I Reincarnated as the Villain in an Eroge, But Before I Realized, I Became a Capture Target
Translator: Reo
Editor: PalenMisha
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Luca POV 6 – Part 2
I don’t know if what I’d gone through was a precognitive dream, but maybe if I chose to, I could change the future.
Perhaps… perhaps Zagan would live. I started thinking that way.
If I could keep getting closer to him like this, maybe we could reach a compromise and I could save him from the Dark Organization.
The more down-to-earth part of me, however, reached the conclusion that that would be impossible. I mean, even if I did reach some sort of compromise with him, the only thing that awaited Zagan was the death penalty. On the other hand, if I just let him be without talking to him, he might continue to kill people.
I admired Zagan, but I couldn’t choose him over the lives of the people.
No matter what his reason was, he still killed a lot of people and I couldn’t just overlook that, nor, of course, could I harbour him, a known criminal.
As I fantasised about an impossible future where Noel and Zagan could live together in harmony as siblings, time went by. On the day before we left the 1st city, we met Nina, and on the way to the 2nd city, both she and Miranda invited me to spend the night with them. I refused and Noel came to my tent after I went to bed. While thinking to myself that this was the same course of events that had happened before, I gladly accepted Noel’s invitation as I had feelings for her.
And, like in that dream, Camilla, Bennett, and Cindy joined us one by one. Everything was exactly the same, even their invitations. And a dry laugh almost spilled out of me when Cindy’s turn came. She wasn’t at fault though, so I turned her down properly.
Then, in the 4th dungeon, as expected, we met Zagan again.
“Zagan!” Miranda yelled out once she spotted him, but he ignored her, instead turning his gaze to me.
“Yo, Luca. What a coincidence meeting you here.”
“Indeed. It’s been a while, Zagan,” I answered while drawing my sword.
For the past three months since I last saw Zagan, I’d been brooding over the question of whether I should tell him that the Dark Organization was going to kill him. If I did, then maybe Zagan wouldn’t die. However, it wasn’t like he was going to believe me if I told him something like that. On the contrary, he might even suspect that I had something to do with the Dark Organization. I didn’t want his initial favourable view of me to sour.
Also, no matter how much I thought about Zagan’s future, I could only see him being executed or continuing to kill. I could never erase his past and the thousands of lives that he had taken. The best ending I could think of was for him to die as a hero in my eyes as he had done before.
I pointed my sword at Zagan. The least I could do was challenge him to a fight… to show him he was acknowledged by those who admire him.
Hey, Zagan. I worked really hard these past three months. I knew I’d see you in this dungeon so I worked even harder than before. I haven’t gotten to where I was when I defeated the Evil God, but I’ve improved dramatically compared to that time I met you in this dungeon a year ago.
Zagan looked at me as I challenged him and grinned.
“Good, good. This looks like it’s gonna be fun.”
“Thank you. By the way, Zagan, if I win, would you consider giving back the star fragment I gave you before?”
“Hah! I’d like to say yeah, but promising that would be meaningless – you’re gonna lose anyway. You could even come at me with your whole group if you want. I’ll beat yah to a pulp.”
“L-like I’d let you!” Miranda roared, and at the same time, Nina started running.
Zagan reached out for his dagger and staff.
That was the start of the fight.
I knew it already – Zagan was strong. However, compared to before, I actually put up a good fight.
Anyway, Zagan used a great spell, and because of that, Noel and Cindy, who were barely hanging on at that point, collapsed, and Camilla and I were in tatters. Even still, I was happy.
Our fight didn’t reach a natural conclusion though. I’d completely forgotten about the fact that the ground was going to collapse halfway through the fight.
A month later, in the 5th dungeon, Zagan realised that Noel was his little sister.
Their exchange went about the same as I remembered, and watching them face off, each holding hatred for the other, broke my heart.
Even after five months, it was unclear to me what that year that I was seemingly repeating was, but at least this time I knew from the start that the two were siblings. As well as the tragedy that would soon unfold.
After Noel got transferred out of the dungeon by the magic circle, Zagan turned to look at me. His red eyes, like in my memories, were gloomy and frightening, but… within them was tremendous sadness.
Facing him, there was only one thing I could do.
“Let’s fight, Zagan.” I pointed my sword at him.
When I did, he let out a lifeless chuckle and then drew his dagger.
“I’m in a bad mood so I won’t be able to hold back. Ok with you?”
“I’ll try my best not to die.”
That’s right – Zagan didn’t need something like pity. What use would it be to him now?
He had been mistreated since the day he was born and driven away from his home after he had injured his mother. Then, thrown into a society where dark attribute users were discriminated against, he killed thousands of people who persecuted dark attribute users. Sympathy and a helping hand would be pointless now after he had already killed so many. Zagan knew that as well, which was why he felt relieved when I pointed my sword at him. Because this time he wouldn’t have to kill someone in a moment of fury.
Zagan instantly closed the gap between us, and I used that timing to swing my sword at him, but he managed to twist his body out of the way, thrusting his dagger at me from the side.
I blocked it with my small shield and brought my sword down again.
I didn’t notice it because I’d never really had the need to fight before, but now that I had the experience and the ability, I understood. I understood just how kind Zagan was. He purposefully went for my left side so I could easily block him with my shield, and attacked at a speed and power level that I could, even if just barely, hold my ground against.
You truly are a kind person.
Which was why I was conflicted. Should I find some way to save Zagan?
But such a thing wasn’t possible.
Next month, he would kidnap Noel. This time, I already knew what was going to happen, so I could stop it from the start. However, I had no intention of getting in Zagan’s way. That incident was necessary for both him and Noel.
It was because the two of them were alone back then that Noel got to hear the truth from Zagan and, more importantly, it would be their first and last interaction as siblings. It wasn’t something I could just butt my way into.
I thought knowing the future would work to my advantage, but truthfully, there were a lot of things I couldn’t do anything about. It was because I knew what would happen that I was so conflicted… My heart started to hurt.
