Capítulo 8: Chapter 7: The Ones Who Observe
After the stunt she'd pulled, Farah had been taken to a courthouse for her trial. I had insisted time and time again that she was innocent, so I was pretty sure she wouldn't be charged with the death penalty.
If I hadn't vouched for her, though, she would've been sentenced to death regardless of her actual involvement. To be honest, I did think that the justice system in this world was a little excessive, but for the inhabitants here, threatening the life of the saint was just too terrible a crime to be forgiven. Well, I wasn't really the saint, but they didn't know that.
Hey... Now that I thought about it, I'd probably be sentenced to death too after my lies had been exposed.
Anyway, after I'd returned to my castle and rested for the night, I woke up the next day only to be surrounded by my guards and teachers and lectured for hours.
I could see where they were coming from—while protecting me was their responsibility, I kept running around and risking my life to save people. If I ended up dying during one of my impromptu expeditions, they'd lose their jobs and be treated like a bunch of incompetent idiots for allowing it to happen in the first place. It was only natural that they'd get mad at me.
Fortunately, I'd thought of this and planned ahead. To prevent something like that from ever happening, I'd prepared a letter which explained that I was the fake. It was hidden in a locked drawer in my desk. I hoped they'd find it if I passed away and they wouldn't have to suffer because of me.
Better safe than sorry, right? If memory serves, they have a similar proverb abroad... Something along the lines of "Hope for the best and prepare for the worst," I think? Yeah, it sounds much cooler in English. I'll name my next technique after this!
Anyway, I'd somehow managed to deal with the first big crisis. Things would likely be smooth sailing for a while. There were lovey-dovey events with all of the dateable characters, a few lovers' quarrels sprinkled in here and there, and a few events that made you fail the route if you messed them up, but nothing too bad.
I'd panicked pretty badly when I'd first noticed that Verner was heading straight toward the bodybuilding♂ ending but, now that I thought about it, it wasn't such a bad outcome. Since he'd been ignoring all of the other girls, the only route left for him was Eterna's. Now that I'd successfully convinced him to stop with the bodybuilding♂ route, he'd naturally drift toward the Eterna ending.
Needless to say, the newly discovered Ellize route was completely out of the question. I wasn't gay, all right? So in the very, very, very unlikely event that he tried to hit on me, I'd dump his ass. Easy as that.
If he invited me somewhere, I'd just hit him with the world-famous, "Sorry, I don't want my friends to get weird ideas and spread rumors about us." (I didn't have any friends, but did that matter?)
I'll admit I freaked out a bit, but in the end, I managed to get everything under control, didn't I? I'm a genius, what can I say?
Still, I had to stay focused! Verner was the kind of idiot that'd run straight to the solo ending. If I left him alone, I had no clue what stupid things he'd end up doing.
On top of that, there were a few girls who'd die if Verner didn't pick their route. I needed to stay by his side to deal with them as well. If I could see the way things were developing in real-time, I'd be able to lead everyone toward a happy ending.
Which led me back to my initial goal: I had to enroll in the academy.
The witch dwelled in the school's basement, so I'd eventually have to go there anyway.
Oops, another spoiler!
She was hiding out deep under the academy, a few floors under the arena Farah had lured me to. It was basically a hidden dungeon; most professors didn't even know it existed.
The game was set in the academy, so it also had to end there, didn't it?
Technically, the real reason she was there was because the game developers hadn't bothered to create many maps outside of the academy. While this world and the continent I was currently in had been named—Fiori and Giardino respectively—we barely got to see anything outside of the school.
There were a few events where you took your girlfriend on a date outside of the academy, but you'd get super generic CGs—either some humdrum town background or a picture of the starry sky. The only place where you could move around at will was the academy.
As the player, you had to snoop around to find clues on the witch's location. Ultimately, that meant that since you could only get information inside the school, she had to be there for you to find. If she'd been hiding out in some remote village in another country with no ties to the magic academy, there'd be no way for the player to ever get to her.
Anyway, that was why the witch had been hidden there.
I called Layla and asked her to fill out my admission papers so I could finally enroll in the academy. You might've been wondering why I'd ask one of my guards to do this sort of task. Well, Layla was just as skilled with a pen as she was with a sword. She was basically a superwoman, accomplished in both literary and military arts. She'd definitely fill out the paperwork much faster than I ever could.
Layla's really a good girl. I seriously need to stop calling her Scotterbrain.
"Absolutely not, Lady Ellize."
NOOOO! SCOTTERBRAAAAIN!!!
She cut me off immediately, not even giving me room to get a word in or ask why.
But, hey, I expected this sort of answer.
As I'd pointed out earlier, she absolutely wanted to avoid any potential danger from me wandering out of her sight. Even when she'd hated Ellize and hoped she'd kick the bucket in the game, she still guarded her with all of her might. After all, if the person she was supposed to protect suddenly died, it would leave a huge stain on her perfect resume.
I knew all that because you got to hear Layla's inner thoughts on her route. On all the other routes, the player was led to believe that she was Ellize's faithful follower up until the moment she betrayed her, but that was far from the truth.
When you finally saw the events from Layla's point of view, you understood how badly she'd suffered under Ellize and how much she hated her. She'd pretended to be loyal to her while insulting her in her head all the time. That was what made her character so interesting—you got to enjoy her serious side on most routes, only to discover that she wasn't like that at all inside.
As a result, Miss Scotterbrain was an incredibly popular character.
Since I knew her so well—her cute, clumsy side included, I also knew exactly what I had to say to convince her.
◇
Layla Scott was the eldest daughter of Marquess Scott, an eminent noble from a proud family of knights. For generations, they had produced skilled members of the saint's guard.
To Layla, her family's honor came before everything else, and from a very young age, she had always hoped to accomplish her duty and secure a position under the direct control of the saint.
What motivated her to follow this path was actually the stories of the minstrels that had used to visit her estate when she was little. They'd play the lyre and wax poetic about the feats of the saints of old and the great knights that protected them. These stories spoke to her in a way little else did. She could imagine herself as the protagonist of these stories and wanted nothing more than to make that dream a reality.
To do so, she'd learned the sword and trained hard to polish her skills. Thankfully, she was talented enough to pursue such a great dream. Before she'd even entered the academy, Layla had surpassed her father—a guard of the previous saint—and she'd further honed her skills during her studies.
She'd remained at the top of her grade throughout her academic journey, and secured a victory every single time at the bi-annual martial tournament organized to test the students' progress.
When Layla turned twenty, she finally graduated from the Training Institute for Magic Knights of Alfrea as the top student, just like her relatives had hoped. Naturally, she was immediately chosen to join the saint's guard.
Layla was a woman and couldn't inherit the title of marquess. However, by joining the saint's guard, she had snatched an even more glorious position all by herself—one that every wannabe knight envied. Layla had turned her dream into a reality by becoming one of the saint's personal knights.
Despite the lofty position, she continued to hone her skills in hopes that she would be useful to the saint.
She couldn't wait to meet her. What would she be like? She'd be beautiful, definitely. Or perhaps cute? Either way, she'd be just as lovely as the princesses that appeared in fairy tales. Layla was certain of that.
She had actually met the princess of her home country a few times, but she was nothing like the picture-perfect princess she had always dreamed of protecting (Hey!That's mean, Scotterbrain!).
She had heard many things about Ellize, the current saint. According to the rumors, she didn't hesitate to fight swarms of monsters by herself and always extended a helping hand to those who needed it. She had even boldly declared that she loved this world itself.
She was said to be the perfect saint.
As it turned out...those rumors had been completely true. No, the real deal was even more perfect than any idle gossip could hope to capture.
Layla had been following her father around and familiarizing herself with the castle when she'd run into the saint for the first time.
"You're the new member of my guard, are you not?"
Every word she spoke, every one of her expressions... She was so pure, so angelic, so...holy. All of these qualities had come together in the form of a young girl as beautiful as a doll.
She was the saint. Layla had no idea how to describe her in any other way.
No words could better embody what a saint ought to be than Ellize herself. No minstrel could ever describe her well enough; their stories would simply pale in the face of reality.
Layla was captivated at first glance. Every time she thought of the fact that she'd get to serve this sacred person, her heart throbbed with joy and excitement.
Ever since Layla had started serving the saint, she felt like she got to witness new miracles every day. Ellize easily routed entire armies of monsters no matter their size, and healed the most difficult of wounds.
Her very existence made the world a brighter place where everyone could smile happily. Just like how the sun illuminated the land with its presence, Ellize's light beamed upon it. She herself was the sun, and the world had never shone brighter than in her presence.
And since that was the kind of person Ellize was, Layla had somehow expected her request.
"Layla, I'm thinking of enrolling in the academy."
"Absolutely not, Lady Ellize."
Now that Ellize knew that the witch's influence had spread to the academy, she wouldn't let it go. Layla understood her reasoning, and she'd been bracing herself for the moment when the saint would bring up this idea.
The previous evening, she had rushed in alone to rescue the students while knowing full well she was walking into a trap, just like Farah—that hateful kidnapper—had asked. Ellize was always like that.
"Layla... I'm sure you understand that I didn't make this decision for no reason. Farah was being controlled by the witch. Did you stop to wonder where the witch could have attacked her? Farah is a zealous teacher. She sleeps in the dorm and rarely ever goes home. You're a fairly recent graduate, so you must be aware of this."
"No way..." Layla's face turned pale.
No way... Lady Ellize, how did you realize this so fast?Please don't say anything else... I know what you'll say to convince me, and if you do... I won't be able to stop you anymore. I won't have any other choice but to allow you to go, even though we both know how dangerous this will be...
"I know full well how smart you are, Layla. You must have understood by now that there is a rather high possibility that the witch is lurking within the academy."
As I thought... You figured it out too, Lady Ellize...
Layla tried to maintain a straight face—she didn't want her anguish to be too obvious.
Naturally, she had grasped everything almost immediately after hearing that Farah was being controlled by dark magic. As Ellize had said, the teacher barely ever left the school, which ultimately meant that the witch had to be hiding somewhere in the academy. She had also predicted that Lady Ellize, wise as she was, would soon notice.
"Farah also summoned a large number of monsters," the saint continued. "She couldn't have brought them all in from outside. The other teachers are no fools—they would have noticed something was amiss. There were just too many monsters to wave away under the guise of using them for classes or training. If the witch herself is in the academy, however, it's not such an impossible feat anymore. Farah would have brought in lizards, rats, or birds—animals small enough for no one else to notice. And even if someone had seen her with one of those, she could have easily explained it away. Then, the witch would have used her powers to turn them into monsters after they entered the academy, easily creating an army within school grounds."
Indeed. It's exactly as you say...
The recent events had also convinced Layla that the witch had chosen the academy to conceal herself. And now that Ellize had pointed it out, she could no longer stop her from attending. It was the natural order of things for the saint to face the witch. No one had the right to prevent this—if anything, to do so was the worst of taboos.
"I'm sure now you understand why I must enroll, Layla," Ellize finally said.
"If you really must go, then..."
Layla was scared, and terribly so. She was terrified of losing her dear master. None of the saints of the past had survived after defeating the witch.
"Then..." Layla forced herself to finish her sentence. "Let me come with you."
On the next day, everyone within the Training Institute for Magic Knights of Alfrea—or the magic academy for short—was utterly flabbergasted.
No one had seen it coming. The saint had enrolled herself in the academy?!
Events that would be sure to shake the world were about to unfold...
◇
I was in another dream. It was already the third time, so I was starting to get used to it.
Once again, I was facing my good old—male—body. It was inside my tiny flat, lying down in bed. As usual, I felt as though I was floating around and looking at myself from the outside. I took possession of my body just like I had the previous times.
It might've been my imagination, but I felt like moving my limbs was a little harder this time. I didn't think much of it, though.
All right, this dream is probably going to be as short as the others, so I should hurry up and check the stuff I need to.
I woke my computer from sleep mode and looked for some videos on Ellize's route. And boy, there were a bunch of them.
I clicked on one of the Let's Plays that had the most views.
It just so happened that it was covering the hostage-taking event, and there was even a fight scene. The player controlled Ellize and had to fight countless monsters; they filled up almost the whole screen.
That being said, it didn't look like a hard battle at all. Even if you picked your actions at random, the monsters were getting destroyed one after the other.
I was surprised to hear a BGM track I'd never heard in the game before.
They added an exclusive BGM for one scene? The developers sure fed us well.
Our girl's so OP
One hit's all it takes lmao
Wait, isn't that huge one the last boss on Eterna's route?! lol
God, I remember how freaking hard it was to beat it with Eterna. I suffered so much. lol
Argh! Just seeing it's giving me war flashbacks of how painful it was.
Lady Ellize is just that strong, guys.
Peerless lol
THE DRAGON MELTED. GUYS, I'M WHEEZING!!!
Bruh how's she doing so much damage? Doesn't make any sense.
loooool. How's anyone supposed to believe she's the fake after that?
These guys were the last boss's summons and I totally remember them being freaking impossible to kill! Why'd they suddenly turn into small fries? lmao
She's not even losing any HP lolololololol
Cuz the saint can't take damage if she or the witch aren't the ones attacking lol
Dude, the monsters are using the witch's magic. Even the actual saint should lose HP...
To think one hit from these monsters destroys 30% of lvl 99 Verner's HP in one go.
Tbh it's a good thing Ellize isn't the saint. She's way too OP lmao
She could just clear the whole storyline alone, couldn't she? Who needs the other characters?
The comment section was full of people losing it over Ellize's unparalleled fighting abilities.
Oh wow. So that's how strong I am, huh? I look even more impressive in the game, don't I?
Diligently training every day on top of having with Ellize's insane natural talent had been well worth it.
It didn't look like Ellize participated in the fighting at all in the other routes considering the comments. I assumed she probably took care of some monsters automatically during some of the events, but you never got to play her in a fight unless you were on her route.
When the player wrapped up the fight, the rest of the event unfolded just as I'd remembered it, and Ellize stopped Layla's blade with her arm.
Omg! I almost believed Ellize was the real saint all along when I first saw that sceeeeene!
I also thought she was the saint but no she's just a monster lmao
Ikrrrrrr w/her stats Scotterbrain's just way too weak to deal any damage to her
Think, Scotterbrain, think!!! She's not the saint, she's just freaking OP!
It felt kind of...hm, how should I put it...refreshing to see people commenting on my actions from the outside.
The event eventually ended, and Ellize was dragged home. After that, we were treated to a few minutes of Verner living a peaceful school life. Two days passed by, and then...the comments went crazy again.
Why, you ask? Well, because a CG had popped up. And not just any CG either—it was Ellize standing in front of Verner's class, dressed in a uniform.
LADY EL'S ACADEMY ARC YESSSSSS!!!
YES PLEASE!
It's my first time seeing this lmao
Omfg, she's sooooo beautiful in this uniform.
It was literally made for Lady El!
No one found this route for four years and now everyone's going batshit crazy on this one CG lol
Why's my CG collection at 100%?! I never got this one!
>The 100%'s a lie.
>If you go to check the CG collection after you start Ellize's route, you'll notice that the 100%/100% becomes 100%/150%
The devs are super sneaky huh?
The video ended right after the CG appeared, and the next part had yet to be uploaded.
I hadn't been certain up until now, but...the game's content really had changed depending on my actions.
Well, maybe not. There're no guarantees real-life Japan is being impacted at all. I'm just dreaming, after all...or am I?
It was the third time I'd found myself in front of my old body; I was starting to doubt that these were just regular old dreams.
Anyway, next I had to check Ellize's page. I wonder if anything's changed.
The beginning was the exact same as before; not even a word had changed. However, some sentences—toward the end of what I'd read last time—had completely disappeared from the main text. Now, you had to click to "view spoilers."
Ellize's true identity:
Ellize is not the real saint. She was switched with Eterna at birth and is only a commoner. Naturally, she cannot wield the saint's magic needed to defeat the witch.
The reason why Ellize looks eternally fourteen is due to absorbing part of the witch's magic to help Verner control his powers. As a result, her life span has been shortened.
Ellize is able to purge the witch's powers by making use of the dark magic she got from Verner. The reason why she wasn't hurt by Layla during the Farah event was thanks to her high stats. On top of that, she is able to protect her body from harm by concentrating her mana around it.
Ellize is so good at passing for the saint that no one—including the witch—ever suspects her of being a fake.
As for Ellize herself, she's aware of her situation from the very start, and she's ready to return Eterna's rightful spot to her at any time.
Game events:
・In Ellize's route:
A mysterious route discovered four years after the game came out.
Conditions to start the route:
Complete the CG collection.
Start a new save.
On your first run, keep the item "Pendant of Memories" on you until the seventeenth day.
After you enter the academy, fill every free time slot with "independent training" until the end of the seventeenth day. (The other heroines' affection level must be at base value.)
If all the conditions are complete, there is a low chance Ellize will visit you on the night of the seventeenth day. She will tell you how worried she is that you haven't made any friends and you will get the chance to increase her affection level. (Unless you clear this event, Ellize will not become a dateable character and her affection level will not appear on the screen.)
The probability Ellize will visit you on the seventeenth day is around 0.3% according to the latest data.
According to some players, prioritizing muscle-building will increase the chance of Ellize visiting you, but this information has yet to be verified.
To ensure you can start the route, save before the last training session of the seventeenth day and reload as many times as needed.
On the eighteenth day, an event where Farah takes the main character, Eterna, Fiora, John, and a few background characters hostage will be triggered.
Farah will demand that Ellize comes alone, and Ellize will comply.
After she arrives, a fight against Farah's monsters will start. This is the first time the player gets to play Ellize.
Overpowering Farah's monsters will be incredibly easy because of Ellize's high stats. While some players thought Ellize's impressive strength in other routes didn't make sense, her stats certainly seem to align with the feats she's accomplished until now.
Over thirty monsters that are impossible to defeat on the first playthrough in other routes will appear, but Ellize can kill them with one hit.
The fight appears to be impossible to lose regardless of the choices the player makes.
Two days after this event concludes, Ellize will make a surprising announcement and enroll in the academy.
(Please reach out if you have any information to share.)
That was all. A lot had been added since the last time I read through this page.
Goes to show how badly everyone is obsessed with Ellize's route.
I took a look at the image gallery, and the number of illustrations of Ellize had grown exponentially. I couldn't believe it.
Of course, even before I'd taken over Ellize, a few people had drawn her from time to time. Those pieces had been scarce, though, and most of the time they showed her getting beaten up by other characters. The comment section would be full of people laughing at her and saying she deserved it.
No one would have ever dared to draw her as cute and lovely as the images I was looking at right now.
I continued to look things up and discovered there were quite a lot of doujinshi and fanfics online too. Kuon no Sanka had always been a popular series among fan artists, but, uh...stories with Ellize as the main character definitely hadn't existed in the past.
I opened a famous fanfiction website and decided to check out the latest story. The title was "The Guardian of the Fake Flower."
I wonder what it's all about...?
The Guardian of the Fake Flower
Author: D4rkxDivinexDragon
← Previous Story Table of contents ×
Chapter 1: Beginnings
My name is D4rkxDivinexDragon. I'm a normal high school boy. I don't really realize it myself but most girls giggle and swoon when they see me. I guess I must be very handsome.
I'm good at sports and I'm the smartest person I know. I also save people whenever they get bullied. It's no big deal, but somehow everyone loves me.
One day I woke up and...I was standing in a large plain I'd never seen before. I noticed that I was in the world of Kuon no Sanka!!!
Now that I was here...I had to change the warped fate of this world and fight to protect Ellize!
I trained like crazy for a while and I became the super strongest fighter in the world.
Now that I was the strongest in the world, I went to the saint's castle.
When I arrived, someone said, "Who are you?" and the guards tried to stop me.
I started beating them up so I could pass. I easily sent them flying. Did those weaklings think I was going to go easy on them?
Then the king of the country suddenly arrived and stood in my way. I knew he was evil! I knew everything about this world. The whole truth. He had to be stopped and die by my hand.
"Shut up," I said.
I cut his head off with my sword.
Then I went to Ellize's room.
"Who are you?" Ellize said.
"I'm here to protect you," I said while caressing her cheek softly.
"Protect...me...?"
Why is my heart beating so fast?! Could it be...love???!!! Ellize thought.
For some reason, Ellize turned bright red. What was wrong with her?
That was how Ellize and I met.
How did I find myself in the world of the scattering flowers? And what would I achieve here?
I closed the tab without a word.
What...what had I just read? Did I look like the kind of guy to fall madly in love with the first idiot who trespassed into my room and suddenly touched my face with his grubby hands?
Yeah, no. Not happening. And dude, did you really have to give the main character your own username...?
Why did we suddenly get Ellize's inner thoughts even though he was writing in the first person the whole time? Can your character read people's minds? Is that it?
I didn't feel like checking out other people's fanfics anymore after this.
Instead, I read through some threads about Kuon no Sanka. Most people were talking about Ellize, and the threads were full of comments like these:
Lady Ellize is the purest!!!
A better saint than the original!
I managed to get to the moment where she transfers to the academy!
I did spend my time pretending to be the perfect saint, but I couldn't help but feel weird when I saw people speaking about me like this... Not that I could do much about it.
Even if I suddenly hit reply and told them the truth, they'd just think I was some crazy hater.
Keep getting played by that empty shell of a saint, guys.
Though, honestly, I just wished people would stop choking the chicken while looking at artworks of Ellize—it made my skin crawl.
I'm sure you guys would be disgusted too. I'm still a dude inside, you know?
I could already see them getting disappointed at the end of Ellize's route, their hopes and dreams crushed and then trampled into the carpet again for good measure.
I promise you'll regret it. You should stop while you're ahead. Oh, hey—looks like it's time to go back to the other world.
I had been sitting at my desk, but I suddenly found myself floating over my body again.
I know this is a dream, but can my point of view please stop shifting like this? It doesn't make any sense. I sighed. Bye-bye, original body, and hello, Ellize.
(4.9k words)
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