CH 86

[Fu…… Fuhehehehe.]

Looking at the ring glowing red on my finger, <Level Stopper>, laughter leaked out of my mouth.

This ring, as its name suggests, has the effect of “preventing level advancement while equipped”, but to be precise, it’s an equipment that “prevents you from receiving that final 1 EXP for level up”.

And when the EXP is accumulated to the last minute, it’s made to glow red as if to prove it.

In other words, it seems that I was now about to reach Lv 51.

Vampire Lord Werther, a Boss appearing in the latter half of the game, is at Lv 51.

In addition to the higher-leveled Doom Demon, which I defeated in the opening event, I guess I finally earned enough EXP to level up by defeating Werther, a Boss Character of the same rank as it.

(It’s been a long time since I reached this moment……)

When the <Level Stopper> becomes red, EXP is not distributed to the person who has this equipped, but only to the other members of the party.

And so, even though I don’t plan to level up for a while, just knowing that I can level up makes a difference.

(……Ah, I can’t get too carried away.)

The Era Division has moved from First to Second, and the number of things we can do has definitely increased.

Moreover, I’ve been able to prove that “it’s possible to interfere in Events other than Character Events, allowing the possibility of “changing the contents of Events”.

……At the same time though, the factor of uneasiness I had in mind also increased.

The Vampire Event occurred immediately after the event flag was raised.

An Event Flag being raised was, in other words, an Event that occurs when the “Hero” encounters them.

Therefore, if my theory was correct, the Event wouldn’t have occurred even if I, who wasn’t the “Hero” went to visit Roze, and Werther would only come to visit her when the Event duration has ended.

In reality, however, Werther came on the same night that that Event had been triggered, and I happened to be the one in there.

Either my assumption that the Main Event doesn’t progress even if someone other than the “Hero” visits was incorrect, or perhaps……

(Is there a possibility that Events occur automatically in this world from the moment an Event Flag is raised?)

I don’t know for sure.

However, it would be better if we could estimate the timing of Events as much as possible, and to always move ahead of the curve.

(For that sake……)

When I arrived at today’s destination, a certain restaurant, I saw a shadow running toward me.

[————-Rex-san!]

[————-Lily.]

Waving her hand with a smile towards me was <Lily Harmonix>.

A Bard whose identity has been corrected in this world, changed from a transvestite to a real woman.

※　※　※

Whenever I met with her, I somehow always made it a point to use the private room of this restaurant.

It would be bad for her if I met her in a conspicuous place and started a strange rumor, and I somehow, it’s just my hunch, but I have this feeling that it would be better if she doesn’t meet Resilia too often.

No, I think it’s probably just unfounded fear on my part, but there isn’t really any reason to force the two of them to meet at the moment.

I enjoyed my meal with Lily, who seemed to be somewhat excited, and banqueted into our meals for a while.

[————–Regarding the search for that person, I was still not getting any results.]

After chatting for a while, she cut straight to the chase.

Lily isn’t a great fighter, but she’s definitely better than me in terms of information-gathering ability and connectivity with others.

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And so, I asked her to help me “search people”.

I asked her to find three people.

The first was the Kingdom’s Second Prince, <Prince of Light, Ain>, an innocent, puppy-like shota.

The second was the future <Prince of Darkness>, the Second Prince of the former Ash Royal Family, hiding a large burn on his face with a mask…… or so it was rumored to be, but he was actually a normal, handsome youth under that mask.

Both of them could only be encountered after they became enemies in the game, but if we could make contact with them at this point, it might not be impossible to bring them to our side.

I had asked her to search for them with this in mind, but unfortunately, I had very little information about them, and the only thing I clearly knew from the game was their faces.

And so, I was at least hoping she would find out something about the third person.

—————–The “Hero” of the game.

Even though the Era Division has progressed and the situation has changed, the search for the “Hero” is still my top priority.

After all, without the “Hero”, I wouldn’t be able to proceed with Events in a stable manner, nor would the world be able to win the battle against the <Demon Lord>.

After all, the “Hero” is the most important person in this world.

However, searching for the “Hero” isn’t an easy task.

There are a few things I know about the “Hero”, but those clues haven’t really led us to him.

The following is a list of characteristics of the “Hero” that remain regardless of the origin……

First is this basic and absolute requirement.

Since B&B was popular among women for its genre, I can’t help but think that it would have sold well if it had a female Hero, but the only option for the “Hero” character is male.

Well, if you can choose whether the Hero character is male and female, it would complicate the Event branching and dialogue differences, so it can’t be helped.

Perhaps, if the production company had more money and more people, such a future might have been possible, but it would be unreasonable to ask such a thing of a company that went bankrupt shortly after.

This is my biggest clue in finding the “Hero”.

Considering that Rex has an affinity value of 9, and the average Adventurer has an affinity value of about 18, this difference in affinity value gives him a devastating strength.

Random characters who got a high roll and Unique Characters that are important to the story may have an affinity value of over 20, but even then, the highest value they could have is 22.

There’s hardly any character who reaches that 25 Affinity Value.

However, this is something that no one but me, whose ability values can be seen numerically with my <Inspect> can tell, and the drawback of this clue is that it isn’t very useful in a search left to others.

Though I say that, there’s no doubt that he will be an excellent Adventurer with a high probability, so I was thinking of searching for him from that direction.

The “Hero”, the <Warrior of Light> chosen by the “Goddess of Salvation”, learns a variety of Light-Type Unique Skills like <Sword of Light>.

His abilities are distinctive and powerful, so they should be easily recognizable by those who see it…… Unfortunately, however, it’s not so easy to say whether this info is useful in the search for him.

He will not learn the Skill <Sword of Light> until after he encounters a <Demon Lord>, and I’m not sure if the “Hero” has met a <Demon Lord> by now.

The face of the “Hero” is determined by the player’s character creation, and he doesn’t have a Default Face.

The Hero is supposed to be basically good-looking, but the Character Creation has many Face Parts options, so there are many variations that can be created.

The age of the “Hero” is often set as a teenager, but it’s possible to create a character with a face that makes you think he’s in 40s, or even have ridiculous faces like the face of a monster or a kabuki actor.

It would be impossible to identify the “Hero” from his face.

For the aforementioned reasons, it’s difficult to find the “Hero” by any means other than by <Inspect>.

……However……

I had a “clue” in mind that might be able to help me find the “Hero”.

In the first place, if you think about it normally, it’s hard to imagine a situation where a World Event doesn’t occur after 3 months, and it’s also hard to imagine that the Second Era Division will arrive without the “Encounter with a <Demon Lord> Event occurring.

However, there is one clue that such circumstances have given me.

There’s one special “Hero Origin” that could cause such a situation.

It would be the starting point of the <Miko Sacrificed to the Darkness>.

The <Miko Sacrificed to the Darkness> Origin is the so-called “Hard Mode”, unlocked after the game is cleared once.

The story begins with the player being captured by the <Cult of Eternal Darkness>, and having to escape from a mysterious ritual that begins in a week’s time.

Even if you manage to escape successfully, you will be constantly pursued by cultists.

This makes it difficult for the “Hero” to use the Adventurers’ Guilds and stores in towns and cities, making your playthrough feel more like a survival game, but that isn’t the only reason this Origin is so tough.

The most important characteristic of this start is that “the game starts a year later than the other Heroes”.

The goals that should have been achieved in 2 years had to be done in half the time, so to put it bluntly, it was an almost impossible game.

I once tried out this playthrough, but after escaping from the cult and continuing the adventure for a while, I felt helpless and readily gave up on that run.

Also, if you choose this Origin, you would start in the Third Era Division.

Incidentally, World Events up to Second Era Division are forcibly judged as failures, so you’d be stuck with failed events like Roze’s for example.

Well, leaving that aside, only if the “Hero” is the <Miko Sacrificed to the Darkness>, there is a possibility that the Era Division will advance even if the “Hero” isn’t active at all.

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And if the “Hero” is indeed the <Miko Sacrificed to the Darkness>, then it would be easy to identify him.

From the conversations in the story, it’s clear that the “Hero” is a former noble and has a younger sister named “Linda”.

And so, I asked Lily to search for noble families with a girl named Linda in it……

(It turned out to be a failure huh? No, not much time has passed, so I can’t really say it now.)

It takes time for people in this world to move from one place to another.

In this world without telephones or the internet, information is carried by the people, and it usually takes at least a month for information from far away to reach us.

[I’m sorry. Even though you had been expecting news……]

Lily bowed in apology, but I shook my head.

[No, I had originally been hazy with the person I’m looking for. You’re already doing a great job, Lily.]

[Rex-san……]

Besides, I wasn’t too disappointed.

There wasn’t much that could be done in the First Era Division, but now that the Era has progressed, there are plenty of actions that be taken.

[……If we can’t find them, we just have to smoke them out.]

When I murmured so, Lily thought for a moment before speaking, sounding as if she was probing something.

[While collecting information in this town, I’ve unintentionally come across information about Rex-san. On the outskirts of the town, you had apparently bought an abandoned house near an orphanage, cooperated with the Guild to install scented sachets for repelling monsters all over the town, and ordered your apprentices to keep on subjugating Bee-type monsters in the field……]

Lily’s words made my eyes widen a bit.

I never expected she would gather that much about my actions.

As I thought, asking her for her cooperation wasn’t a mistake.

[Rex-san, what on earth are you planning to do?]

Lily asked, to which I shrugged my shoulders and answered.

[————–Not much, it isn’t that big of a deal. It was just a little pest control