Childhood Friend - Tenth Leo
Leo stood still with his mouth agape. A chill and fear enveloped him.
He couldn't think. He needed to pull himself together.
"Leo? What's wrong? Your expression is strange."
Lena approached, waving her hand in front of his eyes.
She looked at him curiously as he started biting his nails, pale-faced.
"Huh? Oh, no. It's nothing."
Leo lied, rubbing the back of his neck drenched in cold sweat.
"Sorry, but I have to go first. I have something urgent."
He then hurried back to the village. Lena followed, asking, "What's wrong?", "Leo, are you okay?" but he didn't have the presence of mind to answer her.
"I suddenly don't feel well. You don't need to follow me."
Leo shook off Lena, who had followed him to the village entrance, and quickly went into his house.
He locked the door, which he usually didn't use, and collapsed onto his bed. He took a deep breath to calm himself.
[ 10/20 ]
The number that appeared at the bottom right of his vision remained there even when he closed and opened his eyes.
Ten. No, did it mean there were eleven times left, including this round?
Lying on the bed, he felt his mind becoming hazy but managed to stay sane.
Fortunately, he was Leo. If Minseo had faced this situation alone, he would have screamed, but Leo's mental fortitude acted as a breakwater, protecting his sanity.
That didn't mean the shock was any less...
'Is it even possible to clear this? No, it's impossible. This can't be happening. It shouldn't be like this!'
It was no longer a matter of seeing a happy ending. If he couldn't clear it, it was the end.
But all nine previous attempts had failed.
Even the last scenario, where he had gotten closest to the princess, ended disastrously.
He shook his head in denial of reality, but the numbers imprinted in his eyes neither disappeared nor changed.
He erupted in a fit of rage,
“This damn game! This crazy, shitty game! It doesn’t give me anything, so what am I supposed to do?”
He tried to negotiate with himself, clinging to a sliver of hope,
“No, no, wait. Let’s think about this again. 10/20, just because that number fills up doesn’t mean something bad will definitely happen, right? Maybe it’ll just say [To continue, you need to pay.] and end there. Yeah! Now that I think about it, it was a 2000-won game. 100 won per round! It fits perfectly!”
He pulled at his hair in resignation.
“Damn it, that’s not going to happen. Sigh... My life is ruined because I clicked on the wrong game... I should have lived better... I miss Chaeha...”
In the end, he let out a deep sigh, got up, and ate his meal.
The sun was already setting.
After a day filled with a whirlwind of emotions, he chewed on some jerky with a numb expression, trying to think as positively as possible.
There’s no one to help if you collapse in despair.
“I still have eleven tries left...”
It would be difficult, but not impossible.
He had almost become the adopted son of that great marquis in just nine tries, and the rewards he had accumulated so far hadn’t disappeared.
“It’s possible... right?”
After finishing his meal, Leo returned to his room. Leaning against the window, he continued to ponder as he watched the darkening outside.
Even without the limit on the number of tries, there was still a troublesome issue.
[Achievement: ‘10th’ Leo - The player’s assimilation with Leo slightly accelerates.]
“No wonder I felt like the assimilation was speeding up...”
The number ‘10’ written in the achievement was clearly a counter.
It hadn’t appeared before because he hadn’t reached the tenth try, but that counter was undoubtedly increasing one by one with each repeated round.
The time lived in each episode varied greatly, and the changes were so subtle that it couldn't be concluded that the assimilation speed was accelerating.
However, there was a strange sense of incongruity, and once, there was a clear sense of crisis.
It was in the scenario where he first died in an engagement relationship. That Leo was the 8th Leo, and he had become a complete Leo to the extent that he found 'Minseo, the impurity,' unpleasant in the end.
Leo scratched his head anxiously again. There was a limit to the number of times, and he couldn't play as he wished.
'Could it be that the assimilation speed is getting incredibly fast? Actually, even now...'
The one thinking now was Leo, not Minseo.
It was just after the scenario had started, so thoughts as Minseo were briefly continuing, but Leo was Leo.
Looking back now, Minseo and Leo were in a subtle relationship.
Minseo struggled to clear the scenario somehow, while the Leos wanted to avoid the repeated tragedies.
Minseo felt affection for the Lenas in each scenario, and the Leos understood Minseo's situation, so they could cooperate until now.
In fact, rather than cooperation, it was more like an existence where Minseo and Leo's minds were combined, trying to achieve the best result for everyone.
However, if the counter for the '10th' Leo achievement went up further, Minseo might hardly influence Leo in the future.
If so, what actions would the 'complete' Leo take?
For example, how would the Leo in the childhood friend scenario react when Lena leaves after encountering the priest event?
Would he let her go?
It was an unknown matter.
Until now, Minseo had influenced whether to let her go or not.
Of course, the Leos had Minseo's memories, so they wouldn't act the same as before, but the problem was whether they would move to clear the game was uncertain.
The Leos might pursue their own happiness rather than trying to make Lena a princess.
He leaned against the window, trembling with anxiety.
Up until now, Leo had mostly moved on his own. However, the fear of being completely unable to influence anything was something else entirely.
It was hard to bear the uncertainty of having to entrust his fate entirely to someone else and just wait.
[ You have died. 1/3 ]
[ Achievement: First Death - The speed at which the player assimilates with Leo slows down. ]
The only way Minseo could cope with this uncertainty was through the 'Death' achievement.
A method to slow down the increasingly rapid assimilation speed. Although there was a limit to the number of times it could be used, wouldn't the assimilation speed slow down further if he died again?
‘That’s a ridiculous thought. It might be an achievement that only appears the first time you die. Raising the death count just to confirm that would be a foolish act.’
At that moment, Minseo's thoughts took a sharp turn as they were interrupted. His mind, gradually changing under the influence of 'Leo,' was becoming increasingly tangled.
Of course, Leo did not want to die. The only person who could consider death functionally was Minseo.
Leo, deeply imbued with Minseo's scent, couldn't stop worrying throughout the night.
It was fortunate that his father was not at home.
* * *
A few days later, Lena and Leo headed towards the stream.
Today, the sun was particularly hot, so they went out to cool off and catch some small fish. Catching fish in the stream didn't yield much, but it was relaxing and fun for the two of them.
Having done this for the fourth time already, Leo knew that Lena would suggest going to the stream today.
However, he had previously prepared to go berry-picking in advance and had received a lot of suspicious looks from Lena, so he idled away the morning doing nothing.
Father will return tomorrow.
Upon arriving at the water's edge, Leo pulled out and cut a long vine. He knew that by weaving this into a fish trap and baiting it, they could lure the fish inside.
While Leo skillfully wove the fish trap, Lena foraged through the bushes to pick the fruit called 'Daner.'
The fruit looked like raspberries but was dark blue, similar to blueberries.
Daner was not suitable for human consumption as it caused stomach discomfort, but it was quite oily and useful for luring fish.
Lena gathered a bunch of Daner and crushed them with pebbles by the stream. Now, all that was left was to place these blue-stained pebbles, soaked in Daner oil, into the fish trap.
After carefully examining the water flow and depth, Lena submerged the completed fish trap into the water.
Of course, one fish trap was far from enough, so Leo began weaving another one. As he mechanically moved his hands, he thought about his future plans.
It had been a few days since the scenario began, and with a determined heart, he had devised his own plan.
This time, he intended to seek out 'Cleo de Frederick,' the prince of the Holy Kingdom of Jerom.
Cleo de Frederick resided in the capital of the Holy Kingdom, Lutetia.
Previously, even while in the capital, he couldn't find a way to meet the prince and had hastily married Lena, who was in despair after being expelled from the church.
Unlike before, this time he had a way to find the prince.
The {Tracking Skill} he obtained as a reward from the last scenario was truly a useful ability. It was especially gratifying for him, who had scoured two kingdoms in search of his sister in the previous round.
Now, he would never be separated from Lena again!
Never!
The {Tracking Skill} was an ability that pinpointed the exact direction of a specific person, and thanks to it, Leo knew without turning his head that Lena was currently to his right.
He then thought of his sister Lena and Lena Ainar in turn. The {Tracking Skill} indicated that both were to the north, with only a slight difference in angle.
It was the moment he confirmed that three scenarios were progressing simultaneously. Other Leos were felt in the same direction.
However, this ability could only pinpoint the location of one person at a time, making it impossible to think of two people simultaneously.
But since he could recall them one by one, it wasn't a big problem.
At first, he worried that this ability might only work on people he had 'met' before, but fortunately, that wasn't the case.
Through the {Noble Society} information, he could also discern the directions of all the princes and swordmasters in the seven kingdoms.
It seemed that as long as he 'knew' the person, tracking was possible, and the fact that information obtained through the {Noble Society} was included was very welcome.
Indeed, the rewards given by the scenario were all useful.
Except for just one...
'Now I can go directly to the prince!'
Hope sparked in Leo.
Until now, even though he was in the capital, he couldn't find the prince because he didn't know where he was.
Of course, the prince would be in the royal palace, but gaining access to that place was a distant dream.
However, the situation had changed. Now he could directly seek out the prince, and he had heard from the previous Childhood Friend scenario that Cleo de Frederic often went out hunting.
The information picked up from the blacksmiths wasn't very reliable, but where there's smoke, there's fire, right? It was probably true.
[ Achievement: First Meeting with the Prince - Gained slight favor from all princes. ]
And Leo had an achievement that earned him favor with the prince. So, he just needed to keep an eye on the prince's direction and quickly approach him when he appeared.
Thanks to the convenient ability called {Tracking}, a new path had opened up, and Leo hummed a tune to himself. It was a song to boost his spirits.
Eleven more times? He could definitely clear it within that time.
Leo tapped the newly completed fish trap on the ground to shake off the twigs. Then he handed it to Lena, who was next to him, and said,
"Lena. I made another one."
"...Hmm."
Lena, who was staring blankly at Leo without taking the proffered trap, asked quietly.
"Leo, you are Leo, right?"
Stupid…. He can clearly try to meet the swordmasters to complete the achievement but instead he gonna do something stupid again.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the chapter!
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