Prologue

Prologue

There exists an otome game known as “The Magic of Bonds and the Holy Night Party,” commonly referred to as “Kizuyoru.”

In this game, Fine Shutaut, who possesses unique magic despite being common-born, is granted special admission to the Royal Magic Academy, which only accepts nobles and royalty. She interacts with four love interests, tackles dungeons to level up, ultimately awakens as the “Saintess of Light,” defeats the Demon King who is released from his seal, saves the world, and ends up with one of the four love interests—an RPG-like storyline that seems entirely classic.

However, this work contains one element that sets it starkly apart from other otome games.

That is the bad end route. If a player’s friendship levels with any love interest do not reach a certain value and their friendship with side characters remains low by the second year, this route is triggered. In this scenario, Fine’s holy magic, which only she can use, is loathed as “creepy dark magic” by the main character. She is openly insulted as a “villainess” and subjected to cruel bullying. Eventually, Fine is summoned by Prince Alberich, one of the love interests, and under the threat of her hometown orphanage being destroyed if she does not leave the academy, she is forced to select “Yes.” The end credits then show what was once a bright and pure Fine leaving the academy, her eyes void of light, as she disappears into the night—only this bleak scenario, which serves as a dampening element.

While the normal route and love interest routes portray either positive or negative classic otome game scenarios, the bad end route is uniquely complex. After its release, it ignited rumors on bulletin boards that “what the production team really wanted to make was a depressing game.” Additionally, viewing this bad end route requires deliberately keeping all characters’ friendship levels low, making it more challenging than achieving a reverse harem end; it has even been dubbed the “true ending.”

Thus, Kizuyoru gained attention not as an otome game, but as a depressive game. It sold well among those who found morbid curiosity in watching the bright, pure Fine deteriorate, leading to significant commercial success, albeit sparking considerable controversy in gaming history.

…Now, you might wonder why I’m suddenly sharing this story. The reason lies in the sight of a girl hunched over in the corner of my vision.

Amidst the falling rain, there was a girl dressed in tattered clothes, with a hood pulled low over her face, bearing an identical visage to Fine, yet her eyes were entirely devoid of light.

I, a mere mob character who’s not named in the game, had encountered the bad-end heroine, Fine Shutaut, that day.

◇◇◇

I, Ash Reuben, possessed what you could call memories of my past life.

However, the only thing I retained was that my younger sister had urged me to play the otome game called “Kizuyoru” and my knowledge of that game.

In this world, there were many individuals with names identical to the characters of Kizuyoru, the nation’s history aligned perfectly with that taught in the game’s lessons, and most importantly, the appearance and names of monsters, magic, and magical items were entirely the same. Thus, I quickly concluded that this was either the world of Kizuyoru or an incredibly similar one.

However, there was no named character called Ash Reuben in Kizuyoru. I was merely the second son of a family that stood at the very bottom of the lower nobility, making the main characters feel like beings from the heavens.

So, as was my duty as a noble’s child, I was forced to enroll in the Royal Magic Academy, choosing to ignore the main storyline and instead focus on leveling up and item collection for when I would inevitably be kicked out post-graduation to become a commoner.

After all, Kizuyoru typically leads to a normal route or a more casual love interest route unless you pull some ridiculously erratic actions. Consequently, the world gets saved, and a happy ending is achieved.

Therefore, worrying about a bad end was merely an unnecessary concern. That was what I thought as I was out buying supplies, on my way back to the dorm within the academy when…

(Hey, wait a minute. Why is there a bad-end Fine here!?)

I almost blurted it out as I observed Fine’s condition.

Upon closer inspection, what had appeared to be ragged clothing was actually a tattered Royal Magic Academy uniform, and her body was littered with bruises.

It seemed Fine had been forcibly expelled from the academy through some rough treatment.

(…I can’t just leave her here, can I?)

With this thought, I gathered my courage and called out to her.

“Hey, you. You’ll catch a cold hanging out here.”

“Thank you for your concern. But it’s okay. I’ll just die here.”

Fine’s voice was devoid of inflection, entirely lacking any emotions. She stated plainly that she would “just die here,” as if she had no remaining ties to this world.

(No, that’s not right. It’s more accurate to say she intends to die to rid herself of any lingering attachments.)

She had been denied, scorned, ridiculed, and rejected, ultimately losing her place in the world.

It was likely that she believed this experience wasn’t just a singular occurrence.

However, as a devout follower of the Saint Goddess Church and the Saintess of Light, Fine could not bring herself to take the step of ending her own life.

Thus, she likely intended to throw herself into this flow of misfortune.

Being assaulted and dying is one option. Starving to death because she could find nothing to eat would suffice too. Developing an illness and dying could also be a fate that’s quite common for young, beautiful commoner girls like herself.

“What’s this?”

“It’s just a comfort. That hood won’t keep the raindrops from hitting you. Well then.”

I threw my uniform jacket over her shoulders and then dashed back toward the academy dorm.

As a mere mob, barely above a commoner, and knowing I was destined to be a commoner post-graduation, I couldn’t save Fine, who had been cast out by a prince, a being from the heavens.

But even so, I didn’t want her to meet a tragic end in a world filled with nothing but unpleasantness.

That was why I had done something so foolish.

“I really did something stupid…”

As the discomfort of my wet clothes stuck to my skin stirred by the rain hammered at me, I shifted my thoughts to one goal: getting to the academy dorm quickly.