The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent

"[Because it's you.]"

"Wait, wait a second."

"[Because it’s you, I believe you can do it.]"

"I told you to stop for a second!"

"Kyah!"

Suddenly, Charlotte pounced on me, and I flopped sideways onto the floor.

Yeah.

Even though I’d been following Claire and Alice’s workout routines ever since coming to this world, I still didn’t have the muscle strength to stand up to actual swordsmen.

"What was that just now? What are you doing? Are you telling me that the me inside the game actually said that!?"

Charlotte’s face had turned completely red — it was honestly adorable.

I hadn’t seen her make that kind of expression before.

"Of course. That’s how the scenario goes."

"There’s no way I would say something like that to Leo. No way I ever did!"

"Charlotte, could you lower your voice a bit? If you’re not careful, the neighbors might hear you yelling."

"..."

Glaring at Alice, who spoke with a grin, Charlotte pulled herself back up.

[Crack]

[Now that's real yuri]

"Claire, please ban them."

"Got it."

As I picked myself up, I said it casually, and Claire quickly grabbed the mouse to ban or mute the idiots in the chat.

Yeah, it's definitely more efficient when several people manage the stream instead of just one.

"It’s natural that you wouldn’t have said that to Leo. The world we lived in and the world inside the game follow very different stories."

"...Even so, I still think it’s bad taste to have me say lines like that. And to make us read unvoiced dialogue aloud on top of it."

Charlotte was sharper than I expected.

I hadn’t explained the game in detail — at most, I’d only given her a vague idea of what video games were — and yet she had already inferred that there were parts where the player could make choices. It was honestly impressive.

Maybe she realized it by watching me control the character?

"But I don’t think it’s impossible, you know."

"Would you care to explain that logic?"

Charlotte demanded sharply, narrowing her eyes.

"Do you remember when we were in Lutetia?"

"What about—ah."

As soon as I said it, the color drained from Charlotte’s face.

Of course she remembered. Even though quite some time had passed for me, it hadn’t been that long for her.

Back then, in Lutetia, Charlotte had told me how happy she was to finally make a true friend. And when I said I would leave her behind, she had desperately begged me not to.

Incidentally, the line she had just freaked out about was from an event where Charlotte and Leo were paired together right before a big battle.

The war would start, but immediately get half-suppressed when a flagship exploded. After all, the Empire’s most powerful strategic weapon was destroyed.

And of course, rumors spread that it could only have been the work of enemy spies who had infiltrated deep into the Empire.

After that event, Sylvia disappeared.

She wouldn’t show up again until much later — dramatically reappearing when the main characters were surrounded and about to lose, saying something like, "[This is as far as you go.]"

For now, Sylvia was officially "missing, presumed dead."

The Empire was in chaos.

The war itself had been delayed, but public anger and frustration kept building, looking for an outlet.

That turmoil spread to the capital, and even foreign nationals living in the Empire — like the Belvur citizens — faced rising threats.

Charlotte, as a royal princess, was still treated as a VIP. The army had been deployed to the borders, but the war hadn’t actually broken out yet.

But Charlotte heard the whispers — that Belvur citizens living in the capital were in danger.

And as a royal, it crushed her not to be able to protect her people.

The event triggered when Leo spoke to her during that time of anxiety.

...Of course, I hadn’t known the details when I first played. I just assumed it would be a standard friendship-building event.

The fight started against Imperials who tried to lynch the Belvurians, and in response to Leo’s question — "Do you trust me, even though I'm Imperial?" — Charlotte blushed, lowered her eyebrows slightly, and answered...

"If you bring that up again, I’ll challenge you to a duel."

"In this country, duels to the death are illegal."

Though it might technically fall into a gray area, sword duels were definitely illegal.

"There’s always loopholes in the law."

"Should royalty really be saying things like that? Besides, doing something like that would set a terrible example for Mia."

"I-I’m the same age as you guys!"

Mia, who had been peeking through her fingers while blushing just moments ago, suddenly shouted.

[That’s an adult?!]

[She’s an adult?]

[Is that even legal?]

Ah, right.

On paper, we were legally adults here.

If we found Mia’s ID, she could even buy alcohol and cigarettes.

...I could imagine Mia drinking, but smoking? No way. Even though in her homeland they sold opium openly.

No, more importantly—

"Claire, please ban anyone talking about 'legal' stuff again."

"Okay!"

Claire looked like she was having a great time.

"Anyway, I absolutely cannot allow it."

Charlotte said firmly.

"Pick someone else. You appear in this game too, right?"

"Unfortunately, I haven’t shown up since the last event."

"..."

Charlotte turned sharply to Alice.

"Sorry, but I’m already being courted."

Alice replied flatly, erasing all emotion from her face.

"..."

"Uh, I’m fine with it, but you probably can’t romance me in this game anyway. I’m the little sister, remember?"

Yeah, true. When I tried talking to her in-game, the dialogue didn’t lead toward a romance path. She was a doomed character anyway, mostly given extra scenes for backstory before her death.

"Ah, and Mia’s off-limits."

"Why!?"

Charlotte and Mia both turned to me in unison, confused.

"Are you seriously suggesting we have Leo romance Mia?"

Charlotte glanced at Mia, then wiped her face tiredly with her hand. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"Okay, I see your point."

"Why me!?"

Mia protested, her face bright red.

"I’m the same age as you guys!"

It was rare to see Mia get this emotional.

...Actually, no, not the first time. I had once accidentally mentioned her father in front of her and gotten a reaction like this.

...But that’s a story for later.

"Anyway, it’s not happening."

"No way!"

"I’ll buy you a chocolate cake tomorrow if you give up."

"What kind of logic is that...!"

Mia shouted, but she quieted down almost immediately.

Wow.

That worked.

She really did love food.

How she stayed skinny, I’d never know.

Now that I thought about it, maybe we should do a mukbang tomorrow.

Not a full-on eating show, but maybe a little event — like when Alice did that figure review last time.

"Then what about the current event?"

"There’s no way to skip it."

The game screen had been looping the same battle background music for a while, with the characters still glaring at each other, frozen in their battle stances.

It was a turn-based game, so time passing didn’t matter much, but standing there like that was getting really awkward.

"Can I continue now?"

"...You act all casual after starting this whole mess..."

Charlotte grumbled under her breath, but she didn’t stop me from playing anymore.

...Well, I hadn’t even reached Charlotte’s ending yet anyway.

We could decide everything at the end — by skill if necessary.

And when that time came, I’d just have to avoid a strength contest at all costs.

I had a few ideas.

But as always, life never goes according to plan.

I calmly operated the gamepad and quickly finished the battle, which had been designed to be easy since it was an event mission.

*

After the stream ended, we changed into comfortable clothes, laid out futons on the floor, and °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° lay down in a row.

Honestly, it wasn’t as cramped as I feared.

Though if anyone started talking in their sleep, it would probably wake all five of us.

Alice, me, Claire, Charlotte, Mia.

We hadn’t assigned sleeping spots, but somehow we ended up like that.

"...How was it?"

I asked Charlotte.

"Hmm."

Charlotte exhaled quietly.

"...I’m still a little anxious, but it wasn’t bad. If I’d ended up in a place like this alone, I’d have been lost about what to do. But there are so many familiar faces here."

"Same for me. This world is full of interesting and fun things. I’d like to learn more."

"I’m glad."

"You’ll get used to it eventually. You were a royal princess, right? Since it’s come to this, why not just relax and enjoy yourself for a bit?"

"...Is it really okay for someone of imperial blood to say that?"

"Alice is right too. If you can’t avoid it, enjoy it. And it’s also part of the way we’ll find our path home."

"You're talking about what you mentioned earlier, aren’t you?"

For a moment, no one said anything.

"...If that's true, then until the next chance comes, I guess the only choice is to relax."

"Exactly."

Claire’s voice was full of laughter.

"We’ve already visited a lot of fun places. Starting tomorrow, I’ll introduce you to them one by one! There are still plenty of things I want to try here too!"

"And eat lots of delicious food."

Hearing Mia’s casual comment, Charlotte let out a helpless little chuckle.