Otome-Game Reincarnation (Omake-sama's Explanation #2)

“Haah...... Still, I really did become Sara Salar, the baron's daughter...... I reincarnated, into the world of ‘Swords and Magic and Romance ~Sparkling Academy, Underdog Love Story!~’......”

After the post-meal bath, in other words, before bed.

Back in her bedroom, Sara Salar, the baron's daughter, sank into the bed and murmured those words absentmindedly.

It was a monologue.

Normally, it would be an unconscious voice that no one would ever pick up on.

......But it's clearly audible to my enhanced super hearing.

Ah, I'm now on standby in the corner of the room, guarding the baron's daughter.

This job continues until the baron and Madam come to this bedroom to sleep.

I don't think anything else is going to happen, though.

But even if I told the baron, “All the incidents so far were set up by a god! The god's goal has been achieved, so there won't be any more incidents!” it would just end with him asking “Whatever are you talking about?” And telling him would also mean explaining that what's moving the body of Sara Salar, the baron's daughter, right now is actually a reincarnator's soul, and so on.

There's no way I could tell them that.

Their daughter finally came back to life, and on the inside she's someone else? I can't tell that couple a truth like that.

I'm sure it would be incredibly painful if they found out the truth.

Even I find it painful, so those two would surely find it even more so.

That's why I can't say it.

I don't know if keeping quiet is the right thing to do.

But I can't say it, not me.

........................

Now then.

Those words from Sara Salar, the baron's daughter, just now.

The long-winded title, ‘Swords and Magic and Romance ~Sparkling Academy, Underdog Love Story!~’.

Every now and then, she mutters to herself about things related to that title.

Piecing together what I've picked up, it seems she believes she's been reincarnated into the world of that “otome game.”

<It's what's known as ‘otome-game reincarnation’. A major genre in the Isekai Reincarnation Broadcast.>

But here's one question.

She believes this world is a game world.

But it's not, right?

This world isn't some game.

Some parts may be quite different from Earth, but it's honest-to-goodness reality.

What does this mean?

<Then, I shall explain. ......It's a bit complicated, so please bear with me.>

Omake-sama began to speak.

◇ ◇ ◇

<To begin with, the first to take ‘otome-game reincarnation’ as a theme for the Isekai Reincarnation Broadcast was the god of another world, not this world of Ardyst.>

Ah, so the Isekai Reincarnation Broadcast isn't just a trend among the gods of this world.

<And that other world, this was truly a coincidence, but it was the spitting image of a world depicted in an otome game that existed in the reincarnator's previous life.>

Eh, is that even possible?

<There are countless other worlds, after all. The odds are extremely low, but it's not impossible. ......Anyway, the god, amused by that coincidence, set the theme ‘What if, I were reincarnated into an otome game world’ and broadcast an isekai reincarnation work.>

So that's how “otome-game reincarnation” started?

<That's right. And that work became a huge hit among the gods. When that happens, copycats appear. Many gods began creating works on the theme of ‘otome-game reincarnation’.>

Eeeh, were there really that many worlds similar to games?

<No. The probability that a game already existing in another world closely resembles a world one manages...... as I said, is ultra-low. So the gods came up with all sorts of methods.>

Like what?

<For example, one god created a game that looked exactly like their own world, sent it to another world, and had a reincarnator candidate play it.>

Eeeh...... Gods make games?

<Another god created a world to be the spitting image of a game that was popular in another world.>

Wait! Wait! What is this waste of godly power!? You'd build a whole world for a broadcast!!

<But what's being used on Sara Salar, the baron's daughter, this time is neither of those. This world isn't based on a game, and it's improbable that a game just like this world ever existed.>

Then......?

<The reincarnator's soul breathed into the body of Sara Salar, the baron's daughter, has been ‘made to believe’ that this world is an otome game world. ......By having their memories manipulated.>

Eh.

Uhm, Omake-sama, so you mean, that reincarnator's soul had their head messed with, and they've been made to believe they reincarnated into a game world that doesn't even exist?

<That's correct. Shall I explain the specific method as well?>

U, uh-huh.

<Many gods possess a future-sight ability called ‘destiny confirmation’. With it, they predict ahead of time several futures Sara Salar, the baron's daughter, might follow. Then they imprint those predicted futures into the reincarnator's memory as otome game ‘routes’. That way, they artificially create the same situation as an ‘otome-game reincarnation’.>

............

<That she remembers nothing at all about you, Emi, is probably down to these circumstances too. Your existence most likely never registered in the god's ‘destiny confirmation’. You wandered without having much to do with people until you reached the Salar Barony, so they probably couldn't read the karmic threads. And since the god couldn't observe you, your existence was never imprinted in the reincarnator's memory. That's why she ‘doesn't remember anything’ about you. That's how it came about.>

............

How should I put it...... I thought so with Torch-kun, too, but reincarnators, you know, have their memories and everything messed with as the gods please.

They really are just the gods' “toys”......

<They do get cheat abilities in exchange, though.>

Still...... still.

I'm really glad I didn't end up becoming a “toy.”

I'm really glad I reincarnated with Omake-sama.

I feel that from the bottom of my heart.

No matter how many cheat abilities they get.

Even if the people themselves don't realize it.

Even if they end up leading a fun life as a result.

I feel like they aren't being treated with, how should I say, respect by the gods.

There isn't a shred of human dignity there.

They really are just “toys.” The reincarnators.

Ah...... it's not just the reincarnators.

While I was fighting the Topopolocks.

Apparently, Uncle Mauve's behavior became strange, and he even took Sara-chan hostage.

The baron told me.

“It seems there was someone pulling the strings behind Mauve, and he was put up to it by them,” he said.

That ‘someone pulling the strings’ is, no matter how you look at it, a god, right?

That god messed up Uncle Mauve's life just to make things proceed according to their own scenario.

Apparently, he'll have to serve a prison term for years now.

......It gives me chills.

That said, I can't bring myself to feel sorry for the one who stole Sara-chan's body.

◇ ◇ ◇

Before I knew it, Sara Salar, the baron's daughter, was breathing softly in her sleep.

With her mouth open and drooling...... despite being a beautiful girl, this dopey face she shows from time to time is no different from the previous Sara-chan.

A pang of sadness, and I let out a sigh, just one.