The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent

[Sylvia, your expression seems brighter these days.]

"Is that so?"

I had no money worries, we finished moving into a better house, and now I even had a perfect room for streaming.

It would have been stranger if my expression didn’t look brighter.

"It really has gotten brighter. Unlike before, when I was the only one who could read it... I don’t really know how to explain it properly if you ask me to, but still."

"It’s probably because I installed better lighting."

I had money left over, so I properly upgraded my streaming equipment. I hadn't installed a soundproof booth yet, but I did set up good lighting to make our faces look better on camera, and I switched to a better camera too. Even if my expression stayed the same, it could easily look brighter now.

"Overall, things are much better than before. I’ve got way fewer things to worry about."

[Did you win the lottery or something?]

Sharp.

Well, it was probably just a wild guess, not actual sharpness.

"At least, I can say I don’t have to worry about living expenses anymore."

[LOL why would a princess worry about living expenses LOL]

[Did you finally inherit the throne?]

A savage dono came in.

"I won’t be inheriting the throne, Alice will, so there’s no need to worry."

At my answer, Alice’s expression became subtly complicated, but I just shrugged.

"Well then, let’s continue the game for today."

*

Since Sylvia blew up the battleship and disappeared, she still hadn’t been found.

Even after Sylvia’s disappearance, life continued on shakily. Alice smiled less than usual, Claire seemed listless and deflated, the Empire and the Kingdom remained on edge, but still, there wasn’t anyone who could throw the entire world into flames.

And then, suddenly, an incident broke out in the Imperial capital.

[Please stay here. From this moment on, everyone in the Academy is not allowed to leave.]

[What are you talking about? Do you even know who is in here? Especially me— I have the right to know what’s going on!]

Alice shouted at the Imperial soldiers who had surrounded the Academy, but they just shook their heads.

[This is a direct order from His Majesty the Emperor. You noble guests must stay here.]

[What the...?]

But when the knights didn’t move, Alice muttered helplessly.

"..."

Everyone turned to stare at me as I played the game.

"Once again, let me be clear: The Sylvia Fangryphon inside the game and I are two different people. If I were the same as that Sylvia, wouldn’t the same kind of disasters have already happened back in our world too?"

"I mean, yeah, we know that, but..."

At my protest, Alice tilted her head.

"Honestly, though, doesn’t it feel like something Sylvia might do?"

"How exactly do you see me?"

I was speechless.

"She’s right."

Still, Claire came to my defense.

"If it were you, Unni, you would’ve acted first and worried about the consequences later. And if it didn’t work out, you would’ve just rewound time."

...

What kind of image did I even have among these kids?

[Yeah, that’s totally something Sylvia would do]

Ding.

I received another dono like that and immediately turned it off with a deadpan face.

"At the very least, if I did anything, I would’ve done it with you all."

At my words, the four girls who had been watching from behind paused for a moment and then nodded.

"Yeah, true."

"You wouldn’t have just not told us. You’d barge in and blurt it out instead."

Charlotte’s comment left me with nothing to say.

Yeah, well. Everything I had done so far really had been that impulsive.

"..."

I could feel Mia’s intense gaze burning into the back of my head.

I decided to ignore it and continued playing the game.

Time passed, and inside the Academy, the students were gathering to discuss countermeasures. Naturally, the main figures were the characters other than Sylvia.

Of course, Lena and Sophia weren’t there yet. They hadn’t appeared in the story at this point.

Sophia had appeared in the previous game, but Lena was a complete mystery. She was a character I didn’t know either.

Since Sylvia Fangryphon herself had made an appearance, maybe Lena would show up too in this sequel. Even though the Empire’s storyline was complete, more than half the continent was still left unexplored on the map. Maybe the sequel would be related to the Riklant Autonomous Territory or something.

...Anyway.

[There’s one thing that bothers me.]

As the students gathered and discussed ideas, Alice spoke up.

[I know the Imperial Guard very well. They were the ones who protected me since childhood. I wasn’t exactly outgoing, but I still knew their faces...]

[...All the knights had their helmets on.]

Leo murmured.

[They were all fully covering their faces. Almost like they were afraid someone would recognize them.]

[If they’re on a mission, maybe that’s normal.]

Charlotte rebutted Leo’s words.

[Isn’t wearing full armor expected during combat?]

[...Then let’s check.]

Alice said.

[We’ll ask them to lift their visors. Surely at least some of them will listen if the order comes from me, a princess.]

"Yeah, I really do know most of the Guard's faces."

Alice said thoughtfully.

"Back when I was little, I was genuinely afraid Sylvia would steal the throne from me. I thought if I knew everything about the Imperial family, Father would acknowledge me. So I desperately memorized the faces and names of everyone working in the palace."

[No way, are you a real princess LOL]

[You’re sticking to the role too well LOL]

At this point, you’d think people would give up, but there were still viewers reacting like that.

Most of the chat, though, was more like [Honestly, {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} sounds just like Alice] or [I think they even mentioned that in a developer note].

...Was that a developer note I translated? The thought crossed my mind for a second, but not wanting to dig up those memories, I shoved it deep into my subconscious.

"Knowing the faces of people around you is important, especially in security. Trust is everything, and trust is built through familiarity."

Charlotte nodded as she said that.

Even if I wasn’t quite on that level, there were definitely faces I could still recognize clearly. So I figured Charlotte was probably right. Even if I couldn’t rely on them like I could rely on these girls here, at least I could manage to some extent.

"Is that so...?"

But then Mia, who had been silently watching from the very back, tilted her head.

"..."

The room fell cold like someone had splashed water over us.

Come to think of it, Mia’s family made their fortune dealing drugs.

And Mia’s mother suffered from extreme paranoia, constantly suspecting every female servant who entered the house.

Would Mia ever have had someone she could trust implicitly?

"There might be people you can’t trust. But that’s all the more reason to remember their faces."

At my strained answer, everyone nodded.

This time, even Mia softly said, "Ahh," and nodded along.

The darkness in her heart still lingered.

[Mia-chan😓😓😓]

[😓😓😓😓😓😓]

[Please buy her something tasty]

...Maybe I should order some late-night snacks tonight.

I seriously considered it while fiddling with the controller.

*

[Who are you people?]

After her request was refused, Alice glared at the Imperial Guards.

[...]

[You’re saying Father ordered you to hide your faces? If he really gave such a thorough command, he wouldn’t have ordered you to wear the Guard’s armor either. He’s not that careless.]

Alice stepped back.

Her companions next to her drew their weapons.

"I’ve seen this scene a million times, but... where do they even pull their weapons from?"

Charlotte squinted suspiciously, seeing weapons appear in their hands even though they hadn’t been strapped to their backs.

"...It’s probably just part of the setting."

"Is that so?"

"...Probably."

"So basically, you don't know."

Exactly.

No one had ever asked about it properly, and the developers never explained it either.

If you tried to question every little thing, you’d have to comb through every single cutscene.

Better to just chalk it up to "game logic" and move on.

[If you refuse to reveal yourselves, we will consider you enemies.]

[...]

[...Very well. Then we’ll defeat you and see your faces ourselves.]

Alice placed her hand on her sword as she said that.

"...Did you seriously think your swordsmanship alone could beat the Imperial Guard?"

"...That’s not me."

Alice gave exactly the same excuse I had used earlier.

Well, it’s a game. We’re controlling it, so obviously we’ll win.

We beat monsters several times bigger than a person. Why wouldn’t we be able to beat the Imperial Guard?

If you asked me exactly how we won... I wouldn’t have an answer.