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Roseline has returned from the balcony.
What was she thinking about all by herself in just those few minutes? Her eyes are red, and I can’t think of anything to say to her.

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While we’ve been standing around like this, the others have been making progress in taking control of the inside of the castle.
Even though they’re superior in numbers, it seems like they’re suffering damage, but there’s no need for us to intervene anymore.

“Your Highness!”

Roseline and I both react to the anger-filled shout.
When we fearfully turn our heads, we find Raoul standing there, clearly furious.
Yup, I think I’m done for.
Roseline has also turned pale, her face full of fear.

Accompanied by his followers, Raoul walks quickly towards us.
He’s so enraged that the people around him jump back to open up a path for him, so this might be funny from an outsider’s perspective.
But as for the two of us who are directly involved, it feels like we’re misbehaved children despairing when faced with our punishment.

“Why did you go to the front lines? Didn’t I tell you that Clermont is dangerous and that you should refrain from acting on your own?”

“I apologize, Uncle.
However, I wanted to see them one last time.
If I hadn’t done this, I wouldn’t have had an opportunity to talk to them.”

“Although I understand your desire to see the king, do not neglect your own safety.
If anything happened to you, Your Highness, who would rule this country? Your power will be necessary for rebuilding Clermont.
The moment I realized that you were gone, I was struck with terror,” Raoul says, expressing his sound argument.
On top of that, since he appears genuinely worried for her, Roseline is unable to object, looking guilty.
Well, with her character’s backstory, it’s too reckless for a country’s leader to go to the front lines.

Huh? What does he mean, rebuild Clermont? Did Roseline make Clermont her territory? But the way the event should work is that the person who contributed the most obtains the freed city as a territory.
Roseline, unfortunately, hasn’t fought even once.
Her contributions should be among the lowest of all the players who participated.
Clermont wouldn’t become her territory.
Or can the ownership of the territory be transferred to someone else?

“And you as well, Chaos.
If you were by Her Highness’s side, you ought to have stopped her and admonished her.
I know you care for her, but this place is not safe.
If you are swayed by your emotions, you may do something that cannot be undone.
You must consider your actions more carefully.”

“I’m the one who requested this of him.
So please, Uncle, don’t put too much of the blame on Chaos.
After all, he’s the one who defeated my father who was turned into a vampire.”

The target of his lecture shifts towards me.
That’s fully justified.
However, thanks to Roseline backing me up, it doesn’t become a huge deal.

“Is that so? Chaos did? Then the king and queen are…?”

“It seems that they were captured by vampires, turned into vampires, and had their bodies stolen from them.
Mother and Father did not become monsters of their own will.
Knowing this for certain is enough to have made it worth coming here,” Rosline says, with an expression on her face that seems bright in a way.
Raoul also has an expression that looks both happy and sad.
Even though monsters are just NPCs, a grand story unfolds in their minds.
“So, how is the situation in the city, Uncle?”

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“Although we are still in the process of taking control, there are some soldiers among them who haven’t been turned to vampires yet, so we are encouraging them to cast down their weapons and surrender.
Things will most likely calm down in two hours.”

“I hope no harm befalls the people…”

Two hours, huh.
What should I do? Keep on waiting here? Then maybe I should ask what I was going to ask earlier.

 

It happens without warning.

Glistening red.
A hand suddenly sprouting from Raoul’s body.
I don’t understand what happened at all.

Roseline belatedly screams.
The hand that pierced Raoul’s body is slowly pulled out.
Raoul proceeds to collapse onto the ground in front of him, revealing the soldier behind him.
With a crazed expression, he licks his blood-stained hand.
One of the subordinate soldiers moves and stabs the man with his sword.
With just that, the man stops moving.
I hear shouts from the people around me, but their contents don’t reach my ears.
Roseline holds up Raoul, who has become an empty shell.
The full plate armor she’s wearing becomes sticky with Raoul’s blood.

“Uncle! Please, stay with us!” Roseline cries, shouting Raoul’s name repeatedly.
“Someone, anyone! Call for a cleric! Tend to his wounds! Hurry!”

Roseline presses her hand to the wound in a desperate attempt to stop the blood, but it comes gushing out unhindered.
But even if she calls for a Healer, there’s no point.
After all, Raoul is…

With feeble movements, Raoul reaches out to Roseline’s hand.

“That’s… enough.
It’s… alright,” Raoul says with a weak voice, coughing up blood.

“You’re still conscious! We can still make it! Help will arrive soon, so please don’t say such weak-hearted things!” Roseline scolds him.
It’s the opposite of their usual positions.

“Rose… line.
Become… a fine queen… No less… than the late king…”

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“I will! I will, so please!”

Raoul smiles, a gentle expression that’s the exact opposite of Roseline’s frantic appearance.
Then, Raoul looks over to me.
His mouth moves slightly.
He probably can’t speak anymore.
No words come out.
But I understand what Raoul was trying to say.

“Take care of her.”

Just those few words.

Then, Raoul shows no response whatsoever.

“Uncle? Uncle!” Roseline shouts in tears with an expression of disbelief.
Her sobbing can be heard all around her.

Raoul is dead.
His HP hit zero.

Therefore, he can revive.
Raoul is a player.
After his death, he’ll respawn at the Portal and come back to life.

I mean, this is a game, isn’t it?

There’s no need to be so sad about it, right? Everyone’s just overreacting.
Come on, chin up.
It’s Raoul we’re talking about, so I’m sure he’ll be back before you know it with a gentle smile on his face.

…But no matter how much time passes, the body doesn’t disappear.
But the way Another World’s game mechanics should work is that when a player dies, they respawn at the portal and the player’s corpse disappears.

I take out a certain item.

“Chaos, what is that…?”

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“I’ll revive him.”

I wordlessly approach Raoul.

The Doll of Sacrifice.
The only revival item.
When you break it, the target is revived.
This is sure to revive Raoul.

I try to break the doll.
But it doesn’t break.
That’s weird.
Is this a bug?

A message window pops up in front of me.

Cannot find target in death state.
If no target exists, the effect will not activate.

Yeah, this is really weird.
Isn’t there a target right in front of me? Ahaha, what are the admins doing? This is a paid item.
They can’t sell a defective item like this.

…Break, break, come on, break! I take the doll that won’t break no matter what I do to it and slam it against the ground.
However, the doll still doesn’t break.

“Stop! Chaos! That’s enough! Calm down!”

Don’t stop me, Roseline.
I’m just reviving him.
It’s no big deal.
It happens all the time in games, right? Reviving a dead player is an everyday occurrence.

The dry sound of an impact echoes through the room.
Roseline hit me.
That’s mean, Roseline.
I’m just trying to revive Raoul.
I’m calm.
I can even see that your attack decreased my HP.

“Uncle is… already dead.
Please, just let there be silence.”

Wordlessly, I retrieve the doll.
Picking it up, I try to revive him again, when Roseline grabs my arm.

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“Chaos, listen carefully.”

No, don’t say anything, please.

…The truth is, I realized back in Brandenburg that there’s something weird about this game.
I realized that it wasn’t just a game.
But if I accepted it, then my sense of values and common sense that I’ve had until now would all be overwritten.

Not now.
Please, not now.
If I accept it now, then Raoul would be…

“Dead humans don’t come back to life.”

You’re wrong! Players can come back to life! That’s common sense, isn’t it?! In Another World’s game system, in this virtual game world, the characters that players control can come back to life!

If Raoul can’t come back to life, then he was an NPC.
This revival item doesn’t work on NPCs.
It’s only for reviving players.

…I know that I’m only deceiving myself.
I understand that much.
When Raoul and Roseline reunited, those emotions were real.
They weren’t fake or an act.
Even I know that.

The player Roseline could never have an NPC for an uncle.

If all the rules and common sense of a virtual game world have been broken, then…

“That’s a reality that no living being can escape from.”

This isn’t a game anymore.

It’s reality.