Chapter 44
Next, Yuuko.
And El
Translator : PolterGlast
--As it turned out,
Lotus wasn't here.
Even though he was
supposed to be the best knight in this country in the game, they said no such
person existed. That was absolutely wrong. Lotus, with his always dark eyes,
who hated demons, and who was usually taciturn but kind only to me. When I was
summoned to Cloudy Country, he was supposed to be the first to become my
companion. It was a route I had played many times.
"This is
wrong!!!"
I slammed the table
forcefully in front of the person in charge who I had summoned.
"Even if you say
that, I have no recollection of a knight named... Lotus."
"He exists,
absolutely! One-armed, one-eyed, a powerful swordsman with a unique skill, does
that ring a bell!? Don't hide him!"
The high-ranking
church official, who I had initially thought was handsome, was nothing compared
to Lotus. It was strange that Lotus wasn't here. It wasn't the Tale of the Land
of Five Leaves without him. The hidden character's route was fun, but he is
still my number one choice. I will be with Lotus, become his lover, and have a
happy ending in this country. That's what I've decided.
Whether I would return
to my original world or not was something I could decide after becoming his
lover. I shouted with all my might and slammed the expensive-looking table. My
bright red face and puffed-out cheeks were reflected in the mirror hanging on
the wall.
"There was a
route to become friends with Eldorado, but I hate that girl! If you attack her
physically, she's just a weakling! I'll beat her into a pulp with a bat!"
I ignored the muttered
words, "Lady Saint, your language is not very appropriate," and
shouted.
"Find out where
Lotus is! Otherwise, there's no point in me coming to this world!"
I knew information
that a Saint who had just arrived in this country shouldn't know. That was
brushed aside with a simple, "Because I amI am the Saint." When I had
them check, they did find that a knight named Lotus had indeed belonged to the
order in the past. However, he had apparently quit in the chaos of a demon
attack three years ago and disappeared somewhere.
When I pressed the
gatekeeper, a man wearing a short, chimney-like hat, who was supposedly the
last person who spoke with Lotus, he flapped his hands nervously and said, "Well,
I really don't know where he went. Huh? No, no, I'm not hiding anything,
really!" He was a strange, white-haired man.
"He went on a
journey? What does that mean...?"
The man who had
belonged to the knighthood in the past looked very similar to Lotus, but he
wasn't one-armed or one-eyed. He was a normal young man. Even calculating his
age, it was definitely him.
When a Saint was
summoned, the misanthropic Eldorado, who somehow obtained information, was
supposed to immediately come to interfere with me. The end of the tutorial was
joining forces with Lotus and defeating her. Eldorado used illusion magic. It
was a foul play close to charm, and if you brought male characters, you would
100% lose. So, it was a losing event, and the set flow was that Eldorado, who
would get bored halfway through, would mock the Saint and disappear.
But I was someone who
had played the game to the extreme. I didn't want to have such an unpleasant
experience with a losing event. That's why I had intended to beat her up with
the cheat knowledge that only hardcore players knew. But she didn't even come
to attack me. I bit my nails.
Eldorado, the demon
who opposed me in Cloudy Country, and Lotus, my ally, weren't there. Could such
a thing happen? It felt like there was some kind of manipulation involved.
...In my head, I could hear a woman's high-pitched laughter. Bat-like wings
sprouted from her back, and I saw a glimpse of her pointed teeth as she
smirked, her chest bouncing in my imagination. ...Could this possibly be one of
Eldorado's evil deeds?
It was a possibility.
After all, she was my enemy.
"...I have to go
to Soleil."
That was the academy
city where magic tools gathered. If I had the Mirror of Foresight, my future
actions would become clearer. First, I had to find Lotus. There was no way I
would lose.
"Extend your
branches and connect to the other leaves! Quick, take me to Soleil! I have to
get the Mirror of Foresight...!"
***
"The Mirror of
Foresight, huh? Sounds like a pretty convenient thing with a name like that."
"Right, right?
Well, I'd like to say that, but actually, it's something that only matters to
the Saint."
I had already told
Lotus and Ichi and the others about my purpose in going to Soleil, and they had
agreed. But even if I thought I had explained it properly, there might be
things I hadn't fully conveyed. We took a room at an inn for the first time in
a while, and I explained things in the room. Ichi and the others, with their
illusion skill dispelled, were happily running around the room, cleaning it up.
The room was becoming unnaturally beautiful, which was quite scary. It was
becoming more beautiful than when we arrived. Was that a motto?
"Only matters to
the Saint? Doesn't it tell you everything about the future?"
"Ah, did I not
explain that properly? Sorry, let me tell you again. And Ichi and the others,
please listen too, calm down. Calm down. ...Calm down, you guys!!!"
Boing, boing, boing,
boing. The three of them were bursting with excitement about cleaning the new
room. Honestly, weren't they bouncing a little too much?
"Gather 'round,
gather 'round," I said, moving the bouncing blobs onto the bed, and then
spoke to Lotus, who was sitting on a chair.
"The Mirror of
Foresight is a guide for the Saint, the protagonist, telling her what to do
next. So, even if we had it, it wouldn't tell us our future. This might not be
the best way to put it, but Soleil is a relatively easy route. Leyshan and
Cloudy Country are normal. Hail Land is like hard mode."
The protagonist was
summoned to one of the four countries randomly, but once certain achievements
were unlocked, the Saint could use the World Tree's branches. The World Tree's
branches were like a warp function that allowed you to go to any country in an
instant. For example, even if you were first summoned to Cloudy Country, you
could switch to the Soleil route midway through. It had a multi-system.
"The reason the
Soleil story has a low difficulty level is because it has the Mirror of
Foresight, in other words, a hint mode. The opposing demons are also the
weakest, so Soleil is the recommended route for people who aren't good at
games."
"Hmm...?"
I got a little too
carried away with the terminology.
"Anyway, the
Mirror of Foresight can only be used by the Saint. The time you can get it is
also fixed, so there's no point in coming too early. Normally, even if someone
other than the Saint used it, all they would understand is the Saint's actions,
so it's meaningless. But conversely, that means you can grasp the Saint's
actions. So, we definitely want to get our hands on it."
After all, we didn't
even know which of the four countries the current Saint, Yuko, had been
summoned to.
"I don't think
she's been summoned to Soleil, where we are now..."
"Why not?"
"If she had, this
city would probably have a much more grand and happy atmosphere. There would be
a Saint's welcoming parade and stuff."
"I see,"
Lotus nodded. In most countries, they wholeheartedly welcomed the Saint's
presence. "Then, if it's one of the other three countries, there's a possibility
she was summoned to Cloudy Country, where we were." He muttered suddenly,
and I groaned, wondering about that.
"Cloudy
Country... well... hmm. I wonder. Lotus isn't there, so the story would become
a mystery. So, I don't think she's been summoned there, but then again, maybe
that doesn't matter."
The fact that I was
with Lotus like this was an unavoidable circumstance, and I wasn't sure if it
was related to the game's story. Normally, we were an impossible combination. A
demon and a man who hated them. It was a miraculous combination, and when I
glanced up at him with a curious look and saw him raise an eyebrow while
crossing his arms, I felt terribly ticklish. But I immediately felt down.
"...This is just
a possibility from the start, though."
I muttered softly and
suddenly held my breath. Then, I stared straight but crookedly at the Magic
Academy, which stretched into the sky, from the small window of the inn.
"...Will the
Saint really be summoned?"
--I, Eldorado, was
living as just El, together with Lotus, one of the capture targets. This was
truly a miraculous combination, and at the same time, very strange.
...Therefore, there
must be a possibility that things wouldn't go according to the main storyline.
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