Chapter 62: Don't Fight Over Me! (With Utter Conviction)

"Come now, Sir Knight! Unless you find a way to overcome this immortal foe, the sleeping princess will be carried away!"

"I told you I'm not letting that happen, damn it!"

"Excellent spirit! Let's make this even more exciting!"

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING MEEEEEEEE?!

Give me a break with this love-triangle drama and reverse harem nonsense! Seriously!

I'm being marketed as an innocent, wholesome heroine here! Don't go dragging me into situations that could start all kinds of nasty rumors!!

Too much interaction between characters can become poison.

If a character already has a romantic partner, they can no longer satisfy the demand for a waifu that belongs exclusively to the player. And the worst part is what happens to their popularity among female players. There aren't many women who would take a liking to a female character who seduces all their favorite male characters and keeps them gathered around her.

At this rate, Tierra As is going to devolve into one of those landmine characters: an original protagonist who tramples all over the source material.

The strongest, most irresistible reverse-harem girl I ever came up with... Yes, the so-called Mary Sue. The kind of character who gets beloved by all the attractive characters from the original story despite not doing anything particularly impressive. I'd become one of those things that proliferate like crazy in fanfiction.

It's not that there's anything inherently wrong with a Mary Sue. I think that sort of character can work in her own right. But she's almost certainly never going to rank first in a popularity poll.

This is bad, bad, bad, bad.

Failing to take first place means the worst possible ending: I won't be able to save my little sister or return to Earth.

What do I do? What can I do?

..................No.

I knew from the start that the difficulty would be high.

Things had simply gone far too smoothly up until now. I'd always known that unexpected obstacles would eventually stand in my way.

Instead of wasting time despairing, I need to think about what I can do right now.

For example...

Lower everyone's affection levels all at once in an instant... No, that won't work. I can't think of a way to do it. And even if I could, making other characters hate me could just as easily make the players hate me, too.

Then should I just eliminate every last one of them right here and now?

...Calm down. That's an absurd leap in logic. Besides, I can't do that.

Walt is an SSR character, overwhelmingly stronger than someone like me. And more importantly, taking down Circus is far too difficult.

King Circus. Ninety-nine percent of what he says is a lie. His abilities can't grant him perfect immortality or absolute invincibility. In fact, his powers are riddled with weaknesses. Among the formidable enemies appearing in WF's chaotic world of “Chaos,” his ability could actually be considered relatively weak.

Even so...

Under the right conditions, he's top-tier when it comes to sheer persistence. His survival instincts are as astonishing as those of a giant, shiny black cockroach with long antennae.

You can't kill him, no matter how hard you try. ...No, the harder you try to kill him, the more impossible it becomes. That's the kind of existence he is.

And of all times, I have to deal with him in this scene? There's no way Tierra As could beat him, even if she stood on her head.

...Hmm? Wait a minute. What's that smell?

That's right. I recognize it. It's the scent of an herb I've used in cooking before.

It relaxes the whole body and calms the mind. It also promotes sleep, which is why it's used medicinally as an herb.

Of course, there are situations where magic can't be used, so I'd learned about things like this during my travels.

...Could this be for my treatment? The mind and body are closely connected. If a soothing scent calms the body, it makes sense that it could help heal the mind as well.

Whoever you are, nice work.

...That said, isn't this a bit excessive? I'm practically surrounded by a mountain of medicinal herbs.

Honestly, what amateurs. These herbs are Chaos-quality, after all. They're so potent that you have to be careful how much you use—

...?

.......................

............................................................................................

...Hmm. Herbs with an extremely powerful sedative effect? And there's a whole mountain of them?

Wait. If I remember correctly, that clown's ability...

I made my decision in an instant.

I unleashed a fire spell into the mountain of herbs.

The flames didn't need to be strong. All that mattered was burning them at a low temperature.

As soon as they began to smolder, smoke would immediately start billowing out...

Ah, crap. I might've overdone it.

“...Smoke? ...Hmm. Well, well. This is a bit of a problem.”

“What... is this...? My bow arm feels so heavy...”

Before I knew it, the entire area was enveloped in white smoke.

I wasn't affected at all, but it seemed that something was wrong with both Walt and Circus.

“Could it be... those herbs from earlier?”

That's right. These were the herbs the elven physician had brought in such enormous quantities.

The elves were deeply grateful to Tierra for preventing the situation from escalating into an all-out battle.

That's probably why they had gone overboard preparing herbs out of concern for her after she collapsed. If I remembered correctly, they'd been placed all around Tierra...

“...Don't tell me!”

A terrible suspicion struck me, and I looked toward the place where Tierra had been sleeping.

There she was, surrounded by burning herbs and rising smoke, giving us a thumbs-up with the most smug expression imaginable.

...You little menace.

She'd burned that much of an herb with an extremely powerful sedative effect all at once.

As a spirit, I had no need for sleep, so I was unaffected. But there was no way Walt and Circus would get off so easily.

The proof was right in front of me: both of their movements had visibly slowed.

...Still, why was it affecting Circus, too? He'd been boasting about being “immortal” and “invincible.” Was sleep simply something he couldn't negate?

“Was it a coincidence? Or could it be, could it be that you knew? ...Heh. Hehehehe. Either way, you've made me even more curious.”

Then—

Circus placed his right hand in front of his abdomen, swept his left hand outward, and bowed deeply.

“Regrettably, I must soon return to my master's side. The sleeping princess appears to have awakened as well, so it seems our performance has reached its time limit.”

...What did he just say?

“Yes, yes. It pains me deeply. But please, do not worry. I promise that one day, I shall bring you all the continuation of this performance, accompanied by even greater excitement and emotion!”

“Wait, you bastard...!”

Walt was barely managing to stay conscious.

His steps unsteady and his body swaying, he nevertheless raised his bow, determined not to let Circus escape.

“Until then, until then. Let us part for a little while. I look forward to seeing you all again very soon.”

But the moment a sudden, sharp pop! rang out—

Circus vanished in an instant, disappearing like an illusion.

“Damn it... Get back... here...!”

“Elf boy!”

THUD. Walt, who had been clutching his bow, finally collapsed. And after him, every elf in the surrounding area fell asleep.

The only ones left standing were me, who didn't need sleep because I was a spirit, and Tierra, who was somehow still full of energy.

Apart from those two, not a single moving creature remained in the vicinity.

“Well, then. That should be everyone who fell asleep.”

Tierra and I had finished gathering all the sleeping elves in one place.

Incidentally, it seemed that forcing Circus to retreat had been a complete accident. Tierra had woken up to find a battle unfolding right in front of her, so she'd tried the first thing that came to mind—and it had worked.

...Please don't use a wide-area attack that wipes out your allies along with your enemies just because you happen to think of it.

“Now then, I'll leave everyone in your care, Winter.”

And then—

As soon as we'd finished carrying the sleeping elves together, Tierra said that to me without a moment's hesitation.

She was entrusting the elves to me while she headed off to fight Machine City.

But...

“Wait, Tierra. You're in no condition to move around yet. Stay here and—”

“That man just now... King Circus is a subordinate of the Wicked King.”

“What?!”

“Now I'm certain. This entire war is being orchestrated by the Wicked King. If things continue like this, Kizuna and the others will be in danger.”

“...So that's what this is about.”

“Yes. He loves dramatic developments. Enjoyable wars, enjoyable massacres... He's an evil being who keeps bringing such twisted fantasies to life. ...There's no way this will end with something as minor as this. There must still be some enormous danger waiting in the wings—or, to use Circus's terminology, another ‘act.’”

“...You may be right. But in that case, I'll go. You stay here and—”

Even though I'd lost most of my power, I was still a spirit. I'd rather go myself than let someone in her condition fight.

That was what I told her, but Tierra answered with a single, firm “No.” Without the slightest hesitation, she immediately rejected my suggestion. Then—

“No matter what happens or what kind of situation I find myself in, I... Tierra As will go and help Kizuna. This is my mission now. It's the reason I exist, and it takes priority over everything else.”

“Who... exactly are you?”

She didn't answer my question. Instead, she simply walked away.

Toward Machine City, without looking back or glancing to either side. She headed straight for it.

“...Honestly. Is this what jealousy feels like? ...I pray that your mission succeeds, Tierra As.”

“Kizuna...”

THAT WAS WAY TOO CLOSEEEEEEEEE!!

It was nothing more than a hasty emergency fix! But it should still just barely pass muster! Probably!

Anyway, I forcibly ended the scene before it could drag on any longer. That should've let me wrap things up before they could exchange any more potentially damaging lines... I hope!

First, I'd concluded that perfectly adjusting everyone's affection levels in that scene was impossible.

That's why, in that moment, my only goal was to end the scene immediately, before anyone could say something that would cause irreversible damage.

After all, Tierra As was the perfect beautiful girl I'd designed to take first place in the popularity poll—in other words, to capture the hearts of every single user. Naturally, men and women, young and old, would all be drawn to her. I might as well accept it as a tax imposed by my beauty and overwhelming heroine power.

With that in mind, I could take my time adjusting everyone's affection levels later... or rather, that was the only option I could think of at the moment.

I knew I was merely putting off the problem. ...But that was still far better than making the wrong move in that scene and ending up in a situation I couldn't undo.

“Kizuna...”

And now, here's the most important part.

From here on, I'm going to increase my displays of affection for Kizuna—the player. It's much earlier than I'd planned, but I'll just have to commit to it.

That's why, as I run out of breath racing along, I occasionally whisper “Kizuna...” with all the aching longing and desperate urgency I can muster.

I also make sure to press my right hand tightly against my chest, as if my heart is aching from the intensity of my yearning.

“Kizuna...! Kizuna!”

I wouldn't exactly call it turning a misfortune into a blessing, but I'll take advantage of that little slip of the tongue by “Spirit Me” in Alnima, when I accidentally brought up the whole business about my “mission.”

In other words, I'll frame it as follows: through a conversation with a former spirit, I reconsidered my mission and came to realize once again just how precious Kizuna is to me. That's the direction I'll take.

Fortunately, Tierra has already been separated from Kizuna twice since this chapter began.

After searching for so long, she finally found the person she'd been looking for, only to be separated from him again. Even if it was only for a brief moment, the separation was unbearable, and it made her realize her feelings all over again. I'll play the part of a girl whose deep love simply can't be abandoned, no matter how hard she tries to cast it aside.

That's the only way.

“I'm coming now...! Please be safe, Kizuna!”

I'll use those three as stepping stones and rack up even more heroine points for myself...!