The Protagonist’s Party is Too Diligent – 46
EP.46 Plan (1)
Alright. Let’s make a plan.
No matter how good one’s memory was, it was impossible to remember every single detail of a game’s lore. Even among hardcore fans, there weren’t many who could recite their favorite game’s script from start to finish without missing a word.
This was evident from the fact that not many people bother to translate the lore of their favorite games. Many didn’t even read the walkthroughs because they find learning a foreign language too bothersome. So, how many would take on the unnecessary task of memorizing every line of dialogue?
Even though I replayed the game several times to write walkthroughs, completed it more times just for fun, and even compared the original and translated versions to point out any translations or tones that didn’t sit well with me to the publisher, I still didn’t memorize all the lines.
But games weren’t meant to be “studied and memorized” like that.
Unless it was a text-based game, most games—whether 2D or 3D—offer an environment where the player could move the characters. Unless someone had serious spatial awareness issues or the developers designed the levels so poorly that every texture felt like a copy-paste with no recognizable hints, players would naturally recall where things were, and which events were triggered after exploring the map a few times.
At least, I could remember most key events from start to finish just by thinking things through. It also helped that this game series didn’t consistently share the same background and settings across all its installments.
This steampunk-style world had only been in use since the 14th installment. Considering there had been three games set in this world—14, 15, and 16—it meant I only had to think about the setting from those three.
The playtime was long. But most of that time was spent exploring maps, leveling up characters, and reading lengthy dialogue scripts. When it came to actual strategy, there weren’t that many critical elements to remember.
From my exploration of the capital, the city’s layout was almost identical to the game, at least in the areas that appeared in the game. The roads, however, looked quite different. It was probably too difficult for Millennium Co., not being a major corporation, to implement the long roads to scale.
Even AAA games didn’t go that far. Some games claimed to recreate all of Egypt or Greece, but when you actually explored those maps, the cities were barely a few hundred meters across, and the whole map stretched no more than a few dozen kilometers. If the map were the actual size of the real locations, it’d be far too boring to play. Still, the fact that they could implement regions at such a scale was impressive.
The information I wrote down about “roads” from the game’s guide probably wouldn’t be useful in this real world. So, I would just pay attention to the side quests listed for this area. However, if there was a significant place located on a road, it might be like the game and had something important there.
“Next is…”
I flipped through my notes and pointed to a section.
“Dungeons.”
That was right.
If quests were the heart of an RPG, then its foundation was undoubtedly the dungeon. The protagonist’s party in a game grew stronger by hunting monsters in these dungeons, gaining rewards along the way. This was a framework that was hard to escape from, unless the game was an SRPG (Strategy RPG) where battles themselves often occupy entire episodes.
No matter how open the background was—whether it was a dense forest, a city filled with buildings, or a space battleship—there was always a path, obstacles, and monsters roaming in between, keeping the game within the mold of a “dungeon.” Even if it tried to break away from this, at best, it became a “field,” which was, in a way, just an open-air dungeon.
So, what about the dungeons in this world?
Strictly speaking, roads could also be considered a type of dungeon, but since roads couldn’t be maintained at a 1:1 scale, their limitations were clear. However, many places, such as abandoned castles, underground prisons, or sewer systems, seemed realistically sized to be presented in such a manner.
Especially in this game, toward the later stages, complex dungeons emerge where reality and the supernatural world blend together, creating fantastical and complex environments. These vast dungeons were challenging to navigate, which makes them enjoyable to strategize through. And if such dungeons existed, wouldn’t they be implemented at a 1:1 scale in the game?
Well, I couldn’t be completely certain. No matter how accurate they aimed to be, the idea of monstrous creatures piling up in city sewers waiting to be exterminated still seemed odd.
“…Should I check it out?”
Dungeons didn’t typically appear until the second chapter of each series. I was not referring to the second game in the world’s universe, but rather the second chapter within each installment. The prologue and the first chapter usually served as tutorials, helping players get accustomed to new systems.
Still, there were many places that could be classified as “dungeons” left unexplored. Wouldn’t the capital’s sewers suffice for now?
*
Due to two people who woke up absurdly early, I was forced to wake up at dawn today.
I couldn’t exactly sleep in while Alice was around, as that wouldn’t fit my character, so I forced myself to down some espresso that didn’t even suit my taste and started the day.
Thanks to that, my Sunday was shaping up to be incredibly long. But even factoring in the time spent with Alice, I had plenty of hours left to explore on my own.
…Or at least, that was the plan.
Whenever I was preparing something, Alice would start talking to me.
Alice and I didn’t always stick together. We had grown quite close—much faster than I had expected—but it wasn’t like we constantly longed for each other’s company. Our relationship was somewhere between sisters and friends, a vague middle ground.
The problem was, unlike me who had already finished studying before turning back time, Alice’s situation and memories always reverted, and her determination also reset.
They say swans look graceful floating on the water, but beneath the surface, their legs are paddling frantically to maintain that elegance. Actually, swans are built with bodies buoyant enough to float effortlessly and have long legs that allow them to glide forward with minimal movement, but the problem lies in how ‘other people’ perceive them.
To me, Alice’s skills were always top-notch, but to meet the expectations of those around her, she always studied and trained hard, in a different way than Leo or Claire.
Alice saw weekends as very precious time, like gold. She knew she couldn’t buy more time, so she decided to use it to study and practice, hoping to get better at what she was doing.
…And to Alice, the best study and training partner was, of course, me.
As I was packing my bag in my room, I heard a knock at the door. Alice walked in, her arms full of books, and her eyes widened in surprise.
“Where are you going, all packed up like that?”
“Oh, well—”
“…Is it because of Father?”
“….”
That was right. I had already met Alice earlier this morning and blamed the Emperor for why I was so tired. Even if Leo or Claire found out later, I figured I could just say, “It was part of the Emperor’s grand plan,” and they’d let it slide. After all, hadn’t Claire accepted it the last time?
To be honest, this time I just didn’t have anything else to say, but Alice seemed to have interpreted it a bit differently.
“I’m coming with you.”
I almost smacked my forehead.
“…What?”
“Oh.”
Again.
*
I managed to barely stop myself from slapping my forehead. I almost blurted out, ‘Why?’, but I was able to hold it back. The fact that I could consciously prevent myself from making a huge mistake… Maybe I had some other pretty amazing abilities that I was not aware of?
“…It’s fine if you look at me like that.”
What kind of look was she talking about?
Of course, I couldn’t ask that out loud. This was Alice, after all—she could read my expressions effortlessly.
But reading expressions didn’t mean she always knew what was going on in my mind. You could see someone frown and assume they were either in pain or scared, right?
“Your Highness, it’s not a place for a princess to go.”
“And you’re not a princess?”
“…We are not the same, Your Highness.”
At my words, Alice raised an eyebrow slightly, a clear sign that she was annoyed.
“You are the one who will become the Emperor of this country.”
“And you think there’s somewhere in this Empire that the Emperor can’t go?”
No matter how I thought about it…
…wait, on second thought, the Emperor probably wouldn’t care if he was in the imperial palace or a sewer. As long as it benefitted him or helped him wield power, he wouldn’t care at all.
He was the kind of person who’d do whatever was necessary, even if it meant running away. And he could say it without a hint of shame, as if he were proud of it.
“And.”
Alice pointed at me with her finger.
“I think you’re the hardest person in this Empire to control. You never tell me what you’re thinking, yet you clearly want me to become Emperor. To be honest, since I don’t know what you’re planning once I become the Emperor, I feel like I need to keep a close eye on you.”
“….”
Well, she wasn’t wrong about anything.
Indeed. To the people of this world, I was a mysterious figure. And that air of mystery was something I had carefully cultivated. It was like the quills on a hedgehog’s back—a clear warning to others: “You definitely don’t want to mess with me.”
The problem, however, was that this warning only worked because no one really knew my true intentions.
I genuinely wanted to see Alice overcome all her insecurities, stand confidently as the Emperor, and rule with wisdom. Why? Simply because she’s Alice.
Whether she was the legitimate heir or the only child with the Emperor’s true blood didn’t matter to me. If Alice remained the person she was now, with her current personality, I would have wanted her to become Emperor even if her backstory had been different.
Because, in the game, that was what happened.
At the end of the 16th installment, Alice became the Emperor. She was a character Claire saved by risking her own life, so she hadn’t reached “death-possible character” status just yet. Although, in the game, even heroines who were killed off found ways to return in sequels. I had picked up a few clues since arriving here, but I would have to think about those later.
The current Emperor plunged the world into chaos and was eventually overthrown by the protagonists.
…Of course, with two more installments planned after that, the Emperor’s death was probably faked, or someone brought him back to life.
“…Alright.”
In the end, I said that to Alice.
The sewers, even in this world—or rather, especially in this world—were a place no one wanted to visit. I figured Alice would freak out and wanted to leave the moment we reached the entrance. After all, she hated it in the game too.
“…I don’t like the look on your face, but fine.”
I had a pretty good idea of what Alice saw on my face this time.
It was probably just annoyance.