That World of Otome Games is Tough for Us - Volume 3 - Chapter Ep

Epilogue

A FEW DAYS HAD PASSED since winter break started. Olivia was in her room, prepping for her dungeon crawl.

“I have all my tools, my bag’s packed, and I think I’m good on weapons,” she muttered to herself, checking off her list mentally.

“Is there any real reason you need to go dungeon crawl right now?” Kyle asked skeptically as he assisted her. “Our trip with Prince Julius is the day after tomorrow.”

That didn’t leave Olivia much time; she understood that. Still, she had good reason to go on this mission—namely, Kyle. She needed to bring in extra income periodically to pay his wages, even if that meant shouldering more pressure and sacrificing what little free time she had to study.

“I have some expenses I need to take care of, so I want to earn what I can, while I can,” she replied.

“Just, please, don’t get injured and end up in the hospital, all right?”

Olivia nodded. “Yeah. Don’t worry. I’ve done this a number of times.” 

She tried to look confident in front of Kyle, but the truth was that she’d only visited the capital’s dungeon on a handful of occasions for class. She’d never ventured in very deep, only scouring the top floors for metal and gemstones to earn a little extra.

Dungeon crawling with a few other people was normally most efficient. Unfortunately, there were no male students Olivia felt she could call for help. Most of the female students didn’t bother to go into the dungeons, and she knew they hated her anyway, so she couldn’t invite them.

“Why not ask that man who helped you during the school trip? He seemed naive enough to lend you money.” Kyle didn’t even try to hide his derision for Leon. He likely thought less of him because he compared him to Julius and his friends. 

Admittedly, when it came to finances and physical attributes, the prince and other scions outshone Leon. He wasn’t nearly as refined and elegant as they were, either. Most women at the academy would’ve picked Julius and his friends over Leon without hesitation. But Olivia thought Leon far outdid everyone else in one respect: kindness.

Leon was the only person who’d bothered to help her when she needed it most. She knew that Julius and the others would’ve stepped in, too, had they been there, but that would never have impacted them negatively. What if, as Leon had been, they were faced with a situation in which doing the right thing would only cause them problems? Would they still follow their moral compass? Frankly, Olivia didn’t completely trust that they would. And in fact, it was their fault she’d lost so much valuable studying time. 

I know I shouldn’t think like this, but I simply can’t help finding them annoying. Festering negative emotions welled up inside her. As ashamed of them as she was, she couldn’t stave them off.

Logically, Olivia understood that the prince and his friends treated her well. They’d helped her a lot, too. But if she considered it truthfully, weren’t they at the center of all her problems? She couldn’t help thinking the answer was yes.

Noticing the way her expression had suddenly clouded over, Kyle fidgeted. “So, um…” he started.

“Hm?”

“Uh…would you like me to help out? I could at least carry your things for you.”

No clause in Kyle’s contract stipulated that he was responsible for assisting with any dungeon crawling. In the past, he’d proven the type to use his contract’s fine print to shield himself from extra work. Yet this time, he was going out of his way to offer her help, knowing the dangers involved.

Olivia was too amused to stop herself from giggling. “Are you sure? Even though it’s not laid out in your contract that you have to?”

“Y-yeah. That doesn’t matter. I’m offering it to you as an extra.”

“Thank you, Kyle, but I’m sorry. I think you’re still too young to go dungeon crawling.”

He sulked at that. “I could carry things,” he protested weakly.

“The sentiment alone means a lot to me. Really, thank you,” Olivia said.

She hefted her heavy rucksack over her shoulders and started out the door.

***

Several female students watched from the hallway as Olivia left her room, careful to keep their distance so she didn’t notice them.

“What about Dolly and Donna?” one whispered.

“They ran back home. They’re too scared of Bartfort.”

“Seriously? Cowards.”

The girls snickered, mocking the pair who’d bailed on them.

“Well, whatever. We can do this without them just fine.”

The scheming group watched from the window as Olivia strolled past and headed toward the school gate.

“It’s part of our duty as aristocrats to punish cocky commoners like her.”

***

I was staying at an inn within the Offreys’ former territory for the night. Of course, Marie popped in to visit; she was now sprawled on my bed. When I glanced out the window, I noticed a few snowflakes starting to fall from the sky.

“It’s another cold day,” I remarked. Not in my room, fortunately, since I had a wood-burning stove to keep toasty. Still, everyone milling around outside sported a thick coat.

Luxion’s gaze moved quickly to Marie. “I am pleased to see that you like your engagement ring so much. All the research I did to pin down your exact preferences seems to have paid off.”

Both the precious metal of the band and the inlaid gem were imbued with magic, making them ridiculously expensive. Luxion had reworked the design numerous times before coming up with the finished piece.

Thankfully, Marie loved it. Hoisting herself up, she held out her left hand to show off the ring. “It looks amazing on me, doesn’t it?”

“That goes without saying,” said Luxion. “It was a special piece I prepared expressly for you, after all.”

“That’s not the answer I was looking for. All I wanted was for you to say, ‘Yes, it suits you.’”

It took Luxion a moment to process her words. Then he replied, “Yes, it suits you.” He wasn’t usually one to tell people what they wanted to hear, but he (understandably) hesitated to ruin her good humor.

“Thank you,” Marie said, satisfied. She glanced around the room. “This inn the Roseblades set you up in is a lot more dated than I expected.”

She was absolutely right about that, but it wasn’t necessarily bad. “At least call it rustic,” I said.

“My point is, this is the exact kind of place you’d expect to see ghosts. I’ve got a sixth sense about these things, so I know.”

I quirked a brow at Luxion, certain he shared my doubts. “I’m skeptical,” I said.

“Indeed,” Luxion agreed. “Marie slept soundly through the entire incident with the Saint’s necklace.”

“Yeah. I’m not buying this sixth-sense stuff.” When the necklace spirit manifested, she’d been completely oblivious. It was hard to believe she had anything remotely close to psychic abilities.

Luxion and I snickered, and Marie stuck out her bottom lip. “I’m serious! There’s got to be spirits in this inn!”

“Knock it off!” I snapped. “Or I’ll be too scared to sleep in here tonight!”

“Pfft. You’re a chicken.”

“No, I’m not! Look, I just don’t like that you can’t defeat—” My voice lodged in my throat. A chill ran down my spine, and I broke out in goosebumps. At the same time, cold sweat suddenly beaded on my skin. The abrupt tremors shooting through me could only be a bad premonition. Having experienced that before, I felt very keenly that this one was intense.

“Huh? Are you really that scared?” Marie asked worriedly. “Sorry. I was just kidding. There’s no spirits.”

I shook my head, but couldn’t speak. I pressed my hand over my mouth.

Luxion scanned my body. “Your heart rate suddenly increased, and you are perspiring. Master, I think you should rest for today.”

“Yeah. Good idea.” Marie nodded. “Get yourself under those blankets, and go to sleep. Your complexion looks awful. Have you got a cold or something?”

“No, I’m fine,” I said numbly, finally managing to speak.

Why did I have this intense sense that something was terribly wrong? Had I overlooked something extremely important? I racked my brain, starting to panic.

Marie looked around the room again.

“What’s the matter?” I asked, finally shaking off the feeling.

“Mmm…I sensed something strange. Maybe this room really does have some kind of shady history.”

I sighed deeply. “Don’t worry. You have absolutely no sensitivity to these things.”

***

Despite entering the dungeon alone, Olivia had really done well for herself.

“With this much loot, I can go on that trip with the prince and not worry about money for a bit,” she said aloud.

She’d now stuffed her rucksack with gems and metals she’d found in the dungeon. It was incredibly heavy, but if she didn’t haul all her loot back and sell it, she couldn’t pay Kyle properly.

“Hup!” she grunted, lifting her bag. “All that’s left is to go back. I made it awfully deep into the dungeon this time.”

That was partly because she was growing more accustomed to the environment. She’d also benefited from some male students clearing the monsters ahead of her on their way deeper inside. Thanks to them, she’d gotten pretty far. In the process, she’d netted some pure gemstones that would fetch a nice price. She wouldn’t need to come back here for a while.

“This went a lot more smoothly than I thought it would. I think I overdid it, though.” Smiling to herself in exasperation, she tottered back toward the exit.

Shadows jumped out at her from a side path, startling her. It took a moment to register that they belonged to a couple of female academy students and their personal servants. They’d all moved to block her path.

“Um…” Olivia tried to retreat the way she’d come, but they moved to surround her, so she was completely hemmed in.

“You’re awfully careless to come here all by your lonesome,” one girl said.

No sooner had she finished her sentence than the personal servants jumped at Olivia, picking her up. They tore away her rucksack and tossed it aside. Without it, she couldn’t cash in on anything she’d collected, so she clawed the empty air helplessly, trying to reach it.

“Let go of me! Please, let go of me!” she pleaded. “And please give my bag back!”

The other girls laughed derisively.

“It seems you really let what happened on the school trip go to your head.”

“We’re not as naive as Dolly and Donna.”

“If you think anyone will step in to help you this time, you’ll be sorely disappointed.”

As they spoke, the female students and their minions began heading deeper into the dungeon, Olivia in tow. In addition to their own personal servants, the girls had male students with them serving as escorts, so they had no trouble moving quickly through the passages.

Olivia had a sinking feeling about what they had planned for her.

“No!” she cried. “Please, let me go!” However much she begged for mercy, neither the girls nor their servants paid her any mind. Olivia clasped the cog charm dangling off the cord on her wrist. “Sir Knight, please save me,” she murmured, picturing Leon’s face.

The female students glanced back at her and laughed. “If you’re hoping Bartfort will come for you, he’s busy with a wedding ceremony. Too bad!” They smirked as they broke the news.

Despair overcame Olivia. Wedding ceremony? Oh, of course. He must be marrying that girl. She was so much cuter than me, and more petite, too… Plus, she’s a proper noblewoman…

Trying to process everything, she finally fell silent as they hauled her to a dungeon area roped off with a sign saying ENTRY PROHIBITED. The academy had posted that sign specifically to keep students from taking this path, but the bullies ignored it, pressing forward until they reached an enormous chasm. Its depths were unfathomable, giving way to pure darkness.

The female students stood before it, wearing blank expressions.

“The academy always loses at least one student a year to the dungeons. Sometimes there are two or three casualties, or even a whole party.”

As she realized where the girl was going with this, Olivia sucked in a breath and blanched. 

“It’d be perfectly plausible for a commoner like yourself to underestimate her abilities, delve too far in, and go missing.”

She knew the girl meant those words. Still, she had to plead, despite the futility. “Wait. Please, just wait. Hear me out!”

Her cries only served to satisfy the bullies’ misplaced pride. They grinned at her and waved. “Bye-bye!”

Their laughter echoed around Olivia.

“This is your own fault for growing so conceited when you’re nothing but a lowly commoner.”

“It’s what you deserve for being so cozy with His Highness.”

“Did you drop your guard because they protect you at the academy? That’s too bad, then. Your life ends here.”

Once the students finished disparaging her, their personal servants tossed her into the chasm. As she fell backward, her hand shot out. What did I do that was so wrong? Was it that Julius took a liking to her? That she attended an academy meant only for the upper crust when she wasn’t part of it?

Tears streamed down her face, the droplets lifting free and hovering in the air as she fell away from them.

“Why me?! Why?!” Olivia screamed into the abyss.

All those negative emotions festering inside her rushed to the surface. At the same time, she sensed a beast far below her. There in the darkness, the enormous creature cracked its jowls open, ready to devour her. She was certain she was about to be eaten.

Just then, something in the darkness emitted an orb of light that pierced the beast, which disappeared in an explosion of black smoke. Olivia was dumbfounded. In the next moment, something wrapped around her left wrist. It took her a moment to realize it was a bracelet. Shining brightly, the accessory slowed her fall to an almost complete stop and gently deposited her on the floor below.

“Wh-what’s this?” Had the bracelet protected her?

She was too preoccupied by that question to realize that, when the bracelet encircled her wrist, it had snapped off the charm she was wearing. The wooden cog shattered completely, its pieces scattered on the floor.

“Am I safe now?” Olivia glanced upward. She couldn’t see anything through the darkness, so she had no way of knowing whether the female students were loitering up there. “I guess this bracelet must’ve rescued me.”

The accessory drew back her attention; it was giving off a bright light, and she couldn’t tear her eyes away. “What? What’s this light…?” she muttered weakly to herself.

All the strength left her body instantly. She collapsed to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut. From the shining band on her wrist appeared some sort of being with a woman’s silhouette. She—whoever she was—had no physical body and was composed purely of black mist. That mist stared down at Olivia, her two almond-shaped eyes curving into crescents as if she was smirking.

“I found you,” she said. “Finally, at long last.”

Unable to move, Olivia could do nothing to defend herself. She couldn’t even find her voice to speak. What? Is this some kind of monster? What does it want with me? Fear swept through her.

“O descendant of my lineage, only you qualify to inherit my power, spirit, and will!” As the figure spoke, the mist that composed her began flickering violently, until at last she flung it away to reveal an incredibly beautiful woman. She had long, flowing blonde hair that gave off a glow. Her crimson eyes were full of inner strength. Olivia was sure she’d seen someone like this before.

Wait. Isn’t she…?

The woman leaned down, cupping Olivia’s face in both hands. At least, she might’ve done so if she’d had a tangible physical form. But although she couldn’t truly touch Olivia, her hands were somehow chillingly cold, like pure ice—something surely not of this world.

“You poor, poor thing,” the woman said to Olivia, voice full of empathy. “They’ve tossed you away, deep into this dark cavern.” Her eyes glistened as if she might cry.

Olivia felt only terror. Stop it. Don’t delve into my psyche!

But the woman did just that. Her icy, unwelcome presence spread through Olivia, like acid corroding metal. Olivia knew instantly that she was in trouble.

“You’re such a sweet girl, too,” the woman added.

When their eyes met, the woman looked almost like a spirit, rather than a person. Olivia wanted to escape, but her body wouldn’t listen to her. She couldn’t do anything.

“So sweet and well-behaved. I feel for you, I really do. That’s why…” The woman smiled at her, but then her expression transformed into something utterly hideous. “I’m going to take your body for myself!” The woman’s eyes snapped wide open. She lunged forward, her arms wrapping around Olivia; then she disappeared.

She’s forcing her way inside me… No, please, stop! Olivia’s body emitted faint light, which seemed to allow her to move. Her hands shot to her head as she tried to withstand the sudden pain inflicted upon her.

“St-stop!” she cried aloud. “Please, don’t take my body… Somebody—Sir Knight—save me!”

Her head pounded fiercely. While she tried to withstand the agony, the woman’s voice called out from within her. “You hate them, don’t you? The people who tossed you down here—the aristocrats who looked down on you.”

“Stop it!”

“Be honest. You really do hate them all. Even the aristocrats who pressured you into entering the academy, only to abandon you when you needed support.”

“I told you, stop!”

“Fill yourself with fury! Let your resentment overwhelm you! Then ask yourself, who’s responsible for this? Yes—you already know the answer. It’s them—those boys! Embrace your hatred for the nobility! For those deplorable people’s descendants!”

An image of the boys in question, those of the aristocracy who’d been kind to her, popped into her head: Julius, Jilk, Chris, Brad, and Greg.

“That’s right. You hate them, don’t you?”

When the voice accused Olivia of that, she couldn’t bring herself to deny it. Why were they so preoccupied with her? Why did they keep getting in her way? Surely they knew how vast the gap was between an aristocrat and a commoner, yet they insisted on clinging to her. Because of them, she had to deal with all the fallout. Even Angelica, a duke’s daughter, had her eye on Olivia. Oblivious, the boys seemed not to care. They’d dote on her in their own way, but they wouldn’t actually protect her.

“Is…is that how I felt? I resented them?” This revelation shocked her into silence.

In the meantime, the spirit inside her kept egging her on. “That’s right. Let your hate for the nobility—for this very country—fester inside you! You have every right to feel that way!”

“Get out. Get out of me! Who…who in the world are you?!” Olivia demanded.

“Me? I’m the woman this nation once referred to as the Saint.”

“What?”

“As I said, the woman you all worship as the Saint…is me.”

Olivia was so shaken that, when the throbbing in her head gradually escalated, she relinquished her hold on consciousness. The last words she managed to force out were: “Sir Knight…save me…”

She toppled to the ground once more. A moment later, she lifted herself back up, and her eyes opened—but all the light was gone from them. Her lips pulled into a grin. Olivia—or rather, the spirit of the Saint that had possessed her—cackled.

“Finally, I’ve found a body for myself! A new body!” She stretched, testing her limbs and reveling in how novel they felt. “It’s been so long. Too long, really. But now I can finally take my revenge upon this kingdom. I’ll make those vermin who stole everything from Lier and me pay for what they did!”

She threw her arms wide, and an invisible force lifted her into the air, propelling her upward through the cavern.

“It was all too easy to steal her body after how much they’d worn her down mentally. This too must be fate.”

The broken cog on the ground briefly entered her vision, but the Saint ignored it entirely.

She picked up more and more speed, racing out of the dark abyss.

“Now, let the bells toll for the Kingdom of Holfort, hailing its coming end and the beginning of our revenge! I will see this country consumed in a sea of flames so that I may rebuild it!”