The Protagonist's Party is Too Diligent

I put together a party with Alice, Leo, Charlotte, and Mia, and assigned Lottie and Claire as support characters.

Well, being "support" didn’t mean much. If a main party member went down, they were simply substitutes who would jump in to fight.

"Unni, what about me...?"

"..."

But under Claire’s unwavering stare from the side, I had no choice but to swap her with Leo.

Leo was a physical attacker and tank, Alice was a magic tank and physical attacker.

Charlotte was a balanced character who handled both offense and defense well, and Mia was, of course, a glass cannon magic DPS. And in this series, magic DPS characters were traditionally overpowered. If you could survive the first turn, you could bombard the enemy with endless magic afterward.

Claire was also a well-balanced character like Charlotte, but unfortunately, despite her popularity, she was rarely treated as a top-tier character.

Still, thanks to steadily equipping her with proper weapons and Maramaros rounds, she was holding up fine.

"Even now, it’s hard to understand why only six of us are attacking when there are so many knights."

"...Games are a form of play. It’s meaningless to seriously apply real-world tactics to them."

"But aren't the stories that unfold based on this 'play' extremely serious?"

"..."

Damn it, I couldn’t refute that.

If I had never lived in that other world, I would’ve brushed it off like, "Oh, I guess the protagonists are just that strong now," and moved on.

But I was someone who had lived in Azerna. Someone who had experienced countless real battles.

It was the same feeling professional soldiers must get when they play FPS games and find certain parts ridiculous. Having experienced real magic and swordsmanship, I couldn’t just laugh it off anymore.

"We fought against the knight order too, and we won. We even repelled a goddess."

Claire said brightly, her mood lifted again after being put into the main party.

"But back then, we had Sword Saints and teachers with us."

"...We have teachers here too, but fine, let’s move on."

Charlotte countered, and I was about to argue again but decided to let it go.

"Just think of it like a hero story. No one seriously argues about the physical impossibility of heroes defeating monsters in those tales."

There might be some who nitpick, but they’d usually be laughed off, or seen as fools if they insisted too seriously.

"I’m sorry."

Charlotte sighed.

"Since the characters in there are ‘us,’ I keep thinking about it too seriously."

[‘Us’ LOL]

[At this point you might as well say it’s real LOL]

[They’ve been consumed by their own roleplay LOL]

"...Sylvia, we really don’t have to hide who we are, right?"

Charlotte narrowed her eyes at the incoming chat messages.

"Of course not. Whether people believe us or not is up to them."

"Well, either way, we’re still us."

[Oh]

[Seriously LOL]

[So Charlotte-like]

With the chat catching the mood, Charlotte gave a smug little snort.

*

With Mia loaded up with every offensive magic spell, we thoroughly slaughtered the enemy.

"Ugh..."

...Though Mia got knocked out several times in the process, we revived her repeatedly using the healing spells and items we had set up among the surrounding characters, and refilled her MP too.

"I really don’t want to fight like that in real life..."

"No worries. In real battles, we wouldn't let you fight that recklessly. And it’s not like we can just pop someone back up with magic after they fall."

I reassured the pale-faced Mia while continuing to manipulate the gamepad.

In the game, an event scene was playing where the protagonists inspected the defeated knights.

[Recognize anyone?]

Leo asked, but Alice shook her head.

[No, not at all. I don’t know a single one of them.]

[What’s going on, then?]

Charlotte murmured with a serious face.

[Maybe it’s another faction that invaded the capital.]

[Is that even possible? If that were the case, surely we would’ve caught wind of it in our territory...]

Mia said.

[Even if Countess Crowfield hated the Imperial family, she wouldn’t stay silent if her own people were endangered... Could it be a special ops unit?]

[I don’t think it’s the Kingdom’s army. If they could send special ops to the Imperial palace, they would’ve done it back when we almost went to war.]

[...]

No one in the group could give a definitive answer to Charlotte’s theory. Most of them were Imperial citizens after all.

[They did something huge without permission.]

And then, someone else joined their conversation.

[Instructor Jennifer.]

[I was watching from afar. Still, you’ve all gotten a lot stronger. It was an excellent battle. It was hard holding Carolyn back when she tried to charge out.]

[Is ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) that really something a teacher should say!?]

Carolyn cried out in fluster at Jennifer’s words.

[Ahaha...]

The usual awkward laughter that scriptwriters loved.

[So, what are you all planning to do?]

The principal, Abraham Fitzgerald Winterfield, walked over. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

His name really was long, no matter how many times I saw it.

Like the other instructors, he seemed to have been watching from a distance, and now he approached us, speaking calmly.

[I can’t tell who they are, but judging by their formation, these knights have definitely had formal training. However, it’s different from the Imperial Guard’s style. At the very least, they are not from this country.]

[Which means...]

[At this stage, we can’t conclude anything.]

When Leo tried to speak, the principal cut him off.

[So, what will you do, Your Highness?]

The principal looked at Alice.

[I...]

Alice clenched her fists in front of her chest, hesitated for a moment, then, having made up her mind, spoke firmly.

[I want to find out why this happened.]

[Then follow your will, Your Highness. You’re the future ruler of this country.]

The principal laughed heartily while saying something terrifying.

[...]

Alice closed her eyes, opened them again, and steeled herself — thus ending the cutscene.

[Would you like to save?]

"Come to think of it,"

I said while pressing the save button.

"Charlotte, you said before that even if they tried to stop you, you would’ve gone into battle anyway."

"..."

"His Majesty the King even stationed snipers around you to keep you from joining the fight."

Charlotte said nothing.

Hmm, was it just me, or did her face turn a little red?

[What's going on?]

[Did you actually live another life in another world or what LOL]

"Of course. Unlike in the game, the real me had decent social skills."

"Are you being serious right now?"

"...Does someone with good social skills tell a king to his face that they murdered his father?"

...

I had expected Alice’s reaction, but Mia’s comment stabbed right into my heart.

[Forget the game, tell us more about that time LOL]

Ding—another dono arrived.

Even though there was only text, I could practically see the image of someone leaning all the way back in their chair, hands clasped behind their head.

"I could..."

I was about to say "I could tell you," but clamped my mouth shut.

...Now that I thought about it, didn’t they remember everything from when I rewound time?

If I talked about it now, wouldn’t all my carefully hidden dark history come spilling out?

"Why?"

And as if she had caught onto my thoughts exactly, a teasing voice came from the side.

"Are you scared of what we might say?"

Of course, it was Alice’s voice.

"But they deserve to know too. What we went through is different from the story in that game. At the very least, for the sake of my own honor, I must tell them. Because there’s no way I ever had those kinds of conversations with Leo."

Charlotte’s voice grew louder as she spoke— not because she was embarrassed, but because she genuinely seemed indignant.

"Oh, really? Then does that mean I get to hear about the time when Unni and Alice were together?"

"..."

At Claire’s words, Alice immediately went silent.

Of course.

Most of Alice’s dark history was packed into her childhood.

Back then, she wasn’t the Ice Princess from the game, nor was she the sociable girl sitting next to me now.

"..."

Mia stared straight at me.

"...Fine. We’ll talk. But today’s broadcast time is already over, so we’ll start from tomorrow."

[Noooo😭😭😭😭😭😭]

[Don’t go😭😭😭]

What kind of streamer actually stays just because chat begs them not to?