Below the high platform, the Homus, busy celebrating their new roles, seemed to ignore their [King] for the first time.
And Sirin, the [King], didn't care in the slightest whether the Homus noticed her or not.
Right now, Sirin was leaning over the railing of the high platform, supporting her body with her stomach, her feet dangling and swinging in the air. She shielded her eyes from the sun with one hand, craning her neck to search for the "Easter eggs" she had planted among the assigned roles.
"Hehe... Let me see where my [Princess] went~" Sirin muttered excitedly.
"And the knight I paired with the princess... A knight needs a guiding little sprite... Right, and for the knight to become really, really strong, they absolutely must have..."
These "Easter egg" arrangements were ideas Sirin had cooked up while Hori was grooming her and helping her dress.
That was why Sirin had tossed aside the long speech draft and eagerly pushed all the Homus into the identity-swapping phase.
Princess, knight, plus a little sprite, and... that combination would surely be fun!
Hmm, then I'll arrange a few small setbacks for them, create some minor difficulties... Hehe, that will definitely spark some very interesting developments between them!
Just like in—Homu Brave Fights the Evil Dragon! The evil dragon kidnaps the princess, and the brave hero...
Sirin's expression suddenly froze, then shifted to annoyance.
"Tch, what hero? My knight will definitely be stronger than him!" Sirin grumbled, disgruntled. At the same time, her searching gaze had quickly scanned every Homu present.
All sorts of professions were there, but the four specific roles she had arranged were conspicuously missing.
"Strange... Did I forget again? No way... I definitely remembered all those forgotten things just the other day... Hmm..." Sirin hopped down from the railing, looking puzzled, and rested her chin on the railing.
She frowned, deep in thought.
If I really did forget... maybe I should just roll again!
With that thought, Sirin was about to tell Homu-la, who had reappeared at some point covered in soot, to fetch the die from the ground so they could redo it.
But suddenly, Sirin paused on the platform, her gaze shifting towards a hidden spot at the foot of the distant mountain.
She looked over curiously for a couple of moments, then her face lit up with understanding.
"Oh" A bright lightbulb seemed to appear above Sirin's head. "So it was you! Guests from afar, aren't you lucky♪"
"But that's fine too!" Sirin clapped her hands randomly. "Everyone gets to play with me! Everyone is nice! Everyone is the best!"
---||---
The moment Shu landed, he felt a sudden chill run down his spine. He looked around nervously, scanning everything within a kilometer radius thoroughly before retracting his wary gaze.
In his haste just now, the phase-space teleportation he conjured using [Hope]/[Wish] had been somewhat crude, paying little attention to the "passenger" experience.
Aside from Kiana Kaslana, both Bronya Zaychik and Raiden Mei were deathly pale, completely drained of color.
The feeling of spatial movement... well, it was like being turned into liquid, violently stirred into a vortex by a straw, and then, while still spinning, sucked up forcefully...
Though the description was abstract, it was the only way to capture the group's actual sensations.
Spinning, then extraction—the sudden experience was certainly not pleasant.
But why was Kiana perfectly fine? Even Shu, the one who initiated the ability, looked unwell from the soul-wrenching sensation.
...Okay, at least Mei and Bronya could still stand, albeit pale. Shu was already half-kneeling on the ground, gasping for air and breaking out in a cold sweat.
This damned constitution... All it was was turning oneself into liquid, stirring it up, then sucking it away? How could he be this fragile...?
Everyone agreed: sometimes, you just couldn't compare people's physical constitutions.
From Otto Apocalypse and Shu at the top, down to every member of the Fire Moth, everyone believed this.
Feeling breathless, Shu gasped heavily. Finally, with Mei's help, he caught his breath, looked up, and turned towards the direction of the palace.
Their teleportation hadn't actually taken them very far; they could still faintly hear the cheers of the Homus coming from the palace grounds.
This distance definitely wasn't enough. Shu pushed himself up using his knees, stood with Bronya's support, and gave himself a [Support] buff to return to normal. He was about to lead the others further away.
"Shu, there seems to be writing above our heads! Am I seeing things?" Kiana stared blankly at the words hovering above her own head, swallowing uncertainly.
Oh no, am I still dreaming?! How could people have words floating above their heads in the real world! This isn't a game where everyone has their ID floating above them...
I must have played too many games, definitely played too many games, definitely played too many games...
I'm sorry, I have sinned, I shouldn't have stayed up late playing games, and I especially shouldn't have stayed up late playing games with Bronya...
"It's real..." But Mei's confirmation arrived. Kiana immediately put her hands on her hips.
Ha! See, I told you I wasn't seeing things! It definitely wasn't because of the psychological trauma from losing 371 matches in a row to Bronya!
Kiana carefully read the words above her head: "Wow! Mei, look! I'm the [Homu Kingdom Princess]!"
Mei and the others looked. For some reason, after Kiana pointed out the text, the words above their own heads became incredibly conspicuous.
Princess... that should be a very noble status, right?
Mei glanced at her own title: "I... I'm the 'Knight Who Saves the Princess'..."
Kiana's eyes instantly lit up. "The knight who saves me? Of course it's Mei!"
Why did those cheerful words carry a faint hint of sourness?
"Bronya is the Shining Guiding Fairy of the Homu Kingdom. Lost travelers, accept Fairy Bronya's guidance and continue forward!"
Bronya had somehow struck a solemn pose, reciting her title without a hint of emotion.
Shu's eye twitched. He felt something was off about their behavior, yet instinctively felt nothing was wrong either.
Normally, he'd dismiss it quickly, but the precedent set by the Herrscher of Memory forced him to add a warning.
"Bronya, don't get too into character," Shu said. The cheers from the palace were fading now, no longer reaching their current location.
Kiana stared at the title above Mei's head for a long time, her mind racing with countless scenarios like "If this title were mine, I could princess-carry Mei, and even..."
"Huh?" Shu's voice interrupted her thoughts, drawing her attention back to him.
"Shu, what are you...?!" Kiana had intended to ask normally, but when she turned and saw the two glowing black characters floating above Shu's head, the last two words escaped her lips, changing the meaning entirely.
And it wasn't just Kiana. The other two, turning towards Shu simultaneously, also froze in stunned silence.
Shu looked expressionlessly at their shocked faces. The words brewing inside him finally formed into a single sentence.
"I hate this game."
And the two characters floating above Shu's head were, starkly—
[Demon Lord]