The Case of Being Reincarnated as a Heretic Mob Character in an Eroge Where Everyone is Extremely Determined - Chapter 57

Chapter 57: The Last Supper

The only way for someone with inferior physical abilities to snatch a chance is to use tools that don’t rely on physical strength.

A good blast with explosives and even an Executive candidate like Whip can be knocked out in one hit. If used cleverly, it could serve as a one-hit kill technique. Thinking it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have at least one bomb hidden away, I started making a bomb.

While Joanne fluttered her legs on the bed, relaxing, I ran my pen, trying to recall the recipe for the explosive.

I had been forced to make bombs in the original story, but of course, I don’t remember it that well.

It’s almost like groping in the dark.

“Oakley, what are you doing?”

“I’m trying to remember how to make a bomb.”

“Heh, I know how to do that.”

“Is that true?”

Joanne, who had just risen from the bed, approached me as I worked at my desk.

A glimpse of her enchanting bare legs caught my eye, and I struggled to find somewhere else to look, but feeling this way now seemed all too late.

While hugging me from behind, Joanne started to give her input here and there.

With her help, we managed to finish the recipe for the bomb rather quickly.

It looks like gathering the materials will have to wait until another time, though.

“By the way, what do you need such a dangerous thing like a bomb for?”

“It’s for self-defense. If Stella-sama tries to eat me, I can shove it in her mouth and blow her head off.”

“Well, that’s important.”

Joanne, dressed lightly, let out a sigh and slumped, resting her chin on my shoulder.

While I sat in the chair, she wrapped her arms around me and hugged me tightly.

A soft sensation pressed against the area around my shoulder blades, and her breath, laden with an uncharacteristic solemnity, tickled my earlobe.

When I touched the white hands crossed in front of her chest without thinking, the girl let out a small voice.

Normally, she would tease me with a shy attitude, but there was no such sign. Something about her seemed a little off.

I untied the girl’s hands that were firmly clasped in front of her chest.

Joanne resisted lightly. Her body pressed against me, the silent pressure telling me she still wanted to embrace me.

As I slipped my fingers into her left hand as if to glide in smoothly, our left ring fingers overlapped.

The girl’s eyes blinked vacantly as if envisioning wedding rings on both of our ring fingers.

Taking a sharp breath as if making up her mind, Joanne caught my gaze head-on.

“Can we talk for a moment?”

My heart skipped a beat in an unpleasant way.

Joanne sat down on the chair in front of me, gripping my hands tightly. I waited for the girl to speak, but she just kept pressing her lips together uncomfortably. It wasn’t like her.

When I gently asked her with a downward gaze, she began to speak with an expression so fraught it seemed she might cry.

“Just a moment ago, I received a message from Celestia. It seems a large-scale operation is about to unfold.”

“This strategy is inconvenient for us, isn’t it?”

“Ah. The details haven’t been decided yet, but it seems that a plan is underway to invade the Holy City Sasfect and steal the ‘Holy Relic’. It’s a few years earlier than I imagined…”

Her complexion was poor, a stark contrast to the spirited demeanor she had maintained until now. But the situation was serious enough that I could understand her reaction.

The mere mention of the ‘Holy Relic’ had me on edge as well.

The ‘Holy Relic’ of Kenneth Orthodox refers to the relics of the ‘Seven of Dawn’ who were the first in the world to be born with magic, or more specifically, one of them, the ‘Heavenly Heart Mirror’.

Here, the term ‘Holy Relic’ mainly implies the latter.

The roots of the Holy Relic targeted by Aaros go back to the distant past.

When the Seven of Dawn were still ordinary Orthodox Believers, they saw the ‘Heavenly Heart Mirror’ in their dreams.

When they peered into the mirror, they were said to have witnessed the figure of a higher being that seemed to be God.

It is believed that they awakened to their powers after that, and thus, the mirror has continued to gather the faith of the people as a divine artifact.

The authenticity of this anecdote is questionable, it’s unclear when the ‘Heavenly Heart Mirror’ was made, and it’s not well understood who originally owned it, which is why the ‘Holy Relic’ remains a topic of endless debate (including among fans of the original work)—

—Such a battle for the ‘Holy Relic’ would erupt in the middle to the end of the original work.

Speaking in concrete terms, it would be an event that takes place about three and a half years later.

Is Aaros’s plan progressing that smoothly?

I never imagined that plans would be moved up by years.

This has likely happened due to the successful operation of the mobile fortress plan and the unexpected puppeteering of Celestia.

The reason why Aaros is fixated on Kenneth Orthodox’s ‘Holy Relic’ is simple.

The mere existence of this ‘Holy Relic’ elevates the status of the Holy Nation Geluid and, by extension, Kenneth Orthodox, and it also has the benefit of attracting many pilgrims and travelers.

To take it away would be no exaggeration to say it would lead to the weakening and confusion of Kenneth Orthodox.

Furthermore, Aaros must have sensed that the ‘Mirror of the Heavenly Heart’ contained extraordinary power and thought to repurpose it for his plan to steal a nation.

Indeed, the ‘Mirror of the Heavenly Heart’ is genuine.

It could be said to be a vessel worthy of the name Holy Relic, concealing power that lives up to its name.

That’s why I could understand that something was off with Joanne.

We must not let that fall into Aaros’s hands.

As long as we do not know what kind of reaction the Holy Relic of the orthodox faith and the leader of the heretical faith might cause, the ‘Mirror of the Heavenly Heart’ should be kept in the holy city.

However, Joanne’s concerns seem to lie in a different place than mine—

“When the operation starts, I’ll have to fight the enemy. No matter how well I do, I won’t be able to avoid getting hurt. In other words, I have to revert what you and I exchanged back to its original state.”

Placing her hand on her chest, Joanne muttered.

I see, it’s not the situation you’re worried about, but me.

She narrowed her eyes as if she could see right through my body.

Joanne’s current principle of action is devoted to me. It must be an attitude resulting from considering the intense burden that comes with the exchange.

If a battle between Executives were to break out, Joanne would be blown away over and over again.

Considering her unreliable defensive capabilities, it was only natural for her to worry about my organs inside her.

Compared to right after the exchange, my physical strength has somewhat recovered.

The blood I lost has returned. But a human body is not strong enough to withstand multiple organ transplants.

There are those who can live without inconvenience even after an organ transplant, but there are also those who become unable to perform strenuous exercise.

In the end, it’s considered to be individual differences, but it’s still better not to exchange organs at all.

In fact, I wonder why I thought of using organ exchange as a means of attack a little while ago.

It wasn’t a bad idea as a way to escape the suffocation, but it was too reckless.

Moreover, in the case of Joanne and me, there is a precedent of memory transfer, so it’s completely unclear whether it will remain a simple influence.

The organs matured inside Joanne could potentially become a bomb.

If a violent memory transfer occurs, I will undoubtedly go mad. Even now, that’s the case. If I become a little conscious of it, something from the darkness behind me approaches with a rustling sound.

“Are you afraid of the recurrence of that phenomenon? …Isn’t it supposed to be a joyous thing for me to assimilate with Joanne-sama?”

“…I have a feeling that’s close to certainty. If we reverse this, Oakley’s mind will surely break… I fear that as a result of the destruction, you might forget all your memories… The Oakley inside me is sounding the alarm.”

Joanne stroked the lower abdomen that was filled with my things.

A shiver akin to ecstasy ran through me.

I’ve been immersing myself in training to avert my eyes from Joanne’s erosion, but the time has come when I can no longer deceive myself.

Joanne’s other self, which is gaining influence day by day, is undoubtedly accumulating in my heart and rotting my spirit.

After all, it’s the sweet wish of the girl I love most in this world and the one I desperately want to kill.

No matter how much I ignore it, the erosion doesn’t stop. Especially since I’ve been exposed to madness for several months now.

Like a magnet being drawn in, like water seeping into cloth, I could feel my heart being dyed in Joanne’s colors.

(…If I lose my memories, my superiority will vanish. I’ll be cornered even more than I am now. The only reason I’ve survived until now is thanks to the memories of my past life. However… it’s also dangerous to leave the exchanged organs as they are. If Joanne’s body is blown away while holding my organs hostage, I’ll die because there won’t be any organs to return to. Trapped in a dilemma again…)

I don’t know how many times I’ve been in a desperate situation.

There was no time to hesitate.

Even if I lose my memories, there are ways to recall them.

…If Aaros is really fond of me, maybe he can skillfully manipulate my brain to recover my memories, just like he did when he brainwashed Celestia.

But I trust in Aaros’s abilities. I had no choice but to bet on the possibilities of our Guru-sama, who seems to be capable of anything.

“I don’t want to destroy you. But if the operation starts as it is, you’ll die… What should I do?”

“There’s nothing much we can do. We just have to do it.”

This is as far as I can keep a part of me inside Joanne. I wished for an opening of my abdomen as soon as possible.

Her face quickly wilted, and her already small stature seemed to shrink even more.

The girl with the wolf cut, in a fading voice, muttered ‘I understand’, and then led me out of the room.

The place we went together was an empty cafeteria at deep night.

Chairs and tables carelessly placed around were casting faint shadows under the lonely light of the lamps.

Walking further into the space carved out of the bluish rock, Joanne broke into the kitchen.

Following her, I saw Joanne standing in front of the knives, smiling faintly.

“…Recently, I had a chance to use a knife.”

“What was it for?”

“I know it doesn’t suit me… but I’m learning to cook for the future. The thought of having to use a kitchen knife meant for cooking is a little… no, quite a complicated feeling…”

With a clinking sound, the knife that had been in its proper place was drawn out.

Joanne, who gazed sadly at the long knife as long as a girl’s upper arm, strode towards me and tried to casually slash my stomach.

But I grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

Joanne halted at my rejection, frowning and glaring at me with upturned eyes.

As if speaking to her, I whispered in her ear.

“I want to eat Joanne-sama’s cooking.”

“…What?”

“…Before everything starts, I want to eat your cooking.”

“…That’s stupid. I’m still so clumsy, you know.”

The spiral in the girl’s eyes distorted greatly.

Just as it seemed to fill with a transparent liquid, it soon breached and began to spill from the edges.

Joanne’s tear-streaked face was unmistakably that of an innocent girl.

Whether she longed for the parting with the fragment of her beloved that resided within her or whether the destruction of the memory transfer that affected both was what she feared, it was unclear.

I believe that the method of organ transplantation I chose at that time was not a mistake.

It has brought further suffering and cast a thick cloud over the future, but it has shown me a world where there is a faint glimmer of hope.

It’s all my choice.

An irreversible decision that cannot be redone.

As if being churned by a turbulent stream, my future is being determined.

She says,

“When everything is over, I want to sit around the dining table with Oakley. Cooking together, feeding each other… want it to be a table filled with warm light… Next time you eat my cooking, I’ll season it to your liking so that you’ll be happy…”

The dish the girl had earnestly prepared was a simple stir-fry of meat and vegetables.

It was cloyingly sweet, with even the saltiness barely discernible.

I will never forget the taste of this dish.

“Alright, I’m going to cut it now—”

—Slash. In an instant, a heat like an electric shock surges. My body weight lightens in a flash, and the reddish-purple mass of flesh is reverently lifted.

My mind is driven into the gap between awakening and severance, and I am assaulted by an incredible sensation of floating.

The mass of flesh, engraved with her will, returns. Opening its mouth, it gasps for air, puffing in and out. It’s painful.

It’s suffocating. I’m being swallowed by Joanne. I can feel my spirit burning.

It was a pleasant journey despite the intense pain.