« Prev | Index | Next »
A new serialization. Thank you for your continued support.
【Survival】 survival.
- Subsistence within a harsh environment, or under harsh circumstances.
【Otome Game】 date-sim.
- A romance simulation game created for a female audience.
「At last, I’ve found you!!」
「!?」
My encounter with that woman was as of an alleyway in the countryside town that I then inhabited.
The pink dress with which she clad herself was of a style popular amongst the young women of the cities, but curiously threadbare. Accounting for her mess of unwashed, somewhat disheveled hair, one could’ve easily mistaken her for a haggish crone — but a glimpse of her face revealed that she was likely a much younger woman.
Her gaunt features and her bloodshot gaze were as a ghost’s — and utterly terrified, I froze. In my moment of weakness, she cast aside the travelling bag she’d shouldered and rushed to assail me.
「N- no, stop it!」
「Mind yourself, you brat! … fufu, this is it, isn’t it?」
「No! Give it back!」
「Shut it!」
Tearing the cloth of my tunic at the collar, she grasped the corded charm pouch that hung about my neck. I’d been admonished never to open it, but open it she did — breaking into a shrill cackling as she withdrew an object from within.
「Aha … ahahahahaha! It’s as I thought! There’s no mistaking it! This was indeed the world of 『※※※※※』! Ahahahahahahaha!」
Before this laughter so replete with madness, I was in my terror incapable of moving.
I had until the age of four resided with my parents in a family of three; but in that year, an incursion of monsters claimed the life of my father, who’d been employed as a soldier. Further breaching the defenses of the village, they’d gone on to kill my mother, and she’d died to protect me. Crying alone beside her body, I was collected by an unfamiliar soldier and brought to the orphanage in this town.
The only personal belonging I was let to carry was the charm pouch that I’d received from my mother. I knew nothing thereafter of the monster incursion, or of the fate of the village — but absent even the opportunity to mourn my mother, I was exposed to the harshness of reality.
There were at the orphanage in the old church only about ten children at the time that I was situated there, but all were made to reside within a cramped, narrow space in the manner of a storeroom. Be it the ragged blankets I was given in the place of proper coverings, or the soup come merely of vegetable scraps and a hint of salt — the amenities afforded to me were stolen away by the older orphans who’d been present prior my arrival.
Twice a day, the old woman who managed the orphanage would serve us portions of soup and rye bread — tough and black. She would aside from that provide for nothing, and matters within the orphanage were left to the care of the children.
Drawing water; washing clothes; tidying the premises; caring for the vegetable plot; cutting wood; carrying supplies; and so forth — the old woman regarded such duties as irrelevant her concern, and forced them upon the children. The volume of work was such that even if we woke before dawn and labored until nightfall, there would yet remain a number of tasks undone.
Thinking to ease their burden, the older orphans did in turn compel their juniors to take up the whole of their share in the day’s toil; and as of discovering that a steady deprivation of meals had pushed one child to steal a potato from the pantry, the old woman brought out the rolling pin — beating the thief to such a state that he regurgitated his get in bloodied chunks. He was the subsequent morning as cold as ice upon his bed.
I’ll certainly be killed — was more than once or twice a thought that crossed my mind. However, the adults of the township couldn’t be relied upon. Nobody would involve themselves with an emaciated orphan caked in filth. Likewise, looking upon such an orphan, there was nobody who would within themselves find the goodwill to take her into care.
However — it was amongst the orphans common knowledge that the old woman would exchange for money any children of comely appearance with a certain adult that occasionally visited.
It wasn’t a place where I wished to linger — but hoping to honor the conviction so oft-repeated by my mother and father, I endured.
『Nobody is evil from the bottom of their heart. Therefore, become as a person who can smile and forgive.』
The old woman so quick to violence was merely easily irritable. The older orphans that deprived their juniors were likewise just a product of a poor environment. I was obligated therefore to smile and forgive — and so thinking, I did for three years incessantly endure; never letting slip my smile, even as I was with the exception of my mother’s pouch robbed of everything.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have done so. Today, the old woman informed me that on the morrow, that adult would once again come to visit — and that I should therefore be certain to thoroughly cleanse myself at the well.
I despaired. The gaze with which the adult regarded us wasn’t pleasant in the least — and of disgust; unable to endure the thought that I would henceforth live in even further debasement, I elected to escape the orphanage.
The escape itself wasn’t of issue, but as I hadn’t been able to carry anything with me, I was in the end let only to huddle with my arms about my knees in an empty alleyway, hungry and forlorn. It was there that the woman appeared before me.
「Fufufu, you needn’t fear me so, 『Alicia』 …」
「!?」
Abruptly addressed, I couldn’t help but tremble in shock. Why would she know my name?
「I’ve been searching for you since yesterday, you know? Being that my knowledge was only of your name and age; of the coloration of your hair and eyes, it was quite a bother to track you down …」
Looking upon me with a crazed smile, she traced her fingers downwards through my hair, to the corners of my eyes.
「A filthy little thing, aren’t you? But it’s fine. We’ll clean you up straight away. I do say, however — 『Grandfather』 would be quite shocked were he to find you so malnourished. We’ll need to get you a spot of food …」
「… grand … father?」
At my murmured response, her bloodshot eyes turned within their sockets to meet my gaze.
「Indeed. Your — or rather, 『my』 grandfather … but hear me out, would you?
When I recovered the memories of my prior incarnation, and realized that this was in fact the world of 『※※※※』, I couldn’t help but tremble in delight … and then despair, as it would be decades before the enrollment of the Protagonist (Heroine) at the academy that serves as the stage of the main story.
Being that I’d be by then a fully grown woman, my path would irrelevant my efforts fail to intersect with the plot. I thought that I’d perhaps be able to become an instructor at the very least, and so committed to building a reputation as an adventurer — putting in every ounce effort to further my grasp of magecraft. However, this was in the end for naught, as the academy draws its students and staff from the nobility alone … Therefore …」
「-hiih.」
Grasping my neck, she withdrew from her belt a knife and pitch-black 『stone』.
「I decided that I would become 『the Protagonist』 (you) …」
The woman’s smile was perversely aberrant.
「Say, do you happen to know what a 『thaumicite』 is? In living creatures that take unto themselves a quantity of mana in excess of a certain volume, there forms within the heart as of the medium of blood a stone referred to as a 『thaumicite』.
A thaumicite is within the flesh not only a repository from which mana can be extracted or aggregated at concentration — it can be imprinted with an elemental affinity, or the disposition of the creature that served originally as the context of its constitution. Fufu … I was quite ecstatic, coming across in ancient texts an attestation as to the means of achieving such a thing — for with this method at hand, the transposition of 『memory』 and 『personality』 to another individual becomes as a possibility!
Whereas previous researchers ceased their interrogation of the matter at the stage of animal (frog) experimentation, I’ll surely bring it the practical utility! For five long years have I let my blood, patiently accumulating the particulates that came to coagulation at the inclusion of my own mana. It was a labor of hardship; of incredible pain — but per my perseverance, my thaumicite is at last complete!」
Spilling forth a mouthful of words, the woman smirked in self-congratulation, holding before me the pitch-black stone as if to boast.
「And once it’s unto your heart ensconced, I can finally be rid of this flesh of mine — letting that I become 『the Protagonist』 (you) in truth!」
「… hiih!」
It was lunacy. She wasn’t right of mind. Even that her endeavor succeeded, would not the product merely be 『a different person』 who happened to have come by her recollections?
Incognizant — perhaps uncaring — that such a thing would occur even to a child of my relative immaturity, she brandished her knife.
「Do be a good girl. I promise it’ll be over soon.」
「… n- no!」
Batting at her knife in fear, I cut the flat of my palm along the edge of the blade — and then, unintentionally brushing my bloodied hand against the stone between her fingers, I was adrift with the curious sensation of something seeping into my skull.
「Ah!」
By my hand, the thaumicite was struck from her grasp, and her attention was diverted to its recovery.
The doll-like smile that I had for the past three years forced myself to wear was all but gone — and softly exhaling; narrowing my eyes, I was abruptly conscious that there had within my mind manifested a calm resolve that 『I haven’t a choice but to make use of her distraction for a counterattack』.
Constrained by the woman’s hold only to turn my gaze, I appraised my immediate environs; and finding a stone in reach, I grasped ahold of it — forcefully slamming it into the woman’s temple.
Gan!
「Gyaaah!?」
Making to protect her head, the woman tumbled aside, dropping to the ground the knife she’d carried.
Taking it up with my right hand, and supporting it at the pommel with flat of my left, I lunged — committing in full the weight of my body as to pierce her breast.
「Gah … ha … w- why … would you …」
Horizontally puncturing the space between her ribs as if to thread a needle, the knife penetrated the woman’s heart. Within the irises of her eyes — affixed upon my figure, as if in apprehension of a matter wholly inconceivable — the countenance of 『my reflection』 was somehow inorganic, absent of affect.
With further force, I twisted the knife as to widen the wound; and as her blood spilled forth, the light of vitality faded from her eyes.
「………」
My hands faintly trembled, even as they had frozen stiff about the blood-stained knife. Shaking, I slowly peeled my fingers from the handle.
What had surfaced to my mind were fragmentary portions of the woman’s 『knowledge』.
I couldn’t quite follow the train of thought that had brought her to this place, but I comprehended at the least that it was for the sake of the 『otome game』 as of her recollections that she’d toiled in blood and sweat for decades on end.
『The World of Swords and Sorcery』 — Ciel.
Within it, the largest of the nations upon the continent of Saas — Cleydael.
Geography and history; knowledge of magecraft; the techniques of combat. The common knowledge of this world. Much of it was too excessively specialized to permit that I grasp it entirely, but I had acquired the bare minimum of the 『wisdom』 requisite to survive.
From the woman’s cooling corpse, I recovered the charm pouch that she’d stolen away; and noticing beside it her loathsome 『thaumicite』, I picked up another rock and smashed it against the ground in repetition — careful not to come into contact with the fragments that flew forth. The larger splinters that weren’t entirely pulverized were disposed of with a kick to the gutter.
Thereon, after fishing through the woman’s clothes for the sheath of her knife and her wallet, I hoisted her discarded travelling bag upon my shoulder.
I hadn’t any further business with this place. However, there yet remained a single task that I wished to complete.
Bearing with me my acquisitions, I adopted a gait as to minimize the noise of my footfalls, distinct from what I’d until now come to effect — retracing my path to the orphanage that I’d only just escaped. Without entering, I concealed myself and peered within.
At last apprised of my absence, the old woman had begun to yell at the other children.
Silently, I stole into the grounds of the orphanage — regulating my breath as in the manner of a predator approaching prey; and concealing my figure in the shadows across the yard.
「………」
Absent of stamina, I was quickly beset by languor; but chewing upon morsel after morsel of the black rye bread that I’d found within the woman’s travelling bag, I managed to stave off the fullness of slumber. Intermittently slipping from consciousness even so, I waited until the sounds of activity from the orphanage had all but ceased; until the lamplight had extinguished in the detachment of the old woman’s quarters; and for an hour further, just to be safe. Then, I moved.
With eyes sufficiently acclimated to the dark, I was even by the meager starlight able to find my way to the old woman’s bedchamber.
There was within the orphanage of the old church not a single doorway that was locked. Quietly pushing open the door, I crept into a room that reeked of wine; and at side of the bed, patiently waited until the snoring woman turned in her sleep. Then, lightly placing a nearby washcloth upon the back of her neck, I drew my knife and carefully placed the tip upon the cloth — pressing with the full weight of my body to drive the weapon deep into the base of her skull.
「—— !」
A faint groan escaped her lips as her body spasmed.
Holding the washcloth as to prevent a spray of blood, I withdrew the knife — gradually, as to wipe away any bloodied chunks that clung to the blade. When it was finally free, I softly exhaled the breath that I’d been holding; and making to relax the stiffened muscles within my fingers, I sheathed the knife upon my belt.
A burden had eased. Per the 『knowledge』 that the woman had borne, a kindly priest would hereafter become the caretaker of this orphanage. It wasn’t of course a certainty, but with this I might’ve hastened his arrival as the old woman’s replacement — precluding that the children further suffer abuse or trafficking.
However —
「… it’s all nonsense …」
The decrepit orphanage; the children who thought themselves so clever; the miserly old woman, who knew of only avarice; the townspeople, who had aware of her abuses cast aside their gaze; that 『woman』, and the ambitions that she’d carried — the entirety of this so-called 『otome game』 was an exercise in nonsense.
Was I meant to concede that it was for the sake of such 『nonsense』 that I had unto this world been born … ?
I rifled through the contents of the bedchamber and the storeroom besides — donning upon my bare feet a pair of leather sandals, and exchanging the threadbare, slightly blood-splattered tunic that I wore for another of a slightly better condition.
Thereafter, laying a spread of sheets upon the floor, I gathered upon it any towels that seemed to be clean; the coins that the old woman had secreted away; the better-quality preserves that she’d kept for herself; a water canteen; and other miscellaneous necessities — wrapping said items within the sheets as to form a sack. Clad as to flee by night, I departed the town of nonsense.
I cared nothing to play a role in any 『otome game』. My life was mine alone to live.
A new serialization, but yet again in the genre of otome games. (laugh)
Primarily a Bildungsroman of adventure, with the otome game elements becoming as backdrop to dark maneuverings behind the curtain.
The Bildungsroman element will be quite detailed.
Also, there will be quite a bit of brutality — but if that’s fine, I’d be honored if you were to add this novel amongst your bookmarks.
A Brief Explanation …
Game Heroine: Alicia Mersys (Merlose)
Inheriting her mother’s rose-blonde hair and the jade-colored irises of her grandfather, a girl of comely features, who rouses in those about her a protective instinct.
Being as she resided within an orphanage until the age of eleven, her mana capacity is low, and her physical maturation has as such been hindered.
Whereas her talent in magecraft (strictly of a light affinity) is average at best, after enrolling at the thaumaturgical academy, she was owing to her unyielding optimism and her unreserved 『smile』 able to gradually advance her association with the various 『capture targets』.
The adult that came to meet the Protagonist (Heroine) was not the 『human trafficker』 that regularly visited, but an agent of her grandfather, come to seek his missing 『granddaughter』. The information that this agent would’ve conveyed was the factor that originally resulted in the replacement of the orphanage’s caretaker — a measure as to provide Alicia with a proper education while the household attempted to ascertain her legitimacy.
Incidentally, the Protagonist has come at present to adopt a persistent, half-lidded gaze. At a tender of seven, the look within her eyes is already unpleasant.
Even that the Protagonist has inherited the 『knowledge』 of the woman of curious provenance, being as she hasn’t properly 『learned』 of it, she isn’t yet capable of making use of the information.
Additionally, biases exist in the inherited knowledge, as it comprises strictly of information that the woman learned within the world of Ciel; modern mathematical ability; and scientific knowledge of the level of a middle school student. As information pertaining to the 『otome game』 of the woman’s preoccupation was by Alicia unconsciously rejected, her knowledge in this area is inundated with ambiguities.
Bearing knowledge alone, and nothing of an education, the protagonist’s grasp of ethics are at present relatively tenuous.
Though Alicia’s personality hasn’t fundamentally changed, per the perspective obtained as of abruptly acquiring several decades of knowledge, she no longer bears the 『purity』 or 『innocence』 of a child — and cannot bring herself to 『smile』.
« Prev | Index | Next »
Adjacent Aisle 