55. Childhood Friend - The Tenth Leo
Leo stood still with his mouth agape. A chill of fear washed over him.
He couldn't think. He had to get a grip.
"Leo? What's wrong? You look strange."
Lena approached, waving her hand in front of his face.
She looked at him curiously as he began to chew his nails, his face pale.
"Huh? Oh, no, it's nothing."
Leo lied, rubbing the back of his neck, now drenched with cold sweat.
"Sorry, but I have to go. I have sothing urgent."
He hurried back to the village. Lena followed, asking, "What's wrong?", "Leo, are you okay?" but he was too flustered to respond properly.
"I suddenly don't feel well. You don't need to follow ."
Leo shook off Lena, who had followed him to the village entrance, and slipped into his house.
He locked the door, which he usually didn’t use, and collapsed onto his bed. Taking deep breaths, he tried to collect himself.
[10/20]
No matter how many tis he blinked, the number in the lower right corner of his vision didn't change.
Ten. Or did it an eleven tis counting this round?
Lying on the bed, his mind felt foggy, but he stayed conscious.
Thankfully, he was Leo. If Minseo had faced this situation alone, he would have scread, but Leo’s spirit acted as a breakwater, protecting his sanity.
It didn't lessen the shock, though...
‘Is it even possible to clear this? No, it's impossible. This shouldn't be happening!’
It wasn't just about seeing the happy ending anymore. If he couldn't clear it, it was the end.
But all nine previous attempts had failed.
Even the last beggar siblings scenario, where he had gotten closest to the princess, ended disastrously.
He shook his head, trying to deny reality, but the numbers in his vision neither disappeared nor changed.
He lashed out in a fit of anger,
“Damn this stupid ga! A fucking nightmare! It doesn’t give you anything, so what am I supposed to do?”
Then he tried to negotiate with hope,
“No, no, wait. Let’s think again. 10/20, there’s no guarantee sothing bad will happen when the counter reaches its limit, right? Maybe it’ll just say [To continue, you need to make a paynt]. Yeah! Now that I think about it, it was a $2 ga. 100 won per try! It fits perfectly!”
Finally, he resigned himself, tearing at his hair,
‘Fuck, of course, that’s not it. Damn it... I should’ve lived better... I want to see Chaeha...’
And in the end, he got up and ate.
The sun was setting.
After a day filled with a whirlwind of emotions, he chewed on jerky with a blank expression, trying to think positively.
There was no one to help if he despaired and collapsed.
‘I still have... eleven chances left...’
It was difficult, but not impossible.
He almost beca the adopted son of that great marquis after only nine attempts, and the rewards he had accumulated weren’t lost.
‘It’s possible... right?’
After finishing his al, Leo returned to his room. He leaned against the window, staring at the darkening outside, lost in thought.
Even without the attempt limit, there was still a troubleso problem.
[Achievent: The Tenth Leo - The speed at which the player synchronizes with Leo increases slightly.]
‘I thought the synchronization speed was getting faster...’
The ‘10’ in the achievent was definitely a counter.
Since it hadn’t reached ten until now, the achievent hadn’t appeared, but that counter had been going up with each round.
The ti spent in each scenario varied, and the change was so slight that he couldn’t definitively say the synchronization speed was increasing.
But there was a subtle sense of discord, and once, he had felt a clear crisis.
It was during the first engagent scenario, the eighth Leo. At the end, he had beco a complete Leo, finding ‘Minseo’s impurity’ unpleasant.
Leo scratched his head in frustration. There was a limit on the number of attempts, and he couldn’t even play as he wished.
‘Surely, the synchronization speed won’t increase dramatically, right? Actually, right now...’
Even as he was thinking, he wasn’t Minseo but Leo.
Since the scenario had just started, Minseo’s thoughts lingered briefly, but Leo was Leo.
In hindsight, Minseo and Leo were in a subtle relationship.
Minseo, struggling to clear the scenario, and Leos, trying to avoid the repeated tragedy.
Minseo had grown attached to the various Lenas in each scenario, and the Leos had understood Minseo’s plight, leading to their cooperation so far.
Or rather, it was more like the combined existence of Minseo and Leo striving for the best outco for everyone.
But if the counter on the ‘Tenth Leo’ achievent kept going up, Minseo might eventually have little influence over Leo.
Then what would a ‘complete’ Leo do?
For example, how would Leo in the childhood friend scenario react when Lena ets the priest and is about to leave?
Would he let her go?
There was no way to know.
Until now, Minseo had influenced the decisions, sotis letting her go, sotis not.
Of course, Leo has Minseo's mories, so they won't act exactly the sa as before. The problem was whether they would move to clear the ga or not.
Instead of striving to make Lena a princess, Leo might just pursue their own happiness.
Leaning against the window, he trembled anxiously.
Until now, most of the ti, Leo had acted on his own. But the fear that he might not be able to influence at all was another matter.
It was hard to handle the uncertainty of having to hand over his fate completely to others and wait.
[ You have died. 1/3 ]
[ Achievent: First Death - The rate at which the player assimilates with Leo slows down. ]
Minseo had no other way to deal with this uncertainty than the 'death' achievent.
A way to slow down the increasingly fast assimilation rate. There was a limit to the number of tis, but wouldn't the assimilation speed slow down further if he died again?
‘That's a ridiculous thought. It might be an achievent that only appears the first ti you die. Raising the death count to check that is a stupid thing to do.’
Then, Minseo's thoughts were interrupted and took a sharp turn. His mind, gradually changing under the influence of 'Leo,' was tangled and complicated.
Naturally, Leo did not want to die. The only one who could consider death functionally was Minseo.
Leo, who was deeply imbued with Minseo's scent, couldn't stop worrying all night long.
It was fortunate that his father was not at ho.
*
A few days later, Lena and Leo headed to the stream.
Today, the sun was exceptionally hot, so they went out to catch small fish to cool off. Catching fish in the stream didn't yield much, but it was relaxing and fun for the two of them.
Since it was already the fourth ti they had done this, Leo knew that Lena would suggest going to the stream today.
However, in the past, when he had prepared to go pick mountain berries in advance, he had received a long suspicious glare from Lena, so he did nothing and lounged around since the morning.
Father will return tomorrow.
When they reached the water's edge, Leo pulled and cut long vines. He knew that if he braided them to make a fish trap and baited it, he could lure the fish.
While Leo skillfully braided the trap, Lena foraged for 'Danner' berries in the bushes.
The berries looked like raspberries but were dark blue like blueberries.
Danner berries were harsh on the stomach for humans but were oily enough to be useful in attracting fish.
Lena gathered a bunch of Danner berries and crushed them with pebbles by the stream. The pebbles turned blue with the Danner oil, which would be placed inside the fish trap.
After inspecting the water flow and depth, Lena placed the completed trap into the water.
Of course, one trap wasn't enough, so Leo began making another. As he chanically moved his hands, he thought about his future plans.
A few days since the scenario began, he had pulled himself together and devised a plan.
This ti, he intended to find 'Cleo de Friedrich,' the prince of the Jero Holy Kingdom.
Cleo de Friedrich was in the capital of the Holy Kingdom, Lutetia.
Previously, even though he was in the capital, he couldn't find a way to et the prince, and in despair, he hastily married Lena after being kicked out of the church.
Unlike then, now he had a way to find the prince.
The tracking skill he gained as a reward from the previous scenario was incredibly useful. Especially for him, who had searched through two kingdoms to find his sister in the last round, it was an overwhelmingly joyous reward.
Now he would never be separated from Lena!
Never!
The tracking skill allowed him to pinpoint the direction of a specific person, so Leo knew without turning his head that Lena was to his right.
He sequentially thought of his sister Lena and Lena Ainar. The tracking skill indicated that both were slightly north with a small angle difference.
It was confird that three scenarios were progressing simultaneously. The other Leos felt the sa direction.
However, the skill could only pinpoint one person's location at a ti, so it was impossible to think of two people simultaneously.
But thinking of them one after the other wasn't a big problem.
At first, he worried that the skill might only work for people he had 't,' but thankfully that wasn't the case.
He could also find the direction of all the princes or sword masters of the seven kingdoms that he had learned about through the {Nobility Society} information.
Apparently, the skill worked for 'known persons,' including those learned about through {Nobility Society} information, which was a pleasant surprise.
The scenario rewards were all useful, except for one...
‘Now I can go directly to the prince!’
Leo was hopeful.
Until now, even in the capital, he couldn't find the prince's location, so he couldn't et him.
Of course, the prince would be in the palace, but getting access to the palace was a far-off dream.
However, the situation had changed. Now he could go directly to the prince, and he had heard during the childhood friend scenario that Cleo de Friedrich often went hunting.
It was information picked up from blacksmiths, not very reliable, but where there’s smoke, there’s fire. It was probably true.
[ Achievent: First eting with the Prince - Gained slight favor from all princes. ]
And Leo had an achievent that earned him favor with the prince. So, he could watch for the prince's direction and rush over when he ca out.
With the convenient tracking skill opening a new path, Leo humd a tune to lift his spirits.
He could clear it in eleven more tries? That was plenty of ti.
Leo shook off the twigs from the trap he had just finished and handed it to Lena.
“Lena, I made another one.”
“...Uh-huh.”
Lena, who had been staring blankly at Leo without taking the trap, asked quietly.
“Leo, are you really Leo?”
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