Chapter 64
The hunger and thirst stats that end the game once they’re full.
There’s one golden rule—an unwritten law—for stats like these.
They should always increase at a steady rate, so the player can predict them.
If the hunger stat suddenly jumps by 35% and goes, ‘You’re screwed, lol,’ it feels like an unfair challenge from the player’s perspective.
And unfair challenges are one of the hallmarks of a trash game.
<Astra Radius>.
The story within the romance fantasy I’ve possessed.
Until now, I thought this was a god-tier subculture game.
But it seemed I had no choice but to downgrade that assessment a little.
Because just now, right in front of me, the probability of Lucy becoming a witch—the fate that would bring a bad ending if it reached 100%—had shot up by 35%.
“Lu…cy?”
“Hm? Whaaat?”
Lucy was smiling brightly, but ominous starlight sparkled in her eyes.
“How about we put the knives down and talk first?”
“Knife? Why? It’s just a table knife.”
〈Fate Probability〉
Witch of the Profound Ice: 91%
The number was still at 91%, without dropping at all.
Maron, the Villainess of Calamity.
Elettra, the Tyrant of Ruin.
The third name of fate to emerge after theirs.
The Witch of the Profound Ice.
In the original story, Lucy Merhantia meets a tragic end.
After enduring constant torment under Professor Fraham at the academy, she develops a mental illness, likely depression.
Finally, when she tries to end her life by throwing herself in front of a carriage, she is lured in by the Cult of the Abyss and becomes a terrorist.
And that sight is…
“Freeze.”
The frozen ground.
The frigid air.
People frozen stiff.
“Freeze so you don’t have to feel anything anymore…”
People scream. They beg to be saved. All their voices are buried beneath the ice and snow.
The blood inside their bodies freezes and their cells burst. Their eyes, brains, and hearts freeze. The blood in their veins turns to slush, and internal bleeding from ruptured blood vessels blooms into garish flowers.
“Everyone’s quiet now. You’re all at peace, right?”
A smile appears at the corner of the witch’s mouth, long since gone cold and frozen.
“If everyone’s happy, then I’m happy, too.”
Only clear, transparent ice remains in the witch’s wake.
But a dark smile is all that lingers on her face.
Neither a sob nor a laugh, just frozen.
‘Lucy.’
If I get a bad ending, it won’t end with just me dying alone.
The women whose probabilities I raised will fall into despair, too.
Maron, Elettra, Lucy. And the other people with fateful traits I’ll meet in the future.
“Lucy.”
I gripped her shoulders.
“W-what’s wrong? I’m really fine—”
“I want you to be happy.”
“…!”
Lucy’s eyes trembled.
These weren’t words the system had suggested. I’d chosen them myself, because I wanted to say them.
“You might wonder why I’m saying this all of a sudden… but I mean it.”
After all, conveying my sincere feelings had always been my only strategy.
“I want Lucy to be happy. I want you to be happy, and me to be happy, and all of us to be happy together.”
“……Gilliam.”
Lucy whispered.
That wasn’t ‘boy,’ nor was it ‘honey,’ the way she sometimes teased me.
It was simply my name.
Just me, standing in front of her.
And.
〈Fate Probability〉
Witch of the Profound Ice: 87%
It seemed my sincere feelings had reached her heart, too.
‘Whew….’
Relieved, I let go of the hand gripping Lucy’s shoulder.
“Was I holding you too tightly?”
“…No.”
Lucy smiled.
Softly.
Just like the Lucy I knew.
“You could’ve held me a little tighter, even.”
“Then that’s good.”
Iris, who’d been watching us silently the whole time, asked cautiously.
“Young Master Everchess, do you…?”
She looked at the person she’d spoken to, then at Lucy.
Then she recalled what Elettra had looked like the night before.
“Do you have someone you’re dating…?”
There was already a love triangle.
Was it about to become a love quadrangle with her in it, too?
“…I’m not dating anyone.”
Lucy flinched.
“But I have someone I’m seeing.”
The person Gilliam meant by ‘someone he was seeing’ was Elettra.
But Lucy’s eyes widened at his words.
Because she’d misunderstood.
‘Seeing someone…?’
If he’d gone out of his way to say that in this situation, wasn’t the person he was seeing her?
He wasn’t dating anyone, but he was seeing her.
Then what were Gilliam’s true feelings?
‘Am I special to him?’
Elettra’s place as the official wife wouldn’t be decided by affection alone. Her solid social standing as a princess was her greatest asset.
But.
‘Even if I lose out in terms of official standing…’
Gilliam’s ranking in his heart.
The ranking of his affections.
Could I be number one there?
‘Could I beat Princess Elettra?’
A hot feeling spread through Lucy’s chest.
A shiver.
Another shiver.
From now on, Elettra would always act as Gilliam’s principal wife in official settings, the number one among his many wives.
But when it came to the bedchamber and matters at home…
Couldn’t she, the one who received the greatest affection from Gilliam, hold the real power?
Couldn’t she make all the other women watch their step around her?
Concubine No. 1.
And yet, within the household, a power broker even above the principal wife.
Lucy imagined it.
Elettra and Maron, Iris here now, and the professors who clearly had romantic feelings for Gilliam.
All those women watching her every move, their turns in Gilliam’s bed carefully managed, each waiting for permission to share his bed.
“Hehe…♡”
A shiver.
Another shiver.
〈Fate Probability〉
Witch of the Profound Ice: 80%
Seeing the number drop again, Gilliam felt even more relieved.
‘Whew… Looks like I managed to get through this crisis, anyway.’
That was a close one.
‘As the number of people in my life grows, are the chances of a bad ending suddenly shooting up like this going to increase, too?’
I brought up the quest window.
【Fate Quest】
〈Gatherer of All Stars〉
Objective: Touch the star mark of every star (3/??)
There were two question marks, so the number had to be at least in the double digits.
Did that mean there were at least ten people with fateful traits?
It was already this precarious with three. Just thinking about having ten was dizzying, but…
‘…It can’t be helped.’
Complaining wouldn’t suddenly make the number of people with fateful traits decrease.
Whether there were ten or even more, I had no choice but to gather them all.
“Wow…”
Beside me, Iris was covering her mouth in amazement.
“That’s insane…”
“What is?”
“You, sir.”
“?”
Lucy smiled at Iris.
“Come to think of it, I still haven’t asked your name. I’m Lucy Merhantia, a first-year research student.”
“I-Iris Fairchild. I’m a first-year cadet who transferred here yesterday…!”
“Iris, shall we get along from now on?”
I spelled it out a little more for her, since she wasn’t used to the noble way of speaking in circles.
“There are a lot of rivals. It’d be wise to secure some allies, wouldn’t it?”
Iris understood at least that much.
‘She means the two of us should form an alliance in this love quadrangle, right?’
The two of them joining forces to get rid of that woman, Elettra.
“…I’ll think about it. Thank you.”
She really meant she’d think about it, and she really was grateful.
“Hehehe.”
Lucy laughed without meaning to.
‘How refreshing.’
She was a type of woman Lucy had never encountered before. She’d surely bring about interactions Lucy had never had until now.
Gilliam got up after finishing his meal.
“Well, then.”
“Mm-hm.”
Lucy smiled at Gilliam.
Naturally and brightly, without needing to put on an act.
“Have a good time. I’ll be waiting.”
On the way from the dormitory to the main gate, Iris kept glancing sideways at the man beside her.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I was just thinking that with a face like yours, a love quadrangle is inevitable.”
“A quadrangle?”
Gilliam rubbed his chin.
“It’s not really a quadrangle…?”
…Did she mean a love triangle?
Was that the noble way of saying I shouldn’t expect to be treated as an equal to the other two?
“By the way, who’s going with us?”
“Three holy knights from the Church and one bishop are coming.”
“Am I the only one from the academy?”
“They originally offered to send support… but the bishop probably refused.”
“I guess so. Professor Kadisha wouldn’t have just let that slide.”
“Kadisha?”
“There is. She’s one of the professors.”
Speaking of Professor Kadisha…
‘So what should I ask her to do, in the end?’
A one-time command.
What should I use it for?
‘If Professor Kadisha has a fateful trait, it’d be perfect to use my command on her and ask her to show me her star mark… I wonder if she does?’
I had no idea.
When I asked her last time, she said she didn’t have one.
But I had a feeling she might have been lying.
“Iris.”
“Yes?”
“Do you happen to have a fateful trait, too?”
There was no way she did, but…
In the original story, there had never been a scene where the protagonist mentioned a strange mark on her new body—
“H-how did you know!?”
“…?”
Why did she have one?
No, more importantly…
“Can you show it to me?”
“No!?!?”
Iris raised her hand, then lowered it. She’d nearly hit me without thinking, but stopped herself.
“L-listen carefully, Young Master Everchess. Fateful traits only appear in women.”
“I know.”
“And the star mark that comes with a fateful trait appears in the place each woman would be most embarrassed to have it…!”
“I know that, too. I’ve already seen a few… Ah, forget I said that.”
“…!?!?”
Maron’s was on her lower abdomen.
Elettra’s was on her butt.
Lucy’s was between her breasts.
So Iris’s would be somewhere similarly embarrassing.
“So, if you don’t mind, could you tell me where it is?”
“I don’t know why you’re saying ‘so’ there!?”
Oh, how refreshing.
Wasn’t the technical term for this a tsukkomi character?
“Um… Young Master, listen carefully. I don’t know about the others, but mine is somewhere I absolutely cannot show you! Unless we have a truly special relationship!!”
Just where could it be for her to act like that?
“Is it hard to explain in words, too? If you really can’t tell me, then don’t.”
I didn’t want to press her this much, either, but this was a Fate Quest, so I had no choice.
“Th-that’s…!”
Iris clasped both hands in front of her crotch and squirmed.
“I-I… where it is, well, I mean…!!”
“If you need the restroom, it’s that way—”
“It’s not that I need to use the restroom…!! I-I…!!!”
Iris pressed both hands against her crotch over and over, then finally snapped.
“Please take a hint!!”