Chapter 13

Upon hearing such a tremendous insult, Sora couldn't help but frown tightly when he heard the system's words, a vein throbbing on his forehead.

She may be a woman, but I'd really like to punch her... too bad the 'Administrator' is an unknown entity with unknown power residing in some unknown dimension of the Omniverse....or something like that.

He shook his head, dispersing those useless thoughts.

Whatever it is, it won't change what he needs to prioritize, which is surviving until the Final Chapter, saving Laura from her evil father, and achieving a happy ending. Preferably by winning over as many heroines as possible... Why would he leave all those beauties in the hands of that stupid Lars?

He wasn't crazy.

-Mmm...

....Come to think of it, I was so upset about Laura's death that I didn't want to play the other episodes of part 2, so I don't know how it ended... My college friend, Takuto, had a pretty gloomy expression when I casually asked him about it and didn't say anything... Will this new feature have the details of its last episodes?

With that in mind, Sora opened the [Chapter List] on the system and was immediately presented with a complete list of chapters for each of the four games, chronologically correct. He went directly to the final episodes of Part 4, "Britannia: The Cute Girls Face the Descent of Evil," and received a detailed rundown of the events of each.

Sora read carefully until the last chapter and his eyes trembled in pure disbelief at the absurd events described in this thing.

"What the hell is this..." he muttered indignantly, something rude, something quite indecent that was probably only possible because he was alone.

The final game was so bad that he couldn't help but curse the bastard who thought that ending was a good idea with the worst possible fate. To put it bluntly, the entire game ended in tragedy.

♦♦♦♦

Lars's best friend, Matteo, and one of the most popular heroines, Jheane, die together in a battle against Imperial Knights corrupted by the power of demons...

The Holy Magic expert heroine, Saint Morgana, permanently loses her sight when she uses divine words beyond her capacity to save Lars's soul after he risks himself in battle to kill the Satan-possessed emperor by using too much of his Demon King Authority.

However, due to an incomplete study of the divine words and the sacraments they comprise, Morgana's divine spell was imperfectly cast, and although he was successfully resurrected, Lars had to live out the rest of his days as a complete fool; his intelligence was now inferior to that of a four-year-old child...

In the end, he ended up under the care of the former student council president, the aforementioned most feared yandere in the game, who was happy to have Lars all to herself and protecting him with all her "love" in what could only be called a nice prison...

Oh… last but not least, the game’s quintessential “Yamato Nadeshiko,” Aria something-or-other, was the first heroine of the fourth installment to die due to a political conspiracy…

That was basically the summary of all the episodes that led to a bad ending in the Britannia Games. Thus, the main character and the others became tragic heroes...

Sora, for his part, could not accept such an ending at all...

Even the end of Lars, that fool, seemed unacceptable to him; it was too absurd and tragic for him.

Now, it's no wonder Takuto acted so shady about it... The ending of the saga is just garbage!

Not only was the third princess, Laura, sacrificed, but the skilled alchemist, Jheane, also died? No... Who the hell kills the childhood friend of a rom-com protagonist after she's become so popular with otaku?

And the boy who played the class clown, a funny character who overshadowed his best friend with his popularity among fans, died with his head smashed in?

Please, if only that was the best thing in the game after the heroines and Arthur! What was Xianpai thinking? Why did he kill the guy who was almost as funny and weird as Gintoki?

Didn't he even have time to say a great line before dying smiling with blood in his mouth, but instead arbitrarily decided to have his head smashed to a pulp after he bravely said "Here I go"?

What the fuck?

And even Aria, that heroine who wielded two lethal weapons on par with Luminia, died not in the final battle, but instead fell due to political intrigue? What?

Plus, they made Saint Morgana lose her sight by resurrecting that effeminate jerk Lars, all just so he could become a real jerk!

And even more tragic... Poor bastard Lars fell into the hands of that crazy woman! The one who even made that kind, naive Lars desperately scream "Oh, gods... The crazy woman liked it!!" in his personal room inside the academy?

What the devil!?

What the fuck!?

"What the hell is this fucking development?" Unable to suppress it, Arthur roared furiously at the ceiling.

Arthur's chambers were, again, soundproof, as there were enchantments on the room that greatly diminished the noise, but even that had limits.

The sound of her scream escaped from her room, somewhat distorted, echoing outwards.

The gardeners outside the mansion, who were tending the gardens, and some other servants who were busy passing by suddenly felt as if they heard what sounded like a ghostly scream and raised their heads, confused and a little scared, in search of its source.

Not finding the source of the bloodcurdling scream (they would never expect Arthur to do something like that in his room), they went back to what they were doing while some wondered if the mansion was haunted...

Unaware of any of this, Sora tried to calm himself by controlling his breathing. He was shocked and angry; he never would have expected something like this.

The game's story should have been a romantic comedy with some real-time anime-like action that you could influence to a certain extent, not a tragedy filled with pain and sadness. It was a story that only seemed more serious when various events occurred that would lead Lars to win the hearts of the heroines or save lives.

However, since part 2 of the game…it seems like everything suddenly became like a Seinen anime!

It literally seemed like a different genre of game when he read the [Chapter List]. He realized he had ventured into darker, more disturbing territory.

Even the death of the third imperial princess was only described near the end of Part 2, but never explicitly shown; at least not until Part 4 (by the way, this guy didn't expect or know there would be a Part 4 after that fiasco. Some gamers must be masochists...)

In Part 4, not only were the plans of the emperor who fell into the temptation of hell and his previous crimes revealed in flashbacks... but also the other deaths and tragedies that followed and were shown in such detail, that it could very well be a horror anime.

As for how the yandere was able to stay with Lars when there were other heroines after his heart?

Well... the five heroines that remained were nobles or daughters of bourgeois who formed a new Kingdom together after the fall of the Imperial Houses, and those families with more power than ever did not allow them to have a mentally disabled man as a companion, staining their honor and dignity.

The heroines in question only lasted a short time before reluctantly accepting their elders' position, and eventually married powerful men or became the proud leaders of their families after a few years.

What pure and sincere love!

Sora, dumbfounded, thought with sarcasm and disgust.

Now he felt stupid for trying to win the hearts of all those heroines. At this point, Arthur decided there were only a few heroines worthy of his efforts to win his heart, like Morgana and Aria.

At least the Saint couldn't get married and take care of Lars because of her own problems instead of other people forbidding her from doing so. About Aria... her true character remains to be seen. 

...as for the rest, maybe she'll turn them into slaves? I'd like to see how high and mighty they are after that!

In the end, the whole game ended up being a piece of shit. And suddenly, Arthur couldn't help but feel sorry for that poor bastard Lars.

The boy could never have imagined that five of the nine women he'd collected like Pokémon would abandon him like that after he became crippled. (Not that Lars was actively seeking a harem, but...)

He couldn't help but join hands and pray for a better life for himself...

Brother Lars... I'm sorry to the naive me of the past who kept using your name as an insult and despising your existence without knowing that it would cause you to meet such a pathetic end.... I would never have done something like that if I had seen your fate of losing what little intelligence you had and suffering NTR and then being abandoned like the trash I once thought you were.... I will not use your name as an insult again.

Somehow... it seemed like I was still insulting him anyway...

Arthur, who was giving a silent prayer insulting to the anime Lars, opened his eyes wide as he realized something.

Huh? But wait... now that I'm here, those things won't happen!  Sora finally realized.

Everything written in the [Episode List] was just a summary of what happened in Part 4, and since the first episode had already ended, Sora still had room to use his knowledge to change the future to benefit himself and those characters he personally liked, destroying narrative causality and obtaining SPn in the process.

I should definitely destroy that damn narrative that wants to impose such a miserable fate on everyone.

Besides, good heroines aside... I can't let Lars or anyone else fall for those bitches' pretty words, or I'm not human! They don't deserve love, just to be fucked mercilessly!

He could already imagine making them his obedient slaves and smiled maliciously.

I don't like you, Lars, but I'm not so cruel as to allow you to make such a sacrifice only to be betrayed! As revenge for your game self, I'll give them the erotic punishment they deserve..!

That was something he was determined to do as well.

But, Sora's obscene intentions aside and to be fair to the heroines in question... it was hard to say whether they betrayed Lars.

Were they forced to care for a child in a man's body for the rest of their lives? It was completely irrational for them to ruin their lives like that unless they were as desperate as the yandere with the unmentionable name...

However, the problem with that reasonable perspective is that for Arthur... no, Shiragaki Sora, if you are a woman who is part of the harem of the protagonist of an anime, manga or novel, but in the end you abandon him to his fate and marry someone else, you are just a whore.

As simple as that. Many otakus would agree.

Plus, they were so beautiful that he wanted to fuck them, whether they were bitches or not. He was a horny boy, this Sora.

By the way, Sora obviously revised his current character's ending, and it's very heroic compared to Lars's... even though he still dies at the end.

Arthur, who fled the Empire, formed a powerful force in another nation to confront the evil Emperor. While aiding the main characters after a long battle, he was killed by a mysterious knight in unholy armor under the command of the demonized Emperor.

That was Arthur's end in the game, that of an old final boss who returns as an ally in the next game and dies saying a great line at the end...

"I leave the future of our world to you..."

What the fuck

Now, it was pretty obvious that he also had to change the future for the sake of his own life, right?

♦♦♦♦

After setting goals to pursue in this world, Sora began to explore the system further by asking basic questions while sitting elegantly on his king-sized bed.

-System, how does the [Store] work?

<The [Shop] is a feature that allows the host to gain access to many useful items by spending SP. All items are divided into 30 classes, with the first being the lowest and the 30th being the highest. However, it should be mentioned that the usefulness of these items is usually quite situational.>

Oh, yeah? The classification is similar to that of this world. How convenient.

In the world of Britannia, not only skills and stats, but also equipment and spells are ranked from 1 to 30.

It was quite easy to understand and remember.

That being the case, although according to the system he should only have access to Class 4 with his current authority, the items available to him shouldn't be that bad.

Even a Tier 1 team from this world would be of some use...

Not wanting to spend too much SP on high-class items, Sora opened the [Shop] and went to the Class 1 item list with some expectations... only to be completely disappointed.

The Class 1 items available in the system can only be summed up in one word: garbage.

From insignificant rocks to finger-sized water bottles... Who would have thought something like this would have any value?

Shit, even a rock costs 10 SP! Does this system really treat me like a handout buffoon? Why the hell are you selling pebbles?   Arthur gritted his teeth at that thought. Gone was the small thank you for the free SP...

Sora naturally thought that since the Level 1 equipment in this world had some magic, it would be the same with the low-class items in the system.

Unfortunately, the system didn't agree with that common sense, as they were all mundane items like those on Earth, at least on the list I could see. Fortunately, I had free access to purchase higher-quality items.

At the very least, the class 2 items seemed useful enough to help a poor commoner survive, and in the third class, there were even things like cooking recipes, natural ancient medicine, and homemade paints.

It wasn't the best, but it was something.

However, when Sora opened the list of fourth-class items, his eyes widened in astonishment.

The fourth class has plans for bombs and ancient land machinery!

It was incredible. There were plans for everything from pistols to cannons, and even plans to make dynamite. However, what discouraged him was that the price of each one was prohibitively expensive.

For example, the plans for the pistols used in World War I cost 1,000 SP...

And I thought I had a decent amount of SP after coming into this world... I'm ashamed of my naiveté. I have no choice but to accept that I'm currently very poor and work hard to live a better life by twisting narrative causality.

With that sad thought that didn't match his current status as a super handsome and rich Archduke, Sora continued to ask the system about more things.

[Equipment] was basically a function that allowed you to quickly equip any equipment you had in your [Inventory] simply by mentally sorting through the system.

It was quite convenient, but it had the limitation that I couldn't use it during episodes or in front of other characters. Although, considering Arthur had the ability to store items in his soul using Aura, both [Equipment] and [Inventory] seemed like rather redundant functions, unless I was missing something…

Only then did Sora remember that this system supposedly can't be used at the beginning of each episode and frowned, asking why.

<Because the {Will of the World} is most active during episodes in an effort to keep the main plot events etched into its existence. If the {Will of the World} detects outside interference through the host, it might attempt to kill the host by manipulating the world's beings and then rewind the Story World to the beginning of the first episode.>

-That sounds bad...

Sora grimaced at the knowledge that there was something as troublesome as a {Will of the World} in this game universe. No, perhaps it was to be expected, given its connection to the New Type Moon universe.

It was a mystery that would never have an answer...

<No. All worlds have a will>

Sora rolled his eyes. He just wanted to sound philosophical or something, you know?

Anyway, when asking the system why the {Will of the World} wouldn't do anything if it distorts the plot on its own, the system replied with ' <Because the host is considered part of this world, the {Will of the World} can't do anything against it no matter how much its behavior deviates from the original plot. However, the moment any sign of extraterrestrial origin is shown during any episode or even outside of them, there will be no doubt that the {Will of the World} will consider it akin to a parasite, immediately dismissing it as a native inhabitant and seeking to exterminate it with several carefully selected agents. >

"..." Sora decided not to say anything about the indirect insult he received.

As for [History], it was a function that recorded your actions and how they affected the world at large.

He assumed it was to allow him to devise a more detailed plan that would allow him to distort the course of history in a direction that would benefit him most by fully understanding what effects his past actions had and how to act on them.

The [Character List] was a feature that already existed in the game alongside [Equipment and Inventory], which would display basic information and preferences of the characters Sora had interacted with after transmigration.

That included not only the main characters, but even extras like the butler, who was apparently named Jonathan.

[Character Status: Jonathan Warmather]

[Age: 76 years]

[Occupation: Butler]

[Host Preference Level: 95/100 (Revered)]

[Rank: Torrius Level 74]

[Traits: Special Manipulation, Butler's Elegance, Celestial Guardian]

[Skills: Aura Manipulation (Level 20), Hand-to-Hand Combat (Level 24), Maryoku Manipulation (Level 14), Sorcery (Level 4), Weapon Mastery (Level 17), Etiquette (Level 16), Horsemanship (Level 15), Socialization (Level 8), Aesthetic Appreciation (Level 7).

[Stats: Strength 27 | Intelligence 14 | Magic 13 | Vitality 19 | Mysticism 15 | Charm

15 | Senses 19 | Resilience 28 | Spirit 16]

Why not show off Alice's potential and character summary? Is it because I haven't "stated" him like I did with Franx? Believing this to be the case, I checked Franx Leumiere's information and was shocked to see the same thing happening with her.

Do I really have to use status to see the potential of that and other characters? Well, not that it would matter, given the butler's age. Even then, Jonathan is pretty strong, right?

Based on his current state, it could be said that Jonathan was a fairly strong character, although Sora had already sensed this with his own senses. However, by having a clear quantification of his abilities and knowing everything he needed to know about parameters and abilities, he now had a clearer picture of his personal power.

If I had to sum it up in an extremely simple way?

Don't mess with the head butler.

Too simple?

It's worth noting then that his Strength and Flexibility stats were at a superhuman level, far above those of Arthur himself, and his skills were extremely focused on hand-to-hand combat and the use of various bladed weapons; qualifying him as a nearly invincible battle butler among those of his rank.

Furthermore, his loyalty was guaranteed, given his high preference towards Arthur at [95/100].

It was no wonder this old butler was the only one who came to pick Arthur up from the Bomenslik Imperial Academy, he was the only loyal guard the talented and powerful Archduke of Draco Silva needed.

Although now that he thought about it he didn't remember Jhonatan being mentioned in the game... he decided to check it out later.

Last but not least, there was the evil digital monetization system... Cough, the [Gacha] feature.

The [Gacha] feature, as you may already know, was a feature where you could acquire a random piece of equipment, skill, or character cards by spending money…a.k.a. story points.

Of course, the chances of receiving junk were quite high, and you couldn't use it at all if you didn't buy the gacha tokens from the [Shop], which were on the Class 3 Equipment List and worth 300 SP each...

Once again it became clear to him that he was far from rich in SP terms.

After that, Sora asked the system (alias Alice) more questions, but didn't get any more useful information thanks to its current level of authority.

Resigned to what he had gained, Sora stopped thinking about the system and approached a large mirror to check his current appearance.

Looking at the reflection of his new self, he whistled in his mind.

Look at this... Who is this male god, huh?  A happy smile spreads across her face at the thought.

He simply couldn't compare to his former self, who, while not exactly ugly, seemed destined to be treated as a dangerous criminal by most thanks to his facial features.

They were, literally and figuratively, two worlds apart.

His slightly tousled midnight black hair complemented his seductive yet piercing golden eyes, providing a dangerous allure that seemed destined to tempt you.

Her faint smile, which denoted self-confidence, captivated any onlooker, and the white uniform with gold embroidery, which only the privileged students of the SS class were allowed to wear, further enhanced her charm with its prestige.

Even when she acted more frivolously and freely than she normally allowed herself to in front of an audience, one could perceive a certain elegance and nobility in each of her gestures, clear signs of her aristocratic upbringing.

He was certainly an extremely handsome young man, full of nobility... the kind of young master you could never imagine cursing like some petty criminal like he was all those minutes ago.

Thinking about that, Sora suddenly felt embarrassed for no reason. His face blushed a little, something that many girls who admired him might find quite cute coming from him.

-...Now that I think about it, I haven't even taken off my uniform yet.

Saying this out loud to forget his embarrassment, Arthur quickly took off his academy report. As he stood there, half-naked, he watched with delight as his current body didn't stray too far from his previous physique.

In fact, he looked better trained, more attractive, and definitely had a spectacular, masculine body he could be proud of. Something in her memory stirred at the sight.

-Really, only seeing his realistic version can I say with certainty that he resembles my old Avatar from Chronicles of the Holy Grail

He whispered curiously, remembering the high-level character he spent time raising back when he personally played that infamous VRMMORPG.

Though her hair wasn't as long as it almost reached her back, and her eyes were gold instead of blue, the overall design bore a striking resemblance to her avatar, the "Black Dragon." This was further reinforced by the fact that the world they were in didn't feel like an anime, like the Britannia she knew.

-I always wondered if this resemblance was a coincidence...or if Xiaopai was a fan of mine during that time when I was playing; after all, her name is the same as my gamer nickname- He thought slightly amused to himself, not taking it seriously.

<Actually, it's not a coincidence; in addition to the legend of King Arthur, game developer Xianpai also drew inspiration from his game character to create this final boss.>

Alice's (System) childish yet monotonous and disturbing voice echoed in his head, disconcerting him.

Seriously!? And...how do you know? 

Although surprised, Sora couldn't help but doubt himself.

While it was shocking to learn now of all the things Arthur is almost the spitting image of his former avatar, he couldn't help but wonder how the system knew such sincerely useless information in the grand scheme of things.

<A lot of diverse knowledge has been installed within the memory of this system. That's all I can tell you. And before you ask, I can't tell you why Xianpai used your avatar as inspiration to create Arthur Pendragon von Draco Silva, though I can tell you that you met her personally in the past.>

So I met Xianpai... Was it during the time I played the game? You can at least tell me that much, right?

<Correct. You and Xianpai played in the same Chronicles of the Saint Grail and met there. I can't tell you anything more.>

Interesting....I knew that the player base for Chronicles of the Holy Grail was tragically small due to the unnecessary realism the developers gave it, but I didn't expect to have met that woman's avatar. 

To think that the most famous final boss in the game was made from something I designed is pretty weird...not that I could claim copyright or anything, haha

Sora then pushed those thoughts away for later, and quickly focused on a more important matter: Checking his "third leg" to make sure he also has a good package in this life... and as a result of his inspection, he whistled happily again.

What is this imposing elephant trunk? This magnificent thickness, almost the size of a four-year-old's arm? This marvelous arrow-like tip, capable of penetrating any obstacle!?

His smile grew bigger, along with a sense of disbelief.

Arthur's big one was actually shaped like an arrow, as if it had been specifically designed to more easily penetrate a woman's vagina. And its thickness was intimidating...

Was XianPai a real pervert, or did this just come naturally? Either way, I'm no longer surprised Luminia loves having sex with her young master so much.

Not only is he handsome and strong, but he's also well-endowed—more so than my old body, I must admit. I'm sure we're both looking forward to tonight.

Humming happily at his good luck, Sora walked over to the closet, opened it, and looked at the clothes hanging there.

They were all elegant suits that a young nobleman would wear, but he decided to wear something that looked like a toga worn by a Roman nobleman because…why not?

Of course, it wasn't the same; it was black and had elaborate gold embroidery with a purple interior; very different from what he'd seen in old Roman movies, but the certain resemblance to the tunic worn by a certain monster lord made him wear it anyway.

While it's unfortunate that regular clothes aren't considered gear, it's nice to know this guy doesn't need servants to dress him.

If so, regardless of his will, he may have called a servant to help him change his clothes.

Too embarrassing...

While idly thinking about these things while putting on the elegant black robe—leaving his muscular chest slightly exposed—Sora suddenly felt something.

...¿Mmm?

Before he could understand what it was, his hand casually reached toward the center of the cabinet and touched the drawing of a black pentagon.

Immediately after, it glowed slightly as Sora felt a chill as he sensed a strange energy coming out of his body and...

--The wooden wall inside the closet magically opened, revealing another room.

Oh yeah? Arthur had a secret room? How… cliché…

That was all he thought instantly at this scene.