Beware Them Pesky Mods

Beware them pesky mods, lest they give you exactly what you want.

Take this perfectly average salaryman, spending his day at work and playing romantic games at night. He enjoys Visual Novels with an intriguing story and unexpected choices, he has surely played them and completed them all to their 100% at that. But despite all that, he has felt utterly void and meaningless. 

There, he is sitting again on his PC. Ah, he's booting his favorite game, an Adventure RPG with heavy romance elements and plenty of love interests. 

He wished to suffer yet another day.

The game starts, he creates a new save, and *click*—the story begins. His smile widens and his eyes melt for the girl appearing before him.

"Zoe Maleinos..." he says, almost drooling.

The girl smiles back, she is a gentle character. Her hair is black and her eyes are lime green, she is wearing the protocolary armor and tabards from the place they're both in.

"Welcome to the Imperial Knight Academy, the most prestigious hall for training as an honorable knight in the Antioquian Empire."

The dialogue moves on to selecting the background for his character, but he does not mind, he even picks a random name. "Timothy something something", whatever, that does not matter; it stopped mattering many playthroughs ago.

"Perfect, Timothy, a pleasure to meet you!"

The developers had outdone themselves with Zoe. Seeking to ensnare new players, Zoe's facial traits were spotless, her expressions immaculate. His heart throbbed and ached so much that he felt embarrassed, yet again, for feeling such things for a freaking character.

The two of them proceeded to meet with various teachers and characters. Oh, how he enjoyed moving his character across the starting area with Zoe. They stopped at the Academy's armory.

"You must get a sword," spoke the blacksmith. 

The girl was another supporting character from the game, a brown-haired girl who coordinated the whole Smithing department.

"Our magical blacksmiths will always be here to upgrade your sword and its attributes—"

*Skip*

"Here at the academy, we are often sent on miss—"

*Skip*

He was trying too hard to get the starting stages done so he could play what he loved most...

"Well, it seems you're sorted out, please meet Zoe—"

"Say no more..." *SKIP*

His character ran outside the armory to meet with Zoe.

"You're sorted out, good!" Zoe exclaimed, "For now let's head to the classroom so that I can introduce you to our classmates!"

Then it hit the option that would introduce players to the romance mechanics of the game.

"Will they all be as beautiful as you?" Timothy said in a bubble dialogue.

"My, aren't you a bold knight," Zoe said, taking her hand to her delicate lips, "Here in the academy, we value strength and honor above all, if you climb up the ladder and maybe we meet from time to time, you might impress me, Timothy."

*Zoe will remember that*

Ah, such a precious moment... the hopeless salaryman felt complete now.

Then it kicked in. There was a tremor that shook the entire academy, and a worried Zoe began looking everywhere.

"What is going on?" Zoe asked, "Timothy, heads up!"

A blast tore a hole in the wall next to them, and three goblins gorged out, slurping and cackling.

"All right Timothy, let's see what you're made of!" Zoe said, "Ready your sword!"

He threw himself at the goblins, attacking with the three simple combos the game allowed you to have in the starting area. He aggro'ed the mobs so hard they focused their attention on him and not Zoe. 

When they dissipated in a poof of dark dust, Zoe spoke again.

"Whew, that was a close one! Goblins in the Academy grounds, this is not good Timothy, we need to join the others and help them with the defense."

They began running across hallways, stairs, and more goblins, on one occasion they ran upon a retinue of knights commanded by a red-haired dude.

"Onward my classmates, do not let them get into the inner buildings of this, our Sacred Academy!" His dialogue bubble popped. 

"For Prince Nero!" all the others shouted, "for the Empire!"

Typical heroic dialogue.

He dashed across the multiple enemies and perfectly scored a dozen kills in two minutes as his character leveled up, earning him one more attack combo. The red-haired prince commended him for his skill, yet this regal bastard could not see that the goblins were aiming for Zoe, something he could not afford. The hell with the Inner buildings, Zoe was all that mattered.

"We've received word that a horde of goblins is breaking through the main entrance, these attacks were a diversion to draw out our best!" The prince said, cursing the goblins.

Whatever, it did not matter for Timothy's puppeteer.

"Let's go, Timothy, I think a new batch of students were arriving right after you! We need to help them!" Zoe begged.

"Yes, my lady!" the salaryman spoke, blushing.

The two characters ran further out from the academy, into the open courtyard where the entrance would be.

It was packed with goblins, and a new strain of the monster called Mogoblins, sturdier and heavier variants of the race.

"Timothy! Take the right flank, defeat the goblins!"

Usually, the courtyard was plagued with all types of knights displaying flashy and powerful spells to protect the new arrivals. It was a nice touch by the developers to show what each player could be throughout the game. 

"Yeah, sorry Zoe, we're not doing that!"

His character attacked those goblins who dared face Zoe in combat, as he used his skills to draw the attention of every single monster nearby. It was about a five-minute battle when the goblins were on the brink of defeat...

BOOOM.

A splash of magic energy pushed everyone away. A slender and sexy sorceress emerged from a thorny violet rose, stretching her arms wide as she laughed.

"Amusing," she said, "To think that you would de—"

*Skip*

"Oh~you dare face me, little kni—?"

*Skip*

"Very well then, come, have your—"

*Skip*

The fight was on, the sorceress attacked with magic bolts and area-of-effect spells. By now the nightless salaryman had committed this introductory boss battle to muscle memory. The witch was getting hit so hard she could barely speak.

"Such a pitif—is that all you go—weakli—your attacks are noth—what an eyeso—"

Her health bar decreased to the determined point, and then it happened.

"Insolent knight, you shall receive the full brunt of my powe—"

*Skip*

The salaryman sweated profusely as he smashed the front arrow key with an attack combo, ordering Timothy to meet the magic ray head-on.

"Let's goooo!" he roared.

The reason, my dear reader, he got intense at this moment, was because right next to him, rushing just as fast, was Zoe seeking to absorb the hit to save his character's life.

"Timothy! Watch out!" Zoe yelled.

"Stay away, Zoe!" He yelled as both characters reduced the gap between them and the ray's tip, it was all a fraction of a second, but the Salaryman was hopeful, "Come on, new mod, don't fail me!"

Yet it was all for naught, Timothy's sprite character suddenly stopped, giving way to Zoe. Her frail, yet knightly body was sent flying away.

The sorceress shrugged off.

"Hmmph! Foolish gi—"

*SKIP!!!*

He rushed his character towards Zoe as the villainess left in another theatrical puff of magic. 

There she was, his muse, his goddess, on the side of a tree trunk, holding together just enough to have one last conversation.

"Ah, Timothy... cough, you are ok... good," she said weakly.

"Zoe..." Timothy's dialogue showed up.

"It's okay, I saved my dear junior from death, I died in combat, I brought honor to my family's name."

The magical wound spread through her body, and she ached intensely. 

"Timothy... I wished we could've spent more time together..."

This was another introduction to romance mechanics. Choices mattered, so this last bit of dialogue would've not come for insensitive pricks who did not seek to romance her as the Salaryman did.

Zoe closed her eyes, and her role in the game was done.

The man playing this game scratched his head, frustrated. He had modded that part in particular so that Zoe could be with him during the game as a party member, he had even devised her skillset and given her infinite HP and MP so that she could defend herself, yet God forbid Zoe live one more second after that freaking magical beam because no matter what, her scripted death would either glitch the game to oblivion or simply run as usual.

He went to the forums, again, to vent his frustration, again. Other fans of the game "Sword and Love" would dismiss him, saying that Zoe's death was poetic and dramatic and that it set the stage for the masterpiece, larger-than-life experience the game was known to be. Some would suggest the multiple love interests available in the game and how well-written they were. The Salaryman had considered them before, but none of them were as beautiful as Zoe, nor as enticing. Perhaps he was crazy, but those words inviting him to further dates at the beginning of the game were all he needed to fall head over heels.

He scrolled over several mod threads, beginning his two-hour-long search for yet another mod. He could make it himself but his job would not grant him the time. 

Then, one hour later scrolling and ditching other players online, he came across an interesting name:

"Marry_anyone"

He clicked and read the description.

"Just as the name says, you can romance and marry anyone in the game."

He saw the comments section. No one had given their input.

He sighed and was about to drop it for the day, but then he inadvertently clicked 'Download'.

He had a few more hours before it would truly be late. The mod was inserted in the base game, and the only thing left was to adjust other mods so that this one could work.

When all was set, the Salaryman cleared his sweat and booted the game.

He blinked, and suddenly everything was dark, his eyes remained closed.

He opened his eyes, they felt heavy, and his head felt dizzy.

When his vision cleared, he noticed he was no longer in his room. He was no longer feeling the closed, claustrophobic atmosphere it had, but a clean breeze over his face. He was next to a huge cliff. 

"Where am I?"

"Timothy!"

A girl's voice yelled desperately from the cliff's top.

Timothy? He thought, what was this place? Where the hell was he?

Finally, the girl appeared in front of him, a cute girl, probably six years old. Next to her were a bunch of people who worriedly took him away. The only thing I felt was the girl's hand grabbing me and not letting go.

"It will all be all right!" she said, crying, "I'm so sorry, Timothy!"

The name sure rang a bell, but why?

The dizziness came back, and suddenly he felt like losing grasp of reality once more.