Otome Game!?

The sky was clear, with no skyscrapers in sight. The gentle breeze blowing through the trees could be heard clearly.

The sight and the sound that Lucien hears right now feel familiar yet so different at the same time. As the moment his sparring partner knocked him down to the ground, he began to remember something.

A memory of a place and other stuff… and what he remembered clearly was the title of a game. It becomes more vivid.

“You’re weak if that damaged you badly, Lucien! Ain’t we going to be the strongest bandit in the entire Kingdom of Elysia, right?”

That was when he finally remembered it all– That he was once a janitor named Mullin and a gamer. He remembers playing an Otome game called Herald’s Lover out of boredom and finishing a single playthrough of the game itself.

It can’t be, there’s no way I am inside that Otome game.

“Ansen? We’re in the Kingdom of Elysia and the current king is Keilz Mar Elysia right?”

“Umm, yeah and why do you ask that–Hey!… Do you even listen to what I said?” Ansen said that.

There’s no mistaking it, this is indeed Herald’s Lover.

Lucien was still in his thoughts, and seeing how he was being ignored. He decided to knock on Lucien's head with the wooden swords in his hand.

“Ouch!”

That pain brought Lucien back to reality as he slowly turned his focus towards.

“What do you do that for?”

“You’re not paying any attention, that’s why! I guess we should end our sparring match earlier then.”

“Wait, I could still–”

“You have something on your mind right? Just go and solve that, we'll find another day to test each other's skills.” With that being said, Ansen slowly left the training area.

I guess I have to apologize to him later.

Lucien headed back to his tents, and he began to jot down all the things he could remember about the game itself.

It took him almost few hours to finally see where he was in the story. He was a no-name character, an NPC that would die in the upcoming 2 years by one of the heroines' love interests.

All because he was part of the bandit group that called themselves The Plundering Brotherhood. They were hired by the villainess of the game to kill the heroine while they were on a trip to a dungeon.

But of course, they were easily killed, their entire group was defeated, and none of them were able to survive that encounter.

Lucien sat alone inside his tent, and the more he continued to write down information. More of his old past life memories resurface in his thoughts. Not all was pleasant, but it’s necessary, especially the memories of him in this game.

Because his current life is at stake for how much he remembers…

Two more years– The dungeon event happening in the winter of 1541 CA… not much time left.

Lucien let out a sigh and dropped his quill on the table. He couldn’t help but tremble, not fear but of something else. It was the gnawing and the helplessness, the feeling that he felt when he used to work as a Janitor every day.

That was seeing his dreams of doing something greater in his life vanish in mop buckets and overtime slips.

That previous life ended because of his overworking. To think that this new life of his also came with an expiration date.

It was unfair for him to be this unlucky. He clutches his fist and slowly mutters in dissatisfaction, “It needs to stop this time, there’s no way I’m going to die for someone else’s romantic flag!”

With his mind made up, he decided to leave this bandit life right now. No hesitation, Lucien stood up as he brushed the dust from his cloak. Pushing the tent flap aside as he looked around the camp.

Too peaceful– and weak.

The cheap barricades around the camp itself, not to mention the untrained fighters that they had. Despite the sheer number of bandits here, the odds of them defeating the heroine's love interest in none.

To survive, leaving this bandit brotherhood is the first step… A crucial point in my plan itself.

Before Lucien could continue with his thoughts, he was interrupted by a familiar voice behind him.

“Couldn’t sleep or simply be lost in your thoughts still?” Ansen said that as he slowly emerged from the shadows, in his hand were two grilled pig meat as he gave his usual sneer face.

Lucien then jokingly said, “Are you a mind reader!?”

Ansen then handed one of the grilled pig meat, “Take one, I guarantee eating this would make your thoughts go away, as it’s from the captain's personal stash itself.”

Lucien laughed, hearing that, “You do have a death wish for sure… hahaha!”

“Don’t worry, I won’t die easily because I have you by my side. Together we can overcome anything!” He grinned widely.

This moment somehow makes Lucien even more sad. This cheerful idiot was the only friend he got in this world; he remembered it all clearly. And for Lucien to leave the brotherhood and leave Ansen here to die was something he can’t do at all.

“You know what Ansen–” Lucien said that in a very serious tone, “Have you ever thought about what our life would be if we leave the brotherhood?”

Ansen almost choked on his food upon hearing that question… he slowly coughed as he replied, “Our life if we leave? Is that what you've been thinking all this time?”

Lucien wishes he could reveal everything to Ansen. How easy things could be if Lucien could say— We’re in a dating sim, we’re going to die if we stay as bandits.

Yet part of him knows that Ansen would think that Lucien was just crazy. Thus, the only option left was to convince Ansen by using the right words.

“Yeah, it's just I've been thinking, what are we even trying to do here… Stealing from merchants, sleeping in tents in the forest, evading soldiers– Don’t you think there should be better things we could do besides this?”

Ansen squatted down as he gave thought to what Lucien's words. “Never really gave it much of a thought before. I mean just look at us, orphans who live on the streets… no family and simply street rats. What else could we achieve with our status?”

What Ansen said does resonate with Lucien deeply. He was aware of it very much, because both of them had lived on the streets before. None accepted them, and being a bandit itself was the only way to survive in this world.

But even so, Lucien recalled the dreams that they talked about when their are playing in the street together. To become something more…

“Let’s quit being a bandit, shall we?” Lucien said, “I feel like we still had a chance to do something, we’re easily swayed on our convictions when we’re kids, and thus ended up being bandits. Let’s chase our dream again.”

It was a windy night, and as if those wind carried their words, silent and sharp.

Ansen didn’t move a bit as he stared at the ground for a long time. Then he simply let out a small laugh, he said, “No wonder you’re not able to focus on our sparring match today, huh?”

Lucien was about to reply, but he was quickly cut off by Ansen.

Ansen stood up yet again and said, “But I could see that you’re being serious– so you do believe that we still have those possibilities?”

“Yes, I do.”

Ansen gave Lucien that sneer look again, “Alright, I'll be following your plan… I mean, you’re smarter than me after all.” He then laughed.

Lucien was glad to hear that Ansen agreed to his plan. And for the first ever, he felt that he could do something much more.