(Strange… Where did Melt go?)
Meanwhile, Zenon went to the house where Melt was staying to see her, but was shocked when the other girls staying there told him she was out, and went looking for her.
The player was supposed to have an event where they talked to her at night, if they accepted this quest… He went there to fulfill those conditions, but it was all meaningless if he could not find her.
No, that was irrelevant at that point. The issue was that the girls he spoke to in the house had already taken a bath.
There was a good chance that another event he was looking forward to had lost its flag.
(Dammit…! So in this situation, it doesn’t count us as being in the same party even if we accept the same quest? Is that why the event flag was broken…?)
Zenon clenched his fists with frustration, as he thought back to the message that said Melt could no longer be a companion.
He had a heart full of hope when he saw Melt was accepting the quest just like in the game, but it seemed the game’s rulings were not so easily overturned.
But if his hopes had been completely crushed, she would not be accepting the quest like in the game. Zenon took that to mean that there was still hope that himself, a main character, could be there with her.
(The event didn’t happen in this quest, but if I revive Melt’s flag somehow, I should be able to get things back on track. And for that, I have to raise her favorability in the development that’s to come…!)
It was a shame about Melt’s event, but he had to set her aside for the time being.
His current goals were to gain experience and increase her favorability. Now that he knew the event flag was broken, he should focus on the real goal.
He knew from speaking to the other students that they still liked him. If not for the other reincarnated students near him, they would see him as a hero.
That meant there was plenty of chance to recover… He thought as he headed to a corner of the village, and called out to two male students who were talking.
He checked the time and situation, and after fulfilling the conditions for the event to happen, he traded a few words with the students… Until one pointed outside the village.
“Hey, what’s that?”
“Hn…? Mist…? But isn’t it red?”
The students said about the thing that hung in the air like haze.
The thing that looked like a red mist approached the village slowly but surely.
Zenon chuckled to himself about the incident that happened during this quest starting, as several men appeared from the mist.
“…Me… Come…!”
“Comee… Comeee…!”
“W-what!? What’s that!?”
They saw no life in those faces with half open eyes, that kept muttering.
The men that appeared to be villagers swayed as they walked towards them slowly and with strange movements, looking like zombies in a horror movie.
(All right, this event is going along as expected. Now I can score experience and favorability!)
This was the main event, hidden behind a delivery quest.
Zenon saw it starting, as he watched the villagers that were clearly acting strangely, and fired light magic at them.
“U… Gu…”
“Gafuh…”
“Z-Zenon!? What are you…!?”
“H-hey! Look at that!!”
One student was surprised when Zenon suddenly attacked the villagers, but the other prompted him to look ahead towards the mist, and his face turned from surprise to fear.
There were dozens of people with lifeless faces like zombies walking towards them from the mist.
There were not just villagers. People who looked like mountain climbers also walked slowly towards them. And as the two students froze with fear, Zenon yelled loudly at them.
“Get a hold of yourselves! This is clearly an abnormal situation! Go warn the people of this village! I’ll go to where the girls are!”
“Y-yes! Understood!”
Zenon grinned, as his orders were followed, and the students left to go inform the villagers of what was happening.
He was happy to earn experience during what could barely be called a fight, even if it was meager, and then made his way to where the girls were staying again.
“Everyone, we have trouble! Get ready to fight right away and come outside!”
“Mister Zenon? What’s wrong? Why the rush…?”
“I don’t have time to explain! Trust me, don’t say anything and follow me!”
Zenon seemed flustered to the point where they assumed he was not joking (even though he was simply acting flustered), and did as he said like the other two students, as they grabbed their magic items and went outside.
Zenon smelled the fragrance of the shampoo from the girls that just got out of the bath, as he took them with him to go meet up with the boys, but… He made two mistakes.
The first, was his choice of words. He told them ‘don’t say anything and follow me’. That was bad.
They did just that, and left the house without saying a word, but… There was something they should have told him.
The second mistake was not realizing that.
He was ecstatic about the event actually starting, and too entranced by the aroma given off by the girls, so he failed to realize it until the end.
While that mess was happening, she was on the way back to that house.
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