Chapter 1: Piecing Together Reality
Chapter 1: Piecing Together Reality
OH my god!
“I’ve been reincarnated…into an otome game?!” Amy wondered aloud.
She had awoken lying on the canopy bed in her room. She covered her face with both hands.
Her previous life had come back to her.
When Amy had entered high school, she’d finally been allowed to get a smartphone, and she wasted no time downloading a few games onto it. Amy—or the version of herself in that life, at least—enjoyed unwinding by playing the ones where you had to stack and clear colorful little jelly-like spheres, or farming simulator games.
She downloaded just one dating sim, which had come recommended by a friend, and she’d done it only to help her friend fill up her in-game friend slots. Amy didn’t have any interest in dating sims herself. She played very sporadically, only logging in during events to do the free prize raffles and send her friend gifts.
The Amy of this world couldn’t remember the game’s title, much less what it was about. But there was one thing she could remember: an image used everywhere on the app, one that was incredibly beautiful and excessively sparkly. In it was a tall figure with dark-blond hair and silver eyes, an elegant smile tinged with sorrow on his face… Yes, she could very clearly remember that, on the opening screen, surrounded by several other handsome men, there was a character that was the spitting image of what the Third Prince would look like as an adult, flashing a fleeting yet breathtaking smile.
Oh my god!
Speaking of being reincarnated into the world of an otome game…
Amy’s mother in her past life had been obsessed with reading web novels, and she had saved many stories that followed that trope to her online book log. They had read a few together, and there were a few standard clichés that cropped up.
The main character of the story was usually reincarnated as either the heroine of the game or the heroine’s rival, but it had become much more popular for the main character to be reborn as the rival, also called the “villainess.”
If the main character followed the progression of the game as the villainess, typically the “bad ending” awaited her. She would be convicted of harming the game’s heroine in some way and would then face banishment from the kingdom, the dissolution of her family, or—in the worst-case scenario—execution. This trope had become so popular, in fact, that the “villainess’s journey” had become established as a genre of its own, where the villainess struggles alone to avoid this fate.
I guess I wouldn’t mind being a background character, like the heroine’s random Friend A or something, Amy pondered. But I’d hate being a main character or having dialogue! I can’t stand doing things in front of people…
The thought flitted across her mind, but it sounded like something she’d think in her previous life. Although her manner of speaking was different now, it seemed her shy nature was just as strong as it had been then.
She had gotten through the game’s tutorial but hadn’t played the storyline. She had been able to choose the heroine’s hair color and length, so Amy didn’t know how it changed the main story.
But she didn’t even know what the main story was in the first place! A bad feeling started to well up in her chest.
“Could I be…? No… That’s not possible…”
She slowly got up and took the handheld mirror from her bedside table. Her reflection stared back.
She had shiny, straight black hair flowing down to the middle of her back. Her large round eyes were bright gold, almost like a cat’s. Her lips were full and pink, her skin as white and smooth as a porcelain doll. With slightly angular facial features, she was more pretty than cute.
“I’m doomed with a face like this…”
It wasn’t that she didn’t like her looks. The combination of her father’s black hair with her mother’s golden eyes really suited her. But there was just no way this was the face of a background character, not even if it had been crafted by an overly zealous designer with a particular fondness for supporting characters.
It was too dazzling.
She suddenly recalled her father’s words from before: she was a candidate to become the Third Prince’s fiancée. That position would be reserved for neither the heroine nor a background character, but the villainess.
There was no other explanation.
Oh my god!
Amy’s vision started to turn black. She was about to faint for the second time that evening in her own bed.
She didn’t want this at all.
The web novels were filled with the same chain of events: the villainess would be forcibly betrothed to a man she didn’t even like, her engagement would later be called off when her fiancé would get stolen away by the floozie heroine, and then the villainess would face her judgment and her family would get broken up.
Amy couldn’t think of a future worse than that.
Her parents were happily married in a love marriage—a rare thing for nobility—and her father was doing well at his job developing magical tools.
Amy’s brother was a bit older than her. Although he was a little too hyperactive, they had always had a good relationship. He was currently living in one of the school dormitories, but he would regularly visit home on his days off, and—
Amy suddenly remembered something else.
Another stereotype in the “otome game reincarnation” genre was having a character’s brother be a love interest for the heroine. Amy combed through her memories, trying to remember if anyone in that dating sim resembled her older brother.
There were definitely five characters that would pop up on the opening screen, Amy thought, frantically racking her brain despite a slight headache to remember the beautiful opening illustration.
One was a slightly mysterious princely man (the one under suspicion of being the Third Prince).
One was a self-confident, well-to-do aristocrat (likely the son of a duke or marquess).
One was wearing magician’s robes (probably someone involved with the Institute of Magic).
One was a handsome man in armor (maybe the son of the commander of the Order of Knights or something).
And then there was a younger-looking boy, the only one among them wearing foreign clothing. He was probably the prince of some neighboring country. She remembered him wearing a headscarf, and Amy assumed he had something to do with an allied kingdom to the south.
“Oh, thank goodness! There wasn’t anyone that looked like my broth—”
There was, Amy realized midsentence.
He was a secret character who appeared in the events her friend labored away at. Although he wasn’t featured in the main story, he always showed up during events and prize draws…and he was a dead ringer for Amy’s slightly wild-looking older brother.
Amy’s friend had told her that the hidden character was a playboy adventurer with a scar next to one of his slightly droopy eyes…
“Oh my…! That’s what he’ll become! If he keeps delving into dungeons and other places with magical beasts all the time, he’ll look like that one day!”
She cut herself off with a hand over her mouth, even though she had only been speaking to herself.
Her brother was incredibly personable, and from a young age, he had been fond of mingling with all of society, men and women alike. Now at sixteen, he was without a fiancée, but he certainly had no shortage of lovers. Which meant it was almost certain that her brother was one of the love interests of this story…
As more and more red flags were raised signaling that she was the villainess of this world, Amy felt the sudden urge to bite down on her handkerchief in helpless frustration.
This can’t be happening! Has everything this whole time been part of the game?!
It had been ten years since Amy was born into this life, but…so much had happened in that time. Everything she had experienced, everyone she had met…had it all really just been scripted for the game?
As confusion raged inside her, a feeling between grief and resignation wrapped its tendrils around her. Amy felt paralyzed, and before she knew it, tears were spilling down her cheeks.
“Amy, are you awake? How are you feeling, dear?”
Amy sniffled. “M-Mom…”
After a quiet, polite knock, Amy’s mother, Isabelle, quietly entered the room, looking concerned. Her frown deepened when she saw her beloved daughter’s tearstained cheeks, and she sat on the bed beside her.
Amy slumped over, yielding to the slant from the weight on the bedsprings, and hugged her mother tightly.
My mother…her warmth…is this also just part of the game?
The suspicion that everything in her past had all been fabricated was already solidifying into a conviction, and an indescribable emptiness began to fill her chest.
Amy barely managed to get out, “I…I feel…”
“Oh, dear, no need to be so down in the dumps about it! Do you feel ill? Does your head hurt?”
Amy continued to sniffle. “N-No, it’s… I remember. That video game. Th-That…”
She stopped herself. Even if she had said “otome game,” those words would be incomprehensible in this world she now lived in. She may have been only ten years old, but she knew a little bit about the world. As the daughter of a nobleman, she had been receiving a private education for several years now, so she should have realized this sooner and caught herself from speaking nonsense.
But she had just remembered the memories of her past life, and her jumbled-up brain was not thinking rationally.
As Amy tried to smooth over her “video game” slip of the tongue, her mother simply rubbed her back tenderly. But then Isabelle said something Amy could never have expected.
“My, my… So you’ve remembered, too.”
Amy froze.
“…What?”
When Amy looked up in amazement, her mother’s eyes—the same shade of gold as her own—were twinkling as she smiled.
“It was quite a shock, wasn’t it? I mean, the whole family reincarnating together…”
“Wait, what?!” repeated Amy.
Isabelle chuckled. “But despite the changes, we’re all pretty much the same, you know. So there’s no need to get so worked up!”
“M-Mom…?”
Isabelle seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself, bulldozing right past her daughter’s disorientation straight into wondering if she should whip up a celebratory dish, like Japanese red rice or something, to commemorate everyone in the family remembering their past lives.
An ill-timed doubt came to Amy’s mind that Japanese red rice probably didn’t exist in this world, but then she remembered…that was just the type of person her mom was. Slightly off-kilter, happy-go-lucky, marching to the beat of her own drum, stubborn at times…
Memories of Amy’s previous life flooded her mind, mixing and marbling with memories of her current life. Then her brain finally caught up with what she had been told.
When her mom said the whole family had reincarnated together, did she mean…everyone?
H-Hold on—let’s circle back to that!
“W-Wait a minute… When you say ‘everyone,’ do you mean Dad, too?”
“Of course! He’s still tinkering with those machines of his, isn’t he?”
In Amy’s previous life, her father had worked as an engineer for a manufacturer of household electrical appliances. In this life, he was absolutely obsessed with developing magical tools. It wasn’t quite household appliances, but close enough…
Yeah, Amy thought, that makes sense.
“Wh-What about my brother?”
“Oh, Harold? That boy… The moment he remembered his past life, he shouted, ‘I’m gonna hunt things for real now!’ For Pete’s sake…”
In his previous incarnation, her brother had loved action video games, especially the hunter characters who specialized in the dual-wielding fighting style. When she compared that boy with Harold, who had at some point randomly become motivated in his magic and swordsmanship lessons, Amy thought, Yeah…that checks out.
Isabelle, with a slightly faraway look, was twisting her hand like she was barbecuing a big skewer and muttered, “That meat might be difficult to cook properly…”
Amy had heard that Harold did well at school, but the motivation behind his success definitely boiled down to wanting to enjoy his life in this world hunting monsters. She was willing to bet that whatever he hunted would be served as the main course for dinner tonight.
“Mom…you and I…we all really reincarnated together…”
Isabelle laughed. “We are a close-knit family!”
Although Amy wondered whether that really had anything to do with it, given the circumstances, it was warmly reassuring.
The way the earl and countess raised their children was certainly one aspect of their lives that was very unaristocratic—they were quite particular about being hands-on with raising them, instead of just leaving everything to a wet nurse. The sort of things Amy didn’t fully appreciate as a child, she now absolutely understood.
“Mom…”
When Amy clung to her mother, Isabelle brushed aside her bangs and stroked her cheeks. The warmth of her hand was the same as it was in their past lives.
The family together again… Maybe this reincarnation isn’t so bad after all, Amy thought, her mind finally at ease.
🐾🐱🐾
BUT wait…! I think we’re living in the world of an otome game, and I’m the game’s villainess!
Amy communicated these suspicions she had to her mother in precisely those terms. If she was truly the same mother who would read web novels with Amy in their previous lives, she would understand exactly what that meant.
Isabelle, who nodded along and listened attentively, put a finger to her lips and tilted her head slightly.
“Reincarnated into an otome game… There used to be so many stories that followed that trope in our old lives, weren’t there?” she mused. “So, Amy… What do you want to do?”
Amy started. “What do you mean?”
She didn’t want to be forced into a marriage, but she also didn’t want to selfishly call off the arrangement. She hated the idea of breaking up her family most of all.
Amy felt a little annoyed, wondering what her mother was trying to get at with her question.
“You’re worried because the Third Prince and your brother resemble some of the characters in that game you used to play, right?” her mother continued. “But you know what? Everything’s going to be okay. Because even if the setting of that game did exist, this place is our reality.”
“But it just feels like there’s some sort of mysterious force in this world making things happen to me.”
That much was true. Stories from the otome game genre often followed the pattern where an “invisible hand of the game” would drag the protagonist back into the plot in a never-ending cycle, no matter how hard she tried to avoid problems or sticky situations.
“There’s no force like that controlling things, dear.”
“There’s not?”
“Of course not! And if your mama tells you there’s no such thing, you’d best believe there’s no such thing!”
Her mother’s fearless smile followed this assertion. At this, Amy’s memories immediately became crystal clear. Whenever her mother made that face—whether in this world or the last—Amy knew she was drawing her line in the sand. Any pushback would be pointless.
“’Kay… If you say so.”
Her mother chuckled. “I’ll give you another chance to rephrase that.”
“I-I mean… Of course, Mother!”
Isabelle poked at Amy’s cheek, slightly taut from grinning, with a finger, and they both broke out laughing. Odd as it may seem, being silly with her mother like this helped calm Amy’s nerves.
Isabelle placed her hand on Amy’s cheek once more, looked into her eyes, and went on. “I’ll ask you again, okay? Just set aside all your worries about game worlds and mysterious forces for the moment. What do you want to do now, Amy?”
“Now…?”
“Your brother has been thoroughly enjoying his new life as a hunter, and your father and I are enjoying things here, too. We’ve been given such a precious second chance… Is there something you’d like to do?”
One thing did pop into Amy’s mind…but she wondered if she’d bother even asking. If she had brought it up in her life before, it would have been met with an immediate rejection, but maybe now…
With Isabelle’s excited, expectant expression urging her on, Amy opened her mouth.
“I…want a cat.”
“I just knew you’d say that!” cried Isabelle, clapping her hands together like she got the right answer on a pop quiz.
Amy had always loved animals, even in her previous life. She had longed to have a cat or dog, but because both she and her father were prone to allergies, she gave it up as an impossible dream.
Those days when all she could do was wistfully sigh while watching animal videos on the internet or television never did completely scratch the itch.
“You know, all those trees that used to give us seasonal allergies don’t exist in this world. I’ve never even heard anyone mention seasonal allergies at all! Plus, Dad hasn’t had any allergy attacks since being reincarnated, has he?” Amy asked.
“That’s right. I think a cat sounds like a great plan!”
The Northland family did not keep many servants, but—in accordance with the earl’s wishes—they kept enough staff to ensure that the house was at least kept thoroughly clean. The earl’s preference for a perpetually dust-free environment was perhaps influenced by those memories of his past life where his immune system would overreact to household dust.
Before, Amy used to wonder a little about his clean-freak nature, but now that she had remembered how things used to be with his allergies, it made much more sense.
“I want a cat, a bird, and a dog! A ferret or a rabbit would be pretty nice, too!”
“I just knew this day would come! That’s why we haven’t had any animals before now.”
Hearing that her mother was planning on letting her choose her own pet made Amy smile from ear to ear.
Even in this world, she had always wanted a pet. But for some reason, she never felt like she could bring it up with her parents… Maybe she had been subconsciously influenced by those memories of her previous life that she hadn’t yet remembered.
“Let’s start looking for one right away! You’d prefer to adopt an abandoned cat or dog rather than buy one, right?”
Amy nodded. Of course her mother would remember tiny details like that! She threw her arms around her mother in a hug and gave her a teary, appreciative look.
“Oh!” Amy jumped. The portrait of the Third Prince made her remember her previous train of thought. “I guess I still don’t know what to do about that problem. I really don’t want to marry him…”
Even if this wasn’t the world of her otome game, as long as that image of his potential doppelgänger was seared in her memory, Amy would be frightened of the Third Prince. She would unconsciously dread going near him.
“My dear, there’s a simple solution for that. There are other potential candidates, so all he has to do is choose someone else!”
“Don’t you think that’s a little optimistic?”
Although Amy’s facial features were rather angular, she was objectively beautiful. And not only did she come from a magical background, but she was also related on her mother’s side to a feudal lord of one of the kingdom’s coastal border provinces who enjoyed a strong influence over the mariners there.
The Third Prince’s other candidates included the daughter of a certain marquess whose family members were constantly at odds with each other over family succession, and a certain eight-year-old countess who had an exceptional reputation for being a spoiled brat. With competition like that, it wouldn’t take a genius to determine via process of elimination who was likely to be the Third Prince’s final choice.
But even so, Isabelle seemed so full of confidence as she claimed there wouldn’t be any problem getting Amy out of the engagement…
“…Oh! Could the Third Prince be g—”
Amy was able to stop herself from saying the last word—gay—but her inappropriate thoughts must have leaked from her ears. Isabelle admonished her with a playful noogie.
“Amy! You can’t go around shipping the Third Prince with other guys like he’s some manga character! What am I going to do with you?”
“O-Ouch, Mom! Okay! Sorry!”
As Isabelle let her go, she slipped off the bed and stood right in front of Amy, her eyes sparkling with conviction. Amy stared back, eagerly awaiting whatever solution her mother would offer. The countess straightened her back, hands on her hips, and suddenly said:
“You need to eat.”
There was a slight pause.
“…What?” Amy finally asked.
“We need to fatten you up!” Isabelle replied, puffing out her chest.
Amy felt rather dizzy.
What on earth was she talking about?
“Even if you get chubby, Amy, you’ll always be my darling little girl. So don’t you worry about a thing! Just keep on eating until you’re so large that you’re positively bursting out of your dresses!”
“Wait—what?!”
It wasn’t as though beauty standards were wildly different in this world from the previous one… People did have individual tastes, of course, but a slimmer figure was generally seen as more attractive than a bigger one.
Amy was nearing the end of girlhood and was at this point blossoming into a young lady of unmistakable beauty. And now that she had regained the memories of her past life, her mental age was like that of a teenager—and one who was very fashion conscious, at that.
Amy puzzled silently over why she needed to get fat on purpose, but Isabelle’s smile only widened.
“I’ll let you in on a secret, Amy. According to a little birdie in my private intelligence network, every single member of the royal family prefers women with slender figures!”
…Oh!
Attractiveness, which could be surprisingly effective at influencing diplomatic matters, must have been a requirement to marry into the royal family. When Amy stopped to think about it, there wasn’t one woman in the entire royal family who wasn’t beautiful, slender, and tall.
Maybe putting on weight isn’t such a bad idea after all…
Amy was waveringly leaning toward agreeing to the plan, but Isabelle sealed the deal with a finishing blow.
“Plus, you don’t even like boys all that much, right? I think the best thing for you would be to find a kind husband who doesn’t put much stock in outward beauty and have him fall in love with the chubby version of you!”
Amy was temporarily stunned, mouth open.
True enough, in Amy’s past life, she made no secret of disliking boys her own age, so much so that she chose to go to an all-girls’ school.
If she gained weight in a gradual, healthy way and then married someone who valued her personality over her looks, they could get a bunch of pets together, and—
“…That would be perfect! Mom, what a genius idea!”
The mother-daughter duo high-fived and started their plan immediately. From that night’s dinner onward, there was an increase in the number of courses served to the Earl of Northland’s daughter.
🐾🐱🐾
THE truth was, not much changed in Amy’s home life since she remembered her previous life. The past and present blended together so seamlessly that when the family would reminisce about the past when they were alone, sometimes their old-life mannerisms would slip out.
But Amy was born in this world, and her ten years of lived experience had permeated into every nook and cranny of her being. Even if she tried to change back into the exact person she was before, it would be impossible. The past was, after all, the past. It didn’t hold a candle against the present.
Amy was quite relieved that although her previous life was a part of her, it wasn’t so strong that it blotted out or completely overwrote the person she was now. Even if it had just been ten years, she had been worried she might not even know where she stood if everything she had ever known was replaced by her previous life.
Her parents and brother had told her they had gone down that same road and worked through those same feelings. Amy certainly felt lucky that they’d all reincarnated together. With so many family members with so much experience close by to guide her, she didn’t suffer too much confusion and disorientation other than the initial shock, and she had been able to rather easily reconcile her past with her present.
Although her mental age had increased, her basic nature of being outgoing at home but timid in public hadn’t changed, so she didn’t exhibit any outwardly perceivable changes. Her tastes in dresses and accessories did become a little less childish, but the servants did not seem to be particularly concerned about this, with one whispering, “It may be a little early, but she is getting to be around that age…”
And then there was Amy’s wish to have a pet…
“What?! Learn healing magic? Me?”
“Yes,” her father replied. “We can’t jump the gun and assume you won’t develop allergies in this life. If there’s a way to prevent them, then of course we should do that, but if an allergy attack does happen, then you must know how to treat it.”
Amy’s father had told her that she had to first learn magic if she wanted to have a pet. His argument was that if Amy could perform healing magic, she could deal with allergy symptoms on her own. Not only that, but if she learned purification and protective magic, she might be able to eliminate allergens and prevent any allergy attacks altogether.
“That makes sense… But couldn’t you just make a magical tool that could treat allergies?”
“I specialized in machines, so I’m not too familiar with the medical field. And in any case, the very idea of ‘allergies’ hasn’t even been discovered in this world yet.”
Luducia’s conflicts with its neighboring kingdoms had recently cooled off, so there had been little need of late for rapidly developed, weaponized magical tools. As a result, the total budget allocated for the development of magical tools was only getting smaller and smaller.
“I mean, peace is a good thing, but still…,” the Earl of Northland complained lightheartedly to his wife and daughter. “I understand why the budget favors the Order of Knights and the Order of Magicians over tools. They’re easy to parade around to deter any attacks, and training the right people takes time and effort. We just don’t have the funds right now to research magical tools that combat completely unknown things like allergies. There’s hardly enough money for our department to keep the lights on.”
“They’re being pretty tightfisted, huh…,” her mother quipped to her father, who smirked back.
“Well…I guess it’s better than wasting money,” Amy piped up, not sure what else to say. “But I understand why you’ve given me a condition to meet,” she continued. “I’ll work harder at studying magic. Then I can get a cat, right?”
“Yes. Achieve an overall mastery of healing magic first, and then you may get one pet to start out with. And how I’ll judge if you’ve truly learned healing is… Ah, that’s it! I’ll ask Hal.”
“Harold?!”
“That’s right! He gets hurt all the time exploring dungeons, so I’m sure he’s familiar with what correct healing magic feels like.”
Students had to be in a group before they were allowed to enter forests, dungeons, or other places where magical beasts lived, and at least one of the group members had to know how to use healing magic.
Amy’s older brother, Harold, had never received any serious, life-threatening injuries, but cuts, scratches, and bruises were commonplace during his adventures. He was patched up every time, so he would definitely be the one in the family most used to receiving healing magic.
The following week, when Harold was visiting home from school, Amy let him in on their plan. He laughed and agreed.
“Sounds great! When the time comes and you feel ready, I’ll skip the healing after a hunt and swing home, then.”
“But let someone heal you there if you get really badly hurt! Then when you get home, maybe you can try getting hurt again. Like you could fall down a few stairs, or open a letter aggressively and cut your hand with the letter opener…”
“That’s not exactly easy to do, you know!”
“You can do it, Harold!” cheered his mother, completely untroubled, from the sidelines. The corners of Harold’s mouth twitched at the absurdity of it all.
Amy also let Harold know about her “otome game” theory, but he didn’t have much in the way of a reaction. He never did have any interest in video games made for girls.
Be that as it may, Amy thought about how much trouble would come if he were to follow the game’s trajectory as a result of being made aware of it, so she reconsidered how much she’d tell him.
“You know, on one of the game’s screens, there was a character that looked a lot like you, except he had a scar just there,” she said, tracing her finger over the outer tip of his eyebrow, right next to the corner of his right eye, to just above his cheekbone.
The scar left behind, just a thin echo of a line, contributed a lot to the character’s “adventurer” and “wild playboy” aura.
But Amy suddenly became very worried… If Hal actually did get an injury by his eye like that, he would be at a very real risk of going blind in that eye!
“A scar, huh?” Harold said. “I do sometimes get injuries on my face, but none deep enough yet to leave a scar. If healing magic is applied soon after, it gets all fixed up, you see. They must have left that scar there on purpose, for sure.”
“But why?”
“Hmm… ’Cause it’d look kinda sexy? Girls would like it? Stuff like that.”
“Spoken just like a pubescent boy…” Isabelle sighed. “Can’t you imagine how sad you would make me if you scarred up your face for a stupid reason like that?”
“I’m not gonna do it! I have a girlfriend, you know.”
Harold surprised his mother once again when the girlfriend in question was different from the one they’d heard about before.
The Northland family never stipulated that their children’s marriages had to be political. They essentially encouraged their children to love whoever they wanted, and it was their parents’ long-standing policy that their children would not be forced into an engagement before they turned eighteen.
This attitude was why Harold was allowed to date around so casually (so long as he could accept personal responsibility for the consequences), and why the conversation in her father’s study about the Third Prince’s engagement was such an unusual occurrence for the Northlands.
“I’m not two-timing these girls or anything!” Harold interjected. “But every single time I get told, ‘Sorry, this just isn’t working out.’ It’s not like I’m doing anything wrong.”
“Aren’t you constantly out hunting monsters, though?” Amy asked reasonably. “Can’t you see how they’d get fed up with that and just end up calling it quits?”
“H-Hunting monsters is fun!” Harold said, flustered. “Obviously I’d do it as much as I can!”
“…Harold,” came a threatening voice.
As Harold cowed under his mother’s glare, Amy almost felt like she had been transported to her previous life and her brother was getting scolded for staying up too late playing video games and neglecting his homework.
If something Amy had loved that much had become possible to do in real life, she probably would’ve gotten obsessive about it, too.
Not to mention, he had worked quite hard to make his name known as a real adventurer. With the results of all these efforts on the cusp of coming to fruition, Amy could understand where he was coming from.
“I tell these girls that the biggest loves in my life are my two swords, but they still go on about how lonely they are when I’m in dungeons and how I need to spend more time with them… I just can’t win. What am I supposed to do?”
“I bet even on dates you talk to them about the best way to loot monsters, don’t you?” Amy said, smiling.
“What’s wrong with that? Girls like jewels, don’t they?! They should have fun talking about stuff they enjoy!”
It was certainly possible to get jewels from the corpses of magical beasts. But Amy seriously doubted whether there was a single girl alive who would rejoice at hearing a detailed play-by-play of the gory scene of Harold chopping up the monster’s body to retrieve them.
Isabelle laughed. “Well, Harold! It sounds like we need to have a little chat about how to build interpersonal relationships.”
“M-Mom!” he groaned.
The Northland house had always been full of pleasant conversation, even before Amy had remembered her previous life. But now they were even more unreserved, like some invisible barrier between them had been torn down. Amy was happy—it was more fun this way.
Speaking on behalf of his long line of ex-girlfriends, Isabelle gave Harold sharp but honest advice as he kneeled in repentance on the floor. When all was said and done, he looked very happy to go back to school.
🐾🐱🐾
AFTER that, Amy began to totally immerse herself in her magic studies.
It wasn’t as if she hated studying magic before, but now the possibility of her getting a cat hinged upon it. If she couldn’t get serious about it for a cat, nothing could ever make her get serious!
With her extraordinary concentration, Amy had improved so much in only half a month that her governess was amazed at her progress, but then Amy faced a sudden, unexpected plateau. No matter how hard she tried, it only seemed to make her hungry, and that took precedence over her vital magic studies.
Due to the high magical aptitude of her mother’s side of the family, Amy was born with naturally superior magical powers. However, she had a low total supply of magic, and her casting lacked stability. These aspects were largely influenced by the practitioner’s age, so there was a limit to how much she could improve by practice and experience alone. Her ten-year-old body was still growing, after all. The only thing she could do was wait, but time was not passing quickly enough for Amy’s liking.
The longer she waited and futilely practiced, the further out of reach her dream of a cat seemed to get. Amy became very depressed over this, but a solution came along from a rather unexpected place.
Although her magical training had stagnated, her other plan—eating more and putting on weight—was progressing quite well. The Northland family’s chef was very skilled, and the special menu ordered by the countess helped Amy’s body grow at a steady, healthy rate.
Her weight increased in all areas of her body, and the change was substantial enough that even she could notice the difference. Her appearance used to be so refined that people would assume she was a cold and unfriendly person. But now, every time she looked in a mirror, she noticed her rounded cheeks gave off a warm, friendly feeling. The weight gain only increased her charm.
Then, around the time the seamstress was called because her dresses had become too tight, Amy started to feel a change in the flow of her magical powers.
As her weight increased, her magical development stabilized just as much.
The magic power she emitted used to trickle out like from a toddler’s plastic watering can, but it had now transformed into a large, industrial-strength hose.
For whatever reason, whenever I gain weight, my magic becomes more stable! Amy realized. Maybe because magical powers are tied to the individual person, it has some sort of inseparable relationship with the physical body containing it, like the relationship between an opera singer’s figure and their vocal power.
Which meant that if she ate more, she could increase both her weight and her magical powers.
After coming to this realization, Amy had one more plate of food added to her mealtimes.