Chapter 23
‘There’s no way we can just stay in here forever anyway. I think it’s about time to try finding the kitchen or something… but I still don’t know the Harvesters’ routes.’
It wasn’t like Cynthia had spent all her time trapped in the dressing room doing nothing. She’d tried to estimate the time and figure out when the Harvesters were patrolling around the dressing room, but from what she could tell, there was no particular pattern—they just loitered nearby whenever they felt like it.
Cynthia lay on the sofa, clutching her stomach. She needed to come up with a plan, but she was so hungry she couldn’t think of anything at all.
Sitting on the opposite sofa, Segleninde had been watching her for a while and finally asked,
“Does your stomach hurt?”
“I’m hungry.”
“Why?”
“…Wouldn’t you be? Other than those biscuits, I haven’t been able to eat anything.”
At this point, even Cynthia, who usually rotated between polite words and cute smiles, was starting to show her true colors. She grumbled as she replied, and Segleninde gave her a puzzled look.
“Then why are you just staying here?”
“There are dangerous monsters out there!”
“Danger…?”
Segleninde repeated the word as if it was the first time he’d ever heard it.
“You’ve been holed up here just because of that?”
Cynthia was dumbfounded. Seeing him looking at her so seriously, she didn’t even have the energy to retort anymore.
“If that was the problem, why didn’t you just say so? What do you have a mouth for?”
Honestly, she had considered sending Segleninde—the strongest fighter in the game—out to deal with the Harvesters. But there were limits to the ally system.
The game’s NPCs had too much autonomy for their own good, and if the protagonist forced them into unreasonable choices, there was even an event where the ally could abandon you.
With Segleninde’s personality, if she just told him to go fight by himself, he’d probably say, “Why should I?” and refuse. Or at the very least, use Cynthia as bait. In any case, unless things were absolutely desperate, sending him out to fight didn’t seem like a good choice, so she’d left it alone.
‘That guy isn’t as useful as I thought.’
Besides, the Harvesters outside aren’t even something you can kill. In fact, none of the creatures in this mansion are bound by the concept of death—the only thing the protagonist or allies can do is run for their lives.
So if the usual ‘enemy becomes ally’ logic were to apply, even the nigh-immortal villain might be able to die now, which was why she’d suggested they just stay inside together. With so much still uncertain, it was best to act with caution.
But then Segleninde ran a hand roughly through his long hair, grabbed his sword, and stood up.
“I’m going out for a bit. Don’t wander around and get lost and start crying while I’m gone.”
“What? Wait, don’t go!”
Cynthia jerked upright, mustering what little energy she had, but Segleninde didn’t even look back. He just opened the door and walked out.
If he ended up dying out there, she’d have to go back to the last save point and start all over again from before he became her ally.
She was far too weak to survive every ordeal in this mansion on her own.
Cynthia hurried to the door. She considered following him, maybe using the chance while Segleninde distracted the Harvesters to find a new save point, but just then, she heard a commotion outside.
The sound of something being ripped apart. A heavy thud, something slamming. The sound of things breaking, smashing.
And Segleninde’s cheerful laughter echoing through the hallway.
“Hahaha!”
It was the same laugh Cynthia had heard whenever she was fleeing from the villain in the game.
And now, for the first time, she was hearing it in real life.
Discussion
0 CommentsNo comments yet.