The Holfart Kingdom is a country where women hold tremendous power.
Every day, I seethe with anger realizing just how ugly this world becomes when you bring the fluffy, feel-good settings of an otome game to life.
It had been ten years since I recovered my memories.
Fifteen years old.
I keep my black hair short. My body is lean and toned from daily training and farm work.
The training has sharpened my features, too.
Some traces of my previous life's appearance remain, but my face isn't unrecognizable.
I'm hardly what you'd call a stunning pretty boy, but that suits me just fine.
This world, though, is an otome game world.
My second brother, whom I'd been close with, had enrolled at an academy on the continent—the mainland—and was living in a dormitory there.
His letter said that "the marriage hunt is brutal."
In this otome game world, men who don't marry before graduating from the academy are considered problematic, and any man who can't marry by the age of twenty is treated as damaged goods.
For men, this is an absurdly harsh world.
Sitting in my cramped room reading my second brother's letter, I silently prayed that he'd find a marriage partner soon.
After all, being unmarried would hurt his future employment and career prospects.
Even among nobles, second and third sons who strike out on their own have predetermined paths.
Most become soldiers or bureaucrats.
An unmarried man gets treated like a permanent servant.
The room I used to share with my second brother until a few years ago was now shared with my fourth brother, Collin. Collin was six years my junior.
In a world of wars, skirmishes, and sky pirates, the probability of dying young was high. That was why, in the borderlands, having many children was considered a good thing.
Men fought on the front lines and died easily. Yet their treatment was abysmal.
"...What an unreasonable world."
My younger brother Collin lay on his bed, breathing softly in sleep.
His face was innocent and peaceful.
As non-heirs, we were, frankly speaking, extras—part of the vast background cast.
In game terms, even if we got into the academy, we'd be nothing more than background mobs.
Not even supporting characters. Just nameless extras.
If we got one or two lines of dialogue in the game, that'd be generous.
Mob A, Mob B—that was our standing.
The Bartfort barony hadn't even been mentioned in the game, for that matter.
"A mob, huh... I suppose that's fitting for me."
I didn't want to accept it, but a part of me did.
Starting next year, I'd be enrolling in the academy too.
The one advantage of this world was that nobles could attend the academy.
It felt a bit strange when you considered that these settings existed solely for the game, but being able to study there and become a soldier or bureaucrat was something to be grateful for.
Without the chance to leave the territory, you could easily end up with a forced marriage arranged through an introduction.
If the match were someone in your age group or in their twenties, that would be one thing—but being saddled with some man in his thirties or forties as a second husband wasn't even funny.
"When you think about it, being able to attend the academy really is something to be grateful for."
Looking at my innocent, sleeping brother Collin, I let out a sigh of relief.
◇
"An... an arranged marriage? What do you mean?"
After breakfast.
I'd been summoned to my father's study—or rather, his work room—and could only stare in blank astonishment.
The reason was the arranged marriage proposal brought by the woman sitting on the sofa inside the room—Zora Fia Bartfort.
Father sat in his usual chair, his face twisted with bitterness.
I received the profile documents—papers with the prospective match's photograph and all manner of details—and could only gape in disbelief.
Father looked troubled, glancing from Zora to me.
"Zora brought this match. Apparently, an acquaintance of hers is looking for a second husband."
Zora was sipping what had to be one of the finest teas in the house, complaining that "this is why cheap things are no good."
I couldn't accept this.
"No, but this is—!"
The match was terrible, bottom line.
The profile stated that the woman was over fifty years old and had been married more than seven times.
She was supposedly the daughter of a barony, with children who were independent—or rather, they were older than me.
Zora set down her cup with a sharp clink.
Her irritation was palpable.
"She's someone I've been closely associated with for years. A family of court nobles with a long history of service to the royal house. What exactly is your complaint?"
What's my complaint? If you think I'd be satisfied with this, you'd have to be out of your mind.
"Why is marriage being discussed when I haven't even entered the academy yet!"
In Holfart, marriage discussions typically didn't begin until after enrollment at the academy. The exception was early engagement through political marriages.
Even then, political unions were mainly between heirs.
There were cases of marrying into a household without sons, but the woman in question would only be a daughter of a barony without her own independent household.
And this would be my eighth marriage... This was clearly a dangerous match and nothing else.
Zora was growing increasingly irritated.
"I'll allow the second son to attend the academy. But there's no point in enrolling the third son. Even if tuition is waived, there are still other expenses."
When I glared at Zora, my father apologized.
"I know this isn't fair to you. But the truth is, the family has no money. There are ways to earn once you're at the academy, but—"
Father looked at Zora.
Zora lounged back on the sofa with a smug air.
"You won't land any decent job after the academy anyway. You'll just die in a war. Do your best for the family's sake, at least."
It sounded exactly like she was telling him to go die honorably so the family could collect death benefits.
When a noble's husband died, a pension was paid to the surviving family.
For soldiers, it was paid as a lump sum.
Zora's proposal amounted to wanting me dead so she could collect money and prestige.
"I refuse. No."
When I rejected her, Zora slammed her hand on the table.
"Silence! A brat born of a concubine dares to talk back to me!"
This woman, Zora... essentially lived in the capital full-time.
Father had arranged a residence for her and sent living expenses.
Despite the family's income being quite tight, he still sent her money—and this was how she behaved. But even a woman like this couldn't be cut off; the reputational damage would be severe.
The talk would be that the family was unreasonable—that kind of evaluation.
That was why divorce wasn't an option.
I racked my brain, trying to find a way out of this situation.
Think. I had knowledge of the game.
I'd tried various things up until I turned fifteen, but without money or time, I hadn't been able to try much.
But if I didn't act now, I'd have no future!
"...So if I have the money, the marriage talk is off the table?"
Zora scoffed at my question.
"My, my? A good-for-nothing who's never earned a single coin is putting on quite the airs."
I wanted to tell her to look in a mirror, but I'd never had a more unwelcome target to say it to.
"Refusing this proposal would be rude. If you're only thinking about convenient things like earning the tuition, you'd better stop."
Father hadn't known about this proposal either and looked displeased.
But he couldn't put his foot down.
"Leon is still young. There's no need to rush—"
"Shut up! Once a man passes twenty, no one will want him! Instead of thanking me for trying to find you a partner now, you're being picky and complaining... This is exactly why I hate country bumpkins."
Blaming everything on the countryside was really something.
When I tried to protest, Father intervened.
"Think about how he feels. A first marriage to a woman in her fifties—there's no reason to accept that. The age gap is nearly forty years."
On top of that, she already had children older than me.
Living in a household like that... The thought made me shudder.
"...If I can get the money together, you'll call off the marriage talk?"
Zora plopped down roughly and crossed her legs, looking at us as if we were beneath her.
"My, my? This is the first I've heard you have that kind of earning ability. I'd appreciate it if you increased your monthly remittances too."
I wouldn't say all the women in this world were as deluded as this one, but seeing someone like this made you sick of them.
My impression of the women in this world—noblewomen in particular—was the worst.
Father held his face in one hand.
Looking down, he spoke in a strained voice.
"Give me time. I'll try to arrange something."
I felt some anger toward Father for being so weak, but the guilt over him pushing himself for my sake was stronger.
What an absolutely terrible world this was.
◇
After Zora left, only Father and I remained in the room.
What an infuriating woman.
"She made us arrange a ship and prepare accommodations just for that, didn't she?"
She normally lived in the capital, so coming here required preparation.
Even if she used a scheduled airship service, we had to arrange lodging, meals, and cover travel expenses.
Father was weak-willed.
That was part of the reason.
"Don't be angry. This marriage was necessary. Because I married Zora, the family gained standing befitting a barony."
His thinking was that it was a blessing she'd agreed to come all the way to the borderlands—this remote island—to be a bride. Noblewomen from the same frontier areas all dreamed of the city and sought husbands there.
There were exceptions, of course, but those women were fought over.
Father believed he'd been lucky that Zora had married him, not the other way around.
"By the way, do you actually have a plan for getting the money?"
I asked Father, but his troubled expression told me everything I needed to know.
"Even borrowing is tough. The way she's acting, she might genuinely try to marry off Collin too. How did things end up like this?"
"...Why didn't you talk to my brother about this?"
Father tilted his head at my question too.
"Nix is too far away in age, but... you're right, it is strange. She didn't seem to want the boys enrolled in the academy."
Curious, we decided to send a letter to my second brother to confirm things.
The family back home was being pushed into this, but was everything all right on his end?
But his response was beyond anything we'd imagined.
◇
One week later—the family storehouse.
I was retrieving the weapons stored there.
The weapons were family property too, and if I tried to take them by force, Father would be angry. But there was no one who could stop me now.
The quite old rifle held only five rounds in its magazine.
I picked the best-looking one and began disassembling it for maintenance.
I laid a decorative sword on the table and checked whether it was usable. Then I gathered every other tool I'd need.
Father watched me.
"H-hey, what are you planning to do?"
Having read my second brother's reply, I'd made up my mind.
I'd been naively thinking I could use my game knowledge to earn money, but now that I knew the facts, I couldn't afford to be leisurely.
"I'm earning that money no matter what before that perverted hag sells me off! No way—I refuse!"
Behind Father, Mother's eyes were glistening with tears.
The household I was being sold into was apparently notorious for being awful.
They held gatherings called the Ladies' Forest, and they claimed men were slaves who could be treated any way they wished.
They actually treated them like slaves—worse, even, than demi-human servants.
They enjoyed seeing how much they could grind men down.
Absolutely terrible.
And on top of all that, the women were all noblewomen of high status who sent useless men to the battlefield to be killed.
The worst part? Zora was connected to them.
She wasn't just a member of the group—she'd been looking to profit by selling off room-and-board dependents like us, the spare heirs.
They were the kind of people nobody decent would associate with, and even other women gave them a wide berth.
"Why are such perverted freaks targeting a mob?! I'd much rather have a calm, uneventful life!"
Mother looked at me with worry.
"Dear, I don't understand what Leon is saying."
"Neither do I. And why are you pulling out weapons? Don't tell me you're planning to charge into the capital! No, put them away immediately."
Father looked at me with concern as I maintained my weapons.
I wanted to charge in and wipe them out right now, but I couldn't. Not as I was.
The capital—the royal capital—had armed knights stationed there.
If I stormed in, I'd be subdued, and the noblewomen there kept demi-human servants who were trained fighters.
"...If you're after a big score quickly, being an adventurer is the way to go."
My parents exchanged glances at my words.
In this world, being an adventurer was a recognized profession—one could even say it was a mandatory one.
After all, nobles were originally the descendants of adventurers.
In the game's setting, nobles were adventurers who had discovered new lands and claimed territories. Adventurers who accumulated wealth through countless expeditions became nobles.
And that was why the academy required nobles to become adventurers, or so the game's logic went.
The excuse that existed so the protagonist could be pampered and build affection in dungeons—that was what I could use to save myself now.
Father shook his head.
"Don't. A dungeon isn't something you can handle alone, and it takes time before you can start earning real money."
Mother felt the same.
"Th-that's right. Besides, finding a habitable floating island is really difficult these days. You won't be making any big money."
If you discovered a floating island where people could live, or one that yielded resources, it became the adventurer's property. If you had the means, you could even establish an independent territory—but there were no good islands left near the continent.
None left—except for one that I knew about.
"I'm sorry. My mind is made up."
If it were just me, I could run away. But my brother Collin was only nine years old.
I couldn't stand by and watch him get sold off to those perverts.
Father seemed to read my resolve, and he spoke.
"Is there anything you want?"
Without hesitation, I told him what I needed. It would put some strain on him, but this was literally a matter of life and death for me.
Rather than doing nothing and becoming a plaything for those perverted hags, I wanted to gamble on the possibility—the one with some chance of success.
"A boat-type will do. One airship. And I want bullets. Special bullets."
Father tilted his head.
"What exactly are you planning to do? Are you going to challenge some dungeon? If so, a regular transport ship would do."
"I'm going somewhere the scheduled flights don't run."
I shouldered my rifle.
In a fantasy world of swords and magic, a rifle was a bit incongruous—but this was a world where airships exchanged cannon fire. Magic existed alongside firearms.
I pulled the trigger, and the rifle clicked with a crisp metallic sound.
Since being reincarnated in this world, I'd just been drifting along.
But even a mob has things he won't concede.
A life of being someone's toy? No thanks.
So I would fight back.
Father nodded.
"Understood. I'll get everything ready as fast as I can. But you absolutely must come back. If you can't promise me that, I won't prepare anything."
I wanted to come back too, but my entire life was on the line.
"...I'll definitely come back."
I wanted to protect my life, save my brother's, and wipe the smug look off Zora's face. Someday, I'd get revenge on that bitch who tried to sell me off.
Holding that fierce determination inside me, I spent the remaining time until departure preparing.
◇
"This is the first time I've taken anything this seriously."
Even if it was an otome game world, it was still a game world.
I'd thought about going on a power trip using game knowledge more than once or twice.
But daily life had worn me down.
Meager meals. Father training me from dawn, followed by farm work.
By the time everything was done, the sun had set, and studying awaited me at home.
In this world, a barony on the borderlands—on a remote island, no less—was poor.
The root cause was the marriage situation, but compared to the city, we were simply poor.
Father often grumbled that if he'd been promoted—or even remained a mere baronet—he'd have been better off than now.
There were wealthy baronies, of course, and families so prosperous that comparing them to ours was almost laughable.
I made my way to the edge of the floating island and scanned for something that looked like a flying fish—something grotesque and eerie—then aimed my bolt-action rifle and fired.
The creatures called monsters were unambiguously evil in this fluffy, feel-good world. They were so perfectly evil that there was no qualm about taking them down.
The fact that they vanished into thin air after being killed was probably another big reason.
These things attacked anyone they spotted, so it was always better to eliminate them first.
Of course, what you gained from killing them was invisible—experience points.
"Damn! Missed!"
I quickly loaded the next round, aimed carefully, and lined up my shot.
The creature had noticed me and was closing in.
It was about a meter long.
Normally, I'd want to draw it in closer before firing, but a miss at close range could mean death.
The only reason I could fight was the rifle.
But bullets weren't free.
Every single round cost a fortune.
The monster that had drawn near opened its massive jaws, rows of jagged teeth gleaming inside, ready to bite into me. Just looking at it was terrifying.
"If I run away now... my life is over!"
Up until now, I'd always thought "someday" I'd grind for experience points. "Someday" I'd become an adventurer, discover an island, and explore it. "Someday" I'd earn money. Always "someday."
That was how I'd thought.
But now, with time running out and no escape, the fire was finally lit under me.
I pulled the trigger. The bullet entered the monster's mouth and pierced through its back.
It changed direction abruptly and plummeted without ever reaching the island.
Watching it fall, I saw it enveloped in black smoke and disappear before hitting the seawater.
"...Did that earn me experience points?"
I looked at my left hand, but there was no such sensation. Game and reality were different, after all.
But I needed to sharpen my shooting skills.
I also had to get used to piloting the boat—a small flying boat-type craft—otherwise I wouldn't even reach my destination.
What I'd been putting off, in game terms, was collecting cheat-tier items. If the things that were paid DLC in the game existed here, that would make things much easier.
Even if they didn't, I had a plan.
These were treasures and items that were supposed to belong to the protagonist, but my life was on the line. Sorry, Mr. Protagonist, but I'm going to have to borrow some of your luck.
I gripped the rifle with both hands.
"For my own happiness, I'll need the protagonist to make a sacrifice. It's fine—according to my calculations, I'm in the same school year as the protagonist. Someday I'll repay the debt, and we'll be even."
I felt some guilt, but my stronger feeling was that I absolutely did not want to be sold off to a perverted hag.
This was a crisis for my chastity.
"Was this how women felt when they were sent off to be second wives to perverted middle-aged men? Damn! What kind of world is this!"
Time was running short.
I scanned the surroundings again, searching for more monsters.
◇
One month later.
A small boat sat before me, solidly built.
A propeller engine had been fitted, and it handled well.
On the boat.
The sun was blazing. I wore a robe to cover my body and pulled the hood up. Besides the water and food I'd loaded, everything else was weapons-related.
Enough supplies for one person to last a while.
"Father really pushed himself."
He'd provided not just the boat, but the rifle, a sword, and various other things.
I couldn't thank my parents enough.
He'd had to make serious sacrifices to gather all this.
The boat itself was essentially a small vessel with a propeller engine bolted onto an existing hull. Still, for a poor noble family, it was a valuable asset.
"Also, having both electricity and gas in a fantasy world—is that even normal?"
I sat with my rifle slung over my shoulder, binoculars in hand, scanning the surroundings.
I pulled out a map and took out a compass.
"This is the fantasy part, I guess."
The compass showed direction, but there was also a second needle that indicated the destination. Not the directional needle—a separate one.
A compass with two needles.
You set the destination on a dial, and it pointed the way.
My memories of the game I'd played over ten years ago were hazy, but I'd written down as many numbers as I could remember at the time.
Back then, I'd fantasized about going on a rampage with cheats, but daily life kept me too busy to act on any of it.
"I should have started working toward this sooner."
But that's human nature for you—I was a textbook example.
I'd been wasting my days until the fire was lit, too.
Well, it had been harsher than my previous life, at least.
Waking at dawn, studying at night... Farm work was genuinely brutal. Once everything was done and I collapsed into bed, falling asleep on the spot was the norm.
I was exhausted every single day. After that, there was no energy left for self-training, and I had no special knowledge or skills. Reincarnated with a cheat? If I'd had one, I wouldn't have suffered so much.
A knowledge cheat for domestic policy? I didn't have that kind of knowledge, and I wasn't sure it would even work in another world.
The boat skimmed forward through a sky dotted with floating rocks.
"Blue sea and sky... There are white clouds too, but that's all there is."
Gripping my rifle tight, I endured the creeping urge to lose my mind.
Sometimes I thought about using this very rifle to end it all—maybe the next life would be better, I'd think—but I shook my head violently.
"Dying alone wouldn't solve anything. It would just leave Collin as fodder for those perverted freaks."
I stopped myself and looked up.
The sun was blinding.
Over and over, I'd considered throwing everything away and running.
But this world was more dangerous than Japan in my previous life.
Monsters, bandits—if I went out on my own, I couldn't even find work. I missed the Japan of my previous life.
There was nowhere to run.
"It's a cruel world for a mob."
I'd been talking to myself more and more, but I couldn't afford to care.
I stayed alert.
If I ran into sky pirates at a time like this, it would be game over.
Just as I thought that and resumed scanning, a sudden gust of wind picked up. The map flapped loudly in the wind.
The destination needle on the compass, which I'd placed where the wind wouldn't move it, began spinning wildly.
"What the—?"
I stood up. The wind grew stronger, and I braced myself against the nearest railing to keep from being knocked over. I looked around—the sea was calm.
The clouds moved normally.
There was no sign of a storm.
As the boat continued forward, the sun was gradually obscured.
"Above me—?"
I looked up and saw a white cloud.
An enormous cloud.
Staring up at it, I clenched my left fist.
Below the boat.
Looking down at the sea's surface, part of it was glowing green.
I hunched my shoulders, pressed my forehead against the railing, and fought to keep from laughing.
"So that's it. Of all things—it's that! Is it because I paid for DLC? Or was it always there? Well, whichever—it doesn't matter. ...I hit the jackpot. A massive jackpot!"
I stood and threw my arms wide, tilting my head back and letting out a shout at the sky.
Thank you for existing. Truly.
"Oh wait—I haven't actually claimed it yet."
I pulled myself together and moved to the stern, manipulating the propeller mechanism.
With both hands, I wrestled the machine—about large enough for two arms to carry—and steered the boat down toward the water's surface. As I approached the glowing area, the boat began to creak and shudder.
I pressed myself low against the deck, clinging to the boat.
"Hold together for me."
Without any further input from me, the boat surged upward with tremendous force. The acceleration was too violent to stand against.
The boat was hurled into the clouds like a cannonball, and the world around me turned completely white.
My body went cold.
My clothes soaked through.
I tucked the rifle inside my robe to protect it and navigated the boat through the blinding white mist.
There was some kind of current in the clouds, and I steered against its flow.
I couldn't see anything, but going against the current had to be right.
I pushed the engine to maximum power, and it screamed with a tremendous roar.
The compass was useless—both needles spinning in circles. I had no idea where I was.
All I could do was keep pushing against the current, and before I knew it, I was drenched. Freezing cold.
Water dripped down, my clothes growing heavy.
I was steering the boat against the current, but doubt crept in—was this really the right way?
"Come on. Opportunities like this don't come around every—what?!"
Tens of minutes, or maybe hours—my sense of time had gone fuzzy—the overworked engine finally gave out.
"Wait! Hold on! If I get thrown out now, I'll be stranded and—"
In the instant I imagined the worst-case scenario, the engine exploded. The propeller spun through the flames and flew off.
Fire spread to the wooden hull, and just as I was wondering whether I should put it out, the boat lurched violently.
I was thrown clear along with the violently shaking boat—and there, before me, existed a floating island shrouded in clouds.
Having burst out of the clouds and been flung into the open, I stared wide-eyed at the island. The shape was exactly as I'd seen countless times in the game, but seeing it in reality—it was enormous.
The island was wrapped in the roots of a colossal tree, blanketed in verdant green.
Even where the earth was exposed at the bottom, tree roots jutted out with plants growing between them.
"...Incredible."
The floating island drew closer. No—I was approaching it.
I tried to maneuver, but the engine was gone.
"You've got to be kidding!"
As the island's ground rushed up, I grabbed my belongings, timed it right, and leaped.
I released my cargo, rolled across the ground, and slammed into one of the massive exposed roots, which stopped my momentum.
The boat crashed and shattered to pieces, scattering my cargo and burning.
I sat up, wiping the cold sweat from my face.
"That was close. Boats really are dangerous."
If I'd had a bigger airship, this would have been easy—but I didn't have the money to buy one. And I certainly didn't have money to rent one either.
I could have asked someone for help, but this was a place known for having absolutely nothing.
No one would fly an airship out here.
My vision was still swimming. I clutched my aching head and quickly gathered what was salvageable.
A lot of the cargo had burned, but what remained should still be enough.
I piled everything in one spot and extinguished the fire on the wrecked boat.
I'd reached my destination, but I'd lost my boat. With this, collecting the other treasures and items I knew about was going to be difficult.
If I could recover "that thing" on this island, there'd be no problem. But if "that thing" wasn't here, I'd be trapped on this island.
I sat down to rest, and it seemed quite some time had passed.
Darkness was beginning to fall.
I pulled food and water from my supplies and ate.
I gnawed on hardtack-like food and drank water, thinking only about filling my stomach, not flavor.
Starting tomorrow, things would get busy.
I gathered the splintered wood from the wrecked boat and built a campfire.
I checked the condition of my rifle and inspected my other equipment.
By the firelight, I counted my bullets and loaded the magazine.
I'd had special bullets prepared for me. Each one bore a carefully engraved lightning mark, distinguishing them from ordinary rounds.
Each special bullet cost roughly three to five thousand yen.
These special rounds—magic bullets—were imbued with magical effects. A direct hit could produce flames, freezing, and other effects.
Because of that, each one cost over ten thousand yen.
I could only be grateful to my parents for providing me with so many.
"If I make it back alive, I'll have to be a better son. ...Oh right, I never was a good son in my previous life either."
Thinking back, I'd probably died before my parents.
What an awful, unfilial brat I'd been.
"I wonder what happened to my sister. I'd love it if she hit me one more time—just once."
I still remembered the day I woke up in this world—the day I recovered my memories. My sister forcing that otome game on me felt so nostalgic now.
Thanks to that, my game knowledge was actually useful. Maybe I should thank her?
Then again, if she hadn't shoved that otome game on me, none of this would have happened. I wouldn't have died and been reincarnated in another world.
Or would I?
After finishing my checks on the rifle and ammunition, I set them aside and leaned against the giant tree root to rest my body.
Being on solid ground again was, as expected, reassuring.
"...Why was I reincarnated in an otome game world? If I had to be reincarnated, I'd have preferred a normal sword-and-magic fantasy world. No—my original world would've been better. Yeah, Japan would've been preferable, if possible."
A world without monsters, without sky pirates to worry about—wasn't Japan a paradise?
With that thought, I closed my eyes.