Thus, the situation leads to the present.
"Now, it's just the two of us left."
Kargasthol.
The capital and the royal palace, the heart of a vague and undefined country, with a name that can hardly be pinpointed. And the most likely location for Act 4's setting.
But what unfolds before my eyes is just a bizarre city. Godric approached with slow steps and stood by my side.
"Quite shabby, isn't it?"
"…"
"You'd better not look at the sky for too long. It'll hurt your eyes if you stare at it."
From the casual tone, it was clear that Godric was accustomed to this abnormal scenery. He suddenly extended his hand again, offering the teacup.
He keeps trying to feed me something.
'If it weren't for the shackles, I thought he'd just keep me asleep forever.'
Even after hearing that, there's no way I would obediently drink what he hands me. Frowning, I pretended to reluctantly take the teacup, then loosened my fingers. The cup crashed loudly, shattering with a sharp clink.
"How picky."
Godric, unfazed, extended the teacup again.
Where is he even getting these from? It looks exactly the same as before—
"…?"
No, it's not that. It was actually the teacup I had just dropped. I clearly heard the sound of it breaking, yet there were no shards at my feet. Godric followed my gaze and smiled gently.
"Ah. Is this your first time seeing this? I suppose, if you've been around the protagonist until now, you wouldn't have seen something like this. You must have been in a safe zone."
"What?"
"To be precise… it means this stage is far more messed up than it appears on the surface."
Soon, Godric threw the teacup out the window with a swift motion. Then, as if proving there was no trickery, he showed me his empty hands.
The next moment, he pointed to the ceiling.
I blankly followed his gesture and looked up, only to see the teacup stuck to the ceiling, upside down.
Defying all physical laws, the tea still swirled inside the cup, rippling gently. Steam drifted downwards, not upwards.
"At first, the props were causing trouble. Things would disappear one by one, or they'd come back after I clearly discarded them."
He spoke softly, taking another step toward the window, leaning against it.
"Next, I think it was the background?"
He had just told me not to look up at the sky, but he himself was leisurely enjoying the view.
"After the first two things collapsed, there was no order. From that point on, it doesn't fall apart sequentially; it all falls apart at once."
Beyond the window, day and night continued to rotate, and civilizations built themselves up only to collapse repeatedly.
Seeing his side profile, looking so indifferent despite the strange scene before us, I got the vague sense that he had spent quite a long time here.
Splat!
Suddenly, lukewarm liquid poured over my head. Startled, I flinched, and in that moment, Godric closed the distance quickly and wrapped his arm around my head.
A moment later, there was a dull thud, and I saw the empty teacup rolling across the floor. It seemed that what had been stuck to the ceiling had fallen.
"Haha! I sometimes forget that it still works properly like this."
Godric simply shook the moisture off his sleeves. Meanwhile, I, drenched in the subtly fragrant liquid, was far from being able to just shake it off.
As I struggled to peel the clothes that clung to my wet skin, he took off a layer of his own clothing and gently placed it on my wet head like a towel.
"Even though the world works strangely, a wet body doesn't clean itself automatically, so it's better to go wash up."
Doesn't washing come automatically even in a situation like this…?
Perhaps it's the absurdity of the situation. My mind was filled with all sorts of nonsensical thoughts.
At that moment, Godric bent down, and my ankles felt noticeably lighter. Before I even registered that the shackles had been removed, my body was suddenly lifted into the air.
"Ugh…!"
"Hey, don't struggle too much. We need to take a bath, right?"
Godric wrapped his arms around my legs, securing them tightly against his body, and subdued my movements.
I hadn't noticed before since he always wore loose and elaborate clothes, but this guy's body felt like steel. Even by fantasy world standards, it was something else.
"Let go, you bastard!"
"Alright, alright, let's go wash up."
This bastard isn't even listening to me. Godric easily supported my body and swung the bedroom door open. A cold draft rushed in, pushing away the warm air from inside the room.
Compared to the bedroom, which at least felt somewhat human, the corridor of the royal castle felt strangely shadowed and dark.
Thud, thud, someone was approaching.
The thought of showing myself in this state to someone else made me struggle again, but Godric only tightened his grip, rendering me immobile.
"M-M-M-May I be of service, Your Majesty?"
The strangely stammering voice. When I turned my head, I saw a servant standing there with a face so stiff that it seemed like the muscles behind it were being pulled taut. The person was as stiff as a mannequin.
The eyelids hadn't blinked for so long that fine dust had settled on the eyes. It almost seemed like the glassy eyes of a doll, shiny and unnaturally smooth.
'Is this person even human?'
Instinctively, an unpleasant sensation crawled up my spine, making my body tense. Godric adjusted his hold to make me more comfortable and calmly responded to the servant.
"Yeah."
"M-M-M-May I assist you with the bath, Your Majesty?"
"Sure."
"Understood. I-I-I will—bath—bathe…"
The servant creaked as they turned and walked away, their footsteps echoing. Godric let out a light sigh.
"They don't even head toward the bathroom anymore. At this rate, they'll end up getting stuck in some wall again."
"What, what just…"
"Hm? It's the servant. What else would it be?"
"…A person?"
"Well, I need to think more about that part. But, I did pick out one of the more presentable ones. Are you not satisfied?"
I couldn't understand why he was so nonchalant about this. With a somewhat suspicious feeling, I continued to watch the servant's retreating figure.
I kept my
"Agh!"
A sharp pain hit, and my eyelids burned hot. The sensation of thin, sharp needles scraping at my eyeballs was agonizing. Trembling in pain, Godric clicked his tongue.
"You're quite curious. It'd be better to hold off on that here."
[Current ■ Scenario ■■■ Area is ■■■tricted.]
Damn. I used it just in case.
'It's not working at all.'
Not only is the information browsing not working, but other things aren't either. I've been struggling to call up scenario notes or archives since earlier, but all I can see are broken characters filling my sight.
'Leo.'
The voice of Leonardo, who always responded when I called, doesn't return. There had never been a time before where he missed my voice.
Therefore, it was clear that the issue wasn't with Leonardo, but with the malfunction of
'There are so many tricks. It's quite a headache to think of ways to block them all.'
Muttering from beside my head, Godric moved his steps and turned the corner. Aside from the strange servant earlier, there was no one else in the hallway. In the silence, only the sound of Godric's footsteps echoed hollowly.
When he reached the bathroom, he finally set me down.
Inside was the bathtub, with a separate area for drying off and changing after a bath. There were no windows, and only a chimney for the steam to escape, so aside from the entrance, there were no other passages in the bathroom.
Escaping seems impossible.
"Do you need someone to attend to your bath?"
As I examined the interior structure and hesitated slightly, Godric spoke as if telling me not to have any foolish thoughts. I barely managed to mumble something resembling "I don't need it."
I became aware of Godric quietly watching me from behind, but it was better than being trapped in the same room. At least, he wasn't right in front of me. There was no crazy scenery outside the window either.
'What on earth is he thinking?'
Since he had me in his grasp, he could have done anything. He could have forced me, used violence.
'…No, he already acted violently.'
I briefly checked my reflection in the clear water. It wasn't very distinct due to the water, but I could see the mottled shadow trailing along my neck.
Still, seeing no issues with my vision, it seemed that Godric had adjusted it to a reasonable degree.
I flicked my hand in irritation, scattering the reflection on the surface. Water splashed up.
Like the chaotic ripples in the water, my thoughts were in disarray. I wondered if Leo was okay. It seemed like dinner time had already passed. Had he met with Butier safely? Is Vittorio safe? And then…
'Orlie.'
"…Orlie?"
He had said he was underground.
When I first checked the message, I thought he would be underground in the Vernis Mountains.
But thinking back to Godric's words and the strange way Orlie's messenger had been breaking apart, it seemed more likely that he was here, in this ruined stage.
I heard Godric's voice from above.
"Didn't I tell you? He's underground. You don't need to worry. I've left him intact for later."
By the time he approached, he was taking jars off the shelf next to the bathtub, looking around at various things. It was a rather leisurely action.
"Later, huh?"
"For when I rewrite the story."
The conversation Godric had used to try and persuade me flashed through my mind again.
"…You mean the plan where you take the protagonist's place and rewrite the whole story from the beginning?"
At that moment, Godric slowly approached, having taken a thin jar from the shelf. He leaned forward, and for the first time, a displeased expression crossed his face. Without any overt change, his lips simply formed a straight line, and the impression changed in an instant.
In the thick, humid air, Godric's lowered voice echoed softly.
"I'm not taking it."
The slippery oil poured from the jar and slid over my bare skin. A drop of water fell from Godric's hand, creating a gentle ripple on the surface of the water.
"I'm simply reclaiming what was originally mine."
What?