Overwhelming Firepower

While the Vermont house was preparing for the worst, in the Thornehart household, Lucen had just finished recounting the events to his father.

”So what do you plan to do?” Vardon asked his son.

”I don’t plan to do anything. It’s like you said, Father. They are simply fools dancing around.”

When Vardon heard Lucen’s answer, his lips curled slightly upward. On the other hand, Lucen felt his skin crawl a little.

’Damn, I’m speaking so casually like this now? I get that’s how these people talk, and even I used to talk like this, but... Talking like this with my memories always feels weird.’

”So you won’t retaliate?”

”There’s no need to retaliate. I’m pretty sure right about now they’re panicking, trying to think of a solution on how to appease me. That guy Reginald might be a clown, but his father, Count Vermont, is a fox. He would most likely torture himself thinking of what I might or might not do.”

Lucen shrugged, as if the whole matter was beneath his concern.

’That’s what I learned from those misunderstanding-type novels. The more mysterious you are, the more the other party will overthink. They would get confused since my character suddenly changed so much that all their information turned out to be wrong, or so they think.’

”Let the clowns have their stage. We have more important matters to handle in the Capital. Tomorrow is the Third Prince’s seventh birthday. As I said before, the King wants us to present the arquebuses before the party. He would also want to speak to you.”

”I understand,” Lucen replied.

”... I know that you have been to different battlefields already, and have experienced true life and death battles, but this will be different from those times. This time, you need more than force. If you can’t handle the situation, simply speak the least amount possible. If it can be answered with a nod or a shake of your head, then do so.”

”I understand, Father. Do not worry, I know what I must do.”

”Very well, let’s talk about the present we will give the third prince. I had this made for the third prince.”

Vardon stood up from his chair and walked to a polished wooden case near the wall. He opened it to reveal a short sword, its scabbard crafted from scaled monster hide, deep black with faint iridescence.

”This is the gift I’m giving to the third prince.”

”I, too, have a gift for the Third Prince,” Lucen said calmly.

Vardon raised an eyebrow. ”And what might that be?”

”A custom-crafted Territory War set,” Lucen replied. ”One of a kind. The board is made from the polished scales of the young fire dragon we slew. The pieces hand-carved from its claws and bones are balanced for perfect weight.”

”The game you created seems to have gotten very popular. That does sound like it’s going to be a nice gift.”

After talking about the gift, the father and son continued their conversation, talking about different things. Even though the next part of their conversation held no meaning, the two were smiling ever so slightly.

***

Once he was done talking to his Father, Lucen returned to his room and lay on his bed. It had just been two days since he arrived in Caelhart, but a lot of things had already happened.

’Tomorrow is going to be a major event. I’m not sure if this happened in the original story or if it happened because of the changes I have made... Did my actions change the fate of some characters? Did the good guys become the bad guys and vice versa?’

Lucen started to imagine the backstories of the characters he knew in the game. Their lives, the reasons for them being who they were.

’Yeah, aside from some of them whose reasons were vague, most of them were inherently good people who, no matter the difficulties, would never back down. Those who had weaker wills changed after meeting Alexander, the true protagonist of the game.’

Once again, Lucen remembered the shining hero Alexander, who was the old school archetype of a true hero. One who embodies courage, self-sacrifice, and a desire to overcome every difficulty for the greater good. That shining smile that made you feel like everything was going to be alright.

’Yeah, as long as the hero is there, then everything will be alright. I just need to focus on surviving and making Stellhart prosper.’

Lucen shook his head as he focused on thinking about what could happen tomorrow and what he could do.

’Tomorrow, almost all nobles and powerful people of Norvaegard will be present...’

Lucen took out the notes he had written to see the information about the named characters that would most likely appear at the party tomorrow. He then saw the page about the person who was being celebrated tomorrow.

’The third prince, Elion Viren Vaelgard who will later go on to become a minor antagonist during the academy stage of the game. Using his royal status, he will keep on harassing the main character, Alexander. He did this simply because he was jealous of Alexander’s skills despite being a commoner.’

Lucen remembered the third prince and his end. The third prince, after losing his match against Alexander, held deep resentment and could not withstand the loss, and was forced to take a drug that enhances strength. Unfortunately, the person who gave the drug did not tell the third prince about the side effects.

The people who used that drug would go mad and attack whatever they saw. Not only that, but the increased power they get comes from their lifespan. So, despite gaining incredible strength, the third prince would have died even if he had successfully defeated Alexander.

’That event would then lead to the confrontation with the boss of Chapter 2 in the game, Edrim Lysark, the one who was selling the unknown drug. The difficulty of Edrim as a boss changes depending on how many students you save from the drug. It becomes extremely difficult, near impossible to defeat Edrim if you fail to save a single student. Of course, I did it after several retries.’

Lucen thought proudly of that time. Many old players said that it was an impossible challenge, but he was able to do it, and he thought other players as well, which made the near-impossible challenge become only slightly difficult.

’The third prince surely wasn’t like that in the beginning. Right now, he’s just a seven-year-old kid, so maybe I can influence him to become a better person. If the third prince doesn’t become that a*shole version of himself, then maybe the second Chapter will play out differently, and students won’t have to suffer too much.’

Lucen thought about it. There were some of the so-called antagonists at this point who weren’t bad yet or were still neutral. He closed his eyes, trying to remember the backstories of some of those antagonists.

He remembered the young dreamer who once stood before a crumbling village, arms outstretched, swearing he’d protect everyone. But after betrayal by the very people he loved, that idealism shattered into vengeance.

In the path of vengeance, he had killed hundreds of innocents. He didn’t want to become a monster. He just wanted the pain to stop.

He remembered the old dwarf who simply wanted to create the ultimate weapon, but the weapon he created became the ultimate source of despair as he was cursed by it and became a weapon himself.

The dwarf only wanted to forge perfection, a blade to end war. But what he forged instead devoured him. He became what he hated most. S cursed, mindless weapon, eternally seeking a target.

He remembered the elf who was kind to others and loved nature, but was taken away and brainwashed into an assassin who only knew how to follow orders.

’Since I’m changing the fate of Stellhart, maybe I can change their fates as well... Yeah, as long as I have a chance, I can try to change them. It will truly change the entire storyline and I won’t be able to know what will happen next anymore, but...’

Lucen, who had his eyes closed, opened them. A vicious-looking smile appeared on Lucen’s face as he spoke to himself.

”Aren’t I already trying to create a different ending? A new ending to this story.”