Late at night.
In the room where Leon was sleeping, Luxion gazed out the window.
It manipulated the numerous rings within its single red eye as it observed the moon.
Leon was utterly exhausted, with no sign of stirring.
"Leon Fou Bartfort… the man who claims to have been Japanese in his previous life is truly fascinating."
Leon was Luxion's master, but if one were to sum up Luxion's assessment in a single word:
"Fool."
—That was it.
"Refusing marriage to a woman in her fifties, he set out on a solo adventure, discovered me, then tried to leech off his parents' wealth to live an independent life of leisure—but the moment a knight's title and peerage were offered, his plans went up in smoke. What exactly is he doing?"
Setting aside the circumstances of how Luxion came into his possession, Leon stumbled upon a massive hoard of treasure and achieved great success as an adventurer.
Because of that, he ended up being highly regarded in a kingdom where adventurers were respected.
It would have been better if, after finding Luxion, he had merely found treasure in moderation and left it at that.
The only way to describe it was that he got carried away with excitement.
Leon sometimes thought of himself as cool, but he was unquestionably a petty, attention-seeking show-off.
After all, he wasn't putting in any real effort toward his actual goals.
"Despite repeatedly declaring that he had no interest in getting involved with this world as an 'otome game'…"
He kept insisting this world was an otome game, and that he was nothing but a mob character.
Therefore, he had no intention of getting involved.
As long as he could safely graduate, that was enough.
His original plan was to get married without incident, then strike out on his own after graduation.
But perhaps life at the academy had made him lax, or maybe the stress of the matchmaking events was to blame—Leon's reckless behavior became increasingly conspicuous.
When he saw the heroine, Olivia, being bullied, he made up some flimsy excuse in his own mind and intervened.
"The pretense that he wanted information from her… when he could have gotten far more by simply using me."
It was nothing but a waste.
On top of that, it offered no benefit to his matchmaking prospects—only downsides.
If Leon was to live independently in the future, he needed to marry a daughter from a family of at least baron rank, or it would hurt his prospects.
From being looked down upon or laughed at to being treated as low-class, exploited, or unable to maintain useful social connections—it would impact everything.
He might even be attacked by nobles from other territories.
In short, the disadvantages of not marrying were far too great.
And then there was the other matter… Angelica.
Because he helped her after she had become isolated within the academy, Leon had turned the entire academy against him.
"I knew he was petty and not particularly bright, but he's even more of a fool than I imagined."
Fighting a duel as the champion's proxy against Julius, the Crown Prince, and making enemies of practically the entire academy—only an imbecile could have managed that.
In Leon's own words, he hated the matchmaking events and had wanted to punch the five duel champions.
He had thrown away his status and everything else just to escape the matchmaking, wanting to be alone—but his subsequent plan to求助 from Angelica's father was laughably reckless.
If things had gone wrong, he could have lost his life.
"I suppose I could say that I found neither of them easy to watch."
Olivia was being bullied by those around her.
Angelica had made enemies of everyone.
Saying he couldn't bear to watch was one thing—that would have been somewhat sympathetic—but instead the man was either oddly bashful or making excuses for himself, lying through his teeth.
He was a hopelessly clumsy show-off.
Still, even Luxion was taken aback by the absurd outcome of someone who didn't want to rise in the world doing exactly that.
"This world is exceedingly complex. Could there be some hidden reason why women hold stronger power in certain social strata?"
Was it because Leon had scattered so much wealth, or because someone stood to benefit from Leon's rise? Luxion simply didn't have enough information.
Leon had never ordered it to investigate the matter, but more importantly, Luxion itself had no interest.
As things stood, the only subject that truly captured its attention was Leon.
Luxion observed him.
If asked, it would act—but beyond that, its default posture was to simply watch from the sidelines.
Unless Leon was in mortal danger, it felt no need to move on its own.
After all, Luxion hated this world.
It turned its single eye back toward the window.
And then there was Luxion's other source of interest—
"Were my companions able to fulfill their mission without incident?"
A world that had become like an otome game made real.
Even Leon didn't know everything.
There were settings and lore never touched upon in the game, after all.
Vague, fluffy otome game settings.
What would become of this world, seemingly prepared for a single girl's sake, and how would Leon—who called himself nothing but a mob—navigate it?