5 - I Finally Know the Outline of Events.

Back when I was a company employee in Japan, I wanted to play the game whenever I had time.

"…I remember."

I wanted to enter this chivalric order in the game… That should have been my thought back then.
I wanted to enter the Cigle Knights.
Players could choose chivalric orders from various countries and could participate in raids. The last story the game came out with was one where we had to defeat the witch.

"Eh? No way. Is this really the world of the game?!"

But, when I tried to recall, I really did recognize the armor that beauty wore.

"Then, that means…what is happening now?"

After the release of the "Defeat the witch" story, the game was temporarily closed.
The company handling it apparently went in the red due to other projects, and their gaming division was bought out. Truly heart-wrenching news.
Therefore, the game's conclusion ended up being that the world was destroyed by the witch since she was the last part of the story. The surviving adventurers persevered to restore the ruined world…was the ending it should have had.

Huh? Wait a moment.
If this was the game world, then it would one day fall into ruin… the NPCs and townsfolk would all die.
At this rate, I too…would be caught up in the witch's story and die?!

"No, no, no."

Wait. It wasn't completely settled that this was the game world.
While my mind raced with all kinds of thoughts, Miss Helga urged me to eat since I hadn't touched the food yet.

Let's leave the talk about the game for now and concentrate on eating.
After I finished eating, Miss Helga removed the tableware and left the room, saying that she would go call the captain.

I will finally meet face-to-face with the captain.
If this world was really the same one as the game, then the captain was that man.
There was eventually a knock at the door.
Miss Helga entered first and introduced the person following behind her.

"Yura, this is the captain, Lord Lucien Rhade Alvaine."

"……"

Oh, no. It had been confirmed that this world resembled the game.
That silver-haired beauty was the captain.

As usual, the captain's silver hair was beautiful.
Nevertheless, if this was the game world, then even if this beautiful captain survived…the rest of his comrades would soon meet their end.

"You're not praying this time?"

I was lost in my thoughts, so his quiet whisper caused me to scream in my head, "Hyeh!"
I've done it. Back then, my head was a mess, and I ended up doing something weird. Did I leave a bad impression? This didn't lead to any investigations, right?
As I thought this, the man simply observed me and said to reassure me that nothing happened.

"I would like to hear your story."

Captain Lucien said and entered the room.
Other men following behind him could be heard. There were only three of them, but based on the way they looked, they must be tall. And, having tall people lined up in front of me was scary.

It appeared that I still couldn't properly communicate, but I couldn't help but want to dive under the covers as a symptom of the introverted nature I had since birth.
But, I had to endure.
Just as I had imagined, they had no intention of harming me. Being hated for my rude behavior was even scarier.

But, I looked at Miss Helga, wanting to cling to her as she was about to leave the room.
Please don't leave meeee!
I wanted to scream, but nothing came out of my mouth, and Miss Helga apologetically left.

When she did, the red-haired, middle-aged man pulled the only chair in the room right in front of me.
He had Captain Lucien sit there while he leaned against the wall.

"Step back a little, you guys. You're terrifying her."

He called out the two young men. The black-haired, nervous-looking man and the blond-haired man moved back towards the door. Both of them weren't exactly stern, but since their gazes had been cold and scary, I was relieved.
This person…was a good person.
He did this out of consideration since I, a female, was scared. He might have an open mind.

I was glad for this and lightly bowed. When I did, the red-haired man showed a smile for a mere moment.
Assuming that I had settled down, the seated captain began to talk.

"Now then, do you know the reason why you were in that place?"

He asked for a reason, but there were probably plenty.

"I don't really know anything that happened…"

"Nothing?"

"I know that I had apparently been experimented on. That place…or rather, here too is probably not my hometown. Besides those facts, I don't know much. When I opened my eyes, I was told that I was a failure. As I was being carried away to be disposed of, you rescued me."

"Disposed of, you say…?"

The captain muttered and nodded once.

"Then, we shall tell you what we know. We heard that you had been summoned from your hometown."

"Summoned?!"

An unbelievable word came up in the conversation.
Far from being reincarnated, I was summoned to this place apparently. No wonder why my memory was cut off since my time at the graveyard.

"They needed to perform their magic experiments. For that reason, they couldn't trade slaves or abduct the local people as that would let authorities trace them. So, they used magic to summon people from faraway countries…and get their captives that way."

Yeah, they did mention their experiment.

"There are other numerous people who were summoned before you. But, all of them either died when the experiment failed or killed as failures when they couldn't produce the expected result."

"Numerous… before me…"

I did have a feeling that their decision to dispose of me was similar to an assembly line.
I was used to being a failure and disposed of.
But, up until now, I had been solely focused on myself that I hadn't noticed. There were mountains of victims besides myself. I didn't even try to consider that they all had died.