It's a wonder Lilith didn't turn out to be as obsessive as I thought she would've. I mean, maybe the fact that I was with her pretty much from dusk till dawn was helping it, but, hey, I'm no psychologist. Still, we had relatively little to do at the castle, boredom was another of those little issues that aren't often talked about in regards to the novels.
It makes sense though, no one really wants to read a chapter about the three months I spent doing nothing but finding different books to read for Lilith, reading them for her, going to bed, waking up, and going back to searching for a new book.
By the end of that span of time, I was reading those boring textbooks on economic and money management. I would love to say I'd learned all of it, and was now an expert in macroeconomics, but, honestly? Half of it flew straight over my head. Lilith's as well from her spacy eyes while I was reading.
After that, though you'd need to pry the information out of my 18 year old self with a crowbar, we spent several months playing increasingly elaborate games of pretend. No plot lasted long, given the fact that we started to lose track of our own plot threads. I wasn't any sort of author after all, the most that I did was get disappointed at how novels or movies would treat ideas or concepts, then think about how I would've done so. A skill, if you could even call it that, which didn't translate well to the fast and loose games of 'this happens then this then this' that children played by. I will concede however, that it greatly appealed to the childish parts of me to act out all the increasingly ridiculous plot points.
None of our games of pretend ever really got any real endings, and none of our made up characters got any closure, nothing besides a throwaway comment Lilith would make every now and again. As someone currently living in an unfinished novel, I couldn't help but wonder about the characters and worlds created in these games of make believe.
Was someone back on earth going to become trapped in the world of a child's mind, or was it the act of writing itself that made new worlds?
Pondering my current situation was something of a trap. I'd end up just kind of staring into space for full days, considering the impossibility of everything. I mean, really trying to wrap my head around the words someone typed onto a computer could become a physical space.
You couldn't walk on text, you can't eat letters and words, you can't breathe air through ink. Yet I was. My feet found the solid ground of the castle that only existed in the worlds of a novel. I ate the hardtack, porridge, and occasional bit of meat that wasn't even ever described in the original work. And every day, I would wake up, and I would breathe fresh, unpolluted air, in a world that didn't even understand the concept.
No one was ever really meant to think too hard about things like that. Hell, unless I was nitpicking something I read, I never really thought about it. But shouldn't I have? How often is it even explained, how a novel is turned to reality in the books? It has been, once or twice. An act of a careless god.
I can't help but wonder, if it was that the novel was turned into reality, or if it was that I was turned into fiction. No, I shouldn't think such absurd things. The Prince being insane but right was getting to me. Like I just said, there's solid ground under me, bad food in my stomach, and air in my lungs. I know I'm real. I should, anyway.
The Crown Prince still visited every so often, though in much more official ways. He wouldn't get any more time to spend alone with me, so outside of knowing looks, he didn't speak any further on the conversation we had.
I can't figure out if he was a genius who was outsmarting his own creator, or a lunatic who happened to guess right. Chances were, he was somewhere in between.
It was kind of interesting, to live through things that would be summarized as, 'then a few years passed' in a book. I started getting educated by Meinor on the etiquette of nobility, spent time with Lilith, and just, generally existed.
One year in the world became two, and two became three. I wish I could say time flew by, but that wasn't the truth at all. Anxiety over the coming events of the novel would often keep me up at night, and I couldn't help but make plans, scrap them, then remake them.
It didn't help that I felt like a piece of trash, getting constantly praised for my mild temperance and maturity. Yes, thank you Manior, I am a very mature young man of 21 technically. I couldn't decide if I should be demeaned by the treatment, or if I should just feel bad for lying to everyone.
It wasn't like I had much of a choice. I didn't ask to lose 8 years of my life to magic mumbo jumbo. But still, there was a little more complexity to any feelings of praise I received due to that.
I almost wish I could go back to fighting for my life. At least there wasn't anything about that which would make me feel weird. This lady is trying to kill me. Survive. Simple, easy, no moral grayness at all.
Pretend to be a child so that a young girl who might become obsessive and end up hurling herself into a suicide fight against a hero, who is the main character of a novel that I read, for several years. I got lost just trying to follow that statement.
Still, existential crisis or not, the world rather cruelly refuses to stop and wait for you to get your shit together. So, with the casual cruelty that it always does, time passed.
I stretched out my back, rolling my shoulder as I held the small suitcase. Manior was in front of me, clasping my shoulders and sniffling. "Be good! Stay healthy! Budget well and make sure it lasts."
I let him do as he pleased, smiling softly. Both Lilith and I were healthier, with my [Malnourished] status reduced to a F rank. For her part, she was much less pale, a healthy pinkish color to her skin and body. So, with that, and our newly 13-14 ish age, it was decided that our little quest was to commence.
It brought a small smile to my lips whenever I thought about it. Both of us had grown considerably, but we were still about a year away from the start of the novel, and our first year of school.
'Ol prince had given me all the details through a few letters. All of the people I was going to see were mentioned in the novel, and I would be doing the full round of the MC's Herem.
In total, I had 5 people to meet. Yuki, Chun Shi, Elizabeth, Duke Frost, and priestess Sofia. With the exception of the duke, they were all the members of the harem. The duke was going to be an instructor at the academy, which I always thought was a little absurd. Nobles, despite popular opinion, do actually have things they need to do. They function as the managers and rulers of stretches of land, they really shouldn't be able to disappear for years at a time to do whatever.
I gave Mainor a hug, and the older man returned it. Despite my poor first impression of him, he was a good dude.
I met up with Lilith at the entrance to the Edgar castle, and she jumped on me in an instant. She slammed her body into my torso, her hands wrapping around my back in a crushing hug, like we hadn't seen each other for years. I wheeze, as I return the hug. "It's been two hours."
"It's been eons! I thought you were gone forever!"
She rubbed her cheek against mine like a housecat, before biting into my neck. I held onto her arm, grimacing as she drank from me. She had gotten a lot more comfortable doing that rather casually.
After a few audible gulps of liquid, she pulled away with a satisfied gasp. "Thanks for the top up."
"Asking would be appreciated."
She laughed, and stepped up into the cararage. I rub the slightly aching part of my neck, and follow right behind her, giving Mainor a final wave goodbye.
I hadn't been in a carriage since I first came into this world. I reflected on my time thus far as I looked out the window of the carriage where the Edgar castle slowly faded into the horizon. This had gone about as well as it could've. Lilith was much happier and healthier, and I had probably avoided the battle that would kill her altogether. I didn't really know if she had still ended up infatuated with the Crown Prince, but even if she did, I don't think she would lose to the protagonist nor his party anymore.
I mean, anything could still happen now that I've thrown things off course. But I think even the small changes I've made have assuaged the original threat. Lilith's got no problem with drinking blood, and so, should probably be fine to chew up and spit out the main character if the need arises. No point in getting arrogant though, I'd have to keep treating the MC as a threat if I didn't want to be caught off guard.
As the minutes turned to hours in the carriage, Lilith's energy slowly turned from excited to anxious. I could see her eyes constantly scanning the road through the windows, her foot tapping rapidly against the ground.
She reached out towards me suddenly, and grabbed my arm, clutching it towards her chest.
"I've never been so far from my room."
I let out a breath, not pulling away. "It's fine, it'll be fun to see new places right?"
"Y-Yeah." Her grip on my arm tightened.
I wince a little, but keep my expression steady. We were headed to the Northern part of the kingdom, where snow blanketed the land most of the year. The first person we were supposed to meet was a character that I actually knew a fair amount about, for once.
Yuki, an Ice queen archetype and a girl with magic relating to Ice abilities, from the North. Yeah, the author didn't think too hard about this one.
She could be considered the closest thing to a Female lead, given that the original IRRAS was a harem novel. She was the "main girl" so to speak. Still, none of the characters were all that solid in the novel, and she was fairly two dimensional as well. She cares about strength, and only about strength.
The main character beats her in the opening day spar to the wonder and amazement of everyone, and she falls for him after. Pretty cookie cutter.
Though, after what happened with the Crown Prince, I was a little bit skeptical as to if she would be the same as in the novel.
I just had to hope she also didn't also have an existential breakdown and plan to kill god in front of me. I never thought that would be a serious issue to consider.
We were being given an unreasonable amount of freedom in my opinion, even with the passing years we were both barely even teens, but frankly, getting the Edgar castle to send Lilith away was like getting a dog to eat a treat. It needed very little convincing.
Still, the Crown Prince wasn't a master schemer for nothing. He had provided us with very detailed routes and instructions, as well as enough money to do what we needed and then some.
After some time spent in the gentle rocking of the carriage wheels, we got off at the small town. I stretched my legs and back, both sore from the long ride. Lilith was immune to it, and just wandered around the area.
She was tough enough to handle herself, and I needed a minute to rest. I threw the carriage driver the agreed upon amount, and he gave me a little two fingered salute, turning and driving back without a break.
No clue how that guy could handle riding a carriage like that for so long. Dude must have killer back issues.