A Princely Guide to not be an Otome Target 3 - or 'Being the Prince in an Otome Game is sure a Drag!' (Mobuseka Prince Julius!SI)
Leon Fou Bartfort was not pleased with the current situation.
The tea was good and it wasn't laced with poison as he had been worried about, but the indigestion-like feeling he was going through was more psychological as he sat in front of me. I could just see the bile that was littering his expression- showing with genuine displays of disgust that the topics were not truly those he preferred to chat with.
But Leon was a practical man that understood key details such as why I had requested a private conversation with him... in private. As a prince, I would raise attention to whoever I spoke privately with, thus I had to pick the right occasion to snatch him from public eye. And that was when he was just finishing his extracurricular lessons about tea-making.
I had studied some of that myself. The practice slightly worthless on a practical level, but it held a degree of 'zen-like meditation' sort of patience-training and I found it a good way to distract myself mid-plotting. Angie liked the tea anyway, and she was keen to ask some of my brew frequently due to the sweet blend I would favor for her sake.
Nonetheless, the matter that had us both sitting and chatting like two grown men and gritting our teeth like ferocious beast was one and the same.
"You want me to be your assistant."
"I want you to be my confidant," I corrected.
Leon wasn't willing to let go of this element for a while as he tried to seek 'clarification'. "So, your servant."
"My second-in-command."
"Your... slave?"
"My running mate to the US Presidential Elections," I remarked dryly, causing him to blink in surprise. "Hell, I would give you the chance to be Prime Minister in due time just so you have the chance to tap the highest ceiling possible and get all the right chances to purge anyone and anything that could ruin your plans of a peaceful retirement."
It was extreme- but knowing Mobuseka's plot, I was aware that it was actually the correct option: Leon would try to go for a modest noble title and retire, but shit happens and this plan would usually get tattered and reforged with more concessions to the plot.
The easiest way to handle this was to just roll with it earnestly, march up to the highest role that allowed a graceful way out, remove all internal issues, and then go on to live a peaceful and most deserved retirement. He didn't look convinced, but I had an ace in my sleeve I was soon deploying mid-conversation. Telling him the truth about his existence in this world.
"I am... the protagonist of a show?"
"Yup."
"You mean just a Manga or-"
"Light Novel, Manga, and Anime," I listed out curtly, tapping on the table with my fingers. "Plus a What If manga, and a couple of Doujins. Oh, and a fanfic involving... inventing condoms?"
His jaw dropped comedically at that last bit. "N-No way-"
"Young man that was slaved by his older sister at playing games end up mastering this Otome Game, dies by overexhaustion and wakes up as a NPC-"
"Stop-"
"He then proceeds to try and work his butt off by being an adventurer since he is born to a disgraced noble, but ends up getting more praise, attention and even more rewards than he originally wanted. The show goes on and on until he lands a harem, a high noble title, some gundam-styled action, and even goes on to pretty much seduce my mother since my father is someone that likes them 'a bit too young' so to speak."
...Good news, he knew I wasn't lying. Bad news, I think I gave Leon a stroke or two.
It think him roughly two minutes to regain bearing of his mental faculties, but Leon looked absolutely pale when he recoiled from this discover.
"I-if you know this much then- then you know that Marie is-"
"Another insert, and a bad one at that due to her shitty attitude," I flatly interjected. "Already have her on a list which involves women to dodge and I suggest you go for the most viable option."
Leon frowned. "Your fia-"
"Nope!" I snapped quickly, then calmed down as I saw the guy jump in surprise at my ferocious rebuttal. "I mean, dude, there's Olivia."
"...Should I approach her? Isn't she like the main character?"
"Was. Then you came along, so did Marie, and then here I am."
...
"Is Angelica that good for you?"
"The game lied on some details- or rather, omitted some of the truths. Let's just say the 'Best Ending' isn't honest about Angelica's background and... dude, I love her."
He appeared surprised, then leaned back on his chair and finally... he nodded.
"Fine. But I expect you to not hurl me at any issue without a reasonable motivation behind it."
"Trust me when I say I prefer to rely less on your snarky self and more on other reasonably smart people."
He smiled at the indirect praise, but the conversation didn't go any further. After all, this was merely the stipulation of a verbal agreement between a noble and a supposed 'commoner'. After that peculiar day, it was easy for me to have Leon around even as I discussed with Angie and Olivia in the cafeteria but...
Something then happened for our first raid in the 'dungeon'.
-d-d-d-d-
"They sure rushed away fast," Angelica mumbled, curious as she saw Oliva following Leon to one of the secondary path within the Dungeon.
Truth be told, nothing here is meant to be above our current level. The place is meant to be symbolic in nature as just low-level mobs were kept around for the purpose of just 'reminding the students of how our ancestors were once adventurers with no means to acquire education of this kind'.
Very low-balled for a challenge, but I was still irked as this was not a pleasant circumstance for those that were in the main group.
"Do you trust Leon with Olivia's safety?"
I nodded. "He is strong enough to handle it, and Olivia is a healer."
"...But?" Angelica pressed, noticing my mood as we were walking with the rest of our combined groups.
"But we lack reliable healers."
She frowned at this, but before she could ask what I meant, another squeaky voice came up.
"I-I will help the Prince if he is wounded!" Marie chirped 'happily', and I rolled her eyes.
Angie realized what I was referring to, and her face had a dry look through the next few minutes. There were a few low-level ants, nothing to be concerned about as Angelica's modest experience in adventuring combined with our numbers rendered the threat of being hurt or wounded quite a negligible odd.
Another thing that made the experience refreshing was Angelica's curious knack on finding treasures. From a mature and fiery lady, she would turn in an adorable kid that would jump in excitement whenever she spotted a gem or a lootable chest. Life was good in the Dungeon, and I also ignored the flimsy attempt of my former 'friends' in trying to direct my attention to Marie whenever she tried to do the same.
All was well... until it was not, I guess.
As the trip in the dungeon ended with Leon and Olivia bringing slightly more gems due to them going through the more difficult and tighter path within the dungeon, the class was about to dismiss until-
"Professor, Angelica stole some of the gems from Marie," Jilk blurted out, causing the entire classroom to pause and realize that Marie was crying about it. "Sir, I wish for her grade to be annulled and for Marie's to be-"
"Erased too?" I suggested calmly, interjecting the worm's own attempt to get a freebie out of this. "Because, I mean, that sounds a bit farfetched."
"S-She did!"
Angelica looked outraged at the accusation, but I gave her a look that held her back from answering. I had to be the one defending her on this or any words she could produce out of outrage may be used against her.
"I doubt that it is true, but I believe in fairness, professor. I assume that we can have a test prepared for both of them to conduct on different locations."
The old man in charge of the class appeared intrigued by my words. "Prince Julius, you mean that we should have these two students go through a similar test but on different dungeons."
"That's correct. Since we can't fully confirm if the accusation is true or not, we can however coerce a circumstance were both students can both show and improve their performance. How about two different low-level dungeons but these two students can bring someone else with them to act as their assistants?"
The man stroke his thick beard as I was done talking, and he nodded. "It could be feasible, yes. Any objections?"
Despite the bitter look on the 'former Prince Clique', I could tell they had no choice and Marie nodded in agreement. In the end, Angie picked me with ease since it was easy for her to make that choice, while poor Marie struggled to pick one out of the four dogs that were clashing to get the honor of being Marie's mutt guard of the day.
As the class ended there without any other issues, I was soon walking with Angie while Leon and Olivia were chatting actively about the dungeon experience. The red-eyed beauty beside me appeared a bit perplexed about something, so I touched her elbow with mine to get her attention and-
"How come you avoided direct confrontation? You had an advantage."
Her question held some merit. At first glance, it felt like the best scenario to hand out some hands to those morons, but as I had been cautious enough to spot details, I realized the situation was not as simple and easy as I had predicted early on.
"They were trying to get a rise out of me and then use it against me. Maybe to call you a manipulator for pushing me to be your 'pet dog'."
She almost tripped on herself as she heard that, steadying her steps by taking hold of my arm. "Th-That's not true."
"But juicy rumors care not for truth," I hummed with a sad tone. "Which is why I decided to hit them back smartly rather than angrily. Now, they will have to redo the test and battle it out on who gets to step in the dungeon with Mary while you and I can go through another date."
Angie's eyes widened slightly, her cheeks burning red. "A-A date? That's what you were thinking about?"
"And can you blame me, Angie?" I asked with a hint of genuine giddiness, smiling and making her huff a bit with my shameless confession. "You look so beautiful when you are at ease. And you looked so happy as we found a few treasures. I would like to see more of that."
Her blush worsened, but she tightened her hug over my arm as I counted it as another victory. And as the date gave me more of that wonderful aspect of Angie for me to enjoy, I was also notified that the 'upcoming' party that I was looking forward to see unfold...
Would also have my mother visit as a guest.
AN
Next time. Jules smacks some mutts, have a blast with Angie, and ends up 'advancing' his relationship with her.
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