In the end, my habit of never taking action unless I was backed into a corner never got fixed all the way to the end.
With the rain pouring down,
This was a floating island said to hold lost items.
Up until now, I had left it alone because there was no need, but now that a need had arisen, I had come to recover them.
Sitting in front of the campfire, I gazed at the lost items I had recovered.
"How about this rifle?"
The silver rifle had a very old-fashioned design, but with letters and other markings carved into its barrel, it seemed superior as an ornamental piece.
"Rare metals, along with magical technology engraved with special characters, are used in abundance. ——With proper maintenance, it should be fully usable."
"That's good to hear. So then——how much will my hard work raise the win rate?"
"——Almost entirely within the margin of error. The win rate remains unchanged at thirty percent."
"As long as the win rate goes up, even by a margin, it's no problem."
I had thought this was a fluffy, vaguely-defined otome game world.
I'd thought I had been reincarnated into the world of "that" quirky otome game, but sadly I'd gotten dragged into a feud from ages past and ended up at war with an empire.
The Holy Magic Empire.
It possessed a continent even larger than the
I hated the idea of going to war with such a country, but normally a country like that would be no match for me with my cheat warship Luxion.
Yes, they wouldn't have been a match.
But the Empire had obtained a massive fortress called "
If Luxion was a cheat weapon of
Unfortunately, even with Luxion, the win rate wasn't high.
Looking outside, the rain was pouring down violently.
I couldn't even see a short distance ahead.
"——I should've recovered the lost items sooner."
When I grumbled, Luxion, who had been subdued lately, offered some support.
"If Arcadia did not exist, these lost items would be unnecessary tools for Master. There would be no need to recover them."
Just when I was getting carried away with my cheat warship, the enemy pulled out an even more incredible cheat fortress.
Thanks to that, I had ended up having to fight for my life.
I really hate this.
"Still, so the war between Old Humanity and New Humanity hadn't ended after all. That otome game really has no proper setting at all."
When I said that with a laugh, Luxion put a question to me.
It was something he had asked many times before.
"Do you truly intend to fight? Could you not take Master, your family, and your acquaintances aboard and escape?"
"——Don't make me say it over and over. My answer doesn't change. Besides, you're being too passive for once. Just say it like always——that you want to annihilate the New Humanity."
Luxion, who hated New Humanity, also hated the weapons New Humanity had left behind.
So he should want to blow them away immediately——and yet he was telling me to flee without fighting.
"There is no reason for Master to risk your life."
"——There are reasons."
If I were in a situation where I could run, I would have boarded the spaceship that was Luxion's main body and made my escape.
But——sadly, that wasn't possible.
If we lost this battle——the people of the Kingdom, who belonged to the Old Humanity side, would eventually perish.
A great many people would die.
"Still, the Old Humanity side is pretty tenacious too, isn't it? When their environment was no longer livable, they set up tricks while pinning their hopes on the future."
Due to past wars, this planet had become uninhabitable for humans.
More accurately, it had become an environment in which Old Humanity could no longer live.
The New Humanity could manage to survive, however harshly, and the result of the war ended with the New Humanity side barely emerging victorious.
However, the Old Humanity side had not been wiped out.
Even as some abandoned this planet and escaped, those who remained relied not on science but on magic to carry out a certain plan.
What was involved in——or rather, what was used in——that plan was the
The Sacred Tree absorbed mana from the atmosphere, lowering its concentration.
Believing that one day mana would either disappear from this planet or become extremely thin, the Old Humanity side——remade their own descendants into New Humanity.
The reason Luxion doesn't know how the New Humanity came to be is because there are existences like us, born from genetic manipulation.
And this plan——was designed so that the trick would activate in the future.
"It is a contrivance whereby, when mana concentration drops to a certain level, Old Humanity adapted to that condition will be revived. With low mana concentration, the New Humanity side would have perished even if left alone."
That's right.
In the future, the mana concentration would become insufficient, and the New Humanity side would be unable to adapt to the environment and perish.
So a magical contrivance had been set in place to revive Old Humanity around that time.
——And now, the mana concentration was dropping and the Old Humanity side's contrivance was beginning to activate.
The reason Erika was sickly was because the Old Humanity genes had emerged too strongly in her.
In other words, the people of the Holfart Kingdom were——if you traced them back, on the Old Humanity side.
And the Empire was on the New Humanity side.
If the current situation were left alone, the people of the New Humanity side would perish.
To avoid that, the Empire's emperor had revived the floating fortress "Arcadia," which produces and disperses mana.
However, if they did that, we on the Old Humanity side, whose contrivance had activated, would eventually perish.
——And so, we have no choice but to fight.
If either side accepted a disadvantage, perhaps both could survive, but no one likes being the one at the disadvantage.
It wasn't just my problem.
My family, my friends, my acquaintances——people I knew would all suffer.
"Master, are your feelings truly unchanged?"
To Luxion, who was telling me to stop fighting, I spoke of something that had happened a little while ago.
"
"Yes. It has been confirmed to be a boy."
A nephew was about to be born.
"When I think of that kid, or that kid's children——no, the children who'll be born from now on suffering, it's rough."
Fighting feels terrible, but running away would also feel terrible.
It's the worst.
After all, this is less a war and more——a struggle for survival.
If I were to flee, the Old Humanity side would certainly perish.
"As a reason to fight for the sake of Old Humanity, I find it weak. Could you not simply take your elder sister's child and flee as well?"
"If I had no power at all, I could make excuses in my heart that one person trying his best can't change anything. But I'm your master. ——I have the power to fight."
I couldn't make excuses for myself. I'd keep thinking, deep in my heart, about how I'd run away.
"No one is asking Master to fight."
"That's a lie. The Facts agreed to it."
"Those guys are merely using Master."
"Then there's no problem. I'll use them too."
When I said that, Luxion lowered his single red eye slightly.
He looked as if he were depressed.
"Are you going to run too? I won't stop you."
Without Luxion, there was no prospect of winning——but even if I forced him to fight, if he truly tried to flee, I wouldn't be able to stop him.
Luxion raised his single red eye and looked straight at me.
"Without me, Master cannot fight, can you?"
"There's your usual tone returning."
"I will obey Master's orders."
"——Sorry about this."
I felt I had done him wrong.
To begin with, this current win rate of thirty percent——is a win rate based on me and Luxion throwing our lives away.
"Still, you've got bad luck too. Getting a guy like me as your master."
"I will not deny it."
"That's where you're supposed to deny it, even if it's a lie."
As we chatted aimlessly, the rain stopped.
I put out the fire, stood up, and stretched.
"Well then, time to head out. There are plenty of other things I need to recover."
Luxion was looking at me.
"Are you not returning to the Kingdom?"
"——There's no point even if I go back, right? Besides, I'll be betraying everyone. I don't want to face them right now."
But I didn't regret it much.
"Besides——this is for the best."
"What is for the best?"
"A reincarnator like me shouldn't be in this world, right? And besides, if there's any meaning to my life, isn't it to throw my life away here?"
Originally, no one would have known, and the Empire would have won——no, the New Humanity side would have won, and it would have ended there.
Then I, this existence called me, came into being and could oppose the New Humanity side.
There are reincarnators on the New Humanity side too, and I can't really call them evil, though.
"So there was meaning to my life after all. Though the responsibility is a little——or rather, quite heavy."
"Do you intend to fight alone?"
"——Who would believe a story like this? I wouldn't. Besides, even with cooperation, the win rate wouldn't go up much."
"A moment ago, you said that raising it even by a margin was fine. Furthermore, the Empire has dispatched its military. If we make them respond to it, the win rate could rise even more——"
"'This is a struggle for survival, so please cooperate,' is it? I'd be skeptical. And you've seen plenty of the Kingdom's sloppiness. Hoping for anything would just be a waste."
Yes, a waste.
So I won't put my hopes in anyone.
"And so you carry it all alone. If it is the duty of reincarnators to participate in this battle, then
"Don't make me repeat myself. I'm enough on my own. Besides, do you really think Marie and the others would be reliable?"
I had no expectations of Marie and the others.
Erika was still asleep even now.
And Lelia and Serge were a non-asset in terms of combat power.
Thinking about it like this, the reincarnators on the Old Humanity side really were a sorry bunch.
"Come on, on to the next one."
"——Yes."
As I went to move, Luxion suddenly stopped.
"What's wrong?"
"Master, there is a report from
◇ The student dormitory of the Holfart Kingdom.
A splendid house had been prepared there for
Marie, who burst in looking ragged, was showing Cleare the bottle she had recovered.
It looked just like a sake bottle.
Inside, you could see a liquid.
"How about that! With this, Bro is sure to power up!"
Cleare opened the lid of the bottle and checked its contents.
"In game terms, it's a 'buff-type item.'"
Buff——referring to an effect that enhances abilities and the like.
In other words, drinking the liquid in this sake bottle would enhance one's abilities.
"I'd planned to recover it before, but I got lost back then and gave up. But its effect is amazing. In game terms, all stats go up significantly! You can defeat a boss with ease."
Marie, perhaps glad to have been useful to Leon, puffed out her chest and bragged.
Cleare nodded with her single blue eye.
"Indeed, it's a splendid effect."
"Right?! If we power up with this and take it on, even Bro will——"
There was no doubt it was a highly effective item.
Just then, the door opened, and Leon and Luxion came in.
"Bro!"
"Marie, did you recover that?"
It was important enough an item that Leon had hurried back.
"Amazing, right?! It was a real struggle."
When Marie said that, Leon patted her head.
Her hair got all rumpled.
"Well done! Or rather, you look pretty rough yourself. Want to take a bath?"
Seeing Leon crack his usual light joke, Marie felt relieved.
(Thank goodness. It's the usual Bro.)
Until a little while ago, he had been wearing a terribly cornered expression.
Marie hadn't been able to bear seeing him like that.
That was why she had recovered the lost item for Leon.
Because she had thought it would surely be useful to her brother.
"So? Have you reevaluated me a little?"
"Yeah, you're the best. I'd forgotten where it was, so I'd nearly given up searching. Cleare, how are the contents?"
Leon immediately had Cleare check the state of the item.
"——The effect is beyond expectations. If we refine it further for Master's use, it should deliver even greater effect. But it's only good for three doses."
Normally an item that would disappear after a single use, but apparently by enhancing the effect it could be used three times.
Hearing this, Marie was delighted.
"Three uses is quite a bargain."
Cleare agreed too.
"——Indeed."
Leon was overjoyed as well.
"With this, the win rate will go up. Thanks, Marie."
"Ehehe."
It had been a warm atmosphere, but Luxion shattered it.
"——Master, Angelica and Olivia are both heading this way."
"You——did you let them know?"
"Yes."
"Going and doing extra things, you."
Leon left the room to meet the two of them.
But Luxion stayed in the room.
And he was looking at the item Marie had recovered.
"What's wrong?"
When Marie, puzzled, asked, Luxion explained the reason matter-of-factly.
"We initially assigned priorities to the items to be recovered. At that time, one of the items Master most wanted recovered was this drug."
"See, I can be useful sometimes too."
To Marie, full of confidence, Luxion spoke in a voice colder than usual.
"——I did not want it recovered. I had no intention of letting it be recovered."
Saying only that, Luxion left the room and headed to where Leon was.
"Wh-what? You could at least praise me more."
While Marie was looking displeased, Cleare, who was having the robots carry the drug, explained Luxion's attitude.
"That guy doesn't want Master to die."
"——Eh? Wh-what do you mean?!"
Marie was flustered by Cleare's words.
"Why are you saying Bro will die? When we have an item to make him stronger!"
"Marie-chan, do you understand what that drug is?"
"Like I said, it's an ability-boosting item——"
"Realistically speaking, it's 'doping.' What's more, the fact that it raises abilities considerably means it's a correspondingly strong drug, right?"
Marie's face went pale.
"W-wait. Don't let Bro use that!"
"No can do. Master has decided to use it."
When Marie tried to take the drug back from the robot, she was blocked by other robots.
"L-let go! Cleare, are you saying you're fine with Bro dying?!"
"——This is Master's wish. That twisted one is the abnormal one."
Luxion had known where the drug was, but he hadn't told Leon.
The reason was that using such a strong drug wouldn't leave Leon's body unharmed.
——And Marie had recovered and delivered it.
Marie collapsed to her knees on the floor, and once she sat down, she was stunned.
"I-I——was just trying to help Bro——"
"Yes, you were useful for Master's victory. Marie-chan, you're not at fault. You look tired, so it would be best to rest your body for now."
Cleare too left the room with the robots in tow.
Left alone, Marie held her head and shed tears.
"Why is it always like this. ——All I wanted was to help Bro."