Opportunity in the Game Becomes Reality Episode 143
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Opportunity in the Game Becomes Reality Episode 143
35. Stories of Home (1)
Why would Earth's letters exist on this unfamiliar land?
The man, with a look of surprise and delight, tried to tell the story of the alphabet.
But.
"I..."
"Milady! A guest has arrived!"
"Cielly? Didn't I tell you not to make a racket at this hour?"
His story was cut off by a lady-in-waiting who barged unannounced into Michelle Otis's study.
She was Michelle's personal lady-in-waiting, one the man had seen several times before.
A chatterbox full of curiosity, an utter airhead who didn't fit in with high-ranking noble households.
Since he had been about to share something important, the lady-in-waiting named Cielly could only be seen as an interruption.
So he wanted to send her off quickly and continue his conversation with Michelle.
"Lady Michelle, there's something important I'd like to ask you."
"Huh? Alright, understood."
Nodding at that, Michelle pushed the lady-in-waiting out by her back, telling her to leave.
"Go back. I don't meet anyone during research hours."
While the lady-in-waiting and Michelle grumbled at each other, the man shifted his gaze back to the script she had been deciphering like a cipher.
He hadn't seen wrong.
It was, as he thought, the alphabet.
"Well, the visiting guests are His Highness Grand Duke Adrian El Lawrence, His Highness Grand Duke Arcia Klein, and Lord Count Gregory Hayden."
"Wh-what?!"
"A servant bold enough to turn them away this mansion doesn't have one... No, this country doesn't have one. Milady."
"You're saying His Highness the Grand Duke Lawrence truly came?"
"I told you, didn't I? I know it's not my place as a mere lady-in-waiting to say this, but stalling two grand dukes and a count doesn't seem like a wise choice..."
Yet, faced with the extraordinary caliber of the visitors and Michelle gulping down her pride, the man found himself at a loss.
"Let's continue our talk after I return! Wait a moment!"
"Huh? Huh!? M-Miss Michelle!"
And she dashed out of the study like a bullet, completely ignoring his call.
The man had to furrow his brow in bewilderment.
This was the perfect moment for a very serious conversation, and it had been forcibly cut off.
He rubbed his temples and let out a sigh.
'This might just be the hint for returning to Earth.'
Impatience surged, but the man calmed himself down.
After all, there was plenty of time.
His current position was no better than that of a parasite.
No matter how important his purpose, he couldn't expect a daughter of a high-ranking noble family to move according to his wishes.
So for now, all he could do was wait quietly.
'In the meantime, should I take a look at this?'
So while Michelle was away, he decided to read through the materials she had been examining.
The materials printed on paper contained a man's anguish.
[I have now faced a serious problem.]
Was this the aftermath of the dimension shift?
It was lucky that high-density mana had accumulated in my body, but as a result, severe side effects occurred in my physical form.
When I look at women, nothing happens.
No matter how sexy a woman is right in front of my eyes!
Yes, in exchange for gaining high-density mana, I lost my sex drive.
I may not look it, but I'm still a vigorous age.
I researched again and again to cure this strange ailment, but I couldn't find the cause.
It's power I finally got my hands on.
Not being able to enjoy it isn't that a tragedy?
This is surely the goddess's prank.
Sepia, you goddamn b*tch!
Turning a perfectly healthy man into a eunuch?
You damn bastard!
-Contents of an old cipher found in Grand Duke Lucas's office in the Mage Tower-
No, to be precise, it was closer to a scream of despair than anguish.
But even after reading it, the man couldn't easily understand it, as the contents were utterly out of the blue.
He shook his head.
It was good to see the letters of home, but the contents didn't suit the pretty noble lady's eyes.
The man turned his gaze away from the document and looked out the window to organize his tangled thoughts.
"Mister!"
And then, at that moment.
At the voice that rang out noisily from behind him, he turned his head.
At the study entrance stood Cielly, the lady-in-waiting who had dragged Michelle Otis away, panting heavily as she stared at him.
The man expressed his confusion, and she strode over and abruptly grabbed his arm.
"Wh-what is it?"
Though she was usually a skittish lady-in-waiting, when she grabbed his arm with such an urgent look on her face, he couldn't help but tense up.
"A guest who just visited the mansion says he wants to see you, Mister. So please, come along quickly."
"And what if I don't go?"
If it was a guest who just visited the mansion, didn't that mean those nobles with their grandiose names and Titles?
At his question, Cielly made a bewildered expression.
"To even think of refusing the summons of a high-ranking noble you've got more nerve than I thought. And not just any high-ranking noble, but the summons of His Grace, Duke Lawrence himself."
From her reaction, he realized there was no right of refusal.
The man swallowed dryly and asked.
"Is he someone impressive?"
"Of course. He's the first noble of our Kingdom of Rhinehearts, and on a worldwide scale, he's even more famous than His Majesty the King."
Why would someone that impressive want to see me?
He moved his feet as if being dragged along.
"I-is he a scary person?"
"He's extremely scary. It's not just one or two nobles who've died by his hand why, just recently he intervened in the Robert Kingdom's civil war and personally dragged down the new King and sent him to the guillotine. He's terrifying and utterly beautiful."
For someone saying he was scary, the lady-in-waiting's expression was flushed.
And 'terrifying yet beautiful' what a contradictory thing to say.
Just as the fear of the unknown frightens more than the familiar, at this moment the man was so tense that all he could think of was running away.
'In a fantasy world with a class system, my life is no better than a sunfish's.'
He didn't know why he was summoned, but if he incurred the other party's displeasure, he might as well consider himself dead.
"If you've committed no wrong, you needn't worry. He shows no mercy to enemies or villains, but he's known to be very gracious to ordinary people. He's one of the few true nobles who respect commoners."
The earlier words had been so powerful that this belated comfort did nothing to ease his tension.
He walked with a stiff expression for several minutes.
The two soon arrived before an ornately decorated door.
-Swoosh.
In front of the reception room stood the Knight Captain and Vice Knight Captain, whom he had seen only once since coming to the Otis domain, standing guard in person.
Under their gazes, the man lowered his eyes.
"Milady, I've brought him."
"Ah, come in."
It was Cielly, all her usual tomboyish manner gone, reporting with the look of a proper lady-in-waiting by anyone's standard.
As Michelle's permission came from within, the door opened, and the beautiful sight of the reception room, its pure white sunlight shaking his vision, came into view.
"Your Grace the Duke. This is the man I spoke of."
Michelle usually spoke to him with honorifics, but perhaps because there was a noble of even higher rank before her, she spoke to him casually now.
"What's your name?"
And then came a voice low, with a cold feel to it, a youthful timbre.
He had assumed a Duke would be middle-aged, but at this unexpectedly young voice, he raised his head without realizing it.
"Ah...."
What came into view next was a silver-haired, blue-eyed handsome man so dazzling that the word 'protagonist' came to mind for anyone who saw him, and beside him sat a brown-haired, green-eyed beauty that any person of reason couldn't help but be charmed by.
No, to be precise, more than 'handsome man' and 'beautiful woman,' the words 'handsome youth' and 'beautiful girl' suited them better.
So different from his expectations was their appearance that he stared blankly, and what returned his gaze was...
"So you wish to die."
It was the vicious killing intent of a pitch-black being standing like a shadow behind the two.
Having never faced such powerful killing intent before, his hands and feet trembling, the man froze on the spot as if struck by lightning.
"Count Hayden, that's enough."
"Yes, Your Highness."
But what saved him was the silver-haired, blue-eyed youth.
Coming back to his senses belatedly, the man recalled a scene from an old movie he'd seen on Earth and quickly prostrated himself on the floor.
"I-I was rude. My name is Benjamin Theo."
Benjamin Theo, a man who had crossed over from Earth, was drenched in cold sweat.
The being called Count Hayden had not been making an empty threat he had truly intended to kill him.
He was reminded anew of just what kind of place this world called Rondel was.
"Rise and sit in front."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Benjamin forced his reluctant feet to move and awkwardly took the seat beside Michelle.
Michelle had always shown him respect before, but now her gaze toward him was as if she were looking at a stranger.
Benjamin realized that everything she had done up until now had been nothing more than curiosity nothing more, nothing less.
Then, when Michelle's eyes turned to the young duke, she transformed from her indifferent self into a girl who seemed to have fallen in love.
'So she really believed my story about coming from another world?'
That difference in temperature left Benjamin, who had felt gratitude and fondness toward Michelle for reaching out to him during hard times, feeling bitter.
"I am Adrian El Duke Lawrence. I'm the one who asked to see you."
"It is an honor to meet you."
But after Adrian's introduction, he could no longer keep his attention on Michelle.
Because it was clear who he needed to impress in order to survive.
Benjamin behaved as subserviently as possible.
"This is yours, isn't it?"
"Huh?"
Benjamin saw the smartphone Adrian pulled out and swallowed dry air.
"How, how did you ? Yes, it's mine."
And he quickly nodded.
With a delighted expression, as if asking how he had found it.
But what followed made the blood drain from Benjamin's face.
-Click.
"What is this?"
Because when Adrian snapped his fingers, a gray barrier that seemed to drain the life from the surroundings enveloped the reception room.
And the lady-in-waiting serving tea and Michelle both froze in place.
"I've stopped the flow of time inside the bodies of everyone except my companions. Because we're about to have an important conversation."
Stop a person's time?
Realizing this was the magic he had only heard of in stories, he also wore a terrified expression at the respectful tone Adrian was now using.
"Ah, understood."
* * *
I am not the type to harm people carelessly.
I may have seemed to act recklessly at times, but I was definitely holding the line.
I showed no mercy to enemies, potential enemies, or the wicked, and I strove to keep harm to the innocent to a minimum.
And if an innocent person suffered injury or property damage because of me, I made sure to take responsibility, just as I had financially supported the victims during the revolution of the Prius Republic.
Killing everyone who annoys you without discrimination is no different from being a beast, not a human.
This was a rule I set for myself as one who holds power above others, and I worked hard to uphold it.
'Young Lady Otis. Please do not make me stop your breath.'
In that regard, Michelle, the Young Lady of Marquis Otis, was a difficult person in many ways.
Aside from her eccentric tendencies, she was just an ordinary girl.
A person who doesn't think her own actions might threaten others and simply moves on curiosity.
But her existence was as irritating as a thorn lodged in my throat.
"As you can see, I am a Mage. If you want to live, you'll have to answer my questions truthfully."
"Ah, understood."
It seems the time has come to reach a conclusion about her.
The fate of the Young Lady Otis will be decided by the answers of this man named Benjamin Theo before me.
"Which country on Earth are you from?"
I asked directly.
At that, Theo's eyes went wide.
"E-Earth...?"
"Don't question it, just answer what I ask."
My attitude toward Benjamin could hardly be favorable.
Did he sense that the atmosphere was ominous?
He swallowed dryly and nodded.
"I'm from Singapore."
My Maternal Uncle, who handed me the smartphone, said the seller looked like he was from the Triton Continent, home of the Eastern Six Nations.
And recalling that when I saw the phone turned on, the language was set to English, I could understand that his nationality was Singapore.
Because Singapore is an English-speaking country.
"How did you end up here?"
"The ship I was on sank and I fell into the sea, and when I came to, I was here."
This was another unexpected story.
Grand Duke Lucas at least had a plausible Justification/Cause of being caught in a Mana explosion, but falling into the sea and waking up in Rondel?
Isn't that on the level of a reincarnation truck?
"How much do you know about Rondel?"
"I'm still learning as I go... I know that most nations have a class system and that supernatural abilities like magic are the mainstream of this world. And I've also heard that gods truly exist. Thanks to the translation artifact, I can communicate, but I can't read the written language, so what I've heard mainly through Lady Michelle is the entirety of my information."
It seemed the story had been too broad.
I got to the point.
"How much do you know about the man called Grand Duke Lucas?"
But at the mention of Grand Duke Lucas's name, he tilted his head.
"I'm sorry, but I don't know who that is."
I examined him through the Myriad Mirror, and it didn't seem like a lie.
Thanks to that, I felt greatly relieved and asked in a much gentler manner.
"How much of your story did you tell Lady Otis?"
"I told her I came from another world called Earth. But seeing things now, I don't think she believed me much."
"There's something Lady Otis is missing. Do you know what it is?"
"I don't know the details. I only know that she's been deeply focused on some investigation. But among the materials she was looking through, I saw letters from our Earth included. You can imagine how shocked I was to see that."
He seemed to have many questions of his own, but with Gregory radiating a menacing aura from behind and my cold reaction, he didn't dare ask.
"Did you, by any chance, teach her how to read those letters?"
"No, I didn't. I only just realized that fact myself. I was going to tell her that they were letters from our world, but just then Your Highness arrived..."
"Then that means she doesn't know you know English?"
At the mention of English, he nodded with a startled expression.
Could this count as a barely safe situation?
'After reincarnation, I want to hear stories about Earth, so I'll need to drag this man along for now. No, should I just take both of them with me?'