I Have a Stalker of Noble Status. And to Make Matters Worse, their Numbers are Increasing (BL) - Chapter 43

“As I mentioned earlier, I really think we’re heading toward the Ultimate Ending right now. But the thing is, the Ultimate Ending is even harder than the SS-rank difficulty Eternal True Ending. If you go for it recklessly, you’ll end up on the fast track to a Bad Ending.”

“Wait, wait, wait! What do you mean by a Bad Ending…? You’re not saying—”

“It means the Demon King is resurrected, the Hero is defeated, and humanity is wiped out.”

That’s… one massive scale of destruction!!

“Since you’ve already found the Holy Sword, there’s no turning back now. Honestly, it might be safer to just settle for an ending where you end up with Lord Raymond or Lord Maxwell. At least then, there’s a solid chance of survival. I mean, I really don’t want to die.”

“…”

“…”

“…”

Wait—how did I end up so cornered all of a sudden!?

“No, hold on. Hold on! Just wait a second. There’s definitely a ton of issues with that too, right!?”

“Well, yeah, of course. But Ultimate Ending is way too high-risk, high-reward.”

“…High reward?”

The high risk was obvious—total human extinction.

But what was the high reward?

“It’s the highest difficulty ending, after all. But if you do manage to clear it, the Demon King is defeated, the world finds peace, your barony thrives, and everyone ends up happy. A true grand finale where there’s not a single complaint left to be had.”

“…”

A perfect happy ending.

A flourishing barony.

Wasn’t that exactly the kind of ending I wanted the most?

But… putting humanity’s survival and my personal happiness on opposite ends of the scale was way too terrifying.

“You know… maybe it’s not that impossible to pull off?”

While I was hesitating, Max nonchalantly dropped that statement.

“I mean, Patrick, you’re actually insanely high-spec right now. Your grades are excellent, you’re physically capable, and your level is absurdly high.”

Wait—what’s happening!?

Max never praises me, so hearing this out of nowhere is making me all kinds of flustered!

“Your looks… well, you don’t put any effort into it, so this is what we get, but you actually have decent features. With a little work, you’d be fine. Plus, you’re on good terms with pretty much every romanceable character, and because you and Ange are triggering so many events together, you’re actually speeding things up instead of lagging behind.”

Okay, first of all, I have no motivation to ‘polish’ my appearance when I’m constantly surrounded by literal living sculptures of perfection. My plain face feels downright average next to them. And second… yeah, the event pacing might be a little fast, but still.

“Now that you mention it, that does sound about right.”

“See? Then there’s no reason not to go for it! Worst case scenario, if it looks like you’re about to fail, I’ll just marry you myself.”

PFFFT!!

“What the—! Max! What the hell are you saying!? There’s no way I’d ever be anyone’s bride!!”

Seeing my panicked protest, Max burst into laughter.

Seriously, Max could be such a menace in situations like this.

“Well, in the first place, I’m the one who dragged Patrick into this whole mess. I also owe him for saving Violetta. If it comes down to it, I’ll take responsibility!!”

“Not you too, Ray! Stop it!!”

Unlike Max, who was clearly just teasing me for fun, Ray was the type who might actually mean it. That, in its own way, made this situation even worse.

“Enough! Both of you, cut it out already!!”

“Haha, my bad, my bad. But if you don’t like the idea, then the only choice left is to aim for the Ultimate Ending, right? You did pull the Holy Sword, after all.”

Ugh… I mean, he’s not wrong, but still…

“Look, the point is, Patrick, you don’t have to carry the weight of humanity’s survival on your shoulders alone. If it comes down to it, Raymond will take responsibility!”

As he spoke, Max reached out and ruffled my hair again.

Was this his way of being reassuring…? Wait a second, didn’t he just shove all the responsibility onto Ray instead!?

“Indeed! Leave it to me!! From now on, I’ll stay by Patrick’s side more than ever! I vow to be his strength!!”

That was basically a formal declaration of continued stalking!!

“Well, in the end, nothing really changes, does it?”

“Of course things change! The King literally told me, ‘Before the new semester starts, I want you to go on a monster subjugation mission near the royal capital to prove your power as a Hero!’”

Yep. That’s right.

As if being forced into monthly monster hunts wasn’t enough, I was now expected to go on an immediate subjugation mission to show off my strength.

There was no way I’d be able to maintain a normal academy life at this rate.

“Don’t worry, Patrick! Of course, I’ll go with you!”

“I’m curious to see just what level of monsters will get blown away…”

While I was busy struggling with my reality, the two of them were already hyping themselves up for the fight.

Ahhh—I see how it is.

So, in the end, this is just how things always go.

After discussing future game events and possible scenarios with Theo, we decided to leave the research institute before it got too dark.

As we noisily chattered on our way out—just like always—Theo watched us go, waving with a laugh.

“Hmm… I wonder… were they really joking about all that?”