"When will we arrive?" I asked my subordinate sitting beside me.
"The village is nearby, so it shouldn't take more than 30 minutes. In fact, if you use the steam car, it might only take 15 minutes."
"No, that wastes too much water."
"...But you can generate water with magic, right?"
"No."
"Boss, saving is fine, but sometimes you should let loose at least once..."
Both of us were riding in a horse-drawn carriage, leaving Chrysanthemum City to head toward that village of 100 farmer girls.
Heh, Chrysanthemum City—sounds beautiful, doesn't it?
Oh, by the way, the village we're heading to is a nameless one. Even though it belongs to the Lotus Kingdom, there are so many villages around that people just number them arbitrarily, like Village 1 or Village 2.
I'll call it... uhhh... got it! Village Weez!
Heh, good name, right? I'm quite proud of my naming skills.
"Boss, look over there," my subordinate tugged at my sleeve and pointed outside the window.
Wow, there was a herd of buffalo with a few kids playing on them.
It seems this guy used to be a farmer before joining my organization, huh?
Heh, look at his face—it's like New Year's just came early for him.
"Boss! Do you know what that is?!" My subordinate enthusiastically pointed at the kites flying high in the sky.
"Huh? Oh, that's called... kite flying, isn't it?"
"Exactly! Ahhh, it reminds me of my childhood with all those kites in different shapes and sizes~"
I glanced at a simple kite design, and for some reason, I wanted to try it out too.
'Wait, no, stop being childish—you're 15 years old,' I shook my head, regaining composure.
"Boss, is it just you and me on this trip?" My subordinate looked at me curiously.
"No, someone's on the roof of the carriage. Open the window and take a look."
Hearing this, my subordinate opened the window and looked up to see a short-haired, purple-haired man sitting with his eyes closed.
"WHAT?! YOU REALLY BROUGHT HIM ALONG?!" My subordinate looked at me, sweating nervously.
"Yeah, my combat abilities are only average—I need someone to protect me."
After hearing this, my subordinate reconsidered and nodded in agreement.
The boss of an entire mafia organization traveling alone would just be asking for trouble.
"Tell him to come inside the carriage," I said.
"Ah, right, I'll call—"
"No need, Boss. I'm fine staying outside," the purple-haired man said loudly enough for both of us to hear.
"You sure?"
"Positive."
"Alright, stay safe then."
A few more minutes passed.
"Boss, look! The kids are playing marbles!" My subordinate pointed at the children squatting and playing marbles.
"How do you play that?" I asked curiously, glancing out the window.
"Boss, you just need some marbles, place them in a circle, and then blah blah blah... boom! You can take your opponent's marbles!"
"Sounds complicated."
"Really?"
Suddenly, there was a knock on the window.
My subordinate opened it, and the purple-haired man informed us,
"Boss... there's a village being attacked by mountain bandits up ahead, and it's the one with those 100 farmer girls."
"What?!" I exclaimed, opening the carriage door and climbing onto the roof to get a clearer view.
In the distance, a group of bandits was pillaging, burning, and looting without restraint.
'Is this a canon event or just a coincidence?'
"Boss, what should we do?"
"What kind of question is that? We're going full speed to minimize casualties."
"Understood."
Both of us jumped off the carriage and started running, our speed creating wind pressure behind us.
The carriage came to a halt. My subordinate got down and glanced at the coachman.
"Those two... They could have run there on their own, but instead, they used a carriage..."
"Well, at least it shows I'm not completely useless to the organization, and that's good enough for me~" the coachman said, whistling.
***
"Yippee! Finally done with class!" A short-haired girl stretched as the sound of the school bell signaled the end of the day.
She quickly packed her books into her bag and slung it over her shoulder.
"Hey! Wanna grab something to eat later? I heard there's a new hotpot place that's amazing!"
"Really?! That sounds so tempting!"
She turned to look at a group of boys placing their hands on each other's shoulders, then shifted her gaze toward the girls.
"Want to grab some bubble tea?"
"Sorry, I've got plans with my boyfriend!"
"What?! You got a new boyfriend already? That was quick!"
"Well, you know me—I switch boyfriends like I change clothes~"
She sighed. She really didn't fit in with her class.
It was like she didn't belong there at all, surrounded by people she had no desire to get to know.
Thanks to that, she had no friends, which was pretty depressing.
'Oh well! What's wrong with being alone?! I've got that new game I bought on Steam waiting for me at home!'
With that, she rushed out of school. At the gates, she spotted a guy sitting on a motorbike, scrolling through his phone.
"Big bro!"
He looked up at her, put his phone away, and handed her a helmet.
"Get on. I don't have all day."
"Alright, alright, why so impatient?"
She climbed onto the bike, secured her helmet, and the two sped off toward home.
"By the way, how'd the match go yesterday?" she asked as they rode.
"Disaster. I lost big time—not even in the top five."
"Aw man, no prize money then?"
"All you care about is the money, huh?"
Oh right, her brother had a side hustle as a minor fighting game competitor.
Since fighting games weren't that popular—especially with most companies focusing on other game genres—they had a small fan base.
The fighting games on the market, like Mortal Kumbat, Toyken, and City Warrior, were all made before 2000, so they were pretty outdated.
Her brother played Mortal Kumbat, and his best character was Scarpian.
Wait, why were they suddenly talking about fighting games?
"Are you planning to keep playing?" she asked curiously.
Her brother was silent for a moment before replying,
"No, I'm quitting fighting games."
Hearing this, she felt a little sad. From a young age, she'd always admired her brother's passion for fighting games, and now he was giving up...
"We're here," he said, snapping her out of her thoughts. She got off the bike and took off her helmet.
"I'm home!!" she called out as she opened the door. Her dad answered from the couch, where he was watching TV.
"Ah, you're back?"
Her mom didn't reply, focused on cooking in the kitchen.
She rushed toward her room but was stopped by her mom.
"Hey! Did you wash your feet yet?"
She sniffed her feet and winced.
Oh no, she'd forgotten about her stinky feet...
Resigned, she went to the bathroom to wash up and change clothes.
Afterward, she entered her room, powered on her PC, and waited.
Once it booted up, her eyes immediately locked onto the game she'd downloaded yesterday but hadn't had time to play yet:
Fairy Tales: Hotboys and Magic.
Heh, what a brilliant name.
Without hesitation, she clicked on it, and the screen went dark.
Then, a logo featuring a white eye appeared, along with the phrase:
[Those who don't play, win But those who play, must win!]
The game's title and a dazzling array of handsome guys filled the screen.
"KYAA!! LOOK AT THEM!! SO HANDSOME!!"
She instantly clicked the start button, and a prompt appeared:
[Select Difficulty]
'Huh? A dating sim with difficulty levels? It must have something to do with gaining affection points or something.'
She selected Normal mode, and the game lit up.
Before her was a character creation screen, which surprised her.
This otome game was pretty well-made!
She created a short-haired, pink-haired female character resembling herself and hit start.
Her character appeared in a cozy wooden house (a top-down view with adorable 3D chibi characters).
"Wow! That's so cute!" she said, smiling at her creation.
She moved her character downstairs and saw two NPCs, labeled as "father" and "mother," sitting opposite each other at the table. She decided to interact with them.
When she interacted with the mother, a character portrait appeared alongside the text:
[Mother]
[You're awake? Now get your butt outside and work, girl. If you keep sleeping past noon, you'll get as fat as a pig!]
What?! A mother that openly body shames?
She switched to interact with the father, and the following text popped up:
[Father]
[My dear, I hope you marry a rich husband someday so I can drink all the booze I want and freely cheat on your mother. I'm so done with her!]
...
Completely shocked, she left the house immediately, silently vowing never to return.
As she stepped outside, a cutscene played, showing her the village surroundings.
"Wow! The graphics are stunning! I can't believe this is an Otome game!"
She noticed several girls stepping out of their houses, each with different hairstyles and names in green text above their heads.
"Wait... Is this an online game?"
Curious, she exited the game and checked its Steam page, noticing the listed genres included online, RPG, reverse harem, fighting, romance...
"Hold on, why is 'fighting' a tag for this game?!"
Confused but brushing it off, she continued playing.
"Maybe it's just some weird feature or a misplaced tag. Whatever, let's keep going."
Upon re-entering the game, she examined the surroundings more carefully.
NPCs had white names, players had green names, and quest-givers had blue names.
"This is my first RPG... so the goal of the game is probably something like competing to win the affections of the male leads, right?"
She moved her character through the village, exploring further, but suddenly another cutscene began.
A group of bandits emerged from the nearby forest and surrounded the village.
"What?? What's going on?!" She watched in shock as the red-named bandits stormed in aggressively.
The village elder rushed out to confront them:
[Village Elder]
[What do you want, sirs?!]
[Bandit]
[What kind of dumb question is that, old man? Your village has plenty of young women! Just hand over half of them, and we'll leave peacefully.]
Enraged, she muttered under her breath, "This scumbag is a total enemy of women!"
The elder, equally furious, tried to reason with them:
[Village Elder]
[We can negotiate... anything else, just not the young women of this village!]
[Bandit]
[Too many words. We expected this anyway!]
The bandit leader walked up and struck the elder down.
She gasped, "What the heck is going on?! I thought this was a fairytale-style Otome game?!"
The bandit leader shouted to his crew:
[Bandit Leader]
[Alright, boys! We're raiding this village, taking every girl we can, and burning this place down to avoid any witnesses!]
[Bandit Crew]
[Got it!!!]
The chaos unfolded as the bandits set houses ablaze, attacked villagers, and began kidnapping girls.
Frightened, she hurriedly moved her character to escape, but several bandits chased after her. She ran until reaching the village gate.
"Seriously?! What kind of Otome game is this??"
Cornered at the gate, her character was surrounded by the bandits. They closed in with malicious grins, and the screen presented two options:
[Call for help]
[Stay silent]
"CALL FOR HELP!!!" She slammed the first option, and her character cried out loudly.
...
...
But no one came.
"No white knight? No prince charming? Is this really a game for women?!"
The bandits advanced, grabbing her character's clothes.
Suddenly, everyone stopped at the sound of something in the distance.
One of the bandits turned to the gate and then get dropkick.
A well-dressed brown-haired man appeared, standing confidently before her.
He look around the surroundings and issued a command.
[???]
[Éclair, handle the others. I'll take care of this group myself.]
With that, purple lightning streaked through the air, heading toward the other bandits.
[Bandit]
[W-Who are you?!]
The man ignored the question, calmly putting on black gloves with red armor plating.
Enraged, one bandit charged at him with a weapon, but the man dodged with ease.
His amber eyes flared as flames erupted from his hands and forehead, his hair spiking upward.
The bandit's attack missed completely as the man countered with a fiery punch to his ribs.
"UAGHH!!" The bandit screamed in pain, dropping his weapon and stumbling backward. Another fiery blow to the face sent him flying into a nearby house.
The man cracked his knuckles, scanning the remaining enemies.
"Who's next?"