A couple of years have passed since the day I said goodbye to the duke's daughter villainess and moved with my family to the imperial capital of the Arklight Empire.
The capital is the largest territory in the entire empire. Its size is equivalent to half of Asia.
The structures range from modernized ancient buildings to more luxurious 21st-century buildings.
Depending on the area you live in, you'll see more cars than carriages.
We live in the southern part, but in the farthest and cheapest area in the apartments.
My little sister is now 10 years old, and likewise, my parents had a new member of our family, my little brother, Colin.
He's four years old and already knows how to talk. Unfortunately for me, he's more attractive than me.
(Colin, your big brother wishes you a life full of beautiful women who want to be part of your harem.)
(Wow, I forgot to mention this.)
(At the age of 18, you'll be obliged to get married, whether you want to or not. The imperial palace decided this so that bachelorhood among nobles wouldn't be a problem.)
(Apparently, several years ago there was a problem with a low birth rate; women were reluctant to get married because the men were cretins.)
(That was the Otome game's excuse for the protagonist to have several guys after her without causing trouble.)
(The empire supports and approves having concubines; there will always be a legal wife. Mistresses are looked down upon by women, but not by men.)
(In fact, for men, the number of mistresses represents how powerful you are.)
(For that reason, the protagonist could be the prince's girlfriend or the duke's heir's girlfriend and not have problems.)
(But, there's always a catch. In the game it was fine, but if we do it in reality, it would rather cause a conflict between the imperial family, the Duke's household, and the other three households involved.)
(For that reason, the future of this country scares me.)
(I don't care that the protagonist is enjoying her boyfriends, I care more about the future thanks to the end of the game when the prince becomes the next emperor.)
(The son he has with the protagonist will be the future heir. If it turns into the reverse harem route, it would be terrifying to recognize whose child it belongs to.)
(There's no DNA testing. For pregnancies, yes, but not to know who the child belongs to.)
(The developers didn't seem to care about that. Or maybe the empire is just very lazy.)
(In any case, I'll just pray that the protagonist ends up involved with only one of them.)
Now, with what I was doing, visiting the capital's adventurer guild.
The central adventurer guild was located in the imperial capital.
The place was as big as a stadium for a world cup soccer match.
The interior was highly decorated with monster heads, parts of their bodies; horns, claws, tails, wings, etc.
There were also holographic photographs of the adventurers who hunted them, of course, this was the work of magic. A magic circle was on the floor which reproduced the image from time to time.
On the ceiling, there were magic lamps which lit up with a clap.
Electrical energy worked thanks to a magic stone called lacryma.
Lacryma were magic stones given by a certain object that appeared in the game, known as the great tree. But that's not important at all.
I made my way through the crowd as the guild master, Jerome, a man with a rough appearance and look, was standing on a table.
He had his stomach bandaged, his muscular arms were uncovered as was his stocky chest.
His face was very serious, his eyes were blue, he wore a red bandana with three 6's making a circle for the yellowish-green diamond that lay there.
The most significant feature of his appearance was that he was bald.
A large bald head reflecting the sunlight was what I and others looked at instead of his face or listening to him; we unintentionally murmured under our breath, "He's bald."
(He couldn't hear us, fortunately.) Now, with what he was saying.
"All D and C rank members, listen carefully to what I'm going to say!"
After spending five whole years completing over 300 missions, I managed to be promoted to D rank.
(I finally entered the tutorial on how to be a real adventurer.)
"A noble has sent a special request of urgent content."
"It seems that his daughter has fallen ill with a sickness that healing magic cannot cure."
(That's because it depends on the individual's magical power. Well, if the disease is very lethal, even having several people healing her won't be able to do it.)
"The request is to go to Vanfield Forest and find a grayish tulip."
(Wait, did he just say what I think he said?)
"As you know, the forest area is overrun with highly dangerous monsters. But the grayish tulip grows in areas where merchants roam looking for materials to sell, so it's suitable for adventurers like you."
Everyone had faces wanting to ask the most obvious thing. In my case, no, because this is a golden opportunity.
"From your faces, I deduce you think some merchant must have it. Let me tell you, if that were the case, they wouldn't have sent this request to us with the word 'urgent' on it."
(No doubt, this is it.)
"The B rank adventurers have refused to do it, so we can only rely on C and D ranks."
(Yes. The mission to recover the tulip is a side event from the game. It's an unimportant mission, but it's precisely in that event that something important happens; I can't miss the opportunity for it.)
I raised my hand to ask to be allowed to participate, a few others did too.
"Hmph. Very few, no one else?"
(Even if they wanted to do it, this won't give them the necessary experience to gain points to rank up.)
(So I understand why they're not interested in doing it.)
The guild master looked a bit annoyed by the lack of interest from many.
"Fine. You will depart immediately after gathering what you need. I will choose the leader among you."
(Yes. I'm in. Now I can do my main objective for having reincarnated in this world.)
(Helping the protagonist and capture targets from the shadows.)
◇
We were a group of two dozen adventurers.
We came in four carriages; our ranks were more than half D rank and the rest C rank.
The group leader was a tall, muscular man, dressed in elite soldier clothing as he had firearms with him.
His name was Leo, his face was very serious, with an X-shaped scar on his left cheek, his hair was a dull red, and his eyes were brown.
(He was clearly a noble for having those weapons.)
(I once tried to find out why there were no crossbows. They're faster and more effective than bows, but inferior to rifles.)
(The answer I got on the forums was that the developers forgot about them.)
(Very disappointing, everything.)
◇
We've been going into the forest for two days and haven't found anything.
The time limit they gave us is four days.
Failing a mission or abandoning it halfway is a breach of your duties as an adventurer. The punishment is losing points to rank up, being demoted a rank or two, but the worst of all is having your credential taken away. You'll never be able to be one again if you try to live from it.
(Maybe a few knew how difficult it would be to find that tulip, but that flower is my minimum priority. My real objective is something else, but partly I'm scared of not finding it.)
The sun was setting and we decided to rest.
I reached my canteen and drank as if I hadn't had anything in days.
(Thanks to magical technological advances, the poured liquid will stay hot or cold according to your taste.)
Now I was chewing a sandwich my mom made for me. It was ham and cheese, my favorite in my previous life.
(When I was a simple student of Japanese origin, I was lazy and didn't want to do anything, not even work. But reincarnating here, I had to get used to moving my body daily.)
(At first I didn't want to, but my father's strong and large fists on my small head were enough motivation to get up as soon as the sun rose.)
(I also didn't understand the importance of money since I spent it on frivolities.)
(But after experiencing poverty, now I wish to have a lot of money.)
The leader, Leo, sat in front of me.
(We all had to stay together in case of an attack by a wild animal or monster.)
He was eating some hard-boiled eggs with an energy drink.
(People like that scare me; he reminds me of my arithmetic teacher who looked at me badly for not answering a question correctly.)
"Sorry, I need to go to the bathroom."
Said an adventurer. He was asking permission since we had to report to the leader for anything, whether small or stupid.
Leader Leo gestured with his face for him to go.
I resumed my meal since I needed a lot of energy to search for that flower.
◇◇◇
The adventurer left his group to deposit fertilizer to mother nature.
After being ready to water the fertilizer, a hole opened in the area where he was.
After falling into that hole, he was unconscious for a few minutes.
Upon waking, he shook his head.
Then, he turned his neck in different directions to see where he was.
The man walked after illuminating the darkness with his lantern.
The humidity along with a strong sulfur smell permeated the place.
The man wanted to escape quickly from there since he couldn't climb up.
After walking several minutes, he found something.
A glow shone thanks to the lantern light.
The man approached and after checking a photograph he had in his pocket, he marveled at it.
"I found it, haha, I found it!"
It was the flower they were looking for.
The man took out a glass container to pull out and place the flower there.
He was so happy he didn't notice that something was watching him from the ceiling.
After closing the container, a strange liquid fell on his shoulder.
The man wiped it off, making a nauseated face.
He lit up the ceiling to find out where that liquid came from; after lighting the ceiling, he let out a girlish scream.
◇
Me and the others were looking for a guy who went into the forest to deposit more fertilizer and it seems he got lost.
(We shouldn't waste time looking for him, but losing members on a mission is something that also lowers points.)
(It seems teamwork is as important as in the game.)
Just when I was about to tell the leader it was useless to keep looking for him, that it was better to abandon him and resume the search for the flower, we heard a scream from the distance.
"HEEEEEELP MEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
The scream was accompanied by a slight tremor.
Looking in the direction the voice came from, we found something unexpected.
The guy was running. In his hands, he had the flower we were looking for. That was the good thing.
The bad thing was, behind him was a giant spider.
"Everyone on guard!"
"It doesn't seem to be a simple giant spider!"
"Maybe, is it a queen spider?"
(It's as he says. In the game, when finding the tulip, they never showed where it was since, if they had, I wouldn't have spent two days looking for it.)
The enemy guarding it was a giant queen spider.
Its color was black, it had horns coming out of its body.
It's terrifying red eyes looked at different prey.
We were seconds away from facing it.
The leader said to form a circle to surround it, but many got scared and ran away.
Of the two dozen, only 14 of us remained.
The leader got angry and shouted.
"Prepare for combat!"
(No one had worked with another, maybe, but that only means our chances of survival are low.)
(I'm clearly speaking for them; I don't plan on dying.)
"Haaaaahhhh!"
That came from the back of our throats.
Some approached to try to cut it with magical power.
Others used bows; a magic circle appeared on the arrows and when fired, they became a wind ox, a fire bird, and a fire tiger.
They all hit the spider, but these monsters have tough skin which resists magical powers.
(That was the mechanism to not finish off monsters easily using Jake or Oscar's magic.)
Those who attacked head-on were instantly annihilated by the spider's long legs.
It measured 14 meters high and 15 meters wide.
It seemed like an amusement park ride coming to life.
I watched Leo, who took out his rifle from his back.
He took a bullet from his pocket; it was as big and long as an adult's finger.
He aimed at the spider and after pulling the trigger, a golden magic circle manifested.
From the circle, an electricity bullet was fired which hit the spider in the eyes.
It staggered for a moment; everyone cheered, but it didn't last long.
The spider got angrier and crushed the guy who had the flower. Fortunately, the flower was fine, the guy wasn't.
(Does that make me insensitive? I don't care if it does.)
(I don't see him as an NPC, but as a person, I couldn't care less about the safety of others.)
(I've always been selfish.)
Leo shouted at me.
"Brat, move your ass!"
"Don't worry, I know its weakness."
(In the game, it was quite hard for me to discover its weakness. I spent hours trying to find a strategy to kill it.)
I told the leader.
"Do you have an explosive type bullet? If so, please give it to me."
His face turned to me and he said.
"Hah, are you crazy? I won't give you one of my expensive bullets!"
(That's understandable, and even the most logical thing in the world.)
"But you have no other choice than that."
"...?"
He didn't understand what I was talking about until I pointed out how the spider had killed almost all the members.
Some were using magic shields so the spider wouldn't kill them with its legs.
It could use its web, but I deduce it considers us inferior beings not to waste it on us. What an overconfident idiot.
"I know its weakness, please, give me a bullet."
He seemed reluctant to give me a bullet.
(Dude, this is not the time to be stingy.)
"... Fine, take it. But, if you fail and we survive, you'll have to pay me 100 gold coins!"
(Uwahh~! Is it that expensive? Better stop joking and get serious.)
He gave me the bullet. Then I stretched my arms as if I were a pitcher in a baseball game.
(Something I haven't updated on my adventurer's credential is the fact that I finally showed my magical element.)
(At birth, the goddess Alexia blesses all human beings with a special magical attribute.)
(In the game, it was known as elemental magic and there were seven types: fire, water, earth, wind, lightning, light, and darkness.)
(The latter was only obtained by those belonging to the demonic race clan.)
(I don't understand how a goddess can give that to demons or create said element, but that's how it was in the game.)
(The curious thing is that in this world it wasn't called that; it was known as arcane magic and there are different types of attributes. Commoners also possess it, and like nobles, they are not exempt from the baptism.)
(At the age of 10, boys and girls from different parts of the country must go to the church of the three gods.)
(After praying to the statue of the goddess Alexia, you can acquire the magical attribute you were born with.)
(I don't understand why at that age? But whatever.)
(Everyone can use things that aren't magical attributes from childhood, like muscle strengthening, running and jumping to great heights, etc.)
(Back to this spider.)
After stretching my arms, I placed in the middle my left hand which held the bullet by its center with two fingers.
To my right hand, I sent magical power; a slight bright blue color manifested.
(Thanks to the goddess, the element I was born with is one of the least used because it takes a long time to charge.)
(But in the game, it was my favorite.)
(That was lightning.)
Small traces of electricity appeared.
I clenched my right hand very tightly so that the magical power would be imbued into my fist to gain more destructive power and speed.
After holding it like that for a good while, I finally found the opportunity.
"Eat this!"
The spider turned towards us after almost killing everyone. At the moment its grotesque mouth opened to show its fangs, I moved my right hand while my middle finger was pressed against my thumb.
"Lightning magic: deadly accurate shot!"
I released my thumb and my middle finger struck the back of the bullet.
As if in slow motion, electricity surrounded the bullet, spinning at incredible speed.
In less than a blink, the bullet entered its ugly mouth.
A few brief seconds passed; a loud sound was heard from inside the spider which emanated smoke from its mouth.
It seemed to stagger, so it tried to flee. I won't let you do that.
"Old man, give me another!"
The leader was amazed by that. He quickly gave me the same type of bullet.
The spider was moving away at great speed while making a squick sound.
Since I was at its rear, I had the bullet and my arm ready. I did the same as a moment ago.
"Lightning magic: accurate shot up the rear!"
The bullet was fired towards its fat and gigantic rear, to be exact, directly towards its anus where it shot its web.
(It seems it felt them.)
(Since it was shaking that fat ass side to side and a few seconds later it exploded.)
Grotesque spider remains flew out and some fell on me.
The leader and the survivors came to see me.
After finding the spider scattered in pieces, the leader approached me and hugged me.
"Kid, that was amazing!"
(I don't think I like being praised and hugged by an old man with a scratchy beard.)
"Now that the spider is dead, let's return to the guild and report this along with the flower."
"We'll be scolded for losing members and not escaping, but when we show them this, at least they won't lower our points."
(Well, now that everything is resolved. I must wait until tomorrow night.)
◇
After returning to the guild and reporting what happened, I took a carriage and had it drop me as close to Vanfield Forest as possible.
I walked to the area where the spider appeared since it was near there that they appeared.
I waited secretly for it to get dark and hear their voices.
After a couple of hours, I heard some men talking.
"Transporting this secretly is problematic."
"Undoubtedly so, but the price for this is 1000 white gold coins."
"We'll be disgustingly rich and live in luxury forever, ahahaha."
About four men were camping. They brought with them various boxes of large and small size.
(In the game, one of the demon kings, the strongest of all, had only seven subordinates with him.)
(Those seven subordinates were known as the seven bearers of the capital sins.)
(Apparently, the demon king gathered living beings who possessed a hatred that made their magical power rise to the sky. Almost rivaling the weakest demon king.)
(These guys were slave traders.)
(Slavery is not frowned upon and is a legal business. The problem is that in the game, after including it, the developers thought they would have problems with the law for promoting slavery in a game, so they put a text that said:)
(We do not support slavery, but this is necessary for the plot. So we decided that slaves will be looked down upon by nobles.)
(With that said, if you have a slave, they'll mock you, believing you can't pay your subordinates or that your vassal houses will leave you once they complete 100 years of work to become official nobles.)
(These guys have a certain person as their product. In the game, she was known as the Calamity Witch, the right hand of the strongest demon king and the bearer of the sin of pride.)
(While I was searching the forums for information on how to defeat the spider, I found a certain article that said:)
(We have discovered thanks to a secret interview at a ramen stall, that one of the developers revealed that the witch was originally sold after the last day of the tulip event.)
(I don't know the details, but if the events proceed normally, it means everything happens the same as in the game. Which is good, since what I'm going to do to these guys isn't something that's well-regarded.)
While they were eating, one of them decided to go to the bathroom.
He approached my direction and proceeded to lower his pants zipper.
(I had practiced since childhood with rabbits. My hand trembled, I was scared many times and vomited during the process, but after snatching a life from a defenseless being, I can do it with someone who profits from the defenseless.)
I jumped from my hiding place, covered his mouth with my hand, and then pierced his throat with one of the spider's legs.
I dragged him inside so they wouldn't hear anything.
After hiding the body, I circled around a bit to the position of the guy who was eating a fried chicken leg.
My breathing was short, my hands trembled, and my eyes blurred.
I stopped thinking after developing Shadow Mode. The two guys in front were chatting happily with the one who was my target.
After getting close enough, I pierced his throat with the spider's leg and shouted at the top of my lungs.
"THIS IS FOR THE GOOD OF HUMANITY AND MY PEACEFUL FUTURE, DON'T HATE ME!"
The other two guys tried to take out their firearms, but I was faster.
In my left hand, I had a silver pellet that I bought before coming.
It was used for a marble game.
I aimed at the head of the guy who already had his weapon ready, and the pellet pierced his temple with a single blow.
The man next to him got scared.
"Please don't ki—!"
"Too late."
Generating a slight electric discharge in my fingers, I turned it into a razor that could scrape skin.
The discharge was strong enough to tear off a piece of skin which spewed blood as if it were a water fountain.
The guy convulsed while trying to stop the blood from gushing from his neck.
I didn't give it more importance and headed to the boxes covered by a tarp.
Upon removing one, I understood they were cells.
Some had animals, others monsters, and one or two had a beastman inside.
To move something like that, a device resembling a small remote control was used. In this world, it acted as a cargo lifter, but it ran out quickly and was expensive. So it was better than a cargo lifter.
Only one was left. I hope she's there. If she isn't, I'll be a murderer who killed these guys for no apparent reason.
(It's not that I care if their blood was spilled, but it would be bad for my nights if these guys appear while I sleep.)
(Reincarnating in this world and understanding the danger that lay ahead in the future, I granted myself to be a guardian angel from the shadows.)
(I was going to help the main characters as much as I could so that, their chances of winning the holy war at the end of the game would be possible.)
(So... it's time to die, witch who annoyed me a lot!)
I fiercely removed the tarp to lunge at the horrible witch.
The problem and the most unexpected thing came when doing so.
"... Huh...?"
(In front of me, there was supposed to be a horribly appearing woman and also an ugly old woman.)
(But what my eyes were observing wasn't that.)
She was beaten and with dirt on her body, completely naked.
But...
"What the hell is this!"
(It wasn't a horrible witch.)
"Why is the hideous witch from that game a beautiful girl?!"
An unparalleled beauty was behind these bars.
Her skin was white as snow; her blonde hair was so long she could use it as a coat. Her eyes were a crystalline blue like the Caribbean waters.
But the most astonishing detail wasn't her beauty, nor that her body showed malnutrition and was very thin.
But rather. (Those two enormous melons resting on her knees!)
(Two magnificent pairs of water balloons the size of a melon each were what my eyes saw intensely.)
(Her hair covered just the sacred center; her nipples were unfortunately hidden by it.)
(Was this beauty the horrible witch? It can't be, it must be a mistake.)
Another detail I noticed was that her ears were pointy.
(That trait is only possessed by dwarves or elves, but dwarves are very small and elves have long ears.)
(There were also hobbits in this world, but they had elephant-like ears.)
(And this girl isn't small; she's very large, so only one option remains.)
"You... are a half-breed, aren't you?"
A half-elf, also known as half-human half-elf, a forbidden cross between them.
(It's rare to find one since they were never mentioned in the game.)
(I'm really scared to know that something like that is real.)
(But, what should I do?)
(This girl, if she is that witch, she will be a truly atrocious threat.)
(Just in case, I need to find out her name.)
"Hey, excuse me."
I opened the cage and the girl moved further back while covering herself.
(She seems scared; it's normal.)
I opened the cage and then went straight to the campfire these guys prepared.
The food lay on the ground except for some plates.
I also took a blanket and approached her.
I placed the blanket and food near her, then moved away while raising my hands.
"I'm not a threat, I'm a friend."
(That's a lie; I just want to make sure of it.)
Like a puppy, she approached step by step to the food.
She took it quickly and returned to her original position.
(She seemed truly hungry.)
She ate the food with her hand at great speed and without manners.
I could see tears falling down her beautiful cheeks.
I took out my canteen and gave it to her.
She looked at it, but seemed on guard. I showed her there was nothing to fear and drank it.
She seemed thirsty, watching me drink as if it were the most delicious thing in the world.
She extended her hand and I gave it to her.
I asked her. "Could you tell me your name?"
(If it's what I think it is, I'll free you. But if not...)
After drinking the water, she removed her full lips from it, then uttered words that frightened me.
"... My name is Amy."
(Amy. That name is undoubtedly the witch's.)
(Everyone had names besides their title as demon king general.)
(Now that I know her name. There's a 50% chance it's a coincidence.)
(And the other 50% that it's the real one.)
(I must kill her, there's no option.)
But...
(What about those enormous melons?!)
(It's a waste that such fruits that seem to still be developing are purged from this world.)
(As a virgin lover of large breasts and beautiful women.)
(I consider it an unforgivable act to do so.)
(In my previous life, I joined the clandestine cult of worship of the mammary glands, single, married, widowed mature women, and affectionate older sisters.)
(I can't betray my beliefs just like that.)
(There must be another solution!)
(One that doesn't involve the death of a beautiful big-boobed blonde.)
... Wait. There is.
(The simplest solution, as the most logical of all.)
(But by doing it, I will be altering the game's timeline.)
(Although that's good. That way I can get rid of the witch.)
(But I will have gained not only a powerful future ally.)
(I will also have gained a big-boobed beauty for my personal harem!)
(As a poor, lonely guy, it's everyone's desire to have a harem.)
(And now that I'm like 30 years old inside. I consider it my personal reward for my good deeds to the main characters for helping them a bit to protect the world.)
(I'll do that.)
"... Who are you?"
The witch— Amy, spoke to me in a light tone like a child.
I decided to follow my plan.
I extended my hand towards her and said.
"I am your salvation. Together, we will save this world from evil."
(And by the way, get a harem of big-boobed women. If there's a mature and sensual older sister woman, much better.)