Chapter Thirty: The Otome Game’s Footsteps can be Heard (Part VI)
“Uh, uhm, what kind of research does she help you with?”
“Ah, I’m researching tentacled creatures.”
I reluctantly asked and immediately regretted it.
I already knew that…
“She has a blessing that promotes the growth of tentacled creatures, so she is indispensable for my research.”
When I heard about her blessing, I was at a loss for words.
If we really came from the same world, where did these blessings come from?
No, we don’t know the specific reason for my sturdiness, so there’s a high possibility that our blessings were completely at random.
I’m sure God didn’t say, “Let’s reincarnate them with cheats on,” so the exact reason for this was still unclear.
I saw that her face was slightly distorted when Lucian-sensei made that declaration. However, I thought it’d be foolish to ask why her expression faltered because having a blessing in this world was still a big deal. I think it’s even at the level where a change in facial expression was a normal reaction.
“Hmmm.”
Vint leaned forward and stared at her.
As I also observed, he seemed to agree that she was really startled by this, as expected.
…By the way, currently present here are the three capture targets in the Otome Game we’re in… the Cress Secret Love Story.
Three people, that’s half the number if the hidden characters weren’t included.
Half the routes in that game were special preference routes.
All the capture targets for those with special tastes are here…
What…
How, how come only the ones with the special preference routes are around me…
It’s not like there’s a shortage of capture targets from the normal routes…!
Because Prince Barnabas was near here.
It’s been nearly three years since the Otome Game’s timeline ended… That’s why I was starting to think it was over. However, the only feeling I started having were the signs of the special routes prolonging.
By the way, Vint was still staring at her.
Instead of simply leaning forward, he stood up and looked at her more closely.
The person who came in with Lucian-sensei became more frightened, clinging to him for dear life.
As she’s able to cling to Lucian-sensei, even out here in the open… They must be getting along well.
“It appears like she’s the same as Annelier. I’ve only seen these two souls that seemingly came from another world, so I can’t definitively conclude by mere comparison, but it’s clear that their souls aren’t of this world. They’re also unlike any spirit or being present here.”
I wondered what Vint saw that he was able to say that, but I can’t even imagine the perception a spirit would have.
At the very least, he sees things differently from how we humans do.
“Most of us know what happened to Aya-san. A witch living in the forest accidentally summoned Aya-san’s soul from another world. In doing so, since this was not her intention… The caster lost her soul due to the magical outburst, leaving Aya-san alone with the empty body.”
Lucian-sensei began explaining the background of the person… Aya, whom he brought with him.
The name Aya sounded like it belonged to someone from Japan, so it made my heart jump.
Really, I wondered if she came from Japan too…
“When her soul was summoned, since there was a conveniently empty vessel available, she entered there.”
As I listened to her story, given that her soul was separated from her body in her original world… That’d be the same as getting killed.
I gulped down the lump in my throat.
Even if they said the body was already conveniently there, it’s not like there was anything wrong with the original body, to begin with, so she was like a simple passerby that got dragged away.
It must have been more painful and frustrating to know that fact from the beginning rather than how I, who was left in the dark, was living.
“Uh… Uhm, does that mean Aya-san can’t go home anymore?”
I was at a loss as to whether I should ask.
There was a high possibility that it might set off a mine, and I was also a little scared since Reinhardt-sama was so close to it.
No, asking that doesn’t equate to me wanting to go home, does it…?
“Aya-san hadn’t inherited the witch’s memories, but she got her abilities. She has magical powers and seems capable of using simple magic from the very beginning, even though she had just settled in. So, she will eventually be able to use the same magic the witch had, and if we continue to advance my research, we may be able to create some sort of power that’d return her to her original body. She seems to be studying with that intention in mind.”
Hearing Lucian-sensei’s answer, my eyes widened in shock.
She’s studying to create magic that’ll take her back home…!
It’s amazing how she hasn’t given up.
I couldn’t help but let out a sigh of admiration.
And for a second, I wondered if I could also go back home once their research was completed.
Please forgive me for thinking so.
I won’t say that out loud, though.
…Because Reinhardt-sama might become scary.
I felt Reinhardt-sama’s gaze on me, but I didn’t look up…
“Then, I wonder if Annelier is also a result of a summoning made by the same witch.”
“That…”
Vint’s question made my heart raise again.
As expected, I knew this conversation might go that way.
That’s why I wondered if I’d be able to go home too.
But Lucian-sensei only tilted his head slightly.
“I hadn’t thought of that because the timing didn’t match. Aya-san came at a later time, and there’s also a considerable distance between the forest and the Royal Palace.”
Lucian-sensei, as a magician, seemed to think that the possibility was just too slim to have happened.
“That’s exactly it.”
I was a little surprised when Aya-san, who had been silent up to this point, leaned forward and was about to say something with a grim face.
I wasn’t sure she would say anything the entire time, but until now, her face had been expressionless, except maybe when Vint was observing her.
And I was even more surprised by her words that followed…!
“I don’t think it was the witch who was the owner of this body that summoned the current queen’s soul.”
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