Volume 8, Epilogue
Volume 8, Epilogue
Part 1
Einhorn has arrived at the port of the royal capital.
In a port where airships come and go, Finley, carrying a large travel bag, is filled with anticipation.
“Finally, I’m living in the royal capitaaal!”
Is it like the feeling of having come to Tokyo?
At my time, I was very concerned about the marriage hunting that was about to begin.
“Are you so excited about living in the royal capital? You’ve been here a few times, haven’t you?”
After disembarking from Einhorn, we were about to board a small airship that would take us down to the royal capital.
Ange and Livia are on their way to the Duke’s mansion in the royal capital with Noelle, and the three of us here are me, Luxion ―― and Finley.
“I like the idea of being able to live here. I’m going to be a city girl here.”
She is saying the same thing as Jenna.
“Ah, yes. By the way, how do you plan to live in the royal capital?”
When I ask about Finley’s future plans, the answer comes back as expected.
“Of course, I’ll marry a rich man who lives in the royal city. I’ll look for a man who’s good-looking, tall, and has a good fortune.”
“I’m glad you have such high ideals. Just try your best to face reality as soon as possible.”
It’s okay to have time to dream.
The important thing is to know the reality and modify your life plan.
The sooner you fix it, the better.
However, Finley would not be convinced if I explained it to her with my mouth.
She believes that she has her own prince.
Sometimes I almost forget that this is the world of that otome game.
Because there are ideal princes and nobles, the possibility is not zero, but the quality is poor.
Oddly enough, the people around us dream about it because there is an ideal there that we might be able to reach.
You cannot reach out to them, but you dream about them because you go to the same school and can talk to them. If I had been in a school in my previous life and my idol had been in the same class with me, I’m sure I would have dreamed about it too.
Maybe we can go out, something like that.
So I guess she could at least be allowed some time to dream.
Reality is always harsh, and there’s no time to do that.
Finley puffed out her cheeks at my attitude.
“Aniki really doesn’t have any dreams. Don’t be so high and mighty just because you’ve achieved your ideal.”
I’m certainly a winner, having bonded with Ange, Livia, and Noelle.
I don’t intend to be overbearing, but I also don’t intend to be more inept than I need to be.
“I was just lucky.”
“You’re being honest today”
“I’m a guy who’s good at being honest. And let me tell you honestly, I’ve finished my marriage hunting and I will be living a comfortable school life. Good luck with your marriage hunting.”
“That’s a really unnecessary thing to say.”
Pui, turning her face away from me, Finley continued to look at her surroundings with interest.
There are many new students at this time of year, and many of them, like Finley, are curious about their surroundings.
The only difference from two years ago was――the appearance of the sub-humans in the harbor.
I see subhumans doing the heavy lifting, and they are working in a full sweat.
The beautifully dressed sub-human walking behind the girls was nowhere to be seen.
Most of the sub-humans I see are well-built, sturdy people who seem to be good at manual labor.
[Master, please be careful]
If you look at the direction Luxion points his red lens, you will see a new student, a noble lad with his cronies, walking towards here.
He pushes away the surroundings and approaches over here to get into the small boat.
As for the young master’s cronies, the boys acted superior than the girls.
I felt uncomfortable with the sight, but I was convinced that the common sense of the school had changed.
I pushed Finley with my hand, who just looked away and didn’t notice the group.
“Get out of the way, ugly”
She hasn’t been pushed, but Finley gets pushed out of the way and moves.
When she was pushed, Finley’s blood rushed to her head at the bad words.
“What are you doing!”
Two years ago, this would have been an unbelievable scene, but the new students in front of me were different.
The boys looked at each other and started laughing mockingly in front of Finley.
“Oi oi, is it okay for a girl to act like that towards a boy? You’re from the countryside, right? You’ll never get married before you graduate from the school.”
When I heard that line, you know what I thought?
EEEEH――I was so shocked.
The content of the dialogue has not changed from before.
It’s just that the arrogance has changed from girls to boys.
The girls around me looked down, feeling uneasy.
Finley, who was called a bumpkin, couldn’t take it anymore and shouted out loud, attracting the attention of others.
“Don’t be ridiculous! In the first place, you’re the one who came in the side. Get in line.”
The person on the other end of the line gave us a look of contempt.
“You poor, undisciplined bumpkin. You better remember that at the academy.”
The young master told Finley that he remembered her face and tried to get into the small boat that had arrived.
The people around me didn’t stop such a young master ―― but someone noticed me.
“Oi, that person”
“Isn’t he third-year Leon-senpai?”
“You’re kidding, right?!”
“It’s true! I’ve seen him once. I’ve heard he’s coming back from studying abroad this year, and I’m sure of it.”
“Then he was listening to it, wasn’t he? Eh, calling Leon-senpai a bumpkin?”
“Ah~, that guy is over”
As the buzzing around them grew louder, the young master and others must have noticed something strange.
He looked around and seemed uneasy.
I was actually going to pay him back at the school, but he stood out so much that I had no choice.
This time, I decided to stop at just nailing it down.
“Hello. I’m the brother of the bumpkin. I’m sorry if we caused you trouble.”
“W-Who are you?”
The young master did not lose his composure.
He probably hasn’t realized who I am yet.
“I’m a countryside nobleman. But my title is Marquis.”
“Marquis? T-That’s a lie.”
“It’s true. You can check in with the royal palace.”
“Of course it’s a lie! I-If you’re going to apologize, now’s the time.”
“I can’t do that”
Using your position to intimidate others in this way ―― Honestly, I like it a lot.
But you never know where the really scary people are in the world.
If you’re overbearing, there’s even a chance that the person you’re dealing with is a very unusual person.
Normally, it’s my style to find out what they’re up to and then start paying them back.
But the problem is that if I don’t go through with it, there will be some idiots who will misunderstand “He is no big deal!”.
For better or worse, there are many naive people like the young master in front of me.
“You know, that’s annoying, so line up quietly, first year.”
I narrowed my eyes at him and the young master averted his gaze.
He gets into a small boat and tries to escape, so I grab him by the shoulders to stop him.
“Line up”
When I intimidate him with a low voice, he lets out a “Hie” and withdraws quietly.
The cronies had quieted down and were lining up at the end of the line.
I push Finley’s back and board a small boat.
Inside the small boat, the seats were lined up and all seat belts were prepared.
Finley, who was sitting next to me, expressed her dissatisfaction with the young master earlier.
“What is it? It’s too rude to girls, right?”
“You’re right”
“And aniki is aniki. Why didn’t you come forward sooner?”
“I hate troublesome things”
When I said that, Luxion, who was at my side, said it was a lie.
[You were going to pay him back later, weren’t you? You really are a dirty master.]
Finley has forgotten what happened earlier and is trying to get some distance from me.
“Isn’t that worse?”
You’re so rude.
Even if I say I’m going to pay him back, I’m just going to look up his parents’ house, check out the difference in ability, and then talk to them later and say, “Thank you for taking care of me back then”.
When he arrived at the school, he could hear who I was from the people around him.
If that had happened, it would have been like a successful payback.
“I’ll just pester him when we meet again at the school.”
“It’s kind of small “
“It can be said that there is a degree that can be tolerated. But still ―― “
Looking inside the small boat, I saw that, unlike my first year, there had been a change in the relationship between men and women.
Two years ago, there wouldn’t have been anyone like the young master earlier.
――It’s kind of sad that only the positions have been reversed.
It means that men and women are no different.
.
Part 2
“The room is getting bigger again”
I arrived at the dormitory and let out a sigh when I saw my new room.
The room is too large for a student to use.
I would have felt more at home in a smaller room, but since I was an active marquis, I was shown to a special room.
It was a room that would normally be used by Julius and the others.
I put my few belongings in the large room and sat down on a chair, Luxion was checking the room.
[There’s nothing suspicious]
“Aren’t you being overly vigilant?”
[Master should be more alert. More than that, Marie and the others would probably try to join us soon.]
She must know I’m back, through Creare.
So it’s about time to ask.
“Perhaps I’ll get her some tea and snacks?”
I got up from my chair and unpacked the snacks and other items I had purchased as souvenirs and laid them out on the table.
Luxion is circling around me.
“Is there anything you want to say?”
[No, I just thought you looked like you were having fun. Are you so happy to see Marie?]
“Ba~ka. This means thanks for gathering information. She will do her best there is a food.”
[You know all about your little sister in your previous life, don’t you? As expected, you are a siscon.]
“Oi?”
[Am I wrong? It was Master who was dere-dere when Angelica and Olivia treated you like an older brother. I didn’t expect you to be moved to tears, though.]
“You don’t understand anything. There’s a heaven and earth difference between a little sister and a non-blood related sister. Those two are the best! Marie is different.”
When I said that, Luxion poked at the inconsistency of the current situation.
[Oya? The present Master is not related to Marie by blood. From what you just described, Marie would also fall into the category of the best little sister, wouldn’t she?]
“She’s a little sister in the soul, definitely different!”
[ ―― a little sister in the soul? It seems to me that she has been placed in an even more special category?]
“Aa~, she is special. I mean she is especially annoying.”
[It’s strange that you went to the trouble of preparing tea and snacks for such a Marie.]
“I told you it was bait. Even a horse will work harder if you hang a carrot in front of it.”
Luxion says she did her best this time, so I’ll give her some preferential treatment.
That way, Marie would be enthusiastic now that she could eat sweets if she tried hard enough.
――Why? I feel a little sorry for Marie, who in her previous life was only able to catch on with brands and expensive things, but now she’s satisfied with sweets.
Now that she was taking care of the five idiots, I understood a little bit more about how hard it was to take care of them.
” ――Well, it’s that. I’m starting to think it’s okay to be a little nicer.”
[Are you a tsundere? It doesn’t suit you]
“Can’t you talk without throwing in a tease every time? Isn’t that the problem? Why don’t you have Creare check you out.”
[I’m better than Creare]
The artificial intelligence that never doubts that he is superior is very annoying.
The flexible Creare looks more clever and superior to me.
While I was talking nonsense with Luxion, there was a weak knock at the door.
“Ye~s. What, is it Marie? Come on in. I’ll get you some tea.”
Standing in front of the door was Marie.
But she was acting strangely.
Marie looked down and was sweating cold, and wouldn’t make eye contact with me.
“Oi, what did you do?”
“A-Aniki, a-anone.”
This attitude of Marie’s, I remember it from a previous life.
That was the attitude of Marie when she made a big mistake.
I squeeze Marie’s trembling face between my hands.
Her cheeks narrowed and she forced her mouth to purse, and Marie’s eyes were teary.
“What did you do! Say it!”
From the way Marie was acting, she must have done something irreversible, right? I couldn’t help but have such a bad feeling about this.
Luxion checks his surroundings with a red lens.
[Master, I can’t see Creare anywhere. I expect she is hiding behind a stealth feature.]
The bad feeling gets even stronger.
I smile at Marie and ask her what happened.
“Marie, tell me everything”
“D-Do you promise you won’t get mad?”
“Depends on the content.”
The only time Marie asks for this kind of promise is when the problem has become quite serious.
She understands that I’m going to be angry, so she wants me to say that I won’t.
At this point, I think my smile disappeared and I probably had a blank expression on my face.
Marie gave up and tried to talk, so I let go of my hands. Then Marie, with a blue face, tells me something I can’t believe.
“We had turned one of the capture targets into a girl.”
“Ha?”
For a moment, my mind refused to comprehend what was being said.
The capture target is a man, right? And now he’s a girl?
Eh, wait a minute.
Why does he become a girl? I mean, can he even be one?
“Marie, I’ll confirm one by one.”
“Yes”
“First, the capture target is a man, right? It’s not like he had different gender from the beginning or anything, is it?”
I considered the possibility that he was supposed to be born a boy, but had been born a girl.
Marie shook her head.
“Then next. You said he became a girl, but to what extent? Like, cross-dressing and all that?”
Marie said, her eyes swimming as she couldn’t stop breaking out in a cold sweat.
“W-We had made him a perfect girl.”
“―― And by “that”, I assume you mean you’re involved, right?”
The hands gripping Marie’s shoulders tightened.
In spite of the pain, Marie gave a detailed explanation.
“The boy that Creare was experimenting on was one of the capture targets! In the game, he’s a senior, and he was enrolled last year!”
“Why don’t you tell me first! What do you mean experiment?! Not an observation, but a real experiment!”
“It was only recently that I remembered! I-I didn’t think Creare would go that far either!”
I was surprised to find that one of the capture targets, who had enrolled last year, had turned into a girl due to Creare’s experiments.
“What are you doing. Turn him back quickly. Tell me where he is.”
“Impossible”
“An?”
I glared at Marie who refused and did not change the answer.
“Because――He said he wanted to be a girl.”
“You’re lying, right? Eh? Isn’t the capture target was supposed to be a man?”
“――He said he realized who he really was. When Creare gave him the gender change, he was so happy he cried. He thanked us over and over again. With this, a new life is possible now, he said. We can’t say we want him to turn back now.”
Covering her face with her hands, Marie was crying that she couldn’t turn him back into a man now.
“Even so let’s follow the scenario!”
I was confused and trying to restore it somehow, but Luxion was finding it difficult.
He stops me from forcibly changing his gender back.
[I don’t recommend it]
“Why?”
[The person changed his gender because he wanted to. I don’t know the details, so I can’t make a judgment, but if we force him back, he’ll resist. Also, if that person was mentally female, there is a possibility that his preference is male. If you force him back, there’s a high possibility of failure.]
What Luxion is trying to say is that it is unlikely that he will be tied to the main character if he is forced to change his gender back.
“――I-Is there a girl-meets-girl pattern?”
In anguish, I hope that he will still be an object of capture even he becomes a girl.
But when I look at Marie, she trembles and says that Luxion is right.
“He said he wanted to date a manly man, and he was very happy about it.”
“What are we gonna do?”
Both Marie and I get down on our hands and knees on the spot.
If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have left it to Marie and the others.
“Me and Luxion would have been more appropriate.”
[I wonder about that. There’s the matter of your brother’s matchmaking. If it was Master, wouldn’t it have been more complicated?]
Marie looks up and asks Luxion for a detailed explanation of the matchmaking.
“Eh? What did you do on the matchmaking?”
[Master’s brother and Dorothea of the Roseblade family had matchmaking. The big brother was not keen on the idea and wanted it to fail. However, he helped the matchmaking that would have failed if he hadn’t done anything, and Master led it to success. And it was a matchmaking that had a very low probability of success.]
Marie is looking at me with her cheeks drawn together.
“What are you doing, aniki?”
“I don’t want to be told only by you. More importantly, where is Creare?”
“She was the first one to escape. 99,9% of the failure was caused by her.”
.
Part 3
I was walking through the school building with my shotgun.
“Where are you, Creareee!!”
Searching every corner with bloodshot eyes.
Creare had not only hidden herself, but had also placed dummies to distract us from our search. Every time Luxion was grabbed by the dummy, he became irritated.
[Master, over here!]
I passed by some enrolled students and new students several times, but none of them called out to me when they saw me.
When the teachers realized it was me, they avoided eye contact with me.
However, I don’t have the slightest bit of time to worry about that right now.
Luxion went to the door of the tool shed built at the bottom of the stairs and nodded his one red eye.
“Is Creare here?”
[There is no mistake]
I opened the door and the room was dark and dusty.
The light coming through the doorway made the dust that had flown up appear to glitter and shine.
Finding an unnatural place in the middle of it all, Luxion irradiated a laser to find Creare, who had blended into the surrounding landscape with optical camouflage.
[There’s no point in hiding, Creare]
[Hie]
The shotgun is loaded with non-lethal rubber bullets.
Having made the pump action ready to fire at any time, I ask Creare.
“It’s a shame, because I had such high hopes for you.”
[Listen to me, Master! I didn’t know. I didn’t know he was a capture target!]
“Shut up! Is it okay to have the gender change if you didn’t know about it? There’s a limit to what you can do in this world! I guess you’re not programmed with ethics.”
I had underestimated Creare that she let him change his gender for the sake of experimentation.
I’d forgotten that he was also a dangerous artificial intelligence on the side of the old humans.
Creare reveals her true nature in front of me.
[Ethics only apply to the old humans. It doesn’t apply to the new humans!]
“Hou, so you’re saying that doesn’t apply to me?”
[Y-You’re wrong! Master and Marie-chan are completely different! Luxion, don’t just watch, help me.]
Creare asks Luxion for help, but he’s irritated because he’s grabbed the dummy too many times, so he’s salty.
[Creare, I’m disappointed in you. It doesn’t change the fact that you failed to carry out Master’s orders.]
[W-What? It doesn’t matter what happens to one of them. There are still substitutes.]
It is true that the boys to be captured still exist, but it is a different story when the possibilities are reduced by one.
There is a possibility that if we do nothing, the target may have ended up with the protagonist.
“One possibility is gone because of you. Moreover, I don’t like your attitude of running away without remorse.”
[Absolutely]
Creare muttered boo boo, probably sensing that me and Luxion would not change our attitude.
[Sacrifices have to be made for development. That’s how humanity has progressed. I’m just an experiment on the new humans, so I am not at fault. In the first place, the target just happened to be the subject of the experiments! I’m innocent!]
Is she stupid?
There is no way that someone who does a gender change under the guise of experimentation is innocent.
Indeed, there is no law in the Kingdom of Horfalt that says you can’t change your gender without permission.
In the first place, this situation was never envisioned.
However, there is a limit to what things can do.
“Creare, do you have any last words?”
As I pointed the muzzle of my gun at her, Creare, in a fit of desperation, finally shouted.
[I wish the new humans should perish!]
I pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Creare was hit by a rubber bullet and bounced around the warehouse like a pinball, and finally rolled under my feet.
[H-Horrible. Master is demon]
“Not as much as you do with your experiments.”
[Creare, you must reflect]
Having successfully punished Creare, Luxion and I were left with a big problem.
I didn’t expect that the boy of the capture targets would become a girl.
What’s going to happen to that third Otome game?