บท 23: Chapter 21: The Past and the Future
A few days had gone by since the headmaster's faction had been taken care of.
Talk about a lousy opening sentence, right? I'm sure you're wondering why I've suddenly brought this up without any explanation, so let me go back in time a little.
I was currently living as Ellize, but in my previous life, I was a Japanese man named Fudou Niito. I'd been reincarnated into the body of a young girl in a place called Fiori, so you could say I was now the protagonist of a gender-bender story.
That was already a lot to take in, but that wasn't even the worst part! I'd transmigrated into a game I knew very very well: Kuon no Sanka ~Fiore caduto eterna~, a dating sim from hell! Aside from the bad ending, Eterna—the main heroine—died in every single route.
The gist of the story was that an annoying witch terrorized the people until a saint defeated her. The player controlled a male protagonist—Verner, as per his default name—and had to raise the affection of the girls that hung around him. The game had two main goals: get yourself a girl and defeat the witch.
From the beginning to basically the middle of the game, there was a character that relentlessly stood in the player's way. She was a total piece of shit that the entire player base hated: Ellize, the fake saint.
Ellize had been born in the same village as Eterna, the real saint, and had been mistaken for her at birth. As a result, she'd lived her entire life as the saint. She was the worst piece of shit in the universe, though, and always abused her power and influence to stir up trouble.
Now, the problem was that I'd taken over the body of this very piece of shit.
I'd been taken aback at first, but I didn't have much to miss in my old world. I got used to my new life here fairly fast.
Since I was Ellize now, Eterna had one less enemy. Instead of acting like the original, I'd decided to do everything in my power to raise the saint's reputation and make sure that Eterna would be able to reclaim her position with the best conditions when the time came.
After I'd made up my mind, I played the part of the perfect saint and strove to reach a good ending—the one I'd always wanted to see in the game.
Fortunately, Ellize's one redeeming feature was her natural affinity for magic. I'd been training hard every day since I was a kid—well, in this world, I mean—and ended up becoming the strongest person in the world (probably). I sometimes felt like a walking cheat code.
I spent a lot of time killing off monsters—the witch's underlings—and making sure we still had plenty of people on our side. That included going around and healing people.
As a result, humanity ended up being much better off than it had been in the game. You know what they say—where there's a will, there's a way.
However, my efforts and strength also meant that I was a major threat to some people. In particular, Dias, the headmaster of the prestigious Training Institute for Magic Knights of Alfrea had become wary of me.
Dias was actually a double agent at the service of the witch, Alexia, who also happened to be the previous saint. He was worried that I might become the next witch.
This world's best-kept secret was the witch's real identity. After a saint defeated a witch, she'd take her place. This meant that, as the greatest saint in history, Ellize (me) also had the potential to become the strongest and most fearsome witch in history. Dias was worried no one would ever manage to stop me, so he'd resolved to do everything in his power to prevent me from getting in contact with Alexia.
How, you ask? By feeding the witch information about me.
Dias's worries were misguided, though. I wasn't the real saint! I was nothing but a fake, so there was no risk I'd ever turn into a witch.
Anyway, I'd purged the academy of the headmaster's faction. Now, there was no one left to run to the witch and tattle on me. As for the witch herself, she was still lurking in the basement of the academy and doing her best to avoid running into me.
And...yeah. That was pretty much everything that had happened up until now.
I won! Oh boy, I totally won! Or so I'd like to say, but I didn't intend to attack the witch right away.
I couldn't be sure we'd gotten rid of every single spy, so it was better to keep an eye out for a little longer.
Even if there weren't any more spies, I was pretty sure the witch would just teleport the moment she saw me. She had the ability to split her body apart and make all the particles fly away at the speed of light. It was a difficult ability to deal with, and I couldn't just attack her without a plan. If she managed to flee, finding her again would be incredibly difficult.
My hands were tied until I figured out a countermeasure.
Even though I kept thinking about it, I had yet to think of a good idea.
Is there even a sure-fire way to deal with that OP skill in this world?
I felt like I could've found a decent countermeasure in another fantasy world, but this one was based on a dating sim. There weren't that many cool spells or skills.
I guess I can always invent the magic spell I need if it doesn't exist. I'm that good, after all.
Anyway, I didn't have much to do in the meantime, so I'd started to busy myself with baking. I was making cakes and custard pudding—bribes—to send to the royal families of the surrounding countries.
This world was vaguely modeled off Medieval Europe, but it was very convenient in the way games often were. The streets weren't overflowing with filth, for one.
Baking wasn't really a big thing here, and they had yet to discover most of the cool recipes. It stood to reason—sugar had only become readily available during the last few decades.
Only aristocrats, royalty, and the saint's church owned ovens, so enjoying baked treats was pretty much their prerogative. That was most likely part of the reason this field had been pretty stagnant. They only ever made some kind of bread sweetened with sugar or honey.
With my memories of the wonderful twenty-first century intact, I hadn't been able to bear that kind of life. I often made easy desserts, such as custard pudding or sponge cake, with a touch of whipped cream on top to satisfy my cravings. I'd even started to give some to the members of my guard from time to time—you know, to bribe them—and they all loved it. After a while, I'd started doing it for royalty too.
One of the first kings to try my cooking had struggled to hide the foolish smile that threatened to spread on his face in front of his court. "It's so soft! I feel like I'm eating a cloud! It's my first time eating a cloud!" he'd said.
A cloud...? C'mon... If you really wanna feel like you're eating a cloud, you might as well munch on some shaved ice.
Anyway, that idiot had proceeded to rename my cake "cloud" without consulting me. He'd spread the name far and wide too!
Talk about terrible naming sense. Cloud's supposed to be an emo guy who swings his enormous sword around all day, not a cake.
As for the pudding, it had been dubbed "mount" because it apparently looked like a little mountain.
I couldn't get over their awful naming conventions, but what could I do about it? Royalty and nobles alike were going around bragging that they could now eat "mounts and clouds" with huge grins on their faces. Idiots.
Anyway, my desserts were now renowned as the "saint's delicacies," and only privileged people got to have a taste.
Needless to say, I'd kept the recipes secret. I wasn't a nice guy, and I certainly wasn't about to go around sharing my knowledge with everyone for free like most isekai protagonists. Monopolies are where it's at! I'm taking this to the grave.
Naturally, there was a reason I was planning on sending out bribes to them.
In this world, the only people who knew about the saint's fate were royalty.
Even the castle I had grown up in—the saint's castle—had actually been built to imprison saints upon their return after they killed the witch. The gorgeous castle would transform into a prison with a single flip of a switch. They even kept monsters in the basement. Why? To kill the saint, obviously. Monsters could kill saints; that had been proven many times in the past.
In other words, the royal families of each country were all pretending to love me right now, but the second the witch was out of the way, they'd turn against me.
I was well aware of that fact, so I was on a mission to win their hearts for real through their stomachs.
If I simply died right after killing the witch, I wouldn't have to worry about that. But, in the event that my identity as the fake were to be found out before then, I wanted some insurance.
I needed to have some sort of value as a person even if I wasn't the saint anymore. If I ended up banished, maybe some king or noble would pick me up off the streets and protect me in secret for my culinary talents.
I didn't have much longer to live, but I didn't wanna spend my last days on the run or begging in the streets. Doesn't everyone wish to live a nice life to the end?
While I was baking, someone knocked on my door. I told them to enter. Layla Scott, the head of my guard, stepped into the room without a word.
Now this is unusual. She usually states why she's here immediately. Were you attracted by the smell, you little glutton? Fear not, I made some for you too. No, wait, I didn't. Oops! Let's just give her mine instead and pretend it was supposed to be for her all along.
"Lady Ellize... Can I ask you a question?"
What is it? Curious about my bust-waist-hip measurements?
I wouldn't even be able to tell her, actually. I'd never measured myself.
Huh? That's not it?
"Lady Ellize... Do you intend to kill the witch?"
Sure do.
Why was my little Scotterbrain suddenly asking the obvious? There wouldn't be a happy ending unless I got rid of the witch.
...Actually, that was kind of a lie. There was a way to reach a happy ending without the witch dying.
As I'd already stated before, the witch, Alexia, was also a dateable character and she had a route of her own. If you locked yourself on her route, it was possible to save her from her fate and make her happy. But, in that case, Eterna ended up being the final boss and she'd die. My poor little Eterna...Anyway, getting on Alexia's route was super difficult, so it wasn't in my plans at all.
Dias had been irresponsible enough to ask me to save her, but truth be told, I didn't really want to.
"The headmaster said that...the saint is bound to turn into the witch after defeating the previous one. You seemed to know about this from the start, Lady Ellize...but no matter how much I think about it, it doesn't look like you have resolved yourself to the fact that you'll become a witch either. So please... Please answer me honestly! Lady Ellize...do you plan to take your own life after killing Lady Alexia?!"
I smiled at Layla's words.
So close! You almost had it, but it's still not quite right.
I wasn't going to kill myself, but I'd die all the same. The witch's dark powers would be too strong for me to handle.
And I totally intend to live (?) my best (after)life as a NEET thereafter.
You're probably thinking I wasn't attached enough to my life. Honestly, I was aware that my way of thinking was a little different compared to that of most people.
As far as I was concerned, I didn't really care whether I was dead or alive. What mattered to me was that I remained conscious. Disappearing forever and dying were two different things to me. While the former scared me, the latter didn't sound so terrible.
I'd lived a pretty good life while I was on Earth. Thinking back on it, all I'd really done was wait for my death while enjoying myself. I'd surfed the web, played games, and read light novels to my heart's content.
Maybe I had a screw loose, but that was just how I was.
"Please tell me the truth, Lady Ellize...am I—no, me and the rest of the members of your guard—are we just here to lead you to your death?" Layla said, her voice almost breaking. She sounded like she was about to cry.
I stopped to think for a moment. I didn't know what to answer.
It was a bit too early for me to come out. If I told her and it somehow leaked, I'd risk getting cast away. I couldn't have that. I considered Layla to be trustworthy, but I couldn't be completely sure she wouldn't talk.
When the time came, I was fully ready to give Eterna her rightful position back. In fact, I wanted nothing more than for her to bask in the glory she deserved! I was totally, completely convinced it was the right course of action.
Layla came from a family that had been serving the saints for generations, and she was very proud of that fact. It was her raison d'être, so it must've been difficult for her to accept the fact that she was protecting me only to send me to my death. No doubt she was feeling a bit lost.
I wiped her tears with my hand and tried to give her some peace of mind. "You don't need to worry about this, Layla. You only know a small part of the truth—a part that has been manipulated by kings and queens. I wasn't told anything about any of this either, so it's only natural you didn't know. I just happened to learn the truth by chance."
Yeah... I just happened to pick up the game by chance, so don't sweat it.
I guess I also know the entire meta of the game and all, which is helping me cheat my way through events, but yeah.
"Is there truly no way...to change the fate of the saint? Is every saint doomed...no matter what?"
"No, it can be changed. That's the very reason I'm here," I said.
Actually, I had absolutely no idea why I was here, but again, don't sweat it. It made me feel much more motivated now that I felt like this was my divine calling.
That's right, I'm here to give this game a happy ending!
"Everything will be all right, Layla," I reassured her. "Your saint won't die. I'll make sure to break the cycle with this generation."
Image here:
"You're not lying to me...right? There's really a way for the saint to live without becoming a witch?"
"There is. I cannot tell you everything in detail, but...please trust me. Stay by my side, Layla."
Layla's face brightened, and she hurriedly wiped away her tears.
I didn't lie, did I? The saint wouldn't die, and she certainly wouldn't become the witch.
Layla was quite the crybaby, so I was sure she'd mourn me for a while, but I knew she'd get over it quickly enough. After all, she'd have the real saint by her side. Unlike me, she truly was a good girl, not a rotten piece of shit with decent packaging.
Still, I couldn't help but feel a bit guilty for deceiving her like that.
Layla was meant to serve Eterna, and she'd been training with all her might ever since she was basically a toddler for that reason. And yet, she'd ended up serving a fake—and not just any fake, but a man pretending to be the saint. What kind of harassment is that, huh?
My conscience was as tiny as a grain of rice, but it still hurt at the thought of having such a hardworking and outstanding girl work under me for so long.
That was why I really wanted Layla to return to her rightful master once this was all over.
"Everything will be all right," I repeated. "I promise I'll create a future where everyone can smile. A true happy ending."
My plan is perfect! I'm going to become the King of the Pirat— Wait, wrong series. I'm going to become the Purveyor of Happiness!
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