Chapter 25

What If I Find Out?

A Dating Sim Featuring Handsome Middle-Aged Men.

When I stared at her with a look that openly questioned whether I had heard correctly, Daphne continued in a mumble, her face bright red.

“I was playing… a romance simulation game set in an apocalyptic military world… with handsome middle-aged men in it… and when I came to my senses… I had possessed a character……”

There was… a romance simulation game among the Safe Zone series?

It might have been a ten-year-old game, but I thought the apocalyptic genre itself had remained unchanged……

Then her nickname, Meursault’s Wife, suddenly flashed through my mind.

Was that why her nickname was Meursault’s Wife?

Then why had someone named Meursault’s Wife ended up becoming Hayden’s wife?

“If that’s what ‘Meursault’s Wife’ means, then why did you marry my father……”

“M-Meursault wasn’t a romanceable character! He was just a background character, so it wasn’t possible to pursue his route!”

So in the game Daphne had played, Meursault had merely been an extra?

He had not been an insignificant character in Apocalypse: Safe Zone.

The same NPCs, but an entirely different game format……

…No way.

A hypothesis suddenly crossed my mind.

Until now, we’ve assumed that we entered the world of a game……

The same characters and the same setting.

Players who had entered this world through different games.

Maybe the games we played were actually imitations of this world.

The instant I considered that possibility, a chill ran down my spine.

If that were true—

Then someone deliberately brought us into this world.

There had to be someone who had created games modeled after this world—whether it was Safe Zone or a dating simulator—and released them to the public.

I had no idea why they had done such a thing.

But I could sense no good intentions behind it.

If their goal had been to prevent this world’s destruction, they would not have wrapped everything in something as ridiculous as a dating simulator and given players quests to marry NPCs.

Nor would they have devised a method that caused random players to possess characters through convenience stores.

It was hard to believe that we had been brought here for the noble purpose of saving the world……

All I can feel is the malice of some trashy spectator who wants to watch shocking scenes unfold.

I found myself thinking that whoever had brought us here was the true dopamine addict.

“Come to think of it, didn’t you say earlier that you told my mother you only did it because you had no choice if you wanted to clear the route?”

“That’s right. I was simply given a quest that said, ‘Death if you fail to reach an ending within one year.’”

Death if she failed to reach an ending within a year?

Unlike ours, her system had not merely provided functions. It had actively issued quests?

“The only romanceable characters in this zone were the former commander and Hayden. Since I possessed the former commander’s daughter, Hayden was my only choice!”

Ah.

So that was what had happened.

Still visibly aggrieved, Daphne gulped down the steaming tea. Once she had calmed herself, she continued in a deliberately composed tone.

“It’s been… almost ten years since I last spoke to someone as a fellow player.”

Daphne looked both somewhat relieved and somewhat unstable as she went on.

“To be honest, when I heard Luna Moon’s child had appeared, I couldn’t believe it.”

“You couldn’t believe it?”

Daphne glanced at me and spoke in a voice that gradually dwindled.

“Because… you know……? Having a child with a game character… I couldn’t even imagine such a thing. Naturally, I assumed you were an impostor.”

She’s surprisingly perceptive.

Still, I could understand what she meant.

Daphne was beautiful, but in my memories, the image of her as an NPC was still stronger than anything else.

Romancing game characters might be possible, just as players paired characters together in games.

But bearing a game character’s child was an entirely different matter.

If Daphne received a quest requiring her to reach an ending within a year, then Luna Moon probably received the same kind of quest.

Yet judging from the fact that she had gone beyond merely completing the quest and even had a child with a game character, Luna Moon must truly have loved Hayden.

Even though Daphne had taken him from her.

Then could Luna Moon have died not from an epidemic, but because she failed to clear her route?

It had always seemed strange that a player had supposedly died from an infectious disease.

After all, our bodies could heal simply by consuming food.

Remembering something Daphne had said earlier, I asked,

“What did you mean when you said you asked my mother to help you? You said she coldly abandoned you, but I doubt even my mother knew how to escape from this game.”

“Ah… I wasn’t asking her to help me leave the game.”

“Then what were you asking?”

“I married Hayden because of the quest… but I regretted it soon afterward. So I told her that I would rather die and live with Meursault, and asked her to help me divorce Hayden. But Luna Moon disappeared the very next day, and I was left alone in this mansion. I had to conceal the secret that I was a player. For an entire decade, until you appeared.”

…Hm?

As I listened, something began to bother me.

That meant she had already asked Luna Moon to help her divorce Hayden.

Then why had Luna Moon gone out of her way to leave Hayden and move into that slum?

If Daphne had no intention of harming Luna Moon, couldn’t she have simply remained here?

Of course, Daphne was surrounded by pro-Daphne officers, so Luna Moon might have faced threats from third parties.

Or Daphne could be lying.

Character Inspection only showed me Daphne’s player information.

It did not reveal whether her words were true or false.

Either way… I might not know Daphne’s true intentions, but I knew how to secure her cooperation.

“I’ll help you.”

“You’ll… help me?”

“Yes. If you help me establish myself here, I’ll make sure you’re freed from Commander Hayden in the near future. I swear it on my mother’s name.”

Daphne rapidly blinked, as though she had heard something completely unexpected.

“…Did you actually listen to everything I said? Or did you fail to understand me? Luna Moon died like that largely because of me. She must have received the same quest I did—”

“I know.”

“Then why would you……”

“My mother forgave you. And you are my mother’s last surviving friend.”

“……”

Daphne stared at me with an indescribable expression.

“…You’re only a ten-year-old child, but I feel as though I’m speaking to Luna Moon herself.”

That was because the person inside this body was a player just like Luna Moon.

She’s more naïve than I expected.

Perhaps the reason Daphne trusted me so easily was because the game she had played was not an apocalypse survival game, but a dating simulator.

If treating Daphne as my mother’s friend allowed me to gain a powerful backer, then helping her divorce her dictator husband was a small price to pay.

Besides, Daphne and Hayden divorcing would benefit me as well, and it would not even be particularly difficult to arrange.

After all, I was still in the middle of clearing the three rewards.

And I still had one more reward I could demand from the commander.

Commander Hayden did not particularly love Daphne either, so helping her divorce him should not be difficult.

The real problem lay elsewhere.

Commander Hayden may also know that Luna Moon was a player.

Judging by his reaction when he discovered that I possessed healing abilities, I suddenly suspected that Luna Moon had told him something.

After all, the commander had already hinted as much to me before.

—Haydam. You’re probably too young to understand why I married another woman despite loving Luna Moon, or why I was unable to protect you and Luna Moon even though I held the lofty position of commander. Once you grow old enough to understand my words, I’ll tell you everything I know.

Perhaps that grand declaration had been because he knew Luna Moon was a player.

If the commander knows that players exist, then I absolutely cannot let him discover that I’m one of them……

Concealing the fact that I was a player from Daphne had indeed been the correct decision.

I needed to continue playing the role of the child Luna Moon, a player, had given birth to within the game.

At least until I had this entire zone firmly within my grasp.

“What if I do?”

After finishing my conversation with Daphne, I left the mansion.

Behind the servants glaring at me as though they wanted to kill me, I saw the officers.

The pro-Daphne officers were filled with rage, while the pro-Hayden officers looked flustered and cautiously watched the reactions of their pro-Daphne counterparts.

That worked beautifully.

It was hard to suppress the smile tugging at my lips when I saw these difficult-to-meet big shots swarming here simply because I had climbed over the lady’s wall.

“Lord Haydam! What in the world happened—”

A pro-Hayden officer cautiously called out to me, but Anton, the leader of the pro-Daphne faction, interrupted him with an angry shout.

“What in the world do you think you’re doing?! You climbed over the wall of Lady Daphne’s residence and even drove out her servants!”

I wasn’t the one who drove out the servants.

When I glanced at them, they hurriedly avoided my gaze and rushed back inside the mansion.

It was obvious those bastards had maliciously twisted the story when reporting it to the officers.

“I believe there has been a misunderstanding……”

“Of course! It was a misunderstanding, wasn’t it? There’s no way Lord Haydam would have climbed over the wall!”

“No, I did climb over the wall. But Lady Daphne was the one who ordered the servants to leave.”

Huh?

Did that pro-Hayden officer just turn away with a look that said he could no longer defend me?

“If Lady Daphne dismissed the servants first, then the two of you must have had something confidential to discuss.”

The one who spoke was Josef, leader of the pro-Hayden faction.

“Did your conversation go well?”

“Ah, yes.”

“It must have been an extremely urgent matter if you had to climb over the wall of Lady Daphne’s residence to discuss it.”

Unable to endure any longer, one of the pro-Daphne officers spoke sarcastically. Anton, who stood beside him with his face still full of anger, continued,

“Yes, we would also like to know what urgent business could possibly justify such insolence. That way, we won’t misunderstand Lord Haydam and become disappointed in him without cause.”

Well, if they wanted to know that badly.

Smiling brightly, I answered them without concealing a thing.

“I was just leaving after swearing on my mother’s name that I would ensure His Excellency and Lady Daphne get divorced.”

“W-What……”

“What did you say?!”

“You insane……”

Anton’s complexion turned deathly pale. A moment later, he spun around and charged into the mansion.

He was probably worried that Daphne had been subjected to my verbal abuse and had gone to check on her.

Now that Daphne has agreed to cooperate with me, I no longer need the pro-Daphne officers.

As I watched the backs of the pro-Daphne officers hurriedly follow Anton into the mansion, Josef grabbed my shoulder.

“What were you thinking, doing something like this?! If His Excellency finds out……”

As Josef pressed me for answers, a low, deep voice sounded from behind him.

“What if I do?”

“……!”

I lifted my head.

Beyond Josef’s shoulder stood Commander Hayden, perfectly upright, staring down at me with his one remaining eye.