The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent

By the end of September, I had just been living an ordinary life.

The hatred I once felt toward Sophia from the original story had mostly faded by then.

What I disliked was just a character in a book, and the person in front of me... she was a different Sophia than the one from my memories.

It was similar to Claire’s case. Of course, even when she was just a character, I had liked Claire, but if anyone had asked me whether the Claire next to me now was the same as the one from the story, I would have said no.

I had even tried asking a few things while rewinding time right after—

“Pardon? Me? I’ve never really killed anyone yet...”

“When I was asked to become a knight by the Law Country, I was happy, but it was to repay the kindness I’ve received. How many people would want to become a knight just to kill others?”

—Sophia answered with a flustered tone.

In the original story, the character's backstory wasn’t really revealed, and she just said something like, “I became a knight of the church because I like killing people,” but... perhaps there was some backstory here too. Was becoming a knight of the church something that happened later in the original story? Did she become one hurriedly because of me?

At least, I remembered that the justification was something like, “I didn’t go around just killing anyone.”

Since I couldn’t confirm it with her directly, I decided to stop asking. Maybe it would be more helpful to wait for Veratti to wake up instead.

Or perhaps I could personally invade the Law Country and grab the Pope by the collar to ask him.

Maybe it was something that would be revealed in the sequel. Since I had come over to this side before the original work came out, I might have missed out on intended details.

...Come to think of it, it’s a bit absurd.

If you’re going to send someone to such a place, shouldn’t you at least make sure they see the entire backstory? That way, they can properly prepare for what comes next.

Sending someone like this without any context just leaves me clueless about what my goal is. All I’ve managed to come up with is some vague, half-baked plan like “saving the characters I like.”

Maybe creating such a situation itself was the goal of that entity, but well, that’s something I can’t confirm right now, so I decided to focus on the task at hand.

The RPG series from Millennium Company, especially the Azerna Chronicles series, tends to focus on introducing the world, characters, and society whenever the setting changes. The first game usually builds the foundation, and then in the sequels, it picks up with the characters coming together and solving the events that occur.

The first game covers the period until the second semester of the first year. The second game starts right after the first and continues until the end of the year. The third game picks up from the second game and covers six months, with the stories becoming denser while the time span becomes shorter, increasing the playtime as the series progresses.

In the third game, the heroine who dies is already determined.

Of course, in a game, it’s difficult to link save files individually, so all the events are packed into the third game. But since this is reality, it’s better to start thinking about everything from here on out.

That’s why I didn’t make a battle manual.

If I made one, the Emperor would probably use it. Jennifer had never suggested I make such a thing, either.

It’s more likely that Rena would go to the Autonomous Nation and create it herself... but that’s fine. If the Autonomous Nation gets the power to counter the Imperial Army or handle the borderlands’ warlords on their own, the Emperor will likely change his mind.

The Emperor is already ruling the Empire much more easily than in the original. And the reason for that is entirely because of my existence.

The existence of the monitor ship that fired on the borderlands is a variable, but that was something that appeared in the original too.

So far, things seem to be progressing positively, right?

So far, at least.

*

The person bowing their head without saying a word was wearing the same uniform as me.

Now that the weather was getting colder, I began to drape my coat over my shoulders again. It was a bit strange that Rena, who often followed me around, also started wearing her coat over her shoulders, but well, at least it didn’t look completely out of place. Jennifer also wore her coat like that.

But this person was different. Every button of the shirt and coat was fastened properly, and the clothes were impeccably smooth without a single wrinkle.

That pristine appearance, which could be described as perfectly neat, made me think of a soldier at first glance, but it still felt different from Rena’s neatness.

Following this strange sense of discomfort, the figure that came to my mind was none other than a maid from the royal household.

Ah, right, of course. Roti was Jake’s maid after all.

“Roti, was it?” I asked.

If she had just been a regular maid, I would have nodded and moved on, but she was a regular character from the original. She wasn’t a heroine to be courted, but she was still quite popular due to her relationship with the righteous male lead, Jake.

“I am honored that Your Highness remembers my humble name.”

If I were in the modern world, I would have thought this sounded a little sarcastic.

But here, it wasn’t. The idea that Roti came from a humble background was common sense here. I didn’t personally think that way, but I wasn’t sure how to respond to her.

“You were a close friend of Jake’s, right?”

“I am his maid,” she responded, as if putting up a solid defense.

“Hmm.”

Hearing that, I couldn’t help but feel a bit challenged.

As a sign of her mixed heritage and colonized background, her skin was dark. The Empire’s main motif was the once mighty British Empire, so the inspiration for Roti’s homeland was colonial India.

Whether Roti had spent her childhood in the Azerna Empire or in a colony, it wasn’t surprising that the caste system was deeply rooted in her mind.

“Jake doesn’t think so,” I said.

“Sir Jake simply treats me comfortably because we’ve known each other for a long time.”

“Then it’s only natural to think of each other as close friends, isn’t it?”

“...Your Highness.”

I quietly stared at Roti.

Since she had her eyes down, I couldn’t make out her expression, but it seemed she thought I was belittling Jake.

Hmm.

I couldn’t exactly say, “I’m not even a drop of imperial blood, but I have the title of princess.”

If the Emperor, who was at the top of the caste system, chose to do so, that was his decision. Bringing it up would only be a pointless aggravation.

“Oh, Sylvia,” Jake appeared just as I was thinking of what to say next. Had he been doing something for a while?

“It’s nice to see you two getting along so well,” he said cheerfully.

“...Sir Jake.”

Roti, looking at us, who didn’t seem friendly at all, warned Jake with a playful tone.

As expected, Jake shrugged off her sharp words, letting them slide.

“Did you two run into each other by accident?” he asked.

“Yes, we just happened to cross paths,” I replied.

Jake smiled at us, seeming entertained.

“Did you speak because our territory is next for the field exercise? Trying to gather some information?”

I hadn’t thought of that, but...

I had a rough idea of how the Lindbergh estate’s castle was structured. It wasn’t fully implemented, but at least I could picture where the books I needed to read or the items I needed to check were located.

“Yes.”

But I was too lazy to think of another reason, so I just went with that.

It wouldn’t make sense for me, who’s notorious for not striking up conversations with others, to speak for no reason.

Especially since Roti had been staring at me quietly.

Because I was “that” royal child from “that” family. She might have thought I would do something at the Lindbergh estate.

And probably, the biggest reason she was wary of me was Jake Lindbergh.

How quaint.

Watching Jake casually place his hand on Roti’s shoulder and seeing her swat it away before he lowered his hand with an equally nonchalant look, I briefly considered making things more awkward, but then decided against it.

“If you really need information, I can share it with you,” I offered.

“Really?”

I glanced at Roti as I spoke.

Jake, too, briefly looked at Roti, and for a moment, it seemed like our thoughts aligned. Jake or Roti probably didn’t suspect I was teasing Roti.

“Then, would you like to have a chat for a moment?”

“Sure, if we’re alone—”

“Master.”

Roti cut off Jake’s words, and Jake shrugged again.

“Oops, seems like my childhood friend doesn’t like it. Well, it can’t be helped.”

If I hadn’t been here, I bet Roti wouldn’t have rolled her eyes.

It’s a bit disappointing that I won’t get to see that.