episode_0031

Alice suddenly took off her outer clothing.

Ah.

That doesn’t mean she was naked or down to her underwear—she still had clothes on underneath.

But.

Considering Alice’s words, there was no way this would end here.

[To offer a sacrifice to the Holy Grail of Sacrifice…] [That…] [I’ll need a woman’s help…]

…is what she had said.

A woman’s help.

Right.

It meant she was going to help him offer his semen as a sacrifice to the Holy Grail.

…I get that part.

‘Out of nowhere?!’

The Ice Princess, Alice.

When her affection level is low, she has an extremely cold personality,

but once her affection reaches MAX, she transforms into an aggressive bulldozer-like personality, more relentless than anyone else.

So.

If Alice was making a move this bold, she was already at MAX affection level.

Marriage status: Absolutely possible.

A state where she was so deeply in love that she’d gladly hold hands and jump into bed for some bang-bang-bang.

‘We’re already at that stage?!’

No way.

Sure, he had resolved Alice’s magical rampaging,

and even fulfilled her final wish.

But was that really enough to reach MAX affection?

‘No.’

‘That can’t be right…’

Or… Could it?

‘If you think about it, he’s a man who’s saved her life twice now.’

‘It wouldn’t be strange for her to fall in love…’

No.

That can’t be.

‘Alice is a woman with stronger convictions about her type than anyone else.’

Ever since she was a child, she had witnessed fanatics attempting to forcibly invoke the divine power of a god onto her body—an insane act meant to slay a god.

Because of that incident, she gained immense magical power and overwhelming mana recovery,

but the sheer magnitude of that power made magical rampages part of her daily life.

The one silver lining was that

her body had grown strong enough to handle the rampages with ease.

But.

The people around her couldn’t.

Naturally, she ended up alone.

Without the cursed ring , even after joining the Hero’s party, she spent most of her time by herself.

After all, if the party got caught in one of her rampages, they could die.

So she kept her distance.

Because of this, she absolutely despised the fanatics who had turned her into this.

She loathed black magic—the kind that sacrificed others to gain immense power—with a burning passion.

On the other hand.

She admired those who worked hard to build something with their own hands.

Not gaining strength through others like black magic,

but genuinely researching and striving to improve through sheer effort.

And her taste in men leaned the same way.

Someone who devoted themselves wholeheartedly to research,

a hardworking person who pushed forward to achieve greater things.

‘Research?… Hard work?…’

The guidebook.

A strategy guide that compiled all the data he had gathered from obsessively researching and presented it in a beginner-friendly way.

A book that was the crystallization of his research and effort.

To Alice, this would be proof of how much work and study had gone into its creation.

A hard worker.

A researcher.

The exact type of person Alice would fall for.

‘Ah…’

‘That’s why.’

He had saved her life twice,

and he perfectly matched her preferences.

Beyond that, even the purpose of his research aligned with her ideals.

A man who researched and strived to save others.

A man who risked his life to study even cursed artifacts in order to save her.

At this point, it would be stranger if she didn’t like him.

‘Back on Earth, I was just a guy obsessed with a game…’

But by this world’s standards, he had become a man who fought like mad to save others.

By Alice’s standards, he passed.

By anyone else’s, he passed too.

‘Um…’

‘This might be a problem…’

If he thought about it, this wasn’t something that would end with just Alice liking him.

‘I researched all the other girls’ salvation routes too.’

How many women would hate a man who showed this much passion and effort to save them?

On top of that.

He was a fairly handsome man who had put in that much dedication.

‘……I’m screwed.’

Of course.

Having pretty women like him was an incredibly good thing in itself.

But.

His goal was a pure love route with his favorite character.

A harem…

‘Might be nice if it works…’

But if it fails, it’s the perfect route to becoming the next Quintessential Quintuplets’ Fuutarou.

‘If only I die, that’d still be lucky…’

His favorite heroine.

A character who, if her identity were discovered by the Hero’s party, would kill him without a second thought.

And she was in his harem?

‘It wouldn’t be strange if I dropped dead any second…’

So.

The safest answer was to avoid the harem route altogether.

…As he thought this, he stopped Alice from taking off even more clothes.

“Cain?”

“Alice.”

“There’s something I need to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“First, let me ask you something.”

“Okay.”

“You like me, right?”

“Yes.”

An immediate answer.

A very Alice-like response—bulldozing forward now that her affection was MAX.

“Sorry, but I can’t return those feelings.”

So.

He’d counter the bulldozer with a bulldozer of his own.

“That’s fine.”

“I’m not asking you to accept them right now.”

“And I won’t change my mind later either.”

“Why?”

“Because there’s someone I like.”

“Someone you like?”

“Yes.”

“Then what about me?”

“Well…”

“I like you too, but… as a friend.”

“I see.”

“In the future, you and I stay just friends.”

Alice didn’t look sullen—instead, her determination burned even brighter.

“Then I’ll just have to change the future.”

“Change it?”

“If I push even harder, I can go from ‘friend’ to ‘girlfriend’!”

Alice began pushing him toward the bed, practically pouncing on him—

“I want in too!”

And when Ria joined in, everything went completely off the rails.

“Hey!”

“No matter what, this is getting way too weird!”

“What’s so weird about it?!”

“Two women pouncing on one guy?! Does that make any sense?!”

“It’s not impossible, is it?!”

“?”

“If I just sit back, I’ll lose the man I love and become some tragic heroine!”

“If that’s how it’s gonna be, then let’s just go the harem route!”

“What?!”

“Ria.”

“You’d prefer that too, wouldn’t you?”

“Like hell I would!”

“Yeah!”

“I’d prefer that too!”

“Huh?!”

Even Ria agreed to the harem proposal.

“Uh…”

“Ria?…”

“What?”

“Master?”

“Do you even know what a harem means?”

“Yes!”

“Then explain it.”

“A harem is just that kind of thing, right?”

“Living happily with lots of friends in the same house!”

“……”

Her pure answer left him speechless.

But!

What about Serena?!

“Serena!”

“Your daughter’s about to get swept up by a weird guy, and you’re just gonna stand there?!”

“If you’re watching, say something!”

Rustle.

As if responding to his words, flowers sprouted from a nearby vase.

“Pink Loveblooms?”

Their meaning: ‘May you have a happy married life.’

In , they were one of the congratulatory flowers gifted to newlywed couples.

“Hey!”

“Why are you blessing this messed-up marriage?!”

“Whoa…”

“That flower blooming means the Goddess of Light, Lady Serena, approves of this marriage, right?”

“Master!”

“Even Mom says yes! Now we can do it!”

“We’re sacrificing semen to the Holy Grail anyway!”

“Just let us help you!”

“Wait, we had to help you use the Holy Grail?”

“Yes.”

“The Holy Grail requires a woman’s assistance to use.”

“You can’t use it without a woman’s help.”

“Then we have to help!”

“You said if you don’t offer a sacrifice to the Holy Grail, you’ll die!”

“So we should help.”

“Yeah!”

“We’ll help!”

Ria and Alice were practically pinning him down as they insisted on helping with the Holy Grail’s sacrifice.

Wow.

These two are even bigger bulldozers than I thought.

Well, no helping it.

“Sigh…”

“Both of you, calm down and listen.”

“I’ll give you one explosive release first.”

“This is about the future.”

He spoke seriously.

At that.

Ria and Alice settled down.

“Go on.”

“You think I know the future, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well…”

“Not entirely wrong.”

“I’m someone who’s experienced countless futures.”

“Countless futures?”

“Right.”

“I’ve seen too many to count.”

He set the mood carefully.

“At first, most ended in failure.”

“I saw worlds destroyed because the Demon King wasn’t defeated.”

“Even when we succeeded, I saw many futures where one of our comrades died.”

“……”

“I’ve seen them all die, too.”

“One time, I became the Demon King’s slave and suffered unspeakable things.”

“……”

“When I didn’t know anything, I went through hell—every kind of hell imaginable.”

Ria and Alice fell silent.

“But.”

“Once I knew more, I could fix everything.”

“Defeating the Demon King became trivial, and I could finish the journey with all of you alive.”

That was the game.

As a beginner, he only saw bad endings where everyone died,

but once he got good, seeing the normal ending was easy.

“But.”

“Even after the journey ended, there was no future where everyone was smiling.”

Just normal endings.

Where the Demon King was defeated,

but none led to a happily ever after for all.

Ria met her mother again,

but their reunion was distant—just talking from afar, leaving her in tears.

Alice sealed her magic,

but because of how much trouble she’d caused, her relationships with her comrades remained awkward.

Not bad endings,

but too bittersweet to call happy.

So he researched.

Like a madman, he searched for a way to reach a future where everyone could smile.

And this was the result.

Ria could now reunite with her mother properly,

and Alice had resolved her magic rampages early, allowing her to get along with her comrades.

If things continued like this, both of them would reach happy endings.

But.

Not everyone could.

…He explained.

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly one.”

“No matter what I did, there was someone I couldn’t save.”