episode_0073

Tactical Combat was basically a game whose main content was combat using giant soldiers. You couldn’t enjoy most of the game’s content if you couldn’t handle the giant soldiers, such as performing special operations using the giant soldiers or enjoying giant battles on the battlefield.

You could participate in a small sword fighting competition or play Swat, but that was nothing more than additional content.

In order to proceed with the main scenario in the first place, it was essential to be able to handle the Giant God Soldier.

Even though Tactical Combat was made quite well, there was a reason why it was called a newbie cutter. Dealing with giant soldiers was quite difficult even with the help of the game system.

What’s worse, is it always going to be said that the community needs to adjust the difficulty level?

Controlling a giant god soldier was not easy unless you were an experienced gamer.

However, despite this, there were many users who enjoyed Tactical Combat. Even though I curse at the game every time, calling it a shit game, I end up clinging to the game like a person suffering from withdrawal symptoms.

The reason for this was that, aside from the fact that the game was difficult, it showed high gameplay and the characters in it were attractive.

Characters who are lively but have a dark past, characters who are cold but warm on the inside, and characters who overcome and show human admiration despite having an unfortunate past made it seem as if they were alive and breathing.

In addition, Tactical Combat was able to open the dating route by applying the affinity system, so there were even gamers who specialized in that only.

Gilbert, who had completed all his achievements, was also a person well versed in such things. Among the countless achievements, there were achievements that were commonly referred to as romantic works, so there was a time when I was so obsessed with them that I was crazy about targeting heroines.

There were only three characters that even he couldn’t open a dating route, let alone conquer.

The first of them was Seraphina, who was announced by the production company official as having no love route, and the second was a saintess from the Holy Kingdom, who was also a character who was announced by the production company official as having no love route.

Lastly, Brianna, who inevitably died during the attack on the Academy and was unable to open the dating route, was the third character that could not be conquered.

Because these two characters, Serafina and the Saint, had many events that showed their love route, many users took on the challenge of opening a love route.

However, the dating route that showed some progress suddenly stopped at some point, and users who were posting on the community, hitting on sellers, had their posts deleted.

Gilbert also had many moments where he mistakenly thought he had opened a romantic route between the two characters, so there were many times while playing the game that I doubted whether this was real.

In the end, on the day the production company’s official announcement was made, the community burst into flames. This was because the number of users who had been searching for dating routes through collective intelligence exploded.

On the other hand, Brianna’s dating route didn’t seem to be nearly perfect. The reason was that he retired and died shortly after starting the game, that is, at the beginning of the main scenario.

However, users who were fascinated by her character even in a small amount of time once again exercised their collective intelligence and began to find a route to avoid her death scenario.

Finding a sub-scenario where I became her previous student was also a by-product of my efforts to find Brianna’s survival route.

However, despite the users’ bloody efforts, the production company’s official announcement was made that Brianna was unconditionally confirmed to be dead. Because it was announced earlier than the Serafina and Saint Maitre incident, the community did not go up in flames, but the ripple effect went beyond that.

Extreme users called Briannafa indiscriminately posted requests to bring her back to the production company’s website.

However, the production company dismissed it, saying they had no intention of adding Brianna’s survival route. The reason for this was that Brianna’s death route was literally interconnected, so forcing it would be against the gameplay.

Since the game company came out like this, no matter how extreme the user was, there was nothing they could do against the manufacturer. The only thing I could do was post a request on the website or send an email, and since there was no response even to that, I had no choice but to get tired quickly.

In the end, the series of events came to an end with Briannafa falling out of exhaustion. This was because they also agreed to some extent that the answer given by the game company was correct.

However, as the Academy attack part approached, Gilbert thought he could avoid Brianna’s death route. This world did not have a set route like a game, but was literally a living, breathing real world.

Basically, events were progressing according to the main scenario of Tactical Combat, but if you look at the details, things that did not happen in the game often happened.

The reason I became convinced of this was when, during the Resistance eradication part, the Chairman of the Resistance was replaced by a person I had never heard of before named Van Dyck. Although it was a major incident that played a central role in the main scenario, I thought that if the central character had changed, the route of Brianna’s death might have been avoided.

Of course, the process was not easy, but in the end, they were able to overcome all the difficulties and destroy Brianna’s death route. As a gamer who has liked the character Brianna ever since I played Tactical Combat, and as her only student, I couldn’t help but feel really happy.

But this is unexpected.

Gilbert scratched his face as he watched people passing by at the place where he was supposed to meet Brianna.

The reason he was waiting for Brianna was because she offered to buy him clothes to wear to the award ceremony last week. I received a call this morning asking me to go shopping for clothes since all the important business I had to do was done.

The meeting place was in front of the fountain in Demeia, a territory near Demeia Academy.

As it is the estate of the head of the Lucas Academy, the city is large and sophisticated, and the fountain, which is the meeting place, is especially gorgeous, making it a very popular place for travelers.

Some of the makers of Tactical Combat may have been big fans of Roman Holiday, but it was so similar to the Trevi Fountain in the movie that users who played Tactical Combat were divided over whether or not this was a rip-off.

How much time passed while watching people passing by?

Just when I was starting to feel bored, Brianna finally appeared.

“I… . Master?”

“Did you wait long?”

For a moment, Gilbert had the illusion that he had seen something wrong.

Brianna, visible through the gushing water, was wearing ordinary civilian clothes rather than the professor’s uniform she usually wore.

The clothes she wore was a bustier dress made of silk and cotton.

Luxurious black silk was woven thinly in a see-through pattern from the arms and neck to the upper chest, and the neck area was embroidered in a spicy, chalk-like manner. From below the chest, it was made of white cotton, and the craftsmanship that was carefully put into each wrinkle stood out.

Gilbert inadvertently admired Brianna, surrounded by streams of water sparkling in the sunlight. I never thought I’d see Brianna in civilian clothes, which I didn’t even see in the game, after possessing this world.

It was something that even he had not expected.

“Is something wrong?”

“Not really, but… I think this is my first time seeing you wearing civilian clothes.”

“I also have some civilian clothes. I just didn’t wear it because I didn’t need it.”

About six months after entering Demeia Academy. He had known Brianna for a long time, counting the time he had played Tactical Combat, but he didn’t know when the time would come.

Most of them wore professor uniforms or trainee uniforms, and it was common to wear professor uniforms even at academy events.

“Did you wear it today because you needed it?”

“Hmm… doesn’t that suit you?”

What kind of reaction is this again?

Gilbert even felt devastated at the sight of Brianna looking down at her clothes. It was a far cry from Brianna’s usual appearance, which can be said to be synonymous with coolness.

“No. It suits you well.”

“I see. Thank goodness. It’s been a while since I wore civilian clothes…”

After clearing her throat a few times, Brianna led Gilbert to a store run by the most famous designer in the city. Although she had no interest in this field, there was one place she learned about through a fellow professor she worked with.

A place said to be the place where imperial fashion begins. It was Luculentus.

After walking along the main street from the fountain for about 3 minutes, I arrived at my destination. From the entrance, the two were greeted by the gorgeous decorations and the interior of the building built in the style currently popular in the Empire.

As they approached the entrance, the waiter who was greeting the customers in front quickly opened the door and welcomed them.

“Welcome. We sincerely welcome you to Luculentus.”

The inside of Luculentus was even more magnificent than when seen from the outside.

Artwork by sculptors and painters of the time was on display, and new clothes made by Luculentus designers, including Valentino, were on display.

It is not for nothing that people say that unless they have considerable wealth, they will be overwhelmed by the atmosphere.

However, Brianna was the daughter of a marquis, and Gilbert was also the eldest son of a count, and had seen more glamorous things than this in modern times.

Since he had been through numerous battlefields, he was never discouraged by anything.

“Birds were chirping this morning, so it must have meant that a welcome guest was coming. My name is Valentino Luculentus, the president of Luculentus. We sincerely welcome the two people who have created a stir in the empire these days.”

Gilbert and Brianna were amazed as they saw the man bowing in front of them. The way he treated them as distinguished guests after recognizing them was surprising.

“Nice to meet you. After hearing this, I was told that this was the best place in the city, so I came here.”

“This is too much praise. However, we are confident that we are satisfying our customers with excellent quality that is second to none.”

His humble, yet proud words created a sense of trust. Gilbert grinned inwardly as he looked at Valentino, whom he had only seen in the game.

Valentino Luculentus, the president and designer who runs Luculentus, was from the Cottonpoly estate, which is famous for cotton.

He first launched a store with his name in Cotton Folly, but as people in the same industry were jealous of his outstanding skills and became territorial, he was chased away and settled in the Demeia estate.

Valentino, who had to start from scratch in a place with no connections, gritted his teeth and was eventually able to become the president of Luculentus, the empire’s fashion leader.

The fact that he, who was just an outsider, grew so quickly was possible because of his outstanding ability and his current management skills.

“This is truly an honor. One is said to be the best sword in the empire, and the other is recently praised as a hero, so I feel rewarded for doing this work.”

“If you want to paint your face with gold, that’s fine. I just came today because I wanted to match my student with a set of clothes.”

Despite Brianna’s harsh words, Valentino did not lose his smile. Instead, he just nodded while looking at Gilbert.

“You are the most physically balanced person I have ever seen. great. Let’s measure it first.”

Gilbert was slightly horrified by the sight of Valentino with sparkling eyes, but he stood in front of him without saying anything.

He had already written down the numbers by eye and then started writing down the exact numbers with a tape measure. I took a quick look and saw that it was almost identical to the number I had written down by eye.

Is there really someone else who sets trends in the empire?

Being able to figure out approximate numbers just by looking at a scale shows that you have good eyesight.

Of course, one could not become a trendsetter in the empire just by having a sharp eye. More than that, he was able to become the best designer because he had excellent sense and dexterity.

Even in Tactical Combat, the clothes made by Valentino were of great value. The clothes he made with all his effort raised the difficult-to-raise dignity stat by a whopping 10.

Although the price was eye-watering, it was worth the investment.

“This is a body that arouses the desire to produce for the first time in a long time.”

After measuring all the measurements, Valentino sighed and looked at the recorded measurements. By rough calculation, he was the person with the best body proportions in his opinion.

I never thought I would meet someone with this golden ratio in my lifetime, but it seems like the world is wide. For the first time in a long time, the desire to produce began to rise.

“Good. It looks like you are wearing the clothes for the award ceremony held this time… am I correct?”

“That’s right. That’s why I came here.”

“Okay. I think it will take about 3 days. We will send the clothes to Demeia Academy.”

“I understand. It’s for my student, so please take care of it.”

After paying the bill, Gilbert followed Brianna. Valentino was seen bending down, his eyes shining with strange eagerness.

I think I’m in serious mode.

At first glance, I thought that it might be a piece of clothing that could increase feat abilities.

“It ended faster than I thought.”

Brianna leaving the store looked a little strange. There was no change in her expression, but Gilbert, who had been able to read Brianna’s expression through previous interactions, could immediately tell that she was now embarrassed.

“Is this because you treated me to a meal last time?”

“Did you remember? Yes, that’s right. I made a reservation for the evening because I knew it would take a while, but there was too much time left.”

I remembered that he said he would buy me a set of clothes and also treat me to a meal, so I asked him, and the answer was correct. However, thanks to Valencino, who was overflowing with motivation, time flew by.

Gilbert sighed. The problem here was that Brianna’s experience was too limited to hope for her lead.

Brianna, who had a natural talent for swordsmanship, had been training her swordsmanship since she was very young. She herself had a great desire for the sword, so she devoted most of her time to training.

Meanwhile, when other young ladies of her age were debuting in the social world, she made her debut on the battlefield and stayed there for almost half her life. After that, I felt skeptical and came to Demeia Academy, and now I am teaching academy cadets.

The repetitive routine of teaching cadets, practicing swordsmanship in the spare time, and preparing for classes other than that. Brianna had no leisure activities.

Does she know a place to kill time in the city?

It was something that made me laugh out loud.

So here, Gilbert himself had no choice but to step forward.

Although I have never been in a relationship seriously, it was possible to do so by taking advantage of the experience of exploring the dating routes of various characters.

This is really going to be a date.

It wasn’t intentional, but I didn’t think it was a bad thing.

“Master.”

“Hmm? Oh, I’m sorry. If I had known it would be like this, I would have met a little later.”

“No. It’s not that bad since we have time left.”

“Did you have somewhere to go? If so, you may go. I’m probably spending a decent amount of time too.”

“What do you mean? Since it’s been a long time coming, I hope you’ll hang out with my students.”

“If you say so, I understand… but I’m not a very fun person.”

“This is a place that the teacher would like.”

Gilbert smiled meaningfully. There are items that can be picked up at Demeia Territory, so it would be a perfect way to pass the time.

“It’s a place I like…”

“It’s our first date, so isn’t it natural?”

“Date?”

“That is what they say. Then just follow along.”

I started to take the lead, leaving behind Brianna, who looked blankly at the mention of a date. It was Gilbert’s first time actually going there, but he didn’t have to worry about getting lost since he had been there countless times in the game anyway.

Eventually, Gilbert, who was guiding Brianna, stopped in front of a shabby store. As expected, this part did not seem to have changed from the game.

Gilbert smiled slightly and opened the store door.