That World of Otome Games is Tough for Us - Volume 2 - Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

Leon’s Determination

NIGHT FELL ON THE THIRD DAY of the festival. Outside, other students still basked rowdily in the aftermath of an exciting day. Meanwhile, I sprawled on my bed in my room, still wearing my uniform.

Luxion floated nearby, the gleam of his red lens cutting through the darkness; I’d neglected to turn on the lights. Drifting closer to my face, he asked, “Are you certain you ought to leave things this way?” 

I took it he was displeased with the day’s events. “Leave things what way?”

“You know full well what I mean. I am inquiring as to whether you intend to permit Marie to go through with this marriage.”

I didn’t want to look at him anymore and turned over. “We talked about this. There’s a reason I can’t interfere. It’d mess up game events.”

“You are a coward, Master.”

My lip curled in anger as I craned my neck to glare back at him. “What?” 

“If you only gave me the order, I would entirely eliminate the Offreys. Not merely them but those working alongside them. You wouldn’t have to lift a finger.”

What a terrifying AI—and how pathetic of me to consider agreeing, even for a moment. There was no point taking that route. Regardless of whether Luxion’s suggestion resolved one issue, it would lead to many more.

“Saving her would be meaningless if the entire world got ruined after.”

“Frankly, I have absolutely no interest in those ‘game events’ you mentioned. I never once paid those any thought.”

Luxion had a soft spot for Marie, since she had numerous traits associated with old humans. If it meant saving her, he was willing to go above and beyond. His plan to simply wipe out rabble-rousers was wonderfully simple if you paid no thought to the consequences. Alas, nothing could be that easy.

“The final boss is a real pain,” I told him. “Even you couldn’t defeat him. Our only choice is to have Olivia do it for us. In light of that, I’d like to avoid getting sucked into things between the Offreys and Marie. Understand?”

If we failed to beat the final boss, countless people would die. Neither Marie nor I wanted those casualties.

“I am skeptical of this enemy supposedly beyond my powers. Assuming what you say is true, could you not abandon the inhabitants of this continent?”

“No. And you know what? You’re always way too extreme.”

As soft as he was on Marie, Luxion was exceedingly cold toward the rest of humanity, who descended from the new humans and could use magic. No—“cold” didn’t even describe it. He would be giddy to see them all destroyed; that was exactly what made him such a dangerous AI.

“Should I interpret that as meaning you will have no regrets if Marie’s impending marriage occurs?”

“Shut up already,” I snapped. At long last, he stopped talking. Granted, he still eyed me accusingly through that gleaming red lens.

My thoughts turned back to Marie and to how much she’d reminded me of my little sister when she turned her back on me earlier. A suspicion had gnawed at me for a while now. I just didn’t have proof. 

Neither of us remembered our Japanese names. That was strange. It was almost as if there were something deliberate about it—as if someone or something prevented us from recollecting those names. We were ­perfectly able to recall the rest of our past lives, as well as details of the game itself.

Anyway, Marie and my sister had too much in common for it to be pure coincidence. The more I thought about it, the more similar they seemed. At times, Marie inspired the same irritation my sister had. At other times, I felt pure nostalgia around her. There was something comforting about both.

I had to wonder if Marie felt the same way. How was I supposed to proceed if she did? Countless times, I’d thought, What do you want to do?

Lifting my upper body, I said, “I hate to disappoint you, Luxion, but I’m gonna have to turn your proposal down.”

“That is a shame,” he said, robotic voice dejected.

Smirking mischievously at him, I added, “Still, letting this marriage play out doesn’t sit right with me.”

“Oh? What do you intend to do?”

“Put a stop to it, naturally. Something about Marie getting hitched before me really rankles me.”

Luxion moved his lens side to side in a show of ­exasperation. “How typical, Master, to have such twisted motivations. Even I, an artificial intelligence, must question your humanity.”

“As I always tell you, I like myself just the way I am.” I hopped out of bed, ready to get down to business.

Luxion flew to his usual position at my right shoulder. “Very well. What does your plan entail?”

“You might not realize it, but I’m the kind of guy who likes to remove any obstacles and make victory easier. To that end, we’ll hand the palace proof that the Offreys are in bed with those air pirates. They’ll take care of this for us.”

“Do you possess such proof?”

I gave him a look. “I’ve got you, don’t I?” I had every intention of relying on him to make this work.

“So this depends on my powers after all,” Luxion replied, resigned. “I suppose that is preferable to your indecision earlier. That said, can you disrupt this ­wedding without ruining the ‘plot’?”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course not.”

“Yet you intend to save Marie regardless?”

“Yeah. If the original story goes down the toilet, I’ve just got to step in and fix it later.”

“That plan seems haphazard to me…but aligns with your usual problem-solving strategies.”

I waved off his reservations. “Enough talking, let’s get moving. Find some proof I can hand over.”

“That will be easy enough to accomplish. However, I am skeptical that the palace will take action.”

“Less whining, more working.”

***

After I delivered the evidence Luxion had gathered for me, several days passed. Marie made solid progress on her inevitable withdrawal from the academy—but Luxion and I didn’t make any.

“This kingdom sucks,” I grumbled, slumped over the desk in my room. “I went to all that trouble to gather evidence of the Offreys’ crimes, and all the palace did was sweep it under the rug.”

I didn’t know who was responsible, but someone had prevented my evidence from having any demonstrable effect—at least, that Luxion could ascertain. Far from acting immediately, the court nobles were preoccupied with meeting to determine who’d produced the evidence in the first place. That reaffirmed my decision to submit the proof anonymously.

“I gathered and submitted the evidence,” Luxion reminded me.

“Yeah, but I told you to. So I’m taking credit.”

“Yet you would blame me if anything went wrong,” he shot back accusingly. “Why, I couldn’t be happier to have such a wonderful master.”

“You’re not as happy as I am to have a passive-aggressive, sarcastic AI.” 

This whole conversation was ridiculous. I sat up straight and sighed, trying to change gears. I’d anticipated things ending up this way. 

“The air pirates we caught and turned in all killed themselves in custody, right?” I asked Luxion.

“Yes, that is the official story. Though I suspect it was someone else’s handiwork.”

“Seems like the Offreys have significantly more reach than I thought.”

I hadn’t imagined they would be easy to best, given their status as a mid-game boss, but the palace’s reaction came out of left field. I figured that they wouldn’t rectify things, but I didn’t anticipate that they would launch an investigation into who had reported the Offreys’ crimes. They’d never find out it was me—Luxion hadn’t left any trace of our involvement—but it spoke to how corrupt the palace was. More so than I could’ve anticipated.

“Furthermore, my investigation uncovered exactly what you predicted,” Luxion added.

My eyes widened. “You managed that in just a few days?”

“Such a trivial accomplishment isn’t worthy of surprise,” he replied triumphantly. “As to the results of said investigation, the Offreys are indeed backed by a party with substantial influence in the royal palace.”

I let his words sink in, mulling them over. “If we consider this from a video-game perspective, there must be an evil aristocrat involved with them. A Redgrave, maybe?”

The image of Angelica’s smile during the festival flashed through my mind. She was awfully mature for a character meant to become a villainess, but that didn’t indicate whether her family was decent. I’d only suggested a Redgrave as a possible culprit, yet the words were weirdly heavy, leaving a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“Incorrect,” Luxion said, much to my relief. “The one responsible is Marquess Frampton. He has significant influence within the palace, acting as leader of the court nobles while concealing the Offreys’ misdeeds.”

“Frampton?” The name tugged at the back of my mind.

“If you have relevant intelligence, I would prefer you share it sooner rather than later.”

“I don’t know if I do,” I admitted, cracking open an old notebook. When I first reincarnated, I’d recorded all my knowledge about the game. That was a whole decade ago, which was why the notebook was so weathered and beaten up. It was a valuable strategy guide, but unfortunately contained no information on a “Marquess Frampton.” 

“I feel like I’ve heard that name before, but I can’t remember where,” I added. “I guess he’s a background character, like me?”

“The man is a marquess. I doubt he would be considered a ‘background character,’ given that he can trace his lineage to the royal family. He is an important figure at court and stands in line for the throne.”

Even if this Frampton was close to the throne, his odds of ever becoming king were low. His standing amounted to little more than bragging rights. Luxion could say whatever he wanted, but the guy was a background character as far as I was concerned, albeit one with significant power.

“This really puts a wrench in things. No wonder the evidence we handed over went nowhere. If that’s the situation, we might not be able to remove all obstacles before making a move.” I heaved a long, heavy sigh. Odds were, I’d have to take a much bolder approach.

“If that is how you feel, why not visit one of your fellow students? A young lady by the name of Deirdre Fou Roseblade,” Luxion suggested.

I lifted a brow. “Roseblade?”

“The daughter of an earl. She has more or less taken charge of the third-years. House Roseblade is bitter enemies with House Offrey, so if you take your evidence and request a meeting with her, she and the Roseblades might be willing to lend you assistance.”

“I’m skeptical she’d go that far.”

“As I gathered information, I noticed the court nobles were wary of House Roseblade. Some have panicked, thinking that the Roseblades documented the Offreys’ crimes. They see the house as daunting adversaries.”

I reached for an extra copy of the evidence he’d produced. “If this fails, you and I will have no choice but to go at this the hard way,” I said with an almost imperceptible self-deprecating smile.

“Personally, I think that would be the best way to handle the situation,” Luxion replied haughtily.

***

When I approached Miss Roseblade—or rather, Miss Deirdre—about the Offreys, she invited me to speak with her in the girls’ dormitory. Given the location, her quarters were far too extravagant. They consisted of several interconnected rooms with top-quality furnishings, like an upscale apartment. If someone had told me this was actually a five-star hotel, I would’ve believed them.

Deirdre had no demi-human servants, instead relying on female followers to handle her needs. Most were the daughters of knight families loyal to Earl Roseblade.

Once Deirdre finished flipping through the proof I provided, her lips curled into a wicked smile, as if she were already scheming. There was something unsettling about seeing such a villainous look on a beautiful young woman’s face.

“I can’t take all this at face value,” she said to start, “but I already had suspicions about some of it. I’m impressed that you gathered all this on your own.”

“Why, thank you.”

“I didn’t think your skills extended to such areas. It’s a bit unexpected.”

I assumed that “such areas” referred to reconnaissance. She was wrong about that being a skill I had, though. Gathering intel on opponents and sharing it with their enemies wasn’t out of my playbook at all. I’d only been able to do all this thanks to my handy cash-shop cheat item, Luxion.

“It’s not a strength of mine,” I replied. “I threw myself into putting together what I could, and I happened to succeed.”

“Given what you’ve accomplished, it’s awfully modest to brush off my compliments.” Deirdre paused, letting her words hang in the air for a moment. “Now then, what is it you wish me—or rather, my family—to do for you?” Her eyes fixed on me, scrutinizing me.

I shrugged. “An acquaintance is being forced to marry the Offrey heir against her will. It’s a political arrangement between their families, you see.”

“Oh dear. I pity her for that. Are you two close?” There was nothing remotely sympathetic in Deirdre’s expression, as if her words were hollow. Perhaps she did feel pity, as a fellow woman, but such arrangements were part and parcel of being a noble. She was doubtless unsurprised.

“We’re just friends,” I explained. “But I don’t like the situation she’s landed herself in, so I’m planning to put a stop to it. My problem is a noticeable lack of manpower. Without that, seeing this through will be a bit of a hassle.” That was why I wanted the Roseblades’ assistance.

There was a range of reactions in Deirdre’s entourage. Some of her followers were struck speechless, while others glared at me for trying to drag their mistress into such trouble. More still simply looked exasperated. But not Deirdre.

“My goodness,” she said. “I see the stories of your accomplishments as an adventurer were absolutely true. Common sense, protocol, tradition—none of it seems to matter to you.”

Rude. I prided myself on both having common sense and adhering to it. Not that I was going to tell her as much; that would only distract from the point of our conversation.

Deirdre offered me a full, genuine smile. No—it was more than a smile. She absolutely beamed, her cheeks flushed red with excitement.

“How wonderful! Simply because you don’t like what’s happening, you wish to mete out judgment. It’s so ridiculous, truly.” She shook her head, mirth in her eyes. “But it’s to be expected of an adventurer who once conquered an entire dungeon. As a proud woman of House Roseblade, I must say I like your style.”

Her followers’ faces soured slightly, but her reaction didn’t seem to catch any off guard. It was as if they’d predicted this outcome.

Deirdre jabbed her closed fan in my direction. “I will speak with my family on your behalf. That said, what exactly will you contribute to this, Lord Bartfort? As accomplished an adventurer as you are, you surely don’t plan to watch from the sidelines as we do all the work.”

I was stunned; I hadn’t expected to win her support so effortlessly. My smile took on a forced, crooked quality. “Of course not,” I assured her. “The wedding venue is the Offreys’ floating island. I’ll lead the vanguard on the day of the event.”

She nodded, pleased. “That is precisely what I had hoped to hear.” As her followers busied themselves getting everything together so she could pen a letter to her family back home, Deirdre studied me, then changed the topic. “I’m envious that this girl earned such dedicated affection from you. If only I’d become acquainted with you earlier. I would have done my utmost to ensure our houses were linked.”

I assumed she meant she’d have encouraged a marriage to one of the girls from a house loyal to hers. The very mention of that struck me with an idea. I wasn’t the only one struggling to find a bride; my older brother, Nicks, was in the same difficult position. As much as I wanted to class myself as available so I could dispense with the nonsense of bride hunting, I owed Nicks a lot. My upcoming actions were liable to complicate his life even further in the future, which was all the more reason to pay him back in advance.

“If you’re referring to a potential engagement, I would be most appreciative if you would consider a match for my older brother,” I said.

“Ah, yes. He’s part of the general class, as I recall.”

She’d already looked into Nicks? If Deirdre was that keen on me, I wished she’d said something back when I was holding those tea parties.

Best to end this conversation before I forget myself and start grumbling. Quickly, I explained, “He’s a third-year now, and getting pretty desperate since he hasn’t found a match yet.”

“I see. And? What sort of person is he?”

“My perspective is probably biased, since he’s family, but he’s a loyal man. If you know anyone who would be a good match for him, it would mean a lot.” It was mostly a casual request; I doubted anything would actually come of it.

Deirdre opened her fan, positioning it over the lower half of her face to hide her mouth. She murmured something I couldn’t make out before saying more loudly, “All right, then. Once this business with the Offreys is safely behind us, you may entrust the matter of your brother’s future partner to my house. You won’t regret it, I promise.”

“That’s a relief to hear. In that case, I should be on my way. I have to see to preparations.” I rose from my chair.

Deirdre smiled. “The entirety of House Roseblade will rally for your operation, so we expect to see you in ­action, making good on your word,” she warned. Especially since you’re the one who started all this. That part lingered unspoken in the air between us. She was letting me know I wouldn’t get out of this without participating. There would be no fleeing or spectating.

I had already turned away and started toward the door, but I paused and glanced over my shoulder. “Oh, trust me. I’ll do more than my fair share.”

I couldn’t offer much by myself; what little I could offer would be disappointing. But since I had Luxion, it was a different story. The bigger problem would be ensuring he didn’t take things too far.