Episode 15

Thanks to Luminous, who was great at cleaning, the work progressed smoothly.  

Seraph, on the other hand, clearly ate too many snacks. And each time, Luminous scolded her.  

It was like watching a child being reprimanded. This exchange happened over and over again.  

Watching them like this, I found myself inwardly squirming. It had started to become a regular occurrence in this house.  

… It’s precious.  

Just watching the two of them makes my heart feel lighter, as if I’ve been hit by some kind of healing magic.  

Maybe this is what they call aromatherapy.  

After a while, the towering piles of cardboard boxes were neatly cleared away.  

In the entrance, there was a stack of the now empty boxes. I would have to take them out later.  

“Phew, it’s all cleaned up,” 

Luminous said, wiping the sweat from her brow. She looked pleased with herself.  

Next to her, Seraph was contentedly munching away. She had likely found her favorite snacks

“…Thanks, both of you.” 

“Don’t mention it. This will be our base too from now on.”

“…Yeah, you’re right.”  

It really is, isn’t it…  

After all, we’re forming a Union together.  

But, now I’m left wondering how I can return to being just a background character from here on out.  

For now, the ideal would be to join them in activities, then gradually fade into the background, right?  

“For starters, we need to start thinking about our future Union!”

“Yes, the Union is important, but we also need to go buy some essential snacks. We’re running low.” 

“That’s because you ate so many! Priorities first—there are more important things we need to get!”  

“Is it… games?”  

“We’re going shopping for daily necessities!” 

Luminous shouted in response to Seraph.  

…This kind of banter had happened enough times that I was starting to get used to it.  

“Well, let’s talk it through. Just to confirm—what exactly does Union work involve?”

Of course, I wasn’t unfamiliar with what Union work entailed. But there might be differences between the game and reality, after all.  

When I asked, Luminous proudly started to explain,  

“The basics are exterminating Kyōjūs and Kyoei, and then collecting and purifying souls. There’s also basic training to enhance our abilities, and leveling up through dungeon battles.”  

The Kyoei she mentioned are beings that haven’t fully become Kyōjūs.  

They appear like shadows and don’t speak.  

In other words, they’re the weaker monsters.  

When leveling up, it’s usually done by fighting these Kyoei.  

From what Luminous was saying, it didn’t seem much different from the game.  

In the game, Kyōjūs and Kyoei were key enemies, and defeating them earned rewards and experience points. So I used to hunt them relentlessly.  

“Then, there’s also scouting for new recruits. Right now, we’re still not strong enough for recruiting to make a difference. But once we’ve gained enough power, we might be able to do it.”

There were quite a few new recruits you could find through scouting, and each character had several… special scenes.  

Completing those scenes was one of the enjoyable parts of the game.  

There are a lot of characters you can discover through scouting.  

Many of them only appear if you meet certain conditions, and completing everything takes quite a bit of time.  

With over 100 characters, you’re bound to find at least one favorite character or situation.  

As the protagonist leveled up in the game, both Seraph and Luminous, who were contracted to him, would also grow stronger.  

You could contract with more characters, and eventually, there were no limits—you could even contract with the strongest high-tier angels and demons.  

…But that doesn’t really matter right now.  

What does matter is my future.  

There are, of course, characters I want to meet. But I’m just a background character, after all.  

I don’t plan on sticking my nose too far into the main story anymore. I want to level up just enough, build a moderate relationship with these two, and then fade out by the time the game’s main storyline begins… That’s the kind of connection I’m aiming for.

“So, what I should be doing now is… handling jobs like Kyoei-hunting, right?”

“Yes, exactly. If you look for requests from the major Unions, there should be plenty of those.”

The big Unions get a lot of requests, and they can’t handle them all.  

At the start of the game, you take on the overflow jobs from these big Unions, building up your reputation as you go.  

Once the Seraph & Luminous Union grows, we might even start getting direct requests, but… well, that’s still far off for now.  

“For now, spring break is almost over, so maybe we can figure out the details once school starts again?”

“Oh, right. I can’t believe spring break is already ending. It’s way too short, don’t you think? But, well… we had an amazing experience, so I guess it’s fine!”

“…Yeah, you’re right.”

Seraph and Luminous both glanced at me, their eyes softening with joy. For the two of them, having a Union must feel like the best thing ever.  

…This is bad, really bad.

What’s bad is their affection levels.  

The expressions on their faces are starting to look like they’re at around 50% affection level.  

This won’t do! I just want to enjoy the main game as a background character. I’m going to have to deal with this somehow, but there’s something else I need to think about too.  

…School.

At first, I chose the Soulwing Academy just to enjoy the main game, but… I never imagined things would turn out like this.  

I really messed up, didn’t I?

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