Chapter 4

His hair was completely white, and his beard too, of course. However, his posture was firm, like that of an iron sword. His Caucasian face featured numerous wrinkles, similar to cracks, in his slightly dark skin. He also had a peaceful appearance, but a penetrating gaze, like that of a falcon searching for its prey.

This man bowed respectfully to him without hesitation and said in a soft, calm, yet respectful and dignified voice: "Arthur-sama, I've come to pick you up. How was the entrance ceremony?"

 

—Very well, there were only minor inconveniences, nothing major.

 

"I understand," the butler nodded politely and respectfully.

 

Sora didn't know what was so great about being around that guy or why he was saying all that, only that his mouth moved mindlessly and he responded with an insolently indifferent tone of voice; similar to the one he had used when talking to a VI (Virtual Intelligence) at home when greeting it for coming home early from high school.

 

This "Alfred" also refers to me as Arthur... I guess it's not a threat, since he doesn't seem to mind this blatantly arrogant attitude I'm forced to display...

 

Not offended by her tone or attitude, Alfred (?) bowed again as he opened the door, revealing to his surprise a beautiful maiden sitting within the luxurious interior of the carriage. She was enjoying a sweet treat with an impassive expression on her beautiful, almost porcelain face.

 

The girl was incredibly beautiful, but she actually looked quite expressionless as she turned to look at him with one of her beautiful cyan eyes covered by her bangs.

 

—Hello again today, Arthur-sama.

 

The girl spoke in a soft voice, the tone of which seemed very pleasant to his ears, despite its apparent lack of emotion. Even from where he stood, Sora could see that, although incredibly beautiful, she seemed strangely pale, almost as if the blood was barely circulating in her body.

 

The maid had short, shoulder-length hair, swept back by a headband and a choker. Her hair was such a soft shade of pink that it looked as if cherry blossoms had been woven into her locks.

She looked slim, but not too slim; she seemed quite flexible, and from her maid uniform, with a skirt a bit longer than that of a typical android maid, you could see beautiful white legs with pleasing thighs; which, naturally, had to be accompanied by a nice rear end.

 

Her C or D cup breasts were so striking that they were admirable. Along with her two strange decorations, which looked like two golden screws on either side of her neck, covered by a choker, this maid seemed strangely familiar to Sora.

And most importantly, he seemed almost as strong as the old man. He could vaguely sense his immense power. A slight, involuntary laugh escaped his mouth as he replied in what he perceived as a rather friendly tone, "Hello again, Frax-chan. Let's go home."

 

—Mn ~

 

Frax-chan… that sounds familiar too… Where did I hear that nickname?

 

While thinking about all these confusing things, Sora walked toward the carriage as normal as ever, without hesitation, with a smile that made his interlocutor smile slightly as well, with a slight blush. Well, it looked like he had blood on him.

 

Whatever...

 

Sora had realized that his calmness in that situation was absolutely strange, especially when thinking about having died or getting into a carriage with an unexpectedly strong butler as a driver and an unknown woman (no matter how beautiful she was), but he really didn't feel the need to make a fuss and preferred to let himself go until he was in a place where he could think in peace and quiet.

 

Deciding so with an internal sigh, Sora boarded the carriage with complete familiarity and sat on the other side of the red velvet chair, crossing his legs with the elegance of a high-born youth, and then suddenly said to “Frax-chan” with flirtatious indifference, “Come, you can lie on me if you want~”

 

—…Yes~!

 

A hint of blush appeared on "Frax-chan"'s cheek in response, and while Sora was feeling a little confused as to why she suddenly pointed at his left side (there were only three seats), the girl walked over to him and crawled into the seat next to him in a truly sexy pose, eventually snuggling up to Sora like a cuddly cat while smiling a little, content.

 

He felt her soft body pressing gently against his, her sizable breasts distorted slightly against his chest, and her soft scent, as fragrant as roses, filling his nose with every breath she took. "Frax-chan" relaxed against him easily as she continued to suck on his candy, rubbing her head a little against his chest before falling still, as if she were sleeping.

 

It didn't end there. Her body moved again on its own, and Sora placed his right arm around her beautiful waist naturally. It was as if they were lovers or something. Having her erotic butt between his left leg didn't exactly help with understanding the "Why?"

 

Well... this isn't so bad...

 

Deciding not to think about "Why?" anymore for now and at least enjoy the touch of a beautiful girl as he headed "home," his head simply turned to look out the window with his chin resting on his hand.

 

By the way, this one had beautiful wood moldings and curtains to cover it, which were clearly expensive, she noted, given her lifestyle.

 

Finally, the carriage began to move, and Arthur didn't even feel the movement. It was as if he were using a typical Neo Tokyo gliding vehicle.

 

I hadn't thought about it, but it would have been terrible to have to endure the jolts of a traditional carriage. That's one of the few things I hated about "COHGO" and their cheap medieval carriages...

 

He was relieved to learn that this was not the case.

 

Before entering the tunnel, Sora watched with his eyes fixed as what looked like a semicircular medieval castle with a beautiful fountain holding a statue of a glorious wise emperor moved away from his sight... and something clicked in his mind.

 

This... Isn't this the Bomenslik Imperial Academy from the game "Britannia: The Magical Fool of the Academy Collects Beautiful Girls to Save the Empire"?

 

The increasingly distant scenery definitely resembled the infamous RPG Sora played many times together with Yuna, his friend with benefits.

 

12 Classes, Heteromorphs, Dragon Knight... it was a typical school fantasy game full of beings called "Aspirants", with incredible powers that defy human common sense, but who represented the Human Order... (At least, according to New Typemoon's mobile game).

 

He suddenly remembered that the crazy boy from before resembled the protagonist, Lars Hamilton von Laniere, who was disparagingly known as a fake sorcerer who could only perform sorcery through his special ability, and was even called an "Awakener"; a special type of human with great talent.

 

A game world coming to life... really? He grimaced in surprise.

 

All in all, this was totally unexpected.

 

Who in their right mind would believe that a virtual world somehow becomes real? That's something that should only happen in manga and anime.

 

And why did I have to end up in a stupid fan-made franchise instead of Chronicles of the Holy Grail Online?

 

♦♦♦♦

 

Britannia: The Magical Fool of the Academy Collects Beautiful Girls to Save the Empire!

 

This game, whose unnecessarily long anime title is surprising, was based on a recently abandoned VRMMORPG by New Typemoon — which would be remembered for its infamous realism among the few on the market and known as <Chronicles of Holy Grail Online> or simply COHGO — being a free FLS (Fantasy Life Simulator) made by a fan acting as an expert game developer.

FLS like this were sambox-style games where the player was fairly passive, usually giving simple commands to playable characters driven mostly by advanced IVs that performed a variety of actions based on pre-established personalities, likes and dislikes and followed each command as if the player's words were just sudden mental impulses, ignoring them if they went against their tastes and moral boundaries as well as the common sense of the world itself.

It was a genre of games that gained popularity due to how strangely satisfying it was to control the actions of what seemed like living individuals…at least in Japan. They were also tricky, though, as they required you to understand your characters' personalities to progress smoothly, and failure to do so would lead to repeated failures throughout the Story Mode.

 

Unexpectedly, the FLS game that its creator, Xianpai, developed on her own in an ordinary apartment, quickly became a huge phenomenon throughout Japan, surpassing many other popular FLS, especially in Neo Tokyo.

 

This is due to the excellent adaptation of the original VRMMORPG's highly detailed backstory, its excellent 3D anime graphics, and the incredible battle scenes carried out by the main heroines against enemies... or even each other.

 

Furthermore, the game's heroines were extremely beautifully designed, with good backstories for each of them and unique personalities that made most of them easy to sympathize with, as well as having plenty of villains who didn't do "evil" just for the sake of it; to the point that it was a real challenge trying to find a villain that fit the "I'm evil because being evil is cool" image without being a low-level NPC.

…It’s not that they didn’t exist.

 

This convinced many longtime players of the original game, such as Shiragaki Sora and Hinakawa Yūna, to play it; though many of them weren't convinced that the setting was in the distant future of the original Britannia or that it had a typical Japanese anime style within a slightly futuristic-looking Academy….

 

Despite this, the game managed to become a sort of famous franchise in Neo Tokyo with which its brilliant and skillful developer, Xianpai, made a lot of money through donations from enthusiastic players on the Quantum Network... However, the franchise had one flaw that Shigaraki Sora... no, that numerous young Japanese people considered a critical flaw.

 

What the hell?! Why does every action this guy can take involve doing something as stupid as challenging the final boss from the beginning no matter what he says? He can crush you in seconds, even in a simple duel! (Anonymous Player #1)

 

Oh, for the love of Jheane-sama! What kind of idiot would agree to infiltrate a suspicious sewer that obviously didn't exist no matter what he says? All to save some "adorable snake" he took pity on because it likes snakes! Do you even have a brain, redhead? Xianpai-sama, why create this abomination as a protagonist? It only serves to make him look adorable, which infuriates me even more because he's a man! (Anonymous Player Number Two)

 

That's it! I'm finally done with that idiot Lars, and now I have access to my beloved Arthur-sama! Yeah, yeah, yeah! (Anonymous players)

 

...was about the existence of the protagonist, Lars Hamilton von Laniere. The real reason for the first game's interesting name... And the most hated protagonist of the time by almost all of the game's fans thanks to his sheer stupidity as a playable character!

 

The same guy who challenged Sora to a duel a few minutes ago despite being weaker than him, a hopeless idiot. If someone sympathized with Lars or liked him, they wouldn't even dare say it out loud for fear of being criticized or, worse, getting beaten up by other users. That's how bad he was.

 

In fact, even the most powerful heroines and even the first major boss of the franchise were more popular than him, with their own figures and other merchandise sold in countless stores, while Lars wasn't even considered worthy of such treatment.

 

People in the Otaku community didn't like his character, who went beyond cliché and entered a territory of no return where he only triumphed over his enemies through the heroines who helped him and the tools he collected, being a totally useless guy.

 

Unlike others, Lars could only use his special ability once or twice and had an extreme dependence on Magic Crystal Fragments to create new Skill Orbs, even with the right materials… Just because his talent was garbage even at something anyone could do!

 

I mean, there was that guy from an old Typemoon game, Fujimaru Ritsuka, who people liked to call Gudao for some reason I honestly can't remember, who relied on powerful mythical heroes to save the world instead of being powerful on his own, but... this was totally different... At least that protagonist could defeat Lars on his own!

 

Even the heroines had more realistic personalities and greater power development than Lars, though many still fell in love with Lars for some inexplicable reason; which made some Yuri enthusiasts imagine that Lars was a woman when that happened….

 

However, the final boss of the first game, who was extravagantly named the "Black Dragon King" despite not being an actual King or Dragon, was the real draw of the game for many of its players to the point of being treated as if he were the true protagonist of the story.

 

Especially with the end-game rewards, which allowed players to play with their character, even if it was only for a total of two hours of gameplay.

 

That final boss was actually a sort of dark hero who had realistic reasons to fight, real talents to show, and a likable personality compared to Lars, who was such an idealistic hero to the point of insanity.

 

The final boss was compared to famous antiheroes from entertainment history, leaving an indelible mark on history. Many of his lines even became famous memes, such as the incredibly popular "I kindly ask you to leave..." phrase, delivered with coldness and noble elegance.

 

Many fans argued that the final boss should be the heroines' man. Some created fanfictions featuring Lars suffering NTR at the hands of Arthur, or featuring the final boss going back in time and stealing all those beautiful girls before they fell in love with Lars. Of course, there was no shortage of fanfictions featuring unscrupulous otakus who became that final boss and enjoyed the good life with the heroines in a passionate and wild sexual encounter.

 

Lars, compared to the final boss, seemed like an unpleasant supporting character with too many blessings on his person (if we ignore the various beatings he received throughout the game's story, haha).

 

It even took the concept of being dense to the same level as a black hole, so much so that it seemed like it could devour the light from the actual stars around it without mercy, which was extremely frustrating.

 

The final boss had his own harem of beautiful female sub-bosses, which many of his fans found more believable than Lars's. He wasn't so stupid as to absorb the surrounding light, and he did appear in 18+ content with several fairly implied scenes showing his prowess in bed with women, something that, unfortunately, players of a certain age might not enjoy.

 

...And that beloved final boss was Arthur Pendragon von Draco Silva... or, simply put, the current Arthur that Shigaraki Sora had become. Upon realizing this, he was stunned.

 

I became the most popular final boss in a mobile game with a trashy hero who would be better off being the tsundere heroine of a yuri manga...!

 

While thinking about the hero who was hated by many players and even used as an insult in some cases by both himself and random criminals, Arthur (Sora) involuntarily laughed, unintentionally attracting Frax's attention.

 

He tilted his head as if to show the confusion that wasn't reflected on his face. "Arthur-sama?"

 

—It's nothing, Frax-chan, I just remembered something funny.

 

-Like what?

 

-Good…

 

Sora rushed to give her a satisfactory answer, while on the outside, her new body smiled seductively at him. This girl possessed incredible intelligence, and it would be best to convince her there was nothing strange about him. It would be best to say something Arthur could say. Then, something clicked in his mind.

 

—I was reminded of some stupid, disrespectful nobles who looked like clowns with their constant shouting and pointless accusations coming out of their fat, ugly faces, and I couldn't help it. Sorry if I bothered you.

 

What he said wasn't exactly a lie; those nobles made him laugh in anime and manga... mockingly, of course.

 

—Oh~ It's okay. Although I don't understand what's so funny about a group of clowns playing their horrible trumpets like the aristocratic faction~

 

-ha ha...

 

The maid nodded, narrowing her eyes with a serious expression as she said all this for a moment, and quickly returned to her previous position, cradling herself in his embrace. Sora simply smiled, somewhat incredulous; thinking that if he didn't know much about the game, he would think this girl was simply using him as a pillow and showing no respect for him... But that wasn't the case.

 

Although they weren't lovers, this lovely Kuudere loved him very much. In fact, she was willing to kill entire armies for him.

 

You see, this beautiful maiden with the strange decoration on her neck is one of Arthur von Pendragon's underlings, and her full name is Franx Leumiere; the "Rose Princess."

 

Yes, this beautiful, adorable, and honestly, sexy maiden wasn't human at all... well, 97% of her body came from different parts of pure human maiden bodies, if I remembered correctly.

And, as you might guess, it's an almost Frankensteinian artificial being, created not by a mad scientist or a deranged alchemist, but by a demented necromancer who served Arthur as a minion and lover, and who was also the game's underboss.

 

In this world, it was the Necromancers, who dealt with matters related to souls and corpses, who created Chimeras instead of Alchemists. It was a disgusting art, banned in many countries, especially the one used to create Franx. That is, human body parts combined and modified with biomancy and DNA manipulation technology, which should be eliminated and banned at the same time.

 

The necromancer who slept with Arthur wanted to create a masterpiece. And for some reason, she thought combining the features of beautiful virgin maidens with other tiny fragments of monsters would make them perfect. As a result of such a twisted idea, she killed many women she thought no one would miss, cutting off parts she liked and extracting their truly evil genetic essence.

 

It should be noted that the maiden here was not the only one who was the result of such evil experiments, Franx had two other chimerical sisters with whom together they formed the {Leumiere Sisters}.

 

They were all girls who seemed adorable and beautiful in everyone's eyes... but they were extremely dangerous monsters not only because of their origins and the monstrous parts they hid, but also because they did not hesitate to kill those who opposed their master without mercy or compassion...

 

Realizing this, Arthur, or rather, Sora, shuddered. His attraction to Franx diminished considerably... (He wasn't lying, she was pretty, and there was still something there. No self-respecting straight man wouldn't have feelings for that jerk, right?)

 

Thank goodness they were created to be loyal to Arthur until death...

 

This was a rather reassuring consolation.

 

After all, he could still vividly remember the monstrous abilities the mad Necromancer had created for each of her "Daughters," especially the abilities the younger sister in front of him had developed on her own; and he wasn't lying when he said he didn't want to experience it.

 

She let out a soft sigh voluntarily, causing Franx to shudder slightly. Although she didn't seem very talkative, it was clear she was paying close attention to him. He didn't know what to think... If she suddenly went berserk upon discovering he wasn't Arthur, would his power and martial experience give her victory?

 

After all, he wouldn't be a final boss if he was just a pretty face...

 

Come to think of it, the final boss was famous in this world not only for being the Empire's only Archduke, an extremely rare Dragon Knight, and at the same time the youngest recipient of the Aureal Knight title in history, but also because Arthur was the most handsome man in the entire empire, right?

 

Sora belatedly remembered that many of the female students around him were murmuring "How cool..." with dreamy eyes and blushing faces in their discussion with Lars.

 

Suddenly, after worrying about his new life, he felt very lucky. He didn't know why he'd ended up in this world, but despite having monsters as subordinates, he was still happy to leave his terrifying face and bad reputation behind if he could live as the most handsome and richest man in the entire empire: a teenage archduke.

 

Anyway, he was an orphan with a pretty indifferent uncle in the real world and his sensei... yeah, he wouldn't miss him.

 

The only person he would miss would be the beautiful and mischievous Yūna, but she wasn't his girlfriend, just another girl in his life, so it didn't matter. As for his grandfather, it would be a little sad not to be able to visit his grave, but, knowing him as the old otaku that he was, he would probably say: "Damn brat, I'm so jealous! Switch places with me!"

 

Yes, he would definitely be happy for him so that he wouldn't regret it in the afterlife.