episode_0044

Honestly, I was curious.

Where does the time come from to fully explore all the subquests and relationship events in the vast empire from start to finish?

Of course, I’ve never seriously considered this while playing, as there is no such thing as a “second playthrough” in life. From that perspective, the protagonist’s life is limited to the first playthrough, and in that first playthrough, the protagonist can never see all the relationship quests.

Sometimes subquests are hidden, and if you forget to talk to an NPC, you might miss them.

So, it’s best to just think of it as “game logic” and move on. Just like how an FPS character doesn’t die from one shot and can walk around with just a bulletproof vest, or how in an RPG, if time flows in real-time, the player would find it too difficult, so they introduced a simple time concept.

But what if that logic transferred to reality?

In an FPS, the protagonist would become invincible and easily defeat enemies. In reality, you can’t die multiple times like in a game.

So, what about the RPG’s unique concept of time?

Answer: They cram it all in within the time limit.

Not every weekend in the game has these kinds of events. If they implemented every single weekend, the game would become too long. So, in the first semester, they insert important events to save time, happening about three times, and in the second semester, they have two events at the beginning before diving into the main story, allowing the characters to explore outside the academy.

And during these important weekends, there are a total of seven subquests. Three in the morning, three in the afternoon, and one at night.

And of course, the morning is literally in the “morning.” The time before lunch, generally from seven to twelve. Within that time, there are “three.”

Wait, logically speaking, wouldn’t it be better to have four in the afternoon and three in the morning? The morning time seems too short, no matter how you think about it.

And it’s not just the subquests. The relationship events between the characters in the game also coincide with the concept of “morning, afternoon, night.” Subquests are separate, relationship events are separate. And these relationship events don’t just end with a brief conversation. Errands, consultations, training, studying, helping the character with a request, and more… Each story requires anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour.

So, under the assumption of seeing all these relationship events, it was right to handle the subquests without a time limit during this time.

…But still.

“Early morning… at four…?”

Four o’clock, you say?

At four in the morning!?

Ami was out hunting beasts at that time!? Is she out of her mind?

And the group only consisted of Leo and Claire.

Oh, right, I’ve seen in the game settings that the 24-hour carriage operated by the academy is a reliable one. Even during the journey, it precisely travels between stations without deviating or guiding to any other place, so the locals often use it. Of course, they charge the locals for it.

It seems that they operate 24 hours for the sake of these crazy people like Leo and Claire who move around even in the dead of night, but I never knew that there were people who would actually ride this carriage from the crack of dawn.

“Hey, Sylvia?”

After hearing my footsteps approaching right after I defeated the target Elemental Duke, Claire turned around.

Her slightly surprised expression was clearly visible in the glow of the streetlight.

“…May I ask what you’re doing here at this hour?”

I got off the carriage and tried my best to speak in a calm voice to not give away the fact that I just jumped off.

“Huh? Huh….”

Did I seem angry? Claire looked a bit flustered as she glanced at Leo. Leo, seeming unsure, just lowered his head.

“Well,”

In the end, Claire, not fully understanding the situation, spoke first.

“Leo and I were doing early morning training—”

“….Early morning training?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Even though she paused in the middle of her sentence, Claire calmly continued her explanation with no sign of anger.

“We do mental training every morning, and practice swordsmanship. That’s why we’re consistently training like this.”

“…In the morning?”

I looked up at the sky.

It was starting to get light, but to anyone else, it was still ‘night’. The sky was slightly tinted blue, but honestly, it looked more like midnight than dawn.

“Yeah, but?”

Claire raised an eyebrow.

So, waking up at four in the morning… no, actually.

Doing mental training and swordsmanship at that time means waking up even earlier. Plus, it takes quite some time to get here. Even though the road is clear, the only means of transportation we can take is the carriage.

We could… ride horses, but it didn’t seem like a good idea to talk to them. There was a stable at the academy, but hardly anyone brought their own horse.

There were cars, but… those who rode cars were even fewer than those who rode horses. Plus, due to the friction with the carriage drivers, there were many restrictions on riding cars within the academy.

Bicycles… we could probably ride them, but I didn’t see any bicycles left on the way here.

“If you try to move around at this time of night, wouldn’t you be tired or something?”

“Tired?”

Claire, upon hearing my words, made a really strange expression. Then she looked at Leo.

Leo also looked puzzled.

…I felt an eerie chill of unknown origin.

No, it’s not just because the night air is cold. It’s more, how should I put it…

It’s not for physical reasons, but rather for reasons related to my mood.

“Um… so, that’s related to… energy?”

“Energy?”

I don’t know if they’re talking about some kind of cult or saying something that sounds like nonsense.

“The first thing you learn in the Grace class is how to circulate clear energy in your body… so, in order to handle the sword energy, you always have to have a clear mind, and to maintain that clear mind, you shouldn’t be tired, so you have to always control your mind through meditation…”

Leo explained to me in a tone that seemed to be holding back from using honorifics.

Huh.

Energy? Clear mind? Meditation?

Wait, are we discussing some kind of esoteric practice in a steampunk fantasy setting?

…

Oh, right.

Well.

I know the setting of this world.

After all, it’s a world where terms like sword energy and senses are used casually. It’s no wonder that Claire, who I faced head-on, shot out sword energy. In an enlightenment era setting, sword energy is just nonsense.

But, ta-da, there’s magic and magic stones in this world! Absolutely! Do not! Exist!

“….”

But I didn’t know if that meditation really had a function beyond self-hypnosis to soothe mental fatigue and keep a clear mind.

“So…”

I decided to ask one more time.

“Even if you don’t sleep for long, can you drive away fatigue through morning meditation and maintain a clear mind to use sword energy effectively?”

“Uh… yeah?”

Leo replied as if to say, what’s so strange about that.

Ah, so I’m the weird one.

I was mistaken.

I messed up, didn’t I?

I should have at least considered the possibility that the main characters would actually go through and complete the in-game subquests!

“……Excuse me.”

No, wait.

Once again, I felt a shiver down my spine. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I felt like my body temperature had dropped by about 2 degrees.

Then… what about the other characters?

When the protagonist Leo undertakes a subquest, the number of people who can accompany him, including Leo, is six. Two of them are support characters who follow along.

So, what about the other remaining characters? Do they have their own subquests or something?

What would happen if the protagonist were to work with them?

“Sylvia? What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”

As I sat there, sweating on my forehead, Claire approached me with a concerned look and asked.

“……”

After glancing at Claire for a moment,

I rewound time.

*

Let’s get a driver’s license.

I vowed in the swaying carriage.

I’m not sure if there is a system for driver’s licenses in this world, but anyway, let’s learn how to drive a car. That would be the best thing to do.

Horses need regular care, just like people. Of course, cars need maintenance too, but they’re better than living creatures like horses.

Besides, learning to drive a car would be much easier for me than learning to ride a horse. I can always get back in the car whenever I want if it’s nearby.

Yes, just like now.

“……”

Even if I can’t hear what the coachman is saying as he sits on the coach seat, I can feel from his attitude that “this situation is very uncomfortable.”

That’s all I can do.

The Academy staff must have important information about the students. They probably all know that I’m a princess, and seeing me driving the carriage alone at this time might make them feel extremely uncomfortable.

Well, they might not think I’m going to assassinate someone or anything like that.

“……”

If a high-ranking person who looks bad-tempered is sitting with his arms crossed, staring ahead without saying a word, the coachman might think I did something wrong from his perspective.

Of course, I didn’t do anything wrong.

I’m just annoyed by myself.

“We have arrived at the eastern gate of the estate.”

“……Thank you.”

As the carriage stopped and the coachman opened the door for me, I got off and left a word of thanks.

“The next carriage will be available in 30 minutes. Is that okay with you?”

“That’s fine.”

Seeing me respond curtly, the coachman quickly bowed and greeted me before climbing back onto the coach seat.

“……”

Watching the carriage move away, I absentmindedly reached into the pocket of my coat and took out a pocket watch.

Tick-tock, the sound of the clock seemed unusually loud in the quiet night.

“……Three thirty.”

I murmured quietly and looked up at the sky.

The moon was bright.

…Phew.

After taking a deep breath, I started walking slowly.

Well, okay.

Let’s finish this quickly.

Even though I went to bed early last night, I could still get a good five hours of sleep.

…

Should I learn meditation too?

*

Elemental Wolves are not as strong as they seem. Although they are called “Dogs,” they are larger than wolves and have different fur colors and effects depending on their attributes.

Of course, these “effects” are actually wind, grass, fire, ice, and other elements that are visible in this reality.

I have encountered these creatures several times already.

They make for good target practice.

The contents of the quest request were, “A fierce elemental beast has appeared on the road, threatening people. Please take care of it.”

The elemental beast that appeared in front of me had green fur and seemed to be surrounded by a gust of wind. If I catch it and take it to the market, I could probably sell it for a good price.

But here, it was just an ordinary creature.

“…sigh.”

I suddenly entered a state of enlightenment.

So, did I wake up in the middle of the night just to catch this thing?

And even though I already knew it would be this kind of monster?

“…growl.”

As if aware of how dangerous it could be to encounter a human alone, the elemental beast growled at me while keeping its distance.

“…click.”

I looked at the creature and silently pulled back the bolt, loading a bullet into the chamber.