Chapter 18 - Prologue

New Characters

Barbara von Rosenberg (Similar to Fate Testarossa)

Elize's mother and the replacement head of Rosenberg Household. In the game she is known to be an opportunistic woman who ordered her daughter to profit from her engagement from the prince.

Christina (Similar to Rutia from Eden's Ritter)

The only woman among the sword saints, a pure-blooded high elf who was almost a princess. In the game she was hated by many women as they had complexes towards her and her huge chest.

Goredolph Aintree (Similar to Kyojuro Rengoku)

One of the four sword saints and an extra capture target in the game. A strange man who always passed by smiling.

Wilhelm Malcolm von Bryes (Similar to Leo Whitefang)

The current emperor of the Arklight Empire. A man who exudes a pressure that prevents you from seeing his face, father of all princes. In the game he only appeared on his deathbed.

Rudolph Alan von Bryes (Similar to Nachtigal I. Fenn)

The prime minister of the empire, a wise man who is the right hand and younger brother of the emperor.

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A beautiful white room decorated with luxurious ornaments was the place where a meeting was held.

The location was in the palace of the Arklight Empire, located in the center of the Ixion continent.

The empire is one of the largest countries in the world, it is a power among powers, thus gaining many enemies.

A group of more than thirty men were gathered, they were urgently called to meet.

"As you can see from the documents, the mysterious criminal named Licht, has been murdering different people for the past few months. His latest victim was the eldest son of Iscariot Household."

the men were going through the documents on a large circular table.

"I have a question."

"What is it?"

"The magic knights have not been able to track him down?"

"I'm afraid not. I questioned them several times and none of them knew what to answer. This individual hides his trail perfectly. We can't easily follow him."

"I see."

"Please check page twelve, there are more details about the incidents there."

As they turned the pages, a man shouted.

"Hold on!"

"Yes?"

"It says here that one of the ten holy wizards was killed! And that his murderer may have been that Licht fellow!"

Everyone's expressions were grim and only one raised his hand.

"Is there a possibility that he's a spy or a stripped soldier on behalf of the Ideal Empire?"

"... We can't deny that. But we can't confirm it either."

"We only have what we have found out from the corpses whose brains were not smashed and the information those young men gave."

"I understand."

"I'm sorry I can't say more than this."

"That's all right. Gentlemen, it was a pleasure to see you so quickly and in this manner. My apologies, you may go."

"Yes. Your Highness."

The men left the room one by one after saying their goodbyes, after no one was left, the last person inside came out.

He felt bad, his head hurt, that's why he ended this meeting quickly.

As he walked a few yards, he noticed a certain acquaintance coming from the direction he was going.

"Nice to see you, Blake."

"Same here, Sirius nii-sama."

Both were well dressed, in white suits with the finest and most expensive fabric you could buy.

On the right shoulder, both had a black colored cloak, the emblem was of the empire. Only those belonging to the imperial family could wear it.

The short man was 21 years old and the taller one was 24 years old.

The one who had a bad expression on his handsome face was the second prince in the line of succession.

A young man with blond hair and blue eyes, slim with muscles, his haircut was short and combed to the left, he had a small braid at the end of his hair.

He was Blake. Blake Greg von Bryes.

While the man with the pleasant smile and angelic aura was none other than the rightful crown prince.

Slim with no muscles, long blond hair; tied back resting over his right shoulder. His eyes were blood red, but his gaze and facial features made him look very harmless.

Sirius Emile von Bryes.

They were both very attractive, the reason for that is because they were both extra targets for capture.

This world is not a simple fantasy world. It's an otome-themed world.

And they, they were characters in that game.

"I heard from someone in my faction that last week the Iscariot family was arrested for various secret crimes. The boss was instantly executed and his influence destroyed at the same time. I am very sorry indeed."

"That doesn't sound like a condolence, you know."

The second prince was saying to the crown prince.

"I'm sorry, mother always taught us to speak the truth. And I want to honor her memory with it."

"As always, you are someone who should know how to choose his words better, my dear older brother."

"Next time I'll be careful."

"Hoh? Are you implying this will happen again?"

Prince Blake is walking around upset, that's because he has received several reports where members of his faction have been involved in cases of corruption, arms sales, among even worse things.

And, for some reason, the one to blame for leaving that evidence is always a mysterious being by the name of Licht.

"I'm not trying to insinuate anything. I'm just saying that for the next time we talk, I'll talk things over better."

"Ha, yeah."

Blake was walking towards his older brother, heading to his private mansion to rest.

After crossing paths with Sirius, he said to him.

"Oh, that's right! I forgot. Hey, did you hear about what Lux-kun did last week?"

Blake stopped and turned his head to look at his brother.

"What did Lux do?"

Sirius didn't change his expression, but the corner of his mouth showed a strange twitch.

"That boy committed a crazy thing. He was trying to break off his engagement to the Rosenbergs' daughter in public. And to make it even crazier, a strange boy and Cid-kun challenged him to a duel."

Blake's eyes widened like saucers to blurt out a comment.

"He did what!!!"

Life is Russian roulette, they say.

You never know when the bullet will hit you.

Anyway, enough of this boring talk.

I, Razel Bartlet, am an imposter in this game world.

I died in an accident and was reincarnated in an otome game based world.

I was trying to live my life as a simple baron with no territory and help the protagonist and capture targets from the shadows.

My reason for doing so is that in this way, I could prevent many calamities from happening and help save the world and prevent its destruction.

The two years that the royal academy of magic lasted should have been simple and boring as I tried not to stand out and be a background character like friend A.

But all that was ruined.

The blame for that is because I avoided a major event in the game. The end of the horrendous villainess. The problem is, for some strange reason it was taking place.

This event was happening at graduation and only when the protagonist and the capture targets have gathered evidence to punish her.

But for some reason, the stupid third prince was bullying her.

The villainess, Eli, is my childhood friend.

I wanted to keep something bad from happening to her originally, but what the stupid beau said to her was something that made my blood burn.

That was yesterday.

My friends and teachers called me crazy.

I told them I was.

For some reason, we had to go to the Duchy Rosenberg, or what's left of it, to report it.

The girls left that same night for Eli's house.

While me and my good friend, the fourth prince, Cidfert von Bryes or simply Cid.

We decided to defend it.

We were in a cellar at the academy.

Classes were over and the students went home because next week is a festival that lasts a whole week.

"Razel, stop wasting time looking at the sky and help me too."

Who was telling me that was Cid.

A tall, handsome boy with navy blue hair and dark blue eyes. He was one of the extra capture targets in the game, but he was well obnoxious.

In reality, he is very nice and a good friend.

He came out to defend Eli from his half-brother.

Quite the opposite, to me. A simpleton and ugly guy.

My hair and eyes are black, I have small irises and strange shadows under my eyes.

I really am very ugly without a doubt.

"Razel, I'm going to beat you up if you don't come right now."

Without even waiting another minute. Cid threw a box in my face.

"Ahhh!"

I screamed because of the pain.

Can't a man think of a reason why he's doing this?

I mean, we're going to fight the prince and his friends in a duel in seven days.

And the method of the duel is a joust, just like in the event.

I have no idea how to ride a horse.

That was a problem, the worst thing is that they are not normal horses like in the classic knight movies.

They are actually some kind of flying horses.

Just like I say, they are flying horses. But not as anyone imagines. It can certainly seem confusing, even more so because they are called Pegasus.

They are built with magic spells so they can fly.

They are usually used for sports. For combat they are not used, but years ago the nobles decided to upgrade the jousting and so jousting with Pegasus was born.

There is a magic stone inside that acts as an engine, similar to riding a motorcycle.

Back to Cid.

"Don't you want to let me rest for a moment?"

"Rest from 'what' exactly?"

"Yesterday we challenged Regulux and his friends to a duel, we came today to the academy's warehouse because the janitor with the keys was returning in the morning."

"We came to get a Pegasus for you."

It's just as you say, I don't have one. So, the academy will lend me one.

Obviously it will be an old and used one since, if it's stored in the cellar it's because nobody uses it or wants it.

Very nice these teachers.

We've been looking for a Pegasus for me for two hours.

This place is as huge as a pier.

There are many, but they are damaged or the magic stone was removed long ago.

I don't have the money to buy a new one, nor does Cid.

The worst thing is that the price is over 5000 thousand gold coins.

It will really give me a heart attack.

"There must be one around here somewhere."

As I was removing rubble from junk stored here.

I found something.

"Hey Cid, come take a look at this."

In the middle of all that trash, I found my Pegasus... but it's not what I expected.

Cid came running over and then like me, he was surprised to see this.

"Are you serious?"

He was amazed as we found a Pegasus.

Like all Pegasus, its upper body without the legs was the mount.

It had wings on the sides, it was either decoration or they served the same purpose as airplanes, I have no idea as in the game it was never over probed.

Dust off, it looks like a perfect flying horse.

The only weird thing is.

"Why is it black?"

His color was black. It wasn't just one part, it was everything.

From the tip of his nose to his tail he was black.

The only thing that wasn't black was the eyes, but those were blood red.

It was very frightening.

"Let me check if it's any good."

Cid went over to check it out, fiddling back and forth.

"It seems to be in excellent condition. The magic stone is intact and was not removed. If it were removed, it would be useless as each Pegasus runs on the magic stone it was built with."

Cid put his hand to his chin as he looked at this boy.

"I heard a rumor once."

"Rumor?"

"Yes. It was about a fairy tale, that, if you took great care of an object, it would come to life through fairies living in it."

Funny.

In Japanese mythology, there is a terminology for those beings. They were called tsukumogami.

It was something like the story of the doll that wanted to be a real boy.

"Why do you say that?"

I would ask him.

He would answer me.

"Look. There's a name written here. It's not common to see this."

Cid would point out to me on one part of his neck a name written.

"Schwarz?"

"What a weird name."

Apparently it belonged to someone. Never mind, you are mine now and we must leave as soon as possible for the Duchy Rosenberg to report the duel to the Duchess, the mother of the villainess.

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Nii-sama: Older brother in a very respectful way.

Tsukumogami: According to legend, when objects such as umbrellas, sandals and musical instruments turn 100 years old, they come to life. It is popularly believed that they receive a soul. Their forms change and they gain certain anthropomorphic features. They can be benign or malignant depending on the use the owner gave them.

Schwarz: Black color in German.