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 8 – Part 2
After defeating the Evil God, I found myself in the phantom world again. A disappointed sigh slipped out. As always, the tsuki was beautiful.
Looking around, I seemed to be standing on the veranda of a private house-like building. The curtain right next to me was slightly open and light spilled from inside, so I took a peek. Inside, I could see a man sitting, facing something I didn’t quite understand.
Was that a moving photo…? A video?
A magic tool to make that possible was being developed in Soleil. Several months before I received the imperial order, there were reports that they had succeeded in making a video recording. In several years that technology would have become commonplace.
Curious, I wanted a closer look. Before, I was able to pass through a wall, so I should be able to do it this time as well.
When I tried it out by placing my hand against the glass of the window, I could feel nothing and my hand went right through. I took a couple steps and I was inside the room. Even when I stood right behind him, the man didn’t turn around.
Voices and music were coming out of the magic tool that the man was looking at. And the things moving around on the screen weren’t photos but illustrations. Towards the bottom of the screen was this world’s writing, and whenever the man would click on something in his right hand, the writing and voices would change.
It was definitely a highly advanced magic tool. No, if this was a parallel world where magic didn’t exist, then it must be something other than a magic tool.
Anyway, these moving illustrations… There were only two people on screen but one of them looked like Noel, and the other one looked like Zagan. When I listened carefully, their voices too were exactly the same, shocking me. What was the meaning of this?
「I am Noel Brady. Zagan, you murderer, I shall draw my sword and defeat you here!」
Furthermore, the illustration introduced herself as Noel Brady and called the man Zagan?
「You do actually look like him. To think he had a daughter. If I tortured you to death, your parents would sink to the depths of despair, wouldn’t they? Ah, ah, now that’s the shit. Who would have thought I’d get my revenge on those bastards like this.」
「You, why are you talking about my parents…? Could it be? Are you the one who tried to kill Mother!?」
「Well, I wonder? Ku, hahaha. Would you at least make this fun for me, Noel Brady?」
The conversation I’d heard before continued, sending chills down my spine.
What… was this? Why was the conversation between Zagan and Noel being perfectly recreated?
I didn’t know what it meant, but terrible thoughts ran through my mind, making it harder to breathe.
I couldn’t breathe, my heart was racing loudly inside my chest and I got dizzy.
Unable to handle it, I just crouched down on the floor. Pressing down on my lungs and stomach, I somehow managed to get my breathing back under control and took a big breath. Then I slowly let the air out before breathing in again.
After a little while my breathing went back to normal, but I was so mentally exhausted I couldn’t bring myself to stand back up. Sitting on the floor like this was unbecoming of a prince, but there was no one around me, so maybe we could overlook the unprincely behaviour just this once.
Then, I was in the corridor leading to the audience chamber. As always, it was deathly silent. Because of the Lumiere, the air felt heavy.
I’d gone back to the past again.
This was the fifth time.
Since I knew this was a time loop, I thought I’d be able to find a solution—that this would be over someday. But with the information I’d gathered last time, a bad thought seemed to stick inside my head.
What if… this wasn’t reality?
That stubborn thought wouldn’t leave.
This place might be inside of a story.
That’s impossible. It’s too unrealistic… I’d like to say, but if this world hadn’t been real from the start, it was actually possible.
The probability that that place was a parallel universe was high, but given what I found out, my thoughts kept going in unpleasant directions.
Quickly, quickly – I wanted to see the phantom world again. I wanted to learn more, to find something that would contradict these bad thoughts.
However, no matter how impatient I was, time didn’t go by any faster, and I had to repeat the same things all over again.
I left on a journey with Noel, met Miranda in the 1st dungeon, and fought with Zagan. As we made our way through the big cities, we continued to gather the usual members.
This time as well, other than time spent training, I spent countless hours in the library.
Wouldn’t there be some information about that world?
Desperate to know that the world I was living in wasn’t a fantasy, I reached my hands out to scholarly texts. But I couldn’t find anything significant and while I searched, Zagan’s death came again. Then, after a year, I finally came to stand before the Evil God again.
I wanted to understand why there were illustrations of all the girls and why Noel and Zagan’s conversation flowed out of the screen. Perhaps it was because I kept thinking about that throughout the whole year, that when I got to the phantom world, I was on the same veranda I was on the last time.
I went straight inside the room and stood behind the man facing the screen. This time I could see the figures of Miranda and Nina. As the man click-clacked on the magic tool in his right hand, the girls’ voices could be heard.
「On a quiet night like this, I miss the warmth of another. Hey, won’t you comfort me? Hmm?」
「In that case, be my partner. With this kind of lifestyle, you’re pent up, aren’t ya? Should I give you a hand?」
These lines… they were what the two would say when they invited me to have sex with them. I’d already heard those words five times so there was no doubt about it.
The man clicked on his magic tool again and three rectangular frames appeared in front of the girls. Then, after a few seconds, the arrow symbol moved to the first box.
Afterward, the conversation turned into something I’d never heard before. Miranda’s voice turned flirtatious, something that I’d never experienced. Then her illustration disappeared from the screen and I could hear her panting. A few clicks from the man later, Miranda’s naked body filled the screen.
Even if it was just an illustration, I didn’t want to see Miranda like this. My saving grace was that the man didn’t really say anything and just clicked onwards. It was unclear whether he had no interest in this kind of scene or was just not interested in Miranda.
Whichever it was, I didn’t want to see those images anyway, so I averted my gaze. When I did, I immediately found a box nearby. On the box were the same six illustrations of the girls that I’d seen before on a wall.
When I saw the box, I reached out to it, even though it was pointless because I couldn’t touch it. Though I only realised it was meaningless after I’d already tried to touch it and, of course, my hand slipped right through. But, at that moment a vast amount of information rushed into my head.
“Wha….., …. Gh!”
It came rushing in – information about my journey with Noel and the others, starting from the imperial order and then going through each dungeon. Information on what would happen during that time and how to deepen my relationship with the girls.
All of this information entered my head at once, making me dizzy. Unable to stand, I fell to the ground.
In the meantime, I tried to sort through all the new information in my brain.
A scene in which I confront Zagan and he makes fun of me for losing so easily.
Special events that are triggered when I start a relationship with Noel, Miranda, Nina, Camilla, Bennett, or Cindy. And how much favorability they had to have towards me to trigger their individual events.
“Ha, hahaha… something like this…”
I wanted to deny it, but when I looked up and saw that usual, silent corridor, it dealt the final blow.
It was useless. I’d clearly understood.
This place wasn’t reality.
It was a story.
Thank you for your translations! After finding this story, I started to binge read and omg it’s so good. On another note, no wonders Luca became lifeless. After being faced the reality that he was stuck in a time loop, he was also made aware that his life was just a story is so depressing. Also, it is interesting how he has interest in Zagan prior to him merging his soul with another person.