Now that I think about it, I forgot to put on my shoes. I can’t wear them in the room, of course.
“……”
Wait, hold on.
So, the voice I heard was…?
“……”
Alice was staring blankly at the corner of the room with her mouth agape.
The glow of the artifact we held had significantly dimmed.
Just like when Claire and Alice first returned.
“……Um, Sylvia? Claire? Alice?”
Charlotte’s voice addressed us calmly.
And I could hear shaky breaths behind her voice; it was the sound of someone clearly in a state of panic.
“……Charlotte.”
I chose to open my mouth calmly for now.
“And Mia.”
“Y-Your Highness.”
Mia was gripping her staff tightly with both hands, guarding the area.
“……”
I wiped my face with my hand.
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