Chapter 40
“Well...”
Looking at the rocky terrain stretching on and on, I worried about whether that guy was doing all right.
That guy was, of course, our Enrique.
Honestly, Enrique was an easygoing fellow who was up for anything, but my mob-character routine and his strong-guy routine didn't always mesh.
That's why, before we parted this time, I made sure to tell him in advance.
――Enrique. Please, don't do anything that'll make you stand out.
I don't need money or any reward, okay?
I really mean it. Seriously, I hammered that point home over and over.
As for Enrique,
“I'm saving your life, and you're asking me to work for free?? Come on, you're such a softie.” He'd seemed oddly pleased when he said it, though...
That guy was pretty out of touch, I thought.
I hoped he hadn't dragged the whole village into some flashy stunt.
H-He didn't, right...????
For a moment, an unpleasant image crossed my mind.
Enrique being treated to a little booze by a crowd of grateful villagers.
N-No way.
Enrique should understand that I don't want to stand out.
Surely it hadn't come to that.
By now, he should have wiped out the dark guild disguised as bandits in no time and made a quick getaway from the village.
◆
As I thought about that, I explored the hideout.
The hideout was apparently disguised as a cave, and they'd put a surprising amount of work into it.
Anyway, it's pretty big.
Just how much preparation had they made?
I couldn't help wondering if they had it in for me—or rather, the Randall family—to an insane degree.
They were way too motivated...
“Well then.”
I felt like I'd come pretty far, but based on the path, it looked like the dead end was just a little farther ahead, so I kept going.
And then.
For a while now, low-level members of the troupe
had been popping out from around corners, saying things like, “Where the hell did you come from?!” Each time, I'd apologize for intruding with, “Excuse me.”
“Gwooooh!!!!”
The man crumpled after taking my blow, delivered along with the single word, “Excuse me.”
Maybe he'd heard the commotion, because another man appeared.
“Hey, why are you down...? Hm? That tacky-masked bastard... Gwooooh!!!! Gwaaaah!!!!”
As an aside, I punched the last guy one extra time, but it definitely wasn't because I was getting back at him for making fun of my handmade mask.
Probably.
Like this, I'd been limiting myself to just punching everyone.
I mean, I'd resolved to go back to being a mob character once I'd dealt with this incident.
Murder them all one by one???
No, no, there's no way a mob character would do that, right?
There's no way some deranged mob like a mass murderer exists.
My plan was:
1. Train the protagonist, Zeke-kun
2. Save the strong-willed main heroine, Iris, and show her that “there are good people who care about you in secret.”
3. Completely wreck Mayor Gregorio's plan and somehow make him give up
Those were the three main points.
No matter how weird a mask I'm wearing, I want to avoid standing out any more than this.
So I was fighting gently, trying not to kill anyone if possible.
――But at the same time, I was a little excited.
“I never thought I'd get to see this omitted scene...”
That's right.
This event battle for Iris's kidnapping can't be seen in the original.
In other words, since Lasaka players play entirely from Zeke-kun's perspective, they don't know what Iris, the enemies, and Rain, who arrives just in the nick of time, say to one another at this point.
In the original timeline, if you pursue Iris's heroine route, this is only recounted later in fragments as 'an event that changed her as a child.'
That's exactly why I was looking forward to it.
――Clack, clack, my footsteps echoed.
Judging by the level of the guys guarding this place, the supposedly strong guy farther ahead probably wasn't all that strong.
Then I'd beat him and say this to Iris:
“I came to save you.”
That's right.
Something along the lines of, “The world isn't such a bad place after all.”
And if I had time,
I could casually mention, “By the way, I hear Urtos, the heir to the Randall family, is just bad-mouthed,”
or, “He's actually pretty kind, and his foul mouth is just a way of showing affection.”
――That's right.
I knew.
With rumors like these, it's better to hear them from someone else than from the person himself.
For example, even if you liked someone, rather than confessing your feelings directly, it was easier to start thinking of them as a romantic prospect if a mutual acquaintance said,
“I hear that guy actually likes you.”
I was determined to survive, using every trick I'd gleaned from researching romance psychology on video sites in my previous life, things like “Secret Techniques to Make Your Crush Fall for You.”
――Clack, clack. My footsteps came to a stop.
An open space lay before me.
I'd arrived in a place like a large hall.
And I sensed someone.
“――All right, round two.”
I stepped inside.
There were two people where I stepped in.
The one closer to me, with her back turned, was a beautiful red-haired girl—Iris—but... something seemed off.
Her breathing was ragged: “Hah... hah...”
Looking closely, I could see her back trembling, too.
The sharp, beautiful-girl impression I'd gotten when I'd met her as Urtos that evening was nowhere to be seen.
“Who's there?!”
She suddenly called out.
“Ah, sorry to keep you waiting. My name is—”
Before I could dramatically introduce myself as Genesis, my introduction was cut short.
By none other than her scream.
“I don't care who you are! He's after me!”
Then she shouted without even turning around.
“There's still time! Run! Just go!!!!”
I had no idea what was going on, but for the moment, I thought:
――It seemed best to wait a little longer before showing off my romance-psychology techniques.
―――――――――――――――――――――
Protagonist
→Currently infiltrating the hideout. Attempting to raise their own rock-bottom favorability by posing as a third party and using half-remembered romance-psychology tricks.
Iris
→Seems to be in a tight spot.