episode_0081

Whether they were planned to appear in a sequel, or were characters that were never planned to appear in the game in the first place.

It was clear to me that the existence of Lena Mayer was a significant threat to me.

First of all, I was very concerned about the fact that the Governor was a student who had specially requested the Emperor to enroll him. The Governor was a character who appeared in passing in the game, and since I had never met him in person, I had no idea what his personality was like or how he judged me. Also, even if I met the Emperor in person, I couldn’t really know his inner thoughts.

The Emperor knows the level depicted in the game. How he views the world and each person, how he views the subjects and nobles of the empire, and how he plans to utilize them. Although he moves much more gently than in the game, perhaps because of my presence, he is still an object of caution.

So then, what kind of being is Lena Mayer?

A bit stiff, with a military-like tone of speech. But a youthful and attractive appearance.

… … No matter who sees it, it doesn’t look like just an extra.

Oh, of course, even if they were extras who didn’t have separate modeling, they were all ordinary people with different appearances. Like the shop owners in the town, or the merchants in the market. They all had different faces.

But even so, among those people, there aren’t that many who ‘stand out’.

I’ve never seen anyone with such an overtly strong character like Lena Meyer, at least not among the extras.

Not only is she a year younger than us, but no matter how you look at it, Lena Meyer is a character that wouldn’t be strange if she appeared in a sequel.

… … Yeah, I said that even though there are cool dere characters, there are no cool beauty characters.

I quietly looked into Lena Meyer’s room through binoculars.

The place I am now is the place where I observed the Mia Crow Field last time.

Of course, I didn’t bring a gun. He was a bit suspicious, but I didn’t feel like I had to get rid of him.

Honestly, even if I had to get rid of it, I wouldn’t be able to do it because I would feel uncomfortable if they told me to kill someone younger than me.

So, I thought that first, I needed to properly investigate the person named Lena Mayer. I guess it wouldn’t be too late to think about whether or not to push her out later.

Actually, I didn’t think I would find out anything great by looking inside through the window like that—

—To my great surprise, I discovered one thing.

In Lena Meyer’s room, there is a doll at the head of the bed.

The doll, which was as big as a human’s upper body, was something Lena Meyer had never seen before while moving in her suitcase.

They probably came in hiding. If they put it in a closet and brought it in all at once, they could have brought it in without anyone seeing it.

The doll’s appearance was easily recognizable. It was the character I had previously thought of eating as a concept, ‘Diggerdog’.

… … To be honest, she’s not that cute of a character.

The mascot characters in the world I lived in were thoroughly tailored to the tastes of the 21st century. The kind of characters that were round and soft to the touch were popular. Or, they were a bit strangely shaped and funny to look at.

Of course, the ‘cute’ characters that I think of are also those kinds of characters.

But this is the very early 20th century.

The character industry was just beginning to take shape, and all of the ‘characters’ that appeared in the original works during this era were tailored to the tastes of the early 20th century.

Diggerdog had a long body and very thin limbs. Even in the cartoon, his limbs moved in a swaying manner as if they had no joints. Perhaps the reason for making it that way was to make even the character’s movements look comical.

The face is deformed based on a brown puppy, so it’s cute, and the body is round, so it would be nice to hold. Of course, the doll’s arms and legs are limp and wobbly.

And Lena Meyer was lying face down with her face buried in the doll’s body.

It looks like he’s taking a nap.

I put down the binoculars without saying a word.

And then he wiped his face with both hands.

… … Were you also a concept?

Yeah, I felt that way a little bit. For a cool beauty character with no emotions, her emotions changed too easily. Even beyond her expressionless face, I could feel her anticipation, and for the past week, she acted as if she respected me a lot… … .

What this means is that even if the expressionless face is an act, there is a high possibility that the look of respect towards me is genuine.

I rolled around on the rooftop, screaming in silence. Thanks to the three ponchos I had laid out on the floor just in case, my clothes didn’t get dusty.

It’s not a problem that our characters overlap. If Lena Meyer had really been a cool beauty, I could have slowly changed my character over time to differentiate myself. No, if Lena Meyer had maintained that kind of character until the end, it might not have been a big problem even if I had continued with the cool beauty concept until the end.

The problem is that Lena Meyer is revealing her true character.

If we assume that Lena Meyer was a ‘character from the original’, it is natural that she would show such a personality.

Because it’s a cliché!

Laughing at a joke that’s not that great, or eating something sweet and finding your face smiling without you knowing it, or being caught hugging a big doll by someone who barged into the room unexpectedly.

He is extremely embarrassed and makes all sorts of excuses to maintain his character, but no one believes him, and in the end, his character completely collapses and he becomes a ‘cute character’.

Yes, that’s right.

It was a concept I came up with.

So what if Lena Meyer gets caught up in the ‘before me’ concept?

… … Of course, the fact that I was embarrassed by the concept being revealed ended up being the cause of everything.

My mind was going crazy until I stopped rolling on the floor and shivered.

I got goosebumps on my back.

The emotion of ‘What, this guy was just an ordinary kid?’ and the feeling of emptiness of ‘You too?’ are completely different. The former is the fate and cliché of subculture characters, but the latter is a fan who broke the mold of ordinary cosplay.

Besides, the reaction to someone you just met and someone you’ve been talking to for about ten years is bound to be different. If there’s only one of them, the kids will probably just let it go, but if there’s both—

—It means that there is no need to think about which side is more popular.

“No.”

I muttered without realizing it.

Lena Meyer’s concept should not be broken before it is broken.

If I had known this would happen, I would have bought the doll in advance and prepared all the lines!

I kept putting it off because I wasn’t mentally ready, and this is what happened.

No, if it’s a sequel character, then it should appear at the sequel time! Why are you joining in already!

There is no evidence that he is a sequel character though!

I quickly rolled over again, regained my bearings, and picked up my binoculars.

“Huh?”

Lena Meyer, who had been lying in bed, was awake.

It wasn’t just happening, it was at the doorstep.

Looking at the door slightly open, it seemed like someone was coming to the door.

Once again, goosebumps appeared on my back.

If someone outside the door were to enter Lena Meyer’s room—

You will see a large stuffed dog on the bed and small porcelain dolls on the desk.

Lena Meyer will have to explain herself a lot about this, and that will be the first step in the cliche of a character’s concept collapsing into something that seems cold on the outside.

I jumped up from my seat.

There’s no time to retrieve the poncho lying on the floor. This is more urgent now.

I went down the stairs as fast as I could.

*

Sylvia Pangriffin has been receiving awards lately.

Indeed, in Mia Crowfield’s eyes, Sylvia Pengriffin always looked suspicious.

After talking to her in the last room, I stopped chasing her. I thought there would be nothing to gain from it.

It didn’t seem like there would be any solution if I followed around a being that could turn the battlefield upside down on its own.

Moreover, he was a person who had the courage to openly hand over a gun to someone who was clearly his enemy, in a space where there were only two people present.

… … I was perplexed by the strange atmosphere of trust in Mia that was created by that strange attitude.

Moreover, he was the one who gave her the blue marmalade that looked extremely valuable. If it hadn’t been there that day, Mia Crowfield would have definitely been seriously injured or died. The situation was so dangerous that Charlotte, who had initially insisted on accepting the request, had to apologize directly to Mia Crowfield.

That’s why I thought he might be someone I could trust a little.

Lately, I haven’t been very fond of Sylvia Pangrifon and Irena Meyer.

There was no emotion in those eyes that looked as if they were observing, but Mia Crowfield couldn’t shake the feeling that ‘this was dangerous’.

That’s why, on the first weekend after Lena Meyer transferred, Mia Crowfield impulsively stood in front of Lena Meyer’s room.

After thinking about it for a moment, I decided that it would be better to tell him anyway. I might not be able to reveal everything, but I should at least warn him to be careful.

Because I was a foreign student who knew nothing about that.

Mia Crowfield took a deep breath and knocked on Lena Meyer’s door.