Chapter 16: Individual thoughts
by fnovelpia
I managed to escape safely.
“Hah… Hah… Hah… Ugh!… “
As soon as I arrived at the inn, the backlash started.
It was the backlash from the buff potion.
Drinking it increases stats, but once the buff ends, it causes a debuff equal to the increased stats.
At the least, it lowers stats.
At the worst, it accumulates fatigue, leaving you nearly unable to fight.
Since I drank quite a few buff potions, it’s a guaranteed battle incapacity.
“Ugh…”
“Ma-Master?!”
“Are you okay?!”
“Yeah…”
“I’m… okay…”
If there’s one good thing, it’s that I’m not completely immobile.
‘If I couldn’t move, that would be the end…’
Huh?
You’re asking if it would be the end because I’d be killed by the Ice Princess?
Well…
That’s part of it.
If the backlash from the buff potion had hit during the fight with the Ice Princess, it would have been game over.
But, That’s not what I’m worried about.
“One room for two, please.”
I’m more worried that Ria would have devoured me and it would have been over.
“How dare you sneakily try to get a double room!”
I spoke to the staff.
“Two single rooms!”
“No.”
“One room for two, please.”
“I can’t leave my injured master alone!”
“We’re not going to have sex, right?”
“Of course we are.”
“Hey!”
“Why?!”
“That’s something only family does!”
“Be quiet!”
“That’s something you do with someone you truly love!”
“Because I really love you!”
“No, you don’t!”
“Yes, I do!”
“No, you don’t.”
“If you really mean it, go learn what love is, you brat.”
“Love?”
“Yes.”
“Not the feelings you have for family or friends.”
“A feeling of attraction toward the opposite sex.”
“Isn’t that the same thing?”
“That’s exactly why I call you a brat who doesn’t know love.”
“Hee… What even is that…”
“When you find a guy you truly like, you’ll understand.”
I patted Ria’s head and paid for two single rooms.
“Huh?!”
“Master!”
“What.”
“You slyly took advantage of my distraction to book two single rooms!”
“That’s too much!”
“Yeah.”
“Your master is a cruel person, so go sleep quietly over there.”
“Hee…”
Ria seemed about to protest, but since the payment was already done, she sighed and walked away… or so I thought.
She came into my room instead.
“Ria?”
“I’ll sleep over there, but I’ll take care of you until you fall asleep.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“It’s just the backlash from the buff potion, I’m just tired.”
“But still…”
“It’s fine.”
“We’ve got a lot to do tomorrow, so go sleep.”
“Huh?”
“What are we doing tomorrow?”
“We’re recruiting the Ice Princess.”
If I win, I can recruit her, and if I lose, I can’t.
…Not really.
Even if I lose, there are plenty of ways to recruit her.
‘In the game, as long as your fingers work properly, beating the Ice Princess is pretty easy.’
‘There was no need to look for alternative methods.’
Since I lost, I have no choice but to use other methods.
…Just as I thought that, I realized how monstrous Ria actually is.
‘To think that Ria, who boasts almost a 100% win rate against the Ice Princess, is that strong…’
Ria, the world’s only S-rank character.
Although it’s early in the game and she doesn’t have many skills yet, she’s a hero with overwhelming stats, enough to crush the Ice Princess.
She can pretty much defeat enemies with just normal attacks.
Oh.
By the way, that’s without the broken <Trait>.
If she uses the broken <Trait> in baby mode, the Ice Princess doesn’t even stand a chance.
‘Sigh…’
‘If only she didn’t have that crybaby personality, she’d destroy everything.’
I take back what I said earlier about the <Crybaby> trait being somewhat good.
In the game, I could force her to fight, but in reality, she becomes too scared and unable to fight.
It’s a really problematic personality.
If it were the game, I would’ve hit the restart button right away.
…But, Tomorrow, it will all be over.
‘Once I recruit the Ice Princess as the first companion.’
‘I’ll escape.’
Good.
It’s a perfect plan.
‘If I just hand the guidebook over to the Ice Princess, she’ll handle things on her own.’
So, Tomorrow is crucial.
Whether I can finish it in one day and escape, or if it will take 2–3 days to complete and then escape, will be determined.
‘Seeing Ria’s condition, it’s best to run as soon as possible.’
‘If I stay too long and get caught, the plan of seeing the love-love ending with my favorite character will be over.’
My favorite character is someone who even accepts a harem.
But, If Ria and my favorite character meet, there’s almost a 100% chance that my favorite character will die.
Either killed by Ria, or dying while running away from her.
One of the two.
So.
A harem involving both Ria and my favorite character is impossible.
If I can only choose one, it has to be my favorite character.
…While thinking that, I completely ignored Ria’s temptations and explained tomorrow’s plan to her.
“Got it?”
“We’ve got a lot to do tomorrow, so go sleep.”
“Master…”
“What?”
“Can’t I just sleep here…?”
“No.”
“The bed is too small for both of us to sleep together.”
“It’s fine if we sleep hugging each other!”
“I’m not fine with that.”
“Go sleep somewhere else.”
“Heeing…”
Ria was expelled with a sullen expression.
Clack!
The door was locked.
‘She might sneak in while I’m asleep and even try to have sex…’
It’s highly unlikely… or at least I hope so.
Right now, Ria is pure.
So pure that she probably thinks sex is just a way to share friendship and become true friends.
Therefore, Ria, who wants to be friends for life, is highly likely to push forward like a bulldozer.
‘What kind of friendship sex is that…’
‘Like she’d actually do that…’
Well…
To be honest, I wouldn’t say I hate it.
Back then, Ria and the elf wizard girl were my favorites.
If I hadn’t met my ultimate favorite character,
I might have aimed for Ria, either in a pure love route or a harem route.
However, Now I am single-mindedly devoted to my favorite character.
‘Yeah…’
‘This is the right thing to do…’
The others can reach a happy ending without me.
On the other hand,
If I’m not there, my favorite character is guaranteed a 100% bad ending.
‘I can’t allow that.’
I don’t want to experience that ending in reality—reading the diary next to my favorite character’s corpse.
Just hold on a little longer.
Tomorrow, it will all be over, and I can go save my favorite character.
Thinking that way, I fell asleep.
***
At the same time,
Ria, who was banished from the room, thought to herself.
‘If I recruit the first companion, Master will run away.’
That’s why I refused to fight.
When I was told to fight the Ice Princess, I pretended to be scared and cried.
As a result, Master fought in my place and lost.
If the recruitment of the first companion had ended in failure, I could have stayed with Master a bit longer and made him want to be with me.
But no.
Master had a plan.
‘If everything goes as planned, the recruitment will be done by tomorrow.’
Then it’s over.
There won’t be any time left to convince Master.
‘Tsk…’
‘I need more time…’
A wish.
If we defeat the Demon King together, I’ll negotiate by saying I’ll give my wish to Master.
That’s the plan, But just pushing forward recklessly by saying, “I’ll give you my wish, so come with me,” might backfire.
I need to find out what Master wants and figure out a way to approach it properly so I can secure him for sure.
Therefore, I need time to find out Master’s wish.
Buying time is simple.
Knock down the Ice Princess and make her a companion.
And then, In front of Master, act like I don’t want to become a companion to drag out the time.
Good.
It’s a perfect plan.
Thinking that, she secretly left the inn.
***
At the same time,
The Ice Princess recovered with magic.
“Hoo…”
A spell that converts mana into life force to heal.
It’s a magic that consumes a lot of mana,
Which is why I like it.
‘It’s better to use it up since I have so much I can’t control.’
Mana.
While others want more of it, I don’t.
It’s an unbearable burden I’d rather get rid of.
‘I can’t control my mana while sleeping…’
‘It releases cold energy…’
The cold energy is so powerful it can freeze the entire house.
Because of that, I had to be alone.
If someone were beside me, They might freeze to death from the rampaging cold energy while I sleep.
‘Even when I’m awake, it sometimes runs wild…’
When I lose control, it goes on a rampage.
It releases a large amount of cold energy, freezing everything around me.
That’s why I live alone.
I built a house where no one else lives, Avoiding people as much as possible.
If I stayed with someone, My rampaging mana might freeze them to death.
I didn’t want that, so I stayed alone…
But…
‘I feel lonely…’
I’m not the type who likes being alone.
I actually like being with others.
But, Because of my overwhelming and repulsive mana, I can’t be with anyone.
I hate it.
I want to be with someone.
I want to have company.
But, I can’t be with someone who might die when my mana runs wild.
That’s why I looked for someone stronger than me.
If they can withstand my cold energy, I can be with them.
That’s why I came to Glacia, the land of ice, where the people endure cold the best.
But even here, There was no one who could withstand my cold.
I was in despair.
Then someone came.
I had hope.
Maybe they could withstand my cold energy.
And that hope was rewarded.
Someone who survived my ice sword’s blow appeared!
‘Her name was Ria… right?’
‘Ugh…’
‘I want to be friends with her…’
‘She invited me to join the Hero’s Party…’
‘Maybe she’ll come back tomorrow…’
I don’t want to be alone.
I want to be with someone.
But, I don’t want to kill anyone.
I desperately wanted to meet someone who could withstand my cold, And I found that person.
I was happy.
Step, step…
“||||||”
The person who survived my cold came back.
But…
Something…
Feels different.
‘Earlier, she just cried and looked weak…’
‘But now…’
She looked undeniably strong.
“I’ll knock you down and make you my companion.”
“Bring it on.”
There was no trace of weakness.
But, That made me like her even more.
If I’m going to have a friend, I’d rather it be someone strong.
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