Chapter 2: The Protection of Eroge… It’s not even funny

I stared at the blue window that had appeared before my eyes and thought to myself.

‘Checking my status window… Well, I guess this counts as checking. Confirm.’

[Player’s intent confirmed. Opening status window.]

A message appeared on the blue screen, and soon, it expanded widely, revealing information.

[Name: Ain (Sung Yohan)]

[Level: 13]

[Class: Hero]

[Traits: Goddess’s Blessing, Player, Curse of Misfortune, ■■’s Blessing]

[Stats]

[Strength: 12]

[Agility: 16]

[Endurance: 13]

[Durability: 11]

[Magic: 19]

[Luck: 00]

[Mental Strength: ??]

[Skills]

[Time Stop: MAX LV]

[Mind Control: MAX LV]

[Sensory Enhancement: MAX LV]

[Void: MAX LV]

[Swordsmanship: LV 6]

[Magic Control: LV 7]

[Martial Arts: LV 4]

It was, quite literally, a status window.

It displayed information about me.

I examined the details carefully.

‘So my name is listed as Ain, with Sung Yohan in parentheses. My level… only 13. My class is, as always in the game, Hero…’

[Hero]

[<Trait: Goddess’s Blessing> is received. Level increases upon defeating enemies.]

The description was exactly the same as in the game.

I continued reading the status window.

‘And… The traits, Goddess’s Blessing and Curse of Misfortune, remain the same.’

The trait granted to a Hero, Goddess’s Blessing. And the trait unique to me (Ain), Curse of Misfortune.

As I stared at them, an explanation popped up.

[Goddess’s Blessing]

[Removes the limits of talent. Grants recognition from the Holy Sword.]

[Curse of Misfortune]

[Reduces Luck stat to 0. Brings an unfortunate fate.]

‘Well, these are unchanged from the game…’

Curse of Misfortune.

A tragic curse that inevitably made me the protagonist of an NTR game.

I gazed at the conflicting blessings of being a Hero and the misfortune of my unique trait, then shifted my focus to the other traits.

‘More importantly, these weren’t in the game. Player and ■■’s Blessing.’

I examined their descriptions.

[Player]

[Grants access to the status window. Skills can be activated simply by wishing for them.]

[■■’s Blessing]

[Receives the authority of ■■. Generates the ‘Mental Strength’ stat. The received authority is at MAX level and is influenced by Mental Strength.]

I narrowed my eyes as I read the Player trait.

This trait never existed in the game.

After all, the Player was not a character within the game.

‘Did my possession of Sung Yohan’s body somehow create a new trait?’ The moment I possessed this body, the Player trait, which originally didn’t exist, was added.

Its effect was extremely simple.

It allowed me to view my status window and activate skills just by thinking about them.

‘Was this some sort of privilege granted by becoming the Player?’ Regardless…

‘And this one…’

■■’s Blessing.

I had never seen this trait before.

‘Receiving some kind of authority? The creation of the Mental Strength stat?’

‘…I’ll figure it out as I go. Next.’

I moved on to my stats.

‘Magic seems to be my highest stat… Though the fact that none of them have even reached the 20s is kind of depressing. And this…’

[Mental Strength: ??]

Mental Strength.

This stat didn’t originally exist either.

■■’s Blessing stated that it would generate the Mental Strength stat.

‘But why was it marked with question marks?’

‘I have no clue. Does this mean my Mental Strength is immeasurable? I don’t think I have a particularly strong mentality, though.’

I decided to check its explanation.

[Mental Strength]

[Represents the Player’s mental power, which equates to the strength of the soul. It influences the use and potency of authority.]

Soul power… The use and potency of authority…

‘…Sounds vague.’

I could understand the words, but from my perspective, it felt incredibly abstract.

I decided to gloss over it for now and moved on to my skills.

[Time Stop]

[Mind Control]

[Sensory Enhancement]

These three stood out the most.

Just like the other things I had seen, these were not skills I originally had.

And they were all at MAX level.

This meant there was no further room for growth.

‘So these are the authorities granted to me… But somehow…’

Time Stop, Mind Control, Sensory Enhancement…

‘…The powers of an eroge?’

That was my first thought upon seeing them.

Commonly associated with villains—Time Stop villains, Hypnosis villains… The kind of abilities you’d only find in an eroge.

Even Sensory Enhancement seemed like it could be used in… that kind of way, depending on how it functioned.

Especially if it applied to others as well.

“So… was the censored part in ■■’s Blessing actually ‘eroge’?”

‘Had it been censored just because it was an eroge reference?’ Who knew.

Regardless, I decided to start calling it “Eroge’s Blessing” from now on.

With that thought, I proceeded to check the descriptions of each skill.

[Time Stop]

[Stops the flow of time. The user can move freely within the stopped time. The range and duration are influenced by the Mental Strength stat.]

[Mind Control]

[Allows the user to control the mind of any target they look at. Multiple targets can be controlled simultaneously. The number of targets and the strength of control are influenced by the Mental Strength stat. Control may fail if the target’s Mental Strength exceeds the limit.]

[Sensory Enhancement]

[Enhances the senses of a target. The user can also enhance their own senses. The degree of enhancement is influenced by the Mental Strength stat.]

Skimming through the explanations, I nodded to myself, my eyes gleaming.

‘…This might actually work.’

At first, I had been slightly thrown off by the existence of traits, stats, and skills that didn’t originally exist in the game.

But for me, this was actually a good situation.

‘If I had these skills… escaping wouldn’t be impossible. ‘

‘Of course, I would need to test how far they could go, but—’

‘I can see some hope.’

‘Of course, if the status window in front of me was just a delusion, then I was screwed.’

‘…Should I check?’

Since things had come this far, I needed to confirm whether what I was seeing was just a figment of my imagination.

I picked up the pillow from my bed and—

Whoosh!

—I threw it far across the room.

As I watched it fly through the air—

[Time Stop]

—I willed myself to use Time Stop.

Diiing!

A sound like a bell tolling rang through the space, followed by a wave of ashen ripples.

“…Huh.”

Everything around me was dyed in shades of gray, and the pillow was frozen midair.

Seeing that, I was now certain—this wasn’t just my imagination.

“…Interesting.”

I got up from my bed and approached the pillow, still suspended in the air.

Grasping it, I willed time to resume.

The pillow once again fell under the pull of gravity.

I casually tossed it back onto the bed.

“Now, what else is there? I think there was another skill at MAX level.”

Muttering to myself, I turned my gaze to one corner of the status window.

[Void]

Void… Just from the name, I had no idea what kind of skill it was.

I checked its details.

[Void]

[You are an empty being. The insatiable void within grants you unlimited mental strength. You are immune to mental attacks.]

‘Unlimited mental strength?’

‘Was it referring to the stat?’ If so, then this skill wasn’t just valuable—it was probably one of the most important ones for me.

‘If mental strength was something that could be depleted, then having an unlimited supply of it was beyond useful. Not to mention, being immune to mental attacks was an incredible bonus. Perhaps that was the reason Serentia’s charm hadn’t worked on me.’

‘…Well, that settles it.’

There were other skills, but I had no need to check those.

Right now, things like swordsmanship or magic control weren’t my priorities.

‘After a few more tests, I should escape immediately.’

The longer I stayed here, the more danger I was in.

Getting out as soon as possible was the best option.

And then—

Knock, knock.

A knock came from the door, followed by the sound of a soft, feminine voice.

“Ain, are you inside?”

‘…Damn.’

It was the voice of the succubus who attended to me.

I responded quickly.

“Ah, yes! I’m here!”

The original Ain was the very definition of a naive and innocent countryside youth.

He was kind, awkward, and terribly soft-hearted.

Of course, looking at my current state, no one would think of me that way.

But that wasn’t the point.

The important thing was that I shouldn’t act suspicious before I managed to leave this place.

So I played the role of the innocent Ain, walking quickly toward the door and opening it with feigned urgency.

Standing before me was a stunning woman with red hair, smiling gently.

I deliberately stammered as I spoke.

“M-Marianne… What brings you here…?”

The woman before me was Marianne, a succubus.

One of Queen Serentia’s close aides and the succubus assigned to watch over me.

She smiled and spoke.

“Her Majesty the Queen has summoned you. You will come, won’t you?”

‘Hah.’

Her tone was polite, but her words left no room for refusal.

Not that I could refuse, anyway.

It was absurd to even think about rejecting the summons of a queen, the ruler of an entire race.

Under normal circumstances, the original Ain would have been overjoyed and rushed to comply.

But right now, the situation wasn’t looking good.

‘What perfect timing.’

I had planned to escape right after some quick experiments, but now my plans were being disrupted.

‘…And judging by the timing… if I go now, I might be walking straight into a bad ending.’

‘If the queen had decided to summon me directly, then it was highly likely that she was finally ready to completely consume me.’

‘After all, my possession of this body had occurred long after Ain had been brought here.’

‘If that were the case, then I absolutely could not comply with this summons.’

‘I didn’t even know whether my abilities would work on the queen.’

‘This wasn’t how I wanted to do things, but I have no choice.’

Since it had come to this—I’ll escape now.

[Mind Control]

“…Ah…”

I fixed my gaze on Marianne, lowering my eyes slightly.

Her eyes went hazy, her expression turning blank.

Feeling the skill take effect, I spoke.

“Marianne.”

“…Yes? What is it, Ain?”

“Go tell the queen that I need some time to prepare and to please wait a little longer.”

A command delivered in a tone Ain wouldn’t normally use.

But Marianne didn’t find it strange. Instead—

“…Yes…”

She nodded obediently and turned to walk away.

“…Good. Time to go.”

[Time Stop]

Wooong!

Muttering to myself, I activated Time Stop.

A wave of ashen energy spread across the surroundings, freezing everything in place.

In this completely gray world, I looked toward the queen’s audience chamber and murmured, “I appreciate your kindness, Your Majesty. But I’m not ready to die yet.”

I hadn’t forgotten that she had fed me, sheltered me, or even comforted me—whether it had been genuine or not.

I had no intention of offering her my body and soul, but I could at least leave her with a parting sentiment.

“Goodbye. I hope you can live happily without me.”

‘…Was that a farewell or just wishful thinking?’

Well, either way, it didn’t matter.

Leaving behind those one-sided words, I quickly made my way toward the castle’s kitchen.

I had a long journey ahead—first, I needed to gather supplies.