55. Childhood Friend – Tenth Leo

Leo stood there with his mouth agape. A chill and fear enveloped him.

I can’t think. Get a grip.

“Leo? What’s wrong? Your expression is weird.”

Lena waved her hand in front of him as she approached.

She looked puzzled as he began to nervously bite his nails.

“Uh? Uh, no. Ah, it’s nothing.”

Leo lied while rubbing his sweat-soaked neck.

“Sorry, but I’m going to go first. Uh, I have something urgent.”

He hurriedly dashed back to the village. Although Lena followed, asking “What’s wrong?” and “Are you okay, Leo?”, he was too flustered to answer.

“I’m suddenly feeling unwell. You don’t have to follow.”

Shoving Lena off at the village entrance, Leo slipped into his house.

He locked the door, which he usually never used, and collapsed onto his bed. Taking a deep breath, he gathered his thoughts.

[ 10/20 ]

The number that appeared in the lower right corner of his vision was unmistakably there whenever he closed and opened his eyes.

Ten. Or is it that including this round, it means eleven times left?

Lying on the bed, he felt his head spinning yet managed to stay somewhat sane.

Fortunately, he was Leo. If Minseo had faced this situation alone, he would have screamed, but Leo’s mind acted as a dam, protecting his sanity.

That didn’t mean the shock was any less…

‘Is it even possible to clear this? No, it’s impossible. This can’t be happening! It can’t be like this!’

Now it wasn’t just about wanting a happy ending. If he couldn’t clear it, it would be the end.

But all nine rounds he had repeated so far had failed.

Even the scenario with the Beggar Siblings, which had been the closest he got to the princess, ended in disaster.

He shook his head in denial of reality, but the number embedded in his mind didn’t disappear or change.

He erupted in anger as if having a seizure,

‘This damn game! Crazy, ridiculous game! What the hell am I supposed to do without getting anything!’

Trying to reason with himself while running the happy circuit,

‘No, no, wait a minute. Let’s think this through again. Just because that number becomes 10/20, doesn’t mean anything will happen, right? What if it just ends with [To continue, you need to pay]? Yeah! Now that I think about it, it’s a 2000 won game. 100 won per round! Perfectly fitting!’

He tore at his hair in resignation.

‘Shit, there’s no way that’s true. Hah… one wrong click in a game and my life ends up like this… I should’ve lived better… I miss Chaehwa…’

And with that last thought, he let out a big sigh, got up, and went to eat.

Before he knew it, the sun was setting.

After a whirlwind of emotions throughout the day, he chewed on jerky with a blank expression, trying to think positively.

There was no one to help even if he sat down in despair.

‘Still… I have eleven chances left…’

It would be hard, but it wasn’t impossible.

It had been “obvious” that entering the Marquis’ adoptive family could happen in just nine rounds, and the rewards he had gathered so far hadn’t disappeared either.

‘It’s possible… right?’

After finishing his meal, Leo returned to his room. Leaning against the window, he continued to ponder as the outside grew dim.

Even without the round limit, a troublesome problem remained.

[ Achievement: ‘10’th Leo – The speed at which the player assimilates into Leo slightly increases. ]

‘No wonder it feels like the assimilation speed is increasing…’

The number ‘10’ written in the achievement was definitely a counter.

He hadn’t reached ten yet, so the achievement hadn’t appeared; that counter must have been increasing one by one with each repeated round.

The time lived in each round varied significantly, and although the changes were too minor to definitively conclude that the assimilation speed was actually increasing, he felt a strange unease and had previously sensed a clear crisis.

It was during the first time he died in the engagement scenario. That Leo was the 8th Leo, and by the end, he had grown into a complete Leo, to the point of finding the “impurity named Minseo” unpleasant.

Leo was again overwhelmed by anxiety, scratching his head. With a round limit, he couldn’t just play however he wanted.

‘Surely the assimilation speed wouldn’t increase drastically, right? Actually, right now…’

Even in thought, he was Leo, not Minseo.

Since the scenario had just started, his thoughts as Minseo were lingering momentarily, but he was definitely Leo.

In hindsight, Minseo and Leo were in a subtle relationship.

Minseo struggling to clear the scenario and Leo, who wanted to avoid repeated tragedies.

Minseo felt affection for Lena from each scenario, and Leo understood Minseo’s plight, allowing them to cooperate thus far.

In fact, rather than cooperation, it was more about them working together as a merged presence of Minseo and Leo, striving to achieve the best outcome for everyone.

But if the counter for the ‘10’th Leo achievement increased further, Minseo might have less and less influence over Leo later.

If so, what actions would the ‘complete’ Leo take?

For example, when Lena meets the priest event and leaves in the childhood friend scenario, how would he react?

Would he let her go?

That was uncertain.

So far, Minseo had influenced whether she stayed or left.

Of course, the Leos held memories of Minseo, so they wouldn’t act identically as before, but the problem was whether they would still act for the sake of clearing the game.

The Leos might chase their own happiness rather than trying to make Lena a princess.

Leaning against the window, he trembled nervously.

Until now, it had mostly been Leo acting on his own. But the fear of not being able to influence anything at all was another matter.

It was hard to bear the uncertainty of having to completely hand over his fate to someone else and wait.

[ You have died. 1/3 ]

[ Achievement: First Death – The speed at which the player assimilates into Leo slows down. ]

The only way for Minseo to deal with this uncertainty was the ‘death’ achievement.

A method to slow down the increasing assimilation speed. There was also a round limit, but wouldn’t dying again additionally slow down the assimilation speed?

‘That’s an absurd thought. The achievement might only pop up when you die for the first time. Raising the death count just to confirm that seems foolish.’

At that moment, a thought countered Minseo’s reflection, causing a rapid spin: ‘Leo’s’ influence was gradually changing his mind.

Of course, Leo didn’t want to die. Only Minseo could consider death functionally.

Leo, infused with Minseo’s fragrance, couldn’t stop his worries throughout the night.

Thank goodness his father wasn’t home.

*

A few days later, Lena and Leo headed to the stream.

Today the sun was exceptionally hot, so they came out to cool off and catch some small fish. While catching fish in the stream didn’t yield much, it was comfortable and fun for the two of them.

It was the fourth time doing this, so Leo already expected Lena to suggest going to the stream.

However, since he had prepared to pick wild fruit in advance and got suspicious looks from Lena for quite some time, he did nothing but loaf around all morning.

His father would return tomorrow.

Arriving at the water’s edge, Leo pulled long vines and cut them. He would weave these into a trap and bait it with something to lure the fish.

As Leo skillfully wove the trap, Lena rummaged through the bushes and picked berries called “Daner.”

The berries resembled raspberries but were dark blue like blueberries.

Daner caused stomach pain if humans ate it, but its oil was quite rich, making it useful for attracting fish.

Lena gathered a lot of Daner and crushed it with the pebbles by the stream. Now, by placing the blue-stained stones coated in Daner oil into the trap, it was finished.

After checking the water flow and depth, Lena submerged the completed trap.

Of course, one trap wouldn’t be enough, so Leo started weaving another one. He moved his hands mechanically while contemplating his future plans.

Days had passed since the scenario began, and he had gathered his thoughts and devised plans.

This time, he intended to find Prince Cleo de Frederick of the Jerome Holy Kingdom.

Cleo de Frederick was in the capital, Lutetia, of the Holy Kingdom.

In the past, while being in the capital, he had failed to find a way to meet the prince and hurriedly married for Lena, who had been expelled from the church and was in despair.

Unlike before, this time he had found a way to locate the prince.

The {Tracking Skill} he obtained as a reward from the previous scenario was undeniably a useful ability. Especially since he had fought through two kingdoms trying to find his sister in the last round, it felt even more rewarding.

Now, he wouldn’t have to part ways with Lena!

Absolutely not!

The {Tracking Skill} precisely pointed in the direction of a specific person, allowing Leo to know without turning his head that Lena was currently to his right.

He sequentially recalled his sister Lena and Lena Ainar. The {Tracking Skill} indicated that both were located to the north, separated only by a small angle.

It was the moment when it was confirmed that three scenarios were simultaneously underway. Other Leos were also sensing the same direction.

However, this ability could only pinpoint one person’s location at a time, making it impossible to think of both at once.

But that wasn’t a big problem since he could think of them in turn.

Initially, he worried whether this ability would only work on people he had “met,” but luckily, it wasn’t the case.

Through the information gained from the {Noble Society}, he could also discern the directions of all the princes from the seven kingdoms and the Swordmasters.

It seemed that as long as they were “known people,” tracking was possible, which was a very pleasant insight since it also included those learned through the {Noble Society}.

Indeed, everything given as rewards from scenarios was uniformly useful.

Well, except one thing…

‘Now I can go directly to the prince!’

Hope blossomed in Leo.

Until now, though in the capital, he couldn’t find where the prince was, so he couldn’t approach him.

Of course, the prince would be in the royal palace, but attaining a status whereby he could enter there would be a distant dream.

But now the situation had changed. He could directly go to the prince, and he had heard from the story in the childhood friend scenario that Cleo de Frederick often went hunting.

The info he had picked up from blacksmiths wasn’t particularly reliable, but could smoke arise even without fire? It was probably true.

[ Achievement: First Meeting with the Prince – You gain a slight favor from all princes. ]

Along with that, Leo had an achievement for gaining favor from the prince. So he just needed to keep an eye on the prince’s direction and rush over when it looked like he was coming out.

Thanks to the convenient ability of {Tracking Skill}, a new path opened, and Leo hummed a little tune. It was a song to cheer himself up.

Eleven rounds ahead? Surely he could clear it within that.

Leo slapped the freshly completed trap on the ground to shake off the stray twigs. Then, he handed it to Lena while saying,

“Lena. I made another one here.”

“…Uh-huh.”

Lena, who was staring blankly at Leo without accepting the trap, quietly asked,

“Leo, you’re really Leo, right?”