[Ding~ Friendly reminder: the simulator plot is about to enter a key node.
Would you like to activate First-Person Observation Mode?] [Note: If the Host enters First-Person Observation Mode, you will be able to make small-scale changes to the plot direction via options, thereby influencing subsequent developments and reward calculations.
Activate now?] “First-Person Observation Mode?” “If I choose this, will it affect me in any way?
System—if, say, I get hurt in the simulation while in this mode, would that injury sync to my real body or something?” Ecaros looked at the function the system had just presented.
Though she held an initial degree of trust now, to avoid risks, the girl still voiced her concerns.
[No, Host.] [Entering this mode will let you observe from a first-person perspective, stepping into ‘your’ shoes.
Apart from moments when options appear and you can influence the simulation, you can understand it as watching a full-sensory immersion movie.] “Like VR?” [Similar, but the actual experience is countless times more realistic than VR.] “Then is this mode very long?
I have something to do soon.
If it takes too much time, then forget it.” […Do you think this system is that low-grade?
Honestly…
But rest assured, Host, the issue you’re worried about is a non-issue.] [To avoid impacting your daily life, this entire simulation’s duration will be fifteen minutes in real time.
During first-person mode, the passage of time relative to the outside world will be subjectively adjusted.
So this simulation absolutely won’t affect you and your childhood friend.
You can set your mind at ease.] “Then there’s no need to hesitate.
First-person mode—activate!” Since the problems she worried about wouldn’t occur, Ecaros naturally wanted to try this function out.
Part of it was curiosity toward the system’s capabilities; part of it was the curiosity of a former Arknights player toward the characters in the game!
She had been quite fond of Her Majesty in her past life.
Unfortunately, this year was Terran Calendar 1090; the Kazdel Civil War had been raging for almost three years now, the fighting a brutal mess.
(A/N: According to the Arknights wiki, the Kazdel Civil War officially began in 1087; Babel was founded the same year.
Before that was the war of succession.) Coupled with her identity as a Lateran, Ecaros didn’t think she could head over there to meet Her Majesty.
As for altering the fate of Theresa’s death, she had even less confidence.
She was very clear on her own strength and level.
Besides, that fondness for Her Majesty was merely a typical otaku’s love for a 2D paper-cutout waifu.
It was fine as lip service.
To actually shed blood and lay down her life for Theresa?
Ecaros couldn’t do it.
Right now, what she needed to focus on was looking after that childhood friend of hers and thinking about how, if her friend were eventually exiled from Laterano, she could protect her—or perhaps start saving money now and plan for a future wandering life with her childhood friend across Terra.
That was what Ecaros truly needed to consider.
As for everything else…
let fate decide.
Taking care of yourself and those close to you—that was what truly mattered.
As for meeting Her Majesty, she could just meet her inside the simulator!
These thoughts flashed quickly through her mind.
Though Ecaros felt a pang of regret at not being able to meet the real Theresa, that was all it was.
Then, her vision blurred for an instant.
The next moment, she was standing in a stretch of wilderness, inside a body similar to her real one but different.
Before her eyes was Theresa, locked in a cage, and huddled behind her in a protective ball was Theresis.
Well, well.
Two heavyweight figures of the Sarkaz in one go.
And the stench here was truly acrid.
It was just too real—it felt entirely like a genuine world.
But Ecaros also sensed the signature of her own Originium Arts.
That signature reminded her that all of this was nothing but a ‘dream’—and also a false ‘simulation.’ This dispelled the last of her wariness.
It seemed the system hadn’t lied to her.
But before Ecaros could observe and think much further, in the next instant, ‘she’ was staring fixedly at Theresa in the cage and opened her mouth: “How much for this Sarkaz?
I’ll buy her.” The tone that brooked no argument, paired with the young woman’s exquisite attire, fully proclaimed her temperament and wealth.
She was ‘Ecaros’—the Grand Duchess of Victoria, the Bloodstained Silver Duchess of Londinium, the last blood of House Manchester.
The Ecaros of the simulation.
At this moment, she was dressed in the gentleman’s tailcoat suit fashionable in Victoria’s high society.
She wore a tall silk top hat; her upper body clad in a black inner shirt and a thin, triangular silk cravat of starkly contrasting color, with an egg-sized deep sapphire gem set at the collar.
The main body of her formal wear was a fitted, long-tailed coat of deep blue, lending her a dashing and conservative look, while simultaneously accentuating the girl’s well-developed figure.
Black trousers and light-brown long boots wrapped the girl’s legs completely while also accentuating an enviable, alluring curve.
She was, without doubt, a peerlessly beautiful young woman.
And her aura was so exquisite that people dared not harbor any thoughts beyond appreciation.
The slave trader had clearly never encountered a person of this caliber before.
But the sheer suppression of her presence had already driven any thought of fleecing Ecaros from the slave trader’s mind.
Instinctively, he blurted out his bottom-line price: “Ten gold coins for one—one…
no, no, ten gold is enough, milady.
And I’ll throw in this Sarkaz girl’s elder brother, the one she’s shielding behind her.” But the moment the price left his mouth, the vendor was met with a glance from Ecaros’ pale golden eyes.
Instinctively, he felt his quoted price had been too high, and hurriedly corrected himself to include the scrawny Theresis, whom the young Theresa was sheltering behind her.
Truthfully, he wanted to lower the price even further, but this price was already rock bottom for him.
Any lower, and he’d be taking a loss.
So, though he felt an invisible pressure facing Ecaros, the most he could do was throw in that sickly, unsellable little Sarkaz boy as part of the package for the lady before him.
He could only hope to receive his payment in return.
“Fine, this will do.
From this moment on, she is mine.” Hearing this price, Ecaros nodded, smiled, and casually tossed ten gleaming gold coins at the slave trader.
To her, this money wasn’t even worth a single strand of that Sarkaz girl’s hair.
Naturally, she didn’t need to bat an eye when handing it over.
As for the male Sarkaz…
Ecaros didn’t really need him.
But seeing the girl’s protectiveness toward the boy, along with the flicker of anger toward herself and hatred toward the slave trader in the girl’s eyes, the young Duchess from Victoria concocted an interesting idea in her mind.
Thus, in the end, she didn’t mind taking the girl’s brother along.
After all, she didn’t fear an extra mouth to feed, and it would be advantageous to her, wouldn’t it?
Compared to his sister, this little boy’s eyes held no anger or hatred, only cowardice and fear.
This…
might just become the key to winning this girl over, perhaps?
So she mused.
Thereupon, Ecaros took the two little Sarkaz and, under the slave trader’s expression of “I feel like I got ripped off,” returned to her carriage and left the chaotic black market at the border of Kazdel.
No small-fry bandits seeking money or beauty accosted them on the road.
Because anyone who entertained such thoughts abandoned them instantly upon seeing the young woman’s icy gaze.
Inside the carriage, Ecaros did not immediately act on her intentions to control the girl.
On the contrary, she patiently picked up a book and began reading quietly.
And she used her Originium Arts to gently spur the two pack-beasts pulling the carriage onward.
As a hunter, Ecaros had always possessed ample patience.
Just as she had when hunting down those laughable fools in the past…